AOL, Yahoo, RealNetworks Suffer Setback In Music Licensing Fees

A federal court has decided that AOL, Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO), and RealNetworks must pay higher licensing fees for music broadcast over the Web.

The U.S. District Court in New York this week rejected the companies' request to base the amount of money paid to songwriters and music publishers on revenue directly attributable to music uses. Instead, the court said members of the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) are entitled to a rate based on a formula in which gross Web site revenue is multiplied by the portion of Web site activity that is music-intensive.

The Digital Media Association, the trade group representing the three companies, said Friday it did not dispute that Internet companies should pay fair royalties. "We are disappointed, however, that the court ruled that online services' royalties should be based in part on service-wide revenue, not simply on revenue directly attributable to music usage," Jonathan Potter, executive director of DiMA said in a statement.

DiMA said it is studying the court's 153-page decision, and the only certainty is that the rate formula would require several weeks of consideration, including possible court hearings, before its impact is known. DiMA has posted the ruling on its Web site.

ASCAP said the decision covers license fees for periods starting July 1, 2002, and continuing through Dec. 31, 2009. The organization estimated that the court's formula would lead to a total payment of $100 million from the three companies. The case involves songwriters and music publishers only. Record companies are not a party.

"The court's finding represents a major step toward proper valuation of the music contributions of songwriters, composers, and publishers to these types of online businesses -- many of which have built much of their success on the foundation of the creative works of others," Marilyn Bergman, president and chairman of ASCAP, said in a statement.

Content providers are seeking a bigger share of the growing streaming video and music market, which will generate $70 billion over the next six years, according to Insight Research. That number, however, could be much higher, if per-stream costs decrease faster than expected, or consumers accept Internet TV sooner than predicted, or 3G delivery takes off more quickly than forecast.

Form : http://www.informationweek.com/

Adobe Opens Up Flash

Adobe Systems is opening up access Thursday to its Flash technology via the Open Screen Project, an industry initiative intended to provide a Flash-based unified runtime environment for rich content across all devices.

An analyst viewed the move as partially a competitive measure against Microsoft's new Silverlight browser plug-in, which could provide a formidable rival to Flash. But Adobe's Dave McAllister, director of stands and open source, emphasized Flash is the largest single environment for content delivery and said partners are pleased with the new initiative.

"[Otherwise], we wouldn't have every partner saying, 'We want to be involved in this,'" McAllister said. Companies partnering with Adobe on Open Screen Project include ARM, Intel, Motorola, NBC, Nokia, NTT Dokomo, MTV, Qualcomm, and Sony Ericsson.

Specifically, Adobe will remove license restrictions from use of the SWF specification, which is the file format for the Flash Player, as well as for FLV/F4V specifications for streaming Flash content.

These restrictions have prevented others from building a Flash player. While Adobe is not aware if anyone actually will build a player to rival its own at this juncture, third parties want access to specification to have more control over their systems that use Flash.

"In 10 years, we've been a good enough steward that no one has complained," McAllister said. "I expect people will build a Flash Player, but I don't expect that they will challenge the ubiquity of the Adobe Flash Player."

Silverlight Worries

Adobe's move was seen as both a way to stave off Silverlight and a visionary effort.

"I think it's two things. It is partly a tactical, competitive response to the Silverlight challenge in advance of Silverlight's release," said analyst Ray Valdes, research director at Gartner. It also represents a strategic vision of greater interoperability among different types of screen devices, he said.

Different devices, ranging from laptops, TVs, and game consoles, are becoming more alike, Valdes said. "The idea is that if you could have one display technology foundation for all those screens, then that would put Adobe in a good position," said Valdes, who called Adobe's strategy a good move.

SWF has been published for a while, but anyone who wanted to read it had to agree to not build their own implementation of the Flash Player. "We're removing all restrictions so anyone can now read this and make use of this in any way they like," said McAllister.

"People can read things they couldn't read before and build things they couldn't build, and Adobe is no longer going to get in the way," he said.

Anyone is free to use the specification to embed Flash playback capabilities in other applications. Port information will be published to enable the porting of the existing Flash Player onto other devices or applications. With the freeing of Adobe's FLV and F4VF specifications, third parties now can build tools to work with these specifications.

"The goal of this is to provide this consistent runtime using Adobe Flash and, in the future, Adobe AIR (Adobe Integrated Runtime) across all these devices," including consumer electronics and mobile Internet devices," McAllister said. Desktop systems and phones also are factored into the Open Screen Project.

No Royalty Fees

"What we're doing is extending the reach of the Web, and we are making sure that Adobe technologies don't get in the way of making the Web as open as possible," said McAllister.

Adobe Flash Cast and AMF (Action Message Format) protocols also will be published. AMF provides data services.

Also, the next generation of the Flash Player will have no royalty fees. This version is due as part of Open Screen Project in mid-2009. There has been a per-device royalty charged for devices and handsets using the software.

Adobe believes that by opening up its Flash environment, it can sell more developer and design tools to offset any loss of royalties.

Open Screen Project is not specifically an open source effort because there are certain technologies in Flash, such as audio and video codecs, that are licensed from others. The "heart" of the Flash Player, the ActionScript virtual machine, already is available via open source, said McAllister.

Further technology announcements pertaining to Open Screen Project will be made after May 1, McAllister said.

For more IT analysis and commentary on emerging technologies, visit InfoWorld.com. Story copyright © 2007 InfoWorld Media Group. All rights reserved.

Form : http://www.pcworld.com/

Apple to begin selling movies on release date

Apple, which hopes to do for show business what it has done for digital music, is now selling new movie releases from major studios and independent film companies on the same day as their DVD releases, the company announced Thursday.

New releases available for purchase this week through Apple's online iTunes store include "American Gangster" and "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly." Other catalog titles offered include "Juno," "Cloverfield," "I Am Legend" and "There Will Be Blood."

"What this shows is that digital media is gaining momentum on traditional media," observed Phil Leigh, president of research firm Inside Digital Media. "Ultimately, our televisions will be hooked to the Internet. We are going to pull up theiTunes page and get what we want on demand. Some of it will be free, some of it we will pay for."

New releases will sell for $14.99, while most catalog offerings are priced at $9.99. The movies can be viewed on video iPods, iPhones and computers, as well as a widescreen TV connected to an Apple TV. People who purchase a movie through iTunes can play it as many times as they like, just like a DVD.

Titles will be available from 20th Century Fox, Walt Disney Studios, Warner Bros., Paramount Pictures, Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Lionsgate, Image Entertainment and First Look Studios.

In January, Apple introduced an online film rental service. Consumers can hold on to a rentaldownload for up to 30 days. Once they start to view it, though, access terminates in 24 hours. Last month, the company said iTunes had surpassed Wal-Mart Stores as the nation's top music retailer. Since it was launched in 2003, iTunes has sold more than four billion songs.

Apple aims to provide the equipment for the digital era, as well. Its iPod music player helped create the digital music era. Now the company is pushing Apple TV, a "digital adapter" that connects consumers' computer networks with their living-room entertainment systems. The device enables them to view digital videos stored on computers on big-screen TVs, or even listen to digital music through stereo speakers. Apple TV has yet to catch on with the mainstream consumer.

"Apple changed its name from Apple Computer to Apple Inc.," Leigh added. "It's becoming evident why."

Form : http://origin.mercurynews.com/

Sony PlayStation®3 bundled with Grand Theft Auto® IV

Last week Sony Computer Entertainment Europe announced that it is
releasing an official Grand Theft Auto IV bundle exclusively for
PlayStation®3. The bundle goes on sale in Malta on Tuesday.

Grand
Theft Auto IV is the 11th instalment of the best-selling Grand Theft
Auto video game franchise. This game, together with the 40 GB PS3 model
and two SIXAXIS™ wireless controllers retails for €540.

Sony
PlayStation 3 is distributed by FGL Entertainment, SCEE’s
authorised distributor in Malta. FGL Entertainment is a subsidiary of
the Forestals Group.

Form : http://www.independent.com.mt/

Linux vs. Windows Metrics -- Nothing Is Quite What It Seems To Be

The author compared the times of three tasks: boot up, loading Firefox, and shutting down. That's hardly a comprehensive set of tests. Some people commented to dismiss these metrics as "meaningless". They aren't meaningless but they certainly aren't the whole story. Others pointed out that IE on Windows was faster than Firefox on Linux and that MS Works was faster than OpenOffice. Some then responded that Works isn't the equivalent of OO and that MS Office would be a better comparison. It all got a little shrill with those who believe that Linux is faster than Windows and those who say it isn't so talking past each other and resolving nothing.

I'm going to try and sift through the morass and say what I think the numbers really mean and what they don't mean. Those with an agenda, either agenda, will, I'm sure, attack what I have to say. I think anyone who really tries to look at things objectively probably won't. I'm just not sure that very many people are truly objective.

In the interest of fairness let me disclose where I am coming from: Yes, I tend to have a pro-Linux bias. I also have a bias against hype and B.S. When it comes to my professional life I'm an IT mercenary. If someone wants me to support Windows systems along with Linux or UNIX systems I will gladly take their money and do the work. I also won't evangelize on behalf of Linux. Why not? In business everything comes down to a cost vs. benefits analysis and there are situations in the real world where a change of OS is far too costly to justify any perceived benefits. There are many situations where Windows or commercial, proprietary UNIX really and truly is the best fit. Back to those pesky metrics...

If you read the blog headline or the comments this is mostly portrayed as Linux vs. Windows. In reality that just isn't true. These numbers only compare Xandros preloaded on the Eee PC with Windows XP preloaded on the Eee PC. All Linux distributions are not created equal. On my five and a half year old Toshiba laptop, a box with specs very close to those of the Eee PC, some distributions are much faster than others. For example, Kubuntu is much slower than Vector Linux SOHO even through both have a KDE desktop. There are people running all sorts of Linux distributions on the Eee PC. I've also seen where some users have managed to strip down and shoehorn Windows Vista onto one. These metrics are about one specific laptop, one specific distribution and version of Linux, and Windows XP only, nothing more.

One of the Windows supporters tries to make the claim in the comments that Xandros must be well tweaked on the Eee PC and that XP must be poorly configured. Anyone who has tried XP on a system with similar specs knows that isn't true. Asus primarily sells Windows machines just like all the other major laptop vendors. They know how to configure XP. The fact is that both operating systems are well configured and optimized by Asus.

That brings us back to the numbers. There is no denying that on identical hardware running an identical application (Firefox) that Xandros is significantly faster than XP. Any comparison of dissimilar apps (IE vs FIrefox or Works vs. OpenOffice) is an apples and oranges comparison. It tells us nothing about the speed of the underlying OS. What if I compared AbiWord and Gnumeric instead of OO? Might Linux seem faster again? It's not a fair comparison, is it? Similarly, the time to shutdown or start up is a fair comparison and Xandros is clearly faster than XP again. All the arguments dismissing this as unimportant to most people doesn't change the fact that Xandros is faster at this given task.

What does this all prove? Not much, really. I think most people who have had significant experience with Linux know that in general, with identical apps, a well configured and optimized Linux system will outperform a well configured and optimized Windows system by some measurable amount. Whether that amount is significant or not depends on the application and what is important to the user. In the real world there are very few situations where people will chose Linux simply because it's faster. As the critics of the blog post correctly point out Asus delivers the Eee PC with applications that work very well on the laptop regardless of which OS is chosen. In the final analysis the blog post is little more than Linux hype. There are far more compelling reasons to buy an EeePC with Xandros rather than Windows.

Is there any value to the blog post? In fairness, yes, there is. It adds to an already large body of evidence that Linux scales down to low spec and legacy hardware easily. In general Linux is the better choice for such machines because it's modular. You can leave out bits you don't need. You can choose a lightweight desktop or lightweight applications, trading some features for faster performance. That faster performance is often the difference between comfortably usable and totally unusable on older or slower hardware. Linux distributions, good solid ones, built specifically for limited performance hardware are readily available.

In the Linux world lightweight applications and desktops are under current support and development which means that if a security vulnerability or a bug is found it gets fixed. Folks who choose to run Windows '98 instead on older hardware are stuck in place. Windows XP Lite is a much better alternative but it adds cost and people who are running legacy or low spec hardware are usually very cost conscious. Lightweight apps are less plentiful for Windows and in many if not most cases they will cost the user additional money they may not want to spend.

What usually makes Linux painful or impossible for the average Joe or Jane user is the task of installation and configuration. Asus took away that pain by offering a very attractive little box at a good price with an easy to use, ready to go Linux installation. Now the trick is getting Joe or Jane user to seriously consider that the Xandros Linux version, if they did their own cost vs. benefit analysis, really is the better choice and not just because it boots up faster.

Full Story

Westin hotels play ball with the Nintendo Wii

Want to have a Wii bit of fun? Try Westin Hotels & Resorts,
which are equipping some of their fitness centers with the
sports-simulation consoles free of charge. So you can pretend
you’re tennis star Venus Williams, Yankee star Derek Jeter or any
of your athlete idols instead of just hopping on an exercise bicycle or
hoisting a weight.

Westin claims it’s the first lodging brand to partner with Nintendo on Wii, but it’s not the first hotel to offer the popular video games. In New York City, for instance, Hotel Gansevoort will deliver Wii consoles to your room, and Le Parker Meridien will set up Wii sessions for you and your buddies for $52 per hour.

Among 10 Westins adding the game this month are the Westin St. Francis, San Francisco, and the Westin New York at Times Square in New York City.
Westin also said it expects to be among the first hotel brands to take
delivery of the new Wii Fit game, set for release May 19 in North
America, which offers yoga, aerobics and other activities.

Form : http://travel.latimes.com/

Troubleshooting Windows Vista

Vista is driving me mad. It keeps changing the folder settings on its own, no matter how many times I tell it not to do so.

This is a common complaint by many. In fact I remember my own aunt cursing the PC loudly for doing that. It was funny but at the same time, I could feel the pain. The problem occurs due to the fact that Windows tries to "Auto-Detect" the type of folder that you are viewing. This is a great feature for most of us, where Windows tries to optimize the viewing of the folder automatically by setting to the optimum folder view. This is where the trouble starts as optimization is quite subjective and therefore you will notice Windows deciding a music folder setting in spite of their being a presence of only one or two music files among several documents.

You can never expect a machine to identify how a particular folder ought to view or is the best for you to view; this is something only you as a user can decide. Also added to the fact that artificial intelligence is still under a nascent stage and that we are dealing with Microsoft just kidding!

Getting down to the problem, it's quite an easy fix. In case, Windows still refuses to learn, jump to the software solution part at the end.

Simple method

1. To customize the particular folder in question, first choose the way you would like to view the folder such as Listing or Details views.

2. If you like to have icons also rearrange in a particular fashion such as sort by name, type, etc, now is the time to set that too.

3. On any empty white space in the folder right-click and select Customize This Folder.

4. Under the Use this folder type as template is a drop down menu where you need to select All items.

5. If you have other folders within this folder and would like those folders to follow the same settings, just remember to tick Also apply this template to all subfolders.

That's it now click OK. Now close the folder and open it again, the view settings that you want should now be remembered.
Form : http://www.techtree.com/

Data Doctors: Wait to install new XP Service Pack

Q. Windows XP Service Pack 3 is to about to be released. Should we download it right away? - Ray

A. For those not familiar with a Service Pack (SP), think of it as a collection of updates, patches and enhancements for a software program all rolled into one download.

Service Pack 3 is the long-awaited major update for Windows XP (SP2 was released in August 2004) that is mainly the collection of all previous downloads along with some minor enhancements.

Most of the enhancements are designed to assist those who manage large numbers of computers on business networks. However, some of the security enhancements will be beneficial for all users.

Various entities on the Internet that have tested Service Pack 3 claim that they have seen performance improvements (as much as 10 percent) on their test systems after installing the update - although mileage may vary.

Microsoft is making no claims of improved performance for Windows XP systems, but then again, anything that could cause consumers to stick with XP over Vista is not something Microsoft wants to promote.

The real concern with major updates of this nature is that we don't know what we don't know. More importantly, history has shown Microsoft doesn't know what it doesn't know until they release a Service Pack. To that end, the safe money will sit on the sidelines for a month or so to let potential issues surface before taking the plunge.

Microsoft planned to make SP3 available on April 29, but halted its release when it found a compatibility issue with one of its own fairly obscure software programs called RMS (Retail Management System) - which oddly enough is what we use in our stores.

If you keep your systems updated on a regular basis, you probably have most of the fixes that are in SP3 already, so rushing to install it as soon as it's available isn't that critical.

If your computer is running "mission critical" applications, being cautious about installing any major update to your operating system is always the way to go. If you have more than one Windows XP computer, installing the update on a system that isn't relied upon as heavily is a good way to understand how the update might impact your computers, especially in a business setting.

For those who want to control when Service Pack 3 is installed on their Windows XP systems, a simple change to the way Windows handles updates will do the trick.

To access the Automatic Update configuration interface, right-click on My Computer and then select Properties to open the System Properties window. Next, click on the Automatic Updates tab and select "Download updates for me, but let me choose when to install them."

This will tell Windows to download updates as they become available and let you decide if or when you want to install them.

A yellow shield will appear in your Systray (lower right hand corner next to the clock) to notify you that new updates are available for installation, so don't ignore the yellow shield!

When you double-click the yellow shield, a screen will appear with an Express Install or Custom Install option for the updates. Choose the Custom Install update if you want to decide what gets installed in your system.

Form : http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/

Apple Leopard Server

Collaboration tools are where Leopard really starts chasing Small Business Server. The new OS X Server sports services for wikis, blogs, a user directory, and a new calendar server. The last is big news, as it's been a requested feature for some time; Apple finally listened. The new iCal Server is based on the Internet CalDAV standard, which sounds nice and open on paper but actually has few working clients today. Leopard's iCal client, for example, works fine with the new iCal Server, but Tiger's client has problems. Microsoft Outlook (and more important, its Mac Entourage equivalent) also doesn't support the new server without third-party plug-ins, most of which are still in the final stages of development. On the upside, because CalDAV is an open standard, there's a good chance that we'll finally see some real Entourage competition—though probably not until next year.

The wiki and blog servers are almost entirely automated. Simply selecting the services during installation enables them on the local network, with individual users automatically getting their own wiki and blog assignments right along with their Home folders (though administrators can disable or modify this on a user-by-user basis). Publishing wiki or blog entries to the Internet is merely a matter of adding a proper domain and punching the right holes through the firewall. It's less about Internet publishing, however, than about giving teams of users more collaboration tools—very similar to SharePoint's goals. Stay tuned for my upcoming Small Business server review for a detailed comparison.

Administrators can assign group rights to specific wikis, calendars, and network folders, in effect creating team sites and document libraries. This isn't a one-interface job, but rather a combination of several tools that give users access to several team-specific network resources. Apple's automated workflow tools can also be used to create team-based automation, again similar to Microsoft Windows Workflow Foundation. I'm not going to pass judgment yet on which is the better solution (though I will in the direct comparison between Leopard and Small Business Server 2008, when the latter is released this summer). Having played with both, it looks as if Apple's solution is more limited but easier to use.

The new Directory might initially be a little confusing for some, especially Windows server admins. This is not the network directory, though it stores much of its information in the Open Directory database. The Directory holds information about both users and user groups but specializes mainly in contact and resource information. Location information is obvious, but resource info can be anything from office furniture to which printer each group shares. Open Directory accesses some of this information in its role as the network directory, but the Directory application is separate and designed to be a blueprint of who is where and who's using what in the business.

Podcast Producer is a feature that invites a scoff at first glance. Why make a big deal out of an embedded audio utility on the server? Because it's not just an audio capture utility—in fact, that's the least of its capabilities. You can use Podcast Producer to create a podcast, but it can also grab any MP3 file and do its real magic, which is distribution. Administrators can define content workflows that take a completed media file and prep it for distribution. There's an amazing variety of prepping options, including the ability to add audio content (such as a standard introduction or transition effect), credits, or special effects. Once the file is completed, Podcast Producer can encode and publish it in a variety of ways, including adding RSS tags, converting the file to a specific format, uploading it to an FTP server, or even just e-mailing it to a specific recipient. This isn't a revolutionary product, but it is a handy e-marketing utility for businesses of any size.

As I mentioned, reviewing Apple Leopard Server was a little tricky: I had to go to outside contacts for some of the comparisons. Industry chatter has it that some of OS X's client-side features don't scale very well. We didn't do scalability tests, but the consensus seems to be that a single Leopard Server should have no trouble supporting 100 or maybe even 200 clients. Considering the features we saw in the lab, that's exactly as it should be. Apple supports both Xgrid and Xsan for larger installations, so a single-server scenario doesn't need to support more.

A single Leopard server is a solid matchup against Windows Small Business Server, and probably against a Windows Essential Business Server (Centro) as well. That said, existing Windows server users don't have much of a reason to switch to Leopard Server. Leopard provides everything that Small Business Server does, but simply mirroring features isn't a compelling reason to switch. (Microsoft runs into this problem every time Windows revs.)

Windows is also more flexible than Apple. This is critical for growing companies with changing IT needs. And Windows definitely has far more third-party software support than Apple. This means that many businesses dependent upon one or two apps for a specific business process actually can't switch to Leopard.

But for small businesses making their first server-buying decision, Leopard is a viable option—no matter what their clients are running. As a sometime Windows Server admin, I had to put in a little work learning to maneuver in OS X, but it's not that big a chore. Dealing with the command line might be painful for some, but if you've got a little Linux experience, then FreeBSD shouldn't scare you. Yes, we ran into a few Windows XP-to-Leopard connectivity issues, but these got resolved. Once we had little practice under our belts, they wouldn't have happened in the first place.

The bottom line is that Apple's done an excellent job of putting an accessible face on top of a Unix server's guts. Leopard lets businesses take advantage of Unix's security and reliability, while keeping much of that Apple ease of use. Make sure your business software and processes are supported, and this server will work no matter what's running on the rest of the network.

Form : http://www.pcmag.com/