Every Ozimal digirabbit in the venerable virtual world Second Life will starve to death (well, permanent hibernation) this week because a legal threat has shut down their food-server, and the virtual pets are designed so that they can only eat DRM-locked food, so the official food server's shutdown has doomed them all. (more…)
Heroes are much more interesting when they have a few of the flaws we normal people deal with -or just bad luck. That's why Superman will never be as interesting as Batman. And why Deadpool captured the moviegoing audience's attention so well -he's far from perfect, and we can relate. When filmmakers throw a bolt into the machinery of a daring caper, it provides us with an unexpected gasp or laugh or something to keep us from falling asleep during the heroic actions we expect.
Robert Jones found those moments in 43 different movies, most of which you've seen. Enjoy this movie supercut. -Thanks, Robert!
Marta Chudolinska is Learning Zone Librarian at the Ontario College of Art and Design University, which hosts a huge zine collection founded in 2007 Alicia Nauta, then a student. (more…)
It's been a year since we warned that Intel's Management Engine -- a separate computer within your own computer, intended to verify and supervise the main system -- presented a terrifying, unauditable security risk that could lead to devastating, unstoppable attacks. Guess what happened next? (more…)
I tried visualising some animals in different form, which called Anicube or Animal Cube. I am interested in the cubical shape and trying to change some animal form into cubes. First, I was afraid if it would be nicer than the original shape. I was really curious about the results, so I tried to find some funny animal pictures to be changed into Anicube.
I found animal pictures from Unsplash and Pixabay. Once I collected, I started making these images in Photoshop. How to make a cube on animal body, I use the Liquify (Shift+Command+X). After it is formed and I think it is funnier than the original form, I uploaded to Instagram. I saw that many friends liked it, so I was challenged to make it more. So here is the result of my simple works. I hope you like it.
Damien Henry, co-inventor of Google Cardboard, trained a machine learning algorithm using footage shot from a moving vehicle and then had the machine generate this beautiful video.
"Graphics are 100% generated by an algorithm in one shot. No edit or post-processing," Henry writes. "Except the first one, all frames are calculated one by one by a prediction algorithm that tries to predict the next frame from the previous one."
The soundtrack is the Steve Reich masterpiece "Music for 18 Musicians."
Right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones makes almost all of his money selling nostrums, says Seth Brown of Select/All. His audience buys so many bottle of Infowars Life Silver Bullet Colloidal Silver, Infowars Life Brain Force Plus, Infowars Life Super Male Vitality, and Infowars Life Liver Shield that he no longer depends on 3rd party advertising to make money.
A representative from PowerReviews, which manages Infowars’ review system, told me that between 3 percent and 8 percent of purchasers generally review their products. Assuming that 5 percent of Jones’s customers review each product they’ve purchased, the total sales would be more than 500,000 units sold over two years. At an average price of $30, this would represent $15,000,000 in sales over the same two-year period. If we assume more generously that reviews represent closer to 3 percent of the total number of purchasers, the number balloons to nearly $25,000,000. That’s a lot of money — especially when you consider that a devoted audience like Jones’s is likely filled with repeat customers who may not review each individual purchase.
It is a brilliant business model. If you can be convinced that an international cabal of globalists is hell-bent on creating a New World Order, perhaps you could be persuaded to buy Infowars Life Survival Shield X-2, a one-fluid-ounce bottle of iodine supplement for $39.95. If you can be convinced that President Barack Obama was a member of Al Qaeda, perhaps you will buy two ounces of Infowars Life Super Male Vitality drops for $59.95. Alex Jones does sell some other products on his website, but the vast majority of the web ads and on-air product pitches are for his dietary supplements. The products themselves are largely produced by Dr. Edward F. Group III, a Houston chiropractor and founder of dietary-supplement-maker Global Healing Center. Group is an atypical doctor in that while he lists a bevy of educational accomplishments on his website and LinkedIn profile, degree-verification services indicate that he seems not to have completed college. When asked about Group’s undergraduate education, a representative of Global Healing Center declined to comment.
The latest Copycamp call for papers is up, inviting presentations for the excellent Warsaw symposium on copyright, innovation and freedom -- now six years old! (more…)
The Swiss security research firm Modzero just published a report documenting a grave flaw in HP laptops: an audio-driver made by Conexant that captures every keystroke (to detect volume up/down and mute-button presses) and saves them to an unencrypted file on the local system, which can then be exfiltrated via a debugging API that allows remote parties to see every keystroke in realtime. (more…)
🎜 "They're Princess Leia's stolen Death Star plans, she's got them and it's time to go..." 🎝
It's the work of Pallete Swap Ninja, who has a full album of it you can download free of charge. (more…)
In this masterfully edited "interview" Stephen Colbert talks with Trump about his mental health, nuclear war with North Korea, and other fun subjects.
This is just Mike V's speculation, but it's a pretty compelling timeline for the film. If you're avoiding potential spoilers turn away, but for those who like to speculate, here's Mikes theory:
- Poe Dameron (with BB-8) is sent by Leia to Jakku to find Rey.
- Kylo Ren and The First Order arrive on Jakku. They attack a village and Poe is captured. BB-8 escapes.
- Poe is brought to the Star Destroyer, Finalizer, that is in orbit of Jakku.
- Kylo Ren tortures Poe and uses the Force to extract information from him.
- Finn witnesses Poe being tortured. Having a crisis of conscience, Finn decides to help free Poe (Poe's blood is on Finn's helmet). Finn ends up with Poe's jacket.
- Finn and Poe both flee in separate TIE fighters, but Finn's TIE Fighter takes damage and crash lands on Jakku.
- Rey is going about her day, scavenging from the remains of the Star Destroyer, Inflictor. She encounters BB-8.
- Kylo Ren regroups with the rest of the First Order to witness the test fire of their new superweapon, Star Killer Base.
- Rey and BB-8 eventually encounter Finn.
- The First Order attack the trio and they then are aided by Han Solo and Chewbacca.
- The group uses the Millennium Falcon to escape Jakku.
- The group formally meet each other and then go to Takodana to meet Maz Kanata in her castle.
- Maz Kanata senses that Rey is Force sensitive and discusses this with her.
- The First Order is made aware of the groups location and attacks Maz Kanata's castle, leaving it in ruins. Kylo Ren looks for Rey and captures her.
- Poe and the Resistance lead a rescue party, which starts the Battle of Takodana. All are rescued except for Rey, who is taken to Starkiller Base.
- The Resistance Regroups. Maz Kanata gives Anakin/Luke's lightsaber to Leia.
- The Resistance plans a rescue of Rey as well as an attack on Star Killer Base.
- The Battle of Star Killer Base ensues.
- Kylo Ren faces Finn in lightsaber combat and emerges victorious (whether Finn survives remains to be seen).
- Rey finally accepts her Force abilities and faces Kylo Ren.
- Luke senses the "Awakening" of the Force in Rey. (Not really sure this clip goes here but it makes the most sense to me).
According to a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Chigago, Bose uses software to track the music and other audio listened to on its wireless headphones, violating the privacy of its users and selling the information.
The complaint filed on Tuesday by Kyle Zak in federal court in Chicago seeks an injunction to stop Bose's "wholesale disregard" for the privacy of customers who download its free Bose Connect app from Apple Inc or Google Play stores to their smartphones.
"People should be uncomfortable with it," Christopher Dore, a lawyer representing Zak, said in an interview. "People put headphones on their head because they think it's private, but they can be giving out information they don't want to share."
The headphones alone aren't the problem, apparently, but an optional app bundled with them. Savvy users may know that such things are often sleazy marketing wheezes, but that hardly excuses it.
"Quid pro quo – I tell you things, you tell me things."
Edited by Jon Tomlinson; Narration: Andy Geller; Executive Producer: Dustin McLean (CineFix)
The internet has proven that globally one type of user can be found more than any other- the "profane and prolific online contrarians" better known as internet trolls.
These sad little souls get a thrill out of making others feel bad or uncomfortable online, and even though most of them wouldn't have the cojones to say that vile crap IRL online they're fearless Internet Warriors. (NSFW language)
The Internet Warriors is a short documentary created for The Guardian by director Kyrre Lien, who traveled all over the world to speak to trolls in their own caves and find out what makes them troll so hard:
Why do so many people use the internet to harass and threaten people, and stretch the freedom of speech to its limits? …Online platforms are their favourite tools to express the opinions that others might find objectionable in language that often offends. Do they behave in the same way when they come offline?
-Via Laughing Squid
A leaked report from the Inspector General reveals that the US Copyright Office blew $11.6m trying to buy a computer system that should have cost $1.1m (they ended up canceling the project after spending the money and no computers were purchased in the end), then lied to Congress and the Library of Congress to cover up its errors. (more…)
When the old Register of Copyrights Maria Pallante stepped down from the Library of Congress, it was an open secret that she'd been forced out and there was a lot of Big Content conspiracy theories that Google had gotten her canned because she was too friendly to the movie studios and record labels. (more…)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CdfIpTiE3g
The European Commission's "Copyright Modernisation" effort has wrapped up, and it's terrible. (more…)
In this three-minute video, MTV News senior national correspondent Jamil Smith explores the ways toxic masculinity perpetuates rape culture.
The trademark was granted to discount eyewear company Specsavers, whose slogan is "should've gone to Specsavers." If you object, you have until October 12 to file with the IPO. (more…)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzaNq2ueQAY&feature=youtu.be
Luke Williams writes, "I thought you might like this song called 'Make Heat' from my science-pop album MOONS." (more…)
Francis Gurry, the fair-use hating, web-hating, North Korea embargo-breaking, witch-hunting, blackmailing head of the UN's World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) has a new pick to run copyright at the UN agency: Sylvie Forbin, a lobbyist for for French entertainment giant Vivendi. (more…)
Less than a week after an officer from a nearby force shot and killed Philando Castile during a traffic stop, leaving him to die in front of his child and girlfriend (and the world on livestream) the Minneapolis Police Department has perjured itself in issuing a copyright takedown notice to Youtube in order to suppress a controversial recruiting video that depicted the jobs of MPD officers as being a firearms-heavy shoot-em-up. (more…)
Fan films have always skirted a fine line between homage and copyright infringement. Some rights holders, like Lucasfilm, have embraced the efforts of Star Wars loyalists by hosting amateur film festivals and holding contests; Steven Spielberg once met with a group of people who were creating a Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) remake.
But the increasing sums of money raised through crowdsourcing and more affordable production equipment that can offer near-professional results is beginning to weigh more on studios’ minds. In late 2015, Paramount and CBS, which jointly control the Star Trek franchise, sued the makers of Star Trek: Anaxar, an amateur film that obtained its $1.2 million budget by way of Kickstarter and Indiegogo.
Although the lawsuit has yet to be settled, the two corporations have just released a set of guidelines for fan film producers in an attempt to keep all parties from bolding going into a courtroom, SlashFilm reports. Among them:
Fan films must not exceed 30 minutes in length total and must not be part of an ongoing “season.”
Cast and crew must not be compensated for their efforts.
Fundraising cannot exceed $50,000.
The finished product must be made available at no charge online, with no physical media (Blu-ray, DVD) distributed.
Alec Peters, a producer on Anaxar, told The Wrap that the rules appear to be “tailor made to shut down” fan efforts and will only prove to be “disheartening” to amateur Trek filmmakers. For the full guidelines, head over to StarTrek.com.
[h/t SlashFilm]
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I'm having pretty good luck with this TP-Link range extender. It has lots of antennae.
My house is a long, 3 level rectangle, and of course the internet access point is on a distant end, at the lowest level. I've been very happy with the Nighthawk router I've been using, but there are still parts of the house that are a pain to reach. I've tried various wireless extenders, have Apple Airport Expresses coming out the wazoo, and Ethernet-over-Power, none of which allowed me decent access while I'm working in the kitchen. Enter the TP-Link AC1750.
There is some crazy marketing on the box. I have no idea what the beam forming technology is or does, I expected to see the wifi radio waves all bending in towards my iPad as I worked away in the kitchen. What this is, is a wall wort WiFi extender that works. Thankfully it was made with a fit flat profile rather than one like Apple's awful '90-degrees-off-the-wall' Express. What does work is more antennae. I'm convinced. More antennae is the criteria I use when selecting WiFi gear.
The TP-Link AC1750 works on my 2.4 and 5 GHz devices just fine. I had a lot of stuttering start with iTunes and Airplay between devices in my kitchen, and my stereo. I switched the Airport Express I use for the stereo to 2.4GHz only and the funk is back.
Configuration was simple, and via an iPhone app. Android is also available.
TP-LINK AC1750 Wi-Fi Range Extender (RE450) via Amazon
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