Amazons Heimkino-Funktion: Echo-Lautsprecher drahtlos mit Fire-TV-Geräten verbinden

Amazon wertet viele seiner Echo-Lautsprecher auf. Sie können als drahtlose Heimkinolautsprecher mit Fire-TV-Geräten verbunden werden. Die smarten Lautsprecher dienen dann auch zum Konsum von Filmen und Serien. (Echo, Heimkino)

Amazon wertet viele seiner Echo-Lautsprecher auf. Sie können als drahtlose Heimkinolautsprecher mit Fire-TV-Geräten verbunden werden. Die smarten Lautsprecher dienen dann auch zum Konsum von Filmen und Serien. (Echo, Heimkino)

Chrome: Google will langsame Websites kennzeichnen

Der Webbrowser Chrome soll künftig anzeigen, ob eine Website in der Regel schnell oder langsam geladen wird. Wie diese Kennzeichnung aussehen könnte, will Google noch erproben. (Chrome, Google)

Der Webbrowser Chrome soll künftig anzeigen, ob eine Website in der Regel schnell oder langsam geladen wird. Wie diese Kennzeichnung aussehen könnte, will Google noch erproben. (Chrome, Google)

Brille: Apple soll AR-VR-Headsets ab 2021 planen

Den Einstieg in die virtuelle oder augmentierte Realität will Apple erst ab 2021 mit entsprechenden Brillen abschließen. Vorher soll das iPad Pro mit Sensoren ausgerüstet werden, die den Raum erfassen. (Apple, Headset)

Den Einstieg in die virtuelle oder augmentierte Realität will Apple erst ab 2021 mit entsprechenden Brillen abschließen. Vorher soll das iPad Pro mit Sensoren ausgerüstet werden, die den Raum erfassen. (Apple, Headset)

Intel Frost Canyon NUC with Comet Lake CPU coming soon (leaks)

Intel’s next set of tiny desktop computers is expected to launch soon… and it seems like the new Intel Frost Canyon NUC with 10th-gen Intel Core “Comet Lake” processors will look a lot like… well, almost every other member…

Intel’s next set of tiny desktop computers is expected to launch soon… and it seems like the new Intel Frost Canyon NUC with 10th-gen Intel Core “Comet Lake” processors will look a lot like… well, almost every other member of the NUC family. But the new models add a USB Type-C port on the front (and […]

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Google has access to detailed health records on tens of millions of Americans

“Project Nightingale” is an attempt to squeeze more money from patients.

Mountain View, Calif. - May 21, 2018: Exterior view of a Googleplex building, the corporate headquarters complex of Google and its parent company Alphabet Inc.

Enlarge / Mountain View, Calif. - May 21, 2018: Exterior view of a Googleplex building, the corporate headquarters complex of Google and its parent company Alphabet Inc. (credit: Getty Images / zphotos)

Google quietly partnered last year with Ascension—the country's second-largest health system—and has since gained access to detailed medical records on tens of millions of Americans, according to a November 11 report by The Wall Street Journal.

The endeavor, code-named "Project Nightingale," has enabled at least 150 Google employees to see patient health information, which includes diagnoses, laboratory test results, hospitalization records, and other data, according to internal documents and the newspaper's sources. In all, the data amounts to complete medical records, WSJ notes, and contains patient names and birth dates.

The move is the latest by Google to get a grip on the sprawling health industry. At the start of the month, Google announced a deal to buy Fitbit, prompting concerns over what it will do with all the sensitive health data amassed from the popular wearables. Today's news will likely spur more concern over health privacy issues.

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NY regulators investigating Apple Card after viral complaint of sexism

Customer service reportedly blamed “the algorithm” for discrepancies.

Apple Card dashboard

Enlarge / A dashboard built into iOS on iPhones lets you manage your card. (credit: Apple)

Apple launched its own branded MasterCard nationwide in August. In the months since, the digital-first payment system has won some fans for its easy integration into the iPhone and Apple ecosystem, and it more or less seemed to work about as well as any other credit card. Now, however, financial-services regulators want to know what's going on under the hood amid accusations that the software determining the card's terms has a sexist slant.

What happened?

Software developer and entrepreneur David Heinemeier Hansson took to Twitter late last week to complain about his wife Jamie Heinemeier Hansson's experience with AppleCard.

"The @AppleCard is such a fucking sexist program," his lengthy thread began. "My wife and I filed joint tax returns, live in a community-property state, and have been married for a long time. Yet Apple's black box algorithm thinks I deserve 20x the credit limit she does. No appeals work."

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Hollywood Praises Australia’s Anti-Piracy Laws, But More Can Be Done

In a recent submission to the US Trade Representative, the MPA applauds Australia’s anti-piracy enforcement tools, including effective copyright laws. Hollywood’s trade group notes that piracy rates are dropping. However, it adds that even more can be done on the anti-piracy front to keep copyright problems at bay.

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

For years on end, entertainment industry insiders have regularly portrayed Australia as a piracy-ridden country.

However, after several legislative updates, the tide appears to have turned. This is the conclusion reached by the Motion Picture Association (MPA) in a recent report.

The industry group, which is largely made up of Hollywood studios, along with the recently added Netflix, continuously monitors Australia’s anti-piracy efforts. In recent years, things have been going in the right direction.

A short summary of its findings was recently reported to the US Government as part of the annual trade barriers consultation.

The MPA’s overview is generally a summary of copyright challenges and shortcomings around the world. However, Australia is one of the few exceptions when it comes to anti-piracy enforcement. In fact, the industry group is rather positive about the progress the country has made.

“Australia has developed excellent tools to fight online piracy, including effective laws allowing for no-fault injunctive relief against ISPs and ‘search engine service providers’,” the MPA writes in its report.

The report points out that in recent years piracy rates have declined significantly Down Under. Pirate site blocking and other measures have helped to boost interest in legal subscription services, including Netflix, it suggests.

The MPA is also positive about recent developments regarding takedown notices. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is currently considering the introduction of a mandatory takedown notice scheme, one that would be stricter than the DMCA-style standard which is common today.

“This would include procedures for urgent take downs (extending to pre-release or new-release films and TV shows as well as live entertainment content), as well as ‘stay down’ obligations to ensure that content already identified as infringing does not quickly re-appear,” the MPA notes.

The Hollywood-backed group supports this initiative and adds that companies who breach the new takedown standard should face “meaningful” penalties.

Aside from the positive remarks in Australia, the MPA informs the US Government that there is room for improvement as well. For example, the police could offer more help with piracy-related investigations, something that’s lacking today.

In addition, the MPA is worried about an ongoing Copyright Modernization consultation where further exceptions to copyright are being considered. This includes new definitions of fair dealing or fair use, which are seen as a threat by the industry group.

“This consultation risks undermining the current balance of IP protection in Australia that has fueled the country’s creative industries, and could create significant market uncertainty and effectively weaken Australia’s infrastructure for intellectual property protection,” the MPA states.

Closing out the list is a recommendation to propose tough anti-camcording piracy laws. While fewer illegal recordings are sourced from Australia today, the current penalties for this activity are simply not enough to act as a proper deterrent, the group says.

The last request is far from new. The same demands have appeared in previous reports, as is the case with many of the recommendations throughout the MPA’s report, which are often copied verbatim year after year.

The full overview of the MPA’s trade barrier comments to the US Trade Representative 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.

Google expands today’s Stadia’s launch lineup to 22 games [Updated]

A few more by year’s end; some previously promised “launch” titles are not here yet.

[Update (Nov. 18): Late Sunday night, Google announced that ten games that were originally planned for a post-launch 2020 release will actually be available on Stadia later today. They are:

This brings the Stadia launch day lineup up to 22 titles. Borderlands 3Ghost Recon: BreakpointDragon Ball: Xenoverse and Darksiders Genesis are still planned for Stadia release sometime this year. In addition, Ubisoft's Watch Dogs: Legion and Gods & Monsters are planned to launch on Stadia in 2020.

Google also announced that fighting game Samurai Shodown will be included as part of November's Stadia Pro subscriber freebies.]

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Guests get more than they bargained for in trailer for Fantasy Island reboot

Think Westworld meets Cabin in the Woods, with a dash of Lost for good measure.

Michael Peña and Lucy Hale star in Sony Picture Entertainment’s Fantasy Island.

Ze plane! Ze plane! OK, there's no Tattoo, but the mysterious Mr. Roarke is still offering select guests a rare opportunity to make their dreams come true in Sony Pictures' big-screen reboot of Fantasy Island, based on the popular TV series of the same name that ran from 1977-1984. This 21st-century update plays up the horror aspects and is being touted as a cross between Westworld and The Cabin in the Woods—perhaps with a little bit of Lost thrown in for good measure.

Fantasy Island was always kind of a terrific storytelling concept, despite its cheesier elements. Apparently, creator Aaron Spelling pitched the series to ABC executives as a joke after they'd rejected all his other ideas—and the network loved the idea. The ultra-urbane Ricardo Montalban played the dashing Mr. Roarke, proprietor of the titular island, providing guests the chance to live out their fantasies, for a suitable price. He was aided by his trusty sidekick Tattoo (Hervé Villechaize). Every episode opened with Tattoo shouting the catchphrase, "Ze plane! Ze plane!" and ringing a bell in the island's main tower as guests arrived.

There were usually two to three subplots per episode, focusing on the different fantasies of specific guests, who inevitably found things did not play out quite the way they'd imagined. And while the rules of engagement held that guests must see their fantasies through to the end, no matter what, Mr. Roarke invariably intervened if things got too dangerous. The series always had certain supernatural elements (time travel was common, and ghosts, genies, and the devil himself made appearances), particularly in later seasons, with hints that Mr. Roarke was quite possibly immortal. Spelling has never revealed anything about the character, but Montalban later admitted that he viewed Mr. Roarke as a fallen angel presiding over an island purgatory. That would explain his fondness for moralizing and teaching guests a valuable lesson by fulfilling their fantasies in unexpected ways.

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Database of 200+ smartphones that can run Linux (unofficially)

The vast majority of smartphones in the world ship with some version of Google’s Android operating system. And most of them are only supported by their manufacturers for a few years. Have a phone that’s 3-4 years old? Then you’re prob…

The vast majority of smartphones in the world ship with some version of Google’s Android operating system. And most of them are only supported by their manufacturers for a few years. Have a phone that’s 3-4 years old? Then you’re probably not getting any Android updates anymore. No more security patches. No new features. Of […]

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