
Kim Dotcom and MEGA Ratchet Up War of Words
Kim Dotcom and the site he founded, MEGA, appear to be at war. After Dotcom warned users to back up their files last week, MEGA hit back with an attack on the entrepreneur’s business plans, noting that his MegaNet project has failed to materialize. Unfazed, Dotcom says MEGA is losing a million dollars per month.
Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and ANONYMOUS VPN services.
Last week we reported on what appears to be serious animosity between Kim Dotcom and the company he founded, MEGA.
Just three years ago the MEGA file-hosting platform was the apple of the Megaupload founder’s eye, but for reasons best known to the warring parties, that warmth has turned to aggression.
Dotcom has previously made derogatory statements about MEGA, a company he no longer has a stake in, but last week’s outburst was unprecedented.
Referencing comments made by New Zealand Prime Minister John Key that key MEGA shareholder Bill Liu is close to the top of China’s extradition list, Dotcom described the businessman as the “5th most wanted criminal in China”.
Adding that MEGA has diminishing ways to process payments from customers, Dotcom hinted towards impending doom and warned users to back up their files.
MEGA chairman Stephen Hall responded quickly, informing TF that his company has “significant funding” and that Dotcom’s comments are “factually incorrect.”
“Mr Liu has a shareholding interest but has no management or board position so he certainly doesn’t control Mega,” Hall said.
“This year, MEGA has already committed 24 PB additional storage capacity to service our 40 million registered users, and we will continue that expansion,” the company later added. “MEGA users are able to pay subscriptions through a variety of methods, depending on their country of residence.”
Over the weekend, however, things got much more personal. First MEGA attacked Dotcom’s political ambitions with the Internet Party, noting that the endeavor had “badly damaged his credibility with the New Zealand public.” Now, in a surprise twist, MEGA is claiming that Dotcom tried to reinvest money in MEGA as late as last year.
“In 2015 the [Dotcom] family trust twice subscribed for new shares in MEGA. In December 2015 Mr Dotcom applied to the New Zealand Court for approval to personally borrow $0.7 million for his family trust to subscribe for further shares in MEGA. The Court declined approval. Since then he has made negative comments about MEGA that have no factual basis,” MEGA says.
Finally, in a clear attempt to discredit Dotcom’s predictions that it’s only a matter of time before MEGA folds, MEGA’s operators published many of Dotcom’s earlier tweets in which he heralded the arrival of MegaNet, a non-IP address based network utilizing blockchain technology.
Just two are shown below, with each already crossed out in red by MEGA.


“It is good practice to have a backup of your files but we strongly disagree with Dotcom’s scaremongering. If you follow his tweets about ‘MegaNet’ you may have less confidence in his predictions,” MEGA says.
But not even that was to be the end of the matter. Responding in a serious of tweets over the weekend, Dotcom stuck by his guns – and turned up the pressure.
“What I’ve shared with you about Mega is true. Mega is losing $1 million per month. No credit card processing = no business. #BackupYourFiles,” he said.
“Mega CEO in December admitted to me that Bill Liu controls Mega. The 5th most wanted criminal in China controls board & puppet shareholders.”
It’s a somewhat unprecedented situation to have two men, Dotcom and Liu, connected to a single company while both being wanted for extradition by powerful foreign governments. Still, Dotcom says he’s clear why he’s attacking MEGA in public.
“Why do I care? I founded Mega,” he continued. “On-the-fly file encryption was my idea. I asked you to join Mega. It’s my obligation to warn you now.”
Only time will tell if Dotcom’s predictions will come true but in the meantime his advice (and that of MEGA) is clear. Keeping backups of files wherever they are is extremely important – the Megaupload fiasco should have underlined that.
Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and ANONYMOUS VPN services.
Blue Byte: Champions of Anteria ohne Die Siedler
Fünf extravagante Helden, aber keine Siedler: Blue Byte baut das vor zwei Jahren angekündigte Die Siedler 8 zu einem Moba-ähnlichen PC-Strategietitel für Einzelspieler um. (Strategiespiel, Ubisoft)

Mitmachprojekt: Temperatur messen und versenden mit dem ESP8266
Ein preiswertes WLAN-Modul kann die Bürotemperatur messen und ins Internet übertragen – mit ein wenig Code, günstigen Bauelementen und optional einem Arduino. Wir zeigen, wie es funktioniert. (Mitmachprojekt, API)

Top 10 Most Pirated Movies of The Week – 04/25/16
The top 10 most downloaded movies on BitTorrent are in again. ‘Deadpool’ tops the chart this week, followed by ‘Zootopia’ ‘The jungle Book’ completes the top three.
Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and ANONYMOUS VPN services.
This week we have three newcomers in our chart.
Deadpool is the most downloaded movie again.
The data for our weekly download chart is estimated by TorrentFreak, and is for informational and educational reference only. All the movies in the list are BD/DVDrips unless stated otherwise.
RSS feed for the weekly movie download chart.
Ranking | (last week) | Movie | IMDb Rating / Trailer |
---|---|---|---|
torrentfreak.com | |||
1 | (1) | Deadpool (HDrip subbed) | 8.6 / trailer |
2 | (…) | Zootopia (TS) | 8.3 / trailer |
3 | (8) | The Jungle Book (TS) | 8.3 / trailer |
4 | (2) | Ride Along 2 | 5.9 / trailer |
5 | (…) | The Boss (Webrip) | 5.2 / trailer |
6 | (5) | The Witch (Webrip) | 7.2 / trailer |
7 | (…) | Triple 9 (Webrip) | 6.5 / trailer |
8 | (3) | The Revenant | 8.2 / trailer |
9 | (7) | Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (TS) | 7.5 / trailer |
10 | (9) | Hail Caesar! (Webrip) | 6.8 / trailer |
Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and ANONYMOUS VPN services.
Apple: Neue Watch-Apps müssen ohne iPhone auskommen
Demnächst wird Apple nur noch neue Watch-Apps zulassen, die kein iPhone mehr benötigen. Damit will der Hersteller auf Kritik von Apple-Watch-Besitzern reagieren. (Apple Watch, Apple)

Periskop-Patent: Lösung für iPhone-Kamerabuckel
Mit einer Periskop- oder Winkelspiegel-Konstruktion im iPhone könnte Apple sogar ein Zoom-Objektiv einbauen, ohne dass herausstehende Teile die Ästhetik stören. Dafür hat Apple nun ein Patent erhalten. (Objektiv, Digitalkamera)

Auftragsfertiger: Samsung entwickelt eigene 14-nm-Prozesse und EUV für 7 nm
Google Play Store may be coming to Chrome OS, with a million Android apps in tow
The lines between Google’s Chrome and Android operating systems is getting blurrier. Google has long positioned Chrome OS as its operating system for laptop and desktop computers, while Android is designed for smartphones, tablets, TV boxes, and wearables.
But about a year and a half ago the company started working with some developers to port Android apps so they could run on Chrome OS. In March, 2015, the company offered up tools to let any Android app developer turn their software into a Chrome app that could be downloaded from the Chrome Web Store.

The lines between Google’s Chrome and Android operating systems is getting blurrier. Google has long positioned Chrome OS as its operating system for laptop and desktop computers, while Android is designed for smartphones, tablets, TV boxes, and wearables.
But about a year and a half ago the company started working with some developers to port Android apps so they could run on Chrome OS. In March, 2015, the company offered up tools to let any Android app developer turn their software into a Chrome app that could be downloaded from the Chrome Web Store.
It looks like the Play Store is headed to Chrome OS with “millions” of apps
Google Play integration clues pop up in the source code and on users’ devices.
The work-in-progress dialog box that a user was able to bring up.
2 more images in gallery
Google first brought the ability to run Android apps on Chrome OS with a project called the "App Runtime for Chrome (ARC)." Google build an Android runtime on Chrome OS and partnered with select developers to port a handful of Android apps. Now it sounds like Google is ready to unleash millions of Android apps onto the platform by bringing the entire Play Store to Chrome OS.
In the Chrome OS subreddit, users are reporting some interesting behavior in their Chromebooks. "TheWiseYoda" noticed that when the settings first load up, an option quickly flashes on screen that reads "Enable Android apps to run on your Chromebook." The option immediately disappears, so it's not possible to click on normally. We were able to replicate this on our 2nd-gen Chromebook Pixel running the developer build.
After some hunting in the Chrome OS source code, Mr. Yoda found a few strings in this file (starting at line 6522) that mention the arrival of Google Play on Chrome OS. The most important message seems to be this one:
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