Itgs – Areas of Impact Home and Leisure Homes and Home Networks: lighting a 'cure' for sick building syndrome

Acrobat Reader

However while PDF is good at creating on screen documents it is really better at preserving the appearance of a technical or reference document.

Microsoft Reader

Reader also supports copy protection. After it is installed you activate your copy by registering on the Microsoft website and getting a unique code embedded in the program.

Bestselling author Stephen King added his imprimatur to Amazon's latest attempt to break open the electronic book market today with the unveiling of a new version of its Kindle reader in New York.

The new gadget – which is due to go on sale in America at the end of February – is the second version of the Kindle, boasting longer battery life over its predecessor, as well as a storage capacity that has been extended from 185MB to 2GB.

The cost will stay the same, at $359 (£240), but the main change is in the product's design – the new Kindle sports a sleek new look that is intended to appeal more to the general public rather than the previous blocky version did.

The announcement, which was widely expected, came at an event in New York hosted by Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos. He said that the Kindle had helped revolutionised the electronic book market since launching in 2007.

"We've been selling e-books for years, and guess what?" he asked. "It didn't work - until 14 months ago."

King, who has published more than 40 novels since 1974, read an excerpt from his new novella, Ur – which is being released exclusively for the Kindle.

Although Amazon has not revealed how many Kindles it has sold since launching the first version in November 2007, it has struggled to keep up with demand.

Citigroup analyst Mark Mahaney estimated recently that Kindle sales for 2008 could be as high as 500,000 units, putting it on a par with the early days of Apple's iPod music player and potentially creating a market worth $1bn in sales by 2010.

There is no sign that the device will be available in the UK, however. Although the device itself works outside of the US, the Kindle's Whispernet service – which piggybacks on mobile phone networks and allows it to be updated over the air – is not compatible with European telecoms systems.

Amazon has failed to reach an agreement with the continent's plethora of mobile phone companies, and has yet to announce availability outside the US.

The widely-leaked announcements also left industry observers unimpressed.

Jeffrey Lindsay, an analyst with Bernstein Research, said that was still too expensive for mainstream consumers.

"Really we don't see them as having taken the device to the next level," he told Reuters. "We think it's an incremental step of improvements. They're advancing very conservatively."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/feb/09/kikndle2-amazon-stephen-king

ITGS – Areas of Impact

Home and Leisure

Published and broadcast information: Podcast

What is podcasting?

Podcasting lets you automatically receive the latest episode of your chosen programme as soon as it's available. With our current range of audio podcasts, you can take your favourite radio programmes with you on the move and listen wherever and whenever you like.

Podcasting lets you automatically receive the latest episode of your chosen programme as soon as it's available. With our current range of audio podcasts, you can take your favourite radio programmes with you on the move and listen wherever and whenever you like.

You can "subscribe" to receive a podcast, rather like you might subscribe to a magazine and get it delivered each week. All of the BBC's podcasts are free, and you can stop receiving the files at any time. If you'd rather not subscribe, you can download episodes of a podcast series individually.

In order to subscribe for a podcast, you need an internet connection and a piece of podcast software which is usually available free of charge. Once you have installed this software, it will check the BBC for new episodes of your chosen podcast series and automatically download new episodes for you.

You can then listen to podcast episodes on your computer, or transfer them to a portable device, such as an mp3 player.

http://faq.external.bbc.co.uk/questions/podcasts/what_is_a_podcast

Starting on Thursday, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) says, it will gather evidence against users of "peer-to-peer" software such as Kazaa, and file $150,000 (£90,000) lawsuits against them.

The RIAA says its sales have been hit hard by the software, which allows users to swap music, films, and other files over the internet.

But the president of one peer-to-peer site blasted the RIAA threat as counter-productive.

We're going to begin taking names and preparing lawsuits Cary Sherman, RIAA

"They're out of their minds," he said.

The RIAA - whose members include AOL Time Warner, Vivendi Universal, Sony, Bertelsmann and EMI - says it will target the heaviest users of song-swapping services.

Its president, Cary Sherman, said: "We're going to begin taking names and preparing lawsuits against peer-to-peer network users who are illegally making available a substantial number of music files to millions of other computer users."

File-swappers trade an estimated 2.6 billion songs, movies and other files a month, the industry says.

The RIAA expects to file at least several hundred lawsuits seeking financial damages within eight to 10 weeks.

Kazaa, the most popular software for file sharing, reported that the number of its users online fell roughly 16 percent by late Thursday morning shortly after the RIAA announced its new campaign.

The move raises the stakes substantially in the long-running battle over file-swapping.

Most previous lawsuits have targeted websites such as Napster, the industry pioneer that was shut down by legal action.

Record companies have also planted dummy files masquerading as popular tracks to try to deter song-swappers.

A recent court ruling makes it easier to track down copyright violators through their internet providers, and last month four college students agreed to pay damages after being sued by the RIAA.

We're going to fight back using every means at our disposal Wayne Rosso, Grokster

Computer users who wished to avoid legal action should change the settings on their software to block access to their hard drives, or uninstall the software completely, Mr Sherman said.

The organisation hit a snag last month when a judge ruled two networks, Grokster and Morpheus, should not be shut down because they do not control what is traded on their systems.

Grokster's Mr Rosso says that court loss is the reason the RIAA has turned its attention to individuals.

"They're upset that we beat them in court," he told BBC News Online.

Commercial opportunities

Supporters of song-swap networks say they are an easy way for music fans to discover new artists - but record companies liken the practice to shoplifting.

Mr Rosso says there are many ways to make money from file-swapping.

"Licence it, sell waivers to downloaders, tax CD burners, tax software-ripping programmes," he said.

He said Grokster would be happy to sell licenses to download music, but that none of the record companies would discuss it with his firm.

And he said Grokster would resist the RIAA's latest move.

"We're going to fight back using every means at our disposal," he said.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3021126.stm

$2m file-sharing fine slashed to $54,000

The RIAA first took legal action against Ms Thomas in 2007. She was accused of pirating almost 2,000 tracks but the record companies sought damages for only 24 of them.

Ms Thomas was re-tried in 2009 following mistakes made during the initial case. She was found guilty again and told to pay $1.92m.

"The need for deterrence cannot justify a $2m verdict for stealing and illegally distributing 24 songs for the sole purpose of obtaining free music," wrote Judge Michael Davis who heard the appeal.

Judge Davis denied Ms Thomas' request for a re-trial and told the RIAA it had seven days in which to accept the change or ask for a new trial to set new damages.

The RIAA said it was "analysing" the Judge's decision and would respond in due course.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8478305.stm

ITGS – Areas of Impact

Home and Leisure

Digital Policing: Motion Picture Association of America - MPAA

TV download sites hit by lawsuits

The movie industry has turned its legal campaign against net piracy to TV file-sharing sites.

BITTORRENT SITES HIT Shuntv.net Zonatracker.com Btefnet.net Scifi-classics.net Cddvdheaven.co.uk Bragginrights.biz

Six BitTorrent sites hosting links to others with illegal copies of TV shows have been targeted in lawsuits by the Motion Picture Association of America.

It is a shift in focus for the MPAA. Since it started legal action against file-sharers in December, its targets have been film indexing sites.

A recent survey said TV programme downloads had risen by 150% in a year.

About 70% were using BitTorrent sites, according to the Envisional research. Of the total downloaders, 18% were within the UK, it said.

In March, TV downloading made headlines with the appearance of the long-awaited new series of Doctor Who on the net before it was even broadcast.

The MPAA said it was worrying.

"There are thousands of people in the entertainment industry who are working to develop, produce, and promote television shows. Those shows and those jobs are worth protecting," said Dan Glickman, MPAA chief.

"Every television series depends on other markets-syndication - international sales - to earn back the enormous investment required to produce the comedies and dramas we all enjoy and those markets are substantially hurt when that content is stolen."

It is the first time that the MPAA has specifically gone after TV-oriented networks in this way, which it says are used by thousands daily.

It has, however, targeted BitTorrent sites before. It has filed 100 lawsuits against operators of BitTorrent server sites since December.

Copies of popular US shows, such as Desperate Housewives and 24, regularly appear hours after they are first aired on networks in the US, and downloaded by fans around the world eager to see the latest episodes.

Because TV programmes are usually shorter than films, they are processed - or digitised - quickly.

Those people with increasingly faster broadband connections can download episodes in very little time. But the MPAA says its action to hit those running servers which link to copyrighted material has slowed this.

The percent of working servers has dropped by more than 40% since it started action, said the MPAA.

"Since we began shutting these sites down, the time that it takes to download a file on BitTorrent has increased exponentially which means the experience of downloading copyrighted films and TV shows is not what it used to be," said Mr Glickman.

"We intend to make it even worse. Protecting the television industry is essential."

With BitTorrent software, server sites do not host the files being shared. Instead, they host links, called "trackers" which tell people where to go to get the files.

More than 90% of the sites that the MPAA has sued so far have been shut down entirely.

The sites which have been closed, such as LokiTorrent, UK Torrent and s0nicfreak, now carry warning messages from the MPAA that read: "You Can Click But You Cannot Hide."

The MPAA says it wants to encourage legitimate download sites instead. Several TV companies are experimenting with legal peer-to-peer based downloads, including the BBC.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4545519.stm

The fact and fiction of camcorder piracy

In recent months, a steady stream of reports have asserted that movie piracy is on the rise in countries around the world resulting in hundreds of millions of pounds in lost revenue.

Camcorded DVDs, which typically feature awful sound and picture quality, ultimately compete with theatrical releases for only a few weeks

While the reports have succeeded in attracting considerable attention, a closer examination of the industry's own data reveals that the claims are based primarily on fiction rather than fact.

In the best Hollywood tradition, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and its foreign counterparts have put on a show that is much ado about nothing, featuring unsubstantiated and inconsistent claims about camcording, exaggerations about its economic harm, and misleading critiques of the law.

Different figures

First, the camcorder claims have themselves involved wildly different figures.

For example, over the past two weeks, reports have pegged the Canadian percentage of global camcording at either 40 or 50%.

Yet the International Intellectual Property Alliance, a U.S. lobby group that includes the MPAA, advised the US government in late September that Canadians were the source for 23% of camcorded copies of DVDs.

Not surprisingly, none of these figures have been subject to independent audit or review. In fact, AT&T Labs, which conducted the last major public study on movie piracy in 2003, concluded that 77 percent of pirated movies actually originate from industry insiders and advance screener copies provided to movie reviewers.

Moreover, the industry's numbers indicate that camcorded versions of DVDs strike only a fraction of the movies that are released each year. While the UK Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT) last year claimed that UK cinemas have been the source for pirate DVDs of blockbuster films such as X-Men: The Last Stand,and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, the MPAA's data suggests that these incidents are relatively rare.

As of August 2006, the MPAA documented 179 camcorded movies as the source for infringing DVDs since 2004. During that time, its members released approximately 1,400 movies, suggesting that approximately one in every 10 movies is camcorded and sold as infringing DVDs.

Second, the claims of economic harm associated with camcorded movies have been grossly exaggerated. The industry has suggested that of recently released movies on DVD, 90% can be sourced to camcording. This data is misleading not only because a small fraction of recently released movies are actually available on DVD, but also because the window of availability of the camcorded versions is very short.

Counterfeiters invariably seek to improve the quality of their DVDs by dropping the camcorder versions as soon as the studios begin production of authentic DVDs (which provide the source for perfect copies).

Camcorded DVDs, which typically feature awful sound and picture quality, ultimately compete with theatrical releases for only a few weeks and likely have very limited impact as they do not represent a viable substitute for the overwhelming majority of moviegoers.

Lion's share

In fact, as the movie industry has grown - global revenues have nearly tripled over the past 25 years - the importance of theatre revenues has shrunk. In 1980, theatre box office revenues represented 55% of movie revenue.

Today, DVDs and television licensing capture the lion's share of revenue, with the box office only responsible for approximately 15% of movie revenue.

In other words, the economic impact of camcorded DVDs - which involve only one in 10 releases and impact a small part of the revenue cycle - is little more than a rounding error in a US$45 billion industry.

Third, claims that copyright law is ill-equipped to deal with camcorder piracy are similarly misleading.

The law in many jurisdictions - including the UK, Canada, and Australia - currently renders it illegal to make for sale or rental an infringing copy of a copyrighted work such as movie.

It is not uncommon to find severe penalties for violating this provision with the potential for million dollar fines and prison sentences.

Indeed, the MPAA's own website acknowledges that many countries have legislation that prohibit illegal camcording.

While the MPAA is anxious for other countries to adopt tough U.S. anti-camcording laws, there is no evidence that those provisions - which open the door to lengthy jail sentences for releasing movies before they launch in theatres - have had a significant deterrent effect.

In fact, the president of the U.S. National Association of Theatre Owners told his members in November that illegal camcording in the US has expanded over the past two years from New York and Los Angeles to at least 15 states across the country.

Despite all the evidence the contrary, the MPAA continues to lobby for unnecessary legal reforms.

Unless politicians separate fact from fiction, this show appears headed for a frightening finale.

Pirate Bay beached but not sunk

From Hollywood to Stockholm via London, the movie and music industries will be breathing a sigh of relief, albeit one which will only last a short while.

The Pirate Bay has been, as far as the professional creative industries are concerned, public enemy number one in the battle against the file-sharing of content without permission.

For years, The Pirate Bay has not just ignored the requests and ultimately legal demands of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industries and the Motion Picture Association of America, it has publicly and volubly taunted them, even daring them to try and sue it in the Swedish courts.

The IFPI and MPAA had to take action against The Pirate Bay because to do nothing would have meant sitting on their hands.

Certainly, the conviction of The Pirate Bay founders is the biggest scalp since Napster was brought to heel in July 2001.

Eight years ago Napster was successfully pursued and shut down but it is very unlikely that the same thing will happen to The Pirate Bay.

It is almost certain that The Pirate Bay will keep on sailing, long after today's court judgement.

The fact The Pirate Bay's servers are outside Sweden and the fact it has enough support to keep it afloat financially will ensure it remains one of the most popular sources of copyright material on the internet.

And given that The Pirate Bay's founders will appeal, the authorities in Sweden have no power to force the four men to switch off the power at the data centre.

But the IFPI and the MPAA know this only too well. The goal has never been the closure of The Pirate Bay, although I doubt they would say this publicly.

This was always about awareness and education.

Eight years ago Napster was one of only a handful of similar file-sharing technologies. The mistaken aim then was to try and cut people off at the source - and the source was the file-sharing technology.

The rise of BitTorrent and the plethora of clients and torrent trackers that make finding content simple has made that approach futile.

The professional creative industries know too well that file-sharing copyright files without permission is not something they will ever completely eradicate.

Instead, they want to drive it to the margins of society - and to do that they have to educate the file-sharers and attempt to eradicate the abuse of file-sharing technologies.

But the battle is a long, long way from success. Unauthorised file-sharing is many factors more popular now than it was in the days of Napster, fuelled by the ubiquity of broadband connections.

According to the IFPI, tens of billions of illegal files were swapped in 2007. The ratio of unlicensed tracks downloaded to legal tracks sold is about 20 to one.

There is a 'lost generation' of music listeners who probably will never be pulled back from using illegal file-sharing networks.

These are the people caught in the gap between the old model of physical disc sales and the new emerging models of streaming music (Spotify), subscription music (Comes with Music) and legal downloads (iTunes).

It is the heart and minds of those music listeners and film watchers born into the iPod generation that the music and film industries are targeting.

Victory over The Pirate Bay may not have meant its sinking, but it's a shot across the bows of those who are still using illegal file-sharing sites and, more importantly, those thinking of using such sites.

The battle is already shifting away from The Pirate Bay and towards those gatekeepers of the web, the Internet Service Providers.

The creative industries want ISPs to become the guardian of those gateways and take more responsibility over the way their customers use the internet.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/technology/2009/04/pirate_bay_beached_but_not_sun.html

ITGS – Areas of Impact

Home and Leisure

Hardware, Software and Networks: Portable Digital Devices

What does the internet look like on PDA?

Most sites that are made for PDAs are pretty simple although there are now PDAs that can display internet pages just like they appear on home computers.

In general, PDA pages are simple so they download quickly and easily.

So for example, BBCi's news pages are all black and white and there are no images on them.