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The ROMA Laptop is the first notebook computer powered by a RISC-V processor. First announced this summer, it’s now available for purchase from Alibaba for $1,499 and up. Sort of. At this point the manufacturer only plans to ship around 100 unit…
The ROMA Laptop is the first notebook computer powered by a RISC-V processor. First announced this summer, it’s now available for purchase from Alibaba for $1,499 and up. Sort of. At this point the manufacturer only plans to ship around 100 units by the end of the year and up to 1,000 more in the […]
The post The first laptop with a RISC-V processor goes on sale (in limited quantities) appeared first on Liliputing.
A fake law firm is currently sending emails to sites, many of them linked to mental health issues, claiming that copyright infringements have been found and need to be rectified. Recipients are told that by including a credit and a link to a domain, no further action will be taken. The entire scheme is a massive scam but could be facing its last few hours of life.
From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.
For website operators trying to get information into the public eye, the last thing they need are legal threats claiming that they’ve infringed someone’s copyrights.
Copyright lawsuits have a reputation of being expensive to defend so, when threatened, most people take the easiest way out. A new wave of copyright complaints being sent out right now offer an extremely easy off-ramp for supposed infringers. That’s because the scammers behind it actually want people to take that route.
In March 2022, Richard Byrne of freetech4teachers.com uncovered a scam in which website operators were informed by supposed law firm Arthur Davidson Legal that they’d infringed copyright in an image and a lawsuit could follow. However, if the recipient simply linked to a domain and posted a credit on their site, the matter would be closed.
A similar scam optimistically targeted TorrentFreak last year but a couple of articles in response are unlikely to stop these schemes from spreading and claiming even more victims.
In a new article this week, Richard Byrne reports on an email sent to him by another fake law firm, this time calling itself ‘Nationwide Legal’ [nationwidelaw[D0T]org]. The email doesn’t mention Byrne by name (a red flag in itself) but attempts to achieve the same goals: link to a site, credit the ‘source’, and Byrne won’t get sued for copyright infringement.
The image referenced in the email as being the original, copyrighted image, is suspiciously hosted on Imgur. It took us less than 20 seconds to find that the image is offered on Pixabay and marked ‘Free for commercial use’ and ‘No attribution required’.
There is no copyright infringement and the scammers know it.
These scams have just one initial goal in mind – to have as many domains as possible link to a specific domain in order to increase its perceived value in the eyes of search engines. This time the scammers are attempting to drive traffic to [briandcruzhypnoplus[D0T]com], which claims to represent the business of a UK-based hypnotherapist called Brian D’Cruz.
As the screenshot below shows, reputable third-party sites are already falling for this bogus credit-and-link scam.
The [briandcruzhypnoplus[D0T]com] domain that people are being pressured to credit and link to was registered on January 1, 2022, and supposedly carries business information related to Brian D’Cruz and his hypnotherapy practice.
It will come as little surprise that there is nothing straightforward about the website or the person it claims to represent. But before we dive down the rabbit hole, let’s take a look at who this campaign has been targeting.
One of the metrics used by search engines to determine the value of external links pointing to a domain is whether the content on the linking sites (those who received a fake DMCA notice) is relevant to the content on the target site, in this case the bogus hypnotherapy site.
From the available information, it appears the scammers are mostly focusing on sites covering mental illness and medical illnesses affecting the mind, such as dementia and Alzheimer’s. Given that they now all contain links to the scam hypnotherapy site, they aren’t hard to find.
Some of the sites targeted are listed below. The article title appears first with a link to the source page, which at the time of writing carry credits and links back to the bogus hypnotherapy site.
Trauma-Informed Pedagogy – Barnard College / Columbia University
Health and Counselling Services – Bard College Berlin
Occupational Therapists and Mental Health Interventions – Moving With H.O.P.E
In Grief: Nursing Student Struggle With Father Loss – Grief Healing Blog
Exhaustion and Overwhelm – Buddhistdoor Global
New Ai-Based Algorithm to Detect Brain Bleeds – NoCamels
Mental Health During Crises Like Covid 19 – Safe Communities Portugal
“Effective Treatment” for Alzheimer’s – EyesOnALZ
We Can Do Better – Association for the Chronically Mentally Ill
What is a Mental Health Crisis? – Jonathan’s Voice (UK-based mental health charity)
The above list is nowhere near comprehensive and appears to be growing over time.
Identifying who is behind these scams is never easy but with the right tools and patience, shining light on the mechanisms is entirely possible. With that in mind, it’s worth drawing brief attention to Brian D’Cruz, who has been thrust into the spotlight (whether he likes it or not) thanks to this campaign. It turns out that Mr. D’Cruz, whoever he is, is a useful conduit towards finding additional information.
From everything we’ve seen thus far, Brian D’Cruz does exist. As the bogus website clearly states, he practices hypnotherapy in the south of England, or did at one point. However, if one cross-references the name Brian D’Cruz with listings on the General Hypnotherapy Register, the scammers’ website isn’t the one listed.
In fact, the listing links D’Cruz to BeyondBoundariesHypnotherapy.com, an apparently dead site that carries much of the same information as the new one published in January. A copy from the Wayback Machine also reveals that the photographs of the therapist are drastically different when compared across sites, an indication of a deliberate switch.
Given that the email address available for Brian D’Cruz is linked to the now lost ‘Beyond Boundaries’ domain, contacting him there was impossible. However, we were able to establish that the original ‘Beyond Boundaries’ domain was created a number of years ago and registered to a Sam D’Cruz.
As the archive copy of the Beyond Boundaries website on the Wayback Machine clearly shows in the footer, the site was created by web design/SEO company i New Media. Sam is currently registered on their ‘friends’ page and appears to have strong connections with the company.
At the time of writing, we are yet to receive any reply from Sam following our requests for comment. We haven’t received any response from I-New Media either. That is a real shame, considering how many questions we have.
According to its website, I New Media offers Search Engine Optimization (SEO) services, as many companies do. However, we were surprised to learn that the company is also receiving backlinks from sites that appear to credit them for ownership of images they do not hold the rights to.
For example, there is this piece on the website WeGrowValue.com, where an image is credited to the company for no apparent reason. Alongside there is a link back to the URL i-newmedia.com/media.
This next example of a credit-and-link back to I-New Media provides more irony than anyone could’ve hoped for.
Lewis Silkin is a major international law firm with undoubted skills in all areas of law, copyright included. In fact, Lewis Silkin worked in the UK to help identify alleged BitTorrent pirates so that they could receive a letter in the mail from rightsholders alleging copyright infringement. Of course recipients could choose to settle their cases by taking positive action, in that case paying a settlement.
In this case it appears that Lewis Silkin received a demand to link back to I-New Media and under the threat of a copyright lawsuit, decided to comply with the scammers.
Other sites crediting I-New Media for image content they don’t own include:
What is Social Media Marketing? – GetSocialGuide.com
Social Media Use May Contribute to Sleep Deprivation – HealthTechInsider.com
A Quick Guide To Tracking Social Media Followers – Bad Rhino Inc.
There are many more instances of sites crediting and linking back to I-New Media but the missing link is why they chose to do that. Did they do it under duress or perhaps they have a relationship with the company and did it willingly?
At this point it’s worth referring back to the email received by Richard Byrne of freetech4teachers.com. We mentioned it at the start of this article and it’s the reason we embarked on this mission. The email was sent by Nationwide Legal’s ‘trademark department’, it mentioned the DMCA, and warned that a copyright lawsuit might follow in the event of non-compliance. So we started contacting people who linked back to I-New Media to find out what prompted them to do that.
We received a number of responses and they all told the same story. An unsolicited email claiming copyright infringement in images instructed them to credit I-New Media and link back to a specific URL. In return, past and future ‘infringements’ would be ignored and no lawsuit would follow.
As mentioned earlier, we requested comment from Sam D’Cruz and I-New Media but neither responded. That means we cannot get answers to some of these other questions either, which is a disappointment given the circumstances.
Given that the scammy hypnotherapist website was copied from a website that I-New Media originally designed, we wanted to clarify the facts with the company. Is that one of those one-in-a-million coincidences that happen every now and again, or is there another explanation?
Equally, is it a coincidence that a person called Sam D’Cruz, who does work for I-New Media, is not only recorded as the domain registrant for the original hypnotherapy site, but also shares the same uncommon surname as the hypnotherapist? Stranger things have happened but we wanted to clear that up too.
So given the links above, coincidental or not, what are the chances of the exact same scammy law firm sending out identical legal threats to drive traffic to the bogus hypnotherapy site, while apparently doing exactly the same for I-New Media’s website too? Or is I-New Media an unfortunate victim in all of this?
These are questions that need to be answered but as we said, our emails aren’t being answered. If they were, we’d also ask about another coincidence. It concerns the choice of hosting for the I-New Media website and that of the scammy hypnotherapist website.
Domain names and ages aside, their WHOIS reports look exactly the same and even though the IP address points to shared hosting used by a large number of other websites, there are an extraordinary number of IP addresses available online where one site (or the other) could’ve been located instead.
Throwing in the exact same DNS server for both domains on top of this IP address coincidence seems mathematically extraordinary but what will happen next is unknown.
TorrentFreak is informed that at least one of the companies targeted with a fake DMCA notice is already consulting its legal team and we wouldn’t be surprised if others were considering their options too.
From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.
HP is running a sale that lets you save an extra 5 to 10% when you use the coupons 5HPDays and 10HPDays on select products priced $599+ or $1099+ respectively. Meanwhile with the Microsoft Surface Pro 9 set to launch next week, Microsoft is offering S…
HP is running a sale that lets you save an extra 5 to 10% when you use the coupons 5HPDays and 10HPDays on select products priced $599+ or $1099+ respectively. Meanwhile with the Microsoft Surface Pro 9 set to launch next week, Microsoft is offering Surface Pro 8 tablets for up to $412 off. And […]
The post Daily Deals (10-04-2022) appeared first on Liliputing.
All the goodies from the sedan plus more headroom and an optional third row.
Enlarge / After the sedan came the SUV: the 2023 Mercedes-Benz EQS SUV. (credit: Jonathan Gitlin)
DENVER, Colo.—Mercedes-Benz isn't really hanging around when it comes to new electric vehicles, all launched under the new Mercedes-EQ sub-brand. It has electrified its popular little crossover, the GLB, to create the EQB, which does everything the gas-powered car does, but much more efficiently. But it has also built an entirely new EV-specific platform called EVA2, for larger, more premium Mercedes EVs. The first of those hit the road last year—its flagship EQS sedan—followed by a slightly smaller, slightly cheaper follow-up called the EQE sedan.
But big sedans don't sell anything like the way they used to, particularly here in North America. No, Americans want SUVs, particularly if they're looking for a big luxury one, as determined by the sheer number of Mercedes GLSes I see when I visit California. Mercedes is wise to this, and EVA2 is designed to make SUVs and sedans—as is the case with the 2023 EQS SUV. In fact, Mercedes is so confident of US market sales for the EQS SUV, it builds them in Alabama so they don't have to be imported.
The EQS SUV is 201.8 inches (5,126 mm) long, 77.1 inches (1,958 mm) wide and 67.6 inches (1,717 mm) tall. (credit: Jonathan Gitlin)
Mercedes' first big electric SUV comes to America in three flavors, each with an identical 107.8 kWh usable battery capacity. The $104,400 EQS 450+ SUV features a single rear-mounted, permanently excited synchronous motor, outputting 355 hp (265 kW) and 419 lb-ft (568 Nm) of torque. This is also the longest-legged EQS SUV, using its 107.8 kWh to travel 305 miles (490 km) thanks to a very slippery drag coefficient—for an SUV—of just 0.26. Unfortunately, it didn't have any of these variants in Denver for us to drive.
In the limited hearing, the judge will weigh alleged government misconduct.
Enlarge / Elizabeth Holmes, founder of Theranos Inc., arrives at federal court in San Jose, California, on Thursday, September 1. (credit: Getty | Bloomberg)
On the brink of sentencing for her four fraud convictions in January, disgraced Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes will get a new evidentiary hearing in which the judge in the criminal case will weigh "limited, but serious" allegations that government prosecutors manipulated testimony from a key witness, former Theranos lab director Adam Rosendorff.
The new evidentiary hearing is scheduled for October 17, the day on which Holmes was previously set to be sentenced. Her sentencing is now delayed, with rescheduling possible between November and January.
The new evidentiary hearing stems from an unusual incident in August, in which an allegedly distraught Rosendorff showed up at Holmes' home to try to talk with her. According to court documents, Rosendorff first called Holmes' lawyer at around 5 pm on August 8 and left a voicemail in which he asked for an arranged meeting with Holmes at her house. The lawyer has a recording of the voicemail. An hour or so after leaving that message, Rosendorff—having not heard back from the lawyer—showed up at Holmes' home. Holmes did not speak with Rosendorff, but her partner, William Evans, did.
Parliament approves USB-C rule for 2024, mulls wireless charging interoperability.
Enlarge / EU's USB-C charging mandate is moving forward across 13 device cateogories (credit: Getty)
The European Union is moving forward with legislation requiring USB-C charging on a variety of consumer electronics. Today, the EU Parliament formally approved the agreement that it and the EU Council agreed upon in September. The EU Council has to formally approve the agreement next, and it will then be published in the EU's Official Journal.
The Parliament's announcement confirmed a timeline and additional affected device categories. The legislation requires a USB-C port on all phones, tablets, digital cameras, headphones, headsets, earbuds, portable speakers, handheld video game consoles, e-readers, keyboards, mice, and navigation systems that are sold in the EU, use wired charging, and support power delivery of up to 100 W "by the end of 2024," the Parliament said.
Laptops will have to have USB-C charging "from spring 2026," the announcement said.
Nest’s Wifi Pro has all the latest standards and not as much Google-y ecosystem.
Enlarge / The four Nest Wifi Pro colors you can buy for your bird's-egg-style connectivity. From left: Linen, Snow, Fog, Lemongrass. (credit: Google)
Google's Nest Wifi Pro system, previously seen at the Federal Communications Commission and in accidental retail listings, has been made official. The system expands the wireless powers of a Nest mesh system and adds Thread and Matter support, but it can't work with older Nest Wifi hardware.
The big upgrade in the Pro system is Wi-Fi 6E, which makes use of newer spectrum space in the 6–7 GHz band, along with the common 2.4 and 5 GHz bands. For those living in a crowded Wi-Fi environment, 6E could mean better, faster connections, though at reduced range and with less wall and floor penetration than 2.4 GHz. If you have very new devices that work with Wi-Fi 6E, you'll immediately see the change. For most of us, at the moment, 6E is more future-proofing than signal-boosting, though each device that uses the newer standard takes some load off the network.
Google says that Nest Wifi Pro's router unit ($199) can cover up to 2,200 square feet per piece, which is 200 questionable feet more than the Eero Pro 6E and has a theoretical top speed of 5.4Gbps. Notably, each Wifi Pro piece comes with two 1 Gbps Ethernet ports, not just the router, allowing for both wired backhaul between multiple units and for connecting select devices via Ethernet (likely with the addition of a network switch). That's an improvement over the prior Wi-Fi 5-based Nest Wifi, which was an otherwise all-around decent performer in our benchmark testing.
The developer behind the Simple Mobile Tools suite of open source Android apps are now taking pre-orders for their first phone. As promised, the Simple Phone is a phone that emphasizes privacy by shipping with a de-Googled version of Android called Si…
The developer behind the Simple Mobile Tools suite of open source Android apps are now taking pre-orders for their first phone. As promised, the Simple Phone is a phone that emphasizes privacy by shipping with a de-Googled version of Android called SimpleOS. It comes with Simple Mobile’s phone dialer, calendar, clock, contacts, music player, and […]
The post Simple Phone is a €399 Google-free Android phone with Simple Mobile Apps (and a 4-year-old processor) appeared first on Liliputing.
Musk wants to avoid trial, told Twitter he’ll complete deal at original price.
Enlarge / Elon Musk arrives for the 2022 Met Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 2, 2022, in New York. (credit: Getty Images | Angela Weiss)
Elon Musk has told Twitter he is once again willing to buy the company at the originally agreed-upon price, according to a Bloomberg News report.
"Elon Musk is proposing to buy Twitter Inc. for the original offer price of $54.20 a share... Musk made the proposal in a letter to Twitter, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified discussing confidential information," Bloomberg wrote.
The Wall Street Journal subsequently reported that Musk's "lawyers communicated the proposal to Twitter's lawyers overnight Monday and filed a letter confidentially with the Delaware Chancery Court ahead of an emergency hearing on the matter scheduled for Tuesday."
Project Polaris wird eine Witcher-Saga, Orion das nächste Cyberpunk 2077 und Hadar etwas ganz Neues: CD Projekt hat seine Pläne vorgestellt. (CD Projekt, Rollenspiel)
Project Polaris wird eine Witcher-Saga, Orion das nächste Cyberpunk 2077 und Hadar etwas ganz Neues: CD Projekt hat seine Pläne vorgestellt. (CD Projekt, Rollenspiel) 
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