Month: December 2017

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Yesterday's repeal of net neutrality rules isn't the only good news Comcast is getting these days. In January 2018, the conditions imposed by the US government on Comcast's 2011 purchase of NBCUniversal will begin to expire.

Smaller cable companies that compete against Comcast are worried that Comcast will raise the price for carrying "must-have" programming such as regional sports networks, NBC's local TV stations, and NBC's national programming. The merger conditions require Comcast to submit to arbitration when there are disputes over prices, terms, and conditions of programming agreements with other pay-TV companies.

The FCC should impose new rules to essentially replace the arbitration conditions that expire in January, cable company RCN told the Federal Communications Commission in a filing this week. RCN is an "over-builder" that competes against Comcast by building its own infrastructure in areas already served by Comcast, such as Boston and Philadelphia.

Enlarge / The YouTube VR interface while playing back media. (credit: Samuel Axon)

Google has released its YouTube VR app, previously available on Daydream, on SteamVR. The app allows users to browse YouTube videos through an interface in 3D, 360-degree space, and watch any of the innumerable 360-degree videos available on YouTube. It also allows for virtual big-screen viewing of standard format YouTube videos, in a setup similar to that found on, say, the Hulu app for PlayStation VR.

You can download it for free right now and try it out.

Unfortunately, the YouTube VR app doesn't seem to be working for many users, who have taken to the app's Steam community page, reviews, and discussion forums to complain about crashes and other problems. Users are posting their hardware specs as they report that it crashes on startup every time. Additionally, users have complained that it makes poor use of only one of the Vive's controllers, that quality is low, and that many SBS stereoscopic 3D videos are not working—which is obviously a huge omission

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A woman in Long Island, New York, has been charged with money laundering in support of a terrorist organization after she allegedly borrowed money that she used to buy bitcoins to support ISIS.

Zoobia Shahnaz "defrauded numerous financial institutions and obtained over $85,000 in illicit proceeds, which she converted to Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies," according to a press release from federal prosecutors. She then alleged sent the funds outside the United States to support the actions of the Islamic State.

Shahnaz next tried to fly to Turkey. Federal prosecutors say she was ultimately bound for Syria, but they detained her at New York's John F. Kennedy airport.

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In the months since PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds became an out-of-nowhere top-selling hit, the Battle Royale genre of last-man-standing free-for-alls has been surging in popularity. Brendan "PlayerUnknown" Greene, though, says he isn't too happy with the slate of "copycats" that have followed in Battlegrounds' wake.

"There's no intellectual property protection in games," Greene complained to BBC Newsbeat recently. "In movies and music there is IP protection and you can really look after your work. In gaming that doesn't exist yet, and it's something that should be looked into."

"Some amazing games pass under the radar," he continued. "Then someone else takes the idea, has a marketing budget, and suddenly has a popular game because they ripped off someone else's idea. I think it's something the industry needs to look into. You're protecting the work of artists basically. Games are art for a large part, and so I think it's important they're protected."

Enlarge / COLORADO SPRINGS, CO. - August 05, 2014: Janea Cox director of the Flowering H.O.P.E. Foundation, with her daughter Haleigh's, who was diagnosed with Lennox-Gastaut syndrome, looks at the plants that make Haleigh's Hope, a cannabis oil high in cannabidiol, or CBD, that is helping control her seizures. (credit: Getty | Joe Amon)

The US Drug Enforcement Administration has long held that the non-psychoactive component of marijuana, cannabidiol, is a schedule I drug. That is, a drug that has no accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse. But according to a preliminary report embraced by the World Health Organization this week, the DEA’s long held stance is tripping.

In a preliminary report last month, the WHO’s Expert Committee on Drug Dependence concluded—and WHO agreed—that clinical and pre-clinical studies of CBD show no evidence of a potential for users to abuse the drug or suffer any harms. Moreover, the experts found plenty of inklings that CBD has medical benefits, particularly for treating epilepsy. In its conclusion, the ECDD declared that the current data “does not justify scheduling of cannabidiol.”

The ECDD’s report is just a first glance, however. The committee, which is generally tasked with assessing which drugs should be internationally controlled (scheduled) and how, will take a more extensive look in May of 2018. Then, it will review cannabis overall, as well as other cannabis compounds.