Month: July 2016

More flour recalled as the FDA doubles down on cookie dough warning

Ars talked to the agency to get the inside scoop on the risks of licking the bowl.

(credit: Robert S. Donovan)

If you're a kid, few things are better than homemade cookies. Unlike store-bought sweets, you get to gobble up any bits of cookie dough stuck to the bowl and beaters, which can be more exciting than the cookies themselves.

Of course, most adults know you’re not supposed to eat raw dough because the raw eggs in it may contain Salmonella. But now there’s something else to worry about: E. coli in the flour.

On May 31, General Mills recalled 10 million pounds of flour, sold under three brands after an investigation linked the grain to an outbreak of E. coli O121 (you can see the recall information here). On Friday, the company expanded the recall as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tallied new cases. So far, the tainted flour has sickened 42 and sent 11 to the hospital. Although many strains of E. coli are harmless, the O121 serotype can lead to symptoms that typically include abdominal pain and diarrhea, often bloody. This E. coli can also even cause severe illness that leads to kidney failure. Young children, the elderly, and people with weakened immune systems are the most at risk of these severe cases.

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Ars Technica’s staff shares its everyday earbud and headphone picks

From Walgreens pick-ups to hand-hacked super-cans, we share our preferred ear candy.

Happy Fourth from everyone at Ars! While the American half of the staff takes a much-need vacation over the next two days, we thought this would be a good time to share our personal picks for a very important piece of everyday tech: our headphones. Ars' staff is never lacking in opinions, and our preferences range from earbuds (to keep us tethered to our smartphones and subscription-music apps) to giant cans (because we want the right combination of sound and comfort while rocking out or getting our online-gaming frag on).

This isn't a scientific "best headphones of all time" list by any stretch. This is the gear we each use in our day-to-day lives, and we look forward to hearing your own picks as well. Without further ado: let's get canned!

KSC-32i FitClips, Koss: $14

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A fieldtrip to ITER, a work-in-progress that will test fusion’s feasibility

In France, 35 countries invest time, cash, and effort in commercial energy’s future.

Foreground buildings: Contractors Canteen, Changing Rooms, Showers, etc. || Green, Yellow, and Red buildings: Contractors’ Offices || White Building: Canteen and Infirmary for Contractors || Tall building: Assembly Hall || To the right of the Assembly Hall and behind the other buildings: Cryostat Assembly Site (credit: Dave Loschiavo)

ST. PAUL-lez DURANCE, France—Rolling hills and oak woodlands dominate rural Southern France. However, about 35km north of Aix-en-Provence, nature has given way to a team of 1,000 construction workers who are laboring around the clock to build the largest physics experiment that’s never been discussed by Sheldon, Leonard, Raj, and Howard.

Known as ITER, this experimental Tokamak fusion reactor is intended to be the last necessary step to prove the scientific and technological feasibility of fusion as a commercial energy source. It is a collaborative effort of China, the European Union (through Euratom), India, Japan, Korea, Russia, Switzerland (also through Euratom), and the United States. In total, it will include 35 countries.

The scale of this project, in so many dimensions, is nothing short of awe inspiring and humbling. Physically, the main buildings used to assemble and house the Tokamak reactor stand 60m (~200ft) tall and sit in a leveled area of 40 hectares (~100 acres). The entire site, adding the open space and office buildings, measures 180 hectares. Logistically, as a construction project, the ITER team is tracking over 200,000 actions necessary to bring the effort to fruition.

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Four years since Candy Crush, King is still making the same game

Farm Heroes Super Saga hits app stores, but how long can the match-three boom last?

You know what a King game looks like by now. Despite the broad array of fantastical names and exotic themes, each one is, at its core, a match-three game in which blocks are switched to create lines of uniform colours. It's not a new concept and King certainly didn't invent it, but the young Swedish company has undoubtedly acquired more success from the formula than anyone else on mobile devices.

Through the first quarter of 2016, King has had three titles in the top 15 grossing games on the Apple App Store and Google Play in the US. Candy Crush Saga is arguably the most famous and most played mobile game ever released, and that orange and yellow logo is synonymous with gaming on the go. It's this success that resulted in the studio recently being acquired by Activision-Blizzard for a rather princely sum, despite concerns that it's nothing more than a flash-in-the-pan, one trick pony. Its IPO back in 2014 was a disaster, after all.

Indeed, the company has struggled to bestow the enormous success of Candy Crush upon its other products. With so many people still swiping digital blocks of sugar to pass the time, and with King's line-up being so mechanically uniform, why would players deviate towards another IP? The likes of Pet Rescue Saga, Diamond Digger Saga, and Alpha Betty Saga have been but mere farts in the wind compared to the freemium, money-ranking behemoth that is Candy Crush.

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Scene Group Asks For Bitcoin Donations, Gets $0

The Scene is generally known as a network of ‘pirate’ release groups mostly interested in sharing content among each other. In these circles money is rarely discussed, but one relatively new group has broken this taboo with a call for Bitcoin donations. Thus far the result is rather disappointing.

Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and ANONYMOUS VPN services.

spamtvlogoWhile ‘pirates’ don’t always come across as well-coordinated, the groups that make up the top of the piracy pyramid abide by strict rules and traditions.

This is particularly true for the more traditional release groups that belong to The Scene. These groups are highly organized and only share content among themselves through topsites. At least, that’s what they are supposed to.

Scene groups “race” against each other and their ultimate goal is to be the first to release a certain title. The more races they win, the more credit they earn, simple as that.

For most release groups it’s their reputation that counts. Money doesn’t play a major role in this game. Of course, some cash is needed to buy equipment and other gear, but the topic is generally not discussed, neither are calls for donations.

Breaking with what may be described as a taboo, one Scene group has decided to cross the bridge.

Starting recently, TV Scene group “spamTV” is including a call for support in their release notes, as the screenshot below clearly shows.

spamTV NFO calling for donations

spamTV

“SUPPORT OUR CAUSE! BTC = 13mSLHHhmK5MUdtdcVVkmuJW9997EZpfM4,” a note in their NFO file reads.

This is the first time we’ve seen a Scene group publicly asking for Bitcoin donations through one of their releases. Given that Scene releases are supposed to stay private, we also wonder who the call is for.

While it may be unique for a Scene group, donations are more common among other pirate sources. P2P groups, distribution groups, and torrent site owners generally cater to a much wider audience, and many ask their users to chip in.

Unfortunately for them, pirates are not known as the most generous bunch, so the income from donations is usually minimal, to say the least.

This isn’t very different for spamTV. After listing their request for Bitcoin donations in several releases, they have yet to earn their first penny.

spamTV donations so far

spamtvdonations

Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and ANONYMOUS VPN services.

Blackberry: Drei Android-Smartphones sollen kommen

Drei Android-Smartphones sollen von Blackberry in Kürze auf den Markt kommen. Die ersten Modelle werden allerdings alle ohne physische Tastatur erscheinen. Blackberry verzichtet damit auf einen Wettbewerbsvorteil. (Blackberry, Smartphone)

Drei Android-Smartphones sollen von Blackberry in Kürze auf den Markt kommen. Die ersten Modelle werden allerdings alle ohne physische Tastatur erscheinen. Blackberry verzichtet damit auf einen Wettbewerbsvorteil. (Blackberry, Smartphone)

Betriebssysteme: Marktanteil von Windows 7 steigt

Kurz bevor das Gratis-Upgrade von Windows 10 ausläuft, steigt der Marktanteil von Windows 7 sogar. Das hat sich Microsoft wohl anders vorgestellt und steuert dagegen – mit einem verzweifelt wirkenden Versuch. (Windows 7, Microsoft)

Kurz bevor das Gratis-Upgrade von Windows 10 ausläuft, steigt der Marktanteil von Windows 7 sogar. Das hat sich Microsoft wohl anders vorgestellt und steuert dagegen - mit einem verzweifelt wirkenden Versuch. (Windows 7, Microsoft)

App-Store-Streit: Apple ist über Spotifys öffentliche Attacke verärgert

Der Streit zwischen Apple und Spotify geht weiter: Apple zeigt sich verärgert, dass Spotify den Konflikt in der Öffentlichkeit austrägt. Spotify möchte Apple nicht an den eigenen Einnahmen beteiligen und wirft dem Konzern einen Missbrauch seiner Martkmacht vor. Das streitet Apple ab. (Spotify, Apple)

Der Streit zwischen Apple und Spotify geht weiter: Apple zeigt sich verärgert, dass Spotify den Konflikt in der Öffentlichkeit austrägt. Spotify möchte Apple nicht an den eigenen Einnahmen beteiligen und wirft dem Konzern einen Missbrauch seiner Martkmacht vor. Das streitet Apple ab. (Spotify, Apple)

ICANN: We Won’t Pass Judgment on Pirate Sites

Following more pressure from rightsholders, domain name oversight body ICANN has again made it clear that it will not act as judge and jury in copyright disputes. In a letter to the president of the Intellectual Property Constituency, ICANN chief Stephen Crocker says that ICANN is neither “required or qualified” to pass judgment in such cases.

Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and ANONYMOUS VPN services.

There are plenty of options for copyright holders seeking to hinder the progress of pirate sites but one of the most effective is attacking domains.

The strategy has been employed most famously against The Pirate Bay and over the past couple of years the site has lost most of the domains it deployed to stay online.

At the very top of the domain name ‘tree’ is the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). This non-profit body is responsible for the smooth-running of the Internet’s Doman Name System. However, if copyright holders had their way, ICANN would also act as the Internet’s piracy police by forcing registrars to prevent illegal use of domain names.

Last year, ICANN told TorrentFreak that it had no role to play in “policing content” but of course, copyright holders continue to pile on the pressure.

The latest efforts come from the Intellectual Property Constituency (IPC) and the Coalition for Online Accountability (COA), which count the major studios and record labels among their members.

Both have concerns over the “Public Interest Commitments” (PICs) present in new gTLD registry agreements. Specification 11 states that registry operators must include a clause in their registry/registrar agreements which prohibits domain name holders from engaging in various kinds of abuse, from malware and phishing through to copyright and trademark abuse.

This contractual wording allows registries to lay down acceptable use rules with registrars, who in turn do the same with domain owners. However, IPC believes that it is the job of the registries, registrars and ultimately ICANN to enforce these terms and conditions and suspend pirate domains.

In April, IPC chief Greg Shatan wrote to ICANN chair Dr. Stephen Crocker (pdf). He expressed concern at earlier ICANN comments which indicated that the group considers copyright infringement, counterfeiting, and other fraudulent practices to be “outside its mandate”.

That was followed by a June 17, 2016 follow-up letter to ICANN from COA (pdf) expressing similar concerns.

This week, ICANN’s Dr. Crocker responded (pdf) to the April letter from IPC, confirming that his group will “bring enforcement actions” against registries and registrars that fail to include abuse warnings in their end-user agreements.

However, ICANN also made it crystal clear that it won’t be getting directly involved in disputes involving allegedly infringing domains.

“This does not mean, however, that ICANN is required or qualified to make factual and legal determinations as to whether a Registered Name Holder or a website operator is violating applicable laws and governmental regulations, and to assess what would constitute an appropriate remedy for such activities in any particular situation,” Dr. Croker told IPC.

Noting that both registries and registrars have expressed difficulty in assessing alleged violations of the law, ICANN invites those with a grievance against allegedly infringing sites to deal with matters themselves. One possibility might be through voluntary agreements such as those the MPAA struck with Donuts and Radix.

“While these initiatives are outside of ICANN’s limited remit, we are hopeful that these voluntary efforts will produce usable tools and mechanisms for use by Registries and Registrars,” Dr. Croker said.

Finally, ICANN notes that there is nothing stopping “harmed parties” from taking action against registries, registrars or domain owners “through administrative, regulatory or judicial bodies to seek fines, damages, injunctive relief or other remedies available at law.”

In other words, if copyright holders want something done about their disputes, there are several options available already. Just don’t expect ICANN to become judge, jury, and executioner.

Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and ANONYMOUS VPN services.