by Steve Guttenberg February 1, 2012 7:36 AM PST

Sacramento, Calif.-based “Mr. Simo” makes one-of-a-kind speaker facades out of old suitcases. They look amazing, so I got in touch with the company’s owner, Dominic Odbert, to learn more about his designs.

Each BoomCase is a unique creation, so if you see one on Odbert’s Web site that catches your fancy, don’t think about it too long, because once it’s sold, there’s never going to be another one exactly like it.

Odbert’s has a background in fine art, and he’s been building audio gear since he was a kid. Odbert and his small staff hand-build all of the BoomCases, and Odbert likes to use suitcases from the 1930s or 1940s, though he also uses more recently made suitcases. Odbert reinforces and cross-braces the interiors of the cases.

Ever since Odbert started BoomCase in 2009, he has made sound quality a top priority. He uses very efficient Class D amplifiers sourced from a small California company, and he gets the battery packs from an Oakland supplier (BoomCases can also be plugged into an AC power outlet). The rechargeable battery runs for more than 10 hours on a charge.

Odbert told me that most vintage suitcases are made out of wood, which he claims helps produce a rich sound. The woofers and tweeters are individually selected for each project, though he uses a lot of new Sony and Pioneer drivers, plus older speaker drivers.

There are mono and stereo (in one case) BoomCases, though Odbert has made pairs of speakers from time to time. He will also design and build custom BoomCases to his customers’ requirements.

As I browsed the BoomCase Web site, the BullDozer ($ 875) caught my eye. This 400 Watt BoomCase uses a flat 12-inch woofer, plus 6-inch woofers and tweeters on the side panels. It’s wrapped in a vintage tweed striped suitcase with leather trim. The BullDozer, aptly named, is 21x21x10 inches in size, and it weighs 19 pounds.

If you’re looking for something a little smaller, check out the Double Trouble ($ 500), which is fitted with an 8-inch woofer and horn tweeters on both sides of the case. It’s 15x12x10 inches, and it weighs 14 pounds. There’s a wide selection from which to choose.

Prices range from under $ 300 to $ 4,000, but the most popular models cost $ 500. That sounds very reasonable for hand-crafted, made-in-the-States audio designs. BoomCases are sold direct, and in a few brick-and-mortar stores.

by Don Reisinger February 1, 2012 7:37 AM PST

Although advertising has been the most-desired way for YouTube to generate revenue, the company is reportedly considering another monetization option.

Speaking at the D: Dive Into Media conference last night, YouTube CEO Salar Kamangar said that his company is considering allowing content providers to create their own, unique subscription-based video service on the site, according to GigaOm, which was in attendance at the event. That said, Kamangar reportedly cautioned that YouTube has yet to decide if it will, in fact, launch such the service and hasn’t even gotten to the point of determining how it could be implemented.

Even so, subscription services on YouTube could be a major opportunity for the video site. As Kamangar said during his interview at the conference, YouTube currently has over 800 million active users, giving content providers a huge audience to capitalize on. What’s more, YouTube announced last month that its daily video viewership has soared past 4 billion clips, up from 3 billion in May, indicating its userbase is becoming increasingly engaged.

Despite that, YouTube has floated the idea of launching subscription services in the past, but has so far balked at the idea. In fact, nearly three years ago, Google’s then-CEO Eric Schmidt said subscriptions could eventually be used to supplement advertising revenue on the site.

“With respect to how it’ll get monetized, our first priority is on the advertising side. We do expect over time to see micropayments and other forms of subscription models coming as well,” Schmidt said during an earnings call in 2009. “We’ll be announcing additional things in that area literally very, very soon.”

Part of YouTube’s success over the years has, of course, been user-generated content. But YouTube has also incorporated professional content, including movies. A few months ago, YouTube also announced an initiative that will see the company spend up to $ 100 million to create original content for the site. YouTube has signed up actor Rainn Wilson and comic book writer Stan Lee to work on the content.

Last year, YouTube also launched a site redesign, centered on “Channels,” that surface content people want. The update also includes social-networking features to help content hit sites like Facebook and Google+ and go viral.

YouTube is changing. And it’s not your old-school video site any longer.

(Via GigaOm)

by Chris Matyszczyk February 1, 2012 7:54 AM PST

With some types of humor it’s best to ask oneself: “Too soon?”

With others, though, all it needs is the admonition: “Not this side of a Tennessee colony on the moon.”

Some may feel, on viewing the ad I’ve embedded, that the latter would have been the best course. For here we have an ad out of Taiwan for the Action Pad, which appears to be an iPad-type device produced by a company called Action Electronics.

The presenter might strike you as somehow familiar. It is an actor, dressed to resemble the late Steve Jobs — and equipped with with halo and wings.

I am grateful to local personality Dan Bloom, who unearthed this spectacle and sent it to me.

In it, the Jobs character says that he’s glad that he can finally play with another pad. He also says other things that might boggle many minds, such as “Thank God.”

Do people find this funny? Do they find it somehow uplifting? Will millions rush out to buy the Action Pad?

Bloom tells me that the impersonator is a local comedian called Ah-Ken. However, PanArmenian.net managed to secure a quote from Action Electronics to the effect that no fun is being had here.

A spokeswoman told PanArmenian: “We are not trying to use his death. This is not meant to make fun of Jobs.”

There may, indeed, be cultural nuances shimmering in the winds here. On the other hand, there may simply be a venal attempt to sell an inferior product on the back of the recent death of the world’s most famous tech icon.

(Credit: Screenshot: Chris Matyszczyk/CNET)

by Don Reisinger February 1, 2012 8:07 AM PST

Three of The Pirate Bay’s founders won’t be able to argue their case before the Sweden Supreme Court.

Earlier today, the court announced that it won’t hear an appeal by Fredrik Neij, Peter Sunde, and Carl Lundstrom, meaning the jail sentences and fines imposed by the lower Swedish Court of Appeals will stand.

Torrent Freak was first to report on the news.

The trouble for the men started in April 2009 when a Swedish court found them guilty of allegedly making 33 copyright-protected files available for illegal file sharing on The Pirate Bay. The court ordered the men to pay about $ 3.6 million in fines and serve one year in jail.

Soon after the verdict was laid down, the men appealed the case to the Swedish Court of Appeals, which in late 2010, upheld the lower court’s ruling. However, the Appeals court increased their fines by 16 million Swedish kronor (about $ 2.4 million). The court also reduced Neij’s sentence to 10 months, Sunde’s to 8 months, and Lundstrom’s to 4 months, based on their alleged activities at The Pirate Bay.

Still not pleased with the outcome, the men took their case to Sweden’s highest court in the hopes or arguing their case. They received their answer on that today.

In response to today’s announcement, Sunde took to his personal blog to speak out against the decision, saying that he and the other men involved in the case are “not surprised” by the rejection. Sunde also took the chance to take a stand.

“Even though the outcome (which we still haven’t reached) is not favorable for my personal situation, the end goal that we fight for is so much more important than some peoples personal struggles,” he wrote. “I’ll live with not being rich–which is easy when you’re not rich anyhow–the rest of my life. I’ll live with whatever sentence I’ll get in the end–I’ll just finish my book.

“The fight goes on with or without me, I’m just a pawn,” he continued. “But at least I’m a pawn on the morally right side. I’m proud as hell of what I’ve done and I would not change my involvement in any way. I actually think I could have done much more for the fight. And I will.”

Piracy has been a hot-button issue over the last several months, as the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect IP Act (PIPA) caused a great divide between Hollywood, which supported the bills, and Web users and prominent online companies, who were opposed to them. The supporters argued that the bills could stem online piracy and eventually return lost jobs to the U.S. However, critics were concerned the bills would give law enforcement officials too much power and allow them to remove legitimate sites from the Web without fear of recourse.

After a long war of words ensued, Wikipedia, Google, and other companies held a protest day last month to stand in opposition to the bills. The move prompted lawmakers to put the bills on ice until a suitable solution could be determined.

All that outcry was followed by news that the U.S. Justice Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation had taken down popular video site MegaUpload, claiming that four suspects allegedly involved with the site engaged in online piracy. However, many of the site’s top managers have said that they are innocent.

by Lance Whitney February 1, 2012 8:07 AM PST

Microsoft is pouncing on the recent bad press about Google in an attempt to win over more customers.

Citing worries over the search giant’s new privacy policies, Frank Shaw, corporate VP for Microsoft’s Corporate Communications group, boasted in a blog today that Microsoft offers people a safer choice.

Google has been blasted over the past week following its decision to alter its privacy policies to share user information across different products and services. The company has even been forced to justify its decision to Congress, which has raised its own concerns over the new policies.

Tapping into and even ramping up the fear level among Google users, Shaw said that Google’s changes will make it harder for people to control their own information. In contrast, the VP paints Microsoft as a kinder and gentler alternative.

“We work to keep you safe and secure online, to give you control over your data, and to offer you the choice of saving your information on your hard drive, in the cloud, or on both,” said Shaw.

In touting Microsoft’s own products and services, Shaw managed to sneak in a couple of jabs at Google.

Promoting Hotmail, he invited customers to “join the hundreds of millions of people who enjoy not worrying about the content of their private e-mails being used to serve ads.” And playing up his company’s cloud-based Office 365, Shaw referred to it as “the award-winning online collaboration solution for businesses who don’t want their documents and mail used to benefit advertisers.”

But Microsoft’s campaign won’t stop with Shaw’s blog. The company is also placing full-page ads in several major newspapers this week. Titled “Putting people first,” the ads also convey a sense of fear about being a Google user and highlight Microsoft’s own products as more secure.

Microsoft and Google have long been adversaries on a variety of fronts.

The two companies have dueled over lucrative government and commercial contracts for their cloud-based services, with Google hawking its Google Apps and Microsoft pushing Office 365.

Google naturally commands the search engine market by a wide margin, but Microsoft has been striving to bring more people to Bing, even teaming up with Yahoo to offer more of a united front against its rival. In the Web browser arena, Microsoft’s Internet Explorer still holds dominance, but Google’s Chrome has been battling with Firefox for the No. 2 spot, according to recent data.

Google did not immediately respond to CNET’s request for comment on Microsoft’s new campaign.

by Lance Whitney January 31, 2012 6:33 AM PST

ARM can thank the booming smartphone and tablet market for its solid fourth-quarter performance.

With its chips popping up in the iPhone and an array of other mobile devices, the U.K.-based company saw its pretax profit surge 45 percent to 69 million pounds ($ 108 million), while its sales rose 21 percent to $ 217 million.

But it’s actually the royalties that provided the biggest boost. The company takes home a royalty for every ARM-based product sold along along with a license to use its technology, notes the Wall Street Journal (subscription required)

As a result, fourth-quarter royalty sales grew by 22 percent to $ 114.7 million, accounting for more than half of the total group revenues. For the quarter, the company sold around 2.2 billion of its chips, the highest number ever of ARM processor-based shipments.

Although ARM sells chips for a variety of devices, including PCs and household appliances, the growth in mobile computing and high-end smartphones has provided the greatest kick. Shipments of the Cortex-A-based wireless and mobile computing chips more than doubled from the year-ago quarter.

ARM also does better dollarwise when more of its technology is built into the chip, as was seen with the Cortex-A processsor. Though the number of ARM-based chips for mobile devices grew by 10 percent last quarter, the value the company derived from those chip sales rose by 20 percent.

“In Q4 and throughout 2011, ARM has seen strong licensing growth, driven by market-leading semiconductor companies increasing their commitment to ARM technology, and more new customers choosing ARM technology for the first time,” CEO Warren East said in a statement. “We have also seen our royalty revenue continue to grow faster than industry revenues as the ARM Partnership gains share in our target markets.”

But looking at the current quarter, ARM is expecting sales to fall to $ 200 million in light of the strong license revenues and an overall projected downturn in semiconductor sales, both during the fourth quarter.

by Don Reisinger January 31, 2012 6:43 AM PST

Google has responded to Congress, defending its decision to make a controversial change to its privacy policy.

In a 13-page letter to several Congress members, Google explains its decision for changing its privacy policy, and answers a host of questions posed by the lawmakers after the search giant announced its plans.

“Last week we heard from members of Congress about Google’s plans to update our privacy policies by consolidating them into a single document on March 1,” Google director of public policy Pablo Chavez wrote today in a blog post accompanying the letter. “Protecting people’s privacy is something we think about all day across the company, and we welcome discussions about our approach. We hope this letter, in which we respond to the members’ questions, clears up the confusion about these changes.”

Google announced plans to rewrite its privacy policy last week. The revision will give the company explicit rights to “combine personal information” across the many products and services it currently offers.

“We’re not collecting more data about you. Our new policy simply makes it clear that we use data to refine and improve your experience on Google–whichever products or services you use,” Google said at the time. “This is something we have already been doing for a long time. We’re making things simpler and we’re trying to be upfront about it. Period.”

More to come…

by Don Reisinger January 31, 2012 4:51 AM PST

The patent battle between Apple and Samsung has just taken a very interesting turn.

The European Union’s European Commission (EC) today announced that it has launched a formal investigation into whether or not Samsung has used wireless patents as an anticompetitive tool, in violation of its commitment to the European Telecommunications Standards Institute.

Samsung’s lawsuits against Apple over the last year–claiming that the iPhone maker violates wireless patents it holds–could come back to haunt the company. In fact, the EC said in its investigation discussion that Samsung has “sought injunctive relief in various Member States’ courts against competing mobile device makers based on alleged infringements of certain of its patent rights which it has declared essential to implement European mobile telephony standards.”

“The Commission will investigate, in particular, whether in doing so Samsung has failed to honor its irrevocable commitment given in 1998 to the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) to license any standard essential patents relating to European mobile telephony standards on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) terms,” the EC went on to say in a statement today. “The Commission will examine whether such behavior amounts to an abuse of a dominant position prohibited by Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU (TFEU).”

The EC’s decision to launch a formal investigation into Samsung’s practices now is somewhat surprising. In November, the organization told CNET that it was conducting a preliminary investigation into Samsung’s patent policies. In most cases, those preliminary investigations can take years to complete. However, this investigation took just months, meaning the EC quickly had all it needed to start diving into the matter.

“But the launch of a full-blown investigation after a few months of preliminary investigations is an important step,” FOSS Patents’ Florian Mueller, someone who has been following the lawsuits between Apple and Samsung quite closely, wrote today in a blog post about the investigation. “This means European competition enforcers have received information, in response to questionnaires (sent to Apple, which may have informally complained, and Samsung) that warrant a more formal effort.”

Throughout 2011, Samsung sued Apple over more than a dozen wireless-related patents, and so far, not a single court across the Euro zone has agreed with Samsung’s charges. Apple, meanwhile, has been able to win a few cases, including one in Germany that has forced Samsung to take the Galaxy Tab 10.1 off store shelves.

But the EC isn’t necessarily concerned about lawsuits. Instead, the organization wants to see if Samsung is intentionally not licensing, or unfairly trying to license, its patents to competitors–namely, Apple–to stifle competition across the EU. If the EC finds Samsung in violation of that, it could quickly squash the lawsuits being argued in courts across the continent.

The EC was quick to say that it will not “prejudge the outcome” of its Samsung investigation, but will “examine the case as a matter of priority,” meaning its ruling could come sooner rather than later.

Samsung has not immediately responded to CNET’s request for comment.

by Don Reisinger January 31, 2012 5:01 AM PST

After losing the mastermind behind its retail stores last year, Apple has been on the hunt for someone who could keep up its momentum. It has finally found that person.

The iPhone maker announced last night that John Browett, CEO of European technology retailer Dixons, will be joining Apple as Senior Vice President of Retail. In his new role, Browett will be charged with handling Apple’s retail strategy and continuing Apple Store expansion around the world.

“Our retail stores are all about customer service, and John shares that commitment like no one else we’ve met,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a statement. “We are thrilled to have him join our team and bring his incredible retail experience to Apple.”

Browett will be joining Apple in April.

More to come…