September 2022 – Page 55 – news.buyenne.com

Why do car companies build concepts? We ask Audi’s product planner

Designers don’t run car companies, so what’s the business reason behind it?

From left to right, the Skysphere, the Grandsphere, and the Urbansphere concept cars.

MONTEREY, CALIF.—Freed from the strictures of road legality legislation, it's obvious what car designers get from making concept cars. But car designers don't run car companies, and in a business with such tight margins, there has to be a financial imperative to bother creating a car that may never see production.

Which there is. Running the gamut from next year's model in a slight disguise all the way through to "none of this exists yet but wouldn't it be cool" flights of fancy, concepts serve as a way to gauge the general public's tastes when it comes to something new. At this year's Quail at Monterey Car Week, I spoke with Filip Brabec, Audi of America's SVP of product management, to get the suits' perspective on concept cars.

The Skysphere's wheelbase grows by 250 mm when it switches into autonomous mode. (credit: Jonathan Gitlin)

Specifically, I wanted to know what the process looks like from the practical side of the business. For example, does the design team arrive with a new concept as a fait accompli? As it turns out, that's not at all how it works.

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Anzeige: Gaming-Monitor von MSI bei Amazon mit knapp 100 Euro Rabatt

Bei Amazon gibt es derzeit Gaming-Monitore von MSI im Sonderangebot. Außerdem: ein Saugroboter von Roborock, Gaming-PCs und mehr. (MSI, Display)

Hidrive: Stratos Cloudspeicher wird günstiger

Während viele Cloudanbieter die Preise für ihre Dienste erhöhen, kostet Cloudspeicher bei Strato künftig weniger. (Cloud-Storage, Storage)

Earthlink Reaches ‘Tentative’ Settlement with Filmmakers to End Piracy Liability Lawsuit

Internet provider Earthlink has reached a tentative settlement with several filmmakers, to end an ongoing piracy liability lawsuit. The rightsholders accused the company of turning a blind eye to piracy and demanded far-reaching measures, which included handing over the identities of alleged pirates. The terms of the settlement remain private but may include a damages component.

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

earthlink A group of litigious filmmakers, headed by Voltage Pictures, is pulling out all the stops to hold Internet providers liable for pirating customers.

The movie companies own the rights to well-known movies such as “Ava”, “I Feel Pretty” and “The Cobbler”, which are publicly shared via BitTorrent. The lawsuits aim to deter this activity.

This month, the filmmakers went after AT&T, Comcast, and Verizon, accusing the companies of turning a blind eye to piracy. These cases were dismissed ‘without prejudice’ last week for unknown reasons but can be refiled at a later stage.

Earthlink

While these major cases were in the spotlight, a lawsuit against the smaller ISP Earthlink went largely unnoticed. This case was filed in June by many of the same filmmakers who accuse the provider of failing to act against repeat infringers.

The legal paperwork includes many of the same allegations. The rightsholders sent numerous piracy notices to the ISP, which allegedly failed to take action against repeat infringers to keep its revenues intact.

“Defendant knew that if it terminated or otherwise prevented repeat infringer subscribers from using it service to infringe, or made it less attractive for such use, Defendant would enroll fewer new subscribers, lose existing subscribers, and ultimately lose revenue,” the complaint reads.

2020 Warning Letter

The lawsuit didn’t come totally out of the blue for Earthlink. In 2020, the filmmakers already reached out to the Internet provider, complaining about widespread copyright infringement. They offered a deal to settle the matter out of court instead.

The letter in question identified the IP addresses of more than 1,100 alleged infringers, including many repeat infringers. In some cases, more than 100 notices were sent for a single IP address, without any meaningful response from Earthlink.

The filmmakers concluded that the ISP is liable for these infringements which could result in millions of dollars in damages. However, they offered Earthlink the option to avoid a lawsuit, as long as it agreed to the following terms.

– Immediately terminate accounts that received more than six piracy warnings
– Take appropriate action against repeat infringers in the future.
– Pay a portion of the alleged piracy damages
– Hand over the subscriber details of alleged pirates

Demands Move to Court

Earthlink never responded to this letter which prompted the filmmakers to take the matter to court. In a complaint filed at a federal court in Georgia in June, many of the previous demands reappeared.

The complaint requests an order that mandates a three-strikes termination policy for alleged pirates, for example. In addition, Earthlink should block access to known pirate sites and disclose the identities of pirating subscribers.

Paired with millions of dollars in potential damages, the stakes are obviously high. This was also apparent to Earthlink, which joined the negotiation table this time around.

Settlement Reached

Last week, both parties informed the court that a “tentative” settlement has been reached.

No details on the settlement negotiations have been released and it’s unknown whether there are any damages payments involved. It is clear, however, that the lawsuit will be dismissed if all details are finalized.

In closing, it’s worth noting that the developments in the Earthlink case are different from the AT&T, Comcast, and Verizon lawsuit. The latter were dismissed without prejudice, without any mention of a settlement.

Whether the filmmakers have any other ISPs in their crosshairs is unknown, but that certainly wouldn’t be a surprise.

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

World’s oldest heart preserved in 380 million-year-old armored fish

“These fish literally have their hearts in their mouths and under their gills.”

Researchers have discovered a 380 million-year-old heart—the oldest ever found—alongside a separate fossilized stomach, intestine, and liver in an ancient jawed fish, shedding new light on the evolution of our own bodies. Credit: Alice Clement/Curtin University

A team of Australian scientists has discovered the world's oldest heart, part of the fossilized remains of an armored fish that died some 380 million years ago. The fish also had a fossilized stomach, liver, and intestine. All the organs were arranged much like similar organs in modern shark anatomy, according to a recent paper published in the journal Science.

As we've reported previously, most fossils are bone, shells, teeth, and other forms of "hard" tissue, but occasionally fossils are discovered that preserve soft tissues like skin, muscles, organs—or even the occasional eyeball. This can tell scientists much about aspects of the biology, ecology, and evolution of such ancient organisms that skeletons alone can't convey.

For instance, earlier this year, researchers created a highly detailed 3D model of a 365 million-year-old ammonite fossil from the Jurassic period by combining advanced imaging techniques, revealing internal muscles that had never been previously observed. Among other findings, the researchers observed paired muscles extending from the ammonite's body, which they surmise the animal used to retract itself further into its shell to avoid predators.

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