News written by James Delahunty (August, 2006)

Sony has purchased the video hosting site Grouper.com. The purchase gives Sony the opportunity to mix user grown video with copyrighted content it can sell. The company already sells TV shows and movies through various sites like Guba.com also. Sony now intends to add advertising and premium content to the Grouper site but for now it remains unchanged.

Grouper like other video sites allows users to post their favorite videos onto social networking sites including MySpace. Grouper also offers free P2P file sharing software that lets users share their multimedia content with each other. Grouper has cost Sony $65 million. the video site claims to be "the second largest independent video community."

Source:
Pocket-Lint.co.uk

Dell appears to have exited the MP3 player market by completely removing all references to the DJ Ditty player from the company's catalog. Dell entered the market in 2003. In February the company cut its line of HDD-based MP3 players but continued to manufacture and sell the flash-based Dj Ditty. Like so many in the MP3 player market, Dell failed to take enough market share from Apple.

"As of last week, we did remove the DJ Ditty from our web site and we are not going to offer a follow up product," Dell spokeswoman Anne Camden said. "We're tightening our consumer focus in core areas like PCs, printers and TVs because we believe the PCs are the hub of digital entertainment. We always have and will continue to offer third party media players like the Creative Zen that customers will be able to purchase through Dell."

Dell's exit is understandable considering the bad luck the company has had recently. "It is high time they got out of this business, they have not been doing very well at it," said David Card, an analyst with JupiterResearch. "Nobody is doing well but Apple but Dell was doing particularly unwell. I don't know why Dell wanted to be in this market so they might as well cut their losses and get out."

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Since the release of firmware modifications for the Xbox 360 console which allow the booting of backup copies of games, the sale of modified versions of the console in Korea have reportedly taken off. However, Microsoft has said it is confident that the DVD-ROM firmware hacks will be countered through Xbox Live updates and has downplayed the problem.

"We will not place too much attention on it," stated Xbox local product manager Do Jung-han who said he was confident that updates made available when you connect to Xbox Live is the solution. He also had some words that appear to be directed at both users running modified Xbox 360 consoles and those who hack the console.

"Microsoft has warned the people who try to spread the knowledge that they will be subjected to the law. The users of pirated consoles will not benefit from the hardware warranty and they will not be able to download important software upgrades through the Xbox Live network. So we don't think many people will try it," he said

However, local magazines are reporting that most people are purchasing modified versions of the Xbox 360 console to be able to purchase cheaper games. The price of a modified console is approximately KRW 70,000 (60 Euro) more. Pirates software for the console can then be bought and used for a low as KRW 15,000 (12 Euro), compared to the retail price of around KRW 40,000 (33 Euro).

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Microsoft has demonstrated the external HD DVD drive for the Xbox 360 console to attendees at the DVD Forum in Los Angeles. Unfortunately, Microsoft's senior program manager, Kevin Collins, remained silent about possible prices for the device but he did state that it would be among the least expensive HD DVD players to reach the market.

"All the audio and video processing is done inside the Xbox," Collins stated. He said that research is indicating that the majority of Xbox 360 owners already own an HDTV and that the drive will provide them with all the other required equipment to watch HD DVD movies. "This gives consumers choice and keeps their cost down," he added.

The picture quality produced by the combination of the Xbox 360 and the external drive has been deemed equal to that of most players shown at the event. Sony will launch its PlayStation 3 console worldwide in November. It will include an internal Blu-Ray drive used for both games and movies. Microsoft has insisted it will keep the Xbox 360's HD DVD drive as an external device to "give consumers the choice".

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It appears that while Sony's upcoming next generation console, the PlayStation 3, is being advertised as being backward-compatible with the previous two PlayStation consoles, users will be required to use an adapter to access save files on the old memory cards. The adapter is used to copy the save file information to the PS3's internal Hard Disk Drive.

"To use saved data on a PlayStation 2 memory card, you must copy the data onto a virtual memory card within the hard disk. This requires a PS2/PSone memory card adapter to copy the data to your PlayStation 3," Sony's dedicated PlayStation 3 website states. "A memory card adapter is designed to edit, up/download games saves to and from EMS flash card or smart media card."

While this might not put many people off buying a PlayStation 3, most people would like to know whether or not this will be bundled with the console but this is all Pocket-Lint.co.uk could get from a spokesperson: "We are in the process of designing and creating an adapter, but have not confirmed whether this will be bundled with the machine, or available separately".

I guess if you are advertising the console as being backward compatible with the PS1 and PS2, it really should be included with both PS3 bundles. The PlayStation 3 console is scheduled to be released on November 11th in Japan, and November 17th worldwide.

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The Federation Against Software Theft (FAST) has set a new record by recovering £1.4 million in July 2006. FAST is an anti-piracy enforcement body that recovers lost revenue (due to piracy) on behalf of UK software firms. The figure brings the federation's total to £7.3 million over the past six years. FAST represents 160 members from across the software industry.

The organisation has encouraged every country to take a tough stance against software piracy. "The record amount already recovered this year is symptomatic of the ongoing battle we face, one that is not going away no matter what level of education we undertake, and despite the legal ramifications of illegal software use." said Director general John Lovelock.

He added though that the organisation is increasing seeing businesses taking action "to put their software assets in order". This was "an integral part of the growth in awareness of corporate governance and the impact of compliance within both the public and private sectors", he said.

In the United States last month, Microsoft filed 26 separate lawsuits against companies it claims to have pirated software or to have been involved in "hard-disc loading" which is selling unlicensed software along with computer hardware (usually fully built PCs).

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Despite growing speculation for many many months, Internet search giant Google has squashed rumours that the company plans to start selling music downloads. "We are not going to be selling music." Chris Sacca, head of business development for Google, said in a Thursday address to music merchants and distributors at the annual Narm (National Association of Recording Merchandisers).

Speculation had grown from many different places like A Bear Stearns analyst's predictions in January that Google could have a so called "Gtunes" to rival Apple Computer Inc.'s iTunes store in a matter of months. Also, it arose again when Google started selling Sony BMG music videos via its Google Video service.

Sacca stressed the need for partnerships and innovations to the attendees. He mentioned how there is need to create an ecosystem where consumers can move their digital content freely between devices. "Once again there is an opportunity [to improve] ease of use." he said. He likened it to the way Napster transformed search and discovery, and Apple revolutionized portability and shopping. "But to really grasp this takes a certain amount of humility to look beyond your walls," he added.

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When CinemaNow introduced a download-to-burn service, some consumers were happy that finally there was a store selling movies that could be burned onto DVD and watched on any DVD player. However, some days back, an anonymous engineer made a starling discovery when he decided to test out CinemaNow's BurnToDVD specification. The problem he discovered was with how CinemaNow protects these discs from being copied.

He discovered that it deliberately introduced errors in the Digital Sum Value (DSV) checksum values to make the DVD difficult to copy. He realized that most stand-alone DVD players' built in error-correction algorithms would not be able to tolerate this form of "protection" on the discs. After his discovery, he made some comments about it.

"I'm against people being fleeced by this kind of crap. How can you sell someone content on media that is so heavily compromised, especially on a format that so heavily relies upon its error correction system to maintain playability? It's mind boggling!" However, CinemaNow has been quick to defend its flawed copy protection technique.

The company fired back by stating that the service has been "well received by our customers and studios alike," and that the produced DVDs were found to be working on "94 percent of DVD players." Of course, there were no details about what players they didn't work on.

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id Software owner Kevin Cloud recently spoke about some problems that the PC gaming industry will face in the future. While he insisted that id will remain primarily a PC developer, he said that piracy has become a major concern for him. "Piracy is hard," Cloud said, in response to a question. "It’s really, from my opinion, destroying the PC market." He blamed piracy for the reduction of PC games in retail stores.

However, despite the view, he said he believed the PC gaming industry as a whole is not in any immediate danger. "I don't think the PC market is shrinking at all," he said. "I think there are tons of people playing games on the PC. I think World of Warcraft is a good example." World of Warcraft is a good example of avoiding piracy. Requiring a subscription to play has given the game success even in markets like China.

"There is about 70 percent of the landmass of the world where you can't sell games in a legitimate market," he said, "because pirates will beat you to the shelves with your own game." Of course, piracy doesn't just happen in these markets, but in wealthy countries too. Many pirates in these countries claim that wouldn't have bought the software or game anyway.

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Finnish mobile phone giant Nokia has announced an agreement to acquire Loudeye Corp. for approximately $60 million. Loudeye is a loader in digital media distribution services. Nokia has produced several multimedia phones that are capable of playing popular digital audio formats like MP3, WMA, AAC and M4A. The company shipped more than 15 million music enabled devices in the 2nd quarter, making it the world's largest manufacture of digital music players.

"Music is a key experience for Nokia and Nokia Nseries multimedia computers and we want to be able to offer the best fully integrated mobile music experience to our customers. Loudeye brings a number of key assets to Nokia, including a great team of people, a substantial content catalogue and a robust service platform that will help us to achieve this objective," said Anssi Vanjoki, executive vice president and general manager, Multimedia, Nokia.

"People should be able to access all the music they want, anywhere, anytime and at a reasonable cost. With this acquisition, we aim to deliver that vision and a comprehensive music experience to Nokia device owners during 2007." he added. Loudeye operates 60 live services in over 20 countries and multiple languages across Europe and South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. Loudeye aggregates rights and content from all the major record labels and hundreds of independents and currently offers licensed catalog and complete media for over 1.6 million tracks.

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TV Network ABC is happy enough with the results of a test run for two months earlier this year to add more shows to its streaming video service when it relaunches in the fall. More shows will be available on a new broadband player, but the shows will be watchable for less time than during the test. During the test, four TV shows, Alias, Lost, and Commander in Chief could be streamed from ABC's site a day after their aired.

Since Alias and Commander in Chief were canceled, there will be some new shows added but ABC wouldn't give any details on which for now. When the service relaunches it will use a broadband player created by the Disney Internet Group. There will be some minor differences like slightly longer commercial inventory. Episodes will be available a day after they air for a period up to four weeks.

"Most people watch because they missed the episode, and that happens mostly within a discrete period of time," Albert Cheng, executive VP digital media for Disney-ABC Television Group said. "Once you let it sit there, it doesn't get that much usage down the line." During the test, ABC said more than 5.7 million requests for episodes were made and 16 million video streams were served. Each hour long episode consisted of four streams, each kicked off with a brief ad.

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RealNetworks, Google and Mozilla Corp. have announced a deal under which Real will distribute Mozilla and Google software with its own software downloads. Users for example would get the option to install the Firefox web browser when installing RealPlayer. For the past two years, Real has already been distributing millions of Google Toolbars to users. Real reportedly distributes 2 million pieces of software a day worldwide.

"Real has been one of Google's most important distribution partners for the past two years, and we are delighted to broaden and deepen that relationship. Google and Real will continue to work together in innovative ways to further improve the Web experience." said Google CEO Eric Schmidt. Mozilla is simply happy to be siding with these two well known companies to get Firefox onto more computers.

"Mozilla is very pleased to partner with global leaders like Google and Real to distribute our award-winning Firefox Web browser. Thanks to our global community of open source contributors, Firefox is making the Web browsing experience better for everyone." said Mitchell Baker, Mozilla Corp CEO. Real CEO Rob Glaser is also happy about the deal with both other companies.

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Texas-based Anascape Ltd. has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Microsoft and Nintendo for allegedly infringing a number of controller-related technology patents. The suit was filed in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. Anascape, which has no web presence, cited 12 patents filed by "Brad Armstrong" in its claim.

US Patent 5,999,084, granted in 1999 covers a "sensor having a housing" and a depressible actuator in a "resilient dome cap," appearing to cover pressure-sensitive controller buttons. Patents 6,102,802, 6,135,886, 6,343,991, 6,351,205, 6,400,303, and 6,208,271 all basically cover the concept of controllers that include analog pressure-sensitive buttons.

The company also claims that the following patents have been violated: 6,906,700 (3D Controller with Vibration), 6,344,791 (Variable Sensor with Tactile Feedback), 6,347,997 (Analog Controls Housed with Electronic Displays) and 6,222,525 (Image Controller with Sheet Connected Sensors). A patent similar to 6,906,700 (3D Controller with Vibration) held by Immersion Corp. cost Sony millions when it lost a lawsuit brought against it over the company's DualShock technology.

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Canon revealed what it calls a "true 1080 HD camcorder" on Wednesday. The HV10 HDV camcorder is good competition for recent HD camcorder releases from Sony. Measuring approximately 2" wide by 4" tall, the HV10 is a camcorder that can capture full HD resolution video and it fits in your pocket. It can also take 3.1 megapixel still images which will be stored on Mini SD card.

"The Canon HV10 HDV camcorder gives consumers some of the same technologies that are used by demanding professionals in our EOS line of Digital SLR cameras and our best selling broadcast television lenses," said Yukiaki Hashimoto, senior vice president and general manager of the consumer imaging group at Canon U.S.A., Inc. "Consumers who enjoy the premium picture quality of their High Definition television sets can now capture their memories and play them back at that same high quality."

The HV10 HDV camcorder combines Canon's HD optics, with Super Range Optical Image Stabilization, DIGIC DV II image processor, and a Canon designed and manufactured Full HD resolution (1920x1080 video) CMOS sensor, similar to those found in Canon's full line of Digital SLR cameras.

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Phil Harrison, Sony's worldwide studios president has said that over 100 games are now in development for the PlayStation 3 console and that over 10,000 development kits have been shipped. Keeping up the tie between the console war and the next generation optical disc format war, Harrison not only touts the number of games in development, but the number of Blu-ray movies available (in the U.S.).

"We have shown more playable games than ever before, so the signs are good," he told British newspaper The Guardian, "and right now there are more than 100 Blu-Ray movies available today in the US. More than 100 games are in development, and all the major third-party publishers have pledged their strategic support for the platform." Harrison described work on the PS3 as being "in full swing, from a developer point of view."

He also praised Sony for getting development hardware to partners long before the scheduled launch of the PS3 in November. "Developers now have final hardware in their hands, though there will be some upgrades to the operating system - there's nothing unusual about that," he explained. "The new controller is now in developers' hands, so all the pieces of the puzzle are there."

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The Norwegian consumer watchdog has said that not only is Apple breaking Norwegian laws, it also is breaking a promise made by Steve Jobs several years ago in relation to digital music files. The Norwegian Consumer Council disapproves of the handling of the music downloads business by the private sector. Torgeir Waterhouse, senior adviser to the Norwegian Consumer Council, has attacked the sector in talks with The Register.

"The digitalisation of culture and other consumer products is simply too important to be dictated by the industry," he said. Norway's consumer ombudsman ruled in June that iTunes is breaking section 9a of the Norwegian Marketing Control Act and ruled that aspects of the iTunes Terms and Conditions were illegal. The ombudsman pointed out that it attempted to put Norwegians under an English legal contract.

Apple has responded as it was ordered to by July 31st, but the consumer watchdog believes it falls short in vital areas. Apple has acknowledged the jurisdiction of Norwegian law, has promised not to implement changes to the terms of service retrospectively to music a consumer had already purchased and will make changes more visible, Waterhouse noted.

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French games publisher Ubisoft has thrown its support behind Nintendo's Wii gaming console by promising to make 7 games available for the Wii launch. Previously, Ubisoft had announced just Red Steel and Rayman Raving Rabbids for the console, but has now added Far Cry, Blazing Angels: Squadrons of WWII, Monster 4x4 World Circuit, Open Season and GT Pro Series.

The reason for the strong launch line-up is down to starting development earlier than rivals, according to North American Ubisoft president, Laurent Detoc. "We don't have a crystal ball but we think the Wii is going to be a huge success right away and we want to be the number-one independent publisher for Wii in 2006," he told IGN.

He added that the Far Cry title will include elements from Xbox title Far Cry Instincts Evolution, as well as a new storyline, equipment, levels and characters. The Wii remote will be used for first person shooting control as well as controlling vehicles. Control of Blazing Angels will require the left and right hands to perform separate rolls he also said.

Ubisoft has promised to reveal more details on the 7 game line-up shortly.

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Major automakers are racing to add better support for MP3 players in vehicles to meet consumer demands and to increase safety. General Motors, Ford Motor and Mazda Motor have partnered with Apple Computer Inc. to integrate iPods into the their cars' audio systems. Owners of the cars won't need add-ons like iTrip or chargers that plug into cigarette lighters.

The aim of Apple and the three companies is to incorporate "seamless integration" into new 2007 models to allow iPods to be controlled within cars' audio systems and charged whenever the ignition is running. An internal study by Ford showed that the demand for such integration is rising fast and the manufacturer expects that sales of digital audio players in 2009 will be more than twice that of 2005.

The integration plans vary among the manufacturers. Ford will add audio input jacks that are iPod compatible to the majority of 2007 Ford, Lincoln and Mercury models. For an extra fee, the company will sell a system called TripTunes Advanced that will allow the iPod to be stored and charged inside the glove compartment. The driver can then use the iPod through radio controls or controls on the steering wheel.

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A French law that could have forced Apple to ensure music from iTunes played on all devices, not just iPods, has been rejected by the French Constitutional Council. As a result, the entire law may have to be re-written. The copyright legislation was passed last month by the French parliament, the Senate and the National Assembly.

The law sought to ensure that online music retailers would sell digital music files that were compatible with all devices. Music from the iTunes music store works only with Apple's iPod devices and music bought from other stores (that contains DRM) doesn't work on iPods.

As the legislation passed through parliament earlier, it had been modified to allow Apple to bypass its demands with permission from the copyright holder of the music. The French Constitutional Council reviews all laws after they are passed to ensure that they don't conflict with the French constitution.

The constitution provides "protection of property" which led the Council to reject some parts of the law. A legal finding published by the Council last week referred to the 1789 Declaration on Human Rights. It found that companies who are forced to make music playable on any device should receive compensation for sharing its own copy protection technology.

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The very popular (over 600,000 downloads) AC3Filter software has been updated to v1.06a. In fact, in the last 24 hours or so, there have been three updates of AC3Filter added to the site, v1.04a, v1.05a and v1.06a. If unfamiliar with the software, you would install it to enable playing video files with AC3 audio in DirectShow based players like Windows Media Player.

Download AC3Filter from:
https://www.afterdawn.com/software/video_software/codecs_and_filters/ac3filter.cfm

Here are the three changelogs (and who knows, maybe I'll have to edit the article later to add another...)

Changes from AC3Filter v1.05a to AC3Filter v1.06a

• AGC fixed: overflow check did not work sometimes

Changes from AC3Filter v1.04a to AC3Filter v1.05a

• Extended AC3 sainty checks disabled How it recognizes AC3 files produced with buggy encoder

Changes from AC3Filter v1.01a RC5 to AC3Filter v1.04a

• Bugfix release, Valex thanks Alex for a great job with testing ;-)
• SPDIF passthrough did not work with Program Stream (DVD)
• SPDIF had jitter with DVD
• Cannot enable SPDIF with some sound cards (found on HDSP 9632)
• Uninstall now deletes pis folder