Is it Legal to Duplicate DVDs in Britain and in Other Countries?

To copy or rip DVD content to other formats as used in portable device or hard drive, which many people may have done several times, is regarded technically illegal as copyright infringement. But globally, some countries either explicitly allow it in certain circumstances or don’t forbid it.

Back to August 2nd 2011, news from Reuters reported that the British government will announce on Aug. 3rd about its plans to legalize the copying of CDs and DVDs onto computers or portable media players, but of course, just for personal use-key words that definitely could not be ignored. But then if you web search it you’ll discover that making private copy of copyrighted media without the copyright owner’s consent is currently illegal while the UK government’s new Digital Economy Act is likely to make copying CDs for personal use legal. The number of British who vote legal for CD ripping reaches 59% and 55% of them did this.

But in fact, such report outlawing the ripping of CD and DVDs has been scrapped by the government on Aug. 3rd, 2011.

In Australia and New Zealand, copy legally purchased music doesn’t breach the law if keeping to one’s own use and not distributing to others.

Then in the US, no certain rules explicit grant or deny a right of copying/ripping copyrighted DVDs to one’s own PC or portable devices.The Feds tried to legalize this action previously as well.

Well, as no countries actually precisely define private copy/ripping of CD/DVDs illegal, such issue hangs on air all these years. I suppose this is largely because copyright laws, the government and the copyright holders place much more attention on CD/DVD/BD pirating business for commercial purposes. That probably means that it’s OK to get backup content but keep it to your own.

Windows 8: the Built-in Flash Player Leads to Zero-day Attack

What’s the Operation System your computer runs now? Win XP, Vista, Win 7 or probably Windows 8? Microsoft’s every step is accompanied with great influences and changes. Although Windows 8 won’t be officially released until October 26th, RTM version has been applied by some enterprises to the daily work.

This time, Microsoft adds Adobe Flash Player to its IE10 browser as a default component rather than a third party plugin. One of the reasons for Windows 8 still contains the built-in Adobe flash player is that HTML seems not so stable in the market for the moment, since flash player gave up the Android mobile market.But the built-in touch-friendly adobe flash player in browser IE10 can only get upgrades delivered by Microsoft. On August 21st, Adobe has launched updates for 0-day attack, but still leaving the early users in danger of 0-day as the Firefox being patched while embedded version in Internet Explorer not.

"If you're using Internet Explorer 10 on any version of Windows 8, including the RTM bits available via MSDN or TechNet and the enterprise preview, you are at risk." warned Ed Bott on ZDNet. Right now, Operation Systems such as Windows7, Vista, XP, Linux, etc. can get patched through security updates.

Lessons drawn from Apple’s previous mistakes when built-in Java in Mac devices’ failing in updates bringing up the crazy spread of Flashback virus, should be a warning for Adobe and Microsoft’s Win 8. It is said that a security update will come through Windows Update in the GA timeframe- the target date of October 26 when Windows 8 will go on sale.

Before the problem being solved, users could pick Chrome, Firefox etc. as alternatives. Or disable the built-in Flash Player temporarily.Will flash lives in IE 10 of Windows 8?

DVD Ripping/Copying: Feds Considering Allowing DVD-Decoding Legal

When it comes to the issue of copyrights of DVDs, I encountered a saying someone commented online which goes like this: we still need locks for our doors when everyone on the planet has a key. Is it OK for people who purchased a DVD to get a backup copy by some encryption cracking tool? Is it illegal by the way?

To most people, personal use of ripping one’s purchased DVDs are considered just “OK”, which still goes against the law, as a matter of fact. Earlier this year, RealNetworks’ DVD-copying software is unlawful to be barred from distribution permanently according to Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998.

Yet, at UCLA Law School, Federal regulators considered testimony on whether to allow citizens and filmmakers to crack DVD encryption legally. Filmmakers, video mixers and others PETITIONED to the U.S Copyright Office for the ability of DVD copying. The center point is not about the legitimacy of using the copyright protected movies, but about the decoding tools. For legal use of DVD ripping/copying without breaching DMCA seems impossible since it won’t allow that.

The general counsel of Warner Brothers Home Entertainment, Clarissa Weirick, is side against all the decryption measures, which he said would bring up to large-scaled pirating copies. Warner Brothers headed to digital cloud to persuaded users away from pirated copies of DVDs. However, this method would be annoying since users have to drive to get the digital copy (which costs) with the DVD he just brought.
Supporters of not allowing encryption announced that users do not have the right to get movies ripped/copied, for they just brought the DVDs for playing but not the copyright of the movies. Besides, streaming movies online are available.

What Warner Brothers worried about did matter to some extent; just think about music CDs which are not protected from copied. Why not the DVDs then? Regulators are not expected to make any approvals until later this year, at a date not yet disclosed. Would this prevent/accelerate DVDs' vanishment because of BD and streaming?

Some also make joke like: if I buy a corn or other plants, I do not eat it as food, but I plant it and harvest. Do I have the right to sell them or just keep to myself for food? Or even could I plant it? What do you say?

Most Expected Vampire Movie in 2012: Breaking Dawn-Part 2, Bella the Vampire

So long a time for audience to wait before the release of the upcoming vampire movie- The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn: Part 2. Finally, it will be shown about 2 months later on November 16th. As vampire movie fans, I’m starting to expect the DVD’s coming already to complete my Twilight collection. Before that, let’s see what to anticipate in the second part.

Just as its two former ones, the Final Episode, the 3 main cast members-Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, and Taylor Lautner reprise their roles. The biggest difference is that Bella has turned into a vampire and their little daughter Renesmee is growing up.

The main plot: Bella, being a new vampire, somehow enjoyed her new life after giving birth to her daughter Renesmee. She also feels excited about the abilities that bring up to her. Meanwhile, their happy family life is threatened by Volturi once again since the vampire Irina misidentifies Renesmee as an uncontrollable “immortal child” who would challenge the power and existence of the Volturi family. On Irina’s presentations, Volturi decided to destroy Tenesmee and the Cullens. The Cullens gather other vampires to justify Renesmee not an “immortal child”, yet she could probably endanger the vampires. A 150-year-old vampire-human crossbreed Mapuche named Nahuel proved that the child would do no harm to vampires. Volturi left Bella, Edward and Renesmee in peace.

To me, the most expected part would be Bella’s transition as a vampire- tackling a cougar, diving off a massive cliff, executing an impressive high kick, as well as the little child Renesmee (Mackenzie Foy).

Below is the the official trailer of the final “Twilight” movie. What follows in the new trailer is loads of vampire-on-vampire action, including one shot of Edward swinging a kicking Bella at one of the villainous vampires in the Volturi. The latest trailer for "Twilight: Breaking Dawn - Part 2," which premiered at the 2012 MTV Video Music Awards this evening fully display Bella the vampire's strength.

iPlayer-BBC iPlayer Offline Playback: Making the Unmissable, Unmissable on iPhone!

From “Catch up on the last 7 days of BBC TV & Radio” to "Making the unmissable, unmissable", then all the way to “recommendations feature” and “social makeover”, the internet television, radio service and software application, iPlayer (BBC iPlayer), provides users some more astonishing service: offline/downloaded viewing this time.

The BBC has launched a new download feature which allows people to save programs from iPlayer on to their portable devices-cell phone, tablet for later viewing without the limitations of network/internet connection. This would be great for people who have no time for the shows or spend time somewhere there’s no Wi-Fi or spotty signal. Or bring it to your holiday travelling to have fun. As Daniel Danker, the BBC's general manager of on-demand programmes, put it: "This fundamentally changes one of the most annoying restrictions about viewing programmes. It means audiences are liberated from the constraints [of online-only viewing] and it fundamentally changes what it means to go on holiday."

Back to its earliest period, due to copyright reasons, iPlayer only allowed videos/programs available for a week time (with some exceptions). Then specific applications for mobile platforms launched in February 2011, mainly for iOS and Android devices.

Now, the BBC is about to release such an app for storing downloaded content from iPlayer for offline viewing-which makes it really means it-making unmissable, unmissable. The specifications is that: users can download the videos before its 7-day duration online, store it for 30 days, and you have to finish it in also 7 days once you start viewing.

Such feature in now available on iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch for the moment, later this year will Android devices be available then.

Comments:some people announced that actually this download feature for mobile is not BBC's first time: about 3 or 4 years earlier some had downloaded from iPlayer with their mobiles such as Nokia 5800 or Nokia N95. Just the first time for iPhone? So what do you say? 

DVD Movies: why are DVDs still Favored by Many?

Were you a DVD collector or addicter yourself, would you understand why DVD means so much to these people. Especially in such a downloadable world, within the online streaming risen period, physical disc for movies shrinks year by year, which makes DVD’s existence needless as it seems to be. DVDs still makes sense to many people.

 For every individual, there must be a certain movie that worth viewing times after times, digesting and enjoying. With the DVD disc copy of the movies, you can watch it in your living room in a nostalgic afternoon whenever you want, I suppose, with better quality that probably won’t be fulfilled online (when network does not support, or when rental service of certain movies is not available), at least for the moment before image and sound fidelity of streaming surpass physical discs especially to DVD’s brother Blu-ray, which may probably happen years later. Well, the fact is: big online retailers as iTunes and Amazon are already providing with high-definition movies, but chances are that there’s always a time when they do not provide some kinds of movies you want.

Besides, to those who really love movies, they would also dig into the background information of the movies, the valued behind-the-stage details such as: some deleted scenes, alternative endings, director commentary and even interviews of the cast. All these mentioned above mostly could only be found in DVD extras while streaming rentals provide none generally. The information would not only help you understand the story better but also blow it to the peak of enjoyment-sometimes, the extras enhanced the movie itself.

In addition, DVD movies enjoyment would be enlarged when you share with your beloved friends; you can either lending them the DVDs or sending them as a gift. It would be funny when your friends surprisingly explained that “I didn’t even think of such a totally-different ending”.

After all, you can just buy from DVD shops insert the DVD The Dark Knight Rises for enjoyment, instead of other annoying doing. This recalls me of e-book somehow. I wonder when e-book would take the place of books we use today. Or would it? As they’ve stay harmony for so quite some time till now.

Paralympics 2012: how to Watch the Less-Concerned Games?

The summer of 2012 is destined to be the time of global athletes. Just after the Olympic Games, Paralympics kicked off on August 29th, (if you missed, check out the Opening Ceremony) and will run through September 9th. If you are interested in watching your favorite sports or athlete, you can watch it live on YouTube.

Since watching on your set of the Live TV coverage of 2012 Paralympics is impossible, as the Olympic was already late and frustrating for its US audience just earlier this summer. And NBC is airing just a few hours of highlights.YouTube live is your top choice.

Sports fans can watch all the events on the International Paralympic Committee’s YouTube channel, where 500 hours of live competitions accompanied by a real-time commenting would be provided, for audience in US and Canada. For other viewers globally, 1,000-hour time of reviews, interviews, etc. would be perfect for you.

Besides, Paralympics 2012 website’s live video stream for the competition is also available. Or you can check what’s coming up for the day from the Official website as well.

As a matter of fact, the Paralympics were barely covered by major media in the past years. However, this year’s changes of covering this event in much non-existent ways bring up astonishing results: the audience times 3 of 2008 Olympics featuring the Coldplay and Queen.

Just like what Rachael Latham (former Paralympian) said,only when chances are provided for them trying to know and to understand, would people care for the Paralympics.

About Paralympics: (Paralympics is referred to the combination of “paraplegic” and “Olympic”)
Started in 1948, Paralympics are about trials and triumphs of the athletes, the first group of whom is veterans with spinal injuries survived the WWII. IPC-International Paralympic Committee is the global body of the Paralympic movement. Similar with Olympics, there are also summer and winter Paralympics. It’s the greatest event for world class athletes with a disability.