Crowd-funding entreprenuers get on their bikes and ride

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall presents cheque for £40,290 to The Bicycle Academy, thanks to Peoplefund.it

By ECM Plus staff

ECM Plus +++ Broadcaster and food writer Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall has presented a cheque for £40,290 to Andrew Denham of The Bicycle Academy, at River Cottage HQ, in Axminster.

The money was raised in an amazing 6 days, through website Peoplefund.it and is thought to be the fastest ‘crowd-funded’ enterprise in Britain.

Twitter criticism of public figures protected by First Amendment

First Amendment Rally in Union Square. Image: Luke Redmond via Flickr

Judge: Prosecution of online critic under anti-stalking law is “unconstitutional”

By ECM Plus staff

ECM Plus +++ A federal district court judge in Maryland today blocked the government’s use of a federal anti-stalking law to prosecute a man for posting insults and criticism of a public figure to Twitter, ruling that “the First Amendment protects speech even when the subject or manner of expression is uncomfortable and challenges conventional religious beliefs, political attitudes or standards of good taste.” 

Christmas cracker for content apps at Downloadbuyer.com

Image by NilmaBoston

Magix, Content Watch and other software discounts at online software emporium

By ECM Plus staff

ECM Plus +++ Online software superstore DownloadBuyer is offering 50 percent discounts on its wide range of software products throughout December 2011.

According to the company, the range with the discounts includes apps from mediAvatar, Xilisoft, Wondershare, Magix, O&O, eJay, Innoheim, MacPhun, ABBYY, UpdateStar, Emsisoft, Serif, Abylonsoft, BitDefender and Content Watch.

New Hampshire home for ‘Cyber Kill Chain’ centre

Howarth opens new intelligence centre in Farnborough, England. Image: stumayhew

“Minister For War” opens Lockheed Martin’s new cybersecurity intelligence centre in Hampshire

By ECM Plus staff

ECM Plus +++ Lockheed Martin has just opened its first Security Intelligence Centre in Farnborough, England, which the company said would extend its ‘global reach’ and would be ‘augmenting facilities in the United States’.

The new Farnborough centre was opened in the presence of Conservative Party Member of Parliament The Right Honourable Gerald Howarth representing the constituency of Aldershot, also in Hampshire, England.

REVIEW: Magix Rescue Your Videotapes! 4.0

Wave goodbye to dusty old tapes and bulky cases

by ECM Plus Labs

ECM Plus +++ When it comes to valuable digital assets, few would argue that old family videos and precious moments from our cultural heritage, birthdays, Christmas morning, family weddings, first steps, proud father, Mother’s Day, and so on and so forth, are those moments that many families have made Olde Worlde tape-based videos of, but are in large part, currently languishing in a dusty box in the garage or in the attic.

Money and votes behind House Bill easing sharing of video rental information

Bill passed that allows for VSPs to obtain consent on an "...ongoing basis..."

By ECM Plus staff

ECM Plus +++ The U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday passed a bill (HR 2471) that would amend the Video Privacy Protection Act of 1988 to ease restrictions on sharing of video rental information.

The bill is supported by Facebook, Netflix, the Center for Democracy and Technology and the Digital Media Association. The measure is opposed by the Electronic Privacy Information Center.

SOFTWARE REVIEWS: MediAvatar Media Toolkit Ultimate

MediAvatar’s Media Toolkit Ultimate is the Swiss Army knife of modern multimedia convertibility.

By ECM Plus Labs Staff

ECM Plus +++ Billing itself as making it possible to enjoy ‘media anytime anywhere’ the software is indeed a veritable smogasbord of must-have’s for media in all its forms.

MediAvatar’s Media Toolkit Ultimate boasts a Five Knuckle shuffle of apps within its box – the five being: Blu-Ray Ripper, DVD Converter Pro, Audio Converter Pro, Video Converter Pro, and last but not least, for all the narcissists out there, YouTube Video Converter.