TorrentFreak – TVAddons’ Adam Lackman Admits TV Show Piracy, Agrees to Pay US$14.5m

Feb 242022
 

Mid-June 2017 and in the wake of a lawsuit filed in the United States by broadcaster DISH Network, TVAddons – the largest third-party Kodi add-on repository at the time – disappeared from the Internet.
All signs pointed to the events being connected but by August 2017, a bigger picture was emerging.
On June 2, 2017, a coalition of Canadian telecoms giants including Bell Canada, Bell ExpressVu, Bell Media, Videotron, Groupe TVA, Rogers Communications and Rogers Media, had filed a copyright complaint in Canada’s Federal Court against Montreal resident Adam Lackman, the man behind TVAddons.
The plaintiffs’ case against Lackman ran to 18 pages and contained claims that he communicated copyrighted TV shows including Game of Thrones, Prison Break,…

External feed Read More at the Source: https://torrentfreak.com/tvaddons-adam-lackman-admits-tv-show-piracy-agrees-to-pay-us14-5m-220224/

 2022-02-24  Comments Off on TorrentFreak – TVAddons’ Adam Lackman Admits TV Show Piracy, Agrees to Pay US$14.5m

Techdirt. – Video Game History Foundation: Nintendo Actions ‘Actively Destructive To Video Game History’

Feb 232022
 

I’ve been banging on a bit lately about the importance of video game preservation as a matter of art preservation. It’s not entirely clear to me how much buy in there is out there in general on this concept, but it’s a challenge in this specific industry because much of the control over what can be preserved or not sits in the hands of game publishers and platforms compared with other forms of art. Books have libraries, films have the academies and museums, and music is decently preserved all over the place. But for gaming, even organizations like the Video Game History Foundation have to rely on publishers and platforms to let them do their work,…

External feed Read More at the Source: https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20220218/09061748496/video-game-history-foundation-nintendo-actions-actively-destructive-to-video-game-history.shtml

 2022-02-23  Comments Off on Techdirt. – Video Game History Foundation: Nintendo Actions ‘Actively Destructive To Video Game History’

Hackaday – Winamp Reborn with the Adafruit PyPortal

Feb 222022
 

One look at the default Winamp skin is sure to reawaken fond memories for a certain segment of the community. For those who experienced the MP3 revolution first hand, few audio players stick out in the mind like Winamp and its llama whipping reputation. No, the proprietary Windows-only media player isn’t the sort of thing you’d catch us recommending these days; but it was the 1990s, and things were very different.
For those who want to relive those heady peer-to-peer days, [Tim C] has posted a tutorial on how to turn Adafruit’s PyPortal into a touch screen MP3 player that faithfully recreates the classic Winamp look. As you can see in the video below it certainly nails…

External feed Read More at the Source: https://hackaday.com/2022/02/20/winamp-reborn-with-the-adafruit-pyportal/

 2022-02-22  Comments Off on Hackaday – Winamp Reborn with the Adafruit PyPortal

jwz – Robot war dogs hunting migrants now

Feb 172022
 

Dystopian robot dogs are the latest in a long history of US-Mexico border surveillance:Each is embedded with different types of cameras (thermal, night vision, long-range) and sensors (chemical, weapons detection). DHS praised the device’s ability to cross multiple terrains — including sand, rocks and hills — and its durability in high heat and cramped spaces.DHS’ choice of vendor sparked additional concern. While most police departments leased their pups from Boston Dynamics, which forbids customers weaponizing any of their tech, DHS chose Philadelphia-based Ghost Robotics. Late last year, the company debuted a version of its robot dogs equipped with long-range guns capable of hitting targets at a reported 1,200 meters.DHS’s oddly cheery blogpost also implied the robots…

External feed Read More at the Source: https://www.jwz.org/blog/2022/02/robot-war-dogs-hunting-migrants-now/

 2022-02-17  Comments Off on jwz – Robot war dogs hunting migrants now

jwz – Today is the end of mask mandates, which is why my tests finally arrived.

Feb 172022
 

Got my 4 squares of toilet paper in the mail today! I signed up 30 days ago, on Jan 18. I gather that I must share these with the other 150+ people who live in my building, since only one of us was allowed to order them. But today is also the day that San Francisco dropped its masking requirements, against the guidance of the CDC and WHO. Because if we’re all just over it then that means it’s over, right? That’s how it works, right?But I guess Maskless Mayor Breed is just following the political winds and doing what the people want, right? Oh wait, strike that, reverse it.And in case you hadn’t tried it…

External feed Read More at the Source: https://www.jwz.org/blog/2022/02/today-is-the-end-of-mask-mandates-which-is-why-my-tests-finally-arrived/

 2022-02-17  Comments Off on jwz – Today is the end of mask mandates, which is why my tests finally arrived.

Deeplinks – Not Just San Francisco: Police Across the Country are Retaining and Searching DNA of Victims and Innocent People

Feb 162022
 

This week we learned that San Francisco Police used a woman’s own DNA—collected years earlier as part of an investigation into her sexual assault—to charge her for an unrelated property crime. What’s worse—it appears the S.F. police routinely search victims’ DNA in criminal investigations.
This practice is possible because San Francisco has been storing DNA gathered from rape survivors in the same local database where it stores DNA from rape assailants and other suspects. The San Francisco District Attorney stated the database potentially includes thousands of victims’ DNA profiles, with entries over “many, many years.”
This is not the first time San Francisco has had problems with its DNA crime lab. In 2010, the SF Weekly reported…

External feed Read More at the Source: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/02/not-just-san-francisco-police-across-country-are-retaining-and-searching-dna

 2022-02-16  Comments Off on Deeplinks – Not Just San Francisco: Police Across the Country are Retaining and Searching DNA of Victims and Innocent People

The Onion – Boston Dynamics Dog Unstoppable At Puppy Bowl

Feb 142022
 

GLENS FALLS, NY—Breaking its own record after scoring a touchdown to rack up its 600th point within the first quarter, the Boston Dynamics dog appeared unstoppable at the Puppy Bowl, sources confirmed Sunday. “It looks like Nacho is headed into the end zone, and—oh no, another brutal tackle from Spot, the robotic…

Read more…

External feed Read More at the Source: https://www.theonion.com/super-bowl-boston-dynamics-dog-unstoppable-at-puppy-bow-1848516968

 2022-02-14  Comments Off on The Onion – Boston Dynamics Dog Unstoppable At Puppy Bowl

Planet PostgreSQL – Hubert ‘depesz’ Lubaczewski: How much disk space you can save by using INT4/INT instead of INT8/BIGINT?

Feb 132022
 

Lately there have been couple of discussions on IRC, Slack, and Reddit that showed that people assume that by using int4/integer they use 4 bytes less than they would in case of int8/bigint. This is not really the case. Let me explain why. First quick test. On my computer, which is running some Ryzen processor, … Continue reading “How much disk space you can save by using INT4/INT instead of INT8/BIGINT?”

External feed Read More at the Source: https://postgr.es/p/5fT

 2022-02-13  Comments Off on Planet PostgreSQL – Hubert ‘depesz’ Lubaczewski: How much disk space you can save by using INT4/INT instead of INT8/BIGINT?

Phoronix – GNU/Hurd Continues Effort To Use NetBSD’s Drivers For Better Hardware Support

Feb 062022
 

Besides all of the Linux-focused talks at the annual FOSDEM conference, another favorite track of mine is that on micro-kernels and other operating systems. While there wasn’t the GNU/Hurd status update in 2022 as there has been in some recent years, there was a talk over GNU/Hurd using NetBSD kernel drivers in order to expand its hardware coverage…

External feed Read More at the Source: https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=GNU-Hurd-NetBSD-Drivers-2022

 2022-02-06  Comments Off on Phoronix – GNU/Hurd Continues Effort To Use NetBSD’s Drivers For Better Hardware Support

Hackaday – CadQuery Comes Of Age

Feb 052022
 

Now, we know what some of you are going to say — “Oh man, not another programmatic CAD tool, what’s wrong with OpenSCAD?” — and you may be right, but maybe hold on a bit and take a look at this one, because we think that it’s now pretty awesome! OpenSCAD is great, we use it all the time round these parts, but it is a bit, you know, weird in places. Then along comes CadQuery, and blows it out of the water ease-of-use and functionality wise. Now, we’ve seen a few mentions of CadQuery over the years, and finally it’s become a full-blown toolset in its own right, complete with a graphical frontend/editor, CQ-editor. No…

External feed Read More at the Source: https://hackaday.com/2022/02/04/cadquery-comes-of-age/

 2022-02-05  Comments Off on Hackaday – CadQuery Comes Of Age

Ballot Access News – North Carolina Supreme Court Strikes Down New U.S. House and Legislative Districts

Feb 052022
 

On February 4, the North Carolina Supreme Court struck down the new U.S. House and legislative district boundaries. The vote was 4-3. The majority said the districts are an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander, which the State Constitution does not permit. The majority depended on the clause in the State Constitution that says elections must be “free and equal.” Because the decision is based on the State Constitution, the case cannot be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. Here is the opinion in Harper v Hall, 413PA21.
The decision affirms that the 2022 primary will be on May 17. That is also the independent petition deadline. The court says the legislature must draw new districts by February 23.
Independent candidates…

External feed Read More at the Source: https://ballot-access.org/2022/02/04/north-carolina-strikes-down-new-u-s-house-and-legislative-districts/

 2022-02-05  Comments Off on Ballot Access News – North Carolina Supreme Court Strikes Down New U.S. House and Legislative Districts

Techdirt. – Nintendo Hates You: More DMCA Takedowns Of YouTube Videos Of Game Music Despite No Legit Alternative

Feb 042022
 

I guess this is nearly an annual thing now. In 2019, we talked about how one YouTuber, GilvaSunner, had over one hundred YouTube videos blocked by Nintendo over copyright claims. GilvaSunner’s channel is dedicated to video game music, mostly from Nintendo games. Those videos consist of nothing but that music, as in no footage of video game gameplay. Nintendo, which certainly can take this sort of action from an IP standpoint, also doesn’t offer any legit alternative for fans to enjoy this music on any streaming service or the like. Then, in 2020, GilvaSunner had another whole swath of videos consisting of game music blocked by Nintendo over copyright claims. Still no legit alternative for those…

External feed Read More at the Source: https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20220201/09563748398/nintendo-hates-you-more-dmca-takedowns-youtube-videos-game-music-despite-no-legit-alternative.shtml

 2022-02-04  Comments Off on Techdirt. – Nintendo Hates You: More DMCA Takedowns Of YouTube Videos Of Game Music Despite No Legit Alternative

World Socialist Web Site (en) – Declassified NSA oversight report shows illegal surveillance by US government continues unimpeded

Feb 042022
 

The semiannual report from the Office of the Inspector General shows that illegal surveillance of Americans is continuing and that claims that it has been stopped are lies.

External feed Read More at the Source: http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2022/02/04/nsai-f04.html

 2022-02-04  Comments Off on World Socialist Web Site (en) – Declassified NSA oversight report shows illegal surveillance by US government continues unimpeded

Deeplinks – SHOP SAFE Will Stomp Out Online Sales of Used and Homemade Goods

Feb 032022
 

The House of Representatives has inserted SHOP SAFE—a piece of legislation that would make it extremely difficult for any individual to sell things online and equally difficult for any online platform to compete with Amazon—into a 3,000-page trade bill. It cannot remain there.
The “Stopping Harmful Offers on Platforms by Screening Against Fakes in E-Commerce” (SHOP SAFE) is a bill that claims to be about protecting consumers but is more likely to enrich big brands at consumers’ expense. SHOP SAFE would force pretty much any online service that allows people to buy and sell items to institute a draconian trademark protection system. If they don’t, they risk crushing liability for the actions of their users.
Take Action
Tell Your…

External feed Read More at the Source: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/02/shop-safe-will-stomp-out-online-sales-used-and-homemade-goods

 2022-02-03  Comments Off on Deeplinks – SHOP SAFE Will Stomp Out Online Sales of Used and Homemade Goods

Ballot Access News – Vermont Ranked Choice Voting Bill Has 8 Sponsors

Feb 022022
 

Eight Vermont State Senators have introduced SB 229, which would provide for ranked choice voting for primaries and general elections, for president and congress. The sponsors include six Democrats and two Progressives. The Vermont Senate has 30 members. … Continue reading →

External feed Read More at the Source: https://ballot-access.org/2022/02/01/vermont-ranked-choice-voting-bill-has-8-sponsors/

 2022-02-02  Comments Off on Ballot Access News – Vermont Ranked Choice Voting Bill Has 8 Sponsors

The Register – America’s EARN IT Act attacking Section 230 is back – and once again threatening the internet, critics say

Feb 022022
 

Legislation to punish online services for users’ illegal content would damage speech and encryption, it’s claimed

The EARN IT Act, a legislative bill intended “to encourage the tech industry to take online child sexual exploitation seriously” has been revived in the US Senate after it died in committee back in 2020.…

External feed Read More at the Source: https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2022/02/02/earnit_act_section230/

 2022-02-02  Comments Off on The Register – America’s EARN IT Act attacking Section 230 is back – and once again threatening the internet, critics say

Phoronix – Redis 7.0 Is Near With “Significant Performance Optimizations”

Feb 012022
 

The first release candidate of Redis 7.0 was made available today. Getting us excited about this updated in-memory key-value database are “significant performance optimizations” among other improvements…

External feed Read More at the Source: https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Redis-7.0-rc1

 2022-02-01  Comments Off on Phoronix – Redis 7.0 Is Near With “Significant Performance Optimizations”

Ballot Access News – During 2022, Montana Party Petition Will Not Require Any Distribution Requirement

Jan 222022
 

As already noted, last year the Ninth Circuit struck down the Montana distribution requirement for petitions to create a qualified party. The Montana legislature is not scheduled to meet during calendar year 2022, so there is no likelihood that the legislature can restore the distribution requirement until 2023 at the earliest. Presumably if the legislature restores it, it will require an equal number of signatures from legislative districts, avoiding the constitutional problem.
Therefore, for 2022, the petition to qualify a new party will be easier than it has been since 1969. The petition still needs 5,000 signatures, but signatures can be gathered anywhere in the state. However, the petition deadline is in late February.
Before 1969, Montana allowed…

External feed Read More at the Source: https://ballot-access.org/2022/01/22/during-2022-montana-party-petition-will-not-require-any-distribution-requirement/

 2022-01-22  Comments Off on Ballot Access News – During 2022, Montana Party Petition Will Not Require Any Distribution Requirement

Planet KDE – Reviving and reworking the KRunner help

Jan 222022
 

Reviving and reworking the KRunner help
Currently KRunner does not provide any usage information itself, there
is only an bit of documentation on the user base wiki. Back in the KDE4 days KRunner had
help button, but fundamental changes in the architecture meant that the code could not simply be ported to the current version.

Since the help system required reimplementation, it was decided to implement it as a plugin for KRunner’s powerful plugin infrastructure.
This plugin produces results when one types ? or help. To make this more discoverable a button is added, which
puts the text ? in the search field.

By having it as a plugin it is reusable in every case KRunner is used,
for example the KWin overview effect,…

External feed Read More at the Source: https://write.as/alexander-lohnau/reviving-and-reworking-the-krunner-help

 2022-01-22  Comments Off on Planet KDE – Reviving and reworking the KRunner help
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