Month: April 2023

The 2023 Hyundai Ioniq 6: A streamlined look equals serious range

After so many electric crossovers, it’s refreshing to see another sedan.

A Hyundai Ioniq 6 in profile

Enlarge / Hyundai has some intriguing offerings for EV buyers in the $40,000-$55,000 range as it adds the complex curves of the Ioniq 6 sedan to its range alongside the boxy Ioniq 5 crossover (credit: Jonathan Gitlin)

FOUNTAIN VALLEY, Calif.—The past couple of years have seen a flurry of new electric vehicles go into production. But you'd be forgiven for thinking that some of them are a little samey as automaker after automaker releases yet another electric crossover. This makes sense—consumers mostly want crossovers, as they combine hatchback practicality and a more elevated driving position. But the sedan isn't quite dead yet, and now there's another electric one for your consideration: the 2023 Hyundai Ioniq 6.

The Ioniq 6 is the latest in a series of new EVs to use Hyundai Motor Group's new E-GMP architecture. Designed from scratch, E-GMP lets Hyundai (and Kia and Genesis) build medium- and larger EVs with rear- or all-wheel drive powertrains. E-GMP battery packs operate at 800 V, which provides several benefits. The higher voltage means a lower current, which translates to thinner wiring, which reduces overall mass. And it's capable of very rapid DC charging—just 18 minutes to get from 10 to 80 percent when plugged into a 350 kW fast charger.

Active shutters at the front let air into the car when it needs cooling and close when it's more important to be slippery through the air.

Active shutters at the front let air into the car when it needs cooling and close when it's more important to be slippery through the air. (credit: Jonathan Gitlin)

None of that will be news if you've read our reviews on other E-GMP EVs like the Genesis GV60, Kia EV6, or the Hyundai Ioniq 5. All three are rather good EVs, so expectations were high for the Ioniq 6.

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The 2023 Hyundai Ioniq 6: A streamlined look equals serious range

After so many electric crossovers, it’s refreshing to see another sedan.

A Hyundai Ioniq 6 in profile

Enlarge / Hyundai has some intriguing offerings for EV buyers in the $40,000-$55,000 range as it adds the complex curves of the Ioniq 6 sedan to its range alongside the boxy Ioniq 5 crossover (credit: Jonathan Gitlin)

FOUNTAIN VALLEY, Calif.—The past couple of years have seen a flurry of new electric vehicles go into production. But you'd be forgiven for thinking that some of them are a little samey as automaker after automaker releases yet another electric crossover. This makes sense—consumers mostly want crossovers, as they combine hatchback practicality and a more elevated driving position. But the sedan isn't quite dead yet, and now there's another electric one for your consideration: the 2023 Hyundai Ioniq 6.

The Ioniq 6 is the latest in a series of new EVs to use Hyundai Motor Group's new E-GMP architecture. Designed from scratch, E-GMP lets Hyundai (and Kia and Genesis) build medium- and larger EVs with rear- or all-wheel drive powertrains. E-GMP battery packs operate at 800 V, which provides several benefits. The higher voltage means a lower current, which translates to thinner wiring, which reduces overall mass. And it's capable of very rapid DC charging—just 18 minutes to get from 10 to 80 percent when plugged into a 350 kW fast charger.

Active shutters at the front let air into the car when it needs cooling and close when it's more important to be slippery through the air.

Active shutters at the front let air into the car when it needs cooling and close when it's more important to be slippery through the air. (credit: Jonathan Gitlin)

None of that will be news if you've read our reviews on other E-GMP EVs like the Genesis GV60, Kia EV6, or the Hyundai Ioniq 5. All three are rather good EVs, so expectations were high for the Ioniq 6.

Read 24 remaining paragraphs | Comments

Rightsholders Flag Official EU Website for Copyright Infringements

Copyright holders have sent hundreds of DMCA notices flagging alleged copyright infringements on Europa.eu, the official website of the European Commission. The EU seems unable to deal with a recurring piracy spam problem on its own portal, up to the point that Google has begun removing Europa.eu search results.

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

pirate-flagThe European Union recognizes that online piracy poses a serious threat to copyright holders and the public at large.

In recent years, Europe has updated legislation to deal with modern piracy threats. This includes a requirement for large platforms to deter repeat copyright infringers.

The regulation is mostly targeted at legitimate user-generated content platforms such as YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook. However, traditional pirate sites are also on the EU’s radar, with several of the worst offenders highlighted in the recent piracy and counterfeiting watchlist.

According to the EU, pirate sites lead to “high financial losses” for copyright holders. Members of the public face risks too, such as piracy-related malware and scammers determined to obtain their credit card details.

Scammers Exploit Europa.eu

The EU warning highlights a real threat. While not all pirate sites are malware traps, scammers are known to use piracy to lure and exploit people. Ironically, this problem is now causing issues for the European Commission’s official website.

Over the past few months, we have documented how scammers are exploiting weaknesses in various Europa.eu portals including, most recently, the European School Education Platform. These scams exploit public upload tools to share .pdf files, which in turn advertise pirated versions of the latest blockbusters.

Scams Continue to Proliferate

eu search results

People who fall for these scams are in for a huge disappointment. Instead of gaining access to pirated movies, they are redirected to shady sites that often promise ‘free’ content in exchange for the visitor’s credit card details.

The European Commission has been aware of the problem for months and is working on it. After we published a second article on the topic last month, a spokesperson informed us that a long-term solution is being sought, without taking away opportunities for EU citizens to speak out.

“We are aware of it and continue working to resolve it. Long-term solutions require changes in the way we enable citizens to exchange with the Commission. It is extremely difficult to proceed quickly without disrupting the services offered to European citizens.

“We are working closely with all the concerned services to find the best solutions with the least possible disruption,” the EC spokesperson added.

Pirate Ads Trigger Hundreds of DMCA Notices

Despite these best efforts, the problem continues. Every day hundreds of fresh piracy scam adverts appear on Europa.eu and copyright holders are beginning to take action.

The EU website hosts the scams but doesn’t store any infringing material. Nonetheless, dozens of rightsholders have reported the dubious URLs. We don’t know how many reports the EU received, but Google’s transparency report shows that the search engine received over 500 DMCA notices for the Europa.eu domain alone.

eu removal stats

At the moment, about a dozen URLs are being flagged each week, with a peak of more than 80 reported links. These DMCA notices, most of which point to the aforementioned piracy scams, are sent by rightsholders including IFC Films, Paris Filmes, and Sky UK.

Google Removes Europa.eu URLs

In several instances, the European Commission isn’t able to spot the problematic uploads. For example, a .pdf advertising a pirated copy of the film “The Last Manhunt” remains online today, more than two weeks after it first appeared. Following a DMCA notice, Google decided to remove the link from its search results.

google removed

In other cases, the Commission spots the scammy ads and removes them. When that happens, Google typically takes no action. According to Google’s records, the company has removed roughly two dozen Europa.eu URLs from its search results thus far.

The European Commission is well aware of the problem but this ongoing problem shows that dealing with repeat ‘infringers’ is not always straightforward.

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

Zeiterfassungspflicht: Für Richter gilt Arbeitzeiterfassung nicht – sagen sie selbst

Die Zeiterfassungspflicht passe nicht zur Arbeit von Richtern, meinen die Richter des Bundesarbeitsgerichts, die Millionen Arbeitnehmern diese Pflicht auferlegen. (Arbeit, Wirtschaft)

Die Zeiterfassungspflicht passe nicht zur Arbeit von Richtern, meinen die Richter des Bundesarbeitsgerichts, die Millionen Arbeitnehmern diese Pflicht auferlegen. (Arbeit, Wirtschaft)

Space archaeologists are charting humanity’s furthest frontier

An innovative research project delivers new evidence about how people live on the ISS.

Astronaut Kayla Barron snaps photos inside an ISS module.

Enlarge / Astronaut Kayla Barron snaps photos inside an ISS module. (credit: NASA)

Archaeologists have probed the cultures of people all over the Earth—so why not study a unique community that’s out of this world? One team is creating a first-of-its-kind archaeological record of life aboard the International Space Station.

The new project, called the Sampling Quadrangle Assemblages Research Experiment, or SQuARE, involves hundreds of photos taken by astronauts throughout the living and work spaces of the ISS. People have continuously occupied the space station for decades, and the launch of its initial modules in the late 1990s coincided with the rise of digital photography. That meant that astronauts were no longer limited by film canisters when documenting life in space, and that space archaeologists—yes, that’s a thing—no longer had to merely speculate about it from afar.

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