Microsoft makes good on a promise that it hopes the FTC, UK notice.
Enlarge/ Can Call of Duty run on the existing Switch? Does Microsoft have inside details on Nintendo's next hardware? Or are we in for some contractually obligated potato skirmishes? (credit: Aurich Lawson)
Microsoft appears to have made good on a promise to offer Call of Duty on Nintendo devices, a move seemingly aimed at calming antitrust concerns about its acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
Microsoft President and Vice-Chair Brad Smith tweeted the news early Tuesday morning, stating that Microsoft had "signed a binding 10-year contract to bring Xbox games to Nintendo's gamers." The contract is "just part of our commitment to bring Xbox games and Activision titles" to "more players on more platforms," Smith wrote.
We’ve now signed a binding 10-year contract to bring Xbox games to Nintendo’s gamers. This is just part of our commitment to bring Xbox games and Activision titles like Call of Duty to more players on more platforms. pic.twitter.com/JmO0hzw1BO
Perhaps most interesting to players (if not regulators) is the official statement embedded in Smith's tweet. The game Call of Duty will arrive on "the same day as Xbox, with full feature and content parity—so they can experience Call of Duty just as Xbox and PlayStation gamers enjoy Call of Duty."
Score big savings on Apple MacBook laptops with M1 or M2 silicon.
Enlarge/ Most of Apple's Mac lineup besides the Mac Pro has been updated recently, like the MacBook Air pictured here. Don't expect to see more of this in March. (credit: Valentina Palladino)
If you're in the market for a new Apple laptop, there are plenty of discounts available. While there are more generous savings with slightly older models, like Apple's M1-powered MacBook Pro, you can still find some solid discounts on Apple's M2-equipped notebooks. These include the new MacBook Air as well as Apple's smaller 13.3-inch MacBook Pro. Those seeking a larger-format Apple notebook, like the 14- or 16-inch Pro, will have to settle for the M1 models if they want to save a bit of money.
The MacBook Pro with M1 is now up to $400 off, making the 16-inch model an excellent all-around laptop for those who don't need the extreme performance that the latest silicon brings. If you're still on the fence on which model is the best fit for your workflow, be sure to check out our Apple MacBook buying guide. The slightly older notebook is still an excellent choice for less-demanding users, casual home computing, and college students on a tight budget. Here are some of the best deals we've spotted for Apple's laptops.
Ars Technica may earn compensation for sales from links on this post through affiliate programs.
Brazil’s Ministry of Justice says that an operation to protect Japanese anime content has shut down two of the largest anime piracy sites in the country. The names of the sites appear to be a secret, so inevitably that makes them much more interesting. What we found may be bigger than naming two sites. More sites are also offline – big ones too.
From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.
‘Operation 404’ is an ongoing law enforcement initiative in Brazil that aims to disrupt the availability of pirated content online.
According to a government announcement, authorities have just shut down “the two biggest digital anime pirate sites” in Brazil as part of Operation 404 offshoot, ‘Operation Anime’.
Operation Anime
Information provided by the Ministry of Justice and Public Security states that Operation Anime was led by the Minas Gerais State Civil Police. The objective was to “repress crimes committed against intellectual property” on the internet, specifically piracy of Japanese cartoons, better known as anime.
“The action is part of a mobilization coordinated by the National Secretariat for Public Security, of the Ministry of Justice and Public Security (Senasp/MJSP), through the Cybernetic Operations Laboratory,” the announcement adds.
The Laboratório de Operações Cibernéticas, as it’s known in Brazil, is more closely associated with the mitigation of cyberattacks than it is piracy. However, since many crimes can have an online component, preventing serious crime and tracking down offenders is also part of the unit’s remit.
“Two Biggest Digital Anime Piracy Sites Taken Down”
The Ministry of Justice notes that the operation received support from the Content Overseas Distribution Association (CODA), an anti-piracy group that helps to protect anime content in Japan and overseas.
The statement indicates a significant operation; search and seizure warrants, blocking and/or suspension of websites, action against content in search engines, and the removal of profiles and pages on social networks.
“During the execution of the warrants, the objective is to seize computer equipment, including: internal HDs, computer devices, which demonstrate the materiality of the crime. The two biggest anime digital piracy sites have been taken down,” the government department adds.
Having supplied an abundance of information relating to who did what, where, and why, the names of the sites claimed to have been shut down are never mentioned, despite being the most important part of the story.
Report on Brazilian TV
The TV report embedded below doesn’t name the sites either but does reveal some details of the operation. Speaking in Portuguese, a police officer says that a target was identified in Arapiraca, the second-largest city in the Alagoas region.
An unnamed 22-year-old computing student is suspected of running a large anime piracy site.
The officer explains that running a piracy site could lead to four years in prison, “and with this regulation here in Alagoas, this young man must be indicted for the crime of piracy.”
Was BetterAnime Targeted?
When Brazilian authorities report Operation 404 successes, they rarely mention specific dates for individual actions. Indeed, there is some evidence to show that sites or applications may have been taken down or blocked over longer periods, weeks or even months.
Given the timing, some believe that BetterAnime.net was taken down as part of Operation Anime. The site enjoyed around six million visits each month, with users mostly complimentary regarding its speed and content selection.
A tweet published on the site’s official Twitter account yesterday confirms the closure of BetterAnime but says it had nothing to do with the government’s announcement.
“[F]or crying out loud. I wasn’t arrested,” the tweet insists.
“It happened to be at the same time. I received a DMCA notice with a ‘request’ to shut down the site. If you don’t comply, the thing could lead to court, etc.”
A message on the now-shuttered site adds the following: “For copyright reasons, the BetterAnime website has been closed down. It was a good journey and full of learning, but the time has come to close the project. Thank you to everyone who has supported us during this time.”
Case solved? Probably not.
Other Sites Targeted Recently?
With around five million visits each month and 95% of its traffic originating from Brazil, Animes-Vision has a similar profile to BetterAnime. Or rather it did, until recently.
A notice on the site confirms that its operators decided to close the platform down “for major and copyright reasons.”
There’s no direct information to confirm any arrests, but in any case, five million visits per month wouldn’t be anywhere near enough to claim the number one or even number two slots taken by the largest anime piracy sites in Brazil.
The recent shutdown of Anbient.com provides few additional clues. With over 60% of its traffic hailing from Brazil but with around 100,000 visits per month, the site simply wasn’t big enough to match the profile mentioned by the authorities.
The shutdown notice displayed on the former anime platform (above) is mostly generic, but in sticky situations, that’s often the case. Especially so when compliance with a cease-and-desist notice offers a much simpler way out.
Two Serious Contenders
Since anime-online.site is completely offline, there’s obviously no notice to report here. The site appears to have been popular in Brazil but with just a few hundred thousand visits per month, it can’t be considered a major player. A site with a similar name can.
Currently offline and displaying a Cloudflare error, animesonline.cc fits the profile perfectly. In December 2022 alone the site had over 20 million visits, and 99% of its traffic originated from Brazil.
The Cloudflare error appears regardless of visitor location but we can’t yet confirm the reasons for the message or the downtime. As far as we’re aware, the site’s downtime is yet to be explained and people are beginning to ask questions.
Interestingly, or potentially entirely coincidentally, the same Cloudflare message also appears on another massively popular anime piracy site.
Animefire.net had 10 million visits in December 2022, and almost 92% of its visitors were from Brazil. It meets the criteria mentioned by the Brazilian government perfectly. It may suddenly reappear online unscathed but that would contradict the government’s claims that the two largest anime piracy sites have been taken down. Stranger things have happened, of course, but there are other things to consider.
Mystery Solved or More Mystery?
While numerous moving parts can distort site popularity, Animes-Online.cc and Animefire.net seem likely to have been the two most popular anime piracy sites in Brazil, at least before they went offline. They may yet return but in the meantime, here’s an interesting coincidence.
With 22.3 million visits in December 2022 and over 99% of its audience coming from Brazil, Mangalivre.net is a hot contender for Brazil’s most popular site for Japanese comics, otherwise known as manga. Right now the site is down and displaying the same Cloudflare error as those on the anime sites. Again, user location seems irrelevant.
After pulling in millions of visitors in December 2022, sites also down and showing exactly the same Cloudflare message include Animeyabu.com and Animesbr.biz.
Other sites in the anime and manga niches appear to be offline too. Given that there are obvious links between some of these sites (and many other sites not even mentioned here), could that mean they’re all experiencing simultaneous but coincidental technical difficulties?
It’s also possible that they’ve all been taken down as a precautionary measure due to the recent actions in Brazil, and will eventually return as if nothing has happened. Or maybe, potentially, the authorities in Brazil – with help from Japan – have hit the jackpot.
Given that not even the names of the sites taken down are being made public, all options remain on the table. Coincidences happen – regularly. We’ll have to sit and wait patiently, just like everyone else.
From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.
Film studios that filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against a cable Internet provider are trying to force Reddit to identify users who posted comments about piracy.
The lawsuit was filed in 2021 against cable company RCN in the US District Court in New Jersey by Bodyguard Productions, Millennium Media, and other film companies over downloads of 34 movies such as Hellboy, Rambo V: Last Blood, Tesla, and The Hitman's Bodyguard. In an attempt to prove that RCN turned a blind eye to users downloading copyrighted movies, the plaintiffs sent a subpoena to Reddit last month seeking identifying information for nine users.
Plaintiffs specifically asked Reddit for "IP address registration and logs from 1/1/2016 to present, name, email address and other account registration information" for nine users. Reddit's response provided at least some information about one user but no information on any of the other eight. According to the film studios, Reddit argued that "the requests for identifying information associated with the additional eight accounts are more in the nature of a fishing expedition and are neither relevant nor permissible under the First Amendment."
Batteries with performance too low for driving can still store a lot of charge.
Enlarge/ Each of those white structures contains lots of batteries that were built for cars. (credit: B2U)
Last week, a company called B2U Storage Solutions announced that it had started operations at a 25 Megawatt-hour battery facility in California. On its own, that isn't really news, as California is adding a lot of battery power. But in this case, the source of the batteries was unusual: Many of them had spent an earlier life powering electric vehicles.
The idea of repurposing electric vehicle batteries has been around for a while. To work in a car, the batteries need to be able to meet certain standards in terms of capacity and rate of discharge, but that performance declines with use. Even after a battery no longer meets the needs of a car, however, it can still store enough energy to be useful on the electric grid. So it was suggested that grid storage might be an intermediate destination between vehicles and recycling.
But there are some significant technical and economic challenges to implementing the idea. So we talked with B2U's CEO, Freeman Hall, to find out why the company decided it was the right time to put the concept into action.
Heads up, everybody: Chrome will start doing stuff to your permanently open tabs. Chrome version 110 is rolling out now, and on Windows, macOS, and Linux, the release comes with the new "Memory Saver" feature that will be automatically enabled. We first wrote about this when it hit the Chrome nightly build "Canary Channel" in December, but now the feature is rolling out to everyone.
Chrome has a reputation for gobbling up RAM, and Google seems to think the best way to combat that is to automatically shut down your tabs when they are "inactive." Google's explanation of the feature says, "When a tab is discarded, its title and favicon still appear in the tab strip but the page itself is gone, exactly as if the tab had been closed normally. If the user revisits that tab, the page will be reloaded automatically." Google says this technique will reduce Chrome's memory usage by "up to 40 percent," which sounds great, as long as it doesn't break anything or cause users to lose the state of their page.
As a support page outlines, Google has some use cases excluded from this feature:
Meet Selene, a new photometric stereo recording prototype. Think of it as 2.5D imaging.
Enlarge/ Bodleian MS. Selden Supra 30 open at pp. 18-19. (credit: John Barrett)
Jessica Hodgson, a graduate student at the University of Leicester, was poring over a medieval manuscript in the Bodleian Libraries' collection at the University of Oxford when she spotted a faint etched inscription on one of the pages. It seemed to spell out the name "Eadburg," but the etching was too faint for full confirmation. So Hodgson turned to John Barrett, technical leader for a recent project at the Bodleian called ARCHiOx (Analyzing and Recording Cultural Heritage in Oxford), for help.
Thanks to the project's prototype photometric stereo recording and 3D scanning systems, Barrett confirmed Hodgson's discovery. The analysis also revealed multiple other etchings of the name "Eadburg" (in both full and abbreviated forms), along with several etched doodles in the margins. Who was Eadburg? Hodgson believes she was a highly educated woman of high status—possibly a female scribe or an abbess—who lived sometime in the early medieval period (between 700 and 750 CE). This latest discovery bolsters a 1935 discovery of the letters "EADB" and "+E+" in the lower margin of another page in the same manuscript, both believed to be abbreviated forms of "Eadburh/Eadburg."
The ARCHiOx Project
The ARCHiOx Project is a partnership between the Bodleian Libraries and the Factum Foundation, set up by Adam Lowe, an artist who trained at Oxford in the 1990s. In 2001, Lowe moved to Madrid to set up what he described to Ars as "a multidisciplinary workshop that's really a playground for artists, where we build bridges between new technologies and traditional skills." By 2009, there was so much interest from various historical projects regarding the group's technologies that Lowe established the Factum Foundation for digital technology and preservation. Today it serves as a research hub for high-resolution, three-dimensional recording of the surfaces of objects housed in museums and institutions around the world—including tombs, paintings, and books and manuscripts like those housed at the Bodleian.
One of the most unpleasant aspects of teaching is grading. Passing judgment on people is never fun, and it’s even less fun when you’ve spent months interacting with those people on a daily basis. Discovering that your students have tried to get a leg up by using an AI chatbot like ChatGPT has made the process even more unpleasant. From a teacher's perspective, it feels a bit like betrayal—I put in all this effort, and you respond by trying to do an end-run around the assessment.
Unfortunately, the bot-writing horse bolted long ago. The stable is not just empty; it's on fire.
So what is the right response to ChatGPT in education? Is there even a single correct response?
Now that laptops with the latest Intel and AMD chips are starting to hit the streets, it’s bargain season on models with previous-gen processors that are, honestly, almost as good in most respects. Case in point: Amazon is running a sale on sele…
Now that laptops with the latest Intel and AMD chips are starting to hit the streets, it’s bargain season on models with previous-gen processors that are, honestly, almost as good in most respects. Case in point: Amazon is running a sale on select laptops from Acer and Asus and, among other things, you can pick […]
Two Russian spacecraft in two months have been struck this way. Supposedly.
Enlarge/ The European robotic arm is seen investigating Soyuz MS-22 after a leak occurred in mid-December. (credit: NASA TV)
Russia's main space corporation, Roscosmos, provided updates on Tuesday about its two spacecraft that recently suffered failures to their cooling systems while attached to the International Space Station.
Although there were several items of note in these updates—which are not readily available to Western audiences due to Russian Internet restrictions—perhaps the most surprising claim is that both the Soyuz MS-22 and Progress MS-21 spacecraft were damaged near their heat radiators by "external impacts." This seems highly improbable, to say the least.
For those who haven't been paying attention to the Russian roulette in space in recent months, here's a summary of what has happened since mid-December:
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