The AfterDawn.com staff would like to wish all our users merry christmas and a happy new year! The year 2003 has been yet another year of amazing growth at our site, and we owe it all to you. Thank you!
Now it's time to take a little break, sit back and devote some time to the important people in our lives.
On behalf of AfterDawn.com,
Jari Ketola
We will be switching to a new ISP this week. You will probably see this as downtime and occasional glitches on the service. We will of course do our very best to keep the outage as short as possible.
The recent actions by our ISP and their total lack of intrest or effort to fix the problem lead to the switch earlier than was planned. Originally the switch wasn't scheduled until late January.
I hope you bear with us during the transfer. The sites affected by the transfer are AfterDawn.com, Dawnload.net, cd-rw.org, MP3Lizard.com, Blasteroids.com and the associated.forums
Jon Lech Johansen, aka DVD-Jon was acquitted of all charges by the appeals court in Oslo, Norway. The appeals court upheld the earlier ruling in which Johansen was also found not quilty of the alleged copyright violations.
The ruling was now made by three professional judges backed up by four laymen. Two of the layman members were IT professionals with technical expertise relevant to the case. The ruling came surprisingly quickly -- it even managed to surprise Johansen's own lawyer.
The Norwegian white-collar crime unit, Økokrim is carefully evaluating the most recent verdict before deciding whether or not to appeal to Norwegian Supreme Court. Since Johansen has already been cleared of all charges twice, it will take quite a bit of convincing from the prosecutors to get a quilty verdict from the judges.
The Motion Picture Associaton of America issued a statement saying it was disappointed by the ruling of the Olso appeals court.
Source:
Aftenposten
Ahead has released a hotfix for Nero Recode 2 that fixes issues with dual processor systems.
The file is available at our mirror site and Ahead's ftp server.
Nero Recode 2 is a state-of-the-art program for importing, recoding (or compressing) and burning DVD-Video titles that would normally be too large to fit onto recordable or rewritable 4.7 GB DVD discs. First you import the complete contents of non-copy protected DVD-Video discs or DVD-Video file structures from your harddrive.
NEC has built and demonstrates the first optical drive with a dual red/blue-laser optical head. The single head is capable of reading both existing red-laser based DVDs as well as next-generation blue-laser based HD-DVDs.
NEC and Toshiba's Advanced Optical Disc (AOD) technology was approved by DVD Forum to be a candidate for next-generation HD-DVD discs. Meanwhile Sony is doing its best to push the Blu-Ray format, aka Professional Disc for DATA (PDD).
Two HD DVD format specifications are currently being promoted for standardization by. One is the ROM (read-only-memory) disc with 15GB of storage capacity on a single layer and 30GB on dual layers and the other is the rewritable disc with 20GB of storage capacity. In November, the DVD Forum's steering committee approved the proposed HD DVD-ROM format in version 0.9.
Sony is currently focusing on data storage markets with its PPD technology, and is already shipping products to OEM manufacturers. NEC will be demonstrating the dual-format AOD drive next month at 2004 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, USA. However a final product will probably take quite a while to hit the stores.
Nullsoft has unveiled Winamp v5.0, the long awaited media player combining the best features of previous Winamp versions, 2.0 and 3.0.
In addition to looking pretty damn good, the new version includes nice features, such as Winamp Media Library.
Download Winamp v5.0.
Apple's immensely popular online music store iTunes has sold 25 million songs since its launch in April, Apple announced today,
According to sources, the 25 millionth song sold was Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! by Frank Sinatra.
"With over 25 million songs purchased and downloaded to date, the iTunes Music Store is hands-down the most successful online music store," said Apple CEO Steve Jobs. "Music fans are buying and downloading almost 1.5 million songs per week from the iTunes Music Store, which is a rate of 75 million songs per year."
Apple has also sold more than $1 million worth of $20 and $200 gift certificates, which have been quite popular in the holiday season. The profit margins are extremely slim, but iTunes' popularity is also fueling the sales of iPod -- Apple's portable digital music player.
Apple currently holds a 70 per cent share of the music download market.
Source:
News.com
Digital music services provider Loudeye and Microsoft announced yesterday that they will be working together to promote Loudeye's new music store concept in co-operation.
Loudeye provides companies with the underlaying technology needed to start a branded digital music store. It's aimed for companies who wish to provide added value to their service -- not for those who wish to make business with it.
"There are a lot of companies that are not your usual suspects that will pay to have services that will drive cross promotion," said Loudeye CEO Jeff Cavins. "What it comes down to is that there are companies that are learning that using digital media is a good way to cement a brand."
So far Loudeye has focused on providing other music stores with pre-encoded music files and storage solutions. Its two initial music store customers include AT&T Wireless and Gibson Audio.
Source:
News.com
321 Studios has released an update to DVD X Copy Gold that brings its development to par with other X Copy products. The update is available to registered customers at DVDXCopy.com
The Copyright Board of Canada has deemed downloads from peer-to-peer networks legal in Canada. However, much like in other countries, uploading files is still considered illegal. So as long as you're not sharing any copyrighted material, you can use P2P networks in Canada with a clear conscience.
Claude Majeau, the secretary general of the Copyright Board said regarding P2P downloads: "As far as computer hard drives are concerned, we say that for the time being, it is still legal."
Canadian Recording Industry Association doesn't agree with Copyright Board's views. "Our position is that under Canadian law, downloading is also prohibited," said Richard Pfohl, general counsel for the association. "This is the opinion of the Copyright Board, but Canadian courts will decide this issue."
The Copyright Board also decided to impose surcharge on hard drive -based music players, such as Apple iPod. MP3 players with up to 10GB of hard drive capacity will have a $15 government fee added to their price, while larger devices will carry a hefty $25 fee. Players with less than 1GB of memory will get away with $2. The charges put MP3 players to the same category with blank audio tapes and CDs. The money collected will go to a fund, from which artists are compensated for losses caused by consumers' personal copying.
The trial against Jon Lech Johansen, the author of DeCSS, closed today in the Oslo Appeals Court. The prosecutors are demanding a 90-day suspended jail sentence and a fine of NOK 20,000 (about $3,000) to cover legal expenses. Johansen's lawyer in turn demanded that Johansen be acquited of all charges.
Johansen was cleared of all charges in January, but was immediately sued again, when the Norwegian economics crime division appealed the ruling.
A final verdict from the Appeals Court is due on December 22nd. Both sides can still file a new appeal to the Supreme Court, should they wish to do so.
Source:
Routers
Aftenposten
BusinessWeek looks at different aspects of the "broadcast flag" proposed by Federal Communications Commission in November. The flag would limit the way consumer's can record and view digital TV broadcasts on, for example, DVD.
Hollywood wants to limit copies since digital TV and DVD recorders allow pixel-perfect copies to be made. Some manufacturers, such as Sony, have welcomed FCC's proposal, but others, like Philips, aren't quite as satisfied. Philips argues that implementing the broadcast flag restrictions would soon render the 74 million DVD players in U.S. homes obsolete.
"We're concerned because as an electronics maker we have a pact with the consumer that says old stuff and new stuff will work together," says Michael Epstein, manager of technology and standards at Philips. "A Hollywood solution like the broadcast flag creates problems for consumers even when they aren't doing anything wrong. It's a side effect that stops them from doing something they legally should be able to do."Since many electronics manufacturers are also involved in the entertainment business as content providers, Hollywood will probably be able to get its way with the protection demands. Read more...
Our friends at DVD Writers have put Plextor's multi-format DVD-writer 708A to the test.
Plextor have put out a fine product Plextor with their 708A DVD writer. Plextor has long been known as the company that produces quality optical drives and they haven't failed with the 708A - this drive is leagues ahead of the competition.
The 708A's 8 speed dvd writing in around 8mins is a far cry from the days of Pioneer A03 (which was our first reviewed DVD writer) and would write a DVD in around 1 hour. At 8 speed the 708A gave the fastest DVD writing times of any DVD writer we have tested. Since 8 speed DVD+R isn't an official standard the Plextor 708A can write to a few good quality 4 speed +R at 8 speed (saving you a few quid in the process).
... this is the best DVD writer - buy it!
To read the full review of this amazing drive visit DVDWriters.co.uk
Federal Judge Michael Mukasey on Friday ruled that the MPAA can not stop their members from sending out screener copies of movies. MPAA immediately stated that it will appeal the injunction.
"We know, without dispute, that in the past screeners have been sources for pirated goods both domestically and overseas," MPAA president and CEO Jack Valenti said in a statement on Friday.
But the fact remained that small budget movies would have suffered from the ban the most. Critics simply don't have the time to go and see the number of movies they're seeing now in theatres. Smaller movies have received award nominations and press coverage mostly thanks to screener copies sent to critics.
"I believe people who received screeners will be much more careful [now]. Before people looked at them as Christmas gifts, and there was nothing to tell them they weren't...They came up all nice and wrapped," said producer Jeff Levy-Hinte.
L.A.Critics Association president Jean Oppenheimer was pleased about the ruling. She couldn't tell, however, if the organization would regroup and re-establish its awards. The association called off their awards in October in protest of the ban.
Avery Lee has released a new version of the popular non-linear video editing software VirtualDub. The most important changes are fixes some instability issues with VideoCDs and Windows 9x operating systems.
Here's the list of changes:
After hearing testimonies from both sides Judge Michael Mukasey said he would rule on Friday on whether to grant a temporary restraining order stopping the screener ban imposed by MPAA on its members.
The Judge heard testimonies from MPAA Chairman Jack Valenti, producers Ted Hope and Jeff Levy-Hinte, and Warner Independent Pictures chief Mark Gill. Mr. Levy-Hinte, who testified in favor of lifting the ban, was optimistic about the hearing. "We are very confident in our side, but it's very difficult to evaluate the judge's opinion just from his demeanor. I think he realizes the importance of this case and wants to put together a well thought-out opinion."
MPAA imposed the ban to slow down movie piracy, but independent studios feel that the ban hurts their visibility in the media and makes it a lot more difficult for smaller films to receive an award.
Source:
Los Angeles Daily news
Ninemsn, a joint venture between Microsoft and Australian media company Publishing and Broadcasting will launch an online music store in Australia, the company announced on Tuesday.
The store will offer songs from the five major record labels -- BMG Entertainment, EMI Recorded Music, Sony Music Group, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group. In addition to the big labels, music from independent labels will also be made available. The store will be powered by European On Demand Distribution (OD2), which powers major music stores in Europe (eg. MSN and Tiscali).
The music store is scheduled to open early next year.
Source:
News.com
Jon Johansen aka DVD Jon has pleaded not guilty again to the charges made against him. In the trial that began today Johansen is accused of violating the copyright protection on DVDs and thus promoting movie piracy.
Eight days have been allocated for the trial, and it will be overseen by three professional judges and four laymen, two of which have technical expertise relevant to the case.
Aftenposten writes:
According to newspaper VG's web site, the technical nature of the case led to judge Wenche Skjaeggestad asking the prosecutor to explain the meaning of the central term 'algorithm' (a computational procedure applied to solve a problem), a request eventually satisfied by one of the expert assessors.
