It’s been less than a year since YouTube gave the thumbs up to 1080p HD, but they seem determined to never fall behind again. On Friday at the VidCon 2010 conference the streaming video site revealed support for 4K video streams, a resolution that is more than four times the size of 1080p. To put this in perspective they claim the most ideal display for a native 4K video would be a screen measuring more than 25 feet across.

Many agencies reporting on this story have criticized the announcement as little more than posturing given that consumer adoption of 4K is still many years out, but you won’t hear any complaints from us. After all, many of us are rocking 30” displays that have far too many spare pixels when watching 1080p anyway.

A sample video collection has been posted to the site for you to checkout, but make sure you come prepared. According to the YouTube blog you’ll need a “super-fast broadband” connection, and half way decent hardware to enjoy the sample clips. My initial tests showed satisfactory performance with a 10Mbps cable connection, but it was nearly impossible to detect the difference on a 1920×1200 24” panel between 4K and 1080p.

Now that YouTube offers resolutions far an above everyone’s native displays, maybe they could work on improving the bit rate. After all, 4K video is great, but not when it’s riddled with compression artifacts. Hit the jump to try one of the clips out for yourself. You’ll need to click on the video to access the “Original” resolution.

Microsoft has the unfortunate reputation of being more vulnerable than most when it comes to security exploits, so I’m sure the boys in Redmond were cringing just a bit more than usual when they discovered that malware was infecting Windows Mobile phones as well. According to Cnet, the applications “3D Anti-Terrorist game, PDA Poker Art, and Codec pack for Windows Mobile 1.0″ all contain an auto dialer program that makes calls to random numbers in countries such as Somalia and the South Pole.

Microsoft representatives were understandably concerned about the news, but even we are forced to admit that it’s not really their fault since users are voluntarily downloading and installing the infected applications. “Users need to be aware of what they are downloading and make sure it is a reputable source and from a reputable developer.” While we don’t know the exact number of users who were infected, even Microsoft was forced to admit that it could be the beginning of a trend. “What took 15 years for malware to evolve on the desktop is accelerated on the mobile platform.” “We’re seeing it move from early proof-of-concept (malware) to things that are driving profit.”

Of course this also points out the ideological differences between platforms such as Windows Mobile and Android that allow you to download any application you want, and the iPhone approach where each app is tested an analyzed prior to approval. Do you think mobile platforms should be locked down the way Steve Jobs envisions, or do people who download apps from shady sources deserve what they get?

Steve Ballmer is known for being a bit, how should we say it, “outspoken”, but he was forced to carefully choose his words while defending the PC at the All Things Digital Conference last week. Ballmer was responding specifically to comments made by Apple CEO Steve Jobs where he insinuated that PC’s are going to fade into obscurity. According to Ballmer “general purpose PCs will continue to thrive because specialized devices like the iPad may be redundant and not necessarily affordable”. Some might question the wisdom of calling a $499 device “not affordable”, but he backs up his claims by pointing out that the function of tablets is mostly redundant. “I don’t think the whole world is going to be able to afford five devices per person.”

Ballmer seemed willing to admit that tablet devices might still find a place, particularly in entertainment-oriented scenarios, but that the things people do on a PC today aren’t becoming any less important as a result of the iPad. “I think PCs are going to continue to shift in form factor. PCs will look different. Next year. The year after that. The underlying semiconductor infrastructure that Windows runs on. The world’s moving to system-on-a-chip,” he said.

Does Ballmer’s have a point here? Or is he ignoring the real threat that tablets pose to traditional PC sales from consumers who only use the Internet to “consume” content rather than create?

Many would argue that Lime Wire has been running on borrowed time for years, but their luck appears to be running out fast. The music industry has asked a New York federal court to shutdown Lime Wire permanently, and they might just get their way this time based on the summary judgment leveled against them last month. “Every day that Lime Wire’s conduct continues unabated guarantees harm to plaintiffs that money damages cannot and will not compensate,” RIAA lawyers wrote to U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood. “The scope of the infringements that Lime Wire induced…boggles the mind.”

Representatives from Lime Wire and the RIAA are scheduled to meet before the judge on Monday, but failing any last minute plea bargains, they could potentially be given a final date by which they must fully cease operations. Despite the gloomy prospects for Lime Wire’s future a spokeswoman for the company claims “We are looking forward to an opportunity to address the Court for the first time in two years and show that as a matter of fact and law there is no support for this motion.”

The RIAA’s primary focus at this point is shutting down the service once and for all, but they are also starting to get concerned that Lime Wire’s founder Mark Gorton has been squirreling away the Lime Wire profits into “family partnerships”. With liability running into the “hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars”, the RIAA could find itself raiding an empty cash drawer by the time they finally finish shutting down the service.

The iPad may have sucked all the wind out of the Amazon Kindle’s sails, but rumor has it a refresh of the lineup could be coming as early as August. Sources quoted by Bloomberg claim that the new device would be significantly thinner and lighter than the previous model and would feature a higher resolution display.

This sounds like a promising start, but those holding out for a color or touch screen version will probably be stuck buying an iPad since neither feature seems very likely this time around. It would seem that Amazon is content to concede the market for e-readers with benefits to Apple, and will continue to focus it’s efforts on the hardcore book reading crowd who continue to favor dedicated devices that are lighter to hold, and easier on the eyes.

By reducing the weight and improving the legibility of the display, Amazon appears to be in a good position to continue fending off competitors such as Sony who have done a fairly competent job of catching up feature wise. It remains to be seen just how big the market for dedicated reading devices ends up being, but I would venture to guess that it’s a heck of a lot smaller than the tablet crowd.

Do you have any interest in the Kindle? Or is your fickle fancy leading you more towards a tablet?

Microsoft has a mixed reputation in the mobile phone market, but has some pretty ambitious goals for its upcoming Windows Phone 7 platform. According to sources inside the company they are forecasting sales of more than 30 million units in the first 18 months of general availability.

Taken on its own this number is difficult to digest, but when you consider that it has taken Apple nearly 3 years to move 51 million units, you can see that its definitely not a conservative forecast by any stretch of the imagination.

Microsoft backs up this number by explaining that they anticipate the smart phone market to expand from 14 percent in 2010 to almost 40 percent in 2011. This type of impressive growth might just put 30 million units within reach, but we’ll just have to wait and see how this all plays out.

What do you think of Microsoft’s math?

For Hardcore PC users tablet fatigue is slowly setting in. It seems like almost every week we hear another rumor or two about upcoming devices, and its only going to get worse. A recent patent application shows that Sony is the latest company preparing to pile on the bandwagon, but this time you might be interested to hear they are taking a page from the scrapped Microsoft Courier, namely its dual displays.

Described in the application as an “electronic book with enhanced features” the screens would take on different characteristics depending on its orientation. If held like a paperback book the device would simply function like a normal e-reader, but flipping it over into portrait mode would reveal and onscreen keyboard. It is unknown at this point if the device concept is for an e-reader or a multifunction tablet, but only time will tell.

Of course patent applications don’t always become products so it could be quite some time (if ever) that this ends up seeing the light of day. What do you think of this form factor for an e-reader / tablet?

With the announcement of Google TV we are sure, now more than ever that the future of media lies in on demand IP TV. With just about every tech company lining up with boxes and software trying to pipe Internet content into the living room, the future promises some pretty fierce competition.

Regardless of what you think about Apple in general, they are currently in the unusual position of being the weakest player in this emerging new media category. The current $229 Apple TV with 160GB of storage is an abomination of overbearing DRM and extremely limited utility. If the rumors are correct however, an ARM based version for $99 running iPhone OS 4 might be just around the corner.

The story was first picked up by Engadget who claims that the source of the leak was “very close to Apple” and the box would even offer full 1080p streaming. It remains to be seen if consumers will ultimately warm up to the idea of an Internet appliance as a separate box, or if they will favor software solutions build into TV sets such as Google TV. If boxes are the future, Apple still has its work cut out for it competing with the likes of Microsoft and Sony who sell millions of dual-purpose game consoles into households every year.

Does a revamped Apple TV stand a chance? Let us know what you think.

Google’s primary creed of “Do No Evil” may give comfort to some, but according the New York Times the US Federal Government may need a bit more convincing. “They are not just on the radar screen. They are at the center of it,” said Tim Wu, a professor at Columbia University and the author of a forthcoming book on technology monopolies, “The Master Switch: The Rise and Fall of Information Empires.” “If you are in the federal government and are interested in antitrust, you are looking at Google.”

Scrutiny of the California based search giant was bound to continue mounting as a result of its success, however recent privacy snafus, including the Wi-Fi sniffing issue have only served to further fuel the flames of mistrust between Google and federal regulators. Google executives acknowledge that being under the spotlight is expected given their rapid growth, but maintain that competition on the Internet is still strong and is a mere click away. This argument has kept regulators at bay until now, but it remains to be seen what action, if any the government is considering.

It may be a long forgotten issue for most, but Federal Judge Denny Chin is expected to rule very soon on the amended book publishing settlement inked with authors which could very well set the tone for any further interventions. Google has a tradition of breaking business models in just about every industry it enters, so it will be interesting to see how long this goes unchallenged.

Do you buy the “competition is one click away” argument, or is Google just becoming too powerful to responsibly organize the worlds data?

Apple is known in the tech industry for being a bit of a patent bully, but it turns out what goes around really does come around. This week a number of infringement cases were filed in a Texas federal court which allege that iTunes, Safari, and even OSX infringe on a number of patents held by a company named Sharing Sound. The most interesting of the suits filed was against the iTunes store, which as far as we can tell, insinuates that Apple should not be allowed to sell music through the iTunes interface. The patent being contested would prevent Apple from using any type of online store environment which allows them to provide song previews, a shopping cart, or even an application to play any purchased content. The absence of these features would make iTunes decidedly less useful than it already is, so I imagine Apple is taking this one rather seriously.

Most people wouldn’t recognize Sharing Sound on its own, but codefendants include Rhapsody, Napster, Brilliant Digital Entertainment, and Microsoft. Apple is the big player named in the suit, but similar actions were filed against Amazon, Netflix, Wal-Mart, Barnes & Noble, and even GameStop. It is somewhat unclear why Sharing Sound would wait so long to test out the validity of its patent holding, but were pretty sure a lawyer was carefully consulted at each step. A verdict in their favor could radically alter the online music distribution landscape, but is also the key reason why it is likely to die off. The better question here is not if Sharing Sound will be able to lock out the big players in the online music industry, but rather why the patent office would grant such a broad and ridiculous patent at all.