Month: February 2022

Review: We had our doubts, but Peacemaker is a cheeky, irreverent delight

James Gunn took this seemingly irredeemable character on a journey that made us love him.

John Cena shows he has some dramatic chops as well as comedic timing in <em>Peacemaker</em>.

Enlarge / John Cena shows he has some dramatic chops as well as comedic timing in Peacemaker. (credit: HBO Max)

We had our doubts about Peacemaker, the HBO Max spinoff series based on John Cena's character from 2021's The Suicide Squad. But I'm happy to report that those doubts were entirely unfounded. Series creator James Gunn has successfully taken a seemingly irredeemable character and sent him on an emotional journey that made us love him—all framed in a blood-soaked, action-packed, cheekily irreverent main story that makes for top-notch entertainment.

(One big spoiler for The Suicide Squad below. Some spoilers for Peacemaker, but no major reveals.)

Gunn wrote the series for fun during his downtime in 2020 and ended up pitching it when DC Films approached him about a spinoff series for one of the characters in The Suicide Squad. HBO Max ordered Peacemaker straight to series. When the first teaser dropped last year, I admitted to being a bit skeptical. Cena's performance in The Suicide Squad was terrific, but he wasn't exactly a sympathetic character—or a particularly complex one. On the other hand, Gunn clearly felt there was more of the character's story to tell, and that instinct proved correct.

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MPA, Amazon & Apple Win Injunction To Shut Down Two Pirate IPTV Services

A coalition of Hollywood studios plus Amazon, Netflix, Apple, and other content owners, have won a preliminary injunction to shut down two pirate IPTV services accused of infringing their movie and TV show rights. Claims from the alleged pirate operator that the case is deficient and relies on biased and inaccurate evidence made little difference to the outcome.

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

IPTVIn December 2021, movie and TV giants Universal, Disney, Paramount, Warner and Columbia joined Netflix, Amazon, Apple and several other studios in a copyright infringement lawsuit against Texas resident Dwayne Anthony Johnson.

The plaintiffs alleged that Johnson (and Does 1-20) are the brains behind pirate IPTV providers AllAccessTV (AATV) and Quality Restreams. The latest in a growing line of copyright cases against similar platforms, the complaint alleged that the services supply infringing movies and TV shows via their IPTV and VOD platforms, breaching the studios’ rights.

The claim for damages (statutory $150,000 per work) was accompanied by a request for an injunction to shut the platforms down.

Late January, Johnson’s legal team argued against an injunction, claiming that such an order wasn’t necessary since certain named domains were already down. In any event, they continued, the proposed injunction was ‘deficient’ while key evidence provided by MPA anti-piracy chief Jan van Voorn was labeled “biased” and “inaccurate”. The evidence of Steve Kang, Vice President of Creative Content Protection at NBCUniversal Media, was also criticized.

Studios Respond

In a reply to the motion for preliminary injunction filed earlier this month, the studios begin by highlighting that despite the technicalities raised in Johnson’s opposition, there was no attempt to dispute the fundamental basis for the court issuing an injunction.

They explain that the key arguments and evidence support their allegations that Johnson is involved with and doing business as AATV and Quality Restreams and that his “cherry-picked” criticisms only attempt to obfuscate that.

“[N]one of Defendant’s misguided and meritless arguments do anything to undercut the fundamental need for an injunction that stops the mass-scale infringement occurring here,” they write.

“Although Defendant attempts to poke holes in the sufficiency of Plaintiffs’ evidence, he cannot (and does not) undercut the fundamental premise that he and his cohorts are operating an illegal streaming scheme.”

The reply notes that Johnson is the registrant for allaccessiptv.com and myaatv.com, two domains associated with the AATV service. He is also the owner/manager of VPN Safe Vault LLC which through the domain backoffice.vpnsafevault.com, AATV subscriptions are sold. The studios also claim that Johnson is the creator and administrator of a private Facebook page (MediaBoxx Corporation) which services AATV resellers.

Furthermore, Johnson did not dispute that he created and fostered an “extensive network of resellers”, instead claiming that he cannot be held liable for their conduct, despite the resellers utilizing Johnson’s websites to sign up for his service. As for VPN Safe Vault, the studios say that the portal is still in operation and selling subscriptions to AATV services.

As for the claims of biased and inaccurate evidence from experts who are not independent, the studios brush all of the claims aside, adding that the evidence is both considered, substantial, and sufficient at this stage of the case.

For good measure, however, a supplemental declaration by MPA anti-piracy chief Jan van Voorn provides additional technical details on the AATV service. In any event, this is just a small part of the overall evidence the studios have amassed against Johnson, they add.

Joint Stipulation and Preliminary Injunction

Despite the apparent gap between the parties, late Thursday the parties told the court that they had agreed to the terms of a proposed preliminary injunction. This does not mean that Johnson is admitting liability, the parties stress. Neither does it mean he will accept the terms of any permanent injunction.

At a California district court, Judge André Birotte dealt with the matter quickly.

“Defendant Dwayne Anthony Johnson d/b/a AllAccessTV and Quality Restreams (‘Defendant’), and all persons who are allegedly acting in active concert or participation with Defendant (collectively, the ‘Enjoined Parties’), are hereby preliminary restrained and enjoined,” he writes.

The order states that the enjoined parties shall not “directly or secondarily, publicly perform, copy, reproduce, distribute, stream, transmit, or otherwise infringe in any manner any of Plaintiffs’ copyrighted works, or any other works whose copyrights are owned or exclusively controlled by Plaintiffs and/or their affiliates.”

Neither will they “facilitate, induce, or contribute to the unauthorized reproduction and/or public performance of the Copyrighted Works by others.”

No party is allowed to operate or do business in any way as AllAccessTV and Quality Restreams, including by operating any website, application, system, software, or service for purposes of providing unauthorized access to IPTV or VOID services to any person or entity.

The injunction also includes a list of domains that cannot be modified, sold, transferred or deleted. No changes can be made to WHOIS information, either by the defendant or registrars Namecheap and GoDaddy. Within five days, however, all domains must be parked. They read as follows:

aatvdigitalmedia.com, aatvpanel.com, aatvapp.live, myaatv.com, aatvdigital.com, aatvwebplayer.com, allaccessiptv.com, allaccesstv.live, tv.allaccesstv.live, vod.allaccesstv.live, kids.allaccesstv.live, aatv.media, qualityrestreams.com, qsplaylist.com, qualitystreamz.guru, qsprovider.com, mediaflo.net, and v2.dmdapi.com.

For good measure, just in case anyone gets any ideas, the enjoined parties may not engage in any action that has the effect of circumventing the requirements of the injunction.

Court documents referenced in this article can be found here (1,2,3, pdf)

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

Millions of WordPress sites get forced update to patch critical plugin flaw

UpdraftPlus vulnerability allows untrusted visitors to download a full database backup.

Millions of WordPress sites get forced update to patch critical plugin flaw

Enlarge (credit: Getty Images)

Millions of WordPress sites have received a forced update over the past day to fix a critical vulnerability in a plugin called UpdraftPlus.

The mandatory patch came at the request of UpdraftPlus developers because of the severity of the vulnerability, which allows untrusted subscribers, customers, and others to download the site’s private database as long as they have an account on the vulnerable site. Databases frequently include sensitive information about customers or the site’s security settings, leaving millions of sites susceptible to serious data breaches that spill passwords, user names, IP addresses, and more.

Bad outcomes, easy to exploit

UpdraftPlus simplifies the process of backing up and restoring website databases and is the Internet’s most widely used scheduled backup plugin for the WordPress content management system. It streamlines data backup to Dropbox, Google Drive, Amazon S3, and other cloud services. Its developers say it also allows users to schedule regular backups and is faster and uses fewer server resources than competing WordPress plugins.

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Lilbits: Google Pixel 7, Amazon ruins Comixology, and the second coming of Google Inbox

Google’s next phone will most likely be the Pixel 6a, a cheaper version of the company’s current flagships. But Google is unsurprisingly already working on the Pixel 7… and now the first details are starting to leak. So far all we know is that it’s likely to feature a 2nd-gen Google Tensor processor and a […]

The post Lilbits: Google Pixel 7, Amazon ruins Comixology, and the second coming of Google Inbox appeared first on Liliputing.

Google’s next phone will most likely be the Pixel 6a, a cheaper version of the company’s current flagships. But Google is unsurprisingly already working on the Pixel 7… and now the first details are starting to leak.

So far all we know is that it’s likely to feature a 2nd-gen Google Tensor processor and a new Samsung modem. But 9to5Google also dug up some likely code names, which could help sleuths uncover more details in the future.

Google Tensor processor

Here’s a roundup of recent tech news from around the web.

First details of Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro come roaring out: 2nd-gen Tensor, new Samsung modem [9to5Google]

Details about the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro are starting to leak – expect a second-gen Tensor processor (GS201) and a new Samsung modem (g5300b). Google appears to be using the code name Cheetah and Panther for the phones.

Sensor Watch crowdfunding campaign ends in 3 days [Crowd Supply]

The Sensor Watch is a hackable watch board with an ARM Cortex-M0+ chip designed to fit in a classic Casio F-91 shell. It’s not exactly a “smart” watch since there’s no internet connection or wireless capabilities at all. But it’s a smarter watch thanks to support for various sensors and programmable software. 

Ex-Googlers resurrect Google Inbox interface as “Shortwave” email [Ars Technica]

Shortwave is a new email service from former Googlers that replicates the functionality of Google Inbox, which Google killed off a few years ago. It’s a front-end for Gmail rather than a standalone service, with a limited free tier and a $9/month paid one.

Amazon’s Comixology Overhaul Is Here, and It Sucks [Gizmodo]

Eight years after acquiring Comixology, Amazon has begun merging the services by combining user accounts and comic storefronts and launching an updated app and web app… the latter of which is awful. Also broken? Subscriptions for international users.

Qualcomm is adding AV1 support, which could be huge for online video [Protocol]

Qualcomm’s next-gen flagship processor (SM8550) could be the company’s first with hardware-accelerated AV1 video decoding support which could help spur the adoption of the open video codec. But SM8550 isn’t expected to arrive until 2023.

Google Play Store listings on mobile now show required ‘Android OS’ version [9to5Google]

The Google Play Store now shows you the minimum version of Android required to run an app or game.

System requirements for Android apps on Windows 11 [Microsoft]

Microsoft’s system requirements for running Android apps on Windows 11 include at least 8GB of RAM, an SSD, and an 8th-gen or new Intel Core i3 or better processor, AMD Ryzen 3000 or newer, or Qualcomm Snapdragon 8c or better processor.

Keep up on the latest headlines by following Liliputing on Twitter and Facebook and follow @LinuxSmartphone on Twitter and Facebook for the latest news on open source mobile phones.

The post Lilbits: Google Pixel 7, Amazon ruins Comixology, and the second coming of Google Inbox appeared first on Liliputing.

"Maßnahmen haben für Kinder und Jugendliche negative Auswirkungen"

Der von Olaf Scholz und Karl Lauterbach eingesetzte “ExpertInnenrat” fordert “Berücksichtigung des Kindeswohls in der Pandemie”. Der Appell kommt viele Monate zu spät und liefert bis auf den Ruf nach “sozialer Teilhabe” kaum praktikable Empfehlungen

Der von Olaf Scholz und Karl Lauterbach eingesetzte "ExpertInnenrat" fordert "Berücksichtigung des Kindeswohls in der Pandemie". Der Appell kommt viele Monate zu spät und liefert bis auf den Ruf nach "sozialer Teilhabe" kaum praktikable Empfehlungen

Daily Deals (2-18-2022)

It’s a time-honored tradition for retailers in the US to honor the national Presidents’ Day holiday by trying to clear out old inventory with sales. After all, what’s more American than capitalism and consumerism? Anyway, I guess there are worse times to be in the market for a laptop, tablet, TV, or other gadgets and […]

The post Daily Deals (2-18-2022) appeared first on Liliputing.

It’s a time-honored tradition for retailers in the US to honor the national Presidents’ Day holiday by trying to clear out old inventory with sales. After all, what’s more American than capitalism and consumerism?

Anyway, I guess there are worse times to be in the market for a laptop, tablet, TV, or other gadgets and accessories.

Acer Chromebook 311

Here are some of the day’s best deals.

Presidents’ Day sales

Laptops

Tablets 

Digital media

Other

The post Daily Deals (2-18-2022) appeared first on Liliputing.

Google.com tests a busier homepage with a row of info cards

Google Search’s stark, white homepage could be in for some big changes.

Whoa, there are cards at the bottom of the Google homepage!

Enlarge / Whoa, there are cards at the bottom of the Google homepage! (credit: 9to5Google)

Check out this totally wild Google homepage experiment spotted by 9to5Google: the search page suddenly has a row of cards at the bottom. If this design is widely adopted, it would easily be the biggest google.com design change ever.

In the experiment, Google.com has a row of six cards at the bottom of the page. There's weather, trending searches, "what to watch," a stock card, local events, and COVID news. Clicking on a card will either expand it or load a search-results page. There's also a "hide content" switch, which will turn the cards off. All of this seems very similar to the Google.com app, which has a scrollable list of "discover" cards.

One of the reasons Google Search initially became popular was because the search page was plain and easy to use. The competition at the time included search engines like Yahoo and Alta Vista, which presented users with a massive wall of ads and content. Google's starkness was a major differentiator in the early days, and it's interesting to see the company toy with moving a little closer to the days of Yahoo, even if it's presenting a more modern take on the idea.

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These are the hardest Wordle puzzles (so far)

Crunching the Twitter data to find trends in the popular puzzle.

The future is now.

Enlarge / The future is now. (credit: Aurich Lawson | Getty Images)

Anyone who has been on Twitter in recent weeks is probably intimately familiar with the grids of Wordle solutions clogging up everyone's timelines. But those tweets give more information than it would seem. Collecting and analyzing data from millions of these Wordle result tweets can give us some interesting insights into aggregate play patterns and the relative difficulty of daily Wordle puzzles.

The Wordle Stats Twitter account has done a lot of the heavy lifting here. Since January 7, the bot account has used the Twitter API to sort through the public timeline for every tweet formatted as a Wordle result, tracking the total number of players and how many guesses each player needed to complete the puzzle. That account shared its underlying data with Ars to power a deeper analysis of daily play patterns.

This isn't a perfectly random sample of Wordle players, of course—it's limited to the group of players who use Twitter and choose to share their results publicly. The vast majority of what The New York Times said were millions of daily players at the end of January are not reflected here.

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