After we launched our "innovation contest" couple of weeks ago, we have received quite massive amount of suggestions on how to improve our site. And unlike some companies, we actually do read all the feedback we receive and try to learn from the feedback.
Several changes to the site have been made during the last couple of weeks, all of them based on the feedback we've received from our users. Here's a quick summary of the improvements we've launched so far:
New layout for our top menu
We have had this "wtf" face on ever since we started reading the feedback from our users. Several suggestions included ideas to "have a software section on your site where users could download tools that relate to your site's subject" or "news section would be nice". We have double-checked our code during the last two weeks way too many times to see whether there's some kind of a catch that prevents regular users from seeing our top navigation. As we couldn't find such bug, we came to a conclusion that the top navigation was simply not visible enough. Well, I assume that is sorted now..
Google search
Large proportion of the suggestions received complained about our site's search and how bad it is. Many of you suggested to replace the internal search with Google. Well, we did exactly that.
Better BBML/UBB code support
We have added several improvements to the UBB-support of our forums. These changes are still in "beta", but they'll soon be visible to all forum users, alongside with an improved forum message editor.
Ability to view number of unread private messages easily
This has been suggested many, many times. And now its there -- if you're logged in, the site's main page shows you how many unread private messages you have.
"Quick jump to last page" added to discussion forums
Many people hoped to see an ability to quickly jump to the discussion thread's last page from thread list pages. Done.
Mobile/PDA version more visible
This is not a new feature, but instead a new placement for a link. We were one of the first sites in the world to have PDA and WAP versions of our site available back in 1999, but those versions aren't promoted very much. Now there's a link at the top of the site that will direct visitors to a page explaining how to access our site using mobile phone or PDA.
...tons of minor changes to the system back-end..
This is just the tip of the iceberg and we have tons of new stuff coming up during this autumn. Also, as the competition is still in its infancy, we truly hope that people send us their ideas on how to improve our site and how to make it more accessible for people using the site for the very first time. You can send your ideas to us using this form -- and have a chance to win 1,500 euros..
World's largest record label, Vivendi's Universal Music has signed a deal with an upstart music download company SpiralFrog that allows consumers to download Universal's music for free.
SpiralFrog's business model is based on advertising revenue rather than charging for downloads. With Universal's music catalog available to the service, the company seems to be poised to challenge Apple's dominant position in legal music downloads. And, most of all, Universal is putting its hopes that by providing their music for free -- even with the ads -- would reduce the number of people using P2P networks to download music illegally.
Very little details about the service are revealed so far, and huge question marks loom over the service and its features. It is not known whether the service will allow user to really download the songs to their own computers where they could be transferred to portable audio players, or whether the songs need to be played using a specific web application or software.
According to SpiralFrog's website, the service should launch in December, 2006.
Corel announced on Monday that it has agreed to buy a DVD software maker InterVideo for $196 million.
InterVideo has been a major player in PC DVD software market for years now and its most famous product is its DVD player application, WinDVD. Company also develops variety of other DVD-related products, including DVD backup software called DVD Copy and DVD creation program called WinDVD Creator.
InterVideo also owns a majority share of Ulead Systems, one of the market leaders in DVD authoring and video editing software market.
The deal is still subject to InterVideo shareholder approval and regulatory approvals. Corel expects the deal to close in the fourth quarter of 2006.
Plunking down your hard earned cash on Sony's upcoming next-gen console, the PS3 could, in fact, help cure many diseases that plague the world. Sony executives met with US Biologists in charge of the folding@home project. In this meeting, they agreed to use the cell processor within the PS3 to harness some of the processing power needed to help the folding@home project work.
For those who dont know, folding@home is a small program the uses an interconnected series of computers to share the work load of data processing to find legitimate possible protein combinations that could cure common diseases. The data distributed among many different computers and devices decreases the processing time needed to find possible solutions by an infintesimal amount. The small folding@home program can be downloaded to your PC or now your PS3 and process protein structures while the device is idle.
folding@home representatives say that a network of 10,000 PS3s armed with their cell processors could effectively do the work of a supercomputer, pushing out a mind numbing "thousand trillon" calculations per second. If this is acheived, the processing power would outnumber that of the world's fastest supercomputer, IBM's BlueGene/L System which runs a miniscule 280.6 trillion calculations per second, in comparison.
In a leaked filing with the FCC, its been uncovered that Japanese hardware giant, Toshiba will partner with Microsoft on the upcoming "iPod killer". In the filing, it was discovered that Microsoft will release a 30Gb Zune with wireless internet capabilities before the end of this year.
Analysts predict the Zune will be direct competition to the market leading iPod in the digital music market. Microsoft hopes to take away a good portion of the market from it's rival Apple. They've also stated that the Zune's success will hinge on whether or not the unit will allow you to download music from the built in wireless.
No price has been released yet for the Zune, but if Microsoft's track record for competing prices holds true, consumers can expect to pay close to the same amount as they would for Apple's product.
A fairly new application called FairUse4WM has been generating buzz lately as it can single handedly and quite easily strip the DRM placed on Windows Media content for WM 10 and 11.
DRM encryption, as we all know is placed on certain files that prohibits its use on other devices and/or sharing the media file amongst others. Up until now, several applications have come and gone claiming they can successfully strip the DRM standard and allow subscription based videos for Windows Media to be used on several devices. Several websites, including yours truly, have tested the FairUse4WM application and found that it does in fact, very easily strip the DRM and allow said video to be transferred to another device.
Hardware manufacturer Plextor announced that it will release the world's smallest external DVD Writer, labelled the PX-608CU. In most of the digital manufacturers focusing on HD-DVD or Blu-Ray, it had seemed that the faithful DVD writer had fallen to the wayside.
Plextor comes out with their new drive to show that they still have some love left for DVDs. The drive measures a scant 1.6cm (just over 1/2 inch) and weighs a miniscule 250g (1/2 lb) but is feature packed to handle all the usual media, including dual layer, that consumers expect from such devices. Aimed at the laptop market and powered by a USB 2.0 interface, the device does not require it's own power source since it runs off the bus, thus making portability it's top priority.
Plextor has not disclosed pricing on this mini-burner but says expect it to hit their dealer floors by October.
US Federal District Court had been trying to go forth with a case of Arista Records v. Tschirhart, which brought up charges of illegal file sharing of songs owned by Arista. In a recent development, the user Tschirhart, knowing she would have had to hand over her hard drive for evidence, used a "wiping" software on the hard drive to clear any incriminating evidence off.
In response, Arista filed a pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 37(b) which basically states that the courts allow the strictest of punishment allowable by law due to the desctruction of evidence. The courts, in turn, approved the plaintiff's request if they can come up with a summary of damages within 30 days.
Arista claims that there were allegedly 200+ songs from their label on her hard drive and is set to pursue recovery of up to $150,000 per infringement.
By pushing the case into default, coupled with the fact that the defendant herself destroyed the evidence vital to the case, the judge awarded the ability to pursue the maximum damage reimbursement possible and felt that lesser punishment was not warranted.
In an unfortunate turn, it appears that the courts and Arista records are setting out to make an example out of one lowly file sharer.
Earlier in the week, Microsoft Senior Project Manager, Steve Riley had told an Australian audience that Windows Vista would not play HD-DVD or Blu-Ray media in the 32-bit architecture. This created quite a bit of buzz as some 90% of personal computers operate in the 32-bit scheme.
Since then, Microsoft has made an impressive attempt to shift blame of Vista's shortcoming onto content providers. Microsoft released a press announcement saying that the inability to play next-gen media on their new flagship product is not a fault of Microsoft development, but rather the fault of media providers not wanting to release for a 32-bit platform giving people the ability to access unsigned code which could in turn compromise their copyright protection schemes.
While this doesn't change the outcome of people wishing to play next-gen media in a next-gen operating system without purchasing a next-gen processor, it does show how effectively Microsoft can pass the buck and point fingers at others.
In a Dutch court proceeding, a judge informed Internet provider UPC, a division of Liberty Global, that it is to release the name and contact information of a suspected file-swapper on their network.
While this normally would intrude on Dutch privacy laws (as well as similar laws worldwide), the Amsterdam judge stated that this ruling does not violate the laws if it meets two conditions. One being that they can prove, beyond reasonable doubt that the file swapping has taken place and two being that the person registered as the user is the same person actually committing the act.
Internet lawyers say that this is the first time that a court ruling has been granted to release private information about it's consumers. This could, in turn, mark a very serious turning point for people in the file-sharing community. With identities no longer being safe, organizations hell bent on stopping file-sharing could be armed with new ammunition to take down would be offenders.
Internet conglomerate Time Warner Inc. has announced that AOL will begin offering movies and select television episodes for download on a paid and watch-for-free service. AOL is in direct negotiations with such studios as Twentieth Century Fox, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, Universal Pictures and Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group to bring you direct downloadable content for prices ranging from $9.99 to $19.99.
AOL Video is touted by Time Warner to be a one-stop shop for digital video media. Launching this month, AOL Video, while providing movies for a fee, will also provide free television episodes from companies such as Viacom Inc.'s MTV, Nickelodeon and Comedy Central networks and A&E Television Networks.
Time Warner hopes this push will take AOL away from being a service that relies on it's subscriptions for revenue and into a mainstream money grabber.
This past July, Lite-on had announced that it would release an internal Blu-Ray writer by August. It still has not shipped to stores, but they have serious guts by announcing their new external Blu-Ray writer dubbed the LX-2B1U.
Armed with the ability for single and dual layer writing capabilities on both BD-R and BD-RE media with blazing 2X speed, this little player should do it all. Additionally, it comes packed with the usual backwards compatability of DVD and CD responsibilities.
Lite-on hasn't released a price for either their internal which was supposed to be out by now or their new external that is said to be shipped "sometime around the beginning of 2007". Is it possible the going trend of over-priced next-gen hardware has them a bit embarassed? One can only speculate.
In an ongoing struggle for patent rights, it seems that mp3 hardware leader, Apple may be trying to lick it's wounds and hide in the corner. In an out-of-court settlement agreement between Apple and rival Creative Technologies, Apple has agreed to pay $100 million to end litigation over the patent dispute.
The two companies had submitted simultaneous lawsuits against each other when Creative claimed that Apple infringed upon it's patent for the iPod interface.
In the agreement, Apple is essentially paying for a software license for use of the interface in it's devices. In return, Creative will now be allowed to produce and sell products and accessories designed for the iPod.
Apple pioneer Steve Jobs had this to say, "This settlement resolves all of our differences with Creative, including the five lawsuits currently pending between the companies and removes the uncertainty and distraction of prolonged litigation".
A recent report issued by Screen Digest suggested that record labels should be warned against blaming piracy as the sole reason for suffering sales in the CD market. This study, administered in Europe, showed that there is a significant increase in Europeans who own a portable music player. With this incline of hardware, consumers are less focused on the purchase of CDs and more focused on services such as iTunes and Napster.
In 2006, online music purchases in Europe alone has reached 280m euros (£189m, $359m) and is expected to become a 1.1b euro (£744m, $1.1b) market by 2010.
Instead of focusing efforts on CD music markets, the record labels need to figure out a new and better way to deliver music to the consumers. With the rise of the online markets, its expected for the physical music market to continue to decline.
Sony has purchased the video hosting site Grouper.com. The purchase gives Sony the opportunity to mix user grown video with copyrighted content it can sell. The company already sells TV shows and movies through various sites like Guba.com also. Sony now intends to add advertising and premium content to the Grouper site but for now it remains unchanged.
Grouper like other video sites allows users to post their favorite videos onto social networking sites including MySpace. Grouper also offers free P2P file sharing software that lets users share their multimedia content with each other. Grouper has cost Sony $65 million. the video site claims to be "the second largest independent video community."
Dell appears to have exited the MP3 player market by completely removing all references to the DJ Ditty player from the company's catalog. Dell entered the market in 2003. In February the company cut its line of HDD-based MP3 players but continued to manufacture and sell the flash-based Dj Ditty. Like so many in the MP3 player market, Dell failed to take enough market share from Apple.
"As of last week, we did remove the DJ Ditty from our web site and we are not going to offer a follow up product," Dell spokeswoman Anne Camden said. "We're tightening our consumer focus in core areas like PCs, printers and TVs because we believe the PCs are the hub of digital entertainment. We always have and will continue to offer third party media players like the Creative Zen that customers will be able to purchase through Dell."
Dell's exit is understandable considering the bad luck the company has had recently. "It is high time they got out of this business, they have not been doing very well at it," said David Card, an analyst with JupiterResearch. "Nobody is doing well but Apple but Dell was doing particularly unwell. I don't know why Dell wanted to be in this market so they might as well cut their losses and get out."
A federal judge in San Francisco has given the go ahead for video rental giant, Blockbuster on anti-trust claims against rival company Netflix who sued Blockbuster for alleged patent violation.
Netflix had asked the courts to postpone the anti-trust suit until the patent issues could be resolved. However it was written by U.S. District Judge William Alsup, rejecting the motions by Netflix saying that Blockbuster adequately pled it's claims and he sees no reason why Netflix would be harmed in any way by allowing both claims to happen simultaneously.
Judge Aslup wrote, "As a result of Netflix's purported monopolistic conduct, Blockbuster may be forced out of the market, which would cede to Netflix virtually complete control of the online-DVD market".
Blockbuster spokesman Randy Hargrove stated, "pleased with today's ruling and we remain intent on aggressively pursuing our antitrust counter-claims." While Netflix representative, Steve Swasey gave his own comments in saying the business will, "continue to defend our patents and business methods."
A recent study performed by Datamonitor shows that close to 95% of UK households will have digital TV by 2010, as compared to 50% in the US and 66% in Germany. The company also says that Freeview will overtake satellite transmissions by 2008.
Even though recent interest has been piqued in the UK for HDTV by the broadcast of the World Cup, its predicted that UK households will continue to be behind the cuff on adopting HDTV as their standard. Its noted that most people in the UK don't see enough improvement in the standard to warrant the purchase.
Broadcasting regulator Ofcom shows that the UK is already the leader in digital TV viewing by as much as 70%, with the US being only 55% and no other European countries passing the 50% total digital population mark. Future growth is expected to be spurred by the hi-tech field producing more and more personal video recorders and TV on demand services.
Much like other places in the world, the UK will be forced to make the switch whether they like it or not once the government turns off the analog broadcasting. The town of Whitehaven is the first scheduled to be cut over in 2007, with others to be completed by 2012.
It seems like the people over at Philips have been hard at work at trying to 1-up the HDTV market by unveiling a working prototype of a 3-D television set. The WOWvx uses some rather unique technology to accomplish a three dimensional environment without the need of dorky polorized glasses.
Their 42" LCD screen improves upon an old movie trick of sending slightly different images to each eye to seem like our own stereoscopic view of life. But, instead of placing special glasses over the viewers eye to block out images not intended for left/right side, Philips simply places a lens over each one of the many sub pixels that make up the red/green/blue of LCD and plasma screens. These lenses cause light to be refracted at any one of nine angles, thus giving a realistic 3-D effect to the viewer.
The key to this technology is the many points of view. Earlier adaptations of this technology used only two points of view but were hampered by the viewer losing the effect if sitting at an angle to the television. With nine points of view, the viewer can by just about anywhere and still receive the desired effect, with only minimal transition effects.
As of right now, this technology is geared towards the commercial market such as casinos and advertisers at shopping malls. Philips admits that the technology isn't perfected enough to the level that would be expected by the consumer market.
As we have been working on AfterDawn.com for almost eight years now, it quite often happens that we become "blind" to the site's features, navigation, etc. And as the most people who we deal with on daily basis, are regular users of our site, they've managed to develop the same problem, making it impossible to find out how the site looks like and appears to Joe Sixpack who happens to visit the site for the very first time.
In an attempt to "think outside the box", we have set up a competition that asks all of our users to innovate how AfterDawn.com should work. This can be small things, like bugs that simply drive you crazy that should be fixed immediately which we haven't noticed. Or better yet, a whole new concept how the material on the site should be arranged and made available. Or even a new layout.
There are no rules on what you can suggest -- you can suggest a whole redesign of the layout, an idea for a new section, a fresh way to find content from the quite massive archive of knowledge that we have on our site to small things, like font colors, etc.
The idea can relate to any AfterDawn's section, whether "my", the main site, the forums, the software section, guides, FAQ, etc. Just be creative, don't just improve existing stuff, think a new way how things could be done!
Terry McBride, the CEO of Canadian record label Nettwerk Music believes that the recording industry's continued litigation against P2P filesharers are hurting musicians and the music business in general.
Speaking at the first-ever Bandwidth Music and Technology Conference, McBride called on the major labels to cease lawsuits against individuals. "[The major labels] are using fear as a tactic [to] push these kids away from these P2P systems," McBride said. "You can't use fear to change these behaviors - it just isn't effective. These lawsuits have hurt my artists. We need to stop these lawsuits."
McBride, who launched the label in 1984 and whose line-up includes Avril Lavigne, Barenaked Ladies, Dido, Sum 41, and Sarah McLachlan, feels so opposed to the, as he describes, "fear" tactics practised by the Recording Industry Association Of America (RIAA), that he is prepared to pay the legal fees for one defendant. Elisa Greubel, a 15-year-old Texas girl, recently found herself dealt an RIAA suit for allegedly downloading 600 songs onto their computer. After contacting Nettwerk artist MC Lars, he solicited McBride's help.
California based flash memory manufacturer Sandisk announced that it will release a new 4Gb mp3 player to rival the popular iPod Nano.
With the price for the new 4Gb player said to be coming in at just under $250, in addition, Sandisk is reducing the prices of all it's existing players before the holiday season by as much as 30%.
Sandisk spokesman Eric Bone was quoted in saying, "The most costly ingredient in a flash-based (music) player is the flash memory. Since we make the flash memory, we essentially remove the middleman and pass that savings directly to the consumer."
Sandisk hopes to increase its market share on the portable music player market from 30% to 35%. Recent look at the NASDAQ will show that Sandisk has raised stocks $.90 while Apple stock has fallen 2%.
Research firm The Yankee Group believe that Sony's highly anticipated Playstation 3 console will hold off stiff competition from Microsoft & Nintendo to dominate the battle of the consoles once more. In a press release this week, it stated it believes that, "Microsoft is off to a fast start, launching the Xbox 360 nearly 12 months before the PlayStation 3. However, by the time third-generation consoles reach market maturity in 2011, the PlayStation 3 will once again be the market leader".
It believes that by this time, Sony will have sold 30 million units and account for 44% of third-generation console sales in North America. On the other hand, it believes Microsoft will have sold nearly 27 million Xbox 360 units by 2011, accounting for 40% of the market and Nintendo will have sold just over 11 million Wii units, accounting for 16% of the market.
Additionally, the company predict that because of the high price tags that come with third-gen consoles, fewer will be sold this generation in comparison to the predecessors (i.e., PS2, Xbox and GameCube).
But it won't all be plain sailing for Sony according to The Yankee Group, who expect Microsoft to put significant price pressure on Sony during the PS3’s lifecycle. "In addition to starting at a lower price than the PS3, Microsoft is well positioned to make a large price cut in the spring of 2007 and each year thereafter - putting significant price pressure on Sony."
Everyone's favorite copyright enforcer Macrovision is currently in the midst of a bloodmatch with longtime sparring partner Sima Products.
In 2005, Macrovision filed a lawsuit claiming that Sima's processors made it far too easy to circumvent copy protection schemes (DRM) applied to analog video. Macrovision had pioneered this copy protection standard by inserting "noise" into blank spaces left in analog signals. This noise would then give a less than stellar copy if left alone. Since Sima's processors are known to digitize signal, the copy protection scheme was inherantly stripped away as digital signal does not need the vertical blank spacing of an analog signal.
Macrovision disputed this as circumventing their copy protection and the Court agreed, issuing an injunction against Sima which was upheld in June.
Consumer Electronics Association president Gary Shapiro said, "Consumers should be outraged by today's decision. The devices Sima Products manufactures simply allow consumers to use digital techniques to make up for viewing artifacts in analog material—some from age or distortion, and some caused as a result of the use of distortive copy protection techniques. The legislative history of the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) is clear that passive analog measures that distort video signals are not 'technical protection measures.'"
In a press release earlier, Apple admitted that there has been unfair work environments in their factories in China which produce the iPod.
Apple has said that it's own investigation has shown the working conditions to be excessive, and is now only enforcing a "normal" 60 hour work week. They further went on to say that there was no report of enforced labor or the use of children in their factories.
A representative from Apple has said "Our investigation found that our top iPod manufacturing partner, Foxconn, complies with our supplier code of conduct in most areas and is taking steps to correct the violations we found."
Janek Kuczkiewicz, director of ICFTU (International Confederation of Free Trade Unions) has stated that he is not impressed by Apple's report.
Music company EMI has agreed to put music videos of it's signed bands preloaded on the Microsoft Zune when it's launched. Such British bands as Hot Chip and 30 Seconds to Mars.
After initial reports came out, many speculated that the Zune would not play video, however this new deal seems to prove that the Zune just may be an all around device. With the ability to download software, play video and music, Microsoft may have a contender to take the 70% share away from rival Apple.
Details on the Zune are still few and far between, however it has been said that the Zune will come with a hard drive and wireless access allowing it to download software and music on the fly.
Study by NPD Group finds that Apple's iPod continues to dominate the U.S. digital music player market.
Apple's market share of the U.S. digital music player markets was a whopping 75.6 percent in the second quarter of the year 2006, according to the NPD study. Second in the market was SanDisk with 9.7 percent market share, followed by Creative(4.3 percent), Samsung(2.5 percent) and Sony(1.9 percent).
Study, however, warns that stand-alone digital music players might be heading to the way of PDAs (pretty much the same direction where dodos went..) once mobile phone giants start making their phones more user-friendly in terms of music playback and add more capacity. To prove this point, earlier this year Finnish mobile phone giant Nokialaunched N91, its first phone specifically aimed at digital music market, and recently acquired a digital music company Loudeye.
Internet users everywhere enjoy the sometimes amazing, comical, thought provoking and often outrageous video clips available on YouTube. Looking to expand its current reach, YouTube co-founder Steve Chen was quoted in saying "We're trying to bring in as much of this content as we can on to the site. What we really want to do is in six to 12 months, maybe 18 months, to have every music video ever created up on YouTube."
YouTube Inc. is currently in negotiations with the leading record labels to possibly post thousands of music videos available for mass consumption. They hope to bring a different service than the normal pay-to-play services like Apple's iTunes or AOL Music. Hoping to gear the site much like Yahoo Launch where users view videos within the web browser, however Chen is hopeful that YouTube's community feel will win the masses. YouTube currenly holds 60% of all video internet traffic, even rivaling Google Video.
The critical obstacle for YouTube is to get the record labels to fall into their business model to gain the rights to broadcast intellectual properties via their website.
In a recent announcement following the Gamefest event in Seattle Washington, Microsoft has announced that it will roll out a new product entitled XNA Game Studio Express. Within this product, potential game developers can join what they're calling the Creator's Club
Members of the Creator's Club will pay a $99 yearly subscription fee and be granted access to a wealth of information and tools to help independent game developers, hobbyists and even the curious homebrew developer to create, design and share user-created games via Xbox Live!. Additionally, if a user so chooses to develop for Windows XP based PCs, tools will also be available for that and can be shared through other channels within the Creator's Club.
A Microsoft representative was quoted in saying the Creator's Club "...will democratize game development by delivering the necessary tools to hobbyists, students, indie developers and studios alike to help them bring their creative game ideas to life while nurturing game development talent, collaboration and sharing that will benefit the entire industry."
User-created games will not be available for distribution to the public immediately, as Microsoft would like to test the service to monitor for potential hazards.
To date, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has dealt lawsuits to around 19,000 American citizens who they believed were guilty of illegally trading copyrighted music files over the internet. Many of these lawsuits have raised eyebrows, such as the lawsuit against a family with no computer or internet access, and of course, the suit aimed at the deceased grandmother, Gertrude Walton.
Larry Scantlebury was another at the center of an RIAA lawsuit, however he died in June - with the suit remaining unresolved. Not to be deterred by the death of the defendant, the Plaintiffs (Warner Bros. Records Inc., Sony BMG Music Entertainment, UMG Recordings, Inc., BMG Music, Arista Records LLC, Capitol Records, Inc., and Atlantic Recording Corporation) have made a motion to stay the case for 60 days in order to allow the family time to "grieve", after which time they want RIAA lawyers to start taking depositions of the late Mr. Scantlebury's children:
In support thereof, Plaintiffs state the following:
It seems like the movie studios have given up on internet piracy and decided to allow all people to copy to their hearts content without any ill effects. Well no, thats not the case, but in a revelation, it appears they just may be taking a step in a direction to meet the demands of consumers in a more convenient way.
It seems that DVD Copy Control Association, makers of CSS encryption standard are going to relax their controls over legally downloadable content and the ability to save the content locally. After reports of such on-demand movie download sites such as CinemaNow and Movielink have shown less than stellar profits, executives have begun to rethink their strategies.
A major complaint from consumers was that legally downloadable movies were restricted by the CSS standard in which they could only be played on the PC or Mac and were only playable on a TV set by some means of circumvention. Addressing this, the DVD Copy Control Association will make adaptations to the CSS standard to allow users to copy the movies onto a blank DVD.
This change could also influence local movie retailers such as allowing them to setup a kiosk with various movie titles within it. All a consumer would need to do is step up to the kiosk, pay a nominal fee for the movie while the kiosk burns a copy onto DVD. Movie libraries at local video stores could increase dramatically without the added overhead of stocking.
In ongoing efforts, copyright supporter Macrovision has dealt an interesting blow to TiVo users. Certain digital movies in which Macrovision has an intellectual stake in have been flagged with some curious limitations.
One TiVo user captured a screenshot showing that Macrovision has enabled a "24 Hours to Watch" protocol on a rather benign movie. What this means for consumers is that once you've begun watching a movie that you've saved to your TiVo device, you have 24 hours to watch till your heart's content until the movie will become unplayable.
Macrovision has 3 known standards they flag TiVo recordings with, those being Copy Never which does not allow a flagged broadcast to be saved to the TiVo, 7 Day Unlimited which expire after 7 days, but can be watched as many times as the consumer wishes within that trial period or 7 day/24 Hours which only allow the content to be stored for 7 days and watched for 24 hours before your TiVo box self destructs in a firey mess within your entertainment center.
The British Broadcasting Corporation has announced that it will release a clip-on device for popular mobile MP3 players such as Apple's Ipod that will enable these devices to receive digital radio transmissions.
Plans are still in the early development stages and there has been no official release of when we can expect this device or what the price point will be, but there is some speculation that the product will be aimed at the market leading Ipod teaming up to support this device. No official comment has been made by either Apple or BBC on this relationship, but with Apples domination of the market, it only seems natural.
The first hearings in Finland's largest P2P piracy case were made today in district court of Lahti where two users distributed copyrighted movies, music, games and software via BitTorrent network, sharing their torrent links via site called Finreactor(back then, Finland's largest BitTorrent and ed2k site). The two men were among those who got singled out by media corporations as being "major contributors" when the Finreactor site was busted by Finnish police back in 2004.
Media corporations and software companies are seeking total damages worth 3.5 million euros (appx. $4.5 million) from the two users now in court. The two users now facing court are just the tip of the iceberg in Finreactor case. In other district courts across Finland, appx. 60 former users or operators of the site will face similar court cases brought against them. All of the people facing legal challenges against them, were, according to Finnish police, either administrators of the Finreactor site or people identified as the "first sources" of illegally distributed material.
Since the release of firmware modifications for the Xbox 360 console which allow the booting of backup copies of games, the sale of modified versions of the console in Korea have reportedly taken off. However, Microsoft has said it is confident that the DVD-ROM firmware hacks will be countered through Xbox Live updates and has downplayed the problem.
"We will not place too much attention on it," stated Xbox local product manager Do Jung-han who said he was confident that updates made available when you connect to Xbox Live is the solution. He also had some words that appear to be directed at both users running modified Xbox 360 consoles and those who hack the console.
"Microsoft has warned the people who try to spread the knowledge that they will be subjected to the law. The users of pirated consoles will not benefit from the hardware warranty and they will not be able to download important software upgrades through the Xbox Live network. So we don't think many people will try it," he said
However, local magazines are reporting that most people are purchasing modified versions of the Xbox 360 console to be able to purchase cheaper games. The price of a modified console is approximately KRW 70,000 (60 Euro) more. Pirates software for the console can then be bought and used for a low as KRW 15,000 (12 Euro), compared to the retail price of around KRW 40,000 (33 Euro).
Microsoft has demonstrated the external HD DVD drive for the Xbox 360 console to attendees at the DVD Forum in Los Angeles. Unfortunately, Microsoft's senior program manager, Kevin Collins, remained silent about possible prices for the device but he did state that it would be among the least expensive HD DVD players to reach the market.
"All the audio and video processing is done inside the Xbox," Collins stated. He said that research is indicating that the majority of Xbox 360 owners already own an HDTV and that the drive will provide them with all the other required equipment to watch HD DVD movies. "This gives consumers choice and keeps their cost down," he added.
The picture quality produced by the combination of the Xbox 360 and the external drive has been deemed equal to that of most players shown at the event. Sony will launch its PlayStation 3 console worldwide in November. It will include an internal Blu-Ray drive used for both games and movies. Microsoft has insisted it will keep the Xbox 360's HD DVD drive as an external device to "give consumers the choice".
It appears that while Sony's upcoming next generation console, the PlayStation 3, is being advertised as being backward-compatible with the previous two PlayStation consoles, users will be required to use an adapter to access save files on the old memory cards. The adapter is used to copy the save file information to the PS3's internal Hard Disk Drive.
"To use saved data on a PlayStation 2 memory card, you must copy the data onto a virtual memory card within the hard disk. This requires a PS2/PSone memory card adapter to copy the data to your PlayStation 3," Sony's dedicated PlayStation 3 website states. "A memory card adapter is designed to edit, up/download games saves to and from EMS flash card or smart media card."
While this might not put many people off buying a PlayStation 3, most people would like to know whether or not this will be bundled with the console but this is all Pocket-Lint.co.uk could get from a spokesperson: "We are in the process of designing and creating an adapter, but have not confirmed whether this will be bundled with the machine, or available separately".
I guess if you are advertising the console as being backward compatible with the PS1 and PS2, it really should be included with both PS3 bundles. The PlayStation 3 console is scheduled to be released on November 11th in Japan, and November 17th worldwide.
The Federation Against Software Theft (FAST) has set a new record by recovering £1.4 million in July 2006. FAST is an anti-piracy enforcement body that recovers lost revenue (due to piracy) on behalf of UK software firms. The figure brings the federation's total to £7.3 million over the past six years. FAST represents 160 members from across the software industry.
The organisation has encouraged every country to take a tough stance against software piracy. "The record amount already recovered this year is symptomatic of the ongoing battle we face, one that is not going away no matter what level of education we undertake, and despite the legal ramifications of illegal software use." said Director general John Lovelock.
He added though that the organisation is increasing seeing businesses taking action "to put their software assets in order". This was "an integral part of the growth in awareness of corporate governance and the impact of compliance within both the public and private sectors", he said.
In the United States last month, Microsoft filed 26 separate lawsuits against companies it claims to have pirated software or to have been involved in "hard-disc loading" which is selling unlicensed software along with computer hardware (usually fully built PCs).
Despite growing speculation for many many months, Internet search giant Google has squashed rumours that the company plans to start selling music downloads. "We are not going to be selling music."Chris Sacca, head of business development for Google, said in a Thursday address to music merchants and distributors at the annual Narm (National Association of Recording Merchandisers).
Speculation had grown from many different places like A Bear Stearns analyst's predictions in January that Google could have a so called "Gtunes" to rival Apple Computer Inc.'s iTunes store in a matter of months. Also, it arose again when Google started selling Sony BMG music videos via its Google Video service.
Sacca stressed the need for partnerships and innovations to the attendees. He mentioned how there is need to create an ecosystem where consumers can move their digital content freely between devices. "Once again there is an opportunity [to improve] ease of use." he said. He likened it to the way Napster transformed search and discovery, and Apple revolutionized portability and shopping. "But to really grasp this takes a certain amount of humility to look beyond your walls," he added.
When CinemaNow introduced a download-to-burn service, some consumers were happy that finally there was a store selling movies that could be burned onto DVD and watched on any DVD player. However, some days back, an anonymous engineer made a starling discovery when he decided to test out CinemaNow's BurnToDVD specification. The problem he discovered was with how CinemaNow protects these discs from being copied.
He discovered that it deliberately introduced errors in the Digital Sum Value (DSV) checksum values to make the DVD difficult to copy. He realized that most stand-alone DVD players' built in error-correction algorithms would not be able to tolerate this form of "protection" on the discs. After his discovery, he made some comments about it.
"I'm against people being fleeced by this kind of crap. How can you sell someone content on media that is so heavily compromised, especially on a format that so heavily relies upon its error correction system to maintain playability? It's mind boggling!" However, CinemaNow has been quick to defend its flawed copy protection technique.
The company fired back by stating that the service has been "well received by our customers and studios alike," and that the produced DVDs were found to be working on "94 percent of DVD players." Of course, there were no details about what players they didn't work on.
id Software owner Kevin Cloud recently spoke about some problems that the PC gaming industry will face in the future. While he insisted that id will remain primarily a PC developer, he said that piracy has become a major concern for him. "Piracy is hard," Cloud said, in response to a question. "It’s really, from my opinion, destroying the PC market." He blamed piracy for the reduction of PC games in retail stores.
However, despite the view, he said he believed the PC gaming industry as a whole is not in any immediate danger. "I don't think the PC market is shrinking at all," he said. "I think there are tons of people playing games on the PC. I think World of Warcraft is a good example." World of Warcraft is a good example of avoiding piracy. Requiring a subscription to play has given the game success even in markets like China.
"There is about 70 percent of the landmass of the world where you can't sell games in a legitimate market," he said, "because pirates will beat you to the shelves with your own game." Of course, piracy doesn't just happen in these markets, but in wealthy countries too. Many pirates in these countries claim that wouldn't have bought the software or game anyway.
Finnish mobile phone giant Nokia has announced an agreement to acquire Loudeye Corp. for approximately $60 million. Loudeye is a loader in digital media distribution services. Nokia has produced several multimedia phones that are capable of playing popular digital audio formats like MP3, WMA, AAC and M4A. The company shipped more than 15 million music enabled devices in the 2nd quarter, making it the world's largest manufacture of digital music players.
"Music is a key experience for Nokia and Nokia Nseries multimedia computers and we want to be able to offer the best fully integrated mobile music experience to our customers. Loudeye brings a number of key assets to Nokia, including a great team of people, a substantial content catalogue and a robust service platform that will help us to achieve this objective," said Anssi Vanjoki, executive vice president and general manager, Multimedia, Nokia.
"People should be able to access all the music they want, anywhere, anytime and at a reasonable cost. With this acquisition, we aim to deliver that vision and a comprehensive music experience to Nokia device owners during 2007." he added. Loudeye operates 60 live services in over 20 countries and multiple languages across Europe and South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. Loudeye aggregates rights and content from all the major record labels and hundreds of independents and currently offers licensed catalog and complete media for over 1.6 million tracks.
TV Network ABC is happy enough with the results of a test run for two months earlier this year to add more shows to its streaming video service when it relaunches in the fall. More shows will be available on a new broadband player, but the shows will be watchable for less time than during the test. During the test, four TV shows, Alias, Lost, and Commander in Chief could be streamed from ABC's site a day after their aired.
Since Alias and Commander in Chief were canceled, there will be some new shows added but ABC wouldn't give any details on which for now. When the service relaunches it will use a broadband player created by the Disney Internet Group. There will be some minor differences like slightly longer commercial inventory. Episodes will be available a day after they air for a period up to four weeks.
"Most people watch because they missed the episode, and that happens mostly within a discrete period of time," Albert Cheng, executive VP digital media for Disney-ABC Television Group said. "Once you let it sit there, it doesn't get that much usage down the line." During the test, ABC said more than 5.7 million requests for episodes were made and 16 million video streams were served. Each hour long episode consisted of four streams, each kicked off with a brief ad.
RealNetworks, Google and Mozilla Corp. have announced a deal under which Real will distribute Mozilla and Google software with its own software downloads. Users for example would get the option to install the Firefox web browser when installing RealPlayer. For the past two years, Real has already been distributing millions of Google Toolbars to users. Real reportedly distributes 2 million pieces of software a day worldwide.
"Real has been one of Google's most important distribution partners for the past two years, and we are delighted to broaden and deepen that relationship. Google and Real will continue to work together in innovative ways to further improve the Web experience." said Google CEO Eric Schmidt. Mozilla is simply happy to be siding with these two well known companies to get Firefox onto more computers.
"Mozilla is very pleased to partner with global leaders like Google and Real to distribute our award-winning Firefox Web browser. Thanks to our global community of open source contributors, Firefox is making the Web browsing experience better for everyone." said Mitchell Baker, Mozilla Corp CEO. Real CEO Rob Glaser is also happy about the deal with both other companies.
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has filed a lawsuit against Lime Group, LLC., LimeWire, LLC, Mark Gorton (CEO), and Greg Bildson (CTO). Lime Group is the umbrella company which owns the LimeWire development firm.
Back last September, LimeWire, along with other P2P developers, were the recipients of RIAA cease and desist letters. The letters instructed P2P developers to "...immediately cease-and-desist from enabling and inducing the infringement of RIAA member sound recordings. If you wish to discuss pre-litigation Resolution of these claims against you, please contact us immediately."
BearShare, eDonkey, and WinMX, all ceased operations as a result of the RIAA letter, however, LimeWire's operations continued.
At one stage, LimeWire was expected to introduce a "copyright filter" into it's software, but months have passed, and the filter has yet to materialize. The RIAA claims that by failing to implement a filter for unauthorized works and by profiting from an infringing business model, LimeWire actively induces copyright infringement
This is Agent_007 reporting from Assembly '06 live. Keep checking out this report from Saturday as I keep updating it as things progress. You can also watch livestream from here.
Videos:
Robotwars part IV heavyweights (xvid, 33 sec, 1.14 MB)
Robotwars part V heavyweights (xvid, 41 sec, 1.44 MB)
Robotwars part VI heavyweights (xvid, 2min 57 sec, 8.56 MB)
Robotwars part VII heavyweights (xvid, 31 sec, 1.06 MB)
Robotwars part VIII heavyweights (xvid, 28 sec, 0.92 MB)
Dancing part III (xvid, 52 sec, 2.16 MB)
Mikrobittis computer build contest (xvid, 10 min 34 sec, 34.3 MB)
Robotwars part IX heavyweights (xvid, 52 sec, 2.16 MB)
Robotwars part X heavyweights (xvid, 3 min 6 sec, 9.23 MB)
Robotwars part XI heavyweights (xvid, 1 min 53 sec, 5.07 MB)
Robotwars part XII heavyweights (xvid, 1 min 19 sec, 3.22 MB)
Robotwars part XIII heavyweights (xvid, 59 sec, 2.22 MB)
Robotwars part XIV heavyweights (xvid, 39 sec, 1.02 MB)
Robotwars part XV heavyweights (xvid, 2 min 35 sec, 7.25 MB)
AMD corner (xvid, 1 min 1 sec, 2.93 MB, sorry about dark video)
Browserdemo (xvid, 1 min 2 sec, 3.08 MB)
Fun part I (xvid, 28 sec, 1.46 MB)
Fun part II (xvid, 11 sec, 0.60 MB)
Fun part III (xvid, 1 min 20 sec, 3.92 MB)
Star Wreck guys before short movie contest (xvid, 1 min 9 sec, 3.37 MB)
Desert Planet concert (xvid, 1 min 5 sec, 3.63 MB)
Texas-based Anascape Ltd. has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Microsoft and Nintendo for allegedly infringing a number of controller-related technology patents. The suit was filed in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. Anascape, which has no web presence, cited 12 patents filed by "Brad Armstrong" in its claim.
US Patent 5,999,084, granted in 1999 covers a "sensor having a housing" and a depressible actuator in a "resilient dome cap," appearing to cover pressure-sensitive controller buttons. Patents 6,102,802, 6,135,886, 6,343,991, 6,351,205, 6,400,303, and 6,208,271 all basically cover the concept of controllers that include analog pressure-sensitive buttons.
The company also claims that the following patents have been violated: 6,906,700 (3D Controller with Vibration), 6,344,791 (Variable Sensor with Tactile Feedback), 6,347,997 (Analog Controls Housed with Electronic Displays) and 6,222,525 (Image Controller with Sheet Connected Sensors). A patent similar to 6,906,700 (3D Controller with Vibration) held by Immersion Corp. cost Sony millions when it lost a lawsuit brought against it over the company's DualShock technology.
Canon revealed what it calls a "true 1080 HD camcorder" on Wednesday. The HV10 HDV camcorder is good competition for recent HD camcorder releases from Sony. Measuring approximately 2" wide by 4" tall, the HV10 is a camcorder that can capture full HD resolution video and it fits in your pocket. It can also take 3.1 megapixel still images which will be stored on Mini SD card.
"The Canon HV10 HDV camcorder gives consumers some of the same technologies that are used by demanding professionals in our EOS line of Digital SLR cameras and our best selling broadcast television lenses," said Yukiaki Hashimoto, senior vice president and general manager of the consumer imaging group at Canon U.S.A., Inc. "Consumers who enjoy the premium picture quality of their High Definition television sets can now capture their memories and play them back at that same high quality."
The HV10 HDV camcorder combines Canon's HD optics, with Super Range Optical Image Stabilization, DIGIC DV II image processor, and a Canon designed and manufactured Full HD resolution (1920x1080 video) CMOS sensor, similar to those found in Canon's full line of Digital SLR cameras.
Phil Harrison, Sony's worldwide studios president has said that over 100 games are now in development for the PlayStation 3 console and that over 10,000 development kits have been shipped. Keeping up the tie between the console war and the next generation optical disc format war, Harrison not only touts the number of games in development, but the number of Blu-ray movies available (in the U.S.).
"We have shown more playable games than ever before, so the signs are good," he told British newspaper The Guardian, "and right now there are more than 100 Blu-Ray movies available today in the US. More than 100 games are in development, and all the major third-party publishers have pledged their strategic support for the platform." Harrison described work on the PS3 as being "in full swing, from a developer point of view."
He also praised Sony for getting development hardware to partners long before the scheduled launch of the PS3 in November. "Developers now have final hardware in their hands, though there will be some upgrades to the operating system - there's nothing unusual about that," he explained. "The new controller is now in developers' hands, so all the pieces of the puzzle are there."
The Norwegian consumer watchdog has said that not only is Apple breaking Norwegian laws, it also is breaking a promise made by Steve Jobs several years ago in relation to digital music files. The Norwegian Consumer Council disapproves of the handling of the music downloads business by the private sector. Torgeir Waterhouse, senior adviser to the Norwegian Consumer Council, has attacked the sector in talks with The Register.
"The digitalisation of culture and other consumer products is simply too important to be dictated by the industry," he said. Norway's consumer ombudsman ruled in June that iTunes is breaking section 9a of the Norwegian Marketing Control Act and ruled that aspects of the iTunes Terms and Conditions were illegal. The ombudsman pointed out that it attempted to put Norwegians under an English legal contract.
Apple has responded as it was ordered to by July 31st, but the consumer watchdog believes it falls short in vital areas. Apple has acknowledged the jurisdiction of Norwegian law, has promised not to implement changes to the terms of service retrospectively to music a consumer had already purchased and will make changes more visible, Waterhouse noted.
French games publisher Ubisoft has thrown its support behind Nintendo's Wii gaming console by promising to make 7 games available for the Wii launch. Previously, Ubisoft had announced just Red Steel and Rayman Raving Rabbids for the console, but has now added Far Cry, Blazing Angels: Squadrons of WWII, Monster 4x4 World Circuit, Open Season and GT Pro Series.
The reason for the strong launch line-up is down to starting development earlier than rivals, according to North American Ubisoft president, Laurent Detoc. "We don't have a crystal ball but we think the Wii is going to be a huge success right away and we want to be the number-one independent publisher for Wii in 2006," he told IGN.
He added that the Far Cry title will include elements from Xbox title Far Cry Instincts Evolution, as well as a new storyline, equipment, levels and characters. The Wii remote will be used for first person shooting control as well as controlling vehicles. Control of Blazing Angels will require the left and right hands to perform separate rolls he also said.
Ubisoft has promised to reveal more details on the 7 game line-up shortly.
Major automakers are racing to add better support for MP3 players in vehicles to meet consumer demands and to increase safety. General Motors, Ford Motor and Mazda Motor have partnered with Apple Computer Inc. to integrate iPods into the their cars' audio systems. Owners of the cars won't need add-ons like iTrip or chargers that plug into cigarette lighters.
The aim of Apple and the three companies is to incorporate "seamless integration" into new 2007 models to allow iPods to be controlled within cars' audio systems and charged whenever the ignition is running. An internal study by Ford showed that the demand for such integration is rising fast and the manufacturer expects that sales of digital audio players in 2009 will be more than twice that of 2005.
The integration plans vary among the manufacturers. Ford will add audio input jacks that are iPod compatible to the majority of 2007 Ford, Lincoln and Mercury models. For an extra fee, the company will sell a system called TripTunes Advanced that will allow the iPod to be stored and charged inside the glove compartment. The driver can then use the iPod through radio controls or controls on the steering wheel.
This is Agent_007 reporting from Assembly '06 live. Keep checking out this report from Friday as I keep updating it as things progress. You can also watch livestream from here.
Videos:
Asus, part I (xvid, 1 min 6 sec, 3.57 MB)
Asus, part II (xvid, 21 sec, 1.01 MB)
Asus, part III (xvid, 20 sec, 1.09 MB)
Asus, part IV (xvid, 1 min 10 sec, 3.97 MB)
Microsofts Xbox 360 camping trailer (xvid, 37 sec, 1.52 MB, no audio)
Robotwars part I light weights (xvid, 28 sec, 1.41 MB)
Robotwars part II light weights (xvid, 38 sec, 1.88 MB)
Robotwars part III light weights (xvid, 17 sec, 0.90 MB)
Basketball (xvid, 33 sec, 1.53 MB, no audio)
ATI part I mobile graphics (xvid, 31 sec, 1.64 MB)
Dancing part I (xvid, 39 sec, 1.66 MB)
Dancing part II (xvid, 32 sec, 1.42 MB)
Gamelab darkness (xvid, 53 sec, 2.52 MB, no audio)
This is Agent_007 reporting from Assembly '06 live. Keep checking out this report from Thusday as I keep updating it as things progress. You can also watch livestream from here.
People standing in a queue. One advice, keep you gear lite and small. Carrying that 21" CRT around ain't fun =)
Photo from inside the party hall, lights are still on.
Again from the party hall.
Because there are over 5 000 beverage addicts inside party hall there are also lot's of softdrinks, no alcohol inside.
More soft drinks.
Anti-virus and firewall company F-Secure.
On screen visitors can see real time virus threats around the globe.
The AfterDawn.com WWW servers will be brought down briefly on Thursday, August 10th between 05:00 and 11:00 UTC (1AM-7AM EDT) for power maintenance. The downtime is scheduled to last around 30 minutes between the given timeframe.
Computer manufacturer Acer announces that it will release its new Aspire 9800 to North American audiences sporting a next gen HD-DVD drive. Considering the usually inflated price of new technology, this laptop comes in at a reasonable $2,800. To compliment the HD-DVD functionality, it will also come equipped with Core Duo T2600, 2GB of RAM, Geforce Go 7600 graphics card, 240GB hard drive as well as its 20.1" monitor.
Choose your mobility wisely though as the laptop is said to push the scales at 17.2 lbs. Couple that with the necessary power supplies and carrying case and this laptop starts to resemble a desktop replacement.
The Japanese media specialist Logitec is ready to ship what appears to be the world's first OS-X compatible Blu-Ray player for Apple's Macintosh computer systems. The 2x Blu-Ray Disk drive can write to BD-R and BD-RE media allowing the handling of both 25Gb and 50Gb disks.
Logitec's new drive, the LBD-A2FU2/WM will also support current formats such as DVD-RAM, DVD±R/RW, dual-layer DVD±R and CD-R/RW. To top it off, Logitec has graced it's potential supporters with the ability to interface by either USB 2.0 or Firewire.
The drive will ship with the new version of Toast 7 Titanium and is expected to cost in the neighborhood of ¥132,000 ($1,148/£614/€899). No word yet on international shipping.
A French law that could have forced Apple to ensure music from iTunes played on all devices, not just iPods, has been rejected by the French Constitutional Council. As a result, the entire law may have to be re-written. The copyright legislation was passed last month by the French parliament, the Senate and the National Assembly.
The law sought to ensure that online music retailers would sell digital music files that were compatible with all devices. Music from the iTunes music store works only with Apple's iPod devices and music bought from other stores (that contains DRM) doesn't work on iPods.
As the legislation passed through parliament earlier, it had been modified to allow Apple to bypass its demands with permission from the copyright holder of the music. The French Constitutional Council reviews all laws after they are passed to ensure that they don't conflict with the French constitution.
The constitution provides "protection of property" which led the Council to reject some parts of the law. A legal finding published by the Council last week referred to the 1789 Declaration on Human Rights. It found that companies who are forced to make music playable on any device should receive compensation for sharing its own copy protection technology.
The very popular (over 600,000 downloads) AC3Filter software has been updated to v1.06a. In fact, in the last 24 hours or so, there have been three updates of AC3Filter added to the site, v1.04a, v1.05a and v1.06a. If unfamiliar with the software, you would install it to enable playing video files with AC3 audio in DirectShow based players like Windows Media Player.
After we launched our "innovation contest" couple of weeks ago, we have received quite massive amount of suggestions on how to improve our site. And unlike some companies, we actually do read all the feedback we receive and try to learn from the feedback.
World's largest record label, Vivendi's Universal Music has signed a deal with an upstart music download company SpiralFrog that allows consumers to download Universal's music for free.
Corel announced on Monday that it has agreed to buy a DVD software maker InterVideo for $196 million.
