According to CNet, YouTube is working on bringing 3D videos to the popular video sharing site, and a Google employee has been quietly working on the project.

In the YouTube forums, "YouTubePete" has said he has been working on the stereoscopic player "during his '20 percent time' at Google."

The video, which can be viewed lower in the post, gives watchers the option to change to many different types of 3D, depending on what glasses they own, or hardware. Cnet says the 3D does in fact work. I do not have any 3D glasses to test the video with currently.

View the clip here: YouTube testing 3D

Comcast has announced that they will be the first online video service to offer HBO premium content in high definition, through its upcoming On Demand library.

To be able to watch the content, users must be HBO subscribers as well as Comcast On Demand customers. If you meet the requirements, then you will be given unlimited access to premium content, such as Entourage, The Sopranos, True Blood, and The Wire.

The On Demand service currently has 11,000 SD programs and movies and over 1000 in its HD library.

AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson has made it clear that he knows the popular Apple iPhone and all its iterations will not remain exclusive with the carrier forever, as eventually subscriber base will saturate and Apple will have trouble selling new phones and picking up more market share.

The iPhone has been huge for AT&T, which has attracted new subscribers away from rival carriers and in the Q2 2009 alone added 1.2 million new subscribers, 67 percent of which signed up to buy an iPhone 3G or 3GS.

The mobile device remains exclusive to the carrier however, despite heavy rumors that Apple will eventually sign a deal with CDMA-using Verizon. (AT&T uses GSM and Sim Cards).

"On balance, I think it works really, really well -- maybe as well as any strategic partnership we have," Stephenson added of the exclusivity deal with Apple, via IW.

Let's see for how much longer.

One of the toted features of the new Apple iPhone 3GS is the fact that it includes hardware-based encryption allowing users to secure their data.

This week however, iPhone security experts have showed that the encryption is laughable and the data can be had using well known, relatively easy to use hacking tools.

According to an interview with Arstechnica, iPhone data forensics expert Jonathan Zdziarski says both the hardware encryption and the software-based encryption available in iPhone Firmware 3.0 are easily broken, for those with some knowledge of hacking. The nosy average Joe will not be able to break it, he adds, but more experienced users will have no trouble.

Zdziarski says common iPhone/Touch jailbreaking softwares such as redsn0w will break the encryptions.

"The kernel decrypts it for you when you ask for files, so you get the decrypted copy," says Zdziarski. "The only benefit hardware encryption has then is that it makes wipes faster, by just dropping the key."

Even more shocking is the fact that the iPhone stores tons of info users are unaware of, and does not always delete data users have "deleted." Says Ars, "The iPhone stores a large cache of keystrokes to aid the typing auto-correction, but that cache stores keystrokes from almost every field. Every time the home button is pressed, the iPhone takes a screenshot of the whatever was going on to make switching back to the previous app seem faster, even though that screenshot might have sensitive information on it. The device also stores all kinds of other information that we don't even think about, such as recent GPS coordinates, wireless networks used, un-listened-to voicemails, Safari passwords, and more."

UK ISP Karoo has begun kicking alleged unauthorized file sharers off the Internet as part of the controversial "three strikes" policy designed to curb increased piracy.

According to Yahoo News, customers that have been kicked are sent a notification with an attached document. Signing the document admits guilt to unauthorized file sharing as well as a promise for no future wrongdoing. After that, you get your service back.

After a third violation, users face permanent disconnection, with no recourse.

The Open Rights Group (ORG) was infuriated by the move, claiming that "there is no legal procedure or right of appeal taking place" and that since Karoo is the only ISP in the area, users have no option to switch to less controversial telecoms.

"People are being found guilty by a Kang-Karoo court," added Jim Killock, executive director of the ORG.

"Internet access is crucial for freedom of expression in the digital age. It's also how people do business and gain an education. A monopoly like Karoo cannot be allowed to arbitrarily decide when to limit our fundamental rights. Only courts can do that."

According to CEO Bob Iger, Disney is preparing a subscription online video site that will offer Disney movies, TV shows and games on a monthly subscription-based model.

The man in charge did not elaborate more about the in-development project but it appears it will end up being a more professional "Club Penguin," the Disney kiddie social network site that charges monthly for content.

"People are willing to pay for what they perceive to be value," Iger added, via Variety."We think there's a lot of head room in being able to charge for product on the Web."

Disney recently became a partner in Hulu, the online streaming movie and TV site.

Starting in the fall, Disney Japan will begin selling DVDs that include movies on microSD cards that can be easily inserted into mobile phones and other devices for playback.

The digital copies will be of similar quality to current digital copies that come on discs or are available via download from iTunes.

The DVDs with added microSD cards will cost ¥1,000 ($11 USD) more than the DVDs without it however, adding a heavy premium for the digital copy.

Pic via Arstechnica:

Owen Moody of California has pleaded guilty to one felony count of uploading a pirated film to the Internet, the blockbuster Slumdog Millionaire last year.

According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Lisa E. Feldman, Moody admitted to uploading the film to the infamous torrent tracker The Pirate Bay, as well as Demonoid and Mininova.

The copy uploaded, a DVD Screener meant for Academy members, was available months before the film was released on DVD and was uploaded while the film was still in a limited run in the United States.

Moody, under the monicker "Tranceyo," says he found the copy on funfile.org and then uploaded the file to the public trackers.

For his plea, Moody faces a "statutory maximum penalty of three years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine or twice the gross gain or gross loss attributable to the offense, whichever is greater," according to 10News.

Activision has announced that the upcoming Band Hero game headed to the DS will come with a new drum grip peripheral.

The game is headed to all the major consoles and like previous band games, will allow players to play along to music as a drummer, guitarist, bassist or singer.

The DS version will have a touch drum pad that is inserted in the GBA slot, making the game incompatible with the new DSi.

David Nathanielsz, 'Band Hero' executive producer, says, via GI.biz that "the reason for adding the peripheral was to make it more comfortable to rapidly tap the game's drum patterns."

The game is set for a fall release and will likely retail for 49.99 USD.

Rockstar has announced that the Ballad of Gay Tony, the second Xbox 360-exclusive DLC episode of the popular GTA IV games will be released on October 29th.

You can either purchase the game physically or download via Xbox Live for $19.99 USD (1600 MS points) or you can buy the game alongside the first episode (The Lost of the Damned) in a new bundle dubbed Grand Theft Auto: Episodes From Liberty City for $39.99 USD.

The box set does not require GTA IV installed to play. However, if you purchase separately, you will need the original game. Episodes From Liberty City will cost 34.99 GBP.

According to a new Digitimes report, Aptina Imaging has been selected as the exclusive supplier for CMOS sensors to be used in Microsoft's Project Natal motion sensor system that will be bundled with Xbox 360 consoles.

The report also adds that a new Xbox 360 that will include Natal will be ready to ship by the Q3 2010.

Electronista adds that "to meet demand for the Xbox 360 game controller, Aptina plans on upping capacity at its fabrication facility in Italy that makes 8-inch wafers and look for a partner in another foundry."

Natal is a technology that uses camera sensors to track movements made by users which is then translated to the video game playback. No controller needed.

You can learn more here: Project Natal

Microsoft has announced today that the release to manufacturing (RTM) versions of the upcoming Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 operating systems are now available to developer partners.

The release of the OS will give developers time to create third-party software in time for the launch of the OS later this year.

The software will be available to the public on October 22nd and will cost from $120-$320 USD depending on the version you purchase.

Upgrade versions:

Home Premium $119.99
Professional $199.99
Ultimate $219.99

Full retail:

Home Premium $199.99
Professional $299.99
Ultimate $319.99

Earlier this month the online retailer Expercom leaked the price of the much anticipated Windows 7 Family Pack, the pack that includes three licenses for Windows 7 Home Premium.

The leak said the price would be $137 USD for the three-license pack.

Today, Microsoft confirmed the Family Pack is coming, but neglected to give a price.

If the leaked price is true, the Family Pack will be a significant discount from the standard price, which is $100 USD per license.

According to Apple's Q2 filing, the company sold an extraordinary 5.2 million iPhones during the quarter, helping the company to one of its strongest quarters in history.

The number reflected a 626 percent year-on-year growth for iPhone sales, and the company had an overall net profit of $1.23 billion USD.

The giant sales were attributed to strong sales for the iPhone 3GS and a price reduction on the regular iPhone 3G.

Additionally, the company claimed record Mac sales and a decrease in iPod sales.

Added CEO Steve Jobs: "We're making our most innovative products ever and our customers are responding."

Sonic has announced that they have begun developing a new 3D movie download service to compliment its current CinemaNow download service.

The company has partnered up with NVIDIA and says the 3D content will be optimized for GeForce GPUs. The CinemaNow player, when it goes live, will support the interesting GeForce 3D Vision and all compatible NVIDIA based 3D-capable displays. A couple notable displays that are capable are the Samsung 2233RZ and ViewSonic FuHzion VX2265wm.

According to Electronista, "the 3D movies will be available in 1080p resolution and will be available via PCs, which will then allow them to be displayed on 3D-ready monitors, digital TVs and projectors. Sonic is working with home theater hardware manufacturers to bring the 3D content to TVs both through Internet-connected sets as well as Blu-ray players."

According to a report from Forrester Research, worldwide Internet usership will jump to 2.2 billion users by 2013, with most of the gains coming from Asia.

The report adds that over 43 percent of the world's Internet users will be from Asia by that time, with a hefty 17 percent coming from China alone.

Growth in the US, most of Western Europe and other developed nations such as Japan and South Korea will slow to a crawl, as the market is almost at saturation already.

“While per capita online spending is likely to remain highest in North America, Western Europe and the developed markets of Asia throughout the next five years, the shifting online population and growing spending power among Asian consumers means that Asian markets will represent a far greater percentage of the total in 2013 than they do today,” writes Forrester Research Senior Analyst Zia Daniell Wigder.

“Multinational organizations must understand the dynamics of the shifting global online population to ensure that they are positioned to take advantage of emerging international opportunities.”

Over the past few weeks, rumors have been swirling that the upcoming upgraded Apple iPod Touch will have a camera, adding a much wanted feature to the popular media player.

The latest rumor, via Wired, adds to the camera notion by saying Apple will add a mic as well, allowing for the possibility of video recording as well as Skype.

"Well connected sources," speaking to Wired, say the upcoming device will be available "in two to three months."

The move would theoretically turn the Touch into a phone (at least where Wi-Fi is available), notably without the need for an expensive contract with data plan.

We will keep you updated.

Yesterday we reported that the streaming music store Spotify was finally expanding to the United States.

Spotify, once dubbed "the music piracy killer," has a large selection of music, availablein Ogg Vorbis format (using q5, appx. 160kbps encoding for its free service and 320kbps for its premium service), with simple-to-use GUI and ad-supported monetization model. Spotify's ads run less frequently than what you'd expect with commercial radio and you can get rid of the ads completely by signing up to their premium service (that costs €9.99 per month or €0.99 for 24 hour period).

Today, the service has announced a deal with the IODA (Independent Online Distribution Alliance) that will make 2 million new tracks available including audio from Bob Marley, Prodigy and Stephen Fry.

Yesterday we reported that the once infamous P2P client Kazaa was set to make a comeback, this time as a legal net music store.

The timeline was unclear, but the store has gone live today.

Reads the site:

"Kazaa is a subscription-based service brought to you by Brilliant Digital Entertainment (BDE) a leading online distributor of licensed digital content. BDE provides the means for record labels, film studios and software developers to market and sell their products to a worldwide audience of 70 million users. With the Kazaa service you get unlimited access to hundreds of thousands of CD-quality tracks for one low monthly fee.

For just $19.98/mo, you can download unlimited music files, and play those files on up to 3 PCs that you own. The subscription package is for PC only, which means that you won’t be able to play those files on a portable music player. The files will remain playable while your subscription is active – once your subscription ends, you will no longer be able to play those files.

According to Microsoft corporate vice president Shane Kim, speaking to Kikizo, an Xbox handheld is coming eventually, and will rival the PSP, Nintendo DSi and even the iPod Touch/iPhone.

"For us, it's a matter of focusing on 'when', because if we chased after a mobile or handheld opportunity, we would not have the resources and ability to do things like... Project Natal. So we've chosen to focus on the living room experience from a hardware standpoint, if you will, but we're building a service in Live that will... will extend to other platforms. No question about it."

"So the question will be, how do we enter into that market - do we do our own device, do we create our own phone - that's a question for the company itself - do we continue to go down the Windows Mobile path which is that path that we're on today, etcetera, etcetera," says Kim.

Yesterday, TF posted that according to an interview in SCMagazine, RIAA chief spokesperson Jonathan Lamy had declared the death of DRM (digital rights management), putting an end to years of backing from the trade group.

When asked about his thoughts on the rights management scheme, Lamy apparently said: "DRM is dead, isn't it?" Also looking to the future, Lamy said it was "clear" that DRM was not part of the picture.

According to an email sent to BetaNews however, the quote is "blatantly inaccurate." He did add however, that DRM is slowly but surely moving towards death in the music world, but remains important in the TV and movie world.

The RIAA has spent years backing the policy of DRM, despite harsh criticisms against the controversial standard.

Microsoft has announced that they will be offering certain Xbox Live users a free preview of the upcoming autumn Dashboard update.

The full expected update, via Eurogamer:

Netflix Updates

Now you can watch movies with your friends no matter where they are and manage your queue from the comfort of your couch.

* Movie Parties - Xbox Live Gold members can sit together in a virtual theater with up to seven friends no matter where they are while your Avatars watch a movie, flirt or even throw popcorn at each other.
* Manage Your Queue - Browse the Netflix Instant Watch video catalogue, choose from the most popular movies and genres and add to your queue all from the comfort of your couch - no computer required.
* Enhanced Playback Experience - Enjoy a smooth viewing experience when your internet bandwidth fluctuates.
* Friends Info - Richer information is now displayed in the Friends channel and in the Guide showing what you and your friends are doing.

LG has accidentally leaked a few early specs of its upcoming Android phone, the GW620 Eve.

NieuweMobiel.NL originally posted the specs after finding XML files on the official LG site.

The phone will have a 320 x 480 pixel full touchscreen, UMTS/HSDPA 3G, Wi-Fi, and a QWERTY keyboard as well.

Rumors have been floating for months that LG has plans for 3 Android phones by the end of 2009 but has not released any word on the subject.

It is so rare nowadays to see any cool web-based service to be first available in Europe rather than in the U.S. that Spotify is really worth mentioning even for just that (yes, we'd really, really like to get Hulu..). However, this music streaming service that has been dubbed as the "music piracy killer" and has received almost universal praise from its users, is finally planning to expand to the United States in Q3 or Q4 of this year.

Spotify is a music streaming service with quite massive selection of music, available in Ogg Vorbis format (using q5, appx. 160kbps encoding for its free service and 320kbps for its premium service), with simple-to-use GUI and ad-supported monetization model. Spotify's ads run less frequently than what you'd expect with commercial radio and you can get rid of the ads completely by signing up to their premium service (that costs €9.99 per month or €0.99 for 24h period).

Beginning at the start of August, Louisiana State University will begin fining students who are caught pirating music and movies on the campus network. The fine, according to the school's newspaper, will be $50 USD.

Says the Daily Reveille: "Sheri Thompson, IT planning and communications officer, said she understands a typical RIAA subpoena to be $4,000. (...) '$50 isn’t $4,000 and isn’t debilitating and going to be the difference between them being able to live their life fully,' Thompson said."

Making the decision somewhat surprising however, is the face that the RIAA decided to abandon the much controversial "mass lawsuit" strategy earlier this year.

The newspaper article also says that the school registered 200 DMCA notices last year, meaning the school could have raked in an extra $10,000 USD.

MTV Games and Harmonix have announced that they plan to start the Rock Band Network next month, which will allow indie musicians to add their music to the popular instrument game.

Cnet says that "to program songs for the game, you need a membership to Microsoft's XNA Creators' Club, which was launched a couple years ago to let independent developers create casual games to sell through the Xbox Live Marketplace; a membership costs $49.99 for four months or $99.99 for a year."

Once you have an account, log in and you will be greeted with instructions and free tools to create master recordings. The songs will then be submitted for critique from other creators and MTV Games for final official approval.

All approved tracks debut on the Xbox 360 exclusively for the first month and then MTV will pick the most popular songs to make available on the PS3 and Wii.

Kazaa, one of the most notorious P2P software of yesteryear is set to make a comeback in 2009, this time as a legal subscription music service.

Sources speaking to Cnet say the rebirth could happen as soon as August and will turn the once infamous unauthorized downloading hub into a new subscription service with catalogs from the Big 4 labels.

Unlimited downloads will cost $20 USD a month and the store is expected to open with over a million tracks available.

Napster, the original file sharing site to feel the wrath of the record label, reopened as a legal music store in 2003.

Microsoft, Apple, LG and 20 other similar companies have all been sued this week for patent infringement by Tsera, a Texas-based business that is claiming to have invented the touchpad used today in many media devices.

In the filing, Tsera alleges that they own "all rights, title and interest in" patents related to "methods and apparatus for controlling a portable electronic device using a touchpad." The patents were filed in 1999 and granted in 2003.

The complaint claims patent infringement on the Apple iPod classic and Nano, the Microsoft Zune, and a plethora of other devices including the LG Chocolate VX8500.

According to the Register, it seems Tsera does not have a strong case. More in depth, the patents describe the touchpads as those that can "interpret commands made by detecting the patterns of strokes made by a user upon it, with each of several patterns corresponding to a predefined function or command of the device." Additionally, the patents say: "No immediate visual feedback is provided as a command pattern is traced, and the user does not need to view the device to enter commands." None of that sounds like Zunes, or iPods.

AfterDawn readers will undoubtedly remember the Blu-ray versus HD DVD format war that ended last November with the demise of the HD DVD format.

Toshiba, the main backer of the format, supposedly lost $1 billion USD as a result of the "war."

Today, the Japanese company announced they will be releasing their first Blu-ray player, the BD-18, by the end of the year. There were no other details about specifications or the aesthetics of the player.

Since the demise of HD DVD, Toshiba has never fully embraced their once-rival, but it appears that strong growth in the format has led Toshiba to finally move on.

Universal Music Group has announced a new deal with TuneCore, the digital music distribution company.

The agreement, says Jeff Price, founder and CEO of TuneCore, will allow the distribution company to host music for UMG's labels and artists.

The press release adds that "as an artist’s career grows, they may benefit from having a number of artist-discovery, marketing and upstreaming opportunities within the UMG system.

“Our agreement with TuneCore highlights UMGD’s commitment to a strong sales philosophy and long-term artist development,” notes a UMG spokesperson. “UMGD is uniquely positioned to provide the most flexible and comprehensive digital and physical distribution, sales and marketing services in the industry, all of which results in more profitable opportunities for both our labels and our artists.”

“Honestly, Universal is one of the most forward thinking record labels on the planet,” added Price. “With this deal UMGD has truly changed the rules and the major label model by providing true choice for a musician. If an artist is doing well, there is a direct line through which UMGD can extend its hand or, via the existing TuneCore model, the artist can choose to continue to succeed on their own. It is the continuation of the shift to serve the musician.”

According to a Google developer, Android 2.0 may be headed to mobile phones by the end of the summer.

The interview, with AndroidGuys, shows a representative of The Weather Channel saying it is preparing its next application release for Andorid 2.0 and that the app will be shipping before the end of August. Android 2.0 apps will not work on older Operating Systems, such as 1.5 (Cupcake), so the app would be useless without an upgrade.

The interviewee also said that Android 2.0 "is greatly improved" in terms of coding and is vastly more stable.

2.0 is dubbed "Donut," following in Google's dessert theme for Android updates, and will "add universal searching, voice control, text-to-speech and gesturing," says Electronista.

Amazon has begun offering the upcoming PSP Go handheld as a pre-order item, costing $249.99 USD, months before its official October release date.

The portable will be available in black and white colorways and will remove the UMD drive of traditional PSPs, as well as adding 16GB of internal flash memory and a new slider design.

All games and other content can be downloaded from the PlayStation Network via Wi-Fi. The new design also includes Bluetooth.

Check it here: Amazon pre-order

Sony Ericsson has posted a quarterly loss of €213 million ($300 million) for Q2 2009, it's fourth consecutive quarterly loss as the global recession continues to pound the mobile handset market. Units shipped in the quarter were 13.8 million, a decrease of 43% year-on-year and a sequential decrease of 5 percent. Sales for the quarter were €1.68 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 40 percent, from €2.8 billion in Q2 2008.

"As expected, the second quarter was challenging and we still believe the remainder of the year will be difficult for Sony Ericsson. Our focus remains on bringing the company back to profitability and growth as quickly as possible, and our performance is starting to improve due to our cost reduction activities. The new product portfolio that integrates communications, entertainment and social media applications should contribute to healthier topline development when shipments start later this year," said Dick Komiyama, President, Sony Ericsson.

He continued: "We remain confident that the actions we are taking will further improve our financial situation and strengthen Sony Ericsson's competitiveness." EQ Bank analyst Jari Honko commented that the report shows Sony Ericsson, a joint-venture of LM Ericsson and Sony Corp., is in deep trouble. "My future outlook for the company is pretty dark," he said. "I haven't seen any magical trick that could improve Sony Ericsson's position."

According to the midyear report issued by the Digital Entertainment Group (DEG), sales of Blu-ray titles rose considerably so far in 2009, helping to reduce overall losses to the industry as prerecorded entertainment sales dropped 3.9% over last year. Sales of Blu-ray titles were up 91 percent, totaling $407 million. Additionally, rentals of Blu-ray titles also rose, with revenue from rentals up 62 percent.

Adams Media Research had published data showing Blu-ray sales doubled in the first quarter of the year. The format is benefiting from continued HDTV penetration to U.S. households, which is up 13 percent since the end of 2008. Blu-ray player sales rose 25 percent as hardware prices dropped off. Over 2 million Blu-ray stand-alone players are now in U.S. households, and the number shoots up to 11 million when you include the PlayStation 3 (PS3) console.

More than 1600 Blu-ray titles are now available, and over 40 million discs have been sold in the United States. The good results are a boost to the Blu-ray format, and are contradictory to a recent Harris Poll report which would suggest most consumers are not interested in the new format at all.

HTC is offering a fix for a Bluetooth security vulnerability for several of its handsets. The fix was issued for the HTC Touch models. Although HTC did not specify exactly what problem it was fixing, the fix coincides with security researcher Alberto Moreno Tablado's discovery which he made public when HTC did not issue a fix after he alerted the company in February.

"Microsoft states this is a 3rd party driver developed by HTC and installed on HTC devices running Windows Mobile, so the vulnerability only affects to this vendor specifically," Tablado wrote. "A remote attacker (who previously owned authentication and authorization rights) can use tools like ObexFTP or gnomevfs-ls from a Linux box to traverse to parent directories out of the default Bluetooth shared folder by using ../ or .. marks."

Authentication or Authorization rights could be gotten by pairing the HTC handset with a Bluetooth device, or more complication solutions would include spoofing the MAC address or include sniffing the Bluetooth pairing. Once obtained, an attacker can navigate can access or modify any file stored on the device without the user being aware of the attack.

In an effort to find a new source of revenue, LG Display has announced that it now aims to produce 32-inch Organic Light-Emitting Diode (OLED) televisions in 2012. OLED technology has enormous benefits in the form of picture quality, and due to the absence of a backlight, uses less energy than LCD and Plasma. Longevity of a OLED panel falls behind competing technology however, and many of the world's largest consumer electronics companies are searching for a solution.

In it's push to bring an OLED television to the market as soon as possible, LG Display will expand its research and development sector, taking on 1,700 new jobs this year, according to chief executive officer Kwon Young-soo. "We plan to produce 30-inch OLED panels for TVs in 2012," he said.

He continued: "The commercial success of OLEDs hinges on how it shows its superiority compared to existing liquid crystal display (LCD) technologies. We will focus on TV panels rather than cell phone panels because the larger the display, the more efficient the OLED technology."

LG Display is to invest $2.59 billion in the production of another eight generation LCD production line to be in operation in the second half of 2010. The company announced a return to profit in the second quarter, attributed to rising costs of LCD panels and stronger demand.

Mozilla Corp. has released Firefox v3.5.1 to address a security flaw that it has described as "critical". The vulnerability lies with the software's Just-In-Time (JIT) compiler used with Javascript and it could be exploited by an attacker to run arbitrary code on a victims computer, such as malware or something similar.

Changes in Firefox 3.5.1

• Several security issues.
• Several stability issues.
• An issue that was making Firefox take a long time to load on some Windows systems.

Microsoft has responded to the sales figures published by the NPD Group by revealing that paid downloads have increased on the Xbox Live service by 73 per cent year-over-year for H1 2009. The Xbox 360 console is the only home console to see growth so far in 2009, with Nintendo's DS handheld portable also experiencing a sales increase over last year.

In June 2009, Microsoft managed to sell 241,000 units of the Xbox 360 console, roughly a 20 percent increase over June 2008. Additionally, Microsoft went on to point out that third-party software sales for its platform totaled $168 million in June, a higher figure than enjoyed by Sony or Nintendo.

The Redmond-based software giant is also boasting a 20 million-strong active user base for the Xbox Live service. Sony has recently announced good news for its own services however. Sony's Peter Edward revealed at a developer conference that seven million people have signed up for PlayStation Home, with three million of them coming from Europe.

Recently Global Gaming Factory, the company who announced that they'll acquire The Pirate Bay, hired a former Grokster exec Wayne Rosso to assist with the company with its future plans for TPB. In an interview with CNET News Wayne Rosso outlined GGF's plans for the notorious torrent site.

According to Rosso, GGF plans to build a massive "storage cloud" on top of TPB that would use individual users as storage system's nodes. Apparently users can opt out for being part of the decentralized storage system, but then they'd have to pay a monthly fee for the service. More resources the user is willing to commit for the service, the cheaper the monthly subscription fee will be.

"The more of your computer resources you contribute to the network, the less you pay down to zero," Rosso said.

GGF's plan is to harness the resources users are willing to allocate to the cloud service and sell that computing power and bandwidth to 3rd party companies, essentially creating a service that could be used as a content delivery network (system that most large sites -- including ours -- use to deliver static content, such as images, software downloads and stylesheets, faster to the end user) or even as a web hosting cloud. As the service would use P2P technology, it could bring massive savings to ISPs, as the delivery of content to an end user would be provided from the closest possible "node", most likely from an user within the same ISP network.

According to a survey conducted by Solutions Research Group, 73 percent of Comcast and Time Warner Cable subscribers find that free Internet TV services, such as online VOD are an "excellent" or "good" idea.

The report did note however that respondents were not as happy about video reliability of the online video, and wished it was better.

Comcast recently announced that they plan to begin a trial of their upcoming online VOD service next week, with a small 5000 subscriber beta stage. The service should be available to all Comcast subscribers by the end of the year.

The service will include content from TBS, TNT, HBO, Cinemax, Starz, AMC, BBC America, DIY Network, Fine Living Network, Food Network, Hallmark, HGTV, History, IFC, MGM Impact, Sundance Channel, WE tv, The Style Network, G4, and Fearnet.

The survey, via MCN, was given out in June and surveyed 500 customers of each ISP, with the requirements they were 18 and also had broadband Internet.

"When asked about a service that would allow access to cable channels on the Web or mobile device, 28% said the idea was "excellent" and 45% said it was "good," reads the report.

For the first time in its history, the BBC will be transferring an original online comedy to one of its main TV channels, moving the show "Fresh" over to BBC2.

The show, about the lives of college freshman, started as five-minute webisodes and was so popular that it will move from its online home to a place on BBC's "Switch" block where it will have full 30 minute episodes.

Additionally, the BBC announced it had "commissioned U.K. digital production company Conker Media to create and produce an interactive, digital thriller, "The Well," aimed at teens," says Variety. if successful, the show will air on the BBC2's "Switch" block as well.

Yesterday, Apple announced that in one year the company had 65,000 applications available via the App Store, with a total download count of 1.5 billion.

Critics today have come out swinging however, asking whether the number is inflated because some of the apps are built on templates. Known as "bulk apps," the collection of apps are offered "at the same price point and have the same look and feel, but swap out the content," says the Washington Post.

Skyhook Wireless, a company which provides location-based info to app developers, said that there are thousands of "Bulk Apps" including one developer who sells 850 travel applications all based on the same template but changing the content for different locations.

Om Malik of GigaOm is calling the trick Apple's "Dirty Little Secret" and believes that all the template-based apps should only count as one.

Google Inc. is becoming more confident that its YouTube video-sharing service acquired for $1.65 billion in 2006 will become profitable soon. Since acquiring the site, which is used to share and view videos for free, Google has lost money due to high maintenance costs as the number of users continues to rise. Analysts have been cautious about YouTube exactly because of these high costs.

"YouTube is now on a trajectory that we're very pleased with," Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt said during an earnings call on Thursday. He revealed that Google is working with advertising agencies to help them to create ads suited for YouTube easily. At the Sun Valley technology and media conference last month, Schmidt also said that new advertising formats (such as pre-play ads) will draw in more revenue.

Additionally, in the past year, the number of video viewing monetized videos (videos supported by advertising) has increased three-fold. "We're now monetizing billions of views of partner videos every month," Google's head of product management and marketing, Jonathan Rosenberg said.

Sales of videogame hardware and software have been dropping each month (compared to the same months of 2008) largely due to a stellar sales performance all around early last year. Still, with analysts predicting a 20 percent drop in sales of (non-PC) gaming hardware, software and accessories in June, a reported 31 percent decline compared to June 2008 surprised the industry. June 2009 was the worst monthly performance for the industry since September 2000.

Sales of gaming hardware dropped 38 percent to $382 million, compared to $617.25 million in June 2008, according to figures from NPD. The Nintendo DS platform led the month with a still-strong 766,500 units, following by the Wii console at 361,700 units. Microsoft's Xbox 360 console moved 240,600 units while the Sony PlayStation 3 (PS3) sold 164,700 units, a difference of just 12,000 units compared to the PlayStation 2's 152,700 tally. The PSP handheld moved 163,500 units.

Nokia, the world's largest mobile-handset marker, posted a second-quarter earnings drop of 66 percent compared with the same period of the previous year. Net profit fell from €1.1 billion last year to €380 million, while total sales were at euro;9.91 billion, a drop of around 25 percent. The slump in profits was generally expected by analysts but the more disappointing news of the day was Nokia's adjustment of its target market share this year.

While previously expected to gain ground in the market, Nokia now expects its share of the mobile market to stay unchanged from 2008. The news sent share prices down 11 percent to €9.86. It's Nokia Siemens Networks joint-venture also had its outlook downgraded with the company now expecting a moderate loss of market share having previously aimed to maintain its current share.

The Finnish giant managed to ship 103 million mobile devices during the quarter, which represents a 15 percent drop. The global recession has had a huge impact on the market, and the average selling price of a Nokia handset fell from €74 to €62. "The mobile industry is undergoing its biggest change in its 20-year history," Nokia CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo said in a conference call.

Security researcher Alberto Moreno Tablado has reported a security flaw with the File Transfer Profile service that's built in to the Bluetooth stack implemented by HTC. Despite contacting HTC about this problem in February, no fix has been issued, prompting Tablado to go public. The security vulnerability could allow an attacker to view and edit sensitive files stored on a device.

"Microsoft states this is a 3rd party driver developed by HTC and installed on HTC devices running Windows Mobile, so the vulnerability only affects to this vendor specifically," Tablado says. "A remote attacker (who previously owned authentication and authorization rights) can use tools like ObexFTP or gnomevfs-ls from a Linux box to traverse to parent directories out of the default Bluetooth shared folder by using ../ or .. marks."

Authentication or Authorization rights could be gotten by pairing the HTC handset with a Bluetooth device, or more complication solutions would include spoofing the MAC address or include sniffing the Bluetooth pairing. Once obtained, an attacker can navigate can access or modify any file stored on the device without the user being aware of the attack.

According to Dorian Bloch of GfK Chart-Track, the market for digital game downloads for PC in 2009 will reach over $1 billion. Bloch estimates that the market will grow to $1 billion from an estimated $600 million last year, driven by digital download services such as Steam, Direct2Drive and Metaboli.

The company has come under some pressure from the industry by publishers who wish to have their sales in the market included in its stats and Bloch has described the emerging market as a "huge business". GfK Chart Track's figures are most sought after in the UK.

"Sega has been asking us, 'when can we include our Football Manager sales in our charts?' We'd like to include them, but I can't just include one publisher's sales, I need a balanced approach for doing that," Bloch told a Developer Conference in Brighton.

He added: "The key thing for me in this is that these publishers support me in what I do and they want their sales included in the charts."

Microsoft's chairman Bill Gates revealed in an interview with CNET that the project Natal technology coming to the Xbox 360 platform is also in development for non-gaming uses with Windows. He said the project evolved from Microsoft research, and is now being commercialized by Windows and Xbox units.

"Both the Xbox guys and the Windows guys latched onto that and now, even since they latched onto it, the idea of how it can be used in the office is getting much more concrete and is pretty exciting," he said. Gates was the first to hint that Microsoft was working on the technology in the 2007 All Things Digital conference where he appeared with Apple CEO Steve Jobs.

Back then, after Gates talked about a gaming machine that you could interact with by swinging a tennis racket or a bat, the hosts referred to the Nintendo Wii console. Gates corrected the hosts however, saying, "You can't sit there with your friends and do those natural things, that's a 3D positional device. This is video recognition. This is a camera seeing what's going on."

Mitsubishi has jointly announced with Vudu a promotion that will offer a free Vudu HD set-top box along with $50 in VUDU credit with the purchase of certain Mitsubishi HDTVs.

Frank DeMartin, Mitsubishi marketing VP, says the deal will be available through all authorized Mitsubishi retailers. The player itself is worth $150 USD by itself.

"We simply wanted to provide a value-add bundle other than Blu-ray, something new and exciting for our retailers," DeMartin added, via Variety.

Vudu currently has over 2000 HD titles available from over 40 movie studios, as rentals or purchases. Users download the films to the set-top box, which includes a built in hard drive, some with up to 1 TB of storage space.

Amazon.com Inc. is being sued by Seattle resident Matthew Geise over an alleged design flaw affecting the Kindle 2 and Kindle DX. The suit alleges the problem is really sourced with the separately-sold protector cover. It claims the covers designed and sold by Amazon for the Kindle 2 and Kindle DX put pressure on the hinge and cause the screen to crack. The suit is seeking class-action status.

"Mr. Geise understood that the Kindle Cover he purchased for the Kindle was, in fact, compatible with the Kindle and would not damage the Kindle as a result of ordinary use. Amazon never disclosed to Plaintiff that using the Kindle Cover with the Kindle would damage the Kindle," according to the complaint.

The complain cites an array of consumer complaint postings on the Internet about the same problem. "Because of the relatively small size of the typical damages, and the modest resources of most consumers, it is unlikely that most Class Members could afford to seek recovery against Amazon on their own. A class action is therefore the only viable, economical and rational means for members of the Class to recover from Amazon for the damages it has caused," the complaint reads.

Apple Inc. has updated it's iTunes software to block use with the Palm Pre device. The recently-released device was compatible with the iTunes software, letting users organize media with the software just as they would with an iPod. An Apple spokesman commented that this update, "disables devices falsely pretending to be iPods, including the Palm Pre." Palm responded by reminding Apple who the real target of this change is.

"Apple's move is a direct blow to their users, who will be deprived of a seamless synchronization experience," Palm spokeswoman Leslie Letts said. She recommended that users stick to the older versions of iTunes or consider other music applications to organize the media.

Jon Rubinstein, a former Apple exec who played a big part in the iPod, became Palm's executive chairman in October 2007. The Pre has touch-screen control features like the iPhone. The recent awarding of a patent to Apple in January covering certain multi-touch functions may affect Palm and other companies eventually.

Following last week's announced agreement between Internet radio services and SoundExchange, Pandora has gotten an almost immediate confidence boost on its future. Even though its founder Tim Westergren has referred to the funding environment for online music start-ups as Toxic, Pandora managed to close a new round of funding headed by Greylock Partners. Reports put the investment figure at around $35 million.

Greylock's investment was led by Partner David Sze, who is apprehensive about online radio. "I've been concerned about the space in general, but as I looked under the covers I realized it's a great business," Sze said. "Pandora's brand is strong and they're getting to scale."

Pandora's success is hinged on royalty rates. The rates announced in 2007 would have made webcasters pay out $0.08 per song through 2014, but would have increased to $0.19 in 2015. Considering Pandora offers a free service, this would have been a very expensive reality for a company that would be paying 70% of its revenue in royalties.

Blockbuster Inc. has struck a deal with Samsung Electronics America Inc. to offer movie rentals through Samsung's next generation of high-definition TVs. The move, aimed at regaining ground on Netflix, will allow users to receive digital rentals piped through the Internet with their TV remote control and a built-in feature in each TV set.

The rentals are expected to be priced between $1.99 and $3.99 and will be viewable for up to 24 hours. Netflix extended its products first to cover video streaming with a free supplement to its DVD-by-mail service launched in early-2007. Since then, Netflix has been at work getting its streaming features onto several consumer electronics products.

Blockbuster's latest move puts it in partnership with the world's largest manufacturer of flat-screen TVs, and moves it into Netflix' space with support added to Samsung's Blu-ray DVD players and home theater systems. There has been some speculation that Amazon may seek to acquire Netflix, which currently has a market value around $2.5 billion.

On its first day of a Windows 7 promotional drive, Microsoft's European online store quickly went offline. Customers were instead greeted with a message claiming the site was, "experiencing a higher level of demand than usual" but that it would be back up and running as soon as possible. The promo gives customers the opportunity to pre-order Windows 7 Home Premium E for £49.99 or Windows 7 Professional E for £99.99.

The software is on sale at the Microsoft Store, as well as several traditional partners including Amazon, Play.com and PC World. The offer will continue until August 9. The company is stressing that users should use the Upgrade Adviser Tool on offer for Windows 7 to avoid similar problems to those experienced with Windows Vista by customers after launch.

The worst issue for most affected consumers was hardware that carried Vista Capable stickers wasn't always compatible with Vista at all. In order to get in on more pre-orders, PC World is offering a free PC healthcheck worth £29.99 to anybody who purchases the software.

Kevin Cogill, a Los Angeles man who pleaded guilty to uploading tracks from Guns N' Roses Chinese Democracy album, is set to participate in an anti-piracy advertisement as part of a deal to avoid jail time. He was also given one year probation and two months' house arrest. The prosecution had demanded a six month sentence originally, valuing the infringement at $371,000.

The calculations were made based on an estimated value of 99c per download, in line with the pricing of the iTunes store. The larger the estimated damages, the longer the sentence was expected to be. According to court documents however, when Cogill agreed to work with the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) to create an anti-piracy message, the $371,000 figure was withdrawn.

Cogill admitted to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) that he uploaded the 14 track album on June 18, 2008. In March this year, the RIAA claimed that damages were as high as $2.2 million, but said it would accept $30,000 if Cogill was prepared to, "participate in a public service announcement designed to educate the public that music piracy is illegal."

Comcast has announced that it has added 18 new channels to its On Demand Online service, including premium content from channels such as HBO.

The cable company will begin a trial of the service next week, with a small 5000 subscriber beta stage. The service should be available to all Comcast subscribers by the end of the year.

The channels involved are TBS, TNT, HBO, Cinemax, Starz, AMC, BBC America, DIY Network, Fine Living Network, Food Network, Hallmark, HGTV, History, IFC, MGM Impact, Sundance Channel, WE tv, The Style Network, G4, and Fearnet.

Hid.im, a new online site, allows users to convert torrent files into PNG images, as a way to allow the uncensored, hidden upload of torrent files to image hosting services such as Photobucket.

According to Michael Nutt, founder of the site, via TorrentFreak the site is "an attempt to make torrents more resilient. The difference is that you no longer need an indexing site to host your torrent file. Many forums will allow uploading images but not other types of files.”

To make it work, simply select the torrent file and submit it to the site, which will do all the dirty work. Hid.im does require that the file be under 250KB however.

Those trying to decode the message will need either a Firefox extension or through the site's bookmarklet.

According to a screenshot posted on TechCrunch, YouTube looks to be on the verge of dropping Internet Explorer 6 support, forcing users who have not yet updated from the aging browser to update to IE8, Firefox, Opera, Safari or Chrome to keep watching their favorite videos.

Digg recently made a similar decision, noting that IE6 users account for 5 percent of all traffic but only 1 percent of comments and diggs.

Picture via TechCrunch:

Apple has announced today that customers have downloaded over 1.5 billion applications in the first year of the popular App Store.

The App Store now also has 65,000 apps and 100,000 developers involved in the iPhone Developer Program.

“The App Store is like nothing the industry has ever seen before in both scale and quality,” adds Steve Jobs, via an official press release. “With 1.5 billion apps downloaded, it is going to be very hard for others to catch up.”

Apple says there are now 40 million iPod Touches and iPhones available that can access the App Store.

According to new DisplaySearch figures, netbook shipments will jump to 32.7 million worldwide for 2009, a large year-on-year spike.

Says John Jacobs, DisplaySearch's notebook market research director, via TWICE, that if the expected number is hit, the netbook market will have doubled in just one year, strong growth by any stretch.

The company expects the "Greater China" region will see the biggest jump, 260 percent, from 1.1 million units to 3.9 million units year-on-year. Following with very strong growth as well is the North American market, spiking from 3.7 million units to 8.8 million units, a 137 percent jump. Seeing the most shipments and fourth largest growth is the EMEA (European/Middle East/Asian) markets, jumping from 7.3 million to 13.3 million units, an 81 percent jump.

DisplaySearch says the strong volume growth in North America can be attributed to the subsidy programs being currently run by cell phone carriers, with some offering the netbooks for as low as 99 cents with contract.

According to a Telegraph report, Microsoft is set to launch their own streaming music site which will offer free streaming and pay-for downloads.

Peter Bale, executive producer of MSN, Microsoft’s news and entertainment portal, adds: “Music is an important area for Microsoft. We are looking at launching a music streaming service imminently. It will be a similar principle to Spotify but we are still examining how the business model will work.”

Spotify allows for free streaming as well, but users must listen to a minute of advertising every 30 minutes of playback. Users can also purchase a premium account for £9.99 a month which removes the ads.

Says Bale, via the Telegraph: “We are looking at how other similar businesses have structured their business models and trying to figure out what will work best for both consumer and Microsoft.”

The official also noted that service could eventually be tied directly to Xbox Live but did not elaborate.

Stephen Fry, the popular actor, author and current gadget blogger has spoken out about piracy this week, defending non-commercial piracy and berating the media watchdog groups, who he claims are going about it all wrong.

The lashing, made at the iTunes festival, started with Fry giving a history of music copyright.

Fry started by saying, according to the BBC, "that my business - the film business, the television business, the music business - is doing the wrong thing," in regards to arresting and criminalizing file sharers.

He then mocked the "preposterous" MPAA ads that claim "You wouldn't steal a car" by saying he can't believe the industry would be "so blind... as to think that someone who bit-torrents an episode of 24 is the same as someone who steals somebody's handbag (or car)".

Fry himself admitted to downloading an episode of the popular series House, which stars his old friend Hugh Laurie and admitted as well to downloading a few episodes of 24.

According to new data reported by The Guardian UK, the amount of UK teenagers sharing unauthorized music has fallen dramatically since 2007, while the amount of teens using streaming services has grown exponentially.

The data, based on a survey of 1000 14-to-18 year-olds, shows that pirates have moved to legal venues such as YouTube and Spotify among others.

Along with the streaming increase, up to 65 percent, illegal downloads dropped from 42 percent in December of 2007, to just 26 percent in January of 2009.

The report does state that perhaps the number has fallen so substantially for illegal downloads because users have moved on to copying music from friend's MP3 players as well as sharing using Bluetooth.

Steve Purdham, CEO of We7, adds, via the Guardian: "They may not buy an album, though they have that opportunity, but you can sell them tour tickets and a T-shirt of their favourite band."

Paul Brindley, CEO of Music Ally, added about the report: "These figures challenge the idea that filesharing will just continue to grow. While we don't think for a second that it shows the war against piracy is won, it does at least suggest that there is encouraging news for the music industry."

According to WCBS, 15-year-old Alexa Longueira was walking in Staten Island, New York last week, texting on her phone when she fell into an open manhole, recieving minor injuries.

She also lost a shoe in the sewage. Speaking of the incident Alexa says her fall was "really gross... shocking and scary."

Now obviously, the accident was not entirely the girl's fault. There were no warning signs around the unattended manhole. A nearby Department of Environmental Protection worker pulled her out and continued his job of flushing the sewer after. The Department then issued an apology for the lack of orange cones or warning signs.

Despite the lack of warning signs however, many observers almost completely blame Longueira for not seeing an open manhole and being completely detached from her surroundings.

The problem of texting has been in the news of late especially in regards to driving, where a string of accidents have been attributed to distracted drivers texting while behind the wheel.

According to a WSJ report, Google has announced some "sweet" names for its upcoming Android updates, with the updates being called "donut," "eclair," and "flan." Android users will remember that the recent Android 1.5 update was dubbed "cupcake."

Andy Rubin, a vice president of engineering at Google, also noted that the upcoming Chrome OS will not replace Android, and will be aimed at different markets.

As an example of how Android is evolving, Rubin points to the example of the My Touch 3G, which even has a hardware "Google Search" button. Press the side button on the phone and the Google search box will pop up.

All of the upcoming "sweet" updates will include more social networking features, says Rubin.

“Social is a big push for now,” he noted, adding that "eventually an inbound phone call could show the caller’s photo, name and the last update he or she posted to Facebook, for example."

Although it was severely delayed, Nokia has finally announced the launch of a beta version of its Music Store in India.

Indian customers can use the store to purchase music tracks, music videos and other pieces of digital content for their phones.

The store was delayed over 6 months, and will remain in beta phase for the time being. Currently you cannot even purchase content but can listen to 30 second clips of the songs.

More importantly for Indian users, the store will carry a "large selection of Indian music across different genres, which included music in regional Indian languages as well," says Symbian Freak.

A Nokia spokesperson added that "The pricing mechanisms for India are currently being worked out."

Buckingham Palace has noted today that the British Royal Family has now joined Twitter, just another addition in the long line of big names that have joined the micro-blogging site.

The Twitter account is @BritishMonarchy and is now publicly available after spending a couple of weeks in private testing.

According to the BBC, the family signed up "to harness the popularity of Twitter to spread news about the Royal Family." Among the "news" about the family will be most royal engagements and links to information on what family members are doing.

A spokesperson did note however that none of the family would be tweeting personally, and instead, "the intention is that it is a news service rather than a personal voice."

According to an Apple Insider report, Apple may finally be in the closing stages of bringing the iPhone to China.

The report says the company as applied for a Network Access License, meaning a release could be just months away.

The news comes through Wedge Partners analyst Matt Mathison who says the application was filed this week but notably lacks any mention of onboard Wi-Fi, meaning the wireless will not be available on the Chinese version of the phone.

It has been long rumored that Wi-Fi would have to be dropped to "appease the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, which would prefer that iPhone owners use local networks," says AI.

Mathison says he is confident now that the Wi-Fi issue is settled that the phone will go on sale in China before the Chinese New Year, on February 14th 2010. The phone will likely be available through carrier China Unicom , the only carrier in the nation that has available compatibility "with the iPhone's existing 3G standards."

Sharp has announced the launch of a line of LED-backlit LCD HDTVs this week.

The AQUOS branded TVs will range in size from 32" to 52" and will be very similar to the popular 1080p LCD TVs already offered by the company but instead using Sharp's UltraBrilliant LED-backlight technology.

"With the introduction of the AQUOS LED series," adds Sharp Electronics senior vice president Bob Scaglione, via PCMag. "We are bringing consumers an affordable display solution with superior picture and environmental performance that provides a true value. Sharp is able to deliver a price-competitive yet high-performance product by producing many of the key components of the TV, including the LED components and the LCD panel."

LED-backlit TVs are said to have longer lifespans, have lower power consumption, brighter screens and more vibrant colors.

The list of new TVs, via the source:

According to EU customs officials, seizures of pirated goods have jumped 55 percent year-on-year from 2007, from 79 million to 178 million items seized.

DVDs and CDs accounted for a massive 44 percent of all the items seized, jumping 2600 percent from 2007 from 3 million to 78 million units seized.

Says the European Commission, via Variety, that the significant increase is due to improved "cooperation" between the media industry and authorities. The EC also added that overall cases of suspected violation of intellectual property rights rose from 43,000 in 2007 to 49,000.

The report also noted China and greater Asia as the "main source of all counterfeit goods."

US Customs officials have today cleared TV maker Vizio of any patent infringements it has been accused of and allowed continued sale of the HDTVs in the United States.

Funai had been seeking an injunction on the panels and is expected to appeal the decision. Vizio expects to win again.

Vizio, based in North America, has accused Funai of simply trying to block competition in the crowded LCD HDTV market, and sued its long time rival for "allegedly violating antitrust law as well as patent infringement of its own," says Electronista.

Funai makes TVs under the brand Sylvania.

The online retailer Expercom has leaked the price of the much anticipated Windows 7 Family Pack, the pack that includes three licenses for Windows 7 Home Premium.

The price will be $137 USD, a decent discount from buying the operating system as a standalone three times.

Microsoft has high hopes for the new operating system, and hopes cheaper retail prices will help it compete with the release of Mac OS X Snow Leopard which will only cost $30 to upgrade, or $49 for a family pack.

As a way to appease new Vista owners and bring new purchased to the operating system, Microsoft is offering a discount on "upgrade" versions of the operating system, including a Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade for $49 USD.

According to Netflix's latest blog post, the company's 12,000-strong 'Watch Instantly' library is headed to Internet-connected Sony Bravia HDTVs.

Starting in a few months, users will be able to watch any movie or TV show in the library for free via the TVs, given you have a subscription with the rental company.

Says the post:
"Come fall, Netflix members on any unlimited plan will be able to instantly watch movies and TV episodes streamed from Netflix on Sony’s BRAVIA Internet Video-capable HDTVs and on previous BRAVIA models compatible with Sony’s BRAVIA Internet video link module. With BRAVIA, Sony joins a growing roster of world-class consumer electronics manufacturers providing Netflix ready devices -- Microsoft (Xbox360), LG Electronics, Roku, Samsung, TiVo, VIZIO."

In May, a NY Times staff writer, Jennifer Lee, via her Twitter page, discussed what occurred during a meeting with shareholders and explained that the company was currently "exploring a new online financial strategy" that would implement membership levels. Each level would have different access to content with obviously the most expensive having full access to the entire site.

Today, according to Bloomberg, the Times is closer than ever to implementing the charge, a $5 USD monthly fee for access to the site. NYTimes.com is currently the most popular newspaper site in America.

Although the move will bring in much needed added revenue to make up for continued losses in ad sales, some critics have their doubts.

“The question here for consumers is the psychological barrier of now paying when you were getting it for free before, and you’re going to lose some readers as a result,” says Ken Doctor, an analyst at Outsell. “The New York Times will also have to evaluate what this means for ad rates as they lose readers.”

After the original bill was shot down for being unconstitutional, the French Senate has today adopted a new version of the controversial 'three strikes law' that will kick alleged pirates off the Internet after two primary warnings.

The revised bill will now head off to the National Assembly where it will either be denied or put into action.

The original text was deemed unconstitutional by the Constitutional Council because of the fact that the bill allowed a new state agency to kick users off the Internet for a year if they were suspected of sharing unauthorized movies and music multiple times. At the same time, a "third strike" could also bring a jail sentence or a fine of up to $415,000 USD.

Any account holder who is found to have allowed other family members or friends to download pirated material using their connection risks a $2090 USD fine and a one month ban from the Internet.

The Council noted in its decision that "free access to public communication services on line" was a human right and the bill imposed on that right.

Earlier this week we reported that leaked photos of the upcoming Sony Ericsson Android phone, dubbed Rachael and part of the XPERIA line, had hit the Internet, along with some specs on the smartphone.

Among its excellent features, the phone uses an Android interface, Qualcomm's Snapdragon platform (allowing processor speeds of up to 1GHz), an 8.1 megapixel camera with auto-focus, 3D supporting GPU, 7.2Mbps HSDPA and a 800 x 480 pixel 4" touchscreen.

Pics via BoyGeniusReports:

According to a very detailed blog entry, Google is planning on releasing a Chrome Operating System, on that will be open source, free and that they hope will rival mature operating systems such as those from Apple and Microsoft.

The full blog post reads:

"It's been an exciting nine months since we launched the Google Chrome browser. Already, over 30 million people use it regularly. We designed Google Chrome for people who live on the web — searching for information, checking email, catching up on the news, shopping or just staying in touch with friends. However, the operating systems that browsers run on were designed in an era where there was no web. So today, we're announcing a new project that's a natural extension of Google Chrome — the Google Chrome Operating System. It's our attempt to re-think what operating systems should be.

T-Mobile USA today has launched their second Android-based smartphone, the MyTouch 3G, hoping it will match or exceed sales of the original G1.

The G1 is said to have sold one million units in its first 3 months, marking a rare success for the carrier.

Cole Brodman, CTO for T-Mobile adds: "A vast majority of customers will be new to Android and new to smart phones," adding he believes the phone will exceed sales of its predecessor.

The MyTouch 3G has been said to be "Basically, it's the G1 without the keyboard," notes Avi Greengart, an analyst for Current Analysis, via the WSJ. "They're just marketing it differently."

The phone will cost $199 with two year contract and will go on sale on August 5th.

Sony president Sir Howard Stringer has once again denied that the company will be dropping the price of the PlayStation 3, despite source after source asking for one.

Stringer responded first directly to Activision CEO Robert Kotick's comments that the developer may not support the PS3 if the price isn't cut this year.

"He likes to make a lot of noise," added Stringer, via GI.biz. "He's putting pressure on me and I'm putting pressure on him. That's the nature of business."

Stringer was then asked about whether a price cut was 'logical.' "I (would) lose money on every PlayStation I make - how's that for logic?," added Stringer.

Explaining the lack of a price cut, Stringer added: "We feel that we're sacrificing the short term to pay dividends in the long term. People are having short-term thinking -- the platform is not even three years old. It was $599; it's now $399. The focus on pricing is something we appreciate, but you have to have the conviction and the confidence that you are on the right path for the long term and ultimately you'll get all the consumers you want."

Internet Radio has been saved today, for the time being at least, after SoundExchange signed a deal with radio webcasters.

SoundExchange is the organization in charge of collecting royalties for musicians and the record labels relating to online music.

The deal, settled after 2 1/2 years of very public disputes over proposed royalty increases, will allow Internet Radio to survive. Webcasters will not be forced to pay per-song royalty payments that many webcasters claimed would put them out of business.

According to the LATimes, webcasters can now "choose an alternative rate structure that allows them to pay lower per-song royalties through 2015, or 25% of their revenue."

"If the rates weren't resolved, we were sunk. So this is a huge relief," adds Tim Westergren, founder of Pandora. Westergren adds that Pandora, through its site and iPhone App, has about 30 million registered users.

The company expects to have $40 million USD in revenue for 2009, and could possibly now be profitable next year.

Sprint Nextel has announced that it will begin selling a heavily subsidized netbook, the Compaq Mini 110c-1040DX, for 99 cents, for users signing up for a two year contract.

The offer is only available through Best Buy. The Netbook by itself costs $390 USD at Best Buy and the retailer will begin selling the same Netbook with a two year Verizon contract for $199.99 USD, a huge premium over Sprint.

The Sprint 3G service contract costs $60 USD a month for 5GB of data, making the actual cost at the end of the contract $1440 for the netbook.

The Compaq itself uses Windows, has a 1.6GHz Intel Atom Processor and 160GB hard drive.

The Apple App Store has reached a new milestone this week, 13,000 games now available to iPhone and iPod Touch users, accounting for a hefty 20 percent of all applications available.

According to data from Mobclix, free games account for 27 percent of all titles (3559) while paid take up the rest of the pie, at 73 percent (9554).

Puzzle games remain the largest and most popular genre accounting for 16.4 percent (4263). In second is action at 11.2 percent (2913) followed by arcade at 11.2 percent as well (2906).

The total amount of games has jumped 110 percent since early March.

Telefonica SA has become the exclusive European seller of the Palm Pre today, winning the contract over other large potential suitors.

The Pre was launched last month in the US to large hype and has sold 300,000 units in its first month.

Telefonica operated in Spain, the UK, Germany and Ireland and says the phone will be available before the holiday season. There was no word on how much the phone will cost with contract.

The Pre was originally heralded as the "iPhone Killer," which is somewhat ironic as Telefonica sells the iPhone as well. To earn the exclusive rights to the iPhone, Telefonica was forced to give Apple 40 percent of all revenue generated by each phone sale, taking a large chunk out of their margins.

Adds Ovum analyst Tony Cripps, via the WSJ: "Given its early stage of evolution, Palm would have been better off with a European telco partner that isn't already beholden to Apple. Offering the two devices side by side looks like a one-sided fight to us."

Videolan has announced the official launch of VLC media player 1.0.0, codenamed Goldeneye.

The Videolan site says the new update includes the following changes:

* Free, Open Source and cross-platform
* Independant of systems codecs to support most video types
* Live recording
* Instant pausing and Frame-by-Frame support
* Finer speed controls
* New HD codecs (AES3, Dolby Digital Plus, TrueHD, Blu-Ray Linear PCM, Real Video 3.0 and 4.0, ...)
* New formats (Raw Dirac, M2TS, ...) and major improvements in many formats...
* New Dirac encoder and MP3 fixed-point encoder
* Video scaling in fullscreen
* RTSP Trickplay support
* Zipped file playback
* Customizable toolbars
* Easier encoding GUI in Qt interface
* Better integration in Gtk environments
* MTP devices on linux
* AirTunes streaming
* New skin for the skins2 interface

In early May, Disney announced that it had obtained an equal equity stake in the popular online video site Hulu, giving it equal influence with founders NBCU and Fox.

Today, the first Disney/ABC content has become available on Hulu, with Grey's Anatomy becoming the first series available. As it does with some other shows, only the 5 most recently aired episodes will be available at any given time.

There will be additional ABC content coming this week, says Disney but the content will not not be revealed except through the site's Hulu Days of Summer .

According to leaked photos of a new bundle being prepared for sale at Best Buy, Sony appears to be wanting to clear out current 80GB PS3 inventory, perhaps in anticipation of the launch of the oft-rumored PS3 Slim.

The new bundle will include the A-list PS3-exclusive games Killzone 2 and Metal Gear Solid 4 and the 80GB system will cost $399, just like the console without the bundled games. The deal is pretty good as Killzone retails still for $50-60 USD and still brings in $30-40 USD used on auction sites such as eBay.

Employees of the retail chain say the bundle will become available this Sunday.

It is widely expected that Sony will drop the price of the console by $100 USD in August while at the same time releasing the 120GB 'PS3 Slim' to replace the phased out 80GB model.

According to reports by TechCrunch and MacRumors, Apple has ordered a large amount of cameras normally used in iPhones, suggesting that an upcoming iPod Touch will include the cameras.

Says TC, Apple has “placed an order for a massive number of camera modules of the type they include in the iPhone. These are inexpensive cameras, in the $10 range. And the size of the order, our source says, means they can only be used for one thing - the iPods”.

MR posted a pic of what they are calling an 'iPod Touch 3G' case, which includes a hole in the back for a camera.

Any upgraded Touch would most likely include a bump in RAM, an updated GPU and a faster processor as well.

Sony Ericsson has been planning an Android based phone for some time now, and it appears a recent leak by Danish Mobil magazine has now given everyone the details.

Code-named "Rachel," the phone will be part of the XPERIA series.

The leak, via PC World says Rachel will run on the "Qualcomm Snapdragon platform (QSD8250), wich would give the phone processor speeds of up to 1GHz and 7.2Mbit per second HSPA downlink speeds."

The phone will also feature an impressive 8.1-megapixel camera, including autofocus and flash. The phone also includes a standard 3.5mm headphone jack and a miniUSB port. The phone also has a full touchscreen, but resolution is unknown for now.

Rachel is expected to run on the upcoming Android 2.0 software.

A French man who illegally downloaded 12,591 music tracks, 426 movies and 16 complete TV series has been sentenced to a 2 months suspended jail sentence and been forced to pay a 33,000 euro fine this week.

The collection was first discovered in 2006 when authorities were searching the man's house on an unrelated fraud case warrant. The man is a retired IT expert and used the defense during his trial that the collection was for private use, not commercial. He also added, says TF that he "believed he had been acting within the law."

The court did not agree.

The plaintiffs, which included the National Federation of Film Distributors, Sony, Paramount, Sacem and SCPP were asking for 2 euros for each unauthorized MP3, and 7.50-12.50 euros for each movie. It was unclear what was paid for each TV episode.

According to AllthingsDigital, an internal memo leak within AT&T is showing off that the recent iPhone 3GS launch has led the company to its 'best ever sales day.'

The memo:

iLaunch day 2009 was one for the record books, as AT&T customers scrambled to get their hands on the fastest, most powerful iPhone yet.

Here’s a look at some of the milestones we achieved:

* Best-ever sales day in our retail stores
* Second-largest traffic day in our retail stores
* Most transactions processed via our IT systems in a single day
* Most upgrade eligibility checks in a single day
* Largest order day in att.com history
* Largest features sales day in att.com history

The iPhone 3GS is said to have had 1 million units sold in its first 3 days.

Apple has discretely admitted to iPhone overheating issues today, adding a warning to its support pages acknowledging that some iPhone 3G and 3GS indeed overheat.

The problem seems to stem more from the newly launched 3GS, with tons of reports coming in claiming the overheating occurs in many various environments. Some of the reports, such as those coming into PCWorld, have even said that the back cover of the iPhone has become discolored in under a week due to the heat issues.

Although there has been no official admission of an overheating problem, the warning at least acknowledges that there is a problem. Who does Apple blame however? You, the iPhone 3GS owner.

The warning says that the phone is not meant to function properly if the temperature is above 113 degrees Fahrenheit and tells users to not leave the phones in parked cars.

Says the warning: "If the interior temperature of the device exceeds normal operating temperatures, you may experience the following as it attempts to regulate its temperature: the device stops charging, display dims, and/or weak cellular signal."

George Hotz, who normally goes under the moniker Geohot, has released the world's first iPhone 3GS jailbreaking software today, notably before the iPhone Dev Team.

Hotz came to fame (or infamy) in the online community when he released the first iPhone unlocking software in 2007.

The iPhone Dev Team has said they have software available but are waiting until after the upcoming 3.1 update to release it. Geohot did not feel the need to wait however.

Adds Hotz: "Normally I don’t make tools for the general public, and rather wait for the dev team to do it. But guys, whats up with waiting until 3.1? That isn’t how the game is played. We release, Apple fixes, we find new holes. It isn’t worth waiting because you might have the “last” hole in the iPhone. What last hole…this isn’t golf. I’ll find a new one next week."

Despite the quick sales of the iPhone 3GS, the Dev Team felt an early release would benefit few users and felt it better for the community to keep the exploits or vulnerabilities used out of "Apple's eyes" for the time being. Being that the new jailbreaking software is available now, Apple can possibly examine what hole is being exploited and patch it with their 3.1 release. Not that Hotz cares.

BT, the British ISP and one of the region's largest companies has announced they will be offering employees the opportunity to take one year off of work in exchange for a 75 percent price cut for that year.

Any employee who takes the pay cut and vacation will receive the 25 percent remaining of their salary as an upfront payment.

BT is desperately trying to cut costs after posting a massive 1 billion pound loss for the Q1 2009.

The telecom has also said it will be laying off over 15,000 of its 100,000 employees over the next year. Employees are also being given larger incentives to work part-time.

According to Sony president of product planning Naoya Matsui, the company has been planning a UMD-less PSP since the launch of the original handheld system, but was simply waiting for the market for digital downloads to mature.

"We'd planned to release a PSP model without a UMD drive since the very beginning," says Matsui, via Develop. "But if we'd simply released the hardware, there wouldn't have been much for everyone to enjoy. We needed to prepare the right environment for it first - things like the transferral of content with the PS3 and PSN, and PC software to manage content like music and movies such as 'Media Go'.

"We wanted to release it when the delivery of digital content was on par with the delivery of physical media. Thats what we've been working on these past two years. We'll be selling the PSP Go alongside the existing PSP models, because it's a product targeted at those people who are more accustomed to digital content."

The copyright administration company MCS Music America has filed suit against Real Networks, Yahoo and Microsoft this week, alleging that the groups engaged in copyright infringement on some of the company's music.

The case is based on the streaming technology used by yahoomusic.com, rhapsody.com and zune.com which allows customers to listen to full music streams "on demand," or to download unlimited amounts for a monthly fee.

The suit alleges, according to TGDaily, that the music downloaded during complimentary free trials, "stay on peoples' hard drives as long as the free trial period runs, or the monthly subscription fee is paid. To do so, the suit continues, the defendants have to obtain not only the rights for the sound recording itself, but the rights for the underlying musical competition."

MCS says it is currently the "exclusive copyright licensing administrator" for the artists and songs listed in the filing.

As part of the suit, the company is asking for $150,000 USD for each act of infringement as well as an injunction on use of the tracks in an infringing manner.

A long standing court case in which Microsoft has been sued for patent infringement over its Xbox Live service, is coming to a conclusion soon, with a settlement looming, says new reports.

The patents, filed in 1994 by Peter Hochstein and Jeffrey Tenenbaum, are specifically for "communicating live while playing the same videogame in separate locations".

Sony recently settled a similar lawsuit with the two men, over the PlayStation Network. The amount of the settlement was undisclosed.

You can read about the patents and the dispute here: Case Update: Hochstein v. Microsoft

According to video game analyst Todd Mitchell, Take-Two and Rockstar will be releasing two new DLC episodes for the blockbuster game Grand Theft Auto IV in 2010, and will then release GTA V in 2011.

In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Mitchell added that the DLC may not necessarily be Xbox 360-exclusive like the previous episodes and could be available for the PS3 as well.

"I would expect that there would be two more pieces of downloadable content for GTA IV, that's what has been indicated to me, although formats are unsure. It's been indicated to me to me that would be the case," said Mitchell.

As for GTA V, Mitchell expects a 2011 release date, alongside a new GTA title for the aging PS2.

"Coming out of E3 there was no commitment to a new Grand Theft Auto, and I think that's because of Rockstar's track record with delivering on time," added Mitchell.

"Of the three, I'm least confident in saying for sure there will be a new GTA for PlayStation 2, but the track record shows that PSP titles have been repositioned [on PS2]," he finished.

Jammie Thomas-Rasset will be appealing the $1.92 million judgement against her in the first RIAA file sharing case ever decided by a jury.

At issue will be the constitutionality of awarding $80,000 per song. US copyright sets minimum damages at $750 per song, but allows up to $150,000 for "willful infringement."

Attorney Joe Sibley told CNET News "She wants to take the issue up on appeal on the constitutionality of the damages. That's one of the main arguments--that the damages are disproportionate to any actual harm."

Although the courts have previously ruled that punitive damages in excess of ten times the actual damage caused are a violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the US Constitution, there's no precedent on whether statutory damages are similarly limited.

The Department of Justice has already shown they are willing to defend the damages. Earlier this year a lawyer from the DOJ Federal Programs Branch, which is headed by former RIAA lawyer Ian Gershengorn did exactly that in another case.

The British Video Association has said today that despite a few recent good sellers such as Quantum of Solace, DVD revenue had fallen 14 percent with total sales volume falling 7.7 percent.

If the trend continues, the BVA says the UK will have its worst year for home video revenue since the 1980s.

Lavinia Carey, spokesperson for the BVA, adds that the high revenue drop can mainly be attributed to the recent bankruptcies of retailers Woolworths and Zavvi. “We’ve just seen 15 per cent of the retail market disappear,” says Carey, via Times Online.

Blu-ray was a bright spot in an otherwise dreary report, seeing a 231 percent increase in units sold. The BVA does add however that Blu-ray still only accounts for 3.1 million units sold, compared to 99.6 million for DVD (during the period).

According to the Taiwanese website UDN, and translated originally by Engadget, it appears the upcoming rumored PS3 Slim will be ready to ship by the end of July.

The report says the companies Foxconn and Pegatron are already working on the new model and will have the system built and ready to ship by the end of the month.

Last week, Arstechnica revealed they had information on an upcoming PS3 price cut set for August which would come alongside the launch of the PS3 Slim.

The PS3 Slim, if true, would only be marginally different than the current PS3, however sporting a much thinner body.

The HTML 5 standard won't include requirements for browsers to support particular audio or video standards according to Ian Hickson, editor of that standard on behalf of the Worldwide Web Consortium (W3C).

Hickson's comments were posted on the Web Hypertext Application Technology Working Group mailing list. He attributes the decision to a lack of consensus among browser makers.

Previously there had been talk of making either MPEG-4 AVC or OGG Theora the officially supported video codec for use with the <video> tag.

Although Google has implementations of both included in their Chrome browser, Apple has apprently decided potential patent issues make Theora support risky and Neither Opera Software or Mozilla are interested in licensing MPEG-4 support.

Microsoft simply hasn't announced any decision on what standards they plan support.

If you're disappointed by this decision, the news isn't necessarily all bad. He was clear that he would like to revisit the decision when either Theora or H.264 manages to become a defacto standard.

Of course if that happens making it part of the standard is just a formality. But as Hickson pointed out, no one is likely to implement a particular codec just because the HTML standard says so.

The RIAA has won a case against Usenet.com, the popular company used for file sharing via newsgroups.

The federal ruling, by Judge Harold Baer Jr. of New York, found Usenet.com liable for copyright infringement, and passed the ruling unto a magistrate that will either impose a fine or start a cease and desist on all infringing activity.

The suit was filed by the trade group in 2007.

Says the RIAA: "This decision is another example of courts recognizing the value of copyrighted music and taking action against companies and individuals who are engaging in wide scale infringement. We hope that other bad actors who are engaging in similar activity will take note of this decisive opinion."

"We're disappointed in the outcome," notes Charles Baker, the lawyer representing Usenet.com. He did add however that the precedents set in the case will not "adversely affect future Usenet defendants."