It will likely be a few months before Adobe rolls out 10.1 to everyone, but the impact of this move will likely be felt both in the short and long terms.  Short term, hardware decoded Flash video could be a real boost tonettop PC’s and netbooks, allowing them to really become cheap and easy media playback devices.  In the longer view, however, Flash’s innovation here could really cement its central role as they delivery avenue for video of all kinds over the Internet, dealing serious blows to both Microsoft’s Quicksilver, but also any other competitors still out there.  Unknown is what Flash video’s dominance will mean for the file-sharing and downloading communities.  Will video pirates move away from downloading entire shows via Bittorrent to instead watch free streaming episodes on Hulu -like services if quality differences disappear?  Will more cable customers ditch their TV services in favor of going completely for over-the-top video?  Such suppositions may be quite speculative at this point, but with the changes to Flash on the horizon, they are becoming more plausible every day.

Many times we see a video uploaded by a friend or family member to Facebook and would love to be able to embed it elsewhere or to simply download a copy to save for personal use.

Facebook obviously doesn’t offer either of these options and so people have to figure out a way to do it on their own.

The easiest method I’ve come across so far is by using a Firefox add-on called Facebook Video 2.1.8, and with it I’ll show you step by step how to get started downloading video from Facebook in no time at all.

STEP #1

Firstly, you must use Mozilla’s Firefox Internet browser.

STEP #2

Secondly, install the Facbook Video 2.1.8 add-on for Firefox.

STEP #3

Now find a video you want to work with. We’ll go over the three options which are to embed, download, or convert to other formats.

Notice the options available before installing Facebook Video 2.1.8.

Now notice those available afterwards.

Embedding and Customizing Video

If you want to embed the video on a another website simply select the “Embed this Video” link on the right and then copy and past the code wherever you choose. Note that you can also customize this code by selecting the “Customize Code” link and entering desired width and length dimensions.

Downloading Video

Select the “Download Video” link. The video will then open up as an .mp4 object, filling the window in its entirety. Now select “Save Page As” from the File tab in the Firefox menu and choose where you want to save it on your PC.

Converting Video

To convert the video to another format select “Convert Video.” You’ll be taken to the Zamzar free file conversion website where you can then choose the format you want to convert it to: 3gp, .avi, iPhone, .flv, .wmv, or even .flac, .mp3, or .wav if you just want the audio from the video. Enter the email address of where you want to receive the converted file and press “Convert” to complete the process.

The EFF is currently highlighting a new legal victory for video sharing sites. The case is known as the UMG vs. Veoh case where UMG sued video sharing site Veoh for the activities of it’s users – some of which uploaded copyright infringing material on the site.

Veoh argued that their activities of offering a medium to post content falls under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act’s “Safe harbour” provisions which says that, among other things, that internet services are not liable for the actions of their users – a provision that seems to be glossed over like a mere suggestion these days with the copyright industry demanding ISPs to fight copyright infringement.

UMG (Universal Music Group) counter argued, saying that hosting companies should be liable for every bit a user uploads.

All too often when these cases come up, user generated websites are frequently branded as little more than a vehicle for copyright infringement. Like the internet itself, when one makes an argument that labels, say, a video sharing site as something simple like a medium for piracy, it’s far too easy to argue many ways in which that given site is not. Examples of possible counter arguments include the fact that it’s a learning tool (plug in virtually any software product and add “tutorial” to see what we mean), or an independent musician site (OK-Go is one of the more famous examples of musicians jump-starting their careers with a viral video), a website for magicians (where magic tricks are often a popular keyword), a gaming website (where speedrun is a good keyword for something like this), a tool for businesses to host video content (many businesses like small town newspapers are jumping onto YouTube to post their small town journalism reports, or a cleverly well produced advertisement for companies like BlendTec for their rather famous ‘Will it Blend?’ series), or even an education tool where students can post final projects like animations. Pretty much anything in general one can think of is more than likely posted on a video-sharing site.

Still, it’s an effective weapon the copyright industry has against such sites by saying that users just go there to pirate their content as it gives them a public relations edge that actually works for a lot of people. Make everyone think that people just go there just to watch music videos and there will be those that will easily believe them.

The EFF concludes with the following:

Relying on the statutory language, as well as the legislative history, the court concluded that all of these activities are covered by the DMCA Section 512(c) safe harbor. Lots of online service providers will greet this ruling with relief. If the court had accepted UMG’s arguments, every web host would lose the safe harbor as soon as it made web pages available to the public. The ruling should also help YouTube in its ongoing battle with Viacom, which also turns on the continuing strength of the DMCA safe harbors.

But the Veoh ruling also points out a surprising irony: while YouTube and Viacom are fighting their interminable litigation trench war, many interesting DMCA legal questions are being resolved in smaller, faster-moving cases involving companies like Veoh. At this rate, the highly-anticipated Viacom v. YouTube lawsuit may end up a footnote in the legal fights that define the rules governing user-generated content.

It might be worth noting that the legal battles going on with the DMCA in the United States will more than likely be little more than the tip of the iceberg with legal questions being raised with video sharing sites since many broadcasters from around the world have also sued YouTube for copyright infringement. As much as the copyright industry likes to, from time to time, believe that the US laws apply to other countries, the DMCA only covers US cases and international cases will be far more complex. Worst case scenario in the future, some countries will end up being either blocked by or blocking YouTube due to a court decision not deciding in a video-sharing sites favour. It’ll have a negative effect on video sharing sites, but it’s unlikely that it’ll be a fatal one – especially if the lawsuits in the US end up failing to take down YouTube (and YouTube’s position seems to be more favourable as a result of this legal victory).

Controversy has taken hold in Australia recently over what happened to a 60 year old man now charged for child abuse. The report comes from the Sydney Morning Herald which says that Chris Illingworth liked a viral video posted on YouTube so much, that he re-posted it on a similar website known as LiveLeak.

Apparently, the act of re-posting that particular video was enough to get his house raided by police. Apparently, the video was originally broadcast on US television, but authorities said that since the video was re-posted by an Australian, the Australian is subject to Australian law. Authorities also said that the child was being abused even though the clip depicts the child laughing and smiling by the end of it.

The report also says that the Electronic Frontier Australia (EFA) has contacted the defendant and offered to help defend him.

It’s unclear what authorities were looking for while raiding the defendants house.

The Associated Press is reporting that multimedia giant from Italy ‘Mediaset’ is suing YouTube. Add that to a long list of international content outlets trying to find a get rich quick scheme.

From the AP:

Mediaset, the media empire founded by Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi, said Wednesday it was seeking at least 500 million euros ($779 million) in damages against Google Inc.’s YouTube service for allegedly misusing video produced by Mediaset.

In a lawsuit filed with Rome civil court, Mediaset said it had identified on YouTube at least 4,643 video clips of Mediaset-owned material that was available on June 10 alone after being posted “without obtaining rights.”

Those clips totaled 325 hours of broadcasts from Mediaset’s three private television stations, the Italian company said.

This obviously raises the age-old question ever since ThePirateBay started receiving lawsuits of ‘does the lawsuit have jurisdiction?’ YouTube isn’t located in Italy, should it be sued in a Roman court?

Earlier this year, French Broadcaster TF1 sued YouTube for 100 million. This latest lawsuit seems to show that YouTube is one of the broadcasters favorite scapegoat in copyright litigation. Exactly how this lawsuit can be successful is anyones guess.

NewTeeVee noted a report on the Wall Street Journal which points to concern that the Chinese government has shut down popular Chinese video sharing site 56.com.

The suggestion on 56.com was that they were down for maintenance, but the site has been down for maintenance since the third of this month. The lengthy downtime, according to the report, is sparking concerns that the Chinese government is actually censoring the site. 56.com is no small site either since, according to Alexa, currently boasts a traffic ranking of 83 overall with traffic primarily originating from China.

“At the start of the year,” writes Chris Albrecht of NewTeeVee, “Chinese regulators said that video sites would have to be state-owned. The government later clarified its list of requirements for video sites, including the types of content that must be filtered. The strict regulations leaves the state of the online video business in China in flux.”

Apparently, the trouble of the video streaming business in Asia isn’t solely originating in China. According to Chosun, a news outlet in South Korea, five CEOs of a South Korea based video streaming outlet were arrested for copyright violations recently. From the report:

The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office on Tuesday said it arrested the presidents of five companies including Nowcom, which runs PDBOX, and KUTECH, which runs Endisk. The total number of the members of these five firms mount to 23.38 million, and the sales W74 billion (US$1=W1,024).

They are charged with promoting the illegal circulation of domestic and foreign films online by giving “heavy uploaders” 10 percent of their revenues from downloaders. According to the prosecutors, if a user pays W300 to download one film, the one who uploaded it gets W30, and the storage company earns W270. The system generates an estimated loss of W1.1 trillion for the domestic film industry, prosecutors say.

Prosecutors decided not to prosecute those who downloaded the files as their number is too large and it is difficult to assume that they knew the files they downloaded violated copyright.

But some Internet users say the government, unhappy with the candlelight vigils, has started cracking down on the Internet as a form of revenge. “As Afreeca became a mecca of online protests with over 7 million watching live broadcasts of candlelight vigils, we remain suspicious at the nature of this investigation,” Nowcom says. “It cannot be ruled out that a political motive is involved.” Prosecutors brushed off the claim, explaining that the investigation began in April, even before the candlelight vigils started, and Afreeca is not even part of this investigation.

NewTeeVee covered the story saying “South Korea has one of the highest broadband penetration rates in the world; 40 MBit connections in the home are not uncommon. Koreans used to make use of these fast connections by swapping files P2P-style, but users have migrated to web-based storage solutions since the popular file-swapping system Soribada was forced to shut down in 2005.”

Further reading:

Free accounts do, however, have limited download speeds. Users have to buy or earn rewards points to get faster downloads, and you can earn points if other users download your files. This rewards system seems to be at the core of the investigations against the companies involved. Prosecutors have told Chosun Ilbo that the company rewards heavy uploaders with up to 10 percent of the money it makes from movie downloads.

Webhard services have been targeted by prosecutors and the entertainment industry for a while now, but Korean activists have always criticized efforts to shut down or restrict those services as heavy-handed and “a surrender (…) to pressure from the U.S.”

Anti-U.S. sentiments are also at the core of the dispute about the recent crackdown. Protests against the government’s decision to allow imports of U.S. meat have hit the Korean government hard in recent weeks. Nowcom execs believe their company was targeted because it offered these protests an online forum, according to JoongAng Ilbo.

NewTeeVee also points to statement which contains the following:

“The arrests naturally make us question whether the government authorities are conducting this probe with a politically motivated intention to prevent the expansion of candlelight vigils,” the company said in a statement posted on Afreeca.com.

“Nowcom never helped Internet users infringe upon copyrights of materials either,” the statement said.

Prosecutors said Afreeca.com is not the target of the investigation.

“The film industry has been filing lawsuits against online storage services since March,” said Koo Bon-jin, a senior prosecutor at the Seoul Central Prosecutors’ Office. “Our investigation is focused on how these storage services are involved in circulating pirated films.”

In a world where privacy has become a thing of the past in the US and in Sweden, people could soon face total disconnection from the internet in France based on three copyright complaints and a theory that making available is copyright infringement floating around, one hopes that these two incidences in Asia isn’t a sign of things to come for Western society as well.

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The reports surfaced on Reuters and moved to other major outlets like The Hollywood Reporter and Variety.

The initial reports say that TF1 is Frances largest private broadcaster. The 100 million euro suit is the equivalent of about $155 million USD. Variety notes that this is the same broadcaster that is currently suing another major video sharing site ‘DailyMotion’.

Said the reports, the lawsuit was filed in California, but will be heard by a French court.

It may lead one to wonder if there are similarities between the lawsuit by TF1 against YouTube and the lawsuit against ThePirateBay from Holleywood. Clearly, there are geographical barriers, legally speaking, to overcome. In the US, there is the digital Millennium Copyright act which has allowed YouTube to operate in the first place. Essentially speaking, if you find your work on YouTube and like it removed, you go through YouTubes process of getting a take-down notice. If anything else, some have criticized for making it too easy to take a video down.

The reports also rightfully note that Viacom is currently attempting to sue YouTube for $1 billion USD.

Hat tip: BNA Internet Law News via Michael Geist

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An 18-year-old YouTube user calling himself Yosickoyo posted the movie six months ago. He declined to give his real name, but said in an e-mail message that he had made the film available as a favor to others who had shared movies. “I just want to thank them by uploading a movie that I have,” he wrote.

NBC Universal, whose Universal Pictures distributed “8 Mile” in 2002, did not appreciate the gesture. The company asked YouTube to take down the clips after it learned of them from a reporter. It was not the first time. NBC Universal has three employees who troll the site every day looking for studio-owned material, and they send more than 1,000 such requests a month to YouTube.

“There is only so much we can do,” said Rick Cotton, NBC Universal’s general counsel, who estimated that more than half the videos on YouTube featuring NBC Universal’s television shows and films were unauthorized. As fast as a clip is taken down, he said, YouTube users “can always put up another.”

The downloads will be offered through Amazon’s new video download service, Unbox, and should be available in early 2007, the company said.

CustomFlix Labs Inc. produces licensed DVDs only when a customer orders one, rather than forcing its suppliers to risk producing thousands of copies that go unsold. CustomFlix already sells DVDs of some networks’ archived shows, including NBC’s "Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show," "Antiques Roadshow" from PBS and some CBS News programs.

Media companies will be able to offer their content in digital form for no extra cost, CustomFlix spokeswoman Stacey Hurwitz said. Consumers will likely pay a few dollars less for downloads than they do for DVDs, she said.

Dish Network has the Pocket Dish claims to be a complete TV/Video, music, games and photo device. Sounds full of features to me, let’s dig deeper. The TV/Video capabilities include the ability to quickly transfer up to 20 hours of Dish Network programming off your DVR, so that you can keep up with your favorite programs while on the go.

Music storage allows for up to 10,000 for the 20GB, 15,000 for the 30GB and 40GB comes in at up to 20,000 MP3, WMA or WAV music files and also includes cover art and play list abilities so that you can choose what music you want to hear in a customized manner. Up to 200,000 photos can be stored on this portable storage device for sharing with others via the brilliant color LCD screen or another connected TV.

Games include brain-teasers, role-playing choices and adventure games, all bundled in a nice compact unit. If you get tired of listening to music or watching movies, you can work to improve your mind and challenge yourself with a few games.

In 20GB-40GB sizes, the storage is plenty for most uses but is below some of the other players on the market. 2.2″ – 7″ screen sizes adds more viewable space than most portable viewers offer (most come in at 2.2″ standard so for a bigger screen, you might check the Pocket Dish out) and the dimensions vary, as follows:

20GB: 4.2″(w) x 2.4″(h) x 0.7″(d) with 2.2″ screen
30GB: 4.8″(w) x 3.0″(h) x 0.8″(d) with 4″ screen
40GB: 8.2″(w) x 4.2″(h) x 0.8″(d) with 7″ screen

Up to 20, 30 or 40 hours of viewable time, according to size, is projected. Do you need to record from other sources? The 20GB will only record audio but the 30-40GB options claim to have this capability. Again, the 20GB does not have a remote control but the 30-40GB players do, and this shows you that if you’re looking for features that other portable devices have, you will probably have to go with the 30GB or 40GB choices.

I noticed the 20GB does not have a removeable battery (you could upgrade or change this out later with a new one if it did) but the 30-40GB players do indeed have the ability to remove the battery which adds life to the player. Same situation with the docking station…nothing for the 20GB but the 30GB has it as part of the case and the 40GB says that it’s included on the actual unit itself.

What surprised me more is that the 20GB has a built-in microphone but the 30GB and 40GB players do not. Maybe because you can use it for almost anything else, they decided to throw in a microphone for the 20GB buyers so they feel they have more features.

I mentioned that you have 20, 30 and 40 hours available for Dish content but what kind of play time would you get from other sources? The site boasts other source content capacity at up to 80 hours for the 20GB, up to 120 hours for the 30GB and a whopping 160 hours for the 40GB but they do have a disclaimer as follows, regarding these numbers:

Recording capacity varies based on type of content being recorded. Recording capacities listed require using the total capacity available on the hard drive. On average, 1 GB = 1 billion bytes, formatted capacity is less.

Anywhere from “real-time” recording to 40 minutes of waiting can be found, depending on which DVR you have available. Many do record in “real-time” and so it’s not unusual for you to record the night before and run out the door in the morning, all set. Waiting 40 mins. might drag you down some, but if you plan ahead, that won’t be an issue.

You don’t seem to be limited to recording from the Dish Players only though. It lists other VCR, satellite recievers, cable boxes and TV’s as sources, although I’m unsure if there’s any that don’t work with the Pocket Dish players.

With free shipping until the end of this year and a really nice outline of comparison between the Pocket Dish and the Apple iPod, you can’t go wrong with at least doing some research to compare pricing, screen size and compatibility before making your final purchase.

When searching for accessories, you are redirected to this page and given a list of items you can use to go with your new Pocket Dish. You can order online and have it delivered to your door, or shop a bit and visit a retailer listed locally. Either way, expect to pay from $150USD to $400USD on this choice. Comes with your basic needs so you don’t have to chip in accessories until later if you want.