News written by James Delahunty (July, 2007)

Sony Corp. has made some changes to its Xplod head units through the XAV-W1 which may bring joy to some customers. In a first, the W1 is a Super AudioCD (SACD) player and the first large visual jukebox designed for a car by the company. Owners with compatible audio systems can listen to music in 5.1 surround. Stereo audio is available for regular CD audio and digital files (MP3, WMA etc.)

The optical disc drive also supports the DVD format, making it possible watch DVD-Video titles on the unit's 7-inch built in touchscreen. A user can also connect an iPod or add tuners for HD Radio or Satellite Radio. The system should become available this month for $800.

Super AudioCD (SACD) is an optical audio storage standard that competes against DVD-Audio in a format war in the market for higher-fidelity digital audio than that provided by regular CD Audio. SACD has a huge advantage in that most SACD titles are hybrid discs capable of also being played in a regular CD player.

Source:
Electronista

A questionable lawsuit has been filed against Apple Inc. by Larry Drury, an Illinois lawyer, on behalf of Jose Trujillo, alleging that the company defrauded Trujillo by failing to reveal details about the iPhone battery. Drury claims that Apple failed to reveal that the iPhone battery was not user-replaceable and that it would die after 300 charges. To get a new battery for an iPhone, you have to send it back to Apple at a cost of $85.95.

"This case arises out of Defendants' purposeful and fraudulent concealment to purchasers of its iPhone cellular telephone that they will be required to incur an annual fee of $85.95 as part of Defendants' battery replacement program," the complaint reads. It goes on to say that, "the iPhone battery has a durability and/or lifetime of approximately 300 charges, necessitating frequent and more than annual maintenance, repair, and/or replacement if charged regularly on a daily basis."

When the iPhone launched, Apple said that the battery would start to "lose capacity" after about 300 or 400 charges. However, the company is referring to charge cycles, which is basically a completely drained battery then charged up fully. Apple defines proper maintenance as "at least one charge cycle per month." Also, the battery won't be completely useless after 400 charges. Apple's website says that the battery will retain up to 80% of its original capacity at 400 full charge and discharge cycles.

The U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) will not be intervening in Atlantic v. Boggs - a lawsuit brought against defendant Michael Boggs for allegedly sharing music without permission - as the RIAA and Boggs have agreed to dismiss the action with prejudice. The DoJ was deciding whether or not to intervene in the case as Boggs filed a counterclaim seeking a declaratory judgment that the damages sought by the RIAA ($750 per track) were unconstitutionally excessive.

Last November, defendant Marie Lindor accused the RIAA of seeking excessive damages. The judge presiding over that case (Universal v. Lindor) allowed Lindor to argue that the actual damages suffered by the record companies was around 70c per track, which is about what record companies make from each music download sale.

The record companies attempted to block Lindor from attempts to gain access to the wholesale price per track, saying it was highly confidential data. However, a lawyer for Universal later said that 70c per track was in the correct range. When Michael Boggs challenged the constitutionality of the statutory damages section of the Copyright Act in his counterclaim, the DoJ filed a motion asking the court to allow it 60 days to decide whether to intervene in the case.

Eight Mile Style LLC and Martin Affiliated LLC have sued Apple Inc. over the distribution of tracks by rapper Eminem through its iTunes music store. The issue is whether or not Apple is distributing tracks from the artist with or without his permission. Universal Studios distributes Eminem's albums, but Eight Mile Style LLC and Martin Affiliated LLC own the publishing rights and copyright so the tracks.

"Eight Mile and Martin have demanded that Apple cease and desist its reproduction and distribution and Apple has refused," the complaint reads according to The Detroit News. Experts say that there is currently a larger dispute within the industry itself about whether music publishers, who actually own the copyrights to music and not the labels, should have the final say on how it is used online.

This is not the first time that the controversial rapper and Apple have disputed. Back in 2004, an iPod/iTunes commercial used the track "Lose Yourself" despite the fact that Eminem had declined licensing it to the company. Apple went ahead and used the song anyway.

Source:
Betanews

Sharp Corp. has revealed plans to spend up to $3.2 billion on a new liquid-crystal display (LCD) factory as part of a new flat-panel industrial park currently in plans. The electronics maker wants to create a "manufacturing complex for the 21st century," and is inviting other component manufacturers to participate. According to a statement from the company, the plan is to reduce distribution costs, help in production planning and promote collaboration.

Asahi Glass Co., a manufacturer of the glass known as substrate used to make LCDs, plans to participate in the center along with Dai Nippon Printing Co., which manufactures color filters. Corning Inc., a larger glass substrate maker than Asahi Glass Co., also plans to construct facilities at the center.

The factory will be located at the city of Sakai, located in the southern part of Osaka prefecture. Work is set to begin in November and the center will begin production in 2010.

Source:
Yahoo (AP)

Apple Inc.'s iTunes download store has sold over 3 billion legal music downloads since the service first launched in April 2003. This latest milestones comes six months after Apple announced it had sold 2 billion songs in total. It has reached its first billion sales by February 2006. Its success earned it the title of the third largest music retailer in the U.S., behind Wal-Mart and Best Buy Co.

The NPD Group determined this ranking based on units sold and not on revenues. The firm counted every 12 tracks purchased online as being the equivalent of an album bought on a physical CD. The success of the iTunes store relies heavily on Apple's iPod line-up.

Back in April, the company announced that it had sold 100 million iPods. Due to DRM restrictions, music bought from the iTunes music store (unless DRM-free at a premium rate) can only be played back on an iPod, making it the only legitimate, fully authorized resource for iPod owners to get major label music online.

Source:
Yahoo (AP)

LightScribe has announced that an additional 12 hardware brands, personal computer and optical drive manufacturers, media brands and disc publishing systems manufacturers have licensed its direct disc labeling technology, bringing the total number to over 80 hardware and software companies now licensed to use the technology.

Apricorn, Ativa, Gear Head, and Sony; personal computer manufacturer MESH Computers; optical disc drive manufacturer Sony NEC Optiarc; media brands Ativa, Intenso, KODAK Media Products, and Vakoss; and disc publishing systems manufacturers Advanced Digital Research, Amtren, and Mexty Productions are among the latest to license the technology.

The growing base of disc publishing systems manufacturers represents growing application of LightScribe products in the small-to-medium business (SMB) market. Over 40 million LightScribe-enabled drives and 150 million CDs and DVDs have shipped to date. Additionally, LightScribe-enabled drive shipments account for 17% of all DVD burners manufactured
on a monthly basis.

"Recent customer research shows LightScribe in use by business and consumers alike," said Kent Henscheid, marketing manager for LightScribe. "Frequent users of optical media are particularly appreciative of LightScribe media's professional look and prefer it over other labeling methods."

Cyberlink Corp. has announced significant performance gains for playing, analyzing, and producing high-quality video content using CyberLink's leading applications, PowerDVD Ultra and PowerDirector, on systems featuring the Intel Core 2 Quad processors. The company claims the optimization improved frame-rate performance by up to 66% using PowerDVD Ultra and PowerDirector improved editing and transcoding times by up to 68%.

"The Intel Core 2 Quad processors deliver the world-class performance and energy efficiency to meet the needs for applications today and the future," said Jason Chen, country manager of Intel Taiwan. "Intel is excited to see consumers will be able to enjoy the outstanding multimedia experiences by running CyberLink's applications on Intel Core 2 Quad processor-based PCs."

"The ability to edit and play high-quality video requires a lot of processing power," said Alice H. Chang, CEO of CyberLink. "With CyberLink's optimization for Intel's advanced quad-core processors, PowerDVD and PowerDirector ensure fast production, smooth playback, and superb results."

Source:
Press Release

The International record industry reacted to a recent decision by the UK Government not to press the European Commission to extend the term of copyright protection. As expected, the industry's important people had released statements to the press about the decision, which they found shocking and unfair to recording artists and companies alike. Here are some of the notable responses.

"The UK is a world-beating source of great music, so it is frustrating that on the issue of copyright term the Government has shown scant respect for British artists and the UK recording industry. Some of the greatest works of British music will soon be taken away from the artists who performed them and the companies that invested in them. Extending copyright term would promote vital investment in young talent and new music, all of which will help to secure the UK’s future as an exciting music market."
John Kennedy, International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), Chairman & CEO

"This was a test of Government support for British music which it has failed. Ministers appear to have selective hearing on this issue – they have ignored the views of artists and their union, managers, record labels and now even a Parliamentary Select Committee. Opposition MPs and many Labour backbenchers understand the value of fair copyright and support term extension. We will continue to put forward the strong case for fair copyright in Europe. It is profoundly disappointing that we are forced to do so without the backing of the British Government."
Geoff Taylor, Chief Executive, British Phonographic Industry (BPI).

Read more...

Italian anti-piracy police have targeted an illicit distribution network operating in Catania, Sicily. While the amount of pirated goods seized totaled around 2,000 CDs and DVDs, the police officers found some other nice gadgets too. They included eight guns, five rifles, ammunition for rifles and machine guns, two kilograms of TNT and bomb making equipment.

The raids were carried out by Officers from the First GdF Operational Unit of Catania. Several stolen archaeological treasures were also uncovered. Police arrested two men and are now investigating the connection between them and members of criminal organizations closely linked to notorious mafia families.

This particular case has appeared on some anti-piracy websites, even though the number of pirated goods seized are easily beaten in an average anti-piracy raid. However, it was the other activity that was also going on that makes it such attractive news for an industry that has been talking about links between piracy and organized crime and also terrorism, for years.

Source:
Press Release

U.S. online video syndication firm Brightcove has announced deals with content providers in the UK to carry video clips on its Web site. Some of the deals struck include online versions of magazines Heat, Nuts and Elle UK. The deals will enable companies like British media group Emap Plc's Heat magazine to run advert-supported videos on its www.heatworld.com Web site. Brightcove also stuck a deal with Sony BMG.

The deals with Brightcove, which follow similar agreements with U.S. companies, come as media companies attempt to lure readers online and take advantage of the lucrative Internet video advertising market. Brightcove Chief Executive Jeremy Allaire said advertising around online video allowed marketers to target niche online audiences through high-quality brand-building adverts that are usually reserved for TV broadcasting.

"(Online video) is a huge priority. Consumers are spending more time on the Internet and the ad dollars are going there so (media companies) have to figure out what are the compelling products to offer through that environment," Allaire said. "Also broadband video advertising is operating at a significant premium right now so if you can deliver media products into the TV advertising space online you can achieve significant premiums."

While it is (or really should be) common sense not to use a mobile phone or MP3 player - or any other electrical gadget - outside during a storm or in rain, there has been a rise in reported injuries as a result of such use. However, sometimes the danger is not clear. Last summer, Jason Bunch, 18, Colorado, was outside mowing the lawn and listening to his iPod while a storm was off in the distance.

Even though it wasn't raining and the storm was far off, lightning struck a nearby tree and thanks to his iPod and headphones, he suffered hearing damage in both ears, burns from the earphone wires on the sides of his face, a nasty burn on his hip where the iPod had been in a pocket and burns up along his side of his body where the earphones cord had been "outside" his t-shirt.

"It's going to hit where it's going to hit, but once it contacts metal, the metal conducts the electricity," said Dr. Mary Ann Cooper of the American College of Emergency Physicians and an ER doctor at University of Illinois Medical Center at Chicago. Another, more serious case occurred when a man was jogging and listening to his iPod.

The 39 year old dentist from the Vancouver area ended up in a thunderstorm. Witnesses saw lightning hit a tree a couple of feet away which jumped to his body. He suffered second degree burns where the iPod had been strapped to his chest and up the sides of his neck. It ruptured both ear drums, dislocated tiny ear bones that transmit sound waves, and broke the man's jaw in four places.

Lionsgate Entertainment Corp. revealed on Wednesday that it has made an investment in online video sharing site Break.com. While the Vancouver-based studio did not reveal any financial terms officially, it is believed the company invested $21 million in stock for a 42% stake in the company. Break.com first opened in 1998, surviving the dotcom boom that took out so many web businesses shortly after.

Lionsgate said that the deal was struck to allow the company to distribute its content and promote its upcoming movies and TV series on Break's online video entertainment channel. Michael Burns, Lionsgate vice chairman said the company plans to leverage its intellectual property "that we have never monetized," like behind-the-scenes footage, deleted scenes and trailers.

"Lionsgate's tremendous arsenal of cutting-edge content and its commitment to innovative growth in the digital space make it the perfect partner," Break CEO Keith Richman said. Lionsgate also has a 20% stake in CinemaNow and said it doesn't expect Break.com to be its last digital investment.

Source:
Yahoo (Reuters)

According to the European HD DVD Promotional Group, the Toshiba-developed HD DVD format is performing significantly better than the Blu-ray disc format in Europe, at least with regard to stand-alone sales. Citing research from market research group GfK, the HD DVD group claims to be currently holding a 74% market share in Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Switzerland.

The HD DVD group, which is led by Toshiba but includes many other big players like Microsoft Corp. and Warner Bros., did not give specific figures of units it has shipped to European retailers. It is clear however, that the figures do not include either gaming consoles (PlayStation 3) or console add-ons (Xbox 360 HD DVD drive).

Toshiba's HD-E1 HD DVD player currently sells for to €399 in Europe. Sony's BDP-S1E European version sells for prices starting around €900 in Europe. The cheapest way to invest in Blu-ray equipment in Europe right now is to buy a PS3 console. For those with an Xbox 360, the HD DVD add-on the easiest way to invest in that format.

Sony Corp. has revealed at E3 that it will attempt to increase its competition with Nintendo's DS Lite handheld console by offering a slimmer model of the PlayStation Portable (PSP) in September. Both the PSP and DS were launched in late 2004 but the DS console has performed the best of both, with sky rocketing sales recently.

"From a distance, this PSP might not look very different from the current model ... but when you have it in your hand, the difference becomes quite clear," Sony Computer Entertainment Chief Executive Kazuo Hirai said. "It's actually 33 percent lighter than the current PSP. It's also 19 percent slimmer."

Nintendo sold 23.6 million DS units in the year ended March 2007, outpacing PSP shipments of 8.4 million. The PlayStation Portable (PSP) uses UMD games and offers excellent graphics as well multimedia features allowing photos, music and videos to be played using the device, among many other excellent features.

The DS handheld has two screens, opens like a book, and allows the user to control most games using a stylus and/or a normal keypad. The slimmer version of the PSP will go on sale for $170, the current price of the PSP. Nintendo's DS Lite sells for $130.

Australian record companies and recording artists are set to benefit from a decision handed down in the Copyright Tribunal in Australia that demands a "better deal" from Nightclubs and dance parties. The Tribunal has approved an application by the Phonographic Performance Company of Australia (PPCA) for an increase in music license fees paid to artists and record labels by dedicated nightclub venues and commercially organized dance parties.

In the first comprehensive review of this tariff ever undertaken by the Copyright Tribunal, the Tribunal has lifted rates for licensed sound recordings played in nightclubs from 7 cents per person to $1.05 cents per person. The dance party rate rises from 20 cents to $3.07 cents per person. The decision follows a two week long case before the Tribunal (headed by a Federal Court judge) which heard expert economic evidence on the value of the licensed music played in nightclubs and at dance parties.

"An increase in these tariffs is long overdue and will help compensate artists who create the product which is the foundation of the nightclub and dance party industries. Artists are entitled to a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work and this will go some way towards compensating us for our creative output." PPCA Board member and Mondo Rock musician Paul Christie said.

Microsoft Corp. has revealed that it has no plans to respond to Sony's PlayStation 3 (PS3) price cut with cuts for its Xbox 360 console. Ever since Sony dropped $100 from the price of the 60GB version of the PS3 in the United States on Monday, rumors have been rampant that Microsoft will follow suit and drop its own console prices. The new $500 price for the PS3 is just $20 more than the Xbox 360 Elite price.

However, Microsoft won't reduce prices because it firmly believes there is no need to. The company is confident in the line-up of Xbox 360 game titles compared to the line-up for the PS3 for the rest of the year, and believes consumers have more incentive to buy an Xbox 360 from the games coming for the platform.

"We have no desire, no need, to react to anything the competition has done," Shane Kim, head of Microsoft Games Studios. "We feel really great about the Xbox 360 momentum right now. Customers are voting with their wallets, it's not just about console units. We feel great about how we're doing."

He denied that the defiance to lower prices for now is related to the company's intention to make the Xbox business profitable in its 2008 fiscal year. "It's really not about meeting the profitability goals. We feel very confident that we'll meet the profit goals with our strategy that is already in place," Kim said.

Google's policy on the uploading of copyright protected videos to its services has been heavily criticized by the National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC). The group released a list of the top 50 videos it found on the Google Video search engine, uploaded by users who might be guilty of copyright infringement. Among the list were hits such as Michael Moore's Sicko, Walt Disney Pictures' Cars and Meet the Robinsons, Picturehouse's Pan's Labyrinth and episodes of HBO's Da Ali G Show.

All of the above titles were apparently easily found using Google's Video search utilities. "It's difficult to know for sure whether all of the content included in the top 50 list is being hosted in violation of copyright laws -- NLPC makes no assertions," chairman Ken Boehm said. "But it's a reasonable assumption that much of the content has been uploaded without the copyright owner's knowledge or approval."

The group's intention is to raise awareness of piracy online. "We realize that this is probably a drop in the bucket in ferreting out copyrighted content among the millions of videos posted on Google Video, YouTube and other popular video sites," Boehm said. "But we hope that our efforts serve as a resource for copyright owners to check if their content is on the sites without their knowledge or approval."

Microsoft's video download service for the Xbox 360 console got a significant boost on Wednesday with the addition of hit titles from Disney. The titles added include the animated hit "Aladdin" and the action title "Armageddon," and they can now be downloaded from the Xbox Live Video Marketplace. The video download service already offers content from more than two dozen providers.

The new Disney additions, which are available in high-definition, can be downloaded by U.S. subscribers of the Xbox Live service. This new agreement with Disney-ABC Domestic Television will also allow Xbox 360 owners to rent films on demand as they become available from Walt Disney Pictures, Touchstone Pictures, Miramax Films and Hollywood Pictures.

Right now, Xbox Live has about 7 million members. The Xbox 360 console has sold about 5.6 million and 11.6 million worldwide by the end of June, missing the worldwide target of 12 million.

Source:
Yahoo (AP)

Rumors have been circulating about Apple Inc.'s plans once again for future tech gadgets. A patent recently filed by the iPod-maker seemed to suggest that the company was intending to introduce a Nano-style iPhone at some point. To add some authenticity to the rumors, JP Morgan analyst Kevin Chang cites unnamed sources in the supply channel that are backing up the original rumors associated with the patent filing.

It indicates that the device would be a smaller, cheaper verison of the iPhone that uses an input system like the iPod click-wheel instead of the touchscreen. Chang goes further however to suggest that the device could replace the current iPod Nano's on the market.

"We believe that iPod Nano will be converted into a phone because it's probably the only way for Apple to launch a lower end phone without severely cannibalizing iPod Nano," Chang is quoted as predicting. If the rumor is true, then it indicates that Apple is looking to break into the lower end in order to gain market share. Apple has always targeted the margin-rich higher-end of the spectrum.

While the company's iPhone enjoyed an excellent launch and a massive amount of publicity, its sales will be limited to a small percentage of the market due to its high price tag. In the United States, consumers tend to spend around $100 on a phone. Apple's iPhone comes in two models, a 4GB model for $499 and an 8GB model for $599.

Looking to become a bigger player in the video revolution, Microsoft Corp. is placing its bets on its LiveStation service. LiveStation is a Web TV service created by the Redmond-based software giant in co-operation with a software company called Skinkers. Its goal is to offer high quality live TV content on a PC or other computing device, making it an alternative to Joost and YouTube which offer pre-recorded content.

LiveStation allows programming from a PC to be shared with other devices like a set-top box, and eventually a mobile phone. "As far as we can tell, the average user doesn't care to watch TV on their cell phone, but that might change with the iPhone," noted Rob Enderle, president of the San Jose-based Enderle Group. He admitted however that watching video on a laptop while traveling is common and that there have been products doing well in that area.

Beta tests of LiveStation are already underway in the UK, using live content from the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). CBS Television Stations announced in April that it would adopt Silverlight, which is the technology underlying LiveStation, for its Web TV initiative that is expected to launch later this year.

Hisense and Metalink Ltd. today announced their collaboration to offer innovative and cost-effective solutions for delivering high-definition (HD) multimedia over wireless home networks. Hisense selected Metalink's 802.11n-compliant WLANPlus technology to enable the wireless transmission of multiple HD TV streams from a centrally-located DTVs, PVRs and STBs to any room in the house.

Metalink's WLANPlus chipset family is a best-in-breed technology for wireless delivery of video-grade content in the home network environment, supporting up to 300Mbps transmission speeds using both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequency bands. The WLANPlus chipset family offers more than twice the reach of competing 802.11n solutions due to its implementation of a Maximum Likelihood (ML) decoder combined with advanced Forward Error Correction (FEC) scheme and the use of Low Density Parity Check (LDPC) technology.

"Last year, Hisense had 15% of the TV flat screen market in China, the highest market share among the Chinese Manufacturers. Our customers are demanding Wi-Fi as the enabling technology for advanced TV applications," said Dr. Li YuJun, Director of R&D at Hisense. "Our investigation has confirmed that Metalink's technology is the best wireless solution for such applications. By integrating Metalink's WLANPlus into our PVRs and STBs, our customers can take full advantage of their HD multimedia content, broadcasting a variety of programs to multiple devices throughout the home. We are pleased to work together with Metalink to incorporate this technology into our next-generation consumer electronics devices."

Well known game developer, Konami, has come along to put a downer on Sony's recently announced $100 price cut for the PlayStation 3 (PS3) console. Kazumi Kitaue, head of Konami's North American and European operations, is not convinced that the damage done by the high price tag of the PS3 will be reversed that easily and hinted that the highly anticipated title, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, will be released on alternative platforms.

"I wonder if Sony can win back user support by the price cut of just $100," said Kitaue. "I don't expect a substantial impact... With $500, you can buy a personal computer." Metal Gear Solid 4 is currently a PS3 exclusive, with the game brand itself debuting on the PlayStation platform. It has been rumored for many weeks now that a version of the game will be released for the Xbox 360 console too.

"Since Metal Gear was born on the PlayStation, we would like to keep it a PlayStation game. But we might have to take some steps," Kitaue said.

Source:
GamesIndustry.biz

In what Joost would consider the next step in growing its online video service, a new partnership with VH1 means that a new scripted comedy series "I Hate My 30s" will premiere on the P2P-driven video service. The first season of the show will be available exclusively on the upstart Internet TV service on July 16. This means it will be available through Joost 10 days before its scheduled broadcast premiere.

"This is exactly the kind of partnership we would like to have with content owners," said Yvette Alberdingk Thijm, executive VP content strategy and acquisition at Joost. "We see this as Phase 2 in creating value with content owners." Viacom Inc., which owns VH1, is an investor in Joost after joining the likes of CBS Corp., Sequoia Capital, the Li Ka-Shing Foundation and Index Ventures in a $45 million round of funding announced in May.

The deal also means that Joost is moving toward direct competition with services such as Apple's iTunes and Microsoft's Xbox Live Video Marketplace. Joost also has deals with Warner Music Group, Turner Broadcasting and Sony Pictures Television.

Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA) has made a smart move on Monday by dropping the retail price of its PlayStation 3 (PS3) console by $100, to $499, in the United States. The move comes just two days ahead of the E3 games conference in Santa Monica, California. The PS3, which features a 60GB hard disk drive (HDD), has had a very shaky start since last year's launch in North America, marred by poor sales performance and production problems.

The price drop puts the PS3 price just $20 ahead of Microsoft's most expensive Xbox 360 model (Elite). "Our initial expectation is that sales should double at a minimum," Jack Tretton, chief executive of Sony Computer Entertainment America, said in an interview. "We've gotten our production issues behind us on the PlayStation 3, reaching a position to pass on the savings to consumers, and our attitude is the sooner the better."

Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter does not believe the price drop will double hardware sales, but could instead reach increases of about 50%, to 120,000 units per month. While a great improvement, it would still look bad in comparison to the sales performance of Nintendo's Wii console, which still only costs half the price of the PlayStation 3.

While the hardware and disc sales of both HD DVD and Blu-ray are nothing to write home about just yet, Warner Home Video is already preparing to roll out "best of HD DVD" and "best of Blu-ray" boxes that will include the most popular titles on the formats to date. There will be three volumes released for each format, holding four movies per box with a street price of $84.99, a 30% discount over the price of combined titles.

The volume one "best of" boxes for both formats include Lethal Weapon, Road Warrior, Swordfish and Training Day. The Last Samurai, The Phantom of the Opera, Troy and Unforgiven are part of the Volume 2 set for on HD DVD while the Blu-ray box exchanges Troy for The Fugitive. The Volume 3 sets for both formats include Blazing Saddles, The Departed, Goodfellas and Superman, The Movie.

"This is a way to give consumers the opportunity to buy some of our most popular titles as a kind of starter kit," said Steve Nickerson, Warner Home Video senior VP of market management. "Here's a group of movies that we know from sales most people are buying. The idea is to offer consumers an easy way to purchase movies—there is a value there."

DirecTV's missions to dramatically "expand HD programming for millions of DirecTV customers nationwide and establish DirecTV as the industry's HD pace-setter," kicked off yesterday when DirecTV 10 satellite soared into space. After the spacecraft is maneuvered into a circular orbit at 103 degrees West longitude and tests are completed, it is expected to begin operations in early September, delivering the first of up to 100 national HD channels by year-end.

The DirecTV 10 satellite's powerful transponder payload includes spot beam capacity that will enable DirecTV to expand its local HD channel services to up to 75 markets this year. "With the successful launch of our DirecTV 10 satellite, we are, to borrow a phrase, boldly going where no TV service has gone before - a new world of up to 100 HD channels and a viewing experience unmatched in the multichannel video marketplace," said Derek Chang, executive vice president, Content Development and Strategy, DirecTV, Inc.

He added: "We congratulate the Boeing and ILS teams on a flawless launch as we begin the next countdown to September when the first of our new HD channels will be available to our customers." DirecTV has agreements in place to rollout multiple HD channels from top content providers such as Disney, Discovery Communications, A&E Television Networks, HBO, Fox, Turner, NBC Universal, Showtime Networks, Starz and Scripps Networks, among others.

Sharp has announced that it is talking to about 30 countries about its dual-mode mobile TV chip, the . The company touts the chip as a "world's first" as it is capable of supporting two rival mobile TV standards used in Europe - DVB-H and T-DMB. Sharp plans to increase its production capacity for the chip to 2 million units a month – up from its current capability of around 300,000 units a month.

However, South Korean electronics giant Samsung also has its eyes fixed on that market and even has products already that can beat Sharp's offering. It has developed a multi-standard decoder, the S3C4F31, and multi-band RF tuner, S5M8602, chipset which supports multiple digital mobile TV standards. At the time, both chips were among the first to use 65nm processing.

The list of supported standards includes both DVB-H (for mobile phones) and DVB-T (regular digital TV) plus T-DMB. It also includes support for DAB-IP which is used in the UK by Virgin for the Movio service and ISDB-T 1, which is popularly known as One-Seg and is used in Japan. Other rivals watching the market include Freescale, Broadcom and Philips.

As time goes on, the number of file sharers is continuing to rise. While the numbers on the most popular P2P networks might be falling (or staying flat), interest in software such as BitTorrent is not failing to grow. As for those who have been casual music downloaders, BitTorrent - with a lot of support behind it - is starting to drag them towards downloading movies, including pre-release copies.

While movies have been available online for years and many millions of file sharers have been downloading them, the focus for many more is changing from music to movies and TV shows quickly as they discover BitTorrent and abandon the older, slower methods. The RIAA has tried to reduce the level of music sharing online, but even on the file sharing networks which have been hammered by lawsuits, the level stayed just about about flat over the past year.

"There have been years when we have seen double-digit percentage growth," Eric Garland, cofounder and CEO of BigChampagne, told Ars. "Compared to that, the last 12 months have been rather flat." BigChampagne notes that the average torrent had 817,588 people participating in May 2006, now that figure had jumped to 1,357,318 seeders and leechers, a growth of about 66%.

Google Inc.'s YouTube service has been told to remove over 100 videos from most popular guitar teacher on the site. In all, about 100 videos were removed at the request of a record company. Since the instructor used part of a Rolling Stones song in one of his videos, he was accused of copyright infringement. Two men are well known for their YouTube instruction videos for guitar playing.

David Taub, who lives in San Diego, is one of them. He has posted many instructional videos on YouTube, the most popular of which shows a simplified version of the Eagles classic, Hotel California. The video received over one hundred thousands views. He opens each video with the same line: "What's up, good people!".

Justin Sandercoe, is another London-based guitar instructor on YouTube. He has a teaching Web site — justinguitar.com. He takes Paypal donations to cover the fees and keeps the website as a free service. "I like the idea of being able to deliver quality guitar lessons to people who can't afford lessons, or who are in places where there's not that kind of access to somebody who can teach them the right stuff," he says.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has demanded that the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) pay for a single mom's two-year legal ordeal fighting a baseless file-sharing lawsuit. The group let its position known to a Washington state court in an amicus brief filed Thursday. In January 2005, Dawnell Leadbetter was accused of illegally downloading copyrighted music and the RIAA claims she owed hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Leadbetter contacted the RIAA to deny the baseless claims, and refused to pay any settlement monies. In response, the RIAA sued Leadbetter, and Leadbetter hired an attorney to fight the charges. After months of legal wrangling, the RIAA finally dropped the case in December of 2006. But in the meantime, Leadbetter had incurred significant attorney's fees.

"Ms. Leadbetter isn't the only innocent Internet user that has been ensnared by the RIAA's litigation dragnet. But she is one of the few who have fought back, resisting RIAA pressure to pay settlement monies for something she did not do," said EFF Staff Attorney Jason Schultz. "The RIAA's settlement offers are usually less that what it would cost to defend yourself, so it's a big commitment to hire a lawyer to clear your name. Reimbursing Ms. Leadbetter's attorney's fees could encourage other innocent lawsuit targets to stand up for themselves."

John McLaughlin, founder of Uniquephones, has revealed that all of the company's software engineers are working around the clock to bypass iPhone restrictions that tie it to America's AT&T provider. The company said it is almost ready to release a beta of the unlocking software and claims the pre-release technology is already able to unlock 75% of all the iPhones it has tried using a code generated by the unit's IEMI number.

The resulting software will be sold by the company for about £50, far more than unlocking fees for other mobile handsets. Some days ago, Jon Lech Johansen (DVD Jon), the Norwegian hacker that is credited for the creation of DeCSS, found a way to unlock the multimedia and wifi capabilities of the phone without signing up to AT&T's service, just days after the iPhone release.

The U.S. Copyright Office confirmed last year that consumers are allowed to unlock their phones in order to use them with other carriers, although it is likely that AT&T and Apple will contest that decision if/when it comes down to it. Uniquephones said it's received more than 150,000 inquiries about unlocking iPhones and has even received a large number of IMEI codes already from owners.

With the growing success of services such as iTunes, more consumers are turning away from record stores and buying their music online instead. However, it can be a costly habit when your equipment is stolen or somehow destroyed. Buying all your digital downloads again could be very expensive and chances are, even if you have insurance, your "digital possessions" may not be covered at all.

Of course, it always makes sense to make backups of your digital data, but an event such as a house fire would most likely destroy the backups too. For many users, a digital music collection might be the lowest priority after losing many possessions in a house fire, but since some collections are hundreds or thousands of tracks long, it helps to have an insurer who definitely covers them.

A UK unofficial consumer watchdog, Which?, recently released a report that showed out of 46 insurers, less than half covered digital downloads in their policies. It is believed that up to 24% of music downloaders have had their entire digital music collections lost one way or another. Amongst the companies that do insure digital downloads, there are some differences.

For example, Churchill Insurance covers up to £1000 of downloads in addition to the cost of repairing the host computer whereas Privilege Insurance will cover up to any value of digital downloads. However, whilst Churchill will take download claims "in good faith", Privilege demands receipts or some other form of proof of ownership of the music downloads.

The University of Berlin, partnered with Budapest University of Technology and Economics and Universita Politecnica delle Marche in Italy, have worked out how to cram 500GB of data onto Blu-ray or HD DVD discs, saying that 1TB of data is the aim. The Microholas project created a microholographic recording technique that uses nanostructures inside the disc instead of on the surface.

Using this method, storage capacities can be achieved that make today's available storage by optical disc look pretty weak. A single layer Blu-ray disc can store 25GB of data and a dual layer BD disc holds 50GB. Single-layer and dual-layer HD DVD discs store 15GB and 30GB of data respectively.

The 500GB prototype contains 50 data-storage layers. Professor Susanna Orlic explained to German site Pressetext that applying wavelength multiplexing techniques to multi-layer disc structures, you can achieve very high densities. The goal of this high-storage media would not be to distribute movies or games, but would be more geared toward long-term data storage instead.

PSM France has revealed some details on a SIXAXIS rumble controller for Sony's PlayStation 3 (PS3) console. One of the rumors that has been spread about such a controller is that it will feature "Touch Sense", a superior vibrating system compared to older controller technology. The vibrations do not come just from the handles but from various areas of the lever.

Using the Touch Sense system, developers will be able to experiment with different effects for users during gameplay instead of the standard system used by the PS2. The effects will be more powerful and intense, and should provide a better gaming experience for the user. For example, firing a gun will prompt a fast jolt from the controller, and tearing around a race track will prompt the controller to vibrate in sync with the roughness of the road surface

Sony first admitted that it would consider changing the SIXAXIS controller for the PS3 in March this year after settling an ongoing dispute with Immersion.

Source:
Product-reviews.net

Samsung and MusicNet have teamed up to provide yet another challenge to Apple's dominance over the music downloads market. A new service in Europe will offer an unlimited download monthly subscription service or the option to buy individual tracks or full albums. The service will be accessible through the Samsung Media Studio, the proprietary media player that ships with the company's K3, K9, and T9 model media players.

As for previous versions of the software, support will be added via automatic updates. The service will work with Samsung's PlaysForSure devices, based on Microsoft's Digital Rights Management (DRM) software. The service will cost about $20 per month on subscription, ot will cost $1.57 per track to buy.

Samsung said it would launch a "significant marketing plan" in the countries to promote the players and service soon, but no details were disclosed.

Source:
InformationWeek

As part of Sony's latest offers, the Giga Juke NAS50HDE Hi-fi system sports some nice features. It comes equipped with an 80GB HDD that is advertised as being capable of storing up to 40,000 music tracks or 13,000 albums. Music can be ripped from CDs at 16x, meaning individual tracks will take seconds and full long albums, a few minutes. By connecting the system to another hi-fi, recordings from vinyl LP's or tape cassettes can be made directly to the hard drive.

Portable music players can be connected via USB to copy music. Of course, a direct connection to a PC will also work. Recordings can also be made from FM radio. A 4.3" screen indexes all the song in order, either by date added, mood, genre or artist. Built into the system is details on 350,000 albums, so information can be displayed on many popular tracks.

MP3, ATRAC and LPCM audio can be imported. The speakers and an and an 'S-Master' digital amplifier provides 2 x 85 watts of hi-fi sound. The device also supports direct connection with Sony's PlayStation Portable (PSP). An optional upgrade can make the system Wifi-ready also, for easy connectivity with computers on a wireless network.

We reported last month that Lala.com was offering an "iPod compatible" online music service that used free-play of online songs to attract potential buyers. However, Lala.com has now stopped its Beta version of the free music streaming service. The service had the support of the world's fourth largest record company, Warner Music Group.

The company has explained that service has been stopped because its servers couldn't handle the number of users trying to stream music. However, after the company's announcement last month, it was easy to be skeptical about the ultimate financial success of the scheme. Lala said it would pay a cent to record companies for every song played.

Licensing fees were projected to reach over $150 million within two years. Lala said the service will be resumed at some point in the future.

Source:
Pocket-Lint.co.uk

Ricoh Japan has sent samples of its new VCPS-capable DVD+R media to manufacturers of DVD recorders. Video Content Protection System (VCPS) is a new encryption mechanism designed for use with blank DVD+R/RW/DL media. VCPS-capable media could be labeled as "broadcast flag-ready" media. While the requirement for equipment to support the broadcast flag is long gone, it is still making its way into broadcasts and recording hardware.

The goal is to prevent mass distribution of copyrighted content that have been recorded from digital broadcasts. The broadcast flag can dictate what is allowed to be done with the content and what is not. For example, recording a broadcast might be allowed, but making copies of the recording can be restricted.

However, some DVD+R/RW recorders utilize this encryption because the implementation of VCPS is not mandated by the DVD+RW Alliance. However, this means that devices that do not utilize the technology will not be able to record content that is transmitted using the new broadcast flag protection.

Source:
WesleyTech

Microsoft Corp. has revealed when it will release the upgraded version of its Xbox 360 games console, Xbox 360 Elite, in Japan. The new version of the console will arrive on shelves in Japan on October 11th. So far, the Xbox 360 console has had very poor performance in Japan compared to its competitors, Sony Corp. and Nintendo. To be fair, Japan is the home territory of both Sony and Nintendo.

The Xbox 360 Elite black unit has some upgraded hardware to offer, as well as a 120GB HDD. It will sell for ¥47,800 (USD$390) compared to its U.S. price tag of $479.99. Nintendo's Wii console sells in Japan for ¥25,000 (USD$205) and Sony's PlayStation 3 (PS3) 20GB model sells for ¥49,980 (USD$408).

In the first half of 2007, Microsoft only managed to move 122,565 Xbox 360 units in Japan. Nintendo's Wii console managed 1.78 million units in the same time frame and Sony's PS3 managed 503,554 units.

Source:
Yahoo (Reuters)

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is suffering more accusations of illegal practices in its hunt for music file sharers in the United States. Ms. Crain, the defendant in an 8-month-old P2P lawsuit, had claimed she never heard of file sharing until the RIAA demanded a $4,500 settlement. Armed with a lawyer, Crain filed a counterclaim against the RIAA in the Sony vs. Crain case, filed in Texas.

Ms. Crain's attorney has now filed a motion to amend the counterclaim to add new allegations against the recording industry trade group and its partners. The documents claim that Crain "has become aware upon information and belief that the RIAA have illegally employed unlicensed investigators in the State of Texas and used the information thereby obtained to file this and other similar actions across the country."

Texas state law says that investigations companies must be licensed in order to collect evidence that can be used in court; a requirement that Crain says MediaSentry, the RIAA's investigations partner, was fully aware of in Texas and several other states but chose to ignore it. "The RIAA and MediaSentry agreed between themselves and understood that unlicensed and unlawful investigations would take place in order to provide evidence for this lawsuit, as well as thousands of others as part of a mass litigation campaign," the motion reads.

A court in Belgium has ruled that an Internet Service Provider (ISP) has the means to block illegal downloads from P2P networks and must begin doing so within six months. Scarlet (formerly Tiscali) had been fighting a case brought against it three years ago by the body representing authors and composers in Belgium, SABAM. The ISP argued that it would be impossible to monitor and filter the traffic of all its users.

The judge decided to bring experts in to determine whether Tiscali's claim was true and eleven different measures were presented on how to block illegal downloads. Technology from Audible Magic was included and appears to be the recommended solution for Scarlet. However, some measures would have resulted in blocking P2P traffic altogether, which could block significant legitimate use.

The Judge decided that there was enough technology available for Scarlet to attempt blocking illegal downloads and has given the ISP six months to implement measures. If Scarlet is defiant, it could face a fine of €2500 per day. While Scarlet has not yet revealed what it plans to do about the court decision, John Kennedy, Chairman and CEO of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), has praised the decision on behalf of the trade body which represents the global record industry.

A total of 35 people have been arrested in an Italian town as part of a major crackdown on a criminal gang that was producing and selling counterfeit goods. Those arrested in the Italian town of Pescara included a policeman and a court official. The official from the Civil Court of Pescara and the policeman played a major role in the pirate gang, as did a clerk working for the Ministry of the Interior.

The move, dubbed "Operation Crack", was coordinated by Aldo Aceto, the public prosecutor from Pescara, and was carried out by local police assisted by music, movie and business software anti-piracy experts as well as SIAE, the authors' collecting society anti-piracy team.

More than 12 CD burning facilities were found and dismantled in and around Pescara and police officers also seized more than €400,000 in cash.

Source:
Press Release

A video clip on the European Commission's YouTube channel, EUTube, has stirred controversy due to its perceived sexual nature. The clip, which has had over 1 million views, features semi-nudity in sex scenes from European movies and so has gotten considerable criticism from European Union lawmakers. "Cheap, tawdry and tacky," said Godfrey Bloom of Britain's U.K. Independence Party, who described the clip as "soft porn" and a waste of taxpayers' money.

The clip shows 18 couples (some homosexual) having sex in all sorts of settings. EU lawmaker Maciej Giertych of Poland, from the conservative League of Polish Families said that the Commission is using "immoral methods" of promotion. Commission spokesman Martin Selmayr, said that the clip, which is made up of scenes from movies including "Amelie" and "Bad Education", highlighted Europe's tradition of rich cinema.

Selmayr said that he has not received any complaints about the video.

Sources:
Yahoo (AP)
YouTube ("Film Lovers Will Love This!" clip by EUTube)

A U.S. appeals court panel has ruled that companies processing credit card payments for web sites that offer pirated content are not liable for infringement. The decision confirms a lower court decision against Perfect 10 Inc. in its dispute with Visa International Service Association, MasterCard International Inc. and affiliated banks. Perfect 10 Inc. operates a web site featuring nude pictures of models.

Norm Zada, president of Perfect 10, said that the ruling will encourage theft of intellectual property and gives thieves a means to profit from piracy. "On the Internet, it is easy to steal and almost impossible to defend against that," Zada told Reuters. "How much business do I lose? There are least 70 sites I subscribe to that sell every picture that I own."

"The plaintiffs want to create an economic blockade of anybody accused of infringement," Andrew Bridges, the lawyer who defended MasterCard said. Writing for the majority, Judge Milan Smith Jr. said credit card processors do not assist or enable Internet users to find infringing content. "Here, the infringement rests on the reproduction, alteration, display and distribution of Perfect 10's images over the Internet," Smith wrote.

Controversial Russian music download site, AllofMP3.com, closed its doors last week. The site, which sold music downloads for a fraction of the price that iTunes and similar authorized services charge, was the target of international legal and political attacks over the past two years. The site claimed that it was fully legal under Russian law, and for a time was the second most popular paid music download site in the UK.

The once "$30 million a year" site caused ripples across the world and at home, as it was painted as a huge block of Russia's entry into the World Trade Organization. Its business was particularly impacted when credit card and other online payment facilities withdrew their support for the site.

However, the company behind AllofMP3 followed the closure with the opening of yet another music download site, MP3Sparks.com, selling tracks for similarly low prices. The site uses the same legal arguments for its operations as AllofMP3.com.

Source:
Pocket-Lint.co.uk

Hitachi is responding to struggling plasma TV sales in the European and Chinese regions by announcing it will soon also offer large screen liquid-crystal display (LCD) television sets in both territories. Sales of Hitachi's Plasma TVs in China and Europe have struggled to compete with lower-priced liquid crystal display televisions offered by its competitors.

The Yomiuri Shimbun reported that the company will soon offer both plasma and LCD TV sets in Europe and China in an effort to boost revenues. LG Electronics is currently involved in lawsuits with Hitachi over alleged patent infringement. LG claims that Hitachi is infringing on their plasma display panel patents.

The two electronics giants have been working on a licensing agreement since 2005, but seem to have a fundamental difference of opinion over what is covered by each company's patents.

Source:
MarketWatch

Samsung has called in its legal team in Australia after Panasonic ran an advertising campaign claiming that most consumers preferred Plasma TVs to LCD TVs while viewing both together. Samsung, which sells both plasma TVs and LCD TVs, is not alone in challenging the Panasonic claims; Sony also issued an open letter to retailers after taking legal advice over the campaign.

Sony claimed that the Panasonic campaign is actually confusing the market. Samsung lawyers have warned Panasonic in a letter that its campaign may be in breach Section 52 of the Trade Practices Act because material aspects of the campaign do not accurately reflect the facts about LCD.

"While we support consumer choice of the two formats, both of which have their merits, and we support the use of clever advertising campaigns, we feel it is incumbent upon advertisers to ensure their advertisements accurately reflect the facts. Our lawyers have written to Panasonic to address our concerns and to ask for the research methodology," Samsung Corporate Marketing Manager Kurt Jovais said.

Panasonic has deleted and changed some of the claims published on its website in response.

LG Electronics has begun 8-up processing on its A3 plasma display panel (PDP) line. The move was made to ramp up production capacity. The technique will allow LG to produce a maximum of 8 panels from one sheet of glass substrate. Previously, the maximum umber of panels created from a sheet of glass substrate was 6.

Simon Kang, CEO of Digital Display Company, LGE said that the company will accommodate increasing demand for PDPs by maximizing its production efficiency, especially in the second half of the year. "This is part of LGE's ongoing campaign to streamline its production system," Kang added.

With the help of 8-up processing, LG has increased its total capacity per month by 22%, from 360,000 to 440,000 panels, even greater than the total capacity before its A1 line was shut down. Glass substrates used for LGE's 8-up PDP production will be increased to 1,956×2,200mm in size from the previous 1,956×1,650mm size.

Last week, LG Electronics also began mass production of 50-inch full high-definition TVs (HDTVs) as part of its ongoing efforts to focus on premium display products.

Source:
DigiTimes

Universal Music Group (UMG) is reportedly seeking to abandon year long+ agreements with Apple Inc.'s iTunes multimedia download store. Instead, the world's largest record company is seeking to make short-term, month-by-month licensing agreements with Apple. According to a source seeking to remain anonymous, the arrangement would allow Universal to offer exclusive content deals to rivals of iTunes.

Wal-Mart, Best Buy Co. and Yahoo Inc. currently have similar short-term agreements with Universal for their online offerings. The previous agreement with Universal expired at the start of June, and according to Apple spokesman Tom Neumayr, both companies are still negotiating.

"Their music is still on iTunes, and their not re-signing is just not true," Neumayr said, declining to elaborate. When Apple first signed deals with the major record companies a few years ago, the record industry was failing to provide alternatives to piracy when interest in digital music files was booming.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs had a plan for a "one-price-for-all" music download store that could be tied with the company's iPod. Apple has since grown to be the No. 3 music retailer in the United States. The company claims to have revolutionized music online and as a result, has always had considerable leverage in its dealings with the record industry, and many executives within the record companies are tired of not being in power.

Apple's iPhone is reported to have sold more than 500,000 units since its launch. Most owners who waited patiently to pick up the gadget rushed home to check our its features, but some decided to dissect the phone instead and see what makes it tick. In cases, some users have broken their iPhones beyond repair just to find out who supplied the internal components for the latest Apple gadget, which has been surrounded buy strict secrecy since it was unveiled.

Intel Corp., Broadcom Corp., Texas Instruments Inc. and Infineon Technologies AG were among the entities shown to supply components for the iPhone. Most of the suppliers revealed saw their stock values rise as a result, but most seem to be ignoring questions from the media about their business relationships with Apple.

Samsung Electronics Co. is producing the main microprocessor used to run the phone's operating system and various applications along with NAND flash for storage. Intel is supplying NOR flash memory also, according to various research firms. Broadcom is providing a chip which seems to manage the touch-screen display.

A power management chip is supplied by Texas Instruments and Infineon Technologies makes parts that handle cellular communications for the iPhone. Woburn, Mass.-based Skyworks Solutions Inc. was revealed as the supplier of a power amplifier used in the iPhone and English company, Cambridge Silicon Radio Ltd. is responsible for making chips to provide Bluetooth connectivity.