EMI has been sued this week by Bagdasarian Prods, the owner of the 'Alvin and the Chipmunks' franchise, over royalties related to a boxset of Chipmunks music.

Ross Bagdasarian, Jr. says EMI has not paid "appropriate royalties" on the 24 song boxset.

Bagdasarian, Sr. created the franchise in 1958 by speeding up his own recorded voice to a high pitch and releasing a number of chart-topping hits, like the Grammy-nominated "The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)."

In the suit, Jr. is demanding monetary damages for breach of contract and copyright infringement, looking for a potential $3.6 million ($150,000 per track).

Last year, Jr. sued 20th Century Fox, looking to take half of all the profits for the animated "Alvin and the Chipmunks: Squeakquel." That film made over $400 million, globally. The suit is still pending.

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Microsoft has pledged support for System on a Chip (SoC) architectures, including ARM-based systems from partners NVIDIA Corp., Qualcomm Inc. and Texas Instruments Inc. in the next version of Windows at the Consumer Electronics Show.

Intel Corporation and AMD have continued development of low-power SoC designs that will fully support the Windows platform, including support for native x86 applications. SoC architectures consolidate the major components of a computing device onto a single package of silicon, making it possible to produce smaller, thinner devices while reducing the amount of power required for the device.

At CES, Microsoft demonstrated the next version of Windows running on SoC platforms developed by Intel (x86 architecture) and on ARM architecture platforms developed by NVIDIA, Texas Instruments and Qualcomm. Microsoft Office running natively on ARM was also shown as a demonstration of the potential of Windows platform capabilities on ARM architecture.

"With today's announcement, we're showing the flexibility and resiliency of Windows through the power of software and a commitment to world-class engineering. We continue to evolve Windows to deliver the functionality customers demand across the widest variety of hardware platforms and form factors," said Steven Sinofsky, president of the Windows and Windows Live Division at Microsoft.

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Kingston used the Internet Consumer Electronics Show (CES) to announce that its 8GB 2133MHz HyperX memory kits have achieved Intel XMP certification for the P67 Sandy Bridge platform.

The HyperX T1 8GB memory kits are the first to be validated for the platform. The kits were subjected to extensive testing using the Asus P8P67 PRO and Gigabyte GA-P67-UD4 motherboards in Kingston labs. Following success, Kingston submitted the memory to Intel. Intel posted the XMP certification results here.

"The new 8GB HyperX memory kits were designed to push the memory boundaries of the new P67 motherboards in both speed and capacity," said Mark Tekunoff, senior technology manager, Kingston.

"Our 2133MHz T1 modules featuring the signature tall heatspreaders passed the rigorous testing requirements both in-house and at Intel to achieve XMP certification. This is the perfect kit for enthusiasts who want to maximize performance from the new Sandy Bridge platform."

The Kingston 2133MHz 8GB kits of four are shipping immediately with a MSRP of $299.99.

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Acer has unveiled the new Aspire AS8950G-9839, a powerful entertainment center laptop, at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES).

Acer claims that the Aspire AS8950 Series delivers an unparalleled high-definition personal theater experience, and it has the specifications to back up such a claim. Powered by the Intel i7-2630QM processor with next generation ATI graphics, it also features a Blu-ray drive and new Dolby audio technology.

"The new Acer Aspire AS8950G is the ultimate portable entertainment center," said Preeta Anil, Acer product marketing. "The new 2nd generation Intel Core i7 processor delivers approximately a 20 percent overall performance gain, while its graphics subsystem delivers performance comparable to an entry level discrete graphics card. This allows the Acer Aspire 8950 to process video and play Blu-ray better than ever."

Key specifications of the Acer Aspire AS89850G are...

• CPU: Second generation Intel i7-2630QM processor with Intel Turbo Boost Technology 2.0 and Intel Hyper-Threading Technology
• Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7
• Memory: 8GB DDR3, upgradeable to 16GB
• Storage (Max): 750GB Hard Disk Drive, 1.5GB Max through dual-hard drive support
• Screen: CineCrystal 18.4-inch edge-to-edge glass LED back-lit display
• Resolution: Full HD (1080p)
• Graphics: ATI Mobility Radeon 6850 graphics processor with 2GB of dedicated video memory
• Audio/Speakers: Dolby Home Theater v4 / Acer CineSurround sound system with 5 built-in speakers + subwoofer
• Wireless: 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi CERTIFIED
• Communication: 1.3 megapixel HD webcam, digital microphone
• Other: eSATA, HDMI port, Firewire

"The new Acer Aspire AS8950G is the ultimate portable entertainment center," said Preeta Anil, Acer product marketing. "The new 2nd generation Intel Core i7 processor delivers approximately a 20 percent overall performance gain, while its graphics subsystem delivers performance comparable to an entry level discrete graphics card. This allows the Acer Aspire 8950 to process video and play Blu-ray better than ever."

The Acer Aspire AS8950G-9839 will be available from next week at leading retailers, with an MSRP of $1,599.99.

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LogiTech is showing an adapter at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) that enables laptop users to easily send audio to their existing speaker systems wirelessly.

The adapter is being made for Intel Wireless Display (WiDi) enabled laptops, which are becoming more commonplace. Several netbooks are also coming to the market that feature Intel WiDi technology. The Logitech Wireless Speaker Adapter uses WiDi wireless connectivity to stream audio from your Intel WiDi-enabled laptop to your favorite speakers.

Simply plug the Logitech adapter into your speakers using the included standard analog RCA or 3.5 mm jacks, launch the Intel WiDi software on your laptop, push "Connect" on your laptop and adapter, and your Intel WiDi-enabled laptop will automatically pair with your speakers.

"Intel's WiDi technology is quickly proliferating in the marketplace," said Mark Schneider, vice president and general manager Logitech's audio business unit. "Now thanks to Intel WiDi and the Logitech Wireless Adapter for Intel WiDi-enabled laptops, it's easy to turn up the volume while you're listening to Pandora or watching a YouTube video. And you can do it with the speaker system you already own."

Also for smartphone or tablet users who can take advantage of Bluetooth connectivity, a new Logitech Wireless Speaker Adapter for Bluetooth device lets you stream audio from the device to your favorite speaker system.

Both adapters will be available in the U.S. and Europe in May, with an MSRP of $29.99.

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Toshiba's Digital Products Division introduced the new cutting-edge Satellite E305 laptop at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES).

The laptop represents the third collaboration between Toshiba and Best Buy as part of the retailer's Blue Label initiative. The Satellite E305 features an all-new exclusive design, hallmarked by a lightweight Aluminum cover and sturdy case with an LED-backlit raised tile keyboard, and features a tray-loading Blu-ray drive. It sports a 14-inch diagonal widescreen LED-backlit display.

The Satellite E305 is powered by the second generation Intel Core i5 processor. Using Next Generation Intel Wireless Display technology, the laptop can be connected wirelessly to a HDTV for playback of content up to 1080p.

It features USB 3.0 support with Sleep & Charge features, offering up to 5Gbps bi-directional signaling speeds. It comes with a hybrid drive setup, which features 4GB of flash storage that enables quick access to commonly used files and applications, seamlessly integrated into a spacious 7200RPM 500GB hard drive.

Some SKUs come with integrated support for WiMAX 4G networks. It comes loaded with the Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium operating system, Wireless-N Wi-Fi, HDMI port and touts an average charge life of more than 7 hours.

The Toshiba Satellite E305 will be available this spring from Best Buy.



"Toshiba and Best Buy continue to work hard to bring customer-centric laptops like the Satellite E305 to life," said Carl Pinto, vice president of product development, Toshiba America Information Systems, Digital Products Division. "We've packed this laptop with advanced technology so consumers can get the performance needed to enjoy the ultimate in entertainment while balancing their desires for easy mobility."

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Samsung Electronics America Inc. announced the 9 Series, lightweight laptop computer at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Measuring 13.3-inches, the 9 Series is made from Duralumin, offering construction quality twice as durable as aluminum, but still under 3 lbs in weight. It features an LED-backlit screen touting 100,000:1 contrast ratio and true-to-life color reproduction.

The 9 Series is powered by a second generation Intel Core i5 processor and Intel HD Graphics technology. The new 9 Series boasts USB 3.0, Bluetooth 3.0, built-in WiMax1 and utilizes the latest in Wi-Fi and USB Sleep & Charge technologies.

Here are the key specs of the Samsung 9 Series laptop...

• CPU: Second Generation Intel Core i5 Processor 2537M (1.40 GHz, 3MB; turbo up to 2.3 GHz)
• Operating System: Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium (64 bit) / Windows 7 Professional (64 bit)
• Memory: 4GB DDR3
• Storage (max): 128GB Solid State Drive (SSD)
• Screen: 13.3-inch HD LED-backlit SuperBright Plus display (400 nit)
• Resolution: 1366x768
• Graphics: Intel HD GT2 Integrated Graphics
• Speakers: 3 watt (1.5W x 2) stereo speakers and 1.5 watt sub-woofer
• Battery: Lithium Polymer; up to 6.5 hours
• Wireless: 802.11b/g/n; WiMax (select SKUs only)
• Weight: 2.89 lbs.

"Weighing less than 3 lbs., Samsung has designed the 9 Series to stand out, completely reimagining the notion of the traditional laptop," said Scott Ledterman, director of mobile PC marketing at Samsung Enterprise Business Division. "When designing a premium laptop like the 9 Series, Samsung wanted to offer an unforgettable experience without limitations. The 9 Series laptop successfully combines elegant styling, performance and ease of use in an ultra thin and lightweight package."

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MSI Computer Corp. has unveiled its new line-up of notebooks, all-in-one devices and components powered by Intel's next generation Sandy Bridge Platform at CES.

The company has unveiled its line of G Series and F Series notebooks. The GT780, GT680, GE620 and GR620 all come powered by second generation Intel Core i7 quad core processors and feature USB 3.0 support.

The 17.3-inch GT780 and 15.6-inch GT680 offer advanced DirectX 11-ready nVidia GeForce GTX 500 Series and 400 Series graphics cards along with Dynaudio speakers. Both incorporate MSI's Turbo Drive Engine (TDE) technology, accelerated dual SSD storage and 4 SO-DIMM DDR3 memory slots allowing for up to 16GB memory.

The 15.6-inch GR620 and GE620 are designed for casual gamers, and feature nVidia GeForce GT Series discrete graphics cards. The GT680 ships in January with a base price of $1499.99 while the GT780 follows in Q2 for an undisclosed price. No release or pricing details are available for the GR620 or GE620.



MSI's new F Series notebooks feature Intel second generation Core processors, GMA3000 display chips, Intel Turbo Boost Technology 2.0 and Intel Hyper-Threading technology. MSI is showing off the 17.6 inch FX720 and FR720, and 15.6 inch FX620 and FR620 models at CES, featuring Intel Core i7 processors.

The FX420, FX620, and FX720 units include discrete graphics modes, which support DirectX 11;s high performance NVIDIA GeForce GT 500 Series discrete graphics card with 1GB DDR3 of display memory. The new F Series models are scheduled to launch in Q1 2011, priced from $699.99.

MSI also made additions to its all-in-one (AIO) PC units, showing the Wind Top AE2210 and AE2410. Both models feature a 16:9 theater-grade widescreen display and a 1080P Full HD high resolution panel. Built on Intel's newest high performance Sandy Bridge platform, online gamers won't need to upgrade in order to receive the benefits of a discrete graphics card.

The new AIOs are slated to ship in Q1 2011, with the 21.5" AE2210 starting at $799.99 and the 23.6" AE2410 starting at $899.99.

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At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Acer is showing off two notebooks featuring AMD Fusion processors.

At the heart of the Aspire 5253 and Aspire 4253 is the new AMD E-Series Accelerated Processing Unit (APU) and the VISION Engine from AMD, enabling stutter-free HD movies and HD Internet video streaming, enough processing power to handle even the most demanding applications, DirectX 11 capable graphics and extended battery life.

They come with Acer's Clear.fi network multimedia sharing system pre-installed. The 14-inch Aspire 4253 and 15.6-inch Aspire 5253 feature high-definition Acer CineCrystal LED backlit displays. The Aspire 5253 can come with up to 8GB DDR3 RAM and with large capacity hard drives depending on requirements.

Both feature 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi support and optional Bluetooth 3.0. For online communication, they come equipped with a built-in Acer Crystal Eye high-definition webcam and microphone. These notebooks are available in three color options – Mesh Black, Mesh Brown, and Mesh Red – with palm rest in matching shade and finish, for a more appealing look.

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Acer's announced ICONIA tablet device is being showcased at CES with Verizon Wireless, taking advantage of its 4G LTE network.

The ICONIA Tab A500 will come with the Android OS and Acer UI 4.5, and will feature the Clear.fi media sharing system preloaded to access, play and share multimedia across the home network and to instantly publish updates to social media networks.

It features a 10.1-inch high-resolution, high color contrast display and also features a HDMI port to output 1080p content to a HDTV. The ICONIA Tab A500 will be equipped with NVIDIA Tegra 2 dual core 1.0Ghz processor with Flash 10.1 support for optimized HD Web experience. For seamless communication, it also features the SkyCross antenna and ZTE LTE wireless module.

Verizon Wireless' 4G LTE network currently reaches about a third of all Americans and is planned to grow to the size of the carrier's 3G network, offering 10 times the speed.

"Innovation is in our DNA," said Campbell Kan, vice president of Acer's Smart Handheld BU. "We are proud to once again offer users the most advanced technologies. With the ICONIA Tab A500 supporting 4G LTE, users will be able to wirelessly navigate, download or stream as seamlessly as they do with a wired connection. This is indeed another step toward a truly mobile Internet experience."

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The SD Association is detailing the new UHS-II bus-interface specification that will dramatically improve SD card speeds at CES.

The new UHS-II bus-interface specification bumps up SD bus-interface speeds up to 312 Megabytes per second. These transfer speeds give manufacturers the flexibility to develop new features and markets for mobile phones and other consumer electronics strengthened by the world-leading memory card standard.

"UHS-II increases SD performance and value and delivers immediate impact on manufacturer innovation and consumer creativity," said Norm Frentz, chairman of the SD Association. "We've tripled bus-interface speeds from last year's UHS-I development, and we plan to double UHS-II speeds in the future."

Tripled bus-interface speeds give manufacturers more flexible design options, including low voltage and low power consumption, for large and small SD devices without compromising data transfer rates. Since it is fully backwards compatible, devices supporting UHS bus interface will accept the billions of existing SD memory cards in the market today.

New high-speed interface signals are assigned on the second row of pins on UHS-II SDXC and SDHC memory cards. This new speed option will be available in full-size SDHC and SDXC memory cards and microSDHC and microSDXC form factors and does not change the physical size or shape of the cards.

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At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Hitachi Global Storage Technologies announced two new HDD families to its line of drives for consumer electronics products.

The hard drives are intended for use with digital video recorders (DVR), IPTV set-top boxes, video surveillance systems and HDD-equipped televisions. The new CinemaStar 5K2000 family brings 2TB and 1.5TB capacities, and the 2.5-inch CinemaStar C5K750 family with 750GB, 640GB and 500GB capacities.

The drives are optimized for use in CE products, offering low power consumption, barely audible noise level and come fine-tuned for their host equipment's purposes (video content recording etc.).

The 2.5-inch CinemaStar C5K750 family contain 375GB per platter and feature Advanced Format (increasing the sector size on the HDD from 512 bytes to 4096 bytes). They operate at 0.5 watts (W) low power while idle, 1.5W power during read/write operations and are put out a barely audible 2.3 idle bels.

The 3.5-inch CinemaStar 5K2000 Family offer up to 2TB capacities (667GB per platter) and CoolSpin technology. The new CinemaStar 5K2000 drives are nearly silent at 2.4 bels during operation, draw only 4.2W or less idle power and generate less heat.

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The 'professional' social networking site LinkedIn will go public this year, having already nearly selected its bank underwriters.

Bank Of America, JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley are the current front-runners, say sources, via Reuters.

When asked for comment, a LinkedIn spokesman said: "An IPO is just one of many tactics that we could consider."

LinkedIn, Twitter and popular social gaming company Zynga have all considered IPOs (initial public offerings) for 2011, beating out social networking behemoth Facebook, which is expected to go public in 2012 (or at least begin disclosing their financials publicly).

The service is hoping to attract investors using its "reputation as one of the Web's fastest growing social network sites."

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The NYTimes has reported that spam email volume fell by as much as 57 percent in December after a number of infamous botnets went dark and have yet to resume.

Beginning on Christmas Eve, the massive Rustock botnet "appears to have completely gone of the map and is yet to resume," says Matt Sergeant of Symantec. Sergeant is a senior anti-spam tecnologist.

The allegedly Russian-operated botnet accounts for just under 50 percent of the world's daily spam output.

Additionally, two smaller botnets known as Lethic and Xarvester stopped sending spam at around the same time.

"Did the people in charge of these botnets suddenly go on vacation? Currently there are no explanations on why these botnets stopped spamming," added Symantec.

Global spam volume fell to 30 billion emails a day from 70 billion before the botnets went dark. In August, spam hit its all-time high, at 200 billion messages a day, good for 92.2 percent of all email.

While it is still unclear why the botnets have stopped sending spam, the NYTimes speculates the owners may be scared after Russian authorities took down the massive spam ring SpamIt.com and recently arrested two other Russian spammers who had a database of 2 billion email addresses in the US and EU.

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Today at the CES event, Motorola unveiled the Droid Bionic smartphone for Verizon, a powerful smartphone that should be the company's latest Android 'flagship.'

The Bionic has LTE 4G support, a dual-core 1GHz processor, a massive 4.3-inch qHD display, 512MB of RAM, an 8MP standard camera and a front-side VGA camera for video conferencing.

Furthermore, the device has HDMI-out and 'Mirror Mode' for simultaneous video streaming.

All content from the HDMI-out can be played back in 1080p Full HD.

The device also comes with remote wipe, data security and encryption capabilities, making it a strong choice for corporations, adds Motorola.

Says the company:

DROID BIONIC brings to life the speed and power of Verizon's 4G LTE network, giving consumers an unrivaled mobile experience. Whether downloading movies in minutes, connecting with friends or co-workers through video conferencing, or blazing through the Internet, Motorola's DROID BIONIC is what the 4G LTE experience is all about.

DROID BIONIC is the epitome of speed, providing consumers with instantaneous access to their personal and work content, anytime and anyplace. By combining such a powerful mobile device with the performance and capabilities of Verizon's 4G LTE network, we're empowering consumers to define how they want to live their mobile lifestyles.

Check the product page here: Droid Bionic

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