A group of British men prosecutors said was part of one of the world's largest software-piracy rings on the Internet was sentenced to jail Friday, the latest turn in a 3-year-old criminal probe.

Google has launched beta software that the company says will speed up the time it takes to search the Internet and to load web content.

Ritek, the second largest optical disc maker in Taiwan, on May 4 stated that its revenues of NT$2.05 billion for last month were the highest monthly level since May 2004. On May 4, Prodisc Technology, a leading second-tier maker in the industry, obtained a five-year syndicated loan of NT$3.4 billion.

Yahoo have said its video search service that helps Web surfers find such things as news clips, music videos and movie trailers from such sources as CBSNews.com, MTV.com and IFILM.com is now widely available to the public.

After a few piracy-free months, PSP has finally been cracked open by persistent hackers, with ISO files of Vampire Chronicles, Ridge Racer and Wipeout Pure having now been 'released' on to the internet.

Press Release: Rimage, a manufacturer of high-capacity commercial CD/ DVD publishing equipment, recently announced the launch of its new desktop model, the Rimage 360i, designed exclusively to meet the needs of the small business.

A new company is promising to shake up the DVD rental market in Ireland by setting up kiosks in convenience shops and workplaces. Customers can choose from a selection of films which are dispensed automatically from the Cinematic machines when credit card details are provided. The films must then be returned within 24 hours.

CMC Magnetics and Ritek, the top two makers of optical discs in Taiwan, as well as five second-tier producers all witnessed net operating losses for the first quarter of this year, ranging from NT$83.2 million to NT$441.1 million, according to the respective first-quarter financial reports published recently.

Press Release: Sony is expanding its lineup of award-winning DVD burners with a pair of new drives that support 4X DVD-R Dual Layer (DL) recording.

There will be 22.9 million DVD recorders and 91.5 million DVD players shipped around the world this year, according to a projection released late last week by the Market Intelligence Center (MIC) under the Taiwanese government-sponsored Institute for Information Industry (III).

Press Release: Alera Technologies is introducing its new 1:3 DVD/CD Auto Copy Tower standalone DVD/CD Auto Loading Duplicators that copy up to 180 DVDs at up to 16x, unattended, with no computer required.

Games on mobile phones are about to take off, just like console gaming did, says industry veteran Greg Ballard.

A UK website is to offer the internet's first legal film download service. Wippit, which already sells music downloads, has announced plans to provide movies that users will be able to keep, from this summer onwards.

Press Release: With summer just around the corner, Disney is expanding its popular line of electronics for kids, with new portable DVD/CD players. Available in a variety of styles and character-themed designs for kids of all ages, including Mickey, Disney Princess and Power Rangers, the new Disney Personal DVD Players are format-friendly and can play DVDs, CDs, mini-discs and more.

In response to a report that China-based TCL recently landed OEM orders for DVD+R/-R discs from Samsung and LG, major Taiwanese makers of optical discs indicated that they are not under substantial competitive pressures because the OEM orders.

Press Release: PowerDVD 6 allows users to enjoy brighter, more natural images, smoother DVD playback, as well as output onto standard-size and wide-screen displays. The PowerDVD 6 also has a Mobility Pack for notebook users, which lets them extend DVD viewing time via a choice of three power-saving profiles. CyberLink's testing delivered an average increase of 20-30% playback time.

Brand Managers Jane Hannah (Datawrite) and Tim Smith (Ridisc) have today announced that their European Distributor E-Net are offering a reward of up to £100,000 to any person for information resulting in the arrest and conviction of those responsible in Europe for selling counterfeit E-Net products.

A vacuum in digital copyright law has made Canada a haven for DVD pirates, who make bootleg copies of popular American television shows and sell them on-line.

Sony's PlayStation Portable will launch in the UK and the rest of Europe on 1 September, the handheld console's maker has revealed.

Global prices of polycarbonate (PC) are at a high of US$3.5 per kilogram and are making production of optical discs almost profitless in spite of a significant increase in orders, Taiwanese makers in the industry pointed out.