Next generation WiFi technology could be used to send Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) around the home, according to WiFi chip-maker Airgo Networks. The company announced on Tuesday that Caton Overseas and STMicroelectronics will use Airgo's latest technology to distribute video through WiFi links throughout the home. Airgo is the pioneer of the Multiple Input, Multiple Output (MIMO) technology which improves WiFi's range and throughput.
MIMO is primary basis for next-generation WiFi standard 802.11n. Airgo supplies companies like Linksys with its high performance chips. The company has tweaked its MIMO technology to improve the throughput, range and reliability of the signal to make it adequate enough to transmit three high-definition TV channels. Airgo's next generation chips are called True MIMO Gen3.
Using this latest technology, transmission speeds up to 240mbps can be reached. Airgo tested the technology in a 6,000-square-foot model home, according to Dave Borison, director of marketing. Carriers are already breaking the bank rushing to upgrade their networks to offer IPTV to consumers but another problem remains; most homes today aren't equipped with Ethernet cabling. This is where WiFi comes in.
When you hear the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) talk about the effects Internet piracy has on the global films industry, you are guaranteed to hear about how movie downloaders are stealing from everyone involved in making movies. Hollywood studios call movie downloaders thieves for this act, but can they also be called thieves if they steal somebody else's work? Well, a growing number of cases are accusing studios and movie producers of stealing screenplays.
Reed Martin is responsible for just one of many lawsuits that have been aimed at Hollywood studios or people. He worked on his screenplay while he was working at Columbia University and New York University. After ten years he finally got his break when a Hollywood talent manager read and really enjoyed his script.
"And he agreed to send it around to actors in the industry," said Martin. "He asked me to make up a list of people I'd like to have in the film and I gave him my top choices -- among them Bill Murray -- and he said he'd try to make it happen for me." I can't imagine how good this could have made Martin feel. It would seem that his creative work was about to pay off - but he discovered that Hollywood had a few surprises in store for him.
Just hours after popular BitTorrentTrackerThePirateBay.org's servers were seized in a raid by Swedish police earlier today, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) issued a somewhat gleeful press release.
Within the document, it stated that The Pirate Bay is one of the world’s largest and most well known, "facilitators of online piracy", and that there are now, "no safe harbors," for such sites.
"The actions today taken in Sweden serve as a reminder to pirates all over the world that there are no safe harbors for Internet copyright thieves," said Dan Glickman, Chairman & CEO of the MPAA. "Intellectual property theft is a problem for film industries all over the world and we are glad that the local government in Sweden has helped stop The Pirate Bay from continuing to enable rampant copyright theft on the Internet."
John Malcolm, Executive Vice President and Director of Worldwide Anti-Piracy Operations for the MPAA said, "The bottom line is that the operators of the Pirate Bay and others like them are criminals who profit handsomely by facilitating the distribution of millions of copyrighted creative works and files protected under the law."
The hardware giant AMD announced that they are launching AMD Live! to be an all-inclusive media package for Live! enabled PCs. In cooperation with other manufacturers, AMD is set to release a software suite that they hope will change the way you interact with your digital media.
In cooperation with OEMs such as Acer, Alienware, Fujitsu Seimens Computers, Gateway, HP, and a few others, AMD plans to launch a five application suite, available for free, for uses to manage their digital media.
Like Apple or TiVo, AMD hope its chips will set a new standard for home entertainment or media server devices, bringing your digital photos, music and video into one user-owned DRM-free storage center. One of the differentiators from our competitor is that we're not focused on premium content," said Teresa de Onis, AMD's desktop brand manager. "[A user's] music photos, their recorded TV shows -- all sorts of those types of content we want to distribute throughout the home. While many companies have attempted to do similar things by allowing user-owned media to be played on multiple devices around the house, AMD is the only one attempting to circumvent digital rights management (DRM) schemes.
Slyck.com has learned that the popular Swedish BitTorrenttracker, ThePirateBay.org, is currently being raided by Swedish police. "…The police right now is taking all of our servers, to check if there is a crime there or not (they are actually not sure)," ThePirateBay.org spokesperson brokep told Slyck. With the servers gone, the site will remain offline until the police complete their investigation.
Up until now, ThePirateBay has been viewed by BitTorrent users as almost immune to legal troubles. The site even posted and ridiculed legal threats from entertainment and software companies on its site. In 2005, a new anti-piracy law went into effect in Sweden, but ThePirateBay was defiant weeks before it came into effect, leaving this message on the site: "By the way, we will NOT shut down the 1st of July."
It is unknown if this raid will take the site offline for good or just temporarily. "We are not sure when it will return, but we are moving it to another country if necessary," brokep said. Back in June last year, the site had a few major upgrades to make it faster and far more user friendly. The Google-style layout was also complemented with the addition of 10 languages besides English.
The recent dashboard update prepared Xbox 360 for upcoming camera peripheral, Xbox Live Vision. According to Aaron Greenberg, the group marketing manager of Xbox Live, this device which will add "eyes to Live" will have a simultaneous launch for Europe and North America on September 19.
Xbox Live Vision will be compatible with both PC and Xbox 360, but Greenberg claims that this camera has been specifically designed for Xbox 360 and other webcams won't work with the console. Neither PC or Xbox 360 won't require additional drivers.
The camera features more than just support for interactive gaming, it also lets Xbox 360 users to set and interact with dashboard background for example waving hands to make a watery effect react. Also the Xbox 360 music player will be able to use the camera to capture what is going on in the room and visualize it with "psychedelic" effects.
Games such as Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas and World Series of Poker: Tournament of Champions will use the camera for creating both portrait and profile models from the player's head. The camera will also be used for gesture-based games as well as some other Xbox Live Arcade games.
A man who was advertising subscription to his site as a way of downloading music without having to face litigation has reached a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Los Angeles man Cashier Myricks settled the deception charges brought against him after the FTC alleged his site deceived users into thinking that his referral or tutorial conferred a license to share copyrighted files. Mp3downloadcity.com contained nothing more than tutorials to use free P2P software.
Myricks was charging $24.95 for access to his tutorial which he claimed would make file sharing "100 per cent legal". The FTC filed the suit against Myricks in September 2005 and the settlement now brings an end to the legal action. As part of the settlement, Myricks must return the more than $15k the FTC alleged he received to 611 individuals he had duped into forking out the cash.
From now on he must also inform users that "using P2P programs to download copyrighted music, movies, games, or other material without a license from the copyright holder can subject you to lawsuits, fines, and even criminal prosecution." He is barred from making future misrepresentations about the legality of any computer product also.
According to a survey by Famitsu magazine, Japanese consumers are anticipating Nintendo's Wii console much more than Sony's PlayStation 3 (PS3). Readers voted the PS3 release date and pricing information as the biggest news to come out of this years E3, but 88.4% believe the price is far too high for a gaming console. Only 10.9% believe the price is about right and a mere 0.7% actually believe the PS3 price tag is too low.
A huge 68% of respondents revealed they are most interested in the Nintendo Wii console. The support for PS3 is crawling behind at 21% and Xbox 360 received support from 7% of the respondents. The remainder expressed most interest in the Nintendo DS handheld console. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess was the most popular game to be shown at E3, followed by Final Fantasy XIII, Metal Gear Solid 4 and Super Smash Bros.
The launch and price details of the PS3 revealed at E3 sparked a worldwide debate of whether the cost was just too much for a gaming console. Over and over again, Sony and PlayStation fanboys have argued that the cost is acceptable mostly because of the included Blu-ray disc drive. The argument is understandable; a stand-alone Blu-ray player would set you back $1,000+ in the United States.
The European company Sling Media has launched today their Slingbox Internet TV device. Slingbox TV plugs into your cable or satellite TV set-top box and then transmits video over the Internet. This product is being dubbed "placeshifting", as opposed to the "time-shifting" features in devices like Sky+ and Tivo.
Slingbox is officially launching in Britain this week and will be available to a broader European audience later this year.
Slingbox has had some testing in the U.S. which includes many different features such as broadcasting to an enabled cellular phone, although this feature will not be available in the initial European launch. A spokeswoman for Sling Media had no further comments other than, "Conversations are clearly beginning," with European mobile phone companies.
The unit, which sells for £180 is causing a stir with broadcasters in that it may interfere with their plans to offer downloadable content over the Internet on a fee based system.
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Police in Bulgaria have today charged two men with illegally distributing music and films in in one of Europes' largest Internet piracy groups, according to officials.
The administrator and systems operator of www.arenabg.com were taken into custody for putting download links to 20 million songs and hundreds of films on the site, which is one of Bulgaria's most popular pages.
It allowed users unlimited access to all content on the site for a $2.50 monthly fee. The damage to the entertainment industry from this is estimated at around $30 million by Bulgarian Authorities. "These people are among the biggest Internet pirates in Europe," explained Liliana Yosifova, spokeswoman for the Sofia Investigators' Office. "We are talking about big losses here."
Also found in the suspects' homes by police in the swoop were three satellite receivers and 200 CDs containing pirated movies, which is said by the Internet Ministry to have been a high-speed network used to download fresh music and video content from illegal pirate sites.
Popular Russian online music download service AllofMP3.com has been judged as illegal by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), and prosecutions are reported to be underway. The Moscow-based service, whose market share at 14% comes second only to iTunes in the UK, has been accused of not paying royalties to artists.
The prices charged by AllofMp3.com are a lot cheaper than that of other online music services such as iTunes, which has made it a hit with consumers. A typical album download from the iTunes Music Store can cost as much as £9.79 in the UK (almost $18.20), or typically around £0.75 (about $1.40) from AllofMP3, which prices its downloads by file size.
The site, run by MediaServices Inc., claims that it is completely legal in Russia because the music it distributes is licensed by the Russian Multimedia and Internet Society (ROMS) and the Rightholders Federation for Collective Copyright Management of Works Used Interactively (FAIR). MediaServices states that it pays licence fees "subject to the Law of the Russian Federation," and whether or not it is legal in other countries depends on local copyright laws.
The Advanced Access Content System Licensing Administrator (AACS LA) has chosen Macrovision's Analog Content Protection (ACP) technology to plug the analog hole on the next generation of optical disc including HD DVD and Blu-Ray Disc. This announcement expands Macrovision's leadership in content protection for entertainment content to next-generation, high-definition media formats. Macrovision's ACP will be included in the latest AACS LA protection specification release, the Advanced Access Content System (AACS).
"The goal of AACS LA is to develop, promote and license technology that will enhance the digital entertainment experience," said Michael B. Ayers, spokesperson for AACS LA. "Macrovision's ACP enables content providers, content aggregators, and device manufacturers to provide quality content for their consumers as next-generation technology such as HDTV gain market adoption." ACP is included on over 4.5 billion DVDs for Hollywood and other rights owners since the format's introduction.
DivX Inc. has announced the release of DivX 6.5 for the Mac. The latest version of the popular video conversion and playback tool comes equipt with the first official release of DivX for Mac player, which provides Mac users with "free full-screen playback of high-quality DivX videos on a desktop or through a browser," according to a Press Release.
DivX is video Compression software which can be used as an alternative to QuickTime and other formats. It produces compressed video of a high quality that can be played back on computers, some portable devices and DivX capable standalone DVD players. This announcement marks the end of a public beta testing period of DivX 6.5 for Mac.
DivX 6.5 for the Mac allows users watch DivX videos in full-screen playback. It also includes a desktop dimmer, mouse gesture controls and Windows fade-out amongst other features. Also included with the 6.5 release is DivX Converter, which outputs video files and necessary HTML code so movies can be embedded into Web sites used with the DivX Web Player.
NBC has announced it will add some of its news and documentary content to Apple Computer Inc.'s iTunes download store. The company claims that it is the first news broadcaster to add current and archive content to the Apple store. "We're leading a trend to put our work and our journalism everywhere our viewers and users want it to be," said Mark Lucasiewicz, NBC News vice president for digital media. As more people switch to high-speed Internet services, the demand for video content is growing rapidly, and Apple wants to turn that demand into revenue.
Along with extra revenue for the company, the inclusion of hit TV shows such as Lost on iTunes helps to promote Apple's video iPod models. The deal to include NBC News content shows how Apple is striving to make iTunes a more complete video resource and not just focusing on the top US TV shows. NBC will also make documentary and special interest programming available through iTunes. Interviews with John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King and a tour of the White House offered by First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy will be among the available content from NBC.
The hardware company LG has been making strides to incoporate it's brand into just about everything in our daily lives. From cellular phones to refrigerators, LG seems to have a grasp on making things people want to use.
Shown off briefly at this years Consumer Electronics Show (CES), LG has unveiled that they will launch their GBW-H10N4X Blu-Ray recorder in June. Expect prices to be in the neighborhood of €799 ($1,020/£546).
Although their plans to bring higher speed recording to the masses first, may turn out to be a bit premature. LG has also announced one slight shortcoming of the new drive. It will not be able to record on the 50Gb Dual Layer Blu-Ray disks. 25Gb single layered disks are the only high definition recording option.
The drive will, however be able to record previous popular media such as CD-R/RW, DVD-RAM and DVD±R/RW. Additionally it will run at up to 4x for BD-R media only. It will read single-layer BD-ROM and BD-R discs at 4.8x, dropping to 4x for dual-layer BD-ROMs and 2x for single-layer BD-REs.
Nintendo has announced a guide price for its up and coming next generation console, the Wii, which will be launched globally later this year. Although Nintendo won't announce the actual price, it has stated it will will not exceed $250 in America or 25,000 yen in Japan. No estimate was announced for the European market, however it was indicated that it would be a "similar, affordable price."
Nintendo's pricing decision will be compared closely with rival Sony, whose PlayStation 3 console will ship for a considerably higher amount at around the same time, and will cost up to $599 for the fully-featured, 60gB model. Nintendo expects to ship 6 million Wii systems before the end of March 2007, as well as 17 million games.
Although the Wii doesn't boast the same level of gaming power offered by Microsoft's Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3, its unique controller has marked it as a contender. And with the news of a <$250 price tag, Nintendo cannot be written off in the battle of the next generation consoles.
The company behind popular Bittorrent search engine TorrentSpy has countersued the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), alleging that it hired a hacker to infiltrate its' e-mail and trade secrets.
The suit alleges that the MPAA paid a man $15,000 to steal information from Valence Media, parent company of Torrentspy, of whom the MPAA has accused of helping copyright violators. Torrentspy claims the man, known only as 'The Informant', has admitted his role in the plot and is cooperating with it. He is also alleged to have provided documents that prove the nature of his involvement with the MPAA, including a written agreement signed by the hacker and an MPAA executive.
"We have very significant proof of wrongdoing and the MPAA's involvement," stated Ira Rothken, Torrentspy's attourney. "We think it's ironic for the MPAA to claim that they are protecting the rights of the movie studios and then go out and pirate other people's property."
Just three months ago, the MPAA filed suit against Torrentspy and other directories such as IsoHunt.com and BTHub.com for allegedly making it easier for pirates to distribute copyrighted films over the internet.
Four major Hollywood studios including the likes of Universal and Disney are suing the fifth largest cable television provider in the U.S., Cablevision. The suit is over their controversial network digital video recorder (DVR). This network DVR would enable users to store digital copies of their favorite television broadcasts over the internet in a centrally located server farm. This technology is in contrast to existing systems such as Tivo, who's solution allows users to save programs on hard drives that are located inside the device in their homes.
Television subscribers have long since been allowed to store their favorite programs for private viewing, but Cablevision's service has raised objections from the production studios in that now a third party organization will have control over licensed material they have not paid for.
"Cablevision is actually copying, storing and retransmitting it," said Kori Bernard, a spokeswoman for studio industry group the Motion Picture Association of America. "A commercial entity can't establish a for-profit, on-demand service without authorization from copyright owners whose content is used on that service," she said.
A New York judge has granted final approval to a settlement for music fans who purchased audio CDs from Sony BMG that contained harmful Digital Rights Management (DRM) software. The DRM software included on these CDs were First4Internet's XCP and SunnComm's MediaMax. "This settlement gets music fans what they thought they were buying in the first place: music that will play on all their electronic devices without installing sneaky software," said Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) Legal Director Cindy Cohn.
As well as getting the music you purchased without the harmful DRM software included, some people are also entitled to additional downloads or a small cash settlement. "Participating in the settlement is a way to show Sony BMG -- and the entire entertainment industry -- how important this issue is to you," said Cohn. "If you take the time to claim the product you deserve, maybe other music labels will think twice before wrapping songs in DRM."
Nike Inc. announced earlier this week that it is making running shoes that can deliver details to the wearer on demand including the distance run, running speed and the number of calories that have been burned. The information can be delivered right to the runner through a miniature iPod from Apple Computer Inc. It is estimated that 75% of runners already listen to music when they are out running. Nike's plan to tap the iPod success helped its shares rise 2%.
A new wireless system called Nike+iPod will help the instant information to be delivered to the runner. A Nike+iPod Sports Kit will be available for around $29, and will enable miniature versions of the iPod to provide the details to the runner from an attachable receiver that gets the data from a sensor in the insole of special Nike shoes. The sensor will be about the size of bubble gum, and will be usable with any compatible shoes. The new Air Zoom Moire line of running shoes are the first to include space for the sensor and Nike said more will follow soon.
Nike also launched a line of "iPod ready" performance clothing, including jackets, shirts and shorts that can hold iPods and keep wires hidden. "We share the same types of consumers (with Apple)," said Trevor Edwards, Nike's vice president of global brand management. "We know that these two brands work really well together." Apple, which has shipped over 50 million iPods, controls 77% of the U.S. market for portable digital music players according to the NPD group.
AMD announced two new dual-core processors, Athlon 64 FX-62 and Athlon 64 X2 5000+, both based on the AMD's new socket AM2. These two processors will be the flag bearers of the new AM2 socket which will replace the socket 939. This new AM2 platform will feature improvements in memory support for up to DDR2-800 and new AMD Virtualization, technology which allows users to run multiple operating systems simultaneously on a single system.
The Athlon 64 X2 processor line will be available for socket AM2 as well as the mainstream Sempron processors, which will be converted from socket 754 to this new platform. AMD has also released Athlon 64 X2 4000+ to fill out the AM2 lineup. The new processors are not pin-compatible with the socket 939 or other Athlon 64 sockets and therefore require an AM2-compatible motherboard.
The processors are already listed in an online store, but the high-end technology has a high-end price, the Athlon 64 FX-62 is sold for $1,031 and the cheaper Athlon 64 5000+ for "only" $682.
P2PNet editor Jon Newton has made a plea for donations to help him fight a lawsuit brought against him by Sharman Networks and Nikki Hemming. Jon sees this as an important free speech case and one does have to ask, just how much can a blogger/editor say on the Internet and remain immune to legal attacks? The outcome of this case will have an impact in Canada, whether it's a victory for free speech on the Internet or the beginning of a nightmare for publishers. It could also be used in similar cases internationally as an example.
Here's a post that Jon made...
p2pnet is being sued by Kazaa owner Sharman Networks and Kazaa ceo Nikki Hemming for alleged libel.
But what's really on trial is whether or not an online publication - a blog - can be held responsible for something someone else posts. Or put another way, rather than being a publisher, is it in reality a content filter acting on behalf of persons unknown?
And there's something else: as far as I'm concerned, an anonymous post is the same as a confidential source. I don't have to like a post, or even agree with it. But I believe that as an honest and responsible human being, I do have to safeguard the poster, if indeed I know who he or she is which in this cased, I don't.
StreamCast Networks, the makers of the Morpheus peer-to-peer software, alleges in a lawsuit against internet auction giant eBay is profiting from peer-to-peer technology that rightfully belongs to it.
StreamCast claim in a lawsuit filed to the U.S. Central District Court in Los Angeles on Monday that Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, the pair that developed the technology behind the companies Kazaa and Skype, of breaking an agreement to give StreamCast the first right to purchase their FastTrack p2p protocol. FastTrack was formerly the network which Morpheus' file-sharing application operated on and is also the technology foundation of Skype's voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service.
Up until this lawsuit, the companies had always shared a close working relationship, revealed Michael Weiss, StreamCast's chief executive. Weiss added that StreamCast played major role in the development of FastTrack and that the company had paid to guarantee the right to acquire FastTrack. But then, according to the lawsuit, Zennstrom made plans in secret to ignore the deal and sold the technology to a shell company.
UK buyers may only be offered the 60gb, fully-featured version of the up and coming PlayStation 3 console, according to a Sony official.
The head of Sony Computer Entertainment's UK operation, Ray Maguire, seemed to confirm speculation that the less featured 20GB PS3 will not be released in the UK officially in an interview with UK games industry weekly MCV. "The lower-end 20Gb version of PlayStation 3 has no wi-fi, no HDMI and none of the other slots in it, so it’s really a question of where we would position it. It’s more likely that we will only launch the 60Gb version," he stated.
Last week, Maguire was quoted as saying the 60GB PS3 will be priced at around £425 when it arrives in the UK on 17 November. His latest comments, however, imply a lot of uncertainty regarding the final price. "We have time to watch the yen and be flexible, but that 60GB version looks like £425 in the UK at the moment," Macguire told MCV. "High trade margins in the UK are likely to see it come in with that kind of street price, though it's ultimately up to retailers."
The country of Germany was once known as a safe haven for file sharing needs, often taking a very lackadaisical attitude towards pirating. Recent enforcement however has turned the IFPI (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry) against users of the famous eDonkey2000 and eMule file sharing communities. This morning German officials entered the grounds of over 130 different homes of alleged pirates and confiscated personal computers as well as external media in the cities of Cologne and Bergheim.
These raids were administered by the Public Prosecution Service of Cologne and the Police Authority of Bergheim, who apparently had been investigating alleged illegal activities for several months in cooperation with the IFPI.
"I am pleased that the German authorities recognise the serious impact of copyright crime and are taking action against it,” said John Kennedy, chairman and chief executive of IFPI. “Internet piracy has hurt the whole music community in Germany, with legitimate sales falling by a third in just five years. The victims are investment in music and everyone who makes a livelihood out of the music industry.
Microsoft Corp. has revealed it has no immediate plans to lower the price of its Xbox 360 console. This comes after rumors that Microsoft would drop the price on the 360 by at least $100 to challenge prices of Sony's PlayStation 3 console, which launches in November.
Microsoft Europe representative Chris Lewis told Club Skill "We have no plans to make any price adjustment. The last couple of days have reinforced the fact that we have a great value proposition, giving consumers choice, thanks to the core system. We’re not forcing the consumer down a route with HD playback. We certainly don’t think it’s necessary to make any changes to the current price point."
He also went on to dismiss any rumours of an up and coming handheld Xbox console. "We’ve got quite a lot going on," he said. "It’s a hugely significant time for us and for gaming in general. We don’t have any plans to do anything in the handheld space."
With the ongoing battle of HDTV standards and policies, developers had set to employ a feature called ICT or Image Constraint Token. What ICT is capable of is forcing the downgrade of video quality for players that lack the HDMI connection standard, in an attempt to thwart piracy. Essentially, this HDMI connection standard is used as part of a "protection pathway" that makes it impossible for pirates to tap into a HD video source.
Growing concerns over this token has spawned discussions that many consumers, if not appropriately equipped, may be forced to deal with a player that either displays severly downgraded quality, or doesn't play next generation video at all.
Unofficial agreements between Hollywood and some consumer electronics companies including Sony and Microsoft have been discussed to not include the ICT standard until 2010 or possibly even 2012.
Without providing more details, the report suggests that Hollywood isn't exactly happy with the situation, and could very well renege on the agreement, such that it is. But the agreement is there nonetheless, presumably to help the industry transition to HDMI. This could explain why the very same studios that pushed for HDMI and ICT have recently announced that they would not use it for the time being.
Nintendo has announced the launch of DS Lite in Europe, the new and improved version of its hugely successful DS. The portable will arrive in Europe on June 23 and will be available in both black and white. The Lite version will retail for around £99.99 (approx. $187). Nintendo DS has sold over 4 million units in Europe and over 16 million units worldwide, and the DS Lite is expected to continue the success.
DS Lite is a lighter and brighter version of Nintendo DS. The handheld has dropped weight nearly 60g and is much slimmer than the original. DS Lite isn't just smaller, it has been improved by relocated microphone, adjustable screen brightness and more comfortable stylus. DS Lite features the same dual screens with advanced touch screen technology, voice recognition and Wi-Fi as does the original DS.
Nintendo DS Lite will also get several new releases during the summer, Dr Kawashima's Brain Traning: How Old Is Your Brain? and New Super Mario Bros. will launch in June and Electroplankton and Big Brain Academy in July.
Congratulations to the Monstrous winners of the Eurovision Song Contest 2006. LORDI! Lordi won the contest with the highest score ever, 292 points.
And Finland goes ballistic! Before this year Finland had not once made it even to the top five in the contest. The nation has rejoiced if we didn't finish last.
Huge congratulations from the insane Finnish staff, and HUGE thanks to everyone who voted! Tomorrow pigs will fly, I'm sure.
You can hear (and see) the entire song at Youtube.com.
To celebrate this joyous occasion AfterDawn.com membership is free today! Well it is free every day, but even more free today! You can join at http://login.afterdawn.com/.
HARD ROCK HALLELUJAH!
The Lordi web site at Lorgi.org is overwhelmed by traffic at the time of writing. The link above might not work.
Earlier this week, we reported that Creative Technology were suing Apple Computer Inc. over patent infringment of the Zen players' user interface.
Apple has responded to Creative patent infringement allegations claiming much the same thing by alleging the MP3 player maker has violated its own intellectual property. It has filed a formal complaint against its rival in the Wisconsin District Court. Apple holds nearly an 8-to-1 margin in sales of its player over its smaller rival.
While Creative remained quiet about its own suit, it said it was shocked Apple's response. "Creative proactively held discussions with Apple in our efforts to explore amicable solutions," Creative spokesman Phil O'Shaughnessy told the International Herald Tribune. "At no time during these discussions or at any other time did Apple mention to us the patents it raised in its lawsuit."
Two men have received jail terms of between 6 to 15 months for distributing pirated copies of music on the Internet through their release groups. George Hayes, 31, a member of the release group "Chromance," or "CHR," received a 15 month jail sentence after pleading guilty to criminal copyright infringement. He was sentenced by US District Judge Leonie Brinkema in Alexandria, Virginia. Separately, Aaron Jones, 30, was sentenced to six months in prison and six months' home confinement.
Along with another man, Derek Borchardt, 22, Jones pleaded guilty to one felony count of conspiracy to commit copyright infringement during his involvement with a release group known as "Apocalypse Crew," or "APC." Borchardt was sentenced to six months' home confinement for his involvement with the group. Another alleged APC member, Matthew Howard, 24, is set to be sentenced next week.
These are the first federal criminal sentences for members of pre-release music groups that stemmed from the FBI's Operation FastLink, which targeted professional piracy groups on the Internet. The FBI had help from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in its investigation.
Eurogamer has revealed that the 60GB version of the PlayStation 3 will cost £425 in the UK when it is launched on November 17th. The details came directly from Sony Computer Entertainment UK's managing director, Ray Maguire, who has followed in line after Sony executives and said the price is a bargain because the machine includes a Blu-Ray player. "I don't think it's an expensive machine; I think actually, it's probably a cheap machine," he said. "If you think a Blu-Ray player by itself might be £600-700, and we're coming in at just £425 - it's a bargain."
Sony unveiled two models of the PS3 console at E3 this year, but well informed retailers have suggested Sony will not release the lower spec console in the UK at all. The more expensive model has a 60GB HDD compared to the 20GB HDD in the €499 model. In addition to lower storage capacity it also lacks Wifi capabilities, High Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) support and doesn't include a card reader. A direct conversion of €599 to GBP is £405.
The PS3 will cost £140 more than Microsoft's Xbox 360 console and it has been reported that Microsoft told retailers that that the cost of an Xbox 360 plus HD-DVD peripheral will be less than the price of a PS3 around Christmas. "£425 is definitely not a mass market price, no," Maguire admitted. "But you think about the price, think about the price of just a Blu-Ray player. It will be cheaper than a Blu-Ray player just by itself. So fundamentally we're going to be great value just from that point of view without even looking at the games side."
Pioneer announced this week that it has started shipping world's first Blu-ray Disc -compatible PC drives. The drive will be capable of burning 25GB single layer BD discs and sells for about $1,000 in the U.S. according to various retailer sites.
The drive, called Pioneer BDR-101A is extremely costly by many standards, but compared to most offerings by its rivalling HD-DVD camp, the ability to burn discs in addition to reading them, is a huge bonus to many professionals and enthusiasts. And of course, it wasn't that long ago when recordable DVD drives used to cost more than a budget PC.
The drive will ship with blank BD disc from TDK and with Blu-ray -capable software bundle from Roxio that includes tools for authoring and burning HD content to Blu-ray discs. Blank single layer Blu-ray discs cost currently appx $25 in the United States.
The Recording Industry Association of America has filed a lawsuit against XM Satellite Radio over its' new device, the Pioneer Inno, which allows users to save songs heard on the radio service to the device.
The RIAA's lawsuit, filed in a federal court in New York yesterday, alleges the satellite radio provider is committing "massive wholesale infringement" of copyrights. The suit claims that users who have the device and subscibe to the $12.95-a-month service would no longer need to purchase digital music.
The music industry is demanding $150,000 (£79,537) for every song recorded by customers who bought the player since it was first released earlier this month. Although thousands of Innos have been sold, this does not appear to have deterred XM. It has vowed "it would fight the suit", and also points out that the Pioneer Inno is no different from a person recording from terrestrial radio, which has happened for years. Furthermore, it cannot transfer content, nor is it an on-demand service, unlike iTunes.
The RIAA, however, disagree. In a statement made to the Los Angeles Times, Mitch Bainwol, the RIAA's chief executive, said "XM wants to offer listeners what is essentially a free version of iTunes without paying the music companies for the right to sell their songs". He contines to say, "It's a great deal for XM because it drives subscriptions. But it's fundamentally unfair to songwriters and labels and threatens to puncture the integrity of the digital music marketplace right as it is growing."
Microsoft brought up the subject about an external HD-DVD device for Xbox 360 at E3 last week. The company didn't reveal any information about the pricing of such peripheral. However, yesterday Gamesindustry.biz reported that retail sources had informed them about Microsoft planning on a HD-DVD add-on for Xbox 360 which combined with the console would be cheaper than upcoming PS3.
In the UK, Sony's PlayStation 3 is estimated to hit the price spot around £400, while Xbox 360 retails for £279 and the Core System version for £209. This gives Microsoft £130 (approximately $250) for the HD-DVD player. The Xbox 360 HD-DVD drive uses the Toshiba's next-generation DVD standard, while the Blu-Ray drive built-in PS3 uses Sony's competing HD-DVD standard, which is expected to win the war, due to its strong support from movie studios.
Several analysts have commented on the HD-DVD subject, and for example Michael Pachter of Wedbush Morgan Securities, a respected industry analyst, has suggested that the success of Blu-Ray drive will very much determine the success of PS3. If the Blu-Ray becomes "an expensive and unappealing component" it'll be a big burden for the whole lifespan of the console.
In a patent infringement case that kicked off in 2004, Altnet, a subsidiary of Brilliant Digital Entertainment, Inc., has announced it has reached a settlement with Loudeye and Overpeer. The suit was originally brought against the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), Loudeye Corp., Overpeer Inc., Media Sentry (now part of SafeNet) and a number of individuals. Media Sentry and Overpeer were two of the companies responsible for "poisoning"P2P networks like FastTrack with fake files.
The method used to distribute these spoof files infringed two patents critical to P2P business. RIAA executives and other defendants were reportedly put on notice about their infringement of the patents before the lawsuit was brought. "We welcome this settlement as an important step toward the acknowledgment and recognition of the TrueName patents as a prerequisite to legitimate utilization and exploitation of P2P technology." said Kevin Bermeister, CEO of Altnet.
Creative Technologies Inc. has sued Apple Computer Inc. in the U.S. District Court in California for infringing its patented technology. The suit demands an injunction to stop Apple from selling it's iPod and iPod NanoMP3 players in the United States. Additionally, Creative has filed a complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission seeking the injunction. The company is accusing Apple of infringing on a patent that was awarded to Creative last August.
The patent in question covers the Zen player's user interface. Creative CEO Sim Wong Hoo had vowed late last year to "aggressively pursue" companies that infringe Creative's key patent. Apple's iPod player holds around three quarters of the MP3 player market so it's understandable that Creative wants to get a cut. Creative has tried to steal some of Apple's share of the market, releasing players like the Vision:M to take on the iPod video player head on.
Creative is not the first company to complain that Apple's iPod players infringe their technology. Pat-rights, a Hong Kong company, claims that Apple's FairPlayDigital Rights Management (DRM) technology infringes its intellectual property. Also Contois Music & Technology claims that Apple uses its patented technology for the iTunes interface.
Apple Corp. today unveiled the newly designed MacBook which features the Intel Core Duo processor along with a 13-inch display, and is billed as a replacement to both the iBook and the 12-inch PowerBook.
The new MacBook, which is on sale now, starts at USD$1,099. There are three in total in the Macbook series, and the lineup includes: a 1.83 GHz and 2.0 GHz MacBook in a newly designed, sleek white casing and a 2.0 GHz MacBook in a new black enclosure.
"Apple began the transition to Intel Core Duo-based notebooks in February with the 15-inch MacBook Pro, and now just 90 days later we have completed the transition with the release of the all new MacBook," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of worldwide product marketing. "The complete MacBook lineup leads the industry with Apple's trademark innovative design and advanced mobile features -- from top to bottom it is the best notebook line that we have ever offered."
Sony Corp. has announced that will unveil the first laptop capable of playing, editing and recording high-definition videos in the Blu-Ray DVD format.
Tagged as the Vaio AR Premium, Sony's new laptop will launch this June to the tune of ¥400,000 (~$3500 USD or £1930GBP), approximately one month after rival Toshiba is set to launch it's own fully featured HD-DVD laptop. However, unlike Sony, Toshiba's $3000 offering will be unable to record using the HD-DVD format.
Besides using Blu-Ray technology and displaying in true 1080p resolution -- the sharpest in high definition quality; Sony's new Vaio will also feature a 17" display, a built in TV Tuner and packaged with the Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition operating system.
No you did not read the headline incorrectly, p2pnet.net, a valuable news source for all us news junkies and people who want to hear things straight without the spin the entertainment world creates, is being sued for libel. P2Pnet editor Jon Newton is keeping specific details to himself and the other entity/person involved for now for legal reasons. I think it's safe to say that most of our readers would visit p2pnet quite often as Jon does a terrific job in covering stories (easily 10+ per day by himself).
"Until I've been able to get legal advice, I can't go into detail. For now, though, to me freedom of speech is paramount, and this is very much a freedom of speech issue," Jon told me earlier. P2Pnet is a non-entrepreneurial, not-for-profit site based in Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. The project funds itself now but doesn't leave much left over for Jon and as he put it himself he's "not living in the lap of luxury".
Jon is currently seeking a Canada-based lawyer who might be prepared to help him out pro bono publico (for the public good). We here at AfterDawn wish Jon Newton the best of luck and hope this matter can easily be solved. Be sure to keep your eyes on p2pnet for updates and we'll make sure to keep up to date on the issue here as well.
A hacker known as commodore4eva has put smiles on the faces of some Xbox 360 owners around the world with his Xtreme firmware for the Xbox 360 Toshiba-Samsung TS-H943 DVD-ROM drive. Needless to say, this won't work with Hitachi-LG drives so don't try it. The same individual was also responsible for the release of a Samsung DVD Firmware Hack for the Original Xbox console recently. Here is a paste of some of the post he made at XboxHacker.net.
14 May 2006
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Xtreme firmware for TS-H943 Xbox 360
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Here it is, the long awaited World first Xbox 360 backup firmware modification to boot all game backups!
Features
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Boots all Xtreme Xbox 360 backups
Boots all Xtreme Xbox 1 backups
Boots all Xbox 360 originals
Boots all Xbox 1 originals on Xbox 360
Xtreme0800 extraction firmware enables drive to function natively under Windows without any hardware conversion/adaptors
Use on Xbox Live at own risk
Technical details
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Reads Xbox 360 security sector from PSN 04FB1F (Layer 0)
Reads Xbox 1 security sector from PSN 605FF (Layer 0)
Security sector must be extracted using Xtreme0800 360 firmware for Xbox360 games and Xbox 1 games
Will not boot Xbox 1 backups made with Xbox1 605b 0800 firmware (maybe in future release)
The Los Angeles Convention Center was the stage for the year's biggest electronic entertainment event. This year's Electronic Entertainment Expo hosted a whopping over 60,000 attendees, including industry's leading professionals. With nearly 1.5 million visitors on the official new site, E3Insider.com, this year's event adds to most exposure in E3 history, not only in Los Angeles but all over the world. This was the twelfth consecutive year for the Entertainment Software Association owned trade show, Electronic Entertainment Expo.
"E3 is the one and only venue where all of the world's leading interactive entertainment companies convene to launch the industry's next evolution," said Douglas Lowenstein, president of ESA, the association that owns E3, "E3 remains the most important gathering of interactive entertainment industry professionals on the planet, offering attendees unparalleled networking and business opportunities."
E3Insider.com, "the official virtual gateway to E3", received 1.5 million visitors from around the world, this being double to what the site received in E3 2005. E3Insider.com featured E3 events live on the Internet, including DVD-quality video broadcasts, 360-degree tours, exhibitor news and more.
After a roughly five-month selection period, we have finally found our new staff writers at AfterDawn.com! As of today, Davedough (Washington DC, USA) and Lethal_B (London, UK) are members of the AfterDawn team. Welcome aboard, guys!
In total we received over one hundred job applications, most of which were very good indeed. We started the second round of the interviews in March, and finally got the final assignments evaluated last week.
After these two new recruitments, the AfterDawn staff consists of five writers (Dela, Ankle, Siggy, Davedough and Lethal_B), two software admins (waiski and krimu), two web developers (dRD and Pihlis), one web designer (teemu), one administrative assistant (Kata), and one all round techie (myself). That's twelve in total, if my math is right.
Huge thanks to everyone who applied for the position. It was definitely a challenge going through all the applications and finding the top candidates!
The Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT) is celebrating after successfully training two sniffer dogs, Lucky and Flo, to locate DVDs. The two black Labradors were part of a project supported by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA). Eight months after their training commenced, the dogs can now successfully locate DVDs amongst other cargo items. The dogs passed a test at FedEx's UK hub at Stansted Airport where they were successful in identifying packages and parcels containing DVDs.
However, since legitimate pressed DVDs smell pretty much the same as counterfeit DVDs, the DVDs the dogs successfully located were in fact legitimate. In total the dogs identified three packages, which customs officers then opened. Despite the failure of the dogs to locate a single counterfeit DVD, FACT is claiming the initiative as a great success. Usually dogs are used only to find explosive substances or drugs.
"This is the first time dogs have been used anywhere in the world to search for counterfeit DVDs and the results were amazing," said FACT director general Raymond Leinster. "With the cooperation and assistance of FedEx and Customs we were able to properly test the dogs in a real life situation and prove that they can work in a busy airport environment."Mary Callahan of the MPAA also praised the dogs. "Lucky and Flo’s immediate success in locating DVDs in transit offers us a new and highly effective means of detection for counterfeit discs." she said.
Kaz Hirai, Sony Computer Entertainment America CEO, has defended the cost of both versions of the PS3 console that will be available in November. The higher priced version, which will cost $599, provoked a shocked response from some gamers on the Internet, but Hirai believes this is a very good price when you consider what's under the hood of this next generation console. The most highlighted point is the inclusion of a Blu-ray player.
"I think when you look at what we put into the box – Cell, Blu-ray, backwards compatibility, the ability to go online - I think it's a very compelling package for consumers," Hirai said. "The totality of what we bring to the table makes it a good value for consumers." Stand-alone Blu-ray players will cost $1,000 or more when they are launched in the United States. Taking the components of the PS3 into account, the $599 price is a good deal, but the $499 model has significant differences which might cause problems in future.
The more expensive model has a 60GB HDD compared to the 20GB HDD in the $499 model. In addition to lower storage capacity it also lacks Wifi capabilities, High Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) support and doesn't include a card reader. "We felt that if you want to save something on your Memory Stick, most people have those readers on their PC, which is easily adaptable to the PlayStation 3 with a USB cord," said Hirai. "The only difference is HDMI – and at this point, I don't think many people's TV's have that. The ultimate result, to my eyes anyway, is there's not a discernible difference between what you get between HDMI and other forms of high definition."
It took about seven years for us to realize that not all people are particularly interested in DVD ripping, backing up movies, editing video files, converting videos to other formats, etc. Apparently, some people just prefer to watch the videos. Weird..
Anyway, as we try to be the one-stop shop for all people who are interested in digital video (and digital multimedia in general), we added a new guide to our site, helping out the people who really couldn't care less whether HC is a better MPEG-2 encoder than CCE or vice versa. Actually, the guide tries to make it easy reading for users who don't even quite grasp the concept of different video encoding methods.
So, here's the very basic guide for people who just want to watch their videos:
As we tried to keep the guide as simple as possible, it doesn't go into details, but instead provides a set of links for "further reading" in case the guide sparks the need to know the digital video world slightly better. In order to assist with this task, the guide is accompanied by two "helper guides":
Sony has revealed that the highly anticipated PlayStation 3 (PS3) console will cost up to $599 when it launches in the U.S. in November. A version of the console with a 20GB storage capacity will be available for $499 (which was the rumored price for the system) as well. The company believes that consumers will be willing to pay extra for the console mainly because it includes a Blu-ray drive that will play back high definition movies on BD discs.
According to Kazuo Hirai, Sony Computer Entertainment America's chief executive, the company will ship 4 million consoles by the end of the year. The console will be available in Japan on November 11th at a cost of 59,800 yen for the 20GB model, the 60GB model will be priced by retailers. The PS3 will then go on sale in the U.S. and Europe on November 17th.
Sony also unveiled a controller that allows gamers to control their games by waving it around in the air, much like the controller used by Nintendo's Wii console which is expected to launch in the fourth quarter. Hirai said that Sony will make 2 million consoles available at launch and will have shipped 6 million by March 31st.
The Beatles' record label, Apple Corps, has lost its challenge against Apple Computer Inc. over the use of an "Apple" logo on iPods and the iTunes music store. The record label, which is controlled by Sir Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and the families of George Harrison and John Lennon, accused the U.S. firm of breaking a 1991 agreement between both companies that gave the label exclusive rights to using the Apple logo in the record business.
Since you can clearly see Apple logo (an apple with a bite taken from it) on the iTunes music store and on iPods, the record label sued the company and wanted the wanted London's High Court to award damages and stop its rival using the Apple logo in its music operations. However, today the judge ruled against the labels saying that Apple Computer Inc. is using the logo in association with its store, not the music, and so was not in breach.
"I conclude that the use of the apple logo ... does not suggest a relevant connection with the creative work," he wrote in his judgment. "I think that the use of the apple logo is a fair and reasonable use of the mark in connection with the service, which does not go further and unfairly or unreasonably suggest an additional association with the creative works themselves." He said that iTunes was an electronic music store, but not involved in "creating" music.
The Electronic Entertainment Expo is almost ready to open its doors in Los Angeles Convention Center for tens of thousands of game and technology professionals, developers and journalists alike. The Conference Program starts the show tomorrow May 9th and the Expo follows the next day lasting three days. There are hundreds of companies worldwide attending the E3 including the leading distributors, developers and manufacturers.
The Conference Program follows the progression of high-speed connections into the home, wireless devices and games taking a leap into the music, movies and TV industries. The conference focus is in several key topics featuring portable gaming's future view, gaming adapting to the all-digital entertainment ecosystem, the new generation of home consoles and technology in mobile communications and its future in wireless gaming. Over 30 conference sessions are held during the three days from May 9th to May 11th.
The Expo will feature approximately 400 exhibiting companies from 80 countries all around the world. Most likely this year's E3 isn't going to be different from the previous and exhibitors will brings hundreds of video games and related products out to the public. "During E3 2005, exhibitors debuted more than 1,000 computer and video games and related products."
Free Peers Inc., the distributors of BearShare file sharing software, has agreed to pay the recording industry a sum of 30 million dollars to avoid potential copyright lawsuits. They also agreed to shut down their service and refrain from operating online music or film download services.
Free Peers was one of the seven P2P companies to receive a letter from the RIAA last year. The companies were warned that if they did not close down their services, they might be facing legal actions. i2Hub and WinMX shut down their services since then, and Grokster was sued and settled for $50m. Warez P2P, Limewire, eDonkey and SoulSeek haven't taken any action thus far.
Following the settlement with the recording industry, BearShare's assets, including the domain name and list of BearShare users, were sold to iMesh, which has had it's share of problems with RIAA in the past.
The Recording Industry Association of America praised the ruling made last year by the Supreme Court in the Grokster case. "The (Supreme) Court's decision helped pave the way for this exciting and ongoing transformation of the digital music marketplace," said RIAA's general counsel Steven Marks in a statement. "This is another important step in that evolution."
The long anticipated Nintendo's improved version of the popular portable gaming device has been announced to hit US in June 11. DS Lite was released in its home country, Japan, in March and was sold out immediately. DS Lite is a lighter version of the original Nintendo DS which has sold millions of units.
The delay in shipping was because of huge demand of units in Japan, but Nintendo was finally able to increase the production. The DS Lite will make its debut in US as "polar white", while the two shades of blue are not yet promised to hit the shelves, however as in Japan, they could come week later. The Lite version will have a price tag of $129.99, the same amount as the original DS.
There aren't any major releases targeted at the debut week, at least not yet. Many thought that a simultaneous launch with new Super Mario Bros. would give both the game and the DS Lite a boost, but while the game is released in May 15, the handheld is waiting in line. However DS Lite isn't all alone, games, including THQ's Cars and Nintendo's Big Brain Academy will be released the week earlier.
DS Lite release dates outside US haven't yet been confirmed.
Movies on Blu-ray Disc will not be available in stores on May 23rd as originally planned, but have been put back until June 25th to coincide with the launch of the first Blu-ray Disc player from Samsung. Benjamin Feingold, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment President, said that the first batch of BD titles will in fact be ready by the May 23rd but that retailers asked the studio to reconsider the release date.
"The majority of our retail base and hardware partners have requested that we reconsider this date to better coincide with the first commercially available Blu-ray-compatible hardware," Feingold said. HD DVD had a head start on Blu-ray, but on launch date only three titles were available for early adopters to choose. There will be 8 titles available with the launch of the Samsung player.
Those movies are Underworld Evolution (arriving the same day as the DVD), 50 First Dates, The Fifth Element, Hitch, House of Flying Daggers, A Knight's Tale, The Last Waltz, Resident Evil Apocalypse and XXX. In addition, the first Blu-ray titles from Warner Home Video are expected to arrive in stores around the same time.
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, a popular fantasy role-playing game co-published by Take-Two Interactive Software & Bethesda Softworks has had its rating changed due to a mod that makes female characters appear topless and also for "excessive gore". The Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB) changed the rating from "teen" to "mature", which brands it only suitable for players aged 17 and over. This is the second time that a modification has resulted in a game developed or published by Take-Two receiving a tougher rating.
The board also said that the detail and intensity of the blood and gore was understated by Bethesda in its initial application. "We don't expect there to be a financial impact," Take-Two spokesman Jim Ankner said. Most copies of this game sold were for Microsoft's Xbox 360 console, whereas the mod is just for the PC version of the game. It was created by a third party to edit an art file in the PC version according to the ESRB.
Take-Two and Bethesda said in April that shipments of Oblivion were over 1.7m worldwide. Shares in Take-Two dipped less than 1 percent in extended trading after the rating board's announcement, then rebounded to $16.33, slightly above its Nasdaq close of $16.31.
Finnish mobile phone giant Nokia and ATI Technologies Inc. announced today a long-term strategic relationship to bring enhanced mobile multimedia experiences to Nokia customers. Both companies will work closely together to drive high quality multimedia experiences such as music playback, 3D gaming, mobile TV, video and more for Nokia mobile device users worldwide. With the interest in multimedia devices skyrocketing and phones themselves becoming more powerful, Nokia wants to ensure it will stay on top.
"Working with ATI underscores the commitment that Nokia has in providing unparalleled mobile multimedia experiences to consumers," said Ilkka Raiskinen, Senior Vice President, Multimedia Experiences, Nokia. "With the mobile device now at the center of people's lives, we want people to have access to fantastic mobile content when and where they want. We are announcing our collaboration with ATI now, so that developers have the next 12 to 18 months to be innovative and create world class mobile multimedia experiences."
ATI and Nokia are working to drive the complexity out of multimedia development by promoting open standards and providing integrated hardware, software and tools. In this way, developers need only create content once for consumers to enjoy on a range of devices. Specifically, ATI aims to provide a dedicated tools chain and software development kit (SDK) for developers in the fall of 2006. ATI and Nokia will also hold a series of joint workshops in the second half of this year to showcase the environment to key developers.
Apple Computer Inc. has managed to force the four major record labels, Warner Music, Universal, EMI and Sony BMG to accept that the single price for all tracks in the iTunes store is staying for now. The labels had hoped to use contract re-negotiations to introduce variable pricing to iTunes, which would see newer and more popular songs priced higher and less popular and older songs priced lower. Steve Jobs has commented in the past that the success of iTunes is proof that the single price for each track works.
Jobs believes that upping the price of music downloads will simply send customers back to another option; downloading music for free. He publicly said that maybe labels are getting too greedy. iTunes has sold 1 billion tracks now, with around 80% of all paid downloads being made through the service. Apple's share of the download price is isn't much, but iTunes drives sales of Apple's iPod music player.
"We're pleased to continue offering iTunes customers music at 99 cents per song from a library of over 3 million songs," a statement from Apple read. It isn't clear how long the contracts will last but it has been suggested that the labels would opt for short-term renewals and hope to try and convince Apple again soon. They could also hope that Apple's competitors become more successful and begin to bite into Apple's current share of the market.
U.S. Senator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) has snuck the dreaded and condemned "broadcast flag" into a bill on Net Neutrality. It is worth mentioning that the same guy previously rejected Broadcast Flags for radio. The broadcast flag clause would allow "the FCC to establish a broadcast flag to allow TV stations to protect digital content from Internet piracy." Previous attempts to bring about the Broadcast Flag have been highly criticised, and for good reason.
In effect, it would allow broadcasters to veto any features of digital televisions and downstream devices. So the FCC acting on behalf of these broadcasters could dictate the design of video recorders, optical drives, network interfaces, hard disks, computers and operating systems all in the name of preventing piracy. This would ultimately give Hollywood studios control over technology and ensure that technological innovation does not affect their business model.
One alarming element of the broadcast flag proposal is how it prohibits the use of free and open source software in digital TV applications (including PC operating systems, video drivers, etc). This is because tech companies would be required to build devices to be robust, to resist the attempts of their owners to modify them.
Consumer friendly French DRM legislation has been spoiled in committee, sending consumer groups up in arms. The legislation had originally included provisions that would have forced tech companies to make their Digital Rights Management technology interoperable (meaning copy protected music sold online should be playable on any MP3 player for example). This would have struck hard at Apple's iTunes and iPod combination, which has helped Apple dominate the music download and MP3 player markets.
Apple completely refuses to license its FairPlay digital rights management system to any other company, and why would it? Music bought from iTunes can only be played on an iPod or some Motorola phones, and music from other online music stores don't work on an iPod (if they are protected with Windows MediaDRM for example). So it's a perfect combination and keeps millions of dollars flowing toward the company.
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), a trade group representing some of the world's biggest record companies, has targeted pirates in 12 cities who sell counterfeit CDs and DVDs on the street. The cities include Atlanta; Austin, Texas; Chicago; Dallas; Houston; Los Angeles; Miami; New York; Philadelphia; Providence; San Diego and San Francisco. "We tried to narrow down the areas where we're going to focus, where we find the most piracy," said Brad Buckles of the RIAA.
The RIAA says it lost $1 billion in sales last year, of which about $300m has been credited to underground sales of illegally copied discs. The trade group said that over five million illegal discs were seized by Police last year and more than 3,300 arrests were made. In an FBI raid on a local music store outside Detroit in November, over 100 recording drives, 10,000 counterfeit CDs and 1,400 counterfeit DVDs were found.
The store had been selling new release music CDs for $5 each. About 95% of CDs seized contain Latin or Urban music tracks. The RIAA said that illegal Latin CDs are often produced not by cheap CD recorders, but by high quality commercial press equipment, making it very hard for consumers or even retailers to identify it as counterfeit. As a result, these CDs are commonly found being sold at full retail price in music stores.
Loudeye Corporation has stuck a deal with Muze to sell the company its U.S.-based Web and mobile digital music operations for a sum of $11m. Muze will now have control over Loudeye's mobile and web digital music commerce services, its encoding operations, music sound samples services and hosting and Internet radio services. The gold however could lie in inheriting rights to a catalog of content from four major music labels and some independent labels.
Loudeye said that its decision to sell its US operations won't affect its efforts globally. "We are focused on achieving significant growth in our digital media store services globally," says Loudeye President and CEO Mike Brochu. "The market for digital music downloads, including mobile, is expanding at a fast pace, and we are well positioned in key markets to capitalize on this growth."
This transaction is a further step in Loudeye's plan announced in February 2006 to focus on its key revenue generating customers, while substantially reducing Loudeye's cost structure. This transaction better positions Loudeye to capitalize on growth opportunities in rapidly evolving digital media markets, including mobile, and to accelerate innovation on Loudeye's OD2 service offering, which Loudeye offers globally.
During CES in January, Onkyo announced its plans to sell an HD DVD player and not a Blu ray player. It seems now that the company may be having second thoughts about that decision.
At a press conference yesterday at the company's headquarters, Keith Hass, the director of sale said the company is “looking at both [the HD DVD and Blu-ray] formats” and that it was rethinking its past decision. He even hinted that a dual-format unit might be a possibility.
Hass did say however that whatever player the company decided on, it would be released in the fourth quarter of this year.
Allman Brothers and Cheap Trick, two veteran bands signed to the record label giant Sony Music, have sued that label today for failing to pay sufficient royalties for digital downloads from services like iTunes and Napster. The digital download business is growing at increasing speeds, with Apple's iTunes having sold over 1 billion downloads to customers. However, some artists are very unhappy with what they receive for the sale of their work from the world's largest record companies.
"Sony Music is presently engaged in a widespread attempt to underpay its recording artists," attorney Brian Caplan said in a statement. "With the technological advancements in the music industry, where many people download songs to their iPods and other portable devices, it is essential that artists receive the royalty income to which they are entitled." Specifically, out of every 70c Sony is making per download on iTunes, the artists are only receiving a minuscule 4.5c.
The complaint challenges this rate, saying that artists are entitled to a payment around 30c instead. It all boils down to whether a digital download can be considered comparable to a CD sale, which the labels believe it is, but the artists believe it is more on par with licensing music tracks for motion pictures. According to Bob Kohn, founder of indie digital-music store eMusic and now CEO of royalty processing service RoyaltyShare, contracts signed by artists in the past five years should clearly stipulate how digital downloads are treated.
Having announced just weeks ago that it was working on a 200GB Blu-ray disc, the TDK Corporation has managed to produce it. However, instead of the disc having 8 data layers (25GB each) which you would expect, it has 6 layers. To achieve this, TDK has come up with a way to increase the layer's data capacities to 33GB each (a rise of 32%). The original report on the production of the 200GB BD disc comes from Japanese-language site Techon (which is subscription only).
To report gave some details about how the 200GB disc has been produced. The recording medium used is "bismuth peroxide", which forms bubbles of air when heated sufficiently with a laser light. Since the reflection of the light from these bubbles is different than it's surrounding materials, it can be used to store digital information like CD and DVD pits do.
While it's terrific that a 200GB disc has been produced, this achievement is not without its problems. The density of the bubbles is different than that of a standard Blu-ray disc and there are several other technical issues, so whether or not Blu-ray hardware could even read these discs is unclear.
Next generation WiFi technology could be used to send Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) around the home, according to WiFi chip-maker Airgo Networks. The company announced on Tuesday that Caton Overseas and STMicroelectronics will use Airgo's latest technology to distribute video through WiFi links throughout the home. Airgo is the pioneer of the Multiple Input, Multiple Output (MIMO) technology which improves WiFi's range and throughput.
When you hear the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) talk about the effects Internet piracy has on the global films industry, you are guaranteed to hear about how movie downloaders are stealing from everyone involved in making movies. Hollywood studios call movie downloaders thieves for this act, but can they also be called thieves if they steal somebody else's work? Well, a growing number of cases are accusing studios and movie producers of stealing screenplays.
Just hours after popular 
