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Jon Martindale

Music industry revenue is growing

Napster

In a move that will make it a little harder for groups like the BPI to cry poverty, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) has announced that the music industry's revenue grew by 0.3 per cent throughout 2011, totalling nearly £11 billion. The reasoning behind the trend is …

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Queensland now accepting 18+ games

Australia

For a long time Australia has been restricted to selling only titles that fall under the 15+ age rating, as there simply wasn't an 18+ rating to go on. Recently an adult rating was brought in, but Queensland, one of the larger and most populous provinces lagged behind – now …

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PlanetSide 2 EU accounts hacked

PlanetSide2

If you have an EU account with PlanetSide 2, it might be a good idea to change your login information. While the devs are claiming everything is under control, it appears a nefarious few may have managed to steal email addresses and passwords of some European accounts for the MMO …

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Why were so many Valve employees fired?

Valve

A couple of weeks ago we reported on how one and then many other Valve employees were let go. This seems to be a pretty rare thing at Valve and something that's a little hard to understand, since it operates a boss-free structure that sees people moving their desks where …

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How social networking is changing Italian politics

Beppe

Groups like the Pirate Party and prolific twitter users like Stephen Fry, might help remind us from time to time of certain freedoms that seem to be harder for ourselves and politicians to remember as the years go on, but one man in Italy is doing far more with his …

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Pirate Bay emigrates, becomes Hydra Bay

Hydrabay

The Pirate Bay has been one of Sweden's most defining features throughout the 21st century so far, but that will no longer be the case, as the torrent search site has hitched up its socks and left its native shores for pastures green – and ones less filled with copyright …

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Promo Bay has a new success story

The Pirate Bay launched a service last year called The Promo Bay, which saw bands, musicians and other artists get a front page placement on TPB – one of the world's biggest sites – for a few days of promotion. The latest success story was an indie game created by …

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German music rights law blocks many Youtube videos

Youtube GEMA

We've talked about the trouble with German music law in the past. It's the reason that Spotify took so long to launch in the country and why other music services have such a hard time. The biggest performance rights group in the country, GEMA, is tyrannical in its protectionism of artists and …

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CNET can keep its torrent client downloads, court rules

UTorrent

Last week we heard how a coalition of artists and one billionaire had targeted CNET's Download.com with legal action, hoping that the court would ban it from distributing the file sharing software uTorrent. However a court has now ruled that the site is more than within its right to continue …

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PS4 won’t block used games

Yoshida

Gamers the world over can breathe a sight of relief, as it has now been confirmed by Sony that the PlayStation 4, will not block used games – despite a patent filing seen earlier this year that suggested otherwise. The confirmation was made by Eurogamer while speaking with Sony Worldwide …

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New PS4 controller has a touchpad

PS4

The new controller for the PS4 has now been unveiled and it incorporates a few new features as well as improving on old ones. The controller latency has been improved and shortened, as well as a strengthening of its rumble abilities. The new additions are a little more exciting however, including a …

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New Google Glass video showcases capabilities

Google has released a new video showcasing the capabilities of its Glass headset/eyewear. In it we see voice recognition, translation information, video recording, web search abilities and a slew of vocal commands that allow for impressive hands free interaction. A lot of the video revolves around people saying, “Ok Glass…” followed by …

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More HMV store closures announced

Deloitte, the administrator for beleaguered tech firm HMV, has announced the closure of another 37 outlets, meaning another 464 staff will be let go in the process. This brings the total number of shuttered stores to over 100, on top of the closure of all ROI outlets. This latest move …

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4G auction revenue falls short

4G

The auction of the 4G mobile spectrum which was epxected to raise upwards of £3.5 billion for the treasury has fallen short of its aims, only generating £2.3 billion – just over 10 per cent of what was paid by mobile providers back in 2000 for portions of the 3G …

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Authorities threaten Swedish Pirate Party

Pirate Party Sweden

Our own British Pirate Party has been targeted by copyright lobbyists in the past, and it's happening again with the Swedish version. Copyright lobby group “Rights Alliance” is threatening to sue the political party if it doesn't cease its hosting of The Pirate Bay website. The letter sent to the …

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BBC 2 HD coming in March, no more BBC HD

BBC HD

Sky, Virgin Media, Freesat, Freeview and BT Vision customers will be set to gain a new channel in March, when BBC 2 HD is introduced for the first time. They will however be losing access to the long running BBC HD channel, which is officially being shut down at the …

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Amazon fires neo-nazi security

Amazon

Amazon has been forced to fire one of the sub-contracted security firms working for it in Germany, after it was found out that some members of the organisation has been wearing neo-nazi uniforms and intimidating foreign workers at one of the company's distribution centres. The group in question was known …

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Curry’s opens “gaming bunker”

Curry PC World

While we might have seen the British gaming high street retailers fall apart in recent years, one more hardware and electronics focused company is looking to keep retail gaming alive with the creation of a “gaming bunker,” which sees one Curry's store on Tottenham Court Road, London, make several high …

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PS4 will be cheaper at launch than PS3

Orbis

The PlayStation 4 is set to be shown off for the first time tomorrow and already fresh rumours are appearing. The latest one is suggesting that it could launch at a lower price point than the PS3 did – as low as £300. This report comes from the Times, which …

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Possible Weibo max-exodus is brewing

Lee Kai-Fu

Twitter could be set to get a big influx of users in the coming few weeks, as Ex-Google China head, Lee Kai-fu, has called for his 30 million+ followers on the Chinese social networking site Weibo, to do so again on his Twitter account, after he was banned from the …

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Sony cuts Vita price in Japan ahead of PS4 unveil

PSVita

Sony has slashed the price of the PS Vita in Japan, ahead of its conference on Wednesday, where it is expected to debut the PlayStation 4 console, as well as offer potential would wide price reductions for current-gen hardware. According to Reuters, you can now get the 3G Wifi version of the …

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BBC supports idea of HTML DRM

HTML

The BBC, an organisation that in the past has championed open standards – according to their own blog – has pledged its support for the W3C proposal put forward by big media giants last week, in an effort to have the standards group push for DRM restrictions on HTML. The …

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New Q*Bert record is over 80 hours long

Qbert

The last two major attempts to take down a thirty year standing record for Q*Bert have required a tag team duo, presumably for mutual support as much as competitive inspiration. The 2011 attempt failed, but the 2013 one has seen one man go all the way – smashing the 68 …

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How to build a PC that never crashes

Blue Screen

Could nature's chaos be the blueprint for creating a computer that never crashes? University College London computer scientist Peter Bentley thinks so. By using what he describes as a “systemic” computer, with self repairing systems, we could potentially have a future where our PCs never bring up that dreaded screen …

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Google is suing BT for copyright infringement

BT Vs Google

Normally when I cover infringement stories here at Kitguru, it's to do with patent arguments between Apple and Samsung, or artists taking a pop at The Pirate Bay, but today it's two giant companies facing off which could end with fireworks. Google, has put BT in its sights, as part …

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