May 14 - 10:00am EDT   RealNetworks today fought back against Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) claims that it was aiding piracy by filing counterclaims against both six studios in the MPAA and the DVD Copy Control Association. Sent through a Northern District of California court, the complaints accuse both groups of violating antitrust law by colluding together on trying to block legal alternatives to fair use copying of DVDs. Rather than grant copyrights through individual studios, permission is offered solely through a joint agreement between all of the studios and the DVD CCA, effectively letting them exclude anyone they decide offers competition to their own methods. [full story]

April 28 - 4:40pm EDT   In the ongoing legal battle between the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and RealNetworks over the latter's RealDVD computer program that lets users violate copyright laws, the MPAA argued removing the software's restrictions on how many computers can access the ripped files is easily done. Robert Shumann, an expert on securing DVDs, took the stand on Tuesday at the request of the MPAA and said changing RealDVD to allow for more than the current five computers to playback the copied content is simple. [full story]

April 24 - 9:15am EDT   RealNetworks is developing a digital media hub reference design that would let users store protected rips of their own DVD movies, the company's project lead Jeff Albertson revealed late yesterday. Nicknamed Facet, the Linux-based device mentioned to the New York Times would use the same technology as Real's RealDVD software and would let users store copies of DVDs on a hard drive, letting them play movies they own themselves while preserving the CSS copy protection to prevent piracy. An example Facet would hold about 70 movies. [full story]

April 6 - 2:10pm EDT   Yahoo today unveiled a reworked, public beta version of Yahoo Music that significantly changes the company's philosophy on content. The new version serves as a central hub for third-party music services and will let users buy songs from a number of sources, including Amazon and iTunes. It likewise collects Internet radio streams from Last.fm and Pandora as well as music videos on YouTube. [full story]

April 3 - 3:40pm EDT   RealNetworks will get a chance to defend the legality of its RealDVD DVD ripping software on April 24th in court, launched back in September, sales of which were later banned by a federal judge and the ban extended after the software maker was sued by movie studios. The trial will take place in a US District Court in San Francisco, RealNetworks Chairman and CEO Rob Glaser said in a Friday TWICE report. [full story]

January 12 - 9:10am EST   Haier in a low-key introduction has revealed its second and third major players in the ibiza line. The ibiza Theatre is the company's first real touchscreen player and serves as a lower-cost alternative to players from Apple and Samsung; while it has a 2.4-inch, 320x240 screen and doesn't appear to include Wi-Fi, the device includes Bluetooth for wireless headphones, an FM radio tuner and a microSD slot to add more space. It also supports Real's Rhapsody to Go for loading the device with music from the unlimited subscription service. [full story]

October 23 - 10:35am EDT   A previously hinted-at Facebook music service could be true after all, a claim made by VentureBeat suggests. Previously discredited, a now supported rumor asserts that the social network is allegedly planning to team up with a partner such as iLike, imeem, Lala or RealNetworks' Rhapsody to offer a way of at least streaming full songs over artist pages or those friends who bring up songs in the regular Facebook news feed. The service would potentially let users buy downloads, though whether this would involve the partner or simply linking to a third party such as Amazon or iTunes is unknown. [full story]

October 9 - 9:05am EDT   A temporary ban issued at the start of this week on RealNetwork’s sales of its RealDVD software, which allows users to copy DVD movies, has been extended until a hearing is held to decide whether or not to make the ban more permanent. The stop in sales was ordered by a US federal judge after Hollywood studios, represented by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), sued RealNetworks over copyright issues. The extension came just one day after the original temporary ban, on Tuesday, according to a Thursday report. [full story]

October 6 - 7:30am EDT   A judge today issued a temporary ban on sales of RealNetworks' RealDVD as part of proceedings for major movie studios' copyright lawsuit against the video software firm. The move, which officially lasts until Tuesday, is primarily to give the judge an opportunity to review filings made in the case but may be extended if more time is needed or the court decides to support a longer injunction against sales until the end of the case. [full story]

August 25 - 11:05am EDT   Verizon this morning switched its attention to non-smartphone messaging with the formal rollout of the Blitz. The UTStarcom-made device has a traditional feature phone interface but a slide-out QWERTY keyboard that speeds up responding to e-mail as well as instant messaging. The change also has the upside of keeping the closed phone short at 3.5 inches tall and allowing room for a 2.2-inch LCD. [full story]

July 29 - 2:35pm EDT   RealNetworks is urging Mac users to upgrade to version 11.0 of its RealPlayer application, due to a potential security exploit. The malware research site Secunia rates the problem as "highly critical," with potential risk of malicious system access and exposure of sensitive information. The vulnerability affects Realplayer v10 and v10.1 for Mac OS X. The company did not issue a patch, but is instead urging users to upgrade to RealPlayer 11.0. The company says there is a problem with Realplayer's ActiveX import method buffer overflow. [full story]

July 26 - 6:55pm EDT   Yahoo will compensate customers of its Yahoo Music online store once the company shuts down its servers and prevents customers from renewing their copy protection licenses, the company says. The firm now says that anyone who purchased tracks in addition to their monthly subscriptions to Yahoo Music will be refunded "for whatever [was] paid" for the songs so that they aren't forced to repurchase the tracks later. All active subscribers can also voluntarily transfer over to RealNetworks' Rhapsody subscription service and will have their lower $10 monthly rate carry over for a limited amount of time. [full story]

July 25 - 12:25pm EDT   The upcoming MySpace Music service may ultimately be run by another major online music store, say alleged sources for TechCrunch. The social networking site is described as most likely picking Amazon MP3 to handle the commerce behind the store but is also said to be entertaining offers from other companies, including Apple and RealNetworks. No commitments have yet been made. [full story]

January 8 - 11:00pm EST   The second day of CES has drawn to a close, with many companies making major announcements about new products and services. Intel unveiled its 45nm Core 2 mobile platform with integrated SSE4 and 6MB of cache, available in speeds ranging from 2.1GHz to 2.8GHz. Microsoft announced that its Xbox Video Marketplace service will see content from Disney-ABC and MGM, and formally denied rumors that Xbox 360 with built-in HD-DVD is in planning. HP’s MediaSmart gear was given a complete overhaul, while also introducing several new laptop products. Seagate was on hand to show a number of different new storage options, while RealNetworks showed various products that use its Rhapsody ... [full story]

January 7 - 4:45pm EST   Philips today introduced several new home and personal audio products, also a new line of LCD TVs. Pairing up with RealNetworks, the company’s new Streamium NP1100 relies on the 4.5 million track collection offered by Real’s Rhapsody network, as well as internet radio, and PC music libraries to bring audio to the home environment. The device uses a black and white display to show track information, and has a built-in WiFi receiver to connect with users’ home wireless networks. Philips expects to ship the NP1100 in May for $150. [full story]