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According to a new research report from the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), about 9.78 million pirated games were downloaded in December, although the trade group says its numbers are skewed, to the lower side.

Only 200 of the most popular games were part of the survey, and downloads were only counted from P2P services and torrent trackers. One-click hosts such as Megaupload and Hotfile were not included.

"These figures under-represent the true magnitude of online game piracy," says the ESA, via GI.biz. "They address only downloads of a small selection of ESA member titles. And while they account for illegal downloads that occur over select P2P platforms, they do not account for downloads that occur from 'cyberlockers' or 'one-click' hosting sites, which continue to account for high volumes of infringing downloads."

Entertainment Weekly has reported that a young couple got married on Valentine's Day, at an Apple Store, with, you guessed it, the priest dressed as CEO Steve Jobs.

Says EW: "The happy couple is Josh and Ting Li, who confirm to EW that this was their real wedding. They first bonded over a mutual fascination with all things clickwheel, Josh says. “We got to know each other because Ting was looking to buy an iPod…and I managed to strike up a conversation that way.” Romance blossomed for the two iLovebirds. “I used to joke that the Apple Store is my church because I am not religious, and I loved everything Apple,” Josh adds. “Ting then came up with the idea of having the wedding there.” They haven’t decided yet where to have a reception, but I hear Cupertino is lovely this time of year.
I think this renegade Apple store wedding trumps the Halo wedding, but can it top that Star Wars wedding? What about a Katamari Damancy wedding?"

According to a new report from MediaMemo, content providers are eager to bring the popular TV and movie streaming service Hulu to the Apple iPad, but the normally free service will become a paid subscription service if it does get exported to the tablet.

Hulu has been long said to be exploring subscription plans, as a way to bring the site a healthier profit.

The first problem for Hulu on the iPad would be Apple's lack of Flash support. Although the partners behind Hulu are looking to create an Apple-friendly version of the site, that seems to be in early development still. It is "unlikely" that any version of Hulu will be available for the iPad launch in late March.

We will keep you updated.

Nearly a third of all Netflix subscribers with broadband internet connections stream video to their TVs using the company's Watch Instantly service according to a new report from TDG.

That figure includes 24.6% who use both their computer and TV for Netflix streaming and 7.2% who watch exclusively on a TV. Another 30.7% only use their computer.

Even though the remaining 37.5% don't use the service at all, the majority are at least familiar with it.

The increasing number of viewers streaming video to TVs is a reflection of the company's long term thinking. In fact Netflix has taken a smart approach to the streaming business from the very beginning, when it was little more than a novelty.

Perhaps the most important detail of their strategy has been the understanding that some things are worth more when you give them away.

That's not to say streaming video has no value. But its value hasn't been in producing a unique revenue stream. Instead they've used it to promote their DVD by mail business and help them continue to increase their subscriber base.

The decision not to charge extra for streaming has allowed them to make other good decisions, such as avoiding overpriced content deals.

Apple has doubled the previous cap imposed on iPhone owners when trying to download applications via AT&T 3G.

Until today, users could download apps with a limit of 10MB in size, with any larger downloads having to be done via Wi-Fi. Users can now download apps up to 20MB in size.

Although criticized, the caps are imposed to help AT&T save bandwidth on an already overworked network.

After nearly a year's worth of work, the new version of AfterDawn's backend and layout is almost ready for the prime time. Still some minor bugs need to be fixed, a few mysterious issues need to be addressed, etc. but it is almost ready (we'd say 99% done) and you can test it now.

So, please visit AfterDawn "v4" at:

http://www.v4.afterdawn.com/

or click here to view this news article in the new layout.

Let us know your thoughts. Post your comments to this news article or use our feedback form to contact us directly. I must also mention that the site wont function properly if you're using IE6, Netscape 3.x, Mosaic or any other browser that is almost a decade old. Furthermore, many sections of the site utilize -- to very small degree, I must say -- JavaScript, so it is recommended to have it turned on in your browser's settings.

According to a lawsuit filed recently in US District Court, administrators at Lower Merion School District in Rosemont, PA used the webcam on a school issued laptop to illegally spy on a student. School officials are accused of violating federal wiretapping laws, as well as the student's civil rights.

The laptop is one of more than 2,000 issued to district high school students in order to give them access to school resources at all times. Each of the laptops is equipped with remote access software for locating the computers and secretly activating the onboard webcam in case they're stolen.

But that's not all it was used for according to the parents of Blake Robbins. They say their son was disciplined late last year for "improper behavior" based on a picture taken secretly by someone at the school who was monitoring him remotely.

Rather than admitting improper activities of their own, the school district appears to be going into full denial mode.

Verizon has begun OTA updates for the HTC Droid Eris, giving owners Android 2.1, the newest firmware available from Google, even before Motorola Droid users have gotten it.

Users at Droid-Life have had mixed results however: "it's now sounding more and more like eris users truly are receiving some sort of an update to 2.1. some are reporting that sense ui is missing while others apparently still have it. and now after our source has confirmed an update request from a droid user, we have to wonder what verizon has done this time. this is shaping up to be a huge disaster for htc, motorola and verizon," reads the post.

HTC had confirmed the update was coming on Tuesday, but did not give a date.

Verizon has released apps for Android and Windows Mobile users today that will allow smartphone users to use their phones as remote controls for FiOS TVs.

The remotes can navigate playback, schedule DVR programming, and set parental controls.

To sync you will need the app, be on the same wireless network, and select the phone from a FiOS TV widget, says Electronista.

For now the remote app works with the Motorola Droid and the HTC Imagio, but Verizon says more supported phones are coming.

BGR is reporting today that a GSM Palm Pixi-esque smartphone should be headed to carrier T-Mobile soon, with Palm and T-Mo in the "final stages" of launch plans.

Currently, Palm's new line has been CDMA only, with the Palm Pre and Pixi on Sprint and the Palm Pre and Pixi Plus models on Verizon.

The next big mobile phone event is the CTIA next month, and will likely be a launching ground for any big announcements.

Verizon offers the Pixi Plus for $80 with contract, cheaper than Sprint offers the inferior Palm Pixi (non-Plus).

At this week's Mobile World Congress Show Daily, it appears that Sony Ericsson has hinted at the possible creation of a PSP phone.

Says President Bert Nordberg, via electronista: "We missed the window for high-end and touchscreen devices big time. Part of the recovery will be much better design and closer work with our partner Sony... In the past there was no tie-up between us, the PSP platform and Sony, but you can expect to hear much more about that."

There have been many rumors of a "PSP phone" in the past, but not to many have come with basis directly from the mouth of the President of the company.

Should be interesting to keep an eye on.

RSJ IT Solutions of Australia has lost a lawsuit to Nintendo today, and will have to pay the gaming company $520,000 in damages for selling the R4 flash cart, a device used to run homebrew on the Nintendo DS handheld.

Along with the fine, Nintendo has won an injunction forcing the company to cease sales of the device via any site it owns, most notably gadgetgear.com.au.

Additionally, the two owners of the site are banned from selling the devices anywhere in Australia. Both must identify the suppliers from where they purchased the R4 carts, which will likely lead to more lawsuits from Nintendo.

Despite the legal uses of the R4 flash cart, it also allows for easy playback of pirated games, which is why Nintendo has filed over a dozen lawsuits in many different countries trying to stop sellers and importers of the device.

Amazon has announced today the launch of the free Kindle application for RIM BlackBerry users, giving the smartphone users access to over 400,000 e-books.

The app, aptly named "Kindle for Blackberry," is free and available to BlackBerry users on any carrier in the United States.

"Since the launch of our popular Kindle for iPhone app last year, customers have been asking us to bring a similar experience to the BlackBerry," adds Ian Freed, Vice President, Amazon Kindle, via Yahoo.

The company had promised the app "soon" in December.

Larry "Major" Nelson, Xbox Live community director, has Tweeted today that many Midway games available via Xbox Live Aracde have been removed for the time being due to issues over publisher rights.

Says the post: "Some XBLA titles are no longer available for purchase from Xbox Live Arcade due to publisher evolving rights and permissions."

Nelson then listed the titles, which are: Cyberball, Defender, Paperboy, Rootbeer Tapper, Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, Robotron, Joust, Gauntlet and Smash TV. "If you purchased any of those titles... you will still be able to play them or re-download 'em. And no, it's not Game Room related."

Midway, which filed for bankruptcy in 2009, is now mostly owned by Warner Bros., who snatched up profitable assets.

CVG has received a review copy of Ubisoft's new Assassin's Creed 2 for PC and it appears that the DRM being used by the publisher requires a constant Internet connection for the game to work. If your Internet drops for any reason, you are kicked from the game, losing all progress you have made since the last save.

The article says you can't even start the game without Internet, as you will be greeted by an error message. Making matters even worse, you are still kicked back to the main menu if the game loses connection to the "Ubisoft Master servers," which may not even be your fault.

There is really nothing else to say about this except the fact that clearly, publishers have not gotten the hint yet that ALL games are cracked, and released online without DRM and this latest DRM is just hurting PAYING customers.