A just published update to Section 1201(a)(1) of the copyright law now allows 6 previously prohibited uses under copyright.

Among these there are 2 that related to iOS devices.

(2) Computer programs that enable wireless telephone handsets to execute software applications, where circumvention is accomplished for the sole purpose of enabling interoperability of such applications, when they have been lawfully obtained, with computer programs on the telephone handset. (3) Computer programs, in the form of firmware or software, that enable used wireless telephone handsets to connect to a wireless telecommunications network, when circumvention is initiated by the owner of the copy of the computer program solely in order to connect to a wireless telecommunications network and access to the network is authorized by the operator of the network.

What this boils down to is you can now legally jailbreak and/or unlock an iOS device to install unauthorized applications and to SIM unlock for use on a different carrier network.

I eagerly await a reaction from Apple if they feel this warrants one.

Read more of the Statement of the Librarian of Congress

Here is it, what we have all been waiting for!! Just minutes ago Steve Jobs announced the iPhone 4 at WWDC. The phone is a whole new take on the form factor and the features.

Steve Jobs held court on Tuesday evening as part of the All Things Digital D8 conference.

If you don't know what D is, you may have been living in a hole for the past decade. Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher spend a few days interviewing and extracting information from the tech elite like a Gitmo interrogator only wished they could.

This year Jobs returned to the stage for a 90 plus minute session.

Steve was frank and honest when it suited him, to the point of making jokes about the whole Gizmodo/iPhone debacle.

“To make a wireless product work well, you have to test it. And one of our employees was carrying one and there’s a debate about whether it was left in a bar or stolen….And the person who found it decided to sell it…and it turned out this person plugged it into his roommate’s computer and that roommate called the police. . .

This is a story that’s amazing — it’s got theft, it’s got buying stolen property, it’s got extortion, I’m sure there’s some sex in there… the whole thing is very colorful. Somebody should make a movie out of this.”

One of my favorite exchanges was regarding AT&T. I'm no fan of any mobile provider, I think they all have faults, but it is interesting to hear Jobs speak to the issues.

They’re doing pretty good in some ways and in others they could do better. We meet with them once a quarter. Remember, they deal with way more data traffic than anyone else. And they’re having trouble. But they have the fastest 3G network and they’re improving. I wish they were improving faster….I’m convinced that any other network, had you put the iPhone on it, would have had the same problems. AT&T took a big leap on us and decided they were going to trust us to do the right thing with the phone.

Engadget makes the claim that they have the scoop in the next AppleTV

A tip we've received -- which has been confirmed by a source very close to Apple -- details the outlook for the next version of the Apple TV, and it's a doozy.

The details involve the new ATV running the iPhone OS along with Apple A4 chips.

The new architecture of the device will be based directly on the iPhone 4, meaning it will get the same internals, down to that A4 CPU and a limited amount of flash storage -- 16GB to be exact -- though it will be capable of full 1080p HD (!).

The shocker according to their source is the price.

the price-point for the device will be $99.

Given that my current AppleTV has been decommissioned due to lack or real utility, I would be interested in seeing this happen.

Source

Just 2 days ago Google announced their WebM initiative to utilize their new "open" VP8 video specification for an alternative to the "proprietary h.264. This is a new divide in the ongoing video on the web battle, one that google along with Mozilla hope to win.

Reports from the mainstream media thus far have demonstrated the strength of Google's position, superiour quality for no cost to anyone. Daniel Eran Dilger took an in-depth look at the less than ideal nature of Google's VP8 video in his AppleInsider piece.

Dilger states this fundamental misstep of the reporting so far:

Most reports on the issue have focused on Apple's membership in the MPEG coalition in order to write up a fashionably dramatic tale of conflict between Apple and Google on the issue of the VP8 codec.

Dilger's report cites a critique from Jason Garrett-Glaser of the x264 project.

Video experts such as Garrett-Glaser are reporting that VP8 is not only unfinished and incomplete, but will also run afoul of the broad range of patents covering the latest video compression and decoding technologies. In his original piece comparing VP8 to the h.264 specifications

Garrett-Glaser states:

The VP8 spec, by comparison, is imprecise, unclear, and overly short, leaving many portions of the format very vaguely explained.

The problem of patents appears to be rearing its ugly head again. VP8 is simply way too similar to H.264: a pithy, if slightly inaccurate, description of VP8 would be “H.264 Baseline Profile with a better entropy coder”.