Sony gives and takes on UMD -> Digital Copy program

PSP owners: Do you have a small collection of UMD’s? Looking forward to the PSP Go’s digital only approach? With any major change up such as the move from physical to a digital only distribution method comes two sides. One side is happy. One side is not. Ignoring whatever side you choose, if you thought you’d have a sure fire way to backup or copy over your previously purchased UMD movies to digital copies for your brand spankin’ new PSP Go will have some thumb twirling to do as you wait around for Sony and their partners to get their act together. According to Sony:

We were evaluating a UMD conversion program, but due to legal and technical reasons we will not be offering the program at this time

They do note however that they are actively working on a UMD trade-in program of sorts that would allow UMD owners to trade-in their physical copies for a digital. Hardly the solution many wanted, though better than nothing I guess.

Does it bother anyone how “our property” is becoming less ours and more of a “rental” from the manufacturer?

Gizmodo > Kotaku

Facebook getting sued by owner of overly vague, overly infringed patent.

Copyrights are quickly becoming a joke these days as more and more “no-names” are coming out of the woodwork and suing multi-million dollar companies for…you guessed it…multiple millions of dollars. Facebook has been through their fair share of lawsuits. Though, if you own or manage a large successful company, lawsuits are a given. The latest legal venture for Facebook is rather pointless and again highlights the growing pains the U.S. copyright system is going through. The plaintiff, WhoGlue, is claiming Facebook infringes on their patent, patent # 7, 246, 164 which consists of:

Distributed personal relationship information management system and methods

Anyonne, even those who don’t really know what the internet is, already know the various sites such as MySpace, Twitter, Friendfeed, as well as countless other social networking services that I’m sure employ a very similar type of technology. Also high up on the “obviousness list” is the fact that the Facebook team came up with technologies used behind closed doors from their own minds as the patent being referenced is so vague it boggles my mind that it was even issued. But that’s the country we live in — if you can’t innovate of compete with the bigger players, take them to court and steal all of their money. Nonsense?

TechDirt

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KipKay 140 decibel alarm clock ensures every morning starts with a good ear bleed.

Think you’ve seen or heard the loudest, most annoying alarm clock ever? I have some news for you. If you’ve never experienced the “KipKay Extra-Loud Alarm Clock”, you haven’t heard anything yet. Is it really that loud? Ask yourself: “Is 140 decibels from (2) automotive grade horns blaring within 1-10ft of your head at 4:30am loud”? Why yes. Yes it is. This alarm clock really is that loud and yes it will hurt your ears…. precisely why we have an example video so you too can experience ear bleeding levels of “welcome to reality” sounds. Step on in.

Verizon decides against Palm Pre. iPhone deal behind closed doors? Palm gets a face smack.

*Rumor & Speculation warning…..!*

I’m sure you’ve seen the articles detailing the recent smackdown Verizon dealt to Palm. If not…here’s a very quick recap.

• Verizon was more than likely prepping to get the Pre early next year bringing Verizon customers one of their first tastes of a “modern” smartphone. However, that same company that was bragging about having the Pre right around Sprint’s launch is now singing a very different tune as the are reported to now be passing over the Pre….

Why so? It’s possible that they could be working on a newer, better version of the Pre, or some other model to be exclusive to Verizon. Of course, an interesting tidbit can be gleaned from a statement Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam made which said that “they plan on offering a *Pre-like* device by early next year”. A Pre supposedly isn’t part of that general statement. Now the fantasies begin.

Could Verizon be passing on the Pre because they’re inking a deal or at the very least getting an iPhone model of their own to sell next year? Could Hell really be freezing over? Obviously, Verizon would want to milk iPhone sales as much as possible and therefore wouldn’t want to release anything that is too close in comparison as that would cannibalize sales. Again, this is all speculation and rumor without a sliver of confirmation. But you know what? It’s feels good to let the brain stretch it’s legs every once in a while. Either way, if the Pre is in fact gone from Verizon’s sights, Palm just received one hell of a smack in the face and blow to financial earnings. Heck, Verizon hopefuls who were eying the Pre as their next purchase are no doubt feeling pretty bummed too. Your thoughts?

**Update here
Digital Daily

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Microsoft tugs a heart string…Remembers fallen Zune HD team member…

Yes I’ll admit it. I harp on Microsoft a lot. Though every once in a while they do something worthwhile and sincere that deserves some praise.

After the Zune HD got biopsied by the FCC, many who looked at the pictures questioned the placement of a few words inside the unit which read: “For Our Princess”. At the time seemed rather odd and I even saw some blogs speculating that it was a left field attempt to be “cool” and emulate Apple’s “Made In California” on their gear or even earlier Zunes’ “Hello From Seattle”. However, the dust has cleared and the true reason has come out. Sadly, a Zune HD team member passed during the development of the Zune HD and the entire team felt it was only right to honor her with a little note on one of millions of Zune HD’s to go out in to the world. A touching farewell and gesture on Microsoft’s part isn’t it?

CrunchGear

Android modder “CyanogenMod” steps on a few toes. Gets Cease and Desisted….

Anti-Apple people. Those who saw a beacon of light in Android and all of it’s openness it offered are going to be crying through tears of disbelief. The uber popular Android modder, “CyanogenMod” has announced that Google has sent him Cease & Desist orders in regards to his “unlicensed” use and distribution of Google apps such as the Gmail, YouTube, Google Talk, Google Maps, etc. which are in actuality “closed source”. Google claims he is giving unauthorized (read: un-paying) users to experience the “Google Experience” without proper monetary compensation. Of course, the real kicker is that CyanogenMod only works with Google Experience devices meaning the apps and groups he’s partaking in distribution with are already authorized for said goods. The dialog Android and Me received from CyanogenMod:

[20:03] google just cease and desisted me
[20:15] cyanogenmod is probably going to be dead
[20:16] i’m opening a dialogue with them
[20:20] no they are talking specifically about the closed-source google apps
[20:20] and how i am not licensed to distribute them
[20:20] my argument is that i only develop for google-experience devices which are already licensed for these apps
[20:20] so we’ll see what they say
[20:20] maybe we can work something out
[20:24] maps, market, talk, gmail, youtube

A baseless and stupid fight on Google’s part to say the least. Maybe Google has been reading to much Apple/App Store news lately and decided they could one up them? In a world where there is the super controlling (Apple) and the free spirit (Google/Android), this new development is disappointing to say the least. Let’s hope the retards who decided this would be a good idea come to a quick, peaceful, non-destructive solution and quick. Besides, once Google takes their first steps towards the Apple-esque approach, two things will happen. (1) They will continue getting more restrictive and (2) They will cause more developers to emulate and replace CyanogenMod (if it comes to that) and starting a never ending game of cat and mouse. If they really want to know what a nightmare that is, just go ahead and give Apple HQ a call…

Android and Me

Surprise of the century: Microsoft doesn’t like Google Chrome IE Plugin…

Whenever someone takes your work that you spent many months developing and nurturing like a small baby child and then goes and rips the guts out and calls it home is rather disturbing and maddening. Such are the feelings Microsoft is feeling after the Google Chrome IE plugin we recently talked about. The plugin essesentiall allows Google Chrome to run inside of a frame within IE. All in all it makes using IE much less painful and actually worthwhile. Microsoft however sees it differently and as usual, tries to spin it in such a way that makes the Chrome plugin appear as if it’s on the brink of sending your entire hard drive’s worth of content out onto the interwebs. From the horse:

Given the security issues with plugins in general and Google Chrome in particular, Google Chrome Frame running as a plugin has doubled the attach area for malware and malicious scripts. This is not a risk we would recommend our friends and families take

They wouldn’t recommend it huh? I wouldn’t recommend using IE at all. But such things in life can’t be avoided with various corporations still refusing to budge from their IE backgrounds. In all reality, the way the Chrome/IE tango goes, most if not all of IE’s security settings are left untampered with meaning you’re fine. The only difference is the dramatically faster browsing and web pages actually displaying as the web developer intended. *Gasp*. Give it a try IE users. It’s the best thing you could do.

Mashable