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The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has set up a few web pages to help the victims of Sony's infamous rootkit CDs clean their computers and get their fair share of the class action settlement. The foundation is asking webmasters and bloggers to help spread the word through a variety of banners. It's the first time the EFF has run a campaign like this, but it makes sense for several reasons.
First up, the EFF was a party to the lawsuit itself, and this is also the first time that any action directly brought by them has lead to any kind of public settlement or restitution. Making Joe Sixpack aware that his Velvet Revolver CD may have infected his PC, and that he is entitled to some cash and/or free music is not only a nice humanitarian move on the EFF's part, but also good PR. Then there is the fact that there are security implications to using the affected products, which means that the Internet as a whole gets a little healthier for every patched rootkit. I'll let EFF Staff Attorney Corynne McSherry finish up this list:
"In this case, there isn't a complete record of everyone who bought (or was given) an XCP or MediaMax CD, and all of those folks may have a security risk on their computers," said Ms. McSherry in an e-mail to the Orbiting HQ. "So it's important to get the word out in as many ways as possible, to as many people as possible. Besides, EFF has a unique platform as a public interest advocate. We're happy to use that platform to let music fans know that they can finally get what they thought they were buying in the first place?music that will play on their computers without restriction or security risk."
So maybe you're one of the unlucky millions who let Sahara Hotnights' Kiss and Tell or Clay Aiken's Merry Christmas open your desktop to attack (consult the list of eligible albums for more poisoned discs), and this is the first you have heard about a settlement. What next? It depends on what version of the botched DRM you were affected by. If it was MediaMax 3.0 (check your CD insert), you're good for free downloads of the music you bought to begin with. MediaMax 5.0 gives you that, plus one free album download from iTunes, Wal-Mart, FYE, or CONNECT Music. XCP protection means that you will get the free download, a replacement, DRM-free disc, and your choice of either US$7.50 plus one free album download from one of the services mentioned above, or no cash and three albums.
In return, you must submit a proof of purchase, but if you lost the original receipt, you have other options. Ms. McSherry explained that "there are a variety of proofs you can submit. For MediaMax, for example, if you don't have a copy of the receipt, you can submit the CD itself, the original UPC symbol cut out of the album artwork, a copy of a credit card or bank statement reflecting your purchase, or a copy of a cancelled check reflecting your purchase." Since you're getting that music back anyway (yes, even if it was Bette Midler Sings the Peggy Lee Songbook. I'm so sorry.), and particularly if it was an XCP disc that entitles you to a replacement physical CD, sending the infected merchandise back to its maker might be advisable, just to keep from accidentally reinfecting your machine if nothing else.
The settlement process has begun in EFF's class action lawsuit
against Sony BMG for the flawed digital rights management (DRM)
that Sony BMG released in millions of CDs over the last several years.
Music fans who bought the affected CDs can submit claims for clean music.
Artist Title UPC
40 Below Summer The Mourning After 79301828982
A Static Lullaby Faso Latido 827969277225 or D161263
Acceptance Phantoms 696998901629 or D161429
Alicia Keys Unplugged 82876674242 or 82876731662 or D165215
Amerie Touch 827969076323 or D161365
Amici Forever Defined 82876688832 or D161495
Angie Stone Stone Love 82876562152 or D153051
Anthoney Hamilton Coming From Where I'm From 82876521072 or D150669
Art Blakey Drum Suit 827969363720 or D162083
Babyface Grown & Sexy 82876705682 or D162090
Backstreet Boys Never Gone 82876696112 or D165187
Backstreet Boys Never Gone (Target) 82876705342
Backstreet Boys Never Gone (Walmart) 82876702442
The Bad Plus Suspicious Activity? 827969474020
Bette Midler Sings the Peggy Lee Songbook 827969510728 or 828767481524
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club Howl 8287671601 or D162369
Bob Brookmeyer Bob Brookmeyer & Friends 827969429228 or D162087
Britney Spears Hitme - Remix 82876740622
Buddy Jewell Times Like These 827969287323 or D161532
Burt Bacharach At This Time 827969773420
Cassidy I'm A Hustla 82876687072 or 82876680732
Celine Dion On Ne Change Pas 827969773628
Charlie Wilson Charlie, Last Name Wilson 82876694292 or D162168
Charlotte Martin On Your Shore 82876606762
Chayanne Cautivo 037629681921 or 37629681822 or 37629588626
The Chieftains Live From Dublin 82876671372 or D160913
Chris Botti To Love Again 827969482322
Chris Brown Chris Brown 82876733222
Citizen Cope Clarance Greenwood Recordings 82876521142 or D154185
Clay Aiken Merry Christmas 82876626222 or D161935
Cook, Dixon & Young Volume One 82876673342 or D162089
The Coral The Invisible Invasion 827969474723
Cyndi Lauper The Body Acoustic 827969456927
Dave Matthews Band Stand Up 82876687962 or D165167
David Gray Life In Slow Motion 82876710682 or D165217
The Dead 60's The Dead 60's 827969445327
Deniece Williams This Is Niecy 827969381427
Dextor Gordon Manhattan Symphonie 827969358122 or D162084
Dido Dido Live 82876658099
Dido "White Flag" W/Enhanced Features (Maxi Single) 82876603552-0
Dion The Essential Dion 827969267028 or D161439
Earl Scruggs I Saw The Light With Some Help From My Friends 827969279328 or D162399
Elkland Golden 827969203620 or D161431
Emma Roberts Unfabulous And More: Emma Roberts 827969395028 or 827969768426
Faithless Forever Faithless/ENH 82876710142 or D162102
Flatt & Scruggs Foggy Mountain Jamboree 827969280126 or D162400
Foo Fighters In Your Honor (Bb Version) 82876705282
Foo Fighters In Your Honor 82876680382 or D265002
G3 Live In Tokyo 827969768525
George Jones My Very Special Guests 827969256220 or D200250
Gerry Mulligan Jeru 074646549827 or D162086
Horace Silver Silver's Blue 827969385623 or D162082
Imogen Heap Speak For Yourself 82876725322
Jane Monheit The Season 827969772126
Jim Brickman Grace 82876679792 or D161456
Jim Brickman Grace (Provident Version) 82876687952
J-Kwon Hood Hop (Edited) 82876583672
J-Kwon Hood Hop (Ex) 82876576132 or D152470
Jon Randall Walking Among The Living 827969208328
Judd & Maggie Subjects 82876692492 or D161949
Kasabian Kasabian 82876664282 or D161062
Keith Anderson Three Chord Country 82876662942 or D161674
Kings Of Leon Aha Shake Heartbreak 82876645442 or D160912
Leo Kottke/Mike Gordon Sixty Six Steps 82876689092
Life Of Agony Broken Valley 827969351529 or D161228
Maroon 5 Live 82876709742 or 82876699522 or D200606
Mary Mary Mary Mary 000768353721 or 827969294826 or D162005
Montgomery Gentry Something To Be Proud Of: The Best of 1999-2005 828767532424 or 827969498224
My Morning Jacket Z 82876710672
Natasha Bedingfield Unwritten 827969398821 or D162095
Neil Diamond 12 Songs 827969477625 or 827969781128
Nivea Complicated 828766715620 or D161353
Nodesha Get It While It's Hot (Maxi Single) 82876566902
Our Lady Peace Healthy In Paranoid Times 827969477724
Patty Loveless Dreamin' My Dreams 827969448120
Pete Seeger The Essential Pete Seeger 827969283523 or D161441
Raheem Devaughn The Love Experience 82876537232 or D161600
Ray Charles Friendship 827969456422 or D161917
Rosanne Cash Interiors 827969365526
Rosanne Cash King's Record Shop 696998699427
Rosanne Cash Seven Year Ache 696998699724
Sahara Hotnights Kiss & Tell 82876626892 or D153473
Santana All That I Am 82876597732 or D165199
Sarah McLachlan "Fallen" W/Enhanced Features (Maxi Single) 82876601432
Sarah McLachlan Afterglow Live 82876644942 or D260346
Sarah McLachlan Afterglow Live 82876645432
Sarah McLachlan Bloom (Remix Album) 82876697982 or D162345
Shel Silverstein The Best Of Shel Silverstein 827969472224 or D162100
Shelly Fairchild Ride 827969035528 or D161531
Silvertide Show & Tell 82876644022
Silvertide Show & Tell (Ex) 82876609892 or D154573
Soundtrack Xxx: State Of The Union 82876679222 or D161437
Soundtrack Xxx: State Of The Union 82876681092
Stellastarr* Harmonies for the Haunted 82876688812 or D162194
Susie Suh Susie Suh 827969244326 or D161094
Switchfoot Nothing Is Sound 827969653425 or 827969643723 or 827969458129
Syleena Johnson Chapter 3: The Flesh 82876610932 or D162447
Teena Marie Robbery 827969381724
Tha' Rayne Didn't You Know (Maxi Single) 82876566882
T-Pain Rappa Ternt Sanga 82876734472 or 82876732002
Trey Anastasio Shine 827969642825
Van Zant Get Right With The Man 827969350027 or D161459
Various So Amazing: An All Star Tribute To Luther Vandross 82876624722
Various Songs Brown Hotel 82876714112
Various Relaxation: A Windham Hill Collection 82876629422
Velvet Revolver Contraband (Bb Version) 82876665102
Velvet Revolver Contraband (Ed) 82876605242
Velvet Revolver Contraband (Ex) 82876597942 or D153163
Vivian Green Vivian 827969076125 or D161824
Wakefield Which Side Are You On? 82876685072 or 82876681352 or D161648
YoungBloodZ Everybody Know Me 82876733402 or 82876731752
Yung Wun The Dirtest Thir(Ex) 82876607672 or D154246
Yung Wun The Dirtiest Thirstiest 82876609492
By Ina Fried
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
Published: March 9, 2006, 11:18 AM PST
Tell us what you think about this storyTalkBack E-mail this story to a friendE-mail View this story formatted for printingPrint
Apple Computer said Thursday that it plans to open a call center in India to handle its growing business and continue to expand call centers in the U.S. as well.
The company is in the process of building a Bangalore facility to house the call center.
"Apple has gained millions of new customers in the past year, and we are building a call center in India to help meet our growing service and support needs," an Apple representative said in a statement to CNET News.com.
The company stressed that it isn't cutting any U.S. jobs, noting that its ranks are growing both in the United States and overall. "Our call centers in Austin and Sacramento also continue to grow," the Apple representative said.
The iPod and Mac maker also promised that the quality of its support will not diminish with the new effort.
"This call center will be managed and staffed by Apple employees with the same award-winning service for which Apple is known around the world," Apple said.
The news was reported earlier Thursday by the Times of India, which said that Apple would begin with 1,500 people and have 3,000 workers by the end of next year. Apple would not comment on how many workers would be at the new facility.
Apple is following the lead of many other PC and electronics firms that have set up call centers in India.
In March 2005, Dell cut the ribbon on its third Indian call center. However the company has also been hit with criticism over the quality of its customer support.
In 2003, Dell decided to reroute some corporate support calls back to U.S.-based call centers, but the company has continued to expand in India.
* 18:35 09 March 2006
* NewScientist.com news service
* Will Knight
A computer controlled by the power of thought alone has been demonstrated at a major trade fair in Germany.
The device could provide a way for paralysed patients to operate computers, or for amputees to operate electronically controlled artificial limbs. But it also has non-medical applications, such as in the computer games and entertainment industries.
The Berlin Brain-Computer Interface (BBCI) ? dubbed the "mental typewriter" ? was created by researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute in Berlin and Charité, the medical school of Berlin Humboldt University in Germany. It was shown off at the CeBit electronics fair in Hanover, Germany.
The machine makes it possible to type messages onto a computer screen by mentally controlling the movement of a cursor. A user must wear a cap containing electrodes that measure electrical activity inside the brain, known as an electroencephalogram (EEG) signal, and imagine moving their left or right arm in order to manoeuvre the cursor around.
"It's a very strange sensation," says Gabriel Curio at Charité. "And you can understand from the crowds watching that the potential is huge."
Learning algorithms
Curio says users can operate the device just 20 minutes after going through 150 cursor moves in their minds. This is because the device rapidly learns to recognise activity in the area of a person's motor cortex, the area of the brain associated with movement. "The trick is the machine-learning algorithms developed at the Fraunhofer Institute," Curio says.
John Chapin, an expert in using implanted electrodes to control computers, agrees EEG sensing technology is advancing rapidly. "There's been a lot of progress on the non-invasive side in recent years," he told New Scientist.
The German researchers hope to develop a commercial version of the device as an aid for paralysed patients and amputees.
Chapin adds that brain-computer interfaces could have a range of uses beyond the medical. "Signals from the brain give you a fraction of a second advantage," he says. The device could make a novel game controller and be used in other ways. The researchers have even begun testing the machine as a driving aid, as it can sense a sudden reaction and control a vehicle's brakes before even the driver can.
The next stage is to develop a cap that does not have to be attached directly to the scalp. This should make the device easier to use and cause less skin irritation for the wearer.
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* 09 March 2006
* Exclusive from New Scientist Print Edition
* Zeeya Merali
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DARK energy and dark matter, two of the greatest mysteries confronting physicists, may be two sides of the same coin. A new and as yet undiscovered kind of star could explain both phenomena and, in turn, remove black holes from the lexicon of cosmology.
The audacious idea comes from George Chapline, a physicist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, and Nobel laureate Robert Laughlin of Stanford University and their colleagues. Last week at the 22nd Pacific Coast Gravity Meeting in Santa Barbara, California, Chapline suggested that the objects that till now have been thought of as black holes could in fact be dead stars that form as a result of an obscure quantum phenomenon. These stars could explain both dark energy and dark matter.
This radical suggestion would get round some fundamental problems posed by the existence of black holes. One such problem arises from the idea that once matter crosses a black hole's event horizon - the point beyond which not even light can escape - it will be destroyed by the space-time "singularity" at the centre of the black hole. Because information about the matter is lost forever, this conflicts with the laws of quantum mechanics, which state that information can never disappear from the universe.
Another problem is that light from an object falling into a black hole is stretched so dramatically by the immense gravity there that observers outside will see time freeze: the object will appear to sit at the event horizon for ever. This freezing of time also violates quantum mechanics. "People have been vaguely uncomfortable about these problems for a while, but they figured they'd get solved someday," says Chapline. "But that hasn't happened and I'm sure when historians look back, they'll wonder why people didn't question these contradictions."
?People have been uneasy about these problems with black holes, but figured they'd get solved. That hasn't happened?
While looking for ways to avoid these physical paradoxes, Chapline and Laughlin found some answers in an unrelated phenomenon: the bizarre behaviour of superconducting crystals as they go through something called "quantum critical phase transition" (New Scientist, 28 January, p 40). During this transition, the spin of the electrons in the crystals is predicted to fluctuate wildly, but this prediction is not borne out by observation. Instead, the fluctuations appear to slow down, and even become still, as if time itself has slowed down.
"That was when we had our epiphany," Chapline says. He and Laughlin realised that if a quantum critical phase transition happened on the surface of a star, it would slow down time and the surface would behave just like a black hole's event horizon. Quantum mechanics would not be violated because in this scenario time would never freeze entirely. "We start with effects actually seen in the lab, which I think gives it more credibility than black holes," says Chapline.
With this idea in mind, they - along with Emil Mottola at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, Pawel Mazur of the University of South Carolina in Columbia and colleagues - analysed the collapse of massive stars in a way that did not allow any violation of quantum mechanics. Sure enough, in place of black holes their analysis predicts a phase transition that creates a thin quantum critical shell. The size of this shell is determined by the star's mass and, crucially, does not contain a space-time singularity. Instead, the shell contains a vacuum, just like the energy-containing vacuum of free space. As the star's mass collapses through the shell, it is converted to energy that contributes to the energy of the vacuum.
The team's calculations show that the vacuum energy inside the shell has a powerful anti-gravity effect, just like the dark energy that appears to be causing the expansion of the universe to accelerate. Chapline has dubbed the objects produced this way "dark energy stars".
Though this anti-gravity effect might be expected to blow the star's shell apart, calculations by Francisco Lobo of the University of Lisbon in Portugal have shown that stable dark energy stars can exist for a number of different models of vacuum energy. What's more, these stable stars would have shells that lie near the region where a black hole's event horizon would form (Classical Quantum Gravity, vol 23, p 1525).
"Dark energy stars and black holes would have identical external geometries, so it will be very difficult to tell them apart," Lobo says. "All observations used as evidence for black holes - their gravitational pull on objects and the formation of accretion discs of matter around them - could also work as evidence for dark energy stars."
That does not mean they are completely indistinguishable. While black holes supposedly swallow anything that gets past the event horizon, quantum critical shells are a two-way street, Chapline says. Matter crossing the shell decays, and the anti-gravity should spit some of the remnants back out again. Also, quark particles crossing the shell should decay by releasing positrons and gamma rays, which would pop out of the surface. This could explain the excess positrons that are seen at the centre of our galaxy, around the region that was hitherto thought to harbour a massive black hole. Conventional models cannot adequately explain these positrons, Chapline says.
He and his colleagues have also calculated the energy spectrum of the released gamma rays. "It is very similar to the spectrum observed in gamma-ray bursts," says Chapline. The team also predicts that matter falling into a dark energy star will heat up the star, causing it to emit infrared radiation. "As telescopes improve over the next decade, we'll be able to search for this light," says Chapline. "This is a theory that should be proved one way or the other in five to ten years."
Black hole expert Marek Abramowicz at Gothenburg University in Sweden agrees that the idea of dark energy stars is worth pursuing. "We really don't have proof that black holes exist," he says. "This is a very interesting alternative."
The most intriguing fallout from this idea has to do with the strength of the vacuum energy inside the dark energy star. This energy is related to the star's size, and for a star as big as our universe the calculated vacuum energy inside its shell matches the value of dark energy seen in the universe today. "It's like we are living inside a giant dark energy star," Chapline says. There is, of course, no explanation yet for how a universe-sized star could come into being.
?The vacuum inside the star has a powerful anti-gravity effect, just like the dark energy that is pulling the universe apart?
At the other end of the size scale, small versions of these stars could explain dark matter. "The big bang would have created zillions of tiny dark energy stars out of the vacuum," says Chapline, who worked on this idea with Mazur. "Our universe is pervaded by dark energy, with tiny dark energy stars peppered across it." These small dark energy stars would behave just like dark matter particles: their gravity would tug on the matter around them, but they would otherwise be invisible.
Abramowicz says we know too little about dark energy and dark matter to judge Chapline and Laughlin's idea, but he is not dismissing it out of hand. "At the very least we can say the idea isn't impossible."
From issue 2542 of New Scientist magazine, 09 March 2006, page 8
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Movies Top Ten File Share Downloads, Global
Week ending March 9, 2006
Ranking Movie Number of Downloads
01 >>> Final Destination 3 1,140,121
02 >>> The Pink Panther 1,125,974
03 >>> Saw 2 1,111,598
04 >>> Redeye 1,075,086
05 >>> Madea's Family Reunion 1,061,786
06 >>> Date Movie 1,059,245
07 >>> Eight Below 1,053,339
08 >>> Big Momma's House 2 1,020,741
09 >>> Underworld: Evolution 1,016,071
10 >>> Walk The Line 1,003,893
Movies Top Ten File Share Downloads, USA
Week ending March 9, 2006
Ranking Movie Number of Downloads
01 >>> Final Destination 3 608,123
02 >>> The Pink Panther 610,478
03 >>> Saw 2 595,112
04 >>> Madea's Family Reunion 594,404
05 >>> Redeye 580,603
06 >>> Date Movie 573,077
07 >>> Eight Below 566,901
08 >>> Big Momma's House 2 566,506
09 >>> Walk The Line 549,395
10 >>> Underworld: Evolution 518,764
p2p news / p2pnet: Like their corporate music industry brethren, the major movie studios claim they're being ravaged by file sharers who post features on the p2p networks, robbing the likes of Time Warner, Viacom, Fox, Sony, NBC Universal and Disney of their rightful dues.
Never mind that that significant numbers of the miscreants seem to be Hollywood insiders rather than kids with cams.
However, in its annual theatrical market statistics report out today, the Big Six-owned MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) says blockbuster films had a banner year.
Eight films movies more than $200 million compared to just five in 2004, and, "The total number of films released in the U.S. increased by 5.6% from 2004.
New releases by the major motion picture studios grossed an average of $37 million in 2005, an increase of 7% over the past five years.
And although US box office takes dipped by 6% in 2005, they "remained healthy" with nearly $9 billion in revenue.
"Last year, 1.4 billion theater tickets were sold in the US and the worldwide box office recorded intake of $23 billion, which was a 7.9% decline over the previous year," it says.
So what does it cost to make a Hollywood movie these days?
The average bill for making and market a flic in 2005 remained under $100 million, falling slightly to $96.2 million.
Marketing costs were up 5.2%, but production costs went down 4% from the previous year and the MPAA's owners, "spent more on network television and Internet advertising and less on newspapers and local television," it says.
p2p news / p2pnet: Twelve Pakistan web sites, including blogger.com, have been blocked for posting cartoons of the prophet Mohammed which appeared in the Danish daily Jyllands-Posten.
On February 28, the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority ordered ISPs to block blogspot.com (or blogger.com), "taking down thousands of weblogs hosted by this tool," says Reporters Without Borders, stating:
"We believe that the decision to ban a website should only ever be taken by a judge, at the end of a fair trial. It is moreover unacceptable that the order to block a site should go through the PTA, which while apparently aiming at one blog hosted by blogger.com, led to the filtering of all websites sharing the same domain name."
The PTA ban came about ten days after a petition calling on the government to ban the spread of "blasphemous content" through the Internet was submitted to the Supreme Court which on March 2, "formally asked the government to take such a step," says RWB.
"The bloggers network Global Voices, which revealed the case on its site, has been posting information about campaigns launched by bloggers to condemn the filtering."
Also See:
Mohammed - Animated Jesus, Muhammed cartoons, February 9, 2005
Reporters Without Borders - Twelve websites, including blogger.com, blocked for posting cartoons, March 8, 2006
p2p news / p2pnet: "Academic cheating is a growing problem that's become easier since the onset of the Internet," says the promo blurb for Turnitin, a US-made application designed to stop students from plagiarizing other peoples' work and turning it in as their own.
"Now teachers at all levels have to be more vigilant to catch cheaters in the classroom," it says, going on:
"Every paper submitted is returned in the form of a customized Originality Report. Results are based on exhaustive searches of billions of pages from both current and archived instances of the internet, millions of student papers previously submitted to Turnitin, and commercial databases of journal articles and periodicals."
But But Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, is banning the use of Turnitin.
"We in no way condone plagiarism," the Canadian Press has student union president Chantal Brushett saying, but she says the program raises a host of human rights, legal and intellectual-property issues.
Students must consent to having their papers submitted to the database, "but since it's a course requirement, they're over a barrel," the story states, continuing, "Professors have other means to check on papers, she says, such as working with university librarians or typing a fishy-sounding line into Google.
"There's no need to be submitting papers to a for-profit company based in the United States, in order to check for that plagiarism, if it exists."
The ban starts in May and the decision will be reviewed after three years, adds CP.
Also See:
Canadian Press - Turnitin.com turned off at university, March 8, 2006
p2p news / p2pnet: If you're Canadian and you're following attempts by the entertainment and software cartels to turn Canada into mini-America, you'll be interested in a talk in Toronto at the end of the month.
Professor Michael Geist will deliver the 2006 Hart House Lecture at the University of Toronto on March 30 and he's called his presentation, Our Own Creative Land: Cultural Monopoly and the Trouble With Copyright.
The lecture will be the Hart House Great Hall and tickets, free, are available at the U of T Ticket Office, online by phone (416-978-8849), or in person (7 Hart House Circle, on the lower floor of Hart House).
Make sure you get your tickets early!
"The lecture will weave together a number of themes that I have focused on in recent months including reflecting on the Bulte incident, highlighting the opportunities presented by the Internet, placing the current round of copyright reform in context, and sketching out an alternative, forward-looking vision of Canadian copyright law," says Geist.
Top 5 Speaker Systems
We test six 5.1-channel models. Our findings? Spending wads of cash doesn't guarantee quality, convenience, or more
Top 5 Speaker Systems
April 2006 Our tests of six 5.1-channel surround-sound speaker sets reveal which system offers the best audio. more
Edited by Narasu Rebbapragada
TOP 100 REVIEWS
See All Top-Rated Product Charts.
Rank 5.1-channel PC speaker set Comments
1
BEST
BUY Logitech Z-5500 Digital
? Price when reviewed: $400
? Overall performance: Very Good
? Ease of use: Superior
? Features: Superior
? Full Specs
? Check latest prices
PCW Rating: 88 Very Good
Well-designed product has digital inputs to best take advantage of digital surround sound.
Full Review | Test Report
2
Creative Labs GigaWorks ProGamer G500
? Price when reviewed: $250
? Overall performance: Very Good
? Ease of use: Superior
? Features: Good
? Full Specs
? Check latest prices
PCW Rating: 85 Very Good
Relatively inexpensive set of speakers has an additional treble control and performed best in our tests of stereo music tracks.
Full Review | Test Report
3
Klipsch ProMedia Ultra 5.1
? Price when reviewed: $350
? Overall performance: Very Good
? Ease of use: Very Good
? Features: Very Good
? Full Specs
? Check latest prices
PCW Rating: 84 Very Good
Though this system isn't new, it's the best PC-based speaker set that Klipsch offers.
Full Review | Test Report
4
Cambridge Soundworks MegaWorks 505
? Price when reviewed: $400
? Overall performance: Good
? Ease of use: Very Good
? Features: Good
? Check latest prices
PCW Rating: 77 Good
Cambridge Soundworks' only 5.1-channel offering lacks center and rear speaker controls but has a treble switch.
Full Review | Test Report
5
M-Audio LX4 2.1 System and LX4 5.1 Expander
? Price when reviewed: $550
? Overall performance: Good
? Ease of use: Good
? Features: Poor
PCW Rating: 62 Fair
Expensive product combo omits PC-centric conveniences such as bundled cables, a distinct volume controller, and adapters for 0.125-inch inputs.
Full Review | Test Report
6
Sicuro RW-670XL
? Price when reviewed: $170
? Overall performance: Poor
? Ease of use: Poor
? Features: Good
PCW Rating: 59 Poor
Inexpensive, garishly designed product has poor sound quality and an Enhance button that heavily distorts bass.
Full Review | Test Report
Handset also includes a music player, a video recorder, and a document viewer.
Martyn Williams, IDG News Service
Thursday, March 09, 2006
Click for full image. HANOVER, GERMANY -- Samsung Electronics is planning to launch in the second quarter a cell phone that boasts a 10-megapixel-resolution digital camera, the company said at the CeBIT technology show on Thursday.
The SCH-B600 is due to go on sale in South Korea in the second quarter of this year and continues a line of cell phones with high-resolution cameras from Samsung. The company launched a 5-megapixel camera phone in October 2004, a 7-megapixel phone in July 2005, and an 8-megapixel model in November 2005.
Advertisement
From one side the handset looks like a conventional cell phone; from the other, it looks like a digital still camera, with an autofocus 3X optical zoom lens and a flash.
Images and other data can be stored to the handset's internal memory or on MMCmicro memory cards.
The high-end handset supports South Korea's satellite digital broadcasting service. This serves several TV and radio channels on subscription to compatible receivers. Samsung has already launched several cell phones with such a feature.
Other features include MPEG-4 video recording; a music player that plays MP3, AAC, and AAC+ files; a TV output port; a document viewer; and Bluetooth and Pictbridge printing.
No price was provided for the telephone, which is compatible with the Code Division Multiple Access 1X EvDO standard.
Another New Phone
Samsung also launched at CeBIT on Thursday a handset designed to offer functions often found on stand-alone music players. The SGH-i130 is based on the Windows Mobile operating system and packs an 8GB hard drive.
The built-in music player supports the MP3, AAC, AAC+, WMA, WAV, and Ogg music file formats and has dual speakers, an amplifier, and a Bluetooth stereo link. Other features include a 2-megapixel digital camera, Bluetooth printing, and a video output connector. It will be available in Europe during the second quarter of this year, Samsung said.
In our initial tests, the company's 7900 and 7600 chips demonstrate a solid performance punch.
Tom Mainelli, PC World
Thursday, March 09, 2006
nVidia 7900 GTXGraphics giant nVidia announced three new graphics chips today, the 7900 GTX, the 7900 GT, and the 7600 GT. The company expects its partners to begin shipping graphics boards based on the new chips this week.
The 7900 chips will replace nVidia's 7800 GTX and 7800 GT processors. Initial PCW tests using reference boards show the 7800 GT largely outperforming existing boards, while the 7900 GTX yielded mixed results. Most notable was the 7600 GT card's significantly faster performance over existing boards on most tests.nVidia 7900 GT
All three chips were produced under a new 90-nanometer manufacturing process, which leads to smaller, more-efficient chips than those created under the older 110-nanometer process.
High-End Battle
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Until ATI's recent launch of the X1900 XTX chip, nVidia had owned the upper-end graphics market with its high-speed 7800 GTX boards, though the 512MB versions often proved exceptionally difficult to find. The company says that boards based on the new 7900 GTX will be plentiful, and notes that there will be only a 512MB version (no 256MB version). The chip's core speed is 650 MHz and its memory runs at 800 MHz. Expect boards to sell for between $499 and $649.
In our highest-resolution tests performed at 1600 by 1200 with antialiasing turned on, the 7900 GTX-based reference board beat an XFX GeForce 7800 GTX XXX Edition ($750) and an ATI X1900 XTX board ($649) in two tests--Half Life 2 and Quake 4--and it tied with the 7800 GTX in Doom 3. The 7800 GTX was the clear victor in our Splinter Cell Chaos Theory and Unreal Tournament 2004 tests, while the X1900 XTX won out in our Battlefield 2 test.
Boards based on the 7900 GT will sell for between $249 and $399 and will include 256MB of RAM. The chip's core speed is 450 MHz, and its memory runs at 660 MHz.
Top view of the 7900 GTIn our highest-resolution tests performed at 1600 by 1200 with antialiasing turned on, the 7900 GT generally outperformed a shipping XFX GeForce 7800 GT ($300) and an Asus Radeon EAS X1800 XL ($380). The 7900 GT turned in the highest frame rates almost across the board, including in Battlefield 2, Half Life 2, Quake 4, Splinter Cell Chaos Theory, Doom 3, Far Cry, and Unreal Tournament 2004.
New Mainstream Leader
Of the three new chips launched today, nVidia's 7600 GT will likely be the most popular with the average graphics card buyer. Boards based on the chip will carry 256MB of RAM and will sell for between $179 and $229.
The 7600 GT ran away with nearly every test we performed when compared with comparable products such as eVGA's eGeforce 6800 GS ($179) and PowerColor's Radeon X1600 XT Bravo Edition ($169). The card was a clear winner at both our test resolutions (1024 by 768 and 1600 by 1200) and with antialiasing turned on and off.
For example, in Quake 4 tests performed at the higher resolution with antialiasing turned off, the 7600 GT cranked out an impressive 63 frames per second, easily topping the 6800 GS board's 42 fps and the X1600 XT's 24 fps. The only tests that the 7600 GT failed to win outright were for Far Cry, where it tied with the 6800 GS, and Unreal Tournament 2004, where the 6800 GS outpaced it by 1 fps.
Return to PCWorld.com in coming weeks to read reviews of retail boards from BFG, PNY, and XFX based on the new chips. And be sure to check out our current reviews of graphics cards.
http://pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,125008,00.asp
Blu-Ray Disc drive to come in both Sony desktop PCs and notebooks.
Martyn Williams, IDG News Service
Thursday, March 09, 2006
HANOVER, GERMANY -- Sony plans to launch desktop and laptop PCs with Blu-ray Disc drives in the middle of this year, an executive said Thursday at the CeBIT technology show here.
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The first computers to feature Blu-ray Disc drives will be high-end models aimed at multimedia use, but over time the technology will trickle down to other models, said Tasuku Yazaki, general manager of Sony's Vaio product planning department. The machines will be launched worldwide at around the same time, he said, without revealing product details.
Players and computer drives for the Blu-ray Disc format, an optical disc format that boasts a storage capacity of 25GB on a single layer disc the size of a CD, are due out in the coming months.
The first consumer Blu-ray Disc players are due on May 23 when Samsung Electronics launches the BD-P1000. On the same day Sony Pictures Home Entertainment and Lionsgate Films will launch several movies on Blu-ray Disc media.
Competing Format
But the future of the market is far from certain. A competing format called HD-DVD is also about to be launched and offers much of the same benefits. Users will be faced with choosing one of two competing formats or putting off a purchase until a dominant format has emerged.
Executives from the Blu-ray Disc Association talked up their format at CeBIT today and supporting companies announced hardware launch plans. Pioneer previewed an upcoming Blu-ray Disc drive for computers and both Matsushita Electric (Panasonic) and Koninklijke Philips Electronics said they would launch consumer players in the second half of this year.
Philips said its computer drive, the SPD700, will be available in the U.S. in the second half of the year and will be able to write to recordable BD-R and rewritable BD-RW media in addition to DVDs and CDs. No price was given for the drive.
Three security patches may cause player performance problems.
Shelley Solheim, IDG News Service
Thursday, March 09, 2006
NEW YORK -- Three recently released Microsoft security patches may cause performance problems for Windows Media Player users, according to a company advisory.
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Users who have applied the patches may experience problems when seeking, rewinding, or fast-forwarding files, said the advisory. For example, files may return to the start position or freeze up.
One of the patches at issue is a critical fix released by Microsoft last month, MS06-005, for a vulnerability in the way Windows Media Player processes bitmap files. The process could allow remote code execution.
Older Patches
The other two updates, released in October of last year, are a fix to enable Microsoft DirectX Video Acceleration of video content for video cards used in certain drivers and an update for Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 that addresses several stability and performance issues.
As possible work-arounds, Microsoft suggests that Windows Server 2003 SP1 users disable the Advanced Fast Start feature on the publishing point and make sure that the server-side playlist does not use the "clipBegin" element. Information about the problems has been posted on the Microsoft Help and Support site.
CeBIT: Hands On With Samsung's Q1 Origami Handheld
Our reviewer calls it light, interestingly designed, and expensive.
Martyn Williams, IDG News Service
Thursday, March 09, 2006
HANOVER, GERMANY -- The buzz on Thursday at Germany's CeBIT show is all about Samsung Electronics' Q1. The device is based on the Origami platform from Microsoft and is the first of a new class of machine dubbed the "ultramobile PC." I had a chance to play with the device as soon as the show opened on Thursday, and here are my impressions.
Click for full image. The Q1 is finished with the same sort of shiny black plastic that is used for the PlayStation Portable, and the few devices on show were already collecting fingerprints. It's going to be one of those products that requires lots of polishing.
In my hands it didn't feel too bad. It's quite light at just under 28 ounces and wasn't too thick to hold easily. It measures about 10.5 by 9 by 5.5 inches.
Click for full image. The Q1 is based on an Intel Celeron M processor running at 900 MHz. It has 512MB of memory and a 40GB hard drive. There are wired and wireless LAN adapters, Bluetooth networking, and a Compact Flash card slot that could be used for other types of modems.
Button and Touch-Screen Control
Buttons take up both sides of the display and can be operated by thumb. The right side has Enter and Menu buttons, plus a user-defined four-way button; the left side has a joystick and a button for the auto-scaler. This latter function automatically scales content to match the Q1's 800-by-480-resolution (Widescreen VGA) display.
Click for full image. Along with the buttons, the touch screen display can be used to interact with the Q1. There's a conventional QWERTY keyboard that can be brought up on screen, but much more interesting is the dial keyboard. This appears as two quarter-circles in the bottom right and left corners of the screen that are operated with one's thumbs while holding the Q1. It's going to take users a little bit of getting used to but it's certainly a good option for such devices.
There isn't much too much to report about what's on screen. The Windows XP version running on the Q1 looks just like Windows XP on your desktop, so it immediately feels very comfortable to operate.
Instant On for Multimedia Via Second OS
One of the nicer features of the Q1 is instant-on for multimedia files. This involves booting up a second operating system--Samsung wouldn't say what it is--and in about 10 seconds you can play videos, listen to music, or look at pictures.
Q1 in use
On the negative side, the screen resolution is perhaps a little low. Browsing the Web at WVGA resolution means that lots of scrolling is involved. Battery life could also be better. When watching a DVD using an external drive, the battery life is given as 1.7 hours by Samsung. That works out to about 1 hour and 40 minutes--so you'd better carefully check the running time of DVDs.
Priced Over $1000
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Perhaps more important in determining whether the Q1 stands a chance of success is its price. It looks quite expensive. Samsung said the Q1 will go on sale in Europe for $1190, which is slightly over the $500 to $1000 price range we first heard about when Microsoft began talking about Origami.
For more coverage from the world's largest technology show, go to our CeBIT News page.
Biometric security device is also cheaper than the company's previous model.
Martyn Williams, IDG News Service
Thursday, March 09, 2006
HANOVER, GERMANY -- Fujitsu and Fujitsu Laboratories have developed a new model of their palm vein security sensor that is smaller, faster, and cheaper than the previous model, they said Thursday.
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The new sensor conforms to an industry-standard application programming interface and will be available globally later this year, Fujitsu said at the CeBIT technology show here. The company will use the PalmSecure brand name for the product and technology.
The palm vein system relies on an image sensor similar to that in a digital still camera. It takes a picture of the palm of a user's hand, and the image is then matched against a database as a means of verification. The camera works in the near-infrared range so it can detect the veins present under the skin; a proprietary algorithm is used to help confirm identity. The system takes into account identifying features such as the number of veins, their position, and the points at which they cross.
This makes for a biometric system that offers a higher level of security than competing technologies including voice print, facial recognition, fingerprint recognition, and iris scan, according to Fujitsu.
The technology has been adopted by more than 40 Japanese banks, including one national bank, as a way to authenticate customers at automated cash machines. It is also used in access-control systems at some companies. It has yet to find the same level of adoption overseas, however. Fujitsu hopes this will change with the launch of the new sensor, said Ichiro Hirose, president and chief executive officer of Fujitsu Europe.
The second-generation sensor is roughly cube-shaped. It measures 1.4 inches square and is 1.1 inches high, which is a quarter of the size of the previous sensor. Authentication time has been cut in half from 3 seconds to 1.5 seconds, said Yoshiaki Kitamura, general manager of Fujitsu's biometric business development group, in an interview at CeBIT.
User Feedback
The new sensor is not just the product of advances in technology but has also benefited from feedback Fujitsu received after the system went into commercial use in Japan, Kitamura said.
"Most of the comments we had were in three areas," he said. "People complained it was too slow; there was no SDK [software developer's kit]; and it was too expensive."
In response Fujitsu has switched from a proprietary software base to an open SDK with support for the industry-standard Bio API. The SDK will be available in English and Japanese in June and April, respectively.
The cost has been halved for the new device, Kitamura said, although he didn't reveal the price. Other improvements include a reduction in the number of scans required to register new users, from three to two, and a switch from a proprietary encryption system to AES (Advanced Encryption Standard).
Sensor in keyboard
The new model can be directly connected to the USB port of a laptop or embedded into keyboards. Fujitsu will demonstrate the new sensor in both configurations at CeBIT starting on Thursday.
With these changes Fujitsu hopes the device will attract the same attention overseas that it has in Japan since its commercialization in July 2004. The company is aiming for a 9 percent share of the total biometrics market by 2008 and around $680 million in cumulative sales over the next three years, it said.
CeBIT: Novell Launches Next-Generation Linux Desktop
OS is finally "good enough" to replace Windows, company says.
Elizabeth Montalbano, IDG News Service
Thursday, March 09, 2006
HANOVER, GERMANY -- Novell has introduced the next version of its desktop Linux OS, a release the company hopes will begin a "viral" migration from Windows in the next several years, said Jeff Jaffe, executive vice president and chief technology officer for Novell.
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Novell SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 (SLED 10), launched at the CeBIT show here, is the first version of Novell's desktop Linux that is "good enough" for enterprises to replace Microsoft's Windows OS in more than just limited deployments, Jaffe said.
"Our new SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop now meets the needs of the basic office worker," he said.
Jaffe acknowledged that desktop Linux has barely made a dent in the enterprise, though a migration from Windows to Linux on enterprise desktops has been predicted for years. However, he said that he expects enterprise pilots of SLED 10 to begin in earnest in late 2006.
Then, once companies realize how painlessly they can integrate a Linux desktop into an enterprise dominated by Windows, the trend to use Linux alongside or to replace Windows in the enterprise should catch fire by 2008, Jaffe said.
"I don't think mass migrations will come until 2007, maybe 2008, but this is the year to really prepare for it," he said.
Nat Friedman, vice president of Linux desktop engineering for Novell, demonstrated SLED 10, which appears to share many of the same features as early test versions of Windows Vista. Vista is the next major upgrade to Microsoft's Windows OS and is expected to ship at the end of the year.
SLED 10 will be available by late September, Jaffe said.
New Features
Novell created a new 3D graphical user interface for SLED 10, which is similar in appearance to the interface Microsoft has demonstrated in Vista in that it allows for 3D maneuvering of windows on the desktop. It also allows users to make windows transparent so they can see what is in the background while working on another application in full-screen mode.
Novell also created new features to fix some of the common problems that Linux on the desktop has had in the past, Friedman said. For instance, the company created a new plug-and-play mechanism for SLED 10 that immediately recognizes hardware devices and allows users to work with them much in the same way that Windows does.
Novell also created its own music player software for SLED 10 with the help of RealNetworks. The software, called Banshee, looks somewhat like Apple Computer's iTunes. It allows users to listen to MP3s legally on Linux, something that previously was not available in mainstream open-source software because of the complexities of licensing the patented MP3 codec for use in open-source software, Friedman said.
"Linux users used to download an MP3 player from some site in Russia," he said, not entirely joking. "This gives you the out-of-the-box experience."
Jaffe said that Novell has not lined up any hardware partners yet to ship SLED 10 on their PCs and laptops, but he expects those will come once the system is available.
"Part of [hardware vendor adoption] is to get the message out that the Linux desktop is going to happen," he said. "All the hardware OEMs are going to listen carefully to that message."
By Joris Evers
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
Published: March 9, 2006, 11:48 AM PST
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As part of its monthly patching cycle, Microsoft plans to release on Tuesday two security bulletins with fixes for flaws in Office and Windows.
The alert for Office is deemed "critical," Microsoft's highest risk rating, the company said in a notice posted on its Web site on Thursday. The Windows bulletin is rated "important," one notch lower on Microsoft's rating system.
Microsoft rates as critical any security threat that could allow a malicious Internet worm to spread without any action required on the part of the user. Problems deemed "important" could be exploited to compromise the confidentiality, integrity or availability of data, or the integrity or availability of processing resources, according to the company.
Last month, Microsoft released seven security bulletins also covering flaws in Office and Windows. Two of those bulletins were tagged critical. On Wednesday, it emerged that one of last month's patches can cause some trouble for users of Microsoft's Windows Media Player 10.
Microsoft's notice did not specify which components of Windows or Office are being repaired with Tuesday's patches or how many flaws the update will tackle. Security researchers with eEye Digital Security list one vulnerability on their Web site for which a fix is considered overdue.
As part of its monthly patch day, Microsoft also plans to release an updated version of the Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool. The software detects and removes common malicious code placed on computers.
The company gave no further information on the upcoming bulletins, other than stating that the Office fix may require restarting the computer. The Windows fix will not require a restart, Microsoft said.
The Redmond, Wash., software maker offers advance notification about patches so people can get ready to install the updates.
Novell hopes its next desktop will leapfrog Windows
By Ingrid Marson
Special to CNET News.com
Published: March 9, 2006, 11:52 AM PST
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Novell on Thursday unveiled the features that will be available in the next version of its Linux desktop product--SuSE Linux Enterprise Desktop--which the company claims will be more usable than any other desktop product on the market.
"We have made a big investment taking the Linux desktop past everybody. The usability work we've done is not to reinvent Windows, but to reinvent a better desktop," Greg Mancusi-Ungaro, Novell's director of marketing for Linux and open source, told ZDNet UK on Wednesday.
"When Microsoft Vista ships it will catch up to us in a number of areas, but we'll enjoy six months where Novell's Linux desktop is in the lead," he said.
The SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop (SLED), which will be available beginning this summer, is a "big change for Linux" as it is now suitable for all enterprise users, according to Mancusi-Ungaro.
"Up until now the Linux desktop has primarily been deployed in specialized circumstances--as a fixed-function workstation or as a transactional desktop," he said. "Now, for first time, we can tell you with confidence that it can be deployed for general office workers."
Important new features in SLED include an animated user interface and integrated desktop search.
Other features that Novell is touting in the product include the addition of support for Microsoft Excel Macros and Pivot Tables in OpenOffice.org, and full support for all standard network and printing protocols, allowing plug-and-play functionality for cameras, USB drives, personal music players and printers.
The animated GUI takes advantage of the XGL graphics software, which Novell made available to the open-source community last month. The GUI makes the Linux desktop more usable, for example, by providing visual cues to users when they minimize windows, according to Mancusi-Ungaro.
"When users minimize windows to the panel at the bottom of the screen they will see it move there rather than vanish, so users are more aware of where they have put something," he said.
As for desktop search, although the Beagle tool is already available in SuSE Linux Professional 9.3, this is the first time that Novell is offering seven years' support around the product.
Novell carried out hundreds of usability tests and shot almost 1,500 hours of user-interaction video to aid the design of SLED. It claimed that each feature of the product has been "rigorously tested and refined for usability to ensure the best possible performance in a business environment." The results of the usability tests can be viewed on Novell's Better Desktop Web site.
Flash MP3 player market gets threatened by mobile phones
Posted by Seán Byrne on 10 March 2006 - 00:26 - Source: AVinfo
There was a time when portable music was basically where one carried a cassette player along with a couple of tapes such as home compilations. Later the portable CD player gradually took over until a few years ago when the iPod and MP3 players became the main things consumers carry music on. As mobile phones are becoming more sophisticated, with some integrating an MP3 player as well as the ability to download music via 3G, it looks like they will start seriously competing with the MP3 player market.
Despite the iPod's higher HDD pricing compared with flash based MP3 players, most consumers are happy paying the extra for much greater capacity considering how big the iPod market is. So for the foreseeable future, iPod sales will likely be unaffected, since most music player based mobile phones have a very limited storage capacity. However the main manufacturers that will suffer will be those offering budget MP3 players, since consumers are unlikely going to buy a budget MP3 player if their mobile phone already offers this same capability.
As mobile phone's music player functionality and memory continues to improve with each new mobile hitting the market, Apple is keeping a close eye on this. Apple already has partnered with Motorola with some iTunes enabled phones available on the market; however the current series have a 100 song restriction. The next step will likely be an Apple iPod phone.
MP3 players from the cheapest cigarette lighter-size all the way up to the iPod Nano offer a dedicated music device that can store and manage our favourite tracks. But while these gadgets are very popular, they face a significant challenge in the form of the mobile phone. Over the last five years mobile bandwidth and handset design have made it possible to download music files and store them on mobiles. 3G networks and next generation handsets are raising the bar in terms of memory size and functionality on a regular basis posing a real threat to the low end of the MP3 market.
Some handsets can already match the performance of the cheaper MP3 players, and while the latest iPod is quite safe for the time being, other manufacturers might soon start to feel the pinch.
If Apple decides to launch their own branded iPod phone, it could potentially be a good competitor to other handsets, at least for consumers looking for a phone with a built in music player. On the other hand, as the features of mobile phones change so frequently with handsets often becoming obsolete within a year of launching, Apple would have to keep up with this also, even though Apple's policy has been for simplicity and doing away with unnecessary features. Even though the iPod may sell very well as a dedicated portable music player, there is a good chance that the ?iPod? brand is not going to make their phones sell as easily if it lacks the features that competing mobile phones have.
Feel free to discuss about iTunes and other online music services on our Music Download, Peer to Peer (P2P) & Legal Issues forum.
http://www.cdfreaks.com/news/13168
Roxio releases Blu-ray Disc Technology Preview Kit
Posted by Dan Bell on 10 March 2006 - 14:36 - Source: Roxio
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
Roxio Releases Blu-ray Disc Technology Preview Kit
Comprehensive BD Playback and Recording Software Available for OEM Qualification
Roxio®, a division of Sonic Solutions® (NASDAQ: SNIC), the leader in digital media software, today released its Blu-ray Disc (BD) Technology Preview Kit. The Kit is a collection of software applications that enable PC and drive manufacturers to qualify a full range of BD capabilities including data backup of as much as 25GB on Blu-ray Disc Recordable (BD-R) or Blu-ray Disc Rewritable (BD-RE) media, non-protected Blu-ray disc copying, and BDAV format recording and playback. The Blu-ray Disc-enabled and Windows Vista?-compatible functionality is currently being integrated into Roxio?s line of premier consumer retail and OEM applications such as Roxio Easy Media Creator®, Roxio WinOnCD®, and Roxio MyDVD®.
The Blu-ray Disc Technology Preview Kit is the latest in a series of high-definition initiatives by Sonic Solutions which began its pioneering work on the new formats over two years ago. Sonic has taken the leading role in helping Hollywood and their authoring facility partners prepare for the launch of the new formats. Sonic founded the High Definition Authoring Alliance (HDAA) in 2005 and is the world?s leading provider of tools and technologies vital in the production of the industry?s first replicated discs to utilise advanced interactive modes for both Blu-ray Disc as well as HD DVD. In addition, Sonic has been working with consumer electronics (CE) manufacturers such as Broadcom who have licensed the company?s technologies for use in its high-definition multi-function consumer electronics players.
?Sonic?s core high-definition technologies are tried and trusted, and already in use today helping professional content creators make a smooth transition to next-generation formats,? said Mark Ely, Sonic?s executive vice president of strategy. ?Our knowledge and experience in these new formats combined with our growing intellectual property portfolio, uniquely positions Sonic to deliver a full selection of high-definition products ranging from professional authoring compression and authoring tools to our market leading Roxio-branded software for consumer HD creation and playback.?
CeBIT 2006 runs from March 9th through March 15th in Hannover, Germany and is the world?s largest trade fair showcasing digital IT and telecommunications solutions for home and work environments. Sonic will be demonstrating a comprehensive selection of high-definition technologies and applications for Hollywood, technology partners and consumers, in addition to its innovative AuthorScript® DVD on Demand? system for the electronic sell-through of movies and television content. Sonic is conducting private briefings in room 124, 2nd floor, Hall 12 (North-South) and demonstrating at a number of partner booths throughout the exhibition.
About Roxio
Roxio, a division of Sonic Solutions, develops and markets the best-selling digital media software in the world. Roxio offers award-winning software products for CD/DVD burning, photo editing and video editing and has an installed base of over 150 million users. Roxio distributes its products globally through strategic partnerships with major hardware manufacturers, through leading retailers, through Internet partnerships and through direct sales at www.roxio.co.uk.
Roxio's parent company, Sonic Solutions (NASDAQ : SNIC) http://www.sonic.com is the leader in digital media software and provides a broad range of software tools and applications for creative professionals, business and home users and technology partners. Sonic's products range from professional DVD authoring systems and interactive content delivery technologies that are used to produce the majority of Hollywood movies released on DVD, to the award-winning Roxio- and Sonic-branded CD and DVD creation, playback and backup applications that have become the premiere solutions for consumers and business users worldwide. Sonic's AuthorScript® is the de facto standard for CD and DVD burning and formatting and has been licensed by major software and hardware manufacturers, including Adobe, Broadcom, Microsoft, Scientific-Atlanta, Sony, and many others. Sonic Solutions is headquartered in Marin County, California.
Sonic, the Sonic logo, Sonic Solutions, Roxio, Roxio Easy Media Creator, MyDVD, WinOnCD, DVD on Demand and AuthorScript are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sonic Solutions 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/13170
Posted by Dan Bell on 10 March 2006 - 15:52 - Source: Yahoo News
D4rk0n3 andshimman used our news submit to tell us about this news release. shimman had this to say: "Many thought BD already won the battle, but I guess it"s not over yet. LG must be thinking the next gen supermulti drive."
Up until this announcement, LG was definitely a BD supporter, just like Sony, Philips and Dell. However, now we have another company that sees the future of blue laser is not so clear and they are hedging their bets. Probably a good idea the way things are going.
LG is the second high-profile Blu-ray supporter to change position after Hewlett-Packard, the world's second biggest PC maker, decided last month to also support HD DVD alongside Blu-ray.
LG expects to announce the first product later this year, its European president James Kim told Reuters on the fringes of the world's top electronics trade fair CeBIT.
"We will do both," Kim said.
It certainly is not over, especially when one takes a minute to forget about the writing strategy or which technology is superior based on that or capacity etc. Many less technical consumers, will simply look at the cost of a player, when making that first purchase. We already see that the initial hardware on the scene is much cheaper when it comes from the HD-DVD camp. Then others that are slightly more savvy, will read a bit about the interface with a PC and many may decide to go HD-DVD for this reason as well.
Another possibility is that consumers will just wait around until one or the other formats dies, due to the totlal investment cost in either format, that will be required to take advantage of the benefit of a high definition picture. Surely, just like VHS and Betamax, there will not be sufficient demand put there to support both formats. What a mess! You can read the full story here.
http://www.cdfreaks.com/news/13171
By Bruce Gain | Also by this reporter
02:00 AM Mar, 10, 2006 EST
GENEVA -- New designs introduced here at the Geneva Motor Show are pushing small engines further than ever, allowing street-legal vehicles to rival race cars in performance for a fraction of the price.
The trend was already visible last year with the introduction of the Lotus Elise, which is capable of zipping from zero to 60 mph in 4.9 seconds on the strength of a 1.8 liter, 189 horsepower engine.
Models debuting this month set an even higher standard. The Lotus Europa S harnesses 200 hp in a 2.0-liter engine for a zero to 60 mph acceleration of 5.5 seconds. And then there's Porsche's new 911 Turbo: Packing 480 hp into a 3.6-liter engine, it can rip from zero to 60 mph in just 3.4 seconds.
"The (911 Turbo's) speed was only possible to achieve with race cars before," Wolfgang Durheimer, executive vice president, research and development for Porsche, bragged in an interview with Wired News.
In fact, it's true. In the past, zero to 60 mph in under four seconds was the kind of performance mostly reserved for top-of-the-line sports cars from the likes of Ferrari, Lamborghini and Maserati. (The Lotus and Porsche models compare to the new Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano, which goes from 0 to 62 mph in 3.7 seconds, but relies on a 6.0-liter engine.)
Since prices for high-end sports cars can hit $350,000 or more, the new Porsche could be considered a bargain at "just" $122,900. Lotus is even more affordable. The Europa S is expected to retail for about $60,000, while the Elise is priced at $49,000.
But there's more to the magic than price. These cars represent new feats in engineering to back the manufacturers' claims that their cars offer the best performance in their street-legal, engine size class.
Drawing from engine designs and engineering know-how from the companies' racing car divisions, the Lotus and Porsche engines largely owe their performance boosts to pressure chargers, as they have in years past. While Porsche calls it turbo technology and Lotus says "super charger," both systems serve to pump extra air into the engine.
"You have to think in terms of horsepower per liter," says Jamie Turner, chief engineer of powertrain Research for Lotus Engineering, which also offers engine design consulting services for major, yet undisclosed carmakers. "You really need to go to a pressure charging system to get (certain) levels of performance (in certain small engine sizes)."
But the aspirated engine designs are just a starting point. Porsche's new 911 Turbo features what it calls variable turbine geometry, which allows the engine's turbine to crank up more rapidly.
The system works by relying on a small turbo charger turbine, which revs up first during initial acceleration and is then replaced by a larger charger to deliver the requisite power for the Porsche's 911 Turbo's 480 horsepower engine.
"Normally, when you push the throttle in with a big turbine, you can count one, two or three (seconds) and then the boost comes, but with this new turbine technology, you push the throttle in and you immediately have the response of the engine power," Durheimer said.
This technology hasn't been introduced in the automotive market in engines up until now due to the 1,000 degrees Celsius temperatures the turbine blades generate, Durheimer said.
"We worked very closely with the aerospace industry and we applied material technologies that are used with high performance airplanes and missiles to get the maximum boost," Durheimer said.
Lotus representatives said the Europa S engine came from the collective efforts of as many as 15 engineers, who carefully tweaked existing Lotus engine designs using computer simulation techniques.
"If you raise the compression ration too much, then you raise the (number of cylinders) and if you raise the number of cylinders too much, then you lose efficiency ? and ultimately performance," said Geraint Castleton-White, general manager of Lotus' powertrain advanced concepts unit. "There is a very small window of opportunity."
Don't expect further engine improvements to lead to drastic new speed jumps, such as a 2.0-liter engine, street-legal sport car that could accelerate from zero to 60 mph in less than 3.0 seconds, Turner said. Instead, he said he sees advances providing better gas mileage and reduced carbon dioxide emission levels.
Already, the Porsche 911 Turbo and Lotus Europa S purportedly offer gas consumptions of 22.1 mpg and 38.9 mpg, respectively.
Lotus Europa S C02 emissions have been reduced to 220 g/km. That's enough to qualify the car for a mild greenhouse gas tax break in the United Kingdom, where Lotus is based. But, with 145 g/km tipping the lower end of the tax benefit scale, that's still relatively high. Turner said future models will show further CO2 emissions improvements.
Don't expect performance cars to become any slower if and when alternative fuels such as hydrogen or ethanol, which are more energy-efficient than gasoline, become prevalent. In fact, cars could get even faster when engineers can harness the power of new fuel technologies, Turner said.
p2p news / p2pnet: Help take Big Four Organized Music member Sony BMG to the cleaners.
"It's time for music fans who bought Sony BMG CDs loaded with harmful XCP or MediaMax copy protection to claim their settlement benefits: clean versions of the music, plus (in many cases) additional downloads and cash," says Derek Slater in an EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation) Deep Links post.
"Submitting a claim not only gets fans music that will play on their computers without restriction or security risk, it lets Sony BMG know that consumers care about this issue," he goes on.
"And for those who have not yet protected their computers, it's long past time to download the uninstallers that will sweep that DRM off of systems and eliminate its dangerous security risks.
the uninstaller http://www.sonybmgcdtechsettlement.com/Updates.htm
"But Sony BMG won't be held accountable if music fans don't have an easy way to learn about the flawed software, the settlement, and how to submit claims. That's where EFF needs your help. Along with creating a link to the Sony BMG Settlement site, we've created several banners that also link to the site. By posting a banner on your website or blog, you can help music fans protect themselves and get what they deserve."
Also See:
Deep Links - Help EFF Spread the Word About the Sony BMG Settlement, March 8, 2006
