| SOPA Author Says Opponents Lack Credibility Posted: 13 Jan 2012 03:15 PM PST  Texas Representative Lamar Smith was recently interviewed by Reuters about his authorship of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), and the Congressman vociferously defended the legislation. Smith even went so far as to call into question the motives of opponents. It could be said that Smith calling into question the credibility of SOPA opponents is more than a little ironic.
Smith asserted in the interview that Google makes money by advertising on sites that would be blocked by SOPA. For that reason, their motives are suspect. Not much was said of experts on the net who have been attempting to explain the inherent dangers in altering the DNS system as SOPA would require. Under SOPA, any foreign site found to have copyright infringing material would be blocked in the U.S.. Smith vowed to get the bill through to a scheduled vote later this month. Reddit announced this week that the site will be going dark for a day next week in protest of the bill. Internet giants like Google, Facebook, and Twitter have been contemplating doing the same. Do you think Lamar Smith will get SOPA passed later this month? |
| Dish to Shutter More Blockbuster Stores Than Expected Posted: 13 Jan 2012 02:54 PM PST  Dish Network has revised the plans for its recently purchased Blockbuster video rental business. After originally saying that about 1500 stores would remain open, with 90% employee retention, the satellite provider is backtracking. The company CEO is now claiming that only profitable stores will remain open.
"We are committed to keeping the profitable stores open that are generating positive cash flow, but there are ones that aren't going to make it," CEO Joe Clayton said. Some of the remaining stores will be re-purposed into Dish network customer service outlets. There is no time line for the closures, but don't be surprised to see your local video rental store shut down. Dish paid $320 million for Blockbuster with the intention of using the brand and existing streaming rights to build a Netflix competitor. The resulting service is initially only open to Dish subscribers. When was the last time you rented a movie? |
| Security Software Maker AVG to File for $125 Million IPO Posted: 13 Jan 2012 02:39 PM PST  AVG is well regarded in tech savvy circles for serving up generally capable free antivirus software, as well as a line of paid security products with more advanced features. It's a freemium model that's worked well for the company, and because AVG's antivirus software has remained fairly solid throughout the years, it's built a positive reputation for itself, one that might be worth a whole lot of money.
The security firm announced today that it has filed for an initial public offering (IPO), and according to Reuters, AVG is hoping to raise as much as $125 million. Officially, AVG says the number of shares to be offered and the price range for the proposed shares have not yet been determined. Tech IPOs are popular again, and this might be the best time for AVG to take itself public. According to Reuters, AVG's subscription revenue is $130.1 million and its platform-derived revenue is $68.02 million. Both contributed to the company's reported net income of $99.7 million on total revenue of $198.1 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2011. |
| Grooveshark Goes HTML5 on Mobile to Avoid Ban Posted: 13 Jan 2012 02:38 PM PST  Grooveshark is currently being sued by everyone under the sun for its controversial non-licensed music streaming service. As the legal pressures continued to mount in 2011, Grooveshark's app was pulled from the iOS App Store, and the Android Market. Rather than go back and forth with Google and Apple, Grooveshark has opted to bypass the app stores with an HTML5 web app.
The new Grooveshark HTML5 site can stream music to any modern mobile device that complies with HTML5 standards. So that means that even non-Jailbroken iOS devices will once again be able to get access to Grooveshark. Android users have been able to sideload the app since it was removed from the store, but this solution is clearly easier. The web app feels almost native, and scales to a variety of screen sizes. The recording industry alleges that Grooveshark uploaded illegally ripped music itself to fill out its collection. The company was paying royalties to the industry, but neglected to seek licensing deals beforehand. Grooveshark's long-term potential is murky, but at least mobile users can listen again. |
| More Sights from CES 2012 Posted: 13 Jan 2012 02:31 PM PST CES reminds the best of us of our frailty. Eyes, nose, lips, and hands dried out by the desert air; feet and knees signaling that they weren't designed to traverse miles of flat concrete per day, we nonetheless carried on motivated by our obsession with computer tech. Our physical sufferings were rewarded with gifts of new and cool laptops, enclosures, motherboards, mobile devices, connected home hubs, and even a robot or two. Soon, we'll haul our carcasses to the airport and attempt to revive. But for now, check out more new gear from CES 2012! |
| iPad 3 May Launch in March with 4G LTE Posted: 13 Jan 2012 02:10 PM PST  Apple's first iPad tablet launched in the U.S. on April 3, 2010., while the iPad 2 came out less than a year later on March 11, 2011. It's a small sample size, to be sure, but following the 11-month release cycle, we wouldn't be surprised to see the iPad 3 come out in February, though the latest chatter has Apple's third generation tablet PC making its debut in March.
That's the word from Bloomberg anyway, which is basing its iPad 3 release prediction based on information obtained from "three people familiar with the product." According to Bloomberg and its sources, Apple's manufacturing partners in Asia have ramped up production in recent weeks and will have their assembly lines working at full tilt by February. Since we can reasonably surmise the iPad 3 is nearing release, much more interesting is what kind of hardware it will bring to the tablet show, especially as the competition is much more fierce than it was a year ago. Bloomberg says the iPad 3 will rock a quad-core processor of some sort, an upgrade that should help with multitasking and game performance. There's also been talk of a high definition screen, and it might even sport a 4G LTE radio. In terms of market share, Apple's iPad line leads the way, but we're starting to see more compelling Android devices, such as the high end Transformer Prime by Asus, along with affordable tablets like the Kindle Fire ($199) from Amazon and Nook Tablet ($249) from Barnes & Noble. Another interesting side story is the evolution of the iPad tablet without Steve Jobs offering his input. The iPad 3 will be the first major product launch from Apple following the untimely death of Jobs, and the second product launch with Tim Cook in charge (the iPhone 4S was the first). |
| No BS Podcast #182: The Pointy Ears Edition Posted: 13 Jan 2012 12:23 PM PST 
The gang's back, and with a couple of weeks worth of news to talk about, busier than ever. Tune into episode number 182 of the No BS Podcast to catch up on news about Sandy Bridge E, Bulldozer, Ultrabooks, and Nathan's shameful Elvish secret. Computer trouble? Star Trek argument? Need advice? Just need to get something off your chest? A secret to share? Email us at maximumpcpodcast@gmail.com or call our 24-hour No BS Podcast hotline at 877.404.1337 x1337--operators are not standing by. |
| U.K. Student Being Extradited To U.S. For Linking To Pirated Shows Posted: 13 Jan 2012 11:31 AM PST  Bad news for Brits: you too can be punished for violating U.S. copyright law! Richard O'Dwyer, a 23 year old student at Sheffield Hallam University, created the TVShack.net website, which U.S. officials claim linked to illegal movie and TV show files. Not hosted; just linked. Today, the Westminster Magistrates' Court ruled that O'Dwyer could be extradited to the U.S. and brought to trial for copyright infringement.
On top of being shipped overseas, O'Dwyer faces up to five years in U.S. prison if convicted, the BBC reports. It's the first case of its kind, and O'Dwyer's lawyer claims that the student is being used as a "guinea pig." As a cherry on top, O'Dwyer was never actually charged with any crimes in Britain itself. O'Dwyer is expected to appeal the decision. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency contends that O'Dwyer's website raked in over a quarter-million dollars in ad revenue before they were able to shut down the site. |
| New Plextor External CD/DVD Drive Connects To TVs, Too Posted: 13 Jan 2012 11:13 AM PST  Modern HDTVs can read all kinds of technology; DLNA streamed files, external hard drives, flash drives and heck, even SD cards. One thing they can't read is data from USB optical drives. Or rather, make optical drives one thing HDTVs couldn't read: Plextor's new PX-612U External Slim DVD/CD Writer connects via USB and can play information stored on discs, thanks to some technical trickery that convinces TVs that the device is actually an external hard drive.
"It seems counter-intuitive that a USB-supported DVD Drive wouldn't work with a TV, but it has to do with the code that the devices use to communicate," Product Marketing Manager Kathy Huynh says in the press release. "PlexTV uses a code translator to make the PX-612U appear as a hard drive to the television, making the two devices compatible." The nifty drives work with media streamers and other USB-enabled devices, too, and yes, you can plug it into your PC. It'll be available in the first quarter, but no word yet on pricing details. The tech is definitely nifty, but does it fill an actual need for anybody out there? |
| Minecraft, Destructoid, Others Join January 18 SOPA Blackout Protest Posted: 13 Jan 2012 10:47 AM PST  The Internet is going to be a cold, dark place on January 18th. After the Reddit team announced a few days back that the site would be down on that date as a protest to the proposed SOPA legislation, a couple of other organizations have decided to throw their lot in with Reddit and stage blackouts of their own. Namely, Minecraft, Destructoid, the iCanHazCheezburger family of sites, and Anonymous, the hacker group everybody loves to hate. Dozens of smaller sites such as Red 5 Studios and Errata Security will be shutting down as well. Even Wikipedia is considering a blackout.
Now, we're not really sure what sort of impact an Anonymous blackout would have unless they start forcing other sites to conduct impromptu, involuntary blackouts of their own, but shutting down Minecraft, Destructoid and iCanHazCheezburger would certainly point non-news-following nerds to the cause. And imagine the awareness that would be created by a Wikipedia blackout – even my grandmother uses Wikipedia! 
While January 18 isn't looking to shape up to be a full-blown Internet wasteland, as had been speculated in the past, Forbes reports that the Google employees are saying there are internal debates about just how much Google can/should help protest SOPA, although the company has yet to make a formal announcement. Hey, while you're at it, why don't you head over to AmericanCensorship.org and lend your voice to the cause? I've already bugged my Congressfolks. |
