Month: January 2021

Godzilla vs. Kong trailer is a rock ‘em, sock ’em monster mashup

Directed by Adam Wingard, it’s the fourth installment in the “MonsterVerse” franchise

Two powerful forces of nature collide in a battle for the ages in Godzilla vs. Kong, premiering simultaneously in theaters and on HBO Max on March 26, 2021.

It's powerful Titan pitted against Titan in the first trailer for Godzilla vs. Kong, the fourth film released as part of Legendary Picture's "MonsterVerse" franchise, co-produced and distributed by Warner Bros. Directed by Adam Wingard, the film is not meant to be a remake of the 1962 Japanese classic, King Kong vs. Godzilla; rather, per Wingard, it will directly tie into the events of its 2019 predecessor, Godzilla: King of the Monsters, and feature a "more rugged" and aging Kong.

(Some spoilers for some prior films in the MonsterVerse franchise below.)

The MonsterVerse franchise started in 2014 with Godzilla, in which a soldier tries to return to his family while caught in the crossfire of the battle between Godzilla and a pair of parasitic monsters known as MUTOs. The studio followed up three years later with Kong: Skull Island, set in 1973, in which a team of scientists and soldiers travel to the titular Skull Island and encounter Kong, the last survivor of his species. And in 2019, the studio released Godzilla: King of the Monsters, a sequel to the 2014 film, in which Godzilla and Mothra team up to defeat a prehistoric alien named King Ghidorah, who has awakened other ancient creatures (Titans) to destroy the world.

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Pirate Streamers Save UFC 257 After ESPN+ Collapses Under The Load

The lead up to last night’s UFC 257 Poirier v McGregor was notable for the UFC’s threats to target an illegal streamer, warning that his house was being watched, his phone was tapped, and police were standing by. While that guy reportedly backed down, many others didn’t – which is fortunate since ESPN+ went down under the load, forcing legitimate buyers (including UFC fighters) to request pirate streams.

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

UFC LogoUFC President Dana White made dozens of headlines this week when he made threats against an unnamed illegal stream provider.

During the UFC 257 pre-fight press conference, featuring main event fighters Dustin Poirier and Conor McGregor, White seemed excited to tell the journalists present that he had someone specific in his sights.

“We got one. We got him,” he said with a grin on his face. “We’re watching this guy right now. All you have to do is turn it on on Saturday. And we got you f****r. I can’t wait.”

In a subsequent interview with BT Sport, White went further still, declaring that he’d hand-picked the alleged pirate and that his house was being watched, his phone calls were being listened to and if he dared to put the fight up on Saturday, he would be arrested.

“I will not be nice. I will not be lenient. I will go guns-a-f*****n-blazing,” he warned.

Dana White’s Threats Riled Up Pirates

At least in part, White’s comments were designed to scare not only his target into submission but also other illegal stream suppliers and their potential customers. PPV revenue is important for the UFC and for its fighters since they too take a share of the spoils.

That being said, there can be a tendency among seasoned Internet users to convert gung-ho threats into just another motivation to pirate, so there was no shortage of people online threatening to pirate UFC 257 anyway, despite the warnings, and whether they were fans or not. However, few could have predicted how the event was to play out.

ESPN+ Goes Down Under Massive Demand

Perhaps the biggest news to emerge from the event is that UFC cash cow Conor McGregor got knocked out in round two, with Poirier’s heavy strikes on the feet proving too much for the superstar Irishman. However, as the drama was playing out in the Octagon, a streaming fiasco had already been underway for several hours.

UFC 257 was always expected to be a popular event (McGregor PPVs always are) but it appears that ESPN+ was unprepared for just how many people would cough up $70.00 to watch the fight legally in the US. According to Yahoo Sports’ Kevin Iole, 1.3 million people tried to log into ESPN+ at the same time and the service simply couldn’t cope.

Given that the UFC’s US deal is exclusive to ESPN+ this was clearly a major problem. If fans pay to watch the whole card on a legal platform, they don’t expect to face the kind of problems often touted as being a hallmark of pirate services. The disappointed masses also included several UFC fighters who headed onto Twitter to complain that they couldn’t watch the event.

Unfortunately, worse was yet to come.

Illegal Streams Save The Day For Some Paying Customers

With huge numbers of fans bombarding ESPN on Twitter complaining that they couldn’t access the event, the broadcaster said that it was doing the best it could to restore service. However, after shelling out $70.00 the desperation mounted for many fans as the anxiety of missing the action took its toll.

In a now-deleted Tweet, UFC middleweight Ian Heinisch wrote: “Okay I am done send me illegal streams!” a sentiment that was shared by thousands of other individuals including those who already paid and those who never intended to.

Meanwhile, in several of the usual haunts occupied by pirate streamers, there was no shortage of people watching the PPV illegally while ESPN+ subscribers screamed in frustration. That should never happen, quite the opposite in fact.

Dana White’s Sunday Headache

Today’s post mortem will be a difficult one for Dana White. After being ridiculed in some corners for his anti-piracy rhetoric, it seems fairly likely that some fans will have decided to take the legal option for once, a golden opportunity to shine if ever there was one.

Instead, they will have watched their pirating counterparts receive superior service at what would’ve been less than a tenth of the price, which is just about the worst possible outcome on the night. Add that to the fact that McGregor lost, and you have a UFC 257 that White won’t look back on with the fondest of memories. That being said, it wasn’t all bad news.

According to White, the unnamed illegal streamer who he threatened earlier in the week decided that taking on the UFC wasn’t a good idea. Shortly after the pre-fight press event he allegedly made a big announcement saying that he wouldn’t be offering the event after all and had decided to shut down his entire streaming service.

Somewhat ironically though (for both legal and illegal consumers alike) plenty of other unlicensed services remained up long enough to show ESPN+ how to run a streaming service – without collapsing under the stress of too many customers wanting to part with their money.

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

InkPlate 10 is an open hardware E Ink display made from recycled eReader parts (crowdfunding)

The makers of the InkPlate 6 are back with a new open hardware, WiFi-enabled E Ink display. The new InkPlate 10 is a bigger, higher resolution, and faster display with a few new features. But e-radionica’s new InkPlate is still a low-power, prog…

The makers of the InkPlate 6 are back with a new open hardware, WiFi-enabled E Ink display. The new InkPlate 10 is a bigger, higher resolution, and faster display with a few new features. But e-radionica’s new InkPlate is still a low-power, programmable electronic paper display that can be used to build your own eReader, digital […]

The post InkPlate 10 is an open hardware E Ink display made from recycled eReader parts (crowdfunding) appeared first on Liliputing.

#WeAreRemovingADictator

Uganda: Das Phänomen Bobi Wine und der amtierende Staatspräsident Yoweri Museveni. Wenn politische Gegner verhaftet oder schlichtweg von Autos ohne Nummernschilder überfahren werden

Uganda: Das Phänomen Bobi Wine und der amtierende Staatspräsident Yoweri Museveni. Wenn politische Gegner verhaftet oder schlichtweg von Autos ohne Nummernschilder überfahren werden

A curious observer’s guide to quantum mechanics, pt. 3: Rose colored glasses 

“How big is a particle?” Well, that’s a subtle (and, unsurprisingly, complex) question.

A curious observer’s guide to quantum mechanics, pt. 3: Rose colored glasses 

Enlarge (credit: Getty Images / Aurich Lawson)

One of the quietest revolutions of our current century has been the entry of quantum mechanics into our everyday technology. It used to be that quantum effects were confined to physics laboratories and delicate experiments. But modern technology increasingly relies on quantum mechanics for its basic operation, and the importance of quantum effects will only grow in the decades to come. As such, physicist Miguel F. Morales has taken on the herculean task of explaining quantum mechanics to the rest of us laymen in this seven-part series (no math, we promise). Below is the third story in the series, but you can always find the starting story here.

So far, we’ve seen particles move as waves and learned that a single particle can take multiple, widely separated paths. There are a number of questions that naturally arises from this behavior—one of them being, “How big is a particle?” The answer is remarkably subtle, and over the next two weeks (and articles) we'll explore different aspects of this question.

Today, we’ll start with a seemingly simple question: “How long is a particle?”

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