Exploding munitions store captured by Baghdad seismometer

While listening for earthquakes, Baghdad station recorded something else.

(credit: Taylor Creasman)

In the grand tradition of curiosity, some scientists with access to data from a seismometer in Baghdad pulled up October 10, 2006 to see what had been recorded. That day was host to an event slightly different from your run-of-the-mill earthquake: an attack on a US military base seven kilometers away managed to start a chain of explosions that continued for hours inside the base’s ammunition storage—an event that was captured on video (caution: language).

This isn’t that unusual a thing for a seismologist to do, really. The build-out of the global network of seismometers in the 1950s and 1960s came about partly because they could be used to detect and locate secret atomic bomb tests. Learning about the geologic violence of earthquakes was basically a bonus. In this case, the researchers’ curiosity was rewarded with a unique blow-by-blow record of one particular episode of human violence.

The team, led by Ghassan Aleqabi of Washington University in St. Louis, carefully analyzed each wiggle on the seismograph and discovered it could identify a number of different things. The firing of a mortar, for example, was identifiable along with the explosion when the shell landed. Car bomb explosions also stood out, although the bouncing of the shockwave off surrounding buildings made each one a bit different. The team could even identify signals from drones and helicopters and figure out if they were approaching or moving away based on the Doppler shift.

Read 6 remaining paragraphs | Comments

RISC-V: Google, HPE und Oracle investieren in ARM-Konkurrent

Die moderne Chip-Architektur RISC-V könnte eine Konkurrenz für ARM oder MIPS werden. Das akademische Forschungsprojekt bekommt nun starke Unternehmensunterstützung durch Google oder Oracle. Chiphersteller und Zulieferer beteiligen sich ebenfalls. (Prozessor, Google)

Die moderne Chip-Architektur RISC-V könnte eine Konkurrenz für ARM oder MIPS werden. Das akademische Forschungsprojekt bekommt nun starke Unternehmensunterstützung durch Google oder Oracle. Chiphersteller und Zulieferer beteiligen sich ebenfalls. (Prozessor, Google)

Dienste und Programme: Was 2015 eingestellt wurde

Facebooks Creative Labs, Playstation Mobile und die Rufnummer 11865 haben eines gemeinsam: Sie wurden 2015 abgeschaltet, eingestellt oder geschlossen. Auch andere Dienste wurden von Entwicklern aufgegeben. (Internet, Apple)

Facebooks Creative Labs, Playstation Mobile und die Rufnummer 11865 haben eines gemeinsam: Sie wurden 2015 abgeschaltet, eingestellt oder geschlossen. Auch andere Dienste wurden von Entwicklern aufgegeben. (Internet, Apple)

Nach Update auf iOS 9: iPhone-Nutzer verklagt Apple wegen langsamem iPhone 4S

Chaim Lerman verklagt zusammen mit über 100 weiteren Betroffenen Apple wegen seines langsamen iPhone 4S: Nach dem Update auf iOS 9 sei das Smartphone nicht mehr zu gebrauchen. In der Anklageschrift stellen seine Anwälte das Dilemma nach der Aktualisierung dar. (Apple, Internet)

Chaim Lerman verklagt zusammen mit über 100 weiteren Betroffenen Apple wegen seines langsamen iPhone 4S: Nach dem Update auf iOS 9 sei das Smartphone nicht mehr zu gebrauchen. In der Anklageschrift stellen seine Anwälte das Dilemma nach der Aktualisierung dar. (Apple, Internet)

Richtlinien: Twitter konkretisiert, was es unter Hass versteht

Gewaltandrohungen und hassschürendes Verhalten sind auf Twitter natürlich schon länger nicht erlaubt. Jetzt benennt das Netzwerk in seinem Regelwerk genauer, was verboten ist – und welche Maßnahmen bei Verstößen ergriffen werden. (Twitter, Soziales Netz)

Gewaltandrohungen und hassschürendes Verhalten sind auf Twitter natürlich schon länger nicht erlaubt. Jetzt benennt das Netzwerk in seinem Regelwerk genauer, was verboten ist - und welche Maßnahmen bei Verstößen ergriffen werden. (Twitter, Soziales Netz)

Deutscher Städte- und Gemeindebund: Schließung von 50.000 Läden wegen Onlinehandel

Vielen Läden in den städtischen Zentren droht wegen der Zunahme des Onlinehandels die Schließung. Jetzt sollen zur Rettung die Ladenöffnungszeiten angepasst werden. (E-Commerce, Onlineshop)

Vielen Läden in den städtischen Zentren droht wegen der Zunahme des Onlinehandels die Schließung. Jetzt sollen zur Rettung die Ladenöffnungszeiten angepasst werden. (E-Commerce, Onlineshop)

Appell an die Hacker: Es wird nicht sehr rosig werden

Wenn der Chaos Computer Club schon vor dem Chaos warnt, könnte es ungemütlich werden. Hacker sollten gemeinsam für eine bessere Zukunft kämpfen, anstatt zu streiten, welche Linux-Distribution am besten ist, fordert der CCC. (32C3, Datenschutz)

Wenn der Chaos Computer Club schon vor dem Chaos warnt, könnte es ungemütlich werden. Hacker sollten gemeinsam für eine bessere Zukunft kämpfen, anstatt zu streiten, welche Linux-Distribution am besten ist, fordert der CCC. (32C3, Datenschutz)

OpenJDK: Nächste Android-Version soll mit Open-Source-Java kommen

Google wechselt von Oracles proprietärem Java Development Kit (JDK) zur Open-Source-Variante OpenJDK. Hintergrund dürfte auch ein jahrelanger Rechtsstreit um die Nutzungsrechte der Java-APIs sein, der noch nicht beendet ist. (OpenJDK, Google)

Google wechselt von Oracles proprietärem Java Development Kit (JDK) zur Open-Source-Variante OpenJDK. Hintergrund dürfte auch ein jahrelanger Rechtsstreit um die Nutzungsrechte der Java-APIs sein, der noch nicht beendet ist. (OpenJDK, Google)

Rise of the Tomb Raider: Lara im Überlebenskampf

Jagen und Sammeln stehen im Mittelpunkt der ersten Erweiterung für Rise of the Tomb Raider. In dem kostenpflichtigen Download muss Lara nicht nur Artefakte suchen, sondern vor allem gegen Hunger und Kälte kämpfen. (Tomb Raider, Xbox 360)

Jagen und Sammeln stehen im Mittelpunkt der ersten Erweiterung für Rise of the Tomb Raider. In dem kostenpflichtigen Download muss Lara nicht nur Artefakte suchen, sondern vor allem gegen Hunger und Kälte kämpfen. (Tomb Raider, Xbox 360)

Hive-CM8 Apologizes For Leaking Hateful Eight DVD Screener

The group behind the controversial leak of screeners this holiday season has apologized for leaking The Hateful Eight before its premiere. In an unprecedented announcement Hive-CM8 say they never intended to hurt anyone and now believe that the leak has resulted in free “media hype” on a scale bigger than Star Wars.

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

quen-sorryWithout doubt the biggest piracy story of December was the drama surrounding the relentless stream of movies hitting the Internet from release group Hive-CM8. All more-or-less perfect copies of awards screeners, the leaks attracted attention from studios and even the FBI.

As law enforcement presumably continues to track the release group, leaks from Hive-CM8 have faltered somewhat, with sources pointing to a potential security breach as the reason.

However, after maintaining almost total silence, the people behind Hive-CM8 have not only released a couple more movies but have also broken their silence.

Their statement, aimed at close colleagues in private channels, is surprising to say the least. It accompanies the release of the Christian Bale movie The Big Short and begins with an admission that errors have been made. (some typos/grammar corrected by TF)

“We held back this title till 1 week after [theatrical release] to give the movie a fighting chance to play in the budget, we learned from our mistake,” Hive’s statement begins.

“We didn’t plan to comment at all on recent events, but we feel now that we should.”

First off, the group attempts to dispel rumors that the leaked screener copies had been sourced after some kind of hack.

“We got the copies sold from a guy on the street, no decryption was needed. We were definitely not the only ones [to have obtained copies]. A couple of other movies had been on the net days before, not done by us,” they note.

hateful

While the group has certainly released content in the past for notoriety, this time around Hive said it wanted to help those too poor to get the movies through official channels.

“So we wanted to share [these] movies with the people who are not rich enough or not able to watch all nominated movies in the cinema. Of course [these files] are not representing the movies how they can be enjoyed in the cinema.”

It’s not uncommon for release groups to request that those viewing ‘their’ movies should support the producers by enjoying content through official channels and in the cinema where possible. Hive is no different, noting that creators “need the money from ticket sales to get back [their] production costs.”

However, what then follows is a clear apology to Quentin Tarantino and those behind his movie The Hateful Eight. Hive leaked this title before it had even opened in cinemas, something which they now regret.

“We feel sorry for the trouble we caused by releasing that great movie before [it’s release date] had even begun. We never intended to hurt anyone by doing that, we didn’t know it would get that popular that quickly,” Hive explains.

“The Hateful Eight is an excellent, thrilling and entertaining Western that combines terrific direction, a fantastic cast, a wonderful script, beautiful photography and a memorable score. All of those elements make The Hateful Eight an unforgettable film that is Quentin Tarantino at his best.”

But while acknowledging that tickets sales fund production costs and apologizing for their actions, Hive say they believe the leak of The Hateful Eight won’t do long-term damage to the title and has probably even helped it.

“Since everyone is now talking about this movie we don’t think the producers will [lose] any money [upon theatrical release]. We actually think this has created a new type of media hype that is more present in the news, radio and in the papers than Star Wars, and the promotional costs for this were free,” Hive says.

And here’s the math…..

“If let’s say 5% of the people planned to watch this movie at cinema date, due to this media push we unintentionally created, we believe that now 40% of the people will watch this movie in the cinema [because] everyone is talking about it and everyone wants to see the movie that created so much noise. This will push the cinema ticket sales for sure.

“We really hope this helped out the producers in the long-run, so that the production costs are covered and more.”

After thanking Quentin Tarantino for a “wonderful movie”, Hive notes that The Hateful Eight should be the top awards candidate and will “win by a mile” over its rivals. However, it’s pre-release will mark the last time that Hive leaks content before it appears in cinemas and for those waiting for the 40 leaks the group promised earlier, disappointment lies in wait.

“We won’t do another movie before its [theatrical release], and we definitely won’t go up to 40 as planned, we think we have done enough already,” Hive concludes.

That being said, two further screener releases have appeared in private channels during the past couple of days – The Big Short as previously noted and Golden Globe nominee Anomalisa. Both are now available publicly too, but without being attributed to Hive. Instead, both carry a generic ‘P2P’ tag.

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