Lobbyists expose top 50 pirated movies, TV shows
The nearly $70m Weinstein Co. action film The Last Legion hits US theaters in late August but it was available for free on Tuesday on Google Video. Warner Bros. Pictures' Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, 20th Century Fox's Live Free or Die Hard and the previously leaked Weinstein Co./Lionsgate Films Michael Moore documentary Sicko also were found on the site by the National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC), a Washington-based advocacy group that recently set up a top-50 chart of pirated films and TV series. Phoenix and Die Hard were spotted Monday by NLPC, which searches with title keywords on Google Video's search engine and via Google's blog search. The latter finds sites where bloggers post information about uploaded videos which, as was the case with Legion, might not include its title. NLPC chairman Ken Boehm said that it's publicising the piracy to "shame" the search engine. He said: "Google says its responsibility is to take down any pirated material only when it is brought to its attention by the copyright owner (as mandated) under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act." Critics argue that since Google is a highly profitable company and the most advanced search technology company, it could easily do a much better job at filtering out copyrighted material, citing the fact that Google has always been able to do a good job at blocking such things as pornography, beheadings, etc. They also argue that Google will selectively block unauthorised posting of copyrighted videos with companies it makes business deals with. Google spokesman Gabriel Stricker said the company "will cooperate with copyright holders to identify and promptly remove any infringing content (and) continue to take the lead in providing state-of-the-art DMCA tools and processes", but he added that no system is bulletproof and that issues of policing site content are not cut and dried.

Apple reclaims US' third biggest PC seller spot
Apple is now once again holding third place in the US PC market, sales figures from market watcher IDC have revealed. A return to form? Not quite, since its 5.6% share is well below the double-digit share Apple commanded in the 1980s and early 1990s. Apple was also tied for third place with Gateway, which likewise took 5.6% of the US PC market in Q2. Below them came Toshiba with 5.3% and Acer with 5.2%. No guesses as to which companies outsold these four. Yes, Dell and HP continue to dominate, each outselling the Apple, Gateway, Toshiba and Acer combined. Dell took the lead with a 28.4% share, while HP's tally hit 23.6%. Like Formula One racing, the interesting battle in the US PC business is not for first or second place, but who'll get the remaining place on the podium and a share of the points. Here, Apple fans have plenty to shout about - for many, many years the Mac maker wouldn't warrant lifting outside the blanket 'Others' category, let alone get ahead of the likes of Acer and Toshiba. And Apple's shipments were up 26.2% year on year, compared to an industry average of 7.2%. But let's not get cocky. Toshiba and Acer experienced shipment growth of 50% and 163.8%, respectively, though Gateway's shipments were down 7.1%. And Gateway actually shipped more units than Apple, just not a sufficient number to gain a higher percentage share. Worldwide, Apple didn't make the top five list with a share of less than the 3.8% it would need for a joint fifth place with Toshiba. Still, there's no doubt we are seeing a resurgence in Mac sales, particularly in the US. And if that means there's just a little bit of variety in an otherwise Windows world - Linux won't trouble the scorer much, not for new-bought systems, at least - that's no bad thing.

Wal-Mart to Sell $300 PC with OpenOffice
Wal-Mart opened its campaign for the back-to-school PC sales season by unveiling a US$298 desktop from Everex that combines three of the most popular industry trends-- open-source software, a power-efficient processor, and a lack of "bloatware." The Everex Impact GC3502 uses Microsoft's Windows Vista OS, but substitutes the OpenOffice.org 2.2 version of word processing and spreadsheet tools for the traditional Microsoft Office variety. The computer runs on a 1.5GHz C7-D processor from Via Technologies, a chip that meets lead-free environmental regulations and saves energy with low wattage demands. The sales price does not include a monitor, but is still lower than comparable packages sold on Wal-mart's Web site, such as a Compaq Presario, an AcerPower FH Minitower and a Dell Dimension desktop. PC vendors usually compete for customers by slashing prices during the eight-week back-to-school season, stretching from mid-July to mid-September. Dell followed a similar strategy on July 10 when it withheld bloatware from its new Vostro line of PCs for small business users, after a long campaign by bloggers and Dell customers against common practice by PC vendors of loading unrequested software onto new computers. Software companies fund the effort as a way to find new users. Although those feature are popular, they could backfire on Everex because most U.S. consumers are not yet familiar with Via processors or OpenOffice software, one analyst said.

Clearwire and Sprint Reach Roaming Accord
Wireless providers Clearwire and Sprint Nextel announced they would combine efforts to construct a nationwide broadband network using WiMax technology. The companies agreed to provide roaming service to each other's customers as they each build out their portions of the network, with Sprint focusing more on the largest markets. They also agreed to collaborate on product development and to market WiMax services under the same brand. The deal with Sprint marks the latest move by Clearwire, a startup founded by cellphone pioneer Craig McCaw, to increase its national profile. The company recently announced a co-marketing agreement with satellite providers DirecTV Group Inc. and EchoStar Communications Corp. that will allow the startup to bundle its high-speed wireless Web access with their TV programming. WiMax is a new technology that aims to allow consumers to access the Web on cellphones, laptops and potentially other devices at speeds similar to cable broadband and much faster than Internet access from existing cellular services from Verizon Communications Inc. and AT&T. The technology is still untested on a wide scale, though. Sprint's decision to roll it out at a cost of about $3 billion was controversial with some investors. Now the company can tell investors it is teaming up with Clearwire to reach its goal of making WiMax service available to 100 million people by the end of next year. It wasn't clear whether Sprint was lowering its forecast for WiMax spending. Carving up the country as they roll out WiMax will allow the two companies to build a nationwide network faster and to avoid competing over customers. Roaming agreements are standard in the cellphone industry and allow carriers to provide service to customers in regions beyond the reach of their networks. The agreement will also allow the two companies to swap radio spectrum assets in some key markets to facilitate the buildout. Radio spectrum, which wireless providers lease from the government, carries digital data and voice traffic to mobile devices.

Fast food brands hit kids online
Fast food brands are getting around laws banning the promotion of unhealthy snacks online, research suggests. New Advertising Standards Association rules prevent the online and offline advertising of fast food to children. But, according to trade magazine New Media Age, fast food brands are targeting kids via games, videos and cartoons on their websites. It accuses brands such as McDonalds, Kinder and Haribo of exploiting a legal loophole in the rules. New Media Age found that brands such as McDonalds, Hubba Bubba, Kinder and Haribo were all running games, videos and cartoons on their website. The issue of fast food brands targeting kids has been all but dealt with when it comes to television and print advertising but it seems that some in the industry are going to fight for their right to advertise to kids to the very last, sees no problem with its online games. The websites state clearly that under-16s should seek permission from an adult before entering the Kids Zone. However, the focus of each of the games is on fun play rather than the menu choices we offer. Haribo said in a statement that it went "to great lengths to ensure that all its marketing is conducted in a responsible manner". It added that the company "never positions its confectionery as anything other than a treat to be eaten in moderation as a part of a healthy diet". According to a poll of 3,000 children by social learning network provider Intuitive Media, 43% of respondents said they were more likely to eat a food or snack if they saw it online. 61% said they visited food sites. Robert Hart, managing director of Intuitive Media, thinks websites need to respect the CAP code.

SunRocket Reaches Deal on 'Preferred' Providers
Creditors of SunRocket, a failed Internet phone company, have reached deals with two former competitors, 8x8 Inc. and Unified Communications Corp., that names those companies as "preferred" service providers for SunRocket's 200,000 customers. SunRocket customers, who abruptly lost service Monday, will not have to pay 8x8's normal start up costs for its Packet8 service, a little over $100, according to a written 8x8 statement. The company also plans to offer one month of free service for former SunRocket subscribers who will be able to maintain their existing numbers. Unified Communications, which offers a service called Teleblend, will offer SunRocket customers a special rate of $12.95 a month for the remainder of their contracts, according to Unified's Web site. The two companies will pay SunRocket's creditors, represented by Sherwood Partners LLP, an undisclosed fee for each subscriber that switches to their service. The agreement doesn't restrict SunRocket subscribers from choosing different providers.

VoIP goes Hollywood
What do Ashton Kutcher and voice over IP technology have in common? Kutcher, best known for his role on That '70s Show and MTV's reality show Punk'd, is "creative director" for a Silicon Valley start-up called Ooma, which has developed a device that will allow users to make free VoIP calls to any phone in the U.S. The company, which has $27 million in funding, officially announced itself Thursday. Unlike Vonage, which requires users pay a monthly flat rate for domestic calling, or Skype, which charges users a low cost fee to make or accept calls from regular phones, Ooma charges a one-time fee of $399 for the Ooma device. After that, all domestic local and long distance calling is free. Exactly what Kutcher knows about Internet telephony or the communications market in general, is a mystery to me. But apparently, the actor/husband of Demi Moore helped design the company's logo and the viral marketing campaign called "White Rabbit," which the company will launch this fall. As part of the campaign, Ooma will give away roughly 2,000 Ooma boxes to participants, who will then be able to invite three friends to also get a free Ooma box in exchange for deploying the box and trying the service. The viral campaign is designed to create buzz for the product, but it's also necessary in order to ensure the service actually works. Ooma relies on a peer-to-peer network, much like the PC-to-PC calling service available through Skype. And it needs to seed the market with devices. Through this model calls are connected directly to customers rather than through a central server owned and operated by a service provider. Ooma uses this peer-to-peer network to avoid paying phone companies for terminating calls when Ooma users make long distance calls to non-Ooma users.

Nokia starts global positioning service
Nokia launched a service on Thursday which it said would cut the time a GPS-enabled cellphone takes to pinpoint its whereabouts, opening new opportunities for location-based online services. Nokia hopes the service, available for users of its flagship N95 phones, will cut the startup time to one minute, from up to three minutes currently. The slowness has so far hampered takeup of cellphone navigation. Handset makers see GPS-based navigation as one of the next big value-adding offerings and even at this early stage. Analysis firm Berg Insight has forecast annual shipments of handset-based personal navigation devices in Europe and the United States to reach 12 million units by 2009, compared with 1 million in 2005. While most assisted-GPS technologies use mobile carriers cellsites to find locations faster, Nokia's new service bypasses operator networks, using data from SIM card and new software which helps the phone to catch satellite signals. GPS chips use satellites orbiting the earth to determine the exact position of the user.

New tattoo ink erases any regrets
Having someone's name permanently etched into your flesh is considered by some to be the ultimate testament to a relationship. But wouldn't it be great to make that commitment without really making it ... forever A new dye due to hit tattoo parlors this fall will provide an exit strategy of sorts for people who have thought about getting a tattoo, then wondered if they might someday have regrets. The permanent but removable ink is made by storing dye in microscopic capsules that will stay in the skin for good. But if that butterfly tattoo on the small of your back starts looking lame, it can be zapped away with a single laser treatment that is simpler and less painful than the barrage of treatments now needed. While the idea might intrigue some — for example, the 36% of Americans ages 18 to 29 who get tattoos, according to a 2006 study by the Journal of American Academy of Dermatology— some enthusiasts say getting inked without the lifetime commitment wouldn't be appealing. Those in the industry are also skeptical, especially since the company making the dye says it will cost considerably more than a regular tattoo.

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