Topic: News

Pirate DVD shops might not normally be considered outposts of free expression, but they are among the many gaps in the great wall of Chinese propaganda, which is being breached by a motley crew of bloggers, copyright dodgers and curious consumers.

A Channel 4 film directed by Michael Winterbottom is to be distributed in cinemas, on DVD and online simultaneously for the first time.

Plextor is the first company that apparently has found a way to increase DVD writer speeds beyond the 16x mark, which has been considered a physical limitation for DVD media. The new writer increases the maximum write speed from about 21 MB/s to about 24 MB/s.

Is it legal to sell on an iPod type device that has your signature mix of tunes already on it? The Recording Industry Association of America — the lobbying group behind the thousands of lawsuits over unauthorized sharing and downloading of songs — says the answer is definitely no.

An anti-trust investigation into the licensing of Philips' recordable CD technology has been shelved after the firm changed its tune. The result is that CD-Rs are going to get even cheaper.

Stateside cops are looking for a daft burglar who took the time to make coffee, cook and eat meals, take showers, pick out a change of clothes, watch television and check his e-mail while raiding three houses.

Sony Pictures have became the first major studio to put a price tag on Blu-ray discs when they become available in U.S. stores this year.

Nero have announced that Samsung is sending out test samples in Europe of its Samsung Blu-ray disc devices together with a special test version of Nero 7 supporting the Blu-ray disc format.

Owners of a Nintendo DS portable gaming system in the U.S. will soon be able to use the device for wireless game downloads and voice chats.

DVD pirate Joanne Dunn escaped being tagged by a court after claiming it would make her look like a criminal. She moaned that the electronic device on her ankle would prevent her going out in a skirt... even though she turned up for the hearing in trousers.

For the last several months, the P2P population has reversed its mid to late year stagnation and decline. As is typical, cyclical variations in the total number of simultaneously connected users features small declines and plateaus, however over time the population has ultimately continued its march forward.

Hardware websites are in a fever over accusations that graphics chip maker Nvidia paid people and gave them gifts to salt message boards with endorsements of its products.

O2 has pledged to become the first mobile phone network to bring Nokia's 'visual radio' technology to UK consumers, courtesy of a tie-in with the Virgin Radio station. It's a "completely new kind of radio experience", apparently.

An ice cream man has been convicted of running a piracy operation from his van, selling fake DVDs, CDs and games.

DVD jedi Flash has posted his latest review - for the new Cd and DVD disc library which we reported on last month. Seems like flash is impressed by this new "must have" from RiDisc - you can see why in his review.

In response to an open letter written by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), SunnComm has outlined what it has done and will do to address potential security problems caused by its MediaMax CD copy-protection software.

VSO Software has announced a new product, which is an updated version the well known DivXtoDVD. ConvertXtoDVD allows you to convert and then burn your video files that were originally only playable on your PC so that they are now playable on any DVD Player. ConvertXtoDVD extends support beyond AVI files, XVid, MPEG 1/2/4, VOB, MOV, and now WMV 3 and HD formats and more.

Joint efforts by relevant Chinese departments have cracked 172 wet piracy cases and closed down 76 websites in a three-month crackdown over on-line piracy across the country, according to the National Copyright Administration of China (NCAC).

According to a scan from the upcoming March issue of PlayStation Magazine, Sony is planning to launch a full-frontal assault on Microsoft's Xbox Live service.

An Aussie faces extradition to the US to face piracy charges after the FBI claims he was the leader of a $6.5 million software copying racket.