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arstechnica.com rss archive / September-26-2007
Pro-business watchdog targets Google for enabling video piracy
Video piracy is getting a big boost from Google Video, according to the pro-business legal watchdog group National Legal and Policy Center.Read More...
Start 'em young: WIPO unviels children's copyright law workbook
A new educational project from the World Intellectual Property Organization attempts to explain copyright do's and don'ts to 9-14 year old kids, but surprisingly, it even addresses "the public domain" and "fair use."Read More...
Slim is sexy: the new PSP-2000
The PSP-2000 is much lighter, slimmer, and features TV out. So why isn't it a more exciting product? We investigate. Read More...
US judge says two provisions of Patriot Act unconstitutional
A federal judge has ruled that two key provisions of the Patriot Act violate the Fourth Amendment's guarantees against unreasonable searches and seizures.Read More...
Mystery eBay 'hack' exposes 1,200 accounts, possibly more
A hacker posted a list of 1,200 eBay account names, along with credit card information, prompting eBay to contact the users and launch an investigation. It is not yet known how the compromise occurred.Read More...
Mark Twain's plans to compete with copyright "pirates" (in 1906)
More than 100 years ago, Mark Twain understood one very important thing: you have to compete with "free" because all things come to an end. Except, it would seem, the "pirates."Read More...
Report: One-third of TV watching to be video-on-demand by 2012
The popularity of video-on-demand will increase steadily over the next five years, says information solutions company Pike & Fischer. The firm predicts that, by 2012, video-on-demand will occupy almost 40 percent of Americans' TV-viewing time.Read More...
Toshiba taps Cell BE for video chip
Toshiba took the PS3's Cell BE, cut it in half, added some MPEG2 and H.264 hardware, and now plans to sell the result in the consumer electronics market. Read More...
FCC fines Comcast for fake news story
The FCC has fined a Comcast affiliate station for airing a video news releasea combination of fake news and infomercialwithout identifying it as advertising.Read More...
Judge quashes RIAA subpoenas in campus file-sharing case
In a first, a federal judge in Florida has quashed two RIAA subpoenas against students on technical grounds. Ars talks to the attorney who won the (temporary) victory.Read More...
Web apps: e-mail and games remain hot, office apps cool
The general computer-using public is happy to use web applications in place of software that they once used on the desktop, but e-mail and games are far more popular than online productivity apps. Many others are still concerned about security issues, too.Read More...
Supreme Court agrees to take yet another patent case with tech implications
Can LG collect patent license revenues both from Intel and from companies that use Intel's products, or is this illegal double-dipping? The Supreme Court will weigh in.Read More...
Intellectual Property laws abused in quest to shutdown Lowes-Sucks.com
Trademark and copyright laws are favored tools of corporate giants who wish to silence online critics, but such tactics often backfire, as they did in the case of one man. This time, "sorry" won't be enough.Read More...
Two timin' Intel pushes Classmate PC in China while courting OLPC
Denied a spot in the OLPC XO laptop's driver seat (at least for now), Intel is continuing to push its Classmate PC project in markets where it will complete against the OLPC XO. Next up, the Middle Kingdom.Read More...
HP to expand Linux PC offerings to other countries; US a "real possibility"
HP isn't going to sit by and watch Dell ride the Linux train into Buzzville. The company is expanding its multi-nation pilot program, which is centered on customized Red Hat Linux implementations for desktop environments. Read More...
Victorious RIAA defendant gets attorneys' fees, turns to class-action plans
A disabled single mother living in Oregon was awarded attorneys' fees for her long fight against a copyright infringement lawsuit. She is currently seeking class-action status for her malicious prosecution lawsuit against the record labels.Read More...
CCTV surveillance called ineffective, debate gets more data
A UK political party has released data showing that the number of CCTV cameras in a London borough has no real effect on the percentage of crimes solved.Read More...
German eDonkey servers stop braying after music biz wins injunctions
Seven of the largest eDonkey server operators in Germany were shut down after the music industry convinced a judge to issue injunctions against them, and other actions have already affected France and the Netherlands.Read More...
Google testing "My World" for launch later this year
Google has been rumored in the past to be dipping its toes into creating a virtual world, but a questionnaire sent out to Arizona State University students raises questions about what, exactly, Google is planning for "My World."Read More...
Virgin Digital can't reach escape velocity, to be grounded permanently
The UK-based Virgin Group has decided to close its doors on Virgin Digital, its online music store. Current users will have until the end of this week to use up song credits, and subscribers have under a month before being cut off. Read More...
Apple: firmware update likely to make unlocked iPhones "permanently inoperable"
Apple issued a statement today confirming our report last week that users who have unlocked their iPhones will experience "irreparable damage to the iPhone's software" once a firmware update is released later this week. The company strongly discourages users from unlocking their iPhones and warns that it will void their warranties.Read More...
EU think tank calls for forced end to "Windows Tax"
A report by a European think tank suggests that the only way to weaken Microsoft is to forcibly unbundle Windows from desktop computers. Although trying to promote competition, the report actually imagines a world that could harm computing in general.Read More...
State bureaucrats trained to lobby for REAL ID
Equipment vendors are sponsoring a conference this week in DC that includes a panel encouraging state DMVs to help "smooth legislative changes" in support of REAL ID.Read More...
Dark Australian patent cloud looms over 802.11n spec
The 802.11n specification may face a significant threat from apparently essential patents held by Australia's national science agency, CSIRO. Read More...
OLPC "Give 1 Get 1" initiative a sign of trouble for the project
In the midst of setbacks, price increases, and slow sales, the One Laptop Per Child project's "Give 1 Get 1" initiative hopes to raise money and get XO shipments up to scale.Read More...
Desktop deliverance: an overview of GNOME 2.20
The latest release of the open-source GNOME desktop environment includes a visual style refresh, several useful new features, and some architectural enhancements. Join us on a unique tour of the improvements to Deskbar, EOG, Tomboy, Glade, GTK 2.12 and more.Read More...
Dell to sell PCs in Chinese stores
Dell has announced a partnership with major Chinese retailer Gome. The deal will put Dell PCs into 50 stores to start, with an extensive rollout planned after Christmas.Read More...
Amazon's MP3 store brings more DRM-free music at lower prices than iTunes Store
Amazon's long-awaited MP3 download store enters public beta today and offers 256kbps VBR MP3 files for under a buck. It also offers more DRM-free downloads than iTunes.Read More...
NY Attorney General: Facebook not "safe" enough for minors
New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has launched an investigation into Facebook over the purported "safety" of the site. Contrary to statements made by the company and its officials, Facebook fails to address complaints about sexual predators and obscene photos, says Cuomo.Read More...
HD DVD and Blu-ray deadlock to continue into 2009... at least
A new report from Forrester Research says that Blu-ray has not capitalized on its early advantages. As a result, the battle between Blu-ray and HD DVD will continue for at least another 18 monthsa timeframe that may be overly optimistic.Read More...
Video Professor upset by criticism, sues 100 anonymous critics
Video Professor, a company that markets computer training videos through infomercials, is going after at least 100 anonymous online critics in federal court. The good professor believes that you can't "be anonymous and bash people" on the Internet.Read More...
AT&T, Frontline ask FCC to reconsider 700MHz auction rules
AT&T, Frontline, and a handful of other stakeholders are asking the FCC to modify the 700MHz spectrum auction rules. Frontline wants to see a lower reserve price for some of the spectrum, while AT&T wants the Commission to make some changes to the public/private partnership requirements for Block D.Read More...
PlayStation3 cluster apes human visual system
IBM's second student competition for Cell programmers has produced some winners, with the grand prize going to a cluster of PlayStations that handles visual recognition in real time.Read More...
Jury finds Vonage violated Sprint's patents
A federal jury in New York has found that VoIP provider Vonage has violated patents held by Sprint Nextel. Vonage now faces the prospect of $70 million in fines and being compelled to share future revenue with Sprint. Read More...