News and stories

The infamous torrent tracker The Pirate Bay is back in the news today, this time for refusing to take down a torrent that include autopsy pictures of two toddlers that were murdered in Arboga earlier this year.

The photos are part of a larger collection of material that came from a police investigation into the case.

Niklas Jangestig, the father of the murdered children, pleaded with the admins of the site to have the pictures removed but Peter Sunde, one of the admins, refused.



“We don’t even want to them to remove the investigative material. But we don’t want there to be pictures of my dead children there,” Jangestig said.

Sunde responded to the request with an email that said “that is one helluva gripe. No, No and again no.”



“I don’t think it’s our job to judge of something is ethical or unethical or what other people want to put out on the internet,” added Sunde.

“People can express themselves and spread material they think is important, that’s one of the things we’re fighting for and if it’s then used for things which can be uncomfortable for some, so be it, but it’s more important that such a possibility exists than that it doesn’t exist,” he finished.

We can be sure that this situation is not over.

Permalink | Comments

Amazon has announced the end of its Unbox service and the birth of the new Amazon Video on Demand.

The new, updated service will allow users to watch ad-supported movies and television episodes on their TVs and PCs.

Users have the option to stream content on their PC or Mac, use media hubs with Web browsers or if you are a Sony Bravia HDTV owner, using the Bravia Internet Link.

Movie rentals cost between $3 and $4 USD and to purchase the movie with no ads is $10-15 USD depending on how new the film is. All TV episodes cost $1.99 but you may save money if you purchase or rent a whole season.

Roy Price, director of Amazon VOD, added that Unbox users had requested the ability to watch movies instantly via streaming. “We’re continuing to create new, convenient ways for our customers to watch digital movies and TV shows,” Price said.

Permalink | Comments

Sony has announced the launch of a new BRAVIA flat-panel LCD that has an industry leading 240Hz frame rate for exceptional motion detail during TV and movie playback.

The TV, dubbed the KDL-52XBR7 uses Motionflow 240Hz technology that uses an “algorithm that goes beyond traditional 120Hz technology by quadrupling the frame rate of conventional LCD TVs and interpolating three new frames.”

CDRInfo also adds that “other picture enhancements include Sony’s Advanced Contrast Enhancer (ACE), which helps deliver a dynamic contrast ratio of 80,000:1 and BRAVIA Engine 2, Sony’s digital video processor that enhances all incoming signals to match the TV’s 1080p resolution.”

As is the new standard, the TV is compatible with Sony’s BRAVIA Link that adds internet features as well as the ability to stream movies wirelessly.

The TV is expected to ship in December but there was no word on price.

Permalink | Comments

After announcing last month that it was stripping some functionality from its PS3 PlayTV device it appears that Sony has changed its mind and added back the ability to transfer recorded shows, DRM-free, from the PlayStation 3 to the PSP handheld as well as any other device that can playback MPEG-4 or 2.

This new revelation comes from a review of the device by CVG, and the review says “Any recorded footage is slapped in a Library menu, automatically tagged with the programme name and description. Hit X on it and PlayTV runs the recording. Again, nice and simple.

You can access PlayTV from your PSP via Remote Play, too, allowing you to watch live TV or stored videos through your portable.”

Read the full review here: PlayTV Review

Permalink | Comments

One month after being found guilty of breaking net neutrality laws, the large U.S. ISP Comcast has appealed the decision in hopes of having the ruling overturned.

On August 1st the Commission found Comcast guilty of improperly “throttling” P2P and BitTorrent traffic without letting its users know that it was doing so. In court the ISP admitted that it temporarily slowed down service for top bandwidth users when the network was congested.



“The commission’s action was legally inappropriate and its findings were not justified by the record,” Comcast Executive Vice President David L. Cohen added in a press release.

“I’m certainly disappointed they ended up appealing,” FCC Chairman Kevin J. Martin said. “The commission has done a very thorough job on investigating the complaint. We thought we needed to step in and protect consumers’ access to the Internet.”

In related news, Comcast recently announced that it will begin implementing a 250GB monthly bandwidth cap on its users as a way to satisfy their need to turn the Internet from unlimited to limited.

Permalink | Comments

The popular documentary filmmaker Michael Moore has announced that he will be exclusively releasing his latest documentary on the Web for free instead of releasing it traditionally via theaters.

The movie, set for release on September 23rd, is entitled “Slacker Uprising” and document’s a 62 city tour of what Moore calls “key swing states during the 2004 U.S. presidential election” where he was trying to convince non-voters to register and get out there and vote.

“This is being done entirely as a gift to my fans,” Moore said in the announcement. “The only return any of us are hoping for is the largest turnout of young voters ever at the polls in November.”



The movie had a tiny budget of just over $2 million USD and was entirely funded by himself and the movie executives Bob and Harvey Weinstein who hold all international rights for release.

Moore’s last movie, “Sicko”, made $24.5 million USD in the theaters and followed up the blockbuster “Fahrenheit 9/11″ which made $119 million domestic.

The download will become available at BlipTV on the release date.

Permalink | Comments

According to an interview posted on Pocket-lint.co.uk, Samsung believes that the Blu-ray format will only have a 5 year life span from this point out before it is replaced by either HD downloads or a completely different physical media format.



“I think it [Blu-ray] has 5 years left, I certainly wouldn’t give it 10″, Andy Griffiths, director of consumer electronics for Samsung UK said in the interview. The 10 years mark is what Sony has committed to its Blu-ray playing PlayStation 3 console.

Griffiths does believe however that Blu-ray can be huge over the next year, and that 2008 is just the start.

“It’s going to be huge”, he added. “We are heavily back-ordered at the moment.”

Griffiths cited cheaper prices for players and titles, as well as the format’s victory over HD DVD as reasons why the format will be a winner, if only for a short period of time.



“In 2012 we will be in a true HD world. Everything from your television to your camcorder will be offering you pictures in high-definition, and we plan to offer you that HD world from all angles.”

Permalink | Comments

BBC Worldwide has announced they are set to launch a fully ad-supported online music service which will allow users to access free and paid audio and video content from the BBC.

The content will include coverage from shows such as “Top of the Pops” and is set to directly compete with Apple’s iTunes as well as Amazon and Sky who offer similar services.

The service will launch with only 1000 audio tracks but will also include about 300 TV episodes and radio music programs including Radio 1’s “Live Lounge.”

BBC says they hope to offer up to 50,000 audio tracks and 3000 hours of video while using the full BBC archive.

The broadcaster has a beta launch set for November with a full rollout expected by January.

Differentiating the new service from, lets say iTunes, is that you can stream the entire video you want to watch for free, only with a few ads in the way. It is basically like Hulu except that you can pay to purchase the videos before and after you have watched the file of your choosing. Making it even better, the files are DRM-free if you purchase them.

Analysts expect half of the revenue for the service to come from subscriptions with the other half coming from advertising.

A BBC Worldwide spokesman added: “We’re exploring a range of opportunities around direct to consumer websites and the utilisation of the BBC music archive. At present, no launches have been approved”.

There was no word on price yet.

Permalink | Comments

According to a new press release from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment and PNY, the two companies have teamed up to release a 2GB USB flash drive that includes, for the first time ever, a full-length feature film already pre-loaded.

The movie is the classic hit Ghostbusters starring Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd and the companies say the file can be played right from the drive.

Andy Armstrong, UK, Managing Director for Sony Pictures Home Entertainment added in the release, “Sony Pictures Home Entertainment is delighted to partner with PNY to offer the first full length movie preloaded on a USB flash drive and ready to play on your PC/Laptop. We are committed to giving the consumer more choice in how to experience their movies either at home or on the go.”

PNY says the drive is available now, but there was no word on price and it is not yet available on their official site.

Permalink | Comments

According to Digg.com admin Kevin Rose, the upcoming iTunes 8 will be the first of the platform to allow for HD TV show purchases.

The upgrade notes say users will have the option of downloading TV shows in “HD quality,” marking the first time shows will be available in such a form outside of Apple TV.

The leaked excerpt also confirms rumors that have been swirling around for weeks, that a second-generation iPod touch, a 4G iPod Nano and a second-generation iPod classic will be coming soon and will be fully syncable with iTunes 8.

Another notable update would be a “recommendation system” called Genius which will “automatically create playlists based on songs the software believes ‘go great together’.” The platform would also recommend purchases from the iTunes Store based on your played songs.

Permalink | Comments