Canadian Thinking about Taxing iPod ?

The Canadian Private Copying Collective—an association of composers, recording artists, publishers, and record labels—is asking the Copyright Board of Canada to re-introduce the controversial “iPod Tax” fee into the sale price of MP3 players in Canada. They are talking about and depending on the size of the mp3 palyers, anywhere between $7.00 and $75.00 CDN.

Lies, Damned Lies, and Bill Gates

Bill Gates to Newsweek: “Nowadays, security guys break the Mac every single day. Every single day, they come out with a total exploit, your machine can be taken over totally.”

Oh, really?
Prouve it I Dare you...

Apple talking iPhone games with EA?

Apple may launch a range of iPhone games titles in collaboration with EA, others. Speculation continues at games on the Apple TV also.

iTunes not exclusive online Beatles song seller

A Fox News report nixes the notion that Apple has secured exclusive online seller status for tracks from The Beatles, and speculates on a royalty as part of the Apple v Apple settlement.

Chaotic releases Media Rage 3 major update

Chaotic Software today announced the release of Media Rage 3.0, a major upgrade of the company's collection of tools for media enthusiasts using Mac OS X. Great App.

iSkin offers mPrints--personalized iPod cases for promotional use

iSkin now offers iSkin mPrints enabling businesses, charities, artists and organizations of any kind to order an iSkin product inscribed with their corporate logo, website address, tagline or other branding information. The imprinted iPod cases or Apple keyboard covers can be used as corporate gifts, promotional handouts, event marketing tools, cause reminders, and for other branding and publicity purposes. Great Concept.

Turn your iPod into a bootable toolkit with SubRosaSoft DasBoot (FREE)

SubRosaSoft is pleased to announce DasBoot--a new addition to their line of freeware utilities for Mac OS X computers. Do you have a shiny new iPod in your pocket? Or perhaps a flash drive or small portable hard drive? Now you can turn it into a Mac OS X diagnostic, repair, and maintenance tool. DasBoot allows you to take any third party boot CD (such as those shipped by SubRosaSoft.com Inc, Prosoft Engineering Inc, Alsoft Inc, or Micromat Inc) and quickly create a bootable diagnostic device.

Disco 1.0 released

DiscoApp.com today announced the release of Disco 1.0 for Mac OS 10.4. Disco is disc burning app that allows users to accomplish more complex burning tasks with minimal effort. Following an immensely successful initial beta period, the final release of Disco introduces new improvements, features, and fixes such as a redesigned disc naming system, fully rewritten Discography database engine, improved Unicode support, and much more.

MP3tunes offers unlimited free online music storage

MP3tunes.com now offers free unlimited online music storage through Oboe Locker, its online repository of your music.

Adobe brings Flash video to phones

Video will be included in the next version of Adobe Flash Lite software for mobile phones.

PeaceMaker game simulates Israeli-Palestinian conflict

ImpactGames has released PeaceMaker, a new game that puts you in the role of Palestinian and Israeli leaders, trying to find a peaceful and lasting resolution to their conflict.

TUNEWEAR announces the new Red color case series

TUNEWEAR(tm) announces the new Red color case series of high quality
nappa leather cases "PRIE TUNEWALLET micro RED", "PRIE Ambassador for
iPod nano RED". PRIE TUNEWALLET micro RED and PRIE Ambassador for
iPod nano RED will be available in March 2007.

[RED series]
The RED series adds a new color variation on our already popular
PRIE TUNEWALLET micro and PRIE Ambassador for iPod nano. As with
the previous models, the RED series is made from the highest quality
smooth nappa leather and the color is perfectly suited for the
iPod nano (PRODUCT) RED Special Edition. All models in the RED range
include TUNEFILM, a clear protective film that covers the front of
the iPod for extra protection.

On Line Film Competition

After the success of its first two contests, Filmaka has launched its third contest ‘Mistaken Identity’. Submissions are accepted till 27th February 2007.
www.filmaka.com

Filmaka.com Announces the Start of Contest #3!

February's topic is "Mistaken Identity," and all 1-3 minute films must be uploaded by
midnight PST, February 27, 2007. The annual grand prize is a feature film contract.

Filmaka.com is a new online competition, juried by award winning filmmakers including
Werner Herzog, Neil LaBute, Paul Schrader and Wim Wenders, and founded by leading
independent producers and financiers. Filmmakers have a new chance to enter each month, and submissions are accepted in 10 different languages.

Apple adds Lionsgate films to iTunes catalog

Apple today announced that movies from Lionsgate Entertainment will be available for purchase and download from the iTunes Store starting today. iTunes can now purchase films, such as "Terminator 2," "LA Story," "Basic Instinct," "The Blair Witch Project" and "Dirty Dancing". The companies said that more than 150 titles are expected to available soon.

Apple TV Shipments Pushed to March

ThinkSecret posts a brief blurb that the Apple TV's ship date has been pushed back to the beginning of March.

DRM Round-up

The most interesting Mac news today is from no less than Steve Jobs himself, author of an extraordinary short essay about the state of DRM in the music industry. It’s extraordinary not just because of what he says, but also the mere fact that he’s saying it this way. He must really have wanted to get this off his chest.

In the essay, Steve reveals some surprising details:

However, a key provision of our agreements with the music companies is that if our DRM system is compromised and their music becomes playable on unauthorized devices, we have only a small number of weeks to fix the problem or they can withdraw their entire music catalog from our iTunes store.

He’s also refreshingly candid about the nature of the DRM business:

The problem, of course, is that there are many smart people in the world, some with a lot of time on their hands, who love to discover such secrets and publish a way for everyone to get free (and stolen) music. They are often successful in doing just that, so any company trying to protect content using a DRM must frequently update it with new and harder to discover secrets. It is a cat-and-mouse game.

What’s more:

And Apple might benefit by charging a small licensing fee for its FairPlay DRM. However, when we look a bit deeper, problems begin to emerge. The most serious problem is that licensing a DRM involves disclosing some of its secrets to many people in many companies, and history tells us that inevitably these secrets will leak.

Finally, Jobs makes his point, and it’s the simple truth:

Though the big four music companies require that all their music sold online be protected with DRMs, these same music companies continue to sell billions of CDs a year which contain completely unprotected music. That’s right! No DRM system was ever developed for the CD, so all the music distributed on CDs can be easily uploaded to the Internet, then (illegally) downloaded and played on any computer or player.

Apple doesn’t care about DRM. Apple sees no benefit in it. If the the big four music companies could collectively see the light and agree to sell downloadable music DRM-free, just as they sell music on CDs -

Apple will embrace this wholeheartedly.

What’s Steve telling us with this open letter? Several things, I think:

He’s really annoyed with the music industry right now
He’s fed up with people moaning about iTS DRM - it’s only there because the stupid industry insisted on it. He’s tired of having to defend something he thinks is a waste of time
He wanted to say this now, to get it out in the open and get the discussion started. It couldn’t wait until the next keynote
Further comment on this:

Ian Betteridge:

If Apple is serious about wanting to sell unprotected music, then I’d be interested in know why it’s not doing so for bands and albums that have already answered Jobs’ request in the affirmative.

The Register:

But Jobs thinks this is unfair: customers are served well in the current market, by competing manufacturers, each with their own “top-to-bottom” proprietary systems, he argues.

iPodObserver:

So, his argument goes, Apple must keep FairPlay as an Apple-only solution in order to meet its obligations to the labels.

Macworld:

Why does the music industry fear DRM-free downloads? They fear file-sharing, of course–piracy. But that’s silly, because piracy is well-established by this point; we’ve had almost a solid decade of high-volume media piracy. The vast majority of the songs that you can find on iTunes and the other services are available through file-sharing networks, if you know where to look. And for every pirate site or technology that’s destroyed by a phalanx of intellectual-property lawyers, two more sprout up in its place.

This is far from being over, Jobs as sparked a mind revolution forcing the DRM issue. Remember that regardless of your opinion on the subject make sure that you voice it by sending email, snail mail or any other form of communication to the branch office or head office of your favorite record label. As a consummer you and only you have the power to ask and get what you want; Just my 2 cents ...

Samsung Announces iPhone Contender

Samsung has unveiled a new phone designed to take on Apple's iPhone, due to be released in June of this year.

Samsung's new Ultra Smart F700, will sport a touch screen interface as well as be able to play audio and video files. The unit will support a 2.78" screen with a maximum resolution of 440 x 240 pixels and measure approximately 4" in length by 2" inches in width and about 0.66" in depth..

In a released statement, the company mentioned that its unit will feature a pull-down QWERTY keyboard and support for 3G technologies, specifically the HSDPA protocol (which features speeds of 7.2 megabits per second) as opposed to the iPhone's slower supported EDGE protocol.

Apple Store Planned for Australia

Apple Inc. has plans for expanding its retail presence into Australia with one store in Sydney, and possibly a second in Melbourne.

March will see OSX 10.5, iLife '07, and iWork '07

Development of Mac OS X 10.5 is wrapping up faster than many at Apple even anticipated, and at present, a release can be expected as early as late March same goes for iLife and iWork '07.

Two Bucks for 100 Mbps 802.11n Enabler

The AirPort Extreme Base Station with 802.11n is now shipping. The software enabler required to update existing Macs that have 802.11n technology built in is included with the base station, and can now also be purchased from the Apple Store for $2 (see "Two Bucks for 100 Mbps 802.11n Enabler," 2007-01-22). All Macs with Intel Core 2 Duo processors (except the 17-inch 1.83 GHz iMac) or Xeon processors can be updated to 802.11n, including Mac Pro desktops.