SoBeTECH

SAN FRANCISCO–NBC Universal would like to have its TV shows distributed once again through Apple’s iTunes service, a top executive said Wednesday, but he called for antipiracy measures to help protect his business’ revenue.

George Kliavkoff, chief digital officer at NBC Universal, didn’t specifically mention Apple by name in his request, but it was clear he had the iPod maker in mind when it came to combating people’s consumption of pirated content.

George Kliavkoff, chief digital officer at NBC Universal
(Credit: Stephen Shankland/CNET Networks)
“If you look at studies about MP3 players, especially leading MP3 players and what portion of that content is pirated, and think about how that content gets onto that device, it has to go through a gatekeeping piece of software, which would be a convenient place to put some antipiracy measures,” Kliavkoff said in an onstage interview at the Ad:Tech conference here. “One of the big issues for NBC is piracy. We are financially harmed every day by piracy. It results in us not being able to invest as much money in the next generation of film and TV products.”

Read Full Post HERE - Via CNET

Send free text messages to any phone with Jaxtr

VoIP company Jaxtr has added a new module that lets uses send free text messages to any cellphone from their Jaxtr homepage. There’s no fee for sending the message, but if the recipient has to pay per message, you might want to think twice before sending dozens of messages a day. Unless you hate the person you’re texting, of course.

We first covered Jaxtr way back in 2006 when the company released a tool for blogger and web publishers to embed a widget on their web sites that let visitors place calls to the web site author. You can also add a Jaxtr widget to social networking pages like Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, and Orkut.

Honestly, we don’t know too many people who want to take phone calls all day from visitors to their web sites or social networking profiles. But now that we’ve discovered the free SMS service, we can actually see ourselves using Jaxtr on a regular basis.

(Via Download Squad.)

“Arrange in Front” in Safari!

A great tip:

This is a hidden feature from Safari’s “Window” menu. By default, it is “Bring All to Front”, but when you hold down “Option”, it switches to “Arrange in Front”. What it seems to do is align all Safari windows in an ordered manner.

(Via A New Mac Tip Every Day.)

Safari 3.1.1 released
Safari 3.1.1 is now available for both Windows and OS X. According to Apple, this update “includes improvements to stability, compatibility and security.”

On the security front, this security bulletin outlines the changes. It appears as if a vulnerability existed that could allow malicious sites to spoof URL headers or execute arbitrary code. There are two issues that specifically affect the Windows version of Safari, so users on both platforms should be sure to update.
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(Via The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW).)

Microsoft may be putting together an “entertainment marketplace” tentatively named Zune VideoX, ZDNet’s Mary Jo Foley reported Wednesday. In other words, it’s yet another digital content store trying to take a bite out of Apple’s iTunes.

Joe Belfiore, corporate vice president of Microsoft’s Devices and Entertainment eHome division, is reportedly spearheading the project. But it goes without saying that as with any of these “iTunes killers” that seem to pop up like mushrooms after rain, well, it’s going to be an uphill battle even for Redmond.

Creating a solid digital download store is something that Microsoft has tried repeatedly, and hasn’t gotten right yet. Its Zune Marketplace hasn’t exactly been a resounding success. There has also been chatter about something called “eLive,” a marketplace of digital download content–music, video, games–for Zune digital media players, Windows-based PCs, Xbox gaming consoles, and Windows Mobile smartphones.

“eLive was renamed and recrafted to Zune VideoX,” a source told Foley, “and the eLive vision scaled down to focus on Zune.” Really? That’s too bad. The Xbox has been a much more resounding success than the Zune, and it already has the successful Xbox Live Marketplace as a starting point.

That said, there’s reportedly a third-generation Zune coming next year. And on another note, can somebody please outlaw the term “iTunes killer?”

Via CRAVE

Panasonic brings Wi-Fi LUMIX camera stateside
Panasonic topped off its LUMIX cameras today via the new TZ50. The 9.1-megapixel camera is Panasonic’s first Wi-Fi model in the country and draws on its wireless linkup to share photos without the memory card leaving the camera: Internet access allows the camera to send individual or batch photos to a Picasa Web Gallery and provide a link to the gallery through e-mail. Every TZ50 will also have a year of free T-Mobile hotspot access to let photographers upload photos from normally pay-only connections.
The Panasonic camera is also touted as strong in actual shooting with a 28mm, 10X zoom wide-angle lens that allows both very close and very distant shots without cropping key subjects out of the frame. Optical image stabilization corrects the lens, while a newer and larger 3-inch LCD provides previews. Video recording is considered a highlight with native 720p capture and optional component video out. Shipments start in May for $450.

(Via MacNN | The Macintosh News Network.)

IT Business reviews Apple iWork ‘08 Pages: ‘Equal to or better than Microsoft Word’

Is Apple’s iWork a viable alternative to Microsoft Office? To find out, IT Business asked Jeffrey Battersby–our go-to expert on word processing programs–to use Word 2008 and Pages ‘08 to create the same project, progressing from the basics (text entry and formatting) to more-advanced features. Our questions: Which program is better at each stage of the job? What are their strengths and weaknesses? Which jobs (and which users) require which tool? (And for our experts’ take on alternatives to Office and iWork, see Word Processing Alternatives.)

Battersby reports, “Microsoft Word may well be the standard for business word processing programs, but Apple’s Pages ‘08 presents an excellent alternative. If you find that you’re constantly changing the way a text document looks, then Word’s document themes offer a distinct advantage over Pages. For all other types of documents, however, from basic word processing files to sophisticated page layouts, Pages is equal to or better than Word.”

Full review here.

(Via MacDailyNews.)

Batman Light-Up T-Shirt

In July the the caped crusader will return in the movie The Dark Knight, and you will be able to add a little light to the darkness using Thumbs Up’s new and officially licensed Batman light-up t-shirt.

These high-quality shirts are made from 100% cotton and contain a small battery pack that powers the flexible panel on the front of the shirt to give amazing effects, ranging from a gentle glow to a pulsing strobe.

Features:

• Officially licensed Batman movie merchandise
• Extra bright light-up shirts
• Look excellent both day and night
• Various flashing sequences
• 100% cotton shirt
• Small, lightweight battery pack requires 2 x AAA batteries
• Available in both children’s and adult sizes

The Thumbs Up website has the Batman Light-Up T-Shirt listed with a suggested retail price of £19.99 (about $39 USD).

(Via GeekAlerts.)

You can buy ‘Juno’ in iTunes - but why would you?

A very interesting view on Video rentals…Check it out!

The hit indy film ‘Juno’ was released on DVD and Blu-Ray yesterday. It is also available for purchase - not rent - in iTunes. It will cost you $14.99. You can buy ‘Juno’ in a variety of ways on a retail shelf (one might say too many ways). There is a single disk DVD of the movie for purchase at Wal-Mart and Amazon at a price of $15.99. So for $1 more than the iTunes copy you get the movie plus; Gag Take; Cast & Crew Jam; Screen Tests; “Inside Look: What Happens In Vegas”, Deleted Scenes, Director Commentary, Gag Reel, Writer Commentary.

Or for $22.99 you can get a 2-Disc DVD of the film plus a digital copy of the movie for iTunes.

For $27.99 you can get the film on Blu-Ray disk and STILL get the digital copy.

It really seems clear in this situation that you’re getting hammered in iTunes. $14.95? That’s absurd when you can buy the movie on DVD (with special features) for only $1 more. When you factor in that the deluxe DVD and Blu-Ray versions of the movie include iTunes compatible files…it really is a puzzler on why you would ever buy the thing in iTunes in the first place.

To me anyway.

What do you think? Is there a reason you would buy ‘Juno’ in iTunes instead of on DVD or Blu-Ray?

(Via Apple Gazette.)

Greenhouse Eneplug - Colorful USB Charger

The colorful Greenhouse Eneplug allows you to charge your USB powered devices directly from any AC outlet, without the need for a separate adapter.

The Greenhouse Eneplug ($47) measures 42 x 65 x 22 mm and is available in green, orange, pink, white, black and yellow over at the Geekstuff4u website.

(Via GeekAlerts.)