An anonymous RIAA representative has come out detailing the organization’s methods in seeking out file sharers on college campuses in the United States. In many ways the method is almost identical to the way one searches for music on peer-to-peer networks, except it searches a lot quicker.

The anonymous RIAA employee gave a private demonstration to The Chronicle on how it catches music pirates. The RIAA currently contracts Media Sentry, a company hired to do the majority of the dirty work. A list of songs with distribution rights that fall under the RIAA’s umbrella is provided to Media Sentry, which is then scripted for searches in LimeWire, as an example. The searches typically turn up hundreds of matches per song, and each hit is looked into individually.

At this point the host PC is searched via the software for any other suspected music that has been infringed. Media Sentry uses special software that checks for unique digital fingerprints in each of the offered files to match and verify with the copyrighted songs provided by the RIAA. If the digital fingerprints do not match, sound waves of each song are analyzed. If the company still does not have an identical match a live person will listen to the song as a last resort. Once a match has occurred investigators will engage in a TCP connection, known as an electronic “handshake”, with the host PC to verify if the host PC is online.

Once the dirty work as been done, the RIAA will send out letters containing names of files, date and time of when investigators found the files available. The letter will ask colleges to remove all infringing content from their networks.

According to the RIAA employee, on occasions the RIAA will send out “prelitigation settlement letters” to the alleged pirates demanding thousands of dollars as an alternative of going to court. If this happens, as a courtesy act, the RIAA will download the music first and verify the music is being infringed. On the bright side, the RIAA apparently does not single out any particular college campus.

Interestingly enough, a different method is used for alleged pirates on commercial ISPs, like AT&T. Most of the investigation done for commercial pirates is manually driven.

Earlier this month, a district court judge overturned the RIAA’s argument of “making available” as copyright infringement.

Tokyo (Japan) - Sony’s Playstation 3 has gained significant traction in Sony’s FY2007 (April 1, 2007 to March 31, 2008): Surging sales and decreased production expenses improved the company’s balance sheet, which revealed that Sony shipped almost 37 million game consoles and more than 267 million games during the year.

Sony’s game unit reported $12.8 billion in revenue and an operating loss of about $1.2 billion for the year. Both numbers look much better than the $10.2 billion in revenue and a loss of about $2.3 billion the company recorded for its fiscal year 2006. According to Sony, the operating loss decreased significantly primarily due to a decrease in the operating losses of the PS3 business as a result of successful PS3 hardware cost reductions and increased sales of PS3 software.

For the year, Sony reported PS3 sales of 9.24 million units, up 5.63 million from FY2006 and bringing the total sold so far to 12.81 million units. The PS2 still outsold the PS3 by a far margin, checking in with 13.73 million units for FY2007 (down 0.98 million units) and a cumulative total of 172.95 million units so far. The PSP has become the most popular Sony game console during the year, selling 13.89 million devices. Sony has sold about 40.69 million PSPs to date. Total console shipments for FY2007 were 36.86 million.

For purposes of completeness, the first-generation Playstation, which was sold from 1994 until last year, has shipped 130.64 million units.

Increasing hardware sales did not translate into dramatically more software sales overall. Shipments for the PSP declined by 39.5 million to 154 million boxes, while the PSP showed only a slight gain of 0.8 million to 55.5 million units. However, PS3 software sales came in at 57.9 million, up 44.6 million from last year. Total game units were 267.4 million, compared to 261.5 million in FY2006.

Seoul (Korea) - Samsung said it will demonstrate a new LCD technology at the upcoming SID 2008 International Symposium that will double the maximum image refresh rate of current LCD panels. The manufacturer believes that 240 Hz panels will reproduce images closer to that of a real moving image perceived by the human eye.

After HD, skyrocketing contrast and brightness ratios that treat consumers to already life-like experiences in front of their TV (at least if I compare today’s image quality to the snowstorm picture on my parent’s 1970s and 1980s TVs), there’s a new idea that promises to come even closer to an out-the-window view on future LCD TVs. Samsung’s "Blue Phase" technology upgrades the current maximum image refresh rate of 120 Hz of to 240 Hz. The manufacturer will show a prototype panel at the SID 2008 International Symposium and promises that the device will display "more natural moving images."

Samsung said that a "superior response rate" enables it to increase the speed without a need for any overdrive circuit. According to the company, Blue Phase does not require liquid crystal alignment layers, unlike today’s most widely used LCD modes such as Twisted Nematic, In-Plane Switching or Vertical Alignment. Instead, the technology mode can create its own alignment layers, eliminating the need for any mechanical alignment and rubbing processes. This reduces the number of required fabrication processes, resulting in considerable savings on production costs, Samsung said.

Another benefit of the technology that brightness changes across the screen are a thing of the past:, as they are not vulnerable to pressure on certain parts of the panel. The term "Blue Phase" relates to the developer’s observation of "bluish hues while watching their new liquid crystal mode in operation," Samsung said.

The technology is still far from being offered in commercial products: Samsung believes that Blue Phase LCDs could be put into mass-production sometime in 2011. These LCD panels are expected to be used mainly in "TVs that require high-speed video reproduction," the manufacturer said.

With concern over the end of the road for Windows XP reaches feverish levels, Microsoft appears to be altering yet again its timeline for killing off the popular operating system, which would ultimately force people into upgrading to Vista. The latest news comes from Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, reacting to criticism at a recent news conference, who said "XP will hit an end-of-life. We have announced one.

Read the complete story here.

It seems Funai NB500 Blu-ray players have hit WalMart chains for the low price of $298. Reports began surfacing earlier today claiming the players had cropped up in several WalMart stores.

While it’s still a little expensive considering it’s a fairly low-end player it’s probably a decent enough substitute for those of you who don’t want a PlayStation sitting in your living room.

We’re looking at a Profile 1.1 Blu-ray player with HDMI v1.3, HD audio codec’s, 1080p/24 and 1080p/60 video output resolutions and DVD upscaling for under $300; not bad nowadays.

Funai sent out a press release at the beginning of January announcing the introduction of its first Blu-ray Disc player (NB500 series) for the North American market. The release said the company would begin production in the first quarter of 2008, and planned to being selling the units for under $300 by the time Q2 rolled around.

As promised, here they are. If anyone happens to pick up one of the players at WalMart drop us a line in the comment section and let us know how it’s working out.

Social networking site MySpace has been awarded a record breaking $234 million payout in a lawsuit it filed against an organisation which plagued MySpacers with spam.

Sanford Wallace and Walter Rines created accounts with MySpace and used phishing scams to steal the usernames and passwords for other users’ accounts. They then used the accounts to send spam to thousands of people. In total the two send 735,925 messages and comments containing links to website’s touting products or websites that garner cash from hits. MySpace claims that some of the links also led to pornographic material.

Neither Wallace or Rines showed up to court for the ruling, which is hardly surprising given the fact that the pair have already anti-spam judgements against them from the likes of AOL. Wallace was an established spammer in the nineties when he was head of a company called Cyber Promotions. During that time he allegedly sent 30 million junk emails per day earning him the title “the Spam King”. The exact whereabouts of the pair is not known but last listed addresses show Wallace living in Las Vegas and Rines in New Hampshire.

MySpace claims sending the junk mail cost it money and bandwidth. Not only that but it resulted in hundreds of complaints from users who had had their accounts phished by the pair.

The 2003 CAN-SPAM Act allows MySpace to collect $100 per violation or triple that amount when the spam is sent "willfully and knowingly". US District Judge Audrey Collins ordered a fine of $160.4m to be paid for violations of CAN-SPAM. Rines was fined an additional $63.4m and on top of that, the pair was fined $1.5m for violations of California’s anti-phishing law and has to pay $4.7m in legal fees.

While the sketchy details on the location of these two mean the chances of MySpace ever collecting its cash are pretty poor, the News Corp owned site hopes it will make potential scammers think twice before targeting MySpace or its users.

Los Angeles (CA) - The California Department of Public Health has issued its findings in the UCLA celebrity medical records snooping case. The department found 14 more people snooped into the records of famous people including Farrah Fawcett, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and his wife Maria Shriver. This brings the total to 68 people including physicians, nurses, administrative staff and one volunteer.

At the center of this controversy is former UCLA Medical Center administrative assistant Lawanda Jackson. The DPH says she illegally accessed records for 104 days from July 1 2006 to May 21 2007. She also received a written reprimand back in 2005 for snooping into the medical records of her coworker. Jackson also tried to hide her snooping by using a co-workers login on numerous occasions.

Last month we reported on Jackson’s case. She was indicted for illegally accessing computerized medical records and is due to be arraigned in federal court on June 9th. Jackson faces up to 10 years in prison.

Read the California Department of Public Health "Deficiency Report" (AKA you guys screwed up report) here.

Tokyo (Japan) - Sony Electronics has launched the HDR-TG1, which it claims is the world’s smallest camcorder to record in full high-definition. It is also the slimmest and lightest device to have that technology.

According to the electronics giant, the HDR-TG1 is not much larger than a cell phone. That is certainly a small piece of hardware to pack in the ability to capture 1920x1080 video with 5.1-channel surround sound.

"This new model is a great example of our expertise in miniaturization, as well as advanced imaging technologies with features like face detection," said Sony managing director Osamu Miura.

Sony has had a lasting history in this specific segment of consumer electronics. It was the first to launch a miniature camcorder using 8mm technology in the 1980s.

The HDR-TG1 has a 2.7-inch LCD display, face recognition technology, auto-focus and color control, and a 4.0-megapixel still capture capability.

The camcorder also has an automatic Zoom microphone that focuses sound capture on specific people or objects that the camera is focused on. And everything is captured in 5.1-channel digital surround sound.

High Tech Computer (HTC) expects sales of its HTC Touch Diamond will top two million units in 2008 following the official debut of the mobile device in London early this month, according to company CEO Peter Chou. HTC launched the Touch Diamond in Taiwan on May 13 in cooperation with Chunghwa Telecom (CHT), the largest carrier in Taiwan.

More here at Digitimes.

Microsoft expects sales of its Windows Mobile platform products will account for 40% of the global smartphone market in fiscal 2012 (July 2011-June 2012), according to Eddie Wu, managing director of Microsoft ODM embedded devices, Asia. The company is expected to accomplish its target of delivering 20 million Windows mobile platform products in fiscal 2008 (July 1, 2007-June 30, 2008), Wu asserted.

More here at Digitimes.

Apple and Emmis Interactive have reached a deal with Apple’s iTunes Store to create storefronts for radio stations and possible other media companies. Apple hopes to provide radio listeners the ability to purchase music heard on their favorite radio stations — as they hear it.

Emmis, a subsidiary of Emmis Communications, provides software platforms and strategies to local broadcasters in order develop listener interactively. Apple signed a deal with Emmis to market Emmis’ Storefront technology that allows radio stations to direct listeners to make purchases of music online via the listeners’ own Apple iTunes account. The major advantage for Emmis’ technology is the fact that radio stations are allowed to build a storefront that is consistent with the look and feel of their existing design.

“These storefronts allow listeners to shop from playlists of station artists as well as top picks recommended by on-air talent. It is a critical tool in building the relationship with listeners and offering them a richer user experience,” said Emmis interactive co-president Rey Mena.

In the past many radio stations have tried similar strategies of Internet music sales. However, most if not all have failed to develop any synergy between the broadcast and their own website.

"Many stations’ web sites direct you to another web site to purchase music and require a users’ credit card information, making the buying experience very cumbersome," said Mena. "Our custom Storefront technology empowers a radio station to configure a station-branded storefront utilizing iTunes’ entire 6 million-song catalog.”

The new storefronts appear to retain most of Apple iTunes look and feel. Several examples of the storefront have already launched at Power 106 FM, WLUP, and 105.7 The Point.

Earlier this year, Clear Channel enabled iTunes HD radio tagging in support of Apple, Polk Audio, JBL’s development of HD radio song tagging. The system allows for listeners to copy song tags to plugged-in iPods. The iPods can then be synced to iTunes to find the songs that had been tagged by the listener.

The trial of Mohammad Reza Alavi, the man accused of illegally taking software from the nation’s biggest nuclear plant in Arizona and using it while in Iran, began this week and it looks as if he may have just been using the software to show his family what he did while he worked for the U.S. plant.

Alavi began working at the Palo Verde plant in 1989 and resigned in 2006 to return home to his family in Iran. While in Iran, Alavi downloaded codes that would allow him to open the software. Prosecutors allege that in doing this, Alavi broke the U.S. embargo on trade with Iran. He was arrested a year ago in Los Angeles upon returning to the U.S.A.

The former engineer’s attorney said that while Alavi took the software to Iran, he never intended to break the law. In fact he only opened the software while in Iran because he was proud of his job in the States.

The authorities believe that Alavi, an Iranian born naturalized U.S. citizen never intended to use the training software, which was used to simulate the control room at the plant and contained detailed plant information to provide details to terrorists. The plant has also said the unauthorized use of the software did not pose a security risk because it contained no information on plant security.

Furthermore, according to The Arizona Republic, the plant actively encourages employees to download the software to their laptops and work on it at home.

"We encourage them to use it at home. . . .What (Alavi) was doing with software was not unusual and certainly not limited to him," An Arizona Public Service spokesman Jim McDonald said.

When Alavi resigned in 2006, the company shut down his access to the software but the engineer later used his log-on to get onto a website run by the software vendor. The company allegedly did not know Alavi had left the country with the information until the software manufacturer recorded that attempts had been made to access the system from an address in Iran’s capital, Tehran.

The trial is scheduled for July 3rd and if convicted, Alavi could face up to two years in prison.

Fresno (CA) - Five Internal Revenue Service workers in Fresno have been indicted for computer fraud and unauthorized access into taxpayer files. According to the indictment, the workers illegally accessed the files of 13 taxpayers.

This apparently happens so often at the IRS that the agency has coined its own term "UNAX", short for unauthorized access. In 2007, there were 521 cases of UNAX, but most employees typically faced only reprimands and unpaid leave.

Read more ... Wired.

EarthLink will shut down its citywide wi-fi project in Philadelphia next month. Once hailed as "an unprecedented public/private partnership," the whole thing was a flop. The wi-fi was flaky, and EarthLink’s (ELNK) business model was... not a business model. Which is why new CEO Rolla Huff is pulling out.

Read the complete story here.

Billionaire investor Carl Icahn reportedly is snapping up Yahoo stock in preparation for a possible attempt to replace the Internet company’s board after the directors turned down Microsoft’s $47.5 billion takeover offer. Icahn has bought as many as 50 million Yahoo shares, both CNBC and The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday. That would give Icahn a 3.6 percent stake in the Internet pioneer.

Read the complete story here.

Sony Corporation has announced its results for the financial year ending March 31 2008, with revenues and profits rising on the back of some growth and the selling off of capital assets.

The gaming division has some interesting news, with a sales increase of 26.3 percent to JPY 1.28 trillion ($12.2 billion), resulting in a narrowing of its loss from JPY 232.3 billion ($2.21 billion) to JPY 124.5 billion ($1.18 billion). The reduction in the loss is due to the lowering cost of manufacturing the PlayStation 3 and increased sales of the PlayStation Portable.

"Despite an expected decrease in game segment sales as a result of a decline in sales for the PlayStation 2 business, the game segment as a whole is expected to have positive operating income for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2009 as the profitability of the segment will improve significantly due to hardware cost reductions and an enhanced line-up of software titles in the PS3 business," Sony said in its financial results.

Europe has become the largest single market for the video game business, with sales and operating income in Japan falling by 3.4 percent to JPY 2.06 trillion ($19.6 billion), and North America falling 0.5 per cent to JPY 2.22 trillion ($21.1 billion). This was offset by a rise of 14 percent in Europe to JPY 2.33 trillion ($22.1 billion), and 19.3 percent in the rest of the world to JPY 2.27 trillion ($21.6 billion).

Overall Sony Corporation took JPY 8.87 trillion ($84.4 billion), a rise of 6.9 percent on the previous year, with a net income of JPY 369.4 billion ($3.51 billion), nearly tripling the previous year’s total of JPY 126.3 ($1.20 billion).

A lot of this increase was one-time, related to the selling off of assets and the floating of Sony’s financial business last year.

The electronics division showed the strongest individual results, with Sony Bravia TV’s and CyberShot cameras providing a large boost in revenue.

Sales performance for the next year is expected to see revenues rise by 1 percent to JPY 9 trillion ($85.6 billion), though the company forecasts a 22 percent fall in profits to JPY 290 billion ($2.76 billion) thanks to the expected appreciation of the Yen against the Dollar. This is a problem being faced by all Japanese companies operating mainly overseas, and Nintendo is suffering the same problem.