Stories by Melissa J. Perenson

Technology for legally burning copy-protected content

It's ironic: The copy protection created to stop the illegal copying of DVDs is the same technology that has prevented users from legally downloading paid-for content and then burning it to a DVD for playback in their living rooms. At the time the copy-protection rules were created, they had no provision for user recording of protected content to a recordable DVD, as opposed to a factory-replicated DVD-ROM.

Seagate announces 1TB hard drive

Seagate jumps into the 1 terabyte hard drive fray with its Barracuda 7200.11, announced Monday and due to ship in the third quarter of 2007. The company is second-to-market with a single drive that pakcs 1TB of storage; rival Hitachi came out in the spring.

AACS next-gen content protection cracked?

For months, we've heard how bullet-proof the new Advanced Access Content System (AACS) is. This is the system used in Blu-ray and HD DVD discs to protect content stored on disc from illegal duplication.

Projectors lighten up at Comdex

A little more than a year ago the first 3-pound ultralight projectors using Texas Instruments Inc.'s Digital Light Processing technology appeared. This week at Comdex companies displayed even smaller projectors that shatter the 3-pound barrier, as well as a few noteworthy but slightly heavier models.

Imaging Made Easy

With the latest iteration of its PhotoSuite image editor, PhotoSuite 4 Platinum Edition, MGI Software Corp. couples an elegant interface with improved imaging controls. The US$50 PhotoSuite doesn't skimp on much, providing a host of image-enhancement, creativity, and Web features to choose from. But the program does have a few quirks.

New MP3 Players Expand Music Memories

If the memory limitations of today's MP3 players frustrate you, you're not alone. I looked at shipping units of two players from Sensory Science Corp.: The RaveMP 2300 and its tiny sibling, the RaveMP 2200.

Virtually Organize Your Paper Pileups

Need to get your desk organized? ScanSoft Inc.'s PaperPort Deluxe 7 is a new document management package aimed at getting stray papers off your desk and into your PC.

Two Capable Tools for Organizing Web Content

Finding information on the Web is easy; organizing it can be a nightmare. AskSam Systems Inc.'s $30 SurfSaver Pro 2 and Giage Inc.'s $179 WebSpace Professional go beyond browser bookmark tools to help you save and organize information--in very different ways.

IBM: Your Handheld Will Hear You

A speaking Palm Inc. handheld, Web pages you can talk to, a courteous robot, and a first draft of the Star Trek universal translator--science fiction? Not in IBM Corp.'s labs.

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