Qtrax, an Internet company that promises the first free music download service paid for by advertisements, said Wednesday it had signed up the last of the four major recording companies and plans to relaunch next month.
The privately held New York firm's premature launch last year annoyed the major record labels with whom it hadn't yet signed licensing contracts.
When Corey Wynsma's wife got laid off a few months ago from her graphic design job, the couple did an inventory of their household budget. Cable TV seemed like an obvious luxury. So the couple, who live in Grand Rapids, Michigan, canceled their cable service and found another way to keep up with their favorite shows: on the Internet.
British cinema goers will have to wait until it opens next week to see if The Curious Case of Benjamin Button deserves the Oscar and Bafta nominations showered upon it. But thousands of people across the UK have already watched the film on their computers at home, thanks to the latest internet piracy phenomenon: live "streaming" of movies on YouTube-style websites.
Film piracy watchdogs are so concerned about the rapidly expanding phenomenon that they have now launched a major clampdown.
My CNET News colleague Charles Cooper's kvetching about YouTube not offering a download option for political videos seems to be answered. Such an option now appears right underneath the player on certain videos, including President-elect Barack Obama's weekly addresses.
At 8.40am on Monday 15 December, a new post appeared on an internet forum called the Darkside Release Group. "Darkside_RG" is a clearing house for internet pirates, a site dedicated to the online redistribution of movies, music and videogames. Its members happily spend their days sharing and discussing their ill-begotten booty on the site's many message boards.
The U.S. military, with help from Seattle startup Delve Networks, has launched a video-sharing Web site for troops, their families and supporters, a year and a half after restricting access to YouTube and other video sites.
TroopTube, as the new site is called, lets people register as members of one of the branches of the armed forces, family, civilian Defense Department employees or supporters. Members can upload personal videos from anywhere with an Internet connection, but a Pentagon employee screens each for taste, copyright violations and national security issues.
With the economy worsening and layoffs hitting more and more tech firms, IT news can be a bit depressing these days. Here's a short list of movies for the easily-annoyed geek to steer clear of. One of the most tried-and-trusted methods for beating the blues has always been to curl up with a good movie or two and get whisked away into another world.
Way back in January, Netflix promised to add Mac video streaming to its “Watch Instantly” feature before the end of 2008. Well, they’ve done it, ironically, with the help of Microsoft technology. Microsoft’s Silverlight to the rescue.
But hold onto your horses. Netflix calls this their second generation player, so it will likely cover PCs as well, and it also states that it will only roll out to a limited number of users at first. Yes, once again we consumers are beta-testing for someone.
On Monday Boxee, the Mac, Linux, and Apple TV-only Xbox Media Center derivative, announced the immediate support of video programming from Hulu and CBS. Users are now able to access the entirety both services catalogs of movies and TV shows through Boxee's interface. I spent the greater part of last night giving it a spin and while not perfect, it's off to a tremendous start.
The BBC is looking to create an open industry standard IPTV platform to enable content providers to easily launch internet TV services, according to Erik Huggers, the broadcaster's director of future media & technology speaking at mipcom.
Huggers said the service, codenamed Canvas, would potentially be available through a set-top box, and enable "any service to build applications onto the platform."
