A waterproof MP3 player built for bright beach days is the first device with a color “e-paper” display, meaning it has no backlighting and thus can be read in direct sunlight. The display, from Qualcomm, consists of two layers of a reflective material. Some wavelengths of light bounce off the first layer; some pass through and bounce off the second. Interference between the two beams creates the color, and electrostatic forces control the distance between the layers.

Blu-ray BD+ protection broken in open source. Up until now Blu-ray protection was crack but the extended protection scheme was not cracked. It was of course only a matter of time before it got broken, and now it seems it has finally cracked

The French Senate has approved a three strikes law for Internet users who download copyrighted entertainment without paying for it.

The goal is to force people now engaged in electronic piracy of movies, music and video games to use legal sources like iTunes.

The “graduated response” would start with an e-mail warning. Those who persist would get a letter by snail mail.

If after two warning a person continues to download pirated music and movies the internet service providers would cut off access for a year.

The Senate passed the law 297 to 15 with Communists abstaining.

Many ISPs have been fighting such proposals because it thrusts responsibility of policing online copyrights on their shoulders.

French legislators also rejected an amendment authored by senator Bruno Retailleu that would replace the bill’s Internet kill-switch punishment with a monetary fine.

The pre-beta version of Microsoft’s Windows 7 operating system released to developers at the Professional Developers Conference has already made it onto prominent BitTorrent sites, where thousands of enthusiasts around the world are currently downloading it.

Well-known BitTorrent sites such as The Pirate Bay and Mininova were at the time of publication Friday hosting multiple downloads of the newly aired operating system–both the 32-bit and 64-bit versions.

On The Pirate Bay, one copy of the 32-bit build had more than one thousand people uploading it, and almost 7,000 people on the way to downloading it. The 64-bit version was less popular, with the earliest copy available on the site having only around 100 people hosting a copy and around a thousand still downloading it.