Grand Theft Auto IV has already been leaked online to the web on the file-sharing network BitTorrent after it was uploaded last week and has been spreading like wildfire.

Though it was supposed to come out sometime this week, it was first reported on the gaming blog Kotaku, a Gawker Media property.

The file, a 6.32GB, has a document attached saying that it the PAL version of the game for the Xbox 360, and not to use it until the debut. This means that only those who have a modded Xbox 360 in Australia, New Zealand and some parts of Europe can play the files.

We know that the US and Canada cannot use the file since they use the NTSC system, and France cannot use it since they use SECAM.

However, the public aren’t taking the group’s, called "iCON", message seriously and have started posting their scores on the gamertags. As well, amateur videos of the game are available on YouTube; but have been taken down due to a copyright claim by the game’s distributor, Take Two Interactive.

As well, in the message, the group has said that they should buy a legal copy of the game. "Guys, seriously, go and buy this one," the message said.

"[Rockstar] deserves it."

A US graduate student has helped free himself from an Egyptian jail, thanks to a one-word post from his cell phone.

James Karl Buck, a graduate student from the University of California-Berkeley, was in Egypt covering an anti-government protest in Mahalla when he and his translator, Mohammed Maree, were arrested on April 10.

On his way to the police station, he took out his cell phone and sent a message to his friends and contacts using the micro-blogging service Twitter; sending out one word - “Arrested”.

Within seconds, his colleagues in the US and his friends in Egypt - the same people who taught him the tool only a week earlier, were alerted to his arrest.

Twitter is a tool where you can only send 140 words to the public, friends and colleagues, with an active social-networking aspect.

He was eventually released, less than 24 hours after his arrest. He sent another message to his Twitter account, with another one-worded message - “Free”.

Telstra BigPond has shrugged off threats of legal action against the music industry after record labels drag ISPs to court to stop the piracy.

The largest ISP in Australia has said that it would be “gobsmacked” if the music industry here, represented by ARIA, would try to do the same; arguing that local copyright laws protected it for being responsible.

The industry wants to adopt a “three strikes and you’re out” system, where after you get complaint of piracy three times will be disconnected. All but one local ISPs have rejected the plan. Shocking, that one ISP that has approved the plan is Exetel.

The industry is also frustrated as it believes that the other ISPs are waiting for BigPond to jump on board with the new scheme before adopting it, and has indicated that it may sue local ISPs as a last resort.

Internationally, the “three strikes” rule has been adopted in Japan and France, with the British government indicating that it could force ISPs in the UK to adopt it.

However, the European Parliament has rejected the “three strikes” rule, with a Swedish MP and a former Prime Minister of France saying that it would conflict with civil liberties, among other things. Both France and the UK are members of the European Union.

But this vote is not legally binding, and France is expected to push for the system to be adopted in Europe when it takes over the six-month rotating presidency of the EU in the second half of this year.

Optus has this weird thing on your internet where you have to pay an extra 15c for every MB, with a maximum of 2GB. This is absurd, and outrageous.

It’s just another money-making scheme, where we are in a middle of paying higher interest rates and many of us losing our homes or have to cut back spending. These, however, are making additional hell. And I’m facing it.

And plus, since we are now tech-savvy, we will easily take the 2GB instantly; meaning we are losing in the family budget of $300. This is what I call greedy.

And now let’s compare the fat cats from Optus with Exetel (and 360NET, since they resell them), a much better provider. While we are losing $300 for 2GB, Exetel’s plans have an excess charge gigabyte. This means that with Exetel/360NET, you can just waste $6.00 for the same 2GB excess, with no limitations.

And I might be facing more than $300, because their counter does not stop from 2GB; it stopped at nearly 3GB. That makes them more greedy. That money is just going straight to the bank accounts of their executives, and even worst, leaving 1% to their “technical support” in Bangladesh, India or wherever the f**k they are.

Hell, and I’m not proud of saying this; this action makes Telstra look good. Hell, I might be happy if the OPEL group did not make the regional Wi-Max network.

Come on Optus, why do you need to screw me and every one of your customers around. Give us a break.

Now, if you excuse me, I need to light a candle. This way, I could save hundreds of dollars from the electricity bill to save myself from getting the ass kicked from my house.

Shame on you!

This blog post comes from our sister blog, The Journal.

A Chinese primary school teacher and a beautician have filed a suit against CNN, owned by Time Warner, in New York over remarks that they have insulted China and it’s people.

It is also seeking compensation of US$1 for every person in China, or $1.3 billion in total, according to a Honk Kong newspaper.

This lawsuit, directed at Time Warner and Jack Cafferty, the “offending” commentator, comes after 14 lawyers launched a similar suit in Beijing, saying that the commentator’s remarks violated the dignity and reputation of the Chinese people.

Read more at The Journal.

While both CNET Networks and Yahoo are facing threats on their companies, both companies have announced a partnership which will provide content to Yahoo sites and will cross-sell advertising.

The new venture will bring about $100 million in revenue for the next three years for CNET Networks, who publishes CNET, GameSpot, TV.com and many other properties in the US and internationally. It is set to launch in the third quarter.

This comes after CNET Networks is facing pressure from an investor group led by Jana Partners to transform the company to a "Web 2.0 company". Jana wants CNET to compete with its rivals like Yahoo and wants to expand the board by five members, replacing two existing directors in the process.

It has also suggested partnering up with Google’s DoubleClick.

Yahoo, however, is still battling on with the proposed merger with Microsoft.

The Pan European Game Information, or PEGI, is set to get a ratings update after a survey was done in all of the EU member states.

The survey has revealed that some nations have not done anything to enforce the age limits, with a code of conduct is being suggested with retailers around Europe.

The survey was carried out by the European Commission, after a request by the Council of the EU. It found that 20 states that use PEGI and back up its recommendations on who should play what game, by different means.

It also found that Germany and Lithuania were the only members that has specific laws concerning how games are sold. Malta has enacted laws on the sales of games, but less broad. A further 15 states have laws that ban the sale of "harmful" games to minors.

However, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Romania and Slovenia have no laws relating to the sale of harmful games.

The Commission hopes that game retailers sign up to the code of conduct, which is expected to be drawn up by 2010.

A hacker has told the court that he was hired by News Corporation, the owners of The Australian, The New York Post and FOX, to develop pirating software.

Christopher Tarnovsky, described as one of the two best hackers in the world, denied using the software to hack into a rival satellite television service. He is testifying in a corporate-spying lawsuit against News Corp’s NDS Group by Dish Network.

NDS, which provides the security technology to DirecTV, has said that it was looking only into how its rival’s technology works, a standard in the electronics industry.

Tarnovsky has also said to the court that he was paid on a regular basis by News Corp’s publishing arm Harper Collins for 10 years. He also said that his first payment was US$20,000 in cash, hidden in electronic devices.

Lawyers for Dish claim that his mission was to hack into its satellite network, steal the security code and then flood the market with fake smart cards, resulting in US$900 million in lost revenue and system repairs.

Another hacker, Tony Dionisi, has said that Tarnovsky talked about creating "the stinger" and he knew of another hacker, who also works at NDS, who reprogrammed 50 smart cards with the device.

The trial could result in hundreds of millions of dollars in damages awarded to Dish.

The trial continues.

The source for this story is News.com.au, owned by News Corporation.

In a move that signals the "next phase", as APC says, Intel has slashed the price of the Q6700 Core 2 Duo Quad processor in half, with the other chips in its line reduced by 30 percent. The Q6700 now sells for US$266, or around AU$280; from the original price of US$530, or AU$558.50.

In total, it has reduced the pricing of 14 processors in what now the industry watchers are seeing it as a move to put pressure on its rival, AMD.

The new price cut will be good news for many gamers, who were ogling on the powerful quad-core machines, but the price may have been steep to make the plunge. Even better, the PC manufacturers have reduced their prices for their high-end gaming computers.

Dell is offering the XPS 420 for $2128, but the price cut would push it down to the sub-$2000 category. This means you can get a quad-core processor, 500GB of storage, 2GB of RAM and and a 20-inch flat screen monitor for under $2000. (This is not an advertisement).

Also taking a price cut is the Xeon server processors, with the X3230 slicing 50 percent of its price to become US$266. These price cuts are mainly focused on those using Intel’s 65-nanometer process, with the company moving to the newer 45-nanometer production process and will push the old stock for the new stock.

Microsoft now has some explaining to do after a document standards specialist has said that the latest version of Office does not conform to the latest OOXML (Office Open XML) standard.

Alex Brown, the leader of the ISO group in charge of heading the OOXML standard, has said in a blog post that the Office 2007 does not meet the latest specifications of the draft standard after being handed over to the ISO.

"Word documents generated by today’s version of Microsoft Office 2007 do not conform to ISO/IEC 29500," he wrote, recounting the process of testing a document against the "strict" and "transitional" schema defined in the new standard.

The revelations come after Microsoft’s file format, an XML-based format, was narrowly accepted to become a new standard. Since then, ISO has now control over the format and specification.

The OOXML being rendered in Office 2007 is now deemed incompatible due to changes made at a ballot resolution meeting.

In a best case scenario, Microsoft would have to release a patch to all Office 2007 products in its line using the new OOXML formats to match it. It would then need to release more patches if more changes are introduced.

But in the meantime, TECHGEEK suggests you save it in .doc format, the format used in Office 97, XP and 2003.

The ISO also hopes to make OOXML cross-compatible with the OpenDocument Format (ODF) standard, meaning that you would be able to use it on both Office and OpenOffice.