RealNetworks, Inc. (NASDAQ:RNWK) should have saw this coming when they release their new controversial RealDVD software.  While RealPlayer already allows you to download any video from YouTube or powered by Flash, RealDVD allows you to rip DVDs and make back up copies.  RealDVD was officially launched today.  Six major studios announced that they are suing the software company over the software.

These studios believe that many of Netflix and Blockbuster’s customers would just burn the movies that they rent with the RealDVD software, thus causing them to lose out on a great deal of money.  The lawsuit was filed at the U.S. District Court in L.A. 

“The incentive for the consumer is obvious and all but overwhelming,” stated a request by the movie studios.  The request was for a temporary restraining order. “‘Why,’ he or she may ask, ’should I pay $18.50 to purchase a DVD when I can rent it for $3.25 and make a permanent copy?’”

RealNetworks defends their software by saying it is legal.  RealDVD is sold for $30 per consumer at $20 for up to four licenses after that.  The software copy is locked into the original owner’s hard drive and does not alter the encryption technology used by movie studios already.  Copying one’s own personal copies of a DVD is “fair use” by law. 

The movie studios stated that RealDVD violates the Digital Millenium Copyright Act to bypass technologies that prevent the copying of a DVD without permission of the copyright owners.  The movie studios that are suing RealNetworks includes Viacom, Inc. (NYSE:VIA)’s Paramount Pictures, Sony Corporation (NYSE:SNE)’s Sony Pictures, News Corporation (NYSE:NWS.A)’s 20th Century Fox, General Electric (NYSE:GE)’s Universal, The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) studio, and Time Warner Inc. (NYSE:TWX) Warner Bros.

The King of Pop, Michael Jackson has launched an social network game application to promote his new album, King of Pop.  The new album is set to release on August 25.  The dance game application is available on Facebook, MySpace, and Bebo.  Jackson’s fans will be able to win prizes.  The gaming application allows users to control Michael’s dance moves.

Prizes will be awarded to the highest scores every hour and per day.  Hourly winners will get ringtones and daily winners will get iPod Nanos.  The top 5 highest scorers on each social network then make it to the next level.  The next level is when the top scorers face off against each other.  Two of the players will get plane tickets to go around the world.  Or the winners will get a Sony Bravia 32″ TV and a PS3.  Sony BMG partnered with GMTV and the Sun newspaper for this competition.

The application will be available starting tomorrow.

Warren Buffet’s advice was the best.

Information Source:
[1] Yahoo! Blog: Lemme give you a little advice by Nicki Dugan

Hulu is proving more and more everyday that they are not Clown Co. Hulu has just made a solid move for catering to those that prefer having RSS aggregation websites as their browser homepage.

Now Hulu has a way to add RSS feeds for several categories of videos on their site including: Recently Added Videos, Recently Added Shows, Highest Rated Videos, Most Popular Videos, Most Popular Videos This Week, Most Popular Videos This Month, Most Popular Videos All Time, Soon-To-Expire Videos.  Personally I’m going to take every one of these RSS feeds and add them to a separate tab on my current homepage, Netvibes.

There is also an Add Video check box that allows Hulu to embed the video within the RSS feed aggregation box.  This feature is not quite supported yet, but I’m sure it’s a work-in-progress.

What makes these RSS feeds interesting is that Feedburner powers them.  Feedburner is owned by Google and Google owns YouTube, a Hulu competitor. Oh, the irony.  No matter what you do on the web, it somehow connects to Google in some sort of degree.  Just like all of us are six degrees from Kevin Bacon, every Google competitor is 2 degrees away from Google.

Another interesting feature of Hulu is the ability to embed videos into social networks.  This will surely drive additional hits to Hulu.  Hulu is currently ranked 3,000 or so on Alexa and growing.  Below is a screen shot of Hulu in my Netvibes.

Great feature, keep it up Hulu team.

Hulu’s content is provided by Time Warner Inc. (NYSE:TWX) through NBC and warner Bros., General Electric Company (NYSE:GE) through NBC, MGM Mirage (NYSE:MGM), Sony Corporation (NYSE:SNE), and Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. (NYSE:LGF),

I received an e-mail from a PR firm that told me about the launch of Penn Says.

Penn Jillette (of Penn & Teller), one of the nation’s most clever magicians has found a home on the information superhighway, Crackle.com.  The channel that Penn has started revolves around current events, politics, and celebrity mishaps.  There are no cue cards, no editors, just Penn’s freestyle conversation with the cameras that Sony provided him with.

“Big badass Crackle has given me the chance to talk directly to you about anything I want, anytime I want.  I mean anything.  I mean any time.  When something gets my goat, or I want to get someone else’s goat or other farm animal, I’ll flip on my camera and rave about it.  Half-cocked, from inside my head, electronically to inside your head in minutes.  No script, no thinking, so I might be wrong.  I’m counting on you to keep me honest with videos right back to me,” stated Jillette.

I watched a few clips on the show and the channel is definitely very entertaining.  One of the videos opened with Penn saying that he thinks one of the biggest scumbags he knows of is Dr. Phil.

“Penn Jillette has exactly the type of raw, edgy and honest voice we want to present on Crackle,” stated Tony Liano, VP of content and programming of Crackle.  “Crackle is about giving audiences content that pushes the envelope and entertainment they can’t find from other sites or traditional media.  Penn will shepherd in a new form of entertainment for our audiences, one that is active and engaged and challenges our audience to respond.”

Penn & Teller also had an entertaining, yet controversial appearance on TV show,West Wing.  See the video below:
[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=NymRecFWgAs[/youtube]