DivX Unmuzzled, Quiet Period Ends

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Over the past few months I have become increasingly obsessed with a company that I have followed for a very long time. For most people, today was like any other Monday. They went to work, talked about their weekend and couldn’t wait for it to be over, but for me I spent the day waiting in anticipation of something that I’ve been looking forward to for several months now.

For the first time ever, I had the opportunity to listen to DivX publically comment on their business plan and their execution over the last few months. In the past, I’ve followed DivX as closely as any other tech enthusiast and while I understood that the quality of their codec and the underground roots that set them apart, very little information was leaked out about this private company based in San Diego California. While many have either never heard of DivX or have no idea of what the company does, over the years, I’ve formed a fond appreciation for their technology and their inexplicable ability to survive regardless of the competitive landscape.

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Mac SlingPlayer Is Here!

I scheduled this post to run at 11:23PM EST… By the time it’s published, you should be able to download the public beta of the Mac SlingPlayer (and I should be sleeping). I haven’t seen a press release, in fact I don’t know if there will be one. But I can tell you I’ve seen … Read more

Amazon Unbox Movies On Xbox 360

There was some question upon the launch of Amazon’s Unbox movie download service if it would be possible to stream flicks to a TV via the Xbox 360. The answer is yes, and Amazon has provided these simple steps to automagically stream purchased content to a 360 from a Windows Media Center PC: Download an … Read more

Who You Gonna Call?

Need a little help with your gadgets? You don’t have to call tech support anymore. I’ve run across two applications recently taking different approaches to solving your gadget woes. The first is Retrevo. Launched at DEMOfall last month, Retrevo is a vertical search engine that lets you look up your devices to find product documentation, … Read more

DVD Jon Is A Masochist

DVD Jon, the guy who cracked DVD encryption, has set up shop in California as DoubleTwist Ventures. His goal is to pirate license technology enabling iTunes to play on non-iPods and non-iTunes DRM-ed tracks to play on iPods (how’s that working out, Real?). It would be nice if Apple’s copy protection scheme (aka FairPlay) was … Read more

Interesting News Dave Hasn’t Covered

Never enough time… Windows MCE Plugin Edition! WebGuide 4 provides remote MCE management. (jkOnTheRun) Big Screen Headlines RSS reader for MCE. (eHomeUpgrade) MCE Tunes supports iTunes DRM playback. (Chris Lanier)

Is Our Online Digital Media Safe?

I hear ya… You want to know who Mari is. I’ll have a proper intro up in the next day or so. Stay tuned! -DZ

youtube.gifSeveral news organizations are reporting that YouTube has wiped nearly 30,000 videos from its site after a Japanese audit fingered the clips for copyright infringement. Aside from the rights management concerns, this brings up an interesting issue for those who upload and store content on remote servers: When content isn’t stored locally, it isn’t under your control…

In this case it may have been perfectly reasonable for YouTube to remove 30,000 files, but these situations won’t always be black and white. There’s a growing trend towards moving our content off local devices — online word processing applications, photo storage sites, even under-development Network DVRs. While remote storage has its benefits, there are also disadvantages that shouldn’t be ignored. The ability for providers to delete files at will is one of them.

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TechCrunch Covers Movie Download Services

TechCrunch has a piece covering a variety of movie download services. They put together a decent chart showing percentage of top rentals offered and comparative pricing for CinemaNow, Movielink, GUBA, Amazon, and iTunes. Notably absent from their roundup is Vongo (by Starz!) — the one movie download option with favorable pricing: all-you-can-eat, $10/mo. An interesting … Read more