Music disappearing from Zune Pass
According to a pretty long thread over at Zune.net, it appears that Zune Pass subscription holders have seen their music disappear in the last week, for no reason whatsoever.
Says the first post of the thread:
“Anyone else finding more content either not available, album only or music that was offered (Spoon/Arcade Fire) now just gone? This seems to be happening more and more over the past few months. Just wondering if anyone else has been having the same issues when looking for music?
Seems to defeat the purpose of paying $15 a month for a subscription and purchase service.”
If you are a Zune Pass owner, check the full thread here and any responses from Microsoft.
Xbox 360 120GB HDD has price slashed in U.S. as well
Yesterday we reported that Microsoft had slashed the price of the 120GB Xbox 360 HDD in Europe, while at the same time releasing a 250GB HDD in Japan.
Today they have announced the same offer for the United States, with the price officially dropping from $149.99 to $129.99 “while supplies last.”
The software giant would not elaborate on whether this was the end of the 120GB model HDD, but it appears that way. Expect a 250GB HDD release in the EU and US territories soon enough.
Google Maps 3.4 adds multi-touch support to DROID
The latest update to Google Maps 3.4 has enabled multi-touch for the Motorola DROID, with pinch-to-zoom now available for the device, at least while using the popular app.
Last week Google updated the Nexus One to have multi-touch, silencing critics who had claimed that Google was purposely leaving out multi-touch for a number of different reasons including not wanting to pay patent royalties to rival Apple.
I updated my G1 to Maps 3.4 today and pinch-to-zoom didn’t work so it seems as though this may be DROID-only for time being.
Motorola Devour to launch with Flash support
More details have been released on the upcoming Motorola Devour from Verizon, and it appears that the Android device will launch with Adobe Flash Lite, giving the phone the Flash support that no other Android device has had yet, including more expensive brother phone, the Verizon Motorola DROID.
Flash Lite works with Flash 9 content and will work using the built-in browser.
Smartphone shipments hits record in Q4 2009
According to the latest IDC numbers, vendors shipped 54.5 million smartphones in the Q4 2009, a record, and a 39 percent increase year-on-year.
Nokia led the pack with 67.7 million for all of 2009, 39 percent of the market. RIM came in second with 34.5 million shipments for the year, good for 20 percent share. Apple rode a strong Q3 and Q4 to come in third, with 14 percent share and 25 million units shipped.
Overall, 2009 shipments totaled 174 million, up 15 percent year-on-year.
Thanks to the DROID, Motorola was number four for the Q4, but still came in 7th overall for the year.
Hollywood loses court battle with ISP
The Hollywood studios have lost a landmark case against the ISP iiNet today after an eight-week trial.
The case would have impacted how Australian ISPs would have had to react to potential pirates, but the judge ruled that iiNet was not responsible for the downloading habits of any of its subscribers.
Justice Cowdroy said all the evidence showed that iiNet was simply providing Internet service for its customers, not facilitating piracy. He did conclude, however, that iiNet had knowledge of infringements occurring and did not anything to stop them, which was fine as the ISP is simply “a legitimate communication facility,” not “intended nor designed to infringe copyright.”
“iiNet is not responsible if an iiNet user uses that system to bring about copyright infringement … the law recognises no positive obligation on any person to protect the copyright of another,” Justice Cowdroy added.
Video Daily: Chrome OS to be used on tablets, as well
Today’s Video Daily comes from Google, which has announced that its upcoming Chrome OS will be used for tablets as well, with some of the concept pictures and a video posted on their blog.
What will make this special compared to the recently unveiled iPad? Looks like we will have to wait and see for the most part.
Future Kindle device to be touchscreen
Amazon has announced their acquisition of the touchscreen company Touchco, a move that will lead to the next Kindle e-reader being a touchscreen device.
The NY Times says Touchco’s “interpolating force-sensitive resistance technology allows for flexible, transparent, pressure-sensitive touch-screens that could cost as little as $10 a square foot.”
By comparison, the iPad’s touchscreen is more expensive and “cannot detect the unlimited amount of simultaneous touch points that Touchco’s technology allows.”
Touchco’s screens can distinguish between the different pressures produced by a human finger or by a pen stylus.
RealVideo use continues to die
Arstechnica is reporting today that RealVideo continues its death spiral, this time with C-SPAN getting rid of the streaming video format in favor of Flash and Windows Media.
Says the C-SPAN site: “Due to lack of demand for the RealVideo format, we will be retiring our links to C-SPAN live video streams in the RealVideo format effective March 1, 2010.”
The Ars reporter says the codec lives on in a few Government committees, such as the Senate’s Committee on Environment and Public Works but the FCC finally upgraded last year to Flash, after previously broadcasting all their meetings on a server that could handle only up to 200 users and produced 240×240 resolution video.
Verizon service headed to iPad, says source
Apple is still working with Verizon on an iPad model that will support Verizon’s 3G service says Fox News, citing a source within Verizon.
Earlier this week Fox News reported that AT&T had outbid Verizon and therefore will be the carrier of choice at launch in March. AT&T had not ironed out a deal until six days before the iPad launch event on January 27th, says the report.
Following Fox’s note, a few Wall Street firms predicted that a Verizon deal would be signed by the end of 2010. Some say Apple will announce a new iPhone and an iPad, both with Verizon support at June’s WWDC event.
