T-Mobile G1 Android 1.5 update gets delayed
T-Mobile has announced today that the anticipated rollout of the Android 1.5 update for the G1 smartphone has been delayed at least one week, from the end of May to the first week of June.
The carrier did not say much but did say the delay is necessary to “ensure optimal functionality and smooth delivery.”
The most anticipated addition is the the on-screen keyboard. Users will be able to enter text while the phone is in portrait mode instead of having to rotate to landscape mode and open the keyboard. The new update will also add more Home Screen widgets including a widgets for the user’s calendar, a music player, and a picture frame.
The addition of video recording, as well as the addition of video playback support for MPEG-4 and 3GP, is a welcome addition for many whose biggest complaint is the lack of video recording using the built-in camera.
Imation sued over DVD patents
Electronics giant Toshiba has announced a new lawsuit against Imation over several DVD patents. Toshiba is claiming that the company has been manufacturing and distributing recordable media without first establishing licensing agreements for DVD format specifications set forward by the DVD Forum.
“The infringement of Toshiba’s patents by these companies, has negatively affected Toshiba’s business, and also caused damage to the legitimate and licensed DVD product manufacturing and distribution business as a whole,” the suit says.
Toshiba is seeking an injunction on the production, sales, and imports of the Imation discs, as well as monetary damages. The company will accept Imation establishing licensing agreements as an alternative resolution however.
Microsoft product key counterfeiter gets convicted under DMCA
Accused Microsoft product key counterfeiter Adonis Gladney has been convicted this week of violating the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and is now the first person to ever be convicted under the DMCA for violations relating to the circumvention of security protections on software.
According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Craig Missakian, Gladney sold tens of thousands of the counterfeited keys, which are used to activate legitimate software products such as Microsoft Office.
“The defendant couldn’t have executed his scheme without counterfeit access keys,” Missakian noted. “(The keys) allowed purchasers to load software on multiple computers.”
Missakian admitted that even the US Marine Corp. had been duped into buying the phony keys, among thousands of other clients.
With his conviction, it looks like Gladney will likely face 3-7 years in prison, depending on “the amount of monetary damage he caused.”
CNet adds that Gladney, a Los Angeles native “would advertise software licenses in large volume on his Web sites, abovegroundsolutions.com or agsolutionsspc.com. Customers paid their money and received licenses, which prosecutors say Gladney claimed legally covered between 25 and 750 users. Gladney would then ship them a CD loaded with software that authorities say was not designated as a retail product for sale to the general public, such as software that typically comes bundled in PCs.”
“By repeatedly using and distributing the same key codes on multiple products,” added an FBI cyber crimes’ spokesperson, “Gladney is circumventing one of Microsoft’s primary security features
[More]>>
RealNetworks accuses MPAA of anti-competitive practices
RealNetworks has asked a Federal judge for permission to add an antitrust complaint against the MPAA to their existing lawsuit against the the DVD Copy Control Association (DVD-CCA). The suit began as a preemptive strike to establish that their DVD copying software, RealDVD, doesn’t violate their license with the DVD-CCA.
Although the MPAA isn’t directly involved in the licensing of DVD decryption technology, there can be no question they are behind the very existence of CSS encryption, which makes it illegal to rip DVDs in the US.
In their filing, RealNetworks lawyers wrote “The CSS agreement is being used to extend a legally granted monopoly over content into separate markets – to prevent competition from technologies that would allow a copy of content for fair use purposes. But the making of a copy of a studio DVD is authorized fair use under the Copyright Act.”
The biggest hurdle to most fair use arguments is the very nature of fair use. It is not, as many people believe, a right given to the public.
In reality it’s a set of exceptions to the exclusive rights granted copyright holders by law. It’s a subtle, but very important, distinction.
The problem is largely one of vague wording in the fair use clause of US copyright law. Except for the few cases where specific uses are mentioned, judges are compelled to assume it can’t contradict other laws, including the DMCA’s anti-circumvention language.
In other words the DMCA must be interpreted in a way that allows copyright holders to nullify fair use. Ultimately the real question to decide this case will be whether the studios are using their monopoly on movie distribution to stifle legal innovation.
[More]>>
Wilco lets fan stream upcoming album
If you’re a well known artist today it’s almost a certainty that any new album you record will be available on the internet before it goes on sale. Rather than complaining about the ineveitable, alternative members of Wilco have decided to stream their upcoming album themselves.
The obvious benefit from letting visitors stream Wilco (the album) from their website is a chance to sell them pre-orders for the album. Pre-orders will begin shipping on June 25.
They are also providing some incentive for fans to buy it instead of downloading from P2P. People who order from their website get the option to buy an exclusive t-shirt which won’t be available after June 29.
There is also a tote bag offered and every pre-order includes a download of the new song ‘You Never Know’ and entry into a series of drawings to take place between now and June 29.
Prizes will include 4 tickets to any (non-festival) 2009 wilco show and an iPod nano with the new album already loaded.
Verizon starts selling netbooks
This week Verizon Wireless added a unique offering to their standard selection of subsidized phones. If you sign up for mobile internet service you can get a HP Mini 1151NR netbook for $249.99 ($199.99 after $50 rebate).
The netbook features a 1.6GHz Atom CPU, 1GB RAM, an 80GB hard drive, a 10.1″ screen with a native resolution of 1024×576, and mobile broadband, 802.11b/g wireless ethernet, and Bluetooth connectivity built in. It comes with Windows XP Home installed.
In the nearly two years since the introduction of the original iPhone the line between smartphone and ultra-portable computer has gradually blurred. There’s even talk that Nokia, a leader in the smartphone market, will have their own line of netbooks soon.
But given the issues that AT&T iPhone owners have had making full use of their mobile internet servce it will be interesting to see how Verizon’s network holds up.
It’s one thing to support mobile email and scaled down versions of web pages. It’s something else entirely for thousands (or tens of thousands) of people to use the same bandwidth for even basic web surfing using a standard desktop browser.
If sales take off by the time the next school year rolls around, don’t be surprised to see either a lot of happy students or an equal number of disgruntled Verizon customers.
In either case this may signal a major shift in the way US consumers use mobile internet services, and ultimately the change in focus should be good for consumers.
‘Slim PS3′ revealed in leak?
Yesterday we reported that rumors were flying that a ‘redesigned’ PlayStation 3 was to be revealed by Sony at the upcoming E3 event.
Today, pictures of a possible ‘Slim PS3′ have been leaked, showing off a 120GB hard drive, two USB ports, and a heavily redesigned body that is completely slim-lined.
Sony has added that “We don’t know anything about the system in the photos, we currently don’t have any plans for a redesigned PS3″.
US video game sales down large in April
According to new figures from the NPD Group, video game software sales in the United States fell 23 percent year-on-year for the month of April.
Overall sales fell to $510 million USD, but NPD analyst Anita Frazier did note that the month had a particularly weak software release schedule.
“The number of new releases this month is fairly comparable to what was introduced last April, but GTA IV (on both PS3 and the 360) sold nearly 1 million more units last April than the entire top 10 list did this year,” added Frazier.
“April 2008 also featured the release of Mario Kart for Wii, which has remained a top-selling game for this past year, and is on this month’s top 10 list as well. This really illustrates the impact of comparing against a month when there were several new blockbuster titles new to the market,” she concluded.
For hardware sales, all the next-gen consoles saw declines with Nintendo leading the way with 340,000 Wii units sold, a 55 percent decline year on year. Following was the Xbox 360 with 175,000 units sold, a 7 percent decline. Surprisingly, the PlayStation 2 came in next, posting a huge 30 percent increase in sales. The PlayStation 3 lagged behind again, with 127,000 units sold, a 33 percent decline year-on-year.
DSi sales break April record
According to NPD’s recent April US sales figures, the Nintendo DS family set a new hardware record for the country with 1.04 million units sold for the month.
827,000 of the new updated DSi handhelds were sold while 215,000 DS Lite handhelds were sold as well. For its lifetime, there have been over 30 million units sold in the country.
“Nintendo systems and software represented 56 per cent of the industry total shares in April, indicating continued strong consumer preference for quality and value,” noted Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America’s executive VP of sales & marketing.
The Internet? Who needs it!, says Sony Pictures CEO
Most online publishers use internal numbers, as well as those reported by Nielsen and comScore, to measure audience viewership. The numbers are never equal, but the discrepancies are usually not too bad. And then there is Hulu.
Last month, Nielsen reported that the popular video site had 8.9 million unique users for the month, while comScore reported a much higher 42 million for the same period. For April, the numbers get even crazier. Nielsen says viewers watched 373 million video streams, but at the same time showed a big decline in unique viewers, moving to 7.4 million for the period. Quantcast however, another online measurement provider, says they see no evidence of a decline in unique viewership.
Says Hulu of the Nielsen numbers: “There is work to be done.”
The problem however, is in the fact that online measurement is still an unreliable science which can adversely affect advertising decisions.
