Author: Jamie Welch, Senior Editor

Look out, Comcast and Cox Subscribers!

Posted by | Mar 25, 2009 | |

  We were all amazed when the RIAA said they would not be filing suit against copyright violators.  That appears to be coming back to bite Comcast and Cox subscribers.  What most of us did NOT know at that time is that the RIAA is now teamed up with Comcast and Cox, among unannounced others to deter copyright infringement. Comcast announced it has issued 2 million notices on behalf of copyright owners, according to multiple people who were in attendance of the Leadership Music Digital Summit in Nashville.   In addition, sources confirmed that Cox Communications is also assisting the RIAA in the group’s new campaign to use ISPs to help discourage consumers from pirating songs.   RIAA’s new, “better” plan invloves include punitive action for repeat offenders, which could include suspension or even termination of service.  An AT&T spokeswoman said that the ISP has not threatened anyone with the disabling of service but acknowledged that warning letters sent to customers, the company says it reserves the right to terminate service.      She said the company sends a letter from the RIAA and adds its own cover letter, saying the culprit could be a teenager in your house or an Unsecured wireless connection.  Here is quote form a Cox spokesperson: When we receive notifications from RIAA or other copyright holders stating that their copyrighted material is being infringed by a...

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VLC Media Player

Posted by | Mar 24, 2009 | , , |

VLC media player – the cross-platform media player and streaming server VLC media player is an amazing media player! It works on Mac, PC, and any other platform you may have. It can play just about any format too. From Flash to MPEGII, this player will play even the videos that Quicktime and Windows Media Player have trouble with or play without audio. Best of all, IT IS 100% FREE! Available at...

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Internet Explorer 8 Released

Posted by | Mar 19, 2009 | , |

Internet Explorer 8 was released to the public today by Microsoft at Mix 09, a conference in Las Vegas.  They are asking some of the users that abandoned it to come back to them.  They also showed a video about the “history of the internet”. They want consumers to see Microsoft in a new light.  Find a copy of the video at http://go.cosmicthings.com/nethistory/. The final version is being pushed as “great for developers”. “We are releasing it here at Mix because we are excited about what you, the developers, can build with it,” IE general manager Dean Hachamovitch said. Hachamovitch then launched into a demo of the new browser, touting its anti-malware features, such as protection from click-jacking attacks. Speaking to a crowd of Web developers, Hachamovitch also spent a good deal of time talking about the moves Microsoft made to make IE 8 far more standards-compliant than earlier versions. The company has released a video that it says shows that its browser is faster at loading a number of “important” sites. Second, the company has tried to dismiss the difference in speed to the average user. “In most cases the difference could literally be measured by a blink of an eye,”   “That kind of speed becomes almost a push.” You can download IE 8 for XP at http://go.cosmicthings.com/ie8xp/ and you can download it for Vista at http://go.cosmicthings.com/ie8vista/. Do not install these versions on Windows...

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Recap of What's New in iPhone OS 3.0

Posted by | Mar 18, 2009 | |

[Source CNET News] Systemwide search  Apple has integrated its Spotlight search technology across the entire device. This will let users search for specific e-mail messages, applications, contacts, and any other data from within those applications in one place. Users get to it from a new menu that’s to the left of their first home screen. Swiping to the left brings up an open search box that brings in results as you type, similar to Spotlight search on Mac OS X. Copy and paste for text, photos, and SMS  One of the most-wanted features, the ability to copy and paste text will be making its way to OS 3.0. Users will be able to select sections of text and take them to other applications. This is one of the new APIs that Apple is releasing to developers. To copy text, simply double-tap the screen, and it pulls up an option to cut, copy, and paste. Then simply drag a start point, and an end point, over the text you want, and then double-tap again. The phone will save the text in a clipboard, from which it can be taken elsewhere. You can also grab entire sections of text using a large rectangle that can be moved around to include paragraphs at a time. Additionally, copy and paste will work with photos and SMS messages. For instance, if you feel like selecting multiple photos to send...

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iPhone 3.0: Live Blog Content From Cnet w/ Pictures

Posted by | Mar 17, 2009 | |

[Source: CNET News] Credit: James Martin/CNET Inside the theater, we wait for the event to begin. This is the spot for live coverage of Apple’s iPhone 3.0 event later today from Apple headquarters in Cupertino, Calif., which kicked off at 10 a.m. PDT. Apple plans to preview the new operating system and discuss a new software development kit, according to an invitation it sent out last week. We also might finally see cut-and-paste, MMS, and any number of long-awaited iPhone features with the new release. 9:53 a.m. PDT: Welcome to Cupertino and Apple’s Town Hall auditorium for the iPhone 3.0 software preview. Everyone’s settling into their seats, undeterred by a 9:10 a.m. fire alarm that briefly evacuated the building. A mixture of press, analysts, developers, and employees are expected to attend–somewhere around 250 to 300 people. Classic Apple build music at the moment: Jack Johnson. 10:01 a.m. PDT: Dave Mathews Band’s “Everyday” at ear-splitting volume takes us into the start of the event, remarkably on time at 10 a.m. compared to the last several of these events. Greg Joswiak, Apple’s vice president of iPhone and iPod marketing, takes the stage to kick things off. “We’re going to give you a preview of iPhone OS.” 10:02 a.m. PDT: Joswiak starts with an update on the iPhone: It’s in 80 countries, 13.7 million iPhones were sold in 2008, and there was a clear uptick following the launch...

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