Supreme Court punts in 1st Amendment Madden NFL legal fight

(credit: Electronic Arts)

Without comment, the Supreme Court on Monday declined to side with Electronic Arts’ contention that it had a First Amendment right to use professional football players likenesses without their permission in one of the world’s most popular video games, Madden NFL.

EA’s petition to the Supreme Court had attracted widespread interest from academics, digital rights groups, (PDF) and others. The dispute was at the intersection of the right-of-publicity claims balanced against modern technology allowing for virtual, realistic portrayals of people—in this case, professional athletes who want a piece of the financial pie.

In its petition to the justices, the game maker claimed it should not be allowed to be sued simply because it made a game that looks too real, that it nearly mirrored reality. It wanted the high court to accept its assertion that its life-like depiction of the virtual gridiron was covered by the First Amendment.

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Supreme Court punts in 1st Amendment Madden NFL legal fight

Bloomberg: The feds' clash with Tim Cook goes back to iOS 8, not the San Bernardino terror attack

Apple is starting off a jam-packed week today. First in line is today’s event where it will be eventually returning to the roots with a smaller iPhone that aims to convince those millions still rocking an iPhone 5 or 5S to switch, as well as a smaller version of the iPad Pro. This minimalistic event, which begins at 10am Pacific, will be followed by another big happening tomorrow – namely the start of the court battle with the FBI over unlocking the San Bernardino killer’s infamous iPhone 5c.
While the iPhone SE and the iPad Air 3 event, or whatever they are named, will likely … – Source

Bloomberg: The feds' clash with Tim Cook goes back to iOS 8, not the San Bernardino terror attack

Huawei president allegedly spotted using dual-camera phone; is it the P9?

A photo leak has surfaced allegedly showing Huawei’s president using a phone with a dual rear camera setup. While there’s no confirmation, reports say it could be the Chinese company’s upcoming P9 flagship.

If you compare, the unit shown in the images above does look quite similar to the one that was leaked earlier this month (shown below).

In case you don’t already know, the P9 flagship – which has been the subject of several leaks and rumors over the past few weeks – is set to be unveiled on April 6. The first official teaser of the handset was also recently outed,…

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Huawei president allegedly spotted using dual-camera phone; is it the P9?

Building a smarter home

The Jetsons presented a highly entertaining vision of what homes of the future would look like. The animated television show anticipated a world where humans would be able to do everything with just the push of a button. In many ways, the show turned out to be prophetic; today we have printable food, video chats, smartwatches and robots that help with housework — and flying cars may… Read More

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Building a smarter home

Google Glass’ apparent successor debuts—on a pawn shop’s eBay page

Glass! It’s back! (credit: A-to-Z Pawn Brokers)

We’re still not sure what Alphabet, Google, or the X division will call any new wearable headset unit to follow 2013’s Google Glass, but we know something is in development—and now, at least one piece of unannounced hardware could be yours for the low, low price of $3,250 and counting (as of press time).

Another shot from the eBay listing, which was still live as of press time.

2 more images in gallery

9to5Google spotted an eBay auction on Saturday with the simple title of “Google Glass (black),” and the images revealed an unreleased model that shares apparent similarities with a December FCC filing for a new headset—particularly new-to-“Glass” features like a folding hinge, an outward-facing LED light, and a different charging interface. Additionally, we see the all-caps word “GLASS” printed on the inside of the black-plastic hinge, and the letter A in particular has an artful slant to it—which makes us wonder why Google blacked out its Glass-related social media channels in January. With no confirmation from anyone in the Google or Alphabet camps, we can only go on how much this pawn shop’s hardware resembles that in the December FCC filing—meaning, if this headset is a hoax, it’s an impressive one.

Attempts to contact the San Francisco pawn shop in question, A-to-Z Pawnbrokers, were not fruitful, as the business is not open on Sundays. The Verge also couldn’t get a response from the shop about the hardware’s origins.

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Google Glass’ apparent successor debuts—on a pawn shop’s eBay page

How the demonization of emulation devalues gaming’s heritage

If game companies won’t embrace emulation themselves, this kind of thing will have to do… (credit: Frank Cifaldi)

For years now, “emulation” has been a dirty word in the video game industry, regarded by many companies as nothing more than an illegal, piracy-fueling technology that represents an existential threat to the gaming business. In a passionate presentation at the Game Developers Conference this week, though, gaming historian and developer Frank Cifaldi made a well-reasoned case for the industry at large to embrace emulation as a way to capture its heritage.

“I think emulation has gotten a bad rap over the years,” Cifaldi said. “I think our industry and consumers have a really bad misconception of what emulation is. Emulation is just software that makes a computer act like a different computer.”

Cifaldi traces emulation’s bad reputation in the game industry back to a 1999 Macworld conference keynote by the late Steve Jobs. Saying that he wanted to make the Mac “the best game machine in the world,” Jobs introduced the Connectix Virtual Game Station, a $49 piece of third-party software that “turns your Mac into a Sony PlayStation.”

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How the demonization of emulation devalues gaming’s heritage