The Pirate Bay Suffers Downtime, Tor Domain is Up

After months of relatively smooth sailing, The Pirate Bay has been down for more than twelve hours today. The TPB team is aware of the situation, which is likely due to a technical issue. In the meantime, the site’s .onion domain is still accessible over the Tor network.

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

pirate bayThe Pirate Bay has been unreachable for more than half a day now.

The site currently displays a CloudFlare error message across the entire site, and many proxies are affected by the downtime as well.

TorrentFreak reached out to the TPB team who are aware of the issues. They have informed the responsible people and hope to have the site back online soonish.

No further details are available to us and there is no ETA for the site’s return either. However, judging from past experience, it’s likely a small technical issue that needs fixing.

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There’s also some good news for those who desperately need to access the notorious torrent site.

TPB is still accessible via its .onion address via the Tor network, via the popular Tor Browser for example. The Tor traffic goes through a separate server and works just fine.

Others will have to be patient, but seasoned TPB users will probably know the drill by now…

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

Clever “copilot” controller mode launches in latest Xbox guide update

Launching today for Xbox One “Insiders,” it offers a peek at an updated guide interface.

Enlarge / Want to use more than one controller on the same profile? The new "copilot" mode on Xbox One will let you do just that. (credit: Sam Machkovech)

Microsoft pushed a new testing version of its Xbox One guide interface to "Insider" members on Monday, and it brings two intriguing changes: an overhaul to what happens when you tap the "Xbox button" and a very unique "copilot" option for controller use.

The former, previewed by Xbox Program Manager Scott Henson, shows off a slightly faster jump between tapping the button and having a floating menu appear. The new default floating menu makes it easier for players to jump back to the home screen, and it additionally offers a shorter path to the home screen's primary options: opening the "games and apps" collection; picking recently played games; and picking from "pinned" games and apps. (Next to all of those is a super-quick path to playing, pausing, and seeking through your personal music collection, should you enjoy Xbox One's custom-soundtrack functionality.)

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Mental “vaccine” protects both parties from plague of fake news and lies

Republican or Democrat, preemptive facts and info can thwart partisan tripe.

Enlarge (credit: Getty | BSIP)

National outbreaks of fake news and partisan “disinformation” have convinced many Americans to doubt scientific consensus—such as the near-unanimous agreement among experts that human-caused climate change is real and a global threat and that vaccines are safe, effective, and live-saving.

While respectable media outlets are scrambling to fact-check and refute such “merchants of doubt,” a group of researchers, led by a psychologist at Cambridge, think they can stamp out the viral spread of fake news and lies just like we stamp out every other infectious disease—with vaccinations.

Their ‘mental inoculation’ works under the same principal as actual innoculations—that is, exposure to a weakened version or fragment of some nasty contagion can allow a person to recognize and develop immunity to future threats. In their study, the researchers found that they could effectively ‘vaccinate’ Americans from climate change misinformation by presenting them with information on the scientific consensus alongside a pre-emptive caution that some politically motivated groups are spreading lies about that consensus.

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Official LineageOS builds now available for select phones (CyanogenMod evolved)

Official LineageOS builds now available for select phones (CyanogenMod evolved)

The former developers of the popular CyanogenMod software for smartphones and other devices have been migrating to a new project called LineageOS for the past few weeks.

Now they’ve released the first official builds of LineageOS. It’s already available for download for a small set of phone, and eventually there will be official builds for more than 80 devices.

Unofficial builds have actually been available for a while, since the source code is available for anyone to compile on their own.

Continue reading Official LineageOS builds now available for select phones (CyanogenMod evolved) at Liliputing.

Official LineageOS builds now available for select phones (CyanogenMod evolved)

The former developers of the popular CyanogenMod software for smartphones and other devices have been migrating to a new project called LineageOS for the past few weeks.

Now they’ve released the first official builds of LineageOS. It’s already available for download for a small set of phone, and eventually there will be official builds for more than 80 devices.

Unofficial builds have actually been available for a while, since the source code is available for anyone to compile on their own.

Continue reading Official LineageOS builds now available for select phones (CyanogenMod evolved) at Liliputing.

Virulent Android malware returns, gets >2 million downloads on Google Play

HummingWhale is back with new tricks, including a way to gin user ratings.

Enlarge (credit: portal gda)

A virulent family of malware that infected more than 10 million Android devices last year has made a comeback, this time hiding inside Google Play apps that have been downloaded by as many as 12 million unsuspecting users.

HummingWhale, as the professionally developed malware has been dubbed, is a variant of HummingBad, the name given to a family of malicious apps researchers documented in July invading non-Google app markets. HummingBad attempted to override security protections by exploiting unpatched vulnerabilities that gave the malware root privileges in older versions of Android. Before Google shut it down, it installed more than 50,000 fraudulent apps each day, displayed 20 million malicious advertisements, and generated more than $300,000 per month in revenue. Of the 10 million people who downloaded HummingBad-contaminated apps, an estimated 286,000 of them were located in the US.

HummingWhale, by contrast, managed to sneak its way into about 20 Google Play apps that were downloaded from 2 million to 12 million times, according to researchers from Check Point, the security company that has been closely following the malware family for almost a year. Rather than rooting devices, the latest variant includes new virtual machine techniques that allow the malware to perform ad fraud better than ever, company researchers said in a blog post published Monday.

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As PC sales shrink, the gaming PC market grows faster than expected

Report shows PC gaming hardware worth over $30 billion, well ahead of schedule.

Enlarge / The innards of one of the many gaming PCs that are selling better than ever, according to JPR. (credit: Flickr / davispuh)

While other market analysts are seeing overall PC sales continue to decline, a new report from Jon Peddie Research (JPR) shows the worldwide market for PC gaming hardware growing faster than expected in 2016.

All told, the market for pre-built and "DIY" gaming-focused PCs (which also includes "upgrades and accessories such as input devices and audio/communication systems") exceeded $30 billion for the first time last year ($30.346 billion, to be precise), according to JPR's latest report. That's well up from the estimated $24.6 billion market for gaming PCs that JPR saw back in 2015. Back then, JPR projected that the PC gaming market wouldn't pass the $30 billion mark until 2018, meaning the industry has accelerated roughly two years ahead of those old projections.

"The average PC sale is increasingly motivated by the video game use model, which is important to understand in a stagnant or declining overall PC market," JPR writes in explaining its findings. "As basic computing functions become more entrenched with mobile devices, the PC ultimately becomes a power user’s tool..."

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Onda Xiaoma 21 is a 12.5 inch Apollo Lake laptop with FHD display, 4GB RAM, fingerprint sensor

Onda Xiaoma 21 is a 12.5 inch Apollo Lake laptop with FHD display, 4GB RAM, fingerprint sensor

Chinese device maker Onda has a new laptop on the way, featuring a 12.5 inch, 1920 x 1080 pixel display, an Intel Celeron N3450 Apollo Lake CPU, 4GB of RAM, and 64GB of storage.

The Onda Xiaoma 21 also has a compact design: the laptop measures about half an inch thick and weighs about 2.4 pounds and has slim bezels around the display, to reduce the screen-to-border ratio.

One feature that’s a bit unusual for a budget laptop?

Continue reading Onda Xiaoma 21 is a 12.5 inch Apollo Lake laptop with FHD display, 4GB RAM, fingerprint sensor at Liliputing.

Onda Xiaoma 21 is a 12.5 inch Apollo Lake laptop with FHD display, 4GB RAM, fingerprint sensor

Chinese device maker Onda has a new laptop on the way, featuring a 12.5 inch, 1920 x 1080 pixel display, an Intel Celeron N3450 Apollo Lake CPU, 4GB of RAM, and 64GB of storage.

The Onda Xiaoma 21 also has a compact design: the laptop measures about half an inch thick and weighs about 2.4 pounds and has slim bezels around the display, to reduce the screen-to-border ratio.

One feature that’s a bit unusual for a budget laptop?

Continue reading Onda Xiaoma 21 is a 12.5 inch Apollo Lake laptop with FHD display, 4GB RAM, fingerprint sensor at Liliputing.

macOS 10.12.3 fixes graphics switching problems with new 15“ MacBook Pros

Update is smaller in scope than last month’s 10.12.2 release.

Enlarge / The new 15-inch MacBook Pro. (credit: Andrew Cunningham)

In addition to minor updates for iOS, watchOS, and tvOS, Apple has released version 10.12.3 of macOS Sierra to the public today. The update is available through the Mac App Store and will be available later today on Apple's Downloads page; new copies of the Sierra installer downloaded after today should also include the update.

Compared to 10.12.2, today's update is pretty limited in scope. Apple is still making some fixes specific to the new MacBook Pros, particularly to the graphics switching mechanism of the 15-inch model (though we have no specific information about how it has been tuned for this update). Graphics problems with Adobe Premiere Pro projects have been fixed in both the 13- and 15-inch models.

The update also fixes a pair of PDF problems in Preview, one that prevented searching through scanned documents and one that resolves compatibility problems with encrypted PDF documents. A bug preventing some unspecified third-party apps from importing pictures from digital cameras has also been resolved.

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12 inch Lenovo Yoga Book tablet with touch keyboard coming soon for $300?

12 inch Lenovo Yoga Book tablet with touch keyboard coming soon for $300?

Lenovo’s Yoga Book was one of the most unusual laptops to launch in 2016. The 1.5 pound computer features a 10 inch touchscreen display and a 360 degree hinge that allows you to hold the machine like a notebook or a tablet. But instead of a physical keyboard, it has pressure-sensitive Wacom graphics tablet/digitizer that you can use as a touchpad, virtual keyboard, or writing surface.

The original Yoga Book sells for $500 and up and comes in two versions: there’s an Android model that sells for $500 and a Windows version priced at $549.

Continue reading 12 inch Lenovo Yoga Book tablet with touch keyboard coming soon for $300? at Liliputing.

12 inch Lenovo Yoga Book tablet with touch keyboard coming soon for $300?

Lenovo’s Yoga Book was one of the most unusual laptops to launch in 2016. The 1.5 pound computer features a 10 inch touchscreen display and a 360 degree hinge that allows you to hold the machine like a notebook or a tablet. But instead of a physical keyboard, it has pressure-sensitive Wacom graphics tablet/digitizer that you can use as a touchpad, virtual keyboard, or writing surface.

The original Yoga Book sells for $500 and up and comes in two versions: there’s an Android model that sells for $500 and a Windows version priced at $549.

Continue reading 12 inch Lenovo Yoga Book tablet with touch keyboard coming soon for $300? at Liliputing.

New Surface Pro 4 SKU sheds the pen and $100

This makes the tablet cheaper even if you want the pen anyway.

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Ever since Microsoft introduced its Surface tablet PCs, the company has pushed the importance of stylus input using the included pen. Accordingly, the Surface Pro has always included the pen in the box. The company has also made significant improvements to the usefulness of the pen in the most recent major update of Windows 10.

But if you really hate the pen, Microsoft now has a Surface Pro 4 SKU for you: the Surface Pro 4 (no pen). This model takes the cheapest iteration of the Surface Pro 4—128GB storage, 4GB RAM, Skylake Core m3 processor, and no fan—and shaves $100 off the price (to $800) just by dropping the pen. Given how important the pen is supposed to be, this seems a bit strange to us, but Microsoft's emphasis on stylus input has never quite matched our usage preferences. In this instance, the reality makes more sense than the marketing.

Oddly, if you decide later on that you do want the pen after all, you can buy one for $60 in a choice of colors and still come out $40 ahead of the pack-in option.

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