The AfterDawn staff will be taking a few days off, as I'm sure will most of you, our readers and visitors. So you won't be seeing too much updates in the next few days, but we will return! We always do.
Happy holidays, everyone!
The AfterDawn.com staff
Fast-Talk Communications is developing an interesting technology for searching text strings within audio files. Unlike audio search tools released so far, Fast-Talk's engine converts speech to phonemes, the basic units of sound in a language, and indexes them. A written search string is also converted to phonemes, then that string of phonemes is searched within the index, and the resulting timecodes are returned.
Fast-Talk offers an a trial evaluation kit of their engine. The company, however, is not looking to make a product for the end user, but instead offers the engine and the software development kit to companies willing to utilize the features in their own products.
Read this wonderful article on InfoWorld for a closer look at the technology.
Source:
Slashdot.org
Warren Lieberfarb, one of the the driving forces behind the DVD format, has quit Warner Brothers' home video arm. Warner Bros. did not comment on the reasons for Lieberfarb's resignation. He had worked for Warner Home Video for the past twenty years, and will now be replaced internally - most likely by Ed Burns, Marcia King, or Jim Cardwell, who were executive vice-presidents below Lieberfarb.
Lieberfarb began investigating alternatives for VHS in 1992, because he felt that the home video market would soon be made extinct by video-on-demand -services, which were both easier for the consumers and offered far better quality than VHS. As a response, Digital Versatile Disc (then Digital Video Disc, or DVD) was developed in co-operation with Toshiba Corporation.
First DVD players were commercially launched in March, 1997. The format has been a huge success, finding its way to homes all over the world faster than any other electrical appliance in the history.
Source:
CNN.com
A site aimed to protect the consumers' right to fair use was launched yesterday at ProtectFairUse.org. The site provides information about fair use as well as easy means to contact your congressman, and let him or her know you value your rights as a consumer.
Visit Protect Fair Use at:
http://www.protectfairuse.org/
A Carnegie Mellon University research group has developed a peer to peer streaming video content distribution system called End System Multicast (ESM). The system constructs a self-organizing and adaptive overlay network using the receivers that are tuning into the broadcast events.
The group is currenlty looking for more users to test the system more thoroughly. Amongst the streams currently available are Triumph of the Nerds by Bob Cringely, distinguished lecture by Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google, ACM SIGCOMM conference paper presentation by Dave Clark, and 2002 Sony Legged Robot Soccer Championship.
The streaming is QuickTime-based. You can join the test and start viewing the streams at:
http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/~ESM-streaming/
Source:
Slashdot.org
The DeCSS trial got underway today in Oslo, Norway. As anticipated Jon Johansen, or DVD Jon, like the Norwegians like to call him, pleeded not guilty to the charges on developing a software, that makes it possible to copy movies. Namely he is charged with helping to crack the CSS code, and develop and distribute a program taking advantage of the cracked code.
According to prosecutor Inger Marie Sunde, Johansen collaborated with people from Germany, Russia, Britain, the Netherlands, and the United States on making and publishing DeCSS in 1999 and 2000. At the time Johansen was 15 and 16 years old.
Even though it's true that Johansen took part in developing DeCSS, he had nothing at all to do with cracking the CSS code, which makes the already weak case against him even weaker.
Just to refresh our memory, here's a quote from a three-year-old article written by deZZY/DoD about DeCSS and cracking the CSS code.
Lately, Jon Johansen of MoRE has been pretty much all over the news in Norway, though he had NOTHING to do with the actual cracking of the DVD CSS protection. Yes, it was MoRE who did DeCSS, but the actual crack was not a team effort, MoRE didn't even exist back when the anonymous German (who is now a MoRE member) cracked it...
Jon Lech Johansen, also known as 'DVD Jon', goes to court next week in Oslo, Norway.
Johansen co-authored DeCSS, the software which makes it possible to bypass the CSS copy-protection used on most DVD-Video discs. Norwegian prosecutors, the MPAA, and the DVD Copy Control Association claim that the software can contribute to illegal copying of DVDs. It's basically about consumer right versus the authors' rights to control the content of their product.
Professor Olav Torvund, a law professor at the University of Oslo, says that the case is weak. In his view all that Johansen did was broke into a product that he had bought and thus owned. It's like buying a car, picking it's lock, and then being sued by the car manufacturer. Torvund says that the industry is trying to shove the consumer rights aside by setting technical barriers on the product. Copying videos for personal use is perfectly legal in Norway, as it is in most countries around the world. All Johansen ever did was spread the information on how to open the DVDs using something else than an expensive DVD-player.
Source:
Aftenposten
President George W. Bush yesterday passed bill HR.5469, aka the Small Webcasters Settlement Act. The bill, however, is very vague in serveral aspects.
There have been three drafts of the bill so far. The latest version, created by Senator Jesse Helms' office, doesn't specify any rates, but instead gives the parties involved, RIAA and the webcasters, until December 15 to reach a settlement. It is, however, unknown who actually will be taking part in the negotiations.
We'll know more in a week.
Source:
The Register
