Earlier this week, hackers discovered a loophole in the brand new “iPlayer for iPhone” beta service which allowed users to download and save all iPlayer content DRM-free.
The exploit, which was made easy using a Firefox plug-in, meant users could “fool the service into thinking they were accessing the programming (with a different DRM set-up) on an iPhone or iPod touch whilst on a computer.” The shows could then be downloaded with no copyright protection.
The vulnerability has now been closed but the BBC will continue to monitor the situation and look out for future exploits.
“It’s an ongoing, constant process and one which we will continue to monitor. Like other broadcasters, the security of rights-protected content online is an issue we take very seriously,” added the BBC in a statement.
Result for: Firefox
It was announced in August 2007, and now finally Limewire has launched a beta for its DRM-free online MP3 download store.
The store offers “a web browser-based interface for downloading music.” The store does not use P2P however and is centralized with the company hosting the MP3s on its own servers. You do not need to be a subscriber to purchase the tracks but you will get better deals if you do. Each individual Track costs $0.99 USD but if you purchase the “Platinum Plan” for $20 USD a month then you receive 75 download credits, good for 75 song downloads. At that rate, each track only costs $0.27 USD.
Users running Internet Explorer 6 & 7, Firefox, Safari or Opera browsers can currently use the store but Limewire hopes to integrate the store into the actual client.
“Our plan with the LimeWire Store is to add to the LimeWire experience–we’re not going to take anything away. We think purchase links should appear alongside Gnutella search results, similar to how Google keeps sponsored links separate. We believe a significant number of users will choose to purchase content if the presentation is convenient and unobtrusive, the price is Right, and the product isn’t hindered by DRM,” added a Limewire spokesperson.
Result for: Firefox
Apple has announced the release of the 3.1 version of its Safari web browser and it is sporting several key improvements including Windows support.
The company has said the new version “loads Web pages 1.9 times faster than Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 7 and 1.7 times faster than the open-source Firefox 2 browser.” Apple also claims that Safari now runs JavaScript almost 6 times faster than any other browser.
The benchmark stats come from using VeriTest’s iBench Version 5.0 on default settings. The company said the specs of the computer used was an iMac 2.4-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo system with Windows XP and 1GB of memory.
Apple Senior Vice President Philip Schiller added that Safari 3.1 is “blazingly fast, easy to use” and has an “elegant user interface.” More importantly, the browser “supports audio, video and animation standards needed for the next generation of Web 2.0 experiences.”
Safari 3.1 is now available for free for Mac OS X Tiger 10.4.11, Leopard and Windows XP and Vista.
