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Feb 05, `08 — Three global record companies, Universal Music Ltd, Sony BMG Music Entertainment (Hong Kong) Ltd and Warner Music Hong Kong Ltd, have launched legal proceedings against China’s top Internet search engine Baidu.com, accusing it of violating copyright by giving access to music files, International Federation of the Phonographic Industry said in a press release on Monday, Feb 04.

* New legal proceedings brought against Baidu
* Copyright infringement actions against Sohu and its associate company Sogou
* Yahoo China in breach of copyright violation judgment

After months of fruitless negotiations, legal proceedings have been filed on Feb 04, against the China’s biggest internet company, Baidu. Separate actions have also been brought against Sohu and its associate company Sogou. Meanwhile, Yahoo China faces fresh proceedings following its refusal to comply with a landmark ruling in December confirming it violated Chinese law by committing mass copyright infringement.

All of the Chinese companies involved operate similar services based on delivering music to their users via “deep links” to hundreds of thousands of infringing tracks on third party sites, with the aim of driving their own advertising revenue. Such services have been confirmed as in breach of copyright by the December judgment of the Beijing Higher People’s Court. Each of them is a driver of copyright abuse in China, where the huge potential for the online music sector is being stymied by copyright theft.

China has potentially the largest online music-buying public in the world with as many broadband connections as the United States. Currently, however, more than 99 per cent of all music files distributed in the country are pirate and China’s total legitimate music market, at US$76 million, accounts for less than one per cent of global recorded music sales.

Monday (Feb 04)’s actions follow in the wake of a decisive judgment against Yahoo China in December 2007 by the Beijing Higher People’s Court. The court’s finding that Yahoo China’s music delivery service is illegal under Chinese law sets a precedent for cases against similar operations in China.

Three record companies have now filed proceedings against Baidu. The new claims have been filed with the Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court by Universal Music Ltd, Sony BMG Music Entertainment (Hong Kong) Ltd and Warner Music Hong Kong Ltd. The three companies are asking the court to order Baidu to remove all links on its music delivery service to copyright infringing tracks that they own the rights to.

Action is also being taken today against Sohu and its associate company Sogou, which operates a similar service. Sogou makes profits through advertising that appears on the service and through sponsorship. Sogou also actively induces and encourages copyright infringement by means of recommendations and charts, while Sohu provides deep linking services through its associate company.

Sohu is the official sponsor of internet content service (ICS) for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.

The legal action is being brought by four record companies: Universal Music Limited, Gold Label Entertainment Limited, Sony BMG Music Entertainment (Hong Kong) Limited and Warner Music Hong Kong Limited. The cases were also filed at the Beijing No.1 Intermediate People’s Court. They follow four prior notices that were sent to both companies from July 2007 onward.

The claims against Baidu, Sohu and Sogou will be served on the respective companies by the court after the Chinese New Year.

Meanwhile, Yahoo China has still not complied with the December ruling made against it by the Chinese appeal court. As a consequence, the plaintiffs in that case have now filed execution proceedings against Yahoo China, asking the court to force Yahoo China to comply with the earlier judgment.

More at International Federation of the Phonographic Industry.

Cupertino, Calif — Feb 05, `08 — Apple today added new models of the iPhone and iPod touch which have double the memory, doubling the amount of music, photos and videos that customers can carry with them wherever they go. The iPhone now comes in a new 16GB model for $499, joining the 8GB model for $399. iPod touch now comes in a 32GB model for $499, joining the 16GB model for $399 and the 8GB model for $299.

Both iPhone and iPod touch feature Apple’s revolutionary Multi-Touch user interface and pioneering software that allows users to find and enjoy all their music, videos, photos and more with just a touch of their finger. All iPhone and iPod touch models include the latest software enhancements announced last month including the ability to automatically find your location using the new Maps application; create Web Clips for your favorite websites; customize your home screen and watch movies from the new iTunes Movie Rentals. Both iPhone and iPod touch feature the world’s most advanced mobile web browser in the world with Safari and mobile applications including Mail, Maps, Stocks, Weather and Notes.

Pricing & Availability The new 16GB iPhone is available immediately for a suggested retail price of $499 through the Apple Store, Apple’s retail stores and AT&T retail and online stores. The 32GB iPod touch is available worldwide immediately for a suggested retail price of $499. More at Apple.

Los Angeles, Calif — Feb 04, `08 — Yahoo will cease operating its online music subscription service and switch its customers to RealNetworks’ Rhapsody music service as part of a new deal between the companies that calls for Yahoo to promote Rhapsody on its site, the AP reports.

Terms of the deal, to be formally announced later today, were not disclosed. The move is part of Yahoo’s overhaul of its online music offerings.

Yahoo Music Unlimited lets users download an unlimited number of tracks that are playable as long as their plan is active.

Under the Yahoo-RealNetworks partnership, subscribers to Yahoo Music Unlimited will be shifted to the Rhapsody service sometime in the first half of this year. Yahoo subscribers’ music library and payment plans will remain the same for a limited time after the switch, but those wishing to remain on Rhapsody eventually will be required to sign up at Rhapsody’s rates.

Yahoo’s subscription rates range from $5.99 a month, if users pay for a full year in advance, or $8.99 a month. Rhapsody memberships start at $12.99 a month. More at AP.

Feb 03, `08 — As Swedish prosecutors fixed their sights last week on The Pirate Bay, an Internet file-sharing service that is a scourge of the movie and music industries, the operators of the site responded by hoisting a defiant, digital Jolly Roger, reports the IHT.

The Pirate Bay, on its blog, called for a celebration saying, “This week we’ve hit some magic numbers. We’re tracking over 1 million torrents. We have had over 10 million simultaneous peers on the trackers. We’re at 2.5 million registered users (and they are active as well).”

The 100th post on the Pirate Bay blog further adds, “In case we lose the pending trial (yeah right) there will still not be any changes to the site. The Pirate Bay will keep operating just as always. We’ve been here for years and we will be here many more.”

The Wires writes, “Peter Sunde Kolmisoppi, one of the four Swedes charged in Sweden on Thursday, said in a telephone interview that the site has set up a clandestine, double-blind operation with its servers spread throughout the world — and out of reach of the Swedish authorities.

“The Pirate Bay is not in Sweden,” the 29-year-old Kolmisoppi said. Where are the servers?

“It’s a distributed system. We don’t know where the servers are. We gave them to people we trust and they don’t know it’s The Pirate Bay,” Kolmisoppi said. “They then rent locations and space for them somewhere else. It could be three countries. It could be six countries. We don’t want to know because then you’ll have a problem shutting them down.” More at IHT, theWired.

Feb 03, `08 –This Slashdot article reports on a new Italian copyright law, in which the Italian parliament may have mistakenly legalized sharing music over P2P networks.

The new copyright law, passed by both houses of parliament, would allow Italians to freely share music over the Internet as long as it is free of charge, at low resolution or “degraded,” for scientific or educational use, and only when such use is not for profit.

Excerpts of the Slashdot article:
According to Italian lawyer Andrea Monti, an expert on copyright and Internet law, the new Italian copyright law would authorize users to publish and freely share copyrighted music (p2p included). As Monti says in the interview, those who wrote it didn’t realize that the word “degraded” is technical, with a very precise meaning, which includes MP3s, which are compressed with an algorithm that ensures a quality loss. The La Repubblica.it article in Italian, and Google translation is here. More at Slashdot.

Feb 03, `08 — This Slashdot article writes about Time Warner internet access subscribers in Texas complaining of connectivity issues on Apple’s iTunes support forum.

“Starting on Thursday, January 31st, Time Warner subscribers in Texas starting experiencing connectivity issues to the iTunes store to the point where the service wasn’t usable. General internet traffic issues haven’t coincided with these problems, and many folks have reported that the store works as normal when they head to the nearest mega-bookstore and use their ISP instead. Time Warner has announced that they’re going to begin trials of tiered pricing in one local Texas market, but I’ll be darn sure to switch my provider if I hear the slightest hint of destination/content based tiers instead of bandwidth tiers.”

Excerpts from the Apple - Support - Discussions:

Thread starter post by user “kmcippant”:

iTunes Store Very Slow Posted: Jan 31, 2008 8:33 PM

I was impressed last week when I downloaded an entire album in under 10 minutes, now the store is very sluggish. I could not preview any tracks without it buffering 8 times and now it is taking me 10 minutes just to download one song. The rest of my internet is working fine.

Please check on your servers.

User “ranpritch” writes:
Same problem here in Euless, Tx (suburb DFW). Started to buy movie last night. Estimated download 36 hours. Stopped & started the download several times, but to no avail. Now, almost 24 hrs later the movie is half the way downloaded! I have checked my Time Warner cable speed & get pings from west & east coast from 4.8 to 6.0 mbps. I can normally download movies from ITunes in 15 to 20 minutes. Downloads from other sites are normal. What gives?!

User “hondo01″ writes:
I am also experiencing the same issues with iTunes. It keeps trying to rebuffer the stream with songs or videos. I am using iTunes 7.6 (29) with Mac OSX 10.5.1. I also have a windows machine with iTunes 7.5 loaded and it now does the same thing. I have tried taking both systems off the wireless router and plugging directly into the broadband router and still get the same problems. I have noticed that most all of these threads are from users in Texas. Is everyone using Time Warner Roadrunner? Just curious if this could be an ISP problem.

User “sundevil86″ writes:
I’m a Roadrunner user from Texas too! And I did NOT upgrade to 7.6 yet. Same problem as everyone else, VERY sluggish iTunes performance–but NO problems with streaming media from any other sites. So it may be an ISP problem in part, but is still only affecting iTunes.

User “bdskip” writes:
Experiencing the same issue with TWC in Arlington as well…did notice that a 10:00 podcast downloaded in about 7 seconds, yet a single 3:00 song purchase takes 15 minutes or longer to download.

Not sure what any of that means, but I’m beginning to think TWC is somehow throttling bandwidth related to music and video content on iTunes.

More at Slashdot, Apple Support Discussions.

Feb 01, `08 — Four men who run one of the most popular file-sharing sites in the world have been charged with conspiracy to break copyright law in Sweden, the BBC reported on Thursday.

Pirate Bay does not store music and video files on its own servers, but instead helps users share them on the internet. The website acts as a directory of the files used by the BitTorrent file-transfer protocol.

“It’s not merely a search engine. It’s an active part of an action that aims at, and also leads to, making copyright protected material available,” public prosecutor Hakan Roswall told Reuters. “It’s a classic example of accessory — to act as intermediary between people who commit crimes, whether it’s in the physical or the virtual world.”

Pirate Bay told the news agency that the people running the site cannot be held responsible for how its directory services are used. The website is said to have between 10 and 15 million users around the world and is supported by online advertising.

Police seized computers in May 2006, temporarily shutting down the website.

Prosecutor Hakan Roswall said the website was commercially exploiting copyright-protected work because it was financed through advertising revenues. According to the Pirate Bay website, its users are currently downloading close to a million files.

On the site, a statement says: “In case we lose the pending trial (yeah right) there will still not be any changes to the site.

“The Pirate Bay will keep operating just as always. We’ve been here for years and we will be here many more.”

In an interview with the BBC’s technology programme Click last year Pirate Bay co-founder Peter Sunde said: “I think it’s okay to copy. They get their money from so many places that the sales is just one small part.”

The other three men facing charges are Carl Lundstrom, Frederik Neij and Gottfrid Svartholm Warg. If convicted, the four men could face a maximum of two years in prison.

The website had up until 2006 based its servers in Stockholm, but moved some to the Netherlands after a raid in May of that year by Swedish police, who seized equipment and held three people for questioning “on suspicion of breaking copyright law or abetting the breaking of copyright law,” authorities said. The site was taken down for a day, but was soon up and running again.

Moves against the site have been backed by entertainment industry groups, including the Motion Picture Association of America and the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry. More at BBC News.

Dec 30, `07 — This Slashdot article highlights the latest strategy of the RIAA to sue consumers who have ripped their legally purchased CDs on to a PC.

“With this past week’s announcement by Warner to release its entire catalog to Amazon in MP3 format with no Digital Rights Management, you would think that the organization that represents them, The RIAA, would begin changing its tune.

Instead, they are pressing on in their campaign against consumers by suing individuals who merely rip CDs they’ve purchased legally. ‘The industry’s lawyer in the case, Ira Schwartz, argues in a brief filed earlier this month that the MP3 files Howell made on his computer from legally bought CDs are “unauthorized copies” of copyrighted recordings.”

The Washington Post article further writes, “”I couldn’t believe it when I read that,” says Ray Beckerman, a New York lawyer who represents six clients who have been sued by the RIAA. “The basic principle in the law is that you have to distribute actual physical copies to be guilty of violating copyright. But recently, the industry has been going around saying that even a personal copy on your computer is a violation.”

The RIAA’s legal crusade against its customers is a classic example of an old media company clinging to a business model that has collapsed. Four years of a failed strategy has only “created a whole market of people who specifically look to buy independent goods so as not to deal with the big record companies,” Beckerman says. “Every problem they’re trying to solve is worse now than when they started.”" More at WashingtonPost.

SEATTLE & NEW YORK –BUSINESS WIRE– On Dec 27, `07 Amazon.com and Warner Music Group announced that DRM-free music audio downloads from Warner Music Group are now available to customers on Amazon MP3, Amazon’s a la carte MP3 digital music store where every song and album is playable on virtually any personal digital music capable device.

Beginning Dec 27, songs from WMG’s digital audio catalog will be available for purchase and download from Amazon MP3. In addition, Amazon and WMG will make available to consumers digital music products such as album bundles containing exclusive tracks.

Warner had been holding out against using the format because MP3 tracks are easier to share between users and may be freely burned onto CDs.

Amazon’s download store is a major competitor to Apple’s iTunes, which uses Digital Rights Management (DRM) to restrict the use of some of its tracks.

Sony BMG is now the only major recording group not signed up with Amazon MP3, which is only available to US customers at present.

Amazon launched its MP3 download store in September after reaching agreements to sell unprotected tracks from Universal Music Group and EMI. More at Amazon.

Beijing, China — Dec 20, `07 –The international recording industry today hailed a landmark Beijing court ruling confirming that Yahoo China’s music delivery service violates Chinese law by facilitating mass copyright infringement.

Yahoo China, part-owned by one of the world’s biggest internet companies, Yahoo, runs an operation enabling users to search for, play and download pirate music without ever leaving its website. Yahoo China’s appeal against a guilty verdict in April was today dismissed by the Beijing Court.

The decision is made under new Chinese copyright laws which entered into force in 2006. The Court separately ruled on a similar case against internet company, Baidu which had been brought under the previous Chinese copyright laws. The ruling confirmed that Baidu participated with and assisted third party sites in transmitting infringing music, but under the old laws Baidu was not liable for copyright infringement.

Music search services such as Yahoo China’s and Baidu’s, which “deep link” users to hundreds of thousands of pirate tracks, are a huge drain on efforts to develop a legitimate music market in China. Despite enormous market potential, music sales in China totalled US$76 million in 2006, less than one per cent of the global recorded music market.

Over 99 per cent of all music downloading in China infringes copyright, and services such as Yahoo China and Baidu account for the bulk of the problem. More at IFPI.

NEW YORK, Dec 19, `07 /PRNewswire/ — MTV Games, a division of Viacom’s MTV Networks, today announced an exclusive deal with internationally renowned motion picture and television producer Jerry Bruckheimer to develop and create new and original video games, marking his first official foray into the gaming world.

As part of this landmark agreement, Bruckheimer will build a game incubation studio with MTV Games, where a team of experienced video game experts, artists and storytellers will seek out and deliver new game concepts and intellectual property.

By joining MTV Games with Bruckheimer’s blockbuster track record for creating successful entertainment properties in film and television, both new and experienced gamers can expect what promises to be some of the most entertaining, challenging, and unique games.

MTV Networks will support this venture across all its broadcast and digital platforms including CMT, MTV, Spike and VH1. Gaming is a focal point of MTV Networks’ overall vertical entertainment strategy of super-serving its core audiences with engaging experiences across multiple platforms.

In August of 2007, the company announced that it will invest more than $500 million over the next two years in the development and distribution of its Interactive Entertainment and Video Game business. MTV Games’ recently released Rock Band from developers, Harmonix, which MTV Networks acquired in 2006. More at Viacom.

New Agreement Settles Dispute and Covers All Receivers in the XM Product Line with Recording Functionality.

NEW YORK, Dec 17, `07 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Universal Music Group (UMG) and XM Satellite Radio today announced that they have resolved the lawsuit brought by UMG against XM over its Pioneer Inno, a portable satellite receiver with advanced recording functionality. The companies did not disclose terms of the deal.

As part of the agreement, UMG becomes the first music company to reach a multi-year deal covering all XM radios with advanced recording functionality, including both those currently available as well as future product releases. In addition, UMG will withdraw as a party to the complaint filed by the major record companies against XM in May, 2006. More at XMRadio.

WASHINGTON, Dec 05, ‘07 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Frank Sinatra, one of the most iconic entertainers of the 20th century, will be commemorated on a postage stamp next spring, Postmaster General John Potter announced today.

Sinatra’s three children — Nancy, Frank, Jr. and Tina Sinatra — will preview the stamp image during a special ceremony in Beverly Hills, CA, on
Sinatra’s birthday, Wed., Dec. 12.

“Frank Sinatra was an extraordinary entertainer whose life and work left an indelible impression on American culture,” said Potter. “His recordings, concert performances and film work place him among America’s top artists, and his legendary gift for transforming popular song into art is a rare feat that few have been able to replicate. The Postal Service is proud to honor his achievements.”

“On behalf of our family, we are honored that the United States Postal Service has recognized our Dad’s achievements with a stamp,” said Tina
Sinatra, speaking on behalf of her siblings, Nancy and Frank Sinatra, Jr. “Of all the awards he has received, this one would have been very special to him.”

A 10-ft. image of the stamp will be unveiled at the Beverly Hilton’s Wilshire room at 10 a.m. PT, Dec. 12.

In a career studded with accolades, Sinatra won an Oscar, several Grammy awards, received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in 1971, and was recognized at the Kennedy Center Honors in 1983.

Sinatra also gave generously to many charities. President Reagan awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1985. He was born in Hoboken, NJ, in 1915 and died in 1998. The Hoboken Post Office was renamed in his honor in 2002.

LOS ANGELES, CA –Marketwire– Dec 5, ‘07 — Napster has announced that it will provide music content for a new mobile music feature that will be available to customers of Japan’s leading wireless carrier, NTT DoCoMo.

Beginning on December 1, NTT DoCoMo customers who subscribe to its “Music & Video Channel” — a service that provides mobile-phone access to music and video programs — have the option to subscribe to a Napster-Tower Records music channel. The channel offers two programs that are updated weekly, each with eight to 10 full-length tracks that users may listen to up to three times during the week.

The first Napster-Tower Records program, “Napster HITS!,” will update weekly with the latest releases and most popular songs. The second, “Tower Records Must-Hear Recommendations,” will be programmed with genre playlists and older chart-toppers. Each will be equipped with links to the Napster Mobile subscription service, Napster’s a la carte ringtone store, and its full-track a la carte store.

The new programs will be accessible through 22 models of NTT DoCoMo handsets. The Napster-Tower Records channel monthly subscription cost is 315 yen ($2.90 USD) and is housed under NTT DoCoMo’s “Music&Video Channel” service, which is also priced 315 yen per month.

Related:

Nokia to Intro “Comes with Music” - 1 Year Free Music Servive -; Ovi and Cellphones with Bio-covers

Amsterdam, The Netherlands — Dec 04, ‘07 — At the annual Nokia World conference today, Nokia Oyj announced it has agreed with the world’s largest music group Universal to offer free 12-month access to Universal artists’ music for buyers of Nokia’s music phones.

The world’s top cellphone maker said it has signed up Universal Music Group International, owned by French media giant Vivendi, for its new “Comes With Music” offering and is eyeing similar deals with other labels before the offer starts in the second half of 2008.

Nokia said the new offering would differ from other packages on the market as consumers can keep all the music they have downloaded for free during the 12 month period.

“We set out to create the music experience that people are telling us they are looking for - all the music they want in the form of unlimited downloads to their mobile device and PC,” said Anssi Vanjoki, Executive Vice President and General Manager, Multimedia, Nokia.

“Even if you listened to music 24 hours a day, seven days a week, you would still only scratch the surface of the music that we’re making available. Comes with Music fulfils our dream to give consumers all the music they want, wherever they want it, while rewarding the artists who create it.”

“The financial barrier to try new music is completely removed. It fundamentally changes a lot of business logic in the music industry,” said Nokia spokesman Damian Stathonikos. The free access to new music could hurt peer-to-peer networking while also raising pressure on Apple Inc.

Nokia outlines its vision of Internet evolution and commitment to environmental sustainability:

Ovi - your personal dashboard to life
Nokia also gave further details of the upcoming Ovi Internet services environment. Ovi, meaning ‘door’ in Finnish, enables consumers to easily access their existing social network and content, acting as a dashboard to a person’s life.

“Ovi combines the mobile, PC and web environments into an easy to use experience with common user interface elements that provide consistency and simplicity,” said Vanjoki. “We started the Ovi services rollout with the individual services in navigation, music and games, and the next step is to provide an integrated experience. The complete Ovi environment and new services will be rolled out continuously throughout 2008.”

Towards greater environmental sustainability
Nokia also outlined its long heritage in addressing environmental issues and commitment to driving new initiatives in the mobile industry in areas such as energy efficiency, materials used in products, take back, recycling, and packaging. This was against the background of the launch of the Nokia 3110 Evolve, a mobile device with bio-covers made from more than 50% renewable material. The device is presented in a small package made of 60% recycled content and it comes with Nokia’s most energy efficient charger yet, using 94% less energy than the Energy Star requirements. More at Nokia.

Los Angeles, Calif — Dec 03, ‘07 — A federal judge on Monday threw out an antitrust lawsuit brought by the operator of the LimeWire online file-sharing service against a coalition of major record labels, concluding the firm failed to make its case that it has been harmed by the recording companies’ business practices, Alex Veiga of the Associated Press reported.

U.S. District Judge Gerard E. Lynch in New York ruled that Lime Group LLC failed to make its case that it has been harmed by the recording companies’ business practices, and he granted the companies’ motion to dismiss the claims.

Lynch also dismissed several claims brought under state laws “without prejudice,” which gives New York-based Lime Group the option to pursue the claims in state court.

Lime Group’s lawsuit was a counterclaim to a copyright infringement lawsuit brought last year against by record labels owned by the four major recording companies: Vivendi’s Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group Corp., Britain’s EMI Group PLC, and Sony BMG Music Entertainment, a joint venture of Sony Corp. and Bertelsmann AG.

That case, which is still pending, was the first piracy lawsuit brought against a distributor of file-sharing software after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2005 that technology companies could be sued for copyright infringement on the grounds they encouraged customers to steal music and movies over the Internet. More at Google/AP.

Espoo, Finland — Dec 03, ‘07 — Discover and listen to radio shows broadcasted over the internet with the Nokia Internet Radio service now available. The application can be downloaded for free from Nokia.com/internetRadio and will also be embedded in upcoming Nokia S60 3rd edition devices.

“Most new music discovery occurs while you’re listening to the radio,” said Tommi Mustonen, head of the Nokia music business. “By offering the Nokia Internet Radio service on mobile devices, the radio experience becomes more accessible, giving people new ways to find music.”

With hundreds of internet radio stations to choose from worldwide, the station directory of Nokia Internet Radio makes music discovery effortless - browsing can be done based on station name, genre, country or language.

To find out what hits are hot around the world, hourly updates of the top ten most popular internet radio stations are also available in the station directory. Plus, there is no need to search for your top stations time and again because adding them to the list of ‘Favorites’ makes them easily accessible.

Moreover, the audio quality is enhanced by selecting appropriate streaming servers that match the speed of the current network connection.

The Nokia Internet Radio application is currently available for download to the following devices: Nokia N82, Nokia N91, Nokia N95 and Nokia N95 8GB.

The application is planned to be available later on further devices and will be embedded in selected upcoming Nokia S60 3rd edition devices. Please visit Nokia.com/internetRadio for the list of the latest compatible devices.

Nov 26, ‘07 — Electronista is claiming that some developers are gaining early access to Apple’s iPhone and iPod touch software developer kit, citing “reliable sources”.

Last month Steve Jobs announced in an open letter that an iPhone/iPod touch SDK would be released in February 2008.

Eelctronista further writes, “A handful of companies are said to be getting rough versions of the tools to help code more advanced applications than would be possible with the current web-only solution. Exact details of what the kit allows are unknown, though it is confirmed that it produces native programs and somewhat resembles Google’s OpenSocial in that it mediates between the programmer and the iPhone operating system.

Although treated as a welcome development, the SDK will not be the same as writing a Mac OS X application and has its clear limits, people familiar with the matter say.

The group of companies has only received its development tools within the past two weeks and is allegedly unable to provide a timetable for when finished software will be ready, though it should be well ahead of the community at large, which only receives the SDK in February.” More at Eletronista.

Inter BEE 2007 – CHIBA CITY, Japan –BUSINESS WIRE– Teac exhibits the HD-R1 recorder/player that uses Compact Flash as the recording media, at Inter BEE 2007, an international broadcasting equipment exhibition, in Makuhari. The device supports recording in MP3 and PCM (up to 96 kHz) format. It also supports control via LAN or RS-232C. A USB host feature enables playback of sound files in USB memory.

The SS-CDR1 recorder/player with Compact Flash and CD-R/RW drives supports recording in MP3 and PCM (up to 48 kHz) format. It also supports dubbing between CDR and Compact Flash media, continuous recording, and playback.

As with the HD-R1, the SS-CDR1 is a recorder/player that uses Compact Flash as the recording media. The supported recording formats are MP3 and PCM (up to 48 kHz). Photo Credit: SweetWater.

The HD-R1 can be yours for $1100 at SweetWater

Cleveland, OH — Nov 23, ‘07 — Sony Music must pay the founder of a small record company $5 million for failing to put his company’s logo on reissues of Meat Loaf’s “Bat Out of Hell” album, a federal appeals court ruled.

Steve Popovich, 65, who started Cleveland International Records in 1977 and soon afterward signed the chubby singer named Marvin Lee Aday, persuaded Epic Records to release the wildly successful album. Epic was owned at the time by CBS. Sony, which bought out CBS Records, paid $6.7 million to Popovich and his former partners in 1998 to settle a lawsuit over royalties from the album.

The settlement required Sony to place the Cleveland International logo on future Meat Loaf albums but Sony did not add the logo to “Bat Out of Hell” for more than a year. In a 2-1 decision Wednesday, a panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati upheld a federal jury’s decision in 2005 awarding Popovich an extra $5 million in damages.

Sony has claimed that the logo omission was a mistake that later was corrected. In court documents, Sony also accused Popovich of trying to get money out of the company by trumping up the logo agreement.”Bat Out of Hell,” has sold more than 30 million copies worldwide, according to court records. More at AP.

Los Angeles, CA — Nov 20, ‘07 – Sony BMG Music Entertainment has signed a licensing deal with Yahoo that clears the way for people to upload files with music or video content by the record company’s artists to Yahoo, the companies said Tuesday.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Like similar deals, the agreement calls for Sony BMG to receive a cut of advertising revenue, Yahoo said. The deal also covers the distribution of music videos via Yahoo player applications and widgets that computer users can place on other Web sites.

The agreement marks the first time Sunnyvale-based Yahoo has reached a deal with a major recording company over licensing content in user-created videos. Sony BMG, home to recording artists such as Britney Spears, Bruce Springsteen and Slayer, reached a similar licensing deal with Google Inc. last year. That agreement also includes Google subsidiary YouTube.

Sony BMG is a joint venture of Sony Corp. and Bertelsmann AG. The Sony BMG-Yahoo deal reflects the popularity of computer user-created videos, which often include copyrighted content.

Last month, a coalition of major media and Internet companies issued a set of guidelines requiring Web portals that host user-generated videos — as Yahoo does — to use filtering technology to block clips with unauthorized content from being posted.

Independently, Yahoo is deploying video identification and filtering technology early next year, the company said.

White Plains, NY — Nov 19, ‘07 — Nokia announced today that the new Nokia N810 Internet Tablet has begun shipping nationwide in the United States.  With a new slide-out keyboard, built-in GPS, digital audio/video playback and Wi-Fi capability for VoIP calling, the Nokia N810 provides the functionality of a traditional computer but all in one sleek, stylish and portable device.

The Nokia N810 provides a premier, portable internet experience with its large color display, touchpad screen, slide-out keyboard, 400 MHz processor, Mozilla-based browser and up to 10GB of memory (an optional 8GB memory card combined with 2GB internal memory).  To access the Internet, users simply connect via the nearest Wi-Fi hotspot or over Bluetooth on a mobile phone.  Connecting to the Internet allows the user to stay connected with friends and family through VoIP calling, instant messaging and e-mail.  Users can also access their online communities by checking Facebook or Flickr accounts and see what’s new in the lives of those they care about.

With up to 45 hours of music playback, storage for up to 7,500 songs and built-in GPS, the Nokia N810 is perfect for the person on the go.  The Nokia N810 comes with free maps preloaded for users to browse detailed locations, search for street addresses, find various points of interest (POI) as well as nearby Wi-Fi hotspots.  Wayfinder will offer subscription based service for navigation over the Maps application; a 3-year license for $129.99 available in December.

The Nokia N810 is powered by maemo Linux-based OS2008, updatable in December also on the Nokia N800, the earlier internet tablet generation hardware.  The maemo Linux-based OS2008 features a highly customizable user interface and contains various novelties such as a Mozilla based browser with Ajax and Adobe flash 9, Bluetooth headset support as well as enhanced video and audio features. 

The Nokia N810 is available at Amazon.com for $459.99.

San Antonio, Texas, Dallas, Texas, November 19, 2007 — AT&T and Samsung have announced the future availability of the SLM by Samsung, Samsung’s newest lightweight mobile phone with music and multimedia capabilities. The SLM by Samsung will be in stores beginning Nov. 23 and is the first of the company’s music phones to feature Napster Mobile, a new service that enables AT&T’s wireless customers to easily search a music catalog of 5 million songs, preview samples of each song and purchase and download songs to their SLM in less than a minute.

Exclusive to AT&T, the SLM is a durable, brushed-metal finish clamshell-shaped device that will be available first in brown and then blue later this year. It is packed with features and services beyond Napster Mobile, including AT&T Video Share, mobile banking, AT&T Mobile Music, stereo Bluetooth technology, a 2.0-megapixel camera with video capture, external memory microSD and advanced messaging options.

With Napster Mobile, customers will have the ability to download five tracks a month with the Napster Mobile Five-Track Pack option for a discounted price of $7.49. Songs can be purchased a la carte for just $1.99.

In addition to enabling users to purchase and download songs over the air, the SLM supports the full AT&T Mobile Music suite of services, including XM Radio Mobile, Pandora, MusicID song-recognition service, and VIP access, a mobile fan club and music-discovery service.

The SLM will also be the first device to have AT&T’s mobile banking application pre-loaded on the device. On Nov. 13, AT&T announced that the application will be accessible by banking customers of Wachovia Corp and SunTrust Banks.

Other key specifications of the SLM include dual-band 3G connectivity, which provides download speeds of 600 to 1,400 Kbps through AT&T’s HSDPA network, and quad-band GSM technology, which allows AT&T customers to make calls in 195 countries and download data in 139. To support music services, the SLM includes a 512MB SD memory card and 3.5 mm headset adapter.

Weighing just 3.17 ounces and measuring about one-half of an inch thick, the SLM features a 96- by 96-pixel 65K color external screen and a 176- by 220-pixel 262K TFT internal color screen.

Pricing and Availability
The SLM by Samsung will be available through select AT&T retail locations or at http://www.att.com/wireless for a special introductory price of $149.99 after a two-year contract activation agreement and a $50 mail-in rebate.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Nov 19, ’07 –  MTV is hoping hip-hop and reality television tailored and sanitized for a more conservative Middle East will draw young Arabs away from dozens of locally produced music video channels that already dominate the market.

MTV Arabia, which launched over the weekend, will feature 60 percent international music and 40 percent Arabic music, along with local adaptations of the channel’s popular non-music shows.

But MTV, which is known for airing provocative videos featuring scantily clad women, says the Arab version of the pop-culture channel will show less bare skin and profanity.

“When we come to people’s homes, we want to earn their respect,” said Abdullatif al-Sayegh, chief executive of Arab Media Group, which along with Viacom Inc.’s MTV Networks International owns MTV Arabia.

The station launched at midnight Saturday, airing a pre-taped show featuring Grammy award-winning rapper and actor Ludacris, Senegalese-born soul superstar Akon, Lebanese rapper Karl Wolf and the Emirates underground hip-hop band Desert Heat.

But to please a more conservative audience, MTV Arabia will tailor some of its programming and keep provocative hip-hop videos featuring barely dressed women and alcohol to a minimum.

Ever wished you had some way to magically extend the battery life of your most frequently used gadgets when you need them most? You can now do so with the new Duracell PowerSource Mobile 100.

The Duracell PowerSource Mobile 100 is the portable, rechargeable AC and USB power solution for all your mobile needs. It will extend the runtime of all of your mobile electronics such as an iPod, BlackBerry, video camera, cell phone and more. It will provide up to two hours of extended run time for your laptop. The Duracel® PowerSource Mobile 100 has one AC outlet and two USB charge ports, so you can run or charge multiple devices simultaneously. You no longer have to carry extra cords, chargers and device-specific batteries.

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