Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 A with S-Pen launches (in Korea)

Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 A with S-Pen launches (in Korea)

Samsung’s Galaxy Tab A is a line of Android tablets that tend to have more modest specs (and price tags) than Samsung’s more premium S series. But Samsung’s latest A series tablet has one feature the company usually reserves for its high-end devices: an S-Pen that you can use for writing, drawing, or other activities.

As expected, the company has unveiled a new version of the Samsung Galaxy Tab A 10.1 (2016) with an S-Pen.

Continue reading Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 A with S-Pen launches (in Korea) at Liliputing.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 A with S-Pen launches (in Korea)

Samsung’s Galaxy Tab A is a line of Android tablets that tend to have more modest specs (and price tags) than Samsung’s more premium S series. But Samsung’s latest A series tablet has one feature the company usually reserves for its high-end devices: an S-Pen that you can use for writing, drawing, or other activities.

As expected, the company has unveiled a new version of the Samsung Galaxy Tab A 10.1 (2016) with an S-Pen.

Continue reading Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 A with S-Pen launches (in Korea) at Liliputing.

Was August deluge in Louisiana worsened by climate change?

Rapid analysis says: probably.

Enlarge / A Coast Guard boat carries several Baton Rouge residents to safety. (credit: US Coast Guard/Petty Officer 3rd Class Brandon Giles.)

Southern Louisiana was hit hard by relentless rains a few weeks ago. Some locations received a ridiculous soaking: two feet of rain within three days. More than a dozen lives were lost in the resulting flooding, and tens of thousands of homes were inundated.

The culprit was a low pressure system that was strong enough to have become a tropical depression if it had moved out into the Gulf of Mexico. It slowly crawled across the Gulf Coast instead, wringing out an incredible amount of moisture from air pulled in from over the Gulf—about triple the total volume dumped by Hurricane Katrina.

Our warming climate is predicted to intensify storms. But what can we say about how climate change may have affected this particular deluge?

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LTE Advanced Pro: Telekom erreicht Glasfasertempo im Berliner LTE-Netz

1,22 GBit/s im Mobilfunk erreicht die Deutsche Telekom mit Technik von Huawei. Dafür wurden fünf Trägerfrequenzen mit einer Kleinzelle gebündelt. (Long Term Evolution, Telekom)

1,22 GBit/s im Mobilfunk erreicht die Deutsche Telekom mit Technik von Huawei. Dafür wurden fünf Trägerfrequenzen mit einer Kleinzelle gebündelt. (Long Term Evolution, Telekom)

Google Highlights DMCA Abuse in New Copyright Transparency Report

Google has released a new and improved version of its Copyright Transparency Report. The revamped report makes it easier to get insights into over a billion reported URLs. Among other things, Google now specifies how many URLs it does not remove and why, highlighting various cases of DMCA abuse.

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

googlecopyIn recent years copyright holders have overloaded Google with DMCA takedown notices, targeting links to pirated content.

The number of requests has increased dramatically, from only a few dozen takedown notices during the entire year in 2008, to millions per day nowadays.

To give the public insight into this process Google launched a Copyright Transparency Report for search in 2012. In addition to showing the rapid increase in volume, shown below, it has helped us to report on various types of DMCA takedown abuse over the years.

#Reported URLs

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A few days ago Google released a revamped version of its Copyright Transparency Report. In addition to a new look, it also now reports additional data to better show what’s going on.

Previously we have been keeping track of the total number of submitted URLs by hand, but Google now prominently includes this number in its report. The latest data show that over 1.75 billion allegedly infringing URLs have been reported since they started counting.

What’s also new is an overview of how many URLs were not removed from the search index, and the reasons for that.

For example, over the past year over 10% of all submitted URLs were not removed from the search index. Roughly half of these, 50 million (5.5%), are duplicate links that had already been reported previously.

Takedown Stats

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15 million (1.6%) were “invalid URLs,” such as typos and other non-existing content, and another 31 million were rejected for another reason.

The latter group, which is 3.4% of the total, also includes various types of abuse and other errors. The revamped transparency report lists various examples of abuse, such as an anti-piracy group’s coffee hatred that TorrentFreak first reported on.

“An anti-piracy enforcement firm representing a music label filed a copyright complaint asking us to delist dozens of homepages containing the word ‘coffee’ in the title. These URLs had nothing to do with the identified copyrighted work,” Google writes.

Another abuse case highlighted by Google shows that people sometimes impersonate anti-piracy outfits to remove links without the proper authorization.

“An individual impersonating a prominent anti-piracy enforcement firm filed a copyright complaint targeting several URLs from an adult film website. We occasionally receive requests from individuals who impersonate major anti-piracy firms.”

Google hopes that the new transparency report will help people to better understand what content is targeted and how the company responds. Going forward, the company says it will continue to add new examples and new data.

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

BLU launches $200 Vivo 5R smartphone with FHD display, octa-core CPU

BLU launches $200 Vivo 5R smartphone with FHD display, octa-core CPU

BLU’s newest smartphone is a budget Android phone with a 5.5 inch 1080p display, an 8-core CPU, a fingerprint scanner, and a 3,150 mAh battery.

The BLU Vivo 5R is basically an updated version of the Vivo 5 that launched earlier this year. But the new model has a higher-resolution screen, an improved camera, and it ships with Android 6.0 rather than Android 5.1.

The price remains the same: the BLU Vivo 5R is now up for pre-order for $200.

Continue reading BLU launches $200 Vivo 5R smartphone with FHD display, octa-core CPU at Liliputing.

BLU launches $200 Vivo 5R smartphone with FHD display, octa-core CPU

BLU’s newest smartphone is a budget Android phone with a 5.5 inch 1080p display, an 8-core CPU, a fingerprint scanner, and a 3,150 mAh battery.

The BLU Vivo 5R is basically an updated version of the Vivo 5 that launched earlier this year. But the new model has a higher-resolution screen, an improved camera, and it ships with Android 6.0 rather than Android 5.1.

The price remains the same: the BLU Vivo 5R is now up for pre-order for $200.

Continue reading BLU launches $200 Vivo 5R smartphone with FHD display, octa-core CPU at Liliputing.

Netflix asks FCC to declare data caps “unreasonable”

FCC should use broadband deployment power to discourage data caps, Netflix says.

Data cap cash. (credit: Aurich Lawson | Getty Images)

Netflix has asked the Federal Communications Commission to declare that home Internet data caps are unreasonable and that they limit customers’ ability to watch online video.

Netflix submitted a filing last week for the FCC’s annual investigation of broadband deployment, a review that is mandated by Congress in Section 706 of the Telecommunications Act. Specifically, Congress requires the FCC to determine whether advanced telecommunications capability is being deployed to all Americans in a reasonable and timely fashion and “take immediate action” to accelerate deployment if it’s not happening to the commission’s satisfaction.

The commission’s assessment generally focuses on availability and speed, but Netflix wants the commission to add data caps to the mix. "Data caps (especially low data caps) and usage-based pricing ('UBP') discourage a consumer’s consumption of broadband, and may impede the ability of some households to watch Internet television in a manner and amount that they would like," Netflix wrote. "For this reason, the Commission should hold that data caps on fixed-­line networks ­­and low data caps on mobile networks­­ may unreasonably limit Internet television viewing and are inconsistent with Section 706."

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Transgenic cotton plant resistant to common insect pest

GMOs may be a solution to increasing non-food crop yields.

Killer of the flies. (credit: USDA)

Insect damage to crops is a serious problem for farmers, consumers, and the economy at large. Genetic modification to common crops (like corn) has significantly reduced damage caused by insects that feed off plant leaves, but it has its limitations. One of these limitations is sap-sucking insects, which aren’t affected by the plants’ engineered insecticide.

However, a recent paper in Nature Biotechnology describes cotton that has been genetically modified with an insecticidal protein found in ferns, which might be a safe solution to this issue.

Whiteflies are insects that damage plants by sucking out their sap, which can cause wilting, defoliation, and stunted growth. Whiteflies also spread viral and fungal infections, which further harm crop yield. Cotton farmers don't currently have an effective insecticide that targets these problematic whiteflies. A recent reduction in the use of pesticides among cotton farmers has caused an increase in whitefly-related damage, and the authors of this paper aim to alleviate that damage.

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Payment Card Industry Council: Kreditkartenterminals bald mit Firmware-Update

Skimming, Kreditkartenbetrug und manipulierte Bezahlterminals: Der Sicherheitstandard für EC- und Kreditkartenterminals wird überarbeitet. Künftig sollen die Geräte signierte Updates erhalten und gegen Laser resistent werden. (Security, Virus)

Skimming, Kreditkartenbetrug und manipulierte Bezahlterminals: Der Sicherheitstandard für EC- und Kreditkartenterminals wird überarbeitet. Künftig sollen die Geräte signierte Updates erhalten und gegen Laser resistent werden. (Security, Virus)