Warner Music sues MP3 search engine for infringement
One of the big four record labels, which just this week was part of a landmark deal for MP3 access through Last.fm, announced earlier it is suing a completely different firm that offers similar access though without any kind of compensation plan.
In what could essentially be the first case of its kind, as reported by Billboard magazine, Warner Music Group has initiated a lawsuit against a service called SeeqPod that maintains a public index of stored music tracks throughout the Internet. SeeqPod offers a search tool that helps people locate the music they're looking for, but then it also provides them with a player so they can listen to the music.
Best Buy deals with uproar over malicious picture frames
It was recently made public that Best Buy's Insignia brand 10.4" digital picture frames were found to be shipped with a virus, the company is now dealing with complaints individually.
The 10.4" Digital Picture frame model NS-DPF10A has been discontinued and recalled as a result of a large number of units being contaminated with a virus.
Entertainment and devices help Microsoft post more stellar gains
Despite widespread complaints about Windows Vista's performance, it finally turned out to be one of the main drivers behind a stellar quarter for Microsoft. Entertainment turned a page too, but MSN remains the wayward child.
Driven by the new Vista operating system, Microsoft Office 2007, and holiday sales of Xbox consoles and games, Microsoft's revenues soared to $16 billion for the second quarter of the fiscal year, an all-time record.
Netflix keeps its faith in DVDs, but looks ahead to VoD
By-mail movie rental pioneer Netflix posted its fourth quarter earnings, with favorable results. But in its quarterly conference call, the company gave DVD about five more years before it ceases to be the dominant format.
Netflix posted its fourth quarter results, with 9.1% annual growth in revenue, 6.2% growth in net income on lower subscriber-acquisition costs, and 18% increase in subscriptions over the same quarter in 2006.
Vista SP1 'on schedule' for March RTM
With a major launch event next month serving as an unmovable anchor for Microsoft at this point, the ancillary launches for Vista Service Pack 1 and XP SP3 would probably raise suspicion if they were delayed.
A group of 15,000 private beta testers received what's being called "RC Refresh 2" of the release candidate for Windows Vista Service Pack 1, Microsoft confirmed to BetaNews this morning. Numbers for the actual release candidate or the beta number, judging from Microsoft's recent correspondence with us, are no longer being used, which could lead some to believe that this may not be the final "refresh" coming down the pike.
HP and Sony get into the DVD printing business together
It may be the first of a series of content agreements between a prospective technology provider for video rental outlets and a major studio. But what's even more interesting is what the agreeing parties refuse to say about it.
In an unusual partnership between two corporations that, in other markets, are direct competitors, Sony and HP yesterday announced they will be getting into business together in a new and unique way: Sony will be the first studio owner (with Columbia and Tri-Star, and with major stakes in MGM and United Artists) to provide HP with content for what is being described as a "manufactured-on-demand" (MOD) DVD service.
With writers still striking, is the Web substituting for TV?
According to one recent study, people are spending more time on the Internet than usual during the Hollywood TV writers' strike. According to another survey, more than half of all the people on the Web have watched online videos.
The Internet is displaying more and more of the ramifications of a TV replacement, if results of a couple of major surveys published this week are a good indication.
YouTube comes to the land of mobile TV
Wednesday's announcement of YouTube getting a Korean language portal may not have as big of an impact on the PC consumption of videos as it will on the country's mobile television standards.
South Korea is home to the world's first mobile TV standard, DMB, (digital multimedia broadcasting) that comes in terrestrial and satellite varieties. Broadcasting officially began on the DMB platform in 2005. Mobile TV penetration is logically higher there than in other countries, especially since T-DMB is provided free of charge in select regions.
Last.fm's free, on-demand music could reshape all of radio
In what may later be recorded as a milestone development in the music industry, CBS-owned Last.fm has reached a deal with record labels enabling it to stream music of the listener's choice, from its entire library.
Last May, analysts were asking what CBS Corporation could possibly want with an online streaming media provider in the UK called Last.fm -- enough to have paid $280 million for it. Today, everyone got his answer.
Palm confirms it will close its retail stores
Although the long-time smartphone maker will "continue to focus around core business initiatives," it's still unknown whether these initiatives will include a new home-grown, Linux-based version of the Palm OS.
A Palm spokesperson today confirmed to BetaNews that the beleaguered smart phone manufacturer and marketer now intends to shut down all of its retail stores.
Suffering Sprint fires execs, files patent infringement suits
Will Sprint-Nextel's strife never end? A week after announcing the loss of still more wireless subscribers, the cellular specialist today canned three more top execs while filing more lawsuits seeking financial damages.
While AT&T announced the addition of 2.7 million new wireless subscribers today, its suffering competitor Sprint Nextel fired three of its top executives and filed a patent infringement lawsuit seeking monetary damages from four smaller phone companies.
NPD: Free Blu-ray player deals led to boosted sales this month
A report from NPD Group claimed Blu-ray standalone player sales accounted for 93 percent of the high-def market for the week ending January 12, but NPD itself won't stand behind the numbers, saying they were leaked and that weekly sales data is not a long-term indicator.
According to Stephen Baker, vice president of industry analysis for NPD, the data "came from an NPD subscriber" and "wasn't approved for release from NPD." He added that the firm typically sees big fluctuations in sales volumes each week, and never makes long-term judgements based on weekly data.
FCC tightens its guidelines on DTV transition extensions
Less than thirteen months remain for US television stations to move off the old analog VHF and UHF spectra, into their new digital allotments. But even now, the FCC has to deal with stations that have yet to finalize their construction plans.
The zero-hour for the US' transition to an all-digital broadcast television system remains February 17 of next year. But only now has the Federal Communications Commission set what it hopes will be a hard and fast timetable for potentially hundreds of stations that have yet to begin even constructing or re-constructing their transmission facilities.
Samsung's BlackJack finally gets Windows Mobile 6
US carrier AT&T has finally given its BlackJack handsets a long-anticipated operating system upgrade, boosting it to WM6 just as 6.1 appears around the corner.
Rumors regarding the release of this upgrade to the popular handset have abounded, since both AT&T and Samsung have kept their release dates vague.
Vudu drops its price to compete with Apple TV
High-definition on-demand service Vudu has announced it is slashing its price for its console by 25 percent, perhaps in response to Apple TV's having replenished its own value proposition.
In the short few months it has been available, Vudu has tried numerous offers in an effort to eke out a measurable stake in the video on-demand market: First, it offered $50 of free movies with purchase, then it announced a tie-in with Sharp's Aquos HDTV line. Now, it's taking a cue from HD DVD by instituting a severe price drop.
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