Münchner IT auf dem Prüfstand: Diese Studie ist schlecht für meinen Blutdruck

Managementfehler, unmotivierte Mitarbeiter, uralte Rechner und Abstürze bei Windows – dass so etwas problematisch ist, hätte ich der Stadt München jederzeit gratis gesagt. Doch die hat lieber eine Unternehmensberatung bezahlt, um das herauszufinden. Glückwunsch zur Verschwendung von Steuergeldern! (Open Source, Groupware)

Managementfehler, unmotivierte Mitarbeiter, uralte Rechner und Abstürze bei Windows - dass so etwas problematisch ist, hätte ich der Stadt München jederzeit gratis gesagt. Doch die hat lieber eine Unternehmensberatung bezahlt, um das herauszufinden. Glückwunsch zur Verschwendung von Steuergeldern! (Open Source, Groupware)

Adoptable Storage: Galaxy S7 kann doch SD-Karten als internen Speicher nutzen

Mit einem Trick lassen sich bei Samsungs neuen Galaxy-S7-Smartphones Micro-SD-Karten doch wie interner Speicher verwenden – nach einer Formatierung über die Android Debug Bridge. Allerdings bringt das die Speicheranzeigen der Smartphones etwas durcheinander. (Galaxy S7, Smartphone)

Mit einem Trick lassen sich bei Samsungs neuen Galaxy-S7-Smartphones Micro-SD-Karten doch wie interner Speicher verwenden - nach einer Formatierung über die Android Debug Bridge. Allerdings bringt das die Speicheranzeigen der Smartphones etwas durcheinander. (Galaxy S7, Smartphone)

MPAA Wants to Keep Its Anti-Piracy Secrets From Google

Hoping to find out more about the collaboration between the MPAA and Mississippi State Attorney General Jim Hood, Google recently requested a deposition of MPAA lead counsel Steve Fabrizio. This week the Hollywood group told the court that the request goes too far, claiming that Google is using the legal process to uncover its anti-piracy strategies.

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

mpaaLate last year leaked documents from the Sony hack revealed that the MPAA helped Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood to revive SOPA-like censorship efforts in the United States.

In a retaliatory move Google sued the Attorney General, hoping to find out more about the secret plan. The company also demanded internal communication from the MPAA and its lawfirm Jenner & Block, as well as several movie studios.

More recently Google requested a deposition of MPAA lead counsel Steve Fabrizio, who could possible provide additional details on the case. These type of interrogations are part of the discovery process, but according to the MPAA Google’s recent request goes too far.

The MPAA believes that the deposition should be quashed, as it would put its anti-piracy strategies at risk and violate its First Amendment rights.

In a motion to refuse the deposition, the MPAA notes that their lead counsel only sent two emails to the Attorney General. The group therefore suspects that Google has an alternative motive to hear its counsel.

More specifically, the MPAA fears that Google may use the discovery process to uncover its legal anti-piracy strategies.

“…the conclusion is inescapable that Google seeks his deposition not to advance any legitimate discovery goal, but rather to satisfy Google’s curiosity about, and potentially undermine, the MPAA’s anti-piracy legal strategies..,” they write.

MPAA’s opposition

mpaaopposition

In recent months Google has already requested numerous documents and deposed several people who are or were connected to the group, with a particular interest in its anti-piracy efforts.

“Google has shown a keen interest in learning more about the MPAA’s content protection activities, and is using discovery in this case to that end,” the MPAA’s filing reads.

“Even before its latest salvo, Google had served six subpoenas on the MPAA, its law firm, three of its member companies, and two of its employees or former employees.”

In addition to breaching its anti-piracy strategies, the MPAA doesn’t want to reveal any details on their strategy to ask government law enforcement officials for help in copyright infringement cases.

Having to reveal these internal strategies would violate their First Amendment right to free exercise of political speech and association, the MPAA argues.

“…inquiry by Google into the MPAA’s decisions to petition government law enforcement officials for assistance regarding Google’s conduct threatens to chill the First Amendment associational rights of the MPAA, its employees (including Mr. Fabrizio), and its members,” they write.

It’s now up to the judge to decide whether Google should be allowed to interrogate the MPAA’s lead counsel. Deposition or not, based on the stakes at hand this case isn’t going to blow over anytime soon.

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

16 years later, Blizzard is still patching Diablo II

New update helps the game run on modern operating systems

No rest for the weary.

These days, you're lucky if some titles from certain big publishers get a year or two of post-launch online support for their games before they're unceremoniously dropped. And then there's Diablo II. Blizzard issued a new version 1.14 patch for the nearly 16-year-old game Thursday, five years after the game was last officially updated (not to mention, four years since the game's sequel launched with its own attendant post-release problems and patches)

The new Diablo II patch doesn't add any new gameplay features, balance tweaks, or anything like that. Instead, Blizzard has added compatibility with modern operating systems like Windows 10 and OS X. But Blizzard says it's working on improvements to the game's "cheat-detection and hack-prevention capabilities" and hints at more improvements to come.

"There is still a large Diablo II community around the world, and we thank you for continuing to play and slay with us," Blizzard writes. "This journey starts by making Diablo II run on modern platforms, but it does not end there. See you in Sanctuary, adventurers."

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Ubuntu versions of Dell XPS 13, Precision laptops now available

Ubuntu versions of Dell XPS 13, Precision laptops now available

Dell is updating its “Project Sputnik” line of laptops which ship with Ubuntu Linux rather than Microsoft Windows software. The new Dell XPS 13 Developer Edition is an Ubuntu-powered version of the new XPS 13 laptop with Intel Skylake processor options, and Dell is also now offering Ubuntu versions of its Precision line of high-performance […]

Ubuntu versions of Dell XPS 13, Precision laptops now available is a post from: Liliputing

Ubuntu versions of Dell XPS 13, Precision laptops now available

Dell is updating its “Project Sputnik” line of laptops which ship with Ubuntu Linux rather than Microsoft Windows software. The new Dell XPS 13 Developer Edition is an Ubuntu-powered version of the new XPS 13 laptop with Intel Skylake processor options, and Dell is also now offering Ubuntu versions of its Precision line of high-performance […]

Ubuntu versions of Dell XPS 13, Precision laptops now available is a post from: Liliputing

Weißes Haus: US-Regierung will mehr Open-Source-Software in Behörden

Open-Source-Software kann Steuergeld sparen und die Zusammenarbeit von Behörden verbessern, glaubt zumindest die US-Regierung. Die Öffentlichkeit soll nun deren Pläne zur Verbesserung der Offenlegung von Code kommentieren. (Open Source, Internet)

Open-Source-Software kann Steuergeld sparen und die Zusammenarbeit von Behörden verbessern, glaubt zumindest die US-Regierung. Die Öffentlichkeit soll nun deren Pläne zur Verbesserung der Offenlegung von Code kommentieren. (Open Source, Internet)

Feds want convicted journalist to serve 5 years, his lawyers ask for no prison time

DOJ: 40-minute hack was “an online version of urging a mob to smash the presses.”

(credit: donnaidh_sidhe)

Federal prosecutors have asked a judge to impose a sentence of five years against Matthew Keys, who was found guilty last year on three counts of criminal hacking under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. That federal law, which was passed in 1984, was what the late activist Aaron Swartz was prosecuted under. Last year, President Barack Obama called for Congress to expand prison sentences for those found guilty under this law.

Keys worked previously as an online producer for KTXL Fox 40, a Sacramento, California-based television station. Prosecutors argued that in December 2010, shortly after his dismissal, he handed over login credentials to a Tribune Media content management system (CMS), which allowed members of Anonymous to make unauthorized changes to a Los Angeles Times story. (At the time, both companies were both owned by Tribune Media.) Those changes amounted to a short-lived prank: they lasted only 40 minutes, and there is little evidence that the prank was widely noticed. Criminal charges were not filed until March 2013.

Even after he was found guilty, Keys continued to deny the government’s narrative. In a brief interview with Ars after his trial concluded, he described the prosecution’s theory as "total bullshit."

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Canon EOS 1300D: Canon ermöglicht günstigen Einstieg in die DSLR-Welt

Canon hat mit der EOS 1300D eine vergleichsweise preiswerte digitale Spiegelreflexkamera mit APS-C-Sensor vorgestellt, die 18 Megapixel aufnimmt und auch wegen der vielen Hilfefunktionen für Einsteiger gedacht ist. Gegenüber dem Vorgänger hat sich wenig geändert. (Canon, DSLR)

Canon hat mit der EOS 1300D eine vergleichsweise preiswerte digitale Spiegelreflexkamera mit APS-C-Sensor vorgestellt, die 18 Megapixel aufnimmt und auch wegen der vielen Hilfefunktionen für Einsteiger gedacht ist. Gegenüber dem Vorgänger hat sich wenig geändert. (Canon, DSLR)

Ars System Guide, VR edition: Cheap VR, great VR, and optional 4k craziness

The difference between barely running on Oculus/Vive and screaming on 4K is about $3,000.

(credit: Aurich Lawson)

You may consider yourself an enterprising PC game-machine builder, and in the past few years, you may have built a pretty damned good rig. That doesn't mean you went crazy, however. Graphics standards have leveled off a bit lately—at least, enough for a reasonably priced machine to run "max" settings at the standard screen resolution of 1080p or even rock-solid frame rates and high fidelity at 1440p.

Those specs are still within quite reasonable reach, but system builders may now want to target two additional, beefier visual standards: 4K monitors and virtual reality headsets.

The former can mean a few different resolutions, but this goal typically quadruples the pixel count of standard 1080p resolution. And while the retail Oculus and Vive headsets have fewer pixels than 4K displays, they have to refresh content at 90 frames-per-second to offset nausea concerns—which far outpace the demands of a standard 1080p/60 display. Either way, if you haven't built a new PC in a while, you're gonna need a bigger boat.

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Tesla Model S gets its own racing series: The Electric GT World Series

Every car on grid will be a modified Model S; in the future, that should change.

The world's first zero-emissions GT (road-car-based) racing championships will begin in 2017, and every single car on the grid will be a Tesla Model S P85+.

The new championships, called the Electric GT World Series, will have a seven-race season in 2017, with races in Europe, America, and Asia. It sounds like the organisers are still trying to nail down which tracks will be used, but the press release specifically mentions Barcelona, Donington (UK), Mugello (Italy), and Estoril (Portugal).

There will be 10 teams, and each team will field two modified Tesla Model S P85+ road cars. The power unit and its control software will remain unchanged from the standard road car (416hp, 601Nm), but changes will be made to the aerodynamics, suspension, and brakes to make it more suitable for racing. The car's weight will also be reduced (presumably by tearing out unneeded upholstery and the like), and the battery's cooling system will be improved so that the drivers can keep their foot on the throttle for longer.

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