Honeycomb Aeronautical: Flugzeugsteuerung mit USB-C-Anschluss

Neue Sticks, Schubregler und Ähnliches sind etwas Seltenes geworden im PC-Spielebereich. Honeycomb betritt den Markt neu und hat ein Yoke-System samt USB-C-Anschluss vorgestellt. Die Schubkontrolle kommt allerdings erst einige Monate später. (PC, Simul…

Neue Sticks, Schubregler und Ähnliches sind etwas Seltenes geworden im PC-Spielebereich. Honeycomb betritt den Markt neu und hat ein Yoke-System samt USB-C-Anschluss vorgestellt. Die Schubkontrolle kommt allerdings erst einige Monate später. (PC, Simulationsspiel)

Elon Musk’s Neuralink: Both an evolution and a plan for radical change

Neuralink will probably fail in interesting and worthwhile ways.

When Elon Musk first started talking about launching a brain-computer interface company, he made a number of comments that set expectations for what that idea might entail. The company, he said, was motivated by his concerns about AI ending up hostile to humans: providing humans with an interface directly into the AI's home turf might prevent hostilities from developing. Musk also suggested that he hoped to avoid any electrodes implanted in the brain, since that might pose a barrier to adoption.

At his recent public launch of the company (since named Neuralink), worries about hostile AIs did get a mention—but only in passing. Instead, we got a detailed technical description of the hardware behind Neuralink's brain-computer interface, which would rely on surgery and implanted hardware. In the process, Neuralink went from something in the realm of science fiction to a company that would be pushing for an aggressive evolution of existing neural-implant hardware.

Those changes in tone and topic are a sign that Musk has been listening to the people he hired to build Neuralink. So, how precisely is Neuralink pushing the envelope on what we can already do in this space? And does it still veer a bit closer to science fiction in some aspects?

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Linux: Patches für Kernel-Lockdown in Testing-Zweig aufgenommen

Die Patches zum Kernel-Lockdown sollen den laufenden Linux-Kernel vor Veränderungen schützen. Der Code ist nun in einem Testing-Zweig gelandet – ein wichtiger Schritt auf dem Weg in den Hauptzweig des Linux-Kernels. (Linux-Kernel, Linux)

Die Patches zum Kernel-Lockdown sollen den laufenden Linux-Kernel vor Veränderungen schützen. Der Code ist nun in einem Testing-Zweig gelandet - ein wichtiger Schritt auf dem Weg in den Hauptzweig des Linux-Kernels. (Linux-Kernel, Linux)

LibreOffice 6.3 adds document redaction, better performance, and more

Document redaction is probably the biggest standout feature in this release.

The open source office suite LibreOffice released its version 6.3.0 last week. This was a major release which added many new features, as well as interoperability enhancements (read: better import and export of Microsoft Office documents) and performance increases. LibreOffice 6.3.0 is a "fresh" (not long-term support) release which may be downloaded directly—or, if you're a Linux user, you might choose to install it from the Snap Store instead. Ubuntu (and probably most Linux users) will get a separate installation of LibreOffice 6.3.0 regardless of whether users install natively from download or install from snaps; Windows users who download the new version will have their existing LibreOffice version (if any) completely replaced upon installation.

The release notes for 6.3.0 boast of several performance improvements related to loading and saving documents in Writer and Calc. We were able to confirm these performance improvements—but only when installing LibreOffice natively. When we tested LibreOffice 6.3.0 installed from the Snap Store, performance was fine when actually inside the app and working on a document. But application launch times were significantly slower.

Document redaction

LibreOffice 6.3.0 offers several entirely new features—such as a FOURIER() function in its spreadsheet app Calc—but the new document redaction tools (which are available across the entire suite of apps) are probably the biggest standout. For the uninitiated, "redaction" refers to the black bars you see across sensitive passages in documents that are only intended to be partially-released, and getting redaction wrong can lead to extremely serious consequences. Having a purpose-designed tool to help people get the job done right is a good thing—but unfortunately, there are still some obvious rough spots in LibreOffice's redaction tool.

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Studie: Viel Spielen wird nicht unbedingt zu krankhaft viel Spielen

Wer ungesund viel am Computer daddelt, wird dadurch langfristig nicht unbedingt süchtig. Darauf deutet eine neue Studie hin, die gängige Thesen über pathologisches Gaming auf den Kopf stellt. (Jugendschutz, Computersucht)

Wer ungesund viel am Computer daddelt, wird dadurch langfristig nicht unbedingt süchtig. Darauf deutet eine neue Studie hin, die gängige Thesen über pathologisches Gaming auf den Kopf stellt. (Jugendschutz, Computersucht)

Smartphones: Samsung und Xiaomi profitieren in Europa von Huawei-Boykott

Der Smartphone-Markt in Europa stagniert im Jahresvergleich des zweiten Quartals – hinter den Kulissen tut sich aber einiges. Apple, HMD Global und Huawei verlieren, während Samsung und Xiaomi ein starkes Wachstum verzeichnen. Die Probleme Huaweis sche…

Der Smartphone-Markt in Europa stagniert im Jahresvergleich des zweiten Quartals - hinter den Kulissen tut sich aber einiges. Apple, HMD Global und Huawei verlieren, während Samsung und Xiaomi ein starkes Wachstum verzeichnen. Die Probleme Huaweis scheinen dabei zu helfen. (Smartphone, Apple)

Hacker site’s incriminating database published online by rival group

Fortnite cracks, software exploits among the topics discussed in almost 357,000 PMs.

Hacker site’s incriminating database published online by rival group

Enlarge (credit: DeviantArt100ManoWar / MAD Magazine)

Hackers from Raidforums recently breached the site of rival hacking forum Cracked.to and spilled data for more than 321,000 of its members. The hackers did so while some of their victims were discussing cracking Fortnite accounts, selling software exploits, and engaging in other potentially illegal activities.

In all, the dump posted on Friday to Raidforums.com exposed 749,161 unique email addresses, breach-notification service HaveIBeenPwned reported. The published data also included users' IP addresses, usernames, private messages, and passwords stored as bcrypt hashes. The database was generated by website forum application myBB. Cracked.to describes itself as a forum that provides "cracking tutorials, tools, combolists, marketplace and many more stuff!" Raidforums, meanwhile, offers forums on many of the same topics.

Ars reviewed a 2.11 gigabyte file published by Raidforums and found it contained nearly 397,000 private messages, many that aired the kinds of details most hackers strenuously avoid disclosing. The details included the usernames, email addresses, and IP addresses of people looking to buy, sell, or support software or services for cracking accounts for popular video game Fortnite.

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Nachhaltigkeit: Jute im Plastik

Baustoff- und Autohersteller nutzen sie zunehmend, doch etabliert sind Verbundwerkstoffe mit Naturfasern noch lange nicht. Dabei gibt es gute Gründe, sie einzusetzen, Umweltschutz ist nur einer von vielen. Ein Bericht von Werner Pluta (Nachhaltigkeit, …

Baustoff- und Autohersteller nutzen sie zunehmend, doch etabliert sind Verbundwerkstoffe mit Naturfasern noch lange nicht. Dabei gibt es gute Gründe, sie einzusetzen, Umweltschutz ist nur einer von vielen. Ein Bericht von Werner Pluta (Nachhaltigkeit, Lego)

Parallels Desktop 15: DirectX-11-Unterstützung unter Apple Metal

Mit der Version 15 von Parallels Desktop erweitert der Software-Entwickler Parallels vor allem die Fähigkeit, Spiele aus der Windows-Welt auf dem Mac zu spielen. Dafür sorgt eine Unterstützung von Apples Metal-Grafikschnittstelle. (Parallels, Apple)

Mit der Version 15 von Parallels Desktop erweitert der Software-Entwickler Parallels vor allem die Fähigkeit, Spiele aus der Windows-Welt auf dem Mac zu spielen. Dafür sorgt eine Unterstützung von Apples Metal-Grafikschnittstelle. (Parallels, Apple)

Warner Bros. Obtains Several Blocking Orders Targeting Major Pirate Sites

Warner Bros. has obtained several interim injunctions which compel ISPs in India to begin blocking major ‘pirate’ sites including EZTV, TorrentDownloads, Zooqle, Monova, Tamilrockers, and many more. The original applications are for permanent blocking injunctions that can be varied to counter circumvention. In some cases, domain suspensions have also been ordered.

Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and more. We also have VPN reviews, discounts, offers and coupons.

India is no stranger to blocking pirate sites. Just last week, a court ordered local Internet service providers to block more than 1,200 sites to prevent the spread of a single movie.

Now, however, it appears that there additional legal moves underway to ensure that sites are not only blocked temporarily but also on a more permanent basis.

Over the past several weeks the High Court in Delhi has been handling many separate applications for permanent injunction filed by US-based Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

In all cases, the company states that several of its copyrighted works – movies Aquaman, A Star is Born, Wonder Woman, plus TV show Arrow – were made available via a broad range of torrent, streaming, linking, and proxy-type sites.

The complaints also cite works by studios including Columbia, Paramount, Universal, and Netflix as further examples of content being infringed on the platforms.

In just one of the complaints the list of infringing domains runs to 124 and includes some very well known names including local giant Tamilrockers, TorrentDownload.ch, TorrentDownloads.me and EZTV, iStole.it, Zoink.it, Torrents.me, Torrents.io, Zooqle, MovieRulz, LimeTorrents, Bolly4u, KatMovie, Monova, and 9xMovies.

In many cases, multiple domains are listed for the above sites, including alternates, proxies and other variants that are accessible via various unblocking platforms. All are accused of infringing the rights of Warner Bros. by providing access to its movie and TV shows content without authorization.

“[D]efendant Websites are primarily and substantially engaged in communicating to the public, hosting, streaming and/or making available to the public Plaintiff’s original content without authorization, and/or facilitating the same,” one order reads.

The order covering the above sites notes that Warner investigated and then served legal notices on the platforms ordering them to cease-and-desist. However, it’s reported that none acted to prevent their infringing activities.

To boost its case, Warner also informed the Court that some of the sites have already been blocked in other jurisdictions (including the UK, Portugal, Malaysia, Australia, Belgium, Denmark, Russia, and Italy) for similar behavior.

After consideration, the Court found that there is a prima facie case and Warner should be awarded an interim injunction to prevent the sites from continuing their infringing activities. Furthermore, the sites should have their domains blocked by ISPs in India, to prevent further damage and losses.

The Court also addressed the issue of additional domains or platforms appearing to circumvent any blocking, by granting Warner permission to file additional updates with the Court that will allow for such mechanisms to be disabled by ISPs via an expedited process.

The example order detailed above is very specific, in that it orders ISPs to block the domain names of the sites plus a list of IP addresses. However, the vast majority appear to be using Cloudflare, so it remains to be seen whether the ISPs will use discretion or blindly block, which could cause considerable disruption to other sites using the same IP locations.

In some of the orders, it appears that domain registrars are also required to suspend domain names belonging or connected to various sites, including TamilRockers, Hindilinks4u, Otorrents, Filmlinks4u, Mp4Moviez, Series9.io, uWatchFree, OnlineWatchMovies, MovieRulzFree, and SkyMovies.

Several additional applications from Warner are on record at the Delhi High Court but are yet to be published as interim orders.

The main order detailed above can be found here (pdf), the rest here 2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10

Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and more. We also have VPN reviews, discounts, offers and coupons.