News written by James Delahunty (August, 2007)

ArcSoft, Inc, in conjunction with the HD DVD Promotion Group, is showing off ArcSoft Digital Theatre 2 at the IFA consumer electronics show in Berlin. Digital Theatre supports playback of the HD DVD format, DVD (homemade and commercial) and a wide variety of common multimedia files. The HD DVD Promotion Group is showcasing Digital Theatre as part of its advancement of standards-based implementations of HD DVD playback.

"We are excited to be presenting our high definition solutions at IFA," said Michael Downs, ArcSoft Vice President of Marketing and Business Development. "We have been working closely with the HD DVD Promotion Group, leading graphics chipset companies, and the major Hollywood studios to ensure that we can provide complete, high performance, high quality HD DVD functionality."

Digital Theatre's HD DVD playback functionality includes complete support for high definition interactive content such as U-Control. Additionally, Digital Theatre supports next generation audio formats such as Dolby Digital and DTS, as well as a variety of advanced trick play features such as Smart Stretch and Time Stretch. Available for Windows XP and Windows Vista, the program also includes a Windows Media Center Edition plug-in that provides a 10-foot user experience.

Nero has today announced the upcoming release of Nero 8, the latest version of the world's best-selling digital multimedia suite. Designed for consumer ease of use, Nero 8 extends content beyond the PC, allowing users to easily create, edit, burn, share, connect, and enjoy digital media files. Additionally, Nero 8 is built to ensure data integrity and reliability and is optimized for use with the new Windows Vista operating system.

The newest version of the Nero burning suite will introduce the newly-designed Nero StartSmart user interface, which maximizes user efficiency with a one-stop solution for creating and managing digital media projects. With this new interface, prime functions like burning and ripping audio and data discs can now be accessed directly, letting users complete projects with one-click functions. Nero 8 also supports a number of next-generation formats with editing, playback, and burning features.

Nero 8 lets users edit photo slide shows and create High Definition video in both Blu-ray BD-AV and HD DVD video formats. In addition, Nero RescueAgent has been developed and integrated based on Nero customer feedback, and allows users to restore deleted files and recover data from CDs and DVDs that may have been lost due to scratched discs, interrupted recording operations, or poor recording quality.

According to the online edition of the New York Times, NBC Universal has declined to renew its contract with Apple Inc.'s iTunes download store. The paper cites a source close to the situation which put the blame on failure to agree on pricing schemes. NBC is the No.1 supplier to the iTunes store and apparently accounts for about 40% of the overall video downloads.

The company notified Apple of its decision late Thursday according to the source. A spokesman for NBC confirmed the decision had been made to the Times but declined to comment any further and spokespeople at Apple have not made any comments yet. There is growing tension between Apple and content providers over the pricing scheme on the iTunes download store.

Apple believes that easy pricing schemes such as "99c per track" or "$1.99 per video" are attractive in the developing market for audio and video downloads. Music labels, and now it would appear video content providers, would prefer a more variable pricing scheme that allowed them some freedom over the price of individual content. Universal Music Group recently declined to sign another long-term deal with iTunes.

Sony Corp. is acknowledging that its proprietary ATRAC music format was a market flop by shutting down all its Connect music stores and making its devices compatible with other formats. The company made the announcement yesterday at the IFA consumer electronics show in Berlin. The company also unveiled a pair of new Walkman players that support MP3, Windows Media Audio (WMA) and AAC files.

Sony's new NWZ-A810 and NWZ-S610 can also display photographs and playback video content and both come loaded with an FM tuner. Now Sony will phase out Connect music stores that sell in the ATRAC format. "This gives customers greater flexibility in their music software approach," the company said in a statement. "As a result, Sony will be phasing out the Connect Music Services based on Sony's ATRAC audio format in North America and Europe."

The new Walkman players do not directly support ATRAC. "We are offering conversion software to convert ripped non-secure ATRAC files to MP3," Sony spokeswman Linda Barger said. A specific date for closure of the services was not set, but a message sent to Connect users confirmed they will close before March 2008. Sony's Connect eBook service for the Sony Reader will not be affected.

The Blu-ray Disc Association has made several announcements at the IFA consumer electronics show in Berlin this year. On the device front, Acer has become a contributing member of the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA), joining with Dell, Hewlett-Packard and Levono. Huala, a major Chinese consumer electronics manufacturer has also agreed to become a contributing member.

Huala will also team up with the China Film Group to establish a Blu-ray Disc authoring center in China. The Bluy-ray group also announced a flood of new Blu-ray releases in Belrin at a news conference yesterday. Some of the notable movies form the announcements are Spiderman from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, 300 from Warner Home Video and a special edition of Disney's Sleeping Beauty.

"We've been involved with Blu-ray Disc from the very beginning," said Stephen Foulser, vice president of marketing and business development for Disney in the EMEA regions. "We will be launching 30 new titles in the format." There are currently more than 300 Blu-ray titles available, but supporting studios hope to double that figure before the end of 2007.

The Thai government has lifted a ban on Google's video sharing giant, YouTube, after YouTube reportedly agreed to block videos that are considered illegal in the country or are deemed offensive to Thai people or monarch. If true, such a ban on content of course would more than likely be localized. YouTube has been banned in Thailand since April 4th after users posted videos considered offensive to the monarch.

One of the videos depicted King Bhumibol Adulyadej's image with the soles of shoes pointed towards him. In Thailand, feet are considered extremely dirty and offensive by the people. The video's audio Track contained the country's national anthem. The Nation newspaper reported that Sitthichai Phokai-udom, the Information and Communication Technology Minister, said the ban was lifted because YouTube agreed not to run clips that are offensive to the monarch.

Google has not yet confirmed or denied the report, but was interested in getting the ban lifted as soon as possible. "We have the deepest respect for His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej," Google wrote earlier this year in a letter to the ministry. "We likewise respect Thailand's law and tradition and hope that we will be able to reach a mutually acceptable resolution to the current controversy." Back in May, there was talk of a criminal lawsuit against Google on charges of "lese-majeste", which carries a maximum jail sentence of 15 years.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has published a comprehensive report on the history of the Recording Industry Association of America's campaign against file sharing in the United States. The intriguing report proves how even after four years and 20,000 targets, the use of file-sharing and Internet music piracy in general has simply failed to decline in the U.S..

"Despite the RIAA's legal campaign, file-sharing is more popular than ever," said EFF Senior Staff Attorney Fred von Lohmann. "History will treat this as a shameful chapter in the history of the music industry, when record companies singled out random music fans for disproportionate penalties. Artists must be compensated, but these lawsuits aren't putting money in any creator's pocket."

Attacks on file-sharing by the RIAA has led a lot of people to safer and less detectable methods such as burning and exchanging CDs among friends and sharing on members-only "darknets." The EFF also called on Universities to help artists get compensated for the use of their work but also to protect students from costly legal problems by insisting on a blanket license for their students, collecting a reasonable regular payment to allow sharing to continue.

Chip manufacturer Amimon has just started shipping a chipset based on its Wireless High-Definition Interface (WHDI) standard. This will allow high definition video (uncompressed) to be broadcast around a home. The chip is capable of delivering 1080p content at datarates of up to 3Gbps through a 40MHz channel in the 5GHz unlicensed band and can stream HD content at 1.5Gbps through a 20MHz channel.

Amimon claims that the chip is suitable for home usage. It claims a latency of less than 1ms, a range of up to 30 meters and the ability to penetrate dividing walls. The company is confident that it can clean all the A/V wires and cables from your home soon.

The chipset will be integrated into consumer electronics products by the end of the year, with more devices set to arrive in early 2008. Loewe and Funai will demonstrate products that use the chipset at the IFA consumer electronics show in Berlin.

Source:
Reg Hardware

Sony Corp. has unveiled 15 new flat-TVs and a new remote control as part of an effort to re-gain market share during the holidays. Sony is the second largest maker of LCD TVs and is trying to catch up with South Korean giant Samsung Electronics Co Ltd. The company hopes the new 40" - 70" panels and its new remote that doesn't need to point directly at a TV screen, will help its Bravia-brand LCD TVs turn a profit this year after a 20 billion yen ($176 million) loss in April-June.

"The year-end shopping season is going to be very tough," Sony Senior Vice President Takashi Fukuda told a news conference. Sony is especially affected by price competition. Sales of its LCD TVs grew about 5% in April-June, while Samsung's sales went up 54% and Sharp's rose 31%, according to DisplaySearch.

Sony's LCD join-venture with Samsung began shipping its first 8th gen panels this week, to help the two rivals lower per-TV costs.

Source:
Reuters

NXP has launched the world's first video postprocessor with proprietary Motion Accurate Picture Processing technology, enabling TV manufacturers to drastically improve high-definition (HD) motion picture on LCD TVs. The PNX5100 video postprocessor combines movie judder cancellation (MJC), motion sharpness and vivid color management to successfully remove the visible halo and blur in fast moving scenes delivering an enhanced viewing experience for enjoying sports and action movies.

The Motion Accurate Picture Processing technology uses an up-conversion technique in conjunction with three-frame HD Movie Judder Cancellation and full motion-compensated up-conversion to 1920x1080p @ 120Hz. The Automatic Picture Control (APC) feature dynamically adjusts the processing parameters used to obtain optimal improvement on every output frame. As a result, NXP's PNX5100 enables TV manufacturers to take advantage of the latest 1920x1080p @ 120Hz resolution panels with wide color gamut for superior sharpness, richer color, dynamic motion and deep contrast.

Research firm In-Stat has published research that shows that as worldwide DVD player shipments started to decline in 2006, shipments of DVD recorders continued to rise steadily. DVD player sales were at 124.8 million in 2006, down from 126.4 million in 2005. In 2005, 14 million DVD recorders were reportedly sold, and that figure has risen to 16 million in 2006.

As for sales of next-generation disc formats, In-Stat reports no end to the "war" in sight just yet. "Currently, there is no clear-cut winner in the HD-DVD vs. Blu-ray format war," says Alice Zhang, In-Stat analyst. "In-Stat believes that the universal combination player, which plays both HD-DVD and Blu-ray technologies, will not be a sustainable solution as it exists today, as its current price is higher than the price to purchase the two players separately."

Sales of DVD recorders and DVD players combined worldwide reached 141.2 million units in 2006. North American and European DVD player shipments peaked in 2005, while Japan peaked earlier in 2003. Those territories will continue to see shipment declines this year.

One of the most popular video-sharing sites online, Metacafe, has launched a new Digg channel on its site. Digg is one of the most used websites online, where its audience strives to prioritize notable content from the enormous amount available online. The new channel showcases every Metacafe video that has ever been "Dugg." Viewers can also easily find videos "Most Dugg" and "Recently Dugg" on Digg.

By combining input from these two community-powered sites, Metacafe is providing another way to discover videos that prove most popular among viewers. With the addition of the Digg Channel, viewers can now see what videos members of the Digg community prefer in addition to what fares well among the entire Metacafe community.

"The Digg Channel illustrates our commitment to putting viewers in charge of their online entertainment experience," said Erick Hachenburg, CEO of Metacafe. "Like Digg, we are all about exposing the content our community deems best and making it easy for people to discover something they're likely to enjoy. This shared philosophy makes the Digg Channel a great addition to our site."

Metacafe serves 25 million unique visitors each month.

TV show and movie content has been promised to customers of Apple's UK iTunes store for some time now. Today, finally, Apple has quietly added some TV shows to the popular download store, giving users more to download than just Pixar short animations. Many TV shows have been added including ABC's hit shows Lost and Grey's Anatomy.

As for cartoons, Disney's Kim Possible and SpongeBob Square Pants are examples of what has been added to the store for UK users. Other TV shows like Pimp My Ride and South Park are also now available for £1.89 ($3.78), which is significantly higher than the $1.99 per episode price offered to customers in the United States.

There has been no indication yet as to when films will make their way onto the store. Needless to say, the downloads are compatible with iPod and AppleTV.

Source:
Pocket-Lint.co.uk

One of the claims the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) likes to (and has to) make is that simply sharing a file (putting it in a shared folder) on a P2P network is the same thing as distributing. Otherwise, the trade group would need to provide evidence of actual infringement in a case. It seems now however, in Atlantic v. Howell, a Judge has sided with the RIAA that sharing is equal to distribution.

After being sued in 2006, Pamela and Jeffrey Howell decided to defend themselves and submitted a short three paragraph answer to the RIAA. In it, they argued that the file sharing program was not set to share, the music was legally purchased for private use and was stored on the hard drive to be transfered to portable devices.

Judge Neil V. Wake dismissed the Howell's claims and awarded statutory damages of $40,500 to the RIAA along with $350 in court costs. A permanent injunction against future copyright infringement by the Howells was also handed down. "Several cases suggest that Kazaa users commit direct infringement by employing the Kazaa program to make their collections of copyrighted sound recordings available to all other Kazaa users," wrote Judge Wake, citing three other cases and Howells admission that the Kazaa account in question as in fact his.

Even though we already reported recently that Torretspy blocked users from the United States to keep logs it is being forced to hand over to the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) as empty as possible, there is an extra detail to this case that is very interesting. As per Torrentspy's privacy policy, it never logged tracking information on its users.

Torrentspy had fought the MPAA's requests to force Torrenyspy to log user activity and provide it to the trade group, arguing that privacy laws in the Netherlands (where the servers are located) prevented it from both maintaining and disclosing logs. The site also argued that log data wasn't available since it is only exists in RAM for a period of time and is never permanently stored.

The magistrate judge didn't agree with the argument and now neither did Judge Florence-Marie Cooper. She disagreed that data in the RAM is not "stored", saying the storage of data in RAM, even as temporary, makes it electronically stored information governed by federal discovery rules. She also dismissed concerns that the ruling could have a significant impact as far as record-keeping obligations.

RIAA-style tactics are being employed in Singapore to help stomp out the sharing of Anime content. Odex, one of the largest regional distributors of licensed Japanese anime VCDs, believes that Internet downloading is eating into its profitability. In November of last year, the company claims to have hired U.S.-based BayTSP to help it track downloaders/sharers of Anime in Singapore.

By April 2007, BayTSP had tracked 50 different titles which showed over 400,000 downloads in Singapore alone. Odex decided to get the contact information of 3,000 individuals by IP address (though claims the number targeted is a lot less) and as we previously reported, two ISPs did give in. However, it appears a third case has just run into trouble with a Judge.

Judge Earnest Lau threw the case out, saying that Odex was only a "sub-licensee" from the Japanese firms that created the anime, not an "exclusive licensee." The judge also doubted that Odex had in fact hired BayTSP. "Apart from a bare allegation, there is no evidence that the Plaintiff engaged BayTSP to undertake the tracking of anime downloaders," he wrote.

Once again Google Inc.'s YouTube service is once again being criticized for hosting content uploaded by its users that is considered offensive or inappropriate. This time, the video-sharing giant is taking fire for hosting clips that allegedly incite racial hatred. Report Mainz aired a program on German TV about the situation, which showed YouTube hosts videos such as "Jud Suess", a 1940 anti-Semitic propaganda film and music videos from outlawed German rock band Landser that depict Nazi military operations.

Social Democrat (SPD) parliamentarian Dieter Wiefelspuetz said distributing the clips on YouTube was scandalous and he was quoted as saying, "publishing these films amounts to aiding and abetting incitement of the people," - a potentially dangerous mindset to apply to a public user-driven video service like YouTube.

Germany's Central Council of Jews Vice President Salomon Korn is also considering pressing charges against Google Germany. German youth protection body Jugendschutz.net has apparently complained to Google Germany more than 100 times to remove the clips - some of which have been on the site for almost a year.

Founder of Northern Ireland-based Uniquephones, John McLaughlin, has posted a video on the iphoneunlocking.com blog showing Apple's iPhone being unlocked and used with Vodafone. This video, posted a few hours ago, isn't of excellent quality but (allegedly) shows the iPhone being unlocked while connected to a PC by a software-only method. McLaughlin takes a SIM card out of a Vodafone Blackberry and puts it in the iPhone before using it to make two calls.

The video was made late at night (in the last few hours) using a Nokia N95 and posted on YouTube.



Uniquephones already unlocks many handsets made by Nokia, Motorola and others and receives 60% of its customers from the United States. Ever since the iPhone launched in June, the challenge has been on (with many contenders) to free it from AT&T's network. Engadget has already tried out software by another company, iPhoneSimFree.com, and has claimed that it did indeed work.

Verbatim has issued a warning on its corporate website for Australia and New Zealand about an unauthorized supply of 16X DVD's that use MID codes of Verbatim and related companies. Here is the company's warning...

Verbatim Corporation has concerns regarding the unauthorised supply in Australia by Laser Corporation Holdings Pty Ltd of some Laser brand 16X DVD's which use MID codes of Verbatim or its related companies.

Disk identification shows that these Laser brand 16X DVD's are not from production facilities approved by Verbatim or its related companies and so may be of different quality or performance as disks from production facilities approved by Verbatim or its related companies.

Verbatim is without any responsibility for the quality or performance of these Laser brand 16X DVD's.

In addition, Laser's supply of these 16X DVD's in Australia may infringe copyright.

Verbatim and its related companies reserve their legal rights in respect to the supply in Australia by Laser of these 16X DVD's.

S-LCD Corporation, a joint venture between Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. and Sony Corp., has announced the shipment of LCD panels produced from its 8th Generation Line. S-LCD's 8th Generation Line is capable of processing the world's largest motherglass substrates, measuring 2,200mm by 2,500mm.

LCD panels shipped from this 8G line marks a major turning point in the market for LCD TVs in the 50-inch (diagonally) class. With 7G line which is already in operation, S-LCD has sufficient capacity to meet demand for 40-inch panels. The 8G line is slated to supply 46-inch and 52-inch panels, and that plan was evident by the contents of the first shipment of 52-inch LCD panels for full-HD TVs.

"We have remained a step ahead of the competition in terms of production scale and timing," said Won-kie Chang, CEO of S-LCD. "Our sights are now on LCD TVs in the 50-inch class and we aim to lead that segment. Our success with 7G line will continue with the new 8G line operation, and we will grow into the world's largest LCD maker." 8G line would reach its full monthly output of 50,000 panels by the end of the year.

Source:
Press Release

TMPG Inc., the company that claims to "make digital video easy" has announced TMPGEnc MPEG Editor 2.0 PREMIUM. It is a frame-level cut video editing software package that offers high definition video and set top DVD Recorder (DVD-VR) support, DVR-MS support, integrated Dolby Digital sound, fit-to-disc transcoding, VRCopy DVD-RAM importing and writing tool, Smart Rendering, multiplexing and de-multiplexing, and more.

"Our TMPGEnc MPEG Editor 2.0 PREMIUM offers a host of new features. It is also a winner of the "Vector Proregi" award for the Animation/DVD category from Vector, one of the largest ESD websites in Japan," commented TMPG Inc. CEO Kimi Matsuki. "Now users can capture high definition and other digital video directly from many sources to quickly edit and add transitions between clips. It is Windows Vista Aero compatible and has a robust new interface, which combined with DirectX powered thumbnail navigation makes digital editing easier than ever before."

The Smart Rendering feature makes the editing process faster and easier by only re-encoding the surrounding frames versus the entire movie. Users can capture video directly from a HDV camcorder to TMPGEnc MPEG Editor 2.0 PREMIUM via an i.LINK/IEEE 1394 interface. The software is optimized for Intel™ dual and quad core processors. The product will be available in early September for purchase by download at www.tmpg-inc.com for the introductory price of $48.95 (regular price $64.95).

According to In-Stat research, increased broadband penetration, declining price points, and a growing catalogue of online audio and video content will ensure the market for MP3 players and portable media players (PMPs) will remain strong over the next 5 years. According to In-Stat, as of today, the main reason consumers are buying portable MP3 players and video-capable PMPs today is still for the devices' audio playback capability.

"Only 11% of survey respondents say they will purchase a PMP primarily for its video playback function," says Stephanie Ethier, In-Stat analyst. "Still, the cost of incorporating video into portable devices continues to decline. As a result, In-Stat expects shipment growth of video-enabled PMPs to outpace that of audio-only MP3 players by the end of 2008."

In-Stat predicts that shipments for audio-only MP3 players and PMPs combined will reach 275 million units worldwide in 2011, compared to 182 million units last year. The research firm does not expect feature-rich multimedia phones to affect the demand MP3/PMP devices anytime soon.

Source:
In-Stat

KickApps Corporation has announced that videos uploaded to KickApps-powered social media sites can be viewed on the iPhone using the Safari web browser. Most videos on social networks utilize the Flash format, however the iPhone's Safari web browser is only compatible with the Quicktime video player (videos formatted with the H.264 codec), so iPhone users are unable to view those videos other than through special downloaded client applications.

The latest version of the KickApps platform automatically converts all uploaded videos to both H.264 and Flash formats. When a user plays a video, KickApps instantly detects which format is required and delivers the video via a compatible video player; in the case of the iPhone, videos accessed through its Safari browser are displayed via Quicktime.

By optimizing their sites for the device's 3.5 inch widescreen display, publishers and developers can ensure the best possible viewing experience for iPhone users. For example, rather than presenting video search results in a typical five across thumbnail layout, KickApps affiliates can use CSS styling to present the images in a scrollable, singular column.

"Our platform is driven largely by the goal of eliminating barriers of entry to social media," said Alex Blum, CEO of KickApps. "By supporting the iPhone browser, we’re providing our affiliates and their audiences with the flexibility to deliver and consume online video via one of the most exciting and innovative mobile devices on the market today."

SanDisk has introduced the Sansa Clip, a tiny MP3 player that boasts an array of features, as well as distinctively big sound for its small size. Designed for a fitness buff or regular traveler, the compact Sansa Clip comes with a clip for wearing, FM radio with recorder, a microphone to record your thoughts, long-lasting rechargeable battery and a bright OLED screen for easy navigation of tunes.

The Sansa Clip is expected to be available this fall at manufacturer's suggested retail prices of $39.99 for a 1GB player and $59.99 for the 2GB unit. "Don't let the Sansa Clip's size fool you," said Keith Washo, SanDisk retail product marketing manager for the Sansa Clip. "This tiny player packs a powerful, feature-rich punch. We’re excited to bring music lovers a new, cool-looking player with great sound and audio offerings in a body that's smaller than a match box."

The player is compatible with many music download and subscription services, including Rhapsody, Napster, eMusic and others. It's designed to work seamlessly with a wide range of popular music formats such as MP3, WAV, Audible (for audio books) and Windows Media Audio (WMA) in both unprotected and protected files (such as those WMA files purchased from music stores).

A leading mobile social network, Zannel, Inc., and Ripe Digital Entertainment (RDE), leaders in digital Video-on-Demand entertainment, have partnered to enable users to share videos and photos using their mobile devices. Users can share RDE (www.ripedigital.com) content. "The demand for instant entertainment on mobile phones is at an all-time high and Zannel is dedicated to filling this need with an easy and compelling mobile entertainment experience," said Adam Zbar, CEO, Zannel.

He added: "Ripe's devoted fan base can now watch their favorite shows on-the-go and share them with their friends at any moment." Zannel's viral mobile content distribution platform features three customized channels for RDE. They include RipeTV aimed at men, OctaneTV for motorsports and FlowTV for hip hop and urban content.

"Zannel provides a perfect demo for Ripe Digital's highly entertaining programming, and a solid mobile infrastructure," said Ryan Magnussen, CEO of Ripe Digital Entertainment. "We also look forward to users discussing their favorite Ripe shows with each other via Zannel's new IMM (Instant Media Messaging) features."

Microsoft has blamed a server error for a glitch in its Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) program that incorrectly reported many legitimate installations of Windows XP and Windows Vista as pirated. WGA is a tool used to fight against piracy of the Windows operating system and is delivered through Automatic Updates. An XP installation found to be pirated is blocked from software updates and for Vista, some features are disabled.

The Business Software Alliance (BSA) estimates that piracy accounts for $29 billion in lost revenue for the software industry every year. Needless to say, unhappy users felt compelled to leave comments about their experience. "You really ought to work on making WGA actually an advantage. Right now, users of pirate copies of Windows had an extra couple days of use," a user calling himself "Mhornyak" commented on the WGA blog.

He also added: "I also want to say, because I know how painful all-nighters are: Congrats to the WGA team for getting things working again. It's not your fault that the company policy is bad."

Source:
Yahoo (NF)

A teenager has learned how to alter his iPhone to use it with networks other than AT&T Inc. He is not alone, many other solutions have been shown to work and several companies that specialize in mobile phone unlocking have taken up the challenge. George Hotz of Glen Rock, N.J. (17), spent his time well trying to figure out how to free his iPhone from AT&T, armed with a soldering iron. He posted the final working solution on his blog.

An Associated Press reporter verified that the iPhone was successful unlocked when he used his T-Mobile SIM card in the phone and made calls. However, the hack is complicated and requires skill with both soldering and software. In the wrong hands, the instructions will just lead to a dead iPhone. "But that's the simplest I could make them," Hotz said.

Engadget reported on Friday that it had successfully unlocked an iPhone using only software provided by an anonymous group of hackers. The iPhone has already been used with providers outside of the U.S. using a method known as the "SIM-chip method". All of the iPhones features are kept intact with the methods used. Since the details on the iPhone hacks are public, it is possible that Apple could modify the production lines to fight unlocking.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) appears to have given its blessing to the long-rumored American version of the popular N95 smartphone. All devices using U.S. airwaves must receive approval from the FCC before they can begin shipping in the territory. A lot of the features and specs seem similar to the regular N95, but what does stand out is a boost in memory to 8GB (same as highest capacity iPhone).

The casing color has changed to black and the lack of a camera cover seems to allow a higher capacity battery to be used. Input keys and directional controls appear to have shrunk also. A manual mentions the Nokia Music Store and the use of Windows Media Player to sync audio and video content with a PC. A new multimedia menu is also shown as well as information about the new N-Gage platform.

As with all NSeries phones, the N95 s built on the Symbian OS and S60 interface. It weighs about 4.2 ounces. It uses mini-USB for data transfers to other devices and a slot for a microSD card for storage expansion.

Source:
PDAStreet

Samsung has set new standards for video viewing capabilities in gadgets with the Ultra Video F500, a portable media player and 3.5G mobile phone. It is a high-performing multimedia player and powerful 3.5G phone rolled into a 10.7mm-slim package. The user-friendly handset gives users access to a world of entertainment with their favorite video and music files.

The F500 is the first phone to be DivX Certified, boasting DVD-like picture and sound quality with TV output. "High video quality should not just be limited to large TV screens. The Ultra Video highlights our passion to leverage on our multimedia capabilities to satisfy consumers' leisure and entertainment needs, and we have advanced from a product provider to a total solution provider through our partnership with DivX," said Mr. Ng Long Shyang, Vice President of Sales & Marketing, Telecommunications and IT products.

He continued: "Samsung will continue to lead the wireless industry with premier technologies, innovative products and strategic marketing tie ups to enhance the lifestyles of our customers." The handset features a dual face LCD screen - a phone on one side and on the reverse a large 2.4” screen for multimedia viewing. The 2.4" screen has a resolution of 320x240, providing 262K colours. It features 350MB of internal memory and supports microSD for expanded memory. It also features a 2.0 mega-pixel camera and Bluetooth v1.2.

Sony Corp. has taken a step forward by creating a battery that produces electricity by breaking down sugar. The company, which is one of the largest producers of batteries in the world, sees this as a breakthrough in bio battery technology. The bio cell, which measures 39 millimeters cubed and delivers 50mW, setting a world record for such a cell.

The battery uses glucose solution as a fuel. In example videos provided by Sony, a small fan is powered by the cell with a glucose-based sports drink. Another example shows four of the cells connected in series to deliver enough power to operate a Walkman music player. Sony's image was seriously hurt last year when the company issued a massive recall of lithium-ion cells.

Sugar is naturally occurring, making the technology the basis for an ecologically friendly energy source. Many electronics companies are currently researching technologies that could replace the dominant lithium-ion cells as a clean power source for portable electronics.

Source:
Yahoo (Infoworld)

Sony Corp. will sell a satellite navigation accessory from February 2008 for its handheld PlayStation Portable (PSP) games console. The company made the announcement at the Leipzig Games Convention on Wednesday. This move will bring Sony's gaming and portable entertainment device into direct competition with companies like TomTom and Garmin Ltd. that make satellite navigation equipment.

Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) boss, David Reeves, said that the accessory for the PSP handheld will cost between €100 and €150 ($135-$200). The PSP competes with Nintendo's DS handheld console in the market for handheld gaming devices, but Sony strives to also sell its PSP as a multimedia entertainment device, adding useful features over time through firmware updates.

While the Nintendo DS is by far the market leader, Sony has shipped 24 million PSPs globally since launching the device in December 2004.

Source:
Yahoo (Reuters)

Sony and BT have announced new software that will enable millions of owners of PlayStation Portable (PSP) consoles to keep in touch through video and voice calls as well as instant messaging. Both companies said that the Go!Messenger would be ready for its commercial launch by January 2008. The extra features will help Sony to battle its rival Nintendo, who's DS handheld is currently dominating the handheld market.

"By offering a variety of communications options to help stay in touch with other gamers, Go!Messenger truly brings the entertainment potential of PSP to life," said Steve Andrews, head of mobility and convergence at BT. BT said it would promote the software in he UK, France, Germany, Spain and Italy before extending its reach to over 100 countries across Europe, Middle East and Africa.

Sony has shipped 24 million PSPs globally since launching the device in December 2004. While the DS handheld sits proudly on top with many millions more sales, Sony is marketing the PSP as an entertainment (and now) a communication hub as well as a gaming system.

Source:
Reuters

Microsoft Corp. just can't avoid the heated issues surrounding the hardware of its Xbox 360 console. After already announcing it would need to spend around $1 billion to fight the over-heating and hardware issues for the Xbox 360 console itself, the company has now warned that the Wireless Racing Wheel controller can overheat. There has been as many as 50 reports about the peripheral overheating and releasing smoke.

The wheel simulates the physical sensations of race car driving for games such as "Forza Motorsport 2", and sells for $130. To date, about 230,000 units of the controller have been sold to consumers worldwide. According to the company, the issue can strike when the unit is plugged into an electrical outlet, causing the AC/DC adapter to overheat. The gadget is safe to use while running on battery power however.

There have been no reports of fire, injury or property damage, Microsoft said. It also is working with regulatory agencies, including the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. The CPSC is monitoring the situation according to commission spokeswoman Julie Vallese.

The company has not yet confirmed what replacement parts it plans to ship.

NXP introduced a new HDMI 1.3 receiver chip last week, the TDA19978HL, which improves the audio and video performances and lowers the costs of high-definition (HD) audio/video receivers. The TDA19978HL is industry's first HDMI 1.3 receiver with four inputs, eliminating the need for an external HDMI switch, reducing overall system cost and design cycles, enabling faster time-to-market while meeting the Industry's demanding performance and application requirements for HDTV viewing.

The receiver was especially designed to improve the quality of audio-video streaming on an HDTV, by combining 12-bit Deep Color and Extended Gamut to render rich life-like colors, as well as High Bit Rate (HBR) and Direct Stream Transport audio formats. The TDA19978 also reduces the overall cost of an HDTV by embedding EDID memory for each of the four independent HDMI inputs.

With a maximum link frequency of 2.3GHz, NXP's TDA19978 quad-input HDMI1.3 receiver supports all HDTV formats, like the 1080p/60Hz TV and the UXGA (1600x1200) at 60Hz PC display resolutions. The TDA19978 comes in a small, low pin count HLQFP144 package with three levels of power management for optimum power saving, as well as optional software drivers.

The Australian Record Industry Association's (ARIA) Music Industry Piracy Investigations (MIPI) assisted the Victorian Police in the raid of the home of a prolific trader of Croatian pirate music in Cheltenham, Melbourne last week. The Police seized approximately 5,000 burnt Croatian CDs and extensive computer burning equipment. The pirate trader first came to MIPI's attention when selling burnt Croatian music in church grounds at Keysborough, Clifton Hill and Ardeer in Melbourne to unsuspecting consumers.

The MIPI investigators were led to the home of a female trader from where it is understood that large quantities of pirate CDs were being manufactured and distributed for sale. The CDs feature recordings of popular Croatian artists including Thompson, Matko Jelavic and Zlatko Pejakovic. It is expected that criminal charges will be laid against the pirate trader shortly. Penalties for copyright infringement are up to $60,500 and 5 years imprisonment per offense. The criminal case against this pirate trader is expected to be heard in Court over the next couple of months.

"The music industry is committed to protecting the copyright of artists and songwriters whether they are based in Australia or overseas. Traders who deliberately burn music and sell it to unsuspecting customers are not only deceiving consumers but they are taking food off the table of artists and songwriters that devote their life to creating music," Sabiene Heindl, General Manager of MIPI said.

Optibase Ltd. and ZTE Corporation announced a strategic alliance to provide integrated TV over IP services. ZTE selected Optibase's Media Gateway (MGW) platforms to provide advanced MPEG-4/H.264 encoding and streaming solutions as part of its IPTV offering. ZTE Corporation is considered one of China's fastest growing telecom equipment suppliers, with customers in more than 100 countries worldwide.

Furthermore, the Chinese market is regarded as one of the most advanced in the emerging IPTV market. Optibase's MGW encoding platforms are state-of-the-art streaming solutions that allow carriers to broadcast high quality TV over broadband IP networks. Optibase's MGW 5100 offers a high-density, modular platform that encodes, transcodes, transmits and recasts broadcast quality HD and SD MPEG-4/H.264 and MPEG-2 video channels in real-time.

"We selected Optibase's MGW IPTV platforms for their high-quality standards and reliability. Optibase's cutting-edge products enable us to offer our customers a competitive edge by providing them with the most advanced products and services," said Xie JunJie, Project Manager at ZTE.

Source:
Press Release

MainConcept AG has announced that Adobe Systems has agreed to license its H.264 and AAC technology for integration into its flagship Adobe Flash Player software. Flash software reportedly reaches 98% of all Internet enabled PCs worldwide. Adobe has licensed the x86, PowerPC and ARM versions of MainConcept's H.264 and AAC decoders. A public beta of the latest Adobe Flash Player 9, code named Moviestar, leveraging MainConcept technology is now available from Adobe Labs.

MainConcept codecs are uniquely designed for mass market audio/video encoding and decoding solutions. The codecs are designed to take advantage of the advanced performance of cutting edge new computer systems, such as new multi-core systems, while also providing an optimal experience for users without newer systems.

The codecs support international audio and video standards while being as tolerant as possible of broken, non-standard and corrupt files. MainConcept makes it easy for software developers to integrate codecs into their solutions by providing comprehensive Software Development Kits with the necessary tools, documentation and developer support to quickly release high quality solutions on multiple platforms.

According to a UBS research note on Tuesday, Apple Inc.'s iPhone may reach a unit sales figure of 800,000 in the current quarter. By doing so, it would beat Apple's own hopes of 730,000 over the same period of time. "Our checks continue to indicate solid demand for the iPhone despite typical moderation in excitement from launch and extremely high expectations," analyst Ben Reitzes wrote.

The iPhone was one of the most anticipated gadgets as soon as Steve Jobs showed it off back in January this year. Apple had previously stated that the company could sell 10 million iPhones, not a huge share in the market for the company at all, but considering the high-end price of the gadget, it could ignite consumer interest in feature-rich expensive models.

On July 25th, after selling 270,000 iPhones in Apple's fiscal third quarter, the company said it expected to sell the millionth iPhone in the fourth quarter ending in September. "Our findings point toward modest upside to our fiscal 4Q07 (fourth quarter, 2007) shipment estimate of 800,000 units. In addition, we believe the Mac story is exciting as demand is strong for notebooks and recently introduced iMacs," Reitzes said.

DivX, Inc. has announced the acquisition of the assets of Veatros, L.L.C., a Kansas limited liability company. Veatros's technology was designed to conduct real-time digital video processing and will be used by DivX primarily for the purposes of producing enhanced video search and discovery services. Veatros was spun out of the Information and Telecommunication Technology Center at the University of Kansas.

The Veatros technology, when integrated with the DivX Connected platform for enjoying network-based media in the living room, will provide users with a powerful, high-quality environment for managing and enjoying all their digital media through an easy-to-use interface.

As digital media comes of age, more consumers are demanding greater connectivity and better solutions for finding media, on the PC, in the living room, and on the go. DivX provides widespread access to content through a range of products and platforms, with over 100 million DivX Certified devices from major partners including DVD players, digital televisions, digital still cameras, portable media players and mobile phones, as well as through Internet distribution platforms.

"DivX is building a better media experience in partnership with the world's leading consumer electronics companies, and innovative search and discovery technology will be an important piece of that solution." said Kevin Hell, Acting Chief Executive Officer of DivX. "Veatros's assets will add powerful capabilities to our Connected platform that will allow consumers to more easily find and enjoy digital media content, and effortlessly add metadata such as cover art, director, and actors to all their video titles."

PENTAX Imaging Company and DivX Inc. announced today the DivX certification of the PENTAX Optio S10, the innovative imaging company's seventh DivX certified digital camera. The Optio S10 records video natively in the high-quality DivX format, enabling users to playback their videos on a wide-variety of DivX Certified devices from major manufacturers, including DVD players, portable devices and more.

"Consumers have consistently demonstrated that the ability to capture high-quality video is an important feature and partnering with DivX has given us the opportunity to offer that in a unique way," said John Carlson, Product Manager at PENTAX Imaging Company. "We are excited to continue our work with the DivX team in releasing our seventh DivX Certified digital camera."

The Optio S10 makes it easy for users to create and share their own high-quality media. With the push of a button on a palm-sized digital camera, users can instantly record high-quality DivX video and easily upload their files to Stage6.com, a popular online video community powered by DivX technology. Due to the efficiency of the DivX format, the Optio S10 also enables consumers to record up to an hour of high-quality DivX video on a 1GB media card.

Fujitsu Limited has the development and launch of a new transcoder large-scaled integrated (LSI) chip that is able to convert full HD (1920 x 1080) MPEG-2 video data to H.264 / AVC data and compress data size to less than one-half that of MPEG-2. This new transcoder makes it possible to extend recording time of recording devices such as hard disk recorders by over 2.5 times, as the chip enables data size compression without compromising video quality.

The transcoder can also be embedded in a multitude of equipment requiring reduction of data size, and can realize full HD over narrower bandwidths used for home network, the use of which is anticipated to spread hereafter. Digital terrestrial broadcasts and digital satellite broadcasts use data compressed into the MPEG-2 format. Because MPEG-2 format video is high-resolution, if the video is recorded as it is without compression, to storage media such as hard disks, the data volume is extremely high and thereby causes the problem of significantly limited recording time.

Focusing on such issues, Fujitsu developed this MB86H52 transcoder LSI that converts MPEG-2 format video data to the H.264 format, which features a higher compression rate. Functionality of this new transcoder is based on the video processing technology of Fujitsu's full HD H.264 codec LSI product, MB86H51, currently being shipped. Utilizing proprietary high quality video technology developed by Fujitsu Laboratories, the quality of the input MPEG-2 video data can be maintained when transcoded to H.264 format.

CableLabs and the Digital Transmission Licensing Administrator (DTLA), LLC have announced the approval of the DTCP-IP technology for protection of cable content using Internet Protocol for unidirectional and bidirectional digital cable products, in cooperation with Paramount Pictures Corporation, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Inc., The Walt Disney Company and Warner Bros. Technical Operations.

Digital Transmission Copy Protection (DTCP) allows cable subscribers to enjoy digital cable programming, including high-definition and VOD cable content, on consumer electronics devices and personal computers on digital home networks. The approval permits CableLabs licensees under DFAST, CHILA, and DCAS to protect pay-per-view and video-on-demand transmissions against unauthorized copying and unauthorized internet retransmission, while assuring consumers' ability to record broadcast and subscription programming, in digital formats, for personal use.

"The agreement we reached today addresses the highly complex concerns raised by the affected parties — cable, content, and consumer electronics — and brings benefits to consumers," said Dr. Richard R. Green, President and CEO of CableLabs. "Working together we agreed on solutions that meet our respective business needs, and serve the interests of consumers and content providers." Read more...

The largest CD replicating plant in the Baltic States, Baltic Optical Disc, has been ordered to pay a coalition of record companies a €500,000 payout after a Lithuanian court ruled the plant was guilty of music piracy. The civil action was brought by the public prosecutor and 13 members of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) over large scale pirate CD manufacture in 2001.

The claim stemmed from police and customs' seizures of more than 210,000 pirate CDs containing a mix of predominantly international and Polish repertoire. Forensic experts at IFPI traced the origin of the illegal discs, found in Vilnius and on the Czech/Polish border, back to the Baltic Optical Disc factory. This conclusion was confirmed by investigators at the Lithuanian government’s forensic laboratories.

"This is a landmark victory that sets a precedent which should be a warning to the operators of replicating plants everywhere who produce copyright CDs without authorization from the rightsowners," Jo Oliver, Vice President, Litigation and Regulatory Affairs at IFPI. "The judgment sends a strong message across the region that copyright law will be enforced wherever it is abused. At a time when nearly one in three CDs sold worldwide is a fake, the industry welcomes the damages awarded by the court. It has never been more important to crack down on these activities that hurt all those who invest in the creative process."

Police raids at a Mississauga flea market have squashed rampant piracy that was bringing in hundreds of thousands of dollars for sellers. On Sunday, about a dozen booths at flea markets on Mavis Rd. in Mississauga and on Dundas St. near Hwy 427 in Toronto led to 18 arrests being made and another 8 people are being sought.

Altogether, 22 different locations were entered with search warrants, including several homes and businesses in Peel, Toronto, Halton and York. More than 40,000 bootleg DVDs worth a minimum $800,000 were seized. "We had a 21-year-old kid bragging that he was making $15,000 a weekend," Peel Det. Sgt. John Mans said. "He had the potential to make $60,000 a month and we think he was in business for six months so he could have made over $300,000."

Among the locations raided were homes in Scarborough and Markham from where police alleged the pirated DVDs were being distributed. "One of the houses we entered had 7,000 movies alone," Mans said. "We also seized equipment that we've been told was capable of turning out $21 million a year in these illegal DVDs."

Source:
The Star

According to VG Chartz, Nintendo's Wii console is now the most sold home console of its generation worldwide after passing out the Xbox 360. The site reports 10.57 million Wii units have been sold since the console launched in late 2006, just ahead of Microsoft's Xbox 360 which has sold 10.51 million since its launch a year earlier. Sony's PlayStation 3 (PS3) console sits at 4.32 million sales so far.




VG Chartz claims that its data is based on sample data from retailers all over the world. If accurate, there are many reasons why Nintendo's latest home console has defied analysts predictions from two years ago and taken a lead in the market. Firstly, Nintendo's strong support in Japan helps when you compare the sales figures of the Wii and the Xbox 360; 3.46 million and 430,000 respectively.

Also, the Wii has a broad audience among all age groups, demographics and countries. This is the first time that a company has been market leader in the home console and the handheld market since 1994 when Nintendo's Super NES and Gameboy dominated worldwide. Nintendo's DS handheld is a worldwide leader, with VG Chartz reporting 48.83 million sales compared to 22.84 million for PSP.

Indonesian police and the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry's (IFPI) anti-piracy experts raided a pirate music factory on Thursday and found a large quantity of counterfeit discs and manufacturing equipment. The raid followed on from swoops on two earlier pirate manufacturing sites in July. A preliminary investigation of the production records has revealed that the plant was replicating in excess of 110,000 discs per day over the last two months.

Among the items seized were seven manufacturing lines, 125 stampers, none of which were marked with the required mould codes, as well as 40,000 pirate music CDs. The plant owners had failed to register a number of the replication lines as required under Indonesian law and had placed a substance on the mould surfaces to prevent the transfer of SID codes to the optical discs.

Six employees were arrested by the police and will now face prosecution. The authorities decommissioned all seven pressing lines and removed all production records for examination.Investigators followed up the raid by seizing a goods vehicle that had been used to deliver the pirate discs to market. They found an additional 40,000 copyright infringing CDs.

Google's web advertisement service, Adsense, will work with Media Rights Capital on two projects that will put videos on websites around the world that display Adsense advertisements. Working with Family Guy creator Seth McFarlane and Raven-Symone, content will be created to be distributed to a broader audience than single video locations.

Terms of the deal between Google Inc. and Media Rights Capital (which backed last year's film "Babel") have not been disclosed but it is similar to a distribution deal between Adsense and Viacom Inc. struck last year.

The result of the projects will be small (familiar to regular web users) video boxes that will appear on websites offering content supported by banner advertisements and video ads that will run either before or after the video content is played. Media Rights Capital and Google will work together to target videos at websites most appropriate for the content.

MacFarlane will produce short videos featuring new characters, while Raven-Symone will be in a "how-to" show, the company said.

Source:
Yahoo (AP)

Nintendo's Wii console has enjoyed surging demand ever since it was launched in 2006. Often thought of as the "alternative console" of the generation, the Wii is now threatening to take the lead in more than just monthly system sales. According to website VG Chartz, the Wii console is catching up to Microsoft's Xbox 360 console in total worldwide sales figures fast.

VG Chartz gets its figures from over-the-counter sales data from a selection of retailers around the world or when the latest figures are taken. It does not specify how many retailers it tracks nor does it name any specifically for any territory. However, it claims that its estimates are, "very accurate projections of the latest console sell through figures worldwide".

Sales reports like these should always be taken with a hint of skepticism and this is certainly no exception. Specifically, VG Chartz puts the Wii down as 10.10m sales worldwide, not far behind the Xbox 360 estimate of 10.32m sales. By territory, it estimates that Nintendo sold 3.32m units in Japan, 4.07m in the United States and 2.71m elsewhere.

Microsoft's Xbox 360 enjoyed a year head-start on its competitors, which is evident of its U.S. sales figures of 6.64m and 3.25m elsewhere, outside of Japan. However, in Japan, the Xbox 360 has only managed to move 430,000 units, already quite far behind the Wii total. Remember however that those figures are from VG Chartz.

MainConcept AG has announced that Corel Corporation has agreed to license its H.264 encoder technology. Corel is a leading global software company that provides full-featured, easy-to-use productivity, graphics, entertainment and digital media creativity software for home consumers, businesses, schools and industry partners worldwide.

The consumer version of MainConcept's H.264 encoder will be integrated into Corel consumer software products VideoStudio and DVD MovieFactory to enable output support for high-definition H.264 content in AVCHD, HD DVD & Blu-ray Disc formats.

"We are pleased that Corel has chosen our H.264 encoder," said Muzaffer Beygirci, VP Sales of MainConcept. "With its market leading Corel, InterVideo and Ulead brands, and its international network of resellers, retailers and OEMs, Corel software is known and loved by consumers worldwide. We are proud that our advanced video technology will enable Corel customers to use the H.264 format to create new high-definition discs."

"MainConcept's H.264 technology offers the superior performance and quality our customers expect," said Blaine Mathieu, Vice President and General Manager, Products and Strategy, Corel Digital Media. "Corel customers will find video encoding in H.264 an efficient solution when compressing high-definition video and retaining image quality."

In late July, LaCie announced the 5TB Biggest S2S 5-disk RAID designed for digital content creation applications. Using eSATA 3Gbit/s interface and direct eSATA-to-SATA connection, a single LaCie Biggest S2S is capable of reaching burst transfer rates of over 200MB/s. For advanced professionals, up to four S2S units can be connected on the included eSATA PCI-X/Express Card to achieve a massive 20TB solution with a burst speed of over 600MB/s.

Disks are hot-swappable for instant expandability and the solution is hot-pluggable so there is no need to power down the computer. Advanced features include the ability to customize email alerts in the event of disk failure and to create unique RAID sets to fit different needs. "LaCie Biggest S2S 5TB is probably the most cost-efficient solution for HD/SD video editing and post-production," said Olivier Mirloup, LaCie Hard Disk Drive Business Unit Manager.

Mirloup continued: "It offers fast performance and data integrity in a single unit up to 5TB. In RAID 0, the ultra-fast eSATA interface offers enough speed to edit hours of 10-bit HD uncompressed or play back up to six 8-bit SD video streams. This can even be drastically improved combining several S2S units, revolutionizing a market driven so far by much less cost-effective solutions, such as SCSI/fiber technologies."

LightScribe Direct Disc Labeling recently announced the new LightScribe Travel Kit to enables consumers to preserve their memories and add that personal touch to their DVD and CD label designs. The LightScribe Travel Kit's DVD / CD label tips, templates, and resources are available for free download on lightscribe.com, just in time as people return from summer holidays.

Customers owning a LightScribe-enabled drive can go to the Travel Kit and download travel DVD and CD label designs, mailers, and disc sleeve designs that reflect their favorite trip memories to share with family and friends. With the new kit, travelers can create personalized custom designs that integrate travel photos with text so that the discs are personalized and capture their special memories from each unique trip.

With LightScribe, photo and video CDs and DVDs can be labeled with a memorable photo from the vacation so that the discs can be quickly identified with a favorite visual memory. Lightscribe is a laser DVD / CD label burning technology found in many popular brands of disc burners, laptops and PCs, gives people the ability to easily burn silkscreen-quality photos, graphics, images and text directly onto LightScribe CDs and DVDs.

While most readers of AfterDawn and similar sites probably have no love for Digital Rights Management (DRM) based on knowledge of it, the average consumer probably doesn't know the difference right? Wrong! A recent survey conducted by Entertainment Media Research, working with media law firm Olswang, showed that many British consumers may avoid legal downloads due to DRM and that awareness of DRM's ugly side is spreading fast.

1,700 UK music consumers, selected from a pre-existing panel of more than 300,000 music consumers in the UK, were part of the lengthy survey. A huge 68% of those that offered an opinion on the matter believed that music is only worth purchasing if it has no DRM restrictions at all. However, less than half (about 39%) are willing to pay an extra fee to remove DRM and 18% would consider keeping it to save money.

Of the respondents who claimed some awareness of DRM, 61% believed it affected the rights of the music consumer to hear their music on different platforms, 38% classified it as simply a nuisance and 39% also expressed concerns over privacy. However, 63% agreed with the aim of DRM (to protect copyrighted music from illegal file sharing), showing that the problems they have with DRM are how it affects legitimate consumers.

Sony Electronics has unveiled new dual format DVD/CD recordable drives, featuring three designs to deliver the industry's fastest recording speeds. The 840 series of drives is Sony's latest crop of multi-format DVD burners that support 20X DVD±R recording speeds, delivering a full 4.7 GB disc of video, data, music or images on standard 16X DVD+R media in about five minutes. In addition, the drives can record on 8.5GB DVD+R Double/Dual layer and 4.7GB DVD+RW discs at 12X speed.

The internal DRU-840A drive and external DRX-840U burner come bundled with the Nero 7 Express DVD/CD software. The new DRX-S70U burner has a slim design to compliment a notebook or desktop PC, supports 8X DVD±R recording speeds, and comes with a full version of the Nero 7 software suite. All three burners support both dual and double layer formats, as well as CD-R/RW recording.

The internal DRU-840A drive uses the ATAPI interface for easy installation inside a PC, and includes a black replacement bezel for matching to black-colored PC cases. The external DRX-840U drive features a space-efficient vertical design and uses the USB (USB 2.0) digital interface for simple setup.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) are representing Troy Augusto, an eBay user taking on Universal Music Group (UMG) in court after being targeted with false claims of copyright infringement, along with the San Francisco law firm of Keker & Van Nest LLP. Augusto held online auctions with the name Roast Beast Music and specializes in sales of rare and collectible music.

Copyright law's "first sale" doctrine makes it clear that the owner of a CD is entitled to resell it without the permission of the copyright holder. Nevertheless, Universal demanded that eBay take down Augusto's auctions, claiming that CDs marked as "promotional use only" remain the property of Universal and thus can never be resold.

"When a consumer buys a CD, he gets certain rights, including the right to resell it. Universal is mistaken if it thinks that it can trump these rights simply by putting a label on a CD," said Fred von Lohmann, EFF Senior Intellectual Property Attorney. "Universal is trying to unilaterally rewrite copyright law to the detriment of Augusto's legitimate business and the public. Unless this effort is blocked, it could jeopardize not only sales of used CDs, but also libraries, used bookstores, and businesses that rent movies and video games."

Over the past few days, some of you may have noticed some new guides being uploaded or guides being updated on AfterDawn. In this article, I thought I would mention just a few of them and say a few words about them.

How to play BIN / CUE, 3GP & DVD files

An anonymous quartet of Japanese medical students has set a new record by selling one million mobile music downloads of its third single, making the the first track to achieve the milestone. This digital music milestone belongs to Aiuta ("Love Song") by GreeeeN, a new act signed to Universal Music Japan. The track was released on May 16 as a full-track download for mobile, and its popularity spread rapidly through internet, radio and SNS exposure, and word-of-mouth.

In addition to the million-selling format, Aiuta is available as a ringtone, ring video and ringback tone. Its sales to date across all digital configurations exceed 3 million, affirming GreeeeN's status as the year's most successful new act in Japan. "We were convinced that Aiuta would have universal appeal the moment we first heard it. We are very gratified that the song has become so popular through a very personal communication tool like the mobile phone," Kazuhiko Koike, President and COO of Universal Music Japan, said.

Aiuta is also hugely popular in physical form, with sales of more than 250,000 singles to date. GreeeeN's first album, A Domo Hajimemashite ("Hi, How Do You Do?") has sold 550,000 copies since its release on June 27.

Panasonic announced two new High Definition video camcorders late in July that match the growing consumer demand for large-screen, high-image-quality TVs and the continued evolution toward HD video. The new HDC-SD5 and HDC-SX5 camcorders employ cutting-edge imaging technology to capture video recordings that are breathtakingly clear and vibrant, especially when viewed on a high-quality, large screen TV.

Both the HDC-SD5 and HDC-SX5 use the AVCHD format to record full-HD video with 1920 x 1080 pixel resolution. The HDC-SD5, which records video onto SDHC/SD Memory Cards, debuts as the world's smallest palm-style 3CCD full-HD camcorder. It is even smaller than its predecessor model, HDC-SD1, giving the SD5 superb portability. The SD5 also features a new USB Host function that significantly improves data storage and playback ease.

With an optional newly released DVD burner, model VW-BN1, users can copy or play back video recordings in the original AVCHD format to deliver the ultimate High Definition viewing experience on a large-screen TV. The HDC-SX5 can record full-HD motion images onto both SDHC/SD Memory Cards and DVD discs. It can record up to 180 minutes of video on an 8GB SDHC Memory Card (available September 2007), and up to 60 minutes on a 3-inch DVD-R dual-layer disc.

TMPG, Inc. has announced that it will soon release French and Spanish language versions of their TMPGEnc DVD Author 3 with DivX Authoring software. TMPG also has six websites offering e-commerce and information in English, French, German, Spanish, Japanese and Chinese languages. The company is proactive about translating its software into many of those languages.

"Our parent company Pegasys Inc. is a global video software producer and has found that language can be a barrier to users understanding and enjoying the full capacity of a software program," stated Kimi Matsuki, TMPG Inc. CEO. "This is why we are proactive about making our software programs available in a variety of languages."

Matsuki added: "We are especially excited about translating DVD Author 3 into French and Spanish. This robust program includes HDV capture, DivX authoring, multiple subtitle streams, and the ability to import popular video formats for authoring to DVD or DivX. DVD Author 3 will also cut-edit, create custom menus, and burn projects to a CD (DivX only) or DVD,"

The French and Spanish language versions of TMPGEnc DVD Author 3 with DivX Authoring will be available for purchase from the website on August 2, at a special, limited-time introductory price of $67.95 each. The introductory price will be available for one month, after which the price will return to its regular value of $89.95 each.