In a 57-page decision issued this week, a New York federal judge ruled against music streaming service Grooveshark in a copyright infringement case. The judge ruled that the service’s parent company, Escape Media Group, and co-founders Samuel Tarantino and Josh Greenberg, had uploaded almost 6,000 songs without licenses, and urged their employees to do the same. Meanwhile, a California judge ruled in favor of musicians Flo & Eddie in a suit against SiriusXM, and now the duo is taking on Pandora. Continue reading Music Industry: Rulings Could Have Long-Term Consequences

GoPro will launch its Hero4 line on October 5th with some notable new features. The $499 Hero4 Black, which the company claims doubles the performance power of its predecessor, supports cinema 4K video recording at 30 fps, 2.7K at 50 fps, and 1080p at 120 fps. Meanwhile, the $399 Hero4 Silver features a touchscreen display, 2.7K recording at 30 fps, 1080 recording at 60 fps, and 720p at 120 fps. Both models include 12-megapixel photo resolution, improved audio capture, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and more. Continue reading GoPro’s Hero4 Black Features 4K Video Recording at 30 FPS

Facebook has relaunched Atlas, an advertising platform to help companies better target users on websites outside the social network. The company acquired Atlas from Microsoft last year. While Google’s DoubleClick is the dominant advertising tool with a 32 percent share of the market this year, Facebook is aiming to increase its 8 percent to take over the lead. Facebook sees a major opportunity in the 92 percent increase projected for the worldwide mobile ad market. Continue reading Facebook Sets Sights on Mobile Ad Market with Atlas Relaunch

Twitter is investing $10 million in MIT’s Media Lab for research purposes. The company will also provide researchers with the archives of every public tweet, along with the real-time feed. The researchers will attempt to understand how information spreads on social media platforms like Twitter. MIT will use the investment over a five-year period to build tools involving data visualization and mobile apps. This is the first investment that Twitter has made for academic research. Continue reading Twitter Helps MIT Study Spread of Information via Social Media

Lionsgate and “Twilight” creator Stephenie Meyer announced plans to distribute a series of short films exclusively via Facebook. Five aspiring female directors will be hired to produce mini-movies based on the “Twilight” characters. Meanwhile, Netflix announced a new original series for kids, the animated “Kong: King of the Apes,” in addition to an exclusive four-picture deal with Adam Sandler. Netflix is also dealing with a potential exhibition boycott after announcing the sequel to “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.” Continue reading ‘Twilight’ Coming to Facebook, Netflix Unveils Exclusive Deals

San Jose-based startup Matchstick, in cooperation with Mozilla, is creating what is essentially an “open Chromecast.” The startup is taking orders for its first open-source media streaming dongle, which will range in price from $12 to $25. Matchstick hopes to encourage developers to create apps for its Firefox OS-based device before it starts shipping in January. Mozilla is helping the Matchstick team draw more content partners, so that the startup will be able to offer premium content. Continue reading Matchstick Developing Open-Source Streaming Media Dongle

The premiere of Fox’s “Gotham” was illegally downloaded 1.33 million times over the course of 13 days. That is more than five times the number of downloads of any other new TV series in the U.S. More than 177,000 of those downloads took place in the U.S., even though the show was available for free online streaming the next day. Viewers in Australia, the U.K., Brazil, and Canada also heavily pirated the show, indicating the Batman-based series has worldwide appeal. Continue reading Fox’s ‘Gotham’ Pilot is Most Pirated New TV Show this Fall

Microsoft is skipping from Windows 8 to a Windows 10 operating system, expected to launch in the middle of next year. The new version, which was unveiled earlier this week, is intended to work across many different devices, from those connected via the “Internet of Things” to touchscreen phones, tablets and laptops. Windows 10 also features a newly redesigned Start Menu, which combines the tile design of Windows 8 with the traditional list design in older versions of Windows. Continue reading Microsoft to Introduce Redesigned Start Menu for Windows 10

Game consoles now beat out smart TVs and streaming media boxes as the device most frequently used for video streaming, according to a Parks Associates report on Americans’ streaming habits. In the survey of 10,000 households, 44 percent of respondents use a game console as their “primary connected” device for video streaming. Only 20 percent of respondents use smart TVs for streaming and only 12 percent watch video through a streaming media box. Continue reading Game Consoles Most Popular Video Streaming Device in U.S.

Facing new competition in the mobile payment space, including the recently unveiled Apple Pay, eBay announced yesterday that it plans to spin off its PayPal business into a separate publicly traded company in late 2015. This is an about face by the online retailer, which had defended keeping the companies together after investor Carl Icahn aggressively pushed for a separation. EBay now says that a split will provide both companies with better competitive positions and allow them to focus on strategy. Continue reading Course Reversal: eBay Plans to Spin Off PayPal Biz Next Year

The Federal Communications Commission voted to eliminate its sports blackout rule yesterday. For nearly four decades, the blackout rule has prevented cable and satellite systems from broadcasting certain National Football League games. The unanimous decision will result in the repeal of the blackout rule, which should take about six weeks to be finalized. The NFL opposed the FCC action, arguing that eliminating the rule would impact the availability of games via free, over-the-air television. Continue reading FCC Unanimously Votes to Repeal the Sports Blackout Rule

Last week we reported that a bug called “Shellshock” had been identified as a potentially dangerous security flaw in the Bash software that appears in more than 70 percent of devices connected to the Internet. While initial reports have suggested that Linux and OS X systems are anticipated to be particularly vulnerable, Apple released a statement claiming that there is no need to panic. “The vast majority of OS X users are not at risk to recently reported Bash vulnerabilities,” said Apple. Continue reading Apple Claims that Most OS X Users Are Safe from Shellshock

Thom Yorke, the lead singer of the rock band Radiohead, recently partnered with file-sharing company BitTorrent to release his new solo album directly to fans. Yorke’s album, “Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes” is the first record to be released as part of a BitTorrent Bundle with a pay gate, a feature that BitTorrent is testing as it tries to shed its reputation for pirated content. So far, the gamble for BitTorrent and Yorke has proved successful with 400,000 downloads in the first three days. Continue reading Musician Releases Album via BitTorrent Bundle with Pay Gate

Universal Music Group has its hands on new video editing technology that will allow the music giant to regularly update the product placement in its music videos, even ones that have already been released. A music video for Swedish EDM producer and DJ Avicii with an ad by Grand Marnier was the first to feature the new technology. Coca-Cola, LG, and Dish Network are some of the other brands that viewers can expect to see in updated music videos. Continue reading Universal Puts New Spin on Music Video Product Placement

Netflix and the Weinstein Company announced yesterday that they plan to release the sequel to “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” simultaneously via Netflix and a select number of IMAX theaters next August. This will mark the first time a major film debuts via online streaming and in theaters at the same time. The follow-up to Ang Lee’s Academy Award-winning martial arts drama will reportedly be the first of several films backed by Netflix that are expected to follow the new release model. Continue reading ‘Crouching Tiger’ Sequel Slated to Debut Via Netflix and IMAX