Download-only device could be with us a little sooner than expected.
Enlarge/ Prepare to say goodbye to this slot... (credit: Sam Machkovech)
A download-only Xbox One that doesn't include a Blu-ray optical drive could be on the market very soon.
Windows Central reports that the device, codenamed "Maverick" and carrying the pithy branding "Xbox One S All-Digital Edition," will be available for pre-order in April, with hardware shipping in May. Pricing hasn't leaked, but the removal of the optical drive should make it the cheapest Xbox One yet.
The discless Xbox has been rumored for a while. Online purchases and direct downloads have long been a part of the Xbox platform, and Microsoft has recently been taking advantage of the freedom that ditching physical media gives with the Xbox Game Pass, which offers access to dozens of downloaded games in return for a monthly fee. The cost of this flexibility is a greater dependence on Internet connectivity and the end of the ability to resell second-hand physical media.
Microsoft probably isn’t the first company that comes to mind when you think of open source software. But in recent years the company has become a major player in the space. The Windows Subsystem for Linux lets you run some Linux software in Wind…
Microsoft probably isn’t the first company that comes to mind when you think of open source software. But in recent years the company has become a major player in the space. The Windows Subsystem for Linux lets you run some Linux software in Windows 10. Microsoft has released the source code for some old products […]
Samsung is developing a Mate X-style wraparound display phone and a flip phone.
Enlarge/ The Galaxy Fold in many colors. (credit: Samsung)
It seems like many companies in the smartphone industry are moving toward developing foldable smartphones. There are two real devices so far: Samsung has announced the Galaxy Fold and Huawei is building the Mate X. Oppo is experimenting with a foldable prototype that looks like the Mate X; Motorola is planning an all-screen revival of the Moto Razr; and Xiaomi has teased a crazy prototype with two folds in the display. Even Corning is working on a flexible glass cover to someday protect all these devices from scratches.
With so many manufacturers trying out the foldable smartphone form factor, there are a number of implementation ideas. While Samsung already has the Galaxy Fold, a new report from Bloomberg claims that Samsung isn't putting all its eggs in one basket. The company is reportedly tackling three different foldable form factors.
Samsung’s three foldable form factors
Of course, the furthest along in development is the Galaxy Fold, which has a foldable screen on the inside of the device when it is closed. It's basically a tablet that folds in half like a book. Since you can't see the big screen when the device is closed, Samsung added a second, smaller display to the outside of the device. There are also cameras on the front, inside, and back of the device. Until Corning gets its act together with flexible glass, these folding displays need a plastic cover, and the inside-display form factor has an advantage since, when closed, the display is protected from scratches.
There’s no shortage of portable battery packs that you can use to keep your smartphone and other gadgets running when the battery is dead or near-death. But few of them are quite as cheap as the Inland 2,600 mAh power banks that Micro Center is s…
There’s no shortage of portable battery packs that you can use to keep your smartphone and other gadgets running when the battery is dead or near-death. But few of them are quite as cheap as the Inland 2,600 mAh power banks that Micro Center is selling for $3 today. Sure, these batteries probably don’t have […]
Dragalia Lost devs blame Nintendo’s rules for reduced earnings forecast.
Enlarge/ If CyberAgent Inc had its way, this game would have tried to squeeze more money from its players. (credit: Nintendo / CyberAgent Inc.)
Here at Ars Technica, we've scrutinized Nintendo's smartphone games with a frank conclusion: they're often brutal about microtransactions. "Free-to-play" games like Fire Emblem Heroes, Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp, and Dragalia Lost all revolve around a variety of in-game currencies, and they don't take long to poke players with paid shortcuts to either save time or unlock more loot boxes.
But as it turns out, those games could have been worse—at least, according to one Japanese smartphone game maker who blames Nintendo for reduced revenue.
Wall Street Journal reporter Takashi Mochizuki took a Wednesday opportunity to review one game maker's financial reports: CyberAgent Inc, maker of smartphone games like the Nintendo-published Dragalia Lost. This report, published at the end of January, made vague allusions to a single smartphone game dragging the company down. Quoting from the company's own English-language press release:
A high quality pirated copy of the movie Aquaman appeared online yesterday. The 4K release is believed to come from iTunes, which would make this the first 2160p movie to be directly downloaded from Apple’s movie store. It’s unclear how the file was obtained.
Pirated copies of movies appear online every day in a variety of formats, such as CAM, DVDRip, WEBRip, and Web-DL.
The latter, which usually come from streaming and download services such as Netflix, Amazon, or iTunes, have proven to be a reliable source for pirates over the years.
While most releases are nothing unusual, a 4K Aquaman release that came out this week was received with cheers and surprise among pirate film fanatics.
The title, “Aquaman.2018.2160p.WEB-DL.DDP5.1.HDR.HEVC-MOMA,” suggests that this is a 4K release that was decrypted directly from iTunes. This is something that has never happened before with a 4K WEB-DL.
The pirate release appeared online shortly after it was listed for sale on iTunes, so the timing would fit. Also, there are no 4K releases of the film on either Netflix or Amazon at the moment, meaning that it didn’t come from those services.
The release immediately sparked rumors that iTunes’ 4K protection may have somehow been cracked or breached. If that’s the case, then many more high-quality releases could follow in the future.
“Looks like MOMA managed to somehow decrypt 2160p iTunes,” one commenter noted on a popular torrent site, with another adding that it’s “amazing news because there’s a lot of 4k iTunes-only content out there.”
TorrentFreak reached out to Apple for a comment and more background information but at the time of publication, we have yet to hear back.
From the 4k release
While this would be the first ever 4K WEB-DL from iTunes, it’s too soon to jump to conclusions. Some have suggested that the release could somehow be mislabeled.
We can’t rule anything out but since the 4K digital version is not widely available, there are few other possible sources. In addition, the release has been posted by reputable sources who are certainly not known for making stuff up.
There is currently a 4K release available on Vudu but the pirate version was uploaded before it went on sale there. A source who has experience with the matter believes that it most likely comes from iTunes, as advertised. How, exactly, remains a mystery, but there may be a vulnerability in Apple’s tvOS.
“Apple has 4k only on Apple TV running tvOS. I assume they skipped checks, if the device is jailbroken, and someone just dumped the encrypted stream and decrypted it via what’s in memory as keys,” says our source, who prefers to remain anonymous.
If iTunes is indeed breached then Apple will likely do everything in its power to patch the hole as quickly as possible.
“I’m pretty sure Apple will react fast and block it via updates because they don’t have to keep compatibility with any devices like the iTunes desktop version,” our source adds.
Whether that’s the case or not, the release has already created plenty of buzz, and pirates are dreaming of many more 4K iTunes releases like this one.
A high quality pirated copy of the movie Aquaman appeared online yesterday. The 4K release is believed to come from iTunes, which would make this the first 2160p movie to be directly downloaded from Apple’s movie store. It’s unclear how the file was obtained.
Pirated copies of movies appear online every day in a variety of formats, such as CAM, DVDRip, WEBRip, and Web-DL.
The latter, which usually come from streaming and download services such as Netflix, Amazon, or iTunes, have proven to be a reliable source for pirates over the years.
While most releases are nothing unusual, a 4K Aquaman release that came out this week was received with cheers and surprise among pirate film fanatics.
The title, “Aquaman.2018.2160p.WEB-DL.DDP5.1.HDR.HEVC-MOMA,” suggests that this is a 4K release that was decrypted directly from iTunes. This is something that has never happened before with a 4K WEB-DL.
The pirate release appeared online shortly after it was listed for sale on iTunes, so the timing would fit. Also, there are no 4K releases of the film on either Netflix or Amazon at the moment, meaning that it didn’t come from those services.
The release immediately sparked rumors that iTunes’ 4K protection may have somehow been cracked or breached. If that’s the case, then many more high-quality releases could follow in the future.
“Looks like MOMA managed to somehow decrypt 2160p iTunes,” one commenter noted on a popular torrent site, with another adding that it’s “amazing news because there’s a lot of 4k iTunes-only content out there.”
TorrentFreak reached out to Apple for a comment and more background information but at the time of publication, we have yet to hear back.
From the 4k release
While this would be the first ever 4K WEB-DL from iTunes, it’s too soon to jump to conclusions. Some have suggested that the release could somehow be mislabeled.
We can’t rule anything out but since the 4K digital version is not widely available, there are few other possible sources. In addition, the release has been posted by reputable sources who are certainly not known for making stuff up.
There is currently a 4K release available on Vudu but the pirate version was uploaded before it went on sale there. A source who has experience with the matter believes that it most likely comes from iTunes, as advertised. How, exactly, remains a mystery, but there may be a vulnerability in Apple’s tvOS.
“Apple has 4k only on Apple TV running tvOS. I assume they skipped checks, if the device is jailbroken, and someone just dumped the encrypted stream and decrypted it via what’s in memory as keys,” says our source, who prefers to remain anonymous.
If iTunes is indeed breached then Apple will likely do everything in its power to patch the hole as quickly as possible.
“I’m pretty sure Apple will react fast and block it via updates because they don’t have to keep compatibility with any devices like the iTunes desktop version,” our source adds.
Whether that’s the case or not, the release has already created plenty of buzz, and pirates are dreaming of many more 4K iTunes releases like this one.
Musk’s company says it can deliver by early 2021 for $35 million to $55 million.
Artist conception of high-occupancy autonomous electric vehicle (AEV) running between exhibit halls. [credit:
The Boring Company ]
On Wednesday, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) announced that it would recommend The Boring Company to build a two-mile loop under the city's massive, expanding convention center.
The LVCVA's recommendation must be approved by the authority's board on March 12 to move forward.
The Boring Company is Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk's third company, started with the intention to make large-scale tunneling projects cheaper and easier to complete. Musk offered tours of a rough initial tunnel in December 2018 in Hawthorne, California, under the SpaceX Headquarters.
Armageddon is just days away, and someone has lost the Antichrist.
Crowley (David Tennant) and Aziraphale (Michael Sheen) are a demon and an angel who join forces to avert Armageddon in the TV adaptation of Good Omens.
An angel and a demon team up to stop a reluctant Antichrist from ending the world in the latest trailer for Good Omens, Amazon Prime's hotly anticipated adaptation of the 1990 novel by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. It's glorious good fun and is bound to stoke enthusiasm among fans for the show's debut in late May.
(Mild spoilers for the book below.)
Good Omens tells the story of angel Aziraphale (Michael Sheen) and demon Crowley (David Tennant) who gradually become friends over the millennia and team up to avert Armageddon. They've come to be rather fond of the Earth and all its humans, you see—not to mention the perks that come with it, like sleek electronics and quaint little restaurants where they know you. The supernatural pair doesn't really want the Antichrist to bring an end to all of that.
It’s been a few years since hackers discovered how to root Amazon’s 2nd-gen Fire TV the first time. But Amazon patched the vulnerability used to gain root access with a software update, starting a bit of a cat and mouse game (another root m…
It’s been a few years since hackers discovered how to root Amazon’s 2nd-gen Fire TV the first time. But Amazon patched the vulnerability used to gain root access with a software update, starting a bit of a cat and mouse game (another root method was later discovered and then lost due to another over-the-air software […]
Pirated copies of movies appear online every day in a variety of formats, such as CAM, DVDRip, WEBRip, and Web-DL.
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