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Shortly after the release of Iron Man on Blu-ray on October 1, people started complaining of defective discs. The problem turned out to be that all the Blu-ray players downloading additional content brought down Paramount’s BD-Live servers, causing delays while loading the disc. Which really makes you wonder what will happen when they decide to shut down this service in a couple of years.

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Source: Slashdot

Posted by:  Geoff Caplan

http://geoff-caplan.com

• SNL with another great Tina Fey Sarah Palin portrayal. #

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• Chillin’ out, some exercise, a consulting project to work on. #

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• On substance, Biden has the right message. Palin didn’t self-destruct, though, either. Pleasant lady with the wrong ideas. #

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Extending its tech-savvy strategy, the Obama campaign Thursday released an iPhone application that lets users enlist their support via the Apple device.

Heading into the home stretch of the presidential race, a key feature organizes contacts by battleground states to aid get-out-the-vote efforts. A user can track friends they’ve contacted, who they’re supporting and whether to make a reminder call on Election Day.

The free app also includes a tool for locating local campaign offices and lets supporters update Obama ‘08 news, videos and other material for recruiting purposes. To ensure privacy, no personal data or contacts are uploaded or stored through the iPhone software.

The Obama campaign previously notched a mobile first when it announced the selection of Joe Biden as the vice presidential pick via text message. But it has also embraced Web 2.0 communication tools from Twitter to Facebook to YouTube to recruit and raise funding.

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Source: Mediapost

Posted by: Geoff Caplan

http://geoff-caplan.com

• Biden vs. Palin. Get out the popcorn. The beer. Whatever. This is gonna be good. #

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Apple Inc.’s Mac OS X market share has passed the 8% mark for the first time, a research company reported today.

In September, Apple’s operating system ran on 8.2% of the computers that accessed the 40,000 sites monitored by Net Applications for clients, the company’s data showed. The Mac’s share of the operating system market was up over August’s by nearly four-tenths of a percentage point, the biggest one-month gain since May. (more…)

• Making progress learning the Wordpress website platform. At work in Delray Beach, Florida. Busy day ahead. #

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Six major movie studios sued RealNetworks, the Seattle-based digital media company, on Tuesday over its new $30 software program that allows people to make digital copies of their DVDs.

As the opening warning on every DVD indicates, Hollywood has bitterly opposed such copying. The studios have argued that it threatens their emerging business of digital downloads and can motivate buyers to rent, copy and return DVDs instead of buying them.

RealNetworks, the company behind RealPlayer software and the Rhapsody music subscription service, said RealDVD gives users the freedom to do things like make backup copies of favorite discs or take movies along on a laptop while traveling. It has argued that RealDVD is now legal because of a favorable decision last year in a case against Kaleidescape, a Silicon Valley-based manufacturer of high-end media servers.

RealNetworks also said that RealDVD conforms to Hollywood’s rules on DVD protection by encrypting the digital copies, which prevents unlawful online file sharing.

“We are disappointed that the movie industry is following in the footsteps of the music industry and trying to shut down advances in technology, rather than embracing changes that provide consumers with more value and flexibility for their purchases,” RealNetworks said in a statement Tuesday.

For their part, the studios argued in legal filings that the software violates the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act because it bypasses the anticopying mechanism built into DVDs.

“RealDVD should be called StealDVD,” Greg Goeckner, executive vice president and general counsel for the Motion Picture Association of America, said. “RealNetworks knows its product violates the law, and undermines the hard-won trust that has been growing between America’s moviemakers and the technology community.”

Paramount Pictures, Twentieth Century Fox, Universal Studios, Warner Brothers, Columbia Pictures, the Walt Disney Company and Sony are suing RealNetworks in United States District Court in Los Angeles, seeking an injunction that would prevent the company from selling the software.

Also on Tuesday, RealNetworks countersued the studios in federal court in San Francisco, asking a judge to find that the program does not violate Hollywood’s DVD license.

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Source:  New York Times

Posted by:  Geoff Caplan

http://geoff-caplan.com

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Circuit City Stores posted a wider quarterly loss and withdrew its fiscal 2009 outlook Monday amid sluggish sales, poor traffic and heightened competition.

Circuit City, which ranks behind Best Buy among the nation’s consumer electronics retailers, said it lost $239.2 million, or $1.45 a share, compared with a loss of $62.8 million, or 38 cents a share, a year earlier.

Sales in the period, which ended Aug. 31 and was the second quarter if Circuit City’s fiscal year, declined 10 percent, to $2.39 billion, from $2.64 billion. Sales at stores open at least a year fell 13.3 percent.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expected a loss of $1.04 a share and $2.53 billion in sales. Circuit City’s stock fell 29 cents, or 21 percent, to $1.08 a share.

“We realize the performance of this company is unacceptable to all of our stakeholders and that it is imperative that we take the right steps to accelerate our turnaround,” James A. Marcum, the acting chief executive, said in a conference call with investors.

Mr. Marcum was named vice chairman and acting president and chief executive last week after the resignation of Philip J. Schoonover, who had been under fire for the last year as financial results weakened.

“We must get back to the basics and, make no mistake, this is all about our customers,” Mr. Marcum said.

The company also said it was “prudent” to withdraw its previous outlook for fiscal 2009 and suspended store openings beginning with fiscal 2010.

In the second quarter, Circuit City’s video sales fell by nearly 10 percent as flat-panel televisions rose slightly, but not enough to offset a sharper decline in tube and projection televisions. Sales of camcorders and DVD hardware fell by more than 10 percent.

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Source: New York Times
Posted by: Geoff Caplan
http://geoff-caplan.com