Microsoft: no backwards compatibility for Windows Phone 7
Microsoft has unveiled some important elements for the Windows Phone 7 Series development platform. Most importantly, the software giant has confirmed what we've been expecting the company to announce for a while now. "For Microsoft, the cost of going from good to great is a clean break from the past," a Microsoft spokesperson told Ars. "For example, previous Windows Phone content will not run on Windows Phone 7 Series."
Charlie Kindel, Microsoft Partner Group Program Manager for the Windows Phone Application Platform & Developer Experience, went into a little bit more detail on his blog, Charlie Kindel on Windows Phone Development. "To enable the fantastic user experiences you've seen in the Windows Phone 7 Series demos so far we've had to break from the past," Kindel writes. "To deliver what developers expect in the developer platform we've had to change how phone apps were written. One result of this is previous Windows mobile applications will not run on Windows Phone 7 Series. To be clear, we will continue to work with our partners to deliver new devices based on Windows Mobile 6.5 and will support those products for many years to come, so it's not as though one line ends as soon as the other begins."
Specifically, Microsoft is going to draw on two technologies for software development on Windows Mobile 7.0 that are closely tied to .NET Framework and that aren't available in Windows Mobile 6.x. Silverlight will be used for apps, allowing developers and designers to work separately on design and code, not to mention the option to easily port them to the desktop and other mobile operating systems. XNA will be used for developers that want to expand their portfolio to include 2D and 3D games, and again possibly port them to other platforms such as the PC and the Xbox. In this way, Microsoft is ensuring that .NET developers, Silverlight developers, and XNA developers can all use their skills and much of their code to Microsoft's upcoming mobile platform. While it is a clean slate, developers won't have to completely start from scratch. Klein is promising "a cohesive, well designed API set with super productive tools."
Klein says the reason for these developer changes comes directly from feedback Microsoft obtained from face-to-face conversations with hundreds of developers over the last year about what the company should do with Windows Phone 7 Series. The company learned they want three things: to create truly compelling apps and games users will love, to get more done with better tool productivity and platform capabilities, and greater opportunity—not just on the phone but across the PC, Web, and TV/game console. Microsoft choosing Silverlight and XNA, cross platform technologies since day one, is no coincidence.Microsoft is planning to reveal more developer details at the MIX10 conference (March 15 to March 17 in Las Vegas), through keynotes and at least 12 technical sessions. Ars will be there to report on the latest news about not only Windows Phone 7 Series, but Internet Explorer 9 as well.
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Public radio remakes itself by entering the iPhone age
When Public Radio Exchange (PRX) developed the free Public Radio Player for the iPhone, the nonprofit hoped for 500,000 downloads. It now has 2.5 million. "I'm very happy with that number," says PRX executive director Jake Shapiro.
He should be. The PRX dev team has already cranked out two great iPhone apps, one for public radio in general and one for the popular show This American Life in particular. Both apps have positioned public radio as a major force when it comes to on-demand mobile applications.
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Germanium puck detects potential dark matter signal
Detecting the presence of dark matter in space is rather easy, but that doesn't tell us what dark matter actually is. Scientists may have had better luck in a Minnesota mine: projects occupying the mine are using ultracold pucks of material to detect dark matter interactions, and may be seeing the first signs of success. The researchers behind the Coherent Germanium Neutrino Technology (CoGeNT) recently submitted a paper on signals detected with their germanium puck. The results are similar to those obtained with CDMSII, and might indicate the presence of weakly interacting massive particles, or WIMPs.
The pucks used in the experiments are lowered to temperatures of a few dozen millikelvins and kept in wait to be struck by errant dark matter particles. The interactions the pucks have been detecting have energies of a few thousand electron volts, most of which would be classified as a lighter-mass variety of WIMPs, although they could be another variety of particle entirely.
The CDMSII has been able to detect a significant count of particles in the 8-10 keV range, though the lower limit of its detection is 2.7 keV. The CoGeNT puck detected a different peak, around 1.29 keV. The different energies may suggest that there's a small collection of dark matter particles out there.
In the paper, which has yet to undergo peer review, the authors are cautious about calling the signals a triumph. They note that the interactions could be produced by "muon-induced neutrons" or just noise. However, the pucks are shielded against such particles, and researchers point out such spikes in noise would be uncharacteristic of the detectors. The authors state they will continue to refine their data to "exhaust less exotic possibilities."
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Traffic pumping: threat to everyone? (or just AT&T)
Did you know that while decent, law-abiding citizens are minding their own business and making perfectly respectable phone calls to each other, a growing number of schemers are engaged in a sordid, porno-packed activity known as "traffic pumping"? Well, they are, says AT&T, and the telco wants to stop it.
Traffic pumping "is growing at an alarming rate," AT&T has been warning the Federal Communications Commission for months). "Indeed, the companies involved in these activities seem to have been emboldened by Commission inaction and are encouraging other companies to 'make hay while the suns shines' because they do not believe the FCC will move to address the problem in the foreseeable future."
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Apple taking WiFi iPad preorders March 12, shipping April 3
Apple has announced that the WiFi model of the iPad will be available in stores on April 3, and that the company will begin taking preorders for the device on March 12. Apple also said that the 3G model will be available in late April.
The company originally announced that the WiFi iPad would ship in late March, missing its self-imposed deadline by a few days. Still, a Saturday release will be good for those who plan to make an event out of the launch. (Don't pretend it didn't cross your mind! I've waited in enough lines with Apple fanatics to know better.) In addition to the 3G model, the WiFi model will also become available to Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland and the UK in late April.
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Horizontal scrollbar prompts EU gripe from 6 browser makers
With Microsoft's EU-appeasing browser ballot rolling out across Europe over the next three months, dissatisfaction is growing with its implementation. Last week, flaws in its randomization emerged—a result of ineptitude rather than malice. Today, six Web browsers have petitioned the EU to complain about the overall design of the browser ballot. They argue that the ballot fails to do what it is supposed to: provide European consumers with "information on the 12 most widely-used web browsers."
The complaint stems from the way the ballot is designed. The ballot lists the 12 browsers with the highest market share. The top five browsers—Microsoft's Internet Explorer, Google's Chrome, Apple's Safari, Mozilla's Firefox, and Opera—are immediately visible in the ballot. The next seven—AvantBrowser, Flock, K-Meleon, GreenBrowser, Maxthon, Sleipnir, and SlimBrowser—are only visible on scrolling to the right with a horizontal scroll bar. It is this design that is deemed inadequate. The complaint, signed by six of the seven secondary browsers (the exception, K-Meleon, was excluded due to an inability by the other six to find anyone to contact to represent that browser) argues that this horizontal scrollbar is inadequate—an overwhelming majority of people won't notice it or use it.
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Toy Soldiers XBLA: expensive, fun World War I tower defense
Toy Soldiers deals with those plastic toys we all grew up with, but places them in the under-used World War I setting. This tower-defense title chronicles the epic struggle of plastic against plastic, and adds some very welcome changes to the formula.
You buy units to place in either round or square spots on the map, and you place barbed wire to slow down infantry. As you kill enemy units for cash you can add more defenses or level up the weapons you have. Allowing the computer to control your defenses works to a point, but to be truly effective you're going to need to take direct control of your turrets and snipers and mortars. Mowing down rows of plastic enemies with your machine guns is truly a joy.
In other levels you'll have to take direct control of planes and tanks to defend your toy box, and the controls on these units are easy to learn and satisfying to put in action. The whole game looks and feels great, whether you're working on your strategy by working out where to place your forces or playing it like an action game by taking aim at the enemy troops yourself.
There is a multiplayer mode where you defend against the opposing side, both of you sending waves of soldiers at the other, and it's a worthwhile distraction from the main game. The boss battles, however, devolve into the player simply building up their forces for that pitched engagement, treating the waves of soldiers in the beginning and middle of the round as an afterthought. There were also moments where it felt like the camera didn't show as much as we would have liked.
At $15, Toy Soldiers feels a little expensive for what you get, but there's no denying how fun this game is. Go check out the demo, and if you like what you see, there are worse ways to spend your money.
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Sony plans new mobile initiative to take on Apple
Perhaps stirred by Apple's claim of being one of the biggest mobile device companies in the world, Sony is planning a number of new devices and services to compete with Apple's iTunes Store, iPhone, and iPad. That strategy will revolve around what's currently being called Sony Online Service, along with smartphone and tablet-like devices meant to connect to it, according to a recent Wall Street Journal report.
Sony plans to launch its online media platform, aimed squarely at Apple's iTunes Store, later this month. The iTunes Store includes the App Store (which offers apps for the iPhone, iPod touch, and now iPad) and iBookstore (which will offer books for the iPad later this month) in addition to music, TV, and movies. Sony Online Service is expected to offer much of the same music and video content, as well as Sony's back-catalog of PlayStation games.
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How much hate will the National Broadband Plan get?
With the Federal Communications Commission's National Broadband Plan scheduled for unveiling in less than two weeks, Capitol Hill folk are already wondering how much Congressional opposition to its many proposals the agency can expect. In fact, the National Journal reports that the top Republican lawyer for the House Energy and Commerce Committee says that some lawmakers may launch bills intended to "prevent" the FCC from pursuing its proposed regulatory agenda. Neil Fried made the comment on Tuesday during the National Association of Broadcaster's state leadership conference.
Oh well—it isn't like politicians needed the upcoming plan to throw tacks on the road. No sooner did FCC Chair Julius Genachowski announce that he was going to propose net neutrality rules than the Party of Lincoln started growling.
First, they warned Genachowski that he needed to run a "market failure" study before proposing new regulations. At the same time, Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) and six other GOP biggies tried to nuke net neutrality by an amendment to a Department of Interior appropriations bill. Hutchison's (R-TX) rider would have forbidden the FCC to spend any money to "implement any Internet neutrality or network management principles."
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EFF demands FCC close copyright "loophole" in net neutrality
The Electronic Frontier Foundation might be expected to love the FCC's "Open Internet" push, but the group has one big concern with the rulemaking: the presence of "a loophole for copyright enforcement in its proposed regulations for network neutrality."
The EFF has now submitted a petition to the FCC with 7,000 signatures, asking for the provisions to be stripped from the final rule.
"Before the ink is dry on net neutrality regulations, we already see corporate lobbyists and 'public decency' advocates pushing for loopholes," said EFF Civil Liberties Director Jennifer Granick. "A loophole like this could swallow network neutrality, with ISPs claiming copyright enforcement as a pretext for all sorts of discriminatory behavior."
At issue is the "reasonable network management" exception to net neutrality. The FCC makes clear that network neutrality rules only apply to "lawful content," and neutrality does not apply to the illegal transmission of copyrighted work.
Despite the EFF's concern, this exception has been in place for years already. In 2005, when the FCC adopted its Internet policy statement, it also made clear that the statement applied only to lawful content. It also included the same exception for "reasonable network management." It is true that big rightsholders have pushed especially hard this time around for broader exceptions; they did get a hearing and a bit of language in the proposed rule, but so far have had no luck trying to get the FCC to "encourage" ISPs to start filtering material.
But the EFF just doesn't see why ISP content filtering should be treated as "network management" at all.
"Because the proposed regulations by their terms do not protect 'unlawful content,' there is no need for an exception to permit ISPs to block such content," says its filing. "Any copyright enforcement exception to the six principles simply serves to excuse ISPs from using undisclosed, overbroad techniques that interfere with lawful activities, as long as they claim they were attempting to restrict unlawful ones."
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Microsoft Patch Tuesday for March 2010: two bulletins
According to the Microsoft Security Response Center, Microsoft will issue two Security Bulletins addressing eight vulnerabilities on Tuesday, and it will host a webcast to address customer questions about the bulletins the following day (March 10 at 11:00 am PST, if you're interested). Both of the vulnerabilities are rated "Important" and both may require a restart.
The list of affected operating systems includes Windows XP (x86 and x64), Windows Vista (x86 and x64), and Windows 7 (x86 and x64). In terms of the Microsoft Office suites, all supported versions are affected on both Windows and Mac OS X.
Compared to last month's whopper of a Patch Tuesday, this one is quite a small one, especially given that there are no "Critical" patches coming. The exact breakdown of the bulletins is as follows:
- Bulletin 1: Important (Remote Code Execution), Windows
- Bulletin 2: Important (Remote Code Execution), Office
If you're wondering, the IE/Windows Help vulnerability we reported on earlier this week is not yet ready to be patched. There are no known attacks, but Microsoft is still encouraging customers to review the advisory and apply the suggested workarounds where possible. Customers that are running Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows 7, or Windows Server 2008 R2 are not affected.
Along with these patches, Microsoft is also planning to release the following on Patch Tuesday:
- One or more nonsecurity, high-priority updates on Windows Update (WU) and Windows Server Update Services (WSUS)
- One or more nonsecurity, high-priority updates on Microsoft Update (MU) and WSUS
- An updated version of the Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool on Windows Update, Microsoft Update, Windows Server Update Services, and the Microsoft Download Center
This information is subject to change by Patch Tuesday; Microsoft has been known to rush patches as well as pull them if it deems it necessary.
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Strange antiparticles pop out of RHIC's quark-gluon plasma
So far, the LHC has been spending its time ramming protons together, leaving Brookhaven's Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) the king of the hill when it comes to smashing larger atomic nuclei. When the nuclei of gold atoms collide within RHIC, their components dissolve into a high-energy state called a quark-gluon plasma (the LHC will eventually smash lead atoms to similar effect). A paper in today's Science describes some of the more exotic items that briefly emerge from the wreckage: the antiparticle equivalent of Deuterium, with strange quarks replacing some of the more familiar ones.
The paper itself is a mindbending trip through families of particles that are similar to our familiar protons and neutrons (termed nucleons), but have at least one of their quarks replaced by a heavier, strange version, resulting in what's termed a hyperon (four of these, Λ, Σ, Ξ, and Ω, have been observed). In the brief periods that the quark-gluon plasma exists, particles and antiparticles are equally probable, leading to a large collection of heavy and light nuclei and anti-nuclei. It also leads to some fantastic sentences, like the following: "Hypernuclei bring a third dimension into play, based on the strangeness quantum number of the nucleus, thus allowing the territory of antinuclei with nonzero strangeness."
The paper focuses on the hypertritons, atomic nuclei that consist of a proton, a neutron, and a Λ hyperon. RHIC has now produced around 200 hypertritons/antihypertritons, which survive for a couple hundred picoseconds. That's enough to determine that they are probably being formed in the same way a standard atomic nucleus is, by the condensation of their component nucleons and hyperons. In fact, they were formed in similar numbers to their less-strange equivalents, 3He and its antiparticle equivalent.
The authors take that as an indication that, at the energies produced by RHIC, strange quarks are present in equivalent numbers to their more mundane counterparts, meaning that further collisions will provide us some indication of their binding interactions, which may help shape the interior of neutron stars. So, they're gearing up to go for another round of collisions that will produce an order of magnitude more of these (literally) strange nuclei.
Science, 2009. DOI: 10.1126/science.1183980
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Apple may soon enable paid iPhone app upgrades (Updated)
An unexpected dialog box in iTunes may be a sign that Apple will soon allow developers to offer upgrade pricing for iPhone apps. Developer Fraser Speirs was warned that the "discounted price is only available to customers who own a previous version" of an item when he tried updating all his apps via iTunes.
Developers of desktop software typically offer a discount to users who have paid for a previous version of software when they upgrade to the next major release. On the iPhone, minor updates to apps are free to all users, but there is no mechanism in the App Store to offer current users upgrade pricing on new major version releases.
Some developers have gotten around this limitation by developing a new version and naming it with the major version number—think Rolando 2 or Tweetie 2. However, if users want that version, they have to pay full price. There's no way to offer someone who bought the original versions of Rolando or Tweetie a discount. Many users balked when Tweetie 2 was a full-price paid upgrade, though the improvements were generally compelling enough to justify the cost.
The dialog box that Speirs encountered could have been an error since he was updating apps he already purchased. Still, it appears to be a sign Apple is testing the capability to offer discounts to buyers of previous versions of apps. Both developers and users have been asking for such a capability since the App Store launched in 2008.
UPDATE: It appears that this dialog box isn't new—9to5Mac's Seth Weintraub pointed us at this MacRumors forum thread from 2008 that mentions the same dialog box. We then found this recent thread in Apple's Support forums that also mentions encountering the dialog box, which appears related somehow to being logged in to the wrong account when attempting to update apps.
However, the wording of the dialog is clearly meant to refer to upgrade pricing of some sort. If iTunes is capable of determining whether you've paid for a previous version and can offer "discounted pricing," that still means someone at Apple at least thought about how to implement an upgrade mechanism for the App Store. We're still hoping iPhone OS 4, along with the necessary changes in iTunes and the App Store, introduces the capability.
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Behavioral efforts, not money, will drive energy efficiency
When it comes to reducing carbon emissions, most of the attention has focused on new technologies like renewable power and electric vehicles, as well as their associated costs. But study after study shows that we can save both energy and a significant amount of cash through the use of energy efficiency technology that's already on the market. A Policy Forum in today's issue of Science suggests that the bottleneck isn't so much technological or economic as it is behavioral, and argues that the US needs to start performing tests of behavior-oriented programs.
The article cites several studies we've covered here on Ars, such as the McKinsey analysis of energy efficiency, which suggested that $520 billion in efficiency investments would save us $1.2 trillion by 2020, and continue saving money beyond that. In the process, the nation's energy demand would drop by 23 percent. Assuming we were all rational actors on the economic scene, reports like that should be enough to trigger a flurry of activity.
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Bright future for UMPCs, touchscreens, and tablets
Market research firm Gartner is forecasting a much better year in 2010 for PC shipments worldwide than last year, expecting a 20 percent increase year-over-year. However, mobile computing will be the main impetus behind that growth.
Mobile PCs accounted for over half—55 percent—of all PC shipments in 2009, but Gartner expects that percentage to climb to 70 percent by 2012. Apple in particular has seen most of its sales of Macs come from MacBook and MacBook Pro models for some time, leading the industry in this trend for the last three years.
"The PC industry will be overwhelmingly driven by mobile PCs, thanks to strong home growth in both emerging and mature markets," George Shiffler, research director at Gartner, said in a statement. Netbooks will continue to sell well in 2010, but are expected to decline as ultra-low-voltage, ultra-thin laptops and "next-generation tablets"—think iPad—take over this product segment. The iPad has fueled renewed interest in tablets in particular, and the company expects that traditional tablets and iPad-like devices could move 10.5 million units combined by the end of the year.
"We expect mobile PCs to drive 90 percent of PC growth over the next three years," Shiffler added.
Growth will also come from other touchscreen-based mobile devices, such as the iPhone, Palm Pre, and Nexus One. Touchscreens will begin to move down market to midrange devices as well. "As phone capabilities increase, consumers are becoming much more aware of the benefits of touch interfaces, and vendors are responding," according to Gartner principal research analyst Roberta Cozza.
Gartner expects sales of touchscreen-based mobile devices to nearly double in 2010, selling more 362 million units. Over the next three years, such devices will account for 58 percent of sales worldwide, and as much as 80 percent in "developed markets."
However, warned Gartner analyst CK Lu, vendors can't just slap a touchscreen in a device and call it a day. "Touch technology is just an enabler, and ultimately, it is a compelling user experience—which includes good UI design, applications and services—that will make or break a product," he said in a statement. Apple has a commanding lead on this front with its App Store, responsible for an overwhelming majority of mobile app sales last year. Other platforms, such as Android, are beginning to slowly catch up in both experience and app ecosystems.
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Apple vs HTC: proxy fight over Android could last years
Apple came out swinging Tuesday against smartphone maker HTC, filing a federal lawsuit and a complaint with the International Trade Commission, both alleging that HTC's phones violated numerous Apple patents. Some believe the suits are the beginning of a protracted legal battle against Google's Android OS, and analysis of the patents in question suggest Apple's two-pronged approach may be successful, though HTC says it's ready to fight back with its own patents and with Google in its corner.
The best analysis we have seen of the patents themselves comes from Engadget's Nilay Patel who, in a previous life, was an IP attorney. Patel notes that the older patents are more directly related to operating systems and only one could be said to apply to HTC's Windows Mobile devices while the rest are directed at Android. The patents referenced in the federal lawsuit are newer and have yet to be tested in court. Still, Patel believes that at least some of the claims of the various patents seem legitimate on the surface.
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Viacom: "Fair use works for us," unlikely to sue bloggers
Viacom is unlikely to sue bloggers for posting their own clips of The Daily Show or The Colbert Report, contrary to reports floating around on the Internet. The company clarified its position to Ars on Thursday, noting that it tries to be as permissive as possible when it comes to fair use and that individual bloggers have never been on the studio's radar.
The confusion began when the Hollywood Reporter ran a story on Wednesday titled "Viacom will sue bloggers who post unauthorized 'Daily Show' clips," quoting Viacom spokesperson Tony Fox. "Yes, we intend to do so," Fox was quoted saying. "My feeling is if (websites) are making money on our copyrighted content, then that is a problem."
We reached out to Viacom's VP of PR Jeremy Zweig to confirm whether this position was true. After all, as numerous parties have pointed out, both The Daily Show and The Colbert Report make liberal use of clips from other networks that undoubtedly fall under fair use, and it seemed as if Viacom was willing to go after the little guy in order to ensure that no one got a single penny of revenue except for Viacom. This, however, was not the case.
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Microsoft Pink phone reportedly exists, coming to Verizon
Pink, the long rumored Microsoft-branded (but not Microsoft-manufactured) phone(s) that features premium mobile services (think Zune) and has also been referred to as Zune phone, is all but officially confirmed now, thanks to leaked third-party marketing materials obtained by Gizmodo. Microsoft did not announce anything regarding the device when it showed off Windows Phone 7 Series, but these documents lay out a promotional plan for Pink in detail, and while they don't talk about specs or software details, they do shed some light on the upcoming mobile phone.
Just as rumored in September 2009, Pink will arrive on Verizon. Furthermore, Verizon is a launch partner for Pink (a joint Microsoft/Verizon launch is possible), and while exclusivity is likely, another carrier isn't completely out of the question. Previous rumors talked about a codenamed Turtle and a codenamed Pure, but only the former is mentioned in the documents. Turtle (pictured above), is reportedly "squircle" in shape, and includes a microphone at the bottom of its slide-out keyboard, which is meant to be open when being used as a phone. Last but not least, social networking will play a big part on the phone, just as with Windows Phone 7 Series.
Remember the analyst who said earlier this year that a Zune Phone was coming soon? She predicted it would arrive this month, would have 720p HD video capabilities, at least a 5MP camera, and that it would run Windows Mobile 7.0. She also claimed that the next version of Microsoft's mobile OS would include premium mobile services, including a Zune video store and music subscription and purchasing services, an interface similar to the Zune HD UI, and could include social networking apps like Xbox Live, Facebook, and Twitter. She got the details about Windows Mobile 7.0 pretty darn close, so now let's see if she gets the Pink parts correct.
Gizmodo, however, says that it doesn't look like it has Windows Mobile 7.0 on it for two reasons: the interface looks different and Turtle doesn't look like it has the minimum hardware requirements to be part of the Windows Phone 7 Series. We're not so quick to rule out Windows Mobile 7.0 as Pink's mobile OS. Firstly, we've heard before that Pink would be built on top of Windows Mobile 7.0. Secondly, we still don't know the specs for the third chassis, so it's entirely possible that Turtle has those requirements and can still be under the Windows Phone 7 Series branding. It would be a huge shame—not to mention very stupid—if Microsoft decided its own phone wasn't a Windows Phone 7 device.
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Charles Nesson, scourge of the labels, now must pay them
Joel Tenenbaum, the second P2P defendant to take his case to trial in the US, may never pay the $675,000 judgment currently filed against him—but someone on his legal team will soon be paying something. Judge Nancy Gertner has ruled that both Tenenbaum and his lawyer, Harvard Law's Charles Nesson, are "jointly and severally liable" for some fees incurred by the RIAA during the trial. The ruling comes after the defense team inexplicably posted the very songs at issue in the case to the Internet, and Nesson posted a public link on his blog for anyone to download them.
This behavior prompted a discovery request from the record labels, which wanted to know more about why the defense was now doing the very thing it had been accused of doing in the lawsuit. Nesson didn't want to tell them. The labels then filed a "motion to compel" the information.The judge sums it all up:
[Nesson's] terse response to plaintiffs' motion to compel merely stated that, in his personal opinion, the plaintiffs' requests were not relevant to this litigation. As indicated in this Court's June 16, 2009, order, plaintiffs' request for information relating to the defense's unauthorized distribution of the very copyrighted works on which plaintiffs' claims were based was clearly relevant to such issues as the willfulness of the defendant's conduct and the amount of damages to be awarded by the jury.
Lawyers who win a "motion to compel" are entitled to have their costs for that particular motion reimbursed; it's a way to keep opposing lawyers from dragging their feet on discovery requests with no good reason. The labels have asked that these fees be paid by the defense, and Gertner on Tuesday agreed.
On June 18, 2009, the judge made clear her displeasure with Nesson's behavior in the case, so this week's ruling isn't a surprise.
The Court's indulgence is at an end. Too often, as described below, the important issues in this case have been overshadowed by the tactics of defense counsel: taping opposing counsel without permission (and in violation of the law), posting recordings of court communications and e-mails with potential experts (who have rejected the positions counsel asserts) on the Internet, and now allegedly replicating the acts that are the subject of this lawsuit, namely uploading the copyrighted songs that the Defendant is accused of file-sharing.
It also didn't help that Nesson filed no response to the record label motion against him. The labels have until March 8 to file with the court "an affidavit containing an itemized statement of the expenses they incurred in filing the motion to compel." Nesson, who took on the Tenenbaum case pro bono, may now being paying out of his own pocket for the privilege of defending Tenenbaum.
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Activision announces new Call of Duty titles, lawsuit filed
The Call of Duty franchise is in turmoil. The founders of Infinity Ward, Jason West and Vince Zampella, have been forced out of the developer they turned into a success. Activision has announced major changes in how the game is developed, and is hinting at changes in how it's sold. The latest news? West and Zampella are suing Activision for control of the Call of Duty name.
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