Month: November 2023

Epic lays out Google’s alleged “bribe and block” monopoly strategy in trial opening

Google says “bribe is a pretty strong word” for efforts to court app developers.

How's about we just forget about those plans for a competing Android app store?

Enlarge / How's about we just forget about those plans for a competing Android app store? (credit: Getty Images | krisanapong detraphiphat)

For years now, Google has stressed the "open" nature of the Android's sideloading-enabled mobile platform over Apple's completely locked-down iOS App Store. But Epic has used the opening days of its jury trial against Google to argue that this technical openness hasn't prevented Google from creating an effective monopoly over Android app distribution through its Google Play Store.

In its opening statement (as reported by multiple sources inside the San Francisco federal courtroom), Epic attorney Gary Bornstein pointed out that the Google Play Store is responsible for 90 percent of all Android app downloads, resulting in $12 billion in profit for Google. And Epic argues that Google has maintained that dominance through a "bribe and block" strategy that "pays actual and potential competitors not to compete—literally gives them money and other things of value."

Epic's opening arguments specifically called out League of Legends maker Riot Games as one of the companies that Google paid to eliminate the possible launch of a competing Android app store. While Epic says Google was smart enough not to note this payment in written contractual language, a less formal system helped ensure Riot was one of many companies that would "sit this one out and let [Google] win."

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After luring customers with low prices, Amazon stuffs Fire TVs with ads

OEMs are increasingly focused on using TVs as a way to show customers ads.

Close-up image of Smart Television screensaver of roaring , dancing flames from beach barbecue burning wood against night sky, domestic life concept

Enlarge / A non-Amazon TV displaying a fire. (credit: Getty)

People who buy a Fire TV from Amazon are probably looking for a cheap and simple way to get an affordable 4K smart TV. When Amazon announced its first self-branded TVs in September 2021, it touted them as being a "great value." But owners of the devices will soon be paying for some of those savings in the form of more prominently displayed advertisements.

Charlotte Maines, Amazon's director of Fire TV advertising, monetization, and engagement, detailed the new types of ads that Amazon is selling on Fire TVs. In a StreamTV Insider report from November 1, Amazon said the new ads will allow advertisers to reach an average of 155 million unique monthly viewers.

Some of the changes targeting advertisers, like connecting display placement ads with specific in-stream video ads, seem harmless enough. Others could jeopardize the TV-watching experience for owners.

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Instant Messaging: Google und Telekom wollen Apple iMessage zwangsöffnen lassen

Eine ungewöhnliche Allianz von Google, Telekom, Vodafone und Telefónica will Apple zwingen, sein iMessage besser zugänglich zu machen. Apple lehnt das ab. (Instant Messenger, Apple)

Eine ungewöhnliche Allianz von Google, Telekom, Vodafone und Telefónica will Apple zwingen, sein iMessage besser zugänglich zu machen. Apple lehnt das ab. (Instant Messenger, Apple)

Ubuntu Touch OTA-3 released with support for over two dozen devices (including the PinePhone and PinePhone Pro)

Ubuntu Touch is a mobile Linux distribution designed to run on smartphones and tablets. And this week a new version is starting to roll out for more than two dozen supported devices. Ubuntu Touch OTA-3 is based on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS and includes the lat…

Ubuntu Touch is a mobile Linux distribution designed to run on smartphones and tablets. And this week a new version is starting to roll out for more than two dozen supported devices. Ubuntu Touch OTA-3 is based on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS and includes the latest Ubuntu security updates, as well as a number of mobile-specific […]

The post Ubuntu Touch OTA-3 released with support for over two dozen devices (including the PinePhone and PinePhone Pro) appeared first on Liliputing.

Optus: Update war wohl schuld an schwerem Netzausfall in Australien

Zugausfälle, Krankenhäuser ohne Internet, Notrufe nicht möglich, Läden von Optus geschlossen. Grund war wohl ein nächtliches Update beim Mobilfunkbetreiber Optus. (Mobilfunk, Internet)

Zugausfälle, Krankenhäuser ohne Internet, Notrufe nicht möglich, Läden von Optus geschlossen. Grund war wohl ein nächtliches Update beim Mobilfunkbetreiber Optus. (Mobilfunk, Internet)

Nature retracts a second high-temperature superconductor study

Both of the superconductivity papers Ranga Dias published in Nature are now gone.

Image of a basketball player having his shot blocked.

Enlarge / Dikembe Mutombo rejects your flawed publication. (credit: DAVID MAXWELL / Getty Images)

In a move that surprised very few people, the journal Nature retracted a paper claiming a major advance in high-temperature superconductivity. This marks the second paper the journal retracted over the objections of Ranga P. Dias, a faculty member at the University of Rochester who led the research. Or at least it's implied that he objected to this retraction, as he apparently refused to respond to Nature about the matter.

Dias' work on superconductivity has focused on hydrogen-rich chemicals that form under extreme pressures. Other research groups have shown that the pressure forces hydrogen into crystals within the material, where it encourages the formation of electron pairs that enable superconductivity. This allows these chemicals to superconduct at elevated temperatures. Dias' two papers purportedly described one chemical that could superconduct at room temperatures and extreme pressures and a second that did so under somewhat lower pressures, putting it within reach of more readily available lab equipment.

But problems with the first of these papers became apparent as the research community dug into the details of the work. Dias' team apparently used a non-standard method for calculating the background noise in a key experiment and didn't include the details of how this was done in the paper. In other words, the data in the paper looked good, but it wasn't clear whether it accurately reflected the experimental results. As a result, Nature retracted it, although all nine authors of the paper objected to this decision at the time.

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FBI & Austria’s C4 Hit Z-Library With a Massive New Wave of Domain Seizures

During the last few hours, FBI seizure banners appeared on at least two domains linked to under-fire shadow library, Z-Library. Domain records were modified to use nameservers controlled by United States law enforcement agencies. Just minutes ago, signs of a second wave affecting at least dozens of domains may suggest an unpleasant anniversary surprise for Z-Library.

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

zlibrary logoThis week marks the one-year anniversary of the United States government’s crackdown on Z-Library, one of the world’s largest shadow libraries.

With legal proceedings underway in the United States, authorities have not given up trying to take Z-Library down. One of the site’s primary login domains, singlelogin.me, was seized alongside other domains early May this year.

Users were encouraged to switch to singlelogin.re, which remains operational today. The domain is supported by a laundry list of additional domains, subdomains, nameservers, and a maze of physical and virtual network infrastructure designed to keep the site alive in the event of new seizures.

It’s possible those new systems are being put to the test at this very moment.

New Domain Seizures With Overseas Assistance

In a move that coincides with the one-year anniversary of 2022’s tumultuous events, a few hours ago nameservers controlled by the US Department of Justice began handling queries for two new domains. According to the seizure notice, Singlelogin.click and IPFS.cat were both connected to Z-Library.

The image below shows how the domains transitioned from nameservers determined by their owners, to nameservers run by law enforcement authorities in the United States.

Singlelogin.click / IPFS.cat (seizedservers) / Click to Enlargez-lib-seize-ipfs-single-combo

Visitors to those domains today are greeted by the FBI seizure banner in the image below. The white graphic to the right reveals the involvement of the Bundeskriminalamt, Austria’s Criminal Intelligence Service, which serves as a national and international contact point for police cooperation in criminal matters.

fbi-austria-seizure-banner

The blue and red logo to the left is a reference to C4, Austria’s Cybercrime Competence Center in Vienna.

It Started With Two Domain Seizures, Dozens More On the Way

To our knowledge, the first domain – Singlelogin.click – hadn’t been widely or obviously publicized. However, with similar structure, functionality and an almost identical technical profile to other singlelogin.* variants, including those still in operation, the FBI appears to have had no problems scooping it up.

Singlelogin.click No Longer Functions Like Thissinglelogin-click

At this point we originally intended to offer some detail on the IPFS.cat domain, but bigger news is literally breaking right now.

We’re supplying the following list of domains on the basis we believe they have already been seized or are about to be seized. Normally we would check each one to be absolutely sure, but the list is growing by the minute and we have no immediate prospect of keeping up.

The most significant seizure thus far is another singlelogin variant, singlelogin.site. Z-Library’s main domain, singlelogin.re, is currently intact but that could change at any moment.

We’ll continue to update this article for the rest of the day.

List of likely Z-Library linked domain seizures (TBC)

singlelogin.click
singlelogin.site
ipfs.cat
resist.tel
vietnamese-books.org
uzbek-books.org
urdu-books.org
ukrainian-books.org
turkish-books.org
thai-books.org
tamil-books.org
swedish-books.org
spanish-books.org
slovenian-books.org
slovak-books.org
serbian-books.org
russian-books.org
portuguese-books.org
polish-books.org
persian-books.org
pashto-books.org
norwegian-books.org
mongolian-books.org
marathi-books.org
malayalam-books.org
lithuanian-books.org
latvian-books.org
latin-books.org
kyrgyz-books.org
korean-books.org
kazakh-books.org
japanese-books.org
italian-books.org
indonesian-books.org
hungarian-books.org
hindi-books.org
hebrew-books.org
greek-books.org
german-books.org
georgian-books.org
fr-books.org
finnish-books.org
dutchbooks.org
danish-books.org
czechbooks.org
croatian-books.org
chamorro-books.org
catalan-books.org
bulgarian-books.org
bengali-books.org
belarusian-books.org
azerbaijani-books.org
arabic-books.org
afrikaans-books.org

Early November 2022, at first dozens then eventually hundreds of Z-Library domains were seized by the Department of Justice. With two alleged Z-Library operators already detained in Argentina, rendering Z-Library inoperable was a primary goal. The question now is whether the United States government has returned to finish the job.

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