VERY,VERY HOT READS, I Would Read The News In This Thread This Thead Is To post Any Thing Ye Want About The News,,NEWS WAS MOVED,READ MY FIRST POST..CHEERS
UK-based The Business Online is running a story filled with some remarkable claims, including this attention-grabber: "MICROSOFT has developed a Skype-style free internet voice service for mobile phones that City analysts believe could wipe billions off the market value of operators such as Vodafone." The implication is both clear, and familiar: Microsoft is going to step into a market, throw its weight around, and do serious damage to its competitors. This is a story that I suspect we'll be seeing picked up and regurgitated over the next year or so, merited or not. As such, I wanted to cover part of the landscape.
First, just how is Microsoft going to wipe billions off the market value of telecom companies? Via the assassinator: Microsoft Office, the Professional (Plus). The recently-announced Office 2007 includes support for a Microsoft application dubbed Office Communicator. Available only to Professional Plus and Enterprise installations (which in turn are only available through volume licensing), Office Communicator is much like MSN/Windows Messenger, but with a focus on the workplace. After a stint as codename Istanbul, Office Communicator debuted in 2005 as the interface of choice for Microsoft's Office Live Communications Server 2005. The application aimed to bring VoIP, video, instant messaging, and sharing into an easy-to-use "chat-like" interface. The takeaway here is that Office Communicator is not new, nor are Microsoft's VoIP ambitions. Rather, starting in around 2002, the company started developing server and client technologies aimed in the direction of "enterprise" VoIP and related services.
What the next release of Office will bring is the possibility for customers to bridge Internet-based networks with those of the wireless providers such as Verizon and Vodafone. This is not a Microsoft-specific phenomenon, but the Microsoft name is going to weigh heavily in the solution. The company is well positioned: it has the dominant desktop OS, the dominant "office suite," and a legitimate entry in the mobile phone world with its Windows Mobile operating system for mobile phones. What the company wants to see is simple to describe: businesses armed with Windows Mobile phones that can interact with Office Communicator, passing voice, e-mail, and other data to users over either IP-based networks or wireless phone networks.
"Our focus on providing new solutions for subscribers offers the greatest opportunities for our partners," Ballmer said. "From the back end to the front end, Microsoft has the assets and expertise to unify mobile communication in ways that are compelling for customers and differentiated and profitable for mobile operators, developers and device-makers." Later he added, "To grow, the wireless industry needs to provide end-to-end solutions and innovative services. We're creating great new tools to do just that."
Why bother? Savings. Imagine your own cell phone switching over to WiFi-based networks when they are in range and available. Depending on where you live, this could translate into significant savings for businesses weighed down by hefty wireless charges. Then there's the convenience issues, as Ballmer notes.
"Most people have a personal life and they have a professional life. And they want the device that goes in their pocket to give them one glimpse of their information, whether it happens to be part of their private life or part of their professional life."
A single number and a single phone is ideal (for some), especially if you include the ability to intelligently route calls. For instance, you could possibly instruct your calling system to only forward calls from certain users to you based on conditions such as whether or not you're in the office, or the time of day. And that's not all. Microsoft apparently has fun in mind, too.
"The mobile device is of top-shelf importance to Microsoft. It's going to be a strongly growing part of our revenues. The phone will be at the centre of digital entertainment," Ballmer said.
Without a doubt, the Internet-to-cellular bridge is going to be a hot technological development. Last week we reported on the emergence of Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA) in Europe, and what it might mean for VoIP providers such as Vonage and Skype. With Microsoft thinking along the same lines, it seems clear that some kind of convergence is assured.
Still, whether or not Microsoft is about to shave away gobs of value from publicly-traded telecoms is anyone's guess. At present, however, it looks like there's more than one company interested in crossing the Internet-to-cellular bridge, which at the very least means that competition is afoot. Microsoft seems poised for success in business environments where Microsoft technology is thoroughly used. Yet the price of entry?which will in the final analysis will likely include not only the cost of Office, but also the cost of back-end server support&#mdash;will probably leave the wireless companies more or less locked in battle not with Microsoft, but with the companies that cater to individual VoIP service.
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060221-6227.html
Are you ready to pay for podcasts? Audible hopes so, and they're moving into the pay-per-podcast world through a partnership with Ricky Gervais, creator (and star) of the BBC's original version of "The Office." Gervais produced 12 episodes of "The Ricky Gervais Show" podcast for UK newspaper The Guardian, which offered them as a free download. The show proved so popular, though, that it was recently snatched up by Audible, which plans to charge for the show's second season that begins on February 28.
Since podcasts are almost universally available free of charge, no one is quite sure how much they might be worth. Audible is guessing that people will pony up US$1.95 to hear Gervais' popular show, which is a half-hour of conversation between Gervais, his co-writer Stephen Merchant, and a dim-witted sidekick with a round head called Karl Pilkington. A subscription plan for the entire season will cost US$6.95 and will include at least four shows. The podcast has done quite well at iTunes, currently placing in the number four spot, and Audible has no plans to pull the show from Apple's music store?they're just going to raise the price. Consumers have generally been trained to believe that podcast content is cheap, so Audible is taking a bit of a risk with this strategy. As David Joseph, an Audible VP, puts it, "There will be a little bit of controversy because everybody wants something for free."
If the format change is successful, expect to see other popular podcasts attempt to monetize their shows once they become popular. One barrier to making money may be the popular RSS format, which is not currently designed to support authentication. This may make it harder for users to easily subscribe to and automatically download paid podcasts. Subscription information could be included in the URL, though for security reasons this would probably require the use of HTTP authentication and SSL, a move that would require updates to both the client software and the websites that host the content. For now, the simplest scheme is probably to partner with a third party like Audible, which handles all billing, subscription, and authentication issues.
The move is the latest indication that podcasts are going mainstream, though it does not mark the death of free shows. Many of these podcasts are created by amateurs as a labor of love and would have difficulty attracting a paying audience, while others remain free of charge by accepting advertisements or partnering with a firm that underwrites their expenses (as The Guardian originally did for Gervais). Clearly, podcasts are popular: Apple announced that it had collected more than one million podcast subscriptions in only two days once it began offering a podcast service last year as a part of iTunes, and everyone from NPR to the Lush Bimbo has gotten into the act. Why, even esteemed journal Nature offers podcasts now.
Podcasts are clearly more than a flash in the pan. Whether they are also destined to be money makers remains to be seen, but shows like Gervais' are a good place to begin the experiment.
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060221-6228.html
p2p news special / p2pnet: ?If you look at what Warner just announced in Germany, the studios are finally starting to embrace peer-to-peer,? Weiss said. ?We've said all along that we could be an ally of the content companies.?
The above quote was attributed to StreamCast Networks ceo Michael Weiss in a Video Business Online article slugged Studios, tech companies team up with Both look at developing digital distribution business as the sub-head.
Partnered by Bertelsmann AG (BMG) and its subsidiary Arvato, America's Warner Bros plans to push In2Movies, an alleged corporate peer-to-peer business, and we wondered, "Where does P2P come into it?" - given that p2p is a two way street and that Warner is a one-way company ? it's way.
StreamCast and its Morpheus file sharing application are synonymous with p2p, and Weiss gave p2pnet his views in more detail.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
P2P and the music industry ? Allies?
By Michael Weiss, StreamCast Networks
I've maintained forever that P2P can be the entertainment industry's greatest allies. But first, let's define "P2P." It's a software technology (peer-to-peer) and StreamCast is a software technology company. Morpheus is our product. Let's call this 'the Technology.'
P2P also represents a community (people-to-people) formed by users of P2P software technology. Morpheus also symbolized a vibrant community.
Unfortunately, a big part of the Morpheus Community 'feeling' was lost because of the reality of defending a gargantuan lawsuit, resulting in us having to make some compromises to pay legal bills.
We learned that the Community doesn't shy away from telling us what they don't like, so we've made changes whenever we could in response. The lesson here is: the P2P Community is strong and powerful, or put in common marketing terms, the customer is always right! We know that so we're working diligently to try to re-create that exciting sense of "community" that lived before the Grokster vs Morpheus case.
How can P2P (the 'Technology' and the 'Community') be entertainment industry allies?
1) The P2P Community has become the biggest and most efficient focus group for the record labels to identify and promote popular new songs and find the best new artists to sign based upon what consumers like. This takes a lot of the guesswork out of artist development.
The labels have long claimed that 90% of the artists they release are losing money for them and this is offset by the few megastars that break through each year.
Embracing P2P fully, working with P2P Technology companies and, perhaps more importantly, embracing the P2P Community, can take most of the guesswork out of the A&R process, save the labels a mint, and provide consumers with more of the music they really want to hear and are willing to pay for.
2) The popularity of songs being shared using P2P (the Technology) is used today by many labels as a vehicle to get traditional radio airplay ? and it's certainly a lot less riskier than resorting to payola.
Instead of working with third party research firms to determine what's popular with P2P users (the Community), the labels could (and should) develop a working relationship with P2P companies (the Technology) to provide an efficient way of reaching out to biggest music fans of all.
The labels will find the P2P companies are more than willing participants in helping to create an environment where artists can thrive and work hand in hand in creating the type of research and marketing that can expose new artists to a world-wide audience.
3) If history is any indicator, the century old battle of Old Media vs New Technology will play out with similar results -
Phase One: Old Media will always try to stop New Technology (remember Overpeer; spoofing?);
Phase Two: Once Old Media finds it can't stop New Technology, they'll try to control it ('the current phase of lawsuits and legislation');
Phase Three: Once Old Media realizes they cann't stop or control New Technology, they'll embrace it and make more profits than ever before.
Ultimately, Old Media will embrace P2P ( the Technology) and the results will provide lower distribution costs (say goodbye to UPS trucks, CD returns by retailers, CD pressing plants, record store personnel, etc), more efficiency (in the A&R Dept) and reduced bandwidth costs for digital distribution (i.e. Warner in Germany).
The offset in costs for the record labels increases profit margins and exposes rabid fans to more music. P2P Technology will also provide a more level playing field for indie artists by lowering their cost to market. P2P can certainly fuel an entirely new golden age of creative expression-with the cream rising to the top.
4) All the independent research released to date shows that P2P users (the Community) are largest consumers of music. In fact, last year Forbes Magazine reported that 70% of people purchasing music through authorized on line music stores like iTunes did so after first sampling the music through P2P (the Technology).
Why not make this music available for purchase through P2P (the Technology) and skip making consumers take that extra step of going to an on-line music store to purchase?
Why not give P2P users (the Community) the option to purchase with P2P (the Technology)?
So instead of suing P2P (both the Community and the Technology), the entertainment industry should embrace P2P (both the Community and the Technology) for all the good that can come of it.
Also See:
Video Business Online - Studios, tech companies team up, February 10, 2006
p2p news / p2pnet: Ever heard of Copyright Awareness Week? If you haven't, that's no big surprise. It's yet another of the oily PR stunts dreamed up by the entertainment and software cartels as they continue their drive to turn copyright infringement, a purely commercial civil matter, into a major crime on the level of rape and murder.
It's a ridiculous proposition, but, mainstream-media backed, it's succeeding and the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) says it's, "partnering" with "other groups" to, "promote education of students about the history and importance of copyright laws during a March Copyright Awareness Week".
As we've suggested repeatedly, copyright law has no place in ordinary education systems. Yet the corporate music, movie and software industries are invading classrooms not only in America, but also around the world with their spurious message that copyright infringement is of vital importance.
And parents and educators are not only letting them do it, they're helping - helping to turn their kids into good little mindless consumers.
Now, during this phony Copyright Awareness Week, "Age-specific curricula are available online," says the MPAA, going on that supporting it are the vested interest Copyright Society, Directors Guild of America, The Film Foundation, the Entertainment Software Association and Business Software Alliance, creators of Willy the Copyright Weasel (right).
Thank God we home-school our daughter.
JN
Also See:
Willy the Copyright Weasel - They're brainwashing YOUR child, July 4, 2005
p2p news / p2pnet: Google has admitted its new Desktop 3 facility is just as unsecure as email.
A main feature of the new tool is an option that allows searches across multiple computers and which as part of the process, automatically holds copies of files on Google servers for up to 30 days.
Now Gartner says the "mere transport (of data) outside the enterprise will represent an unacceptable security risk to many enterprises," because intellectual property could be transported out of the business, states a CNET News story, going on:
"Google told ZDNet UK on Monday that it recognized the risk, and recommended that companies take action. 'We recognize that this is a big issue for enterprise. Yes, it's a risk, and we understand that businesses may be concerned,' said Andy Ku, European marketing manager for Google.
"Theoretically any intellectual property can be transferred outside of a company," Ku said. "We understand that there are a lot of security concerns about the Search Across Computers feature, but Google won't hold information unless the user or enterprise opts in (to the feature)."
Ku also says it's the responsibility of individual businesses to take care of the problem.
"The burden falls on enterprises to look after security issues," Ku said. "Companies can disable the Search Across Computers facility."
Google was, "unable to comment on the risks posed when individuals share sensitive information" and, "Some users may, and some users may not be able to," said Ku, adding that companies should follow their own policies, says CNET.
Also See:
Desktop 3 - Google Desktop 3 danger alert!, February 9, 2006
CNET News - Google admits Desktop security risk, February 20, 2006
p2p news / p2pnet: iTunes user Thomas Slattery was angry because he was, "also forced to purchase an Apple iPod" if he wanted music to go, he said just over a year ago.
But he did more than merely gripe. He also sued Apple for unspecified damages and now he's been given the go-ahead to launch a monopolization claim against Apple Computers under the federal Sherman Antitrust Act.
His complaint alleges Apple has an 80% of the market for legal digital music files and more than 90% of the market for portable hard-drive digital music players, says eHomeUpgrade.
"As some of you know we've been having some thoughtful discussions on Apple, iPod, and its DRM in the forums (here and here), but I don't think any of us knew that the numbers were as high as the judge found the evidence to be," says Alexander Grundner in his post.
"Also of interest was that Judge Ware specifically rejected Apple's argument that tying doesn't apply since consumers can buy iTunes music for playback on their computers without having to own an iPod. I'm sure some will say that this is not a monopoly, but ask yourself: What other online music services, other than the iTunes Music Store, offers Apple's Fairplay DRM wrapped music for you to purchase for your iPod? That's right, exactly zero. So unless you own a physical CD and have ripped the tracks to MP3 or AAC, there's no other way to add music to the device other than by way of iTunes. (OK, there are two non-traditional exceptions: 1) Services like eMusic that sell DRM-free MP3s, and 2) Real's Harmony software that can convert their copy protected music to a compatible format for the iPod ? Note that Apple threatened Real with a lawsuit for providing this feature.)"
Also See:
forced to purchase - Apple sued over iTunes, January 6, 2005
eHomeUpgrade - Northern California Judge Gives Green Light to Monopolization Suit Against Apple, February 7, 2006
p2p news / p2pnet: As Ratiatum's Guillaume Champeau posted earlier, eDonkey/eMule server Razorback was this morning shut down by Belgian police.
The cops were, it goes without saying, acting for, and on behalf of, the entertainment cartels.
Below is the relevant action-packed section from the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), released under its MPA (Motion Picture Association) clone.
Brussels, Los Angeles-- In a joint operation today police and prosecuting authorities in Belgium and Switzerland shut down the infamous file-swapping network Razorback2. Razorback2 was the number one eDonkey peer-to-peer server facilitating the illegal file swapping of approximately 1.3 million users simultaneously. Razorback2 was operated as a commercial enterprise indexing over 170 million files including millions of copyrighted movies, software, games, TV programming and music with international and U.S. titles. The site was regularly used by people located all over the world, with the vast majority of users based in Europe.
"This is a major victory in our fight to cut off the supply of illegal materials being circulated on the Internet via peer-to-peer networks," said Motion Picture Association (MPA) Chairman and CEO Dan Glickman. "By shaving the illegal traffic of copyrighted works facilitated by Razorback2, we are depleting other illegal networks of their ability to supply Internet pirates with copyrighted works which is a positive step in our international effort to fight piracy."
Swiss authorities arrested the site's operator at his residence in Switzerland this morning and searched his home. At the same time, on the authority of a local magistrate, Belgian police seized the site's servers located at an Internet hosting center in Zaventem near Brussels. The operation conducted by Swiss and Belgian authorities aimed at cutting off a major supply and facilitator of illegal files to several popular illegal file swapping networks. By shutting down Razorback2, the ease with which pirates can obtain illegal content online will slow dramatically. Since November of 2004, authorities have closed down all of the major eDonkey servers in the United States, and now, Europe.
The operators of Razorback2 had clear financial motives. In addition to collecting "donations" from users, revenue was also generated through the sale of advertising on the site, usually promoting pornographic websites. In addition, the availability of offensive content will be inhibited. The operators of this eDonkey site chose not to exercise control over files being traded by users which including those containing child pornography, bomb-making instructions and terrorist training videos.
"Razorback2 was not just an enormous index for Internet users engaged in illegal file swapping, it was a menace to society," said Executive Vice President and Worldwide Anti-Piracy Director John G. Malcolm. "I applaud the Swiss and Belgian authorities for their actions which are helping thwart Internet piracy around the world."
Razorback2 posted statistics on its site regarding the number of uses online at any one time, reveling in its reputation as the world's largest P2P facilitator. Today, users attempting to connect to Razorback2 read the message "Razorback space 2.0 appears to be dead."
Chris Marcich, Senior Vice President and Managing Director of the MPA's European Office said: "We are very grateful to the Swiss and Belgian authorities for their cooperation and effective action in dealing with this particularly egregious enterprise and the individual profiting from it."
The rest of the piece rants on with the usual BS about how much the movie studios have lost to counterfeiting, how hard they're working to combat it, etc, etc.
Also See:
shut down - Belgian police bust Razorback, February 21, 2006
p2p news / p2pnet: With the ongoing Muhammed cartoon wars powerfully in mind, it seems Yahoo has ruled against Allah.
Ed Callahan's mother, Linda, was trying to sign up for a Verizon email address," reports The Register, but, "She could not get it to accept her surname."
Verizon's partnership with Yahoo was the problem because, "Yahoo! will not accept any identies which include the letters 'allah'," says the story.
But god, messiah, jesus, jehova, buddah, satan, priest and pedophile are A-OK.
"On one level this is just silliness," The Register has Callahan saying. "But we have a war on terrorism and it's migrating to be a war on Muslims - this just shows the confusion there is between the two and how pervasive this is."
A spokesman for Yahoo! UK said, "This sounds like a glitch. But we will get back to Ed and Lindy Callahan with a full answer as soon as possible," adds the story.
But, "Hello, my name is Kallahar (well, it's an alias, but Kallahar really is a family name of an 1800's Irish family (Ancestry of William Kallahar, born 1830)," says, Yup, Kallahar on his web site.
He goes on, "I recently tried to create a user on Yahoo with my name. Unfortunately, Yahoo said it was unavailable.
" 'That's odd" I thought, 'maybe I created a user years ago and forgot about it.' Thus I tried 'kallahar2', then 'kallahar3' then 'kallahar385753984753'. All of them came back as 'unavailable'.
"I did some more research, and came up with the following interesting results.
"All of these were tested in the 'test4allah408754873' format to ensure they weren't simply conflicting with an existing user."
Kallahar, too, found god, messiah, jesus, jehova, buddah, satan, priest and pedophile were cool with Yahoo, as were Nazi, pussy, cock, penis and mohammad.
"Obviously some of these words are legitimately banned, it's understandable that yahoo doesn't want fuckme@yahoo.com or anything like that," says K-allah-ar. "Similarly they don't want people impersonating administrators, security, yahoo, etc. However when they ban 'allah' they also ban 'theyareallaheadofme99'.
"There is a valid profile at profiles.yahoo.com/kallahar2 which is my old profile (now disabled) with an update date of 1998. The Kallahar account lists 2000 as the last update date. So apparently allah wasn't banned until after 2000."
Famous *allah*s include Dirty Harry Callahan, points out The Register ......
Stay tuned.
Also See:
Muhammed cartoon wars - Animated Jesus, Muhammed cartoons, February 9, 2006
The Register - Yahoo!Mail bans Allah and Dirty Harry handles, February 20, 2006
web site - Is Yahoo banning Allah?, February 20, 2006
Game publisher Electronic Arts is reducing the price of some of their games, revealing today that EA will debut its The Godfather and Black games at US$39.95, a 20 percent discount on previous debut prices.
"[US]$39 is resonating with consumers given the transition," EA spokesman Jeff Brown said. "There are indications that $39 is a solid and sustainable price point."
In addition to these price cuts, EA is also reducing prices on some older games, such as Fight Night Round 3, which was shipped to retailers yesterday for Playstation 2 and the original Xbox, also with a suggested price of US$39.95.
The Godfather is an action-adventure game in the style of Grand Theft Auto which loosely follows the original movie it is based on, and allows the player to guide a young thug through an entire career in the Mafia. It will ship March 21 for Playstation 2, Xbox, Gamecube, PC and Xbox 360, with a Playstation 3 port planned. Black is a first-person shooter (FPS) where the player becomes part of a covert ops assault group. It has just gone gold and will be released for Xbox and PS2.
These price cuts come in the wake of disappointing earning results and layoffs at Electronic Arts. EA is one of many gaming companies struggling with the drop in sales that accompanies any new console release. Consumers generally put off purchasing titles for current-generation systems while they save up for the next-gen console. While early adopters rush to purchase the new console, the majority of the market holds back, waiting for the inevitable price drops on the new hardware. However, this time the down cycle has been even more pronounced due to the shortages of Xbox 360 hardware during the crucial Christmas season last year.
The other difficulty facing game companies is the rapidly rising costs of game development. It was expected that the increased costs for making next-gen games would be somewhat offset by higher retail prices, similar to how the rising cost of making Hollywood blockbusters has been covered by a steady increase in ticket prices. However, if consumers refuse to pay these prices, as they appear to be doing, the consequences for the industry could be dramatic. Large publishers like EA can afford to drop prices and wait out the down cycle, but what will happen to the smaller firms? The industry may have to find some other way out of this predicament, such as reducing the length of games, releasing them in episodic format, or finding other revenue sources (such as the monthly subscriptions that have been pouring in to games like World of Warcraft). Which reminds me, I really must finish off that last quest...
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060221-6229.html
Company continues its high-definition push with this tiny, lightweight model.
Martyn Williams, IDG News Service
Tuesday, February 21, 2006
Sony will soon start selling a new consumer high-definition camcorder, its smallest and lightest to-date and a model it considers the "trump card" in its envisaged world of high-definition content creation, editing, and sharing, the company says.
Advertisement
The HDR-HC3 follows on the heels of the company's HC1 model, which was launched in the second half of 2005 and has been selling well in several markets, according to Sony. The Tokyo-based company will launch the HC3 camera in Japan in March and overseas from April. It hopes the unit will mean high-definition camcorders can capture a larger slice of the digital-video camera market in 2006.
Last year high-definition camcorders accounted for 7 percent of all camcorders sold in Japan, according to a Sony estimate. For 2006 the company thinks high-definition camcorders, of which it has the largest market share in Japan, will capture around 20 percent of the domestic market, said Naoya Hatai, general manager of mobile network product marketing group of Sony, at a Tokyo news conference on Tuesday.
At that level it would give high-definition camcorders based on the HDV format a market share equal to standard-definition models based on DV, according to Sony's estimates. The company sees DVD-based camcorders taking a 45 percent share of the market and hard drive-based models having a 15 percent share in 2006 in Japan.
Smaller and Lighter
The HDR-HC3 is both 26 percent smaller and lighter than the HC1 thanks to continued miniaturization of the lens unit and main components. Sony has combined the functions carried out by 11 integrated circuits into 3 chips and that's enabled engineers to bring together two main circuit boards and a small audio board from the HC1 into a single circuit board in the HC3. This not only helps reduce size and weight, but there's an overall reduction in power consumption too, said Sony.
A standard battery will last for around 1 hour 40 minutes in high-definition video mode while using the viewfinder and not the camera's 2.7-inch widescreen LCD.
The camera uses one of Sony's recently launched ClearVid CMOS image sensors and can take 4-megapixel class photos even while something is being video recorded. The same sensor is more sensitive than that on the HC1 so the camera can capture video at lower light levels--down to 11 lux versus 15 lux for the HC1, said Sony. In front of the sensor is a 10X optical zoom lens.
Also new from the previous model is an HDMI (high-definition multimedia interface) output, for watching high-definition content on a suitable television. The previous model supported high-definition output on analog and iLink connectors. Like the last model it records video in HDV format, which uses conventional MiniDV cassette tapes.
The HDR-HC3 measures 3.2 inches by 3.1 inches by 5.5 inches and weighs 1.1 pounds. It will go on sale in Japan on March 3 and will be available overseas beginning in April, said Sony. It will cost around $1354 in Japan and no prices have been disclosed for overseas markets.
http://pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,124782,00.asp
OS X flaw exposes Macs By Joris Evers
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
Published: February 21, 2006, 2:59 PM PST
Tell us what you think about this storyTalkBack E-mail this story to a friendE-mail View this story formatted for printingPrint
update A serious flaw in Mac OS X could be a conduit for attackers to install malicious code on computers running the Apple Computer software, experts warned Tuesday.
The security problem is the third to surface for the operating system in the past week. It exposes Mac users to risks that are more familiar to Windows users: Visiting a malicious Web site using Apple's Safari Web browser could result in a rootkit, a backdoor or other malicious software being installed on the computer without the user noticing anything, experts said.
"This could be really bad," the SANS Internet Storm Center, which tracks network threats, said Tuesday. "Attackers can run shell scripts on your computer remotely just by visiting a malicious Web site."
Apple is developing a patch for the flaw, a company representative told CNET News.com. "We're working on a fix so that this doesn't become something that could affect customers," the representative said, but could not give a delivery date for the update.
Word of the new vulnerability comes after the recent discovery of a Trojan horse and a worm that target Mac users. The operating system had not been in the security crosshairs previously.
The new problem, discovered by Michael Lehn and first reported by Heise Online, lies in the way Mac OS X processes archive files. An attacker could embed malicious code in a ZIP file and host that on a Web site. The file and the embedded code would run when a Mac user visits the site using the Safari browser, experts said.
"Essentially, the operating system is executing commands that come in the metadata for ZIP files," said Alfred Huger, senior director of engineering at Symantec. "That is exacerbated by the problem that Safari will automatically open the file when you encounter it on the Web."
The issue may go beyond archive files, SANS said in updated notes on its Web site. "The attacker doesn't need to send a ZIP archive; the shell script itself can be disguised to practically anything," the note said.
The culprit appears to be the Mac OS Finder, the component of the operating system used to view and organize files, according to the SANS posting. A malicious file can be masked to look innocent--for example, like a JPEG image--yet it will run and execute when opened, SANS said.
This occurs because the operating system assigns an identifying image for the file based on the file extension, but decides which application will handle the file based on file permissions, SANS said. If the file has any executable bits set, it will be run using Terminal, the Unix command line prompt used in Mac OS X, SANS said.
There are no known attacks that take advantage of the flaw, experts said. However, proof-of-concept code that demonstrates the security vulnerability is publicly available online and could be tweaked for use in cyberattacks. "The skill level required to exploit it is very low. Pretty much anyone can do it," Huger said.
In the Windows world, such flaws are often exploited to install spyware or ad-serving software on vulnerable PCs. While such insidious software may be rare for the Mac, there are back doors and rootkits for the operating system, Huger said. "I think you'd likely see those installed with this type of vulnerability," he said.
The vulnerability is rated "extremely critical" by security monitoring company Secunia. Symantec also rates it "fairly high risk," Huger said. "If you have a Mac and use Safari, it is something you should remediate immediately," he said.
Mac OS X users can protect themselves by disabling the "Open safe files after downloading" option in Safari. In addition, users should be cautious when surfing the Web, the Apple representative said. "Apple always advises Mac users to only accept files from vendors and Web sites that they know and trust."
Britain is world?s favourite country, say pollsters
But Brits are boring while Yanks are ignorant
By Paul Hales in Jerusalem: Tuesday 21 February 2006, 14:24
POLLSTERS RECKON that there?s no better "brand" than Britain when it comes to being a country.
But despite being reckoned the top place to invest or to visit or indeed to emigrate to, Britain?s notional value in terms of pounds, shillings and cents is less than that of the USA, Japan or Germany. The value of Brand USA is reckoned at $18 trillion whereas Brand UK is in 4th spot in the brand value league table, pinned at $3.5 trillion (£2 trillion).
The Anholt Nation Brands Index (NBI) is complied on results of an Internet survey of some 25,907 people in 35 countries. Tina Louise, European marketing director, for Global Market Insite, Inc, reckons Internet-based research means "we can now collect and measure global opinions about people and places incredibly quickly and accurately." So, evidently if you?re not online your opinions don?t count.
Aside from evaluating the countries in terms of investment or culture, respondents were also asked to assess the inhabitants of the various countries. According to this assessment, UK citizens are considered to be the most polite, most boring and best educated, while the French are seen as the rudest and Americans are the most ignorant and most ambitious.
Here?s the top ten:
1. UK
2. Switzerland
3. Canada
4. Italy
5. Sweden
6. Germany
7. Japan
8. France
9. Australia
10. United States
Google admits Desktop security risk
About time they said something about it if you ask me.
Businesses have been warned by research company Gartner that the latest Google Desktop Beta has an "unacceptable security risk," and Google agrees.
- ZDNET.com
Google admits Desktop security risk
By Tom Espiner, ZDNet UK
21 February 2006 08:20 AM
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Businesses have been warned by research company Gartner that the latest Google Desktop Beta has an "unacceptable security risk," and Google agrees.
On 9 February, Google unveiled Google Desktop 3, a free, downloadable program that includes an option to let users search across multiple computers for files. To do that, the application automatically stores copies of files, for up to a month, on Google servers. From there, copies are transferred to the user's other computers for archiving. The data is encrypted in transmission and while stored on Google servers.
The risk to enterprises, according to Gartner, lies in how this shared information is pooled by Google. The data is transferred to a remote server, where it is stored and can then be shared between users for up to 30 days.
Gartner said in a report on Thursday that the "mere transport (of data) outside the enterprise will represent an unacceptable security risk to many enterprises," as intellectual property could be transported out of the business.
Google said on Monday that it recognised the risk, and recommended that companies take action. "We recognise that this is a big issue for enterprise. Yes, it's a risk, and we understand that businesses may be concerned," said Andy Ku, European marketing manager for Google.
Google confirmed that data was temporarily transported outside of businesses when the Search Across Computers feature was used, and that this represented "as much of a security risk as e-mail does."
"Theoretically any intellectual property can be transferred outside of a company," Ku said. "We understand that there are a lot of security concerns about the Search Across Computers feature, but Google won't hold information unless the user or enterprise opts in (to the feature)."
Google said that security was the concern of individual businesses. "The burden falls on enterprises to look after security issues," Ku said. "Companies can disable the Search Across Computers facility."
Gartner said that sensitive documents may be inadvertently shared by workers, who may not have specialist knowledge of regulatory or security restrictions.
Google said it was unable to comment on the risks posed when individuals share sensitive information. "Some users may, and some users may not be able to," said Ku, adding that companies should follow their own policies.
"At the end of the day, each company should make its own decision. If they are uncomfortable, they shouldn't enable the feature," Ku said. "It's about what a company deems to be best corporate policy."
Gartner has recommended that businesses use Google Desktop for Enterprise, as this allows systems administrators to centrally turn off the Search Across Computers feature, which it said should be "immediately disabled."
Companies "must also evaluate what they are allowing to be indexed, and whether they are comfortable that they can adequately bar the sharing of data with Google's servers," said Gartner.
Google agreed that Google Desktop Enterprise would better mitigate security risks. "If you're given a choice, choose Enterprise," said Ku.
By Reuters
Published: February 22, 2006, 5:06 AM PST
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San Francisco, a leader in urban recycling, is preparing to enlist its canine population for a first in the United States: converting dog poop into energy.
Norcal Waste Systems, the city's garbage company, plans to test collection carts and biodegradable bags in a city-center park popular with dog walkers.
A city study found that almost 4 percent of all the garbage picked up at San Francisco homes was from animal waste destined for the city's landfill, Norcal Waste spokesman Robert Reid said. San Francisco has an estimated 120,000 dogs.
"The city asked us to start thinking about a pilot program to recycle the dog poop in order to cut back adding more waste in landfills," Reid said.
Dog feces could be scooped into a methane digester, a device that uses bugs and microorganisms to gobble up the material and emit methane, which would be trapped and burned to power a turbine to make electricity or to heat homes.
Dogs and cats in the United States produce about 10 million tons of waste a year, according to Will Brinton, an environmental scientist and director of Woods End Laboratories in Maine.
"As much as we love them, our pets leave a lot of manure behind them in yards and on the street, and that can be a major source of contamination of groundwater," Brinton said.
German-speaking European cities such as Zurich, Switzerland; Frankfurt and Munich of Germany; and Vienna, Austria, are operating biomass programs to turn waste into gas, he said.
San Francisco runs an aggressive program to recycle bottles, cans, paper and other trash, and it now diverts two-thirds of its garbage away from landfills.
p2p news / p2pnet: Jordan Glass is the lawyer acting for Patti Santangelo in her Fight Goliath case in which the New York mother is in effect representing more than 18,000 American men, women and children whom the Big Four record labels are accusing of copyright infringement.
Standing against the multi-billion-dollar labels, the two-person Santangelo team - Patti and Jordan - are doing well and here's a condensed look at what's happening from the legal perspective. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
We pushed back and won
By Jordan Glass
Law is a "zero sum" game, which means that you can win every motion, every objection, every step along the way, but lose at trial (or even win at trial but lose on appeal). Only at the very end of the proceedings can you write (or say) that you've won.
I've experienced courts appearing to bend over backward in favor of one party, only to see that same seemingly "winning" party lose at trial. What appears to be favoritism is really the court ensuring it will not be overturned on appeal; in other words, giving every benefit to the side likely to lose and appeal. Mind you, there is no evidence for this, only experience.
Nonetheless, you can monitor the "attitude" of the proceedings and whether you're making meaningful arguments by what happens along the way. You learn the tenor of the Court (meaning the judge), and the community mindset around your case.
That said, Patti objected to 18 of certain of their discovery demands (called "Requests for Admissions"). The Court didn't rule on one of them, upheld 11, and directed that we answer the other six (how to answer them wasn't before the Court, only whether they had to be answered at all).
I've received mixed responses to the objections (having nothing to do with the Court's determination): one was that these were the same questions that had been used in the RIAA's litigation around the country, and no one had raised any objections before; the second was that no one had taken the matter as far as Patti, so no one had ever objected before.
Patti pushed back.
As to publishing certain information I believed wasn't relevant about the children, Plaintiffs' attorneys agreed for it to be redacted (edited out) from certain documents and the Court ordered the document sealed.
Another small victory, and one which others might seek to explore, especially where children aren't parties to the action.
Remember that many of the decisions and agreements made during this case aren't binding on other cases. I don't intend at all to imply that we've "made law" or that any Court has agreed with Patti's arguments.
I only point out that the Court will listen to the claims and rule on the merits each time they're presented.
In other words, you CAN fight back.
On other discovery portions, Plaintiffs' attorneys have filed papers with the Court seeking to compel certain documents and information. I haven't yet seen those papers, but the next hearing is set for March 3, by which time we'll either be back in Court, or will have settled whatever disagreements we have on the matter.
The process is proceeding in an orderly, if not too-highly expedited, fashion.
The RIAA has been pursuing these cases for a few years now with teams of lawyers; Patti has never been through anything like this and even the defense lawyers only have limited experience with these cases, since most defendants never make it this far into the proceedings.
p2p news / p2pnet: Microsoft, "threatens to deny enterprises and individual consumers real choice," say customers and business rivals in a new unfair competition complaint.
Filed with the European Commission by the European Committee for Interoperable Systems (ECIS), it, "asks the Commission to put an end to the practices that the group says have hemmed in its members," says Reuters, going on:
"The European Commission has been locked in a battle with Microsoft over a 2004 EU court ruling that the software giant abused its dominant market position. Microsoft faces a 2 million euro ($2.4 million) daily fine if the Commission decides it has not complied with that ruling."
The ECIS, whose members include IBM, Nokia Corp and Oracle, said it had, "filed a complaint with the European Commission against a range of Microsoft business practices that threaten to deny enterprises and individual consumers real choice among competing software products," says Dow Jones News Wires.
"It said it wanted to stop Microsoft from bundling new products that would 'reinforce Microsoft's existing monopolies and extend its market dominance into a range of existing and pre-announced future product areas.' It cited Microsoft 'dominant Office productivity applications'."
Also See:
Reuters - Group files new complaint with EU against Microsoft, February 22, 2006
Dow Jones News Wires - Microsoft's rivals file new complaint with European Union, February 22, 2006
p2p news / p2pnet: Now it's a corporate application with tight links to Hollywood, BitTorrent is flexing its newly enhanced muscles at the 20th Annual South by Southwest (SXSW) Music and Media Conference and 13th Annual SXSW Film Conference and Festival.
SXSW and BitTorrent say they'll be offering a free music compilation and movie trailer package on both sxsw.com and bittorrent.com.
The compilation from artists playing at SXSW includes songs from The Secret Machines, Giant Squid, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Boyskout and, "hundreds of others," promises a statement.
SXSW will also be offering a collection of movie trailers from this year's schedule of SXSW Films, which includes more than 50 world premieres, it says.
The conference is slated to run between March 15 and 19 in Austin, Texas.
Last-mile wireless Internet access is really, truly coming?but when it gets here, where's it going to go? We reported last month that the spectrum currently used for over-the-air analog television broadcasts would not be freed up for other uses until the transition to digital signals is completed in 2009. Now it appears that the government, stung by the sad state of broadband penetration in the US, might allow technologies such as WiMax unlicensed use of so-called "white spaces" in the spectrum. These white spaces are basically dead air, parts of the spectrum on which no station currently transmits, and they exist even in heavily congested urban areas (San Franciso, for instance, has six channels vacant, and it's one of the most congested places). Two new bills want to open up this coveted spectrum within months instead of years.
First up is the Wireless Innovation Act (rather arbitrarily shortened to the WINN Act, since no one can be against winning, can they?) introduced by Senators George Allen (R-VA) and John Kerry (D-MA). The bill directs the FCC to set up rules that would enable unlicensed use of the spectrum between 54Mhz and 698Mhz by the end of the year. The goal of the WINN Act is to increase broadband use rates, especially in rural areas, by making it easier to provide more kinds of Internet service. Also, it helps kids and hurts terrorists.
"In communities large and small, broadband access connects mothers to children, students to innovative new learning technologies and first responders to citizens in times of crisis," said Kerry in a statement. "Making this technology available in all corners of our country is good for our families, demonstrates the spirit of American innovation and promotes our success in the global economy."
The competing American Broadband for Communities Act (ABC Act) was introduced by Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) and looks quite similar to the WINN Act, but with different open frequencies. It also directs the FCC to open up "any unused broadcast television spectrum in the band between 72 and 698 megaHertz, inclusive, other than spectrum in the band between 608 and 614 megaHertz, inclusive," which "may be used by unlicensed devices, including wireless broadband devices."
The bills appear to enjoy broad bipartisan support, which suggests that we could see legislative action fairly soon. Open television spectrum has long been considered a prize by wireless device makers, but many people thought that the government would hold out until 2009, clear the analog TV stations out of the way, and then auction off the spectrum to the highest bidders. If large numbers of devices are certified for use on unlicensed spectrum, though, this appears much less likely, and may indicate that the whole band will be less regulated than previously thought. The lower spectrum used for TV is considered unusually good because it is better able to pass through walls than higher frequencies, signal coverage is better, and it's cheaper to build the equipment. Of course, devices that operate in this band are basically non-existent, since it was presumed to be off-limits, and it will take some time before anything concrete comes to market.
In other wireless news, Chicago has just announced its plan to join the Mile High Municipal Wi-Fi Club, alongside other cities like Philadelphia and San Francisco. No details have been announced about pricing, but the service could be operational in 2007 and is expected to blanket the entire city. AT&T is surprisingly not opposed to the idea, mainly because the Chicago system won't function as a competitor to the telco (it may in fact put more money in Ma Bell's pocket). Chicago is hoping to build the system without putting out much money, so they plan to partner with other broadband providers to actually deliver the service.
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060221-6232.html
Google, not generally used to losing in court, now finds itself on the receiving end of a preliminary injunction over image search results. The case began back in 2004 when Perfect 10, publisher of the "the world's most beautiful natural women," sued both Amazon (targeting their A9 subsidiary) and Google for copyright infringement. At issue was the fact that both search engines displayed thumbnail images of Perfect 10's natural women. The company felt that this was making it more difficult to extract US$25.50 a month from its customers, and sued.
Google and Amazon disagreed, citing the well known Kelly v. Arriba Soft case which found that the creation of thumbnails by a search engine was legal, even if the material was copyrighted, because they were 1) small and 2) had a "transformative" use. A judge has decided (PDF) that this argument isn't good enough for Google (the Amazon decision is coming separately), in part because Google makes money from pirate sites that have ripped off Perfect 10's pictures and now display them as their own. Their use of Perfect 10's copyrighted images indirectly brings money to Google because they are also enrolled in AdSense, so Perfect 10 argues that Google's use of these thumbnails cannot be simply "transformative." The judge agreed.
"But unlike Arriba, Google offers and derives commercial benefit from its AdSense program," writes the judge on p. 26 of his decision. "If third-party web sites that contain infringing copies of P10 photographs are also AdSense partners, Google will serve advertisements on those sites and split the revenue generated from users who click on the Google-served advertisements. Google counters that its AdSense Program Policies prohibit a web site from registering as an AdSense partner if the site's web pages contain images that appear in Google Image Search results... However, Google has not presented any information regarding the extent to which this purported policy is enforced. Nor has it provided examples of AdSense partners who were terminated because of violations of this policy... AdSense unquestionably makes Google's use of thumbnails on its image search far more commercial than Arriba's use."
Further complicating the issue is the fact that Perfect 10 provides its images to mobile phone users for a fee. But Google's image search also works with mobile phones, and allows users to view thumbnails from Perfect 10 that are all but indistinguishable from the mobile phone images that Perfect 10 is trying to sell. Given Perfect 10's business model, the judge ruled that Google's thumbnails are indeed "transformative," but they are also "consumptive."
"Google's use of thumbnails to simplify and expedite accessed information is transformative of P10's use of reduced-size images to entertain. But that does not end the analysis, because Google's use is simultaneously consumptive as well" (p. 29).
The EFF, in a friend of the court brief, argued that Google's use was purely transformative and us should fall under the category of "fair use." "Here, every reproduction and display performed by a Google computer is a necessary step to achieving a legitimate public purpose," says the brief in language that makes searching for porn sound almost noble. The judge, while acknowledging the great public benefit provided by search engines like Google, ruled that public benefit alone cannot trump a legitimate copyright claim. He has given the parties until March 8 to work out the language for a narrow injunction that would prevent Google from displaying thumbnails of Perfect 10's images, but he declined to prevent Google from linking to sites that may contain infringing content. Google has vowed to appeal the decision, and claims that even if the injunction stands, it will have no effect on the vast majority of Google's image search functionality. We'll have to wait until the injunction is formulated to see how this will actually work.
As Google has branched out from its core search business into book search, image search, and news search, it has found itself the repeated target of lawsuits from organizations who believe that their copyrighted material is simply being used to put money in Google's coffers. Without much explicit guidance from Congress on the application of copyright and fair use exemptions to the Internet to digital media, the boundary lines are increasingly being hammered out in court. Expect the trend to continue as the search engine giant continues its quest to organize all the world's information.
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060222-6234.html
AOL's Internet business isn't exactly cutting edge, but as the number one provider of dial-up Internet access in the United States, the company's approach to broadband has proven to be instructive for those watching the slow transition away from ye olde dial-uppe. While it may be quite shocking to think of millions of households still dialing up an ISP to get online these days, broadband access has yet to reach the low-low price of good old fashioned modulator-demodulator access. While some DSL companies have toyed with dirt-cheap rates (US$15/month access in some instances), those rates are typically promotional and time-limited. Most dial-up users remain committed to their modems while DSL companies try to find a way to lure customers away from them.
AOL is planning a novel approach. Rather than try to roll out cheaper DSL service (re-branded or otherwise), they're going to raise their unlimited dial-up rates starting in March. That's right: most of 20 million AOL dial-up users are going to see their rates increase by $2 per month, as the company prepares to charge the same amount for dial-up service as they do for DSL. The company hopes that when users see that AOL's dial-up and re-branded DSL products are both $25.90, customers will move to the latter. What they may find, however, is that many will move to back-up options; limited dial-up access is still available (10 hours for $14.95), and the company will continue discount pricing for users who commit to 12 months of service (not to mention the competition). It's a gutsy move: much like the Spanish Inquisition, no one expects a rate hike on dial-up services.
"We're doing this because a majority of AOL members will be able to get high-speed connections and access the AOL service for this new price," spokeswoman Anne Bentley said Tuesday. "Hopefully it's an encouragement for them to get high-speed connections."
AOL has transitioned from a dial-up content provider to multi-pronged media company, but it has had a hard fight every step of the way. In 2004 the company started to make some of its premium content available to all of the 'net's denizens, and since that time it has become increasingly clear that AOL's future lays in content. The company needs its subscribers, however, and they hope that recent packaging deals with AT&T, Bell South, and others will effectively "outsource" the responsibility for managing DSL service without "outsourcing" all of their revenues related to that business.
For AOL, it's a major risk. Some 75 percent of the company's traditional customers are still on dial-up, and just about everyone expects those very same customers to make the leap to broadband sooner or later. The company has already lost more than 6 million subscribers since the dot-bomb era, and AOL is keenly aware that users who get a taste for the 'net sans AOL's packaging tend to never come back to the AOL fold. The plan could unwittingly send their customers into the arms of their competitors.
Why risk driving users away? Dial-up access isn't necessarily cheap to maintain. Local access numbers, fidgety equipment, and user support options are all in the mix. The company would love to be rid of dial-up altogether. At the same time, AOL hopes to retain users by getting them hooked on the same AOL content that they have been receiving for years. The problem is that many of these offerings are becoming decidedly broadband in nature. AOL's forthcoming In2TV service, for instance, will need broadband to be of any use. While the company will make In2TV available to non-subscribers, AOL has seen success in the past promoting its own non-premium services to its users.
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060222-6233.html
The anti-copy or print CD-R by Kodia
A company called Kodia launches a special CD-R in Korea that allows you to enter a number of protection parameters before the burning process. These protections disable the possibility to print a file stored onto the CD, or copy files to a computer, or even the impossibility to copy the CD. A very interesting system for the RIAA, but hopefully it's a bit better implemented than the SonyBMG CD's in the US.
p2p news / p2pnet: A court ruling in Denmark could mean local ISPs will be forced to act as Big Four record label cops.
They'll have to close the accounts of customers proved to have been infringing Big Fou copyrights, says the IFPI (International Federation of Phonographic Industry).
A Danish Supreme Court ruling will, "oblige TDC, and other ISPs, to act immediately when they are notified that one of their customers is using their internet account to infringe copyright," it says, continuing:
"In the event of non-compliance, copyright owners will be able to ask the court for an injunction against the service provider."
At the moment, alleged infringers face legal action only after due process - in other words, only once the Big Four have been through the courts to obtain their names and addresses.
* 22 February 2006
* From New Scientist Print Edition
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LOVERS know only too well that men usually need a "recovery period" after orgasm, and that sexual intercourse with orgasm is more satisfying than an orgasm from masturbation alone. Now scientists think the two phenomena might be linked.
Following orgasm, the hormone prolactin is released into the bloodstream in both men and women. The hormone makes us feel satiated by countering the effect of dopamine, which is released during sexual arousal.
Stuart Brody of the University of Paisley, UK, and Tillmann Krüger of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, measured blood prolactin levels in male and female volunteers who watched erotic films before engaging in masturbation or sexual intercourse to orgasm in the laboratory.
Surprisingly, after orgasm from sexual intercourse, the increase in blood prolactin levels is 400 per cent higher in both sexes compared with after orgasm from masturbation (Biological Psychology, vol 71, p 312).
This explains why orgasm from intercourse is more satisfying than masturbation, says Brody. Since elevated levels of prolactin have been linked to erectile dysfunction, this may also explain why most men need a recovery period after sex.
From issue 2540 of New Scientist magazine, 22 February 2006, page 21
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http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=mg18925405.900&feedId=o...
Sonic CinePlayer for playback and web-delivery of contentPosted by Dan Bell on 22 February 2006 - 20:41 - Source: Sonic
The following text is a complete press release, unmodified by CD Freaks. If you don't want to view these kind of news posting you can disable them in your preferences page once logged in. Please send your press releases to news@cdfreaks.com
Sonic Releases New CinePlayer Platform for Playback and Web-delivery of Content
Enables Delivery of Dynamic Entertainment Experiences to Consumers via Set-top Devices and Desktop PCs
February 22, 2006 ? Sonic Solutions® (NASDAQ: SNIC), the leader in digital media software, today released the CinePlayer® Platform, a comprehensive digital media playback ?engine? to support virtually any digital media type ? music, photos, videos, and web-delivered interactive content. The CinePlayer Platform has two key advantages: first, it allows Sonic?s personal computer and consumer electronics partners to tailor a wide variety of digital media offerings based on a common underlying playback engine; this makes it easier and more cost effective for them to test, release and revise their products. Second, the CinePlayer Platform combines playback from DVDs (including Blu-ray disc and HD DVD) with web-delivered content such as advertising, merchandising promotions and bonus material; this allows for attractive new models of advertising, promotion and content distribution. The CinePlayer Platform ships in key OEM channels later this week.
?With its versatile feature set, the CinePlayer Platform is a one-stop shop for OEMs configuring digital home entertainment solutions,? said Richard Doherty, research director of the Envisioneering Group. ?From playing today?s most popular media formats with enhanced interactivity to supporting next-generation media formats such as Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD, the CinePlayer Platform is essentially a future-proof, full featured interactive media platform.?
The CinePlayer Platform builds upon Sonic?s expertise as the leading provider of technologies for digital media creation, management, and enjoyment from Hollywood to home. The CinePlayer Platform incorporates Sonic?s InterActual®-enhanced DVD technology which has been used by Hollywood studios to provide consumers with seamless access to on-disc and online bonus interactive content. Additionally, the CinePlayer Platform has been architected to enable new entertainment services such as Sonic?s recently announced DVD on Demand? solution for the electronic sell-through of movies and television content, as well as to support next-generation High Definition formats, Blu-ray Disc and HD-DVD.
?The CinePlayer Platform offers a scalable architecture to allow our content and technology partners to keep pace with the evolving digital home entertainment market and changing needs of the consumer,? said Mark Ely, Sonic?s executive vice president of strategy. ?Not only will the platform adapt as new formats and capabilities emerge, but it will also present our partners with a broad range of new opportunities to drive revenue with innovative entertainment-based programs and services.?
About Sonic Solutions
Sonic Solutions (NASDAQ : SNIC; http://www.sonic.co.uk) is the leader in digital media software, providing a broad range of interoperable, platform-independent software tools and applications for creative professionals, business and home users, and technology partners. Sonic's products range from advanced DVD authoring systems and interactive content delivery technologies used to produce the majority of Hollywood DVD film releases, to the award-winning Roxio®-branded CD and DVD creation, playback and backup solutions that have become the premier choice for consumers, prosumers and business users worldwide.
Sonic products are globally available from major retailers, online at Sonic.com and Roxio.com, and are bundled with PCs, after-market drives and consumer electronic devices. Sonic's digital media creation engine is the de facto standard and has been licensed by major software and hardware manufacturers, including Adobe, Microsoft, Scientific-Atlanta, Sony, and many others. Sonic Solutions is headquartered in Marin County, California.
Sonic, the Sonic logo, Sonic Solutions, Roxio, CinePlayer, and InterActual are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sonic Solutions or its subsidiaries in the United States and/or other countries. All other company or product names are trademarks of their respective owners and, in some cases, are used by Sonic Solutions under license. Specifications, pricing and delivery schedules are subject to change without notice.
http://www.cdfreaks.com/news/13106
THIS WAS MY LAST NEW'S POST IN THIS THREAD,AS NO ONE WAS READING WHAT I POSTED
CHEERS
I don't know who hasn't seen this news, but it sure is hot!
The MPAA is planning the takedown of many filesharing sources - Bittorrent sites (Incl. isohunt.com, torrentbox.com, torrentspy.com) plus eDonkey & Newsgroup sites. I encourage all to read this one.
