Just another news site
Ein Kauf von Nuance wäre die zweitgrößte Übernahme in Microsofts Konzerngeschichte. (Nuance, Microsoft)
Winning the Oscar for “best picture” is the most prestigious accolade a movie can get. Aside from the honor that comes with it, revenue tends to increase as well. The same is true for piracy. Data collected by TorrentFreak shows that being nominated already triggers a piracy boost. This is something to keep in mind, especially in countries where legal options are lacking.
From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.
In two weeks, the 93rd Academy Awards ceremony is scheduled to take place in Los Angeles.
The Oscars are the most prestigious film awards and millions of movie fans are looking forward to seeing what this year’s “Best Picture” will be.
Fans had to be patient as the official ceremony was delayed by a few weeks due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
That’s not the only thing that changed. The legal availability of many top contenders, including Nomadland, is also lacking in several countries. That’s the result of closed theaters and slow digital releases.
A few weeks ago UK piracy tracking firm MUSO warned that the unavailability of these movies could trigger a piracy boom. The piracy numbers for Oscar winners tend to shoot up every year. When these films can’t be accessed legally, this will only be worse.
With this in mind, we certainly plan to take a closer look at how the upcoming winners will ‘perform’ on pirate sites. That said, could it be that the nominations themselves have had an effect already?
To research this we looked at a sample of torrent downloads of the Best Picture nominees “Nomadland” and “Judas and the Black Messiah”. The timeframe starts March 5th, ten days before the nominations were announced, and ends ten days after, March 25th.
Generally speaking, pirated movie downloads will vary quite a bit throughout the week, usually peaking on the weekend. While the nominations were announced on a Monday, we decided to add the non-Oscar contender “Honest Thief” as a control.
The results in the graph below clearly show that the downloads for both Oscar contenders peaked after the nominations were announced. Meanwhile, there is no significant change in downloads for “Honest Thief,” which even appeared to dip a little bit.
Percentage-wise, the nomination boost is obvious as well. On the day after the nominations, “Nomadland” downloads were 213% higher than the week before. A week later, these had dropped by more than 50% again.
A similar pattern can be seen for “Judas and the Black Messiah” which saw a 74% increase compared to the week before, to then drop by more than 50% a week later.
It is worth noting that pirated copies of all these films were available in a high-quality format during the entire period, so that didn’t impact the results in any way.
The only logical conclusion is that Oscar nominations act as a promotion. This drives legal consumption but also piracy. With that in mind, the rightsholders would be wise to make sure that their content is available legally when the winners are announced.
—
Note: The data used in this article comes from Iknow, which tracks torrent downloads through DHT and PEX. While it may not be able to track all downloads, it’s a substantial sample, which acts as a good proxy for the overall interest on all pirate sites and services.
It is worth stressing that this sample only looks at torrent downloads. Views on streaming platforms, direct downloads, and other piracy sources can’t be measured directly. That said, we assume that the trend will be similar there.
From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.
Wen schickt die Union ins Rennen? Die Ministerpräsidenten von Nordrhein-Westfalen und Bayern haben ihre Hüte in den Ring geworfen
New research describes the unknowns in our knowledge of solar geoengineering.
Enlarge / Most geoengineering plans involve humanity doing what some volcanoes already do: inject particles into the stratosphere that reflect sunlight. (credit: NASA)
Without condoning or condemning the poorly understood tactic, recent reports suggest we should try to understand one proposed strategy to cool the planet: altering the atmosphere to reflect sunlight. Called solar radiation modification (SRM), this strategy is a type of geoengineering that involves scattering particles into the sky that cause sunlight to reflect out into space rather than warming the Earth's atmosphere.
In theory, SRM could cool off the planet and help limit global warming to 1.5ºC compared to preindustrial levels. But it's viewed as something of a last-resort tool to tackle climate change. Two new analyses explore what deploying this tactic could mean for the environment and the flora, fauna and people living in it. In all, the authors of both reports suggest that more work needs to be done to understand SRM.
The idea has gained some traction. Bill Gates, for example, advocated for it in 2019. The Geoengineering Model Intercomparison Project (GeoMIP), has released more than 100 studies related to SRM in the decade since the group was formed. But recently, the Swedish Space Corporation canceled a test flight that would help study SRM in response to public outcry.
Read 19 remaining paragraphs | Comments
Das Wohnungsprogramm der Rechtspartei ist marktradikal. Gewählt wird sie eher nicht in der Hoffnung auf bessere Zeiten, sondern damit es anderen schlechter geht
“I see before us two basic choices.”
Enlarge / Physicist Gerry O'Neill popularized the notion of space settlement. (credit: Subtractive)
A new movie brings to life the legacy of a physicist who has played an influential—but largely unheralded—role in shaping the vision of space settlement.
The documentary The High Frontier: The Untold Story of Gerard K. O'Neill takes its name from the 1977 book The High Frontier: Human Colonies in Space authored by Princeton University physicist Gerard K. O'Neill. The movie will be released on April 17, and it's an excellent film for those seeking to better understand the future humans could have in outer space.
O'Neill popularized the idea of not just settling space, but of doing so in free space rather than on the surface of other planets or moons. His ideas spread through the space-enthusiast community at a time when NASA was about to debut its space shuttle, which first flew in 1981. NASA had sold the vehicle as offering frequent, low-cost access to space. It was the kind of transportation system that allowed visionaries like O'Neill to think about what humans could do in space if getting there were cheaper.
Read 13 remaining paragraphs | Comments
Optimus Prime ist rund 50 cm hoch, verfügt über 27 Servos und eine App-Steuerung mit Sprachkommandos. Der Preis des Transformers lässt selbst Autobots erzittern. (Transformers, Roboter)
Optimus Prime ist rund 50 cm hoch, verfügt über 27 Servos und eine App-Steuerung mit Sprachkommandos. Der Preis des Transformers lässt selbst Autobots erzittern. (Transformers, Roboter) Der Las Vegas Loop ist fast fertig und Elon Musks The Boring Company hat gezeigt, wie Teslas in diesem Tunnel fahren. Begeisterung löst das noch nicht aus. (The Boring Company, Technologie)
Der Las Vegas Loop ist fast fertig und Elon Musks The Boring Company hat gezeigt, wie Teslas in diesem Tunnel fahren. Begeisterung löst das noch nicht aus. (The Boring Company, Technologie) Die Servicegesellschaft des Bundesverkehrsministers gegen Ausbau-Versagen der Netzbetreiber steht noch am Anfang. (Andreas Scheuer, Mobilfunk)
Die Servicegesellschaft des Bundesverkehrsministers gegen Ausbau-Versagen der Netzbetreiber steht noch am Anfang. (Andreas Scheuer, Mobilfunk) Logitech baut keine Harmony-Universalfernbedienungen mehr. Für Besitzer der Fernbedienungen gibt es dennoch gute Nachrichten. (Logitech, Smart Home)
Logitech baut keine Harmony-Universalfernbedienungen mehr. Für Besitzer der Fernbedienungen gibt es dennoch gute Nachrichten. (Logitech, Smart Home) 
Ein Kauf von Nuance wäre die zweitgrößte Übernahme in Microsofts Konzerngeschichte. (
You must be logged in to post a comment.