Earlier today we reported that the infamous public torrent tracker The Pirate Bay had been sold to the software company Global Gaming Factory X, who then decided to shut down the tracker and remove its torrents.

Responding very quickly to user requests for it, the admins of the Pirate Bay have now added a "user deletion" option for those users who do not want any part of the new "legal" Pirate Bay.

Says the blog:

"We are going to build a user deletion interface later today. Many people have asked about having their account removed and we will not force anyone to stay on of course.

However, we also want to point out that we have no logs of anything, no personal data will be transferred in the eventual sale (since no personal data is kept). So no need to be worried for safety. We always care for that.

According to new data from Charter Equity Research analyst Edward Snyder, sales of the Palm Pre are beating all expectations, with the number almost doubling all previous analyst estimates.

The highly anticipated smartphone was launched the first week of June and analysts conservatively estimated 150,000 units sold so far. Snyder says the number is set to break 300,000 soon.

Palm is producing 15,000 units every day, Snyder adds and expects one million sales in the device's launch quarter.

Palm has had two straight years of quarterly losses but hype over the Palm has sent the company's stock to a 52-week high at $16.50 USD.

According to a new Siliconera report, Sony has patented a new method that would allow the Cell processor of the PlayStation 3 to fully emulate the Emotion Engine, bringing full backwards compatibility for PSX and PS2 games.

The patent was filed in December of last year, and Spencer Yip adds: "Figure 2 from the patent is a schematic drawing of how the system works. Figure 3A is a drawing of the PlayStation 2's chipset. Figure 3B is the emotion engine. Figure 4 is where the whole story gets interesting!"It's 'an example of a host system based on a cell processor that may be configured to emulate the target system.' The target is figure 3B, the Emotion Engine." (Source and pictures at the end of the article)

Although the patent may end up being nothing, but it could also possibly mean that a new hardware model may include the backwards compatibility, possibly even the oft rumored PS3 Slim.

In a surprising announcement today, Bsquare has said they will be porting Flash Lite 3 to Android phones by the "late Q3," eliminating the need for users to wait for the official Flash 10 port which still does not have a release date.

Bsquare vice president of global sales Larry Stapleton added that the browser plug-in should be available for current Android phone owners as well.

"Our intent is to try to get these guys to market faster by using this base port," Stapleton added.

Flash Lite 3 can render Flash Player 8 files meaning files that require 9 or 10 will not work on the handsets. However, Stapleton says "a large subset of what's on the Web today will render in a pleasing way for the end consumer."

The popular all-in-one CDR / DVDR / Blu-ray application Nero has updated to version v9.4.13.2b and with it brings alot of new changes:

* InCD (6.4.11.1)
* InCD features operate with Administrator logon rights only.
* InCD 5.5 is able to write onto DVD-RW formatted by itself.
* Nero Burning ROM (9.4.13.2)
* The error message: "could not get ClassID" is no longer displayed after launching Nero Burning ROM.
* "Continue multisession" projects are displayed in the correct size.
* Volume is correct when using the "Save Tracks" option (MP3 only).
* Nero CoverDesigner (4.4.8.0)
* Nero CoverDesigner startup icon is available in both Nero Burning ROM and Nero Express.
* Nero CoverDesigner can be started after updating Nero 9.
* Nero CoverDesigner can be started through Nero Vision.
* Printer paper size options are displayed in Nero CoverDesigner.
* Nero Live (1.4.41.0)
* Nero Live starts as expected.
* Live TV starts as expected.
* Intermittent problems with receiving some TV signals is eliminated.
* Nero Recode (4.4.22.0)
* The option "Shutdown down computer when finished" works correctly.
* *.TS files can be opened.
* The error message "Out of memory" is no longer displayed during the burn process.
* The error message "DirectShow error" is no longer displayed when encoding to an iPod® format.
* Nero ShowTime (5.4.14.0)
* The error message : "Unable to send message to parent Window" is no longer displayed during play back.
* Nero StartSmart (9.4.11.6)
* Volume plays as expected when using the "Save Tracks" option (MP3 only).
* Nero Vision (6.4.9.0)
* New Features:
* Import your PowerPoint® presentations
and convert to DVD-Video or BD for TV playback (requires installed Microsoft Office PowerPoint® 2003 or 2007)
* Archive HD movies in highest quality AVCHD format to HDD including USB stick and flash memory card, SD Card and Memory Stick(TM), even without the use of an optical recorder
* Changes/Bugfixes:
* After exporting files from Nero Vision, it is possible to return to the original file.
* Text effects in Nero Vision work properly after using the "static" effect.
* Support for *.m2v files added to Nero Vision.
* Nero Vision supports previous version project files.
* *.wmf files are displayed correctly in preview window.
* Nero Vision no longer prompts for DTS Plug-in when adding *.m2ts file with both Dolby and DTS audio tracks.
* All *.mov files play back with audio in the preview screen.
* The text effect "Space Scroller" no longer inserts white squares when line breaks are in the text.
* Temporary files are removed automatically after burning to disc or to Image Recorder.
* Smart3D menus play back correctly on DVD+VR.
* Eliminated "runtime error" when burning large AVCHD projects.
* Nero Webinstaller (4.4.8.4)
* AskToolbar is only installed, when selected for installation.

As we reported earlier today, The Pirate Bay is being sold to another Swedish company Global Gaming Factory X (GGF). The publicly listed software company stated that the acquisition will have an effect on the business model of The Pirate Bay which has been known to be the most popular BitTorrent site on the Internet. In addition to these changes some less expected changes are going to happen too.

Peter Sunde, co-founder of TPB, has told TorrentFreak that The Pirate Bay will be shutting down their tracker and remove torrent files from their servers. After closing the tracker The Pirate Bay will use the torrents of an upcoming third party service which will introduce an API accessible by other torrent sites as well.

It's still unclear how GGF intends to compensate the content providers and copyright owners. Neither has the company revealed further information how the acquisited Peerialism and its file-sharing technology will affect The Pirate Bay.

Software company Global Gaming Factory X is about to acquire The Pirate Bay for 60,000,000 SEK or 7,8 million USD, says GGF press release. The acquisition which is deemed to be completed in August will have an effect on the business model of one of the most visited sites on the Internet, says GGF.

GGF, a publicly listed company, will "launch new business models that allow compensation to the content providers and copyright owners," states the press release.

"The Pirate Bay is a site that is among the top 100 most visited Internet sites in the world. However, in order to live on, The Pirate Bay requires a new business model, which satisfies the requirements and needs of all parties, content providers, broadband operators, end users, and the judiciary. Content creators and providers need to control their content and get paid for it. File sharers need faster downloads and better quality," GGF CEO Hans Pandeya added.

Half of the 60,000,000 SEK will be paid in cash and the rest in newly issued shares. GGF will take over the sites and domains of TPB, including hugely popular thepiratebay.org.

In 2006, the popular online movie rental company Netflix started a contest to see who could improve its recommendations by 10 percent.

Today, a "multinational group of researchers, scientists and engineers" has submitted their entry, and are well on their way to winning the $1 million dollar prize.

Because the team was the first to submit, competitors now have a 30 day window to get better solutions in or the contest is over.

The group says their solution improves predictions by 10.05 percent, just over the threshold.

BellKor's Pragmatic Chaos, as the group dubbed itself includes researchers at AT&T, a research scientist at Yahoo, and two Austrian engineers.

According to the Nikkei business daily, Sony is actively considering developing a 'PSP phone,' a mobile phone/gaming handheld hybrid, in an effort to compete with the astoundingly popular iPhone.

The company has plans to get a project team together in July to develop the new product, which will "combine functions of its portable game player (the PSP) and Sony Ericsson's mobile phones," reads the report.

Although Sony declined to comment on the speculation, the move would make sense and has been oft rumored for years.

Game developers such as Capcom have been offering games for the iPhone, taking advantage of the strong market share for Apple products while at the same time taking away revenue from the traditional handheld gaming devices, the PSP and Nintendo's DS/DSi.

Mozilla has announced it will be releasing the final version of Firefox 3.5 tomorrow, the very last day of its own self imposed deadline.

The release comes little over a year after the official release of Firefox 3.0 and the distribution was accelerated by the quick release of release candidates, most of which were sent to users running 3.0.

Firefox 3.5, originally dubbed 3.1 but changed when more and more features were added to the release, will include a "faster JavaScript engine called TraceMonkey; a privacy mode, which some call "porn mode" for one of its more obvious applications; and location-aware browsing."

Also notably, the updated browser will include HTML5 support and other enhanced scripting features.

According to recent Net Applications statistics, Firefox owns 22.51 of current browser market share, behind the clear leader Internet Explorer at 65.5 percent but taking more share every day.

Microsoft has announced the addition of Canal+ to Xbox Live in France, allowing French gamers to watch films and soccer on demand from their consoles.

The move follows a similar deal with the British broadcaster BSkyB just a few weeks ago.

With the deal, Xbox Live users in the nation will have access to 3000 films, dramas as well as French Ligue 1 soccer games.

Microsoft says Xbox Live currently has over 17 million members globally. The company says the Canal+ deal is just a start for partnerships with Canal+ owner Vivendi.

If you have switched mobile phone brands anytime recently, you will surely have encountered the annoyance of needing to buy a new proprietary charger, either for your wall, your car, or for your PC.

That problem will be coming to an end in Europe as of 2010, as 10 of the largest mobile phone companies have submitted a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to the European Commission that means a new universal charger will be available, revolving around the Micro-USB connector.

The ten companies are: Apple, LG, Motorola, NEC, Nokia, Qualcomm, Research In Motion, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, and Texas Instruments.

"I am very pleased that industry has found an agreement, which will make life much simpler for consumers," adds the EC's Gunter Verheugen, via a FAQ. "They will be able to charge mobile phones anywhere from the new common charger. This also means considerably less electronic waste because people will no longer have to throw away chargers when buying new phones."

Last week, the file-hosting giant Rapidshare lost a case to the German copyright society GEMA.

As part of the ruling, Rapidshare was told to "proactively filter" over 5000 tracks from GEMA's catalog and make sure they are not distributed on their servers.

Rapidshare has announced this weekend that they will in fact be appealing the verdict.

GEMA created a software that can search web forums and extract links that infringe on GEMA's copyrights. Rapidshare however, scoffs at the software, claiming it does not work.

"It's questionable whether the application can deal with mechanisms to prevent the scraping of links, open encrypted files, accurately identify audio files or find links in forums that can't be accessed by search engines."

They of course are correct, as the software will not be able to identify mislabeled files, password protected RAR files, and more notably, files posted in private Warez forums.

The large indie movie studio Gigantic Group has announced it will be starting Gigantic Digital, an online streaming movie service that will begin with the release of "Motherland" on August 26th.

Each movie will cost $3 USD for three days of unlimited viewing, and GG says they hope to have 5 titles available by the end of the year.

"As things stand now, financial and market pressures on bricks and mortar exhibitors have largely eliminated the possibility of a truly independent film finding its audience or building word of mouth," notes Gigantic President Mark Lipsky. "Even with rave reviews, films can be off screens so quickly that the audience has no time to find them. Not only can we keep a film on screen indefinitely, but we can dramatically extend their reach into the marketplace and grow the audience in areas of the country that have never been exposed to indie films."

Jennifer Steinman, director and producer of "Motherland," adds: "It is the quickest and most intelligent way to get your film into every living room in the U.S."

Albeit buggy, Hulu playback on the PlayStation 3 has been allowed for some time now, giving console owners the ability to watch some of their favorite shows on their nice HDTVs.

That seems to have come to an end today however, as multiple users have posted on various forums that trying to watch a video on Hulu gives them the following message:

"Unfortunately, this video is not available on your platform. We apologize for any inconvenience."

Engadget reports that the problem could be a temporary issue after the recent 2.80 firmware update, or could mean that Hulu is being purposely blocked.

They add, "interestingly, the Hulu TOS was just updated as of June 26, and although we haven't found any PS3-specific passages, changing a browser's user-string to match the console reveals it is definitely being specifically blocked."

The VideoBay, the video sharing site promised by the founders of The Pirate Bay over two years ago, is getting closer to fruition, with the site allowing a "sneak peak" to all users of its abilities.

The site also adds that "to stay in the spirit on which TPB was founded and using the Latest Technology™, TVB aims to use the new HTML5 features, more specificly the

According to a new study performed by Futuresource Consulting, 8 percent of consumers from the UK, France, Germany, and the US admitted to downloading video content such as movies by unauthorized means, usually from file sharing sites and networks.

The study, entitled ‘Living With Digital: Consumer Insights into Entertainment Consumption', "used a representative sample in each country and provided respondents with a list of legal and illegitimate download sites from which to select."

France topped the list, with 25 percent of survey takers admitting they pirated video content. The survey took about 625 consumers from each nation.

According to Futuresource Consulting, despite slower than expected growth, Blu-ray software sales will account for 50 percent of all home entertainment business by 2012.

Additionally, the company lowered its expectations for 2009, from 95 million discs sold to 75 million discs, specifically citing weak attachment rate with PlayStation 3s, which remain the most popular Blu-ray players. According to the group, PS3 owners only purchase 2 Blu-ray films per year, while standalone owners purchase 5-8 per year.

“This is all about pricing,” adds Alison Casey, Futuresource head of global content. “In 2012, you’ll see entry-level Blu-ray pricing at $50. At that point, Blu-ray will become mass market.”

Blu-ray sales will continue to help offset declining DVD revenues, caused by a saturated market which is now forced to sell DVDs at cheaper prices than ever in history.

“Blu-ray is vital and important to keeping disc volume healthy,” said Casey. “Blu-ray is going to help sustain a flat packaged-media market.”

Futuresource also adds that Blu-ray owners are unusually heavy media consumers, in comparison to non-BD owners.

According to Sony executive Robert Wiesenthal, the company is set to launch a PSN-esque online service across a multitude of its hardware products.

The service could start as soon as March 2010 and would link Sony's online content more closely to their HDTVs.

"TV is where we have to win," added Wiesnthal. "We can no longer afford to only offer great TVs. Otherwise, we set the stage for someone to become the Google of the TV."

Sharing content between TVs, PCs, cameras and other devices will be made much easier, says the report.

Kaz Hirai, president of Networked Products and Services adds:

"It’s now a matter of what all the services need to look like for each device, and coming up with a roll-out plan. It’s like city planning here, and we can start small. We don’t need to build New York City overnight."

According to a "mole" speaking to Arstechnica, both Sony and Microsoft will introduce new hardware packages this fall, in addition to price cuts.

This is all considered rumor for the time being, but the "mole" has broken a lot of stories in the past that have eventually been absolutely correct so keep that in mind.

From Sony's end, across the board price cuts are coming as well as the introduction of the 'PS3 Slim.' The 80GB model will be phased out as well, in favor of the higher capacity 160GB model. There was no word on how big the price cut will be, but many expect $100 USD.

From Microsoft's end, the Xbox 360 Pro will be phased out by August, using bundles such as Halo 3/Fable 2. The Elite systems will receive a price cut and move into the same price point the Pro currently uses. The move for Microsoft makes much sense especially given the company's recent decision to offer full game downloads via XBL.

Citing the increase in netbooks now on the market, most of which do not include optical drives, a source within Microsoft, speaking to CNET, says the software giant is considering offering the upcoming OS Windows 7 on USB flash drives.

It is unknown what kind of copy protection would be put on these drives, outside of the standard CD key, but it may not even matter.

Microsoft is also considering allowing Windows 7 to be a digital download, which users can then use to create bootable USB drives from the file.

The company has not officially stated what it will do, but has acknowledged the growing concern of netbooks.

If done, a USB drive release for Windows 7 would mark the first time a major OS would be available in that format. Notably, the drives would cost Microsoft more, as Windows 7 will need at minimum 10GB of space, and a flash drive with that kind of memory is significantly more expensive than a DVD that costs cents.

The Canadian equivalent of Netflix, Zip.ca has announced today that they are currently in talks with Sonic Solutions to bring the popular online movie download service CinemaNow to Canada.

The deal would allow PC and media device owners to download TV episodes and movies from CinemaNow for playback on their devices.

Zip.ca offers 72,000 physical DVDs via the mail, less than Netflix's 110,000 but still a strong number.

There was no roadmap or timeline provided.

Despite a prolonged slump in hardware sales, Japanese console sales improved marginally week-on-week for the week ended June 21st, with the Nintendo DSi remaining at the top of the chart.

The popular handheld moved almost 41,000 units for the week, followed not so closely by its handheld rival the PSP at 27,884 units sold.

For consoles, the Wii clearly led the way, as usual, selling more than the PS3 and Xbox 360 combined.

The overall figures:

* 1. Nintendo DSi: 40,464
* 2. PlayStation Portable: 27,884
* 3. Nintendo Wii: 19,386
* 4. PlayStation 3: 10,359
* 5. Xbox 360: 6734
* 6. Nintendo DS Lite: 5531
* 7. PlayStation 2: 3770

According to a VG247 report, the eventual PS3 firmware 3.0 will be a "completely new system," not unlike how the NXE was for rival Microsoft's Xbox 360 console.

The report says the update could be coming as soon as the holiday season 2009 and will be a "complete overhaul."

A new reputation system will be included, one "in which users will be able to evaluate each other will be provided for… game applications. There will be a new API available to so the user can… allow users and also obtain users’ reputation.”

Also included is a "grief reporting system" which allow gamers to take screenshots during gameplay of "offensive" players. The pics can then be directly sent to Sony.

If the rumor is true, another notable upgrade will be the ability to download patches in the background during gameplay. Audiophiles in the crowd will also enjoy being able to simultaneously "output HDMI and digital optical."

Speaking with an anonymous Microsoft engineer, NeoWin has reported a few interesting new facts about the upcoming Zune HD media device, including pricing, which has not yet been officially revealed.

During the interview the source claims that the Zune HD is the best media device the company has ever made and that with the right marketing it can sell twice as well as previous Zunes, which continue to struggle and have almost lost all marketing support from the software giant.

More notably, the source says "the Zune team is working hard to get all the licensing agreements in order" to bring movies to the Zune marketplace, including 720p HD films.

Finally, the source adds that there will be two launch sizes for the Zune HD, 16GB and 32GB, with a 64GB most likely coming later. The device will begin shipping in "early September" and the smaller capacity 16GB model version will retail for "$249 -$280."

You can read the whole interview here: Interview with the Zune source

According to a new blog post by the iPhone Dev Team, iPhone 3GS jailbreaking software is on the way, as the new updated device still has the same exploitable bootrom that past models have.

The full post reads:

"About 5 hours ago (Thursday evening, less than a week after the 3GS launch), we were able to verify that the 24Kpwn exploit that the hybrid team used on the iPod Touch 2G is still applicable to the bootrom of the iPhone 3GS. That means we can use the same sort of technique used by our current redsn0w tool to jailbreak and unlock the iPhone 3GS.

This is great news, but how did it happen? Why didn’t Apple fix this in their normal cat&mouse fashion? Well it seems this bootrom was cut in about the August 2008 timeframe, so the unintended early reveal of 24Kpwn earlier this year didn’t affect the iPhone 3GS.

For our technical notes on where the 24Kpwn exploit is in the 3GS, see here (pastebin hash of it is here). Our original blog post for when this exploit was first found is here.

And yes, ultrasn0w will be able to be used on the iPhone 3GS for you unlockers! (In fact, without any modifications whatsoever!)

The Blu-ray Disc Association is publicly calling out Harris Interactive for reporting more people own standalone HD DVD players than Blu-ray players. They're backed up by Tom Adams of Adams Media Research, who points to sales figures which would make it impossible.

"Some people believe a DVD player on an HDTV is high-def," said Adams. He added, "we have models that show those numbers just can't be true."

What neither the BDA or Adams appears to be challenging is the notion that people simply aren't looking for a replacement for DVD yet.

While sales of new releases have climbed, particularly over the last few months, sales of catalog titles have been consistently weak. The practice of releasing some high profile movies on Blu-ray before they're available on DVD even brings studio confidence in new releases into question.

There's no question that HD DVD is dead and DVD sales are slowing. It's debatable what that means for the future of Blu-ray.

LG has said today that they are upping production of LED-backlit LCD TVs, hoping to sell 5 million units in 2010.

Overall, for 2009, the company's goal is to sell 18 million LCD TVs, making it the second largest LCD maker behind rival Samsung.

LED-backlit LCDs are thinner than current models and produce more vivid images, better contrast, and offer longer lifespans.

Simon Kang, chief executive of LG's home entertainment division, added that 18 million units sold was within reach and most likely will be surpassed.

Sonic Solutions, owners of the popular movie streaming service CinemaNow have said the service will now be available for Japanese Wii users.

The company is partnering with Fujisoft to bring CinemaNow content into Fujisoft's Everyone's Theater VOD service that currently runs on Japanese Wiis.

CinemaNow currently has over 1500 movies, short films and documentaries available.

If successful abroad, Nintendo hints the service may be brought stateside.

Square Enix has been sued today by a gamer who claims the company has been secretive about fees and late payment penalties in regards to the popular online RPG Final Fantasy XI.

Esther Leong of California has filed the class action lawsuit against the company, claiming they "deceived" as many as 100,000 paying customers.

The civil action lawsuit is seeking up to $5 million USD for the "unfair business practices, false advertising, and unjust enrichment" of the company's actions.

Technically, the suit claims Enix had unfair practices relating to their monthly fees on the game, as well as penalties for any missed or late payments and added charges for suspended accounts.

According to a new TorrentFreak report, using data collected by Tribler the popular BitTorrent client uTorrent is the clear market leader for client use, followed only remotely close by Vuze.

The report, which was based on 150,000 unique users from 400 separate public swarms, shows that uTorrent had 55.84 percent market share, followed by Vuze at 16.85, official BitTorrent client at 12 percent, BitComet at 6.50 percent and Transmission at 1.60 percent. 19 other clients, put under "other," accounted for 3 percent, and other unknown clients filled the rest of the pie.

TF also says there are over 50 million BitTorrent users on the Internet at any given time.

It is also important to note that BitTorrent Inc. owns both uTorrent and the official BT client, so together the company controls about 68 percent of the client market.

Microsoft has said today that new consumers who buy Vista PCs before the much anticipated Windows 7 operating system launches in October will get a free upgrade to the new OS.

To get added "buzz," the company said it will also be taking pre-orders for the operating system beginning June 26th, offering Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade for $49 USD and Windows 7 Professional Upgrade for $99, about half off their suggested retail prices.

Beta testers and users of leaked 7 RCs say the new operating system runs much smoother then Vista does, as well as faster booting, and less UAC pop-ups.

Any consumer that purchases Vista Premium, Business or Ultimate beginning tomorrow will be given a free upgrade to Windows 7 when it becomes available on October 22nd. Vista Basic is not eligible, and Microsoft says the promotion will run until January 2010.

The pre-order sale will start tomorrow in the US, Canada and Japan and next month in the UK, France, and Germany. Microsoft expects to sell out within 2 weeks at the promotional prices.

The judge who presided over the now infamous Pirate Bay trial was not biased according to a ruling from Sweden's Court of Appeals.

Defense lawyers alleged Judge Tomas Norstrom's membership in multiple organizations which advocate increasing the scope of copyright law should have disqualified him from hearing the Pirate Bay case. Although they were critical of Norstrom for failing to disclose these associations earlier, appellate court judges disagreed that there was any bias.

"We have reached the conclusion that we do not agree with the conflict of interest claim," said appeals court judge Anders Eka.

Christian Engström of the Pirate Party, who was recently elected to represent Sweden in the European Parliament, was critical of the decision. He said "This is part of a pattern. It show that the Swedish legal system is no longer to be trusted when it comes to copyright cases. It's a travesty of justice quite simply."

An appeal of the guilty verdict is still ongoing, but it may be years before a final decision is reached.

The results of a new survey by Harris Interactive show that despite winning the hi-def format war Blu-ray isn't showing any real signs it will become a mainstream success. In fact they indicate more people own standalone HD DVD players (11%) than Blu-ray players (7%).

When you factor in PS3 game consoles and the Xbox 360 add on HD DVD drive the numbers shift to favor Blu-ray, but it's not as big a margin as you might expect. Even including these numbers, Blu-ray only holds a 2% lead (16% vs 14%).

Clearly those numbers don't look right if you assume people are buying these players for their compatibility with the high definition format of their choice.

Unless the format of their choice is upscaled DVD. And in fact that's what most people who responded to the survey seem to be indicating.

Even though respondents said they would buy fewer standard definition discs this year than last, they aren't planning to convert those purchases to Blu-ray titles.

Barely more than a fifth of Blu-ray owners surveyed are replacing the titles in their DVD collection with Blu-ray versions. More than 40% are waiting for disc prices to drop before they expand their collection of high definition discs.

A Berlin court has today ruled against the file-hosting giant Rapidshare, siding with the German copyright society GEMA.

As part of the ruling, Rapidshare must now "proactively filter" over 5000 tracks from GEMA's catalog and make sure they are not distributed on their servers.

"This means that the copyright holder is no longer required to perform the ongoing and complex checks," GEMA added after the ruling.

"We are confident that in this way we will be able to reduce the illegal use of the GEMA repertoire on the Internet to a negligible level."

Rapidshare seemed unfazed by the decision.

"We do not consider the court's decision to be a breakthrough," RapidShare COO Bobby Chang said.

"As other proceedings in similar disputes with GEMA have shown, there is considerable disparity amongst the individual courts in some cases. Our experience is that the courts of appeal tend to restrict the scope of the decisions made by the lower courts."

A few of Sharp's LCD HDTV line has been banned from import to the United States today, following the ruling against the company in a patent dispute with Samsung.

The two companies have been fighting for months over patents relating to the "apertures formed in the conductive layer comprising the electrode." The patents in question are used in widescreen LCD panels.

Not all of Sharp's LCDs are in question, and Samsung says it is only a handful of Aquos models that will be banned, some HDTVs and some computer monitors.

Sharp representative Chris Loncto noted however that the company is "awaiting details on the full decision so we won't have any comment."

Sharp and Samsung may still sign a licensing agreement and the ban could be dropped, which seems likely.

Sky Broadband has admitted and apologized for an error with their system that has been blocking UK users from accessing the PlayStation Network for the seven hour period of 5pm to midnight.

The Sky system classified "PSN as a traffic-heavy application, and therefore sought to prevent or block connections to it during peak hours."

"Our network management system mistakenly classified PlayStation 3 traffic in a way which meant some customers using their consoles to access the internet may have had their speeds reduced, in line with our network management policy for Sky Broadband Connect," Sky added.

"This was a mistake and resulted from a systems error, for which we apologise. Our team is working on fixing this as a matter of urgency. All other Sky Broadband users are unaffected, as there are no traffic management policies in place for our on-network broadband services."

Facing tougher questions, Sky noted that traffic management is only used on P2P applications.

"There are no restrictions in place for applications such as web browsing, email, video and audio streaming, instant messaging and VOIP during peak times. And we do not put restrictions on our network outside of peak times (5pm to midnight)," concluded the company.

Sony has announced today that the PlayStation Network has hit a new milestone, 25 million registered users.

Additionally, users have downloaded over 500 million pieces of digital content.

The network, which encompasses the PS3 and PSP store, has over 200 games, 1900 films and 9000 TV episodes alongside tons of demos, wallpapers, themes and trailers.

The most popular download recently is the PSone title Final Fantasy VII which was digitally re-released two weeks ago and has had over 100,000 downloads since launch.

Wolfenstein 3D, Bomberman ULTRA, Gunstar Heroes and Trash Panic also had strong sales.

With all the recent hype about the new iPhone/iPod Touch 3.0 software , we at AfterDawn felt it necessary to update our excellent firmware version 2.0 jailbreaking guide for the new software.

The new guide uses the quick and painless Redsn0w application, and the entire process should not take longer than 10 minutes.

You can view the guide here: Jailbreak an iPod Touch with V3 software

The Windows version of boxee, a media center program based on the open source XBMC media player, has entered public alpha. Boxee has been available for Linux, OS X, and Apple TV for some time, but the Windows version has been in closed testing.

Boxee is unique among media center applications because it's primarily oriented toward viewing online content. In fact it doesn't even support TV tuner peripherals, but can connect to a great deal of TV content found online.

One notable exception is Hulu. After a decision by one or more of Hulu's content owners earlier this year, they have actively worked to block Boxee users from using their service.

Boxee for Windows is expected to move from alpha to beta status some time later this year.

To download your own copy you need to register at the Boxee website first. If you would like to give feedback to Boxee's developers we have a sticky thread on our forum for just that purpose.

You can also read our Boxee preview from earlier this year for more information.

According to a new Twitter post, it appears Apple has dropped the space from the iPhone 3G S making it the simpler 3GS (no space).

This is not earth shattering news, obviously, but it is a welcome move to the tons of journalists out there right now which have been somewhat confused by the naming scheme.

Apple’s Greg Joswiak says it is now 3GS however, which should make for added confusion when trying to write about multiple iPhone 3Gs (lower case S).

The French independent labels collecting society SPPF has this week filed a lawsuit against giant video sharing site YouTube, alleging copyright infringement.

The SPPF says that over 100 music videos from its artist catalog are available via the service in some form, and the group wants €10 million in damages.

YouTube refuted the charges however, adding that the "SPPF has not signed up to its Content ID technical measures to identify any infringement."

"We can't discuss a pending case but bear in mind that YouTube offers professional content creators and producers powerful and free tools to protect, promote and monetize their content by using Content ID," says Google. "Many indies as well as major music companies are using these tools to protect their content in France. The protection of copyrights is best achieved by joint efforts between creators and online platforms, not by lengthy and costly lawsuits. SPPF have not used Content ID to protect their content on the platform so far, although several independent labels do."

The IFPI and the City of London Police and the Intellectual Property Office have this week arrested a 33 year-old man for allegedly being part of a "scene" release group that specializes in pre-release music.

The group, DV8, has been cited in leaking 2500 albums before their retail street date. The IFPI investigation has already netted "a substantial quantity of promotional CDs, and computer equipment including an active FTP server and client and software used in connection with ripping and digitizing content."

Of late, the media trade groups have been targeting pre-release uploaders, as they find those leaks to be the most "damaging" for the labels and the artists.

David Lammy MP, Minister of State for Intellectual Property, added: "This successful operation sends a clear message - we are serious about tackling the problem of Intellectual Property theft. This is an example of partnership working between the Intellectual Property Office and the BPI and IFPI. It clearly shows the added value that our work is bringing to the wider enforcement community. I want to ensure that consumers, legitimate businesses and their employees are protected from those that choose to break the law."

Following a lengthy investigation into copyright infringement, a Milan judge has this week ordered the operators of a few unauthorized music download sites to forfeit $2.4 million euros.

The sites were each accused of offering unlicensed music for download, either for free or for prices much cheaper than iTunes or Amazon MP3.

The investigation was headed by the Italian Fiscal Police, and began in 2003. 54 suspects were arrested in Italy, but all went free after the "case was dropped as a result of the expiry of the relevant limitation period."

Despite that technical difficulty, the Judge for Preliminary Investigations said it had been proven that the offenses had indeed been committed and the money, which had been frozen anyways, was seized.

The iPhone Dev Team has now officially released the iPhone 3.0 software unlocking software, dubbed Ultrasn0w, which will help iPhone 3G users to unlock their phones that have been updated to software 3.0.

The Dev Team says to follow these simple rules:

1. Ensure you have upgraded to iPhone OS 3.0
2. Jailbreak your iPhone 3G using redsn0w or PwnageTool (this will also install Cydia/Icy)
3. Run Cydia or Icy
4. Please add the repo repo666.ultrasn0w.com to Cydia or Icy. That last “o” is actually the number zero >zero “0”! If you use the letter “o” you’ll get an error.
5. Search for ‘ultrasn0w’ in cydia or icy and install ultrasn0w
6. Reboot your iPhone 3G
7. T-Mobile USA users should disable 3G before using ultrasn0w
8. Enjoy

You can read more comments here: UltrasnOw now available

We have a new guide available today for our AfterDawn users, on how to use the new program DoubleTwist to share, sync, convert or import video, music or picture files.

You can use, DoubleTwist (the brainchild of DVD Jon) to sync your media devices as well as share your media with friends and sites such as Flickr and YouTube. DT can also convert videos to formats needed by certain devices, on the fly. DoubleTwist currently has support for iPhone, Blackberry, iPod/Touch, PSP, Android G1 and Magic, most camcorders and digital cameras, and a lot more media devices, which are listed in the guide.

Please check out the guide available here: Using DoubleTwist to share and sync your media

According to a TouchArcade report, Apple has banned a fully-licensed Commodore 64 emulator from the App Store, claiming it violates the iPhone SKD Agreement.

The application was developed by Manomio and allows gamers to get nostalgic with classic C64 games.

"We've reviewed C64 1.0 and determined that we cannot post this version of your iPhone application to the App Store because it violates the iPhone SDK Agreement 3.3.2," said Apple in the official rejection notice.

"[An application] may not itself install or launch other executable code by any means, including without limitation through the use of a plug-in architecture, calling other frameworks, other APIs or otherwise. No interpreted code may be downloaded and used in an Application except for code that is interpreted and run by Apple's Published APIs and built-in interpreter(s)," continued Apple.

It is important to note that the App store currently has "a number of similar applications, including programmable calculators and a Z-machine interpreter known as Frotz."

Gary Wade Leak, a Sony lawyer who was a star witness for the RIAA in the recent Jammie Thomas trial has said today that even he is "shocked" by the amount of money Thomas is now being forced to pay, a gigantic $1.92 million sum.

Speaking at an alumni event at Columbia University, Leak added: "We were shocked. I suspected we were going to win, but I really thought they would come in with a lower number."

However, during the trial, Leak made it very clear that the jury could charge the maximum $150,000 USD per song in damages, as it would be "certainly appropriate" given the circumstances.

Leak did admit that he expects the award to be reduced either in a settlement or on appeal, and it may be pushed back to the original award of $220,000 or even less.

Just weeks after their patent victory over EchoStar, TiVo is getting ready to expand substantially, says sources talking to Bloomberg.

The DVR maker is in talks with PPV providers in an effort to "allow its recording directly or else to license out the technology for third-party hardware or software."

Other details are still vague, but it is clear the service will be different from online-based ones such as Netflix or Amazon VOD.

Additionally, TiVo is looking to have its service directly connected through Time Warner, possibly even creating a new Time Warner-exclusive set-top.

Negotiations are still ongoing with nothing set in stone.

Apple has announced today that the company has sold 1 million new iPhone 3G S units its launch weekend. Additionally, over six million customers have downloaded the new iPhone 3.0 software in its first 5 days of release, choosing to upgrade their iPhone or iPod Touch.

“Customers are voting and the iPhone is winning,” added Apple CEO Steve Jobs. “With over 50,000 applications available from Apple’s revolutionary App Store, iPhone momentum is stronger than ever.”

The upgraded iPhone is the most powerful yet, and includes a 600mhz processor, a higher megapixel camera, hands free voice control, a more smudge-resistant screen and many new features that use OS 3.0 but do not function on the original iPhone 3G.

EMI has sued the free streaming music service Grooveshark today, accusing the site of facilitating copyright infringement.

Says Grooveshark:

For the past year, Grooveshark has been in talks with EMI Records and other copyright holders to negotiate licensing agreements for the use of their content. We are pleased to announce that over the past few months Grooveshark successfully concluded mutually beneficial agreements with many artists, labels, and publishers that we hope to be a template for other such agreements with additional copyright holders.

Recently, EMI Records chose to abandon the template we’ve built with the help of other major copyright holders and opted for their traditional intimidation tactic of filing a lawsuit as a negotiating tool. We find the use of this negotiating strategy counterproductive, as Grooveshark has been willing to conclude an agreement with EMI Records that is economically sustainable for both EMI Records and a start-up company the size of Grooveshark.

The world's second Android phone, the HTC Magic is selling very well, according to HTC CEO Peter Chou, who says the phone is set to hit 1 million sold by next month, taking half the time its predecessor the T-Mobile G1 did to hit the milestone.

The phone was launched by Vodafone in May, and will soon be available in China and the US, as the MyTouch 3G, expanding its possible consumer base by massive amounts.

As Android grows in popularity, Chou says HTC plans to release a third phone, the HTC Hero but there are no release plans on that phone as of yet.

The anticipated iPhone 3G S was released on Friday and many users are still having delays activating their new phones.

Apple today, is trying to make amends for the delays, and is giving all users that are still experiencing the problems a $30 USD iTunes gift card for the "the inconvenience this delay has caused."

Here is the full email customers received:

Dear Apple Customer,

Thank you for your recent Apple Store order. We appreciate your patience and apologize for the inconvenience caused by the delay in your iPhone activation.

We are still resolving the issue that was encountered while activating your iPhone with AT&T. Unfortunately, due to system issues and continued high activation volumes, this could take us up to an additional 48 hours to complete.

On Monday, you'll receive an email from Apple with an iTunes Store credit in the amount of $30. We hope you will enjoy this gift and accept our sincere apologies for the inconvenience this delay has caused.

Cevat Yerli, Crytek CEO, has suggested that the upcoming game Crysis 2 will for the most part max out the PS3's technology.

Yerli says the performance analysis of the game shows full occupation of the CPUs, the Cell, and the GPUs, adding there is very little more they could push.

His quote directly: "The interesting thing is we did run a performance analysis on the PS3 devkit, and you know the funny thing is the occupation on all the CPUs, the Cell and the GPUs, is pretty much – the needle is at the limit."

"There’s not much more you can do," he added, "and frankly the breakthrough was very recent, and otherwise we would’ve had a compromised strategy on the consoles, which we don’t have now."

Although the big news has been surrounding the RIAA and their decision over file sharer Jammie Thomas, another piece of interesting news regarding the trade group has surfaced today as well.

Mavis Roy, a woman who was sued by the RIAA over alleged file sharing, has 'settled' today with the trade group, however there is much more to it.

On the dates in which she is alleged to have pirated the music, Roy did not own a computer, and her stories check out. She tossed out the first written threat from the RIAA thinking it was a joke and was promptly sued afterwards. Luckily, a law student took up her case and Roy and the RIAA settled today for the lofty sum of $0 USD.

Despite this victory in court, Roy is "still unsettled that the record companies are able to treat upstanding American citizens in this way. Invading people’s privacy and accusing people of things that don’t even make sense. It is such a sad waste of the courts time."

Moby may be correct in saying it is time for this group to disband.

In early January, Apple CEO Steve Jobs took a leave of absence from the company prompting many to question the CEO's health.

At the time he said: "As many of you know, I have been losing weight throughout 2008. The reason has been a mystery to me and my doctors. A few weeks ago, I decided that getting to the root cause of this and reversing it needed to become my #1 priority."

"Fortunately, after further testing, my doctors think they have found the cause—a hormone imbalance that has been “robbing” me of the proteins my body needs to be healthy. Sophisticated blood tests have confirmed this diagnosis."

A Wall Street Journal article today states that Jobs had to receive a liver transplant two months ago but is fortunately recovering well and is expected to return to his position at Apple later this month, in a part-time role until he is completely recovered.

Apple responded to the rumor simply stating, "Steve continues to look forward to returning at the end of June, and there's nothing further to say."

A source within Apple says Jobs may have to work only part-time for the first two months, which would in turn give Tim Cook, Apple's COO, a "more encompassing role." The source also see Cook being made a board member in the near future.

On Thursday, Jammie Thomas was found to have "committed willful violation" of the copyrights of 24 songs she shared via P2P and the jury awarded the RIAA and the media companies $1.92 million USD, equivalent to $80,000 for each song.

Quite obviously, the RIAA will never see that full amount, but thanks to a recent decision by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, the group may not see a cent.

Ira Rothken, the US-based lawyer who in the past has represented public torrent indexers TorrentSpy and Isohunt says Thomas may be able to get out of the debt through bankruptcy court, something that was not an option until that recent San Francisco decision.

The case, Barboza vs. New Form, made it clear that "willful violation" is different in civil court than in bankruptcy court. "Now her conversation must be 'Hey, if we can't settle, I'm going to go forward and file for bankruptcy,' and they'll say 'Well, you'll have to have another trial,'" added Rothken, according to CNET.

Yesterday, Activision CEO Bobby Kotick suggested that the publisher may eventually be forced to drop support of the PlayStation 3 console if Sony does not cut its price.

"They have to cut the price, because if they don't, the attach rates [the number of games each console owner buys] are likely to slow. If we are being realistic, we might have to stop supporting Sony. When we look at 2010 and 2011, we might want to consider if we support the console — and the PSP [portable] too," said Kotick at the time.

Today, Sony has "responded", expressing: "We respect our third parties' opinions and their right to express those opinions but we will not be commenting on this story."

Sony's response was nothing more than standard PR, but video game analyst Michael Pachter had more to add:

"Of course Bobby's bluffing, and good for him," says Pachter.

Following the recent jury decision against alleged file sharer Jammie Thomas, in which the woman was fined $80,000 USD for each of the 24 songs she shared via P2P, the popular artist Moby has written a blog entry claiming the RIAA "should be disbanded" for using the wrong techniques against people who are just trying to listen to music.

His full post:

"The riaa have sued Jammie Thomas-Rasset of minnesota for $2,000,000 for illegally downloading music.

argh. what utter nonsense. this is how the record companies want to protect themselves? suing suburban moms for listening to music? charging $80,000 per song?

punishing people for listening to music is exactly the wrong way to protect the music business. maybe the record companies have adopted the 'it's better to be feared than respected' approach to dealing with music fans. i don't know, but 'it's better to be feared than respected' doesn't seem like such a sustainable business model when it comes to consumer choice. how about a new model of 'it's better to be loved for helping artists make good records and giving consumers great records at reasonable prices'?

Sony Pictures has announced today the company's two latest BD-Live features, MovieIQ and CineChat.

Mike Abary, senior vice president of information technology products and personal audio, says there are now 11 million Blu-ray devices in US homes, and predicts 400 percent sales growth for 2009.

MovieIQ is somewhat like the popular movie database IMDB, but instead powered by Gracenote. Connecting to constantly updated databases will allow you to get full cast lists, as well as set details and other information on the film.

CineChat is a Blu-ray instant messaging program. Users can use a keyboard or certain mobile devices such as BlackBerries to type to someone else around the world (friend or not) that is watching a Blu-ray film. Notably, the feature uses "sync" so if both are watching the same film they can watch at the same time, the same scenes.

MovieIQ will first be available in September with the release of Angels and Demons and CineChat will be available soon with the release of Ghostbusters.

Activision CEO Bobby Kotick has suggested today that the publisher may be forced to drop support of the PlayStation 3 console if Sony does not slash the price of the system, and soon.

"They have to cut the price, because if they don't, the attach rates [the number of games each console owner buys] are likely to slow. If we are being realistic, we might have to stop supporting Sony," said Kotick.

"When we look at 2010 and 2011, we might want to consider if we support the console — and the PSP [portable] too."

Activision paid over $500 million USD in royalties to Sony in 2008.

Adds Kotick: "I'm getting concerned about Sony; the PlayStation 3 is losing a bit of momentum and they don't make it easy for me to support the platform.

"It's expensive to develop for the console, and the Wii and the Xbox are just selling better. Games generate a better return on invested capital on the Xbox than on the PlayStation."

The Nintendo DSi was once again the best selling hardware in Japan for the week ended June 14th, although sales in general continue to fall in comparison to the 2008 average.

The handheld sold 37,000 units overall and the best selling console was as usual, the Nintendo Wii which shifted 18,442 units.

The Xbox 360 and PS3 continued to lag behind but the sales between the two rivals continue to get closer.

For the week ended the 14th:

* 1. Nintendo DSi: 36,872
* 2. PlayStation Portable: 26,904
* 3. Nintendo Wii: 18,442
* 4. PlayStation 3: 10,009
* 5. Xbox 360: 8015
* 6. Nintendo DS Lite: 5408
* 7. PlayStation 2: 3498

The online retailer Meijer is now the first company to offer a standalone Blu-ray player for under $100 USD, selling the Curtis Mathes CMMBX130 for $99.99.

The standalone will playback Blu-ray at 1080p and upscale standard DVDs to 1080i, and includes HDMI 1.3 output, optical digital audio and an Ethernet port for Internet connectivity.

The CMMBX130 runs on a BroadCom 7440 processor "and there is an 11-bit, 108MHz video digital-to-analog converter as well as a 24-bit, 192kHz audio digital-to-audio converter. Rounding out the outputs is a composite video connections. Two-channel Dolby Digital AC-3 is supported."

Microsoft has confirmed that they are now shipping a Jasper-based Xbox 360 Arcade units with 512MB of on-board flash memory, a double from the current 256MB.

"The Xbox 360 system software uses some of the included 512MB memory; less storage will be available to users. Additional storage (sold separately) may be needed for game saves, Xbox LIVE Arcade games, content downloads, personal file storage, and additional enhanced functionality. A hard drive is recommended for LIVE, and is required for some features," said the press statement. "We want to offer consumers a bit more memory at the same low price so they can enjoy more experiences on Xbox LIVE."

It is still unclear whether the new units are shipping worldwide of just in Europe, but we will keep you updated.

At the E3 Expo earlier this month, Microsoft announced that they will start an "on-demand" service for downloads of games for the Xbox 360 through Xbox Live.

The company has today re-branded its Xbox Originals service on Xbox.com, with all titles now featured as part of the Games on Demand service instead of the Originals service.

A few of the games include BioShock, Assassin's Creed, Crackdown, LEGO Star Wars and Sonic the Hedgehog.

"It's not going to be new games," added Shane Kim of MS. "We did it with Xbox Originals and now we're expanding that to Xbox 360 games for the first time.

Last September, Minnesota woman Jammie Thomas was convicted of sharing 24 unauthorized tracks via P2P and was told to pay the RIAA $220,000 in damages. Thomas was granted a retrial however, which has gone to verdict today.

Thomas was found to have "committed willful violation" of the copyrights on the 24 songs and the jury has this time awarded the RIAA and the media companies $1.92 million USD, equivalent to $80,000 for each song.

The defendant had been given a retrial because a judge in the original case admitted to making an error in jury instructions.

The new outcome is substantially worse for Thomas, as the penalty now stands at $1.92 million compared to the original $220,000 fine.

Panasonic has revealed an 85-inch full HD 1080p plasma display today at the Infocomm show in Florida that is based on the company's NeoPDP technology.

The display is meant for use as an electronic billboard or for business presentations as it lacks TV tuners. The static contrast ratio is 40,000:1 and the dynamic contrast ratio is a large 2,000,000:1.

The panel is 3.9 inches thick and weighs 287 pounds.

Inputs and outputs include DVI, Ethernet, and dual-link HD-SDI.

Although unconfirmed, rumor has it Panasonic is developing a 150-inch plasma display as well, one that will include TV tuners.

There was no word on price but expect it to top $50,000 USD.

T-Mobile has made an announcement via Twitter today noting that the much anticipated second Android Google Phone will be dubbed the G1 Touch and will be based on the Huawei U8230.

The device will have a full 3.5-inch touchscreen, 5 MP camera and integrated Wi-Fi and 3G support.

The handset will also include a 3.5mm headphone jack, and will include Google Maps, Google Search and Google Talk as well as the Chrome-based mobile web browser.

There is no word on price or release date.

According to analysts at Citigroup, the in-game advertisement market should reach $1 billion USD in revenue by 2014, marking a 40 percent growth from the current market, an expected $600 million revenue for 2009.

The report states that "in-game ads have higher engagement" than traditional ads used online and that "advertisers' appetite for in-game marketing appears to be increasing."

Citi expects to see the large growth in the PC gaming space, as well as in games played online.

The report is the second in recent weeks to forecast revenue for the up-and-coming in-game advertisement market, with PricewaterhouseCooper estimating a significantly higher jump to $1.4 billion USD by 2013.

In 2006, the controversial anti-piracy company StarForce went out of the public eye after it was found that the the company's DRM was actually harmful to any PC playing a game crippled by it.

StarForce dug its grave deeper when it threatened to sue a blogger who criticized the company's DRM in public. The final nail was the unceremonious drop of the DRM for "alternative copy-protection systems" by Ubisoft just months later.

Today, Gamasutra has a great interview with the company, which appears is trying to make a comeback in the international market, 3 years after its demise.

Rather than paraphrase or cite their article, I will just link over there: Interview: The Return Of... StarForce?

Let us hope, for the consumer's sake, that StarForce has changed, for the better.

Apple has released the much anticipated iPhone/iPod Touch firmware version 3.0 today, adding over 100 features to the current 2.2.1 software.

iPhone owners can download the software for free through their phone while Touch users will have to purchase the update first for $9.95 through the App Store.

Apple Insider gives this list:

* Cut, Copy & Paste: Quickly cut, copy, and paste text from application to application. Select entire blocks of web text with a tap. Copy and paste images from the web, too.

* Landscape Keyboard: Rotate iPhone to landscape to use a larger keyboard in Mail, Messages, Notes, and Safari.

* MMS: Send MMS messages and include video, photos, audio, and contact info. Even tap to snap a picture or shoot a video right inside Messages. MMS support for U.S.-based AT&T customers won't be available until late summer.

Verizon has announced today that broadband customers in New York, Massachusetts and Rhode Island can now sign up for a new on-demand PC gaming service that will allow unlimited access to 1400 games for $9.99 USD a month.

Gamers can play as often as they want, and can even download the games to laptops and play anywhere, given you have Internet (the games must 'phone home' first).

"With unlimited games, our FiOS and HSI (High-speed Internet) broadband customers can do away with those annoying game-rental late fees and the hassles of storing and cataloging game discs," adds Susan Retta, vice president for Verizon broadband marketing. "And when customers are away from home, they can access their account from any broadband connection to play online games or download new games to play later."

A few of the included games are "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader," "Jewel Quest," "The Price Is Right,""Boggle" ,"Risk,""Bob The Builder(TM)," "Clifford The Big Red Dog," "SpongeBob(TM") Teaches Typing," "American Girl and "Zoo Tycoon,""Bejeweled Twist(TM)," "Diner Dash(R)," "Agatha Christie(TM)," "Virtual Villagers(R)," "Splinter Cell(TM)" and "Prince of Persia(TM)."

The notorious iPhone Dev Team, known best for releasing software that jailbreaks iPhones and iPod Touches, has released a video today showing off a new version of yellowsn0w called ultrasn0w that will unlock every iPhone/Touch firmware including the new 3.0, released today to the public.

There was not much else revealed, but the crew says the program will be released on Friday. A bigger question may be whether or not the program will work with the newly launched iPhone 3G S.

View the video here:

As was the case earlier this year, the Sony PlayStation 2 remains the most played console by gamers, despite the fact that the Nintendo Wii has been the best selling console for over 2 years.

According to the latest Nielsen figures, the PS2 accounted for just over 22 percent of all minutes gamers spent playing video games in April followed closely behind by the Microsoft Xbox 360 which accounted for 21 percent. The Wii lost month-on-month, falling from 21 to 18 percent. The PS3 lagged behind at 11 percent.

In terms of games, World of Warcraft on the PC continues to dominate, accounting for 44 percent of all total minutes played in the month. In second place is the popular game Second Life, which accounted for only 6 percent of minutes. Warcraft gamers also averaged about 10 hours of playing time a week for the game, says Neilsen, second only to Lord of the Rings: Shadows of Angmar, where gamers spent on average 15 hours per week playing.

Microsoft sources have denied 1UP's recent report that a new Xbox is coming in late 2010.

Aaron Greenberg, director of product management, says: "I think part of the excitement about this announcement is that in many ways we are delivering a next generation experience this generation. With that said, I can confirm that Natal will run on Xbox 360 so no new console investment will be necessary."

Adds another Microsoft source: "Don't believe nonsense on the internet is all I'll say. We'll do the right thing for Natal."

During the weekend, 1UP reported that a "new" Xbox console would be launched in fall 2010, with improved hardware and full backwards compatibility with the 360.

Rich Leadbetter, editor of Eurogamer's Digital Foundry channel, also says: "The fact is that an enhanced Xbox 360 is rather unlikely simply because the tech requires none of the console's processing might to sift through the data acquired by the 3D camera."

"All of the really clever stuff that Natal does is carried out onboard [the camera device], with the data then streamed across to the 360 via USB. If, as the 1UP report suggests, the 360 update is only offering a minimal amount of extra power, then the question surely must be, what's the point of that?"

Netflix has announced that it will finally add subtitles to its video streaming library, however, not until next year.

CEO Reed Hastings says the lack of subtitles has been one of the biggest complaints about the service's "Watch Instantly" streaming library.

Netflix will finish creating the text files that will "give customers the option of enacting captions on digital titles on devices using Microsoft’s Silverlight components sometime in 2010, adds Netflix chief product officer Neil Hunt.

“Captioning is in our development plans but is about a year away,” Hunt finished.

According to Fido representatives, Canadian movile phone carrier Rogers will be selling the upcoming iPhone 3G S for $799 (16GB) or $899 (32GB) CAD without contract, prices that far exceed the phone's price tag in the US.

Without contract in the US, the phone retails for $570 and $680, meaning Canadians will be paying at least a $100 premium for the phone.

Rogers is also only offering three-year contract or contract-free.

Supposed leaked Best Buy Canada sources are claiming however that the phone will not be overpriced and will be $700 CAD for the 16GB model and $800 for 32GB, in line with the American models.

We shall see when Rogers makes it official.

Last week we reported that the Nintendo Wii, among other consoles, took a serious hit to its sales, seeing a 57 percent drop year-on-year for the month of May.

The drop marked the third consecutive month the Wii saw substantial declines in sales. Supply issues are no longer a problem either, as there are ample amounts on store shelves.

Analysts are now coming out in droves declaring the console has reached a saturation point at its current price and price cut is necessary to stop the continued decline in sales. A $50 price cut, bringing the Wii to the same price as that of the low-end Xbox 360 Arcade seems to be a good point.

Nintendo continues to deny any price cut is in the works however. We have "no plans to reduce its prices at this time."

Virgin Media, the large cable TV operator and music store chain has announced an unlimited music download subscription service with Universal today, designed to allow all Virgin broadband users in the UK to stream or download as many Universal songs as they want, for a fee.

Of course, entertainment lawyers say the service will do nothing to stop global music piracy, which can amount to "millions in lost revenue" every year for the major labels. Many added that the 25 and under segment of the population will continue to pirate music, while this service may bring in user over the age of 30, who are less prone to unauthorized downloads.

Universal, the biggest major label in the world, includes such popular acts as U2, Elton John, the Rolling Stones, Duffy, Kanye West and Akon.

Virgin adds it remains in talks with other labels in an effort to bring more artists into the service.

The downloadable songs will be in DRM-free MP3 and will be available "later" this year.

IFPI Chairman John Kennedy adds of the deal: "It epitomizes the way in which the music business is adapting to the digital world, embracing new business models and responding to the changing needs of consumers," Kennedy said of the new service.

Microsoft is set to release a free anti-virus program "soon", dubbed Morro, which promises to handle virus and malware threats as well as paid suites. The software will lack other utilities however, such as parental locks.

Morro is a sort-of second coming of the company's unsuccessful Windows Live OneCare service, and the latter will be discontinued when Morro is ready to go.

There is no timetable for the software but Microsoft says December 2009 is the absolute latest.

Janice Chaffin, Symantec's president of consumer products, says customers want more than just basic protection however, no matter the price. "A full internet security suite is what consumers require today to stay fully protected," she added.

Apple seems to have another hit on their hands, with the company already warning that the upcoming iPhone 3G S will be sold out on launch day and anyone pre-ordering after the 13th will not receive theirs on launch day.

AT&T, the exclusive US carrier, has been telling customers that anyone pre-ordering past that date will receive their devices in one to two weeks after the order is made.

A couple of the new software features from the upcoming iPhone 3.0 firmware will only work on the new 3G S model, and those are specifically, support for voice control, new camera controls, video capture, electronic compass, hardware encryption of all data and Nike + iPod support.

The voice control allows for, as expected, voice dialing. The new camera features include "rapid shutter, low light, macro and autofocus, touch controls for automatic refocus, exposure and white balance settings." The camera will also be 3MP.

Jon Lech Johansen, known notoriously as “DVD Jon” for his work in cracking the CSS encryption on DVDs, has this week put up an advertisement that directly mocks Apple.

The ad campaign, placed conveniently across from an Apple store in San Francisco, promises that Johansen's doubleTwist software is “The Cure for iPhone Envy.”

Additionally, the ad says “Your iTunes library on any device in seconds.” The ad is 15-feet wide.

“We’re trying to convey you don’t need to get an iPhone to have a great media experience,” Johansen adds. DoubleTwist has just gone beta for Windows and has been available for Macs for a few months.

doubleTwist allows users to share all their music, video and pictures easily and more efficiently with all their media devices. As the about page reads: "Our vision is simple: to create a unifying media platform that connects consumers with all their media and all their devices, regardless of whether they are online or offline."

The Amazon Kindle DX e-book reader is already sold out at the giant e-tailer, just three days after Amazon announced large volume on pre-orders.

The next batch of supply will be available June 17th, notes the site.

The device costs $489 USD, and is sold exclusively through Amazon, at least for the time being.

The reader "sports a 9.7-inch, 1200x824 resolution e-ink display as well as PDF file support, unlike the original Kindle and its successor, the Kindle 2. It can hold up to 3,500 books, periodicals, and documents in its memory and downloads this content via a no-charge 3G data connection. A tilt sensor will change the orientation of the screen as needed."

Systemax, the new owner of the Circuit City brand name, has said the company will remain an online-only business for the time being, with the computer maker showing no signs of re-opening brick and mortar stores.

“It’s too soon to say whether Circuit City stores will appear,” adds Gilbert Fiorentino, chief executive of Systemax’s technology products group. “We’ve only owned it for two weeks, and we haven’t figured out what to do with it yet.”

Systemax currently has 29 CompUSA-branded brick-and-mortar stores. “We’re looking at additional real estate,” says Fiorentino however. “It’s an opportunity of a lifetime.”

The company acquired the name and branding for CompUSA and TigerDirect over the last year as the companies went bankrupt.

According to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the federal hotline set up to hear calls relating to the mandatory DTV transition has had over 700,000 calls since Friday morning, the day the analog signals were cut off.

200,000 of the calls were related to the federal coupons towards digital converter boxes, perhaps implying a significant amount of people still do not have the right equipment to receive digital signals.

Another 200,000 calls were from consumers who have the boxes but were confused on how to operate them successfully. The FCC told many to "re-scan the airwaves for digital frequencies," and says 99 percent of the problems were solved.

Many others called about problems with reception, which is a much deeper problem than simple converter box issues.

"Our job is far from over," said FCC Chairman Michael Copps. "This transition is not a one-day affair. We have known about re-scanning and reception issues for some time and have been doing our best to get the word out."

The most callers came from the Chicago, Illinois area, but significant calls came from Dallas, New York, Philadelphis and Baltimore as well.

According to a Dell press release, users can now purchase and download authorized Microsoft software through the company's Download Store, marking the first time a non-Microsoft site has offered legal downloads of the popular products, which include most notably, Microsoft Office and all its components.

Dell claims to have cheaper prices as well, saying "For example, Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007-- one of the top-selling software titles in the is priced at $129.99 compared with the suggested retail price of $149.99."

If you get a new computer or have a HDD crash, users keep a "digital locker" with Dell, that allows you to download any purchased software again at no extra charge as well as find your serial number if you forget it.

“With everyday savings plus on-demand access, the Dell Download Store addresses our customers’ two main concerns: price and immediacy. In addition, downloading is a more environmentally friendly way to purchase and distribute software because there’s no need for packaging material,” adds Geoff Surkamer, general manager, Dell Global Digital Distribution.

Yesterday we reported that the AACS Final Adopter Agreement had been made available and surprisingly still included in the license was the controversial Managed Copy which allows owners of Blu-ray movies to make themselves one legal digital copy to be played at home.

Today, Michael Ayers, chairman of the AACS Licensing Authority, has confirmed that all discs beginning in January 2010 will allow for one full 1080p resolution copy, which will be a Windows Media DRM video file which can then be burnt once to recordable BD or DVD discs.

According to Philip Schiller, Apple senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing, has announced this week that in three days since its public launch Apple's Safari 4 has been downloaded 11 million times, a blistering pace for the popular browser.

"Safari 4 is an incredible success on Mac and Windows with more than 11 million downloads in the first three days," says Schiller. "Safari users love the incredible speed and innovative features like Top Sites, Full History Search and Cover Flow."

The most hyped of the new features in Safari 4 is the Nitro JavaScript engine that runs JavaScript at up to 4 times faster than Firefox 3.1.

A few of the new additions, taken from the full updates page are as follows:

Full-Page Zoom
Zoom in or out on web content using keyboard shortcuts, Multi-Touch gestures, or the Zoom toolbar button for more comfortable reading. Images and graphics scale up while your text remains razor sharp, keeping the web page layout consistent as you zoom. To add the Zoom button to your toolbar, simply choose Customize toolbar from the View menu and drag the button onto your toolbar.

Sarah Sharp, of the Intel Open Source Technology Center has said today that Linux will be the first operating system to officially support USB 3.

The support will soon be integrated into the Linux kernel.

"This is a giant project that I've been working on for the past year and a half. It's gratifying to see the code finally released, and exciting to know that hardware is on its way," says Sharp. "I hope that some USB vendors who have prototypes will test with my driver."

USB 3, sometimes referred to as SuperSpeed USB has potential data transfer rates of up to 4.8Gbits/sec, a 10x improvement from the current standard, USB 2.

According to the latest figures from NPD, US video game sales for May collapsed year-on-year, with software, hardware and accessories sales combining to fall 23 percent from May 2008.

Hardware sales were the biggest decliners, dropping 30 percent, with the DS Lite/DSi remaining the only strong seller, with 633,500 units sold for the month. Wii sales fell over 58 percent from 675,000 units sold last May to 290,000 this May. However, Nintendo hit a milestone, selling 20 million Wiis in the US over the console's lifetime.

The Xbox 360 sold 175,000 units and the PlayStation 3 moved 131,000 units. The aging PS2 sold 117,000 units.

Says Electronic Entertainment Design and Research analyst Jesse Divnich: "When you look at the Wii number, it's bad on an absolute basis, but relative to the PS3 and 360, Nintendo is still matching them combined. I think the biggest concern is just the hardware market in general. We're due for a round of price cuts, and I think all three manufacturers have reached saturation at current price points."

According to a Blu-ray.com report, the AACS Final Adopter Agreement is now online, and includes 188 pages of documents, exhibits, tables and attachments.

AACS is the current content protection system used on all Blu-ray discs, and the system has been running on an interim license agreement for years now.

Somewhat surprisingly, the license still includes the Mandatory Managed Copy despite continued rumors that would be dropped. Of course, the managed copy is subject to the terms of each studio individually and some, especially Fox, are not very privy to it.

The license details new restrictions on analog video outputs. "Use of the Image Constraint Token (limiting image resolution to 540p over analog) will have to be reported on the packaging and/or publicity materials. The Digital Only Token (prohibiting all image output over analog) will be very limited in use, mainly for non-consumer products and discs released less than six weeks after theatrical release of the title."

Just last week, the BBC publicly accused ISP BT of throttling iPlayer streams, hindering user's ability to watch television online.

John Petter, managing director of BT Retail's consumer business, has shot right back today, accusing the BBC of getting a "free ride" on the back of ISPs.

"We can't give the content providers a completely free ride and continue to give customers the [service] they want at the price they expect," Petter said. He did note however that it wasn't only the BBC to blame, but all streaming video services.

A BT spokesperson said costs incurred by ISPs by streaming video services was very high. "Obviously we're a big business," said the spokesperson. "We're raising this issue publicly, so you can take it as read we're not talking small amounts of money."

The same spokesperson noted that the BBC and BT were currently partners in "Project Canvas", an IPTV deal. "It's a good example of how ISPs and content owners can sit down and agree on a cost," he noted.

Metropolitan Police and the FBI have announced today the arrest of 10 members of what are being called an online music fraud "gang" accused of downloading their own uploaded music thousands of times using stolen credit cards to reap royalty payments.

The songs, which were uploaded and available for sale on Amazon and iTunes, were downloaded over 700,000 times using 1500 different stolen credit card numbers, allowing the suspects to reap over $300,000 USD in royalties from the two major retailers.

Seven men and three women were arrested today in London, Birmingham, Kent and Wolverhampton, each accused conspiracy to commit fraud and money laundering.

"It was established that between September 2008 and January 2009 a UK criminal network provided music via an online US company who uploaded the tracks to Apple iTunes and Amazon.com for sale," said a Scotland Yard statement. "This is a significant case for the e-crime unit, which was set up 12 months ago.

After years of planning and preparation, the remaining full power TV stations in the US will be turning off analog broadcasts and switching to all digital tranmission. The switch was supposed to be made on February 17 of this year, but was delayed due to problems with the government's voucher program.

Although most broadcasters have had a digital signal for months or even years, many have been using temporary frequencies until their permanent locations on the dial are freed up today. If you suddenly stop receiving one or more channels make sure to re-scan.

If you need help with DTV reception the FCC has a hotline at 1-888-CALL-FCC (1-888-225-5322). In addition, the FCC is requiring TV stations to have their own support lines available, which they have been publicizing during their programming for several months.

If don't know the number for your local broadcaster you can call the FCC hotline and they should be able to transfer you.

For general information you can also consult the last section of our guide Preparing for the US DTV Transition, which gives an overview of some reception issues and how to address them.

Judge Tomas Norström wasn't biased against the Pirate Bay according to a decision by a Swedish court earlier this week. Although it isn't the final word on the issue, the lower court's decision is expected to factor heavily into the Svea Court of Appeals' final ruling.

Frederik Neij, Gottfrid Svartholm Warg, Peter Sunde Kolmsioppi and Carl Lundstorm were found guilty of "assisting making available copyright material" in April. Their lawyers allege Judge Norström's membership in several intellectual property lobbying groups shows a bias against the defendants.

The lower court concluded he was telling the truth when he claimed he only joined these organizations to stay educated on legal issues. But does that claim hold any water?

Based on reports from Sweden it seems the judge only belongs to groups biased toward stronger intellectual property laws and stricter enforcement. If the goal is to stay educated wouldn't it make more sense to get both sides of the issues?

And how does a position on the board of an organization whose stated goal is "to work for the development, expansion and improvement concerning the protection of intellectual property" make you an unbiased observer?

In May, the French National Assembly voted for and passed the controversial 'three strikes' law that would have multiple time piracy offenders stripped of their Internet rights.

Today, the French Constitutional Council has ruled that the law, dubbed the The Creation and Internet bill is unconstitutional and violates the Declaration of 1789. The declaration says that all parties are innocent until proven guilty. The three strikes law would force customers to prove their own innocence.

The Council also says that the bill gives to much authority to a new oversight branch called the "High Authority." The Bill also prevents users from communicating with each other, thus attacking the constitutional right to freedom of speech.

The ruling should set a precedent for other countries that may be considering the law, as it will undoubtedly be deemed unconstitutional in those countries as well.

Critics have long criticized the bill for not only its presumption of guilt, but also the fact that the law encourages the monitoring of Internet traffic, regardless of whether the actions being monitored are legal or illegal.

LG has announced today they have begun shipping two new lines of HDTVs, TVs first announced during the CES event in January.

The LH50 line are LCDs and include a 42 and a 47-inch model. The high end LH50 will include integrated Netflix streaming, allowing users of the rental service to stream movies without the need for a set-top box such as Roku.

The second line, PS80, is of the plasma variety and includes a 50 and 60-inch model. Each of the plasmas will include integrated Netflix as well.

There was no pricing revealed on the sets.

Sony has announced that the on-demand video service VidZone is now available for free for European PlayStation 3 owners.

VidZone currently runs the service from their own independent website, and is has deals with Sony BMG, EMI and over four thousand independent labels. The service on the PS3 will be ad-supported and will allow gamers to stream over 25,000 music videos and "behind-the-scenes commentaries."

"VidZone is not just about giving music fans access to thousands of music videos, but offering a completely interactive and personalised music experience," says VidZone CTO Michael Russo.

The VidZone application is available for download via the PS Store and will allow users to create playlists, save a video library, or select any individual video from the catalog.

"Music has always been popular on PS3 and now VidZone is set to transform the way we view music videos by letting you completely tailor your experience and is just one more reason for PS3 to be the most valued player in your living room," concluded Isabelle Tomatis, hardware and platforms marketing manager at Sony Computer Entertainment Europe.

Last week during the E3 Expo, Sony officially launched the PSP Go handheld, which removes the UMD drive, adds a slider design and and is slimmer than previous models.

Today, expert gaming analyst Michael Pachter has called the system a "ripoff," claiming that Sony is severely overcharging for the handheld in North America. The console retails for $250 USD.

Pachter adds that the current "slim" PSP-3000 is more expensive to build but sells for significantly less.

"I'm sorry to say it, I don't want to get bad fan mail from the Sony fanboys, but Sony is ripping off the consumer until they sell a couple of million," says Pachter.

"Disc assembly for UMD costs more than 16GB of Flash does," he notes. "So this new device doesn't cost them as much to make as the PSP-3000 and they've jacked the price up USD 80. And if consumers don't buy it then the price is going to come down. They're making a lot more money on the PSP Go than the PSP-3000."

Back in May we reported that the latest edition in the blockbuster franchise The Sims had been leaked to P2P, a full 15 days before its official release date.

According to BigChampagne data figures, the piracy rates for the game were very high as well, seeing 180,000 downloads in its first four days of availability.

It appears that the leak is doing nothing to hamper sales however, as Electronic Arts has announced today that the game has sold over 1.4 million units in its first week of availability.

The sales are combined for both the Windows and Mac editions, and the publisher says the game is having the best PC launch ever in company's history.

"With more than a dozen press awards, strong reviewer scores and positive feedback from The Sims community, we are thrilled with the success of The Sims 3 launch and the early sales indicate that we have another hit on our hands," added EA Play Label boss Rod Humble.

It has been ten years now since our site, AfterDawn.com, was launched back in June, 1999. To celebrate this event, I went through our extensive collection of news articles from the past ten years and tried to somehow summarize what has happened in the world of "digital entertainment" during our site's existence -- and what has happened to our site during that time. This can be considered as my personal "memoir" of what has happened to our site during the past ten years, and also serves as our "birthday news article" for today.

Digital music

Giganews announced last week that they had set a new Usenet milestone, upping binary retention to 300 days, a first for any provider.

Retention time is how long Giganews stores data available without deleting to make room for new content.

“Reaching 300 days of retention is a definite high-water mark for us and for Usenet as a whole,” Philip Molter, Giganews CTO added, “As the industry leader, we are excited to offer such lengthy retention times to our customers, and we continue to work toward our goal of a full year’s worth of binary retention.”

The company added that it plans to up retention time again to one full year (365 days) by August.

Sure we have heard rumors that a Sony PlayStation 3 price cut has been in the works for months now, but new "industry sources" are saying today that a $100 USD price cut is coming in August, right alongside the release of the sure-to-be blockbuster Madden NFL 2010.

"Industry sources indicate Sony is planning a $100 price cut on the PS3 in mid-August, just prior the launch of Madden (8/18) and the start of the back to school shopping season. This will naturally be a positive for the industry," says Sterne Agee analyst Arvind Bhatia.

He also notes that the video game market, despite a recent downturn, is still doing great.

"While software sales for the first half of 2009 are expected to be down mid-single-digits, we believe the second half, in contrast, will likely be up 10 to 15 percent driven by a robust lineup, easier comparisons and potential price cut(s)," he concluded.

The rumor would coincide with recent comments by GameStop CEO Daniel DeMatteo, which says that a price cut is imminent in the Q3 2009.

ESA CEO Mike Gallagher has spoken out this week about both piracy and DRM in the gaming industry, and GamePolitics has made a nice summary of his remarks.

In regards to piracy:

"Piracy is a scourge. Piracy is theft, plain and simple, of the intellectual property and the creativity and the energy of the investors in this industry and the artists who make the great games. Period. Okay?"

"It's a problem of such degree that it's between two and three billion dollars a year that it costs our industry in this country alone. When you look at piracy across all of entertainment, it's a much bigger number when you put in movies and look what it's done to the music industry. So, the going-in proposition has to be a recognition that piracy is wrong, it's illegal and it should be stopped..."

In regards to DRM:

"There are business models that say, 'You know, we're going to build our business model around giving it away for free and having the revenue come in in other ways.' We [in the video game business] do that too. We do that too. But for those companies who go forward, they're entitled to protect - using DRM - to protect their content. And I realize that it is a subject of some controversy with gamers and consumers because, like other similar types of devices, most often they negatively impact the law-abiding gamer.

"But it's one of those things that we have to be vigilant about. It's vitally important to preserve the ecosystem and the jobs in the industry and the next great game. If you don't make money off of the games that are made now you're not going to see the ones that come later like you saw at the press briefings already at E3."

One month after announcing its release in Europe, Harman Kardon has announced it will release its first Blu-ray player, dubbed the BDP-1, in North America as well.

The BDP-1 will also have "advanced audio codec support and will play back 1080/24p videos without pulldown conversion." A USB slot allows for JPEG and DivX playback from flash drives.

Harman Kardon is known mainly for its home theater A/V products but has been expanding of late. It will support MP3, WMA, LPCM, Dolby Digital, Dolby TrueHD, DTS, and DTS-HD Master Audio audio formats.

Hulu, the joint online video site owned by NBCU, Disney and Fox had another strong month in April, gaining views for the sixth consecutive month.

However, the site lost market share as YouTube and Turner Network gained even more viewers during the period.

For the month of April, 397 million videos were viewed on Hulu, up almost 5 percent from March. Hulu remains the number 3 video site in the U.S, behind the clear market leader YouTube and Fox Interactive sites which include sites such as MySpace.

Hulu's audience share fell however, from 2.6 percent to 2.4, as YouTube jumped 15 percent month-on-month and Turner Networks jumped 63 percent in the same period.

Apple has introduced the updated Safari 4 browser today, taking it out of public beta.

A few of the new additions, taken from the full updates page are as follows:

Full-Page Zoom
Zoom in or out on web content using keyboard shortcuts, Multi-Touch gestures, or the Zoom toolbar button for more comfortable reading. Images and graphics scale up while your text remains razor sharp, keeping the web page layout consistent as you zoom. To add the Zoom button to your toolbar, simply choose Customize toolbar from the View menu and drag the button onto your toolbar.

Speculative Loading
Safari loads the documents, scripts, and style information required to view a web page ahead of time, so they’re ready when you need them.

Nitro JavaScript Engine
Safari 4 introduces the Nitro JavaScript engine, an advanced bytecode JavaScript engine that makes web browsing even faster. In fact, Safari 4 executes JavaScript up to 6 times faster than Internet Explorer 8 and up to 4 times faster than Firefox 3.1.

Cover Flow
Using Cover Flow, you can flip through websites as easily as you flip through album art in iTunes. Cover Flow displays your bookmarks and history as large graphical previews, so you can pick out a website instantly.

History View
Take a closer look at your browsing history in the History view. Search for previously visited sites, drag web pages to your bookmarks, and clear individual items. Safari displays your history using Cover Flow, so you can flip through your search results as easily as you flip through iTunes album art.

Campbell Kan, Acer mobile computing VP has noted today that the computer company is currently developing a laptop with 3D display that will be available by the end of October.

The model will have a 15.6 inch display, and will recognize 3D movies natively. Users can also convert their standard movies into 3D. Kan was unclear about how 3D gaming would work. As with most current 3D displays, you will require stereoscopic glasses to view in 3D.

The notebook will also run Windows 7 which is set for a September release. Kan also noted there is a model being created that will not require special glasses but there is no timetable set for it as there are lots of developing setbacks.

Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has said this week that he believes that although high definition video has no "significant meaning" to users of the extremely popular Wii, the next Nintendo console will certainly be HD-compatible.

"If we have an opportunity to make a new console, it will probably support HD because it is now common throughout the world," Iwata says. "However, as far as the Wii is concerned, we have not found a significant reason to make it HD-compatible at this time.

"What is the significant meaning to the users? I don't think we should do it unless we find that reason. If we decide for other reasons to make new hardware, then HD is one of the things we would naturally add."

Iwata also spoke out about the new Sony and Microsoft motion-based control systems.

"We don't have any information about when they would introduce these things and at what kind of price," he added. "Until we know exactly what they will do, it's harder to understand what we would need to do.

Three major motion picture studios, Lionsgate, Paramount, and MGM have jointly announced the launch of Epix, an HD online streaming service and HD TV station that will allow users to watch the studio's films, for free, in HD.

This may sound similar to Hulu except there is no advertising, and you won't see any charges. The service is bundled directly into cable subscriptions, and the movies will air before they even hit DVD, like a standard televsion PPV.

Emil Rensing, chief digital office at Epix, says the movies will also be available online in full 720p streaming, at EpixHD.com.

Arstechnica elaborates and says "the video is offered through Flash and is multi-bitrate enabled; the player checks the available bandwidth every ten seconds to see if a larger or smaller stream is required. Epix currently creates six different encodings of each film which range from full HD support all the way down to 500Kbps (cell phone quality). In our own test preview of Iron Man, video was the best we have ever seen in a mainstream streaming service."

Apple had a busy day today at the WWDC 2009 event, revealing that they will be slashing the price of the lowest capacity iPhone 3G to $99 USD, launching an new iPhone 3G S model, and introducing the 3.0 firmware update for the iPhone and iPod Touch.

The 3.0 firmware will be available on June 17th for free for iPhone users or $9.95 USD for Touch users. The most notable new feature available are the ability to purchase and rent movies, TV shows, music videos and audiobooks directly through iTunes right from the device.

Other features include the ability to shake the device to turn on shuffle in music playback and new parental controls that will allow users to limit App Store apps. Also notably, Safari will now include autofill and much faster JavaScript.

AT&T will also finally begin supporting MMS features such as picture and audio mail in "late summer."

VUDU has added 60 Disney films to its online movie download catalog, marking the first time those films are available online for purchase, legally, in HD.

The movies range from "No Country for Old Men" to "High School Musical."

Competitors such as the mighty Apple iTunes only offers Disney's catalog for purchase in SD and rental in HD.

The videos will be available in VUDU's special own HDX format and in regular 720p, each with 5.1 surround sound.

Pioneer has begun shipping three new Blu-ray standalone players, all three of which were introduced at CES in January.

The Elite BDP-23FD will include BD-Live support, "audiophile-grade" capacitors, and the company's "Precision Quartz Lock System" which helps the player avoid all jitters during playback.The player also includes "48-bit color, 7.1-channel audio and RS-232 support" and will cost $599 USD.

The less expensive, $399 USD BDP-320, has the same Lock System, BD-Live and 48-bit color, but will lack special case design and some of the audiophile-grade features.

The low-end BDP-120 will retail for $299 USD and will remove the lock system and will downgrade to 36-bit color range. The player will also not include the 1GB of internal storage needed for BD Live and will rely on external USB storage.

According to industry officials, an anti-piracy dog by the name of Paddy has made a large bust in Malaysia, uncovering 35,000 pirated discs in a few warehouses in the region.

The MPA added in a statement that the raids occurred last week in southern Johor. Paddy is trained to detect chemicals in DVD-R discs.

"Paddy led enforcement officers on a successful weekend operation to shut down the supply lines of pirated movie DVDs in the Malaysian state of Johor," read the statement.

"Post-raid investigations revealed that two of the targets were actively involved in exporting pirated DVDs to Singapore."

After the raids, 6 factories were shut down and brand new titles such as "Terminator Salvation", "Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian", "Angels and Demons" and "Star Trek" were seized.

"This is a clear signal to the pirates that we will not waver in our efforts to shut them down," continued Mohamad Roslan Mahayudin, director-general of enforcement for the Malaysian ministry.

According to Carphone Warehouse and Talk Talk CEO Charles Dunstone, piracy is unstoppable and the media industry's call to have ISPs as watchdogs is "naive" at best.

Instead, Dunstone believes a more reasonable solution is to educate users about the "benefits of respecting copyright" while also launching services that will allow consumers to get music and movies cheaper and easily.

Speaking at TalkTalk's quarterly conference call, Dunstone added:

"If you try speed humps or disconnections for peer-to-peer, people will simply either disguise their traffic or share the content another way. It is a game of Tom and Jerry and you will never catch the mouse. The mouse always wins in this battle and we need to be careful that politicians do not get talked into putting legislation in place that, in the end, ends up looking stupid."

The media industry continues to push for controversial laws such as the 'three strikes' laws that would force ISPs to disconnect multiple time offenders.

Nintendo has launched a black colored Wii console in Japan today, marking the first time the console has been available officially in a different colorway then the standard white.

The console is available alongside a matching Wii remote, nunchuck and a Classic Controller Pro.

All the new hardware is priced the same as the current white colorway, and will go on sale on August 1st.

The company has also launched a special red DSi handheld, which will go on sale on July 11th at the same price as the current colored models. In Japan, those colors are white, black, pink, lime green and metallic blue.

New colorways have proven time and time again in Japan to boost sales, and Nintendo and Sony often use the technique when sales drop.

Sony has noted today that they will allow new owners of the PSP Go handheld to download digital copies of games they currently own on UMD, because the drive has been removed from the updated console.

John Koller, PSP hardware marketing director says Sony will create a "good will program" that he compared to "digital copies" that come with Blu-ray titles. The digital titles are free and allow users to playback the movie on portable devices or their computers.

"We'll be unveiling that [program] soon [because] we actually think there's a significant group that will be upgrading from the 1000," Koller added. "In the past, we've seen a 20-25% trade-up factor, and I assume that's going to be the case here. We've modeled that."

There still may be a chance however that users will have to pay a small charge to receive the digital copy, as well as send in proof of ownership via a UPC cut out.

According to the latest figures from StatCounter, the Opera mobile browser has once again overtaken the iPhone's Safari browser as the most popular mobile browser internationally.

The two popular browsers have been battling for six months, but Safari has beaten out its rival for at least the last three months.

For the month of May however, Opera saw an unexpected spike in usage and jumped to 24.6 percent, while Safari fell to 17.6 percent.

In the United States, Safari remains dominant, followed by BlackBerry. Opera holds a tiny 3 percent market share.

"Opera began the year in number one slot but iPhone overtook it in February. May saw Opera regain the number one position," noted StatCounter CEO Aodhan Cullen. "It will be fascinating to watch how this battle plays out over the year."

According to Sony America boss Jack Tretton, the company is preparing to expand their PlayStation business further into South America, marketing their consoles more in Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay.

The company hopes to make $750 million USD in regional sales for the fiscal 2009 year.

At the same time, Tretton added that the PlayStation Network now has 24 million accounts worldwide, but a small number from South America.

Moving to more general facts, Tretton applauded the aging PS2, which still manages to make brisk sales despite being almost a decade old. Tretton says 100 titles will be released for the console in 2009.

According to new figures from the Entertainment Software Association, 68 percent of American households play video games, an increase of just over 3 percent from 2008.

The report, presented at the E3 Expo, also added that "home console ownership" moved to 42 percent.

Adult gamers have been playing video games for, on average, 12 years, which actually fell year-on-year from 13, suggesting there is an increasing amount of new gamers. The average age of gamers now stands at 35 years old.

"This is the new golden age of entertainment software. Our products are now being enjoyed by over two-thirds of Americans," added Michael Gallagher, CEO of the ESA. "As the findings of the 2009 Essential Facts illustrate, more and more Americans across all demographics are now embracing the interactive entertainment experience that computer and videogames provide."

Following Microsoft's presentation yesterday, it was Sony's turn today to woo the crowd at the E3 Expo and for the most part they did.

First off was the announcement of the worst kept secret PSP Go! updated handheld. Kaz Hirai even made a joke that one of the company's nickname for the device was "The worst kept secret of E3."

As already leaked, the Go! strips the UMD drive and has everything running off 16GB internal flash memory. The design changes to a "slider" and Hirai says the handheld is "50% smaller and 40% lighter than original PSP-1000." Also notable is the integration of Bluetooth. Users will also have the ability to download music and movies directly from the PlayStation Network.

A few of the new apps coming with the Go! are "Media Go" and "Sense Me." Media Go replaces the current "Media Manager" and integrates easier with the PlayStation Store. Sense Me will "use a 12-tone recognition system to analyze your PSP music library in order to deliver playlists based on moods you select."

In an update to our main Microsoft E3 summary article, it appears the software giant is set to put some added pressure on retail chains, announcing they will start "on-demand" downloads of games for the Xbox 360 through Xbox Live.

It's as simple as that. If you want to buy the game, simply log into XBL, search it, buy it, download it, and play.

The service will begin in August and will start with 30 games including Assassin's Creed, BioShock, Call of Duty 2, Crackdown, Mass Effect, and Oblivion. You can purchase the games using a credit card, or using Microsoft Points, and although the pricing isn't clear yet, it appears it will be similar to retail, only slightly cheaper.

Nintendo has announced that the popular DSi handheld has hit a new milestone this week, 1 million units sold in Europe.

The DSi is 12 percent thinner than its predecessor, the DS Lite with 17 percent larger screens. It touts two video cameras, web browsing abilities, music playing and an SD-card slot.

In the same period, the cheaper DS Lite continued to sell well, pushing 500,000 sales in the same period in Europe. In comparison, the Lite sold 1 million in the region in 13 weeks, meaning the DSi is selling at a much faster clip.

The DSi recently broke records for handhelds sold in a month in the US.

T-Mobile, the fourth largest mobile phone carrier in the U.S., has confirmed that the much anticipated G2 Android phone will be available starting "early summer."

The company has sold over 1 million of the original G1 device, which is a re-branded HTC Dream. The phone was made available in the Q3 2008 and has been a great success for the carrier.

"T-Mobile is planning to offer the follow-on device to the T-Mobile G1 early this summer," the company confirmed via email. Unfortunately there was no other details on the phone itself.

The move should coincide with Palm's launch of the Pre smartphone as well as the expected launch of a new version of the popular Apple iPhone.

Microsoft had a pretty big day today at the E3 Expo, unveiling an entirely new control system for its Xbox 360 console among other notable announcements.

Dubbed Natal, the system is a fully hands-free control system which uses facial recognition and multiple motion sensors to allow users to playback games using their body motions and not buttons.

The system is still in early stages, but Microsoft has sent full functioning prototypes to all big game developers.

Showing off the technology, developer Peter Molyneux said the system could recognize facial expressions as well, determining the mood of the player or players and "reacting accordingly."

Will Natal be successful however? Piers Harding-Rolls, senior analyst with Screen Digest, says it will depending on a number of factors.

"I think the technology looks very interesting but its success depends on the content and how easy it is to use," Rolls added.

"The other aspect is cost and how they will get it out to the user base. That said, I think Microsoft would like to get it out sooner, rather than later."

HDTV ownership increased 73 percent over the 12 months ended February, says new Nielsen figures, reflecting the continuing falling prices in the sets.

The overall growth also "fueled" growth in Blu-ray players and Blu-ray titles, says the report.

Last February, 19 percent of U.S. households had one HDTV and that number has now jumped to 33 percent.

For the same period, Blu-ray spending doubled to $230 million USD, while at the same time DVD spending fell 15 percent. Blu-ray standalones sold jumped 72 percent for the same period, thanks mainly to falling prices and the increase in HDTVs in American households.

"Despite the current economic climate, HD is on course to becoming the benchmark in television viewing," Nielsen adds. "As prices of HDTVs continue to fall and circumstances such as the Digital Television Transition create opportunities to further promote HD sets and services, HDTV will gain a greater foothold in U.S. television homes."

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has begun a new promotion to promote the upcoming Ghostbusters Blu-ray, allowing fans the chance to become "stars" of the BD-Live features on the disc.

The movie will hit retail shelves on June 16th.

The site GhostbustersIsHiring.com, was set up for the promotion and will incorporate fans of the movie into the Web content. Users can "submit personalized video of themselves applying for a job with the Ghostbusters team. Sony will select its favorite job applicants for eventual display within its BD Live network."

Additionally, and possibly more notably, fans who upload their photos to the site will receive a $5 discount off the Blu-ray.

eMusic, the online music download store that started in 1998, has announced that it has added music from its first major label, bringing in Sony's 'classic' catalog, all music that is 2 years old or older.

The store has offered a subscription based model and DRM-free MP3s since its release, and has tracks from thousands of indie labels.

During its 11 years, the company has attracted over 400,000 paying customers, each paying $12 USD per month.

Sony feels placing its newer, more popular songs into eMusic's unlimited, DRM-free service, is too risky and has therefore excluded the songs. However, Sony's classic catalog is still very large and includes hits from top name artists such as Britney Spears, Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen and Usher.

There is a catch though. “As part of the deal, eMusic says it will slightly raise prices and reduce the number of downloads for some of its monthly plans.”

Popular online video Hulu is close to profitability, or at least breaking even, says NBCU CEO Jeff Zucker.

The site, a joint venture between Fox, NBCU and Disney, now “has to figure out the monetization game,” says Zucker, who adds that subscriptions are a possibility, in an effort to boost revenue.

Hulu has seen exponential growth over the last year, rocketing to the third most popular video site in the world.

Zucker continued that the goal of the site is to eventually have all shows online, but the question would be how many episodes of each show would be available at any given time.

Is Hulu looking for another equity partner? Yes, but Zucker doesn't believe they will find one, as Time Warner and CBS have their own plans for online video.

Redbox, the automated DVD rental kiosk company, has announced that they have hired their first "senior level videogames executive," and plan to expand into video game rentals this summer.

“Our customers and retail partners have been really clamoring for video games, and Redbox is responding,” added Mark Achler, Redbox's new VP of video games. “We are very actively engaged in putting out a video game offering. There are changing demographics, where we see the casual market continuing to open as more women become involved.”

The tricky part now is pricing. Redbox currently offers $1-a-night pricing for its video rentals, but it is almost a guarantee that the same pricing will not be given to video games, which retail for much more than DVDs and Blu-rays.

Achler added that Redbox will offer two types of kiosks; one with only video games and another with both games and movies. There will be titles for the PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii available.

“We think rental really has an opportunity to grow and lift the whole video game sector,” noted Achler.

Yesterday we reported that the upcoming PSP Go had been leaked showing off a new piece of hardware with a slider screen, 16GB of flash memory, along with the addition of Bluetooth and the removal of the UMD drive.

Today more leaked pictures of the player have surfaced, two days before the hardware's expected launch date at the E3 event.

Pics thanks to Eurogamer:




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