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VAIO Corporation was formed when Sony sold its laptop business, but now the new company is entering a product category in which Sony still remains: smartphones. The VAIO phone was announced today through Japanese MVNO B-mobile, which is pricing it to move: you’ll pay ¥3,980 (about $33) a month for the hardware plus voice service and data.

It's nearly identical to the Panasonic Eluga U2

The phone itself is a mid-range affair: there’s a 1.2GHz quad-core processor, a 5-inch 720p display, and a 13-megapixel camera. It’s 7.95mm thick and runs Android 5.0. The phone looks a lot like a Nexus 4, with a glass back panel and staid black front, but Japanese site Blog of Mobile points out that it's near-identical to a Panasonic handset available...

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What do you do when you're a sci-fi star but your TV show has been dead for years? You spend a lot of time at conventions, and a pair of Firefly actors want to let fans know what it's like from their perspectives. Nathan Fillion and Alan Tudyk are launching a web series called Con Man about two former sci-fi stars — yes, one a ship's captain, the other its pilot — who have gone on to have wildly different levels of success. Fillion's character is a huge star, while Tudyk, who is writing and directing this series, plays a character who's still stuck in smaller roles.

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A fresh release of Play Music is going out to devices, and it brings a bit more consistency to another one of Google's apps. Now the navigation menu that extends from the side of the screen will reach up through the notification bar.

 

Left: Old, Right: New.

That's not the only element of the interface that's reaching upwards. When you go to play a track, you will find that the album artwork extends to the top of the screen as well.

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Latest Play Music Update Extends Artwork And Navigation Menu Through Notification Bar, And More [APK Download] was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

Like many other Internet-based services, The Ultimate Ebook Library (TUEBL) has to process numerous takedown requests to make sure that pirated content is swiftly removed from the site.

Unfortunately, not all requests they receive are legitimate. According to TUEBL there’s one company that stands out negatively, and that’s the London-based outfit MUSO.

When browsing through the takedown notices TUEBL founder Travis McCrea stumbled upon several automated requests that were submitted by MUSO, each listing inaccurate information.

The takedown notices were not merely incorrect, according to McCrea. They also circumvented the site’s CAPTCHA system, which is a violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.

This isn’t the first time TUEBL has noticed problems with MUSO’s takedown tactics. The company previously tried to remove several legitimately hosted titles, including a Creative Commons licensed book by Cory Doctorow.

“A year ago, after another issue where they were sending requests without any of the required information, they had filed a wrongful DMCA request for one of our featured authors Laurel Russwurm, and we sent them a warning,” McCrea tells TF.

“They further used our system to send a DMCA request for a book by Cory Doctorow. At that time we sent them an $150 invoice for our time reverting their improper DMCA request. When they didn’t reply, we let it slide… not wanting to make waves.”

MUSO never paid the $150 ‘fine’ and TUEBL initially let them get away with that. But after the recent mistakes McCrea decided that enough is enough.

On Sunday evening TUEBL sent the anti-piracy company an ultimatum. If MUSO fails to pay up, the company will be banned from sending further notices. In addition, hundreds of previously removed books will be restored.

“Today we are going to insist that your $150 fine be paid, or we will cut off all MUSO IP addresses, computers, and/or servers from accessing our DMCA page. Emailed requests will also be rejected as SPAM and all requests to be removed will have to come directly from the copyright holder instead of MUSO,” TUEBL wrote to the company.

MUSO has until 10PM PST today to respond, but thus far TUEBL hasn’t received a reply. The ebook library is still holding out for a peaceful resolution, but as the hours pass by this becomes less likely.

Despite the current problems, TUEBL’s founder says that the site respects copyright and notes that the amount of infringing material on its server is less than one percent of all books. However, wrongful takedown notices are making it harder to keep the site clean.

“DMCA abuse is a real threat to not only community websites like Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, and our own… but it also makes it more difficult to successfully process legitimate DMCA requests by authors who have had their copyright violated,” McCrea says.

“We have decided to fight this, not in spite of authors and their rights regarding their work, but rather to protect authors and to ensure our automated system remains open for them to use for the rare cases that copyrighted material make it onto our site,” he adds.

TF contacted MUSO for a comment on the allegations, but we haven’t heard back from the company at the time of publication.

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

Two years ago, we introduced the first Chromebook Pixel. The idea was to bring together the best in hardware, software and design to inspire the next generation of Chromebooks. It's been exciting to see how the entire range of Chromebooks—from classroom-proof to high-end—has made a difference to people at school, at home, and at work. Today, we’re introducing an updated and more powerful Pixel to fuel the imaginations of another wave of Chromebook enthusiasts. Plus, we’ve created a new, online Google Store where you can get the Pixel and other devices made with Google, all in one place.

One charger for all your stuff
These days, packing for a trip means remembering to bring all your different chargers—for your phone, laptop, tablet, watch, etc. We think you should be able to use just one charger for all your electronics. So for the new Pixel, we’ve joined forces with some of the biggest names in the industry to create a new standard for charging, called USB Type C. The Pixel is one of the first products to launch with this new standard, with more Chromebooks and Android devices following suit soon.

Not only does Type-C enable multi-device charging, but it also allows high-speed data and display over the same connector and cable. It’s small enough to work with smartphones, powerful enough to charge computers, and conveniently symmetrical (no more guessing which side is up!). Speaking of symmetry, the new Pixel doesn’t just have one Type C port—it has two, one on each side, so you can plug in wherever is convenient.

Thoughtful design
Like the original Pixel, the new Chromebook has a high-resolution touchscreen, a sleek aluminum body, and smooth glass trackpad. We’ve also made a few other enhancements, including a new wide-angle camera lens.

Of course, the Pixel is also great on the inside. It’s got a powerful Intel® Core™ i5 with 8GB RAM and a 32GB SSD. If that’s not enough for you, we’re making an LS (yup, that stands for "Ludicrous Speed") version that's even faster. And even with the new charger, you probably won’t be carrying it around much, since the new Pixel has 12 hours of battery life.* When you do need to top up, it’s fast—you’ll get up to two hours of battery life with just 15 minutes of charging.*

Shop for the Pixel and more at the Google Store
We’ve been selling our devices on Google Play for years, but as we’ve added more products to the family, we thought it was time to make it easier for you to learn more about them. So today we’re also launching the Google Store, the new home for the latest devices made with Google.

At store.google.com, you can shop Nexus phones and tablets, Chromecast and Chromebooks, learn more about newer technology like Android Wear, Nexus Player and Nest, and stock up on accessories like cases, keyboards and chargers. You’ll see how the Google apps you already know—like Search, Maps and YouTube—work seamlessly with all these products. The Google Store is available on your phone, tablet, or laptop, and right now you’ll get free shipping on everything** (consider it our way of saying hello).
Once you’ve found the right device at the Google Store, you can still head to Google Play to find apps, games, music, movies, TV shows and more. If you recently bought a device on Google Play, don’t worry—your order info will automatically be transferred to the Google Store. See our Help Center for more information.

The Chromebook Pixel is available for purchase starting today in the U.S. on the new Google Store for $999 and $1299 for the LS version. Come check it out, and see what else is in store.

Posted by Andrew Bowers, Director of Consumer Hardware

*Battery life tested using Chromium standard PowerLoadTest at default brightness. The PowerLoadTest was created to emulate average user behavior and measure the resultant battery life. Charge time testing is measured by battery capacity increase with lid closed divided by average energy usage during PowerLoadtest. Battery life and charge time may vary depending on usage and other conditions.

**Free shipping applies to the lowest cost shipping option. Free shipping promotion may be modified or discontinued at any time.

In this week's New Yorker, Adam Gopnik visits one of the more intriguing and strange European libraries, the Warburg Institute in London, a 115-year-old institution with a sadly uncertain future. Read the rest

For some reason, Google has only now released a watch face for Android Wear. It's called Street Art, and it features the work of more than a dozen artists from the Google Art Project. It's light on options, though.

The Street Art watch face has three display modes—analog, digital, and minimal. The digital face has the time down at the bottom so as not to obscure the art. Minimal uses small circles instead of hands to display the time in an analog fashion.

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Google Releases Street Art, Its First Android Wear Watch Face was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

Curious to see what PlayStation's first original series is like? The first episode of Powers is now available on YouTube in its entirety.

Based on a graphic novel of the same name, Powers stars Sharlto Copley (District 9) and Susan Heyward as homicide detectives who specialize on superpower-related incidents. The show also stars Eddie Izzard, and there's a bizarre cameo from Mario Lopez as host of a bizarro version of Extra that cares about superpower-related crimes and investigations.

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 Vienna, Austria-based mySugr was founded back in 2012 with a mission to make managing diabetes “suck less”, as co-founder Fredrik Debong puts it — using digital products to take the strain out of aggregating diabetes-related health data and managing the chronic condition. Read More

Every dollar you spend is a choice. When it comes to impulse purchases, it's easy to justify something you don't necessarily need. Before you buy something, ask yourself, "Did I need this yesterday?"

As home management blog What Mommy Does suggests, asking "Did I need this yesterday?" allows you to filter the truly necessary from the good-to-haves. If you couldn't think of a time you needed something the day before, you probably won't need it that much tomorrow:

This tactic can actually help you make a decision to not go to the mall to shop "just because." If you can't of anything specific you needed yesterday, then the simple solution to save you from spending money unnecessarily is to not go to the mall and do something else with your time.

Of course, if you're prone to taking advantage of technicalities, expand the timeline. Ask yourself how many times you've really needed something over the last week. Or how much you might need it over the next week. The act of impulse shopping is directly opposed to long-term thinking, so forcing yourself to think outside of the moment can help cut down on your unnecessary expenditures.

Five Words That Will Save You Thousands of Dollars Every Year | What Mommy Does

Photo by Spidere Warmouse.

NY Daily News: Windell D. Middlebrooks, a gentle giant on numerous TV series and the picky deliveryman in Miller High Life commercials, died Monday morning. He was 36.  

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

If the M9 reveal didn't impress you, HTC looks ready to start going after other segments of the market. Through a constellation of leaks and rumors, it seems quite clear that we will soon see a phone called the E9 by HTC that won't be a mere update to last year's E8. Instead, it will be a true phablet that appears nestled somewhere between the high end and mid-range. Here's what you came here for:

This image surfaced on the website of the TENAA, China's regulatory agency that is roughly equivalent to the FCC, along with a bare minimum specifications that indicate the phone will have a 5.5 inch screen, a 2800 mAh battery, and will be 7.54mm thick (or should I say thin?).

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The HTC One E9 Will Reportedly Be A Phablet With A Quad HD 5.5-Inch Screen, 3GB RAM, And 8-Core MediaTek SoC was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

Welcome to the roundup of the best new Android applications, games, and live wallpapers that went live in the Play Store or were spotted by us in the previous 2 weeks or so.

Featured App

SeatGeek Event Tickets

Today's roundup is presented by SeatGeek Event Tickets.

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29 New And Notable Android Apps And Live Wallpapers From The Last 2 Weeks (2/24/15 - 3/10/15) was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

 “Seriously, fuck them,” read the tweet. The person was speaking about Apple and the new MacBook the company recently announced. There are countless other tweets and comments with the same sentiment. Right now there’s visceral hate directed at the company. A swath of consumers feel betrayed by the stark design of the new MacBook. Our original post on the topic was shared… Read More

The LG G3 was heavily leaked before its announcement, and so was the G2 before that. So long-time Android enthusiasts probably won't be too surprised to see that a G4 leak is already hitting Twitter.

This one comes from @OnLeaks, an account created by the guy who runs Nowhereelse.fr, a French blog that posted what ended up being an accurate image of the HTC One M9. The current leak shows the back of what is allegedly an early version of the G4.

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Supposed Early LG G4 Press Render Leaks On Twitter was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

David Cameron has vowed to ban crypto if he wins the UK election, but Parliament's lead technical experts have told him that he can't, and shouldn't, mess with Tor and other cryptographic tools. Read the rest

Following a series of High Court orders, six UK ISPs are required to block access to many of the world’s largest torrent sites and streaming portals.

The blocks are somewhat effective, at least in preventing subscribers from accessing the domains directly. However, there are also plenty of workarounds.

For many sites that are blocked one or more proxy sites emerge. These proxies allow people to access the blocked sites and effectively bypass the restrictions put in place by the court.

The copyright holders are not happy with these loopholes and have asked ISPs to add the proxies to their filters, which they have done on several occasions.

However, restricting access to proxies did not provide a silver bullet either as new ones continue to appear. This week the blocking efforts were stepped up a notch and are now targeting sites that merely provide an overview of various Pirate Bay proxies.

In other words, UK ISPs now restrict access to sites for linking to Pirate Bay proxies.

Among the blocked sites are piratebayproxy.co.uk, piratebayproxylist.com and ukbay.org. Both sites are currently inaccessible on Virgin Media and TalkTalk, and other providers are expected to follow suit.

TF spoke with Dan, the operator of UKBay.org, who’s baffled by the newly implemented blockade. He moved his site to a new domain to make the site accessible again, for the time being at least.

“The new blocks are unbelievable and totally unreasonable. To block a site that simply links to another site just shows the level of censorship we are allowing ISP’s to get away with,” Dan says.

“UKBay is not even a PirateBay proxy. It simply provides links to proxies. If they continue blocking sites, that link to sites, that link to sites.. there’l be nothing left,” he adds.

One of the other blocked sites, piratebayproxy.co.uk, doesn’t have any direct links to infringing material. Instead, it provides an overview of short Pirate Bay news articles while listing the URLs of various proxies on the side.

Apparently, providing information about Pirate Bay proxies already warrants a spot on the UK blocklist.

It is not a secret that the High Court orders give copyright holders the option to continually update the list of infringing domains. However, it’s questionable whether this should also include sites that do not link to any infringing material.

To our knowledge, it is the first time that this has happened.

The new additions were made as part of an existing High Court order that allowed copyright holders to block The Pirate Bay, a Virgin Media spokesperson informs us.

“Under the conditions of the original court order, the rightsholders have the authority to change the specific URLs or IP addresses that must be blocked by all major ISPs – not just Virgin Media. Such changes happen on a regular basis. There is no ‎extension or amendment to the original court order,” Virgin says.

Music group BPI, who are responsible for obtaining the original blocking order against The Pirate Bay, tells is that proxy aggregators are also covered by the court’s decision.

“Under BPI’s existing blocking Orders relating to 63 illegal websites, ISPs are required to block the illegal sites themselves, and proxies and proxy aggregators whose sole or predominant purpose is to give access to the illegal sites,” a BPI spokesperson says.

As with earlier updates, the most recent changes are being made without a public announcement, which means that we don’t know precisely how many sites were added. We will update this article if more details arise.

Update: added a comment from BPI.

Update: the popular proxy ilikerainbows.co.uk is also blocked now.

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

 Google today launched the redesigned version of its mobile Calendar app on iPhone. The new app, which follows Google’s new Material Design guidelines, includes all the features Google previously announced when it launched its updated Calendar App for Android. Read More

Google isn't standing still with its wearable platform now that Apple has given the press a chance to use the Apple Watch. A source knowledgeable with Android Wear's product road map tells The Verge that the next software release will turn on Wi-Fi support, meaning that features like notifications and Google Now will work when a Bluetooth connection is unavailable. Most Android Wear watches already have Wi-Fi built in, so a simple software update should activate the feature for them.

Along with the Wi-Fi update, there will be at least two additional, smaller updates. The first is gesture control. Users will be able to flick their wrist to scroll through notifications and Google Now cards, rather than needing to use their other hand to...

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The new MacBook represents Apple's vision for "the future of the notebook." That future is defined by thinness, lightness, and an almost total abandonment of external connectivity ports. Other than the mandatory headphone jack, there's just one port available on the MacBook: a USB Type-C connection that takes care of power, data transfers, and display output. Here's how Apple explains its choice of connector:

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 GigaOm, a tech blog founded by journalist turned VC Om Malik, is shutting down after finding itself unable to repay creditors. The site has been serving up tech news (and has served as a direct competitor to TechCrunch) since 2006. Initially Twitter chatter backed up reports of the site’s demise. “Gigaom is shutting down. The site. And the company. But Om built something amazing and… Read More

As much as you love your dog, there have probably been a few times when they destroyed something in your home. At least save your stuffed animals by creating this simple toy for your dog to tear apart instead.

The construction is fairly easy, just follow these steps:

1. Gather the supplies: Hol-ee Roller ball, strips of machine washable fabric (like fleece), dog treats (optional). You may need to adjust the size of the ball and fabric strips to match the size of your dog.
2. Load the ball up with fabric strips and treats. Laura, the author, says she rolls the treats up inside some of the strips but that you shouldn't do this if your dog won't be able to figure out how to unroll the fabric (and thus eats it to get to the treat).
3. Let your pup go at it! They'll use up a ton of energy playing and won't leave piles of fluff around your house.

Remember that you have to pick toys best suited to your dog, so if they tend to eat things they shouldn't than this may not be the best toy for them. You also don't want them to end up eating the fabric and wind up taking them to the vet for a costly removal. Be extra careful and make sure to keep an eye on them so this doesn't happen. For step-by-step photo instructions, check out the full post linked below.

Fun Activity for Dogs Who Like to "Disembowel" Their Stuffed Animals Toys | Leopold's Crate

Hold on to your wallets, people, for the Apple Watch could cost you a lot if you really want to get fancy with it.

Today Apple formally unveiled pricing for the Apple Watch, with prices starting at a relatively palatable $349 for the Apple Watch Sport. But if you were planning on getting a fancier Apple Watch or Apple Watch Edition, you could be paying quite a bit. The gold Edition model, for example, can run all the way up to $17,000.

So let's break it down. Not every band is available for every watch model (the link bracelet is only an option for the stainless steel Apple Watch, for example, and the modern leather buckle can only be had on the 38mm versions), so keep that in mind.

And, of course, before you plop down a few hundred — or thousand — dollars on a new Apple Watch, you'll probably want to try one out first. Apple will be offering pre-orders and in-store previews of the watches starting April 10, with the watch going on sale on April 24.

In the meantime, here's what you're looking at for pricing of each combination of watch body and band:

Source: Apple