Restauarnt Flow Chart

On the heels of the Cereal Chart, here's a flow chart to pick which chain restaurant you want to eat at! November 30th, 2009 / Binkley / Trackback / Comments

Cereal Flow Chart

Here is a handy flow chart to pick a cereal that's right for you. (This thing is so true it hurts.) November 27th, 2009 / Binkley / Trackback / Comments

The Ethics of Game Reviews

ArsTechnica is running a very-well written article detailing the early review process behind Modern Warfare 2, the latest game in the Call of Duty series. The game is selling incredibly well, but few early reviews mentioned that they received free airfare and hotel rooms in a Santa Barbara, all courtesy of Activision.

Considering this was the ONLY way to get an early review for one of the year's biggest games, it's hardly surprising that many gaming outlets went along with it, though a few did point out the practice in their review. One or two even disapproved in their editorial comments.

What is an ethical response to this situation? Do the journalists owe full disclosure to their readers? Do people rate games more highly because of these perks? These are troubling questions that are raised in this article.

November 24th, 2009 / paladinz / Tags: video games, ethics, modern warfare 2 / Trackback / Comments

How (Not) To Sell Beatles MP3s, Part 2

I previously talked about a bizarre story about a company named BlueBeat selling Beatles MP3s for 25 cents each. Today, shortly after the matter went to court, the judge issued a summary beatdown by making a permanent injunction, saying:

Defendants deliberately obfuscate them, relying on technobabble and doublespeak rather than evidence or legal authority… If there were any remaining doubt, it is put to rest by the testimony of Plaintiffs' head of technology, who confirmed that the digital files being distributed and publicly performed by Defendants are copies of Plaintiff's recordings, with only minor technical variations consistent with the process by which recordings are compressed into (i.e., copied into) digital MP3 files.

Let it be known now that the mere process of recording an MP3 does not constitute a new work, even in the eyes of the court. Although no decisions have been made yet, this is surely a sign of the final verdict by the judge.

November 19th, 2009 / paladinz / Tags: music, economics / Trackback / Comments

The KB Life Episode 4: Fourplay

It took a while because we got sick, but here's another podcast!
Click here to download the MP3. (RSS feed is here.) Also available on iTunes.

All time stamps are approximate.

On Screen

Top 3 Overrated Films of 2009

• Kirrus #3: Monsters vs. Aliens (0:48)
• Binkley #3: Bruno (3:05)

Top 3 Underrated Films of 2009

• Binkley #3: The Spirit (6:15)
• Kirrus #3: G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (8:45)

Rec Room

Top 2 Overrated Games of 2009

• Kirrus #2: Scribblenauts (20:19)
• Binkley #2: Shadow Complex (26:34)

Top 2 Underrated Games of 2009

• Binkley #2: Dynasty Warriors Gundam 2 (29:33)
• Kirrus #2: Velvet Assassin (33:04)

On Paper

• Never Learn Anything From History from Hark, a vagrant (37:37)
• Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies (41:13)

Foodie Corner

• Japan has a 7-layer Whopper! (44:53)
• The KFC Double Down is also mentioned. (47:03)

Wordplay

The word for this podcast is "beatings / beats". (47:49)

November 18th, 2009 / Binkley / Tags: thekblife, podcasts, kb life, the kb life / Trackback / Comments

A Store for One Video Game

That's right, Electronic Arts, the company that just laid off 1500 people, is running a store this holiday season selling only one game: EA Active.

November 18th, 2009 / paladinz / Tags: video games, ea active / Trackback / Comments