It’s looking like Apple has built copy protection into their new laptops, without bothering to tell prospective purchasers about it.
The currently Apple-faithful who have bought the new laptops, including the MacBook Pro and MacBook Air, are finding that if they try to play films – that they have legitimately rented through Apple iTunes Store – through a non-HDCP external screen or projector are begin met with a message “This movie cannot be played because a display that is not authorised to play protected movies is connected.”
Not surprisingly this has angered them a great deal – and quite rightly in our view.
Given how Apple go to a great of effort in launching their products to the world, we think it’s pretty disingenuous not to mention that the laptops that are being bought have High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP) built into them.
A strong sense of Deja Vu is flowing thick around the Digital-Lifestyles offices today as we hear that ‘Hollywood’ is to take legal action against Real Network for their DVD copying software, RealDVD.
NDS, a DRM, PVR and interactive TV company, will be taken private, away from its current public listed status.
What a blunt knife Microsoft’s DRM is. We don’t know if you’ve noticed before, but some time in the last, Microsoft made change to their Media Player, stopping screen grabs of videos that are playing.
Adobe have launched a stand-alone Media Player (AMP).
Just when the BBC were pleased to 
Macrovision, content protection company, has agreed to purchase TV listing company, Gemstar-TV Guide International in a cash and stock transaction with a value of approximately $2.8 billion.
Sporting rather pleasing modern silver lines with a black edge, Gigabyte’s new M704 is the latest addition to the growing mob of Ultra Mobile PCs (‘UMPC’) being foisted on the public by a host of manufacturers.
Retail titans Wal-Mart have started offering digital music downloads on its Web site free of the copy-protection technology inflicted on most MP3 web sites.
Nokia has signed a deal with Microsoft to put PlayReady on some of their handsets.