Month: February 2017

Bei der Bekanntgabe von Geschäftszahlen hat Activision Blizzard auch über Destiny 2 gesprochen - für das offenbar auch eine PC-Version geplant ist. Fans von Call of Duty sollen sich auf ein historisches Szenario einstellen können. (Activision Blizzard, Call of Duty)

Ein deutscher Entwickler will mit seinem Raspberry-Pi-basierten Roboterbausatz mehr Schüler begeistern und sie für IT interessieren. Er war damit nicht der einzige auf der Nürnberger Spielwarenmesse 2017, auch Lego engagiert sich. (Raspberry Pi, Roboter)

Increasingly people are trading in expensive cable subscriptions for cheaper or free Internet TV. However, ideally they would still like to enjoy this from the comfort of their living room.

In recent years this has become much more convenient with help from a variety of easy-to-use media players, Kodi boxes included.

Following this trend, there has also been an uptick in the availability of unlicensed TV streams, with vendors offering virtually any channel imaginable, for free or in exchange for a small fee.

Rightholders are not happy with this development and are actively cracking down on sellers of these illicit services and devices. This is also what happened yesterday in Malaga, Spain, where local ISP Y-Internet was raided.

The police action was carried out following a complaint from the UK football organization Premier League, with assistance from anti-piracy outfit Irdeto. While the company’s website doesn’t list any IPTV offers, the provider allegedly offered piracy-configured IPTV devices on the side for a hefty annual fee of €450.

While it’s not mentioned by the police, TF discovered that the ISP also has ties to a company that offers an IPTV service with UK and Irish TV & radio channels. The website in question was online at the time of the raid, but is now “undergoing maintenance.”

Y-Internet itself is a well-known business in the Costa Del Sol region according to several online sources. The Spanish Government officially licensed the company’s Internet services, and the ISP is said to serve 300,000 homes and businesses, including many UK expats.

During the raid, five company employees were present in the store, but it’s unclear if any arrests were made. Whether the company’s regular Internet subscribers were affected by the action is also unknown.

While details remain scarce, police did release a video of the raid showing several pieces of hardware and network equipment.

The UK owners of the ISP were not present in the store at the time of the raid. They reportedly observed their employees from overseas and tried to destroy files, payment transactions, and clients’ records when the police action began.

However, the police reportedly stopped them before they could permanently erase any critical evidence.

The Premier League is happy with the result and notes that this is the second success in a short period. Just a few weeks ago a UK supplier of piracy-configured IPTV boxes was sentenced to four years in prison.

“The raids conducted by the Spanish authorities, supported in this case by Irdeto’s expertise, are a positive example of law enforcement taking seriously piracy and IP infringement,” says Kevin Plumb, Premier League Director of Legal Services

“This approach is essential for organizations like the Premier League – and other creative industries – as our model is predicated on the ability to market and sell rights and protect intellectual property. It is because of this that clubs can invest in star players and managers, and world class stadiums – the very things fans enjoy about our competition.”

Or as the Spanish Police put it: One goal against Piracy…

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

Die Deutsche Telekom hat einen Teil seiner Magenta-Mobil-Start-Tarife aufgestockt. Prepaid-Kunden erhalten in zwei Tarifen mehr ungedrosseltes Datenvolumen, die Preise bleiben aber gleich. (Telekom, Mobilfunk)

Ron Gilbert war an Klassikern wie Monkey Island, Zak McKracken und Maniac Mansion beteiligt. Jetzt entwickelt er ein neues Adventure namens Thimbleweed Park. Golem.de hat es angespielt - und mit Gilbert über Gamedesign gesprochen. (Thimbleweed Park, Adventure)

Per Crowdfunding werden Käufer für einen Raspberry-Pi-betriebenen Roboterarm gesucht. Dieser ist preiswert, taugt aber nur bedingt als Werkzeug. Stattdessen sollen Kinder damit Programmierexperimente durchführen. (Raspberry Pi, Technologie)

Dodge baut mit dem Charger Pursuit ein Auto, dessen Parksensoren zum Schutz für Polizisten umfunktioniert worden sind. Das unbemerkte Anschleichen an parkende Autos soll so schwerer werden. (Auto, Technologie)

Mit der Bluetooth-Tastatur von Kanex lassen sich mehrere Geräte wie ein iPhone, ein Mac oder ein iPad durch Umschalten bedienen. Die Tastatur lässt sich zusammenfalten und platzsparend transportieren. (Tastatur, Eingabegerät)

Das LG Ultrafine 5K Display, das Apple als Ersatz für eigene Displays vermarktet, wird aktuell nicht mehr verschickt. Schuld sind Abschirmprobleme, die zu Störungen führen, wenn das Gerät in der Nähe von WLAN-Access-Points betrieben wird. (LG, Display)

Telefónica belohnt Mobilfunk-Neukunden derzeit mit einem Angebot. Wer einen O2-Free-Tarif neu bucht, erhält ein halbes Jahr lang Zugriff auf den Streamingdienst von Sky. Wir haben es ausprobiert und wären begeisterter, wenn Sky nicht so seltsame Eigenheiten hätte. Ein Test von Ingo Pakalski (Telefónica, Test)