Month: February 2022

Inwieweit die Debatte über eine Kostenbeteiligung ungeimpfter Patienten einer stationären Covid-Erkrankung von Auslassungen und Erwartungen verzerrt wird. Eine Debattenbeitrag

… und eskalierende Äußerungen in der Öffentlichkeit. Macron und Putin vereinbaren einen diplomatischen Lösungsweg. Unklar ist, welche Substanz er angesichts der dramatischen Aufladung der Situation hat

Intel’s next compact computer with support for discrete graphics will be the NUC 12 Extreme, also known by the code name Dragon Canyon. The company provided some details during the Consumer Electronics Show, explaining that the system would support up to a 65-watt 12th-gen Intel Core i9 desktop processor and that it would ship in the first quarter of 2022.

Now we have an even better idea of what to expect thanks to a leaked spec sheet and retail listings that were published a little early (and then removed).

VideoCardz has published a leaked spec sheet that explains that the Beast Canyon NUC will measures 4.72 inches wide, 7.44 inches tall, and 14 inches long. Under the hood it has a PCie x16 Gen 5 slot for discrete graphics cards up to 12 inches long. And the computer is powered designed to work with a removable Intel Compute Element that features an LGA1700 socket with support for removable 12th-gen Intel Core desktop processors.

But Intel won’t sell the NUC 12 Extreme as a barebones, bring-your-own PC kit. Instead it’ll be available with a choice of Core i7-12700 or Core i9-12900 processors. The fact that the chips are socketed will likely make it easier for Intel to produce the Dragon Canyon NUC and/or for the company (and end users) to upgrade the chip down the road though.

Other features include:

• Up to 64GB of DDR4-3200 memory
• 3 M.2 key M slots (for PCIe x4 Gen 4 or SATA SSDs)
• HDMI 2.0b connector
• 2 x Thunderbolt 4 ports
• 6 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A ports
• 1 x 10 Gbps Ethernet
• 1 x 2.5 Gbps Ethernet port (on models with Core i9 processors)
• Intel AX211 wireless card (WiFi 6E & Bluetooth 5.2)

According to the retail listings, prices could up to 25 percent higher than for the previous-gen “Beast Canyon” NUC 11 Extreme, although I’d take that with a grain of salt as the prices appear to have come from SimplyNUC, which often charges higher prices than other retailers.

The post Intel NUC 12 Extreme “Dragon Canyon” specs leak ahead of launch appeared first on Liliputing.

After launching in China last year as one of the first devices with a 10.3 inch E Ink Kaleido color display, the Bigme B1 Pro tablet is now available in the United States. But it’ snot cheap.

The Bigme B1 Pro sells for $789 at Amazon (through third-party seller YalaTech).

The reason I’m calling the B1 Pro a tablet rather than an eReader is that not only does it have a large color display, but it’s powered by a 1.8 GHz ARM Cortex-A7 quad-core processor, 2GB of RAM, and 32GB of storage and the tablet runs software based on Android 8.0 and supports both finger touch and pressure-sensitive pen input, allowing you to take notes or draw pictures on the screen.

Of course, you can also use it to read eBooks, periodicals, or other content. Just don’t expect this to be the best choice for gaming or video playback: E Ink’s Kaleido color display technology only supports 4096 colors and while you get 226 pixels per inch when viewing black and white content, that drops to 75 pixels per inch for color content. The screen refresh rate is far lower than a typical LCD or OLED display.

That said, the Bigme B1 Pro comes with many of the benefits inherent to E Ink displays including low power consumption, reduce eye strain, and the ability to view the screen using nothing but ambient light (unlike LCD and OLED displays, E Ink screens often look better in direct sunlight).

The B1 Pro also has a front-light system featuring 36 LED lights with adjustable color temperature which should help keep the screen visible indoors or at night.

Other features include a 4,000 mAh battery, a USB Type-C port, stereo speakers, and two microphones that can be used for voice chat or voice assistant software. There’s no microSD card reader.

BigMe also makes a more expensive B1 Pro Plus device with a 1.8 GHz ARM Cortex-A55 quad-core processor, 4GB of RAM, 128GB of storage, and a few other upgrades, but that model does not yet appear to be available in the US.

via The eBook Reader

The post Bigme B1 Pro 10.3 inch Color E Ink tablet is now available in the US appeared first on Liliputing.

Interview mit Joseph Vogl über Finanzkapitalismus, Big Data, Fakes, Kybernetik und die Konsequenzen der Verwandlung von Welt in Information

Depending on opinion, the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, the supervising body and publisher for the Jehovah’s Witness religious group, either doesn’t like criticism, dislikes copyright infringement, or hates both.

Since cracking down on the former is all but impossible, Watch Tower keeps an eye out for people who criticize the religion by leveraging its own copyrighted material, such as videos or songs, against it.

This means that opposing opinions become somewhat of a footnote when the group launches copyright infringement action.

Background: ‘Kevin McFree’

‘Kevin McFree’ (not his real name) is the creator of the ‘Dubtown’ series of stop-motion Lego animations that take place in a fictitious Jehovah’s Witness town. Some of McFree’s critical videos use copyrighted material owned by Watch Tower so in 2018, the group filed an application for a DMCA subpoena which asked a court to compel YouTube/Google to hand over his details.

McFree challenged the subpoena with a motion to quash, arguing that any use of Watch Tower material was protected under the doctrine of fair use. When that case had dragged on for three years without conclusion, in parallel Watch Tower filed a full-blown copyright infringement complaint against McFree.

In the summer of 2021, that case also ran into trouble when McFree refused to supply his real name.

Watch Tower told the court that it has “strong grounds” to request service on the defendant by email but since it has no real name to hand, the clerk of the court wouldn’t issue a summons. Watch Tower asked the court for advice on how to proceed but Judge Cathy Seibel declined, instead indicating a preference to wait for the decision of Judge Roman, who was presiding over the DMCA subpoena matter and McFree’s motion to quash.

That moment has now arrived and it is not what Watch Tower had hoped for.

Should The DMCA Subpoena Be Granted?

In an opinion and order handed down at a New York district court, Judge Roman acknowledges that McFree criticized the religion, including its “depictions of violence against women, the removal of a man of African descent from the denomination’s iconography, the denomination’s attitude toward technology, and its attitude toward outside academic pursuits among its followers.”

He also notes that following a Watch Tower DMCA notice in 2018, the Dubtown video was removed by YouTube. Despite that, Watch Tower followed up with its DMCA subpoena to YouTube/Google to identify McFree. The big question, then, is whether such a subpoena should be granted after fair use considerations and alongside McFree’s claims that the subpoena was really designed to “disfellowship him as an apostate.”

Fair Use Considerations

In considering the first factor of fair use (the purpose and character of the use, including
whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes), Judge Roman rejects Watch Tower’s claim that the video was not transformative on the basis that it used unedited segments of the video without commentary or criticism.

“While it is true that the Dubtown Video displays certain excerpts from Watch Tower’s works in their original and unaltered states, physical changes are not required for a new use to be transformative,” the Judge writes.

What matters, he adds, is that McFree expressed “something new, with a further purpose or different character, altering the first with new expression, meaning, or message.” Bluntly, McFree’s ‘message’ was entirely different from that of Watch Tower.

Interestingly, the Judge agrees that McFree’s use of the copyright works was indeed commercial, which counts against a finding of fair use. However, because the video was transformative, this factor is of less significance. Overall then, the first factor weighs in favor of fair use.

In respect of the nature of the copyrighted work, the Judge weighed expression and creativity elements against those that were factual or informational, with the latter receiving greater leeway when it comes to a claim of fair use. Again, the Judge decides slightly in Watch Tower’s favor given the content’s expressive and creative value.

Addressing the amount of the copyrighted work used by McFree, the Judge notes that the law can allow an alleged infringer to copy an entire work, providing the amount used is “reasonably necessary” in relation to the work’s transformative purpose.

Given that McFree used the excerpts to “parody, criticize, and comment” and “interjects, superimposes, and overdubs parodic commentary and music over the excerpted footage”, the third factor weighs in his favor.

On the final factor (whether the secondary use usurps the market of the original work) the Judge also rules in favor of McFree.

“[T]he record shows that there is no danger that the Dubtown Video will usurp the market for which Watch Tower intends its works. If anything, the record shows that the transformative nature of the Dubtown Video — namely, to criticize, satirize, and comment on the practices of Jehovah’s Witnesses — is clearly not the same as Watch Tower’s target audience,” he writes.

With the overall balance tipping in McFree’s favor, the Judge concludes that since McFree made fair use of Watch Tower’s copyrighted works, there is no basis under the DMCA for a subpoena to compel disclosure of his identity.

While this is a clear win for McFree, Watch Tower doesn’t seem interested in applying this ruling to its separate copyright lawsuit against McFree, despite it relying on exactly the same arguments.

Watch Tower Writes to Judge Siebel

Since Judge Siebel indicated that a decision in the DMCA subpoena matter might prove helpful in moving the copyright lawsuit along, Watch Tower wrote to the court with the ruling in hand.

Once again, Watch Tower laid out its predicament regarding McFree’s true identity, noting that it had corresponded with McFree via email last year and the defendant had refused to waive service because he didn’t want to fight two similar cases at once.

In the wake of the decision in McFree’s favor in the DMCA subpoena matter, Watch Tower tried again but got the same answer, i.e a refusal from McFree to waive service.

The email exchange is telling.

“As you likely are aware, Judge Román has granted your motion to quash the DMCA subpoena and that proceeding is now closed. Your condition upon which to waive service of a summons in the infringement action thus is now moot and your rationale therefor no longer applies. Please let us know if you will agree at this time to waive service of a summons in the infringement action,” Watch Tower’s email reads.

In response, a clearly surprised McFree clarified his rationale – it would be unreasonable for Watch Tower to pursue two cases “for pretty much the same thing” at the same time.

“I had hoped that the judgment in the subpoena case would result in resolving the whole case,” he told the religious group.

“My use of Watchtowers video was judged to be fair use. Which is why I wanted to avoid two cases. I believe the subpoena case has resolved everything and that the second case should now be dropped. I am at a loss to see how Watchtower still feels it can claim I infringed their copyright when Judge Roman has already judged it as fair use?”

A reasonable assumption – but Watch Tower sees things differently.

“It is Watch Tower’s position that Judge Román’s decision did not decide the issue of copyright infringement and fair use for purposes of the infringement action since the motion to dismiss was not a full and fair adjudication on the merits, including because no discovery was conducted on the motion to quash,” they responded.

Watch Tower did note, however, that McFree hadn’t published any more Dubtown videos in years, suggesting that a settlement of the case might be possible if he agrees that no more will appear. McFree didn’t bite, instead referring back to the ruling in the DMCA subpoena matter.

“I must conclude that Judge Roman’s decision in the Google subpoena case makes this lawsuit for copyright infringement, invalid. I don’t see any good reason for Watchtower to continue to harass me with more lawsuits. Because of this apparent harassment, I must refuse to accept service.”

As a result, Watch Tower wants the court to issue a summons in the name of John Doe so it can pursue its copyright infringement case against McFree who, incidentally, has no financial means to hire a lawyer to fight the case.

Whether one will step forward on a pro bono basis is unknown but it seems clear that if Watch Tower prevails, anyone who dares to rely on a fair use criticism of the religious group moving forward will receive the same silencing treatment, even if a judge says they acted entirely within the law.

The related court documents can be found here (1,2,3, pdf)

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

Teslas Autopilot bietet eine Spurwechselfunktion, die in Europa womöglich unzulässig ist. Das Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt hat eine Prüfung veranlasst. (Tesla, Elektroauto)

Read 23 remaining paragraphs | Comments

Die Bundesregierung will bis 2030 15 Millionen Elektroautos fahren sehen, doch EnBW warnt, dass zu viele Ladesäulen gebaut werden könnten. (Ladesäule, Elektroauto)

Die Einstellung des russischen Präsidenten zur Außenpolitik hat langfristig eine Metamorphose durchlaufen – als Reaktion auf den Eindruck, den er vom Westen hat