OCZ’s World First Terabyte 2.5 SSD

If you’re anything like us, you’re waiting for SSD - solid-state drive - storage capacities to increase and prices to decrease before offloading your digital media from those traditional clunky disk based hard drives, jumping into SSD is a pricey train to take advantage of.

SSD offers über reliability, lower power consumption, faster boot and access times, as well as the alround coolness of NO MOVING PARTS technology, OCZ has just jump started the price fall.

Having already released the world’s first 3.5-inch 1 TB SSD in 2009, OCZ has now removed the capacity hurdle for laptops with the release of the world’s first 2.5-inch SSD that is available in capacities up to 1 TB. Read the full article »»»»

Chumby Up: FunBox is Here, Almost!

Our favorite ubergadget, the It-Can-Do-Anything Chumby has a new home, The FunBox. From the outside it looks like any other bedside clock – a little remaniscent of the classic Sony Cube – but it’s so so much more. It’s a widget-running Chumby, which means it’ll let you check your twitter feeds, cack yourself over the latest Youtube shenanigans,  check your Gmail or do any other inappropriately stimulating web activity just before you close those squinting eyes for some Zzzs. FunBox has just passed through the FCC and its paperwork reveals a 3.5-inch touch screen,  454MHz processor, 1GB DDR memory, SD card slot and a USB port for an external drive.

Unlike Chumby’s original plush Chumby, or Sonys Dash, the FunBox is in the guise of a more simplistic alarm clock form factor. The FunBox is expected to rely on a 454MHz ARM processor and 64MB of SDRAM. The FunBox runs Chumby’s open source OS, which currently features over 1,500 apps, including Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and Pandora. No word on pricing or availability yet, but expect this to be in the cheap basket.

source: wireless goodness

source: fcc

picture: wirless goodness

Droid Bionic, Motorolas Latest Smart Offering

The last bastion of American Mobile Might – Motorola – has put up a new teaser video for its upcoming smartphone – Droid Bionic – featuring a super gamish sci-fi setting, evil robot, leather bound, sword wielding heroine. Fighting off competition like the Samsung Galaxy S and HTC Sensation, this dolly bird has her work cut out for her! Read the full article »»»»

Fashion Fraud: The Bernie Madoff iPad Case

He’s had his nifty little fingers in some pretty deep pockets. Bernie Madoff is presently shirtless but apparently not pantless. In case you live under a rock: In March 2009, Madoff pleaded guilty to 11 federal felonies and admitted to turning his wealth management business into a massive Ponzi scheme that defrauded thousands of investors of billions of dollars. Madoff said he began the Ponzi scheme in the early 1990s. However, federal investigators believe the fraud began as early as the 1970s.Jailed for 150 years …

 Seems his crimes are being recapitulated in his absence. Accessory designer Frederick James is churning out iPad covers made from Madoffs discarded slacks> James describes his iPad covers as – little ironic – Non Protective,  ”The Frederick James iPad covers are NOT intended to be protective if you should drop your iPad while carrying it AT ALL. When carrying your iPad in a Frederick James cover by itself, handle it just as you would handle the iPad if it was not in a cover. If you drop it and it breaks, Frederick James is NOT responsible. We recommend our covers to protect from light debris while transporting an iPad in another bag.” Sound a bit like a ponzi for a pad? Read the full article »»»»

British Telecom Ordered to Block Pirate Site Newzbin

The Motion Picture Association of America -  MPAA – has won a landmark internet piracy case in the United Kingdom  which could lead to a wave of online censorship. The U.K’s largest internet service provider – BT – has been ordered to block a website which provides links to pirated movies. The MPAA, which includes film studios  - Disney, Warner Bros and 20th Century Fox – claimed the Newzbin website infringed their copyright with illegal file-sharing. BT had argued the ban could usher in a new form of online censorship. Observers say the case could set a legal precedent, while other sites may also be blocked as part of a major crackdown against piracy. BT says it will not be appealing against the ruling. MPAA European President Chris Marcich said, “the Motion Picture Association’s European president, said: “This ruling from Mr Justice Arnold is a victory for millions of people working in the UK creative industries and demonstrates that the law of the land must apply online. This court action was never an attack on ISPs but we do need their cooperation to deal with the Newzbin site which continually tries to evade the law and judicial sanction. Newzbin is a notorious pirate website which makes hundreds of thousands of copyrighted products available without permission and with no regard for the law”

An MPAA spokesperson said  ”The coalition supporting legislation to get tough on foreign rogue websites that  traffic in stolen films and TV shows or counterfeit goods is growing by the day. Citing the threat to  American jobs and creative industries, in recent weeks elected officials across the country have  joined theatre owners and business associations speaking out in favor of the Preventing Real Online  Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act.  The illegal online distribution of movies delivered through the internet across unlimited geographic  markets is a devastating problem that costs the movie theater industry hundreds of millions of  dollars every year in lost ticket and concessions sales domestically and billions of dollars globally thereby threatening the livelihoods of our country’s 160,000 movie theater employees, any of whom  are first-time workers, elderly or disabled”

U.K. High Court Justice Arnold, in handing down  his reserved ruling in the case following a hearing last month, announced: “I will make an order substantially in the form sought by the studios.” The action, brought on behalf of all members of the Motion Picture Association of America, is believed to be the first in Britain where an attempt is being made to force an internet provider to block a site under the Copyright, Design and Patents Act  - CDPA -1988.

Film-makers told the court they wanted BT to block Newzbin with the same system that stops access to sites hosting child sex abuse images. Richard Spearman QC, arguing for an injunction on behalf of the applicants at the recent hearing, told the judge that the Newzbin copyright infringement was being carried out on a “grand scale”. The general economic impact of piracy on the film and TV industry was, he said, “nothing short of staggering”.

Spearman told the court: “If the order is not made, websites such as Newzbin will simply be able to move offshore, anonymise the individuals behind the website and cock a snook at the courts and at rights holders who put their trust in the courts.”

BT contested the claim for an injunction, arguing that there is no jurisdiction for the court to make the order sought against it under the CDPA. In written argument before the court, submitting that the injunction application should be dismissed, Antony White QC, for BT, argued that if the court ordered it to block access to the Newzbin2 website “there would be nothing to stop countless other claimants coming forward demanding that BT block other websites alleged to contain unlawful material”.

Following the courts ruling Bt said in a statement: “This is a helpful judgment, which provides clarity on this complex issue. It clearly shows that rights holders need to prove their claims and convince a judge to make a court order. BT has consistently said that rights holders need to take this route. We will return to court after the summer to explain what kind of order we believe is appropriate.”

Mr Justice Arnold said in his written judgment that “The case was about the legal remedies that can be obtained to combat online copyright infringement. The studios sought an injunction against BT under the CDPA which in essence was “intended to block or at least impede access by BT’s subscribers” to Newzbin2. The studios have made it clear that this is a test case: if they are successful in obtaining an order against BT, then they intend to seek similar orders against all the other significant ISPs in the UK.” Operators of the Newzbin2 website were unknown, but the operation appeared to have moved offshore and was “thus effectively beyond the reach of this court“