Hasta La Gadget!

The smart cookies at the Social Science Research Council have spent three years researching media and software piracy in so-called emerging economies — countries like Brazil, Russia, India and Mexico — which has this past week resulted in a comprehensive report aimed at establishing the trends and causes of the unauthorized consumption of intellectual property. The major theme of the report is that ever more stringent enforcement of IP rights has proven ineffective in countering the growing tide of content piracy, and it is instead a problem of “global pricing” that needs to be tackled first. Content distributors’ primary concern is argued to be the protection of existing pricing structures in the honeypot nations of Western Europe and North America, which has resulted in prices in locales like Eastern Europe and South America being artificially inflated relative to the purchasing power of their population. Consequently, squeezed out of buying media the legal way, consumers have found themselves drawn to the, erm, grayer end of the market to sate their entertainment needs. There’s plenty more to this report, including a proposed solution to fixing these broken economics, but you’ll have to check out the links below for the full scoop.

Piracy is a problem of ‘global pricing,’ not enforcement, claims new report originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 15 Mar 2011 19:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ve seen reports of strange video behavior with Apple TVs before, and it looks like a new problem has now cropped up with the most recent update. According to a growing number of reports on the Apple support forums, those using an HDMI to DVI adapter to connect the device to their TV seem to have been hit with an annoying issue that causes their screen to flicker every few seconds. That’s apparently happening with a wide range of TVs, and at least some are also reporting the same thing happening even if they aren’t using an adapter. A few folks have apparently been able to fix things in the interim by simply pulling their HDMI cable and plugging it back in, but most are stuck with the annoying issue — or worse, a downgraded 480p signal. Having some similar issues? Let us know in comments.

Apple TV update reportedly causing screen flicker issues with HDMI to DVI adapters originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 11 Mar 2011 14:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Some of our UK readers have woken up to the less than awesome discovery this morning that their phones have lost all connectivity to the outside world. 3G, 2G, SMS, and BlackBerry services on the Vodafone UK network are all down for what seems like a significant proportion of its user base — an issue the carrier has since identified as being caused by a break-in at its Basingstoke exchange center. No further details have been provided, though work is naturally underway to repair the damage done and we’re assured customers’ private data has remained so. We can’t imagine quite such a service disruption being caused by a random act of vandalism or burglary, perhaps a disgruntled employee felt the need to vent his or her frustrations in grand style? Or has O2 gone gangster on the competition?

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Update: Vodafone got in touch to say that 2G and 3G voice connectivity has been restored as of lunchtime in the UK and text and data services should be up within “the next couple of hours.” The company estimates the issue has affected “a couple of hundred thousand users”, though it expects that number to drop to zero before the day is through.

Vodafone’s UK network taken down by a break-in (update: some services restored) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 28 Feb 2011 06:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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So this is why they do phased rollouts, eh? If Twitter is the font of truth and reality that we suspect it to be, it sounds like users of some Windows Phone 7 models by Samsung are struggling with that minor first update that Microsoft started pushing this week. Basically, it sounds like the update isn’t consistently completing; it some cases, users get an error message, and there doesn’t appear to be any way to roll back or restore the prior firmware and get the phone back to a working state. Mass bricking is probably the greatest fear of software engineers before deploying handset updates to the field, so it’s a good thing they’re taking it slow; of course, that’s not much consolation to the folks who are stuck making a call (on someone else’s phone) to Samsung support.

[Thanks, jdog25]

Update: the::unwired is reporting information straight from Microsoft on how to fix a “bricked” device that doesn’t complete the update, and it’s deceptively simple: just pull the battery, put it back in, and turn the phone on. Failing that, perform a hard reset. Either way, the company is recommending you don’t attempt the update again until the phone reminds you, which it says will happen in about three days.

First Windows Phone 7 update not going smoothly for some Samsung handsets (update: Microsoft suggests temporary fix) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 22 Feb 2011 13:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Fret not, to-be Sandy Bridge buyer — it looks as if the laptop delays won’t be as severe as expected. According to Intel, it’s working hard (read: coercing) with OEMs to keep Sandy Bridge laptops flowing from the factory, and apparently, that involves a pinky swear that partners won’t utilize the four affected ports. That means that existing machines can be shipped with the first two SATA ports on the mainboard enabled, and considering that most lappies have just a single HDD, one optical drive and no eSATA sockets, the vast majority of ’em should be able to ship sans issue. An Intel spokesperson wouldn’t confirm to Laptop the exact vendors who were agreeing to the terms, but at least Chipzilla is now aiming to have newly designed (and unmarred) parts in the channel by “mid-February.”

Continue reading Intel’s partners can resume shipping Sandy Bridge laptops… if they agree to a workaround

Intel’s partners can resume shipping Sandy Bridge laptops… if they agree to a workaround originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 08 Feb 2011 16:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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