New Technology Reviews!.: charity

SEC forms show Apple execs donated $3 million in 2010

<div style="text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" hspace="8" src="http://img63.imageshack.us/img63/7536/applecharities3725454.jpg" vspace="8" /></div> 
A few Securities and Exchange Commission <a href="http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2010/12/29/apple-officers-donate-3-million/">forms filed this week</a> show that Apple executives gave shares of Apple stock to various charities right around mid-December. The stocks added up to a value of about three million dollars across the four executives that gave. Unfortunately, none of the charities designated to receive the money were listed in the forms. 
 
Millard Drexler, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millard_Drexler">the CEO of J. Crew</a> and a member of Apple's board, gave away a total of 6,800 shares, as you can see above, and the other givers are also board members or executives. It's good to see the generosity flowing in Cupertino this year. 
<a href="http://www.tuaw.com/2010/12/30/sec-forms-show-apple-execs-donated-3-million-in-2010/"></a> 
<h6></h6><a href="http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2010/12/29/apple-officers-donate-3-million">Source</a>

SEC forms show Apple execs donated $3 million in 2010

A few Securities and Exchange Commission forms filed this week show that Apple executives gave shares of Apple stock to various charities ...

Hospice charity single hit by iTunes cover version

<img src="http://cdn.mos.techradar.com///classifications/computing/mac/images/apple_projects/apple-itunes-10-200-200.jpg"> Two Manchester lads who recorded a tribute single and raised £7,000 through iTunes for the hospice that cared for their late mother have seen their efforts undermined by a cover of their song. Lonely Sky, recorded by teenagers Ben and Jamie Hazelby, has raised a total of £82,500 for St Anne's Hospice, but iTunes proceeds dropped-off when a "tribute" version appeared on the download portal. The alternate version of the song is appearing above the original in the iTunes listings and it is not known whether producers JWH Records intends to donate their proceeds to the hospital. Apple investigates Jamie, 14, says that Apple is investigating and could remove the rival song. He said: "On iTunes people can post comments and they've been posting 'your Mum would be really proud' and stuff like that." "They [iTunes] have told us that the company that's done it has five days to prove that they were allowed to release the song before it gets taken off, and all the money goes back to the hospice," added Ben, 17. The song was recorded with Chris De Burgh on vocals after the two lads featured on TV show Noel's Christmas Presents on December 19th. Ben and Jamie lost their mum to ovarian cancer in January 2009.

Hospice charity single hit by iTunes cover version

Two Manchester lads who recorded a tribute single and raised £7,000 through iTunes for the hospice that cared for their late mother have see...

Blu-ray quality put to test by consumer charity Which?

<img src="http://cdn.mos.techradar.com//images/blu-ray-disc-200-200.jpg"> Consumer rights bastions Which? have taken a look at some of the most popular movies out on Blu-ray and compared their picture quality with that of DVD. In the test, Which? looked at 17 Blu-rays, all of which were of retro movies, and decided that <a href="http://conversation.which.co.uk/technology/many-blu-rays-no-better-than-upscaled-dvds/">eight of these discs</A> had a transfer akin to DVD – even though they had been labelled Full HD. It's no secret that the quality of retro movies on Blu-rays differs depending on how well the studio has remastered the movie but it seems that the folks at Which? were shocked with the actual gulf in quality between discs in their tests. Although the site explains that all the discs are better in quality than DVD, the do highlight some discs which didn't impress at all. These included Ghostbusters, The Graduate and Gangs of New York. Picture perfect? The test <a href="http://www.which.co.uk/technology/tv-and-dvd/guides/blu-ray-disc-quality/blu-ray-viewing-results/">was conducted</A> on two identical Sony TVs and two identical Blu-ray players (with the DVD and Blu-ray version running side by side) by two experts who rated the picture quality of the movies accordingly. Interestingly, North By Northwest was also in the lowest-quality group – something which <a href="http://hcc.techradar.com/blogs/team-hcc/dvd-vs-blu-ray-does-which-know-which-which-17-11-10">Home Cinema Choice</A> disagrees with. They note that the Hitchcock classic was given an 8k resolution restoration for its release on Blu-ray, so it was very doubtful that no picture improvements were seen by the testers. While we think <a href="http://www.which.co.uk/technology/tv-and-dvd/guides/blu-ray-disc-quality/blu-ray-versus-dvd-/">17 discs</A> is rather low, it is interesting to see a trusted body like Which? challenging the notion that Blu-ray automatically offers picture enhancements to older movies.

Blu-ray quality put to test by consumer charity Which?

Consumer rights bastions Which? have taken a look at some of the most popular movies out on Blu-ray and compared their picture quality with ...