Month: February 2025

Amazon hat den futuristischen MSI Cyborg 15 Gaming-Laptop mit Intel Core i7, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 und stabilem FHD-Display im Angebot. (MSI, Technik/Hardware)

PALM SPRINGS, Calif.—After a very pleasant morning getting acquainted with the model year 2025 Hyundai Ioniq 5, it was time to meet the new addition to the range: the $55,400 Ioniq 5 XRT. It's the latest example of an automotive trend that's been bubbling away in the background for years before getting a lot bolder where a carmaker takes something that's normally meant to be driven on the road and makes it a bit more... rugged.

No, it's not a new idea—Audi Allroads and Volvo Cross Countries have played this game for years and years. More recently, it's been the turn of companies like Porsche and Lamborghini have gotten into the act, creating supercars with six-figure price tags that aren't fazed by a little sand or snow.

But the Ioniq 5 isn't a supercar—it's just a super car. The XRT treatment was done by Hyundai's California design team, and it involves new, more protective cladding at the front and rear. The black plastic looks at first glance like it might be forged carbon—in fact it's a pixelated camo pattern that calls out to the "Parametric Pixel" design language that underpins the Ioniq 5's blocky look. The twin red-accented tow hooks are almost whimsical.

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PALM SPRINGS, Calif.—Can it really have been four(ish) years since we first drove the Hyundai Ioniq 5? With looks like a scaled-up hatchback from the 1980s, and one of the most advanced electric vehicle powertrains on the market, the Ioniq 5 was an instant hit with Ars and car buyers. Since then, Hyundai has begun building Ioniq 5s at its new plant in Georgia, and for model year 2025, it has made some tweaks that have turned a great EV into an even better one.

The Ioniq 5 was the first EV to use Hyundai's new E-GMP platform, designed for mid-to-large EVs with rear- or all-wheel drive. The powertrain uses an 800 V architecture, which endows it with a number of advantages, some obvious, like very fast DC fast charging, some less obvious, such as less mass (and expense) given over to high-voltage cabling. On the road, it proved highly efficient, not to mention stylish and practical.

The tweaks for model year 2025 are subtle as far as midlife upgrades go. There's a new wheel design, and some of the details at the front and rear bumper are more pronounced. The idea was to "accentuate the CUVness" of the car, according to Brad Arnold, head of exterior design at Hyundai Design—perhaps broadening the appeal to those who have no affection for late '80s hatchback vibes.

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Der Inster ist Hyundais neues Einsteiger-Elektroauto und bereits ab 23.900 Euro zu haben. Dafür bekommen die Käufer ein praktisches und gut ausgestattetes Fahrzeug. Ein Bericht von Tobias Költzsch (Hyundai, Elektroauto)

Sowohl Knuspr als auch Tegut sind nur in ausgewählten Regionen verfügbar. Da hilft auch kein Prime-Abo von Amazon. (Amazon, Onlineshop)

Das Entwicklerstudio Niantic will sich offenbar von seinen Spielen trennen - inklusive Pokémon Go. Hinter dem Käufer steckt Saudi-Arabien. (Niantic, Augmented Reality)

Piracy liability lawsuits have targeted large and small Internet providers across the United States.

American telco Altice was sued by various parties in recent years, both directly and indirectly as the owner of ISP Optimum.

Last summer, Optimum chose to settle its lawsuit with some music industry giants, including BMG, UMG, and Capitol Records, under undisclosed terms. But that didn’t mean its legal woes were over.

In a similar yet separate lawsuit, the company is pitted against a group of almost 50 music labels, that also accused Altice of ‘mass-infringement’. Assisted by the RIAA, the music companies claimed that the ISP failed to take action against repeat infringers on the ‘Optimum’ network.

“Despite Altice’s stated policies and despite receiving tens of thousands of infringement notices concerning Plaintiffs’ works […] Altice knowingly permitted repeat infringers to continue to use its services to infringe,” the complaint read.

100 ‘Pirating’ Subscribers

The complaint was filed over a year ago and the parties are currently conducting discovery, seeking relevant evidence to support their positions. Several requests link to the RIAA, which often acts as the music industry’s anti-piracy agent.

In an order issued by a Texas federal court last week, the music companies were given the green light to obtain the personal details of 100 Altice subscribers. These accounts were previously targeted in copyright notices sent by the RIAA or a third party.

Details are scarce, but the group will likely consist of subscribers who were repeatedly warned over alleged piracy activity. The music labels could use this information to gather further evidence to support their allegations.

For example, subscriber testimony could help to strengthen the argument that the ISP failed to take effective measures against repeat infringers.

Unmask Subscribers

There’s nothing to suggest that these people will be approached with any claims directly. The names, emails, and addresses of the subscribers are marked as “highly confidential” and can only be viewed by attorneys acting for the music companies.

The subscribers will be informed about the forthcoming disclosure of their personal details and any objections will be heard by the court.

Several of the music company plaintiffs have obtained information concerning alleged pirate subscribers in similar lawsuits. Movie companies also obtained subscribers’ personal details in a similar lawsuit against Internet provider Frontier Communications.

RIAA’s Letter to BitTorrent Inc.

Subscriber details are just a fraction of the information requested by the parties during discovery. Altice, for example, will also gain access to some non-privileged documents and communications between the music companies and their anti-piracy partners, including the RIAA, OpSec, and Audible Magic.

This includes information regarding a letter the RIAA sent to the company behind the uTorrent and BitTorrent clients in 2015. In the letter, the RIAA asked BitTorrent Inc. (now Rainberry Inc.), to block copyright infringing content.

Info related to RIAA’s BitTorrent Letter

At the time, BitTorrent Inc. was actively distancing itself from anything piracy related. In its letter, the RIAA asked the company to live up to that promise by actively blocking torrent hashes in its clients.

“We are willing to establish a process to share the hashes with BitTorrent Inc. on a regular basis so that BitTorrent Inc. can use the information to deter further infringement of those files via its goods and services,” RIAA wrote at the time.

It doesn’t appear that BitTorrent Inc. took the RIAA up on its offer. While some trackers have banned ‘copyright infringing’ hashes, we have never seen evidence of torrent clients acting similarly.

After the letter was published, the issue wasn’t raised in public again. Instead, the RIAA’s members focused their efforts on Internet providers, including Altice, which brings us back to the lawsuit at hand.

The nature of information sought by Altice isn’t clear. The company previously said that if music labels are concerned about piracy, they are free to go after developers of ‘piracy’ software. While neutral torrent clients don’t fall into that category, the ISP will be interested in any related legal considerations that took place behind the scenes.

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A copy of the agreed order related to the handover of subscriber data is available here (pdf). An order resolving other discovery questions, including the RIAA letter to BitTorrent Inc., is available here (pdf)

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

Die Kündigungen hätten bei der Nasa mehr als 1.000 Personen betroffen. Die Direktoren sind aber angewiesen worden, erheblichen Personalabbau vorzubereiten. (Nasa, Politik)

Unbegrenzte Freiheiten beim Telefonieren und im mobilen Internet finden Interessenten zurzeit mit der Allnet-Flat im Telekom-Netz bei Freenet. (Freenet, Telekom)

Wer denkt bei The Dark Knight nicht an Batman und Christopher Nolans Film aus dem Jahr 2008? Das gilt auch für Uwe Boll, der seinen neuen Film so nennt. (Uwe Boll, Film)