You may have felt immersed in a comic book before, but never quite so literally as this. Madefire has released a free Gear VR preview app that lets you read its Motion Books in virtual reality. As you might guess, it’s all about depth. Pages now fill your view, and creators can add 3D layers to individual panels. While it’s not real 3D (your childhood dreams of exploring comic universes will have to wait), it beats staring at completely flat pictures on a PC or tablet. You’ll initially get just a smattering of sample comics to read (such as Injustice: Year One and Madefire’s own Mono: The Old Curiosity Shop ), but Madefire hopes to add some level of VR support to its entire 10, 000-plus comic catalog by the holidays. Are you going to regularly read comics with a headset from now on? Probably not, especially since Madefire’s library only represents a slice of the comic book world. However, it’s a good example of how VR can boost an ordinary reading experience. Via: TechCrunch , Android Community Source: Oculus , Marketwired
Continue reading here:
Comic books come to VR through an app
Steam is finally getting a proper refund system. Starting today, users of Valve’s PC platform will be able to get a full refund on any game for any reason , provided it’s been less than 14 days since purchase and they’ve spent less than two hours playing. Read more… 
You’re probably familiar with this image, the infamous “trollface” that’s circulated the Internet for years. Someone drew the original trollface, and it’s 24-year-old Carlos Ramirez. Read more… 
Current US law extends copyright for 70 years after the date of the author’s death, and corporate “works-for-hire” are copyrighted for 95 years after publication. But prior to the 1976 Copyright Act (which became effective in 1978), the maximum copyright term was 56 years—an initial term of 28 years, renewable for another 28 years. Under those laws, works published in 1958 would enter the public domain on January 1, 2015, where they would be “free as the air to common use.” Under current copyright law, we’ll have to wait until 2054 . Read more… 
Dave Knott writes Raymond Almiran Montgomery, original publisher and author of the incredibly popular “Choose Your Own Adventure” book series for children, the 4th bestselling children’s series of all time, has died at the age of 78. In 1975, Montgomery founded a small press and when, in 1977, Ed Packard submitted an innovative book for young readers, “Sugarcane Island”, Montgomery immediately saw it for what it was: a role-playing game in book form. He leapt at the chance to publish it, and launched a series, writing the second book, “Journey Under The Sea”, himself. When Montgomery went through a divorce and sold his stake in the press to his ex-wife, he took the series, renamed as “Choose Your Own Adventure”, to Bantam. The books went on to sell more than 250 million copies across 230 titles in 40 languages. Montgomery’s interests also extended to new technology, adapting the series to the Atari console in 1984. He was also responsible for the Comic Creator software on Apple’s Macintosh computers. Montgomery died on November 9th. The cause of death was not disclosed. Read more of this story at Slashdot.