Disappointing sales and falling consumer interest might bring about the death of Sony's Universal Media Disc (UMD) format - at least in the motion picture market. Two major studios appear to have already abandoned producing movies in the format. Initially, UMD movies were very successful with two Sony Pictures titles crossing the 100,000-unit threshold after just two months. However, observers believe the novelty is quickly wearing off and the PSP is simply being used as a gaming device, not the all-around entertainment gadget that Sony aimed for.
Universal Studios Home Entertainment is one studio that has completely abandoned UMD. One anonymous high rank executive displayed enormous lack of faith in the format, and Sony, with his comments: "It's awful. Sales are near zilch. It's another Sony bomb -- like Blu-Ray." It's not just studios that have gotten cold feet either; retailers have also begun to lower their stocks of UMD movies and Wal-Mart is reportedly about to dump them completely.
Toshiba began selling its first player for the HD DVD format today in Japan, beating the rival Sony-made Blu-Ray Disc format to the starting line. The HD-XA1, priced at about 110,000 yen ($936), is the world's first commercially available HD DVD player. In April, this product will be available in the United States for around $799. It was planned to be launched this month, but unavoidable delays pushed the date back a few weeks. Movies on the HD DVD format will arrive in Japan in April also, but will be even more limited than the U.S. launch line-up.
Blu-ray Disc players are still months away from arrival, with Panasonic (Matsushita) and Samsung planning to get their players in quickly for prices of $1000 and more. Blu-ray enthusiasts were upset by the delay of the PlayStation 3 (PS3) console launch, which will now be in November. Despite the staggering number of PlayStation fans wanting to buy the console to asses its next-gen gaming abilities, it is also viewed as a "cheap Blu-ray player" as it includes a Blu-ray drive.
After more or less steady rise from late 1994 when SonyPlayStation was brought to public, Sony stalls the production for good. The eleven years of production of this flagbearer has proven its immense success among gamers and game developers alike. "Sony PlayStation has proved an enormous success, so enormous in fact, that we consider this sentence an understatement."
The long-running growth of original PlayStation units sold crossed a milestone of 100 million units was announced by Sony in September 2005. Now that the release point of PS3 has been clarified, it seems like a good moment for Sony to pull of one of its attractions off the market.
Even though the production is shut down, Sony says it doesn't necessarily mean that the hardware and software are sold out or not available.
Two groups, the Bluetooth Special Interest Group and WiMedia Alliance, are aiming to use Bluetooth technology to send video between devices in the home. The groups include the world's largest electronics firms such as Microsoft, Nokia and Intel. They claim that by 2008, the short-range radio system will be 100 times faster than current devices. A statement said that the new version of Bluetooth will meet "the high-speed demands of synchronising and transferring large amounts of data".
Specifically, new version of Bluetooth will enable connections of 100MBPS. The technology is now used mainly with mobile phones to link them to separate devices such as headphones or microphones. The current data transfer speeds are less than 1MBPS. For video and television streaming from one device to another, a speed of at least 10MBPS is required.
Home entertainment systems are becoming even more popular and now consumer electronics giants are aiming to bring wireless technology to devices. Bluetooth at 100MBPS seems a good candidate to link up devices in a home without the extra clutter of wires and cords, but unfortunately we'll have to wait until 2008 to see it in action.
While the change is condemned by consumer groups, the German justice minister has backed amendments to German law that could send Internet pirates who download illegally for personal use to jail for 2 years. In addition, anyone found to have profited from downloading can get a 5 year term. The minister, Brigitte Zypries, said that consumers are still allowed to make personal copies of legitimately bought DVDs. Oh how kind a lady she must be to allow customers of the movie industry to make backups of content they pay for.
German consumer groups were disgusted with the change, arguing that it sends a very wrong message and criminalises many consumers. Zypries said that people who download movies before their official release date are clearly breaking the law. The movie industry in Germany was lobbying for changes, blaming this form of piracy for falling sales in the country. It estimates that 20 million films are downloaded by Germans each year.
Critics however are quick to point out that falling cinema attendance and falling DVD sales are probably caused more by the falling quality of major Hollywood movie releases. 2 years is a very harsh sentence for people who download not for profit, especially when you consider there are much more serious crimes taking place in Germany right at this moment.
Apple Computer Inc. has responded to increased attention around a possible link between high iPod volumes and irreversible hearing loss by including a "volume limit" on new firmware updates for the iPod Nano and video iPods. The update is available as a free download. This is particularly aimed at concerned parents who would prefer to set a volume limit on iPods belonged to their children. The volume limit can be locked with a combination code.
"We want to offer customers an easy to use option to set their own personal volume limit." said Greg Joswiak, Apple's iPod marketing vice president. The US National Institutes of Health said that further studies are needed to determine the effects of in-ear headphones. A US congressman had called for studies into the long term effects on hearing that high volume levels could cause.
Apple is already facing a lawsuit filed by John Kiel Patterson, of Louisiana. It was filed in the US District Court in San Jose, California. His complaint is that his iPod is capable of generating more than 115 decibels. This is considered a dangerous noise level for prolonged use.
The Apple Corp. vs Apple Computer Inc. case opened today in the High Court in London with the Apple Corp. lawyer Geoffrey Vos saying that the problem is not with music, it's with logos. "Apple Computer can go into the recorded music business in any way they want," Vos said. "What they cannot do is use Apple trademarks to do it." To demonstrate, he displayed an iTunes advertisement to the court where the familiar bitten apple logo appears.
"That advertisement is as flagrant violation of this agreement as it is possible to imagine," he said. He also dismissed claims made by Apple Computer that the iTunes download store sells "digital transfers", clearing it of any infringement. "What Apple Computer are not doing using the Apple mark is selling software, delivery systems, or anything of the like. They are selling music," he said, "and that is in violation of the agreement."
The agreement was made in 1991 between both companies. It governed how both could use their Apple trademarks. Vos claimed that Apple Computer CEO Steve Jobs offered Apple Corp. just $1 million for the trademark and was turned down.
A popular BitTorrent search engine, Torrentspy, has filed a "Motion to Dismiss" a lawsuit brought against it by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA). The lawsuit accuses the site of aiding copyright infringement. Lawsuits against BitTorrent tracker sites differ because those sites host torrent files (although whether that is legal or not is still to be seen) but Torrentspy does not even do that much; it's just a search engine. Additionally, the site claims to have always removed links upon request from copyright holders.
Lawyers for the site believe that the case should be dismissed as it fails to provide any evidence of primary infringement. "Plaintiffs are attempting to steamroller defendants by means of an improper pleading. At the level of concrete specificity, the complaint is fatally defective in lacking allegations of any actual infringement. Not a single element of any cause of action is properly alleged. Allegations about defendants' supposed wrongdoing are nothing more than attempts to create impressions that are devoid of substance," the Memorandum to support the Motion to Dismiss states.
StreamCast Networks, the developer of the MorpheusP2P network, has named Internet VoIP provider giant Skype, Sharman Networks and others in a suit that claims they have broken the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organisations Act (RICO). Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, creators of Skype and original Kazaa creators have also been named in the suit. Skype is now owned by eBay after the auction site bought the company for $2.6 billion last September.
Here are some comments made by Charles Baker, lead attorney of StreamCast...
"As has been reported, StreamCast Networks, the developer and distributor of Morpheus P2P file search and sharing software, has filed a lawsuit against Skype and the other named defendants alleging violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, and other claims. I am unable to expand upon that at this time other than to say that the Complaint speaks for itself. We will not be providing copies of the Complaint to the media. StreamCast looks forward to litigating this lawsuit. I am a partner at Houston based Porter & Hedges, and I am StreamCast's lead counsel on this case and the MGM case. I'm sorry but at this time we have no additional comments."
Violations of the RICO act are normally reserved for criminal organisations and for organised crime, not P2P-based services. One could guess that this action taken by StreamCast is over "events" that took place in 2002 when the Morpheus client was blocked from the FastTrack network, forcing it to be used with the Gnutella network instead. This is believed to have killed Morpheus, which was gaining popularity rapidly while using the FastTrack network.
Following the decision by LG Electronics and Hewlett-Packard to produce products for both the rival Blu-Ray and HD DVD formats, Matsushita's Panasonic has shown its continued faith in the Blu-ray format by announcing it will only make Blu-ray players. The move by HP and LG was influenced by the inclusion of iHD in Microsoft's upcoming Windows Vista operating system. This way, since iHD is already part of the operating system, computer manufacturers can cut out the cost of the interactivity layer.
The Blu-ray camp declined to stray from the use of Java-based BD-J when confronted by HP however. Panasonic wont follow in the same path as LG and HP and today, company executives voiced their support for the Blu-ray format. Reid Sullivan, Panasonic's vice president of merchandising, told Reuters that the company had no need to produce players for both formats.
"We think adoption will be strong, based on broad support. For the first 12 months, we expect 4 million to 5 million units to be sold beginning in May and across all platforms, including standalones, computers and gaming systems," Sullivan said. Panasonic will be one of the first to start selling Blu-ray players when it releases its new player in September. It is expected to cost around $1500.
Apple Corps was founded in 1968 to publish music by The Beatles and to sign new musicians. George Harrison found an advertisement for an Apple Computer in a computer magazine in 1980 and decided that it infringed Apple Corps' trademark. Apple Corps told Apple Computer to change its name if it wanted to continue producing music making machines and in 1991, Apple Computer agreed to stay out of the music business and paid a settlement of $26.5 million.
However, in 2003, Apple launched its music download service, iTunes. The company has so far sold over 1 billion tracks, but is the company breaking the agreement it made with Apple Corps? On Wednesday, the High Court in London will decide whether the agreement between both companies has been breached. The suit was filed in September 2003 by Apple Corps, and its over "the use by Apple Computer of the word 'Apple' and apple logos in conjunction with its new application for downloading pre-recorded music from the Internet".
Apple Computer doesn't see its new service as infringing any past agreements however. According to reports, the company claims that iTunes allows "data transmission" and that downloads are permitted in terms of the agreement as they are "data transfers". Whether the court will see eye to eye with that claim will be seen soon.
Apple has started offering music videos in DVD-length bundles at their online media store iTunes. The first package offered is Tori Amos: Fade to Red - Video Collection, which contains 21 music tracks and a commentary track. The collection was originally released on DVD in February. Most of the videos in the package can be purchased separately at $1.99 per video. The complete bundle costs $24.99, and contains two videos and the commentary track, which cannot be purchased separately. In comparison the DVD is available at Amazon for $16.99 plus shipping.
In addition to the Tori Amos bundle, Apple is offering music video packages from other artists as well. Their full-length movie download service is expected to be launched in the near future. The first movie download was offered at iTunes earlier this month.
Apple will be facing some competition on the movie download field as Amazon is rumored to start offering a download service of its own sometime in the future. UK company Lovefilm.com will start offering its DVD/download hybrid service next month, when customers can purchase the latest King Kong remake for £20.00 (about $35). For that price they will receive the DVD media by mail plus two separate downloads for the movie -- one for desktop use, and another for portable devices. Unfortunately for all iPod users the Lovefilm service will use Windows MediaDRM, so the downloadable versions will be completely useless to them.
A senior executive at the worlds largest mobile phone maker, Nokia, told the Financial Times newspaper that the end is coming for makers of MP3 players and camcorders. Anssi Vanjoki, head of the multimedia unit at Nokia, pointed out the impact camera phones have had on the photo industry in the past years. With 100 million camera phones produced last year, Nokia is world's largest camera manufacturer. Nokia forecasted the death of the photo industry in the company's 2000 forecast.
Konica Minolta Holdings Inc. said in January it will withdraw from the business. Back in 2004, Agfa-Gevaert sold its famous photographic arm. "In the next 6-12 months, there will be more of these announcements. The next to disappear will be the makers of music devices and then the manufacturers of video cameras," Vanjoki was quoted as saying. Devices such as Apple's iPod could come up against tough competition as music phones evolve.
In 2005, Nokia made 40 million music handsets. This year, the company hopes to double that figure. Recording video has been possible on many expensive Smartphone models, and now the feature is beginning to show up on less expensive phones. In just a few short years, this feature may be considered a standard in all new phones.
Last night we achieved yet another milestone when 500,000th member registered to our site. As it was only just over a year ago when we had our 250,000th member, the growth of our userbase has been just phenomenal over the last year or so.
We have already achieved a status as one of the largest digital multimedia sites in the world and as we still enjoy constant growth (in terms of site traffic, registered members and our discussion forums activity), I just hope that it proves we've done "something right". Obviously, I must thank all our dedicated forum members, moderators and "addicts" who have helped us to create one of the most active digital multimedia communities in the world -- without the help from the active members of our community, we couldn't have made our site what it is today.
We are also happy to see that our recent members-only features, such as our user profile pages have gained popularity, despite some of the features still being in "beta phase". I'd also like to thank all of our 500,000 members for sending us feedback on daily basis, as this feedback has helped and will help us to develop our site to suit your needs and hopefully to make the site more appealing to your needs.
Microsoft Corp. is reportedly working on a portable device capable of playing games, music and movies to challenge two mega-popular gadgets from rivals; Sony Corp.'s PlayStation Portable (PSP) handheld console and Apple Computer Inc.'s iPod player. The San Jose Mercury News cited unidentified sources in its report on Monday. According to the newspaper, it is unlikely that this device would be released within a year, if not two years.
Microsoft typically has targeted the gaming market and the mobile market separately. This new project is being headed by vice president J Allard and other members of the team that was responsible for the Xbox console. Microsoft will be up against a lot considering the popularity of the iPod music player and the success, growing reputation and continued evolution of the PSP console.
Microsoft launched its next generation gaming console, the Xbox 360, in the US in November. Its launch is to be followed by Nintendo's Revolution console and Sony's PlayStation 3 (PS3). Both won't appear until late in the year, leaving the Xbox 360 the entire summer to just keep growing.
Have you ever thought what it would be like if the President of your country was using Bittorrent technology as we always do? What sites would he visit, what torrents would he download, what nickname would he use in forums?
The President isn't afraid of MPAA, the torrents will be always seeded for him and passwords will be always known. All private trackers will be opened for the President with the highest downloading speed. Isn't he the lucky one?
We tried to imagine what George Bush would do in such a situation and what in the world goes on in that mind of his. We are pleased to announce to you the new torrent site opened by George Bush President of United Bittorrents: http://www.bushtorrent.com
We have introduced humor to make our users experience enjoyable. Besides the huge torrent database ("It was easy to grab all torrents, since I own the Internet" - says George), advanced search options, flexible account settings. The president also writes a blog updated several times a week and we also offer humorous quotes and pictures.
Apple Computer Inc.'s iTunes software is on a path to overtake RealPlayer and become the second most used media player in the world behind Microsoft's Windows Media Player software. These details come from Nielsen/NetRatings. Currently, iTunes has around 18.5 million users, which is still a good 10 million behind Real Player's figure. However, in the past three years RealPlayer usage grew just slightly, whereas iTunes usage increased three-fold in 2005 alone.
By the middle of 2006, iTunes will have about 30 million users, which is still nothing in comparison to the 80 million using WMP. While iTunes is still used by less people than RealPlayer, apparently users spend more time using iTunes than they do RealPlayer. The average iTunes user uses it for 111 minutes compared to just 46 minutes for RealPlayer and even Windows Media Player.
US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales revealed in Chicago yesterday that undercover investigators had infiltrated an Internet chat room hosting child pornography, and as a result 27 arrests were made in the US, Canada, Australia and England. The chat room, known as "Kiddypics & Kiddyvids", was used to trade "graphic images of child pornography – including live streaming video of adults sexually molesting children and infants." The ring that operated the chatroom used P2P technology to exchange the content.
"The behavior in these chat rooms – and the images these defendants sent around the world through peer to peer file sharing programs and private instant messaging services – are the worst imaginable forms of child pornography," said Gonzales. Charges brought in the US include possession, receipt, distribution and manufacture of child pornography, as well as conspiracy and other offenses.
The use of P2P technology meant that the ring didn't have to rely on any central servers, and also made it much harder for investigators to bring the group down. So far, none of the individuals mentioned in yesterday's indictment in Chicago have been convicted of a crime, "but we plan to prosecute them – and others involved in this vile chat room – to the fullest extent of the law," Gonzales commented.
According to reports, Seoul Jongo law enforcement officers have questioned 57 people who downloaded a movie from a P2P network. These individuals were accused of downloading and possessing illegal copies of Lord of War. This differs from more frequent actions that target "distributors", or as they should be know; uploaders. The individuals were found after police monitored download activity on at least one P2P service.
Records seized from the local unnamed P2P service gave the police the information required to track down the individuals. However, it is unknown whether or not any criminal charges will be brought against them, as many of them are teenagers. Some have already reached settlements with Media Film International (MFI), which has the rights to the film in South Korea.
Police in South Korea can only investigate copyright infringement when a copyright holder complains, but a bill currently being discussed in the parliament aims to change that. Police said another 25 people are known to have downloaded the film, and are currently being tracked down.
Apple Computer Inc.'s iTunes download store has added content for College basketball fans in a new deal between CBS Sports and the company. CBS Corp's College Sports TV distributes the NCAA men's basketball tournament games and now fans will also be able to download condensed versions of the games from the iTunes store for $1.99 each. Alternatively all 63 of the games can be purchased as a "Season Pass" for $19.99. The content will automatically be delivered to the user's computer the day after the game.
With all the advertisements and extras cut out, the games will be about an hour long each, according to iTunes VP Eddy Cue. He also said full-length versions of this year's semifinals and championship game also will be available for purchase at the iTunes store. Content licensing and management company Thought Equity is also working with CSTV to produce "buzzer beaters," upsets and memorable championship games from past tournaments for iTunes.
"The response from customers has been that they love watching it on their iPods or their computers," Cue said. "You see a lot of folks in gyms now that instead of watching the big TV are watching their own choice on an iPod, and kids watch in the back seat or on their laptops in their bedrooms."
Microsoft said on Wednesday that it has filed lawsuits against 8 individuals it alleges to have sold pirated copies of Microsoft software on the online auction giant eBay. The company closely monitors auction sites for counterfeit software and along with many other companies, works closely with eBay to catch the sellers. These suits are intended to act as deterrents against other eBay users who might be tempted to do the same.
Seven of the individuals came to Microsoft's attention after some users ran the Windows Genuine Advantage check on the Microsoft download site. The program is intended to block many of the downloads from individuals using pirated software and has helped Microsoft track down some sellers of counterfeit goods worldwide.
The company also said that complaints regarding some of the 8 individuals had also been submitted to the company's anti-piracy hotline.
Ken Kutagari and Sony said what the whole world was waiting to hear. Sony's next-generation console will have a worldwide release date in November. As reported in ComputerAndVideoGames.com earlier, "Instead of rushing it, we want to make sure we execute a solid launch... We wanted to make the Thanksgiving sales," said the president of Sony Computer Entertainment, Ken Kutagari.
Sony states that the monthly production capacity of PS3 is 1 millions units and that the console is hoped to go mushrooming simultaneously in Asia, United States and Europe. According to Sony, the fast-paced release around the world will feature a "strong and attractive" liveup of games.
David Reeves, president of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe touted the importance of European market. And he probably has all the reasons, as far as analysts estimated, the European launch would have been scheduled to first quarter of 2007.
The technical specs didn't get much airtime, but Sony announced that the Blu-ray drive included in PS3 will handle both standard definition and high definition TV sets. They also added that consumers will be able to connect their PS3 to a network using a high-speed connection through Gigabit Ethenet and enjoy a variety of services.
The launch of HD DVD players from Toshiba has been set for March 28th, but if you were planning to buy a player and test it as soon as possible, then you might have to wait until April to get a disc to test. Warner Home Video announced today that it will not be releasing HD DVD movies on March 28th after all. Therefore, the first title to be released will be U2's Rattle and Hum documentary in April. This is terrible news for HD DVD's launch.
Warner will be weeks late releasing movies in the format, and other studios planning to release movies will be even later. When the movies do appear, it is still unknown how much they will cost. Wal-Mart was initially taking orders for HD DVD films at US$25.48 each but a Warner representative said the studio hasn't decided if this price is accurate yet. Blu-Ray movies are expected to cost between $23 and $39 when launched.
Rumours also say that there will only be 10,000 Toshiba HD DVD players available at launch. LG has agreed to build HD DVD players also, but nothing will be available from the company for some time yet. So it seems the stage is set for a very shaky start for HD DVD, but the format can still rest assured it has backing from Microsoft (which plans to releases a HD DVD drive for the Xbox 360) and that it still is beating Blu-ray to the starting line. Now the HD DVD camp can continue to pray that rumours of further PS3 launch delays are true.
While there has been no formal announcement made by the company, comments made during Disney's annual meeting with shareholders last week indicate that the studio may release movies in the HD DVD format as well as Blu-Ray Disc. The comments were made by Disney CEO Robert Iger. "We're very exited about next generation DVD formats," he said, but added that the company still believed Blu-ray would win the format war. He went ahead then to say the company "will probably publish in both formats."
The Blu-ray backer may be changing its mind at the very last minute as the HD DVD launch is only a couple of weeks away, and will be followed in May by Blu-ray. It would seem to Disney as a safe move, as both formats are strong in their own ways. Blu-ray provides more capacity than HD DVD, but at the moment it seems Blu-ray will be the more expensive option for consumers and uncertainty about the launch of the PlayStation 3 console, which includes a Blu-ray drive, may help HD DVD to be more successful initially.
The price of players for the next generation formats also favours HD DVD for now, but the Blu-ray camp is relying on the PS3 console to put a Blu-ray player in thousands of homes. Consumer confusion also will probably drag out the format war for a few years. Right now, it is still too early to predict who will ultimately win. It will eventually come down to consumers to decide a favourite.
A federal judge has dealt another blow to Sony by refusing to overturn an earlier jury verdict that awarded $90.7 million to Immersion Corp. Immersion accused Sony of patent infringement for its use of "haptic technology" in the PlayStation consoles (DualShock). Game manufacturers refer to controller vibration in response to video game activity as Haptic technology. In September 2004, an Oakland, Calif. jury found that Sony had violated patents surrounding the technology.
Sony attempted to have the earlier decision thrown out by accusing Immersion Corp. of withholding information of earlier haptic technology inventions by Craig Thorner. Sony believed the information could have changed the outcome of the trial. However, Sony made a $150,000 payment to Thorner to license his patents, which led the Judge to doubt the reliability of the consultant's testimony.
She said that the payment could be viewed as a payment for positive testimony. "The court finds that Sony has not presented clear and convincing evidence of misconduct by Immersion that would warrant a new trial," U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken wrote in her decision. The biggest fears Sony has over the result of this case is possibly having to drop or modify such functionality for the PS3.
Apple Computer Inc. has added the first full length movie to the iTunes store. The Disney movie "High School Musical" can be found in the store for $1.99, the same price it costs to download TV shows and music videos. The movie industry is battling rampant online piracy and looking for an "iTunes for movies" that Apple would be only too keen to offer. However, Apple won't corner the market for movie downloads as easily as it did for music downloads.
A few days ago it emerged that Amazon is planning its own movie download service, which will have IMDB on its side to drive sales. Apple's success in music lies in the success of the iPod; but is the video iPod enough to drive consumers to download movies from iTunes, or would consumers prefer to get movies from Amazon (due to its huge customer base and good reputation) or other similar upcoming services?
It has been reported that Apple will begin selling movies with the launch of a new touch screen iPod. The company has been in talks with major Hollywood studios to license content.
Sony will announce new information about its next-generation console PlayStation 3. These details may include pricing information, launch dates and software line-ups of the upcoming console. The announcement will be presented in Tokyo tomorrow March 15th at a Sony conference.
The conference that has been rumored to include PS3 revelations for the past week, will open its doors 6am GMT and is open to media and Sony's publishing partners. The president of Sony Computer Entertainment, Ken Kutaragi is set to address the conference. This is possibly the last chance for the company to make announcements regarding PS3 details before their year-end on March 31st.
Obviously the discussion about PS3 release problems makes it a bit harder to believe that the exact launch dates could be unveiled tomorrow, but after Sony claimed to be on schedule on the release of the console, they probably can't wait all the way to E3. The fact that the screenshots from a PS3 version of RPG Untold Legends were accidently released days before the scheduled Wednesday morning indicates that the Tokyo conference will have some kind of software presentation planned.
The analysts have commonly estimated a launch in late summer of early autumn in Japan, near Christmas in United States and first quarter of 2007 in Europe. Tomorrow we'll see what is the opinion of Sony.
Online retail giant Amazon.com Inc. is reportedly in talks with major Hollywood studios about selling their content as downloads online. Sources say the company wants to create a store to sell movies and TV shows for consumers to own, not just to rent. Last month, it was revealed Amazon was also in talks with major music labels to bring about a service which would aim take a bite out of the market which is currently dominated by Apple Computer Inc.'s iTunes service.
Amazon's service would differ from that of MovieLink, as MovieLink is essentially a rental service but Amazon aims to sell content to consumers to own. No details on the possible cost of a major Hollywood movie or TV show were revealed. Amazon is reportedly close to reaching a deal with at least three major studios. The company's reputation, millions of consumers and other services could help make its store a huge success.
IMDB.com is owned by Amazon, and in February the site boasted more than 15 million unique users. Amazon would use this site to draw movie fans to the download store to buy the content.
Microsoft announced its formerly mysterious handheld device called Origami. The publishing of this product happened on the first day of CeBIT as it was suspected by considering the hint at origamiproject.com. Microsoft is hyping their "Ultra-Mobile PC" with gaming possibilities, while the Microsoft's official UMPC site is focusing on photos, music and videos.
As we suspected earlier, the upcoming UMPC is not a handheld version of Xbox or most likely not even a competitor to PSP or Nintendo DS. For people interested in Origami's gaming capabilities it will surely be a disappointment. All that Microsoft has so far offered in means of gaming with this UMPC, is a picture of a typical puzzle game. The slogan - "Enjoy PC and Internet games in new ways with touch, stylus, or hardware controls." - does not yet seem too fancy, however considering the future price of the UMPC, it should have enough power to run at least some of the less demanding PC games.
The UMPC will be manufactured by three Microsoft partners, Asus, Founder and Samsung. The device is featured with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth functions and will have a hard drive capacity between 30GB and 60GB. It weighs around two pounds and has a 7 inch WGA touch screen. Estimations on the price vary between $800 and $1200.
The French Government is once again attempting to crackdown on the sharing of copyrighted material online in a bid to overcome a rebellion by its own lawmakers, which aimed to instead introduce a "global license" that would legalise sharing. Culture Minister Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres defended a revised version of the copyright bill ahead of an evening debate at the National Assembly, France's lower house. However, penalties for Internet pirates have been lightened in the latest draft.
Under a Global License, French people could download as much copyrighted material online as they wished for a monthly fee of only a few euros, which would be passed on to rights holders. UFC-Que Choisir, France's largest consumer organization, on Tuesday urged deputies "not to go against the tide of digital history" by abandoning the legalization of file-sharing.
In the initial proposal, jail time and fines of up to €300,000 were proposed as penalties but now the fines have dropped to between €38 and €150. Jail time would be reserved for those who distribute software to circumvent copy protection. "Our objective is reconciliation," Donnedieu de Vabres told lawmakers. The new draft would "ensure that there is a maximum of music and film accessible on the Internet while respecting copyright, the rights of artists and creators who own their work," he added.
South Korean consumer electronics giant Samsung has unveiled a new Smartphone that is equipped with an 8GB HDD. The SGH-i310 is advertised as having the ability to store up to 2,000 MP3's (4MB each). Samsung is the first to adopt a hard disk drive into mobile phones and has launched three models equipped with a hard disk drive; the world's first 1.5GB HDD embedded phone (model: SPH-V5400), the world's first 3GB HDD embedded phone (model: SCH-V7900) and the world's first 3GB HDD Music Smartphone (model: SGH-i300).
The i310 comes with the latest version of Windows Mobile 5.0 for Smartphone which allows users to view files and easily carry their music library with them. This Windows Mobile 5.0 enables users to sync the playlists, songs, and videos from their personal PCs so that the experience with the i310 is identical to the users' personal computer. It also offers USB 2.0 and Plug & Play feature which allows the phone to be utilized as a removable hard disk. Businessmen and students can easily store and transfer files to/from their computers in any format conveniently.
A new service called La la aims to make it possible for consumers to pick up used CDs for just $1. This is possible and also legal because the discs are in fact "traded" by members of the service. The company is backed by $9 million in funding from Bain Capital and Ignition Partners. It works by allowing members to trade CDs they own for CDs they want. The trade is made in pre-paid envelopes, similar to how online DVD rental services operate.
If members can't find CDs for trade, they can also buy the new CD from the service. The company is also looking for licenses for the sale of digital music. A spokesman said the company expects 30% to 40% of its revenue to come from trading and the rest to be made up of CD sales through a deal with CD distributor Baker Taylor. The company claims that it is protected against legal action from the Recording Industry.
They contend that the owner of a CD can transfer a legally acquired copy without permission or payment of additional royalties. The company will be paid $1 from a member when they receive a CD and an additional 49c shipping charge. La la said it will set aside 20% of trading revenues for recording artists.
Napster has put the blame on Microsoft and other manufacturers for the company's failure to provide real competition for Apple's iTunes music store. The company which made a complete transformation from the P2P service near everyone knows about from years back, has blamed glitches in Microsoft's Windows Media Digital Rights Management (DRM) software for its poor performance. "There is no question that their execution has been less than brilliant over the last 12 months," Napster chairman and chief executive Chris Gorog said at a New York conference.
"Our business does rely on Microsoft's digital rights management software and our business model also relies on Microsoft's ecosystem of device manufacturers," he added. He claims that the company has a tougher job than Apple to provide a successful service. "It's a lot more complex to get organised properly than it is to build one device and one service as Apple has done," he said. "It's always been painful at the introduction of new technologies. But it always takes shape like it's done in the past."
In a very anti-consumer decision, France's highest court ruled that consumers do not have a right to make backup copies of their DVD discs, even if they don't make them with intent to distribute them. The decision over-ruled an earlier decision by a lower court that banned the use of DRM mechanisms on some DVDs because they limited consumers' fair use rights. The decision was made by the Cour de Cassation in Paris. It all started when a consumer could not make a backup copy of David Lynch's Mulholland Drive.
The UFC Que Choisir consumer association argued that Vivendi's Studio Canal film-production unit had no right to include mechanisms on the disc that could stop consumers from making a backup to protect their investment. "This means that if one pays 20 euros for a DVD, one is just buying the right to use that one DVD,"Ahmed Baladi, a Paris-based lawyer at Allen & Overy, said in an interview today. "This ruling will have an influence on neighboring sets of laws, including those regulating the music industry."
The right to make personal copies can be restricted by copyright holders when duplication "could cause an unjustified damage to the legitimate interests of authors," today's judgment said.
BitTorrent, a company who's popularity results from million of file sharers' use of its software, is soon to open a legal video download site. BitTorrent spokeswoman Lily Lin said the company is now in talks with several content providers. "We want to aggregate video and other content and make it available in a legal and sanctioned area," says BitTorrent co-founder and president Ashwin Navin. The company doesn't give any details on what video will be available however.
One major advantage of an online store was pointed out by BitTorrent. "It's going to run the gamut because we don't have limited shelf space," Navin says. With millions of file sharers downloading movies using P2P networks or the BitTorrent software, it's time for the movie industry to offer a proper legal alternative that will be familiar to consumers. The use of BitTorrent to distribute movies has an advantage in that millions of people already understand it and use it regularly.
Of course, the company will have to ensure the MPAA and others that its service is secure and that their content will be adequately protected. The company believes it can find a solution that will be good for both sides. "The MPAA tells us that 650,000 movies are being downloaded every year, and nobody’s getting paid," Lin says. "We see P2P being utilized so that the publisher, the artist and the ISPs all get paid for the content."
First of all I would like to thank everyone that applied for the position. We were definitely surprised by the number and quality of applications we received! Great job everyone!
That being said, it has taken us quite a while to go through all the applications. With alot of projects and recruiting going on, there's only so much time we have been able to devote to going through the applications. We have just about gone through all the applications now, but it will still be a while before we pick applicants for the second round.
So if you posted an application and haven't heard back from us -- sorry to have kept you waiting, but you neededn't worry! You will hear from us soon enough.
Disappointing sales and falling consumer interest might bring about the death of Sony's Universal Media Disc (UMD) format - at least in the motion picture market. Two major studios appear to have already abandoned producing movies in the format. Initially, UMD movies were very successful with two Sony Pictures titles crossing the 100,000-unit threshold after just two months. However, observers believe the novelty is quickly wearing off and the PSP is simply being used as a gaming device, not the all-around entertainment gadget that Sony aimed for.
Toshiba began selling its first player for the 
After more or less steady rise from late 1994 when Sony PlayStation was brought to public, Sony stalls the production for good. The eleven years of production of this flagbearer has proven its immense success among gamers and game developers alike. "Sony PlayStation has proved an enormous success, so enormous in fact, that we consider this sentence an understatement."
