News written by Dave Horvath (November, 2007)

LightScribe Direct Disc Labeling today announced the immediate availability of the LightScribe Template Labeler, labeling software designed to simplify and enhance customers' CD and DVD labeling. The Template Labeler complements the capability of the Lightscribe Simple Labeler, launched in February 2007. The Template Labeler allows customers to create full label designs with its easy user interface. The new labeling software is available immediately for free download on LightScribe's website.

Six LightScribe template packs of new label designs are available for the Template Labeler: LightScribe Art Pack, LightScribe Holiday Pack, LightScribe Weddings Pack, LightScribe Special Occasions Pack, LightScribe Sports Pack and LightScribe Business Pack.

The Template Labeler and the new label design packs can be downloaded at www.lightscribe.com for free and works on computers running Windows (Vista/XP/2000). In addition to English, LightScribe Template Labeler for Windows will be available beginning in December 2007 in 23 languages, including Arabic, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Czech, Danish, Dutch, German, Greek, Finnish, French, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Portuguese-Brazilian, Russian, Slovakian, Spanish, Swedish and Turkish.

ipoque, a firm which specializes in solutions for internet traffic management released a study showing that in five major regions in the world, P2P traffic generates between 49 and 84 percent of the total Bandwidth usage on the Internet. The study continued to show interesting results such as the P2P rate increases to an astounding 95 percent at night time in each region. BitTorrent protocols still bring in the highest totals and its said that every fifth Internet user shares files on the Internet.

In relation, other forms of Internet traffic showed different results at different times. 95 percent of all Internet telephony is Skype. While VoIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) only accounts for a mere 1 percent of all Internet traffic, most of it is handled by the Skype application. Additionally, instant messaging programs vary from region to region with 60 percent being shown in the Middle East to Germany's mere 17 percent.

Flash movies embedded in Web sites like YouTube, which produced considerably more traffic. This and other forms of video Streaming generated eight percent of the Internet traffic during the measurement period.

While releasing their third-quarter earnings, DVR giant TiVo let a few details slip about what TiVo 4 will contain.

TiVo and the cable industry have come to an agreement on a blue-print for a retail TiVo DVR using the cable industry’s OpenCable Application Platform that will have full two-way cable service functionality. While the technical specifications are still being worked out, such a set-top box will mean TiVo subscribers will be able to get full access to cable video-on-demand and other two-way cable services. This could also mean that a standalone TiVo offering could fully substitute for a cable operator set-top box. This understanding was communicated yesterday to the FCC through an ex parte filing by TiVo.

"We are very excited by the emphasis that Comcast has placed on this product within its organization and their plans to aggressively market it at a $2.95 up-charge as well as through packaged bundles and win-back offers.

Source:
TiVo Inc.

The popular software DVD player, WinDVD has recently been awareded the BD-Video Profile 1.1 certification by the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA). This award comes by way of WinDVD being known as the primary and most popular PC software to play Blu-ray movies.

Jeff Hastings, President and General Manager, Digital Media at Corel commented, "Corel is pleased to be the first DVD playback software vendor to receive BD-Video 1.1 Certification. With the retail release of Profile 1.1-enabled Blu-ray Discs early in 2008, WinDVD users will be able to enjoy the ultimate at-home movie viewing experience, watching their favorite high-definition Blu-ray Disc movies, while enjoying the director's commentary at the same time."

WinDVD users can expect the update in their software to reflect the new Profile 1.1 in early 2008.

Source:
Blu-ray.com

A company out of Sydney by the name of 22Moo has unveiled something of interest. They claim they're launching the world's first wireless video glasses with support for DivX and other formats with its built in media player. Their subsidiary company, YelloMosquito has announced the arrival of the Qingbar Gp300, the world's first wireless LCOS (Liquid Crystal on Silicon) display glasses.

This state-of-the-art device combined with LCOS display and media player, allows you to enjoy a big cinema screen experience through a pair of sleek and funky video glasses with hi-fi audio through high quality earphones in one tiny device eliminating the distraction of wires. It is totally hands free, mobile and private. The Qingbar GP300 features a sleek, light weight design with LCOS micro displays, which deliver crisp, vivid-color, QVGA video image simulates the image of a 50" display from a distance of 2M away. You just insert a mini SD card into the slot, and then you can entertain yourself with your favorite movies / videos, MP3 music, JPEG photos, or e-book text.

Looking at the success of social networking sites such as MySpace, the fall update for Microsoft's Xbox Live dashboard will contain a few features that bring you and your friends closer together. Launching on December 4th, the update will soon allow Xbox Live customers to browse the friends list of your friends so you can see who else your friends play, in an effort to gain more playable online friends.

By default, this update will make your friends list available for browsing by default to only your friends, but also will let you custom tailor how you'd like to appear online. If you are 18 or older, you can set your profile to Everyone, which will allow anyone in the community to browse your profile, Friends Only, which if you're 13 or older can allow only your immediate friends to browse your categories, or Blocked, which of course will not allow anyone to browse your friends list.

No word on how the gamers will take this approach. There are some that feel they would like their gaming experiences to remain as private as possible and don't like the idea of anyone and everyone keeping tabs on their video game prowess. It remains to be seen if Microsoft will make a clear indication that the default settings can be altered or even blocked to help keep those people who would like to remain private just that.

In the constant struggle to become the new dominant format in the ongoing battle between Blu-ray and HD-DVD, it appears that the Blu-ray camp just might have scored another point on their side. According to studies in Europe, Blu-ray has broken the 1 million sales mark this year and now accounts for 73 percent of all high definition movie discs sold.

The Blu-ray Disc Association announced Tuesday that they had officially sold their 1 millionth unit in Europe and when that total is combined with total game Blu-ray discs produced for sale in Europe, the total exceeds 21 million units.

According to data provided by Media Control Gfk International, the total percentage of Blu-ray discs sold in Europe amounts to 73 percent, while HD-DVD sales come in at a scant 27 percent overall. To the same token, Home Media Research said that in October Blu-ray titles had outsold rival HD-DVD titles by almost two-to-one in the first nine months of the year in the United States.

Source:
Reuters

Details are sketchy at this point but the BBC, ITV, and Channel 4 are set to launch a new on-demand video service which is expected to bring together hundreds of hours of television in one convenient place.

Currently, all three companies offer their own on-demand service, but this joint venture is set to launch early in 2008 and has yet to be named or approved by BBC Trust. What they plan on launching is all current programs offered by each station as well as archived media. This new service will not impede with the each company's individual on-demand services.

As of launch, all of the three company's programs will be available for free download, Streaming or purchase via the Internet. They are currently looking into ways to bring the media to other outlets and devices. "The new service will contain some of the very best of the UK's content for consumers to view in one place, which will be both easy to use and great fun," said John Smith, the chief executive of BBC Worldwide.

Source:
BBC

In a move that stems from a recent German court challenge by rival Vodafone, T-Mobile will begin offering the Apple iPhone to German customers without the need to sign an exclusive contract with the company. Much like O2 in the UK and AT&T in the US, T-Mobile had inked an exclusive deal with Apple to provide service for the iPhone. Vodafone went to court to challenge the competition clause in this an in light of it, T-Mobile has decided to take preemptive measures.

T-Mobile will now sell the iPhone to any consumer that wishes to own one with no contract for a stifling 999 euros ($1,477, £719). This is obviously in effort make up costs they would have been guaranteed if the customer would sign the required contract. With a two year contract, consumers would only have to pay 399 euros.

T-Mobile stated that it will do whatever it can to assist consumers "until the legal situation is resolved". Such actions include unlocking the SIM card within the phone. This would allow consumers to use any network they wish. They also stated they are willing to do this for consumers who have already purchased the phone.

Source:
BBC

Now fans who have been holding off on buying Sony's PS3 can still garner some of the benefits of the device by downloading content directly from the newly launched Playstation Store. This web based store currently features a few PSP titles available for download and some classic PSX titles as well. On the website as of this posting, Wipeout Pure is available for download at a curiously low file size of 156Mb for $14.99 along with an even smaller 67Mb Syphon Filter:Combat Ops multi-player shooter for $9.99.

The PSX games available seem to be of the classic variety. Several titles from the system's early years appear on the download list. Several demos are also available for your downloading pleasure.

Sony does require Firmware 3.70 or greater to utilize this feature and also requires you use their PSP Network Downloader to put the systems on your memory card. What this will do to the Homebrew scene is still unknown.

Source:
Playstation Store

Mark Waldrep, Ph.D. is the man behind the first and only all HD audio label AIX Records has announced he is launching a new site, iTrax.com. The site is being touted as the world’s first digital music download service to offer REAL HD Audio in multiple mixing perspectives.

According to Waldrep, "iTrax.com is a sort of an iTunes for people that care about sound quality, surround music and don’t want to be restricted in the use of the music they download. This new web site allows music lovers, home theater owners and surround music fans to access music that has actually been recorded, mixed and mastered in high-definition – most 'so-called' HD Audio downloads are really standard definition tracks delivered through the web. iTrax.com delivers better than CD quality digital downloads for the first time, without copying restrictions…and in 5.1 surround."

Each Track on the site is offered in a variety of formats and include up to three different mixes. Consumers will be able to choose from MP3, Dolby Digital, DTS, WMA Pro, WMA Lossless and even uncompressed PCM at 96 kHz/24-bits. They can also select what sort of mix they want, an exclusive feature of the new site. iTrax offers 2.0 stereo, 5.1 “stage” and 5.1 “audience” perspective mixes, making it the first and only download service to provide users real choice.

In a recent investigation put on by the Federal Communications Commission, they've found that an old statute set in 1984 which regulated the business model of cable companies in the US has just about reached fruition. This statute claimed that should cable companies which provide more than 36 channels is available to 70% of American households and reach a 70% penetration rate, the FCC would re-evaluate the business model to keep competition among cable companies fair. A new meeting which will take place on November 27th will discuss forcing cable companies to change to a more "a la carte" business model in which subscribers are offered a pay-per-channel lineup as opposed to bundled packages.

This proposal doesn't sit well with religious group, The Faith and Family Broadcasting Coalition. The group claims that this type of business model will "have a devastating effect on religious broadcasters and their mission to share the saving love of Christ to all nations."

"Though its proponents may be well-intentioned, the fact is a la carte would threaten the very existence of religious broadcasting and the myriad of social and public service ministries it supports by reducing its distribution in the marketplace," according to Colby May, of the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), which represents the Faith & Family Broadcasting Coalition.

Release your inner AVI. Break free from the chains of the OGM Container and do it all with free software.

Often times a lot of guides focus on going for the end product of DVD, yet never really focus on simply converting one format to another. OGM had made some strides within the video Streaming community for its ability to have multiple audio files and a subtitle file located in one easy to use video container. However, there has been some trepidation over whether people actually like the container as a viable format for viewing and converting movie files. Some people love the OGM container while others despise it like the Black Plague. This guide will take your OGM file, release the desired audio Track and subtitle file and convert the whole thing to an AVI with no loss in audio or video.

To see for yourself, you can access the new guide here or click on over to our Guides section and check out any number of our great guides.

Sony seems to has made a habit out of slashing its prices. Earlier this season, Sony brought out the 40Gb PS3 which brought a much needed surge in sales for the struggling console. Now, Sony wishes to lure more third party game developers into their midst by slashing the price of their development kits in half.

Although the predecessor of the PS3 was a dominant force in the console gaming market, its no secret that the PS3 has had a hard time moving units. It wasn't until it slashed the prices on its console that it saw successful sales numbers. In fact, in the week beginning November 5, Sony actually outsold this generation's juggernaut, the Nintendo Wii by some 20,000 units.

With lowering the price of the developer's kit for the PS3, Sony now hopes to expand on its library of games by hoping third-party developers will have an easier time making quality titles for their flagship console.

Source:
BBC

Adding another company to the list of people who wish to topple the success of Apple, Pioneer will soon launch a subscription based television service similar to iTunes dubbed SyncTV. For a monthly fee, subscribers will be able to download as many television shows as they desire for personal consumption.

The product will soon be rolling out for beta testing, but expect it to have a monthly fee in the range of $2 (£1/€1.50) and $4 (£2/€3) per month per television Channel. So subscribing to BBC1, BBC2 and BBC3 for instance could net you anywhere from 3 to 6 quid, if you live in that part of the world. The product is in testing right now and will begin its closed beta testing in January.

SyncTV president John Gildred stated that the service will deliver home theater quality television episodes with picture as good as DVD and possibly high definition.

Currently the format is an open one and doesn't have a particular piece of hardware in mind, like Apple's iPod, but Pioneer is currently attempting to court several hardware manufacturers to develop a device specifically for this service. Devices are expected to begin appearing sometime in 2008.

Previously, we reported that Comcast was being sued by a customer for blocking peer-to-peer traffic on their network. It was believed that the person bringing up the lawsuit was using his internet connection for illegitimate means and speculation arose on whether or not his case might gain any ground. Well, it seems that the customers aren't the only people upset with Comcast's traffic blocking practices.

Vuze a company which offers legal movie downloads to paying customers via the BitTorrent protocol has recently filed a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission stating that Comcast is hindering their potential customer base by limiting said customer's bandwidth due to P2P traffic. In the official complaint filed, Vuze is asking that the FCC institute new rules which govern network management by ISPs.

The main complaint is that ISPs advertise that consumers need their service if they wish to watch movies and such online, yet throttle their bandwidth in the process. Vuze VP of Marketing, John Fernandes says, "They say that they're engaging in reasonable network management, but what they're doing is slowing down some traffic."

A California man has filed suit against the cable giant Comcast claiming that they have engaged in unfair business practices by limiting download speeds for peer-to-peer traffic across their networks.

Jon Hart bases his lawsuit on an investigation by the Associated Press that reported, "Comcast actively interferes with attempts some high-speed Internet subscribers (make) to share files online." Additionally, he brought up claims by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a radical activist group that rallies against things from DRM to anti-piracy movements, of Comcast engaging in practices similar to that of the Chinese government censoring the Internet.

A PDF of the lawsuit is available for viewing.

Hart argues that Comcast's own marketing states lightning fast speeds and unfettered access to all the Internet has to offer. He claims that they have not lived up to their part of their own marketing by intentionally throttling "certain Internet applications" that he regularly uses.

The lawsuit seeks class action status and brings up the fact that Comcast's actions, in light of its marketing claims, constitute an unfair and fraudulent business practice under California consumer laws.

The CEO of Warner Music who as many know usually for being one of the forefathers of current DRM practices, Edgar Bronfman said in a statement that he feels the music industry may have made a mistake in waging war on file sharing. He stated that the music industry as a whole has to take the blame for the increase in P2P file sharing.

"We used to fool ourselves," said Bronfman. "We used to think our content was perfect just exactly as it was. We expected our business would remain blissfully unaffected even as the world of interactivity, constant connection and file sharing was exploding. And of course we were wrong. How were we wrong? By standing still or moving at a glacial pace, we inadvertently went to war with consumers by denying them what they wanted and could otherwise find and as a result of course, consumers won."

Bronfman went on to state that mobile operators risk the same and fewer than 10% of mobile owners actually buy music on their mobile devices, most of these being ringtones.

"The sad truth is that most of what consumers are being offered today on the mobile platform is boring, banal and basic," he said. "People want a more interesting form of mobile music content. They want it to be easy to buy with a single click - yes, a single click, not a dozen. And they want access to it, quickly and easily, wherever they are. 24/7. Any player in the mobile value chain who thinks they can provide less than a great experience for consumers and remain competitive is fooling themselves."

Based out of Fremont, California, Envision Peripherals Inc. introduced its Omni Series displays today showcasing stylish high performance LCD TVs including an impressive wide-screen 42-inch Envision L42W761.

"Envision's new HDTV's are the perfect complement to any home or office setting," said Michael Lien, GM, North America Brand Sales. "With a combination of sleek sophistication, remarkable picture and sound quality and total ease of use, the Omni Series TVs are the perfect gifts for someone seeking the ultimate theater experience."

Each of the new 26-, 32- and 42-inch TVs boasts High-Definition capability with ATSC and digital clear-QAM tuners, providing crystal clear reception of over-the-air HD broadcasts and enabling them to Decode clear channels transmitted digitally over cable without the need for separate set-top receiver boxes. Advanced connectivity options allow simultaneous access to multiple digital multimedia devices including DVRs, Blu-ray or HD-DVD players, game consoles, digital photo and video cameras and PCs.

Back in January, Interact-TV had announced the launch of a device called MyTellyHD which ran on Linux and allowed you to store your media on one convenient device. Well, the company has outdone themselves with offering to the public a media storage center capable of holding up to 3.75TB (yes, thats TeraByte) of digital files for your multimedia needs. At current standards, some 750 DVDs could conceptually be stored on this device.

Space wasn't their only concern as they designed it to play well with another product they created called TellyVizionHD which would then allow you to setup a rather limitless storage DVR system.

Inside this device, you'll find no fans to keep it cool as it apparently doesn't need them, which will in turn make for silent operation within your entertainment center. Aside from that, you can expect 5 linked 750GB Seagate hard drives connected via eSATA for fast and reliable data transfer. On the blue back-lit display, there is a space left for overheating warnings so you'll know if you're about to cook your device.

Though not much news has circulated about details on the WiFi-enabled personal media player being developed by Haier and AOL since its showing at CES at the beginning of the year, the cover has finally been lifted. Its now received a new name and a few of the specs have been released for public propaganda. Being named the ibiza Rhapsody and featuring three different versions, the wireless capable PMPs will include 4Gb, 8Gb and 30Gb varieties. Each model will also be available in a select range of colors. All the players appear to look identical with their 2.5-inch displays, FM radio, built in WiFi, bluetooth and integration with the AOL video service and Rhapsody-To-Go.

No word yet as to when they'll be available, but look for them to tip the scales on the expensive side of the spectrum with the 4, 8, and 30Gb models costing $230, $250, and $330 respectively.

Source:
Engadget

In the console wars this generation, its not anything new that Nintendo has become a regular juggernaut in terms of sales. Even a year after its launch, its still difficult for the average consumer to walk into their local electronics store and find a Wii sitting on the store shelves. Worldwide the little console that could is hopping off shelves and into happy homes faster than Nintendo can keep up. Nintendo now warns that it may not be able to keep up with the demand to keep UK shelves stocked during this holiday season.

Nintendo has said that it is doing everything possible to keep up with demand and the company has decided to ship an additional 3.5 million units globally. In April, Nintendo estimated a yearly shipment of 14 million units but has raised that estimate to 17.5 million. Despite that, Nintendo says that not every gamer who wants a Wii for the holidays is guaranteed to get one.

"The demand for Wii hardware globally has been unprecedented and higher than Nintendo could ever have anticipated. Nintendo is now in a position in which seasonality demand trends are being broken, therefore the demand for Wii hardware is constant throughout the whole year globally. Due to this phenomenon it is possible that the demand for Wii hardware may outstrip supply," said a Nintendo spokeswoman.

In the desperate struggle for personal media player makers to compete with Apple's onslaught, Milpitas California based Creative has reached a new personal milestone. Today the company announced that it has officially shipped a total of 25 million MP3 players. Creative holds the number two slot in global unit shipments according to IDC March 2007 report on worldwide and US flash and HDD-based portable media player shipments.

"Shipment of 25 million MP3 players marks a major milestone in Creative history, as our player unit volume exceeds the combined unit sales from some of the biggest names in consumer electronics," said Sim Wong Hoo,
chairman and CEO of Creative. "We believe that we now have our strongest lineup of MP3 and portable media players ever, as we continue to innovate with our recently introduced ZEN(R) Stone, ZEN Stone Plus, and the credit
card-sized ZEN."

Creative shipped its first flash based MP3 player dubbed NOMAD in 1999 and in 2000 launched the Creative Nomad Jukebox which was a high capacity hard drive based media player. Subsequently, later launches of the Creative MuVo and ZEN family of players received critical acclaim and garnered three consecutive Best of CES awards. The Creative ZEN Vision:M won the overall Best in Show award at CES in 2006, edging out more than 2500 other companies.

Just about any person who thinks of their favorite super hero knows the name Marvel. The comic company has been a part of culture and created some of the most fascinating super heroes of our time. Their analysts say that even their paper format of delivering issues of comic books haven't been safe from piracy on the Internet. It is said that upon release of a new issue, a comic book is scanned and shared on the Internet within 36 hours of its publication. With that, Marvel is hoping its new subscription service will help subside the illegal sharing of their intellectual properties.

Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited will launch a subscription service to the tune of $59.88 a year, or at a monthly rate of $9.99, offering high-resolution reprints of more than 2500 back issues. These subscriptions will be obtainable through their marvel.com website.

Included in these issues are the likes of everyone's favorites like X-men, Incredible Hulk and Spiderman to name a few.

"We did not want to get caught flat-footed with kids these days who have the tech that allows them to read comics in a digital format," says Dan Buckley, Marvel's president. "Our fan base is already on the Internet. It seemed like a natural way to go."

In a move to further enhance the iEmpire, Chinese Cell phone provider China Mobile has entered talks with Steve Jobs and company to sell the Apple iPhone in China. Talks seem to be going relatively smoothly, however China Mobile CEO says he doesn't like the revenue sharing that takes place between Apple and other mobile carriers elsewhere in the world.

Apple has been signing exclusive deals with several mobile operators to provide service to the iPhone exclusively in exchange for a share of the profits on the contracts signed. O2 in the UK and AT&T in the US both have agreed to similar deals where the operator pays for a portion of their iPhone subscriber revenue. Apple states that it would like to roll out the iPhone to Asia next year and China Mobile would be a good deal for them as they are China's largest mobile operator with some 350 million subscribers and potential iPhone-aphiles.

In contrast, China Mobile is also part of Google's Open Handset Alliance, a consortium of technologists that will develop products with the Google Android mobile phone platform in mind. This platform is said to potentially be competition for the iPhone once it reaches production.

Dell has been no stranger to releasing 30-inch monitors for PC hungry geeks worldwide, but its previous model fell short of some expectations. Dell has made sure they will right what is wrong with their newest next-gen monitor, the 3008WFP.

Armed with not only 30 Widescreen inches of pixel topology, the monitor gets several different inputs such as HMDI, two dual link DVI inputs, Component, S-VHS, Composite in, USB upstream connector, and a DisplayPort connection. With several different inputs, its quite possible for this monitor to have up to five different machines running into this one monitor.

The processing chip within the monitor allows for resolutions of 2560x1600, 1920x1200, 1920x1080, 1680x1050 and all the other more common Resolution schemes. The monitor itself will also feature the to-be-expected tilt, swivel and vertical extension that seems to be with all of them now-a-days.

Source:
The Inquirer

The social networking site Bebo has announced today that it will launch an "Open Media" platform on its site to host audio and video for its community. They say that this platform is a way for media brands to build a presence within the community through the use of audio and video.

Mixing the features similar to MySpaceTV and Facebook's Pages feature, Bebo's Open Media platform can be joined without licensing agreements and charge no fees to the content providers. They state that the content will be strictly Limited to just music and video. The site claims that they this system will offer its community "thousands of hours of premium entertainment content from major global entertainment brands and emerging media companies."

With this platform, members will be able to create their own media profiles and store their favorite songs and videos there, while media companies will receive an option to create Channel profiles so their content can be easily found within the community.

Source:
CNet

While rumors sprout up about Microsoft's Xbox 360 may be getting DivX support, it has been confirmed that Sony will include DivX support with their flagship PS3.

There will be a Firmware update that will enable the support for DivX playback which opens up the system as a much more media friendly system. While the implementation is still unseen, there are talks about integration within Sony's online meeting place Home having support for the imported digital files as well. No word yet on how Sony will attempt to stop people from broadcasting intellectual property or adult content over their vulnerable online sharing network.

Playback on the system is certified by DivX to be "excellent" yet there is no word on whether or not it will upscale these files to 1080p or make use of the digital surround sound.

Source:
Press Release

Even though Apple has stated that it will open its vulnerable iPhone to third-party development in the near future, it seems they're still playing the cat-and-mouse game with hackers over their latest Firmware.

Update 1.1.2 was released and later exploited almost immediately. Apple had released the update which was found to fix the once open loophole of TIFF imaging which previously allowed hackers into the root of the system and disable all third-party applications. Very soon after its release, the hackers found another exploit that lets them "jailbreak" their phones.

Third party applications aren't the only thing that bring a big lure for people to unlock their iPhones. Not being tied to AT&T service contracts is a major issue. It has been reported that some 250,000 of the 1.4 million iPhones sold have been unlocked for this purpose.

In addition to trying to block hackers, the 1.1.2 update offers international keyboard options and network support. Both releases in time for the UK and German launches.

Source:
eFlux Media

In a recent move by the Federal Communications Commission things could begin to look up for cable subscribers. A new regulation that could take effect soon looks to make large cable providers like Comcast and Time Warner to slash the prices they charge for smaller television programmers to lease space on spare cable channels. This move, could then trickle to the consumer by way of allowing a wider variety of shows to choose from as independent broadcasters have an easier means in which to get their product out there.

In addition, their deregulation attempts could limit cable companies from having any more than 30 percent of subscribers in a given area. This proposal comes as a result of the FCC's annual review of competition in the video industry.

FCC Chairman Kevin Martin stated, "In every other industry regulated by the FCC, there have been significant decreases in the price of services, such as in long-distance rates and wireless rates. But the one exception to that is cable rates, which have gone up almost 100 percent."

Source:
Washington Post

In a 700+ page document submitted before the US Congress, there is a bill that offers some interesting enlightenment as to how deep the MPAA and RIAA are in with congressional lobbying. Within this bill is a provision that offers up what they're calling a "technology based deterrent" for colleges that allow their students to get away with illegal file-sharing. In this bill, it states that if Colleges and Universities wish to keep the federal funding for financial aid that they so enjoy, then they would need to conform with the file-sharing preventative measures outlined in this bill.

The terms in this proposed act state that the schools will be required to inform the students during the financial aid application process of the dangers of file-sharing and their responsibility to help prevent it. The students will also be informed that they will lose said funding if they are caught participating in file-sharing that isn't deemed worthy by the University. In addition, the students will be warned of civil and criminal charges that could be brought up on them should they choose to participate in illegal file-sharing.

Based in Paris, an online mobile music service company named Musiwave has entered talks with Microsoft about a possible acquisition. A Microsoft executive stated that it is currently in exclusive discussions with parent company Openwave Systems Inc. over the details of purchasing Musiwave.

No details have been released yet, but Microsoft plans to use this service to give better support for their Windows Media Player, Zune, and MSN services. Microsoft stated that the purchase will bring Musiwave closer to recording companies, device makers and mobile operators for more exclusive deals as well as work independently with Microsoft's Connected Entertainment.

If the transaction goes through, Musiwave will continue to operate out of its headquarters in Paris.

Source:
Reuters

In its never ending quest to beat Apple at the digital music player game, Microsoft has officially announced what some have known for some time. The Zune player will not only come in 3 new varieties, but also be available with custom artwork and laser engraved text that the consumer can pre-select on order.

Should a would-be consumer want to customize their new music player, the Zune Originals line comes with laser engraved designs from some 18 different artists. These artists include the likes of Colletivo Studios, Catalina Estrada, Laurent Fetis, Sam Flores, Klaus Haapaniemi, Pierre Marie, Kenzo Minami, Parskid, Mike Perry, Phunk Studios, Chisato Shinya, Skwak, Iosefatu Sua, Tado, Nobumasa Takahashi, Ramiro Torres, Darvin Vida, and Steve Wilson. The zuneoriginals.net website is set to go live tomorrow.

In addition, consumers can also add up to 3 lines of their own personalized text, or 5 lines of text with no art. Also, they can choose from some 20 different "tattoos" and all with no additional charge over the player.

The three new models themselves come in a 4Gb flavor for $149, an 8Gb for $199 and an 80Gb for $249.