studios

Why did colleges stay mum on MPAA stats?

Correction: This blog initially mischaracterized the statistics that Heidemann commented on. He was referring to claims made about overall P2P use and not specifically about the MPAA's allegations.

John Heidemann was skeptical about what the movie industry was saying about campus piracy.

A researcher in the Information Sciences Institute at the University of Southern California, Heidemann had heard the film studios' claim that college students downloading movies on campus were responsible for 44 percent of the industry's domestic losses to piracy.

That added up to about $572 million. So, working with a team of researchers last summer--the famous … Read more

Move over Netflix, VOD services; here comes Apple

Quickly filling up Netflix's rearview mirror is a sight that no tech company wants to see: Apple.

Apple announced on Tuesday that the company has cut licensing deals with every top film studio--deals that will enable iTunes to offer first-run movies a month after they are released on DVD.

This means that Apple has won a major advantage in the Web movie-rental business. One of the biggest complaints customers have with online movie services is that none offer first-run features. The same is true with some of the video-on-demand services operated by the cable companies.

Moreover, Netflix offerings don't work … Read more

Belkin shows off it's Podcasting solution

Belkin have introduced the TuneStudio's little brother, the PodcastStudio (apparently dropping spaces is the new dropping vowels). The two channel recorder that works buy attaching your iPod features two movable built-in microphones as well as combo XLR / 1/4" inputs for other microphones and a built in speaker. It works with all the latest iPods excluding the Touch and the iPhone. It should retail for around $100 when it ships later this year.

HD Radio and a four-channel mixer for iPod recording

Several CES booths had the telltale orange and black HD Radio sign, designating that they were selling at least one device with an HD Radio receiver in it. There was also some buzz over a new feature that lets you flag a song for later purchase on iTunes (this works only on models with an iPod dock). I stopped by iBiquity's booth--they're the developers of HD Radio technology--to get an overview of all the supported devices out there, and it's a pretty impressive list, including home radios from Creative, JBL, and Sony, plus automotive radios from many … Read more

Apple to piggyback on DVDs to distribute digital content?

Starting next week, a DVD you buy off the shelf could end up coming with a free or markedly discounted digital copy from the iTunes Media Store. The Unofficial Apple Weblog got the scoop from a reader who got an early delivery of the upcoming Family Guy DVD, which comes bundled with a digital download that can be transferred to your iTunes library. When a copy of the digital file to iTunes was attempted, the user got an error message noting that the process requires version 7.6 of iTunes, which is currently at 7.5.

Like movies purchased on … Read more

Report: Apple close to winning over studios

Apparently, Apple is willing to make concessions to the film industry to bolster iTunes' lackluster movie offerings.

BusinessWeek is reporting that Apple is close to signing distribution deals with most of the top movie studios that would give Apple access to newly released films.

The Financial Times reported last month that Apple has already signed an agreement with Twentieth Century Fox. BusinessWeek now says the company is nearing deals with Warner Bros., Paramount Pictures, and Lionsgate. The magazine suggested that some of the deals may be announced at the Macworld conference, which starts January 14.

While Apple has dominated music, … Read more

Best Mac software of 2007

The year 2007 might be one of the biggest years for Apple in recent memory. Certainly a lot of great products have been released over the years, but none had the anticipation or the media fervor as did the iPhone. The new iPod Touch, the release of Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, and the funny Mac vs. PC ads we're seeing these days only added to the hype with more people starting to "Think different" than ever before. With Macworld just around the corner and promises of new Mac hardware on the horizon, the future of … Read more

Microsoft Live Labs releases Volta Web toolkit

Microsoft's Live Labs, a standalone product research group, released on Wednesday Volta (download it from CNET Download.com), a development tool designed to make it easier to partition an application's component pieces across a network.

The problem that Microsoft researchers are trying to address is the difficulty of deciding which part of the application runs under which tier--either the client or server.

Typically, developers need to write code to handle the communication between those tiers. And they need to decide during development on how to best architect their applications for optimal performance.

With Volta, developers can make "… Read more

Microsoft gears up for Windows Server 2008 launch

Microsoft has reached another milestone on the road to the release of Windows Server 2008.

On Wednesday, the company made available the Release Candidate 1 version of the software and promised the final version will be ready in time for the product's February 27 launch. Microsoft plans to launch the product, along with SQL Server 2008 and Visual Studio 2008, at an event in Los Angeles.

The event is themed "Heroes happen here" and is planned as a love fest celebrating all the work done by the IT crowd. The software maker also said it will spend … Read more

Photos: Robots at work and play in Japan

Where do all the coolest robots hang out? Japan, of course.

The 2007 International Robot Exhibition sponsored by the Japan Robot Association claims to be the largest robotics trade show in the world. The show, which runs November 28 to December 1, serves as a venue for everything from tiny robot toys and educational tools to giant industrial robots that manufacture cars.

This headless-looking robot is actually fully intact. The E-nuvo walk robot from Japan-based ZMP could be thought of as the Japanese version of a Lego Mindstorms robot. Only this line of learning robots, which is offered in basic, … Read more