Author: Gabrielle Taylor
Finn courts say: breaking DRM A-OK (for a surprising reason)
Somewhat hilarious news from Finland: it’s legal to break DVD DRM there because their law only protects “effective” DRM, and “since a Norwegian hacker succeeded in circumventing CSS protection used in DVDs in 1999, end-users have been able to get with ease tens of similar circumventing software from the Internet even free of charge. Some operating systems come with this kind of software pre-installed. […] CSS protection can no longer be held “effective” as defined in law.” If “effective” means it hasn’t been cracked, doesn’t that suggest the DRM becomes unprotected as soon as it is cracked enough? As though vandalism might become legal if you tagged someone’s car thoroughly enough? Or is it simply that the Finns are too sensible to allow the letter of the law to coldcock the spirit? (Disclaimer: I’m a quarter Finn, and I’m devastastingly sensible.) This is not just a Finnish issue, however. “The conclusions of the court can be applied all over Europe since the word ‘effective’ comes directly from the directive. […] A protection measure is no longer effective, when there is widely available end-user software implementing a circumvention method. My understanding is that this is not technology-dependent. The decision can therefore be applied to Blu-Ray and HD-DVD as well in the future.” [GT]
Finnish court rules CSS protection used in DVDs “ineffective” [via Boing Boing
Wall-mountable wireless printer
Ransmeier & Floyd have come up with a new concept in printers. You can hang this printer on the wall and the printout is displayed like a picture in a frame. A brilliant idea, although how exactly the printer is to be powered does not seem to be addressed (a rechargeable battery and wireless charger maybe? Are those things ready for prime time?). It wouldn’t be handy if I’m printing out my novel, but when I’m printing out my photos, I can see how they’ll look on the wall. [GT]
Multi Meter with spirit level and laser
There’s nothing quite as satisfying as the right tool for the job, and the Multi Meter with spirit level and laser is a tool that’ll find jobs for you to do – it finds everything else! Able to locate hidden power cables (and whether there are breaks in said cables), test diodes-fuses-capacitors-heating-elements-and-light-bulbs, it can also test polarity on two cable AC lines and locate hidden metal objects like nails. Then it also has a spirit level and a laser level, and lasers that are actually useful are paradoxically the most fun (who doesn’t want to brandish their tool importantly and tell people they have important laser business?). Also includes an LED torch. £20. [GT]
Multi Meter with spirit level and laser [via Red Ferret]
Pirates of the Caribbean flash drives from A-Data
As if there weren’t enough merchandising for Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, A-Data is now coming out with Pirates of the Caribbean flash drives and memory cards. The flash drives come equipped with P of C:AWE (please don’t make me write the title out again) wallpapers and the P of C:AWE trailer. The drives should hold up to 8GB and presumably cost quite a few pieces of eight — probably the entire thing. [GT]
Pirates of the Caribbean flash drives [via Pocket-lint]
Halo 2 for Vista delayed due to hilarious "partial nudity"
Microsoft has delayed the release of Halo 2 for Windows Vista for one week because of and I quote “an unfortunate, obscure content error which includes partial nudity”. Microsoft’s response has been to relabel the game packaging to warn customers and to develop a download which will remove the content . This content will be removed from all future runs from the game. And what exactly is this most vile content? It follows after the jump. (Warning: should not be viewed by pregnant women or individuals of nervous temperament.)
RFID Printer from Brother brings high-tech forgery home
Since RFIDs are increasingly part of our electronic lives, it was inevitable that the ability to embed them right into our gear should come into the home. The RL-700S printer from Brother allows you to create your own RFID-embedded cards, which means that just as forgers used laser printers to forge money, so they’ll use them to create fake RFIDs. Old people will make themselves younger, young people will make themselves older, and everyone will be drunk. [GT]
RL-700S printer from Brother [via Oh Gizmo]
I'll show you if Greedo shot first: Lucas to post clips of Star Wars for fans to edit
As part of the 30th anniversary Star Wars celebration, George Lucas is posting about 250 clips from all six Star Wars films on the Star Wars website and allowing fans to edit them any way they wish. Fans must use an editing program from Eyespot Corp, which will make the editing process simpler by using basic dragging, clicking and pasting but will also monitor the clips to ensure they do not contain nudity , pornography “and the like”. Lucas seems to be doing this basically to try to control the wild powers of the internet, which are far too goofy and exuberant to be constrained by any kind of simple editing software. But it’s nice to see the kid try. [GT]
Make-It-Yourself ‘Star Wars: Lucasfilm Will Post Clips From Film Saga on the Web, Inviting Fans to Edit at Will (sic) [via CrunchGear]
Flexible, full-colour OLED from Sony
Yum yum, the time will come — the time when we can take our laptops into the bathtub. Sony has moved us one step closer to this with their new flexible, full-colour OLED. OLEDs are usually done on a glass substrate, but the new tech from Sony is done on plastic. The 2.5-inch prototype does up to 16.8 million colors, with a 120 x 169 resolution, is 0.3 mm thick and weighs 1.5 grams. Sony’s planning to spin out a bunch of new tiny televisions this year using the OLED tech, with the expectation of doing more thinner and lighter gadgets in the agreeably near future. I’ll take a waterproof word processor-cum-newspaper, please. Video after the jump. [GT]
Motorola patents combination mobile phone LCD and solar cell
Since most mobile phone power draw happens when the phone is open, it’s logical to want to have it somehow magically be recharging while you talk, perhaps through the rays flung off by a majestic, benevolent, floating sphere that also makes the crops grow. But seriously, with monochrome LCDs it’s semi-feasible to make screens where 75% of sunlight passes through, where it would end up in a solar cell. The thin-film involved is still on the expensive side, but with power consumption skyrocketing as mobiles get increasingly complicated, solar power is a seductive solution. Plus, the iPhone has demonstrated people are (theoretically at least) willing to pay gobs for a phone if they think it’s All That, so all it really takes is Al Gore appearing on Richard and Judy wearing nothing but a thong and a Motorola solar-charge phone for demand to take off. [GT]
Display and solar cell device [via Treehugger]
DLO TransDock Deluxe does it every which way
The DLO TransDock Deluxe seems to have everything needed in a car iPod dock space: a steering wheel remote so you can keep your hands at 10 and 2 whilst trying to find the music you want to listen to without running anyone down unintentionally (who are we to tell you what you want to do with your car?), a USB connection so you can charge your cell phone while driving, Audio/Video Output for showing iPod downloads on your mobile video system, an Aux-in jack for transmitting another MP3 player, laptop, or gaming system over your car’s stereo, an FM tuner, iPod Fit Pads to accommodate slimmer models of iPods, and a pasta maker, so when your iPod becomes obsolete you can eat it. $129.99. [GT]
DLO TransDock Deluxe [via Gizmodo]
