Archive for March 3rd, 2010
RealNetworks Finally Gives Up On Crazy ‘RealDVD’ Ripper (RNWK)
RealNetworks is finally giving up on its bold “RealDVD” movie-copying app now that founder and CEO Rob Glaser is out.
As paidContent notes on Twitter: “The post-Rob Glaser RealNetworks gives up on RealDVD, will pay studios $4.5M, drop appeal, refunds to all 2,700 buyers. $RNWK.”
CNET’s Greg Sandoval has more →
And here’s the press release:
RealNetworks, Inc. (Nasdaq: RNWK) announced today that it has settled lawsuits with the six major Hollywood movie studios, Viacom Inc., and the DVD Copy Control Association related to Real’s RealDVD product.
As part of the settlement, RealNetworks will withdraw its pending appeal of the District Court’s preliminary injunction. The parties have agreed to the terms of a permanent injunction that will prohibit RealNetworks from distributing or supporting RealDVD or any other technology that enables the duplication of copyrighted content protected by the Content Scramble System, ARccOS, or RipGuard. The parties agreed that the injunction resolves all open issues in the case. Real agreed to pay the studios $4.5 million for their costs and fees in connection with the litigation.
Real will turn off the metadata service that provides DVD cover art and movie information, for the approximately 2,700 existing RealDVD customers, and the company is in the process of refunding the purchase price of the product to these customers.
“We are pleased to put this litigation behind us,” said Bob Kimball, president and acting CEO for Real. “This is another step toward fulfilling our commitment to simplify our company and focus on our core businesses. Until this dispute, Real had always enjoyed a productive working relationship with Hollywood. With this litigation resolved, I hope that in the future we can find mutually beneficial ways to use Real technology to bring Hollywood’s great work to consumers.”
Real’s payment obligation under the settlement agreement will be reflected in its consolidated financial results for the quarter and year ended December 31, 2009, which the Company will include in a Form 8-K to be furnished tomorrow to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
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See Also:
- Investors Cheer After RealNetworks CEO Glaser Quits
- RealNetworks Founder And CEO Rob Glaser Finally Quits
- RealNetworks’ New DVD Ripper Could Be Good News For Netflix (NFLX)
New iPhone App Offers Self-Destructing Text Messages (AAPL)
Tiger Woods lost a lot after his transgressions surfaced — millions of dollars in sponsorship deals and favorable public opinion.
But at least he is getting an iPhone app out of it… sort of.
A new app called TigerText hit iPhones last week. According to Time, the app gives users the ability to set a time limit for text messages on their phone and on the receiver’s phone after it is read. When time is up, the message disappears forever, and can’t be forwarded.
Here’s how it works, according to TIme:
When, say, a prominent politician sends his mistress an iPhone message via TigerText, the mistress will be prompted to install the app. When she has done so, she can read the message, but she can’t keep it. In fact, the message is never actually sent to her phone; it’s stored on TigerText’s servers. After the politician’s specified time span has elapsed — anywhere from one minute to five days — the message ceases to exist. There’s even a “delete on read” setting, which counts down from 60 after a message is opened and erases its text at zero.
Shortcomings: These aren’t real text messages — they need to be managed through this specific app. So now you have two places to deal with text messages. And the recipient can always take a permanent screenshot of the text message to frame you later, if they want to.
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See Also:
- iPhone Porn Apps Could Be Coming Back*
- MONTAGE: Bro Hugs For Tiger Woods!
- Apple Welcomes Boob Bouncing App ‘Wobble’ Back To App Store
UK Business Secretary Blames HSBC Selling For Shock Pound Downdraft
Peter Mandelson has blamed the fall out from Prudential’s proposed acquisition of AIG’s Asian arm for the currency wobble in the UK on Tuesday.
The UK’s business secretary said on CNBC that HSBC moved along with the deal and sold pounds which devalued the currency, not the pre-election government instability some have suggested as the cause.
- 1:30 – Mandelson highlights that public spending cuts will hit economy this year.
- 2:00 – Mandelson blames HSBC and the AIG – Prudential deal for the pound ‘s plummet.
- 2:30 – Also highlights the possibility that its the chance of a Conservative win that might be scaring markets.
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See Also:
- How The UK’s Financial Crisis Could Lead To The Falklands Becoming Much More Than An Oil Dispute
- Forex Vigilantes Are Now Punishing UK Voters For Supporting The Labour Party
- UBS Says Dramatic UK Cuts Could Kill The Pound
John Roberts Refuses To Block Gay Marriage In Washington D.C.
Acting in his role as Circuit Justice for Washington, D.C., John Roberts refused to block same-sex couples from getting marriage licenses there, an opportunity gay couples could take advantage of as of today.
Not surprisingly, it was opponents of gay marriage who were trying to block the licenses, saying it should be put to a vote first.
But Roberts refused to issue a stay, quoting earlier precedent that, “it has been the practice of the Court to defer to the decisions of the courts of the District of Columbia on matters of exclusively local concern.” He also noted that Congress has decided not to act, even though it could have issued a “joint resolution of disapproval.”
That said, rest easy gay marriage-haters — Roberts pointed out that there is already a petition for a ballot initiative to bring the issue to a vote. (Prop 8, D.C.-style!)
So with gay couples fully approved to go forth and wed, the Blog of the Legal Times put together a photo essay of the historical event.
SCOTUSblog has full analysis, and a copy of the opinion, here.
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See Also:
- Gay Couples Can’t Get Married In Maryland, But Their Marriage Will Be Recognized There
- Out But Not An Issue: Judge In Prop 8 Trial Is Gay
- Quote Of The Day: Asking Supreme Court To Rule On Courtroom Cameras Like Asking Tiger To Rule On Adultery
Here’s Another Reason To Be Afraid Of March 5: February Jobs Data Likely To Be Bleak
As we told you last week, the recovery is already over.
Consumers are hunkering down, burdened by real debt, increasingly joblessness and overwhelmingly negative expectations about the future.
We fully expect Friday’s jobs report to show that consumers didn’t get things wrong. Things are getting worse again.
(If that gets you down, check out our earlier post arguing that a temporary down draft in unemployment could still show that we’re preparing for a healthier recovery.)
Here’s the bleak assessment from AP Economic Writer Christopher Rugaber.
By CHRISTOPHER S. RUGABER, AP Economics Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) — The February jobs report to be released Friday is likely to be bleak.
Blame the weather, the White House says.
That’s because last month’s snowstorms are expected to have artificially inflated job losses by at least 100,000.
Not so fast, private economists counter. The report can’t just be dismissed. Once the snow effect is filtered out, they say the data will still signal weak hiring: Little if any job growth, and an unemployment rate predicted to rise to 9.8 percent or more from 9.7 percent.
Doubts about the February data have arisen because some people who didn’t make it to work because of snowstorms in the Eastern United States weren’t paid. So they won’t be included in the government’s payroll calculations. The Obama administration has pre-emptively pointed to the weather to explain a poor jobs report.
“The blizzards that affected much of the country during the last month are likely to distort the statistics,” Larry Summers, a top economic adviser to President Barack Obama, said in an interview on CNBC.
Still, private economists say they should be able to separate out the impact of weather. They think that will help isolate the underlying job trends.
“There will be a lot of valuable information about the job market in the report … not just weather-related noise,” said Zach Pandl, an economist at Nomura Securities.
That said, Pandl and other economists think the February data will be viewed with some skepticism because some of the figures won’t be as precise as usual.
“It will be very hard to see the signal from the noise in the February employment report,” said Joel Prakken, chairman of Macroeconomic Advisers. Still, his firm predicts the snowstorms will inflate the reported job losses by an extra 150,000 to 220,000.
Last month’s severe weather happened to occur just before the week when the government surveyed companies on their payroll levels for February. Such figures are being scrutinized for any signs companies are starting to boost hiring.
The economy is recovering slowly from a recession that eliminated 8.4 million jobs. Job growth remains scant. The economy would need to add 100,000 jobs a month just to keep the jobless rate from rising — and about 300,000 a month for several years to lower the rate to a more normal 5 percent to 6 percent.
There’s a long way to go. Employers shed a net 20,000 jobs in January, the government said last month. For February, Wall Street economists predict the government will say job losses grew to 50,000, according to a survey by Thomson Reuters, and that the jobless rate rose to 9.8 percent.
But excluding the impact of the storms, the economy may have produced a net jobs gain in February, economists say — though not enough to keep the jobless rate from rising.
Here’s what economists will be looking at in the report to filter out the distortions:
— The two separate surveys the government conducts to gauge employment: one of households, the other of businesses. The household survey is used to calculate the jobless rate. The employer survey counts the net change in jobs. The weather is likely to affect mainly the employer survey. Employees who didn’t work and weren’t paid won’t be included in the payroll count. Some hiring may also be delayed.
— The household survey is less likely to be distorted by the snowstorms. Workers who stay home due to snow but have jobs will be counted as employed. Still, the unemployment rate is expected to rise because hiring remains slight.
— Job changes by industry. Some sectors, such as construction, restaurants, transportation and retail, are most likely to be affected by bad weather. If job losses in those industries are higher than in recent months, the losses will likely be attributed to bad weather. Changes in other industries are more likely to be taken at face value.
There are other potential distortions to the employment data: More people might have had jobs clearing snow, some economists say. And the government is expected to have boosted temporary hiring for the 2010 Census, though it’s not clear by how much.
Recent data have sketched a discouraging employment picture. First-time jobless claims, after falling for most of last year, have risen by 30,000, or 7 percent, since the start of 2010.
“It doesn’t yet look like there’s a lot of hiring going on,” said Marisa DiNatale, an economist at Moody’s Economy.com.
There may be a silver lining: If the weather does boost reported job losses in February, jobs should snap back in March as hiring that had been delayed takes place and workers return to jobs.
That’s what’s happened after previous weather disruptions. In February 1996, for example, the nation posted robust job gains, a month after a severe snowstorm.
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See Also:
- America Just Declared The Recovery Over So You’d Better Get Ready For The Double Dip
- Last Week’s Jobs Reports Show Economy Is Recovering!