News written by Rich Fiscus (October, 2010)

Starting in November, Boxee users will be adding an application for the VUDU on demand service. In addition, VUDU is offering a free movie rental to anyone who signs up for their service through Boxee.

Boxee is a media center platform for Windows & OS X, which is primarily designed to aceess web based content. A set-top box, simply called the Boxee Box, will also be launching next month.

VUDU clients are already available on a number of Blu-ray players & HDTVs, as well as VUDU's own set-top box.

A German court recently shot down a damage claim of 600 euros against a teen for sharing 2 songs, opting instead to reduce the figure by 95% to just 30 euros.

In addition, a claim against the boy's father, whom the lawsuit said should be held responsible simply because his internet connection was used, was dismissed entirely by the Hamburg court.

In explaining the amount awarded, they pointed out the songs were already several years old at the time they were shared and also that the rights holders could only prove the tracks were available online for a short time.

Analyzing the decision, a German law blog noted that even if applied to a current hit, the court's formula could result in damage awards of substantially less than 100 euros.

By contrast, recent lawsuits against German file sharers have demanded 1000 euros per song.

Today the iPad 3G went on sale at AT&T stores across the US. Meanwhile, Verizon introduced a competing deal, bundling a regular iPad with a WiFi hotspot.

Verizon's bundled alternatives are priced essentially the same as their 3G counterparts. They are charging $629 for the 16GB model, $729 for 32GB or $829 for 64GB.

Data plan details are similar, but not exactly the same. While AT&T offers a choice of 250MB or 2GB per month for $14.99 and $25 respectively, Verizon customers can choose from 1GB per month for $20, 3GB for $35, 5GB for $50 or 10GB for $80.

Of course the availability of the iPad from Verizon has led to more speculation about the oft-rumored, but never confirmed, partnership between Apple and Verizon for a CDMA version of the iPhone. Many industry analysts and tech bloggers have suggested this is further proof such a device must be on the way.

In reality there are only two conclusions you can legitimately draw from this development, neither of which is much of a revelation. Verizon wants to compete with AT&T and Apple wants to sell more iPads.