One Third Of US And UK Consumers Are DVD Pirates, Says Study Published on Internet

One third of the respondents to a recent study admitted that they have been copying commercial DVDs withing the last six months.

The study was conducted by Futuresource Consulting and included consumers in the US and the UK.

According to the findings, 18 to 24-year old males form the demographic group most eager to copy DVDs. Most curious, UK consumers proved to be more sincere (or just more fond to the idea that it's their right do copy discs): 36% of them admitted such activities, as compared to only 32% in US.

Most of the respondents stated that the copies they'd made were for personal use. Still, this is just bad news for companies, which see disc-copying as a mean of losing revenue:

"The vast majority of these copiers admit they would purchase at least some of the titles on DVD if they had not been able to copy them -- clearly indicating the significant levels of lost revenue due to home copying."

"If they had not been able to make copies of DVDs, 63% of respondents in the UK and 77% in the USA would have purchased all, some or at least a few of the titles; clearly indicating the scale of the lost revenues to the home video industry from home copying."

It may be so. On the other hand, one can't say for sure that these people would've chosen to buy the DVDs and not to spend their money on other forms of entertainment. But companies must blame piracy in any form they can, so don't be amazed of the gloomy tone of the report.

Apple Offers 500 iPhone Apps This Week Published on Internet

The iPhone software portal is coming up this week and Apple's offer is one worth checking out: over 500 software applications available at launch.

There's good news for iPhone users fond of mobile gaming, as approximately a third of these apps will be games.

According to what Steve Jobs told The New York Times, almost 75% the new apps will retail for $9.99 or less. There will be some applications featuring a special price tag. However. 25% of the apps will be made available at no charge.

“The reaction we have gotten so far has been really strong,” said Steve Jobs “The quality and the sophistication of the applications you can write for the iPhone is in a different class.”

Apple doesn't see the upcoming portal as a way to significantly increase its revenue, given the fact that developers will get 70% fo sales. Instead, the new portal is seen as a way to further promote and increase the sales of the soon to be released 3G iPhone.

Will Google Give Up On YouTube? Published on Internet |

Despite its ever-growing popularity, YouTube’s situation is as fragile as ever: the website brought Google a lot of bills and less revenue. Will Google eventually cut its losses by closing YouTube?

The math is currently working against the video-sharing site: this year’s operating costs will go as high as $711 million. In the mean time, the projected revenue from advertising will go as high as $240 million. That’s a hefty $471 million that Google will have to pay out of its own corporate pocket.

Furthermore, Google, as all companies, has been significantly hit by the recession wave in the advertising department, with companies acting more careful when it comes to spending money on web commercials.

Last but not least, YouTube is losing its audience to other such website. The first example that comes to mind is Hulu, which is currently offering content from FOX and NBC. In ther mean time, professionally-developed content brought YouTube just a couple of lawsuits.

It appears that Google’s marketing team has failed so far in finding the right way to sell YouTube’s huge audience to advertisers. It may indeed be hard to offer a mixture of nice clips and downright dumb videos, but, all in all, YouTube is a brand that should be albel to attract far more revenue than it currently does.

Then again, angry shareholders might see it otherwise and unless something is donw soon enough, YouTube might see itself falling out of Google’s top priorities list.

Adobe Flash Arrives On Mobile Phones

Adobe aims to conquer new territory: the company announced the availability of the Adobe Flash Lite 3.1 Distributable Player on mobile phones.

The first models to support the new player will be the Nokia S60 and Windows Mobile devices, Adobe announced at the GSMA Mobile World Congress. Interesting enough, nobody said anything about availability on Apple's iPhone.

“The Distributable Player enables a direct distribution of our mobile player similar to the distribution model for Flash Player on the desktop,” said David Wadhwani, general manager and vice president, Platform Business Unit at Adobe. “With this new runtime and Adobe’s popular authoring tools, Adobe Flash Platform developers can unleash their creativity, develop new, innovative games and other mobile applications, and reach a much broader audience across screens and different platforms.”

At present time, the Distributable Player supports over-the-air downloads for consumers in the United States, U.K., Spain, Italy and India, with more countries to be added over time. No waiting list has been unveiled.

In addition, Adobe also announced the Flash Lite Developer Challenge, a development contest featuring a great prize of $30,000. The competition begins at 12:00 GMT on 16 February 2009 and will end at 12:00 GMT on 31 May 2009.

Nokia 5800 XpressMusic Update Published on Software |

The Finnish phone maker announce a new update for its Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, aimed at improving the performance and adding new functionalities.

"The update includes great improvements in the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic. As mobile devices become more and more advanced, additional features and new functionalities are easy to install to the existing device. We recommend people to take advantage of the new features and upgrade their Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, and get more from their existing device," said Soren Petersen, Senior Vice President, Devices, Nokia.

Improvements in the new software version include faster data download from Internet, improved e-mail experience, better search experience with in-device search. Many additional features are also included in the software update:

- Faster user interface and faster download times
- New camcorder features: second camera support for still image capture in addition to video calls, burst mode that allows people to take multiple pictures one after another without needing to repress the picture taking button
- Mobile Dictionary: built-in dictionary functionality with voice playback of words utilizing text-to-speech technology, support for 38 languages
- Application Update: with Application Update people can check for available updates for applications and update them directly in the device. Applications can also be kept up-to-date by setting the checking to automatic.

The software update is immediately available for download on Nokia Software Update website free of charge.

Cablevision Unveils 101 Mbps Broadband Offer Published on Internet |

Cablevision’s latest offer is bound to give Verizon a few headaches: the first 101 Mbps high-speed Internet service.

Dubbed Optimum Online Ultra, the new offer leverages the new DOCSIS 3.0 technology and will become available on May 11. Cablevision will charge a monthly fee of $100.

Cablevision expects to gain a significant slice of market share, being the first cable company to come up with such an offer. The company stressed out that 101 Mbps means that users will be able to download 150 MP3 tracks or 750 high-resolution digital photos in one minute or full-length HD movies in around 10 minutes. With HD downloads service gaining speed, the offer might look very tempting to consumers.

By comparison, Verizon’s only offer able to compete with Cablevision;s is the FiOS fiber optic service, which reaches a mere 50 Mbps and charges $140 per month

Still, Cablevision has yet to unveils additional information on its new offer. The company didn’t say anything about download caps and additional fees for those going over the monthly plan.

In related news, Cablevision also announced plans to double its wireless Internet access speed to 3.0 Mbps.

Khursheed Akbar Junjua
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Samsung Plans Three Android Smartphones Published on Telecom |

The first Android-based Samsung phone will arrive this summer, with two more devices scheduled for later this year.

Samsung announced that the first smartphone will become available in the European markets this June. The remaining two device are being prepared for the US, the company added. According to Samsung, only two carriers will have the new phones in their offers.

The names of the two companies were not disclosed. Still, chances are that T-Mobile and Sprint Nextel will be the ones chosen by Samsung, given that both of them are part of the Open Handset Alliance.

On the other hand, negotiations must be still going on and changes might occur if Samsung receives a better offer.

The company chose not to unveil anything about the devices themselves, in hope that secrecy would turn into a big boost for hype. On the other hand, the company is one of the many seeking to release Android-based devices this year.

HTC, Motorola, Sony Ericsson, and Asus-Garmin also announced the release of multiple device this year, so competition might prove fierce.

Firefox Updates To 3.09 Published on Security |

The latest Mozilla Firefox update patches up nine security flaws, one on them rated “critical”.

According to Mozilla, the critical vulnerability involved memory corruption problem, allowing attackers to cause run arbitrary code. The organization advises users to disable JavaScript until a the fix is installed.

The update pack also comes with two fixes for high-risk flaws, both involving involve same-origin violation security bugs. The first exploit is based on loading an Adobe Flash file via the view-source: scheme. Apparently, the Flash plugin misinterprets the origin of the content as localhost, leading to two specific vulnerabilities.

First, the Flash file can bypass restrictions imposed by the crossdomain.xml mechanism and initiate HTTP requests to arbitrary third-party sites, thus enabling attackers to perform CSRF attack. Second, the Flash file can read and write Local Shared Objects on a user's machine and would enable attackers to place cookie-like objects on a user's computer and track them across multiple sites.

The other high-risk flaw enables users to create a document whose URI does not match the document's principal using XMLHttpRequest. This type of mismatch leads to incorrect results in principal-based security checks and could be used to execute arbitrary JavaScript within the context of another site.

Users will automatically receive the new update in the next 48 hours.

Pure Digital Announces Two New Flip Ultra Devices Published on Hardware |

The new Flip Ultra and Flip UltraHD are Pure Digital’s first products of the second generation of its Flip Ultra line, the company recently announced.

Both devices feature two hours of recording time, a high-resolution two-inch screen, and an AA rechargeable battery pack that can be recharged through the camera’s built-in USB arm. The two cameras come pre-loaded with FlipShare, the on-board software used for organizing, editing and sharing videos.

“The original Flip Ultra changed the way the world captures and shares video by making it easy, accessible, and, most of all, fun,” said Jonathan Kaplan, chairperson and CEO of Pure Digital. “Our new Flip UltraHD takes this to the next level by making it incredibly simple and affordable for anyone to capture and share hours of video in stunning HD.”

The Flip Ultra is available in black, white, yellow and pink and retails for $149. The Flip UltraHD is priced at $199 and is available only in black and white.

Flip Ultra Camcorder Features:
- Video Resolution: 640 x 480
- Records: 2 hours (4GB built-in memory)
- Screen: 2 inch – transflective (anti-glare)
- Batteries: 2 x AA (optional rechargeable AA battery pack sold separately)
- TV Output: SD Composite Video
- Zoom: 2 x Digital

Flip UltraHD Camcorder Features:
- Video Resolution: High Definition, 1280 x 720
- Records: 2 hours (8 GB built-in memory)
- Screen: 2 inch – transflective (anti-glare)
- Batteries: 2 x AA (rechargeable AA battery pack included)
- TV Output: Widescreen with HDMI™ output
- Zoom: 2 x Digital

Acer Launches AspireRevo Published on Hardware |

Acer’s latest release on the market is the Acer AspireRevo, a new nettop based on the the Nvidia Ion platform, which combines the Intel Atom 230 processor with the Nvidia Ion graphics processor.

The new release is marketed as a “true entertainment center for the entire family”, as it offers access to music, video and images, but can also transmit and stream HD content and be used as a gaming console.

“The Acer AspireRevo with our new NVIDIA ION GPU is a shockingly small home PC,” said Drew Henry, general manager for MCP products at NVIDIA. “You will be stunned and amazed watching HD videos, editing photos, surfing the web and playing the latest online games.”

Under the hood, the Acer AspireRevo packs together 802.11b/g/draft-n Wi-Fi, Ethernet, HDMI, DirectX 10, up to 4GB RAM, SSD option, Mini PCI Express slot, Windows Vista and the option to VESA mount the device.

The device also comes packed with a game controller with 3D motion sensors offering numerous functionalities: a pointing-device (air mouse) or remote control for the media center.