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Google’s Pixel C tablet and keyboard dock launched this week to mixed reviews. And I don’t mean some reviewers liked it while others didn’t. I mean almost all reviews I’ve seen have the same mixed opinion about the tablet: The hardware is great. The software can’t really take advantage of it. Fortunately it’s a lot […]
Google Pixel C team confirms multi-window is coming to Android is a post from: Liliputing
Google’s Pixel C tablet and keyboard dock launched this week to mixed reviews. And I don’t mean some reviewers liked it while others didn’t. I mean almost all reviews I’ve seen have the same mixed opinion about the tablet: The hardware is great. The software can’t really take advantage of it. Fortunately it’s a lot […]
Google Pixel C team confirms multi-window is coming to Android is a post from: Liliputing
The company behind the movie Dallas Buyers Club is determined to convince an Australian judge that alleged pirates should pay for their sins. After facing serious stumbling blocks thus far, DBC today packaged up its claims in a new way. Inevitably, however, all roads lead to demands for large sums of cash.
Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and ANONYMOUS VPN services.
Earlier this year the company behind the movie Dallas Buyers Club was granted permission to obtain the personal details of 4,726 Australia-based BitTorrent users alleged to have shared the movie online without permission.
However, DBC’s reputation for so-called “speculative invoicing” had traveled quickly, leading Justice Nye Perram to express concerns over the company’s plans for Australia. And after learning that DBC wanted to interrogate alleged infringers with the aim of extracting large payments from them, the Judge began narrowing the company’s options.
Justice Perram told DBC that it could claim for the price of the film and a proportion of the amount spent on tracking down an alleged infringer, but no more. On top, he ordered the film outfit to pay a AUS$600,000 bond before any subscriber information could be released.
In response, DBC tried a new direction. It asked for the personal details of 10% of the original 4,726 subscribers as a test run of sorts. In return, it asked for the bond to be reduced from AUS$600,000 to AUS$60,000.
Previously Justice Perram had rejected the company’s punitive compensation formula, ruling that DBC could only ask for the cost of the movie (perhaps AUS$20) and the costs it had incurred obtaining their identities from ISPs.
But today DBC were back in court and trying once again to convince the Judge to let them continue pursuing alleged pirates. Presenting a new formula, DBC said it would stop looking at each case individually on its merits and instead present the same settlement offer to all.
Dropping its controversial plan to formulate damages based partly on how many copies of OTHER copyrighted works had been downloaded by each alleged infringer, DBC hung on to its demands that each account holder should pay the cost of the movie. In addition DBC said it would demand a rental charge, a license fee for illegally distributing its copyright work, plus a payment towards its costs.
ITNews reports that DBC’s license calculations were based on a case in which a single unlicensed reprint of a stock photo resulted in a $12,500 damages award. DBC said that its claim was “modest by comparison”.
However, Justice Perram disagreed, describing a figure already presented by DBC in a confidential submission as “not modest”. Furthermore, since DBC had not provided evidence of its licensing arrangements, the Judge could not come to a conclusion on what a reasonable amount might be.
As a result DBC asked for an adjournment so that it could gather and present more evidence, but Justice Perram flat-out refused. Nevertheless, DBC did appear to make some ground today.
Last month the company said it intended to fight for additional damages, despite the Judge indicating that he did not wish to revisit the issue. Today, Justice Perram reluctantly admitted that he may have “misconstrued” the earlier additional damages claim.
“I’ve written four judgments about this case, and I must say, the love is gone … why must I keep deciding this case over and over again?” he said.
All eyes now turn to next week when Perram will decide whether DBC will be allowed to access the details of 10% of the original 4,726 subscribers and if the company will be given permission to appeal the earlier decision to limit claims for damages.
It’s not over yet but DBC still has its eyes glued to the big prize – thousands of dollars in settlements from thousands of Aussie Internet subscribers. And, if they’re successful, more of the same in future.
Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and ANONYMOUS VPN services.
E Fun’s Nextbook line of tablets have never exactly been expensive… but they seem to be getting cheaper all the time. About a month ago the company launched an 8.9 inch 2-in-1 tablet with Windows 10 software for just $139. Now E Fun has dropped the price of at model to $100. If you’re willing to […]
Latest Nextbook Flexx 2-in-1 Windows tablets priced at $100 and up is a post from: Liliputing
E Fun’s Nextbook line of tablets have never exactly been expensive… but they seem to be getting cheaper all the time. About a month ago the company launched an 8.9 inch 2-in-1 tablet with Windows 10 software for just $139. Now E Fun has dropped the price of at model to $100. If you’re willing to […]
Latest Nextbook Flexx 2-in-1 Windows tablets priced at $100 and up is a post from: Liliputing
Settlement details aren’t yet public, but Warner/Chappell isn’t happy.
With less than a week to go before a trial, a class-action lawsuit over the copyright status of "Happy Birthday" has been resolved. Details of the settlement, including what kind of uses will be allowed going forward, are not clear.
A short order (PDF) filed yesterday by US Chief District Court Judge George King says that all parties have agreed to a settlement, and it vacates a trial which was scheduled to start on December 15. The key turning point came in September, when King ruled that Warner/Chappell's copyright transfer was invalid because there was no proof it was ever properly transferred from the Hill sisters, who claimed to have written the song.
The trial would have addressed damages issues. Also looming was a late copyright claim by Association for Childhood Education International (ACEI), a children's' charity affiliated with the Hill sisters. ACEI came forward in November to say that if Warner/Chappell didn't own the song, it did. The settlement revealed yesterday resolves all claims by the plaintiffs, Warner/Chappell, and ACEI.
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Want a laptop that doesn’t take up a lot of space, but which has a keyboard that’s large enough for comfortable touch-typing? Japanese company King Jim has a solution. The company’s Portabook XMC10 is a laptop with an 8 inch display. But it’s got a keyboard that measures about 12 inches wide. You can fold […]
Portabook XMC10 is an 8 inch laptop with a 12 inch keyboard is a post from: Liliputing
Want a laptop that doesn’t take up a lot of space, but which has a keyboard that’s large enough for comfortable touch-typing? Japanese company King Jim has a solution. The company’s Portabook XMC10 is a laptop with an 8 inch display. But it’s got a keyboard that measures about 12 inches wide. You can fold […]
Portabook XMC10 is an 8 inch laptop with a 12 inch keyboard is a post from: Liliputing
Usual suspects accept Sen. Cruz’s invitation to declare the science unsettled.
Senator Ted Cruz opens the hearing.
While the eyes of the world are on Paris, where nations are hammering out an agreement to do something about the reality of climate change, the Senate Subcommittee on Space, Science, and Competitiveness once again held a hearing on Tuesday to debate whether climate change is for real. Subcommittee Chairman Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), who is running for his party’s presidential nomination, convened the hearing titled “Data or dogma? Promoting open inquiry in the debate over the magnitude of human impact on Earth’s climate.”
Senator Cruz brought in four witnesses to testify, mostly chosen from the usual suspects that have participated in similar hearings in the past. There were two of the very small handful of climate scientists who express doubts about human responsibility for climate change—Georgia Tech professor and blogger Judith Curry and John Christy from the University of Alabama in Huntsville. William Happer, a retired Princeton physicist and chairman of the George C. Marshall Institute, a conservative think-tank, was also invited to speak. The fourth person brought in to talk climate science was conservative radio host and columnist Mark Steyn. (The last two were keynote speakers at this year’s Heartland Institute conference for climate “skeptics.”)
Senator Cruz opened the hearing with some ironic remarks. “This is a hearing on the science behind the claims of global warming. Now, this is the Science Subcommittee of the Senate Commerce Committee, and we’re hearing from distinguished scientists, sharing their views, their interpretations, their analysis of the data and the evidence. Now, I am the son of two mathematicians—two computer programmers and scientists—and I believe that public policy should follow the actual science, and the actual data and evidence, and not political and partisan claims that run contrary to the science and data and evidence.”
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$10 per month seems to be the going rate for music streaming services. That’s how much Spotify, Apple, and Rhapsody charge. And Google Play Music subscriptions have been available for the same price. But now there’s another way to pay for Google’s on-demand, ad-free streaming music service. You can get a family plan for $15 per […]
Google Play Music now offers a $15 family plan is a post from: Liliputing
$10 per month seems to be the going rate for music streaming services. That’s how much Spotify, Apple, and Rhapsody charge. And Google Play Music subscriptions have been available for the same price. But now there’s another way to pay for Google’s on-demand, ad-free streaming music service. You can get a family plan for $15 per […]
Google Play Music now offers a $15 family plan is a post from: Liliputing
Opening the app means that it’ll get some much-needed maintenance.
Another day, another "Microsoft open-sources something" story. At the weekend it was the Chakra JavaScript engine. This time, it's Live Writer, the blogging tool that provides offline, WYSIWYG editing of blog posts, and can publish directly to WordPress, Blogger, and other blogging platforms.
Live Writer hasn't been significantly updated since 2012 but still retains a loyal fan base. For writers who don't trust authoring directly within their content management system, the combination of familiar word processor-like interface and seamlessly integrated publishing is a compelling one.
The lack of maintenance, however, threatened to render the tool useless. The most pressing concern is Blogger. Google is switching Blogger from an old authentication system to OAuth 2. Live Writer only supports the old system and will never include OAuth 2 support. Although Google has extended the availability of the old method to ensure that Live Writer continues to work, it will not do so indefinitely, posing a problem for users of the app.
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Liliputing posts some of the best deals on mobile tech on most week days, and we usually single out one of the best deals of the bunch to put at the top of the page. Today I had a hard time picking the best because there are three pretty spectacular deals at the moment. So here […]
Deals of the Day (12-09-2015) is a post from: Liliputing
Liliputing posts some of the best deals on mobile tech on most week days, and we usually single out one of the best deals of the bunch to put at the top of the page. Today I had a hard time picking the best because there are three pretty spectacular deals at the moment. So here […]
Deals of the Day (12-09-2015) is a post from: Liliputing
Settlement demands US team behind the Aurous site cough up $3 million to RIAA.
Piracy site Aurous is disabled forever, according to lawsuit settlement. (credit: Aurous)
A music piracy site for the truly lazy that debuted two months ago agreed Wednesday to shut down and to forfeit its domain to the Recording Industry Association of America, which brought a lawsuit that is now being settled. The deal also calls for the Aurous site's developer, Florida resident Andrew Sampson, and others associated with the site to pay the RIAA $3 million in damages. Although it's a sum that likely won't ever be paid, it's a judgement hanging over their heads and a sum that the RIAA believes sends a message of deterrence.
"Aurous appropriately agreed to shut down," Cary Sherman, the RIAA chairman, said in an e-mailed statement. "It was the right thing to do. We hope this sends a strong signal that unlicensed services cannot expect to build unlawful businesses on the backs of music creators."
The law is clearly on Sherman's side, too. Under the US Copyright Act, the site's backers faced monetary damages of up to $150,000 per track.
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