Category: Social issues

  • HDCP/HDMI broken, or nearly broken

    HDCP/HDMI broken, or nearly broken

    The technology supposed to protect the equipments aimed at digital TV with a semi-secret protocol using techniques borrowed from the military in order to ensure that only approved devices can see the previous digital data of our movies, seems to be on its way to be broken and is already the target of very serious…

  • Disney for free? 2 months trial

    Disney just announced that they would start a test trial of free distribution of some TV shows. During a 2-month (maybe more) test period, shows like “Desperate Housewives” or “Lost” will be free to download. Info Reuters

  • P2P with your buddies (and without the cops)

    This is the promise of a product that is not even available yet but could well behave like a FireFox plug-in (an extension to the famous Internet browser). Developed in Prague, it is becoming the center of all talks while it is not even available to download: AllPeers. As a matter of fact, this is…

  • RoHS and WEEE, the new game in the electronics industry

    Ok! Those do not look like nice words. But the European industry is starting to consider very seriously the consequences of these. They represent two European Directives intending to reduce very significantly the toxic waste and the use of hasardous materials in the electrical and electronic products (this is so wide a scope that a…

  • First legal movie downloads in the US

    That’s just the beginning. Movielink and CinemaNow are now the first significant (and legal) source for movie downloads. The big question is still “will they succeed?” Two issues are key here. First, the movies are protected by a DRM solution that limits significantly the ways you can use the movies you just bought. Second, and…

  • Free movie: Nosferatu

    Free movie: Nosferatu

    Download from Internet Archive Movie information from IMDB.org Yet another black and white German movie. F.W. Murnau created here a marvellous adaptation of the “Dracula” novel from Bram Stoker. On the screens in 1922, you could expect a merely dark movie. As a matter of fact, you will find here a true master piece of…