Month: December 2021

Meta hat eine Website zum Verkauf von Facebook-Sternen gestartet. Damit vermeidet das Unternehmen Provisionszahlungen an Apple und Google. (Facebook, Soziales Netz)

Arianespace soll eine kleine wiederverwendbare Rakete entwickeln. Das Konzept kommt zu spät, ist zu klein und wirtschaftlich wie politisch fragwürdig. Von Frank Wunderlich-Pfeiffer (Raumfahrt, Internet)

Anteilig wird immer weniger Atomstrom produziert. Es ist ein "langsam aussterbender Sektor", dem unter anderem Frankreich neues Leben einhauchen will

Autonom fahren ist es noch nicht, aber Level 3 darf Mercedes nun 2022 mit dem Drive Pilot in der S-Klasse und im EQS anbieten. (Mercedes Benz, Technologie)

At the end of the year, movie industry insiders traditionally receive their screener copies, which they use to vote on the Oscars and other awards.

This used to be a massive logistics operation as tens of thousands of physical discs had to be sent through the mail. That is no longer the case.

Physical Screener Ban

Last year, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced this week that physical screeners will no longer be allowed in 2021. According to the Academy, the transition is part of its sustainability efforts.

This decision was also the death sentence for the popular DVDSCR tag many pirates have followed closely for years. However, the end of the physical screener doesn’t mean that leaks are a thing of the past.

While it’s true that physical releases were vulnerable in the distribution process, digital screeners are far from bulletproof. This became apparent in recent weeks when several film festival-related screeners appeared online.

“Drive My Car” Leaks Online

Today we spotted another screener release and this one appears to be directly connected to the Oscars. The leaked release is a copy of Japan’s Oscar contender “Drive my Car,” which was won several film prizes already, including that of best screenplay at the Cannes Film Festival.

The arthouse film isn’t a typical blockbuster but has received a lot of praise from critics. And since it appears to be the first screener leak in the Academy Awards’ digital era, the release deserves a callout.

Below is a screenshot that’s posted with pirated copies of the film. It clearly shows a watermark of the associated movie sales outfit The Match Factory, which is present throughout the film.

Drive.My.Car.2021.SUBBED.1080p.WEBSCREENER.x264.AAC-OSCAR

The pirated release has hardcoded English subtitles and is tagged with the group name OSCAR. That’s not a commonly known group as far as we know, which could mean that the OSCAR tag is used to hide the involvement of the real group.

OSCAR?

This OSCAR tag has previously been used by a scene group in 2006 but hasn’t shown up in any Scene databases since then.

Another option is that OSCAR is a ‘hobby’ project from a foreign film enthusiast. When we searched through various databases we spotted the tag on two other film releases that were both Oscar submissions.

The first is “The Man Who Sold His Skin” from Syria, which was nominated in the Best International Feature Film as last year’s Academy Awards. The other OSCAR release is “True Mothers,” which was Japan’s Academy Awards submission in the same category last year.

We might just have spotted a pattern there…

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

Die KI-Forscher von Deepmind haben besonders große Sprachmodelle untersucht und sagen, die Skalierung allein helfe nicht, Probleme zu lösen. (Deep Learning, KI)

Der aus Tesla-Modulen bestehende Speicher soll Strom von Windkraftwerken speichern. (Erneuerbare Energien, Technologie)

Wer mit Kratos im PC-Port von God of War auf Ultra antreten möchte, benötigt (fast) göttliche Hardware. (God of War, Sony)

Microsoft kündigt im Insider-Build 22518 Voice Access an, das Windows 11 sprachsteuert. Auch soll der Einstieg ins WSL einfacher werden. (Windows 11, Windows)

Samsungs Odyssey Neo G9 ist riesig und durch Mini-LED auch kontraststark. Es gibt derzeit keinen besseren (und teureren) 32:9-Monitor für Gaming. Ein Test von Oliver Nickel (Samsung, Display)