House subcommittee votes up performance rights bill
In an unsurprising move but during a surprisingly short markup session this morning, the House Subcommittee on the Internet and Intellectual Property voted to recommend the Performance Rights Act to the floor of the House.
That act, if approved, would lift the long-standing exemption on terrestrial radio stations -- the kind you grew up with, that use transmitters and airwaves as opposed to the Internet -- to pay royalties annually to performance rights organizations, with some of the proceeds going to performing artists and musicians whose music the stations play. Stations already pay annual royalties to copyright holders; and Internet-based and satellite radio services currently pay annual royalties to both groups.
Uh-oh, Blu-Ray: Sony looks to streaming movies
Sony's plans for the near future, which company chief executives discussed today in Tokyo, include streaming video for both the Bravia line of TVs and the PS3. Looks like the game console could portend the future of media after all.
According to Kazuo Hirai, head of Sony's video game unit, the PlayStation 3 will be getting a movie download service before the end of the summer in the United States, with Japanese and European markets shortly thereafter. Rollout dates, video quality, and payment schemata were not discussed, but more information is expected from the company in July.
Live from Digital Experience NYC 2008
BetaNews' Jacqueline Emigh and Ed Oswald were on hand in New York City Wednesday night for Pepcom's annual June confab, where close to three dozen companies showed off their wares for the technology press.
You could say it was a jungle out there -- in fact, literally. Some of the things we spotted: Mio making the dreams of "Knight Rider" fans (from the Hasselhoff era) a reality with their very own KITT; Matsushita debuting its Laser TV technology; and Nokia embracing WiMAX with their newest version of the Internet Tablet device.
RIM denies delays for its 3G BlackBerry Bold phone
A RIM representative last night denied rumors of availability delays for the 3G device widely seen as RIM's answer to the iPhone, telling BetaNews that BlackBerry Bold is now being tested at AT&T Labs, and will be ready in August.
NEW YORK CITY (BetaNews) - During a demo of the Bold at last night's "Digital Experience" press event, Erik Van Drunen, Research in Motion's public relations manager, attributed press reports of a Bold postponement to "rumors from bloggers."
Indie film distributor starts a 'virtual film studio' online
The company behind the popular IndiePix Internet distribution service of independent films has launched a new online studio for indie filmmakers.
IndiePix decided to create the service, it said, because its editorial team is receiving around 10 projects per week from filmmakers around the country. The new site, Indiepixstudios.com, will offer indie filmmakers and directors a new forum community, distribution tips from established filmmakers, and other benefits. More importantly, the site will allow filmmakers to track sales and other financial information involving their video. The ability to track sales online any time will provide more accurate sales numbers than waiting for a quarterly sales report.
Dell launches new, custom desktop apps for its Studio series
In conjunction with the launch of Dell's Studio 15 and 17 notebooks, Dell is debuting two new built-in apps for organizing and customizing the PC desktop, and for video and VoIP sessions.
NEW YORK CITY (BetaNews) - In a recent demo session, Dell's Anne Camden showed BetaNews how its new Dell Dock software lets users organize their desktop software around tasks such as playing music, editing photos, or creating videos.
Dell launches a rainbow of $799 customizable notebooks
As part of its ongoing effort to seize back the initiative in PC sales, Dell today rolled out its Studio 15 and Studio 17 line-ups, a series of personalizable notebook PCs available in a variety of colors.
NEW YORK CITY (BetaNews) - The range of personalization choices for Dell's latest Studio series laptops starts with the laptop case but extends across drive and wireless options, Dell officials said, during a briefing for BetaNews at press preview in New York in May. Information about the laptops was held under press embargo until Thursday morning.
Nokia will buy Symbian, but doesn't want to control it
"This is the fastest and the best way [to] go forward," said Nokia's XVP yesterday. "What we are gaining here is the knowledge and the experience from the employee base in Symbian Ltd. For Nokia, this is a good investment."
During yesterday's press conference with soon-to-be members of the Symbian Foundation -- the group being assembled by Nokia after its historic purchase of Symbian Ltd. is complete -- the one aspect of the deal that reporters couldn't quite wrap their heads around was this: Nokia wants to set Symbian free, so it's buying it. Is this how Nokia expects to answer the challenge from Google's Open Handset Alliance with Android?
Time Warner Cable tests something like 'Powerboost'
Unconfirmed reports have surfaced that Time Warner Cable has begun testing technologies providing a Comcast-like "powerboost" to the beginning portions of file transfers.
Comcast's Powerboost is an initial burst of bandwidth for large uploads and downloads, offering as much as double the regular connection speed.
Windows opens beta of Live Mobile portal
Google sued for $1B on IP theft allegations
In a nearly $1 billion lawsuit, Google is being charged by Chicago start-up LimitNone with misappropriating trade secrets in developing "Google Email Uploader."
The suit alleges that Google copied LimitNone's "gMove" e-mail and calendar migration tool and then used the design to augment Google Apps.
FT: Virgin Mobile close to deal with SK over Helio
Apparently confirming earlier reports that the two sides were at the bargaining table, the Financial Times reports that the two companies are very close to a deal.
According to a Financial Times update this afternoon, a deal has been agreed to "in principle" for Virgin Mobile to acquire the Helio-branded operations of Korea-based SK Telecom. An announcement could come as early as the end of this week.
Better late than never: Open XML converter comes to Mac
Almost two years after it was originally promised, Microsoft has finally delivered the Open XML converter plug-in for Mac OS X.
While the new version of Office for Mac reads and writes to Open XML natively, users of previous versions of the productivity suite were effectively locked out until Tuesday. The 45 MB plug-in enables users of both Office v.X and 2004 to read and write to Open XML.
Adobe issues final release of Acrobat 9 series
It's a more aggressive marketing stance for Adobe as Acrobat branches out into online applications, more and better document collaboration, and Flash animation embedding.
The functionality gap is narrowing between Microsoft Office and Adobe Acrobat, at least in the category of document production. Granted, Acrobat has no counterpart to Excel. But Office has no counterpart to Flash either, and its integration into the creation of both PDF documents and PDF-based presentations -- a feature greatly expanded in Adobe's Acrobat 9 series, officially released today -- is likely to give customers reason to compare the two suites side-by-side.
Microsoft gets more pro-active against SQL injection attacks
Turning up the volume on its vigilance against perhaps the easiest exploit in the world, Microsoft yesterday unveiled a new beta of an overdue security tool for IIS 7, bolstered by two new SQL injection vulnerability seeker tools.
Download Microsoft UrlScan filter 3.0 Beta from FileForum now.
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