Continuing its war on Internet file-swapping sites, the Motion Picture Association of America said Thursday that it has filed lawsuits against a half-dozen hubs for TV show trading.

The trade association said that piracy of TV programming is growing quickly online, and that shows are as important to protect as big-budget films. This is the first legal action from the group that has focused most heavily on TV content.

The latest round of suits retains a focus on BitTorrent technology, which has been widely used online to distribute movies and films.

The six sites sued Thursday include ShunTV, Zonatracker, Btefnet, Scifi-Classics, CDDVDHeaven and Bragginrights

Source: News.com

24 Times More Powerful than its Predecessor, the Creative X-Fi Xtreme Fidelity Audio Processor Provides the Extreme Power to Run New Applications that Enhance MP3s to Sound Even Better than they do on their Original CD, and Accelerate PC Game Play

Creative Technology Ltd. (Nasdaq: CREAF), the creator of Sound Blaster(R), today announced two major breakthroughs in audio technology: Xtreme Fidelity, the new standard in audio, and the Creative X-Fi Xtreme Fidelity audio processor. The combination of Xtreme Fidelity and the Creative X-Fi Xtreme Fidelity audio processor provides dramatic improvements to the recording and playback of MP3 music, accelerates and improves PC game play, enhances listening experiences for movies, and improves the capabilities, performance and quality of audio creation.

Xtreme Fidelity sets a new standard for audio by supporting a combination of 24-bit quality, stunning audio clarity with a minimum of 110db SNR and the new CMSS(R) (Creative Multi Speaker Surround) 3D headphone and surround speaker technology.

The Creative X-Fi Xtreme Fidelity audio processor has more than 51 million transistors, and is capable of 10,000+ MIPS. The Creative X-Fi Xtreme Fidelity audio processor is 24 times more powerful than its predecessor, and is designed with multiple engines, so it can dynamically direct resources through a modular architecture to completely change the way audio is managed for any application.

All CD music is in 16-bit resolution, which is typically compressed from an original 24-bit studio recording. When converting CD music to MP3 format, the music is compressed yet again. These types of compression result in a compromise of audio quality and clarity. The Creative X-Fi Xtreme Fidelity audio processor drives new applications that can enhance MP3s by bringing them back to 24-bit quality, and allows the user to upgrade the music to multi-channel surround sound. This enhancement enables virtually all MP3 music to sound even better than it did on the original CDs.

Creative will be providing a sneak preview of the new applications made possible by the Creative X-Fi Xtreme Fidelity audio processor at e3 2005 in Los Angeles, from May 18-20. To view the demonstrations, or to get more
information about the Creative X-Fi Xtreme Fidelity audio processor and Xtreme Fidelity, visit booth 2228 in the West Hall during show hours.

For more information about the Creative X-Fi Xtreme Fidelity audio processor and Xtreme Fidelity, visit http://www.soundblaster.com.

Mozilla Firefox 1.0.4 has been released. This latest update fixes three critical security vulnerabilities.

• MFSA 2005-44 Privilege escalation via non-DOM property overrides
• MFSA 2005-43 “Wrapped” javascript: urls bypass security checks
• MFSA 2005-42 Code execution via javascript: IconURL

You can download the new version of Firefox Here

Google has apparently acquired social networking service Dodgeball, as it continues its expansion beyond search.

Dodgeball posted a notice on its site, saying it was acquired Wednesday. The note did not reveal financial details but did say that Dodgeball’s two co-founders are “Google superfans.”

A representative for Google could not be reached to confirm the purchase.

Dodgeball’s service helps members link up with friends and acquaintances using text messages sent to phones.

Source: News.com

The MSN(R) network of Internet services today announced that it has acquired substantially all the assets of MessageCast Inc., a leading provider of automated alerting and messaging technology that currently supports the MSN Alerts service. This acquisition builds on the robust MSN Alerts platform, enabling tighter integration with the MessageCast technology. It also extends MSN Alerts to new content channels, helping to expand the ability of MSN to connect consumers to the information and people they care about most.

MSN Alerts empowers consumers to receive time-sensitive information from sources such as MSNBC, Fox Sports, Xbox(R), MSN Hotmail(R), MSN Money and other content partners. MSN has worked with MessageCast since 2003 to make it easier for content providers to offer free MSN Alerts services to MSN customers. These alerts can be delivered via any combination of MSN Messenger, Microsoft Windows(R) Messenger, e-mail and text messaging on mobile or handheld devices that are compatible with MSN Mobile. The service is currently offered in Chinese, English, French, German, Japanese, Korean and Spanish, and is available throughout the U.S. as well as select markets in Europe and Asia.

MSN will continue to support current MessageCast customers and address their needs as part of the acquisition. Royal P. Farros, the co-founder and chief executive officer of MessageCast, will work closely with the MSN Alerts team during the transition.