[H]ardNews 13th Edition

P2P In Supreme Court Tomorrow:

United States Supreme Court will hear the landmark P2P case the MGM Studios has brought against Grokster and StreamCast. What will the Supreme Court do? It is hard to tell but I know a lot of you compare this case to an automobile maker being sued because of the actions of a drunk driver. We’ll keep a close eye on this tomorrow.

Both file-sharing companies contend that P2P networks can be used to share legal content and they cannot control, and thus are not liable for, any piracy going on. Sharman Networks, owner of Kazaa, has mounted a similar defense in a case brought by the record industry in Australia.

Actiontec Homeplug Networking:

While home networking reviews aren’t something we cover a lot around here, this Actiontec Homeplug networking article at PCStats might be of interest to those of you looking for alternatives to traditional wired / wireless networking.

The Actiontec HomePlug Ethernet adaptor kit is somewhat of a niche product. It does its job well, effectively networking devices over existing 120V AC copper wiring, but in general circumstances it's hard to recommend using Powerline networking instead of the now common wireless networking standards.