YouTube TV’s Disney blackout reminds users that they don’t own what they stream

“This is a hard lesson for us all.”

Google and Disney have been in a contract dispute since October 30 that has resulted in YouTube TV subscribers losing access to 21 Disney-owned TV channels, including ABC, ESPN, and The Disney Channel.

In addition to reducing access to popular live content, the corporate conflict is highlighting another frustration in the streaming era. As Google and Disney continue duking it out, their customers have lost some access to content they thought was permanent: DVR files and digital movie purchases.

A perk of subscribing to YouTube TV, per Google’s marketing, is the ability to “record it all with unlimited DVR space.” A footnote on the YouTube TV homepage notes that unlimited DVR is subject to “device, regional, and Internet restrictions” but overlooks an additional restriction in the form of multi-conglomerate spats.

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OneXFly Apex Strix Halo handheld gaming PC hits Indiegogo for $1399 and up (options include liquid cooling and spare batteries)

The OneXFly Apex is one of only a few handheld gaming PCs to offer discrete-class integrated graphics thanks to an AMD Strix Halo processor. First introduced earlier this fall, the handheld launched in China recently for around $1200 and up. Now the co…

The OneXFly Apex is one of only a few handheld gaming PCs to offer discrete-class integrated graphics thanks to an AMD Strix Halo processor. First introduced earlier this fall, the handheld launched in China recently for around $1200 and up. Now the company behind the handheld is preparing for a global launch. One Netbook is running a […]

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Mobilfunkantennen: Telekom gegen Neueinstufung als kritische Infrastruktur

Die Bundesnetzagentur hat auf Nachfrage eine technische Begründung für ihren Vorstoß nachgeliefert. Telekom und die Standardisierung widersprechen. (Bundesnetzagentur, Telekom)

Die Bundesnetzagentur hat auf Nachfrage eine technische Begründung für ihren Vorstoß nachgeliefert. Telekom und die Standardisierung widersprechen. (Bundesnetzagentur, Telekom)

Google and Epic reach settlement in antitrust lawsuit

Google and Epic have been fighting a court battle for the past five years, but the end could be in sight. Epic sued Google in 2020, alleging that the company was was abusing its power over the Android ecosystem to make it difficult for developers to us…

Google and Epic have been fighting a court battle for the past five years, but the end could be in sight. Epic sued Google in 2020, alleging that the company was was abusing its power over the Android ecosystem to make it difficult for developers to use third-party app stores or billing systems, among other […]

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Flock haters cross political divides to remove error-prone cameras

Lawmakers’ calls for Flock probe may help kill local contracts, expert says.

Flock Safety—the surveillance company behind the country’s largest network of automated license plate readers (ALPRs)—currently faces attacks on multiple fronts seeking to tear down the invasive and error-prone cameras across the US.

This week, two lawmakers, Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.), called for a federal investigation, alleging that Flock has been “negligently handling Americans’ personal data” by failing to use cybersecurity best practices. The month prior, Wyden wrote a letter to Flock CEO Garrett Langley, alleging that Flock’s security failures mean that “abuse of Flock cameras is inevitable” and that they threaten to expose billions of people’s harvested data should a catastrophic breach occur.

“In my view, local elected officials can best protect their constituents from the inevitable abuses of Flock cameras by removing Flock from their communities,” Wyden wrote.

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If you want to satiate AI’s hunger for power, Google suggests going to space

Google engineers think they already have all the pieces needed to build a data center in orbit.

It was probably always when, not if, Google would add its name to the list of companies intrigued by the potential of orbiting data centers.

Google announced Tuesday a new initiative, named Project Suncatcher, to examine the feasibility of bringing artificial intelligence to space. The idea is to deploy swarms of satellites in low-Earth orbit, each carrying Google’s AI accelerator chips designed for training, content generation, synthetic speech and vision, and predictive modeling. Google calls these chips Tensor Processing Units, or TPUs.

“Project Suncatcher is a moonshot exploring a new frontier: equipping solar-powered satellite constellations with TPUs and free-space optical links to one day scale machine learning compute in space,” Google wrote in a blog post.

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Google settlement with Epic caps Play Store fees, boosts other Android app stores

Google will make several changes to Android app support globally, supported through at least 2032.

Google has spent the last few years waging a losing battle against Epic Games, which accused the Android maker of illegally stifling competition in mobile apps. Losses in court left Google to make sweeping changes to the Play Store, but Google appeared poised to take the case all the way to the Supreme Court. That is unlikely now that Epic and Google have reached a settlement in the case. It still needs to be approved by the judge, but the agreement provides a framework for long-term changes to Android app distribution that would apply globally.

Late last month, Google was forced to make the first round of mandated changes to the Play Store to comply with the court’s ruling. It grudgingly began allowing developers to direct users to alternative payment options and app downloads outside of Google’s ecosystem. By next summer, Google was supposed to open up Android to third-party app stores in a big way.

These changes were only mandated for three years and in the United States. The new agreement includes a different vision for third-party stores on Android—one that Google finds more palatable and that still gives Epic what it wants. If approved, the settlement will lower Google’s standard fee for developers. There will also be new support in Android for third-party app stores that will reduce the friction of leaving the Google bubble. Under the terms of the settlement, Google will support these changes through at least June 2032.

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Speedport 7: Telekom setzt auf Software von Airties für Wi-Fi 7

Die Deutsche Telekom nutzt in ihrem neuen Router Speedport 7 mit Wi-Fi 7 eine spezielle Software. Doch ein wichtiger Frequenzbereich fehlt dem Gerät von Arcadyan. (Speedport, Telekom)

Die Deutsche Telekom nutzt in ihrem neuen Router Speedport 7 mit Wi-Fi 7 eine spezielle Software. Doch ein wichtiger Frequenzbereich fehlt dem Gerät von Arcadyan. (Speedport, Telekom)