How to rip DVD to iTunes and why Apple won’t let it?

iTunes can rip a CD and make it rapidly available for you to listen to on your iPhone/iPod or stream around your house via other computers, or AppleTV/Airtunes and a variety of third party products. What about rip DVD to iTunes?

One would think that rip DVD to iTunes wouldn't be that big of a challenge for Apple, it just have to be locked into a proprietary, DRM-encoded iTunes-only format. You'd insert the disc into your PC, and iTunes would ask how you'd like to rip DVD to iTunes: optimized for Apple TV streaming or optimized for iPod/iPhone. Once it was in iTunes, the files could be transferred within the entire Apple products: the PC desktop (Windows and Mac iTunes libraries), the living room (Apple TV), and the portable realm (iPod and iPhone).

Sounds great, right? Unfortunately, I don't think Apple will let the ripping DVD to iTunes thing happen anytime soon.

First, The Hollywood big movie studio will kill every product that hurt their copyright protection, even if their position isn't legally tenable, they could try to tie down Apple in expensive litigation.

Secondly--and more importantly--it's not really in Apple's financial interest to add DVD to iTunes feature. The company wants to expand, not shrink the demand for its online iTunes Store: Apple makes nothing if you rip DVD to iTunes, but it (and its studio partners) earns from $3 to $15 per click, depending if you rent or buy. The company isn't likely to kill off that revenue stream anytime soon.

Let’s take a look at the RealNetworks' RealDVD software--which allows users to legally rip DVD movies to their PC hard drives. It was released in Oct 2008, and the most telling comment:
"Why I can’t rip DVD to iTunes? I need it for my portable device." Indeed, Real's product lets you move ripped DVD movies between a total of five licensed PCs, there's no provision for network streaming, and no support for transferring the movies to portable devices."

The following is the Google search trends of “RealDVD” in last 12 month:



It completed proved that costumers have lost their interesting on this DVD ripping software, and by now, the Hollywood big movie studio and RealNetworks are still in court.

How to rip DVD to iTunes with third party software?

This is the last reason why Apple won’t add DVD ripping feature to iTunes, savvy consumers would say:“We are already doing the DVD to iTunes thing.” Yes, there are so many freeware/shareware can rip DVD to iTunes now，Aimersoft DVD ripper, Handbrake, (If you are a Mac user,please click here for DVD ripper for Mac)some of these third party software actually do a good job. You can rip DVD to almost any video formats and then do whatever you'd like with these files--including watch it on your PC, stream it to an Apple TV, or transfer it to your portable devices iPod/iPhone/Zune/PSP/etc, and perhaps Apple is happy enough with the status quo. It's less expensive for them that way, and doesn't offend the same media companies Apple has deals with for iTunes rentals and downloads.



Original article from http://www.aimersoft.com/tutorial/dvd-to-itunes.html
Authorized reproduce

Related article: Convert DVD to iTunes for iPhone 4G on Mac OS

$30,000 to fill an iPod

So Microsoft's latest Apple Tax ad actually goes after the iPod and promotes the Zune, which is interesting on a number of levels. The argument? That filling a 120 GB iPod with songs from the iTunes Store would cost about $30,000. Or you could just get a Zune and subscribe to a Zune Pass for $15 a month, which is a little.

While some will argue nonsensically about how you don't "own" subscription music, I'd also point out that that $15 includes 10 free songs each month, which over time, would amount to quite a music collection, presumably of music you tried and then liked so much you decided to buy it. That's a lot better than spending a buck a song, only to later discover your musical tastes have evolved. As they will.

By the way: How long would it take to spend $30,000 on Zune Pass? About 2000 months, or over 166 years. In that amount of time, your musical tastes will surely change several times, too. :) Good thing you didn't waste money buying that music, eh?

Interesting ad.

via:

blogs.digitalmediaonlineinc

Should Apple Enable DVD Ripping in iTunes?

iTunes can rip a CD and make the tracks rapidly available for you to listen to on your iPhone (or iPod) or stream around your house via other computers, or AppleTV/Airtunes and a variety of third party products.

ZDNet thinks they should do the same with DVDs. Unfortunately, it’s not that easy. Why? While ripping CDs is legal in the US, ripping DVDs is not and Hollywood and Big Media would do their best to sue any product, iTunes included, into oblivion if put that feature in. In fact, that’s what they’re doing with Real’s RealDVD right now. This is based on the claim that it violates the DMCA by breaking copy protection, though Real wraps copy protection of their own around the ripped movies).

Apple, of course, has $30 billion in the bank, which could fund one heckuva legal battle (and maybe even get the EFF on their side?) If anyone is in the position to help consumers retain fair use of their media, and increase the functionality and appeal of their own product at the same time, it’s certainly Apple.

But would they spend their time and money litigating the right to rip content from old, legacy media when they’re busily trying to get people to embrace digital downloads of the same content as the “next big thing”? Should they?

For consumers, it would be the same win as letting iTunes rip CDs even as music downloads were coming online. Apple maintains they run iTunes at low-profit levels simply to fuel hardware sales. The same model holds true for DVDs. Some consumers have huge collections of legacy DVDs and would love nothing more than easily, officially, load them up into iTunes and sync them over to their iPhone, iPod, set top box, computer, etc. alongside new digital downloads.

Of course, savvy consumers are already doing this with free, third party programs, and perhaps Apple is happy enough with the status quo. It’s less expensive for them that way, and doesn’t offend the same media companies Apple has deals with for iTunes rentals and downloads.

So the question is, are you happy with the status quo as well? Or is this a fight Apple should be fighting?

[via digitalmediaonline]

How to convert DVD to FLV, SWF and upload Flash Video to Youtube, Google & Myspace

This article is about how to convert DVD to FLV, SWF with a DVD to flash converter software.

As we know FLV and SWF is Flash video formats and notable users of the Flash Video format include YouTube, Google Video, Yahoo! Video, Reuters.com, metacafe, and many other news providers.

So, if you want to upload your DVD to most of the online video providers such as Youtube, Google, Myspace, you might need to know how to convert DVD to FLV, SWF.

Ok, let’s start to learn how to convert DVD to FLV, SWF

Step 1: Download a DVD to flash Converter or DVD Ripper and install it, Aimersoft DVD Ripper for example

Step2: Insert your DVD disc into your DVD-Rom, then run the software, click "File" at the top left corner to load the DVD Rom/DVD Folder/ISO file/IFO file. Select the chapters or titles you want to convert, check the “merge into one file” box so the converted chapters or clips can be merged into one video file.



Step3: Select output formats as FLV or SWF to convert DVD to FLV, SWF



Step4: “Edit” and “Settings”

The “edit” interface can help you trim, crop video and also change the effect such as brightness, contrast and saturation.
(With the trim function you can convert any parts of the DVD to FLV, SWF to upload them, I think it’s useful for long DVD movie.)

And you can also get a higher quality video or faster conversion speed by adjusting the video and audio parameters.

After all these done, you can see the conversion time length and estimated output size at main interface, then just press “Start button” to start convert DVD to FLV or SWF.

PSP 3000 jailbreak is coming soon !

The PSP homebrew community was rocked last week by news that independent developers Davee and Bubbletune have perfected their Homebrew Enabler (HEN). This PSP 3000 homebrew hack potentially allows hackers direct access to kernel mode on the device, bypassing Sony's tough new security measures and allowing all kinds of code to run on the machine.

So far the only proof that this exploit works is a YouTube video (below) showing the TIFF Image Exploit running on Firmware 5.03, changing the firmware version and MAC address on a PSP 3000 unit. This comes after a picture purporting to show a Gameboy SP emulator running on a PSP-3000 via the HEN exploit. According to the developers, the video proves that their code survives a reboot and the system software and MAC address can be changed. This is something that only can be done with a kernel exploit. However, the blurry quality of the video and the lack of any more substantial proof has many wondering if this exploit actually works, and if it can deliver on the promise of fully unlocking the PSP 3000.

After all, if you were a developer who'd just cracked the PSP 3000 once and for all, wouldn't you choose something more exciting to show off rather than a MAC address change?

via: digitalmediaonline

How to watch video on Nintendo DS with DPG Converter + Moonshell

This article describes two methods to watch video on Nintendo DS: Moonshell + BatchDPG + AviSynth , this is a free method, and another one is Moonshell + DPG Converter which is more easy with a little cost.

DPG - Also known as nDs-mPeG, usually abbreviated DPG, is a special format of MPEG-1 video specifically for playback using the homebrew Moonshell program for the Nintendo DS. So, for watching video on Nintendo DS we have to convert video to DPG with a DPG Converter.

Moonshell - a homebrew multimedia player for the Nintendo DS and Nintendo DS lite dual-screen handheld videogame systems.

Now, let start to watch Video on Nintendo DS with DPG Converter + Moonshell

Part 1, Watch Video on Nintendo DS with Moonshell + BatchDPG + AviSynth

Programs you will need:

AviSynth: Download
Microsoft .NET: Download
BatchDPG (A free DPG encoder need to work with AvisSynth): Download
Moonshell: Download
ffdshow Download

Step 1:
Downlod and install AviSynth, Microsoft .Net Framework 3.0 and ffdshow on your computer. Once you have all that done, you can download BatchDPG, and Moonshell.

Step 2: Download BatchDPG + Moonshell
Download BatchDPG from the above link, extract it to wherever. Also make sure you copy "avisynth.dll" to C:\Windows\System32 directory.
Afterwards, click BatchDPGMTv2.exe to open up BatchDPG, you can see the interface below.



Click "browse" next to media file and select your media file. Once your video is loaded, please input one of the two recommended settings in the section below and select a temporary path and final output path of your video. Once you are done, just click "Add" and click "Run". Please repeat if you have any more videos.

BatchDPG 1.3 Beta 5 Recommended Settings For Moonshell 1.71

Fullscreen

FPS: 20
Video bitrate: 386
Max bitrate: 512
Passes: 3
Profile: Ultra
Resizer - Spline16
Width: 256
Height: 192
Audio bitrate: 128
Samplerate: 32768
Mode: Joint Stereo
Normalize: On

Widescreen

FPS: 22
Video bitrate: 386
Max bitrate: 512
Passes: 3
Profile: Ultra
Resizer - Spline16
Width: 256
Height: 144
Audio bitrate: 128
Samplerate: 32768
Mode: Joint Stereo
Normalize: On

Tips: You can lower the amount of passes to reduce encoding time at the possible expense of quality.

Step 3: Download Moonshell from the above link and extract it. Insert you SD Card and transfer the extracted Moonshell files and converted DPG video files from your computer to SD Card.
Then, your can open up your Nintendo DS, enter the DS Card –> MoonShell and play your video.

Note: Some types of DS Card (such as SuperCard-DS) already installed Moonshell, just check your DS Card and if there it is, just ignore step 3.


Part 2 Watch video on Nintendo DS with DPG Converter + Moonshell

Step 1: You also need to download Moonshell from the above link if your Nintendo DS doesn’t have it in your SD Card.

Step 2: Just Download this DPG Converter, use it to convert video to DPG formats and transfer DPG files to your Nintendo DS with SD Card.
This DPG Converter is very professional for converting video to DPG, it can convert almost all video formats to DPG, provides video editing (crop, trim, effect adjust, watermark edit and plug-in subtitle) and also supports batch conversion.

MKV Format and Tips of Playing MKV Files on Mac

It can hold different types of video and audio. For example, there might be an .AVI file contained within the .MKV file.

The Matroska Multimedia Container is an open standard free Container format, a file format that can hold an unlimited number of video, audio, picture or subtitle tracks inside a single file. It is intended to serve as a universal format for storing common multimedia content, like movies or TV shows. Matroska is similar in conception to other containers like AVI, MP4 or ASF, but is entirely open in specification, with implementations consisting mostly of open source software. Matroska file types are .MKV for video (with subtitles and audio), .MKA for audio-only files and .MKS for subtitles only. High Definition movies in 720 or 1080 pixel width format are often encoded and packaged as a Matroska format video with a .mkv file extension.

These excellent and free multimedia players can tackle many of the video formats unknown to QuickTime. They contain the decoder to decode the .mkv files. They will also play many of the formats you will find inside the .mkv file.

How to use MKV Converter for Mac to convert MKV on Mac for free?

( And here is an article about How to use MKV converter to convert MKV on Windows? )

The totally free video converter, iSquint - developed by Techspanion, can convert MKV to iPod (Nano, Classic, touch), convert MKV to iPhone, Apple TV, Xbox 360, PSP, PS3, AVI, MP4, MPEG, Flash and WMV. But Techspanion has been discontinue, you can download the final version on macupdate.com.
And after an outcry from fans, iSquint, the popular video converter on Mac OS X have now gone open source. It has got new name Film Redux. You can download its open source and built it by yourself. Here is a tutorial: How to build iSquint and VisualHub?

If you don't mind paying a little bit extra money for high quality and technical support, you can also switch to professional mac video converter. As the continuator of iSquint, iSkysoft video converter for Mac does this job well.

Now, you can enjoy MKV files unlimitedly on your Mac.

T-Mobile-branded HTC Touch Pro2 appears in the wild

It's really no secret that the Touch Pro2 is destined to arrive in the States on T-Mobile, but this is the first time we've seen the T-Mo edition not, uh, drippings with goo. And yes, that's a US-spec keyboard and the "fewer dots" US T-Mobile logo, so this looks like the real thing -- hopefully that means a launch is imminent. Hit the read link for a bunch more shots.
Update: Looks like the site is down for now, but thankfully Google cache has it on hand.

via: engadget

Apple iPhone & iPod Touch sales pass 37 million

Apple COO Tim Cook revealed during a second quarter earnings call on Tuesday that sales of the company's iPhone and iPod Touch devices have passed 37 million units. He said that sales of the touch-screen handhelds had more than doubled year over year. The sales figures combined make it an enormous platform for developers, particularly with games, which have been the most popular downloads from the App Store since it launched 9 months ago.

Apple and its development partners will soon "unleash a whole new level of innovation that keeps Apple years ahead of everyone else," according to Cook. The company said the success of the iPod Touch is clearly driven by the App Store. "All genres [on the App Store] are very popular," said Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer, "but games are quite popular. That's one of the reasons the iPod touch has been such a success."

In his preamble, Oppenheimer said the App Store now totals more than 35,000 applications. The company expects to pass 1 billion App downloads sometime on Thursday, April 23. It has also held its position on top of the portable media player market, with NPD recently confirming that Apple still holds 70 percent of the market in the U.S., and gains more ground each year worldwide.

via: afterdawn

Apple sinks lower, approving Baby Shaker, Poop the World apps

Apple continued to lower its standards for acceptable App Store content this week with the approval of two new applications, one designed to simulate violent, life-threatening acts on an infant. The object of Baby Shaker from Sikalosoft is to stop the crying of a baby pictured on screen by shaking the iPhone or iPod touch, until the crying stops and two red “x” marks appear over its eyes. Jennipher Dickens, whose son Christopher was injured by being shaken by his father, told Cnet, “As a mother of a child who was violently shaken at 7 weeks old, causing a severe brain injury, and the founder of a national organization for Shaken Baby Syndrome prevention (as well as the communications director for a national organization helping children with brain injuries), I don’t have to tell you how much this horrifies me!!!”
Update: Baby Shaker was removed from the iTunes Store shortly following the publication of this story.

Meanwhile, the scatalogical Poop the World from SWS Digital is designed to let iPhone and iPod touch users share details of their bowel movements, including time, place, consistency, and smell, with other users across the globe. Users are encouraged to select from one of 20 shapes that best approximate their most recent output, then a scent from a long list of possible smells. Details, including location, are then uploaded to SWS’ servers, allowing other users to track the details. Promoted by the developer with toilet paper rolls that feature the App Store logo, the app even offers trophies to users who accomplish set “goals.” Poop the World and Baby Shaker are available now from the App Store and sell for $2 and $1, respectively.

via: ilounge

Nokia to replace 5800 handset with capacitive touch panel version

According to sources at Taiwan handset component suppliers, Nokia is moving to replace the resistive touch panel used in the popular 5800 handset with a capacitive touch panel. The change is being made in order to compete more effectively with the products from Apple, Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics on the market.

The initial orders from Nokia are enough for two million 5800 handsets, and shipments of the new version are expected to begin in May-June this year. Nokia's design and pricing strategy for the 5800 handset have been very successful, leading to sales of over three million units so far since the device was launched in November 2008.

Availability for the Nokia N97 handset is expected in the second quarter, while Nokia is also expected to roll out more models with capacitive touch panels, QWERTY keyboards and with ultra-thin designs during the third quarter.

via afterdawn

Hulu app coming to the iPhone soon

Silicon Alley Insider is reporting that a dedicated Hulu application is indeed on its way to the iPhone and should be here in just a few months.

SAI says the application will work over Wi-Fi and AT&T's 3G network, meaning that users will be able to view programming anywhere with a fast data connection.

Rumors suggesting that an iPhone-friendly version of Hulu swirled around this time last year, however, they predated the launch of the App Store, and Hulu flat-out denied that one was being worked on.

This time around, though, it's far more plausible, with the upcoming iPhone OS 3.0 software update, which lets developers bake streaming media into their applications. For Hulu, this means that the advertising could be stuck into the mobile stream and that users would be able to watch videos without leaving the application.

One of the things that keep this rumor from holding water is that Hulu is in direct competition with Apple's iTunes business. Users of Hulu can watch ad-supported, full-length television shows and movies on their personal computers for free, instead of paying Apple to download a copy for offline viewing.

If such an app were available on the iPhone, it would also offer portable TV and movie watching, something not yet offered in Apple's own mobile iTunes app, which is limited to video podcasts. In past instances of this, the company has simply denied applications such as Podcaster from making it through the app approval process, only to launch it as a first party feature later on.
On the other hand, some of Hulu's competitors have already gotten a foot in the door, including Joost and CBS-owned TV.com, which has its own iPhone application that streams in content in chunks. In addition, Google's YouTube, whose application comes preinstalled on the iPhone, has recently reached an agreement with major studios, including Sony Pictures, Lions Gate Entertainment, and CBS (publisher of CNET News), to offer visitors full-length TV shows and feature films.

If Hulu can't manage to pull off getting advertisements in the stream, using this system, it would be fairly simple to force users to sit through advertisements between clips.

via news.cnnet

More Zune HD touch Details Emerge

After the leaked pictures of the Zune HD appeared on Saturday, more unconfirmed technical specifications of the device have now emerged. Microsoft's new portable media player is set to go neck-to-neck with Apple's iPod Touch, as the specifications of the Zune HD make it a viable contender.

The Zune HD is set to feature a multitouch (capacitive) OLED screen in a 16:9 aspect ratio and will have a TV out port on the side (apparently HDMI). Coming in 16 and 32GB versions, the device will also support wireless syncing to your computer. Some even speculate the PMP will support 3D Xbox games, if the Zune HD will actually use Nvidia's Tegra chipset.
The new details also mention a Web browser on the Zune HD, which in turn supports multitouch. No word on what kind of browser this will be, but let's hope it won't be anything similar to Internet Explorer on Windows Mobile. As previously reported, the Zune HD is set to launch this fall (probably September) with new details of international availability in Canada, the U.K, and France.

What is Microsoft cooking?

The tech blogosphere is also talking today about Zune-themed mobile phones. AdWeek reports that Microsoft is now taking bids for an ad campaign for a Zune mobile application dubbed Pink.
While some speculate that the Zune HD is likely to run on the long-overdue Windows Mobile 6.5 (expected in Q4, same as the Zune HD), it's more likely that WM phones would just share some services and feature with the new Zune.

via pcworld

Sony prices first touchscreen Walkman players

Sony has announced the price of its first ever touchscreen Walkman media players, part of the NX-X1000 series.

The NW-X1050, which will hit Japan on April 25th, will sell for $400 USD and has 16GB of built-in flash memory while its higher capacity brother, the NW-X1060, will sell for $500 USD and will include 32GB of memory.

Each player supports Wi-Fi and will allow playback of YouTube videos and the downloading of podcasts. Also of note, the players have integrated FM and 1Seg TV tuners and will allow recording of content if broadcasters support it.

The media players have nice OLED touchscreens and for audio support AAC, MP3 and WMA. For video files, MPEG-4, H.264 and WMV are supported.

EX earphones are bundled with each player and offer integrated noise reduction.

via afterdawn

Buy.com selling imported, unlocked iPhone 3G

Online retailer Buy.com has begun sales of “never-locked" iPhone 3G units, although it is unclear exactly where the units are from or whether they are protected by Apple’s standard one-year warranty. The units, which are listed as 16GB models but without any color specification, are priced at $800 each; a video accompanying the listing says the iPhones come from “overseas,” and may include instructions and other materials printed in Italian or some other non-English language. Confusingly, though both the video and the top portion of the listing indicate that the phones include the “Apple guarantee,” a separate block of text farther down the page indicates the phone “can only be returned to the distributor under” a “30 Day Limited Warranty.” Finally, although the page states that the phone can be used with T-Mobile in the U.S., T-Mobile’s 3G network operates on a different frequency than those supported by the iPhone 3G, meaning the device would be limited to standard EDGE connectivity when using T-Mobile’s network.

via ilounge

HP MediaSmart now streams to iPhone, iPod

A free firmware update to HP's MediaSmart Server has brought some nice improvements, providing remote video streaming and video conversion of unprotected content. The update enables the server to automatically convert videos (including unprotected DVDs) into two resolutions; the original, high-resolution file to stream to devices on a home network including PCs, Macs and gaming systems, and the mobile resolution file devices such as iPod touch, iPhone and PlayStation Portable (PSP).

The video converter will transcode most popular video formats into both high and mobile quality MPEG-4 (H.264) versions. "This new feature will help eliminate the frustration people experience when attempting to stream their videos to connected devices in the home or remotely to their mobile devices," said Jason Zajac, vice president and general manager, Worldwide Attach Group, HP.

Owners of an iPod touch and iPhone can download a new HP MediaSmart Server iStream application at no charge from the iTunes App Store, enabling them to stay connected to their digital media stored on the MediaSmart Server. Other software enhancements include an improved mobile streaming user experience, a more robust HP Media Collector, an improved Apple Time Machine configuration, and the ability to create public and private albums in the Photo Viewer.

via afterdawn

Play iTunes music on No-Apple players with AAC to MP3 converter

Apple on Tuesday followed through on its promise to remove all digital rights management (DRM) from music sold on the iTunes Store.

All songs on the iTunes Store are now available at 256kbps AAC encoding, which Apple says is virtually indistinguishable from the original recordings.



Why we need to convert AAC to MP3?



First, can we now just move the song purchased from iTunes to another player ?



Yes, but only if that player supports AAC. Obviously, iPods do, and some other players do as well, like the Sony Walkman NWZ-S738F, the Archos 5, and, yes, even the Microsoft Zune. But, if you want to play the music on other players that not support AAC, you need to find a AAC to MP3 converter to convert AAC to MP3 which can be accepted by almost all music players.



Second, what about the previously purchased iTunes tracks, does them still have DRM? If so, can I upgrade them?



Of course, and Apple is offering users a way to upgrade all of their existing music to DRM-free songs. Upgrading costs 30 cents per song. If you upgrade an entire album, it will cost 30 percent of the original album price and music videos can be upgraded for 60 cents. You can get to this upgrade link on the iTunes Store by clicking on "Upgrade to iTunes Plus."



But, if you purchased a lot of 99-cent tracks on iTunes over the years and want to find an more efficient way to remove the DRM, you can also try an AAC to MP3 converter, of cause it should be an DRM remover too.




How to convert AAC to MP3 with AAC to MP3 converter ?



First, download AAC to MP3 converter and install it.



Following is the screen shoot of a professional AAC to MP3 Converter called Aimersoft AlMusic Converter, it supports both protected and unprotected AAC to MP3 conversion and can also remove DRM from iTunes music.







Then, you can use it to convert AAC to MP3 and remove DRM with three clicks.



1. Click “Add” to load AAC files with the postfix .M4A (unprotected) or M4P. (copy-protected).

2. Click “drop-download” list at the bottom to select output format.

3. Click “start” to start conversion



And you can drag and drop all your music files to AAC to MP3 converter at a time, then do something else till it is finished.

DRM Ends, Variable Pricing Begins for iTunes Music

Apple on Tuesday followed through on its promise to remove all digital rights management (DRM) from music sold on the iTunes Store. The company also unveiled tiered pricing for individual songs and albums.
All songs on the iTunes Store are now available at 256kbps AAC encoding, which Apple says is virtually indistinguishable from the original recordings. Apple began the process of converting its music to remove DRM in January when Phil Schiller announced the move during his keynote address at Macworld Expo.
The other change to the iTunes Store involves pricing. Apple adopted new pricing options that include selling songs for 69 cents, 99 cents or $1.29. While there is no clear way to determine what songs will be priced at, Schiller did say that more songs would be priced at 69 cents than $1.29.
Of course, Apple is offering users a way to upgrade all of their existing music to DRM-free songs. You can get to this link on the iTunes Store by clicking on "Upgrade to iTunes Plus."

New iPhone to have 3.2-megapixel camera?

2-megapixel camera, an upgrade from the current model's 2.0-megapixel camera.
The sources claim that OmniVision has received orders for 3.2-megapixel CMOS sensors that are intended for upcoming iPhones, and add that Aptina and STMicroelectronics are also competing for the orders.
The reports also claim that OmniVision has secured orders to produce 5.2-megapixel sensors for Apple, although it is unclear what device they will be used in. The sources say the end product is expected to launch in Q3 2009 however.
Apple has been rumored to be working on netbooks, new iPods, and a new iPhone, all of which could use the sensors.

via afterdawn

Turn Your IPod or IPhone Into a Portable Drive

Whether you use your iPod or iPhone for entertainment, communication, or to amplify your cool quotient, all models share one thing in common: They can function as portable storage devices. Depending on the model, your device features either a hard drive or flash drive that allows you to read and write files to it just like an external drive once you enable it to do so. Here's how.

Enable your iPod

You can turn any iPod (except iPod touch, see below) into a portable drive using iTunes. If you manually manage your music instead of having iTunes automatically sync songs, you don't need to do anything-your iPod is already set to function as an external drive, and will mount and be accessible on your desktop whenever you connect it.

If you set iTunes to automatically sync music to your iPod, you'll need to enable disk use; connect your iPod to your Mac, open iTunes, and select your iPod in the Source pane under Devices. Click the Summary tab (or Settings tab for iPod shuffle) and then select the "Enable disk use" checkbox. Your iPod will now mount as a drive volume on your desktop whenever you connect it.

iPod shuffle users and those with any click-wheel iPod that can be synced over USB running iTunes 8.0 or later can additionally allocate the amount of disk space that will be reserved for storage when autofilling the iPod. To do this with an iPod other than an iPod shuffle, plug in the iPod, select it in the Devices area, click the triangle next to it to expose its contents, click on the Music entry, click the Settings button that appears at the bottom of the iTunes window, and in the resulting Autofill Settings window, use the Reserve Space for Disk Use slider to determine how much of the iPod's storage media will be reserved for data. Note that this slider works only when autofilling the iPod. If you sync data either automatically or manually to the iPod, this slider's settings will be ignored.

Enable your iPhone or iPod touch

Apple doesn't allow you to enable disk use on an iPhone or iPod touch, but that doesn't mean you can't turn either into a portable storage device if it's got space to spare. Here are a few iPhone apps that'll turn your iPhone or iPod touch into a wireless (yes, wireless!) drive. You might want to look at the user reviews in iTunes first before you give them a try.

Avatron Software Air Sharing, $5 (iTunes App Store)

Magnetism Studios FileMagnet, $5 (iTunes App Store)

mAPPn Discover, free (iTunes App Store)

Veiosoft DataCase, $7 (iTunes App Store)

Aditionally, you can use Ecamm Networks' $20 PhoneView to copy files to and from an iPhone or iPod touch.

via pcworld

Convert MKV Files for Playback on PlayStation3

If you have some videos in the .MKV format you're itching to play on your PlayStation3, check out this simple tutorial for converting them using mkv2vob.


What you will need:
- An MKV file
- MKV2VOB
- A PS3

What MKV2VOB does is remux an MKV file with x264 video and AC3 audio into a VOB file which is playable on your Playstation 3. Before you ask...no, this will not result in the loss of quality because the audio or video are not touched. The streams are split and mixed into the VOB file.


So you've got your MKV file now and you are ready to start remixing it:
- First, you have to open MKV2VOB and select the file which you would like to work on and then select where you would like to save the finished file. When you have done this, click "Save".


- You will then have a dialog box pop up that asks if you want to enable automatic MPEG2 transcoding. It is recommended that you click "Yes".

- Another box will then pop up when you start the whole process. Do not close this box. Wait for it to complete what it is doing.

- When that box has closed, another box will open. Again, do not close or mess with this box. Wait for it to complete what it is doing.

- When that box has finished doing what it is doing, yet another box will open. Leave this alone and do not close it.

- When that box has closed the task is complete and you should be presented with a "Remuxing Complete" box.

How to remove iTunes DRM copy-protection and burn iTunes movie to DVD?

How to remove iTunes DRM copy-protection and burn iTunes movie to DVD?

Many friends ask me how to burn iTunes movies to DVD, so that they can enjoy their movies on large screen TV. For computer newbie, I will recommend them to get an Apple TV; it can connect your iTunes library to TV, the only thing you need to do is to sync movies from iTunes to Apple TV box. An Apple TV costs $299, if you think this is beyond your budget, you can use software to do that same thing, which is a lot cheaper.
Now, let me explain the details. Because movies and TV shows purchased from iTunes store have DRM copy-protection, you have to remove the DRM protection before burning them to DVDs for playback on your home DVD player.

What you need are: Aimersoft DVD Creator & Aimersoft Media Converter. You can download them from:
http://www.aimersoft.com/dvd-creator.html#114

http://www.aimersoft.com/drm-media-converter.html#114

Part1. How to remove DRM copy-protect from iTunes purchased movie or TV shows?
Step1. Download and install Aimersoft Media Converter, just follow the installation wizard, this software will install several high-speed dubbings to speed up the conversion, when you see the pop up warning messages, just click “Keep on going” to finish the installation, which may take a few minutes.

Step2. Then run the Media Converter, click “Add” button to load your iTunes purchased movies or TV shows, the default directory is My Document\My Music\iTunes\iTunes Music
In the “Convert Video to” drop down list, select “WMV”, then click “Start” to begin the conversion. If you don't know where the converted videos are saved, you can click “Browse” to locate the files on your computer.

Tips: this software can also remove DRM from purchased music and audio books; it also works for other online stores such as Zune, Amazon, etc.

Part2. How to burn DRM-free iTunes video to DVD?
Step1. After you remove the DRM copy-protection from iTunes purchased movies, download Aimersoft DVD Creator and install it. (Note, you need a DVD Burner to burn DVD, so make sure your DVD Drive has DVD+RW or DVD-RW symbol)

Step2. Run Aimersoft DVD Creator, click “Load Video” button to import your DRM-free videos, and then drag the videos to the storyboard. If you want to burn videos to dual-layer DVD (DVD-9), at the bottom of the interface, select “DVD-R 9.0G”, you can also customize video quality there. And the used disc space is shown on the disc space bar underneath the storyboard.

Step3. If you just want to burn the video to DVD without adding any special effects, just click the “Burn” tab. Here you will see the following options:
“Burn to”: you can burn the video to DVD or create an ISO file on your hard drive.
“Drive”:If your computer has multiple DVD burners, you can select any of them.
“TV Standard”: NTSC is 30 fps. It’s used in USA, Canada and Japan. PAL is 25 fps and it’s used in Europe and Asia.
After the above steps, put a blank DVD disk into your drive and click “Start” to burn your movie.

Tip. You can use this software to add special effects to your videos and also create a DVD menu so you can use DVD remote control to control the playback.

Google launches free music download service in China

Google, in conjunction with over 15 record labels, has announced the launch of a free online music download service that will allow anyone in mainland China to download over 1.1 million tracks for free.

The service has music from Chinese labels, Warner Music Group Corp., EMI Group Ltd., Sony Music Entertainment and Universal Music, as well as 14 independent labels and the service will be limited to those using an IP address showing they are in mainland China.

"This is the first really serious attempt to start monetizing online music in China," said Lachie Rutherford, president of Warner Music Asia and regional head of the IFPI.

China has been the poster child for music piracy, with some Chinese music acts admitting to no longer recording because piracy has made the business unprofitable.

Kai-Fu Lee, Google's president for Greater China, says that 84 percent of the Chinese population uses search engines to search for music. "With today's offering, we complete the puzzle and offer a complete set of services that are fully integrated," he added.

China currently has over 300 million Internet users.

via afterdawn

Apple to host WWDC in early June

Apple has set the dates for its annual Worldwide Developers Conference, to be held once again in San Francisco during June.

The company will host about 5,000 engineers in San Francisco's Moscone West convention center the week of June 8 through June 12, it confirmed Thursday. Some Apple developers were starting to get nervous that Apple had yet to confirm the dates in order for them to make travel plans.

Apple did not post any explicit information about whether there would be the usual opening keynote at WWDC this year, except for an offhand reference to the "WWDC Keynote Session" in a site section regarding attendance policies. Last year's event saw CEO Steve Jobs unveil the iPhone 3G, but this year, Jobs is supposed to be on medical leave through the end of June, which would likely preclude him from hosting the show.

That is, unless he plans to return early. It's hard to imagine that Apple would host a WWDC without plans for some sort of media event, which this year has been expected to focus on a combination of a new iPhone and the iPhone OS 3.0 software, as well as Mac OS X Snow Leopard, expected to arrive in thenext few months.

A call to Apple representatives seeking more information about the keynote was not immediately returned.

Skype coming to the iPhone

Skype, the Internet calling service owned by eBay, is expected to announce an application for the iPhone at next week's wireless CTIA tradeshow in Las Vegas, according to tech blogger Om Malik of GigaOM.

Skype is keeping mum on the announcement and has declined to comment on the rumors. But the company is hosting a press conference Tuesday afternoon in Las Vegas the day before the show kicks off. And it's likely the news will be announced there.


Skype admitted earlier this year that it's working on an application for the iPhone. Scott Durchslag, the company's chief operating officer, said at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January that an iPhone version of the software client would be coming to Apple's App Store.

"We have to make sure the call quality is there and the application works really well before we can announce the software for any device," he said in an interview after the company's press conference. "But we will have something for the iPhone as soon as it's perfect."

Skype sees mobile as the next major growth area for its business. Not only does it expect its more than 405 million registered users to take their Skype experience, which offers free and low-cost calling, with them on-the-go, but the company also believes they will be able to reach new users via mobile devices. By putting the peer-to-peer service, which uses the Internet to carry voice traffic, it becomes very convenient to use. The regular Skype service runs on a computer and requires either a special phone or a headset and microphone to make and receive phone calls.

In the U.S. most cell phone plans include domestic long distance calling as part of a bundle of minutes, so the Skype service isn't really that appealing. But for subscribers calling outside the U.S., rates can be as much as a $2 a minute if cell phone users don't subscribe to a special monthly plan for making international calls. This makes the Skype mobile client most appealing to users who want to make inexpensive international calls, but don't want to be tied to their computers.

A software version of Skype already exists for Windows Mobile phones. Nokia also plans to embed some of its phones with Skype clients. And Skype has worked with a company called iSkoot to develop a special Skype phone that is sold by the cell phone operator Hutchison 3 U.K. A Skype-lite version of the client is also available on some Java phones.

Now, iPhone users will get to use Skype, too. But before iPhone users get too excited, there's probably a big catch. The new Skype app for the iPhone will likely be restricted to Wi-Fi networks only, as Apple has done to other third party services like Fring, which offers access to Skype.

If this is the case, it will be a huge limitation to the usefulness of the service. While other mobile phone users can use the Skype service anywhere they can a cell phone signal, iPhone users will be restricted to only using it where they can access Wi-Fi. Most people access Wi-Fi home or in the office, where they're likely to be near a computer anyway.


[via: news.cnet]

YouTube for Mobile (Windows Mobile) 2.2 (Free)

YouTube for Mobile is a simple, fairly fast, and well-designed application for a variety of Windows Mobile and Symbian phones that supports both landscape and portrait views. You'll search for videos through the search bar at the top of the screen, or through Top Rated, Most Viewed, or Most Recent categories. The results are displayed in a horizontal ticker, where you'll view a thumbnail image from each video and read the blurb and ratings below. In the Menu options, you'll find a shortcut key to return to the Home page, a shortcut to search for videos related to your current pick, and tips tucked away in a help menu.

YouTube videos loaded quickly in our tests and played in landscape mode. You can tap to call up the Back button and controls to pause, skip, and adjust the volume; otherwise the video will play full screen. Note that playback quality will vary by device and your connection strength. YouTube's videos will chew through data, so having a monthly data subscription is strongly recommended before downloading the application. So long as that applies to you, any YouTube fan with find YouTube's mobile application an easy way to get a quick video fix--although the community aspect and saving favorites are missing from the mobile version.

Download

BlackBerry Niagara To Spark Smartphone Showdown

Just in time to take on the Palm Pre and whatever new iPhone model Apple dreams up this summer, word is the latest must-have BlackBerry smartphone will hit in May.

The long-rumored BlackBerry Niagara doesn't have an exact release data or pricing model, but The Street this week quoted analysts who said the Niagara will land on Verizon Wireless' network in just about two months.

The BlackBerry Niagara is expected to build on the success built by Research In Motion's popular line of BlackBerry Curve devices. The Niagara is expected to be bigger than the Curve but smaller than the BlackBerry Bold, while featuring the same 480 x 320 screen as the Bold, which is exclusive to AT&T in the U.S. Also similar to the Bold, Niagara is expected to run the same 624MHz CPU processor.

In addition, Niagara is expected to run BlackBerry OS 4.6. It will feature a full QWERTY keyboard, EV-DO Rev. A, a GPS, a 3.2-megapixel camera and BES 5.0 support.

Not only would a May release for Niagara reinvigorate Verizon's BlackBerry lineup, which has been start-stop lately with the touch-screen BlackBerry Storm, but it would also give BlackBerry and Verizon a solid smartphone release around the same time competitors gear up to get new devices on the market.

Palm and Sprint have partnered to launch the Palm Pre sometime in the first half of this year. Despite reporting massive third-quarter losses, Palm is hoping the Sprint-exclusive Pre will be its smartphone salvation and pull it out of slumping smartphone sales.

And the industry is also abuzz with speculation that Apple will drop a new iPhone come June or July. While Apple has not yet said the awaited follow-up to last year's Apple iPhone 3G is on the horizon, industry watchers speculate that Apple's unveiling of iPhone OS update 3.0 is a signal that a new iPhone is imminent, with AT&T maintaining the exclusive carrier rights on the iPhone in the U.S.

The Pre, iPhone and Niagara all hitting around the same time will make for a spring and summer showdown between three of the major carriers and three of the top device makers. While no dates are set in stone, it's already gearing up to be a wild smartphone season. If all goes as speculated, the industry could be in for a heated competition that began last year when the Apple iPhone 3G, the Google Android T-Mobile G1 and the BlackBerry Storm squared off in the clash of the touch-screen titans.



Relevent link:
How to put DVD and Video on Blackberry ?

BlackBerry Niagara 9630 Photo

Digital retailers cut prices to lure CD buyers

Online MP3 outlets try big bargains to hook new customers



As the music industry watches in horror while physical CD sales tumble and digital sales fail to bridge the gap, online MP3 retailers are trying to stem the bleeding with an age-old technique: slashing prices.

Some new releases are being priced at a mere $3.99 for a limited time on Amazon MP3, including last week's top-selling album in both platforms, U2's "No Line on the Horizon"; the company offers some full album downloads for 99 cents. Apple's iTunes store runs spotlight specials for as little as $4.99. And subscription-based service Rhapsody routinely has deals for $6.99.

On average, a regularly priced full album digital download costs about $10.

Online retailers are keeping tight-lipped about these bargain-basement prices, usually available for anywhere from a day to several weeks, but industry analysts say the reason behind them is simple: to attract new customers, particularly the vast majority of people who aren't in the habit of downloading music.

[via boston]

Bluetooth to be released in iPod touch 2G

Stereo Bluetooth audio is coming to the iPod Touch, said Apple's Greg Joswiak at Tuesday's iPhone OS 3.0 preview event . The added Bluetooth functionality will come by way of the OS 3.0 upgrade, due out this summer. While iPod Touch owners clearly win from the addition of Bluetooth support (a $9.95 upgrade fee is required), they may be a little peeved to learn that the second-generation iPod Touch hardware has probably supported Bluetooth all along.

A Broadcom BCM4325 chip revealed in iFixit's teardown of the second-generation iPod Touch back in September of 2008 was originally thought to be used strictly for the device's wireless Nike+ support. It turns out the chip is most likely capable of full-fledged Bluetooth audio and data transmission, but has been purposefully left dormant by Apple. After being unlocked by the OS 3.0 upgrade, the iPod Touch (second-generation only) should be capable of Bluetooth features such as A2DP, wireless accessory control (including gaming), and peer-to-peer connections.

In the end, adding Bluetooth functionality to the iPod Touch is worth every penny of the $9.95 OS upgrade, and makes the device more competitive against iPod alternatives such as the Samsung P2 (soon to be the P3) and the Cowon S9. Still, existing Touch owners must feel a little burned that Apple purposely withheld the feature up until now.

(via cnet)

Apps Hit 800 Million Downloads

iPhone apps have been downloaded 800 million times, and there are now more than 25,000 apps in the iTunes store. Apple is detailing some of the new features in the next version of the iPhone OS in a press conference going on live right now. The new OS, iPhone 3.0, will support 1,000 APIs. Apple seems to be giving a lot of extra love to paid apps, which will gain the ability to sell additional levels, subscriptions, virtual goods, or extra content from right within the app.

The new APIs will also support peer-to peer applications via Bluetooth, which will be great for head-to-head games. Maps will be able to be embedded directly into the apps, and apps can now talk to accessories such as an FM transmitter or a blood pressure monitor. But Apple is not opening up background processing, which would allow more than one app to be running at once—a feature already common on Android and other phones. Apple says it takes up too much battery life.

More at techcrunch

iPod Shuffle stuffed with DRM, says EFF

Despite their recent action to remove DRM from the music they sell through iTunes, Apple continues to add more DRM to their hardware, says the EFF, with the latest example being the new iPod Shuffle.

For the new model, Apple has moved the volume and control buttons to the headphones themselves, leaving nothing on the actual hardware unit.

According to the EFF, any third-party headphone maker will not have an easy task making headphones for the Shuffle however as they will need to use an "Apple authentication chip" for the headphones to even work with the device.

Headphone makers could, normally, reverse engineer the interface but the chip makes it illegal to do so and any company found doing it will have the DMCA thrown at them.

A review at iLounge summarizes the DRM:

"This is, in short, a nightmare scenario for long-time iPod fans: are we entering a world in which Apple controls and taxes literally every piece of the iPod purchase from headphones to chargers, jacking up their prices, forcing customers to re-purchase things they already own, while making only marginal improvements in their functionality? It’s a shame, and one that consumers should feel empowered to fight."

iPhone is ready to work for Facebook

Facebook is letting users of its flourishing social-networking community play together on the road by using Apple's popular iPhone and iPod Touch mobile devices.

Facebook senior platform manager Dave Morin revealed the news Saturday while flanked by an array of hip social software makers at a panel talk at South By Southwest (SXSW) Interactive Festival in Austin, Texas.

via google

YouTube Downloader Also Converts Video--For Free

Download videos from Web sites such as YouTube and convert them to many formats--including those for iPods.

You just want to download videos from YouTube. Well, and to convert the videos to watch on your iPod or cell phone. Or maybe to another video type. That means you want freebie YouTube Downloader. It runs as a small applet and is exceedingly simple to use. Copy the URL of the YouTube video into it (you'll find the URL on the upper right-hand side of the video page in YouTube), then tell the program to do its work. You'll be able to choose your destination folder and name of the downloaded video.

Conversion is similarly easy. Choose the downloaded file you want to convert, then choose the download format and click OK, and the work is done. You can convert to many different formats, including for the iPod, iPhone, cell phones, PlayStation Portable, as well as common PC formats including MPEG and Windows Media (.wmv). Given that all this is free, what's not to like?


Note that when you install this software, by default it will install the Yahoo Toolbar and make Yahoo your default search engine. If you don't want that to happen, make sure to uncheck the boxes before installation.

Apple's third generation software for iPhone

What might Apple have in store for the third release of its iPhone software?

The company plans to hold one of its trademark special events Tuesday at its headquarters in Cupertino, Calif., to show off "an advance preview of what we're building" for the iPhone 3.0 software release, according to an invitation distributed Thursday. The event will come just a little more than a year after the iPhone 2.0 software event laid out Apple's policies for getting third-party applications onto the iPhone, as well as business-friendly features.


More news at news.cnet

BlackBerry Storm Contrls real F1 car

And now, the best use of a BlackBerry Storm I have seen to date: Lewis Hamilton, the British Formula One driver, appears in a YouTube video controlling his F1 car remotely with Research in Motion's touchscreen smartphone.

Here's the backstory: A couple of Vodafone subscribers in the UK hacked a BlackBerry Storm to race a toy R/C F1 car around a homemade track. That's what appears in the first minute or so of the video. The Storm's built-in accelerometer lets them steer the car by tiling the phone back and forth, while acceleration and braking is controlled with buttons on the phone's touch screen, according to Autoblog.

Once word got out and Team McLaren heard about it, they invited the fellows to the McLaren Mercedes garage, where they adapted the control system to a real F1 car. "Hilarity ensues when Hamilton himself takes the car out on the track, sans driver, and does a lap behind the wheel of the Blackberry Storm," the report said. (Video after the break.)

via gearlog

Apple releases iTunes 8.1 update

Apple updated its iTunes music jukebox and device-management software to version 8.1 on Wednesday, adding support for the new line of iPod shuffles released earlier in the day, and adding several other new features, most notably adding Genius Sidebar support for movies and television shows.


Apple first introduced Genius in September 2008 as a way for users to create playlists and find new music based on what they are already listening to. Now that functionality is available for movies and TV shows as well, according to Apple. The Genius Sidebar will find relevant videos much the same way it finds music. When you click on a movie, iTunes will recommend new content that you may like from the iTunes Store. (We were unable to verify this feature for ourselves, though it's possible this feature will be enabled via a server-based Genius update at a later time.)

In iTunes 8.1, the Party Shuffle feature introduced in April 2004 has been rechristened iTunes DJ. While this feature has been around for some time, Apple added some new functionality specifically designed for iPod touch and iPhone users.


More at Macworld

The newest Apple's iPod Shuffle

Apple Inc. introduced a new iPod Shuffle that is about half the size of its previous model but with the capacity to play twice as many songs, as the company tries to re-energize its iPod business.

Apple New Apple iPod Shuffle

The new $79 four-gigabyte device will play as many as 1,000 songs, the same as the first iPod, which sold for $399 in 2001. The new model will allow users to switch between multiple playlists, which wasn't possible with previous models.

It also includes a new voice feature that announces songs and playlists in 14 languages. One of the key differences from the previous Shuffle is that all of the controls are now on the earphone cord rather than on the device.

[via: online.wsj]

U2 360 Tour Presented by BlackBerry, Revolutionary Production Design Revealed

LOS ANGELES, March 9 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- U2.com today confirms that the U2 360 Tour will open at the Nou Camp Stadium in Barcelona on 30th June. The U2 360 Tour is sponsored by BlackBerry® and is the band's first stadium outing since the Vertigo Tour 05/06 and follows the release of their acclaimed album, No Line On The Horizon. Their 12th studio album, No Line On The Horizon is already number 1 in the UK, Ireland, France, Germany, Belgium, Finland, Japan and the Czech Republic with further chart positions to be announced this week.



More at yahoo news

Apple's iTunes Store Challenged By Rogue Developers

A developer has launched the Cydia Store, an unauthorized alternative online market for iPhone applications. At least two other developers have similar plans.

Apple's iTunes Store, the only Apple-approved source for iPhone applications, is getting some competition.

Jay Freeman, the developer behind the Cydia app that allows software not approved by Apple to be installed on the iPhone, has launched the Cydia Store, an unauthorized alternative online market for iPhone applications.

According to Freeman's Twitter feed, a new Cydia release was to be posted Friday night with one app for sale and more coming next week. He said further details will be included in the Cydia download.

The Wall Street Journal reports that two other developers are also planning online stores to sell iPhone applications that haven't been approved by Apple. One plans a store called Rock Your Phone for iPhone to help make jailbreaking -- the process of installing code that undoes Apple's software lock on the iPhone -- and installing apps not approved by Apple easier. The other plans an online store specializing in adult applications.

Apple maintains tight control over the applications that are available through the iTunes Store for the iPhone. And while many developers accept Apple's oversight and the market has validated it, some chafe at the company's restrictions.

Until a few months ago, iPhone developers couldn't even discuss iPhone coding publicly due to the restrictive non-disclosure agreement they had to accept to use the iPhone Software Development Kit. And developers continue to have applications rejected for things like ridiculing public figures, censorship that wouldn't be tolerated in print or other traditional media.

Freeman insists Cydia is not about pirating applications. He says it's for applications that Apple would never approve. "The Cydia Store is about providing a simpler billing channel to buy the already commercial applications in Cydia, like Snapture," said Freeman via Twitter.

The kinds of applications Apple is willing to approve for sale in its iTunes Store have been changing, perhaps due to pressure from dissident developers like Freeman. In December, Apple started allowing novelty applications, such as the Pull My Finger flatulence simulator, to be sold. It had previously rejected such apps citing their lack of utility.

Apple hasn't yet responded legally to stop Freeman and the Cydia Store, but in comments filed last year with the U.S. Copyright Office, the company asked the government agency not to grant a copyright law exemption so iPhones can be legally jailbroken. Such an exemption, Apple argues, represents "an attack on Apple's particular business choices with respect to the design of the iPhone mobile computing platform and the strategy for delivering applications software for the iPhone through the iPhone App Store."

As long as there's money to be made in iPhone apps, Apple can expect that attack to continue.

via informationweek

Top 5 Things We Want in the PSP-4000

Additional rumors have surfaced from Eurogamer since the initial rumblings of a PSP-version 2, or PSP-4000. The new iteration will get rid of the battery draining and much reviled UMD drive and feature a compact, sliding screen.

The screen will be the same as the one currently found in the PSP-3000. If true, this will be disappointing news given the fact that the PSP-3000 suffers from interlacing problems that lead to image ghosting in 2-D games. Hopefully the PSP-4000 can address these problems while maintaining the brightness and clarity of the current screens.

The sliding screen is an interesting notion that got us thinking about what other cool new features Sony can add to make the PSP-4000 the ultimate killer portable:

1) QWERTY Keyboard -- If Sony can integrate a QWERTY keyboard beneath the screen like in popular texting phones, the handheld can become a attractive platform for the internet addict in all of us. We can use it for chatting-on-the-go by updating Twitter, instant messengers, or MySpace accounts, or in online multiplayer games (like Resistance: Retribution or Monster Hunters; and make it a viable system for fanboy dream ports like Phantasy Star Online, World of Warcraft, or Final Fantasy Online).

Searching and surfing the internet would also be so much easier. Inputting redemption codes or credit card info in the PSN store or typing things (like character names) during game play would be speedier. Of course, this also depends on improving the PSP's wi-fi capabilities, because as it stands now, internet surfing on the PSP is slow as molasses.

2) Second Analog Nub -- Hopefully, Sony can also add a second analog nub that gamers and developers have been clamoring for since the PSP's inception. Think about it -- finally, a proper interface for twin-stick shooters and FPS. The control scheme for games like Resistance: Retribution, Stardust Portable, and Me & My Katamari would have been so much better with another nub, it's practically a disservice to have it any other way.

3) Bluetooth Support -- We love handheld systems for a reason: portability. If we're playing an online multiplayer game and want to voice-chat with squad members, the last thing we want are headphone wires dangling in the way of the action. The PS3 has Bluetooth, so we know it can be done.

4) Flash 9 and DIVX Support -- Again, we don't understand why the PS3 and PSP development teams dislike each other so much that they'd cut off communication. The PS3 has had divx and Flash 9 support for a while now, why not the PSP? The two teams should really work on synergizing their development efforts.

5) Extended Battery Pack -- Can we finally get an extended battery pack that's not the PSP-phat size? On road-trips, we hate the anxiety of guessing whether or not there's enough juice to make it through a movie. We want a battery pack that actually fits flush in the PSP-slim without having to buy a bulky replacement cover. It just doesn't feel right and doesn't fit well in carrying cases.

* Bonus Wish: On-board Flash Memory -- It'd be great if the system has on-board memory. Flash memory is dirt cheap nowadays and is a great hard-drive solution. How about slapping some memory into there? Having a large internal memory cache will speed up internet surfing and the loading of game assets. This is extreme wishful thinking since Sony likes to sell these little proprietary things called Memory Sticks.

via pspworld

10 years celebration for Sony PS2

Sony's PlayStation 2 launched in Japan nine years ago today, ultimately going on to sell over 140 million consoles and, now, entering its tenth year on the market.

Japan's launch of the PlayStation 2 brought with it a half-dozen generation changing games, even if most were largely forgettable. The launch line up on March 4, 2000 consisted of Street Fighter EX3, Kessen, Ridge Racer V, Eternal Ring, DrumMania and Stepping Selection.

Even with a relatively meager list of software, Japanese gamers snapped up close to a million units of the console on its first day of availability.




via kotaku

BlackBerry Niagara 9630 Photo

Photos of the unreleased BlackBerry 9630 aka Niagara have leaked.
The BlackBerry 9630 is a CDMA full-QWERTY BlackBerry and as you can see in the photo (middle one is the 9630) is more compact than a BlackBerry Bold.
The BlackBerry 9630 is said to be available on Verizon and is supposed to be a World Edition. Other rumored features include h GSM/GPRS/EDGE/HSPA and CDMA 1xRTT/EV-DO Rev. A connectivity and a 3.2MP camera.
Apparently WiFi is missing from the BlackBerry 9630


Relevent link: How to put DVD and Video on Blackberry ?

BlackBerry App Store Gets a Name: BlackBerry App World

The upcoming application storefront for BlackBerry handhelds now has a name: BlackBerry App World.

A Research in Motion spokeswoman also said that later today, BlackBerry fans will be able to sign up to be notified when BlackBerry App World goes live. The signup sheet will be at www.blackberry.com/appworld and should be live by 7 p.m. PST.

At the same time, the spokeswoman said, RIM will be relaunching its BlackBerry developers site.

BlackBerry App World is RIM's attempt to emulate some of the iPhone's phenomenal success with consumers, who can choose from thousands of applications in the iPhone apps store on iTunes. Similarly, Microsoft has announced plans for a Windows Marketplace for Mobile app storefront that will be exposed in Windows Mobile 6.5, the next version of its handheld platform.

via pcworld

iPhone charger interface burned

Last Saturday, Italy iPhone users Tim Colbourne found that after charging 3 hours, the charger base of iPhone 3G sparkled and lead to interface burned , and Tim also found some Swedish mobile phone users encountered the similar situation.

How to free download and burn Youtube video to DVD disc ?

How to free download Youtube video ?

1. With free online flv converter such as http://vixy.net when you find your favorite youtube video, just copy the video URL (like this format http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdUUx5FdySs ) to the input box, choose the output format, and then click start. When the conversion finished, you will get the video download link, just download to your computer.

2. With Firefox + videodownloader, if you’re using Firefox browser, just install a plug-in named videodownloader, and then you will see a small icon in the bottom right, when you watch youtube video, double click it, and then you will get the flv download link.

3. With free Youtube downloader & player
http://www.flash-on-tv.com/free-youtube-downloader.html



How to burn Youtube video to DVD disc ?


As regular DVD burner software doesn't support Youtube video format (FLV), you have to find a program that can burn common video such as WMV (Windows Media Player), MP4 (iTunes), FLV (Youtube), etc to DVD disc. DVD Creator is one of the few DVD burner software that can get the job done. And this app can also burn MKV, AVI and M2TS and other HD video to DVD with real DVD menus. Here are a few steps about how to use this software:

Step 1: Download this DVD Creator, install it and start operation;
Meanwhile, you can insert DVD +R (DVD-R, DVD+RW or DVD-RW)

Step2: Run DVD Creator, add video files or load files which you want to convert;

One Way: Click the “Load files” to add video files;

Another way: Choose “Load video” option under the “file” drop-down menu, and you can add files as you want, too.

Step 3: Display the loaded file and choose the video you want to convert

Details:

After the video file has been loaded, it will appear in the main interface, then drag and drop the selected video files to the storyboard below to organize a slideshow at the bottom of the main interface.

The used disc space is shown on the disc space bar underneath the storyboard

you can choose the size of burning DVD in your decision,” DVD-R4.5G AND DVD-R9.0G”,up to your choice, if you want to burn DVD movies to dual-layer DVD (DVD-9), at the bottom of the interface, just select “DVD-R 9.0G”, Vise versa.

Also you can customize the output video quality here, “Low video quality, High video quality and Highest video quality”, which depends on your choice;

If you just want to burn video to DVD without adding any special effects, of course you just need to click the “Burn” button to begin the conversion process.

When you are clicking the” Burn” button, here are some options for you as follows:

Burn to: you can burn your DVD to DVD, DVD Folder, or ISO file as you will; and then you should choose where you want to save the burning DVD files; next choose the TV Standard “NTSC or PLA”
Explanation: “NTSC” is 30 fps, which is used in USA, Canada and Japan. “PAL “is 25 fps, which is used in Europe and Asia. At last, choose the aspect ratio: 4:3 or 16:9

After above steps, now click the “Start” button to begin conversion.

Tips: if your video and the subtitle are separated into two files, this software may allow you to plug-in the subtitles for MKV files. Ok, just follow the steps below;
1. Drag the loaded video to the storyboard.
2. Click the video, you may see the button “edit selected video file”.
3. Then click the button, a box that offers settings for the subtitle will appear. (you may also crop and trip your favorite parts off the video here.)

More details you can visit here

Chinese media player offers native 720p playback

Although they are certainly not the first company to do so, China-based Gemei had launched their latest portable media player, dubbed the HD-660, which allows for native 720p HD playback on its 4.3-inch widescreen display.

The player sports a 480x272 resolution and can hold TransFlash memory cards up to 32GB. For audio, the player supports MP3, WMA, AAC and FLAC and for video the player supports RM, RMVB, AVI, FLV and MPEG video files. JPG, PNG and bitmap are supported photo formats.

The source adds that a "remote control is bundled with the HD-660, as is a video cable that allows it to connect to TVs and play back its content that way. The 2,000mA lithium-ion battery's life is rated at six hours when playing videos. A USB 2.0 interface is used to connect with Windows 2000, XP or Vista operating systems, along with Mac OS X. Speakers are built-in, and there is an FM radio tuner with recording functionality."

The player is so far only available in China with a cheap price tag of about $88 USD.

PSP remove UMD in the next generation ?

Sony PSP marketing director John Koller has responded to the widespread rumors that a PSP 2 is in the works that would strip out the UMD drive and add dual analog pads.

Koller would not deny or confirm the rumors but did hint that digital downloads were becoming very important and that UMD might be removed.

"[I] can’t comment either way, but I will reiterate that the digital [download] component is very important to us," Koller says. "We’ve been making a concerted effort to really over-emphasize the ability for publishers to publish on the [PlayStation Network]. Fits our view of the world. Eventually the digital distribution arm will have some leverage. I think consumers right now are choosing some tangible benefits of the disc. But we saw how that movie ended with music. And we know there are certainly some benefits to promoting that part of it now."

There have been no new hardware kits sent to developers, noted Koller.

BlackBerry Bullet Shoot Apple

Apple appears in the famous CNN and "The New York Times" website embedded advertising, Their 17-inch MacBook Pro notebooks, which cost as much as 2800 was dubbed the world's most green notebook name .

RIM on the same day released a controversial advertisement, which was somewhat similar to the children step on Coca-Cola to buy Pepsi-Cola ad: a bullet went through the apple, one pulling the lens, the original is a BlackBerry, see video:

MacBook exploded in the office

A MacBook exploded in a Market Company office, London this morning. There is no doubt that culprit is the Built-in battry.

Steven, the employee still in shock after the explosion, she describes the explosion, the computer smoke at first, when she stepped forward to pick it up for inspection, the battery exploded, flames as high as 6 feet, and later also took place repeated explosion.





















via blog.digitalmediaonlineinc

PS3 price cut imminent?

Sony fanatics may be preoccupied with chatter about a slick new PSP 4000, but it's the PS3 that's snatching headlines today, with word growing that a price cut is imminent.

The chaps at gamesindustry.biz have picked up on chatter from analyst Mark Hickey, who says "recent channel checks" indicate Sony is planning to slash $100 off the price of the hub in the US. That could translate to a £50 drop here in the UK.

Sony is still struggling to match the staying power of the Xbox 360 and the constant dominance of the Wii at the top of the charts. A price cut could help shift units, but with the Big S losing cash on every hub already, surely it's a dangerous move for a company already in financial peril.


via stuff

Watch MKV Video Files in Windows Media Center

In case you're not familiar with it, MKV is a video-file format like Divx and MPEG-4. In fact, it's a format you're likely to encounter if you routinely download videos via BitTorrent.

You'd think that installing the right codec would enable MKV playback in Media Center, but, alas, it doesn't. Fortunately, there is way to enjoy your MKV videos from the comfort of your couch. Here's how. (Note: I tested this on a 32-bit Vista system. Your mileage may vary.)

Download and install the Combined Community Codec Pack (CCCP), then reboot your system.

Start Notepad, then copy and paste the following lines:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.mkv]

"PerceivedType"='video'

"Content Type"='video/mkv'

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Multimedia\WMPlayer\Extensions\.mkv]

"Runtime"=dword:00000007

"Permissions"=dword:0000000f

"UserApprovedOwning"='yes'

Save the file as mkv.reg.

Double-click the file to add the code to your Registry.

Reboot your system, then fire up Windows Media Center.

Presto: Your MKV files should appear in your video library (provided you've added the appropriate folder containing your files, of course), and they should play just fine.

Gameloft shows multiplayer Let’s Golf for iPhone, iPod touch

Gameloft has released details on its upcoming Let’s Golf game for the iPhone and iPod touch, which appears set to become the most thoroughly developed golf title yet for the platform. Let’s Golf features cartoonish 3D graphics, four customizable 3D characters, and arcade-style game play with 63 different holes set across four different landscapes, including Fiji Beach, American Mountains, English Countryside, and Scotland Lochs. In addition, the game will offer two control schemes—one for more casual players that uses a simple gauge, and a more advanced mode that provides better accuracy. Notably, Let’s Golf will also include a multiplayer mode that allows two users to play over a local Wi-Fi or online connection. The title is expected to hit the App Store next week and will sell for $6.

PSP-4000 to Have Sliding Screen?

Excited about the new PSP? Well too bad, we're going to talk about it anyway. The fairly popular Sony handheld device has undergone some helpful but rather basic upgrades since the original model made its debut, but sources claim that the upcoming PSP-4000 will undergo a large redesign. And no, the new edition will not carry a PSP 2 title, or so the sources claim.



According to gaming blog VG247, the PSP-4000 will see a "complete aesthetic overhaul" for the handheld, based on existing PSP tech. Details are still on the shy side, but what they do know is that the revamped PSP will include a sliding front screen, and is said to closely resemble the fan-made image shown here, which has been making its way around the Internet. The PSP-4000 had a rumored release date for sometime in 2009, and according to VG247's source, that schedule remains accurate.

Think the sliding front screen looks cool? What other features would you like to see on a new PSP model? Post your ideas and comments below.



via gear