Dell and Napster said they will provide colleges with a legal online music hardware and software package.
The offering combines Napster’s digital music service with Dell’s PowerEdge 1855 servers that will boost network bandwidth at schools. Colleges will be able to use the servers to store music from Napster’s library locally, allowing network processing speed to remain fast while hundreds of students simultaneously download music.
Under the deal, Dell (DELL) will sell Napster (NAPS) subscriptions to additional colleges and universities at a discounted academic rate and also offer special prices on bundles that include Dell’s digital music players.
The pact follows last week’s landmark Supreme Court ruling that found internet file-trading networks such as Grokster and Morpheus liable when their users copy protected works without permission.
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Place-shifting: Days after the Supreme Court weighed in on digital copyright infringement issues, select consumer electronics chains began stocking a product some predict could spark the next showdown over intellectual property rights.
Slingbox is a brick-sized device that enables viewers to route the live television signal coming into their homes to a portable device anywhere on the globe via broadband connection. Slingbox costs $250 and has no subsequent subscription fee.
Created by Sling Media, Slingbox is the most prominent example of a handful of new ventures trying to repeat what TiVo (TIVO) achieved through time-shifting with technology capable of what loosely is referred to as place-shifting.
Place-shifting is problematic to many copyright holders because it sidesteps what is known in legalese as proximity control, which restricts the distribution of content to specific regions and times.
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Hacking hang-up: Hackers have cracked piracy protections on Sony’s PlayStation Portable in the United States.
Sony (SNE) rolled out a downloadable fix for the software flaw that opened the door for the latest attack by hackers, who quickly cracked the original version of the PSP shortly after its release late last year.
In their latest move, hackers have enabled PSP users to download some games from pirate web sites onto removable memory sticks and then to insert the games to run on the PSP.
The new game duplicating trick works on the PSP’s 1.5 version firmware, which serves as the PSP operating system. Upcoming game titles will require PSP users run updated firmware, a move aimed at preventing users from copying games.
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Family ties: Walt Disney said it would use Sprint’s network to offer a mobile phone service geared toward families.
Disney (DIS) expects the venture to be in investment mode for the next several years, but hopes it will bring solid financial returns in the long run.
The company is turning to wireless at a time when U.S. operators are taking aim at very specific market segments, such as the very young, the very old and other special-interest groups, as more than 60 percent of the nation’s population already has phones.
Disney’s sister brand, ESPN sports network, also plans to sell a mobile service aimed at sports fans, also renting space on Sprint’s (FON
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Compiled by David Cohn. AP and Reuters contributed to this report.
