January 02, 2006
Advertising with WinAmp Skins
Product websites these days offer all kinds of downloadable stuff, from desktops and screensavers to IM buddy icons. How come so few of these websites offer customized WinAmp skins? The one pictured above and installed on my computer mimics a pack of Wrigley gum (you can get it here),... [MORE]
Posted by Kyle Bunch at 06:55 PM
Starz To Launch Portable Movie Download Service
: Not deterred by the rather lackluster response to its online subscription movie service Starz Ticket, the cable TV co is launching is launching a new movie download service that allows consumers to view full-length studio films, concerts and TV shows on portable devices powered by Microsoft software. It... [MORE]
December 09, 2005
PS3 Still Launching Spring 2006
We've heard rumours of a delayed PS3 launch, but Sony is still promising Spring as its release target. Seems the next-generation DVD format war has been at the center of delay theories. "The PS3 was touted as being the first high volume Blu-ray player. You want to have an... [MORE]
November 21, 2005
Texas sues Sony over rootkits -- YEE-HAW!
Cory Doctorow: Yee-haw! Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has brought an anti-spyware lawsuit against Sony over its rootkit DRM: "Sony has engaged in a technological version of cloak and dagger deceit against consumers by hiding secret files on their computers," said Attorney General Abbott. "Consumers who purchased a Sony... [MORE]
November 18, 2005
Beck and the dancing robots
David Pescovitz: Beck's new video "Hell Yes," directed by Garth Jennings, stars four Sony QRIO robots busting their mechano-moves. Link... [MORE]
November 17, 2005
Bloggers Cause Sony to Rethink Their Strategy
I have to admit that - for no particular reason - I wasn't paying a lot of attention to the whole Sony rootkit blogstorm, though I certainly was aware of it. InformationWeek does a nice job here of summarizing how bloggers amplified what would have been a PR crisis... [MORE]
November 15, 2005
Sony infects more than 500k networks, including military and govt
Cory Doctorow: Genius DNS hacker Dan Kaminsky designed a research project that has produced a count of the number of networks that have been infected with the malicious rootkit Sony distributed with its audio CDs: over 500,000 networks contain at least one infected machine. Some of these are governmental... [MORE]
Cingular Pulls Out Mobile Radio Service
Instead of going with the ole' downloading music thing, Cingular decided to go another route, introducing a mobile radio service that includes about 40 channels of commercial-free music running over data connections. The content is coming from Music Choice and MobiTV Inc's streaming media service (which also delivers video... [MORE]
Sony's spyware "remover" creates huge security hole
Cory Doctorow: Princeton's Ed Felten and Alex Halderman have published new research into a grave security vulnerability opened up if you run the "uninstaller" that Sony supplies to rid your PC of its malicious rootkit software, which it installs when you insert an audio CD into your PC, as... [MORE]
November 14, 2005
EFF to Sony: you broke it, you oughta fix it
Cory Doctorow: EFF has written an open letter to Sony, calling on the company to make right that which it has broken with its insane, commercially suicidal rootkit technology: But if you truly intend to undo the harm you have caused, your company should immediately and publicly commit to... [MORE]
November 07, 2005
Sir Howard Stringer Spills Guts on PS3
This guy looks happy doesn't he? That's because he doesn't have to wait to find out exactly when we'll see the PS3. In an interview with the Hollywood Reporter, Sony's dandy CEO Howard Stringer (that's sir to you) mentions that the next generation PlayStation console will be ready for... [MORE]
