jasonscott
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Google's banning sexually explicit content from its blogging platform
Many X-rated Blogger accounts might cease to exist in the near future, as Google will no longer allow anyone to post sexually explicit or nude videos and images starting on March 23rd, 2015. It doesn't end there, though: Mountain View also wants old account owners to delete any content that violates that rule, or else it will forcibly make those blogs private (all posts will only be visible to owners) after the aforementioned date. Blogger's current content policy allows visuals that show nudity and sexual activities (barring illegal ones like bestiality) so long as the blog is marked "adult." Censoring those types of entries, according to the policy, "is contrary to a service that bases itself on freedom of expression." Google has yet to reveal why it had a sudden change of heart.
Now you can play 'Defender' and 900 other arcade classics in your browser
It seems like the Internet Archive was just getting started when it resurrected WordStar and The Hobbit from floppy-disk purgatory. Now, the latest additions to the Javascript MESS emulator are of the arcade variety. Specifically, games including Defender, Mr. Do!, Zaxxon and Joust are now playable in your browser. The IA's website says that most of the Internet Arcade's games should work, although some better act as a "verification of behavior programming" than anything else. Jason Scott, who runs the collection, has a blog post detailing what browsers perform best (a 64-bit version of Firefox is tops, apparently) and how to setup a gamepad for the whole shebang. You know, if digging through gaming's origins is your thing. Be careful, though. Playing Millipede as a kid may have cost you a few quarters, but if you get caught playing it at work it could be a whole lot more expensive now. [Image credit: Rob Boudon/Flickr]
Internet Archive expands software museum, invites you to dig in
Mention the Internet Archive, and our minds race back to the Wayback Machine, or its public domain treasure trove, or the broadcast news museum. Jason Scott, however, believes that we should be paying attention to what he thinks is now the biggest collection of software and software writing anywhere in the world. Thanks to the recent addition of collections like the Shareware CD Archive, FTP Site Boneyard, Classic PC Games and others, the site can now boast of some impressive exhibits, including an original Apple I manual. Scott now says he's considering improving the collection's metadata so that future generations of online treasure-hunters will actually be able to find stuff.
