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The Samsung Galaxy Tab A11 is a budget Android tablet with an 8.7 inch display, a MediaTek Helio G99 processor. After the tablet quietly showed up on Samsung’s United Arab Emirates website last month, this week Samsung officially introduced the t…
The Samsung Galaxy Tab A11 is a budget Android tablet with an 8.7 inch display, a MediaTek Helio G99 processor. After the tablet quietly showed up on Samsung’s United Arab Emirates website last month, this week Samsung officially introduced the tablet and started selling the tablet in select markets. The company also confirmed that a larger model […]
The post Samsung launches Galaxy Tab A11 and A11+ budget tablets with 8.7 inch and 11 inch displays appeared first on Liliputing.
xAI’s claim that Apple gave ChatGPT a monopoly on prompts is “baseless,” OpenAI says.
OpenAI and Apple have moved to dismiss a lawsuit by Elon Musk's xAI alleging that ChatGPT's integration into a "handful" of iPhone features violated antitrust laws by giving OpenAI a monopoly on prompts and Apple a new path to block rivals in the smartphone industry.
The lawsuit was filed in August after Musk raged on X about Apple never listing Grok on its editorially curated "Must Have" apps list, which ChatGPT frequently appeared on.
According to Musk, Apple linking ChatGPT to Siri and other native iPhone features gave OpenAI exclusive access to billions of prompts that only OpenAI can use as valuable training data to maintain its dominance in the chatbot market. However, OpenAI and Apple are now mocking Musk's math in court filings, urging the court to agree that xAI's lawsuit is doomed.
The Korean automaker’s price cut comes in as the clean vehicle tax credit dies.
Earlier today, we wrote about how Ford, General Motors, and Tesla have reacted to the end of the clean vehicle tax credits. Now we know what Hyundai is doing, and the answer is "giving the Ioniq 5 a huge price cut."
The cheapest Ioniq 5 is still the SE RWD. A model-year 2025 SE RWD cost $42,600; for model-year 2026 it's now $35,000. The price cuts for other versions are even greater—between $9,150 and $9,800. For example, the Ioniq 5 XRT that you see in the photo above had a starting price of $55,500 for MY25; now it starts at a very reasonable $46,275.
"Hyundai is taking bold steps to ensure our award-winning Ioniq 5 remains a top choice for EV buyers," said Randy Parker, president and CEO of Hyundai Motor North America. "This pricing realignment reflects our commitment to delivering exceptional technology and innovation without compromise."
Italian police have announced yet another operation targeting a reportedly massive pirate IPTV network. Yet, despite being new, the entire report feels a lot like déjà vu. The arrest of several people described as top-level management of a piracy pyramid, controlling a 900,000 subscriber network cascading down below, sounds very familiar indeed.
From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.
Italy generates more headlines concerning boots-on-the-ground anti-piracy operations than any other country in Europe.
If we consider volume of events, no other member state comes anywhere close. If the claimed number of subscribers of every service allegedly shut down in the last decade were added together, the whole of Europe combined couldn’t mount a credible challenge.
Yet, the larger the subscriber numbers, the more difficult it becomes to find a credible scenario that not only accommodates them, but also acknowledges the credibility of the rest of the data. The same pattern has continued for the past decade, but thanks to a new announcement reporting on a large network targeted recently, the fog begins to clear.
Italian law enforcement doesn’t always coordinate their announcements, which can lead to more than one press release on the same topic. In this case an announcement from the State Police (1) is less colorful than the variant published by the Postal Police (2).
“As a result of a complex investigation coordinated by the District Prosecutor’s Office in Catania, the State Police carried out an arrest warrant issued by the Judge of Preliminary Investigation (GIP) of the Tribunale del Capoluogo of Catania against eight people, some of whom are residents abroad, who are being investigated for crimes of organized crime aimed at the illicit diffusion of pay-TV broadcasts, unauthorized access to a computer system and computer fraud,” the statement reads.
Those targeted are alleged members of an organized criminal group, responsible for the illegal distribution of live TV and on-demand content owned by Sky, DAZN, Mediaset, Netflix and Amazon Prime. Police state that the estimated monthly profits generated by the illegal IPTV operation run to “millions of euros” and in an unusual move, go on to name the ‘pirate’ brands involved.
“These are the acronyms of illegal IPTV, some of which recall the names of well-known legal platforms: ‘NOWTV’, ‘UNITY’, ‘PLAYTV’, ‘PLATINUM’, ‘M&S’, ‘ENJOY’, ‘MOMY’, ‘HERMES’, ‘LUCKYSTREAMING’, ‘SKYNET’ and ‘GOLDRAKE’.”
Investigators say the people targeted are unusually important.
Based on the evidence collected, they are considered “a kind of top management for the Italian illegal streaming market, which not only promoted and directed the criminal association (for which the investigation is proceeding), but also decided on subscription costs, service suspension, and distribution methods for devices, coordinating individual operators across the national territory.”
In a short video posted to YouTube, the following diagram appears for just a couple of seconds; it appears to show eight people, details of their roles, and presumably a graphical representation of their network.
“To carry out their illicit activity, the organization exploited a complex technical infrastructure that involved the use of numerous rented servers hosted by foreign hosting companies, whose management was entrusted to associates with specific IT expertise.”
Hoping to evade investigators, the arrested suspects reportedly relied on encrypted messengers and false identities, which were used to register telephone lines, obtain credit cards, TV subscriptions and server rentals.
Police then provide a short recap on the money allegedly being made, followed by a very large, attention-grabbing number.
In this context and when specifically highlighted, the 900,000 subscriber suggestion is obviously ambiguous. However, when repeated elsewhere as part of a conversation, more often than not it’s presented as fact, despite making no real sense.
For how long the service was monitored isn’t revealed but €10 per month multiplied by the implied number of subscribers is €9 million in monthly revenue. If we take the hint and assume that represents 70% of the local IPTV piracy market, Italy must have in the region of 1.285 million pirate subscribers overall, together spending €12.85 million per month or €154.2 million per year.
Given the number reported, did all of those subscribers have their access blocked following a single operation in June 2024? That seems unlikely.
The latest statement concerning the most recent operation does not claim that the pirate IPTV network allegedly controlled by the suspects was blocked or shut down.
Quite a few publications report that the network was dismantled, but none provide a source for the claim. As the example below shows, further distortion isn’t out of the question either.
Whether Sky has additional details isn’t clear but its report states that the operation dismantled the “summit of the illegal market” and confirmed that the suspects are being held under house arrest.
So, if the big numbers are even close to being authentic, 70% of the entire illegal market may already be in peril. That should be a cause for celebration but in general terms, that doesn’t seem to be the case.
Stefano Azzi, CEO of Dazn Italia, thanked the authorities for their hard work but said the volume of piracy involved “only covers a fraction of the total.” On the other hand, he welcomed the possibility that there are “900,000 users potentially affected and potentially identifiable,” a nod towards suing them, perhaps?
Overall, it’s almost impossible to make full sense of even the most basic facts released to the public, let alone have an opinion on progress. Looking back on earlier reports quickly descends into yet more déjà vu but does help to explain why many aspects of various operations tend to look the same.
The latest announcement revealed that the arrested suspects are residents of Catania, Syracuse, Rome, Brescia, and unnamed foreign countries. Police say they were identified through analysis of seized devices and “financial flows” reviewed as part of an operation dating back to November 2022.
A notable feature of that 2022 operation is that it also targeted locations in Catania, Syracuse, Rome, and Brescia, just like the recent one. The size of the piracy network targeted looks familiar too, as does its claimed share of the pirate market.
At an awards ceremony in October 2023, the Audiovisual Anti-Piracy Alliance (AAPA) recognized Italy’s anti-piracy work under the banner Operation Gotha, which had targeted the ‘900K user’ network the previous year.
“The commendation for Italy for Operation Gotha involved 70 searches and seizures in 23 provinces of our country, dismantling a huge pirate IPTV network serving over 900k users, with profits estimated at 10 million euros,” the announcement reads.
Then in December 2023, an operation with a very similar appearance took place in familiar circumstances, targeting people similarly intent on avoiding the authorities, using the exact same techniques reported in the latest operation.
“In order to evade investigations, the suspects made use of encrypted messaging applications, fictitious identities and false documents; the latter were also used for the registration of telephone accounts, credit cards, television subscriptions and server rental,” the Postal Police reported.
We can only assume that whoever named Operation Gotha and Operation Gotha 2 was fully aware of an infamous operation with an identical name. It, too, had similar aims of dealing a decisive blow to aspects of organized crime in Italy and by some accounts it very nearly did.
The fact that its IPTV namesake in 2022 (Operation Gotha), was a continuation of Operation Blackout a year earlier, is certainly noteworthy. To protect content owned by Sky, DAZN, Mediaset, and Netflix, that operation targeted a pyramid-based network controlling an estimated 80 percent of the illegal IPTV flow into Italy, generating around 15 million euros per month. The numbers are slightly different, the similarities are difficult to ignore.
Keep going and the pirate IPTV trail leads all the way back to the 2019 shutdown of Xtream Codes and other IPTV platforms. That reportedly led to the disruption of 700,000 users.
Soon after dozens of articles appeared in Italian media claiming to identify the alleged kingpin behind the majority of pirate IPTV supply in Italy. He was arrested a year later but what happened after that is unclear.
A number of reports claim that the Camorra became interested in his business, presumably due to the money allegedly on offer. Other reports suggest that he may have become a victim of extortion. As for the collapse of pirate IPTV in Italy and elsewhere in Europe, it recovered remarkably quickly.
Overall, it would be tempting to conclude that for the last six years the same network has been targeted again and again, which would go some way to explaining the similarities between operations. Ultimately, the only certainty is the complexity of the enforcement landscape in Italy.
The judicial authorities, law enforcement agencies, and all major rightsholders appear to be doing whatever they can in what can only be described as an extremely challenging environment; damage inflicted seems temporary and due to the profit involved, always likely to be repaired.
From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.
Cord reviving isn’t common but points to discontent with today’s streaming options.
Streaming is overtaking broadcast, cable, and satellite. But amid all the cord cutting lies a much smaller, yet intriguing, practice: going back to cable.
Cord reviving is when cord cutters, or people who previously abandoned traditional TV services in favor of streaming, decide to go back to traditional pay-TV services, like cable.
There's no doubt that this happens far less frequently than cord cutting. But TiVo's Q2 2025 Video Trends Report: North America released today points to growth in cord reviving. It reads:
Sora social app launches with deepfake-style “cameos” and feed controls.
On Tuesday, OpenAI announced Sora 2, its second-generation video-synthesis AI model that can now generate videos in various styles with synchronized dialogue and sound effects, which is a first for the company. OpenAI also launched a new iOS social app that allows users to insert themselves into AI-generated videos through what OpenAI calls "cameos."
OpenAI showcased the new model in an AI-generated video that features a photorealistic version of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman talking to the camera in a slightly unnatural-sounding voice amid fantastical backdrops, like a competitive ride-on duck race and a glowing mushroom garden.
Regarding that voice, the new model can create what OpenAI calls "sophisticated background soundscapes, speech, and sound effects with a high degree of realism." In May, Google's Veo 3 became the first video-synthesis model from a major AI lab to generate synchronized audio as well as video. Just a few days ago, Alibaba released Wan 2.5, an open-weights video model that can generate audio as well. Now OpenAI has joined the audio party with Sora 2.
FCC Republicans kill funding for Wi-Fi hotspot lending and Wi-Fi on school buses.
The Federal Communications Commission yesterday voted to end funding for two programs designed to help schoolchildren and library patrons access the Internet.
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr claims that Biden-era orders to establish the programs exceeded the FCC's authority. The FCC voted 2-1 to kill the programs, with Republican Olivia Trusty voting with Carr and Democrat Anna Gomez dissenting.
In the previous administration, the FCC expanded the Universal Service Fund's E-Rate program in 2024 to let schools and libraries lend out Wi-Fi hotspots and services that could be used off-premises. The FCC separately decided in 2023 to let the E-Rate program pay for Wi-Fi service on school buses.
Mit der Coreweave-Kooperation und dem Rivos-Kauf hat Meta in dieser Woche die KI-Branche verändert. Doch was bleibt dabei vom Metaverse? (Meta, KI)
Last month Qualcomm introduced its 2nd-gen chips for Windows laptops and other PCs, promising big gains in CPU, graphics, and AI performance. But for the past few years there’s been a bit of uncertainty over whether the company would be able to c…
Last month Qualcomm introduced its 2nd-gen chips for Windows laptops and other PCs, promising big gains in CPU, graphics, and AI performance. But for the past few years there’s been a bit of uncertainty over whether the company would be able to continue making these chips. That’s because chip designer Arm had sued Qualcomm over […]
The post Qualcomm’s PC chips are safe from ARM litigation (for now) following court ruling appeared first on Liliputing.
Strategischer Umbau bei Microsoft: Judson Althoff übernimmt das operative Geschäft, während sich Satya Nadella auf KI und technische Infrastruktur konzentriert. (Microsoft, Wirtschaft)
Strategischer Umbau bei Microsoft: Judson Althoff übernimmt das operative Geschäft, während sich Satya Nadella auf KI und technische Infrastruktur konzentriert. (Microsoft, Wirtschaft) 
Mit der Coreweave-Kooperation und dem Rivos-Kauf hat Meta in dieser Woche die KI-Branche verändert. Doch was bleibt dabei vom Metaverse? (
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