Michael Flynn and Sidney Powell banned from Twitter in QAnon purge

Flynn has called for Trump to declare martial law and hold a new election.

Michael Flynn and Sidney Powell banned from Twitter in QAnon purge

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Twitter on Friday removed the accounts of several high-profile supporters of President Trump and the QAnon conspiracy theory. Targets included former Trump advisor Michael Flynn and former Trump lawyer Sidney Powell.

The rioters who broke into the Capitol on Wednesday were of course supporters of Donald Trump. Many were inspired by QAnon as well. The QAnon conspiracy theory centers around a supposed government insider who goes by "Q." Members of this community have baselessly accused liberal leaders like Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and George Soros of running a sex trafficking ring and attempting to organize a coup against President Trump.

These paranoid beliefs evidently inspired some QAnon enthusiasts to stage an attempted coup of their own on Wednesday, as supporters broke into the Capitol to attempt to prevent Congress from certifying Joe Biden's election. Their actions led to the deaths of five people, including US Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick.

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Lilbits: Galaxy S121 Ultra 5G leaked, a new Manjaro build for phones, and used phone shipments are up

Samsung is holding an event on January 14 to officially launch its Galaxy S21 smartphone lineup. But images and details have been leaking for some time. Now Evan Blass has released a high-res picture showing the Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G from multiple angle…

Samsung is holding an event on January 14 to officially launch its Galaxy S21 smartphone lineup. But images and details have been leaking for some time. Now Evan Blass has released a high-res picture showing the Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G from multiple angles and without any watermarks. But are new phones a hot commodity anymore? […]

The post Lilbits: Galaxy S121 Ultra 5G leaked, a new Manjaro build for phones, and used phone shipments are up appeared first on Liliputing.

Dominion Voting suing “kraken” lawyer Sidney Powell for $1.3B

A company at the heart of failed suits falsely alleging voter fraud is fighting back.

Sidney Powell, flanked by Rudy Giuliani, at a press conference on Nov. 19, three days before the Trump campaign publicly cut ties with her.

Enlarge / Sidney Powell, flanked by Rudy Giuliani, at a press conference on Nov. 19, three days before the Trump campaign publicly cut ties with her. (credit: Tom Williams | CQ Roll Call | Getty Images)

Dominion Voting Systems has filed a suit against former Trump campaign attorney Sidney Powell, alleging that her widespread, unfounded conspiracy theories led to both reputational damage to the company and death threats against its employees. Dominion is seeking $1.3 billion in damages.

Statements made by Powell, "in concert with allies and media outlets" presenting a "false preconceived narrative" about the 2020 election, caused "unprecedented harm" to Dominion, the company said in its suit (PDF).

Powell is the attorney who filed the "kraken" lawsuits seeking to de-certify the results of the 2020 election. The Trump campaign abruptly cut ties with Powell in late November, but that stopped neither her increasingly outrageous claims nor her increasingly ludicrous lawsuits from flowing. Not only were Powell's suits based on unfounded conspiracy theories, but they were also just plain bad filings in myriad other ways, including naming locations that didn't exist, misspelling ones that did, and naming plaintiffs who had not agreed to participate in the case.

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Dominion Voting suing “kraken” lawyer Sidney Powell for $1.3B

A company at the heart of failed suits falsely alleging voter fraud is fighting back.

Sidney Powell, flanked by Rudy Giuliani, at a press conference on Nov. 19, three days before the Trump campaign publicly cut ties with her.

Enlarge / Sidney Powell, flanked by Rudy Giuliani, at a press conference on Nov. 19, three days before the Trump campaign publicly cut ties with her. (credit: Tom Williams | CQ Roll Call | Getty Images)

Dominion Voting Systems has filed a suit against former Trump campaign attorney Sidney Powell, alleging that her widespread, unfounded conspiracy theories led to both reputational damage to the company and death threats against its employees. Dominion is seeking $1.3 billion in damages.

Statements made by Powell, "in concert with allies and media outlets" presenting a "false preconceived narrative" about the 2020 election, caused "unprecedented harm" to Dominion, the company said in its suit (PDF).

Powell is the attorney who filed the "kraken" lawsuits seeking to de-certify the results of the 2020 election. The Trump campaign abruptly cut ties with Powell in late November, but that stopped neither her increasingly outrageous claims nor her increasingly ludicrous lawsuits from flowing. Not only were Powell's suits based on unfounded conspiracy theories, but they were also just plain bad filings in myriad other ways, including naming locations that didn't exist, misspelling ones that did, and naming plaintiffs who had not agreed to participate in the case.

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Cheat Maker Agrees to Pay Pokémon Go Creator $5m to Settle Copyright Infringement Lawsuit

In 2019, cheat creator Global++ was sued by Pokémon Go developer Niantic for infringing its intellectual property rights and spoiling the gaming experience for legitimate players. The parties have now agreed to settle the case for a cool $5,000,000, with the former admitting several types of copyright infringement and computer abuse violations.

From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

Pokemon GoProviding tools and services enabling players to cheat in video games is big business but after years of relative freedom, cheat facilitators are increasingly being targeted by developers for undermining gaming experiences and business models.

In June 2019, development group Global++, which had provided cheats for Pokémon Go and other titles, was targeted by Francisco-based Niantic, the game’s original developer. The original lawsuit, filed in a California federal court targeted “unincorporated entity” Global++, two individuals named as Ryan Hunt (aka ELLIOTROBOT) and Alen Hundur (aka IOS NOOB), plus 20 ‘John Does’.

According to Niantic’s complaint, the only permissible way to play its augmented reality games (Pokémon Go, Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, and Ingress) is via its original apps installable on mobile devices. These have permission to access Niantic’s servers and contain protected proprietary code, code which Global++ was alleged to have copied. Indeed, according to the developer, the Global++ software consisted of up to 99% of Niantic’s original code.

Predictably, this led to a broad range of copyright infringement allegations in the lawsuit but also included claims under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, broadly due to Global++ and its users accessing Niantic’s servers via hacked apps.

Parties Agree to Settle Case

As the case progressed, several parties’ names were added to the case while others were removed. Ultimately, Global++, IT Haven Inc., HLP Tech LLC, Ryan Hunt, Matthew Johnson and Alen Hunder remained as defendants, all of which have now agreed to settle their dispute with Niantic.

In a stipulation and proposed order filed Thursday, the parties agree that the defendants profited from unauthorized derivative versions of Niantic’s mobile apps (the “Cheating Programs”) that used “substantial portions of Niantic’s copyrighted computer code without Niantic’s permission.” These include Potter++ (a hacked version of the Harry Potter game), PokeGo++ (hacked version of Pokémon Go) and Ingress++ (hacked version of Ingress).

“All the Cheating Programs allow the Global++ Defendants and their customers to perform unauthorized actions while playing Niantic’s games, and allowed the Global++ Defendants to scrape Niantic’s valuable and proprietary map data. In other words, the Cheating Programs enable cheating,” the agreement reads.

Cheating Programs Undermined Gaming Experience

Since all of the above Niantic titles are multiplayer games, Niantic and Global++ agree that the hacked versions gave cheaters an unfair advantage over regular players, something which undermined the overall gaming experience. Furthermore, since Niantic sold subscriptions and collected payments via Patreon from “hundreds of thousands of users”, there was a profit motive underpinning the entire business.

The success of Niantic’s model also came at the expense of Niantic, the agreement reads, noting that the Cheating Programs “diminished enthusiasm” for the official products and in some cases drove players away from Niantic’s games altogether. As a result, the actions of the Global++ defendants damaged Niantic’s reputation and its business.

Agreed Breaches of Federal Law

The stipulation has the Global++ defendants admitting to a number of breaches of federal law, including violations of the Copyright Act and Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. The parties also agreed that the cheat makers’ conduct breached the California Comprehensive Computer Data Access and Fraud Act, California’s unfair competition laws, Niantic’s terms of service (breach of contract), while interfering with Niantic’s contractual relations with its customers.

As a result, Global++, Ryan Hunt, and IT Haven Inc. now admit to the offenses of direct copyright infringement, contributory copyright infringement and vicarious copyright infringement. Matthew Johnson and HLP Tech LLC admit to contributory copyright infringement and vicarious copyright infringement, while Alun Hundur admits to contributory copyright infringement.

All defendants further admit to violations of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, California’s Comprehensive Computer Data Access and Fraud Act, California’s unfair competition law, breach of contract, and interfering with Niantic’s business relations.

$5,000,000 Settlement and Injunction

To settle the matter, the defendants have agreed to pay Niantic $5,000,000 in damages and subject themselves to an injunction permanently restraining them from developing, marketing, or receiving payment for the Cheating Programs or substantially similar products.

They also agree not to offer or receive payment for products utilizing Niantic data or intellectual property and to refrain from reverse engineering, decompiling, or disassembling Niantic products. “Cracking or tweaking” any tools that are able to interfere with Niantic server protocols is also barred, along with a wide range of associated activities.

The agreement is yet to be signed off by the judge but given the agreement between the parties, that is likely to be a formality in the days to come.

The associated documents can be found here (1,2 pdf)

From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

FBI arrests Republican lawmaker who stormed Capitol with pro-Trump mob

W.V. lawmaker Derrick Evans charged with entering restricted area of US Capitol.

The West Virginia state lawmaker who was part of a pro-Trump mob that stormed the US Capitol was arrested today and is being charged by federal authorities.

Derrick Evans, a newly elected Republican who was sworn in to the West Virginia House of Delegates last month, livestreamed himself on Facebook Wednesday as the mob broke into the Capitol. On Friday, Evans was "charged with entering a restricted area of the US Capitol," the Associated Press reported, citing a Justice Department official.

"Ken Kohl, a top deputy federal prosecutor in Washington, announced the charge against Republican state Del. Derrick Evans on a call in which he presented dozens of new charges against members of the crowd that violently stormed the Capitol on Wednesday," the AP wrote.

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JLab JBuds Frames are $50 earbuds that clip onto your glasses

In the past few years we’ve seen companies including Bose and Amazon build speakers into eyeglass frames. But the $250 price tags might be a bit off-putting at a time when you can find true wireless earbuds selling for a small fraction of that p…

In the past few years we’ve seen companies including Bose and Amazon build speakers into eyeglass frames. But the $250 price tags might be a bit off-putting at a time when you can find true wireless earbuds selling for a small fraction of that price. Still like the idea of speakers that are near your […]

The post JLab JBuds Frames are $50 earbuds that clip onto your glasses appeared first on Liliputing.

This mini desktop PC has an LCD display on the front

A Chinese PC maker is selling a small form-factor desktop computer that’s about the size of two Intel NUC mini PCs stacked on top of one another. The reason for the added height? There’s a LCD display on the front of the computer. It&#8217…

A Chinese PC maker is selling a small form-factor desktop computer that’s about the size of two Intel NUC mini PCs stacked on top of one another. The reason for the added height? There’s a LCD display on the front of the computer. It’s a small, non-touch display designed to show information like the CPU […]

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What I learned playing 30+ years’ worth of Jeopardy! video games

From the Apple II to PS4, digital Jeopardy! spans 40+ games and traces the medium’s history.

You're going down, Diane...

Enlarge / You're going down, Diane... (credit: Collage by Aurich Lawson)

Friday, January 8, 2021, marks the end of an era for American television. That's when TV stations around the country air the final episode of Jeopardy! featuring Alex Trebek as host. Since relaunching Jeopardy! as a syndicated game show in 1984, Trebek emceed thousands of episodes until just before his death from cancer in November.

Accordingly, Friday may also mark the end of an era for one of video gaming's most enduring franchises (and for Trebek as an enduring digital gaming personality rivaling football's John Madden). Since the first PC releases of Jeopardy! in 1987, there have been more than 40 distinct video game versions of the quiz show released across at least 27 different platforms (that includes "Sports Edition" spin-offs and the like). That's an impressive run that spans the space between the Apple II and the PlayStation 5, crossing on the way into curiosities like the CD-i, Tiger Game.com, Google Assistant, and Facebook (the last of which is no longer available to play in any form but is still captured in contemporary coverage).

It's rare for a single gaming brand to encompass so much of gaming's short history. That’s especially true for a licensed brand that's not controlled by a single company—GameTek, Rare, Hasbro, Atari, Sony, THQ, and Ubisoft have all been attached to Jeopardy! games over the years. It's even odder to see an enduring video game franchise where the basic answer-and-question gameplay remains almost entirely unchanged over a three-plus-decade span (though some developers have done their best to tinker at the margins).

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Quibi’s $1.75B experiment ends with Roku acquisition for “less than $100M”

Roku has yet to tell viewers whether they’ll need to turn their TVs sideways.

Quibi, the curious "TV on your phone" service that lasted for roughly six months last year, will soon live on—as a free-with-ads channel on Roku.

After rumors began circulating earlier this week, Quibi and Roku confirmed on Friday that the two companies had reached terms for an acquisition, putting most of Quibi's hours of original programming into Roku's hands. Most of the Quibi service involved scripted series, along with documentary and reality-TV content, and Roku will host these series on a dedicated Roku "channel" later this year, while Quibi's previous "daily" news episodes will not be part of the deal.

Surprisingly, it's not just a deal for last year's content. Whatever had been previously cranking as part of the Quibi portfolio of talent and producers appears to be back on the table, with Roku telling users to expect "more than a dozen new programs" that hadn't previously debuted on the Quibi app in 2020. Roku didn't use today's announcements to clarify what the programming is, but Variety pegs many of the shows as documentary miniseries, along with a horror series written by Steven Spielberg that would have originally only been available for streaming during nighttime hours.

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