Tuesday, September 30, 2008
StealDVD? Well, You Were Asking for It…
Just hours after RealNetworks filed a preemptive lawsuit against the major Hollywood studios to avoid outcry over its RealDVD DVD-ripping software, Hollywood responded in kind. The Motion Picture Association of America asked a federal court in Los Angeles for a temporary restraining order to halt the sales of RealDVD, arguing it illegally bypasses DVD copyright protections. Said the MPAA, “RealNetworks’ RealDVD should be called StealDVD.”
Sue. Rent. Rip. Return.
Turns out RealNetworks Inc.’s new DVD ripper RealDVD is as legal as its creator is litigious. Real debuted RealDVD this morning and along with it a preemptive lawsuit against the Hollywood interests that will inevitably attempt to litigate it into oblivion. Brought against the DVD Copy Control Association and a who’s-who of major studios, the suit asks the court to rule that RealDVD complies with the DVD Copy Control Association’s license agreement.
Amazon Announces Video Service You May Actually Want to Use
About the best thing to be said about Amazon Unbox, the mediocre, odiously restrictive, video download service the retailer launched last year, is that it was … er … Windows-only, I guess. Which, obviously isn’t saying much.
Monday, February 25, 2008
ABC Announces “Must Flee TV”
Leave it to ABC to devise a service that offers all the convenience of video-on-demand with all the annoyance and vapidity of broadcast TV in one joyless package. This morning the network and its affiliates announced fast-forward-disabled video on demand, which prevents viewers from bypassing commercials.
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
CES: Comast CEO Announces 4 MegaBatman-Per-Minute Internet
“Comcast 3.0.” That was the subject of Comcast CEO Brian Roberts keynote address at the Consumer Electronics Show today. And what is “Comcast 3.0?” Well, like Web 2.0 and 3.0, it’s a marketing term–in Comcast’s case, one for its transformation from “broadband” provider to a “wideband” provider.
In 2008, said Roberts, Comcast will begin upgrading its [...]
Friday, November 23, 2007
Burst Case Scenarios
Burst has added another notch to its patent-infringement settlement belt. The scrappy three-man company, which once beat a $60 million settlement out of Microsoft over charges that the software giant had stolen its streaming media technology, has managed to squeeze a few million out of Apple as well.
Bringing an end to an often contentious [...]
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
My DVD Business! It’s Melting, Melting … Melting
Time was, when a movie bombed at the box office, Hollywood studios could always slap it onto a DVD, ship it off to retail outlets and make some or all of their money back.
No longer. The salad days when you could rush dross like “Police Academy: Mission to Moscow” and “From Justin to Kelly” out [...]
Thursday, August 9, 2007
Next Blockbuster Initiative: Renting Copies of Netflix Business Plan
Movielink Tapped to Star in Blockbuster Remake of Netflix Business Plan
From top to bottom, Blockbuster is deliberately and willfully infringing on our patented methods. Netflix invented a 100 percent better mousetrap that Blockbuster copied.
- Netflix spokesperson Steve Swasey, April 5, 2006
Apparently, Blockbuster isn’t as hopelessly tethered to its VHS rental-business past as you might think. Yesterday, the video-rental retailer acquired studio-owned movie download [...]
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About John
John Paczkowski has been poking fun at the tech industry and the personalities that drive it since 1997. From 1999 to 2007, he wrote the award-winning tech news Web log Good Morning Silicon Valley for the San Jose Mercury News, Silicon Valley's daily newspaper.
Ethics Statement
Here is a statement of my ethics and coverage policies. It is more than most of you want to know, but, in the age of suspicion of the media, I am laying it all out.
alt.misc
- 10 Best Uses Of Classical Music In Classic Cartoons
Includes “Pigs in a Polka,” “Rabbit of Seville” and, of course, “What’s Opera, Doc?”
- Web Site Story
Take the famous ballads and duets of West Side Story, insert a dozen mentions of famous social media sites like twitter and facebook, and this is what you get.
- Wooden iPod
An iPod mini rebuilt with a wooden case
- Han Solo, P.I.
Star Wars meets Magnum, P.I.
- The “literal video” collection
Music videos recreated with new lyrics based on what’s actually happening in them. Daydream Believer and Total Eclipse of the Heart are particularly good.
- E-Mail From Your Facilities Department
In response to numerous e-mails, I have no idea what planet the giant alien creature is from. Judging from its enormous gills, I’d have to guess it’s from a watery planet. Reminder: please let me know if you plan to be in the office on Memorial Day so I can request HVAC for your floor.
- Amazon Customer Reviews: Three Wolf Moon T-Shirt
For those of you who mock the wolf shirt beware. There is an old Navajo story about a young man who made fun of another man for wearing a wolf trio shirt. Legend has it that in his sleep, the wolves on the other man’s shirt came to life and tore his body to shreds. They never found any part of that man’s body. The Wolf is something to be respected and feared, not treated like a novelty.
- Nice Muscle!
Hands down the most inexplicably bizarre game for Wii I’ve ever seen
- Respectful Yo Mama Jokes
Yo mama is so attractive she could be on the cover of Prevention.
- Introduction to Microcontroller Programming: The Flatulometer
The inspiration for this project was to determine who could generate the worst flatulence measurable in a personally unbiased manner.
