Have a Windows PC and a Netflix account? Perfect. Grab your credit card and get ready to hand over $30 to RealNetworks. Yes, that Real. The one with the obsolete streaming audio format. Yes! That’s the one!

You see, Real just released RealDVD. It’s a legal application that allows you to rip DVDs to up to five computers without ramifications. It’s legal, easy to use and will surely benefit the amateur pirate. Hollywood wasted no time in threatening RealNetworks and now, in a counter move, Real has sued the major studios. It wants a judge to essentially insist that RealDVD is legit and here to stay. As Chamillionaire says, controversy sells.

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When I woke up this morning, something seemed different. The sun was brighter, the birds were chirping louder than usual. I continued my morning routine and then the news hit me - Jack Thompson had been disbarred. Everyone likes violent games and Jack does nothing more than a disservice to those who enjoy the medium.  The Florida Supreme Court must like violent games, as well, otherwise why else would they not allow Thompson to represent anyone in court.  He’s also been ordered to reimburse the Florida Bar fees amounting to $43,675.35.

Jacky Boy isn’t going to stand for this. That’s why he’s filing an emergency motion against the disbarment, claiming that Florida’s Supreme Court was reacting upon his book Out of Harm’s Way, which somehow received attention from the court. Don’t think this will be the last of Jack Thompson. With this Fall’s lineup of games, he’ll be making a comeback in a big way.

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This made me chuckle quite a bit. Ah, the good times. DRM just plain sucks now.

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Hah, just kidding. Seriously though. Babies and partying do not mix. Why the hell do you think babysitters exist in the first place?

More fun games for the Wii’s target demographic.

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I spent my morning with the other journos in New York, where T-Mobile and Google together unveiled the T-Mobile G1. The G1 is a smartphone manufactured by HTC and it runs Google’s open-source Android OS. Speakers at today’s event included Andy Rubin from Google, Peter Chou from HTC, Chris Schlaffer from T-Mobile among others. But enough talk; you want to know the details. Hit the jump for tons of pictures, information on the G1 and a special surprise from Sergey and Larry from Google…
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Adobe today announced the next installment of it’s popular editing software suite that includes Photoshop and Illustrator. The beta has been available on Bit Torrent sites for quite a bit now but today, we’re getting real. There’s going to be tons of new features, tons of performance upgrades and quite possibly tons of coked-out design going on the minute it hits store shelves. Photoshop CS4 is supposed to take advantage of your graphics card but that has yet to be confirmed. Read on, get the skinny then get the torrent. Bon voyage!

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I’m taking this rumor with the smallest possible grain of salt. After all, what business would Google have buying gaming company Valve? Sure, the Steam distribution platform is hot and Google would love to have said technology in it’s paws but what good is that going to do for the rest of Valve’s assets? I’m sure Portal and Half-Life aren’t going to go to good use under Google’s rule. Would we even see a new Half-Life title if Google purchased Valve? Who knows. Let’s sit back and pray the rumors aren’t true.

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Every once and awhile, Steve Jobs must prove to everyone he’s still functioning on a coherent level. That’s why whenever he opens his mouth, time stands still and everyone on the planet lends an ear.  The Apple chief executive announced today that the new iPod Touch is, “the funnest iPod we’ve ever created.” But, what’s it packing?

For starters, it’s smaller and lighter than the original and it’s new design makes it more comfortable to hold. It includes iPod firmware 2.1 that enables it to work with the new iTunes 8 Genius feature used for creating playlists with the touch of a button.  On top of that, the App Store is providing over 700 game titles that are available for download and playable on the iPod Touch.

For those who can’t get enough of the gym, each new iPod touch features built-in Nike+ iPod support that, along with the $20 Nike+ sensor that you place in your shoe, can track miles run or sync with the latest generation gym equipment.

Users can expect up to 36 hours of music or six hours of video on a single charge. Which is more than enough power for even the lowest end model, the $229 8GB. The $299 16GB and the $399 32GB models will also be available.

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Everyone is going crazy over this new Genius feature. Even Kevin Rose of Digg is getting wet just thinking about making playlists related to his favorite artist, Jack Johnson.  Well, the wait is over, iTunes 8 is out. Hit the jump to take a peek at the highlighted features.

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Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to make a digital copy of any of your DVDs as if it were an audio CD you wanted to import with iTunes? You can! I mean, you will once RealNetworks introduces it’s $30 software program: RealDVD. It’ll allow users to make a digital copy of an entire DVD, including all the extras and artwork from the box.

Let’s face it: Blu-ray is king these days and that sucks for all the loons who bought a library of DVD movies (which is everyone). Now that DVD is out the window, Hollywood could care less if you copy all of your DVDs and start selling them on your website. OK, that’s not true at all but at least it’s giving up the ban on digital backups. If you dare do it with Blu-ray discs, the peoples of Hollywood will hunt you down and kill you. Just prepare your hard drive beforehand, otherwise you’ll only be able to fit the first season of Dawson’s Creek on it, and we all know that the second season is way better.

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