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The Pinebook Pro is a $200 laptop with a 14 inch, full HD display, a Rockchip RK3399 processor, 4GB of RAM, and 64GB of storage. But unlike most laptops with specs like those, this isn’t a Chromebook (or a Windows laptop). It ships with the GNU/L…
The Pinebook Pro is a $200 laptop with a 14 inch, full HD display, a Rockchip RK3399 processor, 4GB of RAM, and 64GB of storage. But unlike most laptops with specs like those, this isn’t a Chromebook (or a Windows laptop). It ships with the GNU/Linux-based Debian MATE instead. First announced in January, the Pinebook […]
The post Pinebook Pro Linux laptop begins shipping to customers appeared first on Liliputing.
Our nearest big neighbor has a complicated history that’s hard to explain.
Enlarge (credit: Amir H. Abolfath (TWAN)/NASA APOD)
The large galaxies present in the current Universe weren't always so big. Evidence indicates that they were built up over time, largely by collisions with other galaxies. These collisions have left marks that we can still detect: streams of stars that were drawn in from the victims of the collisions, and faint dwarf galaxies that still orbit the larger object that devoured many of their stars. With enough data, it's possible to become a galactic historian and reconstruct the events that brought the modern-day giants to their present form.
Uncovering some of that history was the goal of a large, multinational collaboration, spelled out clearly in its name: the Pan-Andromeda Archaeological Survey. In a paper published on Wednesday in Nature, the team describes uncovering some of our nearest galactic neighbor's violent past. The paper shows that Andromeda was built in part by two major collisions that have left clusters of stars occupying two perpendicular orbits. In the process of writing their paper, the researchers also uncover a bit of a mystery about an unexpected alignment between some of these clusters and Andromeda's satellite galaxies.
The new work focuses on what are called globular clusters, which are large groups of stars held together by gravity. Unlike other stars—which shift position relative to each other as they orbit a galaxy's center—the stars of a globular cluster stick together and orbit as a group. As a result, these gravitationally bound clusters of stars can survive the collisions between galaxies. That means they can be used as markers to retrace those collisions.
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Google sieht die wachsende Popularität von Tiktok mit Sorge und will darum Firework kaufen. Bei den Downloads lag die Kurzvideo-Social-App vor Youtube oder Whatsapp. (Soziales Netz, Musik)
Google sieht die wachsende Popularität von Tiktok mit Sorge und will darum Firework kaufen. Bei den Downloads lag die Kurzvideo-Social-App vor Youtube oder Whatsapp. (Soziales Netz, Musik) Convincing pirates to part with their cash is one of the key aims of the entertainment industries. As a result, they’re increasingly running awareness campaigns and offering online tools to help achieve that goal. But if even the most dedicated fans desperate to part with their money leave disappointed, how many bites at the cherry will they get?
Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and more. We also have VPN reviews, discounts, offers and coupons.
British writer, director, and satirical genius Chris Morris has been body-slamming the media and establishment with biting dark, satirical comedy for decades in the UK.
With his groundbreaking The Day Today series and the polarizing but brilliant Brass Eye, Morris has established himself as a force to be reckoned with.
For those out of the loop, this is a man who managed to convince Conservative MP David Amess – who was later appointed chair of the Psychoactive Substances Bill Committee – to bring up the horrors of a new street drug in a Parliamentary debate. The drug was a giant dinner plate-sized yellow pill called ‘Cake’ and it didn’t even exist.
Adding to his notoriety, Morris also flashed a message containing one of the world’s most offensive words during the eventual TV airing of a show canceled by the UK’s Channel 4, declaring the channel’s then-chief executive to be that four-letter uttering. Morris is scared of no one, and that’s why people love him.
So, after waiting nine long years for Morris to follow up on his daring and unflinching 2010 terrorism-farce movie masterpiece Four Lions, you might understand why the build-up to his new movie The Day Shall Come has been excruciating for his fans, especially those who want to financially support him.
“Based on 100 true stories, the explosive new film from Chris Morris (Four Lions, Brass Eye) is an emotionally gripping, laugh out loud thriller that exposes the dark farce at the heart of the homeland security project: It is harder to catch a real terrorist than it is to manufacture your own,” the movie’s homepage reads.
Sadly, I – one of Morris’s most enduring and fervent fans – will have to take his word for it. I shall indeed be in the UK when the movie goes on general theatrical release on October 11 but as I write this on Tuesday, Oct 1, frustration has set in like never before. And that really shouldn’t have happened.
On my regular news-tour of torrent sites I could see that the movie had already appeared online. It’s a so-called WEBRip release, meaning that it was ripped from a legitimate streaming service. Considering that Morris has built his celluloid history and fanbase, not to mention infamy in the UK, that means it must have been ripped from a UK source and available to buy, right?
Industry anti-piracy initiatives such as the UK’s GetitRight (from a Genuine Site) are 100% targeted at people who have the ability to pirate but might be persuaded to part with their money instead, so this was a great opportunity to test the system with something I actually care about.
So, with cash in hand, seeking out a source for a legitimate purchase, I headed off to the portal. It couldn’t help me directly and I was subsequently directed to FindAnyFilm.com, where the movie is indeed listed.
With options to ‘Buy to Own’ turning up nothing for Blu-ray, DVD, or Digital, the ‘Watch Now’ option (streaming) seemed the final but perfect option. Unfortunately, both ‘buy’ and ‘rent’ turned up absolutely nothing. No options whatsoever, with no idea provided when they might become available.
It’s not FindAnyFilm’s fault, it’s not GetitRight’s fault, but that doesn’t make it any less frustrating. I was already two websites into this mission and it was not going well.
A direct search on Amazon.co.uk did reveal a DVD listing for £10.00 but that was accompanied by a message stating that “This title has not yet been released. You may pre-order it now and we will deliver it to you when it arrives.” Even if I wanted a DVD, which I do not, no release date was provided. Which is absolutely useless. Three websites in.
After various inquiries it soon became clear that Amazon.com was the only straightforwardly obvious place where Morris’s new film might be streamed in the UK. So I tried to log in and surprise – Amazon.com didn’t like it one bit.
The company sent me a one-time validation code, to prove I am indeed me, which I used after receiving it via email. Once logged-in I tried to ‘rent’ the movie but of course, it was unavailable for purchase because I wasn’t in the United States and my payment method was apparently “invalid”. It wasn’t, I’d used it minutes earlier. Four websites in, and an email. No movie.
In my opinion, the steps taken above go way beyond reasonable. Exactly how many hoops do these companies, that combine to present these content distribution machines to the public, expect people to jump through to willingly part themselves from their money in order to support the industry?
For those who know Morris and appreciate his work, this is the kind of ridiculous situation he himself might dismantle with glee, particularly considering The Day Shall Come was in part funded by the UK National Lottery/BFI Film Fund. The citizens of that country, who helped to fund it, cannot see it online at the same time as their US counterparts.
There will be pirates out there laughing to themselves wondering why I didn’t click on the magnet link I saw earlier and simply download the movie, there and then, and save all the headaches. After all, that would’ve been one site visited, one movie watched. For free.
But for someone who actually wants to support Chris Morris and in industry-speak, “make sure he can make more movies in the future”, why shouldn’t I be able to pay if I want to?
The answer is simple: ‘they’ – whoever they are – won’t let me. The Day Shall Come when this nonsense gets sorted out but people’s patience may have run out by then, if they can be bothered to expend any at all. The content is available legally so for the sake of sanity, let us – the fans – buy it.
Our Shatner’s Bassoons – even without Cake – can’t take any more.
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Die Umstellung auf die neuen Sicherheitsverfahren beim Online-Banking führen vermehrt zu IT-Störungen bei Banken, beklagen die Kunden. Der Zugriff auf die Konten ist oft nicht möglich. (Fintech)
Die Umstellung auf die neuen Sicherheitsverfahren beim Online-Banking führen vermehrt zu IT-Störungen bei Banken, beklagen die Kunden. Der Zugriff auf die Konten ist oft nicht möglich. (Fintech) LEGO is protecting its intellectual property by targeting fan-made 3D print designs on Thingiverse, Cults3D, and elsewhere. The company hasn’t explained its motivations yet, but many people point out that going after homebrew creations from some of the biggest LEGO fans might not be the best strategy.
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While the 3D printing revolution is still in its early days, people are already able to download and print pretty much everything imaginable, including houses and cars.
Larger and more complicated objects still require specialist tools and other parts, but smaller things that consist of easily printable material are reasonably easy to make.
Take LEGO bricks, for example, which have relatively easy shapes and usually consist of plastic. Pair this with a userbase of millions of ‘fans’ and it’s easy to see why these toys are popular among 3D hobbyists, if only for nostalgic reasons.
And indeed, while browsing through some of the popular websites where people share homemade 3D printing designs, we see hundreds if not thousands of LEGO ‘inspired’ designs. The associated STL files are generally available to other members of the public, who can download them for free.
While this seems like a relatively harmless niche activity, LEGO sees things differently. Last week we were alerted to various takedown notices the company had sent recently. Apparently, it sees some 3D blueprints as copyright and/or trademark infringements.
That’s also true for the “Customizable Wall Switch Plate +/- LEGO 2” Thingiverse user “Lucina” had uploaded. The design is question was targeted in a takedown notice and removed, as documented on Reddit. The original LEGO brick patents have long expired, so it’s not entirely clear what the alleged infringement is here.
TorrentFreak spoke to Lucina, who actually had several designs taken down from Thingiverse and Cults3D, but never saw an actual complaint. Some people have since suggested that using the term LEGO in the designs could be an issue, but several other uploads that used that same term were not targeted.
To avoid any legal trouble Lucina chose to voluntarily remove all LEGO files from Thingiverse and Cults3D later did the same.
“They flagged two out of five of my Lego designs and prevented downloads. The other three were still active. Not wanting to be sued, I deleted all five. I later got an email from Cults3D saying that they deleted all of my Lego designs for me,” Lucina told us.
Earlier this week, the issue was picked up by 3D printing industry news site 3D Printing Industry which got in touch with LEGO, but without any real results. LEGO Group states that it sees 3D printing as a promising technology and is considering using it themselves, but the precise reason for the takedown remains a mystery.
It may take a while before LEGO’s motivations are revealed. The company’s Associate Manager Corporate Communications said that the company deals with a high volume of queries. As such, it might take weeks before it explains on what grounds it sent trademark and copyright takedown notices targeting 3D fan art.
Whatever the reason is, the creators and users of these homebrew creations are not happy. They just see their pastime as a fun hobby, but this fun swiftly disappears when files are taken down.
“This is absolutely ludicrous @LEGO_Group!! You’re getting free marketing with ZERO potential loss of revenue. Who is going to print any of these things instead of buying LEGOS?! Maybe focus on continuing to make awesome stuff instead of punishing your fans who promote your cause?” Twitter user Repkord notes.
Many others agree that, instead of protecting its brand, LEGO could actually be alienating its biggest fans.
“Thinking about what @LEGO_Group has been doing to their 3D printing and 3D modeling fans lately reminds me of how labels treated mp3 music and sampling a few years back or how print treated online. Stay in the past, die in the blast,” Twitter user jmtosses added.
The overall sentiment from 3D designers is that LEGO’s actions went too far. While it certainly might have a legitimate complaint, going after some of the biggers fans may not be the best strategy.
If LEGO’s goal was to stop people from sharing anything LEGO-related they have at least booked some success. Lucina is never uploading a LEGO design again.
“Personally I don’t think Lego should have come at me, a 3D printing hobbyist. I might design other compatible parts, but I will never share another LEGO design online,” Lucina told us
Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and more. We also have VPN reviews, discounts, offers and coupons.
New spinoff series will bring Jean-Luc Picard out of a 20-year retirement.
Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Steward) comes out of retirement in Star Trek: Picard, coming soon to CBS All Access.
Star Trek fans have been eagerly awaiting the debut of the new series, Star Trek: Picard, slated to debut in January 2020. It was first announced at the Las Vegas Star Trek Convention in August 2018, and a nice long trailer just debuted at New York Comic-Con. It's practically a Star Trek: The Next Generation reunion, featuring plenty of familiar faces alongside the new cast.
Rumors began swirling about a Picard-centric spin-off series shortly after Star Trek: Discovery showrunner Alex Kurtzmann signed a five-year development deal with CBS to further expand the franchise for its streaming service. One potential snag was whether Patrick Stewart, who created the character, would be willing to reprise his role. Kurtzman envisioned a more contemplative tone, describing the series as "a more psychological show, a character study about this man in his emeritus years." The concept was sufficiently unique that Stewart signed on.
"I truly felt my time with Star Trek had run its course," Stewart said at the 2018 convention. But he professed himself "humbled" by the stories from fans about how much the character of Picard and ST:NG had brought comfort to them during difficult times in their lives. "I feel I'm ready to return to him for the same reason—to research and experience what comforting and reforming light he might shine on these often very dark times." There are ten episodes in the first season, with plans for two additional seasons if the series succeeds.
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We compare three very different compact SUVs with very similar prices.
Enlarge / The 2020 Ars FrankenSUV won't be coming to a dealership near you. (credit: Aurich Lawson / Eric Bangeman / Marlowe Bangeman)
If you live in the suburbs of an American city, you can barely cross the street without dodging an SUV. That's because SUVs and pickup trucks account for around 70% of new vehicle sales in the United States. With every major carmaker all-in on the form-factor, now is a great time to shop for an SUV or crossover. In a change from our usual reviews, we're going to pit three compact SUVs head-to-head-to-head to see which one is most deserving of your hard-earned cash.
Earlier this year, I spent a week each with the Nissan Rogue SL, the Jeep Cherokee Limited, and the Mazda CX-5 Signature. All are compact SUVs that start at around $25,000, but each is built with a different goal in mind.
The Nissan Rogue is the economical, jack-of-all-trades of the three and was the fifth-best-selling vehicle in the US during 2018. It has the best mileage and lowest sticker price. The Jeep Cherokee is built for versatility with multiple driving modes for all sorts of terrain, and the Jeep badge had the highest sales growth in the US during 2018. The Mazda CX-5 is the sportiest and has the most polished interior of the lot—and it outsold all of the other Mazda lineup combined in the US during 2018.
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The RIAA has obtained yet another subpoena at a court in the United States in an effort to identify the owners of YouTube-ripping sites. It’s the latest in a long line of similar attempts in recent times but is the practice paying off? Today we take a look at the status of the sites previously targeted to see what effect, if any, the RIAA’s efforts have had on them.
Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and more. We also have VPN reviews, discounts, offers and coupons.
Over the past few years, users ripping music from sites like YouTube has been portrayed by the industry as a bigger problem than torrent sites.
According to stats published by industry group IFPI last year, 32% of all Internet users were stream rippers, up from 30% in 2016. This, according to the group, made it the leading form of music piracy.
Last week, however, a new report revealed that the practice is actually on a downward trend, with 23% of those surveyed admitting to using stream-ripping services. Despite the big decrease, the RIAA isn’t likely to step away from its enforcement efforts anytime soon, as evidenced by a new application filed at a US court.
The application for a DMCA subpoena filed in the District of Columbia targets three sites that are either directly or indirectly linked to YouTube-ripping.
In common with several previous applications, this one also requires domain registry Namecheap to hand over the personal details of their operators, providing names, physical addresses, IP addresses, telephone numbers, email addresses, payment information and more.
The first, YouTubeMP4.biz, recently suffered a drop in traffic according to SimilarWeb stats but that blip aside, has been pulling in up to 1.2 million visits per month throughout 2019. It is most popular in the United States, followed by the UK, Thailand, India and Turkey.
Next up is Keepvid.ws, which at around three million visits per month is the most popular in the application. Perhaps unusually given the close interest of the RIAA, the YouTube-ripping platform is most popular in South Africa, with around 16% of its traffic coming from the region. India and the United States follow with around 10% each.
The last of the RIAA’s latest targets is HDMP4.net, which on the surface seems different from the rest. When accessing the site’s URL directly, visitors are greeted with a blank page, which is unusual for a stream-ripping platform.
Furthermore, Google reveals that HDMP4.net has had just a handful of DMCA notices filed against it over the past several years, the last in 2015, with none coming from the music industry. However, checking in Google’s indexes reveals that the site isn’t indexed, so that makes sense.
The RIAA does mention some specific URLs carrying its content, including tracks by Cyndi Lauper and ZZ Top, which raises the question of whether other sites are using it in some way. Indeed, checks using various resources indicate that the site, which only gained significant traffic in June this year, seems connected to a number of other ripping services.
The big question remains whether the raft of DMCA subpoenas obtained by the RIAA against companies such as Namecheap and Cloudflare are having any direct effect on the operations of these platforms. While things are probably going on behind the scenes that we don’t know about, in the main most previously-targeted sites seem unaffected.
In May, the RIAA tried to extract the personal details of huge ripping site Y2Mate.com from Cloudflare and Namecheap. At the time the site had around 60 million monthly visits and despite the efforts, remains stubbornly online today.
The only real difference now is that SimilarWeb reports the site enjoying in excess of 130 million monthly visits, more than double the traffic reported back in May. The company recently changed the way it calculates traffic but it seems unlikely to have had this much of an effect, particularly since other online measurement sites also show a big upward trend.
On the flip side, a separate effort in May to unmask the operator of YouTubNow.com, a site with 15 million monthly visits, may have paid off. The site currently carries a “maintenance” message and its traffic has tanked to almost zero. That can probably go in the success column for the RIAA.
Back in June, the RIAA homed-in on 10Convert.com, Amoyshare.com, AnythingtoMP3.cc, IMP3Juices.com, BigConverter.com, YouTubeMP4.to, QDownloader.net, GenYouTube.net, Break.TV, DL-YouTube-MP3.net, ConvertBox.net, and Downloaders.io.
At the time of writing, only ConvertBox.net seems completely down while BigConverter.com might have resorted to blocking UK traffic for reasons unknown. The rest are operational, which doesn’t sound like a notable success rate. That being said, the RIAA may have other goals in mind so the bigger picture may play out in time.
By the industry’s own accounting, stream-ripping is on a downward trend but whether that’s attributable to the RIAA’s takedown efforts remains open to speculation. That being said, the RIAA will argue it has to do something, so the pressure is likely to continue.
The latest DMCA subpoena granted by the court can be found here (pdf)
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If you want people to talk to you about your vehicle, drive one of these.
Sometimes you just get curious. This is a Polaris Slingshot, which starts at $20,999. [credit: Jonathan Gitlin ]
I hope curiosity for curiosity's sake is sufficient reason to drive a car. In this case not even a car, not technically. With only three wheels, the Polaris Slingshot counts as a motorcycle when it comes to federal motor vehicle requirements, but it gets treated like a car by many state DMVs. This dichotomy has given birth to other unconventional fare like Arcimoto or Electra Meccanica's trikes. But unlike either of those, Slingshot isn't electric; I really did say "yes" to the press loan out of sheer curiosity.
I see Slingshots being driven in DC relatively often. Usually in the summer. Once, memorably, a double-file convoy of at least 20 went down Massachusetts Ave. in better grid formation than you'd ever see at the start of a Le Mans or NASCAR race. With "The Imperial March" playing. Loudly. Like I said, I got curious.
I know saying that a vehicle looks like nothing else is a cliche, and it's not really true anyway. The Slingshot's layout is front-engined and rear-wheel drive, as practiced by other manufacturers like the Morgan 3 Wheeler and the Grinnall Scorpion. Instead of a lightweight motorcycle engine, the Slingshot uses a 2.4L GM Ecotec engine which makes it a good deal heavier than either of those (although at 1,749lbs (791kg) it's still much, much lighter than anything else you'll encounter on the road). The Slingshot has pedals—three of them, including a clutch for the five-speed manual transmission. Because it's a bike, the engine's 177hp (132kW) and 166lb-ft (225Nm) is transmitted to the rear wheel by a belt, not a driveshaft. It even has traction and stability control.
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