Looks like YouTube is testing allowing users to post their work to their site under a Creative Commons license. Only official registered partners can participate in the pilot. They are also working on downloadable content, both gratis and for a fee paid with Google Checkout. It looks like the videos won’t be encumbered with digital restrictions management. I can certainly imagine the awful irony of CC’d works being put under the lock and key of DRM when you download them.

Will the downloads be subject to digital rights restrictions management (DRM)?
- For this pilot test, all videos will be downloaded in MP4 format, which is not DRM-managed.  Users will be subject to certain legal restrictions, dependent on the license a partner has chosen for their downloads.

They are offering four licensing options:

1. BY-NC-ND
2. BY-NC-SA
3. BY
4. PD

In an effort to promote the sharing of information, we are testing free downloads of YouTube videos from Stanford, Duke, UC Berkeley, UCLA, and UCTV (broadcasting programs from throughout the UC system). YouTube users who are traveling or teachers who want to show these videos in classrooms with limited or no connectivity should find this particularly useful.

I’ve always been annoyed when teachers show us grainy YouTube videos in class, and sometimes when the network is congested buffering can take a while. Maybe the downloadable videos will fix this.

• YouTube blog post
• Creative Commons blog post
• Information about becoming part of the pilot program

T-Mobile G1. Source: jonathansin on Flickr. License: CC-BY-SA 2.0

Macworld reports that the unlocked version of the T-Mobile G1 is not permitted to access Google’s Android Market.

Last week, Google employees began replying to questions people posted on the Android Market Help Web site about being unable to see copy protected applications in the store. “If you’re using an unlocked, developer phone, you’ll be unable to view any copy-protected application,” wrote Google employee Ash on the help site in reply to a user’s question on Friday. “This is a change that was made recently.”

While Google offered only slim details about why it made the change, it could be an attempt to close a loophole that reportedly allows users of the unlocked phone to download paid applications for free. “The Developer version of the G1 is designed to give developers complete flexibility,” Google said in a statement. “These phones give developers of handset software full permissions to all aspects of the device… We aren’t distributing copy protected applications to these phones in order to minimize unauthorized copy of the applications.”

The Android Market has DRM? What’s the point of having a free software operating system on an un-crippled phone if your downloads have DRM on them?

• Macworld
• Digg

TomTom. Source: Mr ATM on Flickr. License: CC-BY 2.0

TechFlash reports that Microsoft has sued GPS manufacturer TomTom for patent infringement. Some of these patents have to do with TomTom’s implementation of Linux.

Five of the patents in dispute relate to in-car navigation technologies, while the other three involve file-management techniques. Gutierrez said Microsoft has reached licensing agreements with with other in-car navigation vendors over the same patents, and it remains open to “quickly resolving” the TomTom dispute through licensing.

Microsoft has said previously that Linux and other open-source programs violate more than 200 of its patents — elevating the tension that has long existed between Microsoft and the open-source community. Asked if this TomTom case is the start of a broader legal campaign over those alleged violations, Gutierrez said no.

Well, we’ll have to just wait and see.

• TechFlash [Print version]
• Slashdot

BBC News reports that the United Kingdom will be using more free alternatives to proprietary software for public services.

Announcing an open source and open standards action plan, the government said it would:

• ensure that the government adopts open standards and uses these to communicate with the citizens and businesses that have adopted open source solutions
• ensure that open source solutions are considered properly and, where they deliver best value for money are selected for government business solutions
• strengthen the skills, experience and capabilities within government and in its suppliers to use open source to greatest advantage
• embed an open source culture of sharing, re-use and collaborative development across government and its suppliers
• ensure that systems integrators and proprietary software suppliers demonstrate the same flexibility and ability to re-use their solutions and products as is inherent in open source.

A smart move by the UK government. Now if only they would stop spying on their citizens and treating them like potential criminals.

• BBC News [Print version]
• Digg

Microsoft presentation to investors. Source: Microsoft

OSNews reports that Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer gave a presentation in which he suggested that either he or the company considers GNU+Linux to be a bigger threat than Mac OS X.

[Microsoft] sees piracy as its biggest competitor. “Number two market share goes to Windows pirated, or unlicensed,” Balmer [sic] said, “That’s a competitor that’s tough to beat, they’ve got a good price and a heck of a product, but we’re working on it.” This isn’t exactly new information, but it’s interesting to see it spelled out so clearly.

Much more interesting is Microsoft’s idea of Linux and Apple, According to Microsoft, Linux is a bigger threat to the company than Apple, placing Linux above Apple in the marketshare figure pie chart thing. “Linux, you could see on the slide, and Apple has certainly increased its share somewhat,” Ballmer said.

I have long said that, Apple’s marketing aside, Apple no longer competes with Microsoft in Microsoft’s core markets, at least not in such a way as to endanger Microsoft. Microsoft Office is (sadly) a very popular package on the Mac, even more than Apple’s iWork. And the Intel switch means that a number of Mac users are buying copies of Windows, either for dual-booting or for virtualization. Free software has far more potential to eat into Microsoft’s market share, especially in the long run.

• OSNews
• Digg

Powered by Ubuntu. Source: ghindo on Flickr. License: CC-BY 2.0

Laptopmag.com reports that shipments of preinstalled Ubuntu systems on Dell’s Inspiron Mini netbooks account for a third of all shipments, while the return rates are similar to those systems with Windows XP.

While MSI told us a few months back that Wind netbooks running SuSE Linux saw 4x higher return rates than that of XP machines, Dell has had quite the opposite experience with its Inspiron Mini 9 offering with Ubuntu. “A third of our Mini 9 mix is Linux, which is well above the standard attach rate for other systems that offer Linux. We have done a very good job explaining to folks what Linux is,” says Dell’s Jay Pinkert.

According to Dell, the the return rate of Ubuntu running Mini 9s are comparable to the XP rate, which we are told is “very low.” “Our focus has been making sure that before the order is taken is that the customer knows what he is getting,” New added.

I’m guessing it’s the user interface. Does SuSE have a default user interface or a simplified one?

• Laptopmag.com
• Slashdot

Creative Commons - Credit: creativecommons.org

CC0, the tool for waiving as many rights as possible, has reached 1.0.

Using CC0, you can waive all copyrights and related or neighboring rights that you have over your work, such as your moral rights (to the extent waivable), your publicity or privacy rights, rights you have protecting against unfair competition, and database rights and rights protecting the extraction, dissemination and reuse of data.

You can only do this if you are the owner of the rights to the work or you have authority from the person who owns those rights.

I kind of feel like this is just confusing. .  I guess it’s a good thing though.

• Creative Commons
• Plagiarism Today

Open Video Alliance - Credit: openvideoalliance.org

Open Video Conference has announced a call for proposals.

June 19-20, 2009
New York City
NYU Law School
openvideoalliance.org

** Submission deadline: March 19 **

We are requesting proposals and ideas for panels, presentations, workshops, and other sessions that will address how we can shape online video and the public debates around the medium. Proposals may be intended for the main conference track, or for more focused unconference style sessions. Proposals topics may be legal, technical, or cultural, though we encourage proposals in all relevant areas. The more complete and fleshed out a proposal, the more likely it will be accepted—but we welcome the submission of all good ideas.

Here’s my proposal: “Flash is an evil, evil piece of trash.  Address strategies by which it might be destroyed.”

• Open Video Alliance

Reason - Credit: sjgibbs on Flickr (CC BY)

News from 24th Feb of India :

It will no longer be safe to start a blog and invite others to register their raunchy, caustic and even abusive comments on an issue while seeking protection behind the disclaimer — views expressed on the blog are that of the writers.

This chilling warning emerged as a Bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justice P Sathasivam refused to protect a 19-year-old Kerala boy, who had started a community on Orkut against Shiv Sena, from protection against summons received from a Maharashtra court on a criminal case filed against him.

Few months back, something similar happened :

You can have an opinion about anyone in a free country like India, even someone as important as Sonia Gandhi, but if you are not careful about the way you give expression to it, you could land in serious trouble.

This is precisely what happened to 22-year-old IT professional Rahul Krishnakumar Vaid from Gurgaon, Haryana who was arrested by the Pune police for posting derogatory content about Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and Mahatma Gandhi on an orkut community named — “I hate Sonia Gandhi”.

Interestingly, the person who formed this community is not guilty as per the law. The police said that hating Sonia Gandhi is a personal opinion of the person who formed the community and having a personal opinion about someone is not an offence as per the law.

India likes to have too much control on culture/etiquettes. Whatever it is, this is an issue. But the question really is “Should vulgar language be allowed in public places?” If yes, then of course it should be allowed on web as well. If not, it shouldn’t be allowed on web as well. And visa-versa.

• Times of India
• Express In India
• Slashdost

Asus Eee PC. Source: Kamil Porembiński on Flickr. License: CC-BY-SA 2.0

Electronista reports that hardware manufacturer ASUS is developing a netbook that will run Google’s Android operating system.

ASUS on Friday said it has been developing a netbook based on Google’s Android platform. The company’s Eee PC division lead, Samson Hu, informs Bloomberg that engineers have been tasked with readying one of the mini notebooks for a tentative end-of-year release window. While specifications aren’t known, the smartphone-oriented operating system demands less resources than Windows XP and is usually optimized for ARM processors and touchscreen displays.

Hu warns that the system is still early enough in development that it may not become a final product.

I assume this means that ARM-based netbooks are on the way, seeing as I don’t know of any non-ARM variants of Android. This could really boost free software’s presence while at the same time cutting even more costs and hopefully expanding battery life. I really hope this makes it through development.

• Electronista [Print Version]
• Digg