Nielsen: Most used 360 Xbox console, Wii most played offline (PC World) (Yahoo!)

Microsoft's Xbox 360 is the most used console among users aged 13 or older, according to a new survey from media tracker Nielsen. "Most used," meaning everything from playing games to watching movies or catching some tunes to surfing the internet.

The company used metered console tracking (similar to the "people meter" box the company employees to track TV and cable viewing habits) to gauge "electronically measured hours," which revealed users ages 13 and older 4.9 "total hours" spent a week with the Xbox 360, compared with 4.1 hours on the PlayStation 3 and 1.4 hours on the Wii.

Let's break that down. Males and females ages 13 and older spent 6.1 and 2.6 hours a week (respectively) using the Xbox 360, compared with 5.2 (males) and 2.1 (females) hours with Sony's PlayStation 3, gold 1.7 (males) and 1.1 (females) hours with Nintendo's Wii.

Any surprises there? Perhaps. It's intriguing to see an apples-to-apples comparison use for a change. Install base figures have no impact on these figures, since Nielsen's measuring equally sized populations.

That's only half the story, however. The company also breaks down use time on each console by function (though we're back to user-reported data here, as opposed to neutrally metered).

In share of console time among users ages 13 and older, 62% use the Xbox 360 to play video games, a figure that drops to just 49% for PlayStation 3 owners goal which soars to 69% for Wii owners.

How's that break down for online and offline games? 28% use the Xbox 360 to play online games, while just 19% use the PS3 for online gaming, and a mere 12% play online games with the Wii.

By contrast, 27% use the PS3 to watch DVD or Blu - ray movies, compared with 11% on the Xbox 360, the Wii can't play DVD or Blu - ray movies).

Shift to streaming videos, however, pp. suddenly takes the lead with 20% of Wii console use time, compared with just 10% of time spent with the Xbox 360 and 9% with the PS3.

Nielsen says it'll have more data to share in January 2011. I'll be paying attention. These are some of the most intriguing (and legitimate) comparison metrics I've seen already.

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Appellate court upholds ban de vol à voile 'World of Warcraft' bot (PC Magazine)

A Court of appeal, this week confirmed lower judgment which prohibits the use of an automatic robot who played for users of "World of Warcraft" in their absence, but found that the use of the tool does not constitute a violation of copyright law.

Use the tool gliding format industries is a violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act anti-circumvention clause, the ninth circuit ruled. But violating terms of service, WoW, does not automatically equal a violation of copyright law.

Product theft sailing format facilitates the room unattended. FAQ page of gliding WoW admits that gliding is against the terms of service WoW because players must agree to a contract which, among other things, prohibits maintain "any connection not authorized for the game or the service. The bottom line: use at your own risk, said the gliding FAQ.

Blizzard and Vivendi Games, Inc. continued glider creator Michael Donnelly and format industries, in February 2008 for violations of intellectual property. Blizzard wanted the Court to stop the Donnellys gliding to distribute and to award monetary damages. In 2009, a district court ruled in favour of Blizzard, guilty of secondary copyright infringement format and delivered a judgment of $ 6.5 million.

Decision this week reversed part of copyright.

"We conclude that for breach of a contract to constitute an infringement of the copyright holder, there must be a link between the State and exclusive rights of the licensor of copyright", the Court said. "Here, WoW players not committed a breach of copyright for gliding in violation of the [terms of use]." FORMAT is not responsible for the violation of secondary copyright law which requires the existence of a direct violation of copyright law. »

The decision confirms however, an injunction because the gliding effectively bypasses anti-bot detection program Blizzard, called Director, in violation of the DMCA.

The Court "Aircraft has no function other than to facilitate the reading of WoW," said.

As a result, "We affirm entry of the district court of the of a permanent injunction against the format to prevent future violations," he concluded.

As regards the 6.5 million, the ninth circuit he transferred to the lower court, which will be reconsider how Donnelly and format will have to pay.

Tape media step up (PC World) (Yahoo!)

All media, so many ways to look at on your HDTV. Is rapid decision-making on the landscape streaming media after one year of explosive growth in the number of decoders, a term which has come to mean almost any what device that connects and somehow book, video, music and pictures to your game. New high profile Apple Boxee, Logitech coils (running Google TV) and Roku category front and Centre.

Where all the media of this comes from? Sources are continually expanding and vary on which box you buy. There could be a free Internet service or commercial (such as Amazon, Apple TV, Netflix, Vudu, YouTube, Vimeo, or any TV network site), or it may be stored on a drive connected directly to the box (via a USB port or an internal hard drive) or shared on your local network via wired or wireless. And then there are all TV shows and movies that you saved with a digital video recorder.

Boxes, we have seen can deliver media for at least some of the above sources, but this writing none of them can do everything - either because it is the manner in which they were designed, or because Hollywood leave.

While Apple TV in the current iteration supports the popular demand of Netflix service, it is still optimized media leased or purchased on iTunes. Current iteration of Apple TV is not a hard disk, you bought a computer, iPod or iPad flow media. We examined, the most versatile and most capable were review Logitech Google and box Boxee by D-Link - but some sites in the network are media banners preventing them to show their video and parasitic content start keep these to knock out success stories.

Roku products are literally dozens of sites and services, streaming media, but they do support streaming from your PC or a network drive. A group of little-known suppliers boxes (Cirago and Uebo, for example) supports streaming the media stored locally, but lack integrated NetFlix or other commercial services software. Because these boxes typically supports DLNA server, some depend on Play - the Mall Media running on a PC network (which essentially creates a DLNA server) software to access the Netflix and similar.

But it is essentially a workaround solution that adds network hops, whereby the media have a stream of the Internet to a PC and the box, rather than streaming directly to the box; This approach makes the music or video much more inclined to stutter or freezing due to interference.

Other variables apply too. Most of the media streamer supports 720 p HDTV supports either a HDMI or component video connection. Not all, however, can deliver 1080p content, a capacity which ups usually the price of the banner. Some have incorporated their own storage their double as media servers. allowing to attach discs you provide USB ports are more frequent.

Some connect to your network via ethernet. others have also supported integrated Wi - Fi, although at this writing support are mainly of 802. .11n ready on the 2.4 GHz band. Because most laptops and other devices also use the 2.4 GHz band, interference may jeopardize smooth playback of video, causing disruptions or even stop a video when the software waits an entry arrive. Banners that we examined, only the top version of the Roku range supports continuous by Wi - Fi on the 5 GHz band less crowded.

In General, we recommend that you find cable network - options such as the supply voltage HomePlug AV or the most recent products MOCA (Multimedia Coax Alliance) use your home wiring cable - connection media banners, as they are generally more reliable, especially for the video.

However, the diversity of mailboxes means that your first purchases for consideration should be which media sources you want to just it - streams and whether your entertainment with other components, such as your HD TV, console gaming Centre or the Blu - ray player is already capable of delivering their. Support for many new models of these devices, services, and there is little point in shelling money for a box that duplicates that you already have.

Prices everywhere are in the map. Although some models Roku for less than $100, prices fall typically range from $ 100 to $ 200 depending on the characteristics; review of Logitech $ 300 is the group, but it comes with a Web browser and a real keyboard.

See our top chart on page 5 serpentine media and check our reviews carefully, especially if you are ready to be an adopter. While these products are very promising allowing you to take advantage of the media on your TV, the mentality of the Klondike gold rush of suppliers means that many come with what we would consider that require updates to the firmware beta software. Such as electronics, they may be exaggerated. But they quickly opened a new entertainment House border makes them well worth.