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Solid state drives are faster, more energy efficient, and harder to break than hard drives. But they also tend to be more expensive and come in smaller capacities. So while it’s not unusual to see laptop and desktop computers ship with 1TB or lar…
Solid state drives are faster, more energy efficient, and harder to break than hard drives. But they also tend to be more expensive and come in smaller capacities. So while it’s not unusual to see laptop and desktop computers ship with 1TB or larger hard drives, models with SSDs often have just 256GB of storage […]
The post Lilbits 324: Samsung’s 4TB consumer SSDs are coming appeared first on Liliputing.
A Utah man, who was previously accused of pirating a movie through BitTorrent, wants the filmmakers responsible to pay his legal fees. The lawsuit in question was filed last year by the makers of the movie Criminal. After the defendant fought back the case was dropped voluntarily, leaving him with an expensive legal bill.
Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and more. We also have VPN reviews, discounts, offers and coupons.
For more than a decade, file-sharers around the world have been pressured to pay significant settlement fees, or face worse in court.
The practice is particularly common in the United States. While there is only a small group of independent companies involved, thousands of people are taken to court each year.
These efforts, often characterized as “copyright trolling,” share a familiar pattern. After the film companies acquire a subpoena to get the personal details of an alleged pirate, they contact this person with a settlement request.
These cases are not intended to go to trial, however. Instead, the copyright holders often drop their complaint when the accused person fights back.
This was the case when Darren Brinkley was sued in a Utah federal court last year. In a complaint filed by Criminal Productions, he and 31 others were accused of illegally sharing a copy of the movie Criminal.
Brinkley denied these claims and rejected the settlement offer but the film company still didn’t back off.
“Plaintiff persisted, forcing Defendant to retain counsel and incur significant attorneys’ fees and costs. Yet Plaintiff had no intention of litigating its claims,” Brinkley’s lawyers write.
“Rather, these filings are shameless efforts to extort inflated settlements from infringers and non-infringers alike.”
The above is quoted from a recent motion for attorney fees, because things changed significantly when Brinkley lawyered up. While Criminal Productions initially refused to let the case go, recently it voluntarily dismissed the case.
According to Brinkley’s lawyers, the film company dropped the case like a hot potato when it discovered that the defendant was attempting to look into its business.
“As expected, when Plaintiff realized a Motion to Compel discovery was in draft, Criminal sought voluntary dismissal of both its affirmative claims and Brinkley’s counterclaims, which this Court granted, with prejudice, on July 6, 2018.”
The dismissal came after nearly a year and all this time Criminal Productions failed to produce any evidence. The defense argues that, while the filmmakers had no intention to litigate the “baseless suit,” their client was forced to run up significant costs.
The same also happened in other cases, where so-called copyright trolls quickly bailed out when defense attorneys sought discovery. Brinkley’s attorneys see this as a typical example of “cut and run” litigation, and argue that Criminal Productions must pay their client’s legal bill.
“These tactics should at minimum require that Defendant Brinkley be made whole for Plaintiff’s filing of litigation it clearly had no intention of pursuing and that may have had no basis in the first instance. This is the very definition of ‘cut and run’ litigation,” the motion reads.
The defendant requests compensation for the attorneys’ fees and costs to the tune of $62,818.35, providing a detailed accounting of the costs it made.
This request is warranted and not unprecedented, the defense team states, pointing to a recent order in the District of Nevada where a defendant was awarded more than $48,000 compensation in a similar case filed by this same movie outfit.
Finally, the attorneys add that they see this case being part of the larger “BitTorrent litigation model,” noting that Criminal Productions had no basis for the lawsuit.
Companies such as Criminal Productions are “special purpose entities” (SPE) which are allegedly used to shield the true beneficiaries. The lawsuits are presumably being run by the German investigating firm Guardaley and the lawyers.
In a separate testimony, defense attorney Lisa Clay writes that Guardaley and the lawyers are the ones that benefit financially from these cases.
“In short, if this case had continued, Defendant is confident it would have established that Plaintiff lacked a good faith basis for its filing in the first instance, and that the claims were brought in bad faith,” the motion concludes.
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A copy of the motion for attorneys’ fees and costs is available here (pdf).
Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and more. We also have VPN reviews, discounts, offers and coupons.
Startup claims it can use the blockchain to make Internet voting secure.
(credit: Esther Vargas / Flickr)
The state of West Virginia is planning to allow overseas voting via smartphone in the 2018 election, and election security experts aren't happy about it.
"Mobile voting is a horrific idea," said Joe Hall, an election security expert at the Center for Democracy and Technology in an interview with CNN.
The West Virginia project is being run by Voatz, a startup with $2 million in venture capital funding. To ensure buzzword-compliance, the Voatz system uses a blockchain in addition to a mobile app.
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Internal Amazon sources say most of the few who do only try it once.
Enlarge / The new Amazon Echo. (credit: Valentina Palladino)
Analysts have been aggressively optimistic in their predictions about the growth of consumer shopping via virtual assistants like Amazon's Alexa, but a new report claims that only a small fraction of Alexa device owners shop with voice commands. And most of those who do only try it once or stick to a limited range of products.
Two people who have been briefed on Amazon's "internal figures" told tech business publication The Information that only around 2 percent of people who own Alexa-equipped devices like those in Amazon's Echo line have ever made a purchase with Alexa.
Of that 2 percent, about 90 percent tried it once and did not attempt it again after that, one of The Information's sources said. And even those users who regularly use Alexa to shop mainly do so for small purchases like household supplies.
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“Sham coverage map” could prevent rural carriers from getting network funding.
Enlarge (credit: Aurich Lawson / Getty Images)
Verizon "grossly overstated" its 4G LTE coverage in government filings, potentially preventing smaller carriers from obtaining funding needed to expand coverage in underserved rural areas, a trade group says.
The Federal Communications Commission last year required Verizon and other carriers to file maps and data indicating their current 4G LTE coverage. The information will help the FCC determine where to distribute up to $4.5 billion in Mobility Fund money over the next 10 years. The funds are set aside for "primarily rural areas that lack unsubsidized 4G," the FCC says.
If Verizon provided the FCC with inaccurate data, the company's rural competitors might not be able to get that government funding.
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European Union officials are considering adopting new standards for smartphone chargers that could cut down on electronic waste. Right now most smartphones ship with a charging cable and adapter. So when you buy a new phone and don’t need your ol…
European Union officials are considering adopting new standards for smartphone chargers that could cut down on electronic waste. Right now most smartphones ship with a charging cable and adapter. So when you buy a new phone and don’t need your old charger anymore, you probably throw it out. According to the European Commission that leads […]
The post EU may push phone makers to use standardized chargers (goodbye Apple Lightning adapters?) appeared first on Liliputing.
Plus deals on headphones, smart plugs, the New Nintendo 3DS XL, and more.
Greetings, Arsians! Courtesy of our friends at TechBargains, we have another round of deals to share. Today's list is headlined by a deal on ViewSonic's 24-inch XG2402 gaming monitor, which is currently down to $220 at Amazon. That's as low as it's been for the general public; the monitor was discounted as part of Amazon's Prime Day event but usually hovers in the $250-260 range.
As you might suspect from the price, the XG2402 isn't the most cutting-edge gaming monitor around: it's a TN panel, so it doesn't have the more accurate colors and wider viewing angles of an IPS display, and it only has a 1080p resolution, which is more acceptable on a 24-inch panel but still not as sharp as pricier options.
That said, its colors aren't terribly inaccurate, it's built well, and it supports FreeSync. So if you have an AMD-powered desktop, it should keep your gameplay smooth and free of screen tearing. Its maximum refresh rate of 144Hz is a plus, too; just note that its FreeSync range ends at 48Hz, so it will work best if games are kept running above 48 frames per second. Besides that, you get a pair of built-in speakers, two HDMI 1.4 ports, two USB 3.0 ports, a DisplayPort connector, and a 3.5 audio-out jack. While it makes some clear sacrifices, you could still do much worse for $220.
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Movies Anywhere is a platform that allows you to buy a digital movie once and watch it across multiple platforms. For example if you have Google Play, iTunes, Vudu, and Amazon Prime Video accounts you can buy a video from Google Play and watch it on an…
Movies Anywhere is a platform that allows you to buy a digital movie once and watch it across multiple platforms. For example if you have Google Play, iTunes, Vudu, and Amazon Prime Video accounts you can buy a video from Google Play and watch it on an Apple TV, iPhone, or Amazon Fire device since […]
The post Daily Deals (8-07-2018) appeared first on Liliputing.
Musk says he would continue as CEO after the possible buyout.
Enlarge / Tesla CEO Elon Musk in 2015. (credit: ODD ANDERSEN/AFP/Getty Images)
Tesla's CEO roiled the stock market on Tuesday with a tweet suggesting that he might seek to take the company private at a price of $420—almost 20 percent above the company's then-current price of around $355:
Am considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 7, 2018
Within minutes, the stock surged another $15 to $370 per share. The value has been swinging wildly ever since.
In a Twitter direct message to Ars Technica, Musk confirmed he was serious about the proposal. "Yes, might take Tesla private," he said.
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Online multiplayer and added polish make for a fine, hectic sequel.
Enlarge / Divide and conquer.
A couple of years ago, we declared the original Overcooked "the new couch co-op champion" thanks to its elegant mix of a charming, simple-to-learn concept, clever level design, and chaotic multitasking gameplay. Overcooked 2 feels more like an expansion pack for that strong basic concept than a full-fledged sequel. Still, it adds a much-needed coat of polish and some important new features—including online multiplayer—to help bring the game to the next level.
If you've played the first Overcooked, you know how the basics work. Up to four cooks share a kitchen contained on a single screen, working together and running around to prepare food orders that appear in the corner. That means pulling up the raw ingredients, taking them to a cutting board for chopping, dragging the chopped ingredients to a frying pans/pots/ovens/steamers for cooking, then putting the finished dish on a plate and delivering it to hungry customers. It's all about efficiency and effective multitasking, with scoring bonuses and multipliers for filling orders quickly and penalties for missing orders before the time limit is up.
Things start off simply enough, and even novices will have a fine time working together to chop up raw sushi and mix it with steamed pots of rice. By the later levels, though, you'll end up screaming desperately at your partners to throw some chopped chocolate into the pancake batter as you run to save a cake from the oven before it burns, all while the dirty dishes are piling up and random fireballs are blocking your path with flame.
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