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US Supreme Court rules Aereo's streaming service is illegal under copyright law
In a precedent-setting decision, the United States Supreme Court ruled today that Aereo is in violation of US copyright law. The decision states that Aereo's use of tiny antennas hooked up to cloud DVR technology violates the right of companies producing broadcast content. Specifically, the decision says that Aereo's business violates the 1976 Copyright Act; the act states that individuals or businesses are violating copyright if: 1: perform or display it at a place open to the public or at any place where a substantial number of persons outside of a normal circle of a family and its social acquaintances is gathered; or 2: to transmit or otherwise communicate a performance or display of the work ... to the public by means of any device or process, whether the members of the public are capable of receiving the performance or display receive it in the same place or in separate places at the same time or at different times In the case of Aereo, the Supreme Court says the company's service is tantamount to "a performance or display of the work." Update (6/28): As of 11:30AM ET today, Aereo has "paused" its service, and is refunding subscribers for their last paid month.
What's on tap for Google at I/O 2014
Don't let its DevCon facade fool you: Google I/O has plenty of interesting stuff for everyone. Most of the company's big announcements come during the day one keynote, which we'll be liveblogging tomorrow morning. This year's theme is "Design, Develop, Distribute," a slogan that doesn't reveal any major clues about what we can expect (aside from the fact that Google is focused on new design, which we'll cover in more detail later). But that's what we're here for -- to figure it out! We've compiled a handy guide that discusses what to expect -- and not expect -- to see at San Francisco's Moscone Center this week. Your first order of business should be to bookmark this link and join us on Wednesday at 12PM ET as we liveblog I/O's opening keynote.
How to Disappear (almost) Completely: the illusion of privacy
Can anyone ever really leave the internet? And if you had the choice, is that something that you'd want to do? After all, abandoning the connected world might help you reclaim some privacy, but even if you smashed your PC, burned your tablet and tossed your smartphone, you might still not be able to escape constant surveillance. In our three-part series How To Disappear, we're going to look at why you'd think about going offline, what you can do to tidy up your digital footprint and what happens to those who have made the leap into the darkness.
The Fire phone is Amazon's ultimate hardware weapon
Amazon's first phone is finally here. But what makes it such a curious little device isn't all that (lackluster) 3D, head-tracking stuff; it's Firefly, the company's new visual search engine. Amazon may have been born unto the internet as a modest bookseller, but it's now become a services company: There's the Kindle Lending Library for e-books, plus streaming services like Amazon Instant Video and Prime Music. Amazon's also a hardware maker. And this time, the company's made something that lets you text mom and use a powerful image-based search system to shop Amazon.com with one touch. It's the Fire phone, and it feels like the inevitable marriage of Amazon's device and services initiative.
Amazon's Fire phone has average looks and high aspirations (hands-on)
It was only a matter of time before Amazon launched a smartphone. In the past 10 years, the company's extended its reach from the online realm into physical hardware, and after the addition of the Fire TV recently, the smartphone was the last major device genre it hadn't explored. Amazon's filled that void with the Fire phone, an AT&T-exclusive smartphone that ships in late July for just under $200. CEO Jeff Bezos spent over an hour on stage discussing the new phone's litany of features and how its uniqueness gives it an advantage over most other handsets the Fire phone will compete with. It's true: No other devices have six cameras and quick access to tech support, and features like Firefly and Dynamic Perspective help give the device a flavor of its own.
Amazon's Fire has a multi-perspective display that moves with you
After weeks and weeks of being rumored, Amazon's finally unveiled its first smartphone: the Fire. And, as expected, there are 3D-like features on board, with something the company's calling Dynamic Perspective. Thanks to this, Amazon's Fire will be able to do a number of neat things across different apps; for example, if you're looking at a picture, the view of it will change as you move the device around. To show off the effect, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos used a 3D aerial view of the Empire State Building, which made the iconic building look as if it were popping out of the Fire phone's screen. The web browser can also take advantage of the Dynamic Perspective feature, allowing you to easily scroll through pages by simply tilting the phone.
Amazon's Firefly recognizes everything you see and hear, then lets you buy it
So yes, Amazon's phone is a real thing... and it's turning out to be quite a sales tool, too. Jeff Bezos just pulled back the curtain on the device's Firefly feature, which scans music, art and even products you have lying around in the real world. Why? So you can buy it all from Amazon, of course.
Amazon's Fire phone will come with free, unlimited cloud storage for photos
Amazon just announced the much-anticipated Fire phone, and along with some solid display and camera specs, the handset offers unlimited photo storage via Cloud Drive. In an on-stage comparison with the Samsung Galaxy S5 and the iPhone 5s, the Fire's 13-megapixel rear-facing camera looked pretty capable -- especially with low-light performance -- and Amazon clearly thinks you'll be snapping up plenty of pictures. Free, unlimited photo storage definitely sets Amazon apart from Dropbox, Apple's iCloud and Microsoft's OneDrive, among other services, though Google also offers unlimited storage. Follow our liveblog for more news from the event in Seattle.
Amazon announces the Fire, its first-ever smartphone
Yep, it's a phone alright. Amazon officially unveiled the Fire today at a special press event held in Seattle. Consistent with the rumors, Amazon's first-ever handset has a 4.7-inch Gorilla Glass display with an HD-resolution screen (720p). That makes it the same size as the Moto X, which was also supposed to be a phone for the masses. It also has a rubberized frame with aluminum buttons, a quad-core 2.2GHz processor, Adreno 330 GPU and 2GB of RAM. As for the camera, there's a 13-megapixel rear-facing one equipped with an f/2.0 lens and optical image stabilization and the ability to capture 1080p video. The phone's display will have 590 nits of brightness, dynamic image contrast and a "circular polarizer," which will likely be used to combat glare. There's also a dedicated camera key and, luckily for all you amateur photogs, it'll come with free unlimited cloud storage for photos as well. Other features include global LTE and connectivity with nine bands of LTE, quad-band GSM, five bands of UMTS, 802.11ac support, WiFi channel bonding, NFC and Bluetooth. It even supposedly has great battery life, promising nearly 285 hours of standby time, 22 hours of talk time, 65 hours of audio and 11 hours of video playback. It'll be available exclusively from AT&T for $199 if you want the 32GB version, or $299 if you prefer the 64GB. Alternately, you can get the 32GB version for as little as $27 a month or the 64GB for around $31 a month if you opt for AT&T's Next program. If you'd rather go off-contract instead, you can get the phone directly from Amazon for $649 for 32GB and $749 for 64GB.
Everything Nintendo did (and didn't) announce at its digital E3 event
Nintendo once told us that if it didn't change, it "might die," but we never expected the company to turn into a puppet show. It happened anyway: Nintendo's digital E3 event was hosted by Robot Chicken-sourced figures, complete with a demanding audience of stop-motion fans. We've got to give Nintendo credit -- this is certainly a new approach to handling E3. What did the company actually announce, though? Lots of things: including a new, open-world Zelda game, a little bit of NFC wizardry and even a game starring Toad. After the event closed, Nintendo dropped a few more announcements from a "Nintendo Minute" event on the E3 show floor. Miss the show? You can rewatch it in its entirety here, or simply read on for Engadget's full run-down.
All the games from Sony's PlayStation event at E3 2014
Sony's E3 event didn't end until 11PM ET last night. So, just as we did with the Xbox titles revealed at E3, we're going to round up all the future games heading to Sony's various consoles. It'll basically be a condensed version of our Sony liveblog, with an extra helping of trailers and without the excitable prose of Ben Gilbert, who was up way past his bedtime.
All the games from Microsoft's E3 event
Right before Microsoft kicked off its E3 event, Graeme Boyd told us to expect games, games and... more games. True to his word, Redmond spent the full presentation talking about the new generation's latest games, including titles from the Call of Duty, Forza and Halo franchises. It was a massive list of announcements, and a huge day for any Xbox One owner. Did you miss all the fun? You can go back and read our liveblog right here, or simply read on for a full rundown of Microsoft's big E3 announcements.
Verizon slaps Netflix with cease and desist letter over error message (Update: Netflix responds!)
In this digital age, it can be nice to receive a letter. Not so much if you're Netflix, and the letter is a cease and desist from an angry Verizon. The contents of said letter are in relation to claims from Netflix (as published on Quartz) that error messages some customers on Verizon were receiving were due to their ISP, and not its own infrastructure. The actual error read "The Verizon network is crowded right now." Verizon on the other hand claims there's "no basis" for the movie streaming service to assert that the errors are coming from its end, but stops short of suggesting it's actually Netflix that's at fault. Barely a month after that deal for direct access, and already the relationship seems to be turning sour.
Samsung Z is Galaxy on the outside, Tizen on the inside
While Samsung has been a loyal proponent of Android for quite some time, it's also spent the past few years cooking up its own open-source mobile operating system called Tizen. After several prototypes and revisions, the company finally saw fit to unveil the Samsung Z -- its first ever Tizen smartphone -- a couple of days ago. It was easily the star of the show at the Tizen developer conference here in San Francisco, so we were eager to take it for a spin.
Apple reveals iOS 8 at WWDC, available for free this fall
We all knew it was coming, and now it's here. Apple CEO Tim Cook just put months of breathless speculation to rest by pulling back the curtain on iOS 8 during the company's WWDC 2014 keynote address in San Francisco. It doesn't look like the sort of quantum leap that iOS 7 was, but Apple's head honcho assures us that it interacts in some fantastic ways with the new version of OS X and that it pairs great end user features with great developer features. Well, we'll be the judges of that. The big keynote just wrapped up -- here's what we know and what it means for you. First things first. There's a lot to dig into, but you'll get iOS 8 as a free update sometime this fall for the iPhone 4s and newer, the fifth-gen iPod touch and the iPad 2 and newer. If you're a developer though, you'll be able to access the iOS 8 beta and SDK today.
OS X Yosemite: Apple's latest desktop OS works even better with your iPhone
Apple's just unveiled the latest update to its desktop operating system for Macs and it's called Yosemite. While last year's Mavericks brought the inevitable reality of iOS/OS X integration even further with the introduction of familiar apps, like Maps and iBooks, this time around, Apple's Tim Cook promises both systems are now "engineered to work seamlessly together." Craig Federighi, SVP of software engineering at Apple, explained that Apple's focus for OS X Yosemite was on clarity, continuity and clear font type throughout the operating system. Finder window menus are now translucent, matching up with the image backgrounds on your desktop to dynamically shift for personality and color temperature. This effect has been translated to the refreshed dock, which itself has also gotten a slight makeover with newer, flatter-looking icons and even a new trashcan; something Federighi referred to as "fundamentally still Mac." There's even a new "dark mode," giving users the option to eschew translucency for dark gray toolbars.
What's on tap for Apple at WWDC 2014
It's that time again, folks -- geeks from around the globe (us included) are getting ready to descend on San Francisco's Moscone Center for WWDC 2014. Once those doors open and the keynote starts, we'll get to peek at the future of computing the folks in Cupertino have cooked up... though what exactly we'll see remains veiled in secrecy. You can bet the show will be heavy on the software (like new versions of iOS and OS X), but if we're lucky, a few hardware announcements should keep us all on our toes. Here's a quick look at what we think Apple will (and might!) show off during its June 2nd address.
This is why Apple bought Beats
Ever since the rumors first broke that Apple wanted to buy Beats for $3 billion, the masses have uttered one universal word: Why? Apple Senior VP Eddy Cue and Beats CEO and co-founder Jimmy Iovine sat down with Recode's Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher at the Code Conference to discuss the confirmed news. Not wasting any time, the execs got right into it. According to Cue, there were three overall reasons why the company made the deal: Talent, great headphones (something many folks will debate) and Beats Music.
Apple owns Beats, but the brand is still alive at HP
Beats Audio may be moving to Cupertino, but that doesn't mean it's giving up on the PC market. Well, at least not yet -- HP says it still has rights to use the brand's audio technology for the foreseeable future. It's part of the company's pre-existing contract with Beats: HP can develop new Beats-bundled products through 2014, and it's allowed to sell those products through the end of the 2015. In other words, we'll be seeing HP laptops, desktops and tablets with beats branding for the next year and a half. That's a lot of leeway. According to CNET, HP isn't wasting time: it says it's building an aggressive line-up of Beats enabled devices for 2014.
Apple acquires Beats Electronics for $3 billion
Apple is making things official: Dr. Dre's Beats Electronics belongs to Cupertino, and it cost them $3 billion. Rumors had circulated that CEO Tim Cook was interested in nabbing up the audio accessory and music-streaming outfit, corroborated by a beer-drenched video in which Dre himself declared that he had become "the first billionaire in hip-hop." And now, after Financial Times had already let the cat out of the bag, we have Apple's side of the story. As expected, co-founders Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre (Andre Young) will join Cook and VP of Internet Software and Services Eddy Cue, but their exact job titles haven't been revealed just yet.
