The Congressional Joint Economic Committee has begun work on a framework for figuring whether and how to tax transactions involving virtual objects from video games and online worlds like Second Life and World of Warcraft. This issue was predicted with spooky clarity in Julian Dibbell's excellent Play Money.
“There is a concern that the IRS might step forward with regulations that start taxing transactions that occur within virtual economies. This, I believe, would be a mistake,” Chairman Jim Saxton said today.Link, PDF link to Joint Economic Commitee release (Thanks, Mobius!)In response to this concern, the staff of the Joint Economic Committee has begun an examination of the public policy issues related to virtual economies. A virtual economy is defined as the universe of transactions that occur within an online community, such as Second Life or World of Warcraft. These transactions include the sale of goods and services and take place entirely within virtual economies; there is no real-world or physical exchange. However, a real-world value can often be assigned to such transactions using exchange rates or other methods.
This chair made from vintage suitcases looks like a million bucks.
“A rumor is what you do when you try to figure out the truth with other people,” DiFonzo says. “It’s collective sense making. The classic example is ‘I heard that…’”
Thought it might be interesting for you: Iranian governemmt has sent a letter to all ADSL providers in Iran, to limit access of their users to bandwidth above 128kbps. Before this, many people used ADSL connections ranging from 64kbps to 2.0mbps.
Keith sez, "This is something creepy just in time for Halloween! Back in Victorian times, it was, from what I understand, fairly common to prop up dead people and take their pictures; often times with their surviving family members."
Revver is a company that helps video creators add commercials to their short films, which creates a situation where the more a video is copied, the better it is for the creator. this is in marked contrast to the Hollysaurs, who are still pursuing improbably businesses that only work if they can make the Internet worse at copying bits.
Dori had her cherished WEB GEEK California plate stolen off her car, presumably as a souvenir. It's a gargantuan pain to replace it, and she's hoping that someone in blogistan knows of its whereabouts, so she's offering a no-questions-asked return policy.
ThinkGeek's carrying a line of simple, low-priced LED light-bulb replacements. They last ten years and draw one thirtieth of the power consumed by incandescents. I think the only downside here is that something that's this long-lived is bound to be obsolete long before it's burned-out. That's the green paradox: green manufacturers focus on long-lived tech because that's good for the landfills, but they also do such good R&D that the next generation of products is often miles better and miles longer-lived, which presents the dilemma of throwing away green technology before it's used up in order to replace it with wildly more efficient successor technologies.
Back in August, I 
*Please note: This fabric can be purchased for personal sewing projects only. This print cannot be used for items made for resale.
PCWorld's "History of Computers, As Seen in Old TV Ads" is an hilarious trip down memory lane -- I'm very fond of this Newton ad, which reminds me of just how much I fetishized those early PDAs. I wish they had the "
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