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The government has ruled in favor of consumers and educators in a series of rulings. Among the rulings, users who jailbreak mobile phones are not committing a crime. Consumers may also now break copyright  protection on DVD’s for non-commercial and educational purposes.

This is a surprising ruling to say the least. On the jailbreaking issue, the government had this to say:

When one jailbreaks a smartphone in order to make the operating system on that phone interoperable with an independently created application that has not been approved by the maker of the smartphone or the maker of its operating system, the modifications that are made purely for the purpose of such interoperability are fair uses.

On the DVD front, consumers may now make non-commercial and educational copies of copyrighted works. These exceptions are very limited, and it would be wise to read up on them. This has to be considered a win for the average consumer. Big business has long tried to limit how you can use your own devices. Let’s hope there’s no backtracking on the part of the government.

Apple continued to defend their iPhone 4 by showing more evidence of how all smartphones struggle with reception issues when held a certain way. Whether you buy it or not, they do seem to be beating a dead horse. If I were Apple, I’d move on. This is a no-win situation.

The longer this stays in the public arena, the longer this will be an issue people think about. Apple has a very strong brand, and it will survive this blip. Yes, I call it a blip because the reception issue isn’t the same for everyone, and the phone is a phenomenal device. With the recent start of the free case program, the issue should no longer be such a big deal.

This is why Apple should let it go. Other handset makers will continue to trade barbs, but they’ll have to work a lot harder to make a better device.

We’ve had many recent examples of state Attorney’s General using their bully pulpit to sound off about whatever moral panic is big that day. Richard Blumenthal from Connecticut is just the latest. He joins New York’s Andrew Cuomo as one of the bigger gasbags in politics.

His grandstanding moment du jour is the video game industry. He would like there to be more stringent laws regarding violent video games. He states:

“In the face of continued industry inaction–enabling unattended children to buy such games–states must preserve their critical right to protect children.”

What he seems to be ignorant of (or outright ignores) is the fact that the gaming industry has been doing this for years already. He even goes on to suggest that the industry take some cues from the film industry’s efforts to keep kids away from objectionable content. If he cared to get his facts straight, he’d realize it’s much harder to get a violent video game than to sneak into a rated R movie. Retail outlets like Walmart and Bestbuy already check the ID’s of customers purchasing rated “M” games.

This blatant grandstanding for votes is off-putting and gross. It plays into our cynicism, and erodes our confidence in government.

Here are some news stories that are hitting the worlds of media and tech:

1. Netflix goes to Canada – After 10 years of existence, Netflix is finally going north of the border. Later this fall, the streaming service will also be available. It will initially only be available in English, but they have plans to open a French site soon.
2. Windows Mobile 7 nears release – Microsoft is finally nearing release of it’s new mobile operating system. This time around, they are trying to mimic Apple and Research In Motion’s success with a closed environment. Apps will only be sold through their Microsoft Marketplace. They will also have tighter hardware controls with hardware makers.
3. Apple gives away free cases – Stung by the Consumer Report downgrade, Apple decided to take on “antenna-gate” head-on. They will be giving away free cases to iPhone 4 buyers, which should alleviate the dropped call issues.
4. Facebook expected to hit 500 million users this week – They plan to celebrate the half-a-billion mark with Facebook Stories, “a collection of real-life blurbs from Facebook users about how the social networking site has impacted their lives.” Facebook users now equal the populations of the U.S., Japan and Germany combined.
5. New Motorola Slide-Up Device Coming – The new device will be with Verizon, and it appears to be a combination of the Droid and the Palm Pre.

The Apple rumor mill is again aflutter with the potential of an imminent subscription, or “cloud”, based plan that would allow users to stream music across multiple devices. This would involve the music they own, but could also involve new music. This particular rumor has been around for a few years now.

With more and more users accessing their music on more and more devices, this could make sense. I access my music from an iPod, iPhone and Macbook Pro. I would enjoy being able to wirelessly sync my music to each device. The big caveat, however, is cost. I’m already paying $35 per month for my iPhone data and texting plan. I doubt I would pay any amount extra just to access my own music. What could really attract potential customers to such a service would be inclusion of a certain amount of downloads that would be included. Then people would have a reason to buy. There would be something tangible they would be getting for their monthly fee.

Who knows what will actually happen, but the hypothetical is interesting to discuss nonetheless.

I’ve been reading about the 2006 Duke lacrosse scandal recently. The case got me thinking about what role the media should play. Particularly when people’s lives and reputations are on the line.

In the case of the 2006 Duke lacrosse team, then district attorney Mike Nifong used the media extensively to lambaste the team. He eventually charged three players with a crime. National news publications, most notably The New York Times, took a pro-prosecution slant before any of the actual facts came out. Talking heads like Nancy Grace also piled on. When the charges were eventually dropped, there was only grudging admissions of a rush to judgment. It’s not a stretch to see how the media helped shape the public’s view of the three defendants.

What all this says to me is even the most reputable news sources make editorial mistakes regarding the slant of their coverage. It is only exacerbated when there is a refusal to recognize and own up to a mistake. Our free press is one of greatest treasures as a nation. However, it can be our ruin if those in charge don’t present the news in a fair and even-handed way.

Muvico Theaters is being sued by a 22-year-old Chicago woman over her arrest and brief jailing after filming a couple of brief snippets of Twilight:New Moon. The arrest highlighted the raised intensity of the MPAA’s current anti-piracy efforts. They even go so far as to reward (i.e. bribe) movie workers with $500 for turning in suspected pirates.

This “reward” seems to have been the start of the whole incident. The woman was celebrating her sister’s birthday with some friends, and was filming short clips of them together. Upon being discovered by a theater employee, she was brought before police that had been called to the scene. The police were reluctant to charge her, but did after the manager pressed hard for an arrest. The woman then spent 2 days in jail, and was eventually released after the D.A. declined to prosecute.

This is a perfect example of how ridiculous our copyright laws are enforced. I’m not sure how putting a person in jail for filming a short clip helps stop piracy. It would seem that jailing your customers over trivialities is a bad way to maintain a business.

Free has really gotten a bad rap over the last decade. I think it started when newspapers allowed their content for free online. As more and more people flooded the internet, they looked to the internet for their news. Napster caused the same rush to free access with music. Bit Torrent sites provided ways to get free movies and tv shows.

One thing they all have in common has been an inability to adapt to new trends and new technology. The newspaper industry did not adapt to the move of it’s readership online. The music industry, long the darling of the association of the insipid, screamed bloody murder when the music buying public flocked to Napster. A similar reaction occurred when users used Pirate Bay to get free video.

Thus, there has been a rush to demonize the public as not wanting to pay for anything anymore. The problem with that is they aren’t giving the public a reason to buy. People only buy what has value. The prevalence of blogs, Twitter and other forms of  information has rendered newspapers obsolete. The music industry gouged people with ridiculously high prices on CD’s, and then didn’t provide a legal outlet like iTunes until it was too late. Same thing with the Film and TV industry.

They were all late to the game, and only have themselves to blame. Now, instead of pointing the finger at the public, they should actually innovate, and give us a reason to buy.

The Apple rumor mill, long the abode of the mythical, has a new story. Steve Jobs has long called Apple TV a “hobby”. However, Ars Technica reports that they are reportedly working on a major update for the device. They also report that the OS could be based on the iPhone’s iOS. This would be great news for those that use the device. I, for one, have put off buying one due to the lack of features.

I use my Xbox 360 more for entertainment than video games these days. I love Apple’s interface’s better, and I’ve always thought they’d do well in the set top market. It’s a market dominated with crippled devices and unintuitive interfaces. The problem, from Apple’s perspective, has been the way the market works now. Providers overcharge for content and undercharge for the set top devices. This creates an atmosphere where the viewer doesn’t value the hardware.

My problem with the current market is innovation is stifled. My Comcast DVR isn’t nearly as useful as it could be, despite the technology being there. I can see Apple changing this, as they are one of the few companies with enough cachet to get the ball rolling. I just hope Apple decides to cash in on their stature, and start a revolution in the set top market similar to the one they started in mobile phones.

HP recently completed it’s purchase of Palm, the former leader in everything PDA. Immediately, they announced plans to build netbooks and tablet pc’s with Palm’s WebOS mobile operating system.

This is good for everyone. While Palm has long since been passed as a leader in the market, WebOS is a solid foundation for a multitude of devices. The acquisition comes at a key time. Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android are starting to run away with the market. If anyone is going to catch them, they have to start now.

With HP’s financial clout, they should be able to steer Palm toward profitability. The tablet pc market is particularly fertile. While the iPad is a hit and an Android tablet promises to be exciting, there is plenty of room for innovation. How about adding camera functionality? What about being able to connect  a flash drive? Also, what about adding large amounts of storage capacity.

These are just some of the places where HP and Palm can innovate their way into being a player in this market. Do they have the guts to take the risks necessary?