Show #47 - 09.16.2007

[Download Show #47 as MP3]

News

• Netscape's Digg Clone Is Kaput
• A little over 1 year ago, AOL/Netscape announced a Digg like social new website at Netscape.com
• The site worked similar to Digg where users could vote on different stories to allow them to make it to the front page.
• As of last week, the Digg clone is soon to be redirected to netscape.aol.com
  
• IBM Dives into OpenOffice Development
• IBM sees the ODF (Open Document Format) as a market demand (with over 100 million people using it)
• With governments moving to OpenOffice, getting support from IBM is a big step in the right direction.
  
• IBM will assign 35 of its developers to work on OpenOffice
  
• AMD Releases Their Barcelona Chips (Quad Core)
• These are the Opteron chips (server based processors)
  
• Coming out after months of delays
• Intel has already had quad-core chips on the market for months
• AMD is hoping that the technical differences with their processors will help them to regain some lost market share
  
• Skype Warns Windows Users of Worm
• Focuses on the chat side of Skype
• A link is sent via chat from either a contact on the list or an unknown contact
• The link looks like it has .jpeg file but when clicked, the user is asked if they would like to save a .scr file
• The worm can access a user's computer using the Skype API
  
• This worm then sends a message from you to your Skype contacts
• Eudora Reborn as Open Source Project, Penelope
• The formally commercial available email application known as Eudora has a new name, Penelope
• Released as an open source project by the Mozilla Foundation (Firefox/Thunderbird)
• Mozilla is hoping to integrate some of Eudora's more popular features into Thunderbird.

Software / Hardware / Power Web Picks

• Digital Content Protection
  
• Digital Rights Management (DRM)
• What is DRM?
• Why does DRM exist?
• Removing DRM
• iTunes
• MyFairTunes (we can't link due to legal reasons)
  
• MyFairTunes takes the DRMed music, and strips it of it's DRM. The program is free and is fairly easy to use.
  
• Windows Media
• FairUse4WM (we can't link due to legal reasons)
  
• FairUse4WM is similar to MyFairTunes but works on DRMed WMA files (like from Rhapsody or Yahoo! Music).
• You need to have a copy of the license key on your computer for the files in order for FairUse4WM to work.
  
• Hardware Digital Content Protection (HDCP)
• What is HDCP?
• Why does it exist?
  
• Consumer Rights Versus Digital Rights Management
• Do you (the customer) really own that track?
• Is it legal to crack DRM so you can play the track on any operating system or player?
• Is it legal to break HDCP so you can record HD content to your PC?
  

Penny Pinchers

• Why digital rights management and content protection raises costs
• DRM
• When you purchase a DRM-ed track from an online store, you are officially locked into whatever kind of player(s) that will play those tracks, if the player breaks then you will need to replace it with a new one from the same company with similar specifications
• Being locked into 1 kind of player means the other players in your house will need to be compatible with those DRM-ed tracks, meaning buying a device for everyone in your house gets a little more costly to keep everyone compatible. No, buying cheaper players for the kiddies if you want them to be able to play the music you are purchasing/renting
  
• HDCP
• Cable/Satellite boxes connected to a pre-HDCP television will not allow transmitting of 1080p signal, rendering an HD television useless, causing the consumer to have to purchase a new TV that is HDCP compliant
• HDCP video cards can have their HD licenses revoked if they do not handle breaches of the license agreement in a "timely" manner, sometimes rendering the computer's video card completely useless for doing HD output.