Despite some people casting doubts over Apple's recent move to introduce videos to its iTunes Music Store, it seems that Steve Jobs has managed to find the winning formula again. Apple announced today that it has sold more than one million video clips via its iTunes store since the introduction of video offerings on 12th of October.
"Selling one million videos in less than 20 days strongly suggests there is a market for legal video downloads," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "Our next challenge is to broaden our content offerings, so that customers can enjoy watching more videos on their computers and new iPods."
The achievement is even more impressive considering that the iTunes store has a selection of only appx. 2,000 videos, out of which, most are music videos. Each video costs $1.99 and the service is currently available only to U.S. customers.
Samsung Electronics, a Korean digital products giant, is seeking to have its own version of iTunes to help push its MP3 player hardware forward. The market for MP3 players is so far dominated by Apple Computer Inc. in many countries, and a large part of that success has been based on the fact that the iPod music players and iTunes music store and tied together. Samsung has noticed the effect this had on iPod sales and now hopes to do the same itself.
"We are now in talks with our partners to debut a service program like iTunes of Apple. Our No. 1 priority is to help customers use our products with ease," Samsung president Choi Gee-sung said. "Our items show healthy performances in China and Southeast Asian countries where iTunes services are not provided". Samsung entered the MP3 Player market late but the company has a reputation of taking on big rivals and ultimately beating them.
So far Samsung has stuck mainly to flash based players, which have proved unsuccessful. The demand for HDD-based players is rising all over the world is driven mainly by iPod music players. You can get iPods that store up to 60GB of music and video files. Last year Samsung sold about 1.7 million MP3 players, which was a disappointing figure for the electronics giant.
The man at the centre of a file sharing debate in Sweden has been found guilty of copyright violations and find 16,000 kronor ($2,000) by Västmanland district court in Västerås. The 28 year old made newspaper headlines in Sweden as the country has over 800,000 file sharers. He had originally admitted to Police that he had made the movie Hip Hip Hora available for download from his computer on a DC++ hub. However, in court he withdrew the confession and said it was just a misunderstanding.
The court considered that his backtracking was a fabrication and dismissed attempts by his lawyer to discredit the evidence put against the man. In the judgment the court pointed out that file sharing could cause serious damage to the film industry and that it should be a crime that is taken seriously. The fact that he didn't profit off his activity was the reason for the court's decision to simply hand down a fine instead of handing down a prison term.
"I am satisfied that it was stated that this is a criminal offence and that it can be seen as public distribution," Prosecutor Chatrine Rudström said. However, apparently since the crime only ended up leading to a fine, the police cannot request person details from Internet Service Providers or carry out raids on homes as a result, since they wont know who was using the IP address. Rudström said she was going to wait to see similar cases before she draws conclusions about what this means for file sharers in Sweden.
According to iTunes Vice President Eddy Cue, Apple's biggest competitor in online music downloading is P2P. iTunes launched in Australia yesterday, giving Australian people what Cue says is an alternative to illegal music downloads with a fair price. Songs in the Australian iTunes store will cost $1.27 each ($12.86 per album) and music videos will cost about $2.57.
"Our view is that our biggest competitor is illegal music and P2P services. We always thought that if we offered a better alternative, then those customers would be happy to pay," said Cue. "Obviously...we will never be better than 'free.' But we think $1.27 (1.69 Australian dollars) is a very competitive and fair price to pay." Cue hyped up Apple's iTunes music store, repeating its worldwide success again.
"We have now sold over 600 million songs worldwide and have nearly 80 percent market share in most of the countries we are in," he said. "This is our 21st time, and I will say that there is no place that we have ever launched where music downloads have been strong prior to us." He also has a belief that the next generation of music buyers will see music as "digital bandwidth".
A Hong Kong man has become the first ever person convicted of copyright infringement for uploading Hollywood movies using BiTorrent. Chan Nai-ming has been found guilty of illegally uploading at least three Hollywood blockbusters. The three movies named are Daredevil, Red Planet and Miss Congeniality. The Hong Kong government said it was its first successful action against illegal P2P file sharing. Chan has been released on bail and awaits a sentencing hearing on November 7th.
"This ruling means a lot," said Hong Kong Commerce Secretary John Tsang. File sharing in the country fell by 80% after the arrest according to the Hong Kong customs department. The maximum penalty for the crime is four years and a fine. BitTorrent is widely used for movie and tv piracy because of its fast speeds and reliability. For this reason, several BitTorrent sites have been shut down in the past year and lawsuits filed against users.
The launch of Rockstar Games' latest GTA game, Liberty City Stories for the PlayStation Portable (PSP) console will be delayed until November 4th in Europe. The company has given no reason for the delay just yet. There has been no word about the U.S. release date, which is tomorrow, October 25th. Since it is one of the most highly anticipated games for the PSP yet, this news is set to disappoint some gamers.
If you live in Europe and own a PSP, then you know that it was frustrating having to wait months to get your hands on a PSP after it was available in Japan and North America. The game was supposed to be released in Europe this Friday, October 28th. It will be interesting to see how Rockstar has fit an entire city into a game once again, but this time, on a UMD disc for a handheld portable console.
Update: Due to rain forecast, the protest has been rescheduled for 7:00pm on October 27th at the Virgin Megastore at E. 14th St. and Broadway.
A group calling itself FreeCultureNYU will gather to protest the use of Digital Rights Management (DRM) protection on music in New York on Thursday. They will gather at the Virgin Megastore at E. 14th St. and Broadway at 7 PM to inform users about DRM and the dangers that surround it. The group believes consumers should have the right to purchase music and not have the content owners dictate to how they use it.
They will also be handing out flyers full of information about DRM and circumvention. Here's an example of the front and back of a flyer...
Apple Computer Inc. now faces a lawsuit over defective iPod Nanos which have screens that are extremely easy to scratch. The Nano was released last month along with the Motorola ROKR phone (iTunes-compatible phone) and immediately got excellent reviews. However over time, Nano owners noticed that the screen on the ultra small MP3 player was easily scratched during normal usage. The lawsuit alleges that Apple knew of the flaw but decided to go ahead with the release anyway.
A judge will now decide whether the lawsuit can be grouped with similar claims to win class action status. The lawsuit claims Apple's iPod Nano scratches "excessively during normal usage." It accuses Apple of making consumers believe the Nano was durable when the company already knew different. It blames the scratching defect on the film of plastic resin that covers it to protect it from damage.
Older iPod models had thicker and stronger resin according to the suit. "Rather than admit the design flaw when consumers began to express widespread complaints ... Apple concealed the defect and advised class members that they would need to purchase additional equipment to prevent the screen from scratching excessively," the complaint continues.
Sony Computer Entertainment has announced that the total figure of PlayStation Portable (PSP) consoles shipped worldwide has reached 10M, making it the fastest selling PlayStation gaming product yet. The console went on sale first last December in Japan, then March in North America and September in Europe. North America sits on the top spot for the greatest number of PSP shipments.
4.5 million PSPs were shipped in North America, followed by 3 million in Japan and 2.5 million in Europe. 183 official software titles were available for the PSP by September this year and the total shipments of games for the PSP so far is 19.6 million units. Sales of the console should stay strong through the holiday season, for which Sony has announced the PSP Giga Pack.
A new PSP pack will be available for the holiday season this year, the PSP Giga Pack, Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) has announced. The most significant difference between the giga pack and the value pack is the swapping of the standard 32MB Memory Stick Duo for a 1GB Memory Stick Duo. The price is also different. The giga pack will cost games $299 in North America, €299 in Europe and 29,800 yen ($258) in Japan.
The pack also includes a stand not included with the value pack, allowing users to watch movies without the need to hold the console. It also includes a USB cable which the value pack is missing. However, it does not include a hand strap for the PSP so anybody who wants one will have to pick one up separately.
It is a good deal though, for $50 extra you get an extra 968MB for photos, music, videos or homebrew (unless the PSP firmware is higher than version 2.00, if so, you can leave out the homebrew for now). Gamers that held out on buying a PSP until the holiday season should be glad that they have done so.
We reported two weeks ago that Warner Brothers was getting ready to put support behind the Blu-Ray disc format, while still release movies on the HD-DVD format also and on Thursday, Warner finally made the official announcement. The company will now join the board of the Blu-Ray Disc Association. The pledge to still release movies using HD-DVD makes Warner the second major movie studio to support both formats.
Paramount was the first earlier this month to say that it will release content for both formats to give consumers a choice. Now NBC Universal remains the only movie company that supports only the HD-DVD format and not Blu-Ray at all. None of the studios that originally backed Blu-Ray, including The Walt Disney Co., have announced plans to release movies using the HD-DVD format as well as Blu-Ray. Warner's official announcement comes just a day after Hewlett-Packard urged the Blu-Ray camp to implement more consumer friendly features such as Mandatory Managed Copy.
Now it seems that everyone is accepting that a costly format war is coming, which is why two major movie studios have already decided to use both formats. Hollywood is seeing DVD sales slow down and since major movie studios make the majority of profits from home video sales, they are very eager to start releasing high definition movies. A format war however will most likely set back demand for high definition material by a few years.
DeCSS meets MP3.com? Well that's what the title of the news article would have been if this has happened a few years back. Norwegian infamous hacker Jon Lech Johansen (aka DVD Jon) has flown to the San Francisco to work with maverick tech entrepreneur Michael Robertson. Johansen spoke with Wired about the issues surrounding the move to the United States and how he feels to be on the verge of working with Robertson.
"I have no idea what I'll be doing, but I know it will be reverse engineering, and I'm sure it will be interesting," he said. Johansen became one of the best known names in the tech world after his work with DeCSS, which could decrypt Content Scrambling System on DVDs, allowing you to watch your movies on the Linux operating system. DeCSS angered the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) who pursued Johansen in Norwegian courts but lost.
Robertson has hired Johansen for a new project called Oboe at his company, MP3Tunes.com. MP3Tunes.com allows consumers to purchase MP3 downloads that do not contain any Digital Rights Management (DRM) protection, allowing the consumers to do pretty much whatever they want with the music files. "We have been e-mail acquaintances for a while," Robertson said. "I hired him because we happen to have a major project underway at MP3tunes.com where I thought his skill set would fit perfectly."
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has managed to crack a secret printer code with the Xerox DocuColor line of laser printers that allows the U.S. Secret Service to track down individuals who produce counterfeit documents. While it was a known fact that the U.S. Government had an agreement with several major printer manufacturers (including Xerox, Canon and others), the extent of the information that can be read from a secret code was never disclosed.
"We've found that the dots from at least one line of printers encode the date and time your document was printed, as well as the serial number of the printer," said EFF Staff Technologist Seth David Schoen. The serial number of the printer could be used to track the customer who bought it. The code is a series of dots printed onto the pages. The dots are yellow and less than one millimeter in diameter but can be seen on the pages.
A blue light, magnifying glass or microscope can be used to see the dots properly. The manufacturers never really say anything on record about the code but this is what was said to OUT-LAW Magazine earlier this year: "Epson is cooperating closely with industry groups and the relevant authorities in each country to prevent counterfeiters use [sic] its products in illegal activities. However, due to the sensitive nature of this issue we are unable to comment about the exact measures that are being taken."
A U.S. court on Wednesday has told a "music download" website to stop promising its customers that they won't face copyright infringement lawsuits from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) if they download music for free using their service. Actually, the site doesn't even offer a service, it offers tutorials to downloading music on free P2P services like Kazaa (yes, tutorials that can be found for free online).
The site even has the nerve to carry the claim that it's "Napster's Number One Replacement Software". The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) said that MP3DownloadCity.com promised users that if it paid $24.99 for the service they would not get sued for their actions. The site also told users: "Rest assured that File-Sharing is 100 percent legal". While file sharing services are generally legal, the material an individual shares judges the legality of their action.
As most of you know, the U.S. music and movie industry has sued about 14,000 file sharers for illegally sharing music and movies over P2P networks. It would be an awful shame if someone believed MP3DownloadCity's claim and in the end got sued for sharing music. Trick services like this are something that the RIAA should take into account when it files P2P lawsuits.
Mozilla Corp. said on Wednesday that the open source Firefox web browser has been downloaded over 100 million times, far exceeding expectations since its launch last November. The next big move for Firefox will be the release of Firefox 1.5 this fall. Despite the great news about the milestone Firefox has reached, the spreading of the browser has begun to slow down in it's competition with the dominant browser, Microsoft Internet Explorer.
Firefox lost three quarters of a percentage point in September, which was its second slip in just three months. It's market share fell to 7.55% from 8.27% in August. It's best share was in June, where it had 8.71%. The spread Firefox marketing site is also back up and running now after being closed down two weeks ago due to a hack that could have exposed personal information of registered users.
The world's second largest PC manufacturer, Hewlett-Packard, has urged the Blu-Ray group to support some technologies that the HD-DVD group have already implemented into the HD-DVD format. This comes after Microsoft and Intel joined the HD-DVD supporters, citing lack of consumer-friendly features in the Blu-Ray format. "We're still supporting Blu-ray but we're very serious that we want these technologies. If in the end, they're supported in one and then not the other, we'll have to make a choice," said Maureen Weber, general manager of personal storage in HP's personal systems group.
The two technologies that HP wants Blu-Ray to support are Mandatory Managed Copy and iHD. Mandatory Managed Copy gives consumers the ability to copy content from the HD disc onto home servers then distribute them around a network. Intel also said it would think about also supporting Blu-Ray if Mandatory Managed Copy were supported. iHD provides new interactive features and will be implemented into Microsoft's next operating system, Windows Vista.
Just days after Apple unveiled the new iPod video to the world, five unions representing actors, writers and directors issued a joint call for talks to ensure that their members get a cut of the revenue generated from TV shows sold via iTunes. This is a rare unity between the groups who often bicker over such things as royalties from DVD sales. The unions made it very clear to producers what they demand in their statement.
"We have not yet heard from the responsible employers of our members," their joint statement said. "But we look forward to a dialogue that ensures that our members are properly compensated for this exploitation of their work." Presidents of unions representing writers and actors first learned about the ABC / Apple deal while lunching at a Beverly Hills restaurant. The deal means that Apple can sell episodes of some of ABC's hit shows like Lost a day after they air.
This makes ABC the first network to make such a deal, and more networks are expected to follow suit soon. So what these unions are demanding, is their cut of the revenue. Patric Verrone, president of the Writers Guild of America, West and John Connolly, president of the American Federation of Television & Radio Artists called their counterparts at the Screen Actors Guild, Directors Guild of America and the Writers Guild of America, East after they learned of the development.
The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) is hunting again, but this time not for file sharers or BitTorrent sites. This time the group, which represents major movies studios in the United States, is aiming to eradicate fake film download sites. The group announced it is taking legal action against six websites that appear to offer movie downloads for a subscription fee. When a consumer is lured into this scam, they find out immediately that they simply get redirected to P2P networks to download their movies illegally.
The MPAA filed the suits in New York states courts. "We won't tolerate this scam premised on the illegal swapping of valuable movie content," said the MPAA. The subscription fee's charged do vary, but an example of one offer is $20 for a three month trial or $40 for a lifetime membership. P2P networks are usually free to use. The MPAA said the sites make an attempt to look legitimate by using copyrighted images from top movies.
"These scam businesses charge customers for facilitating illegal downloads of movies, which could lure innocent consumers into becoming lawbreakers," commented MPAA chairman, Dan Glickman. The MPAA has in the past targeted BitTorrent sites which didn't actually offer pirated files at all, just torrent files which were then used by file sharers to download and share content with each other.
Now anyone who wishes to setup an online music download service in the European Union will have a much easier job than services like iTunes and Napster have had. The European Commission said on Wednesday that online music download services can get single licenses to operate in all 25 member states. "These licenses will make it easier for new European-based online services to take off," internal Market and Services Commissioner Charlie McCreevy said in a statement.
The EU is trailing far behind the U.S. in terms of music download sales. Some popular music download services in the U.S. avoided opening stores in Europe because the old system required permission from dozens of license holders in each state including some artists, labels, royalty collection societies and publishers. McCreevy had been pushing for a cross border licensing scheme to be implemented into the EU for music download services and now it appears he has gotten his wish and intends to make sure it goes as planned.
"I will be monitoring the situation closely and, if I am not satisfied that sufficient progress is being made, I will take tougher action," he said. The European Commission said in guildlines to the industry on Wednesday that royalty collecting societies for music should henceforth have the right to operate across the EU without any territorial restrictions.
According to a study, some European music downloaders are paying usage rights on their copy protected files multiple times due to outdated private copy levies. The Business Software Alliance (BSA) has urged European countries that have applied this extra tax to legal music downloads, to scrap them. According to the BSA, music downloads that are protected by DRM are being offered in increasing numbers so the need for private copying levies is no more.
Under DRM, music downloads carry a royalty at the point of purchase, so a percentage goes to the artists and labels. "With DRM technology's expanding role in the market, levies have become a superfluous double tax on consumers,"Francisco Mingorance, director of public policy in Europe for the BSA, said in a statement. "Levies were designed to compensate for unpoliceable private copying. But with DRM, the rationale for levies disappears."
The levies don't apply in the UK but do in several European countries. Taxes are imposed on PCs and music playing equipment in some EU countries. "Lawmakers cannot ignore that private copy levies are increasingly obsolete in the digital age," Mingorance said. "Governments have an opportunity to bring real consumer benefits by applying the European Copyright Directive rules and phasing out the outdated levies system,"
Tor, an anonymity tool from the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is being misused by many file sharers to make their BitTorrent clients run through the system, providing them with anonymity and a shield against the RIAA and MPAA. Tor allows people to anonymize their web browsing, instant messaging, IRC use and other things that use the TCP protocol. How it behaves is simple, communication is bounced around a network of servers called onion routers making it hard to trace the source or destination of data packets.
Now BitTorrent users are reconfiguring their BT clients to take advantage of the anonymity provided by Tor, to attempt to share and download material anonymously. This is putting an enormous strain on the network of servers and as a result is hindering performance. One of the main aims of the EFF is protect Internet users against "traffic analysis" which is often used by advertising companies to track your Internet use and create a profile of advertisements that would suit you.
The British Phonographic Industry (BPI) has criticised both Apple and Napster for advertising their legal music download services on websites that promote or assist with illegal music sharing. Other major services in the UK have been criticised in the past for this practice too, including Sky, o2, Barclays and BT Broadband. The BPI said that advertising legal music downloads on a site that offers pirated music for free is a "sick joke".
"We deplore the unauthorized distribution of music on Internet sites which prosper by selling advertising on the back of copyright theft. It is hugely ironic that iTunes and Napster, two companies which have done so much to encourage legal downloading, have been caught up in these sites. We urge all companies to be vigilant and put systems in place to ensure they do not advertise on such sites, even unwittingly." said Steve Redmond, BPI director of communications.
Some lawyers have warned that companies advertising on these sites could face litigation. "Copyright on the Internet is a very fast moving legal area. Any copyright owner or connected company advertising on an illegal download site is badly advised and taking big legal risks." said Susan Singleton, solicitor with e-commerce lawyers Singletons, and editor of IT Law Today. Online advertising is the fastest growing marketing medium in history with expenditure on ads in the UK expected to reach £1bn this year.
Sony has released the latest Firmware updates for its PlayStation Portable console on the official Japanese and North American PlayStation sites. This comes after the 2.0 update was released just to fix a security flaw in 2.00 that allowed users to run some unauthorized "homebrew" code - eventually leading to the release of a working downgrader for the PSP.
This update however has added some features to the PSP and probably will have made it even more hard for hackers to find ways to run code on the device. Here is the changelog...
Network
[LocationFree™ Player] has been added as a feature under [Network].
[Auto-Select] and [Unicode (UTF-8)] have been added as options to [Encoding] under [View] in the [Internet Browser] menu bar.
Settings for [Text Size] and [Display Mode] in [Internet Browser] can now be saved.
The input history of online forms accessed through [Internet Browser] can now be saved.
Video
Copyright-protected video can now be played under [Video]. (This applies to video saved on Memory Stick Duo™ media).
For details, contact the video content provider.
Note that fees may be charged to obtain or use copyright-protected video.
Downloadable copyright-protected video may not be available in all countries and regions.
Three men have been indicted following what is being called the biggest ever bust of pirated CDs in US history. The three men, Ye Teng Wen (29), Hao He (30) and Yaobin Zhai (33) were arrested last week on charges of illegally replicating 325,000 music and software CDs. A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney of North California said two of the men were American citizens and one had a U.S. work permit.
"The allegations of massive piracy of music and software reflect the potential loss of millions of dollars to the artists and businesses who legitimately own the copyrights on these works," U.S. Attorney Kevin Ryan said in a statement. "These individuals are charged with affixing counterfeit labels on CDs to create the appearance of legitimacy, including the FBI Anti-Piracy Warning that stated 'Unauthorized copying is punishable under federal law.'"
Many Symantac security software packages were found amongst the pile as well as copies of Adobe Photoshop CS. There was also a large amount of Latin music found. The counterfeit discs circulated widely with one of them found at a store in Chicago. The three have been released on bail and are due in court on October 27th. It is estimated that piracy costs the entertainment and software industries tens of billions of dollars.
Film and music companies have been given the green light in Sweden to resume collecting data about file sharers who are spreading copyrighted works illegally on P2P networks. The Swedish Anti-Pirate Bureau (APB)B and other organizations such as the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) have been given permission to collect the IP addresses by the Swedish Data Inspection Board (DI). Earlier the DI had ruled that the data collecting methods in use were a violation of privacy rights and also illegal because only government authorities could keep registers of criminal offenses.
However now both the APB and IFPI have been granted exception from the law. "The organizations' collection of IP numbers does not constitute an undue infringement of personal integrity," DI argued in a press release. Björn Gregfeldt, chairman of APB said that the ruling meant the fight against illegal file sharing could begin immediately. "We have never kept a register of personal details," he said. "We can restart our operations pretty much immediately, and maybe now we’ll be able to persuade Internet service providers that they have to take this problem seriously."
Now that Apple has finally entered into business of selling TV shows, one of the ideas that I originally penned down to one already-folded e-zine seven years ago is closer to reality than ever. Surely, this point has been mostly forgotten in recent media coverage, probably because everybody in media is looking at the new TV show distribution model only from the U.S. -centric point.
It was back in 90s when I got frustrated to the traditional way how TV shows were distributed globally. To understand the concept fully, you first of all need to accept the fact that most of the Western world watches Hollywood-made TV shows -- they are extremely popular across the globe. But the production companies who make the shows, sell the country-specific TV rights typically at earliest, a year after the show has hit the U.S. TV. This means that the national broadcasters bid for the rights for TV shows, without making any guarantees on when they will air the shows and whether they do air them at all (shows are typically sold as "lumps" where national broadcasters have to buy several TV series -- the "lump" might contain one or two hit shows and 20 unpopular ones).
The first case in Sweden regarding file sharing of copyrighted works closed on Tuesday with confusion having raised more questions than answers. Along with the confusion and unclear text of the old copyright law in the country, the 28 year old defendant also shocked the court by retracting an admission he had reportedly made in police interviews. The police said the man had admitted to making a Swedish film called Hip Hip Hora available on a P2P hub for other users to download, however the man told the court there had been a misunderstanding.
The man said that he believed that he was being charged with downloading the copyrighted movie, which actually was not illegal until July 1st this year. During police interviews the man wasn't questioned about the film the case was based but in court he continued to shock by saying "I have never had that film at home - I have never downloaded that." The evidence against the man was provided mostly by Antipiratbyrå (APB), a Swedish anti-piracy firm representing the films and games industries.
APB had been searching for sharers of copyrighted files using DC, and when it found the film Hip Hip Hora available, the IP address was recorded and handed to police. The Police then got the details of the 28 year old from the Internet service provider, Bredbandsbolaget. Torbjörn Persson, the defendant's lawyer, spent hours explaining to the court, the lack of certainty when an IP address is used as evidence, pointing out that many blocks of flats have unencrypted wireless networks that anyone could use to access the Internet.
Apple Computers Inc. unveiled on Wednesday another addition to the iPod family of products, this time with the ability to play back video. Speculation that Apple was to unveil an "iPod Video" was rampant on the Internet after Apple had invited journalists to a special event held today. The new iPod, which is again smaller and thinner than the normal iPod models comes with either 30GB storage or 60GB storage, priced at $299 and $399 respectively.
Nero, leaders in digital media technology, unveiled on October 10th, the much anticipated Nero 7 software package. The all-in-one integrated digital media and home entertainment software solution now delivers 18 applications in one powerful suite, including the addition of Nero Home, a new TV and PC multimedia management and distribution system that provides users with quick and easy access to all digital media files from the comfort of their living rooms using a remote control.
"Nero 7 is the culmination of innovative engineering, end-user requests and demands, and industry direction and convergence," said Richard Lesser, CEO Nero AG, "We have hit the nail on the head with the addition of Nero Home to Nero 7: users no longer need to be in front of their PCs to view and listen to their media files; they can access their entire libraries in front of the TV."
In addition, Nero 7 includes a number of enhancements and interface redesigns to familiar and popular Nero applications. Users now have the option of customized installation, meaning they can decide to install or not to install each application courtesy of Windows Installer Technology.
Due to the growing popularity of Podcasts, Yahoo has launched a site to assist people in finding and listening to podcasts. The site allows users to the audio programmes which are designed to be stored and listened to using a portable player. It also allows users to review podcasts and rate them. In addition Yahoo said it was working on software to help people produce their own podcasts.
Podcasts are basically audio programmes that can be subscribed to, downloaded and listened to on portable music players. They have been likened to DIY radio shows. Some big corporations including the BBC are using podcasts to lets users get programmes they might have missed. There are already sites setup with just the purpose of searching for podcasts but Yahoo is the first of the Internet giants to build a site dedicated to it.
"Beyond a shadow of a doubt, the future of search is in audio and video. Searching through text on the Internet has really reached a maturity point,"Phil Leigh, an analyst for Inside Digital Media told the Associated Press. "If you look 10 years down the road, everyone is going to be searching for podcasts." Right now, it is estimated that less than 5 million people around the world regularly download podcasts, with the vast majority of the public, even many who could be labeled as "geeks", unaware of what a podcast even is - or that such a thing exists.
Apple Computers Inc. has managed to quadruple quarterly profits due to the sale of more than 6.5 million iPod music players around the world in the last three months. The company's net profits for its fiscal fourth quarter rose to $403m, up from $106m last year. That is 50 cents per share, which beat market expectations of 36 cents per share but quarterly turnover disappointed investors. Analysts had expected revenues of $3.74bn, but the final figure was $3.68bn, a rise of 56%.
Apple's shares fell in the after-hours trading in New York as a result. Apple has over 75% of digital music player market and keeps on introducing new iPods to the world. Last month the company unveiled the iPod Nano alongside the iTunes phone. The Nano was a big hit with consumers, despite reports that some of the Nano screens were very prone to scratching. Sales of iPods were up 220%, compared to the same period a year earlier and sales of Macs were up 48%.
"We're thrilled to have concluded the best year in Apple's history," said Steve Jobs, Apple's chief executive. "This is the direct result of our focus on innovation and the immense talent and creativity at Apple. We could not be more excited about the new products we're working on for 2006." Today, Apple is set to unveil another product to the digital music world. The biggest rumours so far have been about either an iPod with video support or a new standard iPod with 80GB storage capacity.
RealNetworks is to receive a $761m settlement from software rival Microsoft to end an anti-competition lawsuit over software music players. RealNetworks originally had accused Microsoft of forcing PC makers to bundle Windows Media Player software at the expense of Real Player software. Now the settlement from Microsoft brings that case to the end and both sides have said it has paved the way for future collaboration between the two.
"Today we're closing one chapter and opening a new one in our relationship with Microsoft," said RealNetworks' founder and chief executive Rob Glaser. "The legal chapter is being closed with an appropriate and fair outcome that sets the stage for a very productive and collaborative relationship between our companies." Along with the huge settlement, Real also now gets long-term access to Microsoft technologies that will help improve the Real Player software and Microsoft also agreed to promote Real's music and games subscription service.
Microsoft has been hit by many similar lawsuits over the years. The company paid IBM $775m to settle a case back in July, and has earlier reach anti-competition agreements with the U.S. Government, Sun Microsystems and Time Warner. The company also has another on-going dispute with the European Union. In March last year, Microsoft was fined $579m for anti-competition practices by the EU.
We reported just two days ago that Arnold Schwarzenegger had signed a bill that made it illegal to supply a minor with a "violent video game" either as a sale or a rental. Now it has emerged that the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) is planning to sue the state of California in response to the law which will come into affect on January 1st 2006. The legislation, known as Assembly Bill (A.B) 1179, states that any retailer who supplies a violent game to anybody under 18 will be fined $1,000.
The Video Software Dealers Association (VSDA) has pledged that it will collaborate with the ESA to fight the law. Members of the VSDA include retailers and distributors. In the past, the ESA has overturned similar laws in different states that prohibited the sale of violent or sexually explicit games to minors with the argument that the laws violate constitutionally protected rights.
VSDA president Bo Andersen called the legislation "a clear violation of the First Amendment" and added that it "provides no meaningful standards to know which materials are covered." The bill was sponsored by Assembly member Leland Yee of San Francisco, who is also a child psychologist. He claims that violent games have a dramatic affect on the behavior of minors.
A Swedish file-sharing "test" case begun on Tuesday. A 28 year old man from Västerås has been accused by anti-piracy organization, Antipiratbyrå (APB), of sharing a Swedish movie called Hip Hip Hora. This case is the first of its kind in Sweden and its outcome will have an impact on how file sharing is handled from now on in Sweden. The man admits to downloading the movie, but does not admit to distributing it other users online.
His lawyer believes that the evidence against him is not credible. "I hope and believe that he will be found not guilty," said his lawyer Torbjörn Persson. "The evidence is very weak. If he is given a fine it will, in principle, be impossible to investigate this kind of crime." His last comment is correct, if just a fine were to be handed down it would mean police in Sweden could not carry out home raids or request subscriber info for suspected file sharers from ISPs.
At most the man would receive a suspended sentence, which would deem illegal file sharing serious enough to justify more involvement from the police. The APB believes this will not be the first case, regardless of what the decision is on Tuesday. The organisation has said the man shared at least 27 movies but that the case is only a test so they are only charging for one.
Japanese record labels are repeating what music labels have tried in several places around the world; pushing for a tax on iPod music players. A similar request in Canada for example, was shot down by an appeals court. Basically the tax is imposed on the sale of MP3 players to compensate rights holders for "possible piracy". It is very similar to the blank media levy paid in many countries like Finland. However, asking for a tax on iPod sales is a way for music labels to try forcefully receive revenue from the sale of iPods.
If you have been keeping up to date with news on the music industry, you will know that there has been a war of words between Apple CEO Steve Jobs and several major record labels. Jobs accuses them of being greedy for demanding a price hike of music downloads provided by iTunes. The labels are pushing for variable pricing methods, whereas Apple simply prefers its 99c (79p) policy on all tracks available.
Warner Music Group CEO Edgar Bronfman Jr. hit back at Steve Jobs' comments and also said it was unfair that music labels didn't get a share of profits from iPod sales. Bronfman believes the labels have a right to a cut because the label's music "promotes the iPod". Apple doesn't make significant profit from music downloads, yet artists' managers recently complained about the royalties that artists receive from music download sales.
The hunt continues in Europe for some of the ten Xbox 360 development kits that were stolen from a German Warehouse as Microsoft fears they may have fallen into the hands of hackers. A shipment of ten dev kits were delivered to a warehouse in Germany in unmarked packaging. They were to be distributed to developers who could use them to create games for the console. However, the shipment went missing and photographs of the kits with the serial numbers removed surfaced on the Internet.
An investigation has already recovered three from several raids in Austria and Germany, but the other seven haven't turned up yet. The first Xbox console was plagued by modifications and piracy. It's easy to purchase modchips for the console to bypass security measures. J Allard, Microsoft's Chief Executive, told Gamespot that piracy on the Xbox 360 console was a given, which the company has already accounted for.
"The philosophy that we applied on 360 is 'It's going to happen'," he said. He hinted that the bypassing of security on the 360 console was less important from a financial perspective but was a significant threat to online multiplayer game experience to genuine customers. The console will be released in Europe on December 2nd 2005.
Sony's Universal Media Disc (UMD) format has had a terrific first month of sales in the United Kingdom. The UMD format was first introduced to the UK in September when the PlayStation Portable (PSP) console was launched across Europe. The UMD format is used for PSP games and also PSP movies provided by some of Hollywood's biggest movie studios. In it's first month, more than 100,000 UMD movies were sold in the UK, accounting for about 1% of the overall consumer video market.
The estimates were released by the Official UK Chart Company, with the sales thought to be even higher. When you look at the movies sold on UMD, some key titles did much better than others. The movie Underworld sold 7,487 copies, followed by The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy which sold 7,136 copies. Almost 250,000 PSPs have been sold in the UK so far, which suggests that about half of PSP owners have tried out UMD movies, but whether it will become an ongoing investment or if it is just curiosity remains to be seen.
In other regions of the world where Sony PSPs and the UMD format have been around for longer, there has not yet been enough data gathered to judge whether consumers are warming to handheld video.
One of the only major studio labels left to release movies on the Universal Media Disc (UMD) format is Warner Bros. Warner and Dreamworks Home Entertainment seemed reluctant to follow suit after other major studios began releasing their movies using the UMD format. Now Warner has changed its mind and seems to be eager to catch up with other studios. Over the coming weeks, the company will release a slew of big titles.
The Harry Potter films, the Matrix trilogy, Batman Begins, The Island, Polar Express and Constantine will all be released on UMD by Warner very soon. No details have yet emerged whether there will be any extra features on the discs for consumers who decided to buy or rent the movies besides the standard subtitles and audio. The studio will probably now start transferring a backlog of DVD releases over to UMD.
UMD is the format used by the PlayStation Portable (PSP) console. Sony markets the PSP not just as a gaming device but also as an general entertainment device due to its music, video and photo viewing capabilities. The company hopes to see the UMD format taken up by more content providers as time goes on. However as Memory Sticks are released with higher capacity and hard drive storage becomes available for the PSP, many users will turn to the Internet to learn how to convert their own DVD movies to watch on a PSP instead of buying movies on UMD discs.
Warner Brothers is set to raise the stakes yet again in the DVD format battle by deciding to now throw support behind Sony's Blu-Ray Disc format instead of Toshiba's HD-DVD. Blu-Ray and HD-DVD are two formats that are battling it out to become the next standard after DVD as the demand is growing for high definition material, which requires much more capacity than DVD provides. The DVD format is worth $18bn annually in sales in the United States.
Adding support from Warner Brothers, a division of Time Warner, to the Blu-Ray backers list would be a crucial vote of confidence for Blu-Ray which already touts support from Disney and Fox. Back in November 2004, Warner, Paramount, Universal and New Line Cinema pledged support to HD-DVD. Now Warner seems set to declare "non-exclusive" support for the Blu-Ray format, meaning it will probably produce films in both formats.
Arnold Schwarzenegger, California governor, has signed legislation into law that restricts retailers from selling violent video games to minors, or providing any such game as a rental to a minor. The law wont actually go into effect until January 1st 2006. If a retailer violates the law it could be fined up to $1,000 for the offense. The bill, drafted by Tem Leland Yee of San Francisco, who happens to be a child psychologist, is known as AB 1179.
It makes it illegal to sell or rent video games that "depict serious injury to human beings in a manner that is especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel" to anybody under the age of 18. Yee says that violent video games serve as learning tools that have a dramatic impact on children. However, many disagree with his beliefs and tests have shown evidence to the contrary, where the results showed that violent games had no effect on the behavior of children.
In the U.S., video games usually carry ratings from the Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB) to indicate the type of content contained in the game. These ratings include E (Everyone), T (Teen), M (Mature) and AO (Adult Only) and others. They are also accompanied by notes of the material in the game like violence, drug use and strong language. The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) disagrees with limiting games due to their ratings or content and says the restriction violates consumers first amendment rights.
At the DVD Forum Japan Conference 2005, it was indicated that Toshiba's HD-DVD discs might not use region codes at all like DVD does. The main focus of the conference in Japan was of course HD-DVD. Toshiba's Hisashi Yamada made one quote that will be of interest to most of you. "We’ve gotten a variety of opinions about region controls. Even in the Steering Committee, they are extremely unpopular; we decided to not put them in. HD DVD probably won't contain any region playback controls."
Of course, as Engadget pointed out, that "probably" word is still in there. However, the possibility that region codes wont be a feature of HD-DVD is good news for now. Region codes on DVD discs are designed to ensure that DVDs made for a certain region are only sold in that region. The region code on the disc, if it conflicts with that set on your DVD player, will result in failure to play back the DVD.
For this reason, you can't just import DVDs from other countries (unless you use a region free hack, if one is available for your player). Of course you can remove region codes from DVDs during a backup process, but even that has it's complications; DMCA in the United States and EUCD in Europe which both make circumvention of copy protection illegal.
A European Union official wants to simplify the way music is licensed to online music retailers in the Europe, saying that Europe is going to fall far behind without the creation of a cross-border licensing system. Charlie McCreevy, European Commission for the internal Market and Services made his remarks in London on Friday. "Europe's model of copyright clearance belongs more to the 19th century than to the 21st," he said. "Once upon a time it may have made sense for the member state to be the basic unit of division. The Internet overturns that premise,"
Complaints about the licensing systems in Europe were made by both iTunes and Napster as they created services in European countries. The problem is that, to launch a music store in Europe, consent needs to be given to dozens of license holders in each state including record labels, royalty collection societies, music publishers and sometimes artists. The result of this system was delays of iTunes and Napster launches in Europe in the past.
Some music services like Yahoo haven't dared yet venture into Europe because of this problem. McCreevy said he planned to introduce a proposal "based on the premise that territory-by-territory management of copyright clearance is too cumbersome and too costly." Sales of music downloads in Europe were far less than in North America so far because of the launch delays and other complications.
Profits are reportedly down at one of the world's biggest gaming company's, Nintendo, due to fierce competition and shrinking demand for Nintendo products. Demand for the GameCube console in the United States are way down and sales of the GameBoy Advance handheld console weakened in both Japan and North America. This has sent shares down 14% to 70.6bn yen ($62m) in the three months to June. Pre-tax income was down 41% to 21.3bn yen.
Nintendo's next project, the next generation Revolution console will be unveiled next year which the company hopes will drive profits up. Increased research spending into the Revolution console affected profits in the most recent quarter. When the Revolution console appears, it will be faced with huge competition from Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3.
The company had warned earlier this year that profits would be affected by competition from Microsoft and Sony. 1.38 million DS consoles were sold since launch but Nintendo had to cut prices in the US and in Europe due to competition. Recently launched games like Pokemon Emerald and Nintendogs performed strongly, the company said, but admitted the drop in sales of GameCube devices. Nintendo has reduced its forecast for full year sales to 500bn yen, a drop of 5%.
UK consumer watchdog, the National Consumer Council (NCC), has criticised the music industry in the UK for its "heavy-handed" use of court action against file sharers it accuses of illegally distributing copyright music files online. The NCC said that instead of this legal action, the recording industry should be looking for an affordable way of allowing fans to trade songs without dragging them to court. The British Phonographic Industry (BPI) has settled with about 60 Internet users so far for sums of money that range between £2,000 and £6,500.
The BPI claims that anyone it files lawsuits against has traded massive amounts of copyrighted music, thousands of songs in some cases. "There needs to be an affordable way of allowing music to be traded in the same way systems for downloading music legally have been developed." said the NCC's director of policy, Jill Johnstone. "There needs to be balance between the rights of the artist and those of the consumer. At the moment the balance is all on the side of the record companies."
The BPI was very angry about the criticism and has responded to the NCC. "We are not taking action against consumers. We are pursuing people who are taking music without permission and infringing the rights we have under the law." said Peter Jamieson who stressed the BPI was not taking criminal actions against file sharers. "When people cross the line from being paying customers to taking music without permission, they can no longer be regarded as consumers - they are law breakers."
The U.S. Copyright Office is conducting a periodic review of anti-cracking provisions set in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), and is seeking feedback from the public on what you would like to see cracked and why. If there is a genuine reason why you think something should be allowed to he cracked, the office might just allow it. Congress mandated that the register of Copyrights revisit the anti-circumvention section every three years to ensure that consumers have proper access to things they have purchased.
Last time around, the office allowed the bypassing of copy protection on computer games available only in obsolete formats, cracking ebooks copy protection so that blind people can use software to read it out, cracking of web filtering software to view the list of blocked sites and cracking computer programs protected by a "dongle" that is malfunctioning. The office will take written submissions through December 1st and will accept rebuttals until February 2nd 2006.
After this time has passed, beginning in April the office will hold two sets of hearings. Basically, if the copyright office can be convinced that something copy protected prevents fair use of the work, then it might allow the copy protection to be circumvented legally. "I suspect that we will hear shortly from people who feel they have not been able to use copyrighted materials because of the DMCA," said Ralph Oman, an intellectual property attorney and former register of copyrights.
Want more room to store encoded video, photos and music to be played back on your PSP but don't want to spend money on an expensive 2GB Memory Stick Duo? Well now you have another option from Datel, a 4GB HDD and X2 battery combined. It's common knowledge that the 32MB memory stick provided with the PSP just isn't good enough storage space for the features offered by the PSP, but Memory Sticks are expensive.
The Datel HDD and battery is priced at £137.49 (roughly €200). It is claimed that the X2 battery will provide twice as much playing time as a standard battery. Also included is the Get Connected Media Cable and it’s media software. So it's a nice upgrade for anyone who wants to add a bit more power top their PSP. Dark Planets will begin shipping the item on October 20th
Think Secret is citing information from sources that claim the October 12th announcements from Apple Computers Inc. will not include an iPod with video playback capabilities, but will instead add another addition to the full-sized iPod family with an 80GB capacity. According to the sources, the new iPod will be unveiled along with the new Pro Macs. The 80GB iPod has been described as slightly smaller than current color iPods. It's not known whether Apple will keep the white casing or go with a silver version.
Other improvements to the iPod weren't revealed by the sources but it is likely the software improvements that were seen in the iPod Nano will be included with the new 80GB model. Apparently an iPod with video capabilities is still in development but Apple sees no such reason why it should be launched now or any time soon. Apple hasn't got the agreements with content owners to provide a video download service in iTunes good enough to risk the release of an iPod video.
Also the company believes that the success of an iPod video would rely on customers being able to import video to the device straight from a DVD, like you can import music from a CD. The complications to this process are obvious, copy protection for one (including the laws in most countries that prevent circumvention of copy protection) and you cannot forget the encoding process that would be required; a feature that would make preparing and importing video from a DVD a long process.
It's a question that many consumers have been asking, and an answer is expected in October or November; what will happen when consumers with HDTV sets that have not got a High Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) connection, want to watch high definition movies on next generation discs? The problem is that Hollywood wants to dictate to how consumers will connect their video disc players to their television sets.
Current connections in use are pretty easy to break into the video signal being sent to capture and create copies of it, whereas Hollywood is favoring HDMI connections for High Definition movies due to its included copy protection that protect the video signal. However, HDMI is now only becoming a common feature in HDTVs, whereas millions of HDTV sets in people's homes around the world use analog connections which could be easily used to capture the video signal, perhaps rendering some layers of copy protection on the both the upcoming HD-DVD and Blu-Ray disc formats useless.
The Recording Industry vs. The People is reporting on the First Annual Peer to Peer litigation summit that will take place on November 3rd 2005. Here is the information from the site...
First Annual Peer-to-Peer Litigation Summit
When: November 3, 2005
Where: Northwestern University Law School, Chicago, IL
In September 2003, members of the Recording Association of America filed the first wave of lawsuits against individual peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharers. Two years and 14,000 lawsuits later, both P2P file-sharing and file-sharing litigation continue unabated, and members of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) are now suing individual Internet users as well. It's time to step back and consider where this litigation has been, where it's going, and whether there is a better way.
This one-day conference brings together public and private defense attorneys, clients, investigators, advocates and academics to discuss the latest developments in peer-to-peer litigation. How do the RIAA and MPAA go about identifying plaintiffs? What are the most effective legal strategies
and tactics? Is it better to settle immediately, or fight it out in the courts? How is this impacting the individuals sued? What is the role of ISPs in this quagmire? Should Congress step in and, if so, what legislation is needed? Are there other ways to compensate authors for their works? Panelists will address these topics and more. Audience members will be strongly encouraged to share their experiences as well.
Symantec Corp. has named the first ever trojan found in a gaming device, Trojan.PSPBrick. The PlayStation Portable malware has only been given a category 1 threat level because it could only possibly effect a device which it is run on by use of an exploit. There have se far been no reports of infections. The PSP Team Patcher has been around for a few days now, and when run it deletes vital files from the PSP's flash memory, breaking it.
"It does not affect the average user," said Eric Chien, a principle software engineer at Symantec. "This is the first time we have seen a Trojan on a gaming device." It disguises itself as a file to let users run their own code on a PSP. "It goes to show malicious code writers aren't just targeting personal computers and aren't just trying to get some replicating code to infect the machines," Chien said "Anything that can run code is potentially being targeted."
Symantec learned of the malware while monitoring chat rooms used by the gaming community. Users who are worried about the eboot.pbp files they run can use PSafeP v1.1, an application by Dark Killer that aims to combat malicious homebrew. Check it out on PSPUpdates.
The High Court of Australia has overturned a decision by an appeals court that ruled modifying gaming consoles was illegal. This is the outcome of a four year battle between Sony Corp. and Sydney retailer Eddy Stevens. Stevens sold PlayStation consoles containing installed modchips so it would be possible that his customers could import and play games from other areas of the world. Sony sued Stevens on the grounds that he had bypassed encrypted access codes that were in place to protect copyright, making it possible for imported or copied games to be played on the console.
In Australia, PlayStation games come in PAL format, as they also do in Europe, but imported games from regions such as North America or Southeast Asia requires a console that will play NTSC games; without a modchip, an Australian PlayStation console can't play an NTSC game. Originally Sony lost the battle against Stevens in court but convinced an appeals court to overturn the earlier ruling. However, Sony failed to convince the High Court of Australia to uphold the appeals court's ruling.
As many of our members picked up and alerted us about, the news circulating that Microsoft was planning to release a "play once," disposable DVD was a hoax. It originated on businessonline.com and continued to cause quite a stir. The Inquirer is reporting that Microsoft is not going to do this at all, and was confused over the news circulating sites about it.
Anyway, it's not the end of the world as marketing self-destructing DVDs has proven to be less of a success as hoped. Let's not forget that piles of disposable DVDs being thrown away by consumers would have sparked debates over its effect on the environment also.
Our ISP will replace a failed remote management unit on one of our servers today. The operation should not cause more than a minor slowdown in our services.
The downtime is scheduled from 10:00AM to 10:30AM EDT. We're sorry about any inconvenience caused.
Humanitarian charity organization Oxfam has partnered with online DVD retailer BlahDVD.com to help push its music download service. A new section on the BlahDVD site will bring customers to music downloads provided by Oxfam. Once clicked, users have the choice to buy directly from Oxfam web site or from BlahDVD. Whichever you choose to get the music downloads from, 10p will go to charity for every single music download purchased.
BlahDVD hopes that customers will be encouraged to use Oxfam's service instead of other leading download services. "The Blah partnership will also generate revenue for Oxfam from increased traffic to its music download site," said chairman Peter Allen. Both BlahDVD and Oxfam will use email campaigns to promote the music download service.
"We've wanted a download service on our site for some time and it's not the easiest thing to organize," said a spokesman for BlahDVD. "Working with Oxfam allows us to offer customers this service while donating to a good cause." One immediate problem I personally have with the service however is if you click Oxfam under Firefox, you are told you need Internet Explorer and Windows Media Player, although I'm sure using those browsers isn't too much of a task if you feel like doing some good while buying music.
Mobile phones are one of the most popular gadgets on this planet to date, and they still spread in popularity day by day. To use a mobile phone, you simply need the phone, a SIM card and cellular network to use. Usually the network supplies you with your SIM card, which then contains information about your provider and helps you establish a connection with the network to make and receive calls etc. Additionally, many service providers impose restrictions on the phones that they sell to their customers, mostly known one being the provider lock.
Increasing numbers of people are unlocking phones and using them with many different networks, much to the annoyance of the original network that sold the phone. So what will be the next thing that will protect phones from being unlocked and used freely with any network? The answer is basically a DRM chip. At a mobile communications industry trade show, a group of engineers announced an initiative to produce standards for DRM on mobile phones.
It would build on the work of the Trusted Computing Group (TCG) for a mobile version of the company's Trusted Platform Module (TPM). TPM technology provides cryptography functions in hardware, which can be used for system and user authentication and storing of information for installed software to protect it against unauthorized use. It also can ensure that applications are only used for intended purposes and nothing else.
An Intel executive has said the company would consider also supporting Blu-Ray if the Blu-Ray Disc Association would promise that content stored on Blu-Ray discs could be transfered to home multimedia servers without complications or issues. This "Mandatory Managed Copy" ensures that consumers will be able to copy content directly from a disc to a home server where it could be accessed from around the home and can be copied and viewed on a portable device.
The HD-DVD camp has already committed to this feature in the upcoming format developed by Toshiba. Vice President and general manager of Intel’s digital home group, Donald McDonald, said that the interests of consumers were being ignored while the two formats battle it out to become a standard in the market for high definition material and next generation video games.
Intel generally stays neutral in disputes over upcoming technology so its decision last week to support HD-DVD (along with Microsoft) was a surprise. Whatever format the company has backed, it is of course going to make hardware compatible with both. The company for now is just looking to give support to whichever format is more consumer friendly, hopefully that will turn out to be both formats.
According to UK newspaper The Business, Microsoft is currently promoting a disposable-DVD-like technology to Hollywood, claiming it is their answer to gaining an advantage over piracy. Disposable "self destructing" DVDs are not a new concept however, Convex subsidiary Flexplay has been promoting its EZ-D disc for the last two years in the United States. Buena Vista Home Entertainment even tested this concept out and Convex struck a deal with Japanese disc maker Nippan to begin offering the discs in Japan.
Play-Once disposable DVD have an extra layer which oxidizes when exposed to the air, eventually becoming opaque and useless in a DVD player since the disc can no longer be read properly. Microsoft's logic in promoting play-once discs is that it would give consumers more flexibility. Piracy gives consumers much more flexibility when compared to services like DVD rentals.
Microsoft believes that if the price of disposable discs were to rival the price of rentals, then consumers would pick them since they can watch them anytime they want and don't have to return them; simply throw them away when the have become useless. Of course, it would have to compete with mail-back DVD rental services like Netflix, pay-per view and legal movie download services.
Software piracy figures continue to jump to new heights as the business of software counterfeiting remains a multi-million dollar problem for software companies. Software and entertainment media remain in the top list of goods to counterfeit along with clothing, currency and other financial instruments like credit cards, according to Canada's Gieschen Consultancy. The value of pirated software hit $6.2m in August, down from $91m in June but totaling $185m in the first half of 2005.
Overall intellectual property theft was up a massive 370% in August due to the increased spending over and after the summer. Up to 25% of all the counterfeit goods were sold by street sellers or at car boot sales and other events. Of course, Microsoft has not been dethroned as the company who's software is pirated most. Following closely behind is Sony, Adobe, Autodesk and Macromedia.
The United States has the most reported intellectual property violations in august with over $76m in seizures. France was in second place at $9.7m and the UK's £4.9m came in at third place. According the Business Software Alliance (BSA) and market researcher IDC, 27% of all software in use in the UK is pirated, costing the software industry about £1bn. "If the UK achieved a 10 per cent reduction in software piracy, an additional £10bn could be raised towards UK GDP while 40,000 jobs could created in the IT sector." said Najeeb Khan, spokesperson for the BSA.
Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. announced yesterday plans to ship Blu-Ray drives for PCs to manufacturers in March 2006. Negotiations have already began with several manufacturers including Dell and Hewlett-Packard; both company's strongly support the Blu-Ray disc format over Toshiba's HD-DVD format. The announcement comes after Toshiba's unveiled plan to sell PCs with HD-DVD early in 2006.
The two sides in the "format war" have so far failed to reach an agreement on a possible unified standard, but Toshiba President Yoshihide Fujii told the Japan Times that a unified standard is still possible and that Toshiba is "flexible" and willing to compromise. He blamed the Blu-Ray group's failure to convince Toshiba of the reliability of Blu-Ray's disc structure for the break down of talks back in June.
Now both sides are already making plans for product launches for each of the formats. Matsushita displayed a Blu-ray DVD drive at a combined exhibition of advanced technologies on Tuesday. The company demonstrated technology to halve production costs at the exhibition called CEATEC Japan 2005, demonstrating what it believes to prove Blu-Ray's superiority.
Finnish Parliament approved today a controversial new copyright legislation, based on European Union's Copyright Directive (EUCD). The legislation sparked enormous opposition from worried citizens, but despite the public critique even in mainstream media, the parties currently in coalition government decided to approve the legislation without further modifications.
Legislation has several confusing details and extremely badly worded chapters, making it one of the most draconian versions of EUCD in Europe. Once Finland's president (who has right to veto the law, but the right is used extremely rarely) approves the legislation, it will come into effect, typically within few months.
As Finland has traditionally enjoyed quite relaxed copyright legislation, the change is dramatic. Previously, copying for own personal use (whether you owned the CD/DVD/book/whatever) was perfectly legal and the authors were compensated by blank media levy. Now, the blank media levy will remain in place, but at least the following things will change:
Circumventing copy protections, even for personal use, will be illegal. (it states so in the law, even tho the government tried to argue that the right wont be pursued by government, but nothing stops record labels, movie studios, etc to do so)
Distributing (even for free) tools (whether physical devices or software) that allow circumventing copy protection mechanisms will be illegal. (this includes DVD rippers, tools that allow copying copy-protected CDs, etc)
Advertising tools that allow circumventing copy protection mechanisms will be illegal. (and the law doesn't state how advertising is determined. So, basically simply linking to a page that has DVD ripper downloads from your own site can be considered "advertising")
Possession of tools that allow circumventing copy protection mechanisms will be illegal. Even for personal use.
Guides on how to circumvent copy protection mechanisms can be considered as "tools" and thus are also illegal.
Worryingly, even "organized discussion" on how to circumvent copy protection mechanisms, will be illegal. (and no, Finland doesn't have similar to American Supreme Court that determines whether laws are against constitution, but when laws are approved, they by default are in harmony with constitution and can't be later overturned on basis that they are un-constitutional)
Ironically, Finnish education minister, Ms. Tanja Karpela, argued that "only 1 percent of current music CDs include copy protection mechanisms", thus making the legislation invisible to users. However, she forgot to mention that virtually 100 percent of DVDs do have copy protection and therefor the former right to backup and copy DVDs will disappear. Also, by using at least some level of logic, one can assume that once breaking copy-protection mechanisms will be illegal, most new CDs will feature such mechanism.
Sony has released a firmware update for the PSP in Japan (a few days ago) and now in North America. However, there isn't really much of a system update in PSP 2.01 from Sony. In fact, the only thing that 2.01 firmware does is fixes a "security flaw". That security flaw is the same one that is used to run several small homebrew applications and loaders on PSP 2.00.
As most of you should be aware, the PSP 2.00 flaw that was discovered eventually led to the release of a downgrader that allowed PSP users to rollback firmware to PSP 1.50, allowing them to run homebrew code. Sony disapproves of running "unauthorized software" on PSPs and that is the only reason this PSP 2.01 update has come along.
So to put it simply, if you want to run homebrew on your PSP, do not update to 2.01. You can't run homebrew on anything newer than 1.50. However, if you have 2.00 firmware you can downgrade to 1.50. Read how to do that using this guide.
A government-affiliate research body in China has announced that it will begin developing China's own DVD format to help break the monopoly of foreign companies in DVD manufacturing. A massive portion, about 70% - 80%, of all DVD players made in the world come from China, but Chinese manufacturers have to pay license fees to foreign patent holders in the DVD industry. It will be based on the prevailing format of HD-DVD.
While based on HD-DVD, it will actually be incompatible with HD-DVD but according to Lu Da, deputy director of the National Disc Engineering Center, it will provide higher definition, better audio qualities and better copy protection mechanisms to attract content holders. "With such format and related standards," Lu said, "We could have our own voice in the DVD industry."
The new format is not expected to actually reach the market until 2008. Manufacturers in China have to pay up to 40% of the rough cost of each DVD player in license fees, according to Lu.
After talks broke down between the HD-DVD camp and the Blu-Ray camp collapsed in June, fears began spreading about the possibility of a format war between the two. However, a unified standard is still a slight possibility according to Toshiba president Yoshihide Fujii who told the Japan Times that Toshiba has "no intention of giving up on creating a single format." He said the talks originally broke down because Blu-Ray supporters couldn't convince Toshiba that the format's disc structure was reliable.
He said however that Toshiba would be willing to come to a compromise because the company is "flexible." He said there is still time for new negotiations to happen but the deadline has been set for the end of the year which is when Toshiba plans to release HD-DVD players. This extra bit of hope comes just as the DVD format war is heating up.
We reported just days ago that Microsoft and Intel had pledged support for the HD-DVD format which drew much criticism from Blu-Ray supporters including Hewlett-Packard and Dell. "Every computer manufacturer in the Blu-Ray Disc Association carefully reviewed both formats and ultimately chose Blu-ray as the superior solution for meeting customer demands and providing the best possible end-user experience." said Hewlett Packard's Maureen Weber.
Wired has a very interesting article about how a major mobile phone and service provider in the United States has sent a cease and desist letter to a company that specializes in the sale of mobile phone unlocking software demanding that the sale of the software stops. The article simply calls the provider "CellPhoneCo" and the software company "Unlocko". So here are the details.
As many of you know (or should know), you can pick up a phone relatively cheap as long as you sign a contract with a mobile phone service provider and pay your monthly fees and bills for the service. To ensure you use your phone only with that service, the provider places a provider lock on the phone, meaning attempted use of the phone with another service will just give you a disabled handset.
However, more and more people are realizing that it is possible to unlock your phone and use it with any provider, which is very useful. For example, somebody who travels to several countries frequently might want to use networks in those countries instead of paying extra "roaming" charges with the provider that sold them the phone. Also another more common reason is the difference in call costs and coverage quality varying in different areas.
Speaking at at the launch of an anti-piracy and counterfeiting initiative, NBC Universal Chairman and Chief Executive Bob Wright said the movie industry has to launch online movie download services to avoid the same mass-piracy problem that the music industry had. "It's something we have to do, but it has to be done well," Wright said "These movies are so expensive we have to be careful ... We're pretty close. Hopefully by the end of this year we'll be able to do that."
He was speaking at the launch of BASCAP, which stands for Business Action to Stop Counterfeiting and Piracy. Among the attendants were Microsoft's Steve Ballmer, Jean-Rene Fourtou of Vivendi Universal and Eric Nicoli of EMI. Wright has said the move has to be made quickly to tackle online piracy, or else the movie industry will end up in the same situation as the music industry. The music industry is taunted by the sharing of millions of copyrighted MP3 files a day on P2P networks, untainted by over 14,000 lawsuits against file sharers, and through other ordinary methods like through IM programs, e-mail newsgroups etc...
Apple Computers Inc., which is notorious for keeping new products in the dark until the last minute has once again sent out invitations to reporters for a "special event" next week. The company did not give anything more than the words "One more thing..." on the invitation, which in recent years is something that Steve Jobs liked to say at conferences before announcing a final product - the most important product to be unveiled. Speculation is running wild on Apple enthusiast sites such as AppleInsider.
The speculation leans towards another addition to the iPod family, possibly with video playback capabilities even though Steve Jobs has publicly played down rumors of an "iPod Video" in the past. He downplayed a video iPod saying he believed most people wouldn't want to watch video's while they are on the move. However, AppleInsider claims that a video iPod is what the October 12th announcement is about.
"Apple Computer has begun production of a new version of its iPod digital music player that will be capable of playing videos, AppleInsider has learned," reads a post on the AppleInsider website. "Sources who claim to have seen the new iPod describe it as being similar to Apple's 60 GB iPod photo player, but several millimeters thinner." Last month Apple unveiled and released the iPod Nano, a tiny music player with photo display capability that could store up to 1000 songs.
The creative team behind J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings movies, including award winning director Peter Jackson have jumped at the chance to work with Universal Studios and Fox on the upcoming Halo movie, based on the highly successful video game. Peter Jackson and wife, Fran Walsh, will be executive producers for the movie which is not expected for worldwide release until mid-2007. Universal will oversee the film's production and domestic distribution. Fox will handle international distribution.
It will be filmed in New Zealand at Wellington, using Jackson's production and post-production facilities. "I'm a huge fan of the game and look forward to helping it come alive on the cinema screen," Jackson said in a statement. Hints had been made when the game was announced originally that Peter Jackson would be somehow involved as Universal and Fox were looking for someone "as dedicated to Halo as Peter Jackson was to Tolkien's middle earth".
Screenwriter and novelist Alex Garland (28 Days Later, The Beach) wrote the original feature film adaptation of Halo, which is still without a named director, but an announcement is expected in the coming weeks. Peter Jackson is currently working on post-production of King Kong which is expected to come to theaters in December.
If you follow our news stories here on AfterDawn then you would have heard about the latest issues surrounding the use of Digital Rights Management (DRM) copy protection on music CDs. Reuters has published an article with a bit more information on the situation. Here it is in short summaries...
Want music on your iPod? Don't blame us, blame Apple!
That is the message that Sony BMG and EMI are giving to their customers who have bought copy protection CDs unknowingly (like Foo Fighters - In Your Honor and Switchfoot - Nothing Is Sound). The problem is, with these copy protected CDs, it is not possible to store the music on an iPod due to DRM differences. The copy protected CDs use Windows Media DRM which doesn't work on an iPod.
However, the music labels are pointing the finger of blame at Apple due to the company's unwillingness to license it's FairPlay DRM technology to the labels. Sony BMG at least does not let it's customers who own an iPod completely in the dark like EMI is doing. Instead the label actually is telling people how to workaround the DRM. Yes, that is correct, the label is telling people how to bypass its own copy protection (basically burn a CD and then rip the files from the burned CD to iTunes).
Microsoft had been hoping to offer a music subscription service like those offered by Napster and Real Rhapsody. However, citing unnamed sources, The Wall Street Journal has reported that Microsoft ended licensing talks with the four major labels on Friday. According to the sources, the talks broke down because of what Microsoft considered high royalty rates being sought by the four major labels.
Music subscription "rental" services allow customers to store digital music tracks on Windows Media compatible devices as long as they pay their monthly rental fee. Microsoft hasn't announced the launch of as music rental service yet, but expectation was that the company would do so soon. Now according to the sources, the breakdown in talks will indefinitely postpone a launch of such a service.
According to those close to the situation, the labels were expecting royalty payments of $6 to $8 each per customer, per month. According to people close to the labels, a price like this would be in line with the other subscription services that exist. I guess you could understand Microsoft's frustration, when the monthly fee is set, most of it would be going to the labels whereas the service is up to Microsoft to provide.
Electronic Arts has announced five video game titles that will be released for the Xbox 360 when the console is released next month. Need for Speed Most Wanted, FIFA 06: Road to FIFA World Cup, NBA Live 06, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 06 and Madden NFL 06 will be debuted by the world's biggest video game publisher at Microsoft's X05 event in Amsterdam on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The Godfather, Battlefield 2: Modern Combat and a new game from the Burnout Revenge franchise are all also under development for the new Xbox console, EA said, but the release dates for these games were not disclosed. The Xbox 360 is Microsoft's next generation gaming console and is set to be released on November 22nd this year.
Getting the early release ahead of Sony's PlayStation 3 console is vital for Microsoft considering the reputation and following that the "PlayStation" name has. Putting specs of the consoles aside is something that gamers will do pretty quickly, and then the judgment of which is better and which will take the #1 spot will come down to other factors such as the amount and quality of the games released for each console.
Apple's iTunes is once again coming under fire from the same music industry that thanked it just two years ago for providing a real alternative to P2P piracy for consumers. This time it is artists' managers and royalty collectors that are taking a shot at iTunes. The belief basically is that Apple is not properly re-compensating artists. The Music Managers Forum (MMF) is complaining about the 4.5p performers receive from 79p download sales at iTunes in the UK.
That's about 6% of the cost of the download, less than half what the performers get from single sales on physical media. “Sale prices and royalties have gradually been eroded to the point where an artist needs to sell in excess of 1.5m units before they can show a profit, after paying for recording time and tour support,"Jazz Summers, MMF chairman and manager of Snow Patrol, told the Times newspaper. Also the Mechanical Copyright Protection Society (MCPS) and the Performing Rights Society (PRS) want to increase the royalties for writers to 12% from the 8.5% rate of today.
Recently, Tim Clark, co-founder of ie:music, said that iTunes was only giving artists about 3-4p for every music download. However, is Clark complaining about the right people? Actually he is not. iTunes, Napster, Wippit, Virgin etc. are all just retailers whereas performance royalties are negotiated by labels and artists' managers. Summers however understand this fact and said that the record labels had been caught with their pants down when they accepted the pricing policies put forward to them by Apple.
According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), music downloaders spent over $790m on digital downloads in the first half of 2005. That's an increase of 259% over the same period of 2004, where $220m was spend on music downloads. Of the total figure, the music industry scooped up $440m and the retailers shared $350m, most of which would have went to Apple due to the dominance of iTunes in the music download market.
This means that during H1 2005, music download sales accounted for 6% of all record industry sales. The figure includes normal music downloads and also subscription based music rental services, but it also included ringtone sales though polyphonic and monophonic tones were not included. 44 cents of every dollar of the revenue went to the retailers, which is more than the past 33% figure that was believed to be Apple's cut.
However it wasn't all good news for the music industry which saw yet another slide of sales of music on physical media. Worldwide physical media sales fell by 6.3% to $12.4bn. Unit sales fell 6.6%. In the case of music CDs, sales were down 6.7% by value and 3.4% by units. Overall the global music market fell by 1.5% to $13.2bn compared to $13.4bn in the same period of 2004.
Advertisements by major companies that somehow manage to offend religious people are not a new thing at all. The latest ad to get some religious blood boiling was Sony's PlayStation advertisement that celebrated the PlayStation's dominance over the past ten years that it has been with us. The advertisement features a man, smiling with a crown of thorns around his head bent into the shape of PlayStation logos and a slogan that reads: "Ten years of passion."
Of course, some Catholics were seriously offended by this advertisement and have expressed their outrage. In the Bible, Jesus Christ was forced to wear a crown of thorns on his head by Roman guards who then ridiculed him before he was later crucified. "This time they've gone too far," said Antonio Sciortino, editor of Famiglia Cristiana (Christian Family). "If this had concerned Islam there would have been a really strong reaction,".
Sony Computer Entertainment Italia released a statement in which it expressed regret that the advertisement received such a reaction. The company acknowledged that the "spirit of the message was misunderstood" and promised that the advert campaign would not continue.
Paramount is playing it safe for now as the next generation format war continues to heat up. The company has said in a statement that while it is backing the Blu-Ray format, it will release movies in both the Blu-Ray format and the HD-DVD format. The reason for this is simple; the company would like for its customers to have a choice and not be forced into accepting just one format for Paramount movies.
It is likely that other movie studios will follow in Paramount's footsteps. If Toshiba is first to release HD-DVD players around the world, then those studios backing Blu-Ray would want to start worrying that more and more consumers might adopt HD-DVD early and stick with that format after BD discs and players are released.
President of Paramount Pictures, Thomas Lesinski, said that Sony's decision to use Blu-Ray in the upcoming PlayStation 3 console was a major point for Blu-Ray. Last week, Microsoft and Intel joined the supporters of HD-DVD, adding more weight to the format war.
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has sued close to 15,000 file sharers in the United States since the group started it's campaign against illegal file sharing in 2003. Not even 5,000 of these suits has been settled yet not one of them has ended up in an actual court case just yet. Among those sued are university students, kids, unaware parents, senior citizens and even a dead woman.
So as you can imagine, the RIAA doesn't really mind who gets sued, as long as the message is spread. However, the entire setup of these lawsuits is strange to say the least and the actual evidence has been doubted by many lawyers and experts as being enough to sustain a lawsuit. One woman, Tanya Andersen, has just counter-sued the RIAA for Oregon RICO violations, fraud, invasion of privacy, abuse of process, electronic trespass, violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, negligent misrepresentation, the tort of "outrage", and deceptive business practices.
Andersen, 42, a disabled mother, lives alone with her eight-year-old daughter. She is demanding a trial by jury, not willing to give into the lawsuit. Represented by Lory Lybeck of Lybeck Murphy in Oregon, Andersen decided she wasn’t going to be bullied into paying an extortionate charge to a blackmail center acting for the major record labels.
Toshiba has confirmed that its next generation optical disc format, HD-DVD, will be delayed in the United States, with its launch now expected to be February or March 2006. The original end of 2005 target is still set for Japan however. "We have been discussing with content holders the most effective way to launch in the US market," Toshiba Corporate Senior Vice President Yoshihide Fujii said, "and it will probably be in February or March."
Speculation that players for the new format would be delayed began to circulate in early September when a spokeswoman said that hardware and content companies were in talks to set a time to release the format, but that the original target might no longer be appropriate. Sony's Blu-Ray format is expected to first show in Spring 2006, being used in Sony's next generation gaming console, the PlayStation 3.
The spring launch of the console is confirmed for Japan but details on when it will be available in the U.S. or Europe were never released. Toshiba's HD-DVD format also recently got some more major backing, this time from Microsoft and Intel. It also has the backing of the DVD Forum, which is something that Blu-Ray doesn't have. However, Blu-Ray can always fall back on the extra storage capacity that it offers compared to HD-DVD and its heavy mixed support which includes huge support from Hollywood studios.
I you can remember back to just a few weeks ago, you will remember how we reported that Tim Foreman, member of rock band Switchfoot, had advised fans to workaround the Digital Rights Management (DRM) on the band's CD and even provided instructions. He also defended artists who have CDs that contain DRM, blaming the major record companies instead for the existence of the copy-limiting technology on music CDs.
Now it has emerged that EMI has recalled the CD due to the fact that the copy protection makes it impossible for fans to make any form of copy - at all. It was originally intended that the CD could be burned up to three times and now a CD is being produced that will allow the limited< number of copies. Fans will be able to swap their DRM crippled CD for a new version of it.
Also and most unsurprisingly, the web posting made by Foreman has been removed from the board which is hosted by Sony Music. Fans appreciate Foreman's concerns about the limitations imposed by Digital Rights Management. When a labels own artists speak out against DRM, that is big, because the labels claim they are protecting those very artists by using DRM.
Yet another 754 file sharers have become targets of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), a group representing major record labels in the United States. The RIAA accuses the P2P users of copyright infringement while uploading songs to other users on P2P networks. This brings the total to around 14,800 targeted so far in the campaign by the major record labels who claim they are fighting for survival.
Out of the entire 14,800 lawsuits, only about 3,400 have ever been settled and not one of these cases have ever seen a proper court case to date. Among the latest lawsuit victims are many students from several universities across the United States. Columbia, Harvard, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Pennsylvania, Boston University, Columbia University and the University of California, Berkeley and Princeton were among the 17 universities which received subpoenas.
The RIAA has also taken it's fight to the owners and operators of P2P networks. In a "post-Grokster" technology world, the RIAA has sent cease and desist letters to several major P2P companies demanding co-operation under the Supreme Court Grokster ruling. Under the press several companies have reacted in different ways but only time will show how effective the RIAA threat will be.
The U.S. National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) has awarded an Emmy to Sony's PlayStation console. The console won the Outstanding Achievement in Technology and Advanced New Media award for its work on 3D polygon-based games. Sony's PlayStation has been sitting comfortably on the top of the gaming market for the past decade, refusing to be dethroned by rivals that include U.S. software giant Microsoft and a pioneer in gaming, Nintendo.
The PS1 and PS2 consoles, while used, explain easily why this Emmy was awarded. At the times when both were released, they set new standards and didn't fail to impress gamers. However, can the PlayStation name remain dominant for another decade? We are now on the verge of a console war which consists of three major players, Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft. Within the next year, the three companies (beginning with Microsoft in November 2005) will release their next generation gaming consoles to the world.
Sony is hoping to re-create past PlayStation success with the PS3 console while Microsoft is preparing to release the Xbox 360 console with the hope of taking the success away from the PlayStation name. Nintendo will release it's Revolution console and has promised it wont fail to impress with the games that will be released for the console. Between Sony and Microsoft though is where most of the battle lies.
Despite some people casting doubts over Apple's recent move to introduce videos to its iTunes Music Store, it seems that Steve Jobs has managed to find the winning formula again. Apple announced today that it has sold more than one million video clips via its iTunes store since the introduction of video offerings on 12th of October.
Samsung Electronics, a Korean digital products giant, is seeking to have its own version of iTunes to help push its 
The man at the centre of a file sharing debate in Sweden has been found guilty of copyright violations and find 16,000 kronor ($2,000) by Västmanland district court in Västerås. The 28 year old made newspaper headlines in Sweden as the country has over 800,000 file sharers. He had originally admitted to Police that he had made the movie Hip Hip Hora available for download from his computer on a DC++ hub. However, in court he withdrew the confession and said it was just a misunderstanding.
