MaximumPC 2008 12

12 |MAMAMAXIMXIMXIMXIMUUUUMMPPPCC|DEC 08 |www.maximumpc.com

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THE BEGINNING OF THE MAGAZINE, WHERE ARTICLES ARE SMALL

Nvidia Sued over GPUs

Investors say graphics company

withheld data on defective parts

T

wo separate shareholder lawsuits against Nvidia

accuse the company of not telling investors about

pending GPU failures in notebook computers.

Both suits allege that Nvidia knew of the problem

for several months and put its shareholders at risk by

withholding the critical information. In July, Nvidia reported

it would take a $200 million charge to pay for the bad GPUs.

The company’s stock has since fallen from $39 a share to $8.

Nvidia has blamed the problem on packaging used in

the mobile GPUs and maintains that only a small number of

parts are impacted. Dell has gone so far as to automatically

extend warranties on a large number of notebooks with

Nvidia GPUs. –G U

W

hat do N.W.A.’s “Straight Outta Compton,”

Futurama, the Powerpuff Girls, and Aphex

Twin have in common? Only two things:

their appearance on ironic hipster T-shirts and the

Amen break.

You can be forgiven if the term “Amen break” is

unfamiliar, but you defi nitely know the sound. It’s a

sample that’s appeared all over in the last 20 years,

from hip-hop to movies to commercials. It’s helped

defi ne genres. It’s pretty much the drum part of

drum and bass.

The Amen break comes from “Amen Brother,”

the B-side of a single released in 1969 by a band

called the Winstons. The break is all of six seconds

long—yet people ripping it off transformed it into a

musical institution. All without any permission from

the Winstons.

Had the Winstons demanded licensing and sent

out cease-and-desists what might have (not) been?

The people that used the Amen break early on

might not have cared. Even the RIAA’s most bulldog

of lawyers might not balk at negotiators for whom

the AK-47 is a tool. But the Amen represents what a

sample set free of copyright enforcement could do.

Sampling has been at the heart of new music move-

ments ever since.

The chance of another Amen break revolution

these days is slim. In 2005 the 6th Circuit Court of

Appeals (which covers Tennessee, Kentucky, Michi-

gan, and Ohio) got a case in which the very same

N.W.A. that gave the Amen break such prominence

with “Straight Outta Compton” in 1988 was sued

for using another sample. This time is was a two-

second chord from a Funkadelic song. Yes, a mere

three notes—there was very little grace in Grace-

land. The court explained that enforcement was

easier if almost nothing was too small to prosecute.

They were blunt: “Get a license or do not

sample.” They added: “We do not see this as stifl ing

creativity in any signifi cant way.” Methinks the 6th

Circuit doth protest too much.

But good luck with that easy enforcement—

sampling has punk spirit, culminating in the

wildly creative and forever illegal mash-up scene.

I might not ever be able to buy this music, but I

don’t have to.

BYTE RIGHTS

Sample This,

Lawman

QUINN NORTON

Quinn Norton writes about copyright for Wired

News and other publications. Her work has

ranged from legal journalism to the inner life

of pirate organizations.

Sumo Omni Plus

W

e’ve planted our tushes on a fair number of bean

bags over the years, but we’ve never found one

that’s offered the right combination of size and comfort.

We like the portability of Sumo’s fl agship Omni bag, but

not the mess that results from replenishing its inner

Styrofoam beads. The new Omni Plus ($200, http://www.

sumolounge.com) is fi lled with shredded urethane foam

(aka memory foam), which slowly decompresses after use.

The bag never goes fl at and you never need to replace the

fi lling, but the pillow-like form factor isn’t optimal for use

as a chair. This bag is better for napping than gaming. –N C

High failure rates

of mobile GeForce

parts have cost

Nvidia at least

$200 million.

IP

Infringement

and You

With a 14-4 approval

vote by the Senate

Judiciary Committee,

the Enforcement of

Intellectual Property

Rights Act of 2008

welds elements from

both the PRO-IP Act

and the PIRATE Act

to form the Godzilla

of all copyright bills.

Here’s what’s in store

for future copyright

enforcement.

The proposed

legislation off ers some

new safeguards for

the accused, as well as

“virtual bystanders,” by

mandating a protective

order on any forfeited

property of an IP

infringement case,

meaning the discovery

and use of any private

impounded information

may not be improperly

disclosed or used.

More controversial

is a provision in the

bill that allows the

Department of Justice

to enforce civil suits

against IP infringers,

yielding any damages

awarded to the

copyright holders. In

other words, taxpayer

money would go toward

providing legal services

for the content owners.

A further provision

tacked onto the end of

the bill suggests that

the attorney general

give special attention

to cases of soft ware

piracy that involve

“willful theft ” for the

benefi t of fi nancial

gain, ostensibly

moving your average

P2P downloader to the

end of the DOJ’s to-do

list. –B H

TESTED &

GEEK