27
June
2007
|
04:38 AM
America/Los_Angeles

Newswatch 6.27.07: Reviewers say iPhone a thing of beauty

iPhone lives up to the hype (but the network sucks)

[Mercury News] Early reviewers raved about both the iPhone's physical design and the software at its core. The iPhone is "a classic example of the Apple look: slim, shiny and elegant," Levy wrote. "As it did with MP3 players, Apple has made even its most stylish competitors look like Soviet-issue contraptions." The iPhone's software "sets a new bar for the smart-phone industry," added Mossberg and Katherine Boehret in their joint review for the Journal. But they unanimously lambasted the speed at which the device accesses the Web over AT&T's network.

GOOG on offensive against Blogger spam

[Plagiarism Today] over the past week or so, I’ve noticed that a lot of the Blogspot links have been returning results indicating that the blog has been locked down for “Possible Blogger terms of service violations."

US behind in green investment

[News.com] Cleantech venture capitalist says U.S. is 20 years behind and better get onboard if it wants to take the lead and cash in.


RIAA pigopolists tried to shake down 10-year-old

[Register] An unemployed single mom with health problems has renewed her legal challenge of the RIAA, with unseemly new details, including accusations the cartel's goons of trying to contact the woman's 10-year-old daughter at school by impersonating her grandmother on the phone.


Digg founder Kevin Rose opens Pownce (sorta)

[TechCrunch] The founding team of the company also includes Leah Culver, Daniel Burka, and Shawn Allen. Pownce looks to be a web based sharing network with an optional desktop client for advanced features.

BBC iPlayer to launch limited open beta in July

[Mashable] The iPlayer is only available for Windows users in the UK, though a Mac version is still in the works. As the iPlayer will be using Microsoft DRM technology to enforce the limited download period for saved programs, a bit of controversy has been raised regarding the omission of open source advocates and Mac users. These issues are being addressed by the BBC as well.

MPAA sues Peekvid, YouTVPC

[Ars Technica] The gist of the suit is that businesses should not be allowed to prosper from illicit material, even if they do not host it. Both YouTVPC and Peekvid provide access to some of the most popular video content in the world, but they do so by linking up other sites (many of them outside the US) where the content is stored. This allows them to claim that they are doing nothing illegal, even though providing access to this unlicensed material is the extent of their business. Koman says: Um, MPAA might have a good point with this one.

MSFT launches 'low-cost' PC in India

[News.com] The IQ PC, created in partnership with AMD, will sell for around $500 and be targeted at education market. Koman says: Huh?? $500 is cheap? You can buy an HP laptop for $450 at Office Depot today.