YouTube Signs Royalties Deal with U.K. Songwriters

A YouTube spokesman has confirmed a deal with a British licensing organization that collects royalties on behalf of 50,000 songwriters. According to the news report, YouTube has paid a flat fee to the MCPS-PRS Alliance to cover the use of some 10 million pieces of music, though no terms of the deal were disclosed.

At a press conference Wednesday in London, the MCPS-PRS Alliance, which represents creators of more than 10 million pieces of music, announced a deal that lets people who use Google's video-sharing site incorporate recorded music legally into videos.

HP’s New Virtus Revealed

Engadget has leaked photos of HP’s upcoming desktop PC. I’m not too keen on the name “Virtus” but it sure looks nice.

We don't yet know a lot about this happening new HP desktop, except that it's been dubbed the Virtus and it's got some fairly slick design. We'll hit you up with more as we get it -- for now, bask in our gallery of leaked shots.

Yahoo Inc. to Reorganize Management

Uh oh, you know what the term “reorganize” means don’t you? It means someone at Yahoo is getting the boot!

Yahoo's president Susan Decker announced that Gregory Coleman, the company's global sales executive vice president, will leave in February as his responsibilities are folded into a new division.

NVIDIA G92 Graphics Chip to Launch in November

DigiTimes, citing sources in the graphics card industry, claims that NVIDIA will launch its G92 GPU on November 12th.

The G92 will support PCI Express 2.0, HDMI, PureVideo Gen 3 and Display Port, while the chip will adopt a 65nm process. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) will manufacture the chips. Despite the new chip designs, G92 and G98 can only be considered an update of the GeForce 8 series since they will not include any major changes, the sources explained.

Microsoft to Acquire Parlano

Today Microsoft Corp. announced it has agreed to acquire Chicago-based Parlano, maker of MindAlign, a leading application for enterprise group chat. Microsoft expects to add Parlano’s group chat functionality as a new feature of Microsoft® Office Communications Server and Microsoft Office Communicator, Microsoft’s server and client software for presence, instant messaging, conferencing and VoIP.

Monster Outlines Anti-fraud Measures

Monster has supposedly sent an e-mail to users outlining the anti-fraud measures the company is taking after last week’s reported data breach.

In an e-mail message sent to users, Monster shared antifraud advice and pledged to improve its security practices through enhanced surveillance of site traffic and tighter access to the Web site.

Adobe Hires Heavy Hitters

Adobe has hired one of the inventors of Image Resizer Technology. If you have not seen IRT in action, I recommend you watch this four and a half minute video. Very cool stuff.

Defend Fair Use

Are you tired of exaggerated copyright notices used by big media corporations? Do you want to defend your right to Fair Use? Hit the link above and sign the petition. Who knows, it might help.

Register your opinion and demand action! If you think consumers are being unfairly misled by copyright warnings, let us know by signing our petition. Tell us what you think about Fair Use. We will gather all comments into a complete record, and submit them to the Federal Trade Commission to prove that these misrepresentations harm consumers.

Dell Adding PhysX PPU to Laptop Line

IGN, citing sources within Dell, says the company has plans to add the Ageia PhysX PPU to its gaming laptops. For those of you wondering what the benefit (if any) of adding a PhysX card to a laptop might be, give our article on the effects physics & gameplay physics a read.

Though our source could not tell us specifically which among Dell's lappies will be getting the upgrade, we think it's safe to assume it will be the XPS M1710, the company's 17-inch flagship gaming model.

MySpace Music Tour

According to reports, the MySpace Music Tour is on its way to a town near you this fall. Those of you interested should hit the link above for a full list of tour cities.

The headlining acts for the tour will be two artists who have built up large followings on the social-networking site--geeky pop band Hellogoodbye and emo act Say Anything. The tour will also include the Japanese punk band Polysics, which has been signed to the new MySpace Records label, as well as yet-to-be-announced guests.

Gaming News

Kane & Lynch: Dead Men Hands-On @ Shacknews

Mark Rein Praises BioSHock Success @ DevelopMag

Need for Speed ProStreet Dated @ TeamXbox

Opposing Fronts Open Beta @ Official Site

Vista SP1 Beta Next Month?

Microsoft is planning to have Vista SP1 beta ready “in a few weeks,” with a full deployment planned for the first quarter of 2008.

Like all service packs, Vista SP1 will include a number of security, reliability, performance, and compatibility improvements, including all that have already been released via Windows Update. Additionally, Microsoft says, the service pack will improve some administrative features and add support for new hardware and emerging standards.