Today, Apple officially announced it opposed Proposition 8 in California. To show their support for equal rights among gay and straight couples, Apple has donated $100,000 to fight Proposition 8, which would ban same sex marriage in California. Just earlier this year the California Supreme Court ruled that same sex marriage is to be legal in California.
No on Prop 8
October 24, 2008
Apple is publicly opposing Proposition 8 and making a donation of $100,000 to the No on 8 campaign. Apple was among the first California companies to offer equal rights and benefits to our employees’ same-sex partners, and we strongly believe that a person’s fundamental rights — including the right to marry — should not be affected by their sexual orientation. Apple views this as a civil rights issue, rather than just a political issue, and is therefore speaking out publicly against Proposition 8.
More info on Prop 8:
Proposition 8 is a proposed amendment to the California constitution which if passed into law would be known as the California Marriage Protection Act. This California ballot proposition will appear on the November 4, 2008 ballot along with eleven other statewide propositions. Proposition 8 is one of four ballot measures which propose to amend the California state constitution and appears on the ballot titled as Eliminates Right of Same-Sex Couples to Marry.
If it passes, it will add a new constitutional amendment to the California Constitution that will say “Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California” and it will be known in law as the California Marriage Protection Act.
Need an uber badass, yet nerdy, Halloween costume? Costumes, Inc. has begun offering an officially licensed “Master Chief Collector’s Costume.” The costume will set you back $630 ($220 off the original price)
OH THE HUMANITY! According to Redeye, a woman in Japan has been arrested for allegedly killing her husband’s character in the popular 2D MMO, Maple Story. According to the report file by the Sapporo, Japan police department she logged on with her husband’s account and password and proceeded to “kill” his online persona shortly after their sudden divorce.
The woman was arrested and jailed on suspicion of illegally accessing a computer and manipulating electronic data. When asked why she did it, the woman replied “I was suddenly divorced, without a word of warning. That made me so angry,” according to an anonymous officer. The woman is currently a piano teacher–which may change if she is charged with up to 5 years of prison or a $50,000 fine.
Do you like the speed of Google Chrome but miss the layout of Firefox? Well, you’re in luck because someone has already created a Firefox addon that displays and renders pages using Google Chrome, from within Firefox, much like the IETab addon.
Open web pages or even hyperlinks in Google Chrome from Firefox itself.
If are using Firefox along side Google’s browser, this “Open in Google Chrome” extension might come handy - it lets you send web sites and links directly to Google Chrome from Firefox.
It can also be configured to always open certain web pages in Chrome - e.g. *google*, gmail, etc.
Restart Firefox. Then go to Tools -> Add-ons -> Options and browse for the chrome.exe file on your Vista / XP / Windows 2000 machine.
In Windows XP, Google Chrome installs under \Documents and Settings\<user>\Local Settings\Application Data\Google\Chrome\Application\ while in Windows Vista, Google Chrome installs in \Users\<user>\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\Application\
The Google Chrome Firefox extension can also be configured to open a group of website(s) directly in Chrome even if you try accessing them from Firefox.
For instance, you may add “yahoo” to the list and any site that has yahoo in the URL would open in Chrome automatically. That includes “maps.yahoo.com”, “news.yahoo.com”, “yahoo.com” and even “bbc.com/news/yahoo-shares.html” so be careful while picking these wildcards.
According to GameDaily, Digital Praise, Inc. is planning on releasing a knock-off version of the popular Guitar Hero series, however, with a focus on Christian Bands.
Grab the guitar and play along with top Christian bands! Shred those riffs or blast the bass…you add a unique sound to the solid Christian rock. But watch out: if you can’t keep up, the artists will take a break and stop the music. Crank it up and try again you’ll soon be rockin’ with the best while praising the Lord! Order the second guitar and jam with a friend!
According to Tom Bean, CEO of Digital Praise, the purpose of Guitar Praise: Solid Rock is to bring the fun Guitar Hero, except with a more family oriented concentration. (because we were tired of all those satanic songs included in the original) Guitar Praise will include over 50 tracks from bands I’ve never heard of–I guess Christian Rock is too hardcore for me. No word yet on whether “Rock Me Sexy Jesus” will be an included track.
You can buy their game and the included guitar for around $99.95. The game requires a PC–and batteries.. since they aren’t included.
According to Gamesutra and a Screen digest-authored report, Electronic Arts and Activision released 75% of the games released from July to September.
Electronic Arts released 21 titles including their yearly sports games such as the Tiger Woods and Madden series. Activision, not far behind, released 19 games. Collectively, they have released 75% of all games in Quarter 3 (July-September) and will cover 40% of all releases in Quarter 4 (October-July)
According to the report, the Wii currently has the most titles out of the three consoles.
The video game industry is drastically changing with the influx of so many gamers thanks to Sony’s, Nintendo’s, and Microsoft’s efforts in marketing to the casual gamer. In this multi-billion dollar industry we are now seeing certain publishers initiating more aggressive business tactics. Although growth is welcomed, it’s never good to see a few select publishers dominating in an industry as young as this.
Game Park Holdings has announced their new handheld gaming machine: The Wiz. The Wiz is powered by a 533MHZ Processor, 3D Accelerator, and 64MB of RAM. It’s also comes with a stylus and OLED display.
The Wiz runs on an Open Source Linux operating system. The handheld allows for playback of music, videos, and has support for Flash 7. It even has a comic and e-book viewer. It also comes with 12 built-in games–more free games are available separately. It also has support for flash games and even emulators New games are to be released monthly.
It has some draw backs though: it lacks any network connectivity besides high speed USB 2.0. So you won’t be able to download new games wirelessly, or browse the web, as far as I know.
It seems like an interesting concept–a mix between the PSP and Nintendo DS. Regardless, check out the official brochure.
Leipzig is almost over, but the 2009 event has already been scheduled. Wolfgang Marzin, CEO, claims Leipzig 2009 will be held August 19-23.. in Leipzig obviously. GC 08 also beat it’s previous record for amount of visitors. This year GC 08 attracted over 203,000 people in a 4 day period. It also attracted 234 software and hardware companies, up from 189 last year.
In a survey of visitors, it was also found that over 90% believed there should be another Games Convention in 2009. The general consensus may be different for other events like E3, whom have limited the number of attendees drastically.
Today, Apple officially announced it opposed Proposition 8 in California. To show their support for equal rights among gay and straight couples, Apple has donated $100,000 to fight Proposition 8, which would ban same sex marriage in California. Just earlier this year the California Supreme Court ruled that same sex marriage is to be legal in California.
