Science and technology news blog

Over the last few days millions of internet users were affected by a Skype outage. The VOIP leader had an unexpected breakdown when millions of computers were restarted at the same time due to the installation of Microsoft updates. Since Skype depends on peer-to-peer technology, such a large number of users logging off at around the same time caused a lack of resources. An article from PC-World discusses what exactly happened:

“The disruption was triggered by a massive restart of our users’ computers across the globe within a very short timeframe” Skype says. But careful read of Skype’s explaination today shows that that led to two seperate meltdown-inducing problems.

There is also widespread speculation about the service as discussed in the following article:

“Outages and quality problems with VoIP service providers are sadly still too common – most service providers have glitches that can last from a few minutes to a few hours,” Main said. “That Skype has gone so long without a prolonged problem is quite an achievement.”

BBC has announced that hundreds of episodes of its popular programs will for the first time, be made available on a file sharing network.

According to BBC, the move is the fall-out of a deal between its commercial arm, BBC Worldwide, and the Java-based BitTorrent client technological firm, Azureus.

Earlier this month, Azureus launched a video sharing site similar to YouTube, codenamed ‘Zudeo’. The site enables users upload and view content. Azureus maintains that unlike most video sharing sites, ‘Zudeo’ offers high definition videos. Besides, users need to download a program to access and upload content.

Up until now, most BBC titles found on peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing networks have been illegal copies. With the new deal, users of ‘Zudeo’ will be able to download legally, high-quality versions of popular BBC programs.

To prevent these programs from being traded illegally on the Internet, the titles will be protected by digital rights management (DRM) software.

The move, according to BBC officials, is part of a company drive to reach the largest possible audience.

As per Azureus sources, the entire experience will be very different from that offered by traditional file-sharing networks.

In case of the latest, users will be able to link to programs from blogs, social networks, and fan sites.

However, pricing for the BBC content on ‘Zudeo’ has not yet been revealed.

The firm behind popular online file-sharing software eDonkey has agreed to pay $30 million (23.6 million) to avoid potential copyright infringement lawsuits from the recording industry, according to court documents filed Tuesday.

New York-based MetaMachine Inc. was one of seven technology companies to receive letters from the recording industry last fall warning them to shut down or prepare to face lawsuits.

Since then, the operators of BearShare, i2Hub, WinMX, and Grokster have reached similar agreements.

“With this new settlement, another domino falls, and we have further strengthened the footing of the legal marketplace,” Mitch Bainwol, chairman and chief executive of the Recording Industry Association of America, said in a statement.

Under terms of the latest agreement, MetaMachine and its top executives, Sam Yagan and Jed McCaleb, agreed to immediately cease distributing eDonkey, eDonkey 2000, Overnet and other software versions.

The company also agreed to take measures to prevent file-sharing by people using previously downloaded versions of the eDonkey software.

A federal judge must still give final approval to the terms of the settlement.

A call to eDonkey CEO Sam Yagan was not immediately returned.

The eDonkey Web site on Tuesday featured a message from the company telling visitors that the eDonkey2000 Network was no longer available, and a warning that people who steal music or movies are breaking the law.

The message concluded with “Goodbye Everyone.”

Several file-sharing services have yet to reach settlements with the recording industry, including Warez P2P, Limewire and Soulseek.

In August, the recording companies filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against the firm behind LimeWire. That case is pending.

“The manner in which the industry has reacted to technological change in the past seven years shows that the people running these companies clearly have their heads in the sand, and some of their actions reek of stupidity and unadulterated greed,” said Jarad Carleton, an analyst at Frost & Sullivan.

The fight over online music piracy has become a war of words following the Music Publisher Association’s (MPA) announcement that it will begin playing legal hard ball with Web sites that provide access to unlicensed lyrics and sheet music.

The MPA, the oldest music trade organization in the country, represents some of the leading players among the nation’s 26,000 music publishers. The nonprofit said it will begin issuing takedown notices to lyric sites in January.

In a BBC News interview, MPA president Lauren Keiser said his goal is not just to shut down the sites and levy fines, but also to get authorities to “throw in some jail time,” which he believes will make the group’s campaign “a little more effective.” (more…)