Un peu comme une météorite qui entre dans l’atmosphère, les Humanoïdes associés n’en finissent plus de se désintégrer avec le départ des plus grands titres et auteurs de leur catalogue. Cette fois c’est Ptiluc qui quitte la maison de Métal Hurlant pour Soleil. Le 10e volume de Rat’s, sa série phare, y est annoncé pour juin 2009.

30 ans après sa parution aux Humanos, le mythique Arzach de Moebius va avoir une suite en 2009, chez Stardom, maison d’édition perso de l’auteur. C’est ce que révèle actuabd.com, qui annonce que la nouveauté sera une sorte de “Blueberry mâtiné d’héroïc fantasy”. D’ici là, nous pourrons toujours nous plonger dans les carnets de l’auteur avec Inside Moebius, dont le cinquième tome est attendu ce mois-ci.

Bien loin des considérations de TF1, Étienne Davodeau nous raconte les aventures extraordinaires de Lulu, ménagère de moins de 50 ans. Mariée, trois enfants, à la faveur d’un énième refus dans sa recherche d’emploi, elle décide de prendre des vacances sur un coup de tête. Un voyage en dehors de sa routine. En spécialiste des fictions du réel, l’auteur nous procure dans ce premier tome une aventure singulièrement zen, tant tout semble couler de source pour sa femme au foyer moyenne. Un bol d’air frais qui donne envie, tout simplement.
En deux mots : Partir un jour
D’Étienne Davodeau, aux éditions Futuropolis - 80 pages - 16 €

Continue reading AOC keeps it simple with $160 F19 LCD monitor

Filed under: Displays

AOC keeps it simple with $160 F19 LCD monitor originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 20 Nov 2008 16:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

For all their mesmerizing graphics and adrenaline fueled gameplay, it might come as a surprise to non-gamers that many of today’s most popular computer games are bogged down by downtime (I should know - I spent the better part of 1999 mining virtual ore in Ultima Online to become a master blacksmith, and enjoyed about 10 minutes of it). MMOs like World of Warcraft see epic battles punctuated by hours of wandering mostly empty wilderness, while FPS games often punish gamers for dying by making them sit out and watch their comrades go at it until the beginning of the next round.

Today GotGame is giving these gamers something to do during these bouts of boredom. The company has released Rogue, a web browser based on WebKit and Adobe’s AIR platform that integrates directly into most of today’s popular gamers, allowing users to swap between their game and the web with a single hotkey. Gamers will be able to check their Email, listen to Pandora, watch Hulu videos, or casually browse the web at their leisure, jumping back into the game within seconds whenever they need to (the browser supports opacity, so it’s easy to tell when you need to swap your attention).

It’s possible to accomplish similar multitasking by placing games in ‘Windowed’ mode (which doesn’t make them take up the full screen), but this makes games prone to crashing and poor performance. Conversely GotGame says that Rogue should run perfectly fine with most games, and should only slightly affect performance (though the effect will increase significantly if you watch Flash-based movies like Hulu).

While it may seem counterintuitive to non-gamers, GotGame Rogue is a great idea - I would have loved to have had it during my gaming years (instead I was forced to sit a TV next to my computer monitor). Provided the app is as stable as GotGame claims, it will probably do very well. Other players in this space include Xfire, which offers an in-game application for socializing with other gamers.

Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.

Loyola University professor George Howard, who interviewed SoundExchange head Jon Simson in an entertaining video back in August, tells us he's been working on a new project: helping Wolfgang's Vault digitize and sell live concert recordings from the MC5 and other legendary acts.

If it owns the recording to one or more of its shows, any band with enough fan interest can sign a non-exclusive deal to sell them through Wolfgang's Vault. Since the band owns the sound recording in these cases, their record label has no claim on any revenue generated from selling the live recordings. The band need only pay the songwriter, assuming they didn't write the songs themselves.

We asked Howard a few questions about how this works in a quick e-mail interview (edited for length and clarity) in order to find out more about these untapped resources, which have lain dormant for too long in many cases.

Wired.com: Who made these recordings? And what should a kid do if he has a great-sounding live recording and want to try to get it distributed? Can they sell it to Wolfgang's Vault somehow?

George Howard, Loyola University, Wolfgang Press: These recordings are/were made by the artists.  I feel that live material has been kept under lock and key by draconian label policies surrounding exclusive artist clauses. In essence, these are untapped assets for artists, that -- prior to Wolfgang's Vault making this offering -- were not being used to their highest and best purposes. Obviously, in today's market, artists need as many revenue streams and promotional opportunities as possible. Selling live music provides a very valuable solution to both.

As for "kids" who want to get their music up on Wolfgang's Vault, currently we're working with artists who either have a following or are actively building one. For them, Wolfgang's Vault can accelerate their growth and provide a new revenue stream.

Wired.com: What's the licensing situation like?  I suppose you don't have to deal with the record label, so it's just the artist and publisher who need to be on-board, right?  How have publishers reacted to this?

Howard: It is admittedly easier when we do deals directly with the artist, but some forward-thinking labels are on board as well.  These distribution deals are non-exclusive. Wolfgang's Vault pays the full statutory rate to the publishers right off the top then takes a 30% admin fee, and remits the remainder to the artist. Publishers are delighted. It's another revenue stream for them; one where Wolfgang's Vault pays the statutory rate... no issues.

Howard: It's been gradually rolling out material for sale over the past year. We've built a pretty impressive little catalog of artists including Throwing Muses/Kristin Hersh, Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Preservation Hall, Benevento Russo Duo, and, of course, the Wayne Kramer, MC5, DKE material. In the next months we'll be making available material from Dead Confederate, Apollo Sunshine, Steve Wynne/Dream Syndicate and more.

Howard: Every artist should be finding ways to create the social objects that can help build -- as Mark Earls/Seth Godin say -- their tribe. These live show represent a specific moment in time, a document that's part of a greater narrative. Artists should most definitely be making these available both from the social object/marketing approach and the revenue generating possibilities.

Photo: marfis75