Mr. Anderson, after circumventing the DRM of his DVDs and effectively breaking the law, reported himself to the Danish anti-piracy group Antipiratgruppen. He had requested that the group respond by December 1, “indicating whether or not [it intends] to prosecute him” and has yet to receive one as of today.

The Danish man is determined to force the resolution of this clear contradiction between two passages of the Danish Consolidated Act on Copyright 2003:

12.–(1) Anyone is entitled to make or have made, for private purposes, single copies of works which have been made public if this is not done for commercial purposes. Such copies must not be used for any other purpose.

§ 75 c. It is not permitted without the consent of the rightholder to make circumvention of effective technological measures

Pending the apparent failure of Antipiratgruppen to provide a definite response, Anderson will present himself to the Danish people. His goal? To force a trial to resolve the issue.

Source

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That depends on what they mean by “traditional PC”, and I doubt this rig can run Left 4 Dead 2 at the integrated display’s native resolution. However, the Wind Top is promising as an HTPC, as it’s compatible with the standard VESA wall mount, like your typical HDTV. It can also play BluRay discs and burn DVDs, and the lowest-end model features 4GB of DDR2 RAM and a 320GB hard disk. While the multi-touch interface (courtesy of Windows 7) is unproven and thus won’t win me over, the inclusion of a wireless mouse and keyboard makes the sub-$800 price tag seem even more reasonable.

Complete specs below for the new MSI Wind top AE2220 series is available at MSI’s US website.

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The summary:

1. Download PlayOn.tv from www.playon.tv, install it on your web-capable PC, and run it
2. Go to your Wii and load the Internet Channel
3. Go to Settings; Set Zoom Type to Automatic, and Toolbar Display to Auto-Hide Toolbar
4. Save the settings, return to the main screen, then go to Web Address
5. Type playon.tv
6. Now you can use PlayOn to search for your computer running the PlayOn software (the Wii and the PC have to be on the same network)
7. That’s it! PlayOn will grab the media and stream to your Wii over your network)

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Courtesy Optimized Cable Company

To be sure, 15 feet should be enough for any home theater/computer setup. That length allows enough slack to twist, tuck and fasten for maximum neatness. Go to NewEgg however and you’ll find 6-foot cables that go for around $5. The cost of shipping may actually be more expensive than the product itself. Searching for 25 foot HDMI cables returns listings going for as low as $20.

These pricing realities leave me unconvinced about OCC’s usefulness. Perhaps the company’s special gold-plated cables do last longer and cause less signal interference. Unfortunately though, most customers just want to connect their PS3s to their HDTVs—at the lowest price possible.

Maybe OCC should make a compelling case that spending a bit more (or in some cases, a lot more) will bring long-lasting quality? Detailed longevity evidence on the company website would pique my interest, because I’d rather pay more for a reliable HDMI cable that lasts for years.

OCC’s wide array of home entertainment cables and adapters looks appealing, because the latter covers practically any port x to port y scenario. Those DisplayPort options are probably interesting for Mac users. In the meantime though, I’d rather pay $20 for a 25-foot HDMI cable. What about you?

Optimized Cable Company website: optimization-world.com

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• Hardware – $137.83
• “manufacturing and basic test costs” - $9.58
• “software and licensing costs” – $22.61
• “shipping, logistics, marketing and other channel costs” – unknown
• Regaining the developer passion that created thousands of useful apps for the old Palm OS – priceless
• Getting the most out of its partnership with Sprint - priceless
• Marketing the gadget like their lives depended on it (because it really does) - priceless

Oh don’t mind the last three items: those are some of the things I think Palm has to do if the Pre has any chance of making an impact. Regaining the good ol’ glory days—and making money of an app store—can come later.

(image courtesy of Palm)

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That, says founder Steve Perlman (also the founder of WebTV), is a big benefit:

OnLive is somewhat future-proof, meaning that players won’t have to upgrade anything to keep on playing games on the system years into the future. Instead, the upgrades will happen on the back-end, with the company regularly boosting the power of the servers it uses to host and stream the games.

Of course this whole setup, totally reliant on internet connectivity, will require fast broadband connections. On his own feature of the service, CNET’s Daniel Terdiman recommends at least a 1.5 Mbps connection for “standard-definition play” and 5Mbps for high-def.

I wonder how quickly hardcore gamers (and gamers in general) will adopt this model. No doubt, the chance to play the latest games trouble-free is a great incentive. But I’m thinking OnLive won’t try running their games at maximum settings, unless they want costs to skyrocket. That setup may turn off dedicated players who like their games powered by top-of-the-line specs. Also, as a frequent gamer myself, I feel a bit uncomfortable keeping my saved games and player data on a third-party server (though it’s true that we already save a lot of our personal info online nowadays).

And is OnLive offering its brand of gaming too early? As reader Carl said, “It’s just… just too ambitious”. Maybe the service, despite reportedly relying on a subscription-based business model and one-shot or total ownership packages, may burn through money too quickly. As a first-mover, OnLive will have to face a lot of challenges and deal with them quickly on the road to profitability. But if they succeed, they could potentially change the face of gaming forever.

(Image courtesy of OnLive)

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Best of all, it’s in black, the must-have color for any minimalist geeky setup. The color adds on $10 and carries the “limited” moniker, with white, pink, and yellow variants also available at $120. Oriental bear lovers should also check out the iPanda.

Thanks BBG!

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Over in the Philippines, a tech-startup named Inovent recently unveiled a prototype of the Ilumina, an “LCD interactive TV” that promises web browsing, video and music playback, and recording capability.

Here’s some background: from a tech point-of-view, the Philippines is known more for its very active mobile market and outsourced services. Companies like Texas Instruments and Accenture rely on the country to produce gadgets and provide customer support on the cheap.

In short, there is no home-grown base for consumer electronics, which is why foreign brands like Nokia and Samsung dominate the market. This is obvious for a company like Inovent, whose competitors have years of experience and very established brands.

So it’s gone all nationalistic, doing the launch on a holiday in honor of a national hero (Andres Bonifacio) and trying to make Filipinos proud that there’s a “truly Filipino” alternative. But in a country that has a proven track record of preferring foreign-made consumer electronics—mostly because there is a lack of truly locally-made alternatives—does Inovent’s first effort stand a chance? The Ilumina doesn’t enjoy any special “hook” that makes it distinctive off the bat. You know, like the sub-$2300 Tata Nano?

Save of course, the fact that it was developed by a local team, and made with local parts and expertise. But in today’s cliched “global economy”, is this focus on nationalism enough?

(image from Technograph)

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This chair has endless features including: deluxe leather cover and double foam padding, lockable reclining feature, 3 channel wireless audio, amplifier, surround sound speakers, booming bass unit, cup holder, storage in one armrest. It works with Xbox, Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, Nintendo gaming units and all major game platforms, including handheld units such as PSP and DS lites. It also will work with your TV, DVD, VHS, and stereo system, your MP3 and iPod player and your phone if it has a standard earphone jack.

The only problem is, can any lazy geek afford the £600 ($937) price tag? After all, how can bums earn enough money to make this purchase? The only market I see for this are trust-fund babies with nothing better to do with their lives. Ah, in any case, you have to live in the UK to buy this chair anyway. Visit boysstuff.co.uk to make a purchase.

(image from boysstuff.co.uk)

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Althaea has lost almost 100 pounds playing WoW from a treadmill, shrugging off a diagnosis of sleep apnea and creating an exercise routine that has definitely stuck.

The creator encountered some problems, the most obvious being how to deal with the sweat generated by the literal exercise in gaming—moisture and electronics simply don’t mix. But that problem was solved quickly, by moving the laptop far away and relying on connected peripherals to do the job (monitor, USB keyboard and mouse, etc.).

Such a great combo, this fun plus exercise thing. (wowinsider.com)

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