Researchers can now predict how nanostructuring -- the extreme reduction of structure -- will affect the performance of Li-ion batteries. The nanostructuring of battery materials is likely to be common practice in the future, but it is not always performance enhancing.

Two years ago, we wrote about how the DVD-CCA group, the group that defines the CSS security standard for DVDs, had sued the maker of a DVD jukebox. It didn't make much sense. The jukebox cost $27,000 -- so this wasn't exactly a consumer device. It would let users rip and store DVDs on a hard drive, but also included tons of additional copy protection so you couldn't get it off the machine. It was pretty clear that this wasn't a device to be used for piracy, but rather a luxury item for someone who wanted easier access to all the content they had on DVDs. Boing Boing is pointing out that a judge has now ruled that the DVD jukeboxes are legal and did not violate the contract the company had signed with DVD-CCA. Of course, it sounds like the ruling hinged on something of a technicality, where the wording of the contract wasn't entirely clear over what was and was not covered in the contract -- so it may not be possible to use this as a precedent in other cases. At the same time, however, movie studios and folks at the DVD-CCA are already whining that this decision will delay the rollout of new security specs for high definition DVDs -- though it's not at all clear why. There's simply no reason why a small contractual dispute should delay the security standard -- and the EE Times article above that makes this claim certainly doesn't bother to back it up with any actual details. Of course, considering that the HD-DVDs have been delayed over and over again, and people are at the point where they don't much seem to care about next generation DVDs any more, does it really matter?

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