scrabble

Another nail in the 'Scrabulous' coffin

There's no more Scrabulous on Facebook. For real. Unless you're in India.

According to the Associated Press, the social network has officially disabled access to the popular online game, which closely resembles classic board game Scrabble, after receiving a complaint from Mattel, the company that publishes it outside the United States and Canada. Access within the U.S. and Canada had already been blocked.

The rights to Scrabble are owned by different companies: Hasbro handles the game in North America, and Mattel internationally. The two takedowns were different: The creators of Scrabulous disabled U.S. and Canadian access on their own, … Read more

Why Facebook left 'Scrabulous' alone

There's something funny about Facebook's handling of this week's Scrabulous affair.

One of the social network's most popular developer applications, as the Web well knows by now, was pulled by its creators after Scrabble parent company Hasbro filed a copyright and trademark infringement claim. The game returned several days later as Wordscraper, a redesigned and renamed game that's probably just different enough to keep Hasbro's lawyers away. And all the while, Facebook says that its only action was to forward Hasbro's complaint to the creators of Scrabulous.

What was so odd? Facebook'… Read more

'Scrabulous' gets a nip-tuck, returns as 'Wordscraper'

In the high school cafeteria of Facebook apps, Scrabulous is like that girl who gets in trouble for showing too much skin, only to throw on a hoodie and be let back into the principal's good graces. Sort of. The game has effectively returned, but with a redesigned board, a few original play options, a different points tabulation system, and a new name, Wordscraper.

Props to Adam Ostrow of Mashable for picking up on this one early.

The Facebook application Scrabulous had been taken down by its creators earlier this week when Hasbro, the game manufacturer that owns the … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 777: Eight-letter word for fail: Scrabble

On today's show, we discover that it's hard to stand out in an orgy, only about a quarter of things Molly says are words, and EA poops all over you. That's just the kind of show we have when Rafe Needleman fills in for Tom.

Listen now: Download today's podcast EPISODE 777/b>

Happy birthday, NASA! http://science.slashdot.org/science/08/07/29/2120225.shtml

EA: Hack took Facebook Scrabble down http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-10002363-36.html

Garmin delays Nuvifone http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121742654018296961.html

Dell tests player to renew iPod battle … Read more

EA: Hack took Facebook 'Scrabble' down

The saga continues: Electronic Arts, which handles digital versions of the board game Scrabble for North American parent company Hasbro, has claimed that malicious hackers were responsible for the disappearance of its Facebook application on Tuesday.

The game had crashed on the same day that the creators of Scrabulous, a popular imitation game, blocked access to North American visitors after a legal complaint from Hasbro. With the real Scrabble inaccessible, irritated fans assumed that there was a server problem--the game is in beta, after all--and filled the application's discussion wall with angry comments.

But the real problem, EA has … Read more

'Scrabble' app on Facebook crashes in wake of 'Scrabulous' takedown

When Scrabulous, a popular game on Facebook's developer platform, was shut down earlier on Tuesday because of copyright infringement issues with the manufacturer of the Scrabble board game, word game fans weren't totally left in the dark. After all, Electronic Arts (which handles the digital rights to Scrabble for the game's parent company, Hasbro) had recently created an official beta version of Scrabble for the platform.

Problem is, the servers that were hosting the "real" Scrabble app couldn't handle the load of new migrants, and the application crashed on Tuesday afternoon. Oops!

"We'… Read more

Buzz Out Loud 776: The Dark Knight kills the Godfather

The wisdom of the crowds turns out to be simple mob rule, as Dark Knight fans not only mod up their new favorite movie but start modding down The Godfather on IMDB. Also, we do a probably wildly inaccurate (but, we think, hilarious) T. Boone Pickens impression because plain old financial stories are just not interesting enough. Oh, and Scrabulous is now gone from Facebook. So, you know, get back to work. Listen now: Download today's podcast Episode 776

Yahoo says DRM issue overblown by media, but will offer refunds http://www.betanews.com/article/Yahoo_says_DRM_issue_overblown_by_media_but_will_offer_refunds/1217287551

Microsoft goes … Read more

'Scrabulous' disappears from Facebook after Hasbro suit

Facebook users in the U.S. and Canada can no longer access Scrabulous, the faux-Scrabble game that quickly became one of the most popular applications on its developer platform.

This was done independently on behalf of the Scrabulous creators, a Facebook representative told CNET News in an e-mail Tuesday. "In response to a legal request from Hasbro, the copyright and trademark holder for Scrabble in the U.S. and Canada, the developers of Scrabulous have suspended their application in the U.S. and Canada until further notice," the e-mail explained.

The game's disappearance comes in the wake … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 774: The feel-good episode of the year

That's sarcasm, I'm afraid. Lots of bad news today, including the tragic end to the Spam King escape story, the cell-phones-and-cancer debate makes a resurgence with some serious recommendations for careful use, and AOL starts up a fire sale. In good news, though, a new iPhone firmware upgrade is on deck, and it may bring turn-by-turn GPS AND copy and paste. But you know, don't get your hopes up. Have a great weekend! Listen now: Download today's podcast EPISODE 774

Escaped ’spam king’ allegedly kills self, family http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-9999451-83.html

Cancer doc urges … Read more

'Scrabble' maker Hasbro sues over 'Scrabulous'

This is the lawsuit we all knew was coming: Hasbro, which sells the Scrabble board game, has sued to shut down the wildly popular knockoff on Facebook called Scrabulous.

Hasbro on Thursday filed a copyright and trademark lawsuit in New York against the creators of the ad-supported Scrabulous application, which boasts an astonishing half-million daily users.

Mark Blecher, general manager for Hasbro Digital Media, said in a telephone interview that his employer's goal is to promote its authentic, legitimate Facebook application. "This is theft of intellectual property," Blecher said of Scrabulous. "It's really no different … Read more