Episode #0005: "Share the Royalties"

Bands Sue Sony for Higher Digital Royalties

• Seeking class action
• Claims company short-changed millions of dollars
• Filed lawsuit in New York
• Claims Sony continues charging distribution fees for downloads
• Feel they deserve greater royalties
• Downloads should be considered licensing, not distribution
• Argues artists entitled to about 30 cents per song
• Case could open to artists with deals signed since 1962
• Decision could radically alter landscape for artists earning wages in digital age
• Sony has not issued a statement
• Representative did not immediately return calls

World of Warcraft Promises to Fix Performance Problems

• Will upgrade authentication servers to solve login and availability problems
• Offline during prime playing hours early in April
• Several hours of downtime registered Sunday and Monday
• Login attempts failed 12.5 percent of time between April 24 and May 1
• Includes both forum and game-login processes
• Players claim updating servers won’t solve problem

Apple Sets Tune for Pricing of Song Downloads

• Renewed contracts to sell songs at 99 cents each
• Came after a month of bargaining
• Universal, Warner, EMI and Sony not available to comment
• Apple, music companies declined to comment on current negotiations
• Several executives privately acknowledge they had little leverage on Jobs

Apple v Apple Decision Likely on May 8

• Will take place on May 8 at 10:30am
• Been deliberating since before Easter
• Will reveal decision whether to grant injunction barring use of logo
• Countered that logo advertises data transfer service allowed under 91 agreement
• Would mean detailed injunction on how company can use logo
• Has potential to be expensive
• Readers in poll firmly on Apple Computer’s side

Mozilla Picks Winning Firefox Flicks

• Named at San Francisco International Film Festival
• Nearly 300 fans submitted entries
• Grand prize went to “Daredevil” by Peter Macomber
• Panel of judges from entertainment and advertising industries selected winners
• Announced following screening of selected entries

New Viruses Demand Ransoms

• Latest trend to infect machines, encrypt data, and demand ransom
• Approach itself is not new
• First case of virus blackmail dates back to 1989
• Krotten has seen more than 24 variants with changing encryption algorithms
• Users blackmailed for various amounts
• Amounts range from $10 to over $2,000
• New virus threatens to delete one file every 30 minutes until $10.99 is paid
• SecurityFocus publishing article next week to take closer look at approach

Samsung ‘Origami’ Device Hits U.S. Market

• Available online through hardware reseller CDW
• Will retail for $1099 in United States
• Was made available in South Korea for $1264
• Available from Best Buy online outlet starting May 7
• Will be available in select stores in third quarter
• Has 7-inch LCD monitor with touch screen functionality
• Half the size of average laptop PC
• Weighs 1.7 pounds
• Less than an inch thick
• Battery life runs about 3 hours

BlackBerry Maker Faces New Patent Lawsuit

• Now threatened by legal action by software provider Visto
• Claims service violates four patents
• Seeks unspecified damages
• Asks court to shut down service in United States
• Filed Friday in U.S. District Court for Eastern District of Texas
• Patents relate to access and synchronization of information over network
• RIM considering patent counter-suit against Visto
• Visto now ready for “protracted battle”
• Has no plans to launch similar lawsuits outside United States
• May take until middle of 2007 for ‘material court proceedings’ to begin
• RIM does not expect customers to be impacted by Visto’s complaint