CEA sides with Dish, says 1984 Betamax ruling covers Hopper DVR

The Consumer Electronics Association has sided with Dish Network in its battles with television networks over the legality of the satellite operator’s commercial-skipping Auto Hop feature. The CEA (alongside the Computer and Communications Industry Association and the Internet Association) filed an amicus brief yesterday to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals supporting Dish’s defense against Fox out of concerns that “the outcome of this case will affect the future of private non-commercial time-shifting of television programs.”

In the brief, it is argued that the time-shifting functionality of Auto Hop is protected by the original 1984 Betamax Supreme Court ruling in Sony Corp. of America v. University City Studios, Inc. It continues on to say that to “find use of the Hopper for these purposes to infringe Fox’s copyrights essentially would be to reverse Sony and hold that most if not all forms of private time-shifting are illegal.” Additionally, Fox’s concerns over losing “control over its copyrighted works” due to the Hopper is called out as “rank speculation” that mimics the same worries presented in the Sony case 28 years ago.

“[The Hopper is] a fair use right expressly recognized by the Supreme Court almost three decades ago.”

Last year, Fox was denied a preliminary injunction against Dish Network that would have blocked the use of Auto Hop — or halted sales of the Hopper altogether. Separate cases with CBS and ABC are ongoing, with the former claiming that Dish covered up its Auto Hop feature when working out its latest contract negotiations. Tensions in that case have risen after CBS-owned CNET was forced to re-vote after awarding the Hopper with Sling its “Best of CES” award earlier this month. In a statement, CEA CEO Gary Shapiro called the Hopper “an exciting new product that will make television viewing easier and likely encourage viewers to watch more TV,” and he suggested that “broadcasters should try innovating rather than litigating.”

http://mobile.theverge.com/2013/1/26/3918932/cea-sides-with-dish-network-says-hopper-is-legal

Chrome beta for Android exposes WebGL, brings more 3D to the mobile web

Chrome beta for Android makes WebGL an easy toggle for mobile speed freaks

Did you hop on the new Chrome beta track for Android? There’s a treat waiting under the hood. Google’s Brandon Jones has confirmed that the latest build enables the flags page, letting us toggle hidden elements — including the rather big deal of WebGL support. Anyone with reasonably quick graphics can now experiment with full 3D on their phone without having to hack or use a plugin, whether it’s wild music videos or lovefests. Just remember that the experience won’t be as seamless as it is on the desktop. You’ll likely have to force the desktop version of a page just to see the graphics code, and few if any WebGL developers are optimizing for the performance and screen size of a phone. If you’d still like to get a peek at what could be the future of the mobile web, hit the source to join the beta flock.

 

via Engadget

Official Google Blog: Introducing Chrome for Android

Introducing Chrome for Android
In 2008, we launched Google Chrome to help make the web better. We’re excited that millions of people around the world use Chrome as their primary browser and we want to keep improving that experience. Today, were introducing Chrome for Android Beta, which brings many of the things you’ve come to love about Chrome to your Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich phone or tablet. Like the desktop version, Chrome for Android Beta is focused on speed and simplicity, but it also features seamless sign-in and sync so you can take your personalized web browsing experience with you wherever you go, across devices.

Speed:
With Chrome for Android, you can search, navigate and browse fast—Chrome fast. You can scroll through web pages as quickly as you can flick your finger. When searching, your top search results are loaded in the background as you type so pages appear instantly. And of course, both search and navigation can all be done quickly from the Chrome omnibox.

Simplicity:
Chrome for Android is designed from the ground up for mobile devices. We reimagined tabs so they fit just as naturally on a small-screen phone as they do on a larger screen tablet. You can flip or swipe between an unlimited number of tabs using intuitive gestures, as if you’re holding a deck of cards in the palm of your hands, each one a new window to the web.One of the biggest pains of mobile browsing is selecting the correct link out of several on a small-screen device. Link Preview does away with hunting and pecking for links on a web page by automatically zooming in on links to make selecting the precise one easier.A nd as with Chrome on desktop, we built Chrome for Android with privacy in mind from the beginning, including incognito mode for private browsing and fine-grained privacy options tap menu icon, ‘Settings,’ and then ‘Privacy’.

Sign in:
You can now bring your personalized Chrome experience with you to your Android phone or tablet. If you sign in to Chrome on your Android device, you can:View open tabs: Access the tabs you left open on your computer also signed into Chrome—picking up exactly where you left off.Get smarter suggestions: If you visit a site often on your computer, youll also get an autocomplete suggestion for it on your mobile device, so you can spend less time typing.

Sync bookmarks: Conveniently access your favorite sites no matter where you are or which device you’re using.

Chrome is now available in Beta from Android Market, in select countries and languages for phones and tablets with Android 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich. We’re eager to hear your feedback. Finally, we look forward to working closely with the developer community to create a better web on a platform that defines mobile.

Posted by Sundar Pichai, SVP, Chrome and AppsCross-posted from the Chrome blog and on the Mobile blog

via Official Google Blog: Introducing Chrome for Android.

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