Police department charging TV news network $36,000 for body cam footage

NYPD says it will cost $120 an hour to review, redact and process footage.

(credit: See-ming Lee)

As body cams continue to flourish in police departments across the nation, an ongoing debate has ensued about how much, if any, of that footage should be made public under state open-access laws.

An overlooked twist to that debate, however, has now become front and center: How much should the public have to pay for the footage if the police agree to release it? News network NY1, a Time Warner Cable News operation, was billed $36,000 by the NYPD for roughly 190 hours of footage it requested under the state's Freedom of Information Law (FOIL). Now the network is suing (PDF) the police department in New York state court, complaining that the price tag is too steep. The network said the bill runs "counter to both the public policy of openness underlying FOIL, as well as the purported transparency supposedly fostered by the BWC (body worn camera) program itself."

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Much more than Mario Kart: The history of kart racers

We promise—kart racers existed before, during, and after Mario‘s reign within the genre.

No video game genre divides and unifies us like the kart racer. For every Mario Kart there are a dozen by-the-numbers cash-ins, and even that hallowed series receives regular criticism as too derivative. But while we all breathe a collective sigh of disappointment with each kid-friendly license that predictably goes the generic kart-racing route, it's hard not to get excited by that rare entry that feels fresh and new.

A great kart racer is a joyous thing. It's accessible yet deep, fun yet primed for oh-so-serious competition between friends, and full of colorful, wacky charm. It is a game for everyone. So in keeping with the spirit of the genre—and as the latest edition in our gaming genre history series that includes city builders, graphic adventures, and simulation games—it's time to ride through the ups and downs of kart racing.

(Before we start, a quick note: I've omitted go-kart racing sims such as Open Kart and Michael Schumacher Racing World Kart because they are essentially conventional racing games and not what we normally think of as kart racers.)

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Supreme Court to hear Microsoft Xbox 360 console-defect case

Tens of thousands of gamers complained that the console scratched game discs.

(credit: Davidlohr Bueso)

The Supreme Court will decide whether Microsoft must face a class-action lawsuit that claims a defect in the media giant's popular Xbox 360 console was prone to scratching game discs, rendering them unplayable.

The lawsuit alleges that vibrations or small movements of the console might cause the optical drive to scratch discs. The suit accuses Microsoft of knowing about the alleged issue before the Xbox 360 launched in 2005. According to the original lawsuit, brought in 2012, there were as many as 55,000 complaints about the scratching issue by as early as 2008.

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FinFET: Samsung startet 14LPP-Serienfertigung

Die zweite Generation des FinFET-Verfahrens ist gestartet: Samsung hat begonnen, Chips mit 14LPP-Technik in Serie zu produzieren. Dazu zählen der Exynos des Galaxy S7 und der Snapdragon 820. (Prozessor, OLED)

Die zweite Generation des FinFET-Verfahrens ist gestartet: Samsung hat begonnen, Chips mit 14LPP-Technik in Serie zu produzieren. Dazu zählen der Exynos des Galaxy S7 und der Snapdragon 820. (Prozessor, OLED)

CDC issues travel advisory for 14 countries with alarming viral outbreaks

Experts scrambling as US sees first birth defect linked to mosquito-spread virus.

(credit: Sanofi Pasteur)

With mounting evidence that the mosquito-spread Zika virus is behind the skyrocketing numbers of severe birth defects in Brazil, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention late Friday cautioned pregnant women and women planning to become pregnant to postpone travel to a set of Latin American and Caribbean countries and territories experiencing Zika outbreaks.

“Until more is known, and out of an abundance of caution, CDC recommends special precautions,” the agency said. The advisory relates to 14 countries and territories where Zika has newly spread: Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Martinique, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Suriname, Venezuela, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

The warning appears to be the first time the agency has ever recommended pregnant women avoid specific areas due to outbreaks. But health experts at the agency felt the “enhanced precaution” was prudent after new evidence directly linked the virus to four cases of microcephaly, in which babies are born with abnormally small heads and brains. The condition can be fatal.

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AsteroidOS: Open source smartwatch operating system that can replace Android Wear (on some watches)

AsteroidOS: Open source smartwatch operating system that can replace Android Wear (on some watches)

Samsung’s recent smartwatches run a Tizen-based operating system. Apple’s run watchOS. And a number of companies have released watches that run Google’s Android Wear operating system. There’s no shortage of smartwatch operating systems. But AsteroidOS is different… because it’s a free and open source operating system that you can install yourself, potentially giving you more […]

AsteroidOS: Open source smartwatch operating system that can replace Android Wear (on some watches) is a post from: Liliputing

AsteroidOS: Open source smartwatch operating system that can replace Android Wear (on some watches)

Samsung’s recent smartwatches run a Tizen-based operating system. Apple’s run watchOS. And a number of companies have released watches that run Google’s Android Wear operating system. There’s no shortage of smartwatch operating systems. But AsteroidOS is different… because it’s a free and open source operating system that you can install yourself, potentially giving you more […]

AsteroidOS: Open source smartwatch operating system that can replace Android Wear (on some watches) is a post from: Liliputing

“Land sparing” farming could offset agricultural carbon emissions

Provided we eat less meat and figure out how to boost crop yields—and soon.

(credit: climate.gov)

Agriculture is not responsible for the bulk of worldwide greenhouse gas emissions; that honor goes to more fossil-fuel intensive activities like transportation and generating electricity. Even still, greenhouse gas emissions from global agriculture are climbing by 1 percent a year.

Humans did once upon a time live without HDTVs and Hummers—we could do so again, at least in theory—but people will always have to eat. This makes reducing agricultural emissions particularly difficult. Researchers in the UK have reported that an approach called "land sparing" farming could offset the emissions coming from agriculture by sequestering carbon.

Land sparing increases the efficiency of existing farming practices, allowing more food to be produced on less land. The surplus farmland is then allowed to revert to a “natural” habitat. It all sounds sensible, and the paper led to a number of news articles earlier this month.

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Samsung: Neue Modelle des Galaxy A3 und A5 verfügbar

Samsung bringt die beiden aktualisierten Mittelklasse-Smartphones Galaxy A3 und Galaxy A5 auf den Markt. Die 2016er-Modelle orientieren sich beim Design am Galaxy S6. (Smartphone, Samsung)

Samsung bringt die beiden aktualisierten Mittelklasse-Smartphones Galaxy A3 und Galaxy A5 auf den Markt. Die 2016er-Modelle orientieren sich beim Design am Galaxy S6. (Smartphone, Samsung)

Torrent From the Cloud With Seedr

Most people download torrents with desktop clients such as uTorrent but with a simple user interface and tiny learning curve, Seedr takes torrenting into the cloud. Hiding users’ IP addresses from the public and with a totally free tier to get people started, the service is rapidly gaining traction.

Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and ANONYMOUS VPN services.

seedr-3BitTorrent is a formidably popular tool. More than 170 million people regularly use the protocol to share files of all sizes, with the majority using desktop software clients such as uTorrent and popular crowd-pleaser qBitTorrent.

Nevertheless, alternatives are available. For many years more advanced BitTorrent users have been using so-called ‘seedboxes’. These remote servers run torrent clients that allow people to share content away from their home machines. With expanded bandwidth at their disposal, sharing large quantities of data via seedbox is a breeze.

But while seedboxes aren’t particularly difficult to operate or understand (most use a familiar interface), the majority are hidden behind a paywall. Although relatively inexpensive, this lack of exposure ensures that people interested in remote torrenting aren’t exposed to the experience.

This is where Seedr steps in. Essentially a torrent client in the cloud, Seedr offers a free service to get people started and is ridiculously easy to operate.

On a basic level it’s as simple as making an account (just an email address is required) and either dragging or uploading a torrent to the service. Seedr is also fully magnet link capable and can even find a torrent when supplied with just the URL of a page.

Seedr then does all the downloading and sharing itself without a single byte hitting the user’s machine (great for those who want to get on with other things) and without any local IP addresses being exposed to a torrent swarm. This means the service helps to maintain user privacy too.


The Seedr interface

seedr-1

Once the download is complete (indicated by a basic progress bar) users can transfer the content to their own machine by hitting the download button while a right click reveals various other options.

In tests TF easily downloaded at a steady 25Mbps (even when limited by a VPN), meaning that a 1GB file took around five minutes to grab. Since downloads take place via HTTP, users can say goodbye to ISP throttling.

“Connections to the site are encrypted using SSL-256bit with strong ciphers, over HTTP/2 connections. All torrent traffic is done on our servers, and the identity of the users is never exposed. Security is up-to industry standards,” admin David informs TF.

But Seedr can do more.

“Once on the cloud you just see and manage your files – you can play them, stream them or download them if you want,” David says.

“There are many other small and cool features built into the system. For example, before you stream a movie you can seek for subtitles in any language and add them live. You can even sync them as you watch the movie.”


Streaming with Seedr

seedr-2

Since it’s browser-based, Seedr also works across devices – “anything but a sewing machine” according to David. Seedr also has a Chrome plug-in which enables users to add a download to Seedr in just two clicks – right-click on the link, left click on ‘Add to Seedr’. Done.

“The entire system was built to provide smooth streaming without wait-times for conversions ( even on phones ), and fast download speeds to home computers. All servers are 1000mbit or faster, and tuned for torrent, and file download traffic,” David says.

When attempting to stream to our Android test device there was an initial delay while the file converted but viewing was seamless after that. The black window that first appears needs to be tapped to reveal the playback controls.

Seedr collects anonymous data for bug fixes and the company says that all additional statistics are anonymized after 60 days. When users ask to have their accounts deleted, Seedr wipes their statistics along with the accounts within 48hrs.

Seedr offers a free tier and several packages for advanced users.

Free tier

– 2GB of free storage + more space for inviting friends
– Unlimited bandwidth, video playback support, high-speed downloads
– 1 parallel torrent download and 1:1 seeding ratio on public trackers

Premium

– 100GB-250GB of storage (1TB packages coming soon)
– Unlimited parallel downloads, HD streaming and API access
– 1:1 seeding ratio on public trackers
– Private trackers support with up to 5:1 or 5 days seeding ratio

In respect of copyright action, if Seedr receives a DMCA notice the company removes the offending torrent and advises the user. That is the end of the matter.

Overall

Easier to operate than uTorrent (by a long way), Seedr’s beauty lies in its simplicity. It’s hard to imagine anyone other than complete novices needing to revert to the site’s tutorial. However, those that do won’t be disappointed as it reveals ways to integrate the service into Kodi/XBMC.

Free tier aside (which is a steal) it’s not cheap at $9.95 per month (two months free on annual rates) so the service might benefit from having a more limited lower-tier premium package around the $6 to $7 mark.

Those who obsess over the minutiae of their torrenting might prefer a full-blown seedbox experience, but Seedr knows its target audience and appears to serve them well.

Seedr can be tested here for free.

Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and ANONYMOUS VPN services.