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Amazon is selling the Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra for $375 off today. Lenovo is knocking $100 off the price of its Tab P11 Pro tablet. And if you’re looking to prepare for the next power outage (or camping trip), you can save a bundle on portab…
Amazon is selling the Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra for $375 off today. Lenovo is knocking $100 off the price of its Tab P11 Pro tablet. And if you’re looking to prepare for the next power outage (or camping trip), you can save a bundle on portable power stations from RAVPower, Anker, and TackLife. Here […]
The post Daily Deals (2-24-2021) appeared first on Liliputing.
Casey Hudson, who had led BioWare’s plans for “reinvention,” left in December.
Enlarge / Tears of an Anthem clown. (credit: Aurich Lawson / Bioware / Getty Images)
The story of EA and BioWare's beleaguered action-RPG Anthem has apparently ended. According to an official BioWare blog post, the ambitious jetpack-combat game's "overhaul" project is dead. The staff that had been assigned to rebuild the game into better shape has been reassigned to work on other BioWare projects, particularly Dragon Age 4 and the next Mass Effect game.
From what we saw in the game's March 2019 launch version, EA and BioWare clearly intended for the game to receive regularly updated content, but negative reviews (including my own) made clear that BioWare needed to go back to the drawing board. Despite some good ideas and fun flight controls, Anthem's basic core needed serious touching-up before we'd return to the game.
Then-general manager Casey Hudson made a February 2020 statement acknowledging those criticisms. After listing aspects of the game that needed work, he offered a pledge to fans: that BioWare would complete "fundamental work... to bring out the full potential of the experience... specifically working to reinvent the core gameplay loop with clear goals, motivating challenges, and progression with meaningful rewards—while preserving the fun of flying and fighting in a vast science-fantasy setting."
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Licensees will use an older version of the OS, though.
LG's 2021 OLED lineup. [credit: LG ]
LG has announced that it will begin licensing its webOS TV software for use by other TV manufacturers. That will put webOS in direct competition with other platforms in use across TV brands, such as alternatives from Roku, Amazon, and Google.
LG says "over 20 TV manufacturers" have "committed to the webOS partnership" and names RCA, Ayonz, and Konka as examples. They'll ship the OS in their TVs and, in so doing, gain access to voice-control features, LG's AI algorithms, and a fairly robust library of already built streaming apps like Netflix, YouTube, or Disney+.
For smaller manufacturers, this is more cost-effective than developing these features on their own or lobbying companies like Netflix or Disney to support new platforms.
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Samsung released its first Windows laptop with an ARM processor last year, but like every other Windows on ARM device released to date it was powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor. The company’s next Windows on ARM PC could be something ver…
Samsung released its first Windows laptop with an ARM processor last year, but like every other Windows on ARM device released to date it was powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor. The company’s next Windows on ARM PC could be something very different though – according to a report from ZDNet Korea, Samsung is planning […]
The post Samsung could launch a Windows PC with Exynos CPU and AMD graphics this year appeared first on Liliputing.
WebOS is an operating system that was originally developed by Palm for smartphones, acquired by HP for use on tablets as well as phones, and when that turned out to be a flop, HP sold its webOS assets to LG, which uses it for smart TVs and other smart…
WebOS is an operating system that was originally developed by Palm for smartphones, acquired by HP for use on tablets as well as phones, and when that turned out to be a flop, HP sold its webOS assets to LG, which uses it for smart TVs and other smart home products. Now LG plans to […]
The post LG will license webOS for use on third-party smart TVs (It’s come a long way from the Palm days) appeared first on Liliputing.
Für den Bau seines zweiten Modells hat sich Fisker einen neuen Partner gesucht. Geplant sei eine “persönliche Elektroauto-Revolution”. (Karma Automotive, Technologie)
Für den Bau seines zweiten Modells hat sich Fisker einen neuen Partner gesucht. Geplant sei eine "persönliche Elektroauto-Revolution". (Karma Automotive, Technologie) An advisory committee for the agency will further review the vaccine this Friday.
Enlarge / A sign at the Johnson & Johnson campus on August 26, 2019 in Irvine, California. (credit: Getty | Mario Tama)
Johnson & Johnson’s single-shot COVID-19 vaccine is effective and has a “favorable safety profile,” according to scientists at the Food and Drug Administration.
The endorsement comes out of a review released by the regulatory agency Wednesday. The FDA has been looking over data on Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine since February 4, when the company applied for Emergency Use Authorization. The agency’s green light is a positive sign ahead of this Friday, February 26, when the FDA will convene an advisory committee to make a recommendation on whether the FDA should grant the EUA. The FDA isn’t obligated to follow the committee’s recommendation, but it usually does.
If Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine is granted an EUA, it will become the third COVID-19 vaccine available for use in the US. The other two vaccines are both two-dose, mRNA-based vaccines, one made by Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech and the other from Moderna, which developed its vaccine in collaboration with researchers at the US National Institutes of Health.
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Last year, games cracker EMPRESS told pirates that if they wanted Denuvo-protected games cracked and placed online, they would have to help fund that. While controversial, over the past few weeks this proposal has been overshadowed by a catastrophic social-media-fueled meltdown that has culminated – if reports are to be believed – in EMPRESS being targeted by the police.
From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.
A couple of decades ago, online piracy was a relative niche pastime enjoyed by relatively few people. Dominated by music and software, consumers were largely grateful for whatever they could get their hands on, supplied by largely nameless individuals with a “sharing is caring” philosophy.
Today, however, the landscape is dramatically different. Many pirates have become discerning consumers, demanding only the highest quality content neatly presented in fault-free or functionally-specific packages. Around that, a cult of personality has developed around some of the best known ‘pirate’ brands, from distributors such as The Pirate Bay through to Scene groups known only by a series of initials.
While the original founders of The Pirate Bay were able to skillfully manage their reputations while being known by millions of pirates, Scene groups have taken a different approach. By providing no useful information about themselves, it has mostly been difficult for pirate consumers to interact or even criticize them.
However, when other pirates with a fresh outlook have dared to step into the spotlight more recently, the jarring glare of social media has presented a whole new set of problems.
For many years, the removal of copy protection from games was the domain of largely faceless groups operating in the shadows of ‘The Scene’. Unknown to the vast majority of pirates, these collectives have enjoyed a level of security by default. However, in more recent times, the ability to crack, release and distribute cracked content independently has lured some crackers much closer to the surface. As a result, they have become more accessible to fans and detractors alike, with serious security implications.
In 2018, this led to the demise of Voksi, a Bulgaria-based cracker who rose to fame on sites including Reddit, who reportedly ended his work after being visited by officers from Bulgaria’s General Directorate for Combating Organized Crime. According to him, this happened at the behest of Irdeto – the new owner of the infamous Denuvo anti-tamper technology.
While this could’ve happened to anyone, it’s hard to imagine that Voksi’s significant public profile didn’t play a major part in his downfall. But in common with many similar situations over the years, it hasn’t prevented others from following a similar path. Case in point – the larger-than-life Denuvo cracker EMPRESS.
Last year we reported how games cracker EMPRESS burst onto the scene with a plan to crowdfund the cracking of Denuvo titles. Straight off the bat, EMPRESS showed a remarkable lack of concern by confirming what appeared to be sensitive information, including that EMPRESS and another group, C000005, were actually one and the same. Links to another group, CODEX, were also revealed/claimed.
Since then, EMPRESS has delivered previously Denuvo-protected titles as promised but somewhat bizarrely, these achievements have been accompanied by masses of superfluous drama. Instead of maintaining a low profile, EMPRESS has become increasingly outspoken, restating connections to CODEX and even PARADOX (PDX), a group that has existed in some form or another for more than 30 years.
Labeling them all as “pathetic” probably wasn’t a great start but things were only just getting started. Fellow Denuvo-crackers CPY (which have considerable standing in the Scene) were branded “selfish and ignorant” and then attention turned to repackers including the world-famous FitGirl, whose work appears to have irritated EMPRESS intensely.
In an interview with Wired published this week, EMPRESS responded to the repacking issue by noting that these entities, Fitgirl included, are somehow able to get the credit for releasing games to the public, rather than EMPRESS, who is doing “the REAL work”.
So, in an effort to take the spotlight away from people like FitGirl, EMPRESS decided to cap the download speed of ‘her’ latest release, to prevent speedy repacks. This didn’t go down well with fans. And it wasn’t well-received by FitGirl either.
“As many of you could see, the Immortals: Fenyx Rising repack was listed in Upcoming Repacks list for almost a day already. Why is it still not up? You would never guess, EMPRESS intentionally limited the uploading speed of her seedbox to 200 KB/s and feeding the same chunks to the crowd, so no one would download the ISO before others,” FitGirl wrote.
“And why did she do it, you ask? The answer is mind-blowing: she hates all repackers for ‘stealing the spotlight’ from her work. Yes, you’ve read it right,” FitGirl added. “It’s against common logic and piracy ethics.”
In response, FitGirl announced a boycott of EMPRESS releases.
“I can’t allow myself to be a puppet of a person, whose main agenda seems to be ‘I am the only Denuvo-cracker in the world, praise me’. Well fuck that. I’ll let other repackers with less strict principles to deal with her works.”
The problems mentioned by FitGirl are actually just the tip of a very large iceberg but surprisingly few issues relate directly to the cracking of games. Somehow, the personality and divisive opinions of EMPRESS (or simply those being presented online) appear to be fueling the dramas upon which social media often thrives. And as usual, nothing good has come of it.
Threads discussing EMPRESS have descended into chaos, with supporters jostling with detractors over the perceived size of the EMPRESS ego and whether or not some of her philosophical musings (1,2,3) are best aired on forums dedicated to cracking or somewhere else far, far away. Either way, these issues have now become irretrievably entwined with her persona resulting in both hostility and an extremely toxic environment.
And according to EMPRESS at least, the ultimate damage has now been done.
In a post under her new Reddit handle of ‘InfinityGoddess’, a few hours ago EMPRESS told the masses on the CrackWatch subreddit that the worst-case scenario had unfolded. Pointing the finger at FitGirl, fellow repacker ‘Masquerade’ and “all the beautiful non toxic community here”, EMPRESS said that some people on Reddit had reported both her and her real address to the authorities.(Quotes verbatim)
i am not quiet sure how it happened, but even with putting my philosophical side aside, i think i pissed off the entire internet just by trying to control ‘MY’ own crack for 24 hour is actually something i am still not able to believe.
In less than an hour, i will be dragged out of my home here with my lawyer, but considering i was caught red handed while preparing version 2 fix for my immortals crack, i don’t think there will be much of hope against it at all.
i must repeat again, thank you a LOT fitgirl, and all her followers who enjoyed insulting and reporting me for the little stupid mistakes i did. there are no perfect person in this world, but i at least tried to do something ‘right’ out of all this. but no one saw it, and instead they only saw the negatives.
At the time of writing, no one apart from EMPRESS knows for sure whether the above statement is true, partially true, or indeed a complete fabrication. That having been said, it cannot be argued that any of this (including what led to this statement) is good for the games cracking scene.
Even if the authorities aren’t involved and Redditors aren’t to blame for what is being alleged, this kind of infighting – whoever may have started and/or perpetuated it – is the kind of destabilization that companies like Denuvo could only dream of.
Apparently without Denuvo lifting a finger, a major player appears to have been forced out of the game, not by the most secure copy-protection system available today, but by a self-perpetuating grass-roots clash of personalities with a single pivotal mistake underpinning everything.
The fact is that by becoming so accessible and accountable to the masses, games crackers and pirates of all kinds put themselves at risk. Most or indeed all of this slow-motion car wreck could’ve been avoided if the traditional firewall of crackers distancing themselves from pirate consumers had been maintained. But for now at least, the damage appears to have been done, and who is to blame is irrelevant.
The big question is whether the same mistakes will be made again. Given what we’ve seen thus far, that seems likely.
From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.
Google Maps is the last major Google app to support dark mode.
This is from an earlier rollout, but Google Maps' dark mode should look something like this. [credit: Reddit ]
Google Maps has finally decided to support dark mode on Android 539 days after officially launching Android 10. Google's latest blog post says that dark mode in Google Maps is "soon expanding to all Android users globally," making the feature official after lots of public experiments.
Google's uneven rollout strategy makes it hard to nail down when any feature officially "launches." Some users have had dark mode for a while, though, through various experiments and early rollouts. Google has been teasing a dark mode for Google Maps since October 2019, and experimental rollouts hit some users in September 2020. Google Maps has also been showing a dark-colored map in navigation mode for some time, but that's not the same thing as a comprehensive dark mode for all the UI elements.
If Google Maps is following Android's best practices, the UI should automatically switch over to the dark theme if your system settings have dark mode enabled. Google says you'll also be able to find a new "theme" section in the Google Maps settings, where you can toggle the feature manually. The Google Maps dark mode that has been floating around for a while has been on a server-side switch. The code is already on your device, so there's no version we can point to that will enable dark mode; you just have to wait for Google to flag your account.
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As promised, the first company to release a phone with an under-display selfie camera is showing off its 2nd-gen version of the technology. ZTE says its new camera uses structured light technology that enables you to unlock a phone using 3D facial rec…
As promised, the first company to release a phone with an under-display selfie camera is showing off its 2nd-gen version of the technology. ZTE says its new camera uses structured light technology that enables you to unlock a phone using 3D facial recognition. And the new under-display camera blends into the screen better than before. […]
The post ZTE’s 2nd-gen under-display camera looks better (but may not take better pictures) appeared first on Liliputing.
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