Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

In an attempt to be more proactive rather than simply reactive, the MPAA has recently approved the DreamStream system and its 2048-bit “military strength” anti-piracy encryption technology to protect content streamed to viewers online.

First introduced to the MPAA in March of 2008 by Laura Tunberg, MGM’s former vice president of intellectual property enforcement, it was since reviewed by the MPAA and found it to be a viable means for securing digital content. Chief development officer for DreamStream, Ulf Diebel, is excited by this acknowledgment of their product.

“We are very excited to have the MPAA stand behind our technology.”

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We couldn’t help but be amused by the timing of Nokia’s release of its latest addition to the lineup, the 1508. Just when other phone manufacturers are outclassing each other with the release of new advanced features, here comes Nokia introducing a lowly, plain-jane-looking, basic handset. In fact, the 1508 is so simple that it took only a few sentences for Nokia to come up with an official press release. Or maybe it was just that we are so used to Nokia’s lengthy press releases.

Anyway, what should we expect from the Nokia 1508, a mobile phone as simple as this certainly doesn’t have that much to offer. This candy bar style handset boasts of easy keypad dialing, integrated FM stereo, high-speed data connectivity to the internet via cable, text messaging, built-in speakerphone, 3 minutes of voice recording time and memory that will let you store around 500 phonebook contacts plus 400 text messages.

Well, that pretty much sums up the Nokia 1508’s features. A simple mobile phone that can actually answer our most basic needs. Nokia expects to ship the 1508 sometime during Q3 2008 and it will be available in select CDMA markets. Pricing information is not yet available. But with a simple phone such as this, we wouldn’t expect the price to be too much.

Read [Nokia]

It’s a problem that most Web-based companies would love to have: their website servers crumple under the weight of popularity and pent-up demand (as long as denial-of-service attacks are not involved.) It usually means a lot of people have come to rely on your services, or at the very least are checking out what you have to offer.

It has happened most recently to leading e-tailer Amazon and up-and-coming short form messaging service/social network Twitter. Public relations officials at both companies have had to work overtime explaining why users were not able to access the sites. Amazon’s problems hit on June 6th and 9th and were initially chalked up to a hiccup caused by company systems that are “very complex and on rare occasions, despite our best efforts, they may experience problems.” Twitter’s problems happened a couple of weeks ago and included outages and public viewings of supposedly-private “tweets.”

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There is one image from Barack Obama’s standing-room-only political rallies that I haven’t seen yet in the ubiquitous campaign coverage. Maybe I missed it, but I doubt that the sight of thousands of people holding up their cell phones and punching in a five-digit text code so his campaign would know how to contact them would have escaped me.

Then again, it’s wasn’t Obama Girl, which may explain why it flew under the cable news radar.

That image speaks volumes about the innovative nature of Obama’s techno-candidacy. It’s included in one of two very good stories in the June issue of Atlantic Monthly which can be read online: “The Amazing Money Machine” by Joshua Green and Marc Armbinder’s “HisSpace.” Green’s piece throws a spotlight on the Silicon Valley insiders who led Obama’s record-breaking online fund-raising initiative and their novel use of technologies ranging from social networking to ringtones. “HisSpace” advances the story by picturing an Obama presidency based on the candidate’s campaign platform: 

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South Korea is still the fastest Internet country on the planet, Microsoft software still has a big bullseye painted on it by hackers and password theft continues to be all the rage in the nether regions of the Web.

Many of the findings from Akamai’s State of the Internet Report for January-March 2008 shouldn’t come as a surprise to most technology watchers. But you might be scratching your head to learn that according to the web hosting company, Delaware is the state with the fastest Internet connections and Washington state - home to Microsoft and Amazon - is the slowest state, with the most connections at speeds of 256 kbps or slower. 

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Yet another well known artist taking full advantage of the Internet—and what better way to attract wide spread online attention, just use YouTube, along with the mentions of numerous Internet celebrities. The new single Pork and Beans from Weezer offers up cameos from those such as the Numa Numa Guy, to Peanut Butter Jelly Time to Chocolate Rain, mentos and coke along with many, many more. Whether you love Weezer or hate them, personally its a great song with just an alright video, but as an online geek you have to admit its fun to watch. Keep reading to check out the video and judge for yourself.

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It’s a different kind of web that has snared Indiana Jones in his latest cinematic adventure. In his first three films, he was always lurking through some spiderweb-draped cavern of one sort or another, and he managed to survive each one. But now (cue John Williams music)...will he live through the danger that is the World Wide Web?

Its US premiere is May 22nd, but “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” is screened at the Cannes Film Festival this weekend and the high-speed lines will be on fire as soon as the last credit rolls on the screen at the Salle Lumiere Palais. It’s the latest example of media conglomerates vs. the 21st century as they find themselves once again at the mercy of anonymous bloggers and web-based critics. Already there have been several traditional-media stories about negative early reviews of “Indy 4” at Harry Knowles’ Ain’t It Cool News website - the pioneer in Internet influence on the media - and how those reviews may have influenced Paramount’s Cannes plans for its Steven Spielberg blockbuster. 

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The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has sealed separate agreements with Verizon and AT&T for a combined contract price of $970.5 million.

Under the Department’s agreement with Verizon, Internet protocol (IP), security services and emergency communications services will be provided by Verizon to the Department of Homeland Security. This would greatly help the Department’s response time in a disaster situation. The deal would enable Verizon to assist the 22 agencies of the Department to combine their IP network.

This deal would add up to the previously won 10-year, $20 billion contract won by Verizon which would provide a full range of telecommunications and related network services to the whole organization of the U.S. government.

Meanwhile, the deal with AT&T calls for the company serving as the secondary network service provider in the Eastern and Western region of the U.S. Their deal will cost the Department of Homeland Security around $292 million.

Read [Reuters]

CBS and CNET Network has sealed an acquisition agreement that could probably be the next biggest acquisition deal after the failed Microsoft-Yahoo deal. Although the price involved in this acquisition is not as big as the Microsoft-Yahoo deal, the fact is both CBS and CNET Network own some of the most popular internet properties and combining them would elevate CBS into the ranks of the 10 most popular Internet companies in the US.

For a purchase price of $11.50 per share, CBS hopes to acquire CNET Networks by the close of the third quarter this year. Luckily for them, the CNET Board has unanimously approved the proposed deal valued at $1.8 billion.

This deal would certainly be most favorable to CBS, since if you combined the unique visitors of its Internet properties with that of CNET Networks, the company would gain around 54 million unique users per month, with a total of around 200 million users worldwide. This is certainly not a bad deal at all for both companies.

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We recently saw Samsung launch their promo site for the Instinct, and it seems they are now looking for a rumble. Another newly launched site NowIsGood, is offering a closer look into a few of the key features on the Instinct, some of which are currently lacking in some of the competition the iPhone. NowIsGood gives a quick overview on GPS, video, the touchscreen, fast internet capability and the ability to watch live TV on the Instinct. That combined with a slogan of “finally an amazing touch-screen phone with a network to back it up” and “slow ends this june” its more than safe to say they are going directly after the iPhone and AT&T.

In the first of a five video series we get a look at the GPS capability of the Apple iPhone vs. Samsung Instinct. Can you guess who wins?

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