The Motorola Milestone: will Google Androids take over in 2010?

Next Monday sees the release of the latest mobile phone to run Google’s Android operating system. The Motorola Milestone is a significant launch and is already being touted as an “iPhone killer”, not least because it will be the first handset to run Android 2.0, the very latest version of the software. Android – the brainchild of search giant Google and a consortium of handset makers and component manufacturers – is finally beginning to realise its huge potential, and so too are consumers. The platform was conceived to help bring a desktop computing experience to mobile devices, and make things like email, instant messaging and quick web browsing accessible to the masses. When the first Android phone went on sale last year, reaction was lukewarm; the handset, the G1, was clunky and didn’t compare favourably to Apple’s iPhone, the new gold standard for design. Most consumers still choose phones on the basis of what they look like rather than what they do; Android phones finally do the platform justice. The forthcoming Motorola Milestone, known as the Droid in the US, has sold more than 800,000 handsets since it went on sale there at the start of November – the sort of purchasing frenzy that’s usually associated with the release of a new iPhone.

Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/mobile-phones/6712089/The-Motorola-Milestone-will-Google-Androids-take-over-in-2010.html

Fraud alert: Tens of thousands of anti-piracy settlements potentially illegal

Having forced tens of thousands of P2P users to pay up for costly pre-settlement notices, a number of European law offices and and anti-piracy companies suddenly find themselves on the other side of the gun: The German scene news site gulli.com asked local authorities to start criminal investigations against a well-known anti-piracy law office, and even mainstream news organizations like the Financial Times are starting to take notice. The issue at heart could not only derail current anti-piracy campaigns, but potentially even lead to disbarment of the lawyers involved with these cases. Here's what happened: Two weeks ago, an internal fax with details about the business of Germany's anti-piracy company Digiprotect turned up on Wikileaks.org. The document was supposedly sent by German lawyer Udo Kornmeier, who has been assisting Digiprotect in hunting down thousands of German P2P users, to the U.K.-based law office Davenport Lyons, which has been doing the same thing in the U.K. with evidence provided by Logistep. Both Kornmeier and Digiprotect have publicly declined to comment on the authenticity of the document.

Source: http://www.p2p-blog.com/item-1216.html

Pub 'fined £8k' for Wi-Fi copyright infringement

A pub owner has been fined £8,000 because someone unlawfully downloaded copyrighted material over their open Wi-Fi hotspot, according to the managing director of hotspot provider The Cloud. Graham Cove told ZDNet UK on Friday he believes the case to be the first of its kind in the UK. However, he would not identify the pub concerned, because its owner — a pubco that is a client of The Cloud's — had not yet given their permission for the case to be publicised. Cove would say only that the fine had been levied in a civil case, brought about by a rights holder, "sometime this summer". The Cloud's pubco clients include Fullers, Greene King, Marsdens, Scottish & Newcastle, Mitchell & Butlers and Punch Taverns. The law surrounding open Wi-Fi networks and the liability of those running them is a grey area. According to internet law professor Lilian Edwards, of Sheffield Law School, where a business operates an open Wi-Fi spot to give customers or visitors internet access, they would be "not be responsible in theory" for users' unlawful downloads, under "existing substantive copyright law". She also said the measures that would be brought in under the Digital Economy Bill — measures that could include disconnection of the account holder — would not apply because the business could be classified as a public communications service provider, which would make it exempt. According to the terms of the bill, only "subscribers" can be targeted with sanctions.

Source: http://news.zdnet.co.uk/communications/0,1000000085,39909136,00.htm