pictures

Update 9 p.m.: To include more on Glaser's comments about efforts to prevent RealDVD from being used to pirate movies.

SAN FRANCISCO--Rob Glaser, founder and CEO of RealNetworks, acknowledged in federal court on Tuesday that his company's software, RealDVD, could be used to make unauthorized copies of DVD rentals.

But Glaser said that the company does all that it can to "steer people away from that," including limiting playback of copies to five separate machines. Moreover, he said the problem could be eliminated if the major movie studios helped create a way to identify a … Read more

Updated at 12:56 p.m. PDT to clarify MPAA's arguments.

The film industry in court Tuesday tried to show a federal judge that the software known as RealDVD entrusts its creator, RealNetworks, with the job of protecting digital film copies from piracy.

U.S. District Judge Marilyn Patel resumed hearing testimony in the legal dispute between the largest movie studios and Real. The Motion Picture Association of America claimed in a lawsuit filed last fall that the company's RealDVD software, which enables people to copy DVDs and store them to a hard drive, violates copyright law. Patel … Read more

With testimony expected to resume Tuesday in the RealDVD case, it's unclear whether U.S. District Judge Marilyn Patel will lift a restraining order against the sale of the DVD-copying technology. Still, the "Napster judge" has signaled some of her concerns about the software.

RealDVD enables users to duplicate a DVD and store the copy on a computer hard drive. RealNetworks, the company behind RealDVD, during a preliminary hearing in Patel's court on Friday, asked the judge to allow it to once again begin selling the software. The Motion Picture Association of America objects to the … Read more

Aaron's WebVacuum promises to help users capture all of the pictures and other files they can handle from their favorite Web sites. This unique program could be a huge help to many, but runs the risk of being overly complicated.

The compact interface is densely packed with tabs, buttons, and check boxes, and may overwhelm novice users. Fortunately, a brief tutorial pops up to explain the program's purpose and how to get quickly started, which is very helpful. Like a browser, there's a field for the URL of the page you want to pull from. Below that … Read more

Updated at 8:50 a.m. to include disclosure by National Consumers League that RealNetworks helped finance survey. More details at bottom of the story.

It's not just the Internet's so-called freetards who are criticizing the movie industry for stating last week that consumers are not within their rights to make backup copies of legally purchased DVDs.

Count the National Consumers League, a 100-year-old consumer watchdog group, to be among those who argue the Motion Picture Association of America is much too inflexible when it comes to blocking DVD buyers from backing up their film discs.

The issue … Read more

The question of whether consumers will be given a legal means to make copies of DVDs could soon be answered in the San Francisco courtroom of U.S. District Judge Marilyn Patel.

On Friday, Patel is set to begin hearing testimony in the RealDVD case. Last year, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) filed suit to stop the sale of RealNetwork's RealDVD software, which enables users to copy DVDs to their computer hard drive.

At the heart of the MPAA's lawsuit, the lobbying group for the six largest film studios, alleges that RealDVD violates the Digital Millennium … Read more

Joost is actively seeking a buyer and the beleaguered video service has told cable and satellite providers that it could be their online video solution, said sources close to the companies.

Time Warner Cable is one of the companies that has expressed interest in Joost, the sources said. Spokespeople for Joost and Time Warner Cable said they don't comment on rumor or speculation.

Joost is a story of missed opportunities, bad luck, and the folly of thinking whiz-bang technology alone is enough to forge a winning entertainment site.

Joost launched in 2007 with seemingly everything going for it. The … Read more

At the same time Sony Pictures prepared to post some of its TV shows and films onto YouTube, the studio's material quietly began disappearing from Joost.

Earlier this month, Joost CEO Mike Volpi, who is attempting to engineer a comeback for the once high-flying company, wrote on the company's blog that Sony Pictures' shows were removed but was vague about why. He said that content from entertainment companies often comes and goes due to licensing restrictions and "we are optimistic that we'll be able to reach a new arrangement with Sony soon."

He can stop … Read more

When it comes to offering full-length content on the Web, YouTube isn't ready to yield to Hulu.

On Thursday, the San Bruno, Calif.-based video site of Google announced that it had reached agreement with notable entertainment companies, including Sony Pictures, Lions Gate Entertainment, and CBS (publisher of CNET News) to offer visitors full-length TV shows and feature films.

What this means is that YouTube wants to become a one-stop shop for everything video.

The strategy seems obvious. YouTube already has more than 100 million people visiting every month to watch a mixture of short clips created by amateurs … Read more