This has got to be the wildest, craziest gadget any man could want. AskMen.com staff believe that the new Oracle CD Turntable is the ultimate in audio entertainment. It contains has a magnetic clamp that holds the disc flat resulting in a ultra smooth rotation.
The Oracle CD Player's main chassis assembly is suspended and isolated from room vibrations using four suspension towers that have shock absorbers inside. Each suspension tower assembly combines twelve different components.
oracle cd of the future The suspension system is a highly sophisticated device combining seven different mechanical filters, all working together to effectively control unwanted vibrations. The result is clear sound that music lovers everywhere can appreciate. It's no wonder that Oracle won the Innovation Award at this year's International Consumer Electronics Show.
AskMen.com gives this product two enthusiastic thumbs up. The only setback, of course, is Oracle's asking price: a hefty $8,000.
http://www.askmen.com/toys/mrtech/tech2.html
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Apple licenses game player: Bandai to sell Pippin CD-ROM platform.
No, this isn't a misprint or an April Fools' story. Apple has announced that it has completed and will be licensing Pippin, a CD-ROM game platform similar to 3DO and Phillips' CD-I. According to Apple, Pippin is based on the Mac OS and uses a PowerPC 603 chip and a 4X CD-ROM drive; Pippin titles will run without modification on Macintosh systems, and Mac CD-ROM titles will require only minor tweaks to run on Pippin systems. The company also said that users would be able to play MPEG-compressed movies with a third-party expansion card to be announced.
In some ways this ...
http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-16603139.html
Dial Up the Web With a Cellphone
Q. How do I use my cellphone as a modem?
A. Many wireless phones can double as modems so you can link your notebook to the Web when you can’t find a direct or wireless Internet connection. But the method for making them work varies with the type of phone you have and your service. You can usually find specific information in the support area of your carrier’s Web site.
In many cases, you just need your laptop, any required connection software and a data plan from your phone carrier. You also need a way to connect the phone to the computer, like a U.S.B. data cable or Bluetooth link. If your phone didn’t come with a U.S.B. cable, sites like www.3gcables.com may have what you need. When you connect the phone to the computer, you may get a message asking for drivers. If your phone did not come with a CD of drivers and additional software, you can probably find the drivers for your model with a quick Web search.
Some Mac OS X machines can automatically recognize the phone as a modem. There are illustrated guides for setting up the phone as a modem for a Mac with a Bluetooth connection; the page at homepage.mac.com/jrc/contrib/tzones/ has an example.
It is easier with Sprint and Verizon, which use a network standard called C.D.M.A., because they offer their own connection kits. Once you get any required software from your carrier installed and the computer recognizes your phone when you connect it, you usually just click the software’s Go or Connect button to take the laptop online through the phone connection.
AT&T and T-Mobile, which use the G.S.M. standard for their networks, are not quite as straightforward. You might need to set up the phone as a modem by creating a new dial-up connection, just as you would set up a dial-up modem on a PC at home. Ask the company for the number to use for dialing into its data network and put that number in the modem’s dial-up settings. Most carriers have help on their Web site; T-Mobile’s, for example, is tinyurl.com/28j2xr.
For Added Security,
A Finger’s Touch
Q. My laptop comes with a fingerprint reader as an extra layer of security. If I set it up for the swipe of a finger, but then later cut or injure that same finger, will I be locked out of my own laptop?
A. Biometrics, or personal identification based on unique characteristics like face recognition, fingerprint reading or iris scanning, has moved out of the realm of science fiction and into everyday life for some people. Some laptops, like some of Lenovo’s ThinkPads and a few Hewlett-Packard models, come with fingerprint sensors embedded next to the keyboard.
As part of the setup process for a fingerprint scanner, a program guides you through “enrolling” a finger by running it over the sensor so it can be identified by the software. Depending on the sensitivity of the software and how many aspects of your fingerprint it uses for identification, a cut on your finger may not affect your ability to log in.
As a safety measure, many fingerprint identification programs ask you to enroll multiple fingers during the setup so you can use another digit if necessary. Some systems also have a password that can override the fingerprint sensor.
Fingerprint sensors can take some getting used to, as swiping your finger too quickly or having wet hands may affect its ability to read your fingerprint. Lenovo’s Web site explains some of the things you can do with a fingerprint reader at tinyurl.com/yatjtg.
TIP OF THE WEEK If you listen to music on your computer as you browse the Web, a handy browser plug-in called FoxyTunes can save you time clicking around for your media player every time you want to pause, skip or replay a song. FoxyTunes, a free download for Firefox and Internet Explorer, works with more than 30 media players and gives you track information and playback controls right in the browser’s status bar or toolbar. It’s available at www.foxytunes.com/firefox/download.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/12/technology/circuits/12askk.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
A. Many wireless phones can double as modems so you can link your notebook to the Web when you can’t find a direct or wireless Internet connection. But the method for making them work varies with the type of phone you have and your service. You can usually find specific information in the support area of your carrier’s Web site.
In many cases, you just need your laptop, any required connection software and a data plan from your phone carrier. You also need a way to connect the phone to the computer, like a U.S.B. data cable or Bluetooth link. If your phone didn’t come with a U.S.B. cable, sites like www.3gcables.com may have what you need. When you connect the phone to the computer, you may get a message asking for drivers. If your phone did not come with a CD of drivers and additional software, you can probably find the drivers for your model with a quick Web search.
Some Mac OS X machines can automatically recognize the phone as a modem. There are illustrated guides for setting up the phone as a modem for a Mac with a Bluetooth connection; the page at homepage.mac.com/jrc/contrib/tzones/ has an example.
It is easier with Sprint and Verizon, which use a network standard called C.D.M.A., because they offer their own connection kits. Once you get any required software from your carrier installed and the computer recognizes your phone when you connect it, you usually just click the software’s Go or Connect button to take the laptop online through the phone connection.
AT&T and T-Mobile, which use the G.S.M. standard for their networks, are not quite as straightforward. You might need to set up the phone as a modem by creating a new dial-up connection, just as you would set up a dial-up modem on a PC at home. Ask the company for the number to use for dialing into its data network and put that number in the modem’s dial-up settings. Most carriers have help on their Web site; T-Mobile’s, for example, is tinyurl.com/28j2xr.
For Added Security,
A Finger’s Touch
Q. My laptop comes with a fingerprint reader as an extra layer of security. If I set it up for the swipe of a finger, but then later cut or injure that same finger, will I be locked out of my own laptop?
A. Biometrics, or personal identification based on unique characteristics like face recognition, fingerprint reading or iris scanning, has moved out of the realm of science fiction and into everyday life for some people. Some laptops, like some of Lenovo’s ThinkPads and a few Hewlett-Packard models, come with fingerprint sensors embedded next to the keyboard.
As part of the setup process for a fingerprint scanner, a program guides you through “enrolling” a finger by running it over the sensor so it can be identified by the software. Depending on the sensitivity of the software and how many aspects of your fingerprint it uses for identification, a cut on your finger may not affect your ability to log in.
As a safety measure, many fingerprint identification programs ask you to enroll multiple fingers during the setup so you can use another digit if necessary. Some systems also have a password that can override the fingerprint sensor.
Fingerprint sensors can take some getting used to, as swiping your finger too quickly or having wet hands may affect its ability to read your fingerprint. Lenovo’s Web site explains some of the things you can do with a fingerprint reader at tinyurl.com/yatjtg.
TIP OF THE WEEK If you listen to music on your computer as you browse the Web, a handy browser plug-in called FoxyTunes can save you time clicking around for your media player every time you want to pause, skip or replay a song. FoxyTunes, a free download for Firefox and Internet Explorer, works with more than 30 media players and gives you track information and playback controls right in the browser’s status bar or toolbar. It’s available at www.foxytunes.com/firefox/download.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/12/technology/circuits/12askk.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Share or move your CD title library in Windows 2000 Professional
Takeaway: If you still use your Windows 2000 Professional system to keep track of all your music, find out how the CD Player application makes it extremely easy to share your CD library or move it to another computer.
The CD Player application in the Windows 2000 Professional Programs | Accessories | Entertainment menu lets you not only play audio CDs on your computer but also maintain a database of tracks for each CD. By making the track information available, CD Player lets you easily select an individual track or set up a playlist based on song name, rather than just track number.
You can add track titles in one of two ways: manually or through an automatic download from the Internet. Whether you successfully download a track list or you enter a large CD library manually, you'll probably be upset if your system crashes and you lose the CD database or if you need to move your CD list to another computer or share it with others.
While it's not apparent from the application itself, CD Player keeps your track lists in an Access database, which (by default) is in Documents and Settings\user\Application Data\Microsoft\CD Player\DeluxeCD.mdb. If Access is installed on your system, you can open the database and add titles manually; however, the CD Player application provides a better interface for doing so. You can also share the database with others or move it to a different computer simply by copying the file to the CD Player folder under the appropriate profile folder.
http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/5100-10877_11-6114340.html
Long player
A five year dispute ends successfully for BPI against CD Wow (perhaps). Chris Scroggs, disputes associate at Wards Solicitors celebrates.
http://www.bcs.org/server.php?show=ConWebDoc.12852
Last month saw the conclusion (or did it....?) of a long running battle between the BPI, on behalf of record companies and CD Wow, effectively fighting on behalf of consumers everywhere.
The story behind the dispute
The case had its genesis in 2002, when the BPI issued proceedings against CD Wow, alleging that it had illegally imported discs into the UK, from Asia. That case was settled in January 2004, when CD Wow gave undertakings to the court.
The allegation was that CD Wow was buying discs in the Far East and selling them to consumers in the UK. CD Wow accepted that it was selling cut-price CDs but claimed that they were all licensed to sell in the UK and that there was nothing improper, let alone illegal, about what they were doing. Not so, said the BPI, who felt it was a clear case of 'parallel importing'.
Parallel importing is what happens when copyright material that is intended for a market outside the EEA (European Economic Area) is introduced for sale in Europe without the consent of the copyright owner. Such a practice contravenes UK and also European copyright law and is therefore illegal.
There was then a further flurry of proceedings in September 2005, when it became apparent to the BPI that the illegal importation of CDs - in particular the Live Aid DVD - by CD Wow was still happening. In that particular case, the charity had been deprived of income.
The BPI spent some time gathering further information and then brought contempt of court proceedings against both CD Wow and its principal share holder, Philip Robinson, in October 2006.
That case was due to come to court in July 2007 but in fact the court short-circuited that process and dealt with the case in mid May. That followed a four day hearing in March when the High Court ruled that CD Wow was in breach of the 2004 agreement and CD Wow was ordered to pay £37 million damages plus costs and interest, altogether totalling c. £41 million.
In the hearing, CD Wow admitted to breaches of copyright law but put them down to human error in its despatch process. The court would have none of it and that evidence was unhesitatingly rejected.
The court said there was clear evidence that CD Wow was committing widespread breaches of the undertakings that it gave in 2004. In fact, not only was it in breach, but even after the application for contempt of court had been pursued, in September 2005, the court found evidence that even then, CD Wow had taken no effective steps to ensure compliance with the 2004 undertakings.
Trial Judge, Justice Evans-Lombe continued in his ruling that in 'meeting the criminal burden of proof' the BPI had established 'beyond reasonable doubt' that CD Wow's actions were a 'substantial breach of the court order' and that it had 'no tenable ground of defence to the claimants' claim for damages for primary infringement of the claimants' copyright'.
Although the damages enquiry was due to take place in July 2007, the court felt the matter was so serious it could not wait until then.
In particular, given CD Wow's alleged failure to cooperate with the court orders for disclosure of documentation and for payment of security, the court assessed damages in May 2007. The BPI had then already obtained a freezing order against CD Wow's assets and bank account in Hong Kong.
The arguments for and against
The BPI's case was quite simple: the record industry is a business like any other. Artists need to be paid and record companies need to receive a return on their investment. CD Wow said (in effect) fine, all well and good. But... you should be targeting pirates, in particular, in the Far East rather than us. All we are doing is selling a licensed product, at a discount. You still get your royalty payments from all the discs we ship.
The difficulty is that although it was part of the CD Wow case that it was simply selling in the UK discs that it was entitled to sell, where royalties still went to the record company in question, an anonymous survey by the BPI and random purchases that it carried out, showed that the reality was somewhat different.
The BPI had made repeated test purchases of albums from CD Wow discs such as Robbie Williams' Greatest Hits and the Live Aid DVD that were being despatched from Hong Kong to UK consumers, were not discs that were licensed to be sold in the UK.
Those were the instances that CD Wow referred to as 'a little human error'. Unfortunately for them, the court found that though one or two incidences of human error could be excused, the same could not be said where it happened, as it did, on a wholesale basis (the BPI produced evidence to show 33 instances in total).
On a wholesale basis, selling in the UK albums that were despatched from Hong Kong but that were licensed to be sold in the UK, contravened the relevant legislation and was a clear case of parallel importing. Whereas CD Wow’s initial purchase of the CDs i.e. the bulk purchase, was legitimate, even though it happened outside of the EEA, when it resold that CD in the UK, it did so illegally.
CD Wow's argument was simplicity in itself. It was a Hong Kong based company. It purchased its products in Hong Kong and distributed from there. If, from Hong Kong, it sold a product to a customer in the UK, that sale was a personal import by that customer. That, it claimed, was not parallel importing.
The implications
The BPI disagreed and sued and the court in May 2007 resoundingly came down in the BPI’s favour.
Interestingly, the Consumer Association described the initial CD Wow settlement as a 'sad day for consumers and a sad day for ecommerce'. It felt that the whole purpose of the internet and internet shopping would be circumvented, if customers in the UK were not allowed to use the internet to buy goods from abroad.
The BPI's case is that there is no objection to that conduct, in principle. Its objection however is to customers buying whatever they like and ignoring the law of copyright. We do have some sympathy for the statement by CD Wow's founder, Henrick Wesslen, who condemned the BPI's pursuit of its company.
He said that at a time when the record industry was losing out vastly to piracy, it seemed ludicrous that the BPI could set out to destroy a section of the market that was actually making it money.
So where does this all leave us? Five years down the line we have a substantial judgement and an authoritative statement of the law on parallel importing and copyright laws.
But.... we are left with the uncomfortable feeling that free trade or, at least, healthy competition has been suppressed.
If nothing else, we are still left feeling that consumers in the UK are still paying far too much for their music, now as much as ever. However, we may not have heard the end yet, as CD-Wow says it will fight the High Court judgement in the European Courts if it can.
http://www.bcs.org/server.php?show=ConWebDoc.12852
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