Monday, July 26, 2010

Library of Congress adds DMCA exception for jailbreaking or rooting your phone

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/26/library-of-congress-adds-dmca-exception-for-jailbreaking-or-root/

This is a wild one, and we're still parsing through the announcement, but on the surface it looks like the Library of Congress has added new anti-circumvention exceptions to the DMCA that, among other things, allow people to tweak their handsets for the purpose of installing legally obtained software -- known as jailbreaking in iOS land, and rooting in the Android / webOS world. Check out the full statement from the Librarian of Congress, which is mostly an update of existing exceptions on record, after the break, but here's the primary excerpt:
Computer programs that enable wireless telephone handsets to execute software applications, where circumvention is accomplished for the sole purpose of enabling interoperability of such applications, when they have been lawfully obtained, with computer programs on the telephone handset.
Now, before all you EFFers go all totally wild (although it's undoubtedly a win for the EFF line of thinking on this issue), you should know that this in no way requires Apple to jailbreak your phone for you, or lay down its arms in this ongoing fight. Basically, they just can't sue you for the specific act of breaking their protections, but there's nothing stopping them from putting those protections in there in the first place, or for suing you for an infringement not covered in this exception -- like distributing Apple code in a non-Apple-approved way, or installing illegal or pirated software. Not that any of you jailbreakers would ever do that. What's more, the DMCA still broadly forbids distributing to the public any "technology, product, service, device, component, or part thereof" that's primarily designed to break access controls, so Apple can always go after the Dev Team directly -- and we'd still keep those dreams of opening Joe's Jailbreak Hut on ice for now.

On a more minor note, the language pertaining to unlocking a handset to work on another wireless network has also been expanded from "firmware" in 2006 to "firmware or software" in the 2010 revision. Also, and very exciting for the YouTube set, the section pertaining to cracking a DVD video and excerpting scenes for commentary or criticism has been expanded beyond educational use into documentary and non-commercial applications.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Continue reading Library of Congress adds DMCA exception for jailbreaking or rooting your phone

Library of Congress adds DMCA exception for jailbreaking or rooting your phone originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 26 Jul 2010 11:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Five Best Book Recommendation Services [Hive Five]

Source: http://lifehacker.com/5595842/five-best-book-recommendation-services

Five Best Book Recommendation ServicesIt's disappointing to haul a book home from the library or shell out hard-earned cash at the bookstore only to settle in at home and find you don't enjoy it one bit. Stock your reading list with these five great recommendation services.

Photo by Zitona.

Last week we asked you to share your favorite recommendation book recommendation service, and now we're back to highlight the five most popular. Whatever you're looking for you'll likely be able to find a recommendation for further reading at one of the sites below.

Shelfari (Web-Based, Free)

Five Best Book Recommendation ServicesShelfari is a social network built around books. You can use the service to browse reviews and get suggested additions to your reading list but the site really shines when you participate and add your library contents and reviews into the mix. You can pick a book you like and see what additional titles Shelfari recommends but it's often more fruitful to browse through the extensive lists, tag clouds, and collections of popular titles for additional reading.

LibraryThing (Web-Based, Basic: Free, Premium: $10/year)

Five Best Book Recommendation Services
LibraryThing is, foremost, a massively powerful online book-cataloging tool. As a non-member you can browse the extensive lists and suggestions but in order to take advantage of the massive catalog of millions of books and the tastes of their owners you should really sign up and enter in some of your favorites to build a personal library. LibraryThing's uncannily good suggestions come from its extensive user base of over a million book lovers. With a pool that large there is bound to be somebody with similar tastes and a recommendation list to share.

Amazon (Web-Based, Free)

Five Best Book Recommendation Services
The power of the Amazon.com recommendation engine is in the old saying, "Money talks". Sure Amazon has a list tool where people can put together lists like "Best Summer Reads", but where most people get their recommendations from Amazon is the "Customers Who Bought This..." suggestions. Buy a book on container gardening and Amazon will suggest other interesting books that people have purchased about container and backyard gardening. One of the nice features about Amazon's suggestions is that they often introduce you to topics you were unaware of but because other shoppers before you bought books in pairings, like backyard gardening and composting or composting and chicken tending, you're made aware of them.

GoodReads (Web-Based, Free)

Five Best Book Recommendation Services
GoodReads is a book lover's site with great features like interviews with authors, book trivia, book swap events, and more. Most notable however are the lists. We're not talking lists of questionable quality by one person, we're talking lists compiled with the inputs of thousands and thousands of users. Recommended historical fiction, best space operas, best young adult novels of 2010, books that were better than their movie counterparts, and other interesting lists abound on the site. Rather than get one person's opinion of the top humorous non-fiction travel books you get the composite opinion of 20,000.

GetGlue (Web-Based, Free)

Five Best Book Recommendation Services
GetGlue requires a registration to get at the recommendations—there's no casual browsing or preview of the database—but once you sign up you're part of the large GetGlue network of people reviewing and ranking everything from books to DVDs to music. You rank books and other media with a simple like/dislike toggle and GetGlue compares your likes to other users returning an entire battery of book suggestions which you can again like or dislike to further refine the process. One of the more novel features of GetGlue is the "sticker" system where you earn badges for accomplishments on the GetGlue network like being a first adopter that recommends lots of new material or ranking lots of media. While that might not be your thing, many people love the "Achievement Unlocked!" sticker system.


Now that you've had a chance to look over the top five contenders it's time to cast your vote in the poll below:



Which Book Recommendation Service Is Best?online survey

We couldn't leave this Hive Five without two great honorable mentions. The first honorable mention goes to finding books through real life person-to-person connections. As fancy as web-based recommendation engines have become many people find them a poor substitute for a recommendation from a librarian, bookstore clerk, or friend. The other honorable mention which we're quite pleased to share is the book club at our sister site io9. The io9 book club is a great place to find new science fiction works, participate in active discussions around those books, and even get a chance to ask the author questions.

Want to mention a service not highlighted here? Let's hear about it in the comments. Have an idea for the next Hive Five? Shoot us an email at tips@lifehacker.com and we'll do our best to give it the limelight it deserves.

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MeeGo becomes infotainment operating system of choice for BMW, GM, Hyundai and more

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/26/meego-becomes-infotainment-operating-system-of-choice-for-bmw-g/

It's getting to the point where it's not terribly easy to keep track of all the in-car entertainment initiatives our wondrous connected future has in store, but here's two names you'll want to remember: GENIVI and MeeGo. The former is an industry alliance that now includes automakers GM, BMW, Hyundai and Peugeot Citroen alongside the likes of ARM, NVIDIA, Nokia and Intel, and MeeGo is the Linux-based OS that they've just decided will soon be powering our cars. Don't expect this to affect your daily drive anytime soon, but in the long run we wouldn't be surprised to hear that the Moblin-Maemo base underpins future revisions of Terminal Mode and OnStar.

MeeGo becomes infotainment operating system of choice for BMW, GM, Hyundai and more originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 26 Jul 2010 05:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink The No kia Blog  |  sourceLinux Foundation  | Email this | Comments

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HTC makes Super LCD screens for Desire and Nexus One official

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/26/htc-makes-super-lcd-screens-for-desire-and-nexus-one-official/

Welcome back to our "worst kept secrets" hour, where HTC has seen fit to release a PR blast informing the world of what it already knew: the Desire and Nexus One are getting Super (duper) LCD displays to fill demand that Samsung's AMOLED division cannot. Interestingly, HTC's statement says nothing of the Droid Incredible, a close sibling to these 3.7-inch devices, but the global Nexus One and Desire are getting hooked up "later this summer." CEO Peter Chou has also helpfully explained that the visual experience on the new SLCD screens is "comparable" to AMOLED, but offers better battery performance. Color us curious to see and hear more.

Continue reading HTC makes Super LCD screens for Desire and Nexus One official

HTC makes Super LCD screens for Desire and Nexus One official originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 26 Jul 2010 04:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sunday, July 25, 2010

MSI's Core i7-equipped GT660R makes itself available to US consumers

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/25/msis-core-i7-equipped-gt660r-makes-itself-available-to-us-consu/

MSI's GT660 has been kicking around in various forms for a few months now, but the latest edition (dubbed GT660R) is just now splashing down on a few e-tailer websites. Boasting a 1.73GHz Core i7-740QM processor, 6GB of RAM, a 1TB hard drive (7,200RPM), Blu-ray combo drive and NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 285M, this 16-inch beast is more than capable of handling whatever HD media and first-person shooters you've got sitting around. 'Course, you'll need to be fully prepared to lug around 7.7 pounds of heft, and the 1,366 x 768 resolution is far from ideal, but at least you're given a 64-bit copy of Windows 7 Home Premium. It's up for order now at $1,699.99, but unless you've got a thing for atypically large pixels, we'd suggest springing for an alternative that'll display 1080p natively.

MSI's Core i7-equipped GT660R makes itself available to US consumers originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 25 Jul 2010 08:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Laptoping  |  sourceNewegg, Amazon  | Email this | Comments

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