Here’s one I wanted to get back to reading, C|Net’s article “Torvalds says DRM isn’t necessarily bad” (Link). Wow. Talk about a slap in the Free Software Foundation’s face. Stallman and his followers must be wondering what hit them. First, Lessig the copyleft messiah is out there saying Free doesn’t always work. Now this.

The article is short, full of quotes from behind-the-scenes emails and then this last comment that crystallizes one of my big arguments against the “right to piracy/ain’t gonna pay for it” attitude that’s so prevalent out there:

Torvalds said. “DRM is the smallest part of it. The crap we see and hear every day (regardless of any protection) is a much bigger issue.”

I want to repeat that:

“The crap we see and hear every day (regardless of any protection) is a much bigger issue.”

Chew on that for awhile. And when some of you crusaders figure it out, maybe I’ll see you at a local club listening to some struggling, unsupported band; giving them both my attention and my money.

More not-so-new-news, but a nice update. C|Net has an article today with the very direct headline “Tomorrow’s games, designed by players as they play ” (Link). From the beginning of the piece:

Game budgets are skyrocketing. Development teams are swelling almost to film studio’s proportions. The only way out of this trap is to enlist players to help create their own worlds, a pair of top game creators said Thursday.

Speaking at The Entertainment Gathering conference here, “Sims” creator Will Wright and Microsoft Xbox team head J. Allard both cast a spotlight on the growing role that game players will have in creating content for the biggest games.

Wright’s newest game, dubbed “Spore,” will populate fictional planets with animals and cities created wholly by other game players. Allard said the Xbox 360 will increasingly encourage developers to let their players add on to worlds, and even sell their creations though a central Xbox store system.

If you want more info you can of course read the article, but you also might want to Search this blog for my previous entries on both “Spore” and the XBox360 system. And on virtual markets. And on advertising in games. And on using game models to generate manufacturable product. And on…

For anyone who is aware of some fairly recent announcements in the area of rapid-manufacturing buildings (Link), today’s news won’t be a big surprise. What might be a surprise is how quickly it’s moving along. From today’s Building Design article (Link):

Researchers in the United States are on the verge of unveiling a robot capable of building an entire house from an architect’s computer-based design.

Behrokh Khoshnevis, from the University of Southern California’s department of industrial and systems engineering, said that in just three months, years of research into “freeform” construction technology will deliver the first complete building constructed entirely by robot.

Now what makes this so incredibly cool? Well, read this excerpt:

The US team has already built a wall using a machine which extrudes cement which is then reinforced with reinforcement bar.

“From a purely aesthetic point of view, you can have any design you want [with this technology],” said Rupert Soar, leader of the Loughborough research team. “You could scan in Anne Hathaway’s cottage and have it yourself. The sky’s the limit.”

Tell me this isn’t the coolest thing going. Imagine the possibilities. Imagine designing a small swarm of these robots and a “queen” material conversion unit that supplies them using whatever is available in a particular geographical region; robotic termites. We might even be able to recycle waste products into home-building materials this way; converted through some white biotechnology (assuming we could properly test and regulate it).

This could lead to homes for the homeless. And you could have everyone participating in a solution. Imagine people collaborating in online spaces – even virtual spaces like Second Life or videogames – to develop housing solutions which could then be fabricated at low cost.

This is amazing stuff. The biggest hurdle will probably be the politics, the corruption and people playing selfish games. There’s a good one.

via Archinect

Okay, I completely blew past this one. It appears that there’s now a second behind-the-scenes toy development series of posts over on Vinyl Pulse. Only this time, instead of a Muttpop Lucha Libre fictional character, we get a very real Upper Deck licensed property.

I’ll be honest, I’m not a fan of highly-paid celebrity athletes. I’d rather see society celebrating a few other things besides some tall kid’s ability to play a game. Oh well. It’s nice to see their development process anyway (Link 1 and Link 2).

When I was growing up doing these kinds of drawings and stuff, people thought I was weird. Now people do these things and fans line up to buy. Kids nowadays have it too easy… and I’m jealous.

Anyway, the above image caught my eye. It’s the cover to a set of postcards by former in-house corporate-turned-independent toy designer Attaboy. Nice stuff. And *holy cow* published by Last Gasp! Now that brings back memories (and makes me want to dig out some old Slow Death Comix I have buried somewhere).

There’s plenty more interesting stuff over on Attaboy’s Yumfactory website (Link), so head on over and either shop or gawk. Or… check out the new magazine Hi Fructose, he co-founded with artist and companion, Annie Owens. Or… read the associated Hi Fructose blog (Link). Or…

via Boing Boing

{Image Copyright © 2001-2005 Attaboy’s Yumfactory}