Month: January 2022

Die Zahl der Neufahrzeugzulassungen 2021 zeigen das Debakel der Autoindustrie. Elektroauto-Hersteller profitieren von hohen Zuwachsraten. (Auto, Technologie)

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Chryslers erstes Elektroauto, der Airflow, soll 2025 auf den Markt kommen. (Fiat Chrysler, Technologie)

Das HP Elite Dragonfly G3 verwirft das Convertible-Design für ein größeres 3:2-Panel. Auch gibt es Intels Alder Lake P. (Ultrabook, Intel)

When the original Popcorn Time application launched eight years ago, we billed it as the “Netflix for Pirates.”

The software offered a clean and easy-to-use interface to stream pirated movies and TV shows, all powered by BitTorrent.

Rivaling Hollywood and Netflix

In the years that followed Popcorn Time had to endure plenty of legal threats, mostly from Hollywood. The original developers were quick to throw in the towel but the open source code was widely copied with Popcorn-Time.to emerging as one of the leading forks.

During those early years, millions of people used the software. This was a major concern for Hollywood and Netflix began worrying too when Google searches for Popcorn Time began rivaling those for Netflix in some regions.

“Piracy continues to be one of our biggest competitors,” Netflix CEO Reed Hastings commented in 2015, specifically mentioning Popcorn Time’s growing popularity.

This triggered a wave of enforcement actions including a lawsuit in the US, targeting the alleged operator of Popcorn-Time.to (later .tw). That case was eventually dismissed after the movie companies realized that they had identified the wrong person. Ultimately the fork remained online.

Popcorn-Time.tw Shuts Down

Despite weathering several storms, the curtain finally fell for Popcorn-Time.tw this week but legal issues didn’t play a role.

Speaking with TorrentFreak, the Popcorn Time team says that decreased interest from the pirating public drove it to take this drastic decision.

“It’s time to say goodbye,” the Popcorn Time team notes. “The world doesn’t need Popcorn Time anymore.”

This decreased popularity is in large part the result of competition from other pirate tools that rendered the software pretty much obsolete. Pirate streaming sites and dedicated streaming boxes have surged in popularity over the years, effectively taking over the “Netflix for Pirates” role.

Alternatives Take Over

The shift in preference also had a clear impact on Popcorn Time usage numbers. A few years ago millions of people regularly used the software but most of those people moved on to more convenient alternatives.

This evolution is also summarized by a Google Trends graph posted by Popcorn Time as part of its farewell message. Interest in the application continues to wane, and the days when it rivaled Netflix in some regions have long gone.

Popcorn Time’s demise doesn’t mean that Netflix has successfully beaten online piracy of course. Pirate streaming sites and devices remain a massive challenge, and Netflix content is still widely pirated on regular torrent sites as well.

Also, pirates who really insist on using Popcorn Time can probably still find a working fork somewhere. The official Popcorn Time repository on GitHub remains online, even though the associated PopcornTime.app domain has been offline for nearly a year.

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

When the original Popcorn Time application launched eight years ago, we billed it as the “Netflix for Pirates.”

The software offered a clean and easy-to-use interface to stream pirated movies and TV shows, all powered by BitTorrent.

Rivaling Hollywood and Netflix

In the years that followed Popcorn Time had to endure plenty of legal threats, mostly from Hollywood. The original developers were quick to throw in the towel but the open source code was widely copied with Popcorn-Time.to emerging as one of the leading forks.

During those early years, millions of people used the software. This was a major concern for Hollywood and Netflix began worrying too when Google searches for Popcorn Time began rivaling those for Netflix in some regions.

“Piracy continues to be one of our biggest competitors,” Netflix CEO Reed Hastings commented in 2015, specifically mentioning Popcorn Time’s growing popularity.

This triggered a wave of enforcement actions including a lawsuit in the US, targeting the alleged operator of Popcorn-Time.to (later .tw). That case was eventually dismissed after the movie companies realized that they had identified the wrong person. Ultimately the fork remained online.

Popcorn-Time.tw Shuts Down

Despite weathering several storms, the curtain finally fell for Popcorn-Time.tw this week but legal issues didn’t play a role.

Speaking with TorrentFreak, the Popcorn Time team says that decreased interest from the pirating public drove it to take this drastic decision.

“It’s time to say goodbye,” the Popcorn Time team notes. “The world doesn’t need Popcorn Time anymore.”

This decreased popularity is in large part the result of competition from other pirate tools that rendered the software pretty much obsolete. Pirate streaming sites and dedicated streaming boxes have surged in popularity over the years, effectively taking over the “Netflix for Pirates” role.

Alternatives Take Over

The shift in preference also had a clear impact on Popcorn Time usage numbers. A few years ago millions of people regularly used the software but most of those people moved on to more convenient alternatives.

This evolution is also summarized by a Google Trends graph posted by Popcorn Time as part of its farewell message. Interest in the application continues to wane, and the days when it rivaled Netflix in some regions have long gone.

Popcorn Time’s demise doesn’t mean that Netflix has successfully beaten online piracy of course. Pirate streaming sites and devices remain a massive challenge, and Netflix content is still widely pirated on regular torrent sites as well.

Also, pirates who really insist on using Popcorn Time can probably still find a working fork somewhere. The official Popcorn Time repository on GitHub remains online, even though the associated PopcornTime.app domain has been offline for nearly a year.

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

Das Zenbook 17 Fold OLED kann auf zwei 12-Zoll-Hälften zusammengefaltet werden. Möglich macht das ein flexibles OLED-Panel mit Touchscreen. (Asus, OLED)

Die beiden wichtigsten Forks von Popcorn Time sind eingestellt. Netflix sah Popcorn Time einmal als große Gefahr an. Von Achim Sawall (Bittorrent, Tauschbörse)

Asus has been offering dual-screen laptops for a few years, which typically means placing a second screen above the keyboard. But the new Asus Zenbook 17 FOLED OLED (UX9702) is the company’s first computer with a foldable display that allows you to use a single screen in laptop, tablet, or book modes.

The 17:3 inch, 4:3 aspect ratio and gives you a desktop-like experience when propped up on a table for use with a wired or wireless keyboard. Fold it in the center and you have a book-like device with two 12.5 inch displays, each with a 3:2 aspect ratio. Or place it folded on a table and use it as a laptop either with a virtual keyboard on half of the display or by placing a physical keyboard atop the bottom section.

Asus will ship the Zenbook Fold 17 OLED with an Asus ErgoSense Bluetooth keyboard with a built-in touchpad and 1.4mm key travel. You can either place it on the screen in laptop mode or use it as a separate device if you want to use the computer’s full display like a mobile desktop computer.

The 17.3 inch display is a 2560 x 1920 pixel screen with 100% DCI-P3 color gamut. That means when folded for use in laptop mode, you effectively get a 1920 x 1280 pixel display.

Above the display there’s a camera strip with:

• 5MP webcam for video calls
• HD IR camera for Windows Hello-compatible face recognition
• Color sensor for ambient light and color calibration

The tablet-laptop hybrid is powered by an Intel Core i7-1250U processor, which is a 9-29 watt chip with 10 cores, 12 threads and 0.95 GHz Intel Iris Xe graphics with 96 execution units. The computer also supports up to 16GB of LPDDR5 onboard memory and 1TB of PCIe x4 solid state storage.

Other features include quad speakers, support for Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos, WiFi 6E, Bluetooth 5.2, and a 75 Wh battery. It comes with a 65W USB-C power suply.

If there’s one thing the Zenbook Fold 17 OLED is light on, though, it’s ports: it has just three of them: two Thunderbolt 4 ports and a 3.5mm audio jack. Fortunately those Thunderbolt ports are versatile, allowing you to connect a power supply, external display, or all sorts of other accessories.

The Asus Zenbook Fold 17 OLED measures 8.7mm (0.34 inches) thick when unfolded, and the computer weighs 1.65 kilograms (about 3.64 pounds) without a keyboard.

Asus says the Fold 17 OLED will be available in the second quarter of 2022, but the company hasn’t announced how much you’ll have to spend to get your hands on one.

Overall, the Zenbook Fold 17 OLED reminds me a lot of the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold that hit the streets a little over a year ago. Except Lenovo’s foldable might have been a little ahead of its time, launching before Windows had really adapted to foldable displays and with a low-power Intel processor that offered underwhelming performance, especially for a computer with a $2500 list price.

The post Asus Zenbook 17 Fold OLED is a foldable laptop-tablet hybrid appeared first on Liliputing.