This should come as no surprise to Maximum PC readers, but it turns out that the uncrackable content protection scheme known as BD+ is crackable after all. Moving out of beta, Slysoft has released AnyDVD HD, which supports not only HD-DVD, but Blu-ray as well. The add-on runs an additional $30, bringing the tally to $79 (AnyDVD + HD Option), but you can chop 20% off with the coupon code Thanksgiving, valid up until November 25th.
After Intel gobbled up Havok, some speculated that AMD would counter by acquiring Ageia, the other big player in the in-game physics market. But AMD's Richard Huddy, head of AMD's developer relations, told The Inq that while AMD hasn't completely shunned the idea, they have "come very close to ruling it out."
Console gamers anxious to get their hands on Unreal Tournament III for the Playstation 3 thought they were going to have to wait until 2008, but it looks like they'll get their Unreal fix in time for the holidays. UT3's gone gold and has been released to North American manufacturing. Mark Rein from Epic games says he thinks it'll show up on store shelves on or around December 11th, so there's no reason for PS3 gamers not to update their Christmas wish list.
In other Sony news, those hoping for a Playstation cell phone will be disappointed to learn that Sony has no such plans. A Sony exec had previously hinted that they might be teaming up Ericsson to offer such a device, but he was apparently mis-quoated. Of course, this wouldn't be the first time Sony has pulled a 180 after dismissing speculation, but we wouldn't go returning that iPhone if Santa happens to drop one in your stocking this year.
By now everyone's familiar with the OLPC Project, which initially promised $100 laptops for kids in developing nations, but what about cell phones? That's the question brought up by Ecuador, who's putting the pressure on companies to create a fund aimed at offering cell phone service for the poor. A government official said companies could donate 1 percent of revenues to get the program off the ground, and President Rafael Correa warned that companies not willing to comply with new regulations can leave the country. Oh schnapps!
Just ask the German police, who stated that Skype's encryption "creates grave difficulties for us." They've been attempting to monitor Skype-made calls to listen in on suspected criminals and terrorists, but VoIP software makes that difficult to do. But instead of asking Skype for encryption keys or back door access, law enforcements are focusing on getting to the source either before or after encryption occurs.
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