Illegal Music Sharing...any takers?

A federal jury in Duluth, Minn., on Thursday ordered a Minneapolis woman to pay US$220,000 to six music companies for illegally downloading and sharing copyrighted music over a peer-to-peer network.

The 12-person jury said Jammie Thomas must pay $9,250 for each of the 24 songs that were the focus of the case. In their complaint, the six music companies that sued her had claimed that Thomas had illegally shared a total of 1,702 songs over the Kazaa file-sharing network, but they chose to focus on a representative list of 24 songs.

The verdict was greeted with dismay by many in the blogosphere who have been following the case closely for some time now.

New York lawyer Ray Beckerman, writing in the Recording Industry vs The People blog, called the verdict "one of the most irrational things I have ever seen in my life in the law."

"A verdict of $222,000 for infringement of 24 song files worth a total of $23.76?" he asked. "It is an outrage, and I hope it is a wake-up call to the world that we all need to start supporting the defendants in these cases."

Commenting on Gizmodo.com, a reader identifying himself as DirtyBacon said he was shocked but not surprised by the verdict. "I guess my two mp3 players, that have thousands of songs that I bought on CD, are illegal contraband," he said. "My options of moving to Asian countries for work are looking more appealing. I've officially lost faith."

The six music companies that sued Thomas were Capitol Records Inc., Sony BMG, Arista Records LLC, Interscope Records Inc., UMG Recordings Inc. and Warner Bros. Records Inc.

Article Source: PC World

Want a lightsaber?

From the Department of Easy Enough To Predict: LucasArts has announced that the "next-generation action adventure" of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed will be coming to the Wii, as well as the PS3 and Xbox 360 (and Nintendo DS and PSP and PS2).

Difference is with the Wii version that yes, next year when it's released, you'll be able to wave the Wiimote around and get that authentic yeum-yeum noise of a lightsaber. (Light saber? Sabre?) The nunchuk, meanwhile, will let you enact your character's force powers. In the case of Yoda, this would presumably mean spinning high in the air and sentences backwards speaking in.

Apparently the game will be set in the period between Star Wars III and IV (so, after the creation of Darth Vader - when the whole galaxy has for years sort-of ruled by Jedi masters using Da Force - but before the period when Han Solo, certainly 20 years older than Luke Skywalker, can say he's flown the length and breadth of the galaxy and never heard people talk about a "Force". That make any sense to you?) and you will play Darth Vader's "apprentice".

Read More on Guardian.co.uk

Apple unveils new wireless iPod Touch

A new generation of iPod player with an extra wide screen and wireless internet connection has been unveiled by Apple.

The newest incarnation of the iconic MP3 player will allow users to surf the web, store photos, watch internet videos and download music directly to the device.

The new "iPod Touch", features a 3.5-inch, touch-screen display on which light finger touches allow the user to scroll through menus, and use two fingers to resize pictures. The wireless internet access and the Safari web browser, including the Google and Yahoo search engines, offers access to the popular YouTube video-sharing website.

The iPod touch will be available in the UK later this month. An 8GB memory version capable of holding up to 1,750 songs will cost £199 and the 16GB model holding 3,500 songs will cost £269.

It comes in bright colours and is a much squarer shape than previous generations of the gadget.

Speaking from his company’s headquarters in San Francisco, California, Steve Jobs, chief executive and founder of Apple joked that his company’s new iPod was "one of the seven wonders of the world".

"This is the revolution in how to enjoy your music," he said.

The device was unveiled in a launch broadcast live from California to eager Apple enthusiasts and journalists around the world. Every new announcement was met with whoops and cheers.

Mr Jobs also unveiled the new iPod Nano, which features a 2.5-inch screen for watching movies and playing built-in games. "It’s incredibly tiny. It’s incredibly thin," he said.

The Nano features a 320-by-240-pixel screen with 24 hours of audio playback. "We think it’s really, really beautiful," Mr Jobs said. The company also plans to release the sleek iPhone in the UK before Christmas priced somewhere between £300 and £400.

News Source: The Telegraph

Hackers Cracked iPhone

Hackers have succeeded in (partially) unlocking the iPhone so Apple's much-hyped device can be used on at least one network other than AT&T.

Although the iPhone Development Project team has broken the shackles tying the device and AT&T directly, there are still limitations that mean customers can use pre-paid SIMs from Cingular, for example, but not yet use any SIM of their choice.

A tool called iASign will unlock the iPhone allowing it to be used with any singular or AT&T SIM with FULL functionality of the iPhone, avoiding the need to use the iPhone-specific SIM that comes with the device. Virtual network operator pre-paid SIMs also work, providing these operators piggy-back on AT&T's network.

Using alternative SIMs provides several advantages. In the case of a Cingular SIM, there's no need to sign up to a new two-year contract. Those whose businesses subscribe to Cingular can use company SIMs on personally-bought iPhones. Finally, those not wishing to tie themselves to a contract can use pre-paid SIMs.

Hackers have been hard at work trying to unlock the functionality of the iPhone since the devices were released in the US earlier this month. Reverse engineer Jon Lech Johansen (DVD Jon) discovered a way to get iPod and Wi-Fi - though not the phone - features of the device working without signing up to AT&T within three days of its release.

Read Full Story at: theregister.co.uk

Logitech Harmony 880 Advanced Universal Remote

So we were thinking about getting a new TV, and we asked ourselves: what is that we enjoy most about the television watching experience? Is it the high-impact action of televised poker? The sensitive terminal illness dramas on that ladies’ cable network? The soul-cratering emptiness that is the contemporary sitcom? The mentally unstable human dregs who populate reality TV? Yes, of course, we love all of that and more. But then it hit us: as wonderful as TV is, our favorite part is the clicking, the flipping, the endless search for something better on another channel. It’s not the prey we care about – it’s the hunt.

So we said, “Screw the new TV. Let’s get a new remote.” Now we enjoy the Logitech Harmony 880 Advanced Universal Remote more than we ever enjoyed all the CSI and Law and Order spinoffs combined. For one thing, it’s got a little screen of its own, so it’s kinda like a remote and a TV*.

Whoa. We just blew our own minds.

Read Full Story at : Woot.com

Other resouces: Official Product page for Logitech Harmony 880 Advanced Universal Remote