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Blockchain-as-a-Service - das klingt widersprüchlich und nicht nach dem ursprünglichen Gedanken hinter der Kryptowährung Bitcoin. Doch genau das wollen Microsoft und IBM erreichen - während die Bitcoin-Community um den richtigen Kurs streitet. (Blockchain, Microsoft)

The hugely popular Kodi media player, which started life as XBMC, has recently found increasing popularity due to its association with piracy. But it's this association that the people behind the software now want to get rid of - by suing!

The open and modular nature of Kodi's system allows third party add-ons to installed to enhance the functionality of the player. In recent times though, some of these add-ons have focused on allowing users to more easily find and play pirated content. And because of the way add-ons smoothly integrate into the Kodi player, most users won't even notice that they are using an add-on, as opposed to just the core Kodi software.

Then there are hardware media player boxes that come pre-loaded with Kodi and piracy add-ons, and are sold by unscrupulous operators who often zero support once the add-ons cease to work - many users end up blaming Kodi for their woes, instead of identifying the real culprits. 

And as a result, many users now associated Kodi with piracy, and poor quality add-ons.

Team Kodi, the group responsible for developing and maintaining Kodi, now wants to sever these connections, and they're bringing out the big legal guns to do so. By using their legally owned trademark for the word Kodi, the team plans to go after anyone that is using the Kodi name to promote illegal acts, including those that sell hardware boxes whose primary use is piracy.

The team also plans to go after people pretending to be Kodi developers or team members to promote piracy add-ons.

"If you are making a video in which you claim to be a Kodi developer or Kodi team member or you are just using the Kodi name while assuring users that some pirate add-on is totally legal and isn’t going to break next week, we will do everything we can to take you down," says Kodi Product Manager Nathan Betzen.

With that said, Team Kodi isn't going to take on users who continue to use add-ons for piracy. 

"So while we don't love this use of Kodi, as long as you know what illegal and potentially dangerous things you are getting yourself into and accept the fact that the Team will not be providing you with any support, then you are welcome to do what you like," explains Betzen.

1.828 Computerspiele hat die Unterhaltungssoftware Selbstkontrolle (USK) über ihr klassisches Prüfverfahren im Jahr 2015 untersucht. Erstmals lag nicht die Altersstufe "ab 0 Jahre" vorne. Grund sind die immer häufiger erfassten Casualgames. (USK, Microsoft)

Microsoft preist es als den ultimativen Laptop an: Das Surface Book ist tatsächlich ein grandioses DetachableGerät mit ungewöhnlichen Features. Angesichts des sehr hohen Preises stören uns aber kleine Details und Nachlässigkeiten bei der Software. (Surface Book, Microsoft)

Der Name ist Programm: Das neue Android-Smartphone Freedom 251 kostet genau 251 indische Rupien - umgerechnet um die 3,30 Euro. Für den Preis eines Kaffees erhalten Käufer ein vollwertiges Smartphone mit Quad-Core-Prozessor, 4-Zoll-Display - und einem bezahlbaren Zugang zu Informationen. (Smartphone, Android)

Late last year the main Popcorn Time fork, operating from the PopcornTime.io domain name, shut down its website unexpectedly.

The MPAA took credit for the fall announcing that it had filed a lawsuit against several of the developers in Canada. In response to these legal threats several key developers backed out.

Since the initial announcement there hasn’t been much news about the project. However, that changed a few hours ago.

It began when the outdated versions of the PopcornTime.io fork received a surprise update, noting that “Hail Hydra” was installed. Following this update the application became fully operational again without any significant issues.

The main changes in the new version appear to be that it’s based on the code from Popcorn Time’s ‘legal’ spin-off Butter and that it no longer promotes the VPN service VPN.ht.

Soon after the update there was additional confirmation of a ‘comeback.’ The official GitHub repository was updated with a new working version and now points to PopcornTime.sh as the new home, as does the official Twitter account.

PopcornTime.io’s former Twitter account

The MPAA is not going to be happy with the surprise return, but indirectly they did take part in it. The code used to update the old application used the Its.pt domain name (mirror).

This domain uses four nameservers (ptn.sh, ptn.re. ptn.wf and ptm.pm) which are all controlled and owned by the MPAA. The MPAA obtained these domains as a result of the legal action in Canada and could have updated them.

The MPAA probably isn’t behind the comeback, but who is? TorrentFreak spoke with most key members of the old Popcorntime.io team, some of who were sued by the MPAA, and all deny being behind it.

Popcorn Time developer Wally, who also founded the VPN.ht service, previously told us that he was working on a comeback. He is one of the members of the core team that wasn’t sued by the MPAA, although his name was mentioned in the complaint.

However, when asked about the current comeback Wally denied all involvement.

What’s clear is that the new PopcornTime version is signed with the same private keys as the previous .io fork, keys that belong to the PopcornTime.io project.

After going around in circles it appears that no one is willing to take credit for the return. Perhaps wise, as the MPAA will be watching the developments closely. At the same time, however, this mystery may also be a bit uneasy for the software’s users.

While some may see it as a victory the comeback also adds to an increasingly complex Popcorn Time web. With several forks and new domain names popping up, shutting down and targeting each other in recent months, it has been hard to keep up.

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

Deutschland hat sich einen Platz im FTTH-Ranking für Europa erkämpft - allerdings den vorletzten. Hauptsächlich hätten Kommunen und private Betreiber den Ausbau vorangetrieben. (Glasfaser, Studie)

Handlich, große Kapazität und praktisch unbegrenzt haltbar: Forscher aus England haben möglicherweise das Speichermedium der Zukunft entwickelt. (Speichermedien, Storage)

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Panasonic will zusammen mit einem der Flughäfen in Tokio ab dem 18. Februar für rund eine Woche Wigig-Datentransfers öffentlich demonstrieren. 200 MByte pro Sekunde sollen dank Millimeterwellentechnik im 60-GHz-Band möglich werden. (Wigig, WLAN)