Licensing issues keeping iTunes track samples at 30 seconds, for time being 7 Sep 2010, 10:50 pm

Before Apple's much-hyped media event on the 1st, it was reported that CEO Steve Jobs was actively trying to get iTunes Store track samples extended to 60, or even 90 seconds, from the current 30.

The event came and passed, and nothing about the time lengths of the samples was discussed by Jobs or the country.

Cnet says today that licensing issues are holding up the process, but that Jobs is still in active discussions to get the samples extended to 90 seconds.

Says Hanna Pantle, a spokeswoman for BMI, one of the organizations that collects royalties for publishers and songwriters: "We are in active negotiations with Apple."

Furthermore, Apple has already received the go ahead to extend the samples, from the record labels. Their existing contract with the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) also allows for 90 seconds, so it appears to be just a couple of holdouts keeping the update from occurring.

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'Big-O' packs Xbox 360 and PC into one case 7 Sep 2010, 9:26 pm

Origin has launched the ultra-high-powered Big O gaming rig today, one that packs both a high-end PC and an Xbox 360 into a single case.

The base model of the system costs a hefty $7669 but the specs are pretty intense.

Big-O, in its base configuration, has a liquid-cooled Intel Core i7 930 overclocked to 4.0GHz on a liquid-cooled ASUS Rampage III Extreme Motherboard with 6GB of Corsair Dominator 1600Mhz RAM.

Additionally, it runs a liquid-cooled Nvidia GTX 480 in SLI, dual OCZ 50GB SSD in RAID 0 with a 2TB HDD on the side. Theres also a 12x Pioneer Blu-ray burner and a Creative Fatal1ty sound card. Let's not forget the liquid cooled Xbox 360 in there, also.

if you want to spend even bigger bucks, there is a $17,000 model for sale, as well, that features dual Intel Xeon X5680 CPUs Overclocked to 4.3GHz, 12GB of Corsair GT 2000Mhz RAM and Quad SLI EVGA GTX 480 FTW GPUs.

Check it here: The Origin 'Big-O'

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Google TV to launch globally in 2011 7 Sep 2010, 8:30 pm

Google has said today that it plans to launch the Google TV platform internationally in 2011, bringing the search engine to Internet-connected HDTVs around the globe.

Showing off the technology at the IFA trade fair, Google says it wants to "bridge the gap" between TV and the Internet.

Google TV projects a search bar onto the top of the screen, giving users a chance to surf/search the Web and search live TV listings.

The product should hit the U.S. market in the next few months.

Google is currently working on bringing content to Google TV from major providers, as well as Android app support. Users will soon be able to change the channel with voice recognition.

"The Internet is creating a great Internet disruption and that disruption is changing so many things," added CEO Eric Schmidt.

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New PS3 firmware update shuts down jailbreak 7 Sep 2010, 10:26 am

Sony has released the minor firmware update version 3.42 today, which brings nothing new to the table but blocks the use of PSGroove, the open-source jailbreaking software used to allow homebrew on the console.

If you do not update to 3.42, you cannot connect to the PlayStation Network, effectively forcing most users to update.

The jailbreak method, which involves running some code from a plugged in USB dongle, has been around for just over a week.

Aside from homebrew, gamers could also copy their purchased games to the PS3 HDD and store them as ISO files, or even download the full ISOs from warez sites and play them back.

The PS3 had long been thought of as "unhackable," while rivals Wii and Xbox 360 have long been hacked, allow users to play pirated games or run other homebrew.

The cat-and-mouse game begins.

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European police target warez servers in several countries 7 Sep 2010, 6:49 am

Police have carried out anti-piracy operations in up to 14 countries across Europe. The operation, which reportedly has been in the making for the past two years, targeted top sites - or the servers at the top of the Internet piracy pyramid. The actions also appear to have left some popular file sharing websites like the Pirate Bay offline for now.

WikiLeaks host, PRQ, was also targeted by police but Swedish Prosecutor Frederick Ingblad told Swedish news outlet Expressen.se that WikiLeaks was not part of the operation. Early details indicate that raids were carried out in several European countires at the request of the Belgian authorities. Unsurprisingly, Sweden appears to have taken the lions share of the operation, with actions in Stockholm, Malmö, Umeå (at University), Eskilstuna and Solna.

"At 9:00 this morning, five policemen were here," explained PRQ's Mikael Viberg. "They were interested in who were using two IP addresses from 2009 and onwards. We have no records of our clients but we're handing over the e-mail addresses for those behind the IPs. However, it’s rare that our clients have mail addresses that are traceable."

Four people are said to be undergoing questioning currently while computers have been seized in locations in Sweden.

UPDATE: The Pirate Bay seems to load from some locations.

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Leak reveals largest Google ad purchasers 6 Sep 2010, 5:07 pm

Thanks to a new internal Google document leaked by Advertising Age, there were multiple companies that spent over $1 million in June to buy ads in Google's search results.

The largest jump came from BP, who spent $3.59 million for the month, jumping from $57,000 a month before their tragic oil spill.

At $3.6 million, BP moved into sixth place among companies spending large amounts of cash on ads through Google.

AT&T, thanks to the launch of the high profile iPhone 4, topped the list, spending $8.08 million for the month of June. Apollo Group, the company behind the University of Phoenix, came in second, spending $6.67 million for the period.

Those companies were followed by Expedia, Amazon, eBay, BP, Hotels.com, JC Penney, Living Social and ADT Security to round out the top 10.

Google did not confirm the document, but AdAge says multiple sources with "direct knowledge of spending levels" verify the data as accurate.

Overall, 47 companies spent over $1 million in June, another 71 spent between $500,000 and $1 million and another 357 spent between $100,000 and $500,000.

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Time Warner adds ESPN3 in new deal 6 Sep 2010, 12:55 pm

Time Warner Cable has signed a new deal with Disney this week, giving their subscribers free access to the sports site ESPN3.

Because of the deal, 12.7 million Time Warner subscribers and 2.4 million Bright House subscribers will get free access to the site, and the ability to stream full games.

During the recent World Cup, ESPN says almost 8 million people tuned into the site at one point during the tournament.

The cable companies had long held out on ESPN3, citing excessive fees from Disney.

Additionally, the agreement will allow TW and BH to continue carrying the Disney Channel, ABC Family, Disney XD and ESPN 3D.

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Redbox hits one billion rentals 6 Sep 2010, 12:33 pm

DVD and Blu-ray rental company Redbox has hit a major milestone this weekend, one billion movie rentals.

As a promotion, the company is now giving away free rentals to users and starting a contest to give away a full Sony Entertainment System.

Redbox, which started a revolution when it began offering DVD rentals for $1 a day via thousands of kiosks, now says users rent almost 10 million movies per week.

The company has 24,000 rental kiosks in the U.S.

Redbox says (via NewTeeVee) the 1 billionth rental was a copy of "Clash of the Titans," rented from a kiosk in Florida.

Earlier this year, Redbox expanded its business by offering Blu-ray rentals, at $1.50 per night.

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Apple iOS 4.1 launching on Wednesday 6 Sep 2010, 12:14 pm

Apple's UK site has revealed this weekend that the iOS 4.1 software update will be released on September 8th.

The American site still lists the update as "coming soon."

Apple unveiled the update, along with a new Apple TV, revamped iPods and iTunes 10 last week at their September media event.

With 4.1 comes HDR photography support, 'Game Center,' HD video uploads and TV show rentals.

Furthermore, the update will fix bugs and other issues from the original 4.1 release. iPhone 3G owners should be ecstatic as 4.1 should eliminate the excessive slowdown caused by the OS.

It is important to note that iPad owners will not receive 4.1 and will have to wait for 4.2 to receive all the upgrades.

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FCC info leaked about HTC Android GSM/CDMA Slider 6 Sep 2010, 11:48 am

First leaked last month, but now finally official thanks to testing results posted by the FCC, HTC is launching a slider that will run dual 3G modems, one for CDMA, and one for GSM.

The pictures also reveal the smartphone will be headed to Verizon, likely within months.

While the internals have not been confirmed, the device does have a 4-inch multi-touch screen, a standard camera with single-LED flash and a full slide-out keypad.

Its most notable feature is the dual 3G modems, CDMA 2000 for EV-DO Rev. A access and a GSM 850 modem. The dual modems will allow owners to use the phone practically anywhere in the world.

Additionally, the phone is rumored to have an extremely fast 1.2GHz processor, although that is still rumor.

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'Duke Nukem Forever' finally coming in 2011 6 Sep 2010, 11:24 am

In 1997, the game Duke Nukem Forever was announced by George Broussard, one of the developers of the popular franchise.

Thirteen years later, the game has still not been released and "Forever" has become infamous.

Just this year, developer 3D Realms shut down the project, after it had been revived in 2009.

Finally, however, it appears the game will be hitting retail shelves, as the franchise rights have been transferred to Gearbox, the team behind Half-Life and Brothers in Arms.

Duke Nukem Forever will now launch for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Windows PCs in 2011.

Says Broussard: "Gearbox was the only home appropriate for the Duke Nukem brand. This will be a win-win situation for everyone involved, especially the fans."

"Fifteen years ago,Duke Nukem 3D helped launch my professional video game development career,” adds Gearbox president Randy Pitchford. "The Gearbox Software team and I are ecstatic that we have grown to a position to be able to pick up and carry the torch and help Duke rise back to glory in his time of need."

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RIM purchases app developer DataViz? 6 Sep 2010, 11:06 am

According to multiple reports, RIM has acquired the popular app developer DataViz for $50 million USD.

DataViz is the company behind Documents To Go, the very popular mobile productivity suite found on Android, BlackBerry, iOS and Maemo devices.

The company had been working on a WebOS version, but recently suspended development.

Outside of blog speculation, more concrete evidence of the acquisition comes via LinkedIn, where many DataViz employees have begun listing RIM as their employer.

Neither company has confirmed the purchase, as of yet.

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Android now controls a quarter of U.S. web traffic 6 Sep 2010, 10:25 am

According to Quantcast, Android continues to close the gap with Apple's iOS in regards to overall web traffic in the United States.

Android has pushed to 25 percent of the overall market, with Apple remaining the leader at 56 percent.

At its peak in September 2009, Apple controlled about 68 percent of the market. During the same period, Android only had 8 percent.

RIM, despite having a large share of the U.S. smartphone market, remained flat at 9 percent, thanks largely to a non-user-friendly Web browsing experience.

All other mobile OS' accounted for the remaining 10 percent of the web traffic.

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iPad with camera seen in picture? 5 Sep 2010, 10:27 pm

Thanks to 9to5mac, the world now has a blurry picture of an alleged next-generation iPad, one that includes a front-facing camera and the ability to use FaceTime, Apple's video conferencing software.

The picture shows the tablet in debugging mode for video calls. The site says field-tested iPhone 4 models had the same debugging mode revealed before its eventual launch.

While the photo is of debatable authenticity, most consumers and industry insiders have anticipated that the next-generation tablet will include at least one camera.

During the recent September media event, CEO Steve Jobs said HDR photography was headed to the iPad with the upcoming iOS firmware update, to version 4.2. The feature would seem useless without a camera.

Apple's new competitors, such as the Samsung Galaxy Tab and Toshiba Folio 100, include cameras, giving them a leg up on the iPad, in at least that feature.

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New Droid 2 ad taunts the iPhone 5 Sep 2010, 10:04 pm

Motorola's latest ad, promoting the Droid 2, has taunted the Apple iPhone, playing on the company's "there's an app for that" ad lineup.

The Droid 2 ad is simple, asking the question: "Flash websites? There's a phone for that."

Motorola's full-page ad was seen in newspapers over the weekend.

Continues the ad: "Flash sites require Flash capabilities. Seemed pretty simple to us." The Apple iPhone cannot playback Flash content, as CEO Steve Jobs wants to push HTML5 for Web browsing.

While Flash playback on Android 2.2 devices is far from perfect, it is better to at least have the ability.

Motorola and Apple have traded jabs recently, mainly over signal problems for the iPhone 4 and the Droid X.

Pic via Electronista:

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