The pirate bay bit-torrent site which was closed down yesterday (31/05/06) will be back up and running within the next few days according to a posting on their website.

Apparently "requiring Internet service providers to save records of their customers' online activities is necessary in the fight against terrorism". Is anti terrorism a legitimate reason for invading individual privacy? Where does the public draw the line?

More details on the Pirate Bay raid.

Google Calendar has at long last been released. My early impressions are that it has a very easy to use interface and is quite intuitive. My favourite feature has to be the quick add option where you can just type a text string with dates and the Google Calendar inserts it in to the correct location. It compares favourably to Outlook Calendar but doesn't have the to-do list option. Also I haven't seen any obvious ways to tag or colour code events other than private/public. The only way is to set up a second calendar then filter them both in to one calendar with the tick of a box.

Have a look at Google Calendar for yourself

There will be many thoughts going around the web as to how Google can bring together its growing and seemingly disparate list of products. To me it appears that Gmail was really a Trojan horse. It was the first mass appeal tool that required users to sign up. Apart from web developers few would have registered with Google prior to this. In my opinion Gmail will now integrate the calendar function making it the true web based Outlook rival we have been looking for. However Gmail also offers Instant Messaging via Google IM. As a stand alone product Google IM really does not meet the standards set in Voip or IM. However integrated with Gmail it offers something very different. From the basic functionality of being able to see if someone is online before sending an email to turning an email in to a real time chat seamlessly. Now Google has its version of Outlook coming together I would guess that the next step is to see what it is going to do with its recent acquisition of Writely the obvious answer would be a Microsoft Word alternative, with the ability for true online simultaneous collaboration.

Technorati Tags: Google, Calendar, Outlook, Microsoft

Movies for digital download will soon be offered by the major Hollywood film studios via two new services Movielink and CinemaNow.

The MovieLink service has been set up by Universal Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Warner Bros, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Paramount Pictures. Further to this MovieLink has signed up Twentieth Century Fox. Its rival CinemaNow has signed Sony, MGM and Lions Gate Film. It is reported that Lions Gate actually owns a large part of CinameNow.
While the CEO of CinemaNow calls these new services "one giant step for digital distribution" it should all be taken with a pinch of salt due to the prices. Prices seem to be staggeringly high ranging from $9.95 to $30. Even after potentially paying more for the download then you would for the hardcopy, downloads cannot be burned on to DVD. This means that most people who pay for the download will need to watch it on their small computer screen. In many cases for the latest releases consumers are in fact looking at paying $5 more for the digital download, which will also not come with many of the DVD special features.

It is clear that there is a shift towards providing improved digital access. Most content downloader's download because of convenience and cost saving. The movie studios seem to have missed both these points. Many downloader's of movies download because they want to watch the latest movie at home without the fuss of going to the cinema. As there is no legal alternative they have to resort to illegal methods. The movie and music industries have to realise that they need to meet several key criteria for a successful download service. Firstly they need to provide downloads that are portable, prices need to be competitive, and finally they need to provide the latest content for download. It is those same three points that make illegal movie downloads attractive.

Sources:

Reuters

Movielink.com

Cinemanow.com

French law makers may make it legal to use anti DRM software enabling iTunes customers to use iTunes downloads on non-apple products.

Currently owners of non-apple mp3 players may be surprised to know that they cannot play content they have purchased from iTunes on their music player. This is due to Digital Rights Management Technology (DRM).  DRM enforcement is a growing hot topic among content producers. It is likely that if Apple needs to remove DRM on content or provide a work around, it would have an impact on standing agreements with content providers and record labels.

The proposed changes to the law which would legalise the use of DRM cracks has implications beyond just iTunes. Although iTunes is the main player in the AV download market it may have a wide impact. It may also have an impact on encoded broadcasts. For example in the US there are plans to prevent digital broadcasts from being recorded on certain media and any long standing anti DRM legislation may mean that this cannot be used in France. In fact DRM use is growing across all types of digital content and any change in legislation may mean changes to the business models of the content providers and distributors, especially if they can no longer restrict how content can be used.

In my opinion once a consumer purchases digital content either audio or video they should be able to use it as they want. It is likely the French government is taking an anti monopoly stance against iTunes. If iTunes take the step of allowing downloads to be transferred to other players then momentum behind the anti DRM legislation would slow.

www.kaya.ws

Sources:
www.MacNewsWorld.com
www.redherring.com
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1449851.cms
RealTechNews

The Google domination continues with their purchase of Writely. Writely is a site which allows multiple users to collaboratively work on documents using a GUI which seems very compatible with that of GMAIL. This may not seem big news at first but it may be the first step in Google developing a tool to rival Microsoft Word.

www.writely.com
googleblog.blogspot.com/2006/03/writely-so.html

Microsoft has just been granted its 5,000th patent. The new patent is for technologies that "allow people to not just play video games against each other online, but to join the game as a spectator from anywhere in the world." (Microsoft).
The patents cover two key areas

1. "A system for generating a spectator experience in real time from a game or event, such as highlights, instant replays, and unique views of the action within a game to enhance the experience for spectators rather than players. Using viewing controls, a spectator can control one or more virtual cameras to select desired viewpoints or an automated camera control to frame the action and perform specific cuts to best convey the story and action. The game and in turn the spectator experience may vary as a function of participant interactions and other contributions to the game based on real-time spectator activity. "
2. "A portal such as a Web site to access spectator-related services such as schedules and information on multiple games and events as well as the number of spectators and participants in each. The portal allows the spectator to find the most popular games to watch, preview the action, and then connect to the desired game or event."
Being an avid video game player it feels like this kind of stuff has been done before. Games on the Dreamcast, the first games console allowing online play had similar features but beyond that PC games such as online death matches in the first Half Life also allowed the user to watch the game unfold.

Why is it that more and more of the patents being issued seem like a rehash of what has been done before? The answer may be that that a patent race will soon begin between Microsoft and IBM. In 2005 IBM had the most patents granted with 2.914, the company in second place Cannon Kabushiki Kaisha had over a thousand less with 1.828 patents granted. Recently Bill Gates has made it one of Microsoft's goals to emulate the patent machine called IBM. But the addiction to Patenting has spread to companies you wouldn't expect. One such case being Starbucks, with their aim to patent combined credit and loyalty cards #20050077350.

The case for having so many patents granted is debatable. While it encourages companies to invest in R&D, it also prevents innovation by SME's who often have to pay a license to use a patent. This is especially true when companies are set up just to submit paten applications on existent technologies in use in the hope that one will be granted and the company can milk it.

Amusing story about how trading standards can't seem to cope with "free" software.

Interesting survery. I believe it would be good to get some thoughts on this story from readers. As only 17 nations are surveyed it can't be 100% representative.

In late January an interview with Susan Decker the Chief Financial Officer of Yahoo Inc suggested that Yahoo have given up in the battle for search engine dominance she stated It's not our goal to be No. 1 in Internet search. We would be very happy to maintain our market share."

As the recent Nielsen research shows 48.8% of searches in the US were made on Google so there is obvious evidence to back the belief that Google have won the search engine battle. However the war goes on.

We shouldn't forget that Yahoo switched from using Google technology for its searches to its own Yahoo search only two years ago, so it would be difficult for Yahoo to match Google's search algorithms which them selves are constantly evolving. It may also be accurate that Yahoo will never catch up if it continues to generate search results based on computer algorithms. However it appears that Yahoo is moving away from computer generated to human organised search results.

The trend in internet use is increasingly to visit sites that you know you like, and those that you know provide the information you want rather than search for a brand new site. If you want sports news you may got directly to bbc.com/news rather than search for "sports news football", for example. Trends also suggest that if someone else such as a friend recommends a site and you know they have similar tastes then you will visit that site. The idea of brining users together who have similar tastes to help each other navigate the web isn't a new one. One of the pioneers is del.icio.us. Del.icio.us enables the user to share their list of favourites with others. Another is Digg.com where users submit stories from around the web for others to view and rate if a page has a lot of "Diggs" it gains top place on the front page of Digg.com. Such sites enable people to find sites they are most likely to enjoy because someone with similar tastes also liked them. Users of the original Napster may remember a great way to find new music was by looking through the downloads of people who already had the songs that you liked, and this works in the same way.

Del.icio.us is now part of Yahoo and there are rumours that Digg.com will also be taken over by Yahoo. Flickr, an image sharing site is already part of Yahoo's stable and they are also working on their own tools such as Yahoo! Answers a service which allows you to ask questions which are answered by real people, and My Web 2.0 another bookmark sharing tool.

The slow move towards the "Social Search Results" by Yahoo differs from the path followed by Google who rely heavily on algorithms to decide which sites we would like to view most.

The question we need to ask our selves is do we want to navigate our way around the web based on what others think are great sites and create social networks along the way? Or do we want to navigate based on what computers believe we would like based on our previous likes and dislikes. My own anecdotal research suggests that social navigation is the path forward especially among people who are regular net goers. If this is the case Yahoo Inc is far ahead of the curve and will be ideally positioned to take advantage of the emerging trend.

Sources: Yahoo , Google, Digg.com, Del.icio.us, Bloomberg News
www.kaya.ws

Between 2004 and 2005 online search activity increased by 55% in the US (Nielsen 2006). In the US 48.8% of searches were made on Google this compares to Yahoo! Search whose share of searches was 21.4%. Although Google, Yahoo and MSN saw growth in the number of searches it was only Google which increased its percentage market share while Yahoo and MSN Search had their shares cut by 0.3% and 3.1% respectively.
Source: PR Newswire

Businesses and organisations have all been falling over them selves to pre-register sex.eu. The new top level .eu domains are likely to be the next big thing on the internet and represents the first and only pan-European domain. According to the European Registry of Internet Domain Names there were 23 applications to register sex.eu within the first our of pre-gistration opening. It is likely that during the sunrise period many of the generic domains will become registered.

The sunrise period which began on the 7th of December 2005 allows for registration of domains by the holders of legitimate rights such as company trademarks. This is aimed at preventing cyber squatting however from what is evident in the clamber for sex.eu is that organisations will say anything to register the domains they believe will be profitable in the future.

Individuals living within the eu will be able to begin registering domains in the Land Rush period which begins 7 April 2006. Only residents of EU countries will be able to register the domains.

As of 08/02/2006 there have been 264,838 sunrise applications for 193,934 domains but only 13,594 have been accepted.

Sources:
http://www.eurid.eu/