INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
Movie Makeovers
Forrester Sees $2 Billion Digital Music Market By 2007
INTERNET
Yahoo Yields to Chinese Web Laws
BROADBAND
Bush Stresses Need for Broadband Deregulation
Broadband Hope for Small Towns
ANTITRUST
Dell Unhooks Windows From Desktops
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
MOVIE MAKEOVERS
A tiny startup company in Salt Lake City, Utah is changing the look of
movies. Using highly sophisticated software, Trilogy Studios is able to
seamlessly delete language, violent scenes and adult situations. The Movie
Mask software is customized for each film and makes changes automatically as
the movie is played back. The software is customized for four different age
groups. "A consumer can actually choose to tone down the violence in a movie
but leave the language intact or vice versa," co-founder Breck Rice
explains. For instance, in the director's version of "Titanic," Kate Winslet
poses nude for a painting. In the Movie Mask version, she is wearing a
corset. The Director's Guild of America (DGA) is appalled at the changes
Movie Mask can make. "We are going to talk to the studios and the Motion
Picture Association of America and our members and look into what we can do
about this legally," said DGA president Martha Coolidge. "Movie Mask is
censorship because it is someone deciding that certain things are
inappropriate and cutting them out and simply changing them." Lawyers say
the DGA may not have a solid case against Trilogy Studios.
[SOURCE: ABC News, AUTHOR: Bill Redeker]
(http://abcnews.go.com/sections/wnt/DailyNews/moviemask020812.html)
FORRESTER SEES $2 BILLION DIGITAL MUSIC MAKER BY 2007
Forrester Research released findings from a survey of 1,000 U.S. online
consumers that reveals no evidence linking Internet piracy to the 15 percent
drop in music sales over the last two years. "There is no denying that times
are tough for the music business, but not because of downloading." said Josh
Bernoff, principal analyst at Forrester Research. Forrester points to the
downturn in the economy and increased competition as reasons for the drop in
music profits. The research firms predicts that digital music revenues will
grow to make up 17 percent of the music business by 2007, and record labels
could increase revenues by making it easier for people to find, copy and
purchase digital music.
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: Reuters]
(http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/3856253.htm)
INTERNET
YAHOO YIELDS TO CHINESE WEB LAWS
On Tuesday, Yahoo agreed to voluntarily limit content in China. The
agreement, called the "Public Pledge on Self-Discipline for the China
Internet Industry," is controversial, as many critics believe it will open
the door for increased censorship. Yahoo defends its decision, saying that
the agreement simply ensures that Internet companies will abide by
pre-existing Chinese regulations. Human Rights Watch issued a pubic
statement last week condemning Yahoo's signing of the pledge. "There
doesn't seem to be a clear reason for them to be signing this pledge," said
Meg Davis, a Human Rights Watch spokesperson. "The pledge is clearly in
contradiction to international rights and to freedom of expression." Davis
added that to her knowledge, no other western company has signed the pledge.
[SOURCE: CNET News, AUTHOR: Jim Hu]
(http://news.com.com/2100-1023-949643.html?tag=fd_top)
BROADBAND
BUSH STRESSES NEED FOR BROADBAND DEREGULATION
During Tuesday's economic forum, President Bush praised federal regulators
for their efforts to deregulate the market for broadband services. "The
Federal Communications Commission is focusing on policies to encourage
high-speed Internet service for every home and every business in America,"
Bush said. "The private sector will deploy broadband. But the government at
all levels should remove hurdles that slow the pace of deployment." The FCC
will be voting on whether or not telephone-based broadband access should be
classified as an information service. If so, it could allow the major phone
companies to avoid many open-access regulations. Independent Internet
service providers and consumer groups oppose reclassifying telephone-based
broadband services.
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Brian Krebs]
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A13582-2002Aug13.html)
BROADBAND HOPE FOR SMALL TOWNS
British Telecom is about to start trials of a new broadband technology that
will allow the company to supply broadband to as few as 16 customers at a
fraction of the usual cost. Getting broadband to rural areas has been an
ongoing challenge. British Telecom has always insisted that the cost of
providing broadband infrastructure is only viable if an area promises at
least 200 customers. The new "broadband-in-a-box" is a scaled-down version
of a technology that allows broadband access over existing cable rather than
new fiber optic lines. The initial trial is expected to run for six months,
at which time British Telecom and trial sponsors will evaluate the
technology and the business model.
[SOURCE: BBC News]
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/2191259.stm)
ANTITRUST
DELL UNHOOKS WINDOWS FROM DESKTOPS
Dell will ship their Precision and Optiplex n-Series PCs next month without
Windows or other operating systems installed. They will include a copy of
FreeDOS that will not be pre-installed, thus enabling customers to choose
their own operating system. The new computers will not be promoted heavily,
and only the Precision n-Series will be available to individual consumers.
The n-Series PCs are primarily targeted at business customers who often end
up installing other operating systems on Windows machines. While there is
demand for the n-Series, Dell says, "the overwhelming majority of the
systems we ship will go out with a Microsoft OS on them."
[SOURCE: ZDNet.com, AUTHOR: John G. Spooner]
(http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1103-949671.html)
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