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Kazaa user fined $1.92 million
A woman who won a retrial after a US$220,000 verdict against her for sharing music files has now been ordered to pay $1.92 million by a jury in Minnesota. In 2007, when she lost the original suit, Jammie Thomas-Rasset was one of the first people to receive a guilty verdict in a case backed by the Recording Industry Association of America. On Thursday, a jury ordered her to pay $80,000 for each of the 24 songs she is accused of illegally trading over the Kazaa Internet service. The jury could have ordered her to pay between $750 and $150,000 per song. In a statement, the RIAA said it was pleased that the jury found the defendant liable and that it continues to be willing to settle the case.
Zune HD is Tegra-powered
Microsoft’s upcoming Zune HD media player is powered by Nvidia’s Tegra computing platform, a source familiar with the device’s specifications confirmed on Friday. The Zune HD may well be the first Tegra-powered device when it hits the market later this year and the sleek device could give Nvidia significant shipment volumes for Tegra. Tegra could make the Zune HD an iPod killer. The main advantage will be the ability of the Zune HD to play high-definition video. The release of iPhone OS 3.0 gives the iPod Touch and iPhone the ability to download movies and television shows directly from the iTunes store, but they can only play standard-definition files. Watching high-definition movies from the iTunes Store requires the Apple TV set-top box.
RIM sees drop in subscriber growth
Research in Motion on Thursday saw a rare drop in subscriber growth when it reported its fiscal first quarter results, while shipment growth of its popular BlackBerry handsets apparently stalled. The company, from Waterloo, Ontario, said 3.8 million new BlackBerry subscriber accounts were opened in its first quarter, which ended May 30, compared to 3.9 million new accounts in its fourth quarter. The figures mark only the second time the company has reported a drop in quarter-to-quarter new subscriber account growth. The last time RIM’s subscriber growth ebbed was in the fiscal fourth quarter of 2006, which ended March 4 of that year. The drop at that time was attributed to patent litigation with NTP, which had stoked fears the BlackBerry system may face a court-ordered shutdown in the U.S.
IBM offers supercomputers
IBM on Thursday said it is now offering high-performance computing services to customers who want to get supercomputers up and running faster. The company is offering services that include installation of supercomputers, training, and porting of applications to high-performance systems. The services are being provided by IBM’s deep computing group, which is responsible for products like x86-based system clusters to supercomputers based on the company’s Power architecture. Users of high-performance computers include researchers who need a lot of processing power for complex math calculations. Supercomputing sometimes calls for skills that some organizations might not have, and the services portfolio will make IBM’s HPC skills available to those customers.
…And those are the top stories from the IDG Global IT News Update, brought to you by the IDG News Service. I’m Sumner Lemon in Singapore. Join us again later for more news from the world of technology.
