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Tuesday, the Motion Picture Association of America and Real Networks went at it head on, taking each other to court in separate lawsuits.  There may have been an effort at behind the scenes diplomacy but there was no shot across the bow, no public warning.  The fight came quick and fast with preemptive and counter strikes. 

The battleground is Real Networks newly released realDVD software, a software program designed to copy DVDs.  The question is whether it’s legal and how copyright law should be applied to its use.

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When Warner Brothers released the 300 in 2007, the views of critics and fans varied widely.  Some, like Richard Roeper, loved it.  He went so far as to call it "the "’Citizen Kane’ of graphic novels.’  Others like the Wall Street Journal’s Joe Morgenstern, or the New York Time’s A.O Scott, found the film almost utterly unredeeming; too violent and undeveloped.  The common ground, amongst a majority of views, was the visual effects.   That point wasn’t lost on the gaming industry.

In July, Ubisoft acquired Hybride Technologies, the special effects shop behind the film (and also Sin City).  Now, EA is tapping the 300’s director  Zack Snyder with a three game development deal.

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In the movies, “if you build it they will come.” In reality, customer acquisition isn’t so easy. You’ve got to build your theater (or stadium) before you can fill the seats with customers.  Then you have to let your customers know there’s a show to see.  Once they’re aware, you need to make sure you give them something good enough to get them to come and keep coming back.  Slowly but surely, Netflix is working through this process with digital delivery.

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On September 5th reports circulated the IPTV startup Joost was preparing to abandon their application-based delivery mechanism in favor a new, more accessible browser based solution.  The new launch was promised shortly.  Today, it arrived.

At the Joost website, the company began serving a browser based solution to stream its collected library of licensed video content.  The launch was characterized as “soft” meaning the company is not promoting it and is using it as a live beta test to work out bugs.

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Are video games the MTV of a new generation? Are DVD’s really on the road to becoming obsolete? Are smartphones being accepted as fast as the hype suggests?   New research from NPD Group and the Pew Foundation sheds a little light on each of these questions.   This edition of the Metue “By the Numbers Report” recaps some of their findings

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As unpredictable as Apple can be, the marketing machine in Cupertino is also prone to keeping to a schedule. Since planting a flag claiming Tuesday’s as their own, every one since has been “iTunes Tuesday,”  Apple’s branded day for releasing new music.   Since 2005, Apple has also kept to a schedule with product upgrades.  On either the first Wednesday (2005 and 2007), or the second Tuesday (2006 and this year) in September, new iPod Nano’s are released.

Today, at the much hyped, and wildly anticipated Apple press event in San Francisco – Apple delivered on time.    As foreshadowed by early posters, and largely as predicted by the Apple -watching media:  Steve Jobs took the stage to reveal slate of evolutionary changes to the iPod lineup.

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Like many American households, I have more than one Television; one in the living room and one in the bedroom.  Also like many houses, I only have one DVR.  That creates an occasional nuisance.  I can’t crawl into bed and watch a show saved in the other room.  In the bedroom, where there’s only a standard set top box,  I’m stuck watching only scheduled broadcasts despite the library of stored programs I’ve accumulated.  As problems go, it’s a small one. Still, there’s a yearning for locally networked cable boxes, appliances that will let me pick and choose which "time shifted" programs I want to watch regardless of which room I’m in.   For AT&T customer’s – there’s now a real solution that makes that possible.

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