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“Here’s something that isn’t an urban legend — Snopes, the popular urban legends reference site, has been pushing adware, for at least 6 months, to users via ads displayed on its Web site. No one seems to have called them on it until recently.”

Source

Following a recent court loss, hugely popular file storage service Rapidshare might soon be faced with a tough choice: stop users from uploading/downloading copyrighted music from its servers, or get shut down.

German’s equivalent of the RIAA, GEMA, has won a copyright infringement case against Rapidshare, as the judge ruled that Rapdishare can be held accountable for the actions of its users. It’s the story as old as the internet: if you’re merely providing a hosting service, should you also monitor every file hosted on your servers and prevent any copyrighted files to be uploaded/downloaded? Lately, the answer has been yes: at the very least, if the music/movie industry points to a file and ask you to remove it, you have to comply.

However, although GEMA was quick to declare victory on this one (press release in German), claiming that RapidShare now must take preventive action and check all the files on its servers for copyright infringement, it’s not quite clear what the court has decided yet.

Hollywood laid much of the blame for illegal movie downloading on college students. Now, it says its math was wrong.

In a 2005 study it commissioned, the Motion Picture Association of America claimed that 44 percent of the industry’s domestic losses came from illegal downloading of movies by college students, who often have access to high-bandwidth networks on campus.

The MPAA has used the study to pressure colleges to take tougher steps to prevent illegal file-sharing and to back legislation currently before the House of Representatives that would force them to do so.

But now the MPAA, which represents the U.S. motion picture industry, has told education groups a “human error” in that survey caused it to get the number wrong. It now blames college students for about 15 percent of revenue loss.

The MPAA says that’s still significant, and justifies a major effort by colleges and universities to crack down on illegal file-sharing. But Mark Luker, vice president of campus IT group Educause, says it doesn’t account for the fact that more than 80 percent of college students live off campus and aren’t necessarily using college networks.

Changelog 3.6.5 -> 3.7.0 | (2008-01-23)

* Updated Media Player Classic to version 6.4.9.1 rev. 34
* Updated ffdshow to revision 1805
* Updated x264 VFW codec to revision 721bm
* Updated madFLAC to version 1.7
* Updated FLV splitter to version 1.0.0.4
* Added MONOGRAM AMR splitter (version 0.9.0.1)
* Removed RadLight Musepack filter
* Added MONOGRAM Musepack splitter (version 0.3.1.2)
* Added MONOGRAM Musepack decoder (version 0.9.1.2)
* Changed default MP3 audio audio decoder from Fraunhofer to ffdshow
* Changed default MP1/MP2 audio decoder to ffdshow
* Minor changes

Download K-Lite Mega Codec Pack 3.7.0

Also Available:
K-Lite Codec Pack 3.7.0 Full
K-Lite Codec Pack 3.7.0 Basic

Anyone who thought video games were a waste of time have probably been surprised about Nintendo’s latest and greatest, the Wii. It gets people active by using their arms and motions to simulate sports such as tennis, baseball, even bowling. But it doesn’t stop there! A new useful application is emerging: surgical training.

Resident surgeons were found to perform better on simulated operations after playing a bit of Wii than those who opted out of the fun. How much better? They scored nearly 50 percent higher on tool control and performance.

Of course, not all games are going to improve coordination. Games that require subtle movements and precision are obviously better than those that require you to swing a bat. But this approach could be a very valuable medical training tool for countries which can’t afford higher-end solutions. They are developing special software for the console, which costs only $250, that could hone surgical skills even more. Imagine bringing home your own copy of “Surgery 101″ in the future!

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Blizzard Entertainment announced today that its juggernaut MMO, World of Warcraft, has reached 10 million subscribers. The announcement is a note to would-be competitors – listen up Age of Conan, Pirates of the Burning Sea, and Warhammer Online* – the 800 lbs. gorilla keeps getting bigger.

Not only does that subscriber number far surpass the proportions fathomed by MMO-makers pre-WoW, but Blizzard also clarified what the company means by “subscriber.” Specificity further underlines the credibility of the 10 million figure. (The number doesn’t include unused pre-paid cards, for instance.) Blizzard also noted that the game’s first expansion, The Burning Crusade, was the best-selling PC game of 2007, holding the record for fastest-selling PC game of all time. Nearly 2.4 million copies flew off store shelves in its first 24 hours it was available.

Writing this, it strikes me how much WoW seemed like a side project when it was originally announced. Compared to the massive popularity of Warcraft, Diablo, and Starcraft, it seemed, well, marginal. Of course, now the blockbuster title far overshadows any of those franchises. For the time being, in any case.

Source

Updated, 6:45 p.m. | The actor Heath Ledger was found dead this afternoon in an apartment in Manhattan, according to the New York City police. Signs pointed to a suicide or an accidental overdose, police sources said. Mr. Ledger was 28.

At 3:31 p.m., according to the police, a masseuse arrived at the fourth-floor apartment of the building, at 421 Broome Street, between Crosby and Lafayette Streets in SoHo, for an appointment with Mr. Ledger. The masseuse was let in to the home by a housekeeper, who then knocked on the door of the bedroom Mr. Ledger was in. When no one answered, the housekeeper and the masseuse opened the bedroom and found Mr. Ledger naked and unconscious on a bed, with sleeping pills — both prescription medication and nonprescription — on a night table. They moved his body to the floor and attempted to revive him, but he did not respond. They immediately called the authorities.

The police said they did not suspect foul play. Ellen Borakove, a spokeswoman for the office of the city’s chief medical examiner, Dr. Charles S.

EMSI, who is the creator of the great free malware detection and cleaning program (also part of our recommended programs section), a-squared FREE, posts their Malware Annual Report for 2007.

In the last year, Emsi Software registered more new types of Malware than ever before. The famous Moore’s Law, which predicts a doubling of PC performance every 24 months, also seems to apply to the Malware sector. However, in this case the number of new dangers doubles in less than 12 months

Data and facts – Every PC infected 8 times

The signature inventory of pests recognized by a-squared Free and a-squared Anti-Malware had somewhat more than 500,000 entries at the beginning of last year. At the beginning of 2008 this has already reached a record of 1.1 million Malware signatures. Very few Anti-Spyware and Anti-Trojan products can keep up with us at this level. The number of reported infected PCs also rose accordingly, from 180,000 in 2006 to over 250,000 in 2007. Whereas 1.4 million Malware infections were reported by a-squared users in 2006, this rose to an unbelievable figure of 1.9 million last year.

Owen MacLeod, born in Gaul over 2000 years ago, was the son of a tribal chieftain whose village was crushed by the Roman Empire. MacLeod was sent in chains to the gladiatorial arena in Pompeii where he faced what he imagined to be a short life of battle. However, it was in the Coliseum where he was killed, only to miraculously recover and begin a new life as an Immortal. Fighting through centuries against other Immortals in legendary battles ending in death by beheading, MacLeod now faces a mysterious and almost all-powerful Immortal who is hunting him down in New York City. With his mentor, Methos, guiding him, MacLeod learns that the only way to destroy this ultimate nemesis, is to search out the three fragments of a mysterious stone that when pieced together, yields unlimited power to the Immortal who possesses it.

“Eidos is excited to present the classic Highlander franchise for the next generation of video gamers,” said Robert A. Lindsey, Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Eidos Inc. “Gamers will get the chance to explore the powers and abilities that only being an Immortal has to offer.