News written by James Delahunty (November, 2007)

According to an analyst from Friedman Billings Ramsey & Company, the recently confirmed upgrade to Apple Inc.'s iPhone, scheduled for early 2008, has already suffered its first delay. Mehdi Hosseini cites data from recent checks that show the next gen iPhone was most likely scheduled for a release in March or April 2008, but that now the upgraded version of the one of the year's hottest gadgets may only see daylight around late summer.

This is bad news for manufacturers of NAND flash. Contrary to Samsung's predictions, Hossein expects the iPhone delay to impact demand for NAND flash memory in the first half of 2008. Contrast this with with the summer of 2007, when Apple's NAND flash memory demand was so high it caused shortages for other major electronics companies.

Alan Niebel of Web-Feet Research noted that there is in fact an oversupply of NAND flash memory at this moment. Prices may also be kept down by new low-cost Apple gadgets that use NAND memory, including possibly an ultra-mobile MacBook or a form of "iPhone Nano".

Source:
Electronista

Sony Corp. has developed a battery that provides longer play time for the newer slim model of the PlayStation Portable (PSP) console. Released after being shown off at E3 this year, the slim model of the PSP already offers longer battery life than the original PSP model, but by Sony's estimates, this new battery will easily double the amount of time the PSP can be used on a full charge.

For a handheld device, the PSP console has a UMD which includes a mechanical motor for games and video content, as well as providing very decent graphics performance for a handheld device. All of this requires enough juice to run, and many gamers did originally complain about the performance of the PSP battery compared to other handheld gaming devices.

The new PSP battery pack> ships to North America in the middle of December and will cost about $45. Of course, its exactly the same size as the original but provides around 2,200mAh of power.

Source:
Electronista

Lite-On IT and Philips have brought a new external DVD writer to the market. The DX-20A4PU integrate an updated version of the EZ-DUB technology (first its range of drive.) The drive, which is enclosed in nifty black and white casing, offers high-speed 20X DVD writing. The EZ-DUB technology offered by Lite-On drives includes two buttons on the DVD drive itself to offer common data writing functions with a one-touch effort.

The FILE button backs up files from the computer whilst the DUB button will copy disc to disc. The new "enhanced" EZ-DUB swaps the "physical" buttons with two touch sensitive buttons. Also included with the drive is SmartWrite technology. SmartWrite uses a smart writing algorithm and self-learning techniques to detect and select the best method of writing data for each type of media used, and then remember that decision for future sessions.

The drive is going for £49 in the UK.

Source:
Pocket-Lint.co.uk

Medion is offering a multi-format home theater PC in the UK that will be compatible with both the Blu-ray and HD DVD optical disc formats. The high performance MD8828 is based on Intel VIIV technology and featuring a multi-format, high definition HD DVD and Blu-Ray optical drive. It utilizes Intel's 2.66GHz Core 2 Duo E6750 processor and is equipped with an NVIDIA GeForce 8600GS DirectX 10 graphics card with DVI-I connector and HDMI port.

Also pre4sent is a 500GB SATA hard disk drive, 2GB of RAM, a TV tuner, incorporating incorporating Freeview DVB-T, DVB-S Satellite and analogue TV. There is also an MCE remote. It is Wifi-capable, supporting WLAN 802.11n and includes a front connection flash memory card reader.

According to a report by Consumer Reports magazine, U.S. holiday shoppers are more keen to buy LCD HDTV sets this year than Plasma models. The report said that nearly 20 percent of Americans are likely to buy a flat-screen HDTV as a gift this holiday season. Of those likely to buy a flat screen this year, 54 percent plan to pick up an LCD display, while 29 percent will opt for plasma technology instead.

Approximately 16 percent claimed they did not know which type display they would be more interested in. This year it will all come down to price more than it has before. Last year, about two thirds of all those who planned to buy a flat-screen HDTV were willing to spend up to $1500 on a set, but this year only 24 percent would go that high.

Prices of flat-panel HDTV sets have fallen about 30 percent in the past year and it would seem that the average consumer is noticing the falling prices. Consumer Reports said that 47 percent of buyers will aim for a set that is 42 inches or larger while 15 percent will aim for a screen that is over 50 inches.

Source:
TV Predictions

DivX Inc.'s wholly owned subsidiary, MainConcept AG, has announced that Professional Systems AV B.U. of Panasonic AVC Networks company (Panasonic) will distribute a pair of custom-developed transcoding solutions for IT-based production systems supporting the latest HD codecs for the popular P2HD broadcast and video production platform AVC-Intra and for newly developed professional and consumer video production platform AVCHD.

The two transcoding applications offer convenient transcoding of the AVC-Intra and AVCHD formats into the ever-popular DVCPRO format and are the result of close technical collaboration between Panasonic and MainConcept. The new applications give Panasonic Broadcast's customers a ready-made, cost effective transcoding solution with time-to-market advantages of not having to develop the applications in-house.

"We are proud to expand our partnership with Panasonic and to provide them with high quality, custom developed transcoder applications for AVCHD and AVC-Intra," said Masashi Nemoto, President of MainConcept Japan. "The continued evolution of camcorder technology and the ongoing introduction of new HD video formats has greatly increased the demand for highly specialized, customer-specific video encoding, decoding, and transcoding solutions. We are looking forward to powering Panasonic's continued success by offering customized solutions for broadcast and professional users supporting the P2 based camcorder platform."

Japan's HDTV innovations in the 1980's and the 1990's have helped the country to tout the higher number of HDTV viewers in the world. According to research firm, SNL Kagan, the number of HDTV viewers in the world continues to increase at a healthy rate, helped by falling prices for the technology. Its new study, "Global High Definition Television Trends", named Japan as the world leader in HDTV viewsership currently.

Japanese broadcasters offer low-cost HDTV services to consumers, while some offer HDTV content completely free, helping to drive demand. The United States sits in second placer currently but is predicted to overtake Japan by the end of 2008, when the number of HDTV-households in the U.S. jumps from 6 million (currently) to the expected 12 million.

HDTV markets in Canada, France and the United States have become better suited to pay-HDTV content, and in the United States, cable and satellite broadcast services are offering a growing number of HDTV channels to subscribers. SNL Kagan estimates that the HDTV service provider market will turn revenues of $1 billion in 2007 and will grow to $12 billion by 2016.

To follow up on previous coverage of this case, Apple Inc. and Burst.com agreed to settle the patent infringement dispute last week that had been on-going for almost two years. Apple agreed to pay Burst a one-time payment of $10 million cash in exchange for a non-exclusive license to Burst's patent portfolio, not including one issued U.S. patent and 3 pending U.S. patent applications related to new DVR technology.

Burst agreed not to sue Apple for any future infringement of the DVR patent and any patents that might issue from the pending DVR-related applications. The $10 million patent license provides Apple with the right to use Burst's intellectual property in its own technology and products, without further consideration. Burst, however, retains the right to enforce its patent portfolio against others.

Burst continues to seek companies who represent licensing opportunities and intends to diligently pursue those likely to yield suitable returns. The company will not announce specific names of suspected infringing products or companies in advance of negotiating with them or filing litigation to enforce its patent rights.

Goodmans has launched the GMP34G6, a small MP3 player with video playback capabilities. The model offers 4GB storage capacity, which the company claims is enough to accomodate 1000 MP3 or 2000 WMA tracks and three hours of video playback. It is MP3/WMA/MTV/JPEG compatible and offers a voice recorder (recorded as ADPCM format).

Text documents (.txt extension) can also be stored and viewed on the player's 1.8-inch color screen. The slim, black player also has a microSD Card slot, added to allow users to move music from their phones to the player and vice versa. For video content, video conversion software is included in the package.

The player is available now, priced at £44.99 at Argos.

Source:
Pocket-Lint.co.uk

Toshiba is offering free HD DVD movie titles in the UK to consumers that purchase laptops that are equipped with a HD DVD drive. The company is giving away five free HD DVD titles with purchases of laptops, such as models from the Qosmio and Satellite ranges. The option allows customers to start building a HD DVD collection immediately without having to spend extra cash.

Such promotions have become common in the format war between HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc. The fourth quarter is set to be another show down between the two, with both hoping it will show some new gaps in hardware and disc sales performance that each can tout in press releases we will no doubt all receive in early January before the Consumer Electronics Show (CES).

Toshiba is committed to pushing the HD DVD format with sales of its laptops. On the other side, the Blu-ray camp has the PlayStation 3 (PS3) console equipped with a BD-ROM drive, and given recent price cuts and the introduction of the "40GB model", it appears to be looking forward to great performance this month.

A slur of recent rumors and "possible" confirmations have spread across the blogosphere and several well-known tech resources claiming that Creative will soon offer a 32GB Zen player to the market. The rumors appear to stem from a mistake on the Creative Singapore site, which displayed information on a 32GB Zen MP3 player for a time.

The site showed a line-up for the flash memory-based player offering storage capacities of 4GB, 8GB, 16GB and a world's first (flash-based) 32GB. Creative was already the first to offer up a 16GB flash-based player, beating the market leader Apple Inc. in a flash capacity race, and now may be looking to take another step ahead of the iPod maker.

Flash-based players can offer better access times, lower power consumption and also lose the mechanical failure risk that has to be taken with constantly-rotating HDD's. However, achieving the same storage capacity of a HDD in a solid state storage system is no easy task, and could be considered the (current) holy grail for many tech companies.

Source:
Pocket-Lint.co.uk

Vizio is continuing to enjoy its growing success in the market for LCD flat-panel televisions. According to a report issued by research firm, iSuppli, Vizio managed to stay just ahead of its main competitor in the United States during the third quarter. The company's 13 percent share of the LCD market just beats Samsung Electronics's share by a mere 0.2 percent, but Samsung's share of the market did show some healthy growth during the third quarter.

The South Korean Electronics giant boosted its share of the U.S. LCD market from 10.8 percent in the second quarter to its current 12.8. It is not as impressive as the growth of Vizio's market share recently but it still puts Samsung in second place, ahead of Sharp and Sony, ranked second and third respectively.

According to analyst Riddhi Patel, Vizio's success in the LCD market stems from low-cost LCD models, a trait that can be evasive when shopping for HDTV-capable displays, and the presence of the models inside Circuit City and other retail stores. The company has also put a lot of effort into marketing its brand to the consumer.

Source:
Electronista

A new AT&T-exclusive Samsung mobile phone will be the first to offer the Napster Mobile service on the AT&T network. The SLM phone will be available this holiday season. Users of the phone will be able to browser through the five-million-strong Napster catalog and play previews of the tracks before possibly buying them. A five-track-pack option for $7.49 allows a user to download five tracks per month, or buy individually for $1.99.

AT&T Vice President Carlton Hill said that the SLM, "represents the best collection thus far of our music, multimedia, and messaging services." Besides the support for the Napster Mobile service, the phone is also compatible with XM Radio Mobile, Pandora, and the MusicID song-recognition service. It features a 2.0 megapixel camera with video-capture abilities and download speeds of up to 1,400 Kbps through AT&T's HSDPA network.

It is also the first phone to have AT&T's mobile banking application, a recently announced offering that allows customers of Wachovia and SunTrust Banks to view their bank account balances and manage their funds.

Source:
Yahoo (NF)

Earlier this month, CyberLink Corp. accepted the prestigious CES Innovations 2008 Design and Engineering Award in the Home Networking product category for CyberLink Live. Available for free on the CyberLink website, CyberLink Live is home server software that allows users to remotely access different types of media files in their home PCs from any web-browsing device.

By placeshifting user's media content from their home servers, users can remotely access live TV shows, music, photos, videos, documents and webcam videos on any web-enabled device outside their homes. It also allows users to share videos and photos to family members without the need to upload files. The newly introduced CyberLink Live Photo Frame Gadget allows users to stream their pictures and music to their Vista Sidebar Gadget, Google Desktop or Yahoo Widget.

"We are honored and excited to be recognized by the CES Innovations Design and Engineering Award," said Alice H. Chang, CEO of CyberLink. "CyberLink Live is our vision of a ubiquitous digital media lifestyle. It lets people be able to access all kinds of digital media anytime, anywhere."

ARC International, based in the UK, announced an optimized MP3 decoder for its ARC Sound Subsystem which operates at an impressively low 7 MHz and dissipates less than 0.46 mW of power in a TSMC 90 G process. The next best competitive product required over 20% more power when performing MP3 decode than the new MP3 decoder. "ARC's ongoing investment in software technologies has allowed us to move aggressively to offer highly optimized media codecs including this latest MP3 decoder," said Derek Meyer, chief operating officer of ARC International.

He added: "This advanced level of software optimization and resulting power reduction is a result of our acquisition of Alarity Corporation: the multimedia company with a reputation for leading edge codec software, firmware, and advanced multimedia technologies. This new MP3 decoder for the ARC Sound Subsystem is an example of their world class expertise."

In a recently published research report, Informa Plc estimated that the number of handsets sold with music capabilities would increase 69 percent from 154 million in 2006 to 260 million in 2007. The London-based firm predicted that by 2012, the music phone segment would grow to more than one billion new unit sales.

RealNetworks is working with Analog Devices (ADI) to provide the latest generation of Personal Media Players featuring full D1 broadcast resolution playback of RealVideo and RealAudio media files. This fall Chinese market leader Aigo introduced two models, the Aigo E898 and F965R, that feature support of RealVideo, RealAudio and the RMVB formats running on a Blackfin processor.

Aigo credits the Blackfin with shortening time to market and reducing the risk in product design, since the inherent programmability of Blackfin allows for rapid development cycles. The combined efficiency of the RealVideo format and the performance of the Blackfin processor deliver a high-quality level of video playback traditionally not found in personal media players.

"RealPlayer is the leading media player in the Chinese market and the RealVideo format is the preferred digital media format. We are excited that the Blackfin embedded processor supports high quality and stable decoding of RealVideo and RMVB media at a full D1 broadcast resolution and 16M colors. We are pleased that Aigo has continued to extend its line of PMP devices to support RealVideo and RMVB files by leveraging the Blackfin processor from ADI," Martin Schwarz, assistant vice president of format for RealNetworks, commented.

Finnish authorities have targeted the operators of so called "top sites" in Oulu. The Finnish National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) carried out raids which led to the arrests of three individuals and the seizure of computer servers carrying over ten terabytes of pirated software, music and games. The police raids follow a joint cross-industry operation by anti-piracy investigators.

The actions, launched on Friday 16th November, came as a result of criminal complaints that were originally filed by Finland's Copyright Information and Anti-Piracy Centre (CIAPC). Top sites are considered to be the very top of the piracy chain on the Internet by anti-piracy and law enforcement authorities.

"These top sites have been sharing movies, music and computer games as well as software. Each site was also specialized in sharing particular material, such as animation, Finnish movies or the newest videogames." Antti Kotilainen, CIAPC Director, said. "Top sites are the absolute top of internet piracy and their activity enables sharing of millions of illegal files."

"The Business Software Alliance applauds the efforts of the Finnish police for taking this strong and visible action against internet top sites." said John Wolfe, Director of Internet Enforcement at BSA. "Individuals like the ones operating the sites raided last Friday contribute to the staggering losses that Internet piracy causes the software industry."

With the demand for the iPhone soaring worldwide, Apple's business strategy seems to be paying off, yet games guru John Carmack would not approve of the company's mobile gaming strategy. Carmack's id Software and Fountainhead Entertainment recently formed id Mobile to provide superior quality games to the mobile market. Carmack believes that Steve Jobs' strategy in the market may negatively affect the iPod and iPhone's future in gaming.

He pointed out that there are between ten and twenty times the number of mobile phones in use in the world today than computers, and more than 100 times more mobile phones in use than gaming consoles. Carmack believes that mobile gaming could eclipse conventional gaming platforms, but admits it would be no easy task.

"We've certainly been looking at it but Steve Jobs and I have not been seeing really eye to eye on a lot of important issues," Carmack told GameDaily BIZ in an interview. "We were in a fairly heated argument at the last WWDC and we've had a few follow-ups. I have an iPhone right now and it's a platform I would enjoy developing for but Apple is not taking progressive steps in regards to [gaming]. Their strategy seems to be working just fine from a business standpoint, so I'm not going to second guess them and tell them they're being fools or idiots for not focusing on this."

Sony, Fuji and Maxell have been handed hefty fines by the European Commission for their part in a price-fixing cartel. Specifically, the three companies engaged in price-fixing for videotapes, a crime which has now cost them fines accumulating to €75 million, which is about USD$111 million.

"Between 1999 and 2002, Sony, Fuji and Maxell managed to raise or otherwise control prices through a series of regular meetings and other illicit contacts," the European Union executive said in a statement. "This decision sends two warnings to companies engaging in cartel activities."

The three controlled 85% of the market in the professional videotape formats of the day, Betacam SP and Digital Betacam. Sony received a 30% higher fine than its counterparts combined, about €47 million, for trying to cover up the investigation. Fuji was fined €13.2 million and Maxell must pay up €14.4 million.

Source:
Pocket-Lint.co.uk

JVC Victor, the Japanese division of JVC, has developed a new D-ILA projector that is capable of displaying ultra-high resolutions images. The DLA-SH4K can produce images up to a large resolution of 4096x2400. This size is currently referred to simply as "4K", and is already in use with some special video recording equipment. It is likely it may also eventually replace the current standard of full HDTV, 1080p.

Along with the insanely high resolution of the JVC DLA-SH4K, the projector can also produce an impressive 3,500 lumens of brightness with a 10:000:1 contrast ratio. It sports 4 dual-link DVI-D inputs allowing for simultaneous displays from separate video sources at the same time. It does not have a HDMI input.

However, if you are already contemplating Googling up details on how you can buy one of these projectors when they are released in January, don't even bother unless you are filthy rich. The projector reportedly has a ridiculously high price of 15 million yen ($136,293). It also consumes just below 1.5kW of power.

Earlier this week, Nintendo offered up two new bundles of the Nintendo DS Lite handheld console. The DS Lite is one of the hottest selling gadgets across the world, and is sure to sell out during the holiday season. To entice buyers and keep sales as high as possible, Nintendo is offering a Gold model that comes with The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass and so sports a Triforce logo from the game on the outer lid.

The Metallic Rose model comes with a copy of Nintendogs and so sports a paw on the outer lid. These traits are the only things that separate the models from the normal DS Lite models. The bundles have not come with a new suggested price from Nintendo, but the DS Lite itself sells usually for $130.

So far in 2007, the Nintendo DS has moved millions of units across the world, and NPD U.S. figures showed more than 458,000 were sold there in October alone.

Source:
Electronista

Due to the lax intellectual property restrictions in China, a company called ECNokia is peddling a generic MP4 player that is designed and operates remarkably like Apple Inc.'s third-generation iPod Nano player. The player includes the clickwheel used for navigation with an iPod as well as the same type menu design. It also is designed like the Nano, with the rounded edges.

Under hood of course it does not provide the exact same functionality as an iPod Nano, although it will play MP3, WAV, WMA and MIDI audio. As for video, the device requires video in the ASF format. It also does not have any built-in flash memory, but instead relies on SD cards for storage, supporting up to 2GB.

The display is larger than the Nano screen at 2.4-inches, and interestingly it is a touch-screen-display, making the addition of the clickwheel almost completely irrelevant. It offers a 1.3 megapixel camera, a voice recorder and supports FM radio.

Sony's upcoming "DualShock 3" controller, which brings the rumble technology to the PlayStation 3 (PS3) console, has been approved for use by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the United States. The PS3's SIXAXIS controller lacked the rumble technology from the beginning, a fact that wasn't welcomed by gamers or game developers.

While the company kept quiet about the reasons in the beginning, it became obvious that it was due to the unsettled dispute with Immersion Corp., which had sued Sony over the DualShock technology. However, when the legal battle between the two companies ended, Sony revealed it would consider changing the SIXAXIS controller to offer rumble.

When rumors of the PS3 rumble controller emerged, Microsoft Corp. sued Immersion for breach of contract for allowing Sony to use the technology. Sony made the official announcement about the controller on September 20th, and a recent firmware update for the PS3 console added support for it.

The model number is CECHZC2U and operates at a clock frequency of 26MHz and 4MHz. It measures in at 93.7 x 157 x 62.3 mm and weighs 193 grams. Sony has not indicated when the controller will become available.

After updating the PlayStation 3 (PS3) console's firmware to v2.0 less than three weeks ago, Sony pushed out another update earlier this week (v2.01). This time, the update attacks stability issues according to the company. Reported crashed and freezing during gameplay has been targeted by the second update to the system's software, and improved stability is offered now when users access the internet or information boards.

The update also improves backwards compatibility with older PlayStation 2 (PS2) titles for the units with emulation support for those games. The newer 40GB model does not support the older game titles. Firmware 2.0 also introduced a feature to remotely start up a PS3 over the internet via a PlayStation Portable (PSP) handheld console.

The update has made changes to this feature after many users reported that it was not reliable.

Source:
Reg Hardware

LG Electronics is to take a step in the right direction when it launches a 52-inch LCD HDTV set with built in support for a home wireless network. The new TV will be shown at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas in January 2008. It will be the world's first TV set to offer full high definition (HD) 1080p video support while also incorporating an 802.11 link.

This TV (52LG71) will enable consumers to stream HD material over a home wireless network without the need for media extenders or some separate media hub. The company revealed no specs on the TV so far, except that it would support 120Hz refresh rate and other technologies that "represent the best of LG's technology".

We will have to wait until CES to see what else this TV set will be capable of.

Source:
Pocket-Lint.co.uk

An analyst with Pacific Crest Securities claims that Nintendo already has a new enhanced version of its DS handheld device manufactured and is keeping it aside until it needs a boost in sales. Researcher Evan Wilson told Gamespot about contracts the gaming company has signed which hint that it is going to move its design away from the cartridge slot to built-in flash memory.

The device also apparently would be thinner and would sport larger dual-screens. Right now, the DS Lite is one of the hottest selling gadgets there is, so there is no need for any major revamp. When sales start to slow down, Nintendo would see it as an opportunity for such a newer system to provide a needed boost.

Nintendo neither confirmed nor denied the analyst's predictions. A spokesman for Nintendo said the report consists of "rumors and speculation" and declined to comment further.

Source:
Electronista

In January 2008, EchoStar plans to make big Sling announcements in Las Vegas at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES). The company only agreed to buy SlingMedia a matter of weeks ago but last week in New York, EchoStar showed Sling's gear at its booths at both a pre-CES product expo and a press event in Pepcom's "Digital Experience" series. The deal between EchoStar and SlingMedia is worth $380 million.

EchoStar's plans for CES include the announcement of Sling Mobility Package, a bundle that will bring together an EchoStar HD-DVR receiver and Slingbox SOLO. Both are HDTV capable devices. The company may also use CES as a launch pad for Wi-Fi-enabled edition of the EchoStar Pocket Disk media player.

EchoStar Pocket Disk media player provides handheld access to video content. "It's possible that the bundle might include the WiFi Pocket Disk player, too, but that hasn't been decided yet," Francie Bauer, EchoStar's corporate communications manager, told BetaNews.

Source:
Betanews

Microsoft's J Allard was recently speaking about Apple Inc.'s first mobile phone offered on the market, the iPhone, and had both criticism and praise for the gadget. As Microsoft prepares to compete more effectively with its own software, Allard argues that it's Apple's attention to the design of the cellphone as a whole rather than its connection to the iPod that is pushing sales.

"It's a lousy iPod," Allard explains. "You can’t skip a track without looking at it. You can't go running with the thing." In the same interview however, Allard described the phone as both "beautiful" and "simple" compared to most other phones. It also benefits Windows Mobile as it will make carriers give more control to the manufacturers over the final output rather than limiting hardware and software.

As a response to the iPhone, Microsoft will add Zune features to the Windows Mobile OS, but a Zune phone is apparently unlikely. "If we can put the customer first, we prefer to do it with partners. We didn't create the Zune because we were dying to get into the hardware business and take inventory risk. We felt we had to do it," he says. "Windows was incredible. We got to create most of the magic and take none of the financial risk. History isn’t going to repeat that with consumer goods."

LG.Philips is showing off a prototype of a 15.4-inch LCD display that will be interesting for anyone who can't stand how flat panel televisions and monitors act as magnets to dust and smudges. It is resistant to many different kinds of dirt that usually accumulate on LCD screens, forcing the owner to clean it up regularly. Coating on most screen's anti-glare layers have a tendency to hold onto oils but this prototype has beaten the problem.

Using a method described vaguely as, "similar to that used on non-stick frying pans," by the company's head of advanced technology development, LG.Philips was able to avoid having to add an extra screen layer, which would have been a more expensive solution to develop.

The prototype is resistant to dirt, dust and fingerprints. Even permanent ink can be wiped off the screen easily. Mass production of 15.4-inch screens for notebooks will begin in 2008 and the technology will be added to larger LCD screens later on in the year.

Source:
Pocket-lint.co.uk

Apple Inc. has released Final Cut Express 4, a significant upgrade to its powerful video editing software based on Apple's award-winning Final Cut Pro 6. The upgrade adds support for the latest AVCHD camcorders and allows mixing of standard and high definition content on a single timeline, includes the ability to import iMovie '08 projects.

"Almost a million digital filmmakers have made Final Cut their editing application of choice," said Rob Schoeben, Apple's vice president of Applications Product Marketing. "With the introduction of Final Cut Express 4, Apple makes it easy for anyone to join the rapidly growing community of Final Cut editors worldwide."

Supporting both 720p HD resolutions, Final Cut Express 4 automatically performs the necessary scaling, cropping and frame rate adjustments. When starting projects from scratch, the new simplified setup automatically configures everything based on the first clip dropped on the
Timeline.

Following five months of a public-beta period, RealNetworks has announced that its latest RealPlayer version, v.11, has just gotten its final release in the UK. This new version of the mega-popular multimedia software adds the ability to download content from the web and transfer it directly to video-capable iPods without the need to use extra tools. The features is available by upgrading to RealPlayer Plus for £20.

The software supports 1000's of websites that offers DRM-free video content, allowing the user to easily download the video using a one-click method. The company claims that RealPlayer is the first major media player to offer this experience, freeing iPod owners from the limited supply of video content on iTunes.

Support for the iPhone is apparently in the works and should be available in early 2008.

Source:
Pocket-Lint.co.uk

XstreamHD has announced a major shift in the distribution of high-definition (HD) content to and throughout consumers' homes. The company will challenge the market paradigm by offering consumers unprecedented quality combined with convenience with the first transport network to deliver Full 1080p HD video and 7.1 channels of lossless audio directly to the home.

XstreamHD's network utilizes existing geosynchronous satellites to transport HD content to its proprietary media server via a small Aperture DTH satellite antenna for distribution to multiple media receivers throughout the home. This new cost effective solution will be unveiled, along with key celebrity and leading industry partnerships, at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January 2008.

"As the HD revolution continues, transport networks are the limiting factor. Their inability to deliver Full HD robs consumers of the ideal home theater experience," said George Gonzalez, Founder and President of XstreamHD. "XstreamHD's proprietary technology powers a network, independent of existing infrastructure, which xstreams Full HD video and lossless audio to the home more efficiently than any other existing network."

To the delight of Microsoft Corp., online retailers are running short on supplies of the 80GB Zune model launched by the Redmond-based company on Tuesday. At Amazon, some customers who had preordered Zunes have been told they wont receive their order for an additional 10 days. The retailers do have the 4GB and 8GB versions of the Zunes in stock, but the 80GB model is sold out at the Amazon, Best Buy and Circuit City web stores.

The software giant said that it had prioritized the manufacture of the 4GB and 8GB Zune models, but that many more 80GB units would be on the shelves (physical and virtual) within the next 10 to 14 days. Earlier this week, blogs started reporting a rumor that the new Zunes have been hit by manufacturing delays.

"I think they were already probably a little later than they would like to be, given Apple's iPod announcement of a new line of the market-leading devices in September," said Matt Rosoff, an analyst at the independent research group Directions on Microsoft. "They probably wanted to get anything out the door as soon as they could."

Source:
Yahoo (AP)

We have added a new article to our Guide section in the past few days, coving SecurDisc, a data protection technology for optical media developed by Nero AG and Hitachi-LG Data Storage. For the article we used Nero 7 with a LG GSA-H55N Super Multi drive, one of the first to support SecurDisc's features. Here is what SecurDisc offers...

Data Reliability

SecurDisc improves your chances of recovering data from damaged or worn discs. When you create and burn a disc using SecurDisc features, it will utilize the free space left on the disc to store information that will help with the recovery process. Data reliability is very important now that blank DVD and CD media costs a lot less than it used to, but some cheaper discs are very poor in quality.

Password Protection

In January 2006, Apple Inc. launched legal action to have patents held by Burst.com declared invalid. Burst approached Apple in 2004 in an attempt to agree licenses for the use of its technology. The company's legal team informed Apple that it is infringing its patents, and that it would launch action. Apple denied that it is infringing patents held by Burst and sued it in the US District Court in San Francisco requesting declaratory relief to determine the patents invalid.

Burst went on to file a countersuit against Apple, claiming that the companies products were infringing several of Burst's patents. The last publicized issue of the ongoing case was whether or not Apple should be granted summary judgment on the grounds that Burst.com's patents were "obvious." Apple offered up several previous patents, claiming that those held by Burst were obvious extensions of these patents, while Burst maintained that its patents were novel.

A 41-page ruling on Apple's motion for summary judgment was issued last week, showing that Apple won dismissal of 14 of the claims, leaving another 22 claims that have yet to be decided. The remaining 22 have a "genuine issue for trial" meaning that they cannot be summarily ruled on. Now a jury trial is looking likely and is scheduled to begin in February 2008.

The College Opportunity and Affordability Act of 2007, which has been unanimously passed by the House Education and Labor Committee, includes provisions that plunge Universities into the front lines of the war on file sharing. The provisions force the educational facilities to adopt strict anti-piracy policies and even offer an alternative to illegal downloading, like a deal with Napster.

On Wednesday, the bill went through a mark-up sesison, but Section 494, which includes the copyright-related provisions, was not addressed despite pressure from higher education groups like the American Council on Education. As part of the financial aid process, the shcools would have to inform students about their official policies about copyright infringement and explain civil and crimional penalties.

They would also be required to, "develop a plan for offering alternatives to illegal downloading or peer-to-peer distribution of intellectual property as well as a plan to explore technology-based deterrents to prevent such illegal activity." The press release about COAA issued by the House Education and Labor Committee interestingly completely leaves the copyright-related provisions out.

As an expanded version of his latest album and new DVD are hitting the shelves, Paul McCartney has been talking to Billboard about the possibility of Beatles' music making its way to digital download services like iTunes. "It's all happening soon," McCartney told Billboard.com. "Most of us are all sort of ready. The whole thing is primed, ready to go -- there's just maybe one little sticking point left, and I think it's being cleared up as we speak, so it shouldn't be too long."

He added: "It's down to fine-tuning, but I'm pretty sure it'll be happening next year, 2008." The Beatles are among the most famous artists in the world without a legal digital presence on the Internet. As a court case between Apple Inc. and Apple Corps. (Beatles' music company) was settled, it seemed to open the doors to the music potentially becoming available on the iTunes service.

"You've got to get these things right," McCartney said. "You don't want to do something that's as cool as that and in three years' time you think, 'Oh God, why did we do that?!" The solo catalogs of all four Beatles have been available online since October.

Even just a few years ago, the idea of a company offering anti virus software for a games console would have been laughable. Nowadays however, the Internet's role in consoles (even handhelds like the PSP) is growing, and so too is the risk of getting malware infections or exposing sensitive data. At least that is the assertion of Trend Micro Inc., which has launched such software for the PlayStation 3 (PS3).

Not only does this software protect users form malicious web sites, it also has a password-protected service to keep websites depicting illegal activity, pornography or similar content away from children's eyes. It makes sense to offer such a service, as many parents who do monitor and take a roll in the PC use of their children are just too happy to let them sit in front of a games console alone and be quiet for a few hours.

However, some industry experts are wondering if this sort of protection is needed for consoles right now, and whether there is significant demand for it. "I think the jury's still out," said Daniel Ives, an analyst at Friedman Billings Ramsey. "Over the coming years, as the console becomes more common in terms of Web browsing, that's when you can really try to gauge what type of opportunity it is for the antivirus vendors."

Reuters has an interesting report online about the consumption of entertainment content by the young people of South Korea. As an example, the report talks to University student student Seong-sun (last name withheld), who uses his laptop and mobile phone to watch all of his content. The Internet is his channel of choice to receive TV shows, movies and other entertainment content, and the source on the Internet is of course, peer-to-peer.

Seong-sun a low subscription fee to an Internet-based service in the country that provides him with access to thousands of Hollywood movies - often before their theatrical release in the country - and TV shows such as American Idol and Prison Break. While the local cable companies compete for the rights to show these huge TV hits, the Internet services post them, complete with subtitles, shortly after they originally air in the United States.

Such a service could not be based in most Western countries due to copyright law, but in South Korea, there is lax enforcement of the existing laws. Take that into account, and then add that South Korea has a high broadband penetration rate, and the logical outcome is a rise in the use of file-sharing services.

Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA) is delighted with the boost in unit sales of the PlayStation 3 (PS3) console since the company cut the price of the 80GB model and offered up a 40GB model. In the week of October 29th, the company sold 75,000 PS3 units, and then the following week sold 100,000 more units. Compare that performance to previous weekly sales between 30,000 and 40,000 units.

The boost is a result of cutting the 80GB model by 17%, to $499 in mid-October, and then going on to sell a 40GB model on November 2nd for $399. Also assisting in sales is the shortage of Nintendo's hot-selling Wii console. This indeed is good news for the PS3, which has suffered under-performance all year long, and comes just ahead of the holiday season.

A high price tag and scarcity of titles led a lot of potential PS3 buyers to Microsoft's Xbox 360 or the Wii console. The PlayStation brand is a very strong brand across the world, but the name alone did not drive gamers to purchase the console in adequate numbers while it was the most expensive console and offered the least alluring software line-up.

Now with the new price points and more promises for the game line-up, the company is hoping that the dark times for the PS3 are coming to a close. This holiday season, the PS3 will take aim at both the Xbox 360 and the Wii, and it will be interesting to see what the numbers will be in January after a bad year in the United States for the console.

After previously pushing back its launch plans for Total HD discs, Warner Home Entertainment has shelved the project entirely for now, according a Warner Exec who spoke with HighDefDigest. Total HD discs were touted as the answer to the on-going format war, storing Blu-ray data on one side of the disc and HD DVD data on the other. At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in January, the studio showed off its new disc, saying it would retail for little more than single-format title.

Originally, the plan was to make the first discs available on the market in the second half of 2007. However, earlier this year, the company revealed that it was pushing back plans to sell movies on Total HD discs until early 2008. Now, a Warner Exec has told HighDefDigest that the project has been shelved due to a perceived shift in retailer needs after Paramount chose the HD DVD format exclusively.

"The short answer is, for the moment, it [Total HD] is on hold," explained Jim Noonan, SVP of Strategic Promotion and Communication for Warner Home Entertainment Group. "We're the only studio producing content in both formats. If we were to put out Total HD with just our titles, it wouldn't really provide the solution to our retail partners that it was intended to provide. If anything, at this point, it would further complicate their life, because there would be another product looking for shelf space. Our job is not to further complicate the lives of our retailers."

The Blu-ray Disc Association European Promotions Committee has dismissed a press release sent out a couple of days ago by the European HD DVD Promotional Group that claimed HD DVD has a higher attach rate in Europe. The Blu-ray camp said the HD DVD camp is "distorting the facts and presenting information that is intended to portray a misleading message to consumers and the industry".

Quoting the same figures from the same independent research firm, Gfk, the Blu-ray camp claims of all HD discs bought by consumers year-to-date in Europe, 73% were in the Blu-ray Disc format and 27% were HD DVD. When we reported on the HD DVD press release showing the attach rate figures, we commented that it was strange to see the HD DVD camp factor in the PlayStation 3 (and gaming hardware in general) in this particular case.

Typically, the HD DVD group has dismissed the idea that a PS3 console can be accepted as a stand-alone Blu-ray player. However, in this particular case, leaving the PS3 in the figures benefited the HD DVD group, as most European PS3 owners bought it for games and not Blu-ray, and so would not buy movies, dramatically lowering the overall attach rate.

YouTube co-founder Steve Chen has confirmed that higher-quality video content will be available to YouTube viewers soon. He made the comments while speaking at he NewTeeVee Live conference. He said that YouTube's goal remains to ensure all of its content is viewable for all users, which requires a lower-bitrate solution, but that it was working on a player that could determine the connection speed of the user and offer higher quality video.

Chen commented that the current resolution in use on YouTube has been good enough for the site until now. He believes that high-quality YouTube videos will be available to everyone within three months. The company needs to offer quality improvements or it risks sending viewers to competing video-sharing sites, or even creators of amateur content which it values.

Chen said that all the original videos uploaded by users are still stored on YouTube's servers in their native quality. However, he warned that quite a lot of the original videos stored on the servers are 320x240, which means quality improvements may not even be noticeable with some videos.

Source:
News.com

DivX Inc. has announced that it has acquired MainConcept AG, a leading provider of H.264 and other high-quality video technologies, in a stock and cash transaction valued at approximately $22 million. A further $6 million may be paid if certain goals for MainConcept development are met. MainConcept designs, manufactures and markets a wide range of high-quality video and audio technology based on industry standards.

"This is a great partnership that we believe will prove beneficial to both MainConcept and DivX," said Markus Moenig, CEO and Founder of MainConcept AG. "Our product suites and business models are highly complementary, and our combined companies offer a rich solution for the creation, distribution and playback of high-quality video across virtually any platform or device. We look forward to bringing these two great teams together."

"We are extremely pleased to add MainConcept to the DivX family," said Kevin Hell, CEO of DivX. "Company founder Markus Moenig, our new Senior Vice President, has worked with a talented team of engineers to build a successful company with award winning next-generation codec technology that is highly complementary to the core DivX licensing business. MainConcept's H.264 technology is expected to increase our market opportunity and speed our penetration of key emerging product categories, including mobile, HDTV, set-top boxes and digital still cameras. With this combination, we are executing on our strategy to deliver a seamless and simple digital media experience where any piece of content plays back on any kind of device, and formats and codecs are completely transparent to the end-user."

ShareConnector.com has closed its doors again following threats from Dutch anti-piracy foundation BREIN made directly to the administrator, Adi. The site offered ed2k links, which aided in finding files (or parts of files) on the eDonkey2000 network with software such as eMule. The site was first taken offline in December 2004 by law enforcement and Adi was arrested.

It was brought back online in December 2006. In August 2007 the criminal court ruled that linking can amount to complicity to criminal copyright infringement, but nevertheless acquitted Adi stating the prosecution had not provided sufficient evidence to reach a conviction. The prosecution appealed but it is not clear when this appeal will be heard.

A statistical sample taken by BREIN showed that 95% of the links offered on ShareConnector provided access to illegal content. BREIN claimed an injunction against Adi under forfeiture of a penalty sum of €5,000 per day as well as damages for past activities. When Adi did not respond to the claim, BREIN visited his home. Now ShareConnector.com reads..

"Last Monday the guys from BREIN visited me at home to convince me to close ShareConnector or else they will start a civil proceeding with a claim. Of course, this does not mean I agree with their point of view, it's just that I can't afford taking any risks. As of today, November 12, 2007 I decided to close down. If there is anything new to report, you will be informed. Thank you for all your support and understanding."

Thew heads of the global recording industry have traveled to Brussels to meet with EU Trade Commissioner, Peter Mandelson, to emphasize the piracy and market access problems faced by the music companies in China. The meeting comes ahead of the EU-China Summit in Beijing on 28th November, where online piracy will be on the agenda. European record companies see potential in China, but its market was worth only €56 million in trade revenues last year.

The delegation meeting with the trade commissioner blame China's internet piracy, estimated at over 99 per cent of the overall digital market. "When the recording industry tries to defend its copyrights against online piracy in China, it is blocked by a combination of heavy procedural rules, woefully low levels of damages and injunctions too narrow to prevent ongoing infringement. Chinese law has simply not kept pace with the explosion of online piracy," John Kennedy, CEO and Chairman of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI).

The delegation includes Mike Batt, Chairman of Dramatico Entertainment; Tim Bowen, Chief Operating Officer, Sony BMG Music Entertainment; JF Cecillon, Chairman & CEO, EMI Music International; Max Hole, President, Asian Pacific Executive VP Marketing and A&R, Universal Music Group International; and John Kennedy, Chairman & CEO of IFPI.

Indonesian authorities have closed several digital music download outlets after executing a series of raids around Jakarta. The action stemmed from evidence packages received from IFPI Asia Pacific and ASIRI, which represents the Indonesian recording industry. Two sophisticated illegal businesses that offered franchises specializing in the sale of copyright infringing music files were targeted.

They sold music files intended to be stored on mobile phones and other portable digital music-capable devices. Outlets like these are fairly widespread among Indonesian shopping malls. In the Jakarta area, officers targeted eight locations with raids believed to the tied to the two illegal operators, Download Mania and Download Station.

Among the locations raided was a main office where business records were held. So far the Indonesian authorizes have seized more than 60 computers, each holding an average of 28,000 illegal music files.

Source:
Press Release

The recording industry has challenged Yahoo Inc! to stop the "massively damaging abuse of intellectual property rights" by Yahoo! China. Yahoo! Inc. owns 44% of Yahoo! China through its investment in the Alibaba Group. The Chinese company has been in court in Beijing trying to contest a ruling that it facilitated mass music piracy through its specialised music service.

Yahoo! China was ruled liable for illegally providing links to copyright infringing music files in a landmark court decision in Beijing in April. Members of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) claims the site offers a bespoke music delivery service that enables and induces users to search for, play and download infringing music tracks for free without ever leaving Yahoo! China's website.

"It is incredible that the music industry should have to defend its rights in a Chinese court against a company in which an American corporate icon has such a large stake. Yahoo! Inc is one of the best-known international brands on the internet, which runs its own legitimate music services all over the world, including in Hong Kong and Taiwan. Yet in mainland China, Yahoo! Inc is investing in and profiting from the widespread breach of intellectual property rights," IFPI Chairman and CEO John Kennedy said.

We reported back in August that a Sydney man had been arrested for uploading the first known pirated copy of The Simpsons Movie which he had recorded using a mobile phone. Jose Duarte, 21, was fined $888 on Tuesday by a magistrate for breaching copyright. News Corp.'s Fox movie studios has tracked the pirate copy back to Duarts's home. Prosecutor Chuan Ng said the movie was downloaded 3,213 times in the few hours.

Duarte's lawyer said that he had attempted to upload the movie twice on its release date, July 26th, but that he was sure he failed. He tried to spread the copy of the movie many chorus before it was available in theaters across the world. "It would appear that this young man had the sophistication of a dead fish," the lawyer, Ken Stewart, said.

Steward added: "I have sat and spent time with this young man, ... and I am quite satisfied that he had no idea what he was doing." Duarte received a fine of 1,000 Australian dollars after pleading guilty to a charge of distributing copyright material in a Sydney Magistrates Court on Tuesday.

Source:
Yahoo (AP)

Cyberlink has announced cooperation with Samsung Electronics to include CyberLink PowerDirector with Samsung's SC-MX10 SD camcorder, and CyberLink DVD Suite with the HD camcorder SC-HMX10. PowerDirector is a video editing solution that will work well with the SC-MX10 camcorder, offering its users an easy solution to edit video content, with features allowing quick fixes to videos, as well as adding effects and styles.

CyberLink DVD Suite for Samsung SC-HMX10 includes PowerDVD for playback of high-definition video content and DVD movies on the PC, PowerDirector for editing high-definition video content, and PowerProducer for recording high-definition videos on DVDs and authoring discs.

"CyberLink's support of high-definition capturing, editing and playback lets Samsung camcorder users make the most of their high-definition videos," said Alice H. Chang, CEO of CyberLink. "With this first cooperation with Samsung camcorder products, CyberLink is providing the benefits of its solutions to a growing base of camcorder users worldwide."

Fujitsu Limited has announced development of the world's first embedded-FRAM LSI for digital TVs that enables simultaneous use of four-channel High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) connector port. Sample shipment of the new LSI, MB85RF402, started from November 12, 2007. It supports the HDMI connector interface specification standard for digital audio-visual equipment.

The chip combines on a single embedded FRAM chip the display data memory for four HDMI connector ports, which previously required separate memory for each port. Using this LSI in digital TVs enables high-speed factory programming of Extended Display Identification Data (EDID) display data, and in addition facilitates reduction of overall production costs by lessening the number of parts required and reducing mounting space that was previously necessary.

By combining on a single embedded-FRAM chip the display data memory for four HDMI connector ports, the new LSI can reduce the cost of digital TVs while preserving their versatility as the centerpiece of home entertainment systems. This new embedded-FRAM LSI from Fujitsu will be exhibited at the Embedded Technology 2007 tradeshow and conference to be held from November 14 - 16, 2007, at PACIFICO YOKOHAMA in Yokohama, Japan.

Lite-On is to offer a Blu-ray read-only (BD-ROM) drive for just €179 (USD$244). The Lite-On DH-4O1S uses the Serial ATA (SATA) interface to connect to compatible motherboards, and reads Blu-ray discs at up to 4X. The drive is also capable of reading DVD-R/RW, DVD+R/RW and CD-R(W) media. Single layer DVD±R is read at 12x, while dual layer DVD±R and DVD±RW IS READ AT 8x. CD-R(W) can be read at a maximum speed of 32X.

"With this BD-ROM drive we make the Blu-ray format available to a wider audience then ever before," says Jelmer Veldman, marketing manager for PLDS in Europe. "Because it is a read-only device, we are able to reduce the price to a level that it becomes more interesting to make that step to the next generation format. People can now enjoy high definition playback on their PC. And instead of spending hundreds of euros on a standalone Blu-ray player, one can use an HDMI cable to connect his/her PC with a TV-set and enjoy high definition using their BD-ROM drive as their Blu-ray playback device."

The European HD DVD Promotional Group is the latest of either side in the format war between HD DVD and Blu-ray disc to put out a press release highlighting its strengths over its rival. The group offered up figures from independent research group GfK which analyzed the number of movies purchased by owners of HD players (including games console hardware) in the UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy and Benelux countries.

The research showed that owners of HD DVD players have bought an average of 3.8 movies each, compared to a figure of 0.6 for Blu-ray. In Spain, the overall attach rate is highest, with owners of HD DVD hardware paying out for 5.7 movies, 14 times higher than the 0.4 figure for Blu-ray.

Specifically, in Italy the HD DVD attach rate is 4.4 and Blu-ray is 0.4. In France, HD DVD stands with a rate of 5 while Blu-ray stands with a rate of 0.6. In Benelux, Blu-ray has an attach rate of 0.4, compared to 2.9 for HD DVD. The Germans also have an attach rate of 2.9 for HD DVD while Blu-ray sits at 0.6 there and finally, in the UK, HD DVD owners have bought an average of 3.7 movies each, compared to 0.8 for Blu-ray.

The addition of support to play back DivX video or XviD video would be a significant boost to the Xbox 360 games console. Since it was launched, support for the MPEG-4-based video has been requested over and over again and rumors have turned out to be false. However, DivX CEO Kevin Hell made comments that have sparked rumors that DivX support will be added in a coming update.

During the SMid Cap conference call with investment firm JP Morgan, Hell was asked if a recent deal that would see DivX codecs shipped with Windows Media Extenders would mean DivX support for the Xbox 360 console; he replied with a "Yes." However, he went on to say that the deal was still in the negotiation process and has not been finalized.

DivX and particularly XviD video content is rampant on the Internet, and support for the video would no doubt drive up the number of users streaming video across a home network to the Xbox 360 console. However, if it were implemented on the basis that Windows Media Center is required, for most Xbox 360 owners it would be almost insulting. You can stream WMV content to the Xbox 360 console without MCE (under XP), and you can use TVersity to transcode and stream DivX / XviD or many many other formats on-the-fly.

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) said that Jammie Thomas has no basis to complain about the damages decided by a Jury when she was found guilty of illegally distributing 24 pirated tracks. Thomas was told to pay $222,000 to the record companies when the Jury decided on damages of $9,250 per song. The jury could have decided anywhere between $750 per song and $150,000 per song under the provisions of the copyright act.

Thomas filed a motion arguing that the damages were unconstitutionally excessive, and cited the UMG vs. Lindor case (which the RIAA claims is unrelated) in which testimony revealed that record labels make just 70c per song. Thomas wants the damages to be adjusted to what the labels can actually prove, otherwise they are "purely punitive" and statutory damages should be capped at 10 times the actual damages at most.

Defending the damages, the RIAA argues that statutory damages need not be tied to actual damages. "Defendant's argument that statutory damages must bear some reasonable relationship to actual damages has been considered, and rejected, by numerous courts," reads the reply. "Awards of statutory damages under the Copyright Act that fall within the limits set by Congress are for the jury to determine, whatever the amounts of actual damages (if any)."

Announced around the same time that Hulu launched its beta, NBC Direct has entered into beta now, and is already stirring up tech sites to point out everything that's wrong with it. Compared to Hulu, NBC Direct not only offers nothing more, it offers much less and for a more limited time. It carries under 20 shows, some of which only come in two minute digests, while Hulu carries content from NBC, Fox, E!, FUEL TV, SciFi channel, and USA Networks.

NBC Direct is only available through a Windows Media Player and Internet Explorer-enabled client and requires the latest .NET framework to be present. After a show airs, episodes can be downloaded for 48 hours, not a whole lot of time to provide viewers with an option to catch up.

The service offers no mobile support and any of the programs are available in a more convenient fashion with Hulu. It seems that much more work is needed on NBC Direct, which the company will no doubt be told time and time again from feedback of the beta.

Source:
Betanews

Swedish Prosecutor Håkan Roswall has revealed his intentions to file charges against the operators of the popular Pirate Bay BitTorrent site before January 1st, 2008. Five of the operators would be charged with crimes related to copyright infringement. Of the five, two are mentioned; administrator Brokep, or Peter Sunde and Carl Lundström.

The announcement comes after comments made earlier in the year in which Roswall vowed to target the Pirate Bay. The site's operators maintain that it is only a search engine, hosts absolutely no infringing content and operates completely compliant with Swedish copyright law.

Roswall hopes that a May 2006 raid, in which over 180 servers at the host of the Pirate Bay were seized, will provide enough evidence of criminal activity. However, a leak regarding the raid revealed that the Swedish police got little or no incriminating evidence against the service or its operators.

Responding to May 2007 comments, administrator Tobias Andersson explained that the police need to do something to save face. "Of course we don't think they will succeed," he said, "I think they feel they have to do it. It would look bad otherwise since they had 20 to 30 police officers involved in the raid … we will most likely be cleared as it is obvious that there is no copyrighted material on the site, there are just links to other places."

Following certification of AVCHD support in high-definition movie player software PowerDVD earlier this year, Cyberlink is now supporting the H.264-based format in its complete range of leading consumer software products. Along with playback, Cyberlink now offers applications to provide authoring and editing capabilities for the format. As a result, the Sony Test Center has now provided certification disc authoring software PowerProducer.

The Advanced Video 1080i and 720p video onto discs, with faster seek times and compression advantages over MPEG-2. As such, it is regarded as a superior choice for consumers looking to record and manipulate high definition (HD) video content.

"The AVCHD format delivers exceptional quality for the recording, storage and playback of high-definition video content," said Alice H. Chang, CEO of CyberLink. "Now with support for the AVCHD format across our leading software categories, we are able to offer a complete suite of products covering video editing, disc creation, and movie playback."

Pinnacle Systems, Inc., the consumer division of Avid Technology, Inc. has announced a new UPnP (Universal Plug n' Play) digital media adapter that enables users to link any home entertainment center with all of their networked PCs or network storage devices. The ShowCenter 250HD can be used with Windows Vista, Windows XP or Mac OS and is targeted at users with large digital media collections to stream to a home entertainment system.

The device has a built in Ethernet port, along with WiFi support (802.11b/g) to enable simple streaming from source network devices particular to HDTV sets. "The growth in the home theater and HDTV markets has created the need for a simple, cost-effective solution for linking PC-based digital media to a home entertainment system," said Tanguy Leborgne, Pinnacle Systems' Vice President of Worldwide Marketing.

Leborgne added: "PC users and home entertainment enthusiasts want to be able to have their friends and family join them in viewing their digital media collections on their large-screen home entertainment system, rather than in front of their PC. With Pinnacle ShowCenter 250HD, they can do that and more." Browsing through shared media is achieved by using a provided remote control.

Even though the amount of time involved is not very significant especially in the Japanese territory, gaming sites are reporting that Microsoft's Xbox 360 console managed to briefly pass out sales of Sony's PlayStation 3 (PS3). While Microsoft would hope that Japanese gamers have just warmed to the console suddenly, the logical reason for the jump in performance was Namco Bandai's Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation.

The title debuted at number two in the Japanese charts last week. According to data from Media Create, the Xbox 360 moved 17,673 units during the week, compared with just 3718 the week before that. In the same time, Sony moved 17,434 PS3 units, just 239 units short of the Xbox 360 figures. In the previous week, 18,785 PS3s were sold.

During the same period, the handheld consoles from Sony and Nintendo showed the lasting demand for both. The PlayStation Portable (PSP) sold 59,714 units and the Nintendo DS sold 78,597 units. The Wii console continued to leave its competitors watch it move further ahead, selling 37,617 units during the week.

Source:
GamesIndustry.biz

Nintendo has confirmed that DVD support will be added to Wii units, but unfortunately not in time for the holiday season. The delay has been blamed on the need to secure adequate Wii unit production for the holiday season to maximize sales performance. The addition of DVD functionality has been debated ever since the Wii console debuted in December 2006, but since then no "official" support has arrived.

In November 2006, Sonic Solutions claimed that the CinePlayer CE software would be used to playback DVD-Video content on the Wii console. Back then it claimed that the DVD-capable Wii would be released in the second half of 2007. According to the Q&A section of its Japanese Wii website, Nintendo did have this timeframe in mind.

Production restraints however got in the way of adding support for DVD. Additionally, the Q&A noted that the DVD licensing fees required to add support for the format were higher than previously expected by the company. It gave no indication as to when a DVD-enabled unit will arrive. "Sorry for the inconvenience, but please be patient," Nintendo pleaded.

Back in September, Prince let his plans known to target companies and sites including eBay, Pirate Bay and YouTube in a crusade against copyright infringement. Since then, the artist has enlisted the help of the Web Sheriff company to aid in his battle with the Internet. Recently he stirred up controversy by targeting unofficial fan sites with cease and desist letters which seek details on how he would be compensated.

Now it is being reported that Prince is lining up lawyers to take aim at the big fish, the Pirate Bay. As well as targeting the Pirate Bay itself, Web Sheriff will also target companies that advertise on the site. It also will reportedly investigate the Pirate Bay's compliance with Swedish and International tax regulations.

Prince's entourage had previously issued a statement explaining that they are not targeting fans for lawsuits, but instead are seeking out "phoney" sites. Prince Fans United (PFU), a site setup to defend the targeted fan sites dismissed the statement as "confusing, libelous and misleading".

Source:
The Register

Corel Corporation has announced the Ulead VideoStudio 11 Plus Power Pack, a free update to its consumer video editing and DVD authoring software. The new Power Pack enables users to enjoy the full benefits of HD when editing and viewing their favorite videos. The update offers a bunch of new features, including the ability to upload directly to YouTube from VideoStudio 11.

The update has added support for authoring Blu-ray Disc content, complete with interactive motion menus and to create AVCHD discs to play in Blu-ray players or the PlayStation 3 (PS3) video game console. Those who encode frequently will be interested in the added support for H.264 High Profile (HD) encoding, optimized for multi-core processors.

Support has also been added for the .TOD format (Native to JVC HD camcorders) as well as .m2ts and .mts files. Over 50 new set of menus, templates and graphics will be added with the update also.

TiVo Inc. is to bring back its lifetime service plan for the crucial holiday season. Its customers pay a monthly service charge currently, which when combined with the cost of the cable service, can be a drawback and a reason to settle for DVR's provided by Cable companies. However, amid reports that cable providers will be making DVRs incapable of skipping commercials, interest in TiVo is growing again.

TiVo's current monthly plan stands at $16.95 and a three-year pre-paid plan costs $299. It is behind reported that during the holiday season, TiVo will be offering a lifetime plan for a fee of $399. The plan, with time, could save customers a decent amount of money.

Another selling point for a TiVo DVR is the ability to expand its storage capacity and not have top worry too soon about how large your recorded library has grown.

Source:
DailyTech

The EMI Group has lived up to its threats and has sued online music industry executive Michael Robertson for copyright infringement on Friday. Robertson was the original founder of MP3.com, which ended up paying out $100 million to record companies to settle a similar case. Several EMI-owned labels have filed lawsuits against Robertson and MP3tunes LLC for willful infringement of copyright.

The company runs both mp3tunes.com and sideload.com. In an interview, Robertson said that he had not seen the lawsuit but that it was more than likely retaliation for a lawsuit MP3tunes filed against EMI in September over a take-down notice it received over sideload.com, a search engine for digital music files.

"These guys rush off to court and tell the court that I am terrible and then they end up buying my company," Robertson said. "It is really a shame because instead of using these technologies to improve their business they make an enemy of every technology company out there." Robertson's MP3.com was sold to Vivendi's Universal Music Group for $385 million.

EMI's complaint says that Robertson's two web sites offer an integrated music service, allowing users to listen to music on their computers, obtain copies of songs online, transfer music to their computers and portable devices, and distribute it to others. It claims that Robertson sold MP3.com and "ultimately started this one as a vehicle to achieve a comparable infringing purpose."

Less than a week after a Finnish school student, Pekka-Eric Auvinen, shot and killed six students and two members of staff at the Jokela school before fatally shooting himself, Finnish police officers arrested and detained another youth for making a similar threat on YouTube. The 16 year old had posted a video titled "Maaninka massacre" on YouTube, similar to what Auvinen did last week.

The boy, who lives in Maaninka, was arrested on Friday and his computer was confiscated. He claims that his video was only a joke; apparently he has not learned the concept of bad taste at just 16 years or age. Auvinen had made many disturbing YouTube videos and in the hours before his attack on his school, he posted a video titled "Jokela High School Massacre - 11/7/2007" on his YouTube channel.

Similar threats were made against schools in Kirkkonummi and Tuusula on Friday, forcing many students to leave school early. With the arrest of the 16 year old on Friday, Finnish authorities seem to be keeping a close eye on YouTube activity and activity on similar sites.

Putting copyright issues aside, sites like YouTube have had more than their fair share of controversy over how their services are being abused in this way. A good example is how a Mexican drug war found its way on to YouTube, where gang members posted extreme videos, often including footage of murder, to taunt their rivals and to provoke more violence.

John Kneuer, the man who's job it is to oversee the transition to all digital broadcasts in the United States as administrator of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), is to leave the post. He will resign this month to "pursue new opportunities", spokesman Todd Sedmak said on Friday.

Kneuer was named administrator of NTIA in May 2006 by President George W. Bush, and has made numerous appearances in recent months before committees on Capitol Hill to keep members of Congress updated on the transition to digital TV. His resignation comes amid growing concerns that the public is largely unaware that such a transition will take place.

On Feb. 18, 2009, millions of TV sets in use in the United States will be incapable of receiving digital signals. To fight this problem, the U.S. Congress committed $1.5 billion to the transition, but only earmarked $5 million for consumer education. The Government will provide U.S. households with two coupons worth $40 each which can be used to purchase digital-to-analog converter boxes.

The NTIA is administering the program. Sedmak said Kneuer's resignation will have no impact on the preparations for the transition. "We have the people and policies and programs in place for this project to be successful and all our other projects," he said. Until the White House nominates a replacement, Meredith Baker, deputy assistant secretary, will serve as acting NTIA administrator.

Over the past month, several anti-piracy operations in Brazil have targeted street pirates in market places. Three major operations were very successful, starting on October 5th, when authorities in the city of Farroupilha, in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, seized approximately one million blank optical units, 200 burners and computer notebooks valued at around $500,000 destined for pirates markets in Brazil.

The seized goods came from the border town of Rivera in Uruguay, which has become the new wholesale outlet for suspect blank optical media and burners. On October 15th, Brazilian authorities intercepted three so-called tourist buses coming from Ciudad de Este in Paraguay on a major highway used for shipping pirate goods in the tri-border. They seized a total of 210,000 CD-Rs and DVD-Rs containing pirated music and movies along with 185 burners and over $300,000 in computer notebooks.

Three people were detained in that operation. On October 18th, 18 search warrants were executed in the market of Galeria Pagé. A total of 105,000 DVDs and 18,300 CD-Rs were seized with illegal film and music products. This marks the third time in a year that Galeria Page was raided and APCM is looking into pursuing civil action against the owners of the market for permitting ongoing pirating activities.

A subsidiary of Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., which produces the Panasonic brand of consumer electronics products, has been searched by Japanese antitrust officials for evidence that it participated in a scheme to fix prices for cathode-ray tubes. Demand for traditional CRT televisions is dropping due to the increasing consumer interest in flat-panel televisions but CRT sales remain strong in developing countries.

Japan's Fair Trade Commission searched the Matsushita subsidiary MT Picture Display Co. Thursday, according to Matsushita spokesman Akira Kadota. He refused to comment on the reason the search was conducted. MT Picture Display, along with several other manufacturers in South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong, is expected of fixing prices according to a report by Nikkei.

The daily business paper said that antitrust officials in Japan, South Korea, the United States and the European Union are conducting investigations into the matter. Several large CE manufacturers, including Samsung SDI, are suspected of forming a cartel in 2005 to keep the price of CRTs from falling.

A judgment reached previously against mp3.ua, accused of copyright infringement, has been upheld by a Ukrainian court. The verdict obliges the site's operators, Internet Media File Ltd., to pay over US$70,000 in damages and an injunction granted against them will now be enforced. Internet Media File objected to the earlier verdict granting an injunction to IFPI member company HonestMusic.

HonestMusic noticed that mp3.ua was using 36 of its tracks without permission, allowing users to download them. UAMI, the IFPI-affiliated group that represents the recording industry in Ukraine, is working with the judiciary and law enforcement agencies with the aim to extend the injunction against mp3.ua to the repertoire of other IFPI member companies and to initiate the criminal investigation of mp3.ua and other sites in Ukraine.

"The Kiev Appeals Court verdict is a welcome and encouraging development for the music industry in Ukraine, where internet piracy virtually paralyses the development of a viable and legitimate online market for recorded music," Stefan Krawczyk, IFPI Deputy Regional Director for Europe said. "This judgment sets a precedent and will help us to ensure that Ukraine does not become a safe haven for the next generation of allofmp3.com-style illegal sites. It suggests that policymakers and the judiciary are waking up to the importance of policing intellectual property laws online."

The Russian Ministry of the Interior (MOI) announced details of a nationwide series of actions against music pirates last week, dubbed "Operation Counterfeit". It targeted production, storage, distribution and retail outlets of counterfeit CD and DVD pirates throughout the Russian Federation. All divisions and sub-divisions of the Economic Crime Police participated in the actions between 22nd and 29th October 2007.

Over 3.7 million pirate discs containing film and music repertoire of both international and Russian origin were seized after visits and raids on approximately 29,670 premises. The estimated retail value of the recovered product was 147 million roubles (US$6 million). In addition, 1,127 criminal cases and 4,270 administrative cases for summary offences were initiated throughout the Russian Federation.

"'Operation Counterfeit' has generated wide-scale publicity in Russia and it is hoped that such action, coming shortly before the busy Christmas period, will deter the expected increase in pirate sellers of both music and movies," said Nick Roberts, Senior International Investigator for IFPI's Anti-Piracy Enforcement team.

Verbatim Corp. has shown off the first color-background Lightscribe blank DVDR's to the market, offering a background shade of red, orange, yellow, blue and green to serve as an alternative to the original gold background. The company, which has the widest variety of Lightscribe media available, will begin selling the new discs in packs of 25 in Q4 2007, with 5 discs for each new color.

The richly colored DVDRs are produced using LightScribe Media Version 1.2 coating technology on the label side for enhanced image contrast and faster label printing. With a rainbow of background colors to choose from, consumers and businesses can burn customized LightScribe labels for their videos and multimedia presentations that will give them a more professional look.

According to HP, approximately 50M LightScribe-enabled drives are currently installed and that number is growing at 4 to 5 million per month. By combining Verbatim's LightScribe DVDRs with these drives, consumers can use the same optical disc drive laser to burn content on the data side of the disc and to produce silkscreen-quality black text and graphics labels on the label side of the discs.

Polish police have taken a so called "topsite" server offline, which allegedly was used to distributed music illegally before its street release date. An album typically achieves the bulk of its sales in the first few weeks of its release and the record industry claims that the widespread availability of its tracks on the internet beforehand can dramatically undermine those sales.

Police shut down the HPN server during a raid at Wroclaw Technical University. The police also visited the HPN administrator’s home and have, in total, confiscated six servers with 37 hard drives containing 12 terabytes of disk space. Two people have been arrested and they are helping the police with their inquiries.

The hosted more than 11,000 complete MP3 albums and promotional CDs on its server for users to download. Investigators at IFPI, the body that represents the recording industry worldwide, ZPAV, which represents the recording industry in Poland, and anti-piracy group FOTA gathered evidence and drew the secretive HPN server to the attention of the Economic Crime Division of the Wroclaw Police who have subsequently conducted the raids and begun to question suspects.

Cyberlink Corp. has launched CyberLink DVD Suite 6, advertising it as a complete package of retail software for playing movies, editing videos, burning and backing up data, copying and authoring discs. With the adoption of blue-laser, high-definition formats growing, the DVD Studio 6 retail package now comes in three different flavors.

CyberLink DVD Suite 6 Essential
This version is geared toward those who are new to digital media and so leaves out some of the features of the other two. This package includes...

• PowerDVD for movie playback
• PowerProducer for authoring videos onto discs
• Power2Go for easy drag-and-drop burning of all types of media files
• PowerBackup for archiving application data and files to discs
• InstantBurn for using a Blu-ray Disc, HD DVD or DVD as a secondary hard disk-like storage device
• MediaShow for creating photo slideshows
• PowerDVD Copy for duplicating non-protected DVDs and shrinking video content onto discs
• LabelPrint for creating disc labels and cover inlays
• PowerStarter for accessing tasks and updating software

• All Essential package features
• PowerDirector for automatic video editing
• PowerProducer for authoring videos onto discs (with Dolby 5.1ch support)
• PowerBackup for archiving application data and files to discs (incl. additional archiving features)
• Power2Go for easy drag-and-drop burning of all types of media files (with addition password protection support)

• All Pro package features
• PowerDVD for movie playback (supports Blu-ray and HD DVD)
• Power2Go for easy drag-and-drop burning of all types of media files (supports Blu-ray and HD DVD)
• PowerProducer for authoring videos onto discs (supports Blu-ray and HD DVD)
• PowerDirector for automatic video editing (with support for HD video and the full range of video effects and design templates.

Four people were questioned on suspicion of illegally uploading music on the Internet in Italy, following a raid a raid near Milan. Along with facing criminal charges, the suspects were also handed an administrative fee of €12 million (approximately US$17.6M), levied under Article 174 of the Italian Copyright Act.

Officers from the Guardia di Finanza di Milano took part in Operation Genux which saw the arrest of four individuals aged between 30 and 45 in the town of Melgnano. They had been sharing more than 120,000 files containing copyright infringing music using the DirectConnect peer-to-peer service.

The raid led to the seizure of six computers, seven external hard discs and more than 2,300 CD-Roms, containing music from artists such as U2 and Madonna, and expensive software such as Vista retail discs. "This operation sends a very clear signal that the Italian authorities will not tolerate the mass uploading of copyright infringing material onto the internet," Enzo Mazza, Chairman of FIMI, said.

Mazaa added: "People are wrong to think they are anonymous when they post material onto peer-to-peer networks. In fact they can be located and legal action brought against them. The administrative fines levied in this case show that abusing copyright on a grand scale can be an extremely costly business."