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RIAA, MPAA-backed group targets school kids with copyright cirriculum

Written by James Delahunty @ 12 Nov 2013 4:40

RIAA, MPAA-backed group targets school kids with copyright cirriculum A non-profit copyright group backed by the MPAA and RIAA is trying to bring Hollywood's anti-piracy message to elementary school children.

The Center for Copyright Information (CCI) has commissioned a school curriculum aimed at elementary-aged children to teach them the value of copyright and creativity, according to an LA Times report.

The proposed curriculum is titled "Be a Creator," and it includes lesson plans, videos and activities for patents and teachers to educate students about the importance of "being creative and protecting creativity." Topics include "Respect the Person: Give Credit," "It's Great to Create," and "Copyright Matters."

"It's important to prepare children to succeed and thrive and learn how to share and create and move files in a way that's ethical and responsible," said Marsali Hancock, president of iKeepSafe, a non-profit that aids children in the digital environment which is also involved in the plan.

The LA Times references one 45 second video that shows a student browsing a photo collection to decide which he wants to share, post online or sell. "You're not old enough yet to be selling your pictures online, but pretty soon you will be. And you'll appreciate if the rest of us respect your work by not copying it and doing whatever we want with it," a teacher is supposed to say after the video.

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AfterDawn: News

Netflix, YouTube dominate Internet traffic in North America, file sharing still shrinking

Written by James Delahunty @ 12 Nov 2013 3:58

Netflix, YouTube dominate Internet traffic in North America, file sharing still shrinking Netflix and YouTube account for more than half of all downstream traffic in North America, trumping Amazon, Hulu and even filesharing traffic.

That's according to Sandvine's latest Global Internet Phenomena Report. Combined, Netflix and Amazon account for 50.31 percent of all downstream traffic in North America. It breaks down to 31.62 percent for Netflix and 18.69 percent for YouTube.

Rivals Amazon Instant Video and Hulu only account for 1.61 percent and 1.29 percent, respectively, and BitTorrent downstream is down to 4.05 percent - though BitTorrent upstream is in first place at 36.35 percent.

HTTP traffic accounts for 9.74 percent downstream, while iTunes claims 3.27 percent. Facebook downstream traffic is in 9th place with 1.31 percent.




AfterDawn: News

Sony can monitor, record your PSN activity and communications

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 11 Nov 2013 2:29

Sony can monitor, record your PSN activity and communications Sony's most recent update to their terms and conditions makes it clear that the company can actively monitor and record your PSN activity and communications between players.

In the new Software Usage Terms, there is a section that reads 'Are we monitoring PSN?', where the company reveals that it is indeed able to monitor.

The company says it reserves the right to "monitor and record" text or voice communication, or user-generated media (UGM) if they feel it is necessary. One such example would be if a player submits a grief report about another player.

Reads the section:

Are we monitoring PSN?
Yes but we can't monitor all PSN activity and we make no commitment to do so. However, we reserve the right in our sole discretion to monitor and record any or all of your PSN activity and to remove any of your UGM at our sole discretion, without further notice to you.

Your use of PSN and our community features may be recorded and collected by us or sent to us by other users as described in 13.1.

Any information collected in this way, for example, your UGM, the content of your voice and text communications, video of your gameplay, the time and location of your activities, and your name, your PSN Online ID and IP address, may be used by us or our affiliated companies to enforce these Terms and the SEN Terms of Service, to comply with the law, to protect our rights and those of our licensors and users, and to protect the personal safety of our employees and users.

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AfterDawn: News

Intel purchases Kno in effort to expand into interactive textbook market

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 11 Nov 2013 2:00

Intel purchases Kno in effort to expand into interactive textbook market Intel has acquired Kno, an education startup that provides apps for interactive versions of digitized textbooks.

John Galvin, the GM of Intel Education, confirmed the move (via Crunch):

"The acquisition of Kno boosts Intel's global digital content library to more than 225,000 higher education and K-12 titles through existing partnerships with 75 educational publishers. Even more, the Kno platform provides administrators and teachers with the tools they need to easily assign, manage and monitor their digital learning content and assessments ... We're looking forward to combining our expertise with Kno's rich content so that together, we can help teachers create classroom environments and personalized learning experiences that lead to student success."

Kno has apps for iPad, Windows 7, Windows 8 and Android.




AfterDawn: News

Cross platform messaging app Line reaches $100 million in quarterly revenue

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 11 Nov 2013 1:32

Cross platform messaging app Line reaches $100 million in quarterly revenue Line, the cross platform messaging app, has now reached $100 million in quarterly revenue.

Net revenue for the quarter ending in September reached 9.9 billion yen ($99.9 million), and overall revenue, which includes what Line pays to app stores and developers, jumped to 15.6 billion yen ($157.6 million).

When asked about an IPO, Line responded: "Of course you're going to ask questions about an IPO. It's a strategy we're thinking about, especially looking at services like Twitter. But at the current moment, we don't believe that it's something that we have to do right away. We currently have enough cash and we don't have a pressing need to do an IPO."

Line opened for business in 2011 in Japan, and now has 280 million registered users. The app has 49 million registered users in Japan, over one-third of the whole population there. Line has also expanded to the gaming world, with 39 published titles or deals in the works.

Games now make up 60 percent of revenue for the company, followed by stickers at 20 percent and then sponsored accounts and merchandising.




AfterDawn: News

Oppo's N1 smartphone with CyanogenMod to launch next month

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 11 Nov 2013 12:24

Oppo's N1 smartphone with CyanogenMod to launch next month Chinese OEM Oppo has announced that their N1 smartphone, running CyanogenMod as its operating system, will see a global launch next month.

Oppo is known for its quality receivers and Blu-ray/DVD players, but more recently they have introduced cheap yet powerful Android devices.

Cyanogen, which recently became it a real company and raised money as it tries to take on Android, Windows Phone and iOS, announced Oppo as its first partner back in September.

The device has a 6-inch 1080 display, a 1.6GHz quad-core Snapdragon 600, 2GB RAM and a very intriguing rotating camera that allows you to use the better rear camera for video chat and portrait shots, as well. A limited quantity will be built with CyanogenMod already pre-installed, while the rest of the production will start with Android but have the application and instructions ready for Cyanogen.

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AfterDawn: News

Steam opens up beta for 'In-Home Streaming' service

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 11 Nov 2013 11:59

Steam opens up beta for 'In-Home Streaming' service Steam In-Home Streaming, a new feature that will allow people to stream games from one computer to another anywhere in their house, is open for beta applications.

The service will go to beta later this year, and the participants will be selected at random from members who sign up for the group here.

Right now the community website has over 16,000 members, and it is unclear how many beta testers will be selected.

Steam says the service will compliment its upcoming SteamOS Linux-based operating system, set for launch next year.




AfterDawn: News

HP unveils Omni 10 tablet with Windows 8.1, 1080p display

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 11 Nov 2013 10:54

HP unveils Omni 10 tablet with Windows 8.1, 1080p display HP has quietly unveiled their new Omni 10 tablet, running on Windows 8.1.

The tablet has a 10.1-inch 1080p display with Gorilla Glass 3 and runs on the new 22nm Bay Trail Atom Z3770.

Clocked at 1.5GHz, the quad-core processor can boost to 2.4GHz if it is needed by the tasks at hand.

Under the hood is 2GB LPDDR3 RAM, 32GB internal storage, an 8MP Auto Focus/LED Flash rear camera and 2MP front camera, Micro HDMI slot, Bluetooth 4.0 and Wi-Fi 802.11a (b/g/n), and a battery that should last up to 8.5 hours with standard use.

On the design side, the tablet is extremely generic, heavy and has large bezels. The device costs $399 for the 32GB model and it is unclear if there are more storage configurations available.




AfterDawn: News

Microsoft turns 30 years old

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 11 Nov 2013 10:09

Microsoft turns 30 years old Microsoft's Windows operating system turned 30 on November 10th, after first being unveiled in 1983 by founder Bill Gates.

The story goes a little bit further back, when Gates and friend Paul Allen started what was then called 'Micro-Soft' in an Albuquerque garage in 1975. By 1980, IBM asked Microsoft to create an OS for its PC, and the company purchased the operating system QDOS, before changing it to MS-DOS before licensing it to IBM.

MS-DOS was hard to use, and required a good knowledge of the command line, so the company began working on a better graphical interface that used a mouse and on-screen icons, menus and scroll bars.

Windows was then announced in 1983 and eventually version 1.0 was launched in November 1985. Windows 2.0 came later, in December 1987, followed by Version 3.0 in May 1990. Windows 3.1 became a huge commercial success, selling 10 million copies.

In 1993, the company revealed the first 32-bit OS, Windows NT, which became a basis for later versions. Windows 95 added the Start button, taskbar and built-in Internet support for dial-up networking. In 1998, Windows 98 added USB and DVD support, and was the last version of the OS to be based off of DOS.

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AfterDawn: News

Samsung: First Tizen device is a camera

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 11 Nov 2013 9:31

Samsung: First Tizen device is a camera Samsung has finally confirmed what their first Tizen-based device will be, and surprised by saying it was already launched.

The NX300M camera is the first commercial product with the operating system, and it launched in October in Korea.

Samsung executive VP Jong-Deok Choi showed off the camera, which runs on the Tizen Camera Platform, with the OS at its core. The device has 200 percent faster booting speed compared to other Linux-based cameras, says Choi, and improved capture performance of 9 shots per second at a 20MP resolution.

The first Tizen smartphones, however, have been pushed again, this time until the Q1 2014. This marks the third time Samsung has pushed back the operating system's smartphone launch. The device, whatever it is, will run on Tizen 2.2.1, as Samsung works on Tizen 3.0 for the Q3 2014.

Tizen 3.0 will bring multi-user accounts, 64bit architecture for Intel, ARM chips and 3D rendering.




AfterDawn: News

Amazon Prime members to get Sunday delivery via USPS

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 11 Nov 2013 8:42

Amazon Prime members to get Sunday delivery via USPS Amazon has confirmed that it will be teaming up with the United States Postal Service to deliver packages on Sundays.

At launch, the Sunday delivery will only be in the LA and New York City metro areas.

Amazon Prime, which costs $79 per year, gives unlimited, free two-day shipping, discounted one-day shipping and free access to hundreds of thousands of TV episodes and movies via Amazon Prime Instant Video.

The Sunday service will expand in 2014 to Dallas, Houston, New Orleans and Phoenix and other major metros, adds the company.

"If you're an Amazon Prime member, you can order a backpack for your child on Friday and be packing it for them Sunday night," said Dave Clark, Amazon's vice president of worldwide operations and customer service. "We're excited that now every day is an Amazon delivery day and we know our Prime members, who voraciously shop on Amazon, will love the additional convenience they will experience as part of this new service."

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AfterDawn: News

Sony unboxes PlayStation 4 with Daft Punk Parody

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 11 Nov 2013 8:16

Sony unboxes PlayStation 4 with Daft Punk Parody Sony's marketing team has released an unboxing video for their upcoming PlayStation 4 console, parodying Daft Punk.

Rather than a step-by-step unboxing of what's under the hood of the device, Sony put the console in the same server room used in Daft Punk's Random Access Memories unboxing.

In the video, a pair of hands belonging to Shuhei Yoshida, president of Sony Worldwide Studios, inspects each of the box's contents, including the PSN voucher, a quick start guide, a DualShock 4 controller, an HDMI cable, an AC cord, a mono headset, and a USB cable.





AfterDawn: News

World of Warcraft continues to lose subscribers

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 10 Nov 2013 10:52

World of Warcraft continues to lose subscribers Activision Blizzard has announced this quarter that their hit franchise World of Warcraft once again lost subscribers, although the drop was significantly better than last time.

The game now has 7.6 million subscribers, down from 7.7 million last quarter. The quarter previously the game had 8.3 million subs.

WoW remains the top-subscription based game in the MMO world, says Activision, although its competition is not what it used to be. Most major games have moved to the free-to-play model.

The company added that "significant and exciting new content" was coming soon, but no other details were revealed. Blizzard recently trademarked "Warlords of Draenor," which many believe is some sort of DLC for the MMO.




AfterDawn: News

Promo: Buy 2 PS4 games, Get 1 FREE at Amazon from Tuesday

Written by James Delahunty @ 10 Nov 2013 10:35

Promo: Buy 2 PS4 games, Get 1 FREE at Amazon from Tuesday Amazon will run a "buy two, get one free" promotion from Tuesday morning for PS4 games ahead of the console's launch on Friday, November 15.

The promotion will begin at 9 AM (PST), 12 PM (EST) on Tuesday (Nov 12), and is valid for a limited time only. Supplies are limited so you should probably put your order in as soon as you can on Tuesday. To avail of the promotion, you just need to enter the promotional code GR8TNESS at the checkout and the discount will be reflected in your Order Summary.

The promotion applies only to qualifying items displaying the offer message on the promotional landing page, and only to items sold and shipped by Amazon itself, not other sellers.

The promotion includes:

  • Angry Birds: Star Wars - PlayStation 4
  • Assassin's Creed IV Black Flag - PlayStation 4
  • Battlefield 4 - PlayStation 4
  • Call of Duty: Ghosts - PlayStation 4
  • FIFA 14 - PlayStation 4
  • Injustice: Gods Among Us Ultimate Edition - PlayStation 4 Standard Edition
  • Just Dance 2014 - PlayStation 4
  • Killzone: Shadow Fall (PlayStation 4)
  • Knack (PlayStation 4)
  • LEGO Marvel Super Heroes - PlayStation 4
  • Madden NFL 25 - PlayStation 4
  • NBA 2K14 - PlayStation 4
  • Skylanders SWAP Force - PlayStation 4
The promotion is limited to one per customer and each title is limited to 1 per customer, so you and your buddies cannot get three of the same game. Standard shipping and handling rates apply so whether you get the games in time for the PS4 launch on Friday depends on your shipping options.

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AfterDawn: News

Judge rules against Samsung in Apple leaked document trial

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 10 Nov 2013 10:16

Judge rules against Samsung in Apple leaked document trial A judge has agreed that Samsung violated a court-ordered agreement and leaked sensitive Apple documents to attorney and employees.

Judge Paul Grewal took a month to review all of the documents himself, and "having finally crawled out from under the boxes," the judge says he believes "sanctions against Samsung and its attorneys are warranted."

Apple had given Samsung copies of the sensitive documents profiling the patent licensing agreements with Sharp, Nokia and Philips as part of the legal discovery process.

In the motion, Apple claimed that Dr. Seungho Ahn, a Samsung executive, knew the terms of the settlement and leveraged that knowledge to 'negotiate other potential patent settlements in Samsung's favor.' In the complaint, Apple says the licensing terms were given to Samsung's lawyers clearly marked "Highly Confidential -- Attorneys' Eyes Only", but the files were shared anyway.

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