Month: March 2022

Russians are panic-buying medicines amid Western sanctions, boycotts

Pharmas have largely refrained from cutting Russians off, but not everyone agrees.

A woman wearing a face mask leaves a pharmacy in the town of Podolsk some 40 kilometers outside Moscow on November 12, 2021.

Enlarge / A woman wearing a face mask leaves a pharmacy in the town of Podolsk some 40 kilometers outside Moscow on November 12, 2021. (credit: Getty | YURI KADOBNOV )

As Western countries continue to ratchet up sanctions and boycotts against Russia, the country's citizens are panic-buying medicines, such as antidepressants, sleeping pills, and contraceptives, according to Reuters.

Between February 28 and March 13, Russians bought 270.5 million pharmaceutical items worth about $104 billion, according to sales data compiled for the Russian business newspaper Vedomosti. That two weeks' worth of buying was comparable to what Russians bought at pharmacies for the entire month of January, which saw purchases of 280 million pharmaceutical items worth about $100 billion.

The analysis, carried out by Russian analytics company DSM Group, found that demand increased sharply for medicines, including antidepressants, sleeping pills, insulin, cancer and heart drugs, hormones, and contraceptives.

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Court: Null-Routing is Not a Practical Anti-Piracy Measure

A federal court in Florida maintains that there is no reason to believe that hosting company Quadranet is liable for the pirating activities of its VPN customers. A group of filmmakers suggests that the provider could have null-routed IP-addresses, but the court doesn’t see this as a practical or effective measure.

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

blackholeA group of independent film companies has taken the issue of piracy liability to a new level over the past year.

After pursuing lawsuits against file-sharers, pirate site operators, and app developers, they started going after VPN providers and their hosting companies.

This strategy has resulted in a few settlement agreements already. VPN providers Torguard, VPN Unlimited, and VPN.ht all agreed to block torrent traffic on U.S. servers. Hosting company Sharktech did the same and also promised to block popular torrent sites including The Pirate Bay, YTS, and RARBG.

It’s unclear whether any damages were paid as part of any of these settlements. What we do know is that the agreements are now being used as ammunition in other cases, as we previously predicted.

Filmmakers vs. Quadranet

This is also happening in a lawsuit filed by a group of filmmakers against hosting provider Quadranet. The Californian company was not inclined to settle and fought back, with success. Last December, a Florida federal court dismissed the complaint.

The filmmakers’ tried to hold the hosting company accountable for pirating subscribers of VPN companies that hired servers at Quadranet. According to the court, the hosting company didn’t have any straightforward options to stop or control the infringing activities.

The court left no option open to amend the complaint and present new evidence, but the filmmakers were not giving up just yet. They submitted a motion for reconsideration arguing that there is new evidence and sufficient ground to move the case forward.

Null-Routing

Part of the filmmakers’ legal theory is related to the measures that the hosting company could have taken in response to the copyright infringement notices it received. This includes the null-routing of IP-addresses, which makes them unusable, and would stop the infringing activity.

The court previously concluded that this measure would go too far as legitimate VPN users could use the same IP-addresses. In addition, Quadranet would interfere with the relationship between VPN companies and their customers, which makes it an “impermissibly broad measure.”

The filmmakers disagreed. In their motion for reconsideration, they cited statements from VPN provider TorGuard which said that null-routing is a standard practice among some VPN providers. This would not harm other customers.

reconsider

In the motion for reconsideration, they further suggested that the court should not confuse null-routing of an IP address with null-routing an account.

Court Rejects Filmmakers Arguments

This week, Florida District Court Judge Beth Bloom ruled on the motion, which didn’t convince her to drastically change the previous order. Instead, Judge Bloom doubled down on the conclusion that null-routing is not an effective anti-piracy measure in this instance.

“The Court recognizes the technological distinction between null-routing an IP address and null-routing an account that Plaintiffs now seek to emphasize. However, Plaintiffs fail to persuade the Court that null-routing IP addresses is a practical, effective measure,” Judge Bloom wrote.

The TorGuard declaration doesn’t change this and has no bearing on Quadranet, Judge Bloom says. The same is true for the argument that another hosting company, Sharktech, voluntarily chose to block torrent traffic and torrent sites.

“The manner in which Sharktech operates and is willing to implement systems to attempt to block pirating websites is from an unrelated settlement agreement that has no bearing on Quadranet’s ability and alleged obligation to implement similar measures,” Judge Bloom wrote.

After putting aside TorGuard’s statements and Sharktech’s settlement agreement, the court sees no new evidence of measures Quadranet could have taken in response to the alleged copyright infringements.

Not a Practical Anti-Piracy Measure

Even if the TorGuard and Sharktech information was taken into account, the court would still conclude that null-routing isn’t an effective measure. For one, alleged infringers could easily get a new IP-address.

“[A]ssuming for the sake of argument that Quadranet could null-route a specific IP address — static or dynamic — without interfering with other end users’ legitimate use of the same IP address, Quadranet’s actions would be wholly ineffective as the copyright infringer could get a new IP address to continue infringing Plaintiffs’ copyrighted works.

“In other words, null-routing an IP address or an account is not a practical measure to police infringing activity,” Judge Bloom adds.

bloom order

All in all, the court sees no reason to amend its earlier conclusion that the filmmakers failed to allege that Quadranet has the practical ability to police infringing activities of third parties. In addition, the motion for reconsideration was denied on other grounds as well.

The only part of the motion that was granted is the request to remove several companies, including After Productions, SF Film, and Hunter Killer Productions from the list of plaintiffs.

While the order is clearly a setback for the filmmakers, it also comes with a silver lining.

Filmmakers Demand Millions from LiquidVPN

Now that the claims against Quadranet and Torguard have been dismissed, they can go ahead with the motion for default judgment against LiquidVPN. The court previously denied this motion, as it could lead to inconsistent judgments, as the claims against the other defendants were still pending.

The filmmakers didn’t waste any time. Yesterday, they filed their motion for a default judgment against LiquidVPN, which failed to defend itself in court. Among other things, the companies request $9,900,000 in damages for the copyright infringement of 66 works and $4,950,000 for violating the DMCA by altering copyright management information.

On top of those and other damages, the filmmakers also request that LiquidVPN, whose homepage disappeared months ago, starts blocking popular torrent sites including The Pirate Bay, RARBG, and 1337x.

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A copy of District Court Judge Beth Bloom’s order is available here (pdf) and the filmmakers’ request for a default judgment against LiquidVPN can be found here (pdf)

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

Google’s next smart display rumored to be a detachable tablet

But which of Google’s three smart display OSes will it run? Cast OS? Android? Fuchsia?

The 2nd Gen Nest Hub.

Enlarge / The 2nd Gen Nest Hub. (credit: Corey Gaskin)

Google's second-generation Nest Hub smart display is a year old, so it's time to wonder if a new hardware release is around the corner. 9to5Google has a new rumor to consider: Google is "working on a new Nest Hub for 2022 with a dockable tablet form factor where the screen detaches from a base/speaker." The site didn't provide further details, but the idea would fit in Google's recent product plan.

Since its inception, Google Assistant hardware has essentially copied Amazon's Echo line. The original Google Home speaker released two years after the Amazon Echo. The Home Mini came out a year and a half after the Echo Dot. The Google Home Hub smart display hit the market a year after the Echo Show. Google Assistant smart clocks launched a year and a half after the Echo Spot. The lack of hardware innovation from Google isn't a huge deal since Google is generally considered to have a better voice command system, but it's pretty clear where Google goes shopping for a product roadmap.

And, of course, Amazon has a whole line of tablets that turn into smart displays. In 2018, the company built smart display functionality into Fire OS, Amazon's fork of Android. Whenever you stick an Amazon tablet into one of the official docks, it automatically transitions into smart display mode. Google experimented with an "ambient mode" for Android phones a year and a half after Amazon's launch (Google's timing is remarkably consistent), but the feature was initially only available on specific third-party phones. Ambient mode did not make it to devices like the Pixel 6. The feature also doesn't make much sense on phones, which generally aren't readable from across the room. Smart displays typically are. A tablet ambient mode would have been better, but Google's launch in 2019 was during a dead period for Android tablets.

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Gran Turismo 7 will rejigger its game economy after backlash

Every existing player will also get a million in-game credits.

Don't let <em>GT7</em>'s grind rain on your parade, the economy is being fixed.

Enlarge / Don't let GT7's grind rain on your parade, the economy is being fixed. (credit: Sony)

When Gran Turismo 7 launched earlier this month, it was no surprise that the game's economy was not exactly forgiving. But displeasure among players boiled over a couple of weeks later after a bungled update took down the game servers—and therefore basically the entire game—for more than a day.

Now, the head of Polyphony Digital, Kazunori Yamauchi, has published a post at the PlayStation blog to apologize to players and let them know the studio has been listening:

I would like to apologize for the frustration and confusion caused last week with our patch updates which resulted in not only a server outage but also adjustments to the in-game economy which were made without a clear explanation to our community.

Every player who had a copy of the game by the time the post went live in the early hours of Friday morning will, at some point in the very near future, find an extra million in-game credits in their account as a goodwill gesture.

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Lilbits: What Europe’s antitrust crackdown on big tech could mean for users around the globe

The European Union is poised to adopt new antitrust rules for the biggest tech companies that could have widespread consequences for online advertising, app stores, and interoperability of messaging apps. Imagine being able to install a third-party app store on an iPhone, for example, or use Signal to send messages to your contacts who only […]

The post Lilbits: What Europe’s antitrust crackdown on big tech could mean for users around the globe appeared first on Liliputing.

The European Union is poised to adopt new antitrust rules for the biggest tech companies that could have widespread consequences for online advertising, app stores, and interoperability of messaging apps. Imagine being able to install a third-party app store on an iPhone, for example, or use Signal to send messages to your contacts who only use WhatsApp or iMessage.

While the rules would only cover the European Union, the would require the world’s largest tech companies to make significant changes that could eventually roll out to other regions… especially since Europe tends to be the global leader in regulating tech, with other countries (or individual states in the US) often following suit. For example, California’s CCPA privacy regulations were enacted several years after the EU approved the GDPR.

In other recent tech news, days after releasing the first alpha of Asahi Linux for Macs with M1 processors, developers have enabled support for the one Apple Silicon chip that hadn’t yet been supported: the new M1 Ultra. Analysts report that Apple is planning to launch a 15 inch thin and light Mac which may or may not be called the MacBook Air 15. Android 13 looks like it has some changes that could make it a good fit for Google Nest Hub-style smart displays that also work as detachable tablets. Vivo is showing off what its new tablet will look like. New Fitbit devices are likely on the way. And while some independent developers are keeping Google’s first-gen Pixel phones useful via custom ROMs, others are working on GNU/Linux distributions for mobile phones, like Nemo Mobile, which is a community-driven continuation of projects like MeeGo, Maemo, and Moblin.

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

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: What Europe’s antitrust crackdown on big tech could mean for users around the globe appeared first on Liliputing.

Mac Mini + iPad Mini = touchscreen Mac

No keyboard or mouse, though.

The device has a touchscreen instead of an integrated keyboard and touchpad.

Enlarge / The device has a touchscreen instead of an integrated keyboard and touchpad. (credit: Scott Yu-Jan/YouTube)

Measuring 7.7 x 7.7 x 1.4 inches and weighing 2.6 pounds, the Mac Mini is more portable than most desktops. But in order to use it at, for example, a café, you also need to carry some sort of display. Instead of relegating desktop-level work to, well, the top of the desk, one maker has taken matters into his own hands. The "Portable Mac Mini," as he calls it, is supposed to make it easier to work with the Mac Mini anywhere. It also creates a pseudo-Mac laptop with a handy feature that Apple doesn't offer in its real clamshells.

Although the Portable Mac Mini that YouTuber Scott Yu-Jan created has a display you can angle and folds shut like a laptop, it has to be plugged in, and it doesn't have a built-in physical keyboard.

However, the computer does have a screen attached: a 2021 iPad Mini. The tablet brings touch functionality to the Mac Mini via Duet Display, an app that basically turns iPads or iPhones into second screens. Apple doesn't make any MacBooks with touchscreens, so the result here is a maker-made exclusive.

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Huawei: Eine Antenne für alle Frequenzen der Netzbetreiber

Die technische Entwicklung ist inzwischen der Konkurrenz zwischen den Mobilfunkbetreiber weit voraus. Huawei, erklärt seine neuen RAN-Sharing-Antennen. (Huawei, Handy)

Die technische Entwicklung ist inzwischen der Konkurrenz zwischen den Mobilfunkbetreiber weit voraus. Huawei, erklärt seine neuen RAN-Sharing-Antennen. (Huawei, Handy)

EU announces Big Tech crackdown, demands interoperability between platforms

Lawmakers agree on Digital Markets Act to regulate Big Tech; final votes still pending.

A European Union flag blowing in the wind.

Enlarge (credit: Getty Images | SimpleImages)

European regulators have agreed on a Digital Markets Act that would impose a variety of new requirements on Big Tech companies classified as "gatekeepers." Final votes on the legislation are still pending.

"The text provisionally agreed by Parliament and Council negotiators targets large companies providing so-called 'core platform services' most prone to unfair business practices, such as social networks or search engines, with a market capitalization of at least 75 billion euro or an annual turnover of 7.5 billion," a European Parliament announcement said yesterday. "To be designated as 'gatekeepers,' these companies must also provide certain services such as browsers, messengers, or social media, which have at least 45 million monthly end users in the EU and 10,000 annual business users."

Google, Apple, Amazon, Facebook owner Meta, and Microsoft would apparently have to comply with the new rules. "The Digital Markets Act puts an end to the ever-increasing dominance of Big Tech companies. From now on, they must show that they also allow for fair competition on the Internet," said Andreas Schwab, a member of the European Parliament from Germany and rapporteur for Parliament's Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee.

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Software can design proteins that inhibit proteins on viruses

The software takes a protein’s structure and designs proteins that stick to it.

Image of a complex arrangement of colored ribbons.

Enlarge / The three-dimensional structures of proteins provide many opportunities for specific interactions. (credit: Getty Images)

Thanks in part to the large range of shapes they can adopt and the chemical environments those shapes create, proteins can perform an amazing number of functions. But there are many proteins we wish didn't function quite so well, like the proteins on the surfaces of viruses that let them latch on to new cells or the damaged proteins that cause cancer cells to grow uncontrollably.

Ideally, we'd like to block the key sites on these proteins, limiting their ability to do harm. We've seen some progress in this area with the introduction of a number of small-molecule drugs, including one that appears effective against COVID-19. But that sort of drug development often results in chemicals that, for one reason or another, don't make effective drugs.

Now, researchers have announced that they have created software that can design a separate protein that will stick to a target protein and potentially block its activity. The software has been carefully designed to minimize the processing demands of a computationally complex process, and the whole thing benefits from our ability to do large-scale validation tests using molecular biology.

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