Month: March 2020

Star Trek – Picard: Hasenpizza mit Jean-Luc

Star Trek: Picard hat im Vorfeld viele Erwartungen geweckt, die nach einem etwas holprigem Start erfüllt wurden. Die neue Serie macht Spaß. Achtung! Spoiler! Eine Rezension von Tobias Költzsch (Star Trek, Persona)

Star Trek: Picard hat im Vorfeld viele Erwartungen geweckt, die nach einem etwas holprigem Start erfüllt wurden. Die neue Serie macht Spaß. Achtung! Spoiler! Eine Rezension von Tobias Költzsch (Star Trek, Persona)

Bad Boys For Life Leads Wave of Early Movie Releases Flooding Pirate Sites

As cinemas around the globe continue their shutdowns in response to the coronavirus pandemic, a number of movies are now enjoying early digital releases. Of course, many of these are also hitting pirate sites, with Bad Boys For Life, Bloodshot and The Gentlemen currently proving most popular with downloaders.

Drom: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, torrent sites and more. We also have an annual VPN review.

As the planet struggles to contain the coronavirus pandemic, businesses around the world are looking at ways to mitigate the disruption caused by voluntary and in some cases mandatory isolation.

Social distancing is now vital to the health of billions of people and as a result, visiting cinemas is no longer an option. Instead, movie companies are bringing forward digital release dates for many movies, hoping that people will rent or buy these titles, as a temporary replacement for venturing out to the big screen.

Somewhat inevitably these releases are now appearing on pirate sites, available to download or stream depending on the platform. Last Friday, The Invisible Man, The Hunt and Emma were readily available for viewing and this week many new titles can be added to the list.

Despite the movie only hitting cinema screens in mid-January, the much-anticipated Bad Boys For Life is now pulling in considerable numbers on unofficial platforms. It wasn’t expected until March 31 but this morning there are various HD copies culled from a digital source doing the rounds on torrent and streaming platforms.

Switching back and forth between second and third place in this batch is superhero movie Bloodshot. Starring Vin Diesel, the title was released early on March 13 but just a handful of days later, Sony Pictures said it would appear digitally on March 24 in response to the outbreak.

Next up is the Guy Ritchie action/comedy The Gentleman. Available in 1080p WEBRip format after being captured from platforms such as Amazon, the movie was previously slated for a home release on April 7. In the event, it appeared March 24 and almost immediately found itself on unlicensed platforms.

In no particular order (our regular weekly download chart will determine that in due course), several other titles are also readily available after early digital releases.

After being released digitally last Friday, animated release Onward was quickly made available unofficially. The same thing happened to the Harrison Ford movie The Call of the Wild today, just hours after being made available on Disney Plus.

Another Disney movie, Downhill starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Will Ferrell, also appeared this morning but doesn’t appear to be particularly popular, at least for now.

Finally, after a February theatrical release, Birds of Prey: And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn was slated for a digital release on March 24 by DC. In the event, it actually appeared on pirate sites as early as March 21.

Quite how this state of play is being received at the studios is unclear. However, these are unprecedented times and since the vast majority of the public buy, rent or stream their movies legally, sales figures may yet be respectable – for the good films at least.

Drom: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, torrent sites and more. We also have an annual VPN review.

Kabelnetz: Tele Columbus verliert erneut Kunden

Die Kundenzahlen bei Tele Columbus sind weiter rückläufig – aber nicht mehr so stark. Im Jahr 2017 habe es noch kritisch ausgesehen, sagt der scheidende Vorstandschef. (Tele Columbus, Studie)

Die Kundenzahlen bei Tele Columbus sind weiter rückläufig - aber nicht mehr so stark. Im Jahr 2017 habe es noch kritisch ausgesehen, sagt der scheidende Vorstandschef. (Tele Columbus, Studie)

Lkw-Steuerung: Ein Fernfahrer, der in der Nähe bleibt

Noch steuern den automatisierten Lastwagen T-Pod Entwickler, die Lkw-Fahren gelernt haben. Jetzt wird erstmals der umgekehrte Fall getestet – um das System kommerziell zu machen. Ein Bericht von Werner Pluta (Autonomes Fahren, Elektroauto)

Noch steuern den automatisierten Lastwagen T-Pod Entwickler, die Lkw-Fahren gelernt haben. Jetzt wird erstmals der umgekehrte Fall getestet - um das System kommerziell zu machen. Ein Bericht von Werner Pluta (Autonomes Fahren, Elektroauto)

Rocket Report: NASA suspends SLS work, Astra suffers a setback

“The area is still hazardous and should be avoided.”

The Electron launch vehicle is ready to soar.

Enlarge / The Electron launch vehicle is ready to soar. (credit: Rocket Lab)

Welcome to Edition 2.37 of the Rocket Report! As COVID-19 sweeps the globe and spreads across the United States, the world of launch continues to move along, too. However, we should not that—after Thursday's launch of an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station—there are just two additional launches in the coming year with confirmed dates: a Soyuz crew and Progress cargo mission in April.

As always, we welcome reader submissions, and if you don't want to miss an issue, please subscribe using the box below (the form will not appear on AMP-enabled versions of the site). Each report will include information on small-, medium-, and heavy-lift rockets as well as a quick look ahead at the next three launches on the calendar.

Virgin Orbit assessing plans amid pandemic. The Long Beach, California-based company is reassessing the schedule for the first orbital-flight demonstration of its LauncherOne vehicle, which had been scheduled for April. "We're mindful that COVID-19 is putting added burdens and stresses on our teams and leaders, so we are assessing things daily and keeping momentum up as best we can while doing everything we can to protect the health of our people," Virgin Orbit spokesman Kendall Russell told SpaceNews.

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Kojima’s GBA experiment—and the sunny island childhood it changed forever

Puerto Rico wasn’t a gaming hotspot, unless a game required constant sunshine.

Promotional image for video game Boktai.

Enlarge / The sun is actually in the sky, not in your hand, which is key to playing Boktai. (credit: Konami)

The 2003 Game Boy Advance exclusive Boktai: The Sun Is in Your Hand! is a largely forgotten game, even among Hideo Kojima fans. The concept is as indulgent as a Kojima game could ever be: you play as young vampire hunter Django (named after a famed spaghetti Western hero) who fights immortals with a solar-powered gun. Like your namesake, you drag bosses into a solar pile driver in a coffin.

The game's relative lack of popularity is probably due, in part, to its central conceit: a solar sensor embedded on the cartridge itself that affected in-game events. For players who lived in temperate regions or adults who lived on a strict schedule, this made playing Boktai a challenge. The vital sunlight needed to activate in-game events or defeat bosses meant you could only properly play this game if you had a very flexible schedule—or cheated the sensor with a blacklight.

Unless you were like me and lived on a tropical island.

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VW: Es läuft nicht super beim ID.3

VW bekommt die Probleme bei der Produktion seines neuen Elektroautos offensichtlich nicht in den Griff. (VW, Roboter)

VW bekommt die Probleme bei der Produktion seines neuen Elektroautos offensichtlich nicht in den Griff. (VW, Roboter)