September 2021 – Page 87 – news.buyenne.com

Biden’s baffling FCC delay could give Republicans a 2-1 FCC majority

Biden and Senate can still avert nightmare scenario, but they have to act quickly.

Joe Biden signs an executive order surrounded by various administration officials, including FCC Acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel.

President Joe Biden's failure to nominate a fifth Federal Communications Commission member has forced Democrats to work with a 2-2 deadlock instead of the 3-2 majority the president's party typically enjoys at the FCC. But things could get worse for Democrats starting in January. If Biden doesn't make his choice quickly enough to get Senate confirmation by the end of this year, Republicans could get a 2-1 FCC majority despite Democrats controlling both the White House and Senate.

That possibility can be easily averted if Biden and the Senate spring into action, but it's closer to becoming reality than anyone expected when Biden became president. The reason is that acting FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel's term expired in mid-2020. US law allow commissioners on lapsed terms to stay until "the expiration of the session of Congress that begins after the expiration of the fixed term," which means she can stay until the beginning of January 2022.

To ensure a 3-2 Democratic majority in January, Biden has to nominate a third Democrat, renominate Rosenworcel or nominate a replacement for Rosenworcel, and hope that the Senate confirms both nominations in time. As president, Biden can promote any commissioner to chair, but the Senate decides whether to confirm each newly nominated commissioner. That process usually takes a few months or longer. Tom Wheeler was confirmed as FCC chairman in October 2013, six months after his nomination.

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Anker launches a 4K Android TV streaming dongle for $90

Anker has been selling a range of Android-powered projectors under the Nebula brand for the past few years, and now the company has launched its most affordable Nebula device to date… but it’s not a projector. The Anker Nebula 4K Streaming…

The post Anker launches a 4K Android TV streaming dongle for $90 appeared first on Liliputing.

The stormy relationship between solar power and the weather

Insurance claims, maintenance tickets show how snow and storms hit solar power.

Solar panels have a love-hate relationship with nature.They need to be placed in exposed locations that get a lot of sunlight, but cloudy weather obviously reduces their production. Less obviously, more extreme weather—from snowstorms to hurricanes—can damage or even break solar hardware altogether. New research performed by Sandia National Laboratories and published in Applied Energy showcases how weather events can reduce the amount of energy produced by the United States’ solar farms.

To study this relationship, the researchers deployed a machine-learning algorithm on large sets of data from private solar farms. “This was a huge, collaborative effort,” Thushara Gunda, one of the paper’s authors and a researcher with Sandia, told Ars. Going forward, Gunda wants to expand this research to look into other extreme weather events and renewables such as wind, geothermal, and marine energy. Her team is in the early stages of this work, she said.

The team hopes that this research could be used to inform decisions about solar operations in the future. This is particularly true as climate change increases the frequency of extreme weather events, potentially causing more issues that impact solar production. “We do recognize that with the shift to renewable energy, there is an increased dependence on local environmental conditions,” Gunda said.

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‘Black Widow’ vs. ‘Shang-Chi’ Piracy and the Return of Disney’s Box-Office Exclusives

After simultaneously releasing several movies in theaters and on its streaming platform, Disney is granting an exclusivity window to the box office again. Simultaneous releases trigger a piracy surge, which becomes clear from a comparison between the ‘Black Widow’ and ‘Shang-Chi’ piracy numbers.

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

shang chi During the COVID pandemic, studios including Disney, NBCUniversal, and Warner Bros have experimented with shorter release windows.

In some cases, titles premiered on streaming services and at the box office at the same time.

This is good news for consumers, who have more choice. However, movie theaters see these experiments as an existential threat. They believe that without exclusive windows, their revenues will tank.

Exclusive Theatrical Window

These concerns have now been heard, at least partially. A few days ago Disney announced that it will grant a 30 to 45-day exclusive release window for the remaining films set to release in 2021. This means that Disney+ “premier access” to movies will be shelved, at least for now.

It’s not clear whether Disney’s decision was influenced by the pushback from movie theaters. The same is true for the impact of piracy, which was also widely cited as a concern.

When films premiere online this generally means that a high-quality pirated copy will start circulating almost instantly. These are typically pirated more often than low-quality ‘Cam’ releases that come out of theaters.

‘Black Widow’ vs. ‘Shang-Chi’

We can illustrate this by comparing the piracy activity for “Black Widow” with that of “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.” Both are Marvel films released by Disney, but they used different release strategies.

Black Widow was released in theaters and on Disney+, which meant that a high-quality pirate release was made available right away. Shang-Chi, on the other hand, had an exclusive theatrical window. While the film was pirated early, all copies are low-quality releases recorded from a movie theater screen.

So how do these two compare? Below is an overview of the piracy numbers for both films, starting on the day of the premiere. These numbers are taken from a large sample of U.S. BitTorrent data, which acts as a decent proxy for the overall interest among pirates.

Black Widow vs. Shang-Chi Piracy ^(*)
torrent data

The above clearly shows that Black Widow was pirated more. There was a massive surge from the start and, after the first 10 days, it was pirated four times more than Shang-Chi.

The interest in Shang-Chi is decent but relatively flat. There was no massive surge, but that may still come when a high-quality release is eventually published. All in all, the above is in line with the expectation that pirates prefer to wait until a higher-quality copy is available.

But did the lack of a high-quality pirate release for Shang-Chi result in more domestic box office visits? We can’t really answer this question with the data we have. After 10 days, Shang-Chi generated slightly more revenue at the box office. However, the first day was clearly better for Black Widow.

Black Widow vs. Shang-Chi Box Office ^(*)

The big question, however, is what the graph above would look like if Chang-Chi had a simultaneous release as well. Would the box office numbers be substantially less?

This is the million-dollar question Disney has probably been trying to answer over the past few months. We don’t know if they have reached a conclusion yet but since the exclusive theatrical window is back now, we assume that simultaneous releases haven’t generated a windfall in extra profits.

Even if Disney earned slightly more by getting rid of the release windows, which is possible, there are other long-term factors to weigh in.

For one, the media giant has a great century-long relationship with theaters that it doesn’t want to throw away. In addition, the company might simply not like the fact that their flagship titles are instantly pirated in high quality.

Finally, it’s worth noting that the numbers above are limited to the United States. Looking at the international picture, varying release strategies will complicate things even further.

At this point, it’s too early to draw strong conclusions but it will be interesting to see how this develops over time. Are simultaneous releases mostly a side-effect of the COVID pandemic, or will we see more of these experiments in the future?

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* The number of estimated US-based BitTorrent downloads is based on data from Iknow. The domestic box office numbers, which also cover Canada, are sourced from Box Office Mojo

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

Apple iPhone 13 packs a faster processor, better cameras, and longer battery life

Apple’s newest iPhone doesn’t look dramatically different from last year’s models. But four new models in the iPhone 13 series feature an upgraded processor, a brighter display, and improved camera features. Apple has also shrunk the front camera notch by about 20 percent, and the company is promising longer battery life across the board. The […]

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Apple-Smartphone: iPhone 13 Pro kann in Videos nachträglich die Schärfe ändern

Das iPhone 13 Pro von Apple wird in 6,1 und 6,7 Zoll kommen und bringt neben dem A15 vor allem deutlich verbesserte Foto- und Filmfunktionen mit. (iPhone, Apple)

iOS 15 brings new FaceTime and AI features on September 20

iOS and iPadOS 15 and watchOS 8 are coming September 20.

Tim Cook discusses the new iPhones at Apple's event on September 14, 2021.

The next major release of the operating system for iPhones, iOS 15, will arrive on September 20, Apple announced at its product event on Tuesday. iPadOS 15 will hit compatible tablets the same day, and watchOS 8 will be available for the Apple Watch.

iOS and iPadOS 15 bring several new features and design changes to the iPhone and iPad. iPadOS 15 lets widgets reside on the home screen instead of being relegated to their own dedicated screen. New multitasking controls make it easier to launch and control multiple concurrent apps. Notifications have been redesigned, and a new notification summary view attempts to show notifications that are most relevant at a given time.

The new features tie in closely with Focus, which gives you the ability to create profiles for work, family time, gaming, or other categories. You'll see different apps and notifications in each Focus view, and your currently selected Focus is synced across devices.

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