Looking for more out of your DVD movie purchase other than the movie itself? Then this update about Sony offering digital copies within its own DVDs should interest you. Digital copies are simply that - legal copies of the film that you can easily watch on your PC, PS3 or PSP with almost no hassle whatsoever. Almost. Check out the full details after the jump.

Hardware pirates are about to get another force to contend with: The new EPIC chip locking system developed by computer engineers at the University of Michigan and Rice University. While not infallible, the new locking technique should make things very difficult and costly for hardware pirates to copy chips that come armed with it. More in the full article.

Sony's CEO Howard Stringer talks about the state of Sony PlayStation 3 after enjoying a certain level of success, as well as what-might-have-beens between the two currently opposing media formats: HD-DVD and Blu-ray. Aside from these, Stringer also shares his other comments regarding Microsoft decision in supporting HD-DVD. Read the full article and find out all about it!

The human eye can only see the colors within the visible spectrum of light. What that basically means is that there's a bunch of other colors we can't see, but our cameras can though. Now new technology called Kameraflage is aiming to use it as their invisible ink.

Kameraflage basically puts in an extra layer of images - within the color range human eyes can't see - where it becomes visible through the lens of a digital camera. (That includes cameras built into mobile phones too!

 This actually opens up a whole new method of advertising and capitalization in a market that was once invisible (literally). Kameraflage has some pretty good ideas on how it can be used:

• Stopping movie piracy: If people record movies straight out from the cinema, their cameras will also record that extra layer of content, permanently tagging that recording as a piracy.
• Advertising: Now you can advertise in places where it would have been inappropriate before, like a museum. Now people don't have to see it unless they intentionally point a camera at it.
  
• Fashion: Uniforms? Boo. Now you can spice it up (secretly though) with the new Kamerflage technology.

So it's un-x-ray vision?

Microsoft may seem to dislike free software, but they're not all that bad. In fact, some ATM machine is running on unactivated Windows. For those who don't get the drift, the copy running on that machine is most likely not licensed (read: pirated).

Bank VTB, also known as Vneshtorgbank, is said to be one of the biggest banks in Russia. It's on top in terms of authorized capital, which would make anyone wonder why they'll miss such a thing. Even if the Windows copy was legit, it's unthinkable why they'd let the machine loose for public use when they haven't sorted out its OS yet.

Normally, big companies like banks only need a single product key; they get in a volume license agreement with Microsoft for their operating systems. With that said, there's no reason why a message like that would appear on a bank's ATM machine (click on thumbnail for a closer look at the dialogue box).

Is this image caused by negligence, agreement exploits, or piracy? Let's hear what you think.

To be quite frank, I don't usually see movies during the first day of their showing. Previous experiences tell me that I will just get annoyed because of the many people in there not keenly watching the movies, mind you, but doing unnecessary things like calling and sending text messages, or even intentionally making their little sisters cry.

I guess this problem is pretty much universal and I know that you'll be happy with Regal Cinemas' latest innovations to its theaters. Known as the Regal Guest Response System, this gadget is actually a handheld pager given to a random member of the Regal Crown Club Loyalty Program who's attending a particular movie.

If any untoward incident occurs, that patron can just press a button to alert a similar pager in the possession of the theater manager. The manager will go right into the theater (probably with some security escorts or something) and will try to solve the problem. Battery Park Stadium theater manager Heather Dematteis explained,

If any situation does arise, they can just press a button which goes directly to the pager which the manager will have and they'll signal it and they'll go right into the theater and handle the situation. This device can be used for more than just reporting loud patrons. It also can be used to report problems with the picture, sound, and even piracy.

The Regal Guest Response System is currently being used in 114 theaters across United States and in New York alone, there are about seven different cinemas employing the device.

Earlier in the week, we reported a deal between EMI and Apple regarding selling Digital Rights Management (DRM)-free content which has pleased digital music fans around the world. In a move to react with the status quo, Microsoft has followed by announcing that it, too, will do the same for the Zune community.

In a statement by Katy Asher, a spokeswoman for Microsoft, it was revealed that the company has also been holding talks with record outfits in an attempt to cut the consumers some slack.

It can be remembered that there has been an outcry both in the U.S. and in Europe against DRM because the policy essentially restricts compatibility and transferability of content in an attempt to curb piracy of copyrighted material. Apple and Microsoft has embedded DRM code in their media formats, making consumers clamor for a more flexible policy.

"We plan on offering it (DRM-free content) to them as soon as our label partners are comfortable with it," says Asher. She said that Microsoft has recognized what the people want and is working on giving them what they desire.

Analysts suggest that the move by Microsoft is based on Apple's policy because of the influence that the iPod line of players have over the community. We'll keep you posted as the situation brews in the ranks of the Zune team.

Sony Corporation has just  announced CLEFIA (based on the French word "clef" or key). CLEFIA is "a new highly secure and efficient block cipher algorithm that delivers advanced copyright protection and authentication" for digital data like music and images. Sony said that CLEFIA "maintains high security levels while providing both world-leading hardware and software implementation capabilities, the combination of which had proved difficult until now."

Sony will reveal more about CLEFIA at the Fast Software Encryption 2007 international conference in Luxembourg (the conference starts on March 26 and will run for three days). Here are other details:

• When implemented in hardware it achieves maximum throughput of 1.42 Gbps using a 0.09 micrometer CMOS standard cell library and gate size of just 6.1K.
• Able to provide advanced capabilities, even in restrictive environments such as smart cards and mobile devices.
• When implemented in software it can realize high speed performance on a wide variety of processors.
• CLEFIA is said to be more secure and faster than most other security measures - it takes fewer operations to encode and decode (that means the gadget's hardware won't be burdened; that means it is possible for CLEFIA to be used by many AV devices).
• CLEFIA is a strong cipher: block length is 128 bits, while key length can be selected from 128 bits, 192 bits, and 256 bits.

Apparently, Sony's aim is to establish an environment in which CLEFIA can be used across various applications and products such as AV devices "while continuing to develop technologies that our customers can use with confidence."

For those of us who still remember the Sony BMG rootkit scheme from 2005 (which became a costly "scandal" in 2006), we're wondering how soon Sony will implement CLEFIA in commercial applications like its wide range of video, music, and video game products. CLEFIA may just be the fast, non-intrusive, tough-to-crack, and convenient anti-piracy tool that today's digital market has been watching out for.

A user of the Doom9 forums has reported that he has found the processing keys, media keys, and Volume IDs of HD-media (HD-DVD and Blu-Ray), on February 11, 2007, each a part of the encryption system HD-media players use. Subsequent posts to the thread to date have helped confirm his findings.

The thread itself contains his step-by-step method of finding the HD-DVD processing keys, building on past efforts and experiences - not to mention revealing the keys themselves for a given HD-DVD title. There are arguments that he has done no wrong under the law, since he's just revealing the code that is already on the disk and is not trying to circumvent copy protection.

However, the next steps might lead to piracy (and legal trouble). For that reason this article will NOT feature a link-to.

Posts later on indicate that the same technique might work on Blu-Ray titles as well. Reactions in that forum indicate that they've laid bare the current HD-DVD and Blu-Ray movie lineup on the market. There is mention that the keys could be changed by Advanced Access Content System (AACS) for future releases, though. Additionally, one forum poster argued that finding the keys on the disc doesn't necessarily break the DRM Vinci's Code because AACS could always change the locks.

Still, the discovery is spurring talk of fair use and media backups. Speaking of which, and to clarify any debate about piracy that may follow: the arguments in favor of the discovery of the processing keys do not speak of piracy, but of fair use - the freedom of the buyer of HD-DVD or Blu-Ray titles to play their titles on any player they own, in the format they specify or have (remember, for want of a cable...).

Arguably, that same freedom can be abused, which has led to piracy. It's the old debate between freedom and responsibility.

Your ethics, your call.

With all the news going around about the 3-days-3-plays DRM limitations (let's not forget the rumored effects of DRM on your playtime), Zune users have another music issue to contend with: the Zune just can't share any music though WiFi. That's right: sharing is either allowed by the record companies or it isn't.

So you have millions of songs at your fingertips. Right. You can bet half a million more aren't allowed on WiFi.

Zunerama and ZuneThoughts have been testing around 50 songs that can or cannot be shared over WiFi. And from a result of 40 to 58% successful sharing, the artists tested are as follows:

From Universal Music

• Prohibited from sharing on Zune: Gwen Stefani, Snow Patrol, Eminem, Blue October, JoJo, Jay-Z
• Allowed for sharing on Zune: Nickelback, Nelly Furtado, Mariah Carey

From Sony Music

• Prohibited from Sharing on Zune: Beyonce, Weird Al Yankovic (can anyone verify if Sony published his music?), Ciara
• Allowed for sharing on Zune: Shakira, Wyclef Jean, The Fray, Christina Aguilera, John Mayer, Brad Paisley

So the point of having WiFi, which of course is sharing by majority, is aggravatingly crippled. The record companies tend to blow over the issue of piracy and tighten the noose too much, don't you think? If you think you've paid enough for the music you have on your Zune and still find that the record companies are asking for more, maybe it's time to rethink your current hobby. We hear kite flying is fun. No, really!