TOSHIBA IS GOING TO START MAKING BLU-RAY PLAYERS, AMAZON GETS
IN TROUBLE FOR PULLING BOOKS OFF OF KINDLES, AND YOU MIGHT
WANT TO UPDATE YOUR BROWSER BEFORE YOU START YOUR
WORKDAY TODAY. ITS MONDAY, JULY 20TH. I'M NATALI DEL CONTE,
BACK IN NEW YORK THIS WEEK. IT'S TIME TO GET LOADED.
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IF YOU'RE USING CHROME OR FIREFOX, YOU'RE GOING TO WANT TO
UPDATE YOUR BROWSER SOFTWARE BEFORE YOU GET TOO FAR INTO
YOUR WORKWEEK. GOOGLE RELEASED A NEW VERSION WITH BUG
FIXES AND SECURITY PATCHES LATE LAST WEEK. A FULL LIST OF FIXES
CAN BE FOUND AT GOOGLECHROMERELEASES.BLOGSPOT.COM.
FIREFOX RELEASED 3.5.1 BUT REPORTS ARE SURFACING THAT THERE IS
A VULNERABILITY THERE AS WELL. AS FAR AS WE KNOW, MOZILLA
HASN'T RELEASED ANOTHER PATCH BUT BE ON THE LOOKOUT. WE'LL
LET YOU KNOW WHEN WE FIND ONE.
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IT LOOKS LIKE TOSHIBA IS GOING TO MAKE BLU-RAY PLAYERS. YOU MAY
REMEMBER THAT TOSHIBA WAS THE DRIVING FORCE AROUND HD DVD,
THE LOST HD DISC FORMAT. TOSHIBA PULLED OUT OF THE HD-DVD
FORMAT IN EARLY 2008 AND WE SUSPECTED THAT THEY WOULD JOIN
THE WINNING TEAM BUT NOW WE KNOW FOR SURE. THE QUESTION
REMAINS WHETHER OR NOT BLU-RAY IS THE WINNING TEAM THOUGH.
EVEN AT $99, THE PLAYERS DON'T SEEM TO BE FLYING OFF THE
SHELVES. SO IS TOSHIBA RIGHT TO DO THIS OR ARE THEY BOARDING A
SINKING SHIP? RING IN AT LOADED@CNET.COM.
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AMAZON CAME UNDER FIRE OVER THE WEEKEND FOR DELETING TWO
GEORGE ORWELL NOVELS FROM THE KINDLE STORE. THE COMPANY
NOTICED THAT IT DID NOT HAVE PROPER RIGHTS TO THOSE BOOKS SO
THEY YANKED THEM AND REFUNDED THE MONEY OF USERS WHO HAD
PURCHASED THEM. USERS WERE NOT HAPPY AND AMAZON ADMITTED,
IT MAY HAVE ACTED SLIGHTLY HASTILY. A COMPANY SPOKESPERSON
WROTE: "We are changing our systems so that in the future we will not remove
books from customers' devices in these circumstances." THE PROBLEM IS
THAT AMAZON CAN JUST DO THIS. THIS IS THE FIRST TIME THAT
AMAZON HAS EXERCISED THIS KIND OF CONTROL OVER WISPER SYNC. I
DON'T THINK THIS IS THE WAY THAT THE COMPANY WANTED US TO FIND
OUT ABOUT THIS CAPABILITY.
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IN OTHER AMAZON NEWS, THE COMPANY HAS DECIDED TO REPLACE
CRACKED COVERS FOR KINDLE 2 USERS. LAST WEEK WE REPORTED
THAT THE COMPANY WAS FACING A CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT OVER THIS
PROBLEM. THE COMPANY WAS TRYING TO CHARGE $200 TO FIX THIS
FAIRLY COMMON PROBLEM. IT ISN'T TRYING TO DO THAT ANYMORE. SO
IF THIS HAPPENS TO YOUR KINDLE 2, YOU CAN GET A REPLACEMENT
FOR FREE.
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THE BLACKBERRY STORM IS NOW ONLY $99 ON VERIZON. THIS IS
RESEARCH IN MOTION'S ALL TOUCHSCREEN PHONE. WE MIGHT AS WELL
ADMIT THAT IT WAS NOT THE SUCCESS THAT RIM WANTED IT TO BE. SO
DOES THE PRICE DROP MEAN THAT THEY'LL RELEASE A NEW VERSION?
LETS HOPE.
[*]
A NEW STUDY SHOWS THAT MUSIC LOVERS WILL STREAM OR
DOWNLOAD MUSIC LEGALLY WHEN THE OPTIONS GET BETTER. TWO
RESEARCH FIRMS, MUSIC ALLY AND LEADING QUESTION, SHOW THAT
USERS IN THE UK CHOOSE TO SUBSCRIBE TO OR PAY FOR STREAMING
SERVICE RATHER THAN PIRATE ILLEGALLY SHARED TUNES. IT ALSO
SHOWS A DECLINE IN THE NUMBER OF TEENS WHO WERE
DOWNLOADING ILLEGALLY: ONLY 28 PERCENT SAID THAT THEY HAD
DONE THIS, DOWN FROM 42 PERCENT IN DECEMBER OF 2007. THE
INCREASE IN STREAMING DIDN'T NECESSARILY MEAN LEGAL
STREAMING THOUGH. STREAMING HITS OVER YOUTUBE IS NOT
NECESSARILY LEGAL IF THE VIDEO HAS BEEN PUBLISHED BY ANYONE
WHO DOES NOT HAVE COPYRIGHT RIGHTS TO THE SONG. STILL, THE
MUSIC INDUSTRY IS HOPEFUL THAT THIS BEHAVIOR WILL HELP THEM
STOP SPINNING THEIR WHEELS TRYING TO STOP PIRACY.
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SPEAKING OF LEGAL MUSIC SERVICES, KAZAA IS COMING BACK. KAZAA
WAS ONE OF THE MOST RECOGNIZED MUSIC PIRACY SOFTWARE. OF
COURSE IT HAD A LEGAL COMPONENT BUT NO ONE USED IT THAT WAY.
WE USED IT TO RIP TRACKS. AND BY WE, I MEAN USERS IN GENERAL OF
COURSE. I NEVER USED KAZAA. OF COURSE I DIDN'T. KAZAA WILL NOW
BE A SUBSCRIPTION SERVICE, OFFERING SONGS FROM THE BIG FOUR
MUSIC LABELS. USERS WILL GAIN ACCESS TO OVER 1 MILLION SONGS
FOR $20 PER MONTH.
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THOSE ARE ALL OF YOUR HEADLINES FOR TODAY. I'LL SEE YOU
TOMORROW WITH MORE. THANK YOU FOR WATCHING. I'M NATALI DEL
CONTE WITH CNETTV AND YOU JUST BEEN LOADED.
