July 2016 – Page 73 – news.buyenne.com

Consumer Reports has some advice for Tesla

As Musk redefines “beta,” Tesla introduces entry-level Model X priced at $74,000.

In the company's Firmware 7.1 update, Tesla introduced a new maximum speed for Autopilot, which will now not exceed the speed limit by more than 5mph on residential roads or roads without a central divide. Might we see a reduction in the hands-free time in the next update? (credit: Ron Amadeo)

On Tuesday, we took a look at the growing media storm surrounding Tesla's increasingly controversial Autopilot feature, which has been linked to a series of recent crashes. And as we pointed out, very little separates Tesla's system from those offered by other car makers, save for a few small points.

For one, Tesla eschews the industry standard of restricting hands-free operation to 30 seconds or less (apart from traffic jam assists). Second, the name—Autopilot—has very different connotations to the general public than to the small fraction of the population who pilot aircraft and understand the limitations of an actual aviation autopilot. Third, calling Autopilot a "beta," as my colleague Lee Hutchinson remarked, is about as accurate as Google calling Gmail a beta in 2012.

It seems that Lee's take is a common one. Earlier this week, Germany's Federal Office for Motor Vehicles (KBA) told Welt am Sonntag that it would not have allowed Autopilot-enabled Teslas onto its roads were the system truly in beta and therefore not adequately tested. And it appears that Elon Musk is now trying to walk back from the beta designation. In response to KBA's comments, Musk tweeted that, far from the commonly accepted understanding of the word, "beta" actually means something different to Tesla:

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Datagroup und Proservia: HP Enterprise Deutschland schiebt Mitarbeiter an Manpower ab

1.230 Beschäftigte müssen von Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) zu kleineren Unternehmen wechseln. Viel sicherer ist es in dem Konzern nach Aufspaltungen und Ausgründungen allerdings auch nicht. (HPE, SAP)

Moto E3 smarpthone coming in September for £99

Motorola’s entry-level smartphone is getting a major update this fall. The company has announced that the Moto E3 will be available in the UK September for £99, which is about $130 US, although pricing and launch details for other markets haven’t been announced yet.

The new phone features a bigger, higher-resolution display, a larger battery, and Android 6.0 software.

In fact, the Moto E3 seems to have the same specs and design as the Moto G4 Play… suggesting that they might actually be the same phone with different names for different markets.

Continue reading Moto E3 smarpthone coming in September for £99 at Liliputing.

The new phone features a bigger, higher-resolution display, a larger battery, and Android 6.0 software.

In fact, the Moto E3 seems to have the same specs and design as the Moto G4 Play… suggesting that they might actually be the same phone with different names for different markets.

Continue reading Moto E3 smarpthone coming in September for £99 at Liliputing.

Expanding Pirate Site Blocks Spark Censorship Fears

A Norwegian court has ordered ISPs to block subscriber access to eight pirate streaming sites, including WatchSeries, TUBE+, and CouchTuner. The new blockades are welcomed by Hollywood’s major studios, but the local Pirate Party fears a slippery blocking-slope leading to overbroad censorship.

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

blocked-censor Last year Norway joined the ranks of countries where ISPs are ordered to block access to websites on the behest of entertainment industry companies.

In a case started by the Motion Picture Association (MPA), a local court ordered Internet providers to block users’ access to several large ‘pirate’ websites to deter online copyright infringement.

As is often the case with these type of blockades, the Hollywood movie studios didn’t stop at one attempt. They recently went back to court asking for an expansion that would target eight “pirate” streaming sites.

The court granted this request, and as a result WatchSeries, Putlocker, TUBE+, CouchTuner, Watch32, SolarMovie, ProjectFreeTV and Watch Free were added to the national blocklist.

Rune Ljøstad, Partner at the MPA’s lawfirm Simonsen Vogt Wiig, is happy with the outcome which paves the way for similar blocking expansions in the future.

“Together, the decisions create a clear legal basis in Norway to block sites that make copyrighted works available to the public without permission,” Ljøstad says.

While Hollywood is understandably happy, the blocking efforts raise concerns as well. The local Pirate Party, which protested the initial blocks by launching a censorship free DNS server, fears a slippery blocking-slope that may lead to overbroad censorship.

“I’m afraid that blocking sites will have a domino effect,” says Tale Haukbjørk Østrådal, leader of the Norwegian Pirate Party.

“If we block copyright infringement now, what will be the next thing our society accepts to block? The path from blocking torrent sites to censorship is short, and I do not wish to go down that path,” she adds.

The Pirate Party sees blocking as a threat to democracy, as it’s a tool to filter and manipulate what information people can see.

“Censorship is toxic to a democracy. We need to keep the Internet free of censorship, because we need the Internet as a tool to make informed choices. A democracy is failing without informed citizens,” Østrådal notes.

There are alternatives to blocking, according to the Pirate’s leader. The entertainment industries should rethink their business models to compete with piracy, instead of trying to hide it.

“To find the best alternatives the entertainment industry must know why people are sharing, and change their business models. The question isn’t ‘How do we make people pay?’, it is ‘How do we let people pay and feel comfortable with our business model?'”

This means offering more content for a good price, without limitations or artificial boundaries. At the same time artists should use the Internet to connect with fans directly, cutting out the middle-man who profits from their work.

“Personally, I would love to tear down the whole entertainment industry and built it anew. The distributors were never the good guys. They have built an empire by making money from other people’s art,” Østrådal says.

“When we hear the word ‘artist’, we all think of a creative, poor person. It’s fucked up,” she adds.

The Pirate Party’s fears won’t stop Internet providers from complying with the most recent court order.

This means that the streaming sites in question are now a no-go zone. Whether the movie studios have concrete plans to expand the blocking efforts even further is unknown.

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

Surprise: Nintendo’s next console is the NES [Updated]

Palm-sized, official re-release comes Nov. 11, pre-loaded with 30 games.

Let this tiny box transport you to a time when you didn't have a job, mortgage, and loud children to distract you.

Update: Nintendo has answered some frequently asked questions as a follow up to yesterday's announcement of the NES Mini. Apparently, the system will not accept any external media, connect to the Internet, or ever officially support anything other than the 30 games included. Nintendo refused to discuss technical specifications of the device, including use of emulation of graphical effects like artificial CRT scanlines.

And it can now be be pre-ordered in the UK for £49.99 from Amazon, with November 11 as the scheduled release date.

Original Story

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Nintendo Classic Mini: Nintendo bringt Mini-NES mit 30 installierten Spielen

Fans von Nintendos klassischer NES-Konsole können sich freuen: Der japanische Hersteller bringt eine Mini-Version der Konsole auf den Markt, die 30 Spieleklassiker vorinstalliert hat und dank HDMI leicht an einen Fernseher anzuschließen ist. Der Preis liegt in den USA bei 60 US-Dollar. (Nintendo, Games)

Android apps now run on the Acer Chromebook R11, Google Chromebook Pixel (2015)

There are now three Chromebooks that can run Android apps. About a month after rolling out an update for the Asus Chromebook Flip that adds support for the Google Play Store and Android apps, Google has rolled out a similar update for the Acer Chromebook R11 and Google Chromebook Pixel (2015).

You’ll need to be on the dev channel to use Android apps, and things are a little buggy at launch. But if you have one of the three supported Chromebooks you can get a sneak peek at a feature that will be rolling out to dozens of other models in the future.

Continue reading Android apps now run on the Acer Chromebook R11, Google Chromebook Pixel (2015) at Liliputing.

VR Funhouse: Nvidias Kirmes-Simulator lässt die Physik spielen

Vielen VR-Erfahrungen mangelt es an Interaktion, das möchte Nvidia ändern: Das VR Funhouse dient als Showcase für Gameworks- und PhysX-Effekte. Wir haben brennende Pfeile verschossen, mit Schleim gespritzt und in Konfetti gebadet. (Nvidia, PhysX)

Air regulator rejects Volkswagen’s latest plan to fix 3.0L diesels

16,000 VWs, Porsches, and Audis now in limbo, with no fix and no buyback yet.

(credit: Erik B)

Late Wednesday evening, the California Air Resources Board rejected Volkswagen Group’s plan to fix 3.0L diesel Volkswagens, Audis, and Porsches that were discovered last year to be illegally circumventing the cars’ emissions control systems. In two letters (one addressing Volkswagen and Audi cars (PDF), and the other addressing Porsches (PDF)), CARB called the company’s recall plan “substantially deficient” and said VW Group submitted documents that “fall far short” of meeting standards that would bring the cars up to code.

It has been estimated that a total of 85,000 3.0L diesel Porsche, Audi, and Volkswagen cars are still on the road without a recall or a buyback plan. In June, VW Group proposed a massive settlement in which it would buy back almost 500,000 2.0L diesel vehicles and compensate owners and lessees with a cash award.

In CARB’s Wednesday letters to VW Group, the air regulator claimed that subsidiaries Audi and Porsche “failed to disclose and provide a complete description of all defeat devices” on the cars, even after CARB rejected an earlier plan in February and reminded the automakers of what they needed to submit to get CARB to approve a recall plan. CARB also said that VW Group didn’t describe in enough detail how the fix would work, or how it would impact the car’s emissions after the fix.

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Google’s ad business “breaches” EU rules, says antitrust chief

Price comparison charges “reinforced,” fresh charges against ad practices coming.

Google has been hit with a brace of fresh charges in the European Commission's long-running antitrust case against the search and ad giant.

Brussels' competition chief Margrethe Vestager confirmed that her office would "reinforce the first Google case on search" relating to price comparison, by issuing—as rumoured earlier this week—a supplementary statement of objections against the company.

Google also faces another round of charges against its dominant business practices in Europe relating to its ad placements on its own sites, and that of third party websites. The commission said, in a preliminary decision, that Google's AdSense had breached EU antitrust rules in relation to its exclusivity contract with a limited number of the largest third party websites—so-called direct partners.

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