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In my daily read today I came across this disturbing article at CrunchGear entitled MacBooks enter a golden new age of anti-piracy cruft: HDCP for all.

I’ve been crossing my fingers, but expecting this to happen for a while now.  HD video content is protected with 128-bit, encrypted, High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP) technology to ensure that only authorized devices can play the content.  This means that you won’t be able to play protected HD content without an “authorized” display and MANY HDTVs are not going to work. 

In the past, this really only meant that you were out of luck if you were using a Blu-ray or HD DVD player with an inexpensive HDTV.  But now, Apple’s inclusion of DisplayPort on the MacBook has extended this content protection to computer screens and TVs.

Looks like my days of renting movies on the iTunes store with my Mac Mini and playing on my HDTV are numbered.  Let’s hope my current Mini continues working without the dreaded “This movie cannot be played because a display that is not authorized to play protected movies is connected” message,

Update: Ed Sutherland over at Cult of Mac has posted: ”MacBook Owners Enraged As Apple Blocks Some Displays”

A while back, I posted a review of Netflix’s lackluster PC streaming support.  Since then, they’ve moved the service to Microsoft’s Silverlight technology and added Mac support.

Silverlight is similar to Adobe Flash in that it’s typically deployed as a browser plug-in.  Like Flash, it can display animation, audio, video and interactive applications.  In this case, it’s used for a bit of each.

The Netflix player is built entirely Silverlight and protects the video content with Microsoft’s PlayReady DRM.  This prevents users from doing anything but watching the streaming content.

After a simple opt-in on the Netflix website:

and an extremely brief buffering screen:

you’re treated to a nearly instantaneous video presentation:

An immense improvement over my previous experience!  Now if we could only get a better selection of video content, HD and offline viewing…

The Wall Street Journal reports that HP is considering offering netbook laptops at aggressively discounted prices.  The cost would be subsidized by bundling a 3G wireless contact into the deal for net access.

This is standard practice in other parts of the world, but a first in the US where the practice is used for smartphones.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Apple Corps may release Beatles songs for Rock Band. The best-selling albums have yet to be released in any online digital format. 

“Life is very short and there’s no time for fussing and fighting my friend.” - The Beatles, We Can Work It Out

Releasing music in a video game before other online media outlets would certainly be an interesting move.  Let’s hope they hit iTunes sometime soon-

update: The Beatles have confirmed a gaming-focused release of their music through a deal with Harmonix (Rock Band maker) and MTV.

Google released Google Earth for iPhone this morning.  The app integrates with the built in GPS for positioning, but obviously lets you explore the entire globe.  Great integration with Panoramio photos too-