Latest news

As expected, the RIAA has appealed the latest Jammie Thomas-Rasset decision.

Citing the court's failure to classify Thomas-Rasset's actions as a "distribution" under 106(3) of the Copyright Act, the RIAA believes the defendant will likely repeat her previous actions and violate the Copyright Act.

If the jury can define "distribution" as the RIAA wants it, it will likely result in a third trial.

Here is the backstory:

In 2006, Jammie Thomas-Rasset was sent a letter asking her to settle (for $3300) over alleged unauthorized file sharing of 24 tracks.

She refused and decided to take the case to court.

In 2007, Thomas-Rasset was found liable for $1.92 million in damages, but a retrial saw the fine dropped to $220,000. In 2010, however, a judge reduced the award to $54,000. The RIAA told Thomas-Rasset that they would accept $25,000, if she would agree to ask the judge to remove the decision from the record. She did not accept the terms of the deal and the trial went to part 3. Later that year, Thomas lost again in court, with a jury finding her liable for $1.5 million in copyright infringement damages. The Minnesota woman appealed.

On-demand streaming site Hulu is ready to begin accepting opening bids on Wednesday, says the WSJ.

Google, Yahoo, Amazon and DirecTV are expected to bid, with bids likely to range from $500 million to $2 billion.

Yahoo sent an unsolicited bid in June, which started the ball rolling.

Hulu CEO Jason Kilar has long said that the site can never reach its full potential as content providers pullback from offering free content. Fox recently started an 8-day delay window on its content, which will likely prove detrimental.

For now, Yahoo appears to be the top bidder with Google in second, as long as certain conditions are met.

After months of downtime, local Internet access in Tripoli, Libya was restored momentarily on Saturday night.

The Web is said to be down again in the capital city, as of today.

DSL-based Internet has been blocked since the spring, when rebels began an attack to remove leader Muammar Gaddafi.

Says a Tripoli resident:

Service was restored suddenly in Tripoli, flickered on and off for a couple of hours, and then died, with the majority of the country's international BGP (Border Gateway Protocol) routes withdrawn from service for good measure

Following HP's decision to kill off all webOS-based hardware and firesale their Pre phones and TouchPad tablet for $49 and $99, respectively, Microsoft is looking to bring talented webOS devs over to the floundering Windows Phone 7 platform.

Microsoft has had good success in bringing developers over to WP7 and despite mediocre hardware sales the platform has 30,000 apps in record time.

Director for Windows Phone 7, Brandon Watson, has tweeted this weekend:

To any published webOS devs: We'll give you what you need to be successful on #WindowsPhone, including free phones, dev tools, and training, etc

Microsoft is said to have strong tools and a strong training program for WP7 devs.

According to comScore's July numbers for the U.S., both Twitter and Facebook saw record traffic (unique visitors), although growth is slowing slightly for Facebook.

In May, Facebook had 157.2 million uniques, followed by June's 160.8 million and now July's 162 million.

Twitter continued to post strong growth, moving from 27 million unique visitors in May, to 30.6 million in June and 32.8 million in July.

As of August, Twitter has completed its switch to the newly redesigned web page, which continues to add new features.

By comparison, MySpace continues to lose traffic, falling from 35 million uniques in May to 32.8 million in July.

Google+, the new social network from Google, was not added to the numbers, yet, despite having 20 million registered users.

Following years of piracy of their operating system, Microsoft has begun upping anti-piracy measures for its early Windows 8 builds.

In recent memory, Windows 7 builds were easily pirated but the company is shutting down the generic volume license keys of yesteryear. Additionally, product keys will no longer be shipped in the prodkey.txt file included in new build packages.

Anyone installing the latest Windows 8 builds will need to get their unique key from a secure Microsoft web page.

Furthermore, the company may begin using its "fast booting patent" which ET explains could help Microsoft use a remote server to push OS code to systems at boot time with embedded activation-related programming.

Windows 8 is set for a 2012 release on PCs and tablets.

Google has announced this weekend the addition of Google+'s Hangouts to YouTube.

By using the Hangouts feature, YouTube users can have a shared video watching experience.

To take advantage of the new feature, Google+ users need to hit "Share" under the video pane of the video they are watching, then hit "Watch with your friends: Start a Google+ Hangout."

You will also need the Google Voice and Video plugin (most people who use Gtalk will have this already) or you can install it when prompted.

Finally, hit anybody in your Circles that you want to share the video with and voila, group video watching.

In May, HTC CEO Peter Chou announced that his company would be moving back to open bootloaders on their devices, following considerable customer outcry.

The first phones to receive the unlocked boots are the EVO 3D and Sensation 4G.

Said the CEO at the time:

There has been overwhelmingly [sic] customer feedback that people want access to open bootloaders on HTC phones. I want you to know that we've listened. Today, I'm confirming we will no longer be locking the bootloaders on our devices. Thanks for your passion, support and patience.

Two weeks ago, HTC started HTCDev.com, allowing those who like to tinker with their devices an opportunity to do so more easily. The site gives access to the OpenSense SDK and access to the kernel source repository, as well as the unlocking tools.

As of this weekend, HTC has made the first unlocking tools available in the U.S., a week after the U.K:

According to analyst firm Morgan Keegan, BlackBerry maker RIM should be worth $25 billion in a buyout.

The analysis comes days after Google's surprise purchase of Motorola Mobility and all its patents for $12.5 billion.

Morgan Keegan notes RIM could sell for $47 per share, due to its large hoard of smartphone patents.

A different research firm, Stewart Capital, believes Samsung or Microsoft could be potential buyers.

Microsoft would certainly make an interesting candidate as they would instantly acquire a large customer base to help spread their Windows Phone 7 platform to.

According to multiple reports, an AT&T VP has confirmed an October release date for the iPhone 5.

The executive is said to have told managers that stores will get increasingly busy in the next 30 to 50 days, tasking them to prepare their teams in anticipation.

Apple sources have also told multiple publications that the next 60 days will be extremely busy, without citing why.

There has been unlimited speculation on when the iPhone 5 would be released after the company launched the iPhone 4 for Verizon in February, breaking its customary June cycle for new releases.

For now, October seems like the strongest bet for the release of the iPhone 5, and potentially a cloud-based iPhone 4S.

The 12th edition of the Concise Oxford English Dictionary has added 400 new words, including such mainstays as "sexting," "woot," "jeggings" and "retweet."

Another notable entry is "cyberbullying" which has been used in the mainstream media for years now.

Each new word is selected after its ubiquity is proven via a database of over 2 billion words drawn from contemporary websites and texts.

Says the dictionary's editor Angus Stevenson:

It's how the dictionary has always worked - we get as much evidence as we can so we know it's not just a small number of people using the word and it's not going to disappear.

There's no official panel of cabinet ministers for new words or anything like that.

The PS3's Uncharted 2 was in the news years ago as it barely fit on a 25GB Blu-ray disc but it appears its sequel has taken it a step further.

Naughty Dog's upcoming addition to the blockbuster franchise is so far larger than a 50GB dual-layer Blu-ray disc and could eventually have the distinction of being the first game to require multiple discs.

Says Naughty Dog community manager Arne Meyer:

Uncharted 2 barely made it to 25GB, while Naughty Dog is going over 50GB this time, for Uncharted 3. But in the end we’ll be under 50. We’ll be one disc.

That being said, it is clear the company will have to try some severe compression techniques before launch in November.

According to sources and retail checks, HP has sold 350,000 TouchPads this weekend, after putting the device on "firesale" price of $99 for the 16GB version and $150 for the 32GB model.

Earlier this week, HP announced they would not create anymore webOS-based tablets and smartphones, and would begin liquidating their Pre phones and TouchPad tablet.

Best Buy allegedly only sold 25,000 units since the July 1st launch date, and is now returning 250,000 they have extra in stock.

The firesale price is significant as a teardown of the tablet revealed the parts cost over $250 not including R&D and shipping. It also means HP is taking a significant hit on each device sold, as they will likely subsidize retailers liquidating.

All retailers that have dropped their prices in the U.S. and Canada are now sold out including Office Depot, Office Max, Microcenter and others.

Notably, Amazon and Newegg have not begun liquidating their stock, and may be returning the devices to HP like Best Buy did.

The HP small business site still has in stock but their site is getting absolutely pummeled. A wiki page here has over 2 million views since last night, and is growing by the second.

According to documents newly unsealed by the Brooklyn federal court, Apple has been quietly and effectively curbing knockoff sales of its products in New York City.

Two stores in Queens, NY, have already had all their unauthorized iPod, iPhone and iPad accessories seized. The company is demanding the names of suppliers and customers of the accessories.

One store, called "Apple Story," is also being told to change its name to avoid confusing consumers looking for sanctioned products.

NY resident Janie Po Chiang is the owner of Apple Story and Fun Zone Inc., each of which now have a trademark infringement suit filed against them.

Of the accessories seized, Apple says iPod, iPhone and iPad cases and stereo headsets came housed in packaging that was "nearly an exact duplicate" of genuine Apple products. Additionally, the products said "Designed by Apple in California. Assembled in China," and had the official Apple logo.

Both parties are close to a settlement, says Reuters.

Website operators in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein have until the end of September to get remove all Facebook "like" buttons or face fines up to 50,000 euros.

The announcement came from Data Protection Commissioner’s Office (ULD) in Schleswig-Holstein. A statement explains:

By using the Facebook service traffic and content data are transferred into the USA and a qualified feedback is sent back to the website owner concerning the web page usage, the so called web analytics. Whoever visits facebook.com or uses a plug-in must expect that he or she will be tracked by the company for two years. Facebook builds a broad individual and for members even a personalised profile. Such a profiling infringes German and European data protection law. There is no sufficient information of users and there is no choice; the wording in the conditions of use and privacy statements of Facebook does not nearly meet the legal requirements relevant for compliance of legal notice, privacy consent and general terms of use.

ULD head, Commissioner Thilo Weichert, points the finger for these alleged violations directly at website operators: