Just another news site
Deutschland beteiligt sich am Bau von Spionage-Ballons und Luftschiffen für militärische Zwecke, um den Mangel an Aufklärungstechnologie in Europa zu beheben. (Militär, Politik)
Founder will open a 25-year bottle of Scotch and chat about its history and future.
Enlarge / Curling, like the cURL project, requires precision and is underappreciated.
When you first start messing with the command line, it can feel like there's an impermeable wall between the local space you're messing around in and the greater Internet. On your side, you've got your commands and files, and beyond the wall, there are servers, images, APIs, webpages, and more bits of useful, ever-changing data. One of the most popular ways through that wall has been cURL, or "client URL," which turns 25 this month.
The cURL tool started as a way for programmer Daniel Stenberg to let Internet Chat Relay users quickly fetch currency exchange rates while still inside their chat window. As detailed in an archived history of the project, it was originally built off an existing command-line tool, httpget, built by Rafael Sagula. A 1.0 version was released in 1997, then changed names to urlget by 2.0, as it had added in GOPHER, FTP, and other protocols. By 1998, the tool could upload as well as download, and so version 4.0 was named cURL.
Over the next few years, cURL grew to encompass nearly every Internet protocol, work with certificates and encryption, offer bindings for more than 50 languages, and be included in most Linux distributions and other systems. The cURL project now encompasses both the command-line command itself and the libcurl library. In 2020, the project's history estimated the command and library had been installed in more than 10 billion instances worldwide.
Tech-focused lender faced deposit outflows, failed late attempt to raise new capital.
Enlarge / Signage outside Silicon Valley Bank headquarters in Santa Clara, California, US, on Thursday, March 9, 2023. SVB Financial Group bonds are plunging alongside its shares after the company moved to shore up capital after losses on its securities portfolio and a slowdown in funding. Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images (credit: Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Silicon Valley Bank was shuttered by US regulators on Friday after a rush of deposit outflows and a failed effort to raise new capital called into question the future of the tech-focused lender.
With about $209 billion in assets, SVB has become the second-largest bank failure in US history after the 2008 collapse of Washington Mutual, and marks a swift fall from grace for a lender that was valued at more than $44 billion less than 18 months ago.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the US regulator that guarantees bank deposits of up to $250,000, said it was closing SVB and that insured depositors would have access to their funds by Monday.
From the kids who tell tales in class to the weasel-like characters depicted in TV crime shows, ‘snitches’ have a perpetual image problem. A recent UK government survey cautiously sought opinions on whether ‘grassing’ on pirates may have potential as part of a public campaign. When that might happen is unknown, but not this year; people have suffered enough.
From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.
After reading hundreds of copyright reports, anti-piracy studies, lobbying documents, and submissions to government and law enforcement agencies, anything that strays from the norm tends to stand out.
Last month the Industry Trust For IP published ‘Taking a Whole Society Approach to Infringement in the UK’, a report promoting ‘collaboration’ and ‘understanding’ to reduce piracy levels in the UK.
Our initial article focused on just one item in the report but something much more fundamental ran throughout. A pleasant surprise, even.
There is no such thing as a friendly anti-piracy report, the topic immediately rules that out, but the language and tone in the Industry Trust’s publication is interestingly close. Considering that companies behind the Industry Trust include Sony, Universal, Disney, and Warner, not to mention Sky, Premier League and the Federation Against Copyright Theft, that seemed a little unusual.
Familiar themes are present – calls for tech platforms to do more and hosts to implement ‘Know Your Customer’ regimes to help identify pirates, for example. However, forceful language such as “must be required to implement X’ and ‘should be prevented from doing Y’ are mostly replaced by scenarios where various entities ‘could’ be a real help if they did A, B or C.
Policymakers could update the UK Policy framework with due diligence protocols for intermediaries providing commercial services to online businesses
Technology companies could support enforcement efforts by introducing improved customer identification and verification
Technology companies could implement technical measures that introduce greater friction into infringement journeys
This type of language and tone certainly fits the overall sentiment of a collaborative campaign but also unusual enough to warrant a closer look.
Whether by pure coincidence or otherwise, the government appears to have concluded that aggressive messaging over online piracy may “seem at odds” with the “cooperative tone” that it considers “advisable in communications this year.”
It’s hard to say whether the Industry Trust’s recent report should be viewed as a product of government advice or independently prudent, but these themes are under discussion at government level.
The Intellectual Property Office’s ‘Online Copyright Infringement Tracker’ is an annual survey of the latest trends in copyright infringement. Covering consumption habits in 2022, the most recent ‘Wave 12’ report is as detailed as ever but also carries some initially overlooked information.
One of the aims of the annual survey is to identify ‘behavior change’ opportunities. In 2022, this was achieved by way of an ‘Online Community’, a week-long internet-based series of guided activities in which participants interacted with each other and discussion moderators, the government says.
Participants in the community were presented with historical and potential campaigns, some linked to piracy and some not, in order to assess “attitudes towards infringement and behavior change campaigns.”
Unmoved by the colloquialisms of the masses, the government doesn’t use the word ‘snitch’ or the British variant, ‘grass’. Instead, the word ‘report’ is used when referring to citizens reporting fellow citizens to the authorities for alleged infringement.
The questions posed to the ‘Online Community’ aren’t detailed in the report but, to be blunt, the first seems to have been ‘Did you know you could grass on a neighbor or family member for piracy?’ As it turns out, people were generally unaware that they could.
“Across the community, many said they were not aware that they could report others for IP infringement. Generally, they felt it was not a fact that was well known in general,” the study found.
“It was not seen as something which necessarily concerned participants because many felt that others they knew also accessed content this way or that no one would realistically have reason to report them.”
“Asked whether they would report someone for infringing, most said they would not and stated various reasons,” the report continued, listing three main reasons as follows:
– There would be no benefit to themselves of reporting someone
– It would seem hypocritical if they used unofficial sources themselves/there could be danger of vindictive behaviour against them
– The police have higher priorities to be dealing with than IP crime
While these responses are entirely predictable, the questions behind them illustrate the disconnect between how ‘regular’ people tend to think and how the government thinks people think.
As the first response highlights, people are generally motivated by some kind of benefit. The proposition as it stands seems to entail doing unpaid anti-piracy work. In practical terms, fill in a form on our new website telling us everything you know but sorry, “we can’t promise to get back to you.” No feedback mechanism or obvious benefit isn’t a great motivator.
Response two speaks for itself; people who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones because it might not be long before their own windows need to be replaced. As motivational feedback mechanisms go, that couldn’t be more negative.
As for response three, the notion that police have resources to deal with online piracy but hardly any to tackle burglaries or car thefts would not be well received. Asking the public to make their own situation worse by reporting people they actually know would be extraordinary.
However, when framed slightly differently, some in the ‘Online Community’ were more positive about the proposal.
According to the government study, when the Online Community were asked whether they would consider incorporating the fact that someone could report another individual into a campaign, the subject of deterrent messaging was seen as a plus.
“[S]ome felt this could be an opportunity as it might deter some people who were thinking about infringing for the first time or were nervous about it,” the report notes.
The big question is whether any of the above will find its way into a future campaign. An even bigger question is whether the government would be prepared to be the ‘face’ of this type of messaging or whether those in the background who stand to benefit have enough confidence to put their own brands on the line.
At least for now, it seems likely that 2023 will come and go without any big moves. The government doesn’t seem excited about this type of campaign in the current climate, despite the positive feedback on potential deterrent messaging.
“Yet, it would be worthwhile to consider the cooperative tone which is advisable in communications this year given the current circumstances and whether such a message would seem at odds with this ethos,” the government added in a soothing, non-confrontational tone.
During lockdown UK citizens were encouraged to report neighbors to the police for breaking social distancing laws. While that would’ve amounted to a crime, police didn’t like the idea. The public didn’t either, but that didn’t stop hundreds of thousands reporting neighbors to the authorities.
The report is available here
Image credit: Pixabay/geralt
From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.
Streaming still accounts for 84% of music revenue, but vinyl is having a moment.
(credit: Sony)
Sales of vinyl records have been on the rise for years, but according to the RIAA's 2022 year-end revenue report for the music industry (PDF), record sales hit a new high last year. For the first time since 1987, unit sales of vinyl albums outpaced those of CDs, vindicating all the people who have spent decades of their lives talking about how vinyl "just sounds better."
Although vinyl unit sales only surpassed CDs last year, revenue from vinyl records has been higher than revenue from CDs for a while now. In 2022, vinyl albums earned $1.2 billion, compared to $483 million for CDs. The growth in vinyl was more than enough to offset a drop in CD revenue, helping overall physical media revenue climb 4 percent over 2021 (which was already way up over 2020).
Growth in vinyl revenue was more than enough to offset a drop in revenue from CDs. Vinyl unit sales have surpassed CD unit sales for the first time since 1987. (credit: RIAA)
Streaming services still account for the vast majority of all music revenue in the US—84 percent, up from 83 percent in 2021. The RIAA says there was an average of 92 million streaming music subscriptions active in 2022, which, together with digital radio and ad-supported sites like YouTube, generated $13.3 billion. The growth of streaming services and physical media comes at the expense of paid digital downloads, which accounted for a mere 3 percent of all music revenue in 2022.
Group A strep is known to piggyback on viral infections.
Enlarge / A microscope image of Streptococcus pyogenes, a common type of group A strep. (credit: Getty | BSIP)
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and amid a tall wave of respiratory viruses, health officials in Colorado and Minnesota documented an unusual spike in deadly, invasive infections from Streptococcus bacteria late last year, according to a study published this week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The spike is yet another oddity of post-pandemic disease transmission, but one that points to a simple prevention strategy: flu shots.
The infections are invasive group A strep, or iGAS for short, which is caused by the same group of bacteria that cause relatively minor diseases, such as strep throat and scarlet fever. But iGAS occurs when the bacteria spread in the body and cause severe infection, such as necrotizing fasciitis (flesh-eating disease), toxic shock syndrome, or sepsis. These conditions can occur quickly and be deadly.
Im Rahmen der Photovoltaik-Strategie sollen Balkonkraftwerke bis 800 Watt mit Schukosteckern erlaubt und Widerspruchsmöglichkeiten beseitigt werden. (Energiewende, Wirtschaft)
Im Rahmen der Photovoltaik-Strategie sollen Balkonkraftwerke bis 800 Watt mit Schukosteckern erlaubt und Widerspruchsmöglichkeiten beseitigt werden. (Energiewende, Wirtschaft) Unternehmen haben im Februar bereits 7 Millionen eAUs bei den Krankenkassen abgerufen. Doch solange nicht alle Arztpraxen mitmachen, stellt sich die Vereinfachung nicht ein. (Arbeit, Internet)
The Beelink EQ12 is a compact desktop computer powered by an Intel Processor N100 chip, which is a low-power quad-core processor from the Alder Lake-N family. It’s the latest in a growing number of mini PCs powered by Alder Lake-N chips, and whi…
The Beelink EQ12 is a compact desktop computer powered by an Intel Processor N100 chip, which is a low-power quad-core processor from the Alder Lake-N family. It’s the latest in a growing number of mini PCs powered by Alder Lake-N chips, and while Beelink hasn’t announcing pricing yet, other models with the same chip have starting […]
The post Beelink EQ12 is a low-power mini PC with Intel Processor N100 (Alder Lake-N) appeared first on Liliputing.
Zahlreiche 2022 neu zugelassene E-Autos sind nicht mehr in Deutschland, weil sie als Gebrauchte ins Ausland verkauft wurden. Das hat einen Millionenschaden verursacht. (Elektroauto, Auto)
Zahlreiche 2022 neu zugelassene E-Autos sind nicht mehr in Deutschland, weil sie als Gebrauchte ins Ausland verkauft wurden. Das hat einen Millionenschaden verursacht. (Elektroauto, Auto) 
Deutschland beteiligt sich am Bau von Spionage-Ballons und Luftschiffen für militärische Zwecke, um den Mangel an Aufklärungstechnologie in Europa zu beheben. (
Unternehmen haben im Februar bereits 7 Millionen eAUs bei den Krankenkassen abgerufen. Doch solange nicht alle Arztpraxen mitmachen, stellt sich die Vereinfachung nicht ein. (
You must be logged in to post a comment.