Futuremark very kindly let us know that they're currently running a comic strip competition, in conjunction with Alienware.
The prize is a pretty sweet notebook - with a 17" screen and powered by an Intel Core 2 processor (specific processor is not stated) together with an AMD Mobility Radeon X1800. Intel and AMD are working together! (*I keeeeeddd.*) I would love to have one to play WoW on. :D
Anyhow, the contest itself is pretty fun - you basically draw a mini comic strip (on anything) and if it's judged to be the "best/funniest" - then you win! [Strangely - only one entry per person, and not so strangely - you must be in the US/Canada/EU.] Unfortunately, like most contests of this sort, all rights in the contest entries accrue to Futuremark - and a little more unusually, even moral rights (e.g. the right to be identified as the author of the comic) are possibly assigned to Futuremark.
I don't quite know if I agree with this. While the practice is certainly widespread (check it out the terms and conditions the next time you enter any contest which involves you creating copyrightable work), and indeed might make the entire exercise commercially feasible (e.g. free sources of photos!), perhaps taking such a harsh approach isn't the best way. Taken to an extreme, the transfer of your rights means that you can't even display the comic you drew for the contest, because you no longer own the copyright. It's possible to argue that the copyrights were procured for a fee, and indeed if the person was actually compensated (i.e. was a contest winner) perhaps this would be true, but in this case ALL copyrights are assigned once the entry is submitted. Oh well. Just so long as the people drawing the comics are aware of this ;)
The other thing, which is not really as unusual, is that you provide personal information and "opt-in" to receive marketing. My friend, Wil Harris, wrote a little while back that Web 2.0 = loss of privacy. It's probably true, and the question is how much that really is worth. Having to reveal your information in a competition is probably less insidious - and Futuremark at least has a decent privacy policy. Just something else to take note of, generally...
[and I didn't post the previous story!~ must have left some setting changed accidentally. I'll leave it on though, just for fun..]
