terms
Latest
France officially bans English gaming terms like 'eSports' and 'streaming'
Despite widespread use of English terms in business and elsewhere, the French government has decided to pick on gaming by banning words like "streamer."
WhatsApp reassures users it can't read their messages
The Facebook-owned messaging platform has drawn ire for the way it's handled the policy changes.
Italy is investigating Apple, Google and Dropbox cloud storage services
Italy launches six investigations into Apple, Google and Dropbox cloud storage services.
Amazon will change its rules for third-party sellers following backlash
Amazon doesn't have a shining reputation when it comes to the way it handles its third-party sellers. Merchants have reported restrictions on where they can sell, being kicked off the site for no obvious reasons and issues with counterfeiting. But Germany has forced Amazon to change its attitude, and the retailer will now be overhauling its terms of service for third-party sellers worldwide.
Facebook explains how it will comply with the EU's GDPR
After a lot of scandal and a great deal of confusion, Facebook has finally made clear what its privacy settings will look like in the wake of Europe's forthcoming GDPR (the General Data Protection Regulation). In a news release, the company said that everyone, no matter where they live, will be asked to review information on the way Facebook uses their data. The options will roll out in Europe first, ahead of GDPR implementation on May 25.
Marvel wants to help you make comics, just leave out the farts
If you've ever wanted to make your own comic but don't quite have the skills to draw one, Marvel and Tap Tap Comics have a solution. Called Marvel: Create Your Own, the new app will let you choose a Marvel character, pose them on various backgrounds and then fill in the story via speech bubbles. The service isn't available right now, but you can sign up to be notified when it is.
Kickstarter changes terms regarding unfinished projects
Kickstarter updated its terms of use late last week, mostly cleaning up the site's fine-print language to better spell out the relationship between project creators and backers. It will remain hands-off while project leads enter agreements with their supporters, which worked well for the funding platform to this point, as it reached $1 billion in pledges in March. Those contracts are the focus of the revised terms, as Kickstarter is now emphasizing the actions creators must take if they fail to live up to their word as well as the potential consequences if they walk away. The boldest inclusion stressed that creators who are unable to satisfy the terms "may be subject to legal action by backers." While Kickstarter still won't involve itself in the proceedings, this opens a clearer lane for possible lawsuits from project backers should creators fail to live up to their agreement or offer alternative solutions.
Microsoft expands its pledge not to sell ads against your private data
Microsoft constantly reminds us that Google scans email in order to sell ads. Now it's adapting its policies to specifically state that it won't engage in the same practices as its rival. Well, not all of them. In an effort to be more transparent and build trust, the company has updated its service agreement and privacy policy to make it clear that it will not access your content to sell ads. "We do not use what you say in email, chat, video calls, or voicemail to target advertising to you," Microsoft notes. "Nor do we use your documents, photos, or other personal files to target advertising to you." However, the policy, which covers most of Microsoft's online services, including Bing, Outlook and OneDrive, won't come into effect until July 31st. To be clear, however, Microsoft isn't ignoring your data completely, and there are still a few clauses to be aware of.
WSJ outs Apple's iTunes Radio terms, says many are 'more generous' than Pandora's
According to a document obtained by the Wall Street Journal, Apple will pay 0.13 cents and 15 percent of advertising revenue to major labels for every song played on iTunes Radio in its first year, climbing to .14 cents and 19 percent in year two. In comparison, Pandora currently pays 0.12 cents per song, and WSJ added that Apple is offering publishers more than double Pandora's rate for royalties. There are some exclusions to Apple's offering, however: it won't need to pay for songs streamed for 20 seconds or less, those that are already in your iTunes library or certain promoted tracks. For its part, Pandora said that comparing the two is unfair, since varying features between the services could trigger royalty payments differently. It also addressed recent controversy about those royalties in a detailed blog post (see the More Coverage link after the break). In addition, insiders say that Apple's primary aim is to encourage listeners to buy more tracks on iTunes, in turn boosting hardware sales. Still, the new service will no doubt reap the benefits of Apples new iAd mobile advertising platform, so it's likely that Cupertino will have its cake and eat it, too.
Verizon backs down from convenience fee, values your two cents
The people (and government) have spoken and Verizon has listened -- and issued a press release. The carrier has officially backed off of the "single payment fee" that drew almost universal ire amongst subscribers and nabbed the attention of the FCC. Says Verizon Wireless CEO Dan Mead, "we believe the best path forward is to encourage customers to take advantage of the best and most efficient options, eliminating the need to institute the fee at this time." Looks like the company's gonna have to get a couple of bucks from you another way. No word yet on whether the FCC plans to investigate Sprint's similar long-standing fee. Official statement after the break.
Verizon's $2 convenience fee inconveniences the FCC
Just like hard working humans, giant companies like to get paid consistently and on time for services rendered. But Verizon's method for motivating customers to pay up -- in the form of a $2 convenience fee -- isn't sitting so well with consumers, or the FCC. A Federal Communications Commission official confirmed that the fee hasn't gone unnoticed, saying "on behalf of American consumers, we're concerned about Verizon's actions and are looking into the matter." The $2 "payment convenience fee" is scheduled to hit consumers beginning on January 15th, but if the FCC doesn't step in before then, you can still skip the toll by signing up for AutoPay, or making your way to a different carrier.
Leaked memo details Verizon's $2 fee for paying your bill; autodraft or ACH the only way out (update: confirmed)
A couple of years back, AT&T offered select customers a $25 prepaid MasterCard to switch their billing over to autodraft. Soon, Verizon Wireless will be following Sprint's footsteps and charging you for every month that you aren't using that very system. Tactical differences aside, the leaked memo shown above details what has to be one of the most consumer-unfriendly policy changes since the carrier boosted its early termination fee for "advanced devices." Effective January 15th, any customer that opts to pay their wireless bill online or over the phone will be charged an extra $2 each month, and the only way to sidestep it is to sign up for AutoPay or to pay by electronic check, where there's no credit card fee passed on to the carrier. For those unaware, AutoPay automatically drafts the most recent amount from either a linked checking / savings account or a credit card on file, and while we can understand VZW's desire to better control when it's getting paid, charging customers to make it happen is just downright ludicrous. Here's a thought, Verizon: enforce stricter penalties on late payments, or just offer those that shift to AutoPay a small discount for going out of their way to make your life a little easier. Or, you know, for all those hours that your network has been down during the holidays. Update: Verizon has officially confirmed the change to its policies and the $2 surcharge you'll be hit with each month if you're not using autodraft or some other small subset of payment options. Head after the break for all the details straight from the horse's mouth. [Thanks, Alex]
The Daily Grind: What game terminology gets your goat?
MMOs, like any hobby, have their own specialized jargon. Someone who's never played an MMO might have no idea what it means if you say the MT pulled adds on your boss pull twice and wiped the group, but an experienced player will understand it without a problem. But that doesn't mean every acronym or term sits comfortably with everyone -- considering the plethora of specialized language that accompanies the genre and the variety of synonyms for given concepts, it's probable that there are some terms you like more than others. So which part of MMO slang rubs you the wrong way? Does it get your hackles up when someone refers to a character as a toon? Do you hate seeing "mob" used to refer to a single enemy? Will you go out of your way to avoid saying "DPS" as a description of class roles? Is it an abbreviation or term common to a single game, like a class nickname? Or do you feel comfortable fully ensconced within the language, with no particular irritations or pet peeves? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
The Lawbringer: A prelude to avatar rights
Pop law abounds in The Lawbringer, your weekly dose of WoW, the law, video games and the MMO genre. Running parallel to the games we love and enjoy is a world full of rules, regulations, pitfalls and traps. How about you hang out with us as we discuss some of the more esoteric aspects of the games we love to play? The concept of avatar rights is a strange and new concept, only really going back as far as people have demanded rights for their virtual counterparts. In the early days of the MMO genre, players would populate MUDs (multi-user dungeons) or similarly designed constructs online and do pretty much the same things we do today -- hack, slash, chat, and adventure with other users. From MUDs, we got graphical MMOs, and from graphical MMOs, we got the second and third generations of the massively multiplayers we know today. World of Warcraft comes from a rich history of all of the games that came before it, as did the concept of the virtual self. The one thing all of these games have had in common over the years is the avatar. This week's Lawbringer is the first in a multi-part series discussing avatar rights -- where the concept came from, where it's going, and who has the power to set the rules. We're going to talk about the venerable Raph Koster and his avatar rights manifesto, who your avatar is and what is so damn special about him, and some really interesting concepts dealing with what people feel they are owed. Strap in -- this may get crazy.
WoW Rookie: Essential WoW terminology in other languages
New around here? WoW Rookie points WoW's newest players to the basics of a good start in the World of Warcraft. For links to all our tips, tricks and how-to's, visit WoW.com's WoW Rookie Guide. Együtt szaladjunk vissza a temetötöl hogy ne vesszünk el. In the sprawling, global environment that is the World of Warcraft today, there's really no telling who you'll end up grouped with. Even on a white-bread American realm, I've met players whose primary language was not English. Gamers are everywhere now! In the spirit of international cooperation, WoW Rookie has crowdsourced a list of basic WoW terminology for PUGging. The next time you run into a situation where you need to communicate with someone who doesn't speak your language, reach for our translations in the Newbie Guide, linked under Guides in the drop-down menu at the top of the site. Kudos to the hundreds of readers who responded to our call for translations. Merci, gracias, tack, hvala! Let's crowdsource corrections, too -- if you spot anything incorrect, drop me a line at lisa (at) wow (dot) com. Oh, and "Együtt szaladjunk vissza a temetötöl hogy ne vesszünk el?" That's "Let's run back from the graveyard together so we don't get lost" ... in Hungarian.
WoW Rookie: What's "move out of the fire" in your language?
New around here? WoW Rookie points WoW's newest players to the basics of a good start in the World of Warcraft. For links to all our tips, tricks and how-to's, visit WoW.com's WoW Rookie Guide. If you use the Dungeon Finder with any regularity, you're likely to eventually find yourself grouped with a player who speaks a different language. World of Warcraft is localized (translated) to nearly a dozen different languages, including two versions of English (USA and EU), French, German, Spanish, Russian, Korean and two versions of Chinese. While U.S. and Oceanic players can generally count on groupmates to speak English, things can be quite different elsewhere in the world. Individual Latin American and EU realms tend to attract groups of players from particular areas -- Brazilians on one server, Hungarians gathered on another, Italians dominating still another. Many players welcome the language barrier as an opportunity to polish their language skills. Still, how do you coordinate your way through a tricky pull with someone who doesn't speak a word of your language? Let's crowdsource this issue. We've compiled a list of common terms you might use in a PUG. We'd like you to list your translations in the comments, if you are fluent in another language. We're not going to cover Russian, Korean or Chinese, since those players generally do not cross paths with Western players. Please keep your suggestions brief; simplicity trumps elegance. If you'd like to see phrases we didn't include, feel free to suggest them, but keep in mind we're sticking with the basics. We'll compile the list and create a starter guide in next week's Rookie column.
Joojoo terms of sale violate PayPal rules
It would seem that the Fusion Garage lawyers have become so embroiled in the Michael Arrington litigation that they've neglected to read the PayPal User Agreement. There in section II, subsection 4, dubbed "Prohibited Transactions," it states that the seller agrees "not to use [his] PayPal account to sell goods with delivery dates delayed more than 20 days from the date of payment." Why does that matter -- well, because the sole means to purchase the Joojoo at present is by placing an 8 to 10 week pre-order, payable exclusively through PayPal. We shouldn't jump to conclusions though -- maybe Fusion Garage freed itself from the pesky rules by offering to sell a few special edition PayPads?
AT&T's "new" video streaming terms are a non-issue
There's an awful lot of hubbub going around today about "new" terms in AT&T's wireless contract agreement that seemingly forbid streaming video from your television to your PC or your phone -- in other words, using a Slingbox -- which would seem to be a rewrite of language added and pulled a few weeks ago. Here's the problem: the terms aren't new, and they don't forbid video streaming. One of our editors has a month-old hard copy of AT&T's terms that were mailed to him after agreeing to a new contract, and they're exactly the same -- word for word. Furthermore, the language in question is this: "This means, by way of example only, that checking email, surfing the Internet, downloading legally acquired songs, and/or visiting corporate intranets is permitted, but downloading movies using P2P file sharing services, redirecting television signals for viewing on Personal Computers..." but the problem is that the examples given here are referring to earlier language. In that language, we see that AT&T is more concerned about "server devices or host computer applications" -- that's subsection (i), if you're interested. In other words, AT&T's trying to stop you from uploading a television stream using its connection, not downloading -- and frankly, that sounds like the most painful operation ever conceived by man anyway, so we don't think we're going to get too many violators here. In other words, rest easy; we still don't know whether the now-overdue SlingPlayer for iPhone will ultimately be approved, but if it's not, it shouldn't be because of this. [Thanks, Mike and Tieguy]
WoW Rookie: Gaming terminology 101
New around here? WoW Rookie points WoW's newest players to the resources they need to get acclimated. Send us a note to suggest a WoW Rookie topic.Probably one of the top requests WoW Rookie gets from new players is a plea for an explanation of WoW and gaming terminology. Even a casual skim of WoW Insider's front page can prove challenging to new gamers. Example: what to experienced players is a routine update on new PTR schedules can be an exercise in frustration for readers who are still sorting out WTT from WTF. ("PTR? WTF?!?") It's not just WoW-specific abbreviations and acronyms that puzzle new players. Add in gaming lingo and internet chat terms, and you have the recipe for a truly intimidating mix.
Comcast and Big Ten Network finally reach agreement
Whoa, Nelly! After what seems like eons, Comcast and the Big Ten Network have finally put their problems aside and reached an agreement. Of course, we heard yesterday that the deal was close, but we didn't exactly predict that it was this close. Under the terms of the deal, Comcast will "initially launch BTN as part of its expanded basic level of service to promote it to the majority of its customers residing in states with Big Ten universities on August 15th. Next Spring, the carrier reserves the right to "move the network to a broadly distributed digital level of service in most of its systems in these states." As expected, users will have access to all high-definition feeds as well, which is sure to bring a smile to Big Ten fanatics across Comcast's footprint.
