Month: January 2017

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Um das Andenken an Carrie Fisher zu ehren, soll in den künftigen Star-Wars-Filmen keine digitale Kopie ihre Rolle übernehmen. Das versicherten Disney und Lucasfilm. In einem anderen Fall hatten sie sich anders entschieden. (Star Wars, Disney)

There are all kinds of strategies aimed at curtailing piracy but in the end it is only a change in human behavior that can really make a difference. Tempting people to do the ‘right thing’ by offering cool services is a nice one but there are other options available.

Writing in the Huffington Post this week, Liz Bales, CEO of The Industry Trust for IP Awareness, asked parents if they were aware of the dangers posed by piracy-enabled set-top boxes – aka Kodi devices with third-party addons.

“Unauthorised apps installed on the boxes and sticks ‘scrape’ content from illegal file-sharing sites, cyber-lockers and streaming sites to download and stream infringing film, TV and sports content,” Bales said.

“In doing so, they expose users to many of the security and safety risks traditionally associated with pirate websites, but deliver these through a much more trusted and social family viewing medium – the television.”

Bales then went on to cite statistics from a new study that reportedly found that 10% of people engaging in this kind of piracy have been exposed to either age-inappropriate or adult content.

TF contacted The Industry Trust hoping to get a look at the full report, but they were only prepared to share a small set of figures due to an exclusivity deal with another publication.

Nevertheless, if we take Bales’ reporting at face value, we still have room for meaningful discussion.

At the core of the issue appears to be pirate services’ lack of adherence to the British Board of Film Classification’s age ratings system when offering up content. For example, films that are only suitable for teenagers can be available to younger children while 18+ content isn’t fenced off from either group.

“What’s most concerning in the research is the tendency for families to engage in Digital TV Piracy, usually through their trusted family TV and, more often than not, leaving children to use the technology on their own,” Bales continued.

“In fact, more than three quarters (79%) of parents who have participated in Digital TV Piracy report that their children are allowed to access unauthorised content unattended, with 7% saying they have actually installed the technology in their children’s bedrooms.”

To the casual reader, this might sound like an apocalypse waiting to happen. Kids, sitting alone in their rooms, huddled around dangerous technology somehow intent on polluting their young minds with violent filth.

To others, who understand a little bit more about the technology at play here, Welcome to the Internet.

The devices featured in the survey are Android-type mini computers with access to the Internet – nothing more, nothing less. Kids have computers already, whether they come in desktop, tablet, or mobile phone form. No matter which device we use to access it, the Internet as a whole does not know the age of the person browsing its pages.

Perhaps what we should be concentrating on here is parents’ role in deciding what content children should have access to, no matter how it’s delivered. Let’s not forget, since they were almost certainly the people to buy the Kodi stick and plug it into their kids’ TV in the first place, parents already know what these devices can do.

Equally, they also know what the Internet as a whole serves up on a daily basis. If the Kodi stick needs parental guidance controls, so does the Internet, period. Parents should perhaps think about this problem as a whole, not on a per device basis.

Fortunately, help is at hand. TVaddons, one of the world’s largest repositories of third-party Kodi addons, has already considered that parents might want to restrict their kids’ access to inappropriate content.

To that end they published a guide some time ago, which gives concerned adults the ability to lock down any addons they like with a secret code. That’s even one up on the BBC.

In closing, Bales points to a resource published by FindAnyFilm, a site that enables consumers to find places where they can obtain legitimate content. It’s a good service that many people find useful. It too mentions a new set-top box study, almost certainly the one commissioned by the Industry Trust.

In addition, FindAnyFilm offers up some advice of its own, including getting content from legitimate ‘safe’ sources such as the iPlayer. While that’s good advice (the iPlayer is an excellent service), the interface does not stop people viewing inappropriate content, other than to ask whether the user is above a certain age via a tick box. Apparently, kids can be trusted to always tell the truth.

While the rest of the advice is mostly reasonable, the site does make one last-ditch effort to scare parents away from using TV apps that aren’t available from places such as Google Play or Samsung and LG’s stores.

“Never install apps from an unofficial source,” FindAnyFilm warns. “Doing so could put your TV at risk and could void your manufacturer’s warranty.”

Protecting children and indeed hardware from harm is always welcome, but it’s not difficult to read between the lines here. Kodi sticks with third-party addons are now considered a major threat to IP holders, so diminishing their attractiveness in the eyes of the general public is now a priority.

We look forward to reading the full report, whenever it becomes available.

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

Auf den Smartphone-Markt kommt möglicherweise wieder mehr Bewegung. Android-Erfinder Andy Rubin will noch im Sommer 2017 neue Smartphones vorstellen, die sich durch hochwertige Materialien, KI und Erweiterbarkeit auszeichnen sollen. (Andy Rubin, Smartphone)

EVGA is adding new member to their graphic card family. This GPU is the best of its class, the GeForce GTX 680 Superclocked edition. This card is filled with 1536 CUDA cores, 256-bit memory interface, up to 1058MH default GPU clock (boostable to 1113MHz) and a wealthy 2GB of GDDR5 VRAM with the clock speed […]

Mitarbeiter der Deutschen Bank können künftig nicht mehr untereinander per Whatsapp oder SMS kommunizieren. Die Apps sollen von den Geräten der Mitarbeiter entfernt werden - weil es die Behörden so wollen. (Whatsapp, Datenschutz)

Nintendo has released more details of their eagerly anticipated 'Switch' console in a special event.

The price of the Nintendo Switch has been set at $299.99, the same price as the Xbox One S and PS4 Slim, and the new console will be officially available to buy on March 3.

In addition, the pricing of several accessories for the Switch was also revealed at the press event in Tokyo. The Pro Controller, a more traditional style controller that can be used in place of the included Joy-Con controllers, will set gamers back $69.99. Spare Joy-Con controllers are priced at $79.99, while gamers can also purchase a spare dock, at $89.99, to allow the Switch to connect to another TV/monitor without having to re-plug the included dock all the time.

Other than pricing, Nintendo also unveiled many other details about the console. Nintendo says that battery life for the Switch is expected to be between 2.5 and 6.5 hours, with charging done via a USB-C cable - players can keep playing while charging. The console will come with 32GB storage that can be expanded using the built-in MicroSD slot.

The Joy-Con controllers that plug in and out of the main Switch console was also unveiled to be motion and object sensing capable, enabling a whole new generation of motion games that made the original Wii so popular.

As for games, Nintendo announced a new Mario title, Super Mario Odyssey, which is set to feature levels set in the "real world" and will be out in late 2017. The game 'Arms' and the '1-2 Switch' mini-game collection will take full advantage of the motion and object sensing capabilities of the Joy-Con controller.

Nintendo says over 80 games are in development for the new console.

The company is also planning to launch a paid for online service later this year, with the initial service being free.

While most of the responses to the unveiling was positive, some critics were worried about the pricing for the Switch, which pitches it against the much more powerful, but perhaps less innovative PS4 and Xbox One consoles. Game site Polygon called the pricing a "bad, bad joke", while Serkan Toto, game industry analyst, expressed worries at the weak game lineup at launch.

Brian Blau, analyst at Gartner called the Joy-Con controller the "Switch's winning feature", while Anshel Sag, analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy, said the pricing was reasonable considering what's included in the package.

[via BBC, Polygon, VentureBeat]

Ist ein per Skype geführtes Bewerbungsgespräch zulässig? Diese Frage will das Land Baden-Württemberg neu prüfen. Eine Lehrerin hatte sich aus dem Ausland beworben, eine Einstellung wurde trotz positiver Bewertung aber abgelehnt - wegen Skype. (Digitalisierung, VoIP)

Der designierte US-Präsident trumpelt auf den Medien herum und Preise steigen - aber zum Trost erscheint Nintendos neue Konsole mit Zelda: Sieben Tage und viele Meldungen im Überblick. (Golem-Wochenrückblick, Internet)

Nach fünf Monaten Pause fliegt am Samstag wieder eine Falcon-9-Rakete. Für 2017 hat SpaceX große Pläne, darunter der Start der großen Falcon Heavy. Aber der Nasa macht die Explosion im September Sorgen. (SpaceX, Raumfahrt)