property
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Netflix courts HGTV fans with its first home makeover series
Netflix appears to be looking to pull in more of that HGTV crowd, as Deadline reports that the streaming service just ordered its first property-focused original series. With a working title of Amazing On The Inside, the show will reportedly feature homes that look ordinary on the outside but have incredible interiors that reflect their owners' passions and identities. Deadline says Netflix has ordered 12 30-minute episodes.
Is this climate change real estate agent for real?
Climate change threatens the lives of millions as it causes the seas to boil and the skies to burn, but hey, everything's a business opportunity if you look hard enough. Higher Tides Realty is a dedicated climate change real estate agency that helps buyers ensure that their new homes won't be underwater in the future. By analyzing the terrain of areas behind coasts, it's possible to work out where the "new" coastline will emerge once the seas stop rising. Before you ask hey, wasn't that Lex Luthor's plan in Superman: The Movie? The answer is yes, yes it was. Despite this, when we asked Higher Tides' Jake Collins if this was a joke, he insisted that it wasn't.
Airbnb arrives in Cuba with US-only listings
Airbnb has joined Netflix and other American companies doing business in Cuba. The move marks the most significant US business expansion to the Caribbean island since the Obama administration began normalizing relations with the nation, according to the Associated Press. The private rental outfit has high hopes for the region, saying "we believe that Cuba could become one of Airbnb's biggest markets in Latin America." Over 1,000 listings are now up on the site, with 40 percent of those in Havana and the rest in nearby tourist spots on the Southern coast.
Lumines changes hands, returning on iOS and Android
Mobcast acquired the Lumines and Meteos properties from Q Entertainment, the Japanese smartphone game developer announced this week, as translated by Gematsu. Additionally, a new Lumines game is on the way for iOS and Android, and will be a collaboration with the colorful puzzle series' creator, Tetsuya Mizuguchi. Mizuguchi will work on the latest Lumines at his new California-based studio, Enhance Games. The Rez and Space Channel 5 creator co-founded Q Entertainment in 2003 following his departure from Sega. Mizuguchi left the developer in March. The last Lumines game to launch was 2012's Lumines: Electronic Symphony (seen above). [Image: Q Entertainment]
Nordic officially purchases de Blob series from THQ
Over a year and a half after it won dozens of intellectual properties in THQ's back catalog auction, Nordic Games announced that it closed an asset purchase agreement with THQ for de Blob today. With the rights to the series now officially owned by Nordic Games, de Blob joins properties such as Darksiders, Red Faction and MX vs. ATV on the Austrian company's list of games. The publisher acquired those brands in April 2013 for $4.9 million. "We are excited about what the future holds for this polychromatic extravaganza as the newest addition to our portfolio," Business and Product Development Director Reinhard Pollice said in an update on the publisher's site. "We will evaluate opportunities with the existing games, as well as potential sequels." De Blob launched in 2006 on PC before a THQ-published Wii version arrived in 2008. The paint-splattering, platforming follow-up de Blob 2 launched on Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii in 2011. Nordic Games also reportedly acquired the THQ trademark under a separate agreement revealed in June, though the mark's listing on the USPTO's website still notes THQ as its owner. [Image: THQ, err, Nordic Games]
IRS says bitcoins are taxable property, but not currency
People love referring to Bitcoin as a "cryptocurrency," but the Internal Revenue Service looks at it a little differently. According to a new IRS statement, Bitcoin should be considered property, not currency. What does that mean for US Bitcoin aficionados? Quite a bit, actually.
Apple makes a tax deal for Prineville, Oregon data center land
We've heard before that Apple plans to build a data center on land it previously purchased in Oregon, but now the Associated Press reports on part of the cost. The company has reportedly agreed to pay US$150,000 per year to local governments, and has signed off on at least 35 jobs. Those jobs will be paid at a rate that's at least 150% of the average wage in the Oregon county. Finally, according to the AP, Apple will have to invest at least $250 million into the data center building itself. In return for all of that, Apple will be exempt on property tax payments for the next 15 years. Whether that will be worth it or not depends on exactly how much they build there, but odds are Apple's accountants aren't that worried. The company already paid $5.6 million for the land earlier this year, and it's setting up plans to both build up the infrastructure of the local power company to keep the data center running, as well as a green energy site there on the spot. Oregon is apparently a popular place for data centers like this. Google, Amazon, and Facebook all have similar sites in the surrounding area. [via MacRumors]
Sideway preview: Spray-on can
We already knew a little something about most of the games seen at Comic-Con this year, from the well-traveled Gears of War 3 to the just-announced Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, but Sideway stands alone as the only brand-new title playable on the show floor. It's a platformer coming to PSN with an interesting origin, and a premise that literally turns the genre on its side. The game (which was referred to as Sideway: New York on promotional posters at the con) is part of a property developed by Fuel Entertainment, a creative house that's also working on a deal to turn the idea into a TV cartoon. They teamed up with fellow Ottawa, Ontario-based developers Playbrains to handle the development and Sony Online Entertainment to handle publishing; the PSN title will serve as an introduction to what the team hopes becomes a larger universe. That universe centers around Nox, a graffiti tagger who himself is turned into art by a rival tagger named Spray. The game sends Nox around 15 different platforming levels, each one of which is painted on the side of a building, essentially placing his 2D action in a projection on a 3D world. %Gallery-128865%
LEGO Universe readying new race track, pets, property, and a month-long event
Next week is looming large for fans of LEGO Universe. May 3rd will see major new challenges made available to the game's community according to a LEGO press release circulated earlier this afternoon. First up is a month-long initiative to finish the colossal Nexus Tower construction project. The tower houses the Nexus of Imagination, and it's a good thing too since the dastardly Maelstrom is bent on unyielding destruction. Players will need to contribute bricks to the Nexus Force cause or risk leaving Imagination vulnerable to the forces of darkness. LEGO Universe will also be sporting a new race track as of next week, and the circuit is every bit as grueling as its name (Dragonmaw Chasm) suggests. New achievements are the order of the day, and skilled racers can unlock new cars including the Fire Brawl and Mach Lava. Finally, the new game update is bringing new property options to LEGO Universe. These include the ability for players to place pets on their in-game homesteads and bring said pets to life via a system of behaviors. Head to the official LEGO Universe website for more. %Gallery-49493%
British property search engine Rightmove will soon list broadband speeds alongside standard home info
The internet, it's kind of a big deal. So much of a big deal, in fact, that UK property search site Rightmove is said to be planning to list broadband speeds as part of its standard information package for homes up for rent or sale. This would be done in partnership with BT, reports the Daily Telegraph, though neither company is yet ready to make the deal official. BT would have little trouble providing the data in question since most of the UK is connected to its ADSL lines -- every ISP in the country outside of Virgin Media just resells BT's copper wire -- or newfangled Infinity fiber optic services. Part of this new agreement will involve Rightmove displaying whether or not homes are capable of connecting to the newer, faster Infinity network -- which mirrors Virgin's efforts at informing people whether they're covered by its cable internet through deals with independent estate agents. Soon there should be no excuses for Brits getting stuck in a picturesque home with a grotesquely slow web connection.
Google buys gigantic former NYC Port Authority building, takes a chunk out of Chelsea
Growing companies need growing workspaces, and Google just bought one of the biggest possible in NYC. It's the former Port Authority Building at 111 Eighth Avenue, a massive brick establishment that, according to Wired Epicenter, set the company back an equally massive $1.9 billion. There's a helipad on top, perfect for quick getaways in the company's ROFLcopter, but more importantly a major fiber line runs through the building, giving the Googs priority access to bits flowing through the city. Google already has a presence within those crimson walls, which also houses offices of communications companies like Verizon and Level 3, companies who might just need to be finding new spaces when their current leases expire, because Google is "hiring across the board," apparently hoping to fill that thing to the brim.
Worlds.com aims to sue over the virtual world of Warcraft
Business Insider (no relation) is reporting that Worlds.com CEO Thom Kidrin is intending to sue anyone who will not license their virtual worlds product through him, and since Kidrin claims they hold the patent to virtual worlds, everyone has to get a license. Since this is a legal issue I'll lay this out in a few easy to read steps: Thom calls up Blizzard, Linden Lab, etc... Thom says "Hey, I invented virtual worlds! Pay me money since you're making money off the concept." Blizzard and Linden Lab laugh and hang up, assuming it's a prank call. Thom goes to court. That's the gist of it. Kidrin plans on going after a few other companies before knocking on Blizzard's door: notably, Worlds.com has already filed suit against NCsoft, which publishes City of Heroes and Guild Wars. How did Worlds.com wind up with the patent to the idea of a scalable virtual world with thousands of users? Kidrin has said that they invented the virtual worlds with a product for sick kids called Starbright World back in 1997. (Though apparently the concept was thought up back in 1995.)However, let's take a look at the definition of Cyberspace. It was first used in William Gibson's 1982 story "Burning Chrome" and again used in a few of his books, with "Neuromancer" being the most popular. Gibson's definition for Cyberspace reads:
Picking apart the MetaPlace Bill of Rights
MetaPlace is not an MMOG. It's a platform for creating virtual spaces that can be used for anything the creators can imagine. As such, the traditional MMO EULA is completely inadequate. Raph Koster -- the head honcho on the MetaPlace project -- made that clear in a panel at AGDC08. So, the folks working on MetaPlace had to come up with a whole new set of rules -- rules that allow users ownership of their virtual property, for example. There's a veritable landmine of problems awaiting this endeavor, of course. That's not to say it's impossible. It's just going to be extremely challenging.Koster published a first draft of the Terms of Service for MetaPlace on his blog the other day. It's based based on the Declaration of the Rights of Avatars that he conceived back in 2000. Readers of the MetaPlace ToS are likely to come away with two impressions. The first: that it's really cool and admirable and that in a general sense, Koster and friends are on the right track. Two is that the MetaPlace team seems to be underestimating just how epic a quest it's committed itself to.
Forum post of the day: Beta buying blues
Now that Blizzard has confirmed that beta keys from Blizzcon 07 and Worldwide Invitation 08 will be used to get into the Wrath of the Lich King test, they've become a pretty hot commodity. Sure they're for sale on eBay ranging from about $200 to $600, but what are they worth. I kind of wish I'd been able to go to one of those events to guarantee a spot in the beta. This same thing happened during the beta release of the Burning Crusade. Cheesytacos of Dragonblight thinks it's unfair to folks who win the beta lottery that folks are selling their beta keys for profit. For those willing to part with their keys, the sale price is at least worth the price of admission. I have to admit, it's well, annoying that folks who went to Blizzard's little soirées are granted passes into the new content. We come across the issue of property ownership many times in WoW. In general the assumption is that all things WoW are not actually the property of the players but of Blizzard. Are beta keys the property of the key holders to do with what they please until activation?
Imagined, but not owned
Linden Lab has been overhauling its website and promotional material lately for the poorly understood virtual world Second Life. One of the key changes to be spotted is the alteration of the long-standing descriptor, "Second Life is a 3D online digital world imagined, created and owned by its residents", which now only reads, "Second Life is a 3D online digital world imagined, and created by its residents", and there's signs that the wording is still evolving a little. The unannounced change has caused a fair bit of speculation, especially among those who were never all that certain as to what the ownership consisted of in the first place. In fact, that seems to be at the heart of the reason for the change.
Dubai's new luxury tower to resemble an iPod
As if the Burj Al-Arab (and Time Residences) in Dubai wasn't unique enough, Omniyat Properties is getting set to construct a 23-story luxury tower inspired by none other than Apple's iPod. Slated to be built in Business Bay, the "iPad residential tower" is scheduled to house more than 200 units, and was "designed by Hong Kong-based architects James Law Cybertecture International." The high-rise will sit atop a "docking station angled at six degrees," which should have iPod fanboys flying over in droves just to snap pictures. While no preliminary sketches have surfaced quite yet, we'll be sure to keep an eye out for future development (ahem) of the world's largest iPod, and you can go ahead and pencil in "sometime in 2009" as your "must-take" vacation.
Rare to unleash Pinatas on 360s this holiday season
Rare's next project is apparently an original IP concerning living piñata animals that will be featured in a Saturday morning TV/3-D/CG show and then in an Xbox 360 game debuting this holiday season worldwide.
