
Month: July 2017
Wimbledon: The tech behind the world’s top tennis tournament
From the archives: There’s a surprising amount of cool tech for a 140-year-old event.
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The first of Wimbledon's tech bunkers, operated by IBM. This is the data ingestion room. For more data on the IBM tech bunker, read our story from a couple of years ago. [credit: Sebastian Anthony ]
The Championships at Wimbledon, which consumes some 28 tons of strawberries, 10,000 litres of cream, and 320,000 glasses of Pimm's per year, is notable for its seemingly unchecked luxuriant hedonism. But while most companies, organisations, and institutions are looking to cut costs, Wimbledon has stuck to its mantra. Don't do things cheaper; do things better.
Case in point: Wimbledon's use of technology is really quite impressive. I've been lucky enough to follow Wimbledon's tech over the last three years, and it has been very encouraging to see a massive endeavour like The Championships dive deeper and deeper into technology. You might think that after 140 years Wimbledon could be stuck in its ways, but far from it. When technology is the only viable way of providing consistent, significant gains for players, visitors, and hundreds of millions of people spectating remotely, you don't try to fight it; you embrace it.
Of course, Wimbledon is embracing tech in a distinctly Wimbledon way. This year, for example, The Championships are trialling free Wi-Fi—but because they don't yet know how people will behave with free Wi-Fi, it's only available in three specific locations (near the food court, in the ticket resale area, and on the west side of court 12). The tournament continues through this weekend, but its team has already started analysing the data. It turns out that, thankfully, the Wi-Fi users on court 12 only use their phones between points. When play begins, Wi-Fi usage stops. If the trial is a success, Wi-Fi could be rolled out across Wimbledon in 2018.
Nokia 3310 (2017) im Test: Ein Einfach-Handy wie jedes andere auch
Das Interesse am neuen Nokia 3310 ist enorm: HMD Global scheint mit der Wiederauflage des Handy-Klassikers einen guten Riecher gehabt zu haben. Dabei hat das Gerät nur eine Besonderheit: einen Nokia-Schriftzug am Gehäuse. Ein Test von Ingo Pakalski (HMD Global, Test)

Smart Home: Apple versucht Homekit bekannter zu machen
Mit eigenen Demonstrationsbereichen in Apples Geschäften will das Unternehmen Homekit bekannter machen. Bisher hatte Apple seine Smart-Home-Technik kaum beworben, obwohl das System schon seit iOS 8 im Einsatz ist. (Homekit, Smart Home)

Definitive Edition: Age of Empires bekommt mehr Geschichte und einen Erzähler
Neben der Grafik überarbeitet Microsoft für die Definitive Edition des Echtzeit-Strategiespiels Age of Empires auch Teile der Missionen. Neben mehr historischer Genauigkeit soll es offenbar auch einen neuen Erzähler geben. (Age of Empires, Microsoft)

WLAN: Unitymedia-Kunden können europaweit Hotspots nutzen
Unitymedia weitet seine kostenlosen Kunden-Hotspots auf zehn europäische Länder aus. Damit stehen fast 8 Millionen WLAN-Zugangspunkte offen. (Unitymedia, WLAN)

China Denies User VPN Crackdown, Blames False “Foreign Media” Reports
Following a report that Chinese authorities had ordered state-owned ISPs to block VPNs, the government has published a statement. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said no such notice had been issued and “legitimate access” to the global Internet, by businesses and general users, will be permitted.
Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and ANONYMOUS VPN services.
A notice published by China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology in January said that the government had launched a 14-month campaign to crack down on local ‘unauthorized’ Internet platforms.
The idea is that all Internet services such as data centers, ISPs, CDNs, and VPNs, will eventually need pre-approval from the government to operate. Operating such a service without a corresponding telecommunications business license will constitute an offense.
After the news broke, a source with contacts at a high-level telecoms company in the region told TF that, in his opinion, user-based VPNs were not the target and that MPLS VPNs were. These types of VPN (pdf) allow businesses, including those in China, to connect their geographically separated business locations, such as those in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Indonesia, for example.
This week, however, Bloomberg broke the news that China’s Government had ordered telecommunications carriers to block individuals’ access to Virtual Private Networks. This, the publication said, would stop citizens from accessing the global Internet.
According to the report, the government ordered at least three state-run telecommunications firms, including China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom, to stop people from using VPNs which allow people to circumvent censorship restrictions, otherwise known as the Great Firewall, by February next year.
Jake Parker, Beijing-based vice president of the US-China Business Council, agreed that the move “seems to impact individuals,” but last evening the Chinese authorities were attempting to pour cold water on the report.
In comments to China-based media outlet The Paper, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology denied issuing a notice to the telecoms companies requiring them to block user VPNs. It said that “foreign media reports” were inaccurate.
“Our subordinate Secretary did not issue the relevant notice, what foreign media reported was false,” the Ministry said.
The local media report then has the Ministry citing news that previously broke in January, detailing the new government measures that require cross-border enterprise-level VPN systems to be authorized and licensed.
“Foreign trade enterprises and multinational companies, due to office for personal use and other reasons, need to access cross-border networking,” the Ministry said, adding that licensing is available and won’t have a detrimental effect on normal operations.
Given this statement, the announcement in January, and the comments made to TF regarding the government targeting enterprise-level VPNs, it raises the question whether the term ‘VPN’ has perhaps been interpreted too widely, to include user-based services.
Nevertheless, in a follow-up report last evening, Bloomberg repeated its claims that Beijing had ordered state-run telecoms firms to stop people from using VPNs that route traffic overseas to avoid censorship.
“The clampdown will shutter one of the main ways in which people both local and foreign still manage to access the global, unfiltered web on a daily basis,” the report said.
Only time will tell how the landscape will pan out, but it’s safe to say that China would like a tighter hold on the web than it has now and that VPNs of all kinds will continue to undermine that control, unless something is done.
Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and ANONYMOUS VPN services.
Google: Backup and Sync für Google Fotos und Drive ist verfügbar
Sowohl Fotos als auch ganze Ordner können jetzt mit einem Tool zentral synchronisiert werden. Backup and Sync verbindet Google Drive und Google Fotos und bietet unendlich Cloud-Speicher für komprimierte Bilder. Das kostet Rechenressourcen. (Google Drive, Google)

Uber driver, who says he was once paid under $2 per hour, advances labor lawsuit
Uber says it looks forward to “litigating the merits of these claims.”

Enlarge (credit: Spencer Platt / Getty Images News)
A federal judge in North Carolina ruled Wednesday in favor of an Uber driver who is suing the company, paving the way for a possible notable expansion of the lawsuit.
In 2016, Michael Hood, an Uber driver, claimed in a proposed class-action lawsuit last year that he has been misclassified as an independent contractor rather than an employee, and as such is consistently being paid below minimum wage after expenses. At one point in 2015, after expenses, Hood alleges he made under $2 per hour—well below North Carolina’s minimum wage at the time, which was $7.25 per hour.
His case is one of over a dozen such cases pending against Uber that have attempted to make a legal determination as to whether this distinction is proper, and if it is not, what should be done about it. Other lawsuits against other so-called "gig economy" startups are also pending as well.
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