While browser updates aren't really what we cover here, we have covered some articles about Mozilla Firefox in the past so we thought it would be important to announce the release of Firefox 1.5. While most Firefox users would have noticed this by now, this is a good time for unsatisfied users of Microsoft Internet Explorer to check out the open-source web browser. Amongst other things, it now has a more efficient pop-up blocker, better stability and a better update system.
Some smaller items too could help users a bit, such as improvements for the forward and back buttons to help web pages load faster. Firefox 1.5 also supports new Web programming standards, such as AJAX, that enable more graphical capabilities in Web pages. According to Chris Beard, vice president of products at Mozilla, Firefox now also automatically checks for updates every day, downloads them and then prompts a user to install them.
Firefox has about 40 million users and it has been downloaded over 100 million times in total. Thousands of volunteers have contributed to the new version of the open-source browser, and a further 750,000 users were involved in testing it. Mozilla now pans to release updates more frequently. Firefox 2.0 is aimed for a mid-2006 release, and Firefox 3.0 is expected to be released in the first quarter of 2007.
The Blu-Ray group has revealed that it is still aiming for a Spring release and that more details would emerge at the Consumer Electronics Show in January. "We're sticking with the spring timeframe,"Andy Parsons, a spokesman for the Sony-led consortium, said at a demonstration Tuesday of the new high-capacity DVD format. Blu-Ray is competing with the Toshiba-led HD-DVD group. Both sides, having failed to reach an agreement earlier this year, are paving the way for a format war.
"At CES, you're likely to hear some announcements from a number of companies as to when you'll see our products on the market," Parsons told a group of analysts. Blu-Ray seems to be the front runner for now, having support for most Hollywood studios who need to provide high definition movies to consumers to attempt to boost slowing down home video sales. Besides it's much higher capacity than DVD, Blu-Ray also has some features that have brought it more attention.
The Blu-Ray group showed off some of the features it has today, including the ability to connect to the Internet and select functions, such as subtitles, while still watching a movie. The one main problem with Blu-Ray however is the cost in manufacturing the discs. Minor tweaks to the DVD manufacturing process is all that needs to be done to produce HD-DVD discs, whereas Blu-Ray needs completely new equipment.
New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer has blasted Sony BMG for failing to live up to its promise to pull CDs containing XCP DRM software from store shelves. "It is unacceptable that more than three weeks after this serious vulnerability was revealed, these same CDs are still on shelves, during the busiest shopping days of the year," said Spitzer in a statement. Spitzer's office discovered that the CDs were still widely available after sending out investigators.
The investigators simply went out to the most popular stores and were able to buy CDs that contained XCP, copy protection that when installed, is cloaked using the same techniques used by virus writers (who often use "rootkits" to hide malicious software on a Hard Disk Drive). They were able to purchase the CDs at Virgin Megastore, FYE, Best Buy, Circuit City, Sam Goody, and Wal-Mart.
They also ordered the CDs and were promised "prompt delivery" from the websites of Circuit City, Best Buy, Sam Goody, FYE, and Wal-Mart. They couldn't get the CDs however from sites of J & R Music World or Tower Records. Sony BMG had promised to pull all copies of the 52 titles that contain XCP from shelves in mid-November. "I strongly urge all retailers to heed the warnings issued about these products, pull them from distribution immediately, and ship them back to Sony," said Spitzer.
A list has been compiled by Family Media Guide containing the top ten violent games for sale in 2005. The group urges parents to check their children's Christmas lists for any of the titles. Utilizing a proprietary audit process, the company's trained video game analysts capture and document instances of profanity, sex, violence, and substance abuse using a database-driven technology employing approximately 4000 rules and algorithms governing millions of potential rule combinations.
This data is then analyzed to generate an objective rating, superior to the existing ESRB (Electronic Software Ratings Board) industry association-based review approach which assigns ratings based upon the subjective opinions of three individuals who do not even play the game. Here is the top ten list "in no particular order".
2005's TOP 10 ULTRA-VIOLENT VIDEO GAMES
Resident Evil 4 – Player is a Special Forces agent sent to recover the President's kidnapped daughter. During the first minutes of play, it's possible to find the corpse of a woman pinned up on a wall — by a pitchfork through her face.
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas – Player is a young man working with gangs to gain respect. His mission includes murder, theft, and destruction on every imaginable level. Player recovers his health by visiting prostitutes then recovers funds by beating them to death and taking their money. Player can wreak as much havoc as he likes for no reason without progressing through the game's storyline.
Sony announced on Wednesday that it would consider adding support for RSS text feeds in a future firmware update for the PlayStation Portable (PSP) console if enough users request it. An RSS reader was added to the PSP in the latest firmware update, v2.60, but that is only for audio content such as podcasts. RSS text feeds are growing in popularity, allowing users to easily track updates to blogs, news items and auction sites for example.
"SCEI will consider adding compatibility for RSS text feeds should users request it," said Nanako Kato, a spokeswoman for Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (SCEI) in Tokyo. The support for podcasts in the last firmware updates allows users to stream audio content to the PSP, as long as the audio is either MP3 or AAC. The system supports feeds compatible with RSS 2.0.
A Dutch student Robbie Groenewoudt has put together a file sharing service that just might help you fill up that 2GB of storage space that Google's Gmail service offers to its users. Basically the service relies on you handing over some login information of your Gmail account to get it indexed (so it's recommended you get a new account just for G2G). Uploading files is done by composing a new email, adding the attachment and sending it to yourself. The service uses Gmail labels to help with indexing.
Of course there is the problem that Gmail has an attachment file size limit of 20MB. However, if you use WinRAR to split large files up into smaller files, G2G will recognize all these files as one. Files that you add to your Gmail accounts will show up once G2G is updated every 24 hours. The reason for the 24 hour gap is simple; it's a very resource demanding process.
In it's current state, G2G is far from perfect. However, the website does remind users that it is still in beta phase. Google has not yet given any reaction to G2G, but if the service does grow then it is likely the company will be pressured into somehow blocking the service from groups such as the RIAA.
Yes, you read the headline correctly! A Dutch company has developed the worlds first media center that gets its content from P2P networks. The hardware, called Lamabox, gets content from P2P networks such as eDonkey, Fasttrack (Kazaa), Gnutella, Overnet and also has BitTorrent support. The developers have said that they know the product is "somewhat controversial" but are relying on a past court case to protect them from any legal troubles.
The court case actually was the Supreme Court's ruling on Kazaa (when it was Netherlands-based). The ruling only classifies the uploading of copyrighted material as illegal. However, the company has set aside some money for legal defense just in case. The hardware was presented at a consumer trade show in Utrecht last week. It is basically a hard disk drive that plugs into your TV that has search and download support for the P2P networks.
What makes this even more offensive to the entertainment industry is that it has a "P2P Spider" that constantly searches out new content; making the procedure automatic if the user wishes it. Music or movies can then be selected on the TV screen for playback. The first LamaBox (with 40 GB) will sell for €279. A 400 GB version with a DVD burner will cost €479.
Microsoft's Xbox 360 console will be launching across Europe on Friday but it is likely that gamers in the UK will have a hard time getting their hands on one of the consoles. The Xbox 360 is the first of the line-up of next generation consoles to be released. It's quick launch caused havoc accross the U.S. as many gamers there realized that the demand was much higher than supply. Some waited for hours in freezing cold conditions to find out they weren't going to go home with one.
In the UK, interested consumers are now being advised to seek out "less obvious" stores that might have Xbox 360's in stock. A large amount of stores in the UK have already got their Xbox 360 supply "sold out" due to pre-orders, and some also claim they have received less than half the supply required to fill all pre-orders. "We could sell our initial allocation of Xbox 360s 50 times over. Unfortunately it is a highly desirable product that is in short supply," said Woolworths spokesperson Gerry Berkley.
Microsoft has allocated some 300,000 units for the launch on Friday, but admits that the worldwide launch of the console will mean shortages for Christmas. "Xbox 360 is the hottest gift this Christmas and will be hard to find," said UK Xbox director Neil Thompson. "But we're working hard to ensure there's a regular replenishment of stock to retail." Among worries of whether gamers will get an Xbox 360, there are also concerns about the numbers of complaints about the console in the U.S.
Sony Corp. has become the latest console maker to announce that the PlayStation 3 (PS3) console will have parental controls to help stop minors from playing violent video games. Microsoft's Xbox 360 also has parental controls and Nintendo also revealed similar plans for its upcoming Revolution console, which will be released in 2006. The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) has praised the console makers for including this feature.
Parents can restrict certain games from being played by their kids on the Xbox 360 according to the ratings (T for Teen, M for Mature, for example). Parents also have control over access to live online gaming. The games industry has come under severe criticism in the past few years due to the violent content of some of the biggest selling video games of all time, and how easy it is for minors to purchase or rent these games.
The ESA hopes that these new parental controls will stop legislation that would instead limit how video games are sold. "With the average age of game players now 30, our industry naturally creates content appropriate for a wide range of audiences, just as there are TV shows, films, music and books for people of all tastes, interests and values," said Doug Lowenstein, president of the ESA. "In a culture where raising kids is a challenge, video game parental control technology gives power to the parents."
Intel has announced that it will be partnering with approximately 40 content companies to promote its Viiv media center PC platform. One of these companies reportedly is TiVo, which will ensure that content recorded onto its set-top boxes will be playable on Viiv based machines. Intel VP and general manager, sales and marketing group, Anand Chandrasekher told The Register that some 250 companies will be joining Intel to launch Viiv, which is expected to come to market in Q1 2006.
"It's not just the usual-suspect PC vendors," he said. He said the number includes big names from the consumer electronics world along with content providers. The support from TiVo for Viiv is very interesting, considering that Viiv also will offer the same time-shift TV functionality as TiVo's set-top boxes do. This basically puts both in direct competition with each other.
For those of you who wonder what Viiv can offer, here is what Intel says you can find when you see the "Enjoy with Intel Viiv technology" on products and services...
Subscription-based, pay-per-view, and free video-on-demand services.
Subscription-based and free gaming services offering hundreds of games on demand for play online.
Streaming music videos, pay-per-view live concerts, plus the ability to purchase thousands upon thousands of downloadable music tracks.
Photo-editing software and online photo services made-to-order for this exciting new concept in entertainment PC.
Sony Pictures made an interesting statement on this week when they decided that they will use 11-years-old MPEG-2 on upcoming Blu-ray movie discs. Decision is slightly weird, since Blu-ray players will also support more modern video encoding mechanisms, such as Microsoft's VC-1 and MPEG-4 AVC.
By using either AVC or VC-1, Sony could have achieved even better picture quality for the movies that will use 1080i video resolution (1920x1080 as opposed to 720x480 on standard American DVDs). However, Sony claims that with Blu-ray's increased storage capacity (minimum of 25 gigabytes versus maximum of 8.5 gigabytes on DVDs), even MPEG-2 provides "good enough" picture quality when compared to DVDs. But, when considering mathematically the situation, their claim doesn't hold water -- HD-quality video, using 1920x1080 resolution has exactly six times more pixels than NTSC DVD-Video has, but Blu-ray's storage space is only about three times larger than dual layer DVD's storage space. Thus, the bitrate per pixel will be lower, if comparing side-by-side a DVD packed 100 percent full of video and Blu-ray full of HD-quality video. Sure, the better resolution most likely makes up the difference more than enough, but still the decision is rather unexpected.
Finnish anti-virus company F-Secure has revealed that it first alerted Sony BMG about problems surrounding the XCP copy protection technology used on some of the label's CDs on October 4th, after discovering it in September. "If [Sony] had woken up and smelled the coffee when we told them there was a problem, they could have avoided this trouble," says Mikko H. Hypponen, F-Secure's director of anti virus research. However Sony didn't act fast enough and that is why they are now stuck with this horrible problem.
An even worse fact for Sony BMG is that this proves the company knew about the problems surrounding XCP even before Mark Russinovich discovered it and posted it on his blog. This will bring more power to the lawsuits that have been filed against the company since Russinovich alerted the world about the problem. Sony however is also using the F-Secure warning to defend the actions that it took.
The company said it acted as quickly as it could and it expected to be able to go public when a software patch was available, but Russinovich posted the issue on his blog first. This forced Sony BMG to recall millions of CDs from 52 artists and offer "swap deals" to consumers who had bought the CDs. "We're very, very sorry for the disruption and inconvenience that this has caused to music consumers," said Thomas Hesse, president of Sony BMG's Global Digital Business.
It is speculated that 300,000 Xbox 360's will be available in Europe for the December 2nd launch. Chris Lewis, Microsoft's regional vice president (EMEA, Home and Entertainment Division), said the estimates "were not far removed from reality." He said it is likely the console will sell out on its launch date, like the November 22nd U.S. launch that saw all devices sold within two hours of stores opening.
In Ireland, retailers have been taking pre-orders for the new Xbox console for months. A spokesman for Microsoft Xbox in Ireland said that demand for the console there is huge and it is unlikely that there are any retailers left still taking pre-orders. He also doubts that anyone in Ireland who hasn't pre-ordered an Xbox 360, will have any luck in getting one until at least January.
"What consumers who haven't pre-ordered should do is maybe check out the smaller retailers like Peats and Toymaster, who may not have been running pre-order campaigns and could have a few on the day," he said. Steve Ballmer recently stated that the firm was "feeling pretty good" about the demand for the Xbox 360 in Ireland, where Sony has about 50% share of the games console market, followed by Microsoft's 28% share.
Blu-Ray seems to be in the number one position currently in the format war it is waging against Toshiba's HD-DVD technology. However, concerns are now growing about the cost of bringing this new format to consumers. Blu-Ray and HD-DVD are new formats that both use blue lasers instead of red. They offer much higher storage capacity than the DVD format, making it possible high definition movies on the DVD-sized discs.
Since Blu-Ray is the format most Hollywood studios intend to release movies on, concerns are now growing that the cost of manufacturing the discs may be very high at least in the short term, which could lead to price hikes affecting consumers. It's unknown how much of a price hike could be in store however. One manufacturing executive who asked to remain anonymous said that a production line for HD-DVD discs produced twice as many usable discs as a Blu-Ray line in the same time frame.
Also component costs for Blu-Ray are nearly double that of HD-DVD. Sony still disputes the price estimates however. "If there is a (cost) difference, that has yet to be determined," said Sony Pictures' Adrian Alperovich, the studio's executive vice president in charge of new business development. "There are (manufacturers) on both sides of the equation. If there is a difference in price either way, we think it will be minimal."
Maxell, a storage subsdiary of Hitachi, announced on Monday that it will launch first line of holographic storage products in September, 2006. The holographic disc's physical will be the size of a normal CD and it will have storage space of 300GB when launched in September.
Holographic discs have been gaining some momentum lately, with an alliance of technology companies announcing their plans in February this year to develop a unified holographic format, dubbed as HVD. But despite plans, companies haven't so far announced any detailed plans to roll out the products using the technology, so Maxell's move might open the game for "next, next generation DVD replacements".
Holographic discs are different from DVDs, CDs and upcoming blue-laser products, HD-DVD and Blu-Ray, as the other formats only use the surface of the CD -sized disc, whereas holographic discs use the entire disc volume for storage. Data is stored on a holopgrahic disc by using light-sensitive crystals.
The music industry is trying to abuse legislation that was introduced to help protect European citizens from terrorism, to fight against Internet pirates. The proposed European directive has suffered severe criticism as many see it as a violation of European citizens basic rights to privacy. It is being pushed as a weapon against terrorist networks, to make it harder for them to communicate. However, it is already being seen a solution to some peoples personal agendas.
"We would appreciate your support in ensuring that this becomes an effective instrument in the fight against piracy." the Creative and Media Business Alliance (CMBA) said in a letter to all MEPs. The group which includes entertainment industry giants Sony BMG, Disney, EMI, IFPI, MPA and Universal Music International, wants to see the directive amended so that it covers all criminal offenses, and not just serious ones. The group wants law enforcement's access to the data to be unlimited.
"The industry is attempting to pervert this legislation, to back up a failing business model based on little more than speculation [that downloading is harming the music business],"Suw Charman, founder of the Open Rights Group, told The Register. "There is no public good in creating legislation that empowers the creative industry to sue its own customers." She also disagrees that the controversial directive is more balanced now that it has been amended. "It is still undemocratic, disproportionate legislation that may well contravene Europe's human rights conventions," she said.
We reported that Kazaa was given a deadline to either implement filters by December 5th, or shut down. Now Sharman Networks, Kazaa's owner, has announced that the deadline has been extended to late February next year. The deadline was given after a September ruling that found Kazaa users had broken the law and now Sharman needs to alter the code of Kazaa to prevent copyright infringement in the future.
In the earlier article we published, we have gone through the history of the Kazaa vs. Music Industry Piracy Investigations (MIPI) case in more detail. If you are interested the events that lead to this order, then read the previous news article here.
An Australian court has ordered that Kazaa must implement filters to block the sharing of copyrighted music by December 5th or to shut down the service. This deadline comes after September's ruling by the Australian court that Kazaa users had broken the law and Sharman Networks needed to find a way to block future copyright infringement on the network. "It's time for services like Kazaa to move on -- to filter, go legal or make way for others who are trying to build a digital music business the correct and legal way,"IFPI Chairman John Kennedy said in a statement.
All of this kicked off when Sharman's offices were raided on 6th February, 2004 by the anti-piracy subsidiary of the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA), called Music Industry Piracy Investigations (MIPI). Raids were launched after an Australian court granted MIPI a search warrant, so-called Anton Pillar order, that allows copyright owners to search premises to find evidence of alleged copyright violations. Sharman condemned the raids, calling them illegal.
Back in February this year, Macrovision made a terrible attempt to scare the "ripping community" with the introduction of RipGuard. The company claimed that RipGuard would "stop DVD rippers in their tracks" and would have a dramatic effect on the amount of content that makes its way to P2P networks. "RipGuard is designed to... reduce DVD ripping and the resulting supply of illegal peer to peer," said the firm.
However, Macrovision's "perfect" RipGuard solution does not match up to the firms claims. "We were able to circumvent the technology and rip a perfect copy of ['Madagascar'] using a free DVD ripper downloaded from the Internet,"Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster wrote in a recent report. Yes that is true, "FREE" DVD ripping software already stops the RipGuard copy protection in its path.
Dan Glickman, Motion Picture Association of America, Inc. (MPAA) Chairman and CEO and Bram Cohen, BitTorrent Founder and CEO, yesterday announced an agreement that will see links to infringing files removed from the BitTorrent.com search engine. BitTorrent was created by Cohen to help sites distribute large files without getting huge bandwidth bills and because of its reliability and speed, it has been adopted as one of the best ways to get pirated content.
"BitTorrent is an extremely efficient publishing tool and search engine that allows creators and rights holders to make their content available on the Internet securely," said Cohen. "BitTorrent, Inc. discourages the use of its technology for distributing films without a license to do so. As such, we are pleased to work with the film industry to remove unauthorized content from BitTorrent.com’s search engine." Glickman now hopes that others will follow suit.
"We are glad that Bram Cohen and his company are working with us to limit access to infringing files on the BitTorrent.com website," said Glickman. "They are leading the way for other companies by their example." It has long been rumored that Hollywood has been interested in BitTorrent as a way to quickly and reliably distribute legitimate content to consumers all over the world.
According to a study by BusinessWeek, Microsoft is losing about $125 per every HDD-equipped Xbox 360. Back in 2001, Microsoft also lost an estimated $125 per Xbox console. After sacrificing billions, the Redmond-based company was proud of its number two position in the worldwide games console market. Microsoft has sold 22 million Xbox consoles, ahead of the 16 million GameCubes sold by Nintendo but still very far behind the 90 million PS2s Sony has sold.
Tech researcher iSuppli disassembled an Xbox 360 and came to the conclusion that it would cost $470 to manufacture, meaning Microsoft loses $71 before each HDD-equipped Xbox 360 goes to the factory. iSuppli's research only takes the console itself into account however. When adding in the peripherals included with the HDD-equipped Xbox 360 "premium pack", the loss rises to $126. Remember this is also before any money is spent on labor.
The demand for the Xbox 360 during its North American launch yesterday was huge, leaving many gamers disappointed when they couldn't get their hands on one. However, a large amount of complaints about the console have already surfaced, including claims that some owners experience crashes within 20 minutes of switching on the console, during normal usage or use of Xbox Live. Some other owners are also disappointed with the console's multimedia support.
A day after the North American launch of the first of a new generation of consoles, the Xbox 360, Microsoft has confirmed that some gamers are experiencing nasty problems already. "We have received a few isolated reports of consoles not working as expected," Microsoft spokeswoman Molly O'Donnell told Reuters. A lot of Xbox 360 sites, including 360Updates, were filled with messages about strange crashes and error codes that users were getting. In some cases, the console would crash after less than 20 minutes of use.
While it is expected that problems like this would arise, you have to understand why many of the new owners of this console are frustrated. If you read around online, even just in our Xbox 360 General discussion forum, you will read about how people were disappointed after waiting for hours in the cold to buy one just to find out they weren't going to get one. Now imagine waiting for hours in the cold, queuing for your turn and then finally getting one only to take it home and watch it crash within minutes.
On Monday, TiVo announced plans to test a feature that would allow some subscribers to transfer recorded TV programming to either a video-compatible iPod or a Sony PlayStation Portable (PSP). The announcement sent the company's shares up 4.5%. The feature will only be available to "stand-alone" subscribers however, and does not include the 2.3 million customers from DirecTV. After Apple released the latest iPod with video playback capabilities last month, a deal was announced between the company and ABC to offer some TV shows to iTunes customers one day after broadcast for $1.99 per episode.
Some fear that as services like this evolve, it could spell the end of advertising supported TV business model. One analyst said that TiVo's plans may cause concerns for content providers who want to make a profit off their shows either through online sales or DVD sales. However, there is little that could be done to stop TiVo.
"The TV industry has to embrace video on demand in cable, Internet and other forms of video distributions even though there are many ways these technologies allow distribution that doesn't make them any money," said Josh Bernoff, an analyst at Forrester Research. TiVo will now need to invest in software to make transferring recorded programming to formats compatible with iPods and PSPs. The files will also be watermarked and it will be possible to trace them back to originating computers.
A California-based company has revealed that it plans to hack Apple's FairPlayDigital Rights Management (DRM) technology and then offer a product that will allow other companies to sell music that will work with an iPod. FairPlay is the DRM technology used on iTunes purchased tracks. Songs bought through iTunes will only plan on an iPod or a Motorola ROKR phone. Apple simply refuses to license its DRM technology to third parties.
This gives Apple a huge advantage over the rest of the digital music market. Firstly they have the biggest selling MP3 player and then secondly the most successful music download service. If someone wants their iTunes music on a portable device, they need an iPod, and if they have an iPod and want to buy music downloads, they need iTunes. It's a win/win situation for Apple. If this company succeeds, other music stores may offer songs compatible with iPods.
The backlash from the tactics used to cloak files on a copy protection technology used by Sony BMG on some CD albums continues with a lawsuit filed against the company by the state of Texas. It alleges that Sony BMG used "spyware software" to enforce limitations on how the disc can be used by a consumer. The software in question, XCP, was developed by UK-based First4Internet and is included on titles by some major artists such as Ray Charles, Frank Sinatra, Louis Armstrong and Celine Dion.
The problem lies in how the software is hidden in the Windows operating system. It has been called a "rootkit" as it's file hiding techniques are similar. This left Windows installations much less secure by providing an easy solution to virus writers who wanted to hide their files so they can avoid detection by anti-virus scanners.
"Sony has engaged in a technological cloak and dagger deceit against consumers by hiding secret files on their computers," said Greg Abbott, Texas attorney-general. The lawsuit seeks penalties of around $100,000 per violation under the Consumer Protection Against Computer Spyware Act, passed earlier this year. Sony BMG was also left with no choice but to recall almost 5 million CDs, a practise that will cost the company an estimated $4 million.
The Blu-Ray group has responded to demands made by Hewlett-Packard (HP) to implement two consumer friendly features that are already part of the rival format, HD-DVD's specification. The Blu-Ray group lead by Sony Corp. is pushing the Blu-Ray Disc technology to be the next generation DVD standard. It has so far had an eventful battle with Toshiba Corp. and things are expected to heat up even further when both technologies hit the market.
The Blu-Ray group has announced that it won't adopt the proposal put forward by HP by the launch of the technology. HP demanded that Mandatory Managed Copy be implemented, which would allow consumers to legally copy DVDs and store the digital files on a home network. It also pushed for support for iHD, which provides interactive features and is expected to be implemented in Microsoft's Windows Vista operating system.
The Blu-ray group said it will incorporate Mandatory Managed Copy but would launch it in spring 2006 with interactive features built on Sun Microsystems' Java software. "Mandatory managed copy will be part of Blu-ray format, but while HP's request [for interactivity] is being considered, at this point in time, the Blu-ray group is still proceeding down the path of Java," Blu-ray spokesman Andy Parsons told Reuters. "We are taking their request seriously, but are not willing to delay the launch and are going to go forward with the Java-type option."
A security flaw has been discovered in some versions of Apple's iTunes software that could allow an attacker to take over a remote computer, according to a warning issued by eEye Digital Security. The flaw existed on earlier versions of iTunes 6 for the Windows operating system and was not addressed by the latest security update issued by Apple. So far it seems to only affect iTunes software on the Windows operating system, but the firm is still researching how the flaw could affect iTunes running on a Mac.
iTunes 6 and previous versions are affected by the flaw according to the product manager at eEye, Steve Manzuik. The flaw could allow an attacker to rub arbitrary code on a remote system if a user clicked on a malicious website link or opened a malicious email. "iTunes is widespread, so there is a large exploit base," Manzuik said. Apple didn't comment on the flaw however, as it is company policy to not discuss or confirm security flaws until an investigation has been conducted and patches have been issued.
The EMI group has announced that it will be producing copy protected CDs that will contain music capable of being stored and played on Apple Computer's iPod music player. One of the main complaints from consumers about CDs protected with some form of Digital Rights Management (DRM) technology is that so far iPod owners have been left in the dark, whereas users with MP3 players with Windows MediaDRM support could transfer music to the devices. The music labels blamed Apple for this problem and in some cases, even offered work-around instructions to unsatisfied consumers.
Now EMI's new copy protected CDs will use technology from Macrovision, and will at least be compatible with iPods. "Apple is nearly finished with the technical work necessary to enable consumers to transfer music from content-protected discs to their iPods," the label said in a statement. "This is an important step for EMI and Apple, but even more so for music consumers who will soon be able to legitimately port music from protected discs they own to the iPod." Apple however, wasn't pleased with how EMI's statement details how these copy protected CDs will be iPod-compatible.
Microsoft has deemed the XCP copy protection used by Sony BMG on some of its recently released CDs, a security risk and said it will work to help Windows OS users find and remove it. "We have analyzed this software and have determined that in order to help protect our customers, we will add a detection and removal signature for the rootkit component of the XCP software to the Windows AntiSpyware beta, which is currently used by millions of users,"Jason Garms, group program manager of the Anti-Malware Technology Team said.
XCP, developed by UK-based First4Internet, has attracted a storm of criticism due to its rootkit-like installation. It's file hiding techniques have been utilized by virus writers already to hide one discovered trojan (and at least one variant) in the Windows Operating System to avoid detection. Since its discovery by Mark Russinovich, Sony BMG has also been hit by lawsuits.
Microsoft will also fight XCP using its upcoming anti-virus software. "Detection and removal of this rootkit component will also appear in Windows Defender when its first public beta is available. We also plan to include this signature in the December monthly update to the Malicious Software Removal Tool," Garms said.
Yesterday the popular Daemon Tools software was updated to v4.00. This excellent free software allows users to mount CD images onto virtual drives and also supports emulation of most popular copy protections. This version has also included Adware called "Daemon Tools SearchBar", to help fund the project. However you are given the option to not install the Adware during installation, but do install it if you would like to contribute to the project. Here's the changelog...
Complete redesign from scratch
Support of 4 virtual drives
ONLY X32-supported now. X64 will follow
Drivername randomly generated on each machine (not finished yet)
Drive-vendor and versionnumber randomly generated
Complete new emulation architecture
DCP (DaemonCodeProtect) to make analyses harder and increase development time for malicious anti-DT tools
Digital signature verification of applications who are trusted to access DT in secure mode
AutoInsertNotification fully implemented (can be turned on/off at ControlPanel)
Dropped: MS-Installer, DT now use modificated NullsoftInstaller
Dropped: analog sound support (as Windows 2000 and above do not need this feature)
Soribada, which shut down its Soribada 3P2P service earlier this month, has revealed that it has already developed a new program which will again allow for Internet users to share unprotected copyrighted MP3 files with each other (or any files at all). The only difference this time is that Soribada will not intervene in the process at all. Soribada said the new service "Open Soribada" will not violate any copyright laws in South Korea.
The Soribada 3 P2P service was shut down as a result of a suit filed by the Korean Association of Phonogram Producers (KAPP). A court ordered that the service be shut down. However, it is still unknown whether or not Open Soribada will be released. "We have already made the new program, but we haven’t decided yet when and how we will release it," said the company’s general manager Jang Seo-chan. "We are looking for ways of profiting from the new program. We are having talks with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the record industry as well."
Jang said that the company acknowledges the copyright of the music sources and that negotiations are still possible. "We have a philosophy that contents providers should be compensated (for providing songs). But the KAPP demands too much from us even though we are not making big money from the P2P service." The KAPP's suit demanded 170 million won per day from Soribada which would be unaffordable for a company of 500 million won in monthly sales.
Microsoft has released a list of 18 games which will be launched with the company's next generation console, Xbox 360. The console will be launched first in North America on November 22nd followed by Japan and Europe over the two following weeks. Out of the 18 games that Microsoft has confirmed, three are from the software giant itself, Kameo: Elements of Power, Perfect Dark Zero and Project Gotham Racing 3.
The other 15 titles are from outside game makers including Activision and Electronic Arts. Microsoft also revealed that 212 old Xbox games will run on the Xbox 360 but only when there is a HDD present so that emulation software can be downloaded and used. Here is the list of 18 games for the Xbox 360 launch...
Amped 3 (2K Sports)
Call of Duty 2 (Activision Inc.)
Condemned: Criminal Origins (SEGA Corp.)
FIFA Soccer 06 Road to 2006 FIFA World Cup (Electronic Arts Inc.)
GUN (Activision)
Kameo: Elements of Power (Microsoft Game Studios and Rare Ltd.)
Madden NFL 06 (Electronic Arts)
NBA 2K6 (2K Sports)
NBA LIVE 06 (Electronic Arts)
Need for Speed Most Wanted (Electronic Arts)
NHL 2K6 (2K Sports)
Perfect Dark Zero (Microsoft Game Studios and Rare Ltd.)
Peter Jackson's King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie (Ubisoft)
Project Gotham Racing 3 (Microsoft Game Studios and Bizarre Creations Ltd.)
Quake 4 (id Software and Activision)
Ridge Racer 6 (Namco Ltd.)
Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 06 (Electronic Arts)
Tony Hawk's American Wasteland (Activision)
The list of 212 Xbox games that have been confirmed as 360 compatible can be seen here.
Music industry's global lobby organization IFPI("the mother of all RIAAs..") announced today that they are preparing to launch a massive lawsuit wave against P2P users in Europe, Asia and South America. South America is being targeted for the first time in record labels' jihad that has lasted for years now.
According to IFPI, file-sharers in Sweden, Argentina, Hong Kong, Singapore and Switzerland are among those being sued. The total number of lawsuits set to be launched this time is more than 2,100.
IFPI said that the legal actions have been targeted so far mostly towards young men between 20 and 30 years of age. The latest wave of lawsuits brings the total number of P2P users sued outside United States to 3,800 and includes P2P users in 16 countries.
Legal actions against P2P users today include 15 cases in Sweden, 22 in Hong Kong, 33 in Singapore and 10 in Argentina.
i2Hub, an Internet2-based file swapping network has closed its doors today citing potential legal concerns. The network allowed anyone with access to the ultra-high-speed research network to swap files much faster than is possible on the Internet. I2Hub was used by many college students to trade copyrighted music and movies at very high speeds, a practice that brought lawsuits upon many of them.
In September, i2Hub was a target of threats from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The organisation was using the Supreme Court's infamous "Grokster ruling" as grounds for the threats. i2Hub's founder didn't comment on the closure at all and the service's website on Monday had just the message "R.I.P. 11.14.2005".
Microsoft has finally given details on the "backward-compatibility" issue in question by many gamers who will be buying an Xbox 360 gaming console. It appears that Microsoft has chosen a "software" approach to allowing old Xbox games to be played on the 360. The bad point for many to-be Xbox 360 owners, is that you need to have a hard drive to play the old games (bad news for those who chose the cheaper package that doesn't contain the 20GB HDD). Microsoft will offer emulation software to Xbox live subscribers, through xbox.com as a CD image to burn or direct from the company on a CD.
Presumably the software is then installed on the hard drive (though Microsoft did not clarify on "installation"). It converts Intel x86 processor instructions from the original Xbox into their PowerPC equivalents. Microsoft has released a list of 212 games that will be backward compatible with the Xbox 360. You can read that list here. According to Todd Holmdahl, Corporate VP of the Microsoft's Xbox Product Group, the software will be updated as more Xbox games become certified as 360 compatible.
European Consumers' Organization, BEUC is protesting against Digital Rights Management and the litigation against file sharers. It is a federation of 40 independent national consumer organizations from the EU, accession and EEA countries. Its job is to try to influence, in the consumer interest, the development of EU policy and to promote and defend the interests of all European consumers.
Some days ago, as many of you have probably seen, the organisation issued a press release titled "Consumers are not pirates". For those of you who have not seen it, here it is..
"P2P is like stealing a CD in a shop!", "We have to protect artists who are being robbed by consumers on the Internet!".
We are being fed this type of "truth" thanks to the efforts of certain major music and film industry interests.
For this reason, we are launching today with a press conference in the European Parliament and with the support of Mrs Zuzana Roithová MEP, a Campaign supported by a "Declaration of Consumers’ Digital Rights", which aim to ensure that the following rights are recognised, enshrined in EU law and enforced:
One of the worlds largest music labels, Sony BMG, has stopped producing CDs that contain XCP copy protection following criticism. It emerged that the XCP DRM used similar cloaking techniques to rootkits, which are often used by virus writers to hide malicious software in the Windows operating system to avoid detection. Sony still defended its right to ensure that consumers cannot make illegal copies of their music CDs but said it will stop making XCP protected CDs as a precautionary measure.
"We also intend to re-examine all aspects of our content protection initiative to be sure that it continues to meet our goals of security and ease of consumer use," the company said in a statement. Anti-virus companies have since blacklisted the XCP copy protection and it has been labeled by many as spyware due to the complications in detecting and removing it. To make matters worse, a trojan that takes advantage of the file hiding techniques surfaced last week in an email attachment, and at least one variant has also been reported.
About 20 popular music titles, such as a release by Van Zant, are protected with the XCP technology. However, Mark Russinovich who originally exposed the methods used by XCP, is unimpressed with Sony's timing. "This is a step they should have taken immediately," he commented. He pointed out that Sony did not admit to any wrong doing and didn't promise not to use similar techniques in future.
The one millionth post was made just a few minutes ago in the AfterDawn.com discussion forums. The discussion forums were opened in late March 2001, so it took about four and a half years to reach the 1,000,000 post milestone. Obviously the majority of the posts have been made during the past year. Meanwhile our Finnish forums, which are very active indeed, are 1,000 posts short of 300,000 messages.
AfterDawn.com currently has about 450,000 registered members. Since we launched our site back in 1999 we have served over 47 million software downloads and 2.5 million legal MP3 downloads through our sister site MP3Lizard.com.
Thanks go out to all our loyal visitors! Keep an eye on our site for new, exciting features we will be launching to all our members in the not-so-distant future.
MGM has become the latest movie studio to put support behind Sony's Blu-Ray Disc format. Blu-Ray is competing again HD-DVD, developed and promoted by a Toshiba-led group to become the next generation DVD standard. With the forthcoming availability of high definition movies and next generation games, the change from the DVD format is necessary due to demands for larger storage capacity. Both formats use blue lasers, which have a shorter wavelength than red lasers, allowing for data storing at high densities.
This means that HD-DVD and Blu-Ray discs will have much larger storage capacities then the current DVD format. MGM's support for Blu-Ray is not really a surprise as the studio was bought in April by an investor group that includes Sony, Comcast, Providence Equity Partners and Texas Pacific Group. The studio plans to release movies and TV shows from its library of over 4,000 films whenever Blu-Ray hardware becomes available in Europe, North America and Japan.
Sony BMG is now facing at least three lawsuits (so far) over the XCP copy protection. The Digital Rights Management (DRM) software behaves like a rootkit, which are increasingly used by virus writers to hide malicious software in a Windows Operating System and shield them from virus scanners. A class action lawsuit has been filed in California and another is expected soon in New York. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is gathering information from affected users to determine whether a case can be brought.
All of this started when Mark Russinovich discovered the rootkit-like installation of XCP, a DRM technology by UK based First4Internet. Ever since the issue has just escalated and escalated until now, with lawsuits filed against Sony BMG. One particular lawsuit was filed in Los Angeles by attorney Alan Himmelfarb and it aims to stop Sony BMG selling any more CDs protected by anti-copying software.
It also seeks damages for Californians who have bought CDs protected this way. The lawsuit claims that three Californian laws have been broken by Sony BMG. Scott Kamber, a New York lawyer is planning a class action lawsuit for all affected Americans. The EFF is also compiling a list of albums protected with XCP. The organisation is seeking stories from anyone who purchased XCP protected CDs.
The uproar about the Digital Rights Management (DRM) technology in use on some CDs distributed by Sony BMG is set to heat up again following the confirmation that a trojan has now appeared that takes advantage of the DRM's file hiding capabilities. It was picked up by Sophos in an email that poses as an email from a British magazine. Here is what the body of the text is...
"Hello, Your photograph was forwarded to us as part of an article we are publishing for our December edition of Total Business Monthly. Can you check over the format and get back to us with your approval or any changes? If the picture is not to your liking then please send a preferred one. We have attached the photo with the article here."
On opening the attachment, a file with the name $sys$drv.exe is copied to the victims Windows system directory, if the XCP copy protection has been installed on the system. "This means, that for systems infected by the Sony DRM rootkit technology, the dropped file is entirely invisible to the user. It will not be found in any process and file listing. Only rootkit scanners, such as the free utility RootkitRevealer, can unmask the culprit," warns Ivan Macalintal, a senior threat analyst at security firm Trend Micro.
CBS and NBC have both announced deals to sell TV shows for 99c per episode. CBS is teaming up with Comcast Corp. to offer viewing of shows like CSI and Survivor to Comcast's on-demand customers in some markets. "This is an incredibly exciting evolution for CBS and network television - video on demand is the next frontier for our industry," CBS Chairman Leslie Moonves said. NBC is teaming up with satellite operator DirecTV to offer on-demand replays of shows like Law and Order: SVU to DirecTV subscribers who use the company's new DVR.
The announcement of both deals comes just weeks after it emerged that The Walt Disney Co.'s ABC network will be offering downloads of shows like Desperate Housewives and Lost for $1.99 through Apple's iTunes store. Apple's latest iPod has video playback capability. Comcast's service will be available to customers in markets with a CBS owned and operated television station starting in January.
The episodes will be available at midnight after the show is first broadcast but will include commercials. The DirecTV agreement includes shows from Sci-Fi, Bravo, NBC and USA. The episodes will be available for a week after broadcast. "We are talking to the other networks and hope to reach similar agreements soon," DirecTV spokesman Robert Marsocci said.
Comments by the President of Sony BMG's global digital business division Thomas Hesse will most likely anger any consumers who have been unfortunate enough to encounter the "rootkit" style XCP DRM in use on some CDs distributed by Sony BMG. On NPR radio on Friday, Hesse defended Sony BMG from the criticism it has received. "Most people, I think, don't even know what a rootkit is, so why should they care about it?" he commented.
For those who would agree with his comment, it might be worth reminding you about how this DRM is installed on a Windows OS. It conceals itself in the Operating System after the installation, like many rootkits, and intercepts low level Windows system calls. If you remove it, your CD drive could be rendered inoperable and the only way to fix it is reformat the disk and reinstalled the Windows Operating System.
After the DRM installation was added to a blacklist by an anti virus firm, more problems arose. The Register spoke to one IT department support manager who told how the rookit DRM was making the anti virus software pop up alerts every second. He told The Register that three systems so far were flattened and blamed it all on the copy protected Van Zant CD. Also a patch released by First4Internet is not a secure solution either according to Mark Russinovich.
More litigation is headed toward Apple Computer Inc. due to the "design flaw" in the iPod Nano music player that lead to the display screens being easily scratched or broken. A case was filed originally in the U.S. in October. Now Apple customers in the UK and in Mexico have joined the legal battle over the screens. All the affected customers claim the iPod Nano screen is very easily scratched during normal usage, and even when efforts are made to protect the screen scratches still show up eventually.
Apple did admit to one flaw with a batch of Nanos that shipped. This particular batch had screens that could be easily broken by the user. However, when asked about the scratched screens, Apple simply commented that users worried about the screens should considering buying a protective case and take more care with the device. The lawsuits accuse Apple of knowing about the design flaw, but rushing to release it fast anyway.
"Apple's iPod Nano has sold in record numbers around the world, just as it did in the US," said Steve Berman, lead lawyer on both cases. "The far-reaching response also reveals that this is not just a small problem or a bad batch of Nanos, but a defect in the overall design that should have been rectified prior to the release."Ben Jennings, a customer in the UK, bought his iPod Nano in September and he claims that despite efforts to protect the screen, it quickly became so scratched it was hard to read.
The largest online music service in Korea, Soribada, has shut down its Soribada 3 file sharing service. Now the 22 million members will have to switch to alternative methods of getting their digital music, such as legal music stores or other P2P services. This is the result of a ruling by the Seoul Central District Court, which ordered the service to be shut down following a suit by the Korean Association of Phonogram Producers (KAPP).
The court also said that Soribada would be fined W10 million (US$10,000) per day if it insisted on keeping the service running. In September, Korea's largest music streaming site, Bugs Music, also gave into industry demands and started to charge subscription fees. KAPP is now in talks with other P2P services to persuade them to change to legal services or face legal action.
The organisation will also now take further civil and criminal action against Soribada for revenues losses in the past due to use of the file sharing service.
A man in Hong Kong has been sent to prison for copyright infringement for uploading copyrighted movies using BitTorrent. He was handed down his three month sentence for uploading Daredevil, Red Planet and Miss Congeniality. He is the first person in the world to be prosecuted for sharing files using BitTorrent according to authorities. The movie industry hopes that this case, which managed to gather large media attention, will deter other BitTorrent users from continuing this activity.
The man, Chan Nai-ming, who's nickname was "Big Crook" was arrested in January for his offenses. The MPAA estimates that the film industry loses more than $900m in Asia alone anually due to piracy. The Hong Kong authorities hope that the case will deter other users, but the BBC's Hong Kong correspondent Chris Hogg said that since the man was first charged in April, there has been no noticeable impact on file sharing.
There also is the problem of the time it takes to build a successful prosecution, making it impossible to carry out an effective crackdown on Internet pirates. Last December, the MPAA filed several lawsuits against BitTorrent trackers to attempt to undermine the ability to swap movies quickly and easily.
Grokster, a popular file-swapping company involved in a battle with the movie and music industries for the past few years, has agreed to cease distribution of its Peer-to-Peer software. The decision comes following a legal settlement with the Hollywood studios and the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Grokster recently suffered a legal defeat in the Supreme Court when the court ruled in favor of the entertainment companies over Grokster and co-defendant StreamCast Networks.
The entertainment companies accused both Grokster and StreamCast of contributing and inciting massive copyright infringement by use of the companies' P2P services. Millions of people worldwide use P2P networks to download and share copyrighted music and movies with each other daily. Grokster will now stop supporting its file sharing software and the associated network.
"This settlement brings to a close an incredibly significant chapter in the story of digital music,"Mitch Bainwol, CEO of the RIAA, said in a statement. "This is a chapter that ends on a high note for the recording industry, the tech community and music fans and consumers everywhere." While it is a step toward ending the four year legal case, the lawsuit is by no means over yet.
Sony BMG has come under criticism for the XCP (Extended Copy Protection) software included with some of its CDs. Mark Russinovich, a renowned Windows programming expert, said that the copy protection he encountered uses cloaked files to hide inside the Windows Operating Systems, making uninstalling a very difficult task. He commented that Sony's anti-piracy efforts have gone too far. XCP was developed by First 4 Internet, a UK based company. It is just one of several copy protection technologies that Sony BMG is trying out.
Russinovich, said that the methods used by this particular protection, are similar to those used by rootkits, which are often used to hide malicious software in the Windows Operating System, to avoid detection by anti-virus software. About 20 titles are thought to contain XCP software and in May 2005, Sony stated that more than two million discs shipped with the technology. It allows consumers to make only three copies of an album, and only allows consumers to listen to the music on a Windows OS through use of proprietary software.
The CDs play back fine in normal CD players and the copy protection is ineffective on either Macs or Linux. "Not only had Sony put software on my system that uses techniques commonly used by malware to mask its presence, the software is poorly written and provides no means for uninstall." Russinovich said on his blog. He said that the license agreement made no mention of the fact that you can't uninstall the software. It is possible that under the Computer Misuse Act in the UK, Sony BMG could be open to prosecution for making "unauthorised changes" to a machine, according to law expert Nick Lockett.
Our content writer Dela has added two new guides to our guide section.
The first guide is for using TSUNAMI MPEG DVD Author Pro(a product from the same guys who've made the super popular TMPGEnc MPEG-1/2 encoder) and can be found from here:
Finnish mobile phone giant, Nokia, released yesterday their digital TV (using DVB-H standard) -equipped phone, Nokia N92.
The phone is set to launch in second quarter of 2006 and uses, like other N-series phones do, Symbian S60 as its operating system. Nokia has been running DVB-H trials across Europe, most notably in Finland and UK and at least in Finland, the response from test group has been positive about the uses for TV-equipped phone.
The 3G TV phone also includes WLAN support, web browser and all the usual stuff you'd expect to find from a high-end Nokia phone nowadays. The screen of the device is 2.8-inch and uses 16M colors and has resolution of 320x240 (same as in VCD movies..).
According to Nokia, the phone will cost approximately 600 euros (excluding the hefty discounts operators give for new users with long contracts).
A new technology for watermarking movies has been unveiled at a conference held by the DVD Forum in Paris. The new technology relies on unnoticeable watermarks on the audio track instead of more commonplace image based watermarks. Future movies will include the watermarking on the audio track, and HD-DVD players will look for these marks on discs played on the device.
The watermarking works by encoding a digital signal to the audio track by varying its waveform. Even though unnoticeable to the human ear, the player can easily Decode the signal and detect if the copy has been made in a movie theatre.
Similar watermarking will be implemented on consumer discs as well. When such a watermark is detected, the player will check if the disc played is genuine or not, and if it's not, the player will shut itself down.
In order for the player to determine the copy illegal the watermark signal must be present for an extended period of time. That should prevent the "false positives" that could be caused by, for example, taking a home video in an environment with a watermarked movie playing in the background.
Our sister site, MP3Lizard.com served its 2,500,000th MP3 download last night, marking yet another milestone in our long history of providing a way for independent artists to publish their music online.
MP3Lizard.com currently hosts almost 9,000 tracks from 2,300 bands, making the site one of the biggest destinations for people searching for legal, free music. All tracks available on MP3Lizard.com can be downloaded for free, although they can't be redistributed or used commercially without copyright owner's permission.
If you haven't visited MP3Lizard before, maybe its time to see whether the "next big thing" can be found from our vast collection of indie artists :-)
While browser updates aren't really what we cover here, we have covered some articles about Mozilla Firefox in the past so we thought it would be important to announce the release of Firefox 1.5. While most Firefox users would have noticed this by now, this is a good time for unsatisfied users of Microsoft Internet Explorer to check out the open-source web browser. Amongst other things, it now has a more efficient pop-up blocker, better stability and a better update system.
The 
New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer has blasted Sony BMG for failing to live up to its promise to pull CDs containing XCP 
What makes this even more offensive to the entertainment industry is that it has a "P2P Spider" that constantly searches out new content; making the procedure automatic if the user wishes it. Music or movies can then be selected on the TV screen for playback. The first LamaBox (with 40 GB) will sell for €279. A 400 GB version with a 
