Google gives you a bunch of options for setting up filters to organize your email, but it lacks a few settings to make it seriously powerful. Digital Inspiration shows off how to use a script to power up those filters even more.

Digital Inspiration's script lets you set up filters so messages are marked as spam if there are a lot of recipients, if the subject has too many characters, if a message has a set number of hyperlinks, and more. The script then runs in the background and organizes your email just like the official Gmail filters. If Gmail's filters aren't doing it for you, this should help. Head over to Digital Inspiration for a guide on setting it all up.

Advanced Gmail Filters That Aren't Available in Gmail | Digital Inspiration

 Apparently, someone at Amazon U.K. really, really likes Oasis. Or the company has just stumbled upon a whole new form of native advertising! In case you missed it, the entire Amazon.co.uk Music website has “gone retro” today, where it’s now branded as “Amazon Music 1994.” The idea, the company explains, is to recreate the Amazon Music Store the way it might have… Read More

Google has acquired Word Lens, the mobile app that can translate text in real time using your smartphone's camera, along with its development team at Quest Visual. The impressive technology will now make its way into Google Translate. Word Lens and its various language packs have been made free on both iOS and Android "as a thank you" to supporters, but don't expect to see much in the way of updates moving forward. Quest Visual makes it very clear that the plan is to transition to Google as quickly as possible.

It seems like a perfect fit for both sides, though the acquisition may sting Apple a bit. The company just showcased Word Lens in its latest iPhone 5S commercial and is still actively promoting it. But the app has been available...

Continue reading…

The winners of Purdue University's Rube Goldberg Machine Contest show off their creations on Jimmy Kimmel Live.

One of the things that makes Android a truly beautiful platform is customization. I’m not talking about custom ROMs or root mods; I’m talking about the fact that no other major mobile platform lets you customize your device the way Android does. There may be some caveats, but you have the ability to make your Android device completely unique. My wife hates using my Nexus 5 because it’s so different than her Moto X. Maybe that’s a bad thing; I’m not sure. But what I do know is that I have my Nexus 5 set up exactly the way I want it, and I love it.

My home screen looks awesome, and not only is it super functional, it’s also fun to use. The beauty of Android is that I can change it right now if I get a new idea (lately it has been changing daily). My home screen isn’t going to look like everyone else’s iPhone (although I could make it look like iOS if I wanted) or Windows Phone; my device looks like no one else’s because it’s Android.

This is the seventh part of a recurring series about making your Android device yours. Today I want to share a few apps for adding beautiful walls to your home screen. My goal here is to offer customization ideas that will work for all Android devices, whether you’re still running Gingerbread or you’re on the latest version of Android, KitKat. You don’t need to be rooted. You don’t need to be running a custom ROM. For custom wallpapers, you don’t even need to be running a third-party launcher. All you need is a little bit of time and an itch to change things. If that sounds like you, read on my friend. We’re going to have fun diving into the world of customization and making your device truly unique.

A good wallpaper can beautify any home screen. Lately, it’s been super apparent to me how clutch a good wallpaper is to making a home screen theme really pop. A couple of months ago, we talked about different ways to find killer wallpapers for your device. Today, we’re going to share several apps that put rad wallpapers in one easy-to-find place. One is free, and some artists offer free ways to access their work, but the apps that cost a couple of bucks are well worth it.

The process of applying the walls can be different depending on the device. However, if you own one of these apps, you can just go into the app, browse, select and apply the wallpaper directly from the app. They’re super easy to use.

Murum (Free)

Murum is latest and greatest app from popular Android themer, Ryan Kelly. It contains walls from Ryan’s former wallpaper apps, Fuzz and Poly, totaling a whopping 65 free walls. These walls include all different colors and geometric shapes. If you’re looking for a colorful minimalist setup at the price of zero dollars, you’d better give Murum a look. Murum was released on May 12, and Ryan’s already announced that more walls are on the way. Find Murum here.

Behang/Noloc

Behang was introduced in the last installment of make your Android device yours. Ted Bates Jr.. aka Knokfirst, is extremely talented and has shared a huge amount of his work with us to make our home screens look awesome. It includes a huge list of different types of walls including polygon, blurred, photography and tons of other cool stuff that you just have to see for yourself. Knokfirst offers all his work for free on his website, knok.in, or you can purchase his app, Behang, for $2. I bought it right when it came out and I’ve loved having it. Knokfirst is an awesome artist and he adds more and more of his wall art all the time. In fact, he just added more yesterday. Find Behang here.

On May 9 Knokfirst and themer Richard Colon announced some awesome news. A new feature named BLink was added to Behang, allowing anyone to add their wallpaper collection to the Behang app as an extension. This means that in the future, you’ll likely be able to find walls from all your favorite themers and artists in one place. In fact, Murum has already been added as a BLink extension.

Making your home screen awesome has never been more convenient than with BLink. Richard Colon was the first person to take advantage of BLink with his wallpaper app, Noloc. This collection mostly includes blurred and filtered photography that look great on a home screen. I really enjoy the images of cool architecture and street art. Richard is  adding walls to the collection often, making the price of $1.25 a steal. He also added new walls yesterday. Find Noloc here.

wlpapR

WlpapR is another wall app that I brought up in our last installment. This wallpaper art is brought to us by the talented Jacek Malinowski. What sets this pack apart from the rest is its awesome shots of nature and the sky. It includes the standard blur and polygon walls as well. Similar to Behang, if you’re too stingy to pay the $1.38 asking price or just want to see what’s offered, you can check out all the wlpapR walls from http://yackovsky.pl/wlpapr/. If you’re looking for something less geometric and industrial, wlpapR is definitely worth the look. Find wlpapR here.

Trinity Wallpaper Pack

From the popular themer who brought us Minimal and Click UI icons, Chris Morales aka Kxnt, we have the Trinity Wallpaper pack. This is a fantastic collection of 45 triangle-based wallpapers made from scratch. The pack also includes 10 big pixel pattern walls. If you like in-your-face colors and geometric shapes, check out Trinity Wallpaper pack for the price of a McChicken ($0.99). Find Trinity Wallpaper Pack here.

Facets

Faith is a fact. No, faith is a facet. I almost said faith is a fact. The fact is, Facets is only one buck and gives you access to Australian artist Justin Maller’s year-long “image per day” project. It’s difficult to describe the kind of awesome artwork found in this set. If you haven’t seen people use Facets yet, you really need to take a look. One image per day for a year equals 365 rad walls just for your phone. I have faith you won’t regret spending a dollar on Facets. Find Facets here.

So, where do you get your wallpapers? Which ones are you sporting on your device? There are probably lots of other great ways or apps to find wallpapers. If I’ve left out an app that you feel is worth mentioning, please comment below and let us know what you’re using and why you think it’s awesome. You can also use the HTML <img> tag and show us your home screen. We’ll continue to share other wallpapers and apps in the future. Thanks for reading, and don’t forget to let us know what topic you’d like to see covered in an upcoming edition of make your Android device yours.

All Nexus 5 setups in this post are using Action Launcher Pro, Zooper by Beard, and SoftKeyz Root. Setup 1: Banded Dark icons (just released yesterday), Murum wall. Setup 2: Faint icons (before 2.0 update), Behang Poly wall. Setup 3: Koogoo icons, Noloc wall. Setup 4: Bloom icons (on sale for $1), Behang Ready to Snap wall.

 Circle, the bitcoin-based financial services company, is emerging from stealth with a suite of products and services aimed to take bitcoin’s blockchain to mainstream consumers. Since its launch in 2013, Boston-based Circle has been very quiet about its planned offerings based on bitcoin’s exchange technology. Now, as the international bitcoin conference in Amsterdam shifts into gear,… Read More

Anyone seen the giant bug spray?

Just as its creator's latest, Godzilla, hits the big screen, a first proper look at where Gareth Edwards' Monsters go next with the teaser trailer for Monsters: Dark Continent arriving online.



Set ten years after Monsters, the Edwards exec-produced "continuation" heads east, where a new strain of alien sand bugs have taken up icky residence. Combat troops Noah (Johnny Harris), Frankie (Joe Dempsie) and Michael (Sam Keeley) are in on the bug hunt across Arabian deserts and into the maws of death.

With a whole mess of years elapsed since that NASA probe crash-landed in Latin America, the aliens have adapted efficiently to their new environment. Environments, actually. There are now infected zones dotted across the globe and the idea of harmonious co-existence, touched on in the first film, has clearly long since been jettisoned in favour of the Starship Troopers approach to extra-terrestrial management.

Reads the synopsis: "Two soldiers embark on a life-altering mission through the dark heart of monster territory in the deserts. By the time they reach their goal, they will have been forced to confront the fear that fighting the monsters is just the beginning of their war."

Monsters: Dark Continent is the debut feature of Tom Green. “As soon as I watched Monsters I completely identified with the idea of using real locations as a foundation on which to build a world of limitless scale,” he explains of the film's setting. "From my first visit to the location shown here, in Jordan, it was somewhere I felt was key to making Dark Continent work. The moonscape-like environment was the perfect basis for an ‘alien’ landscape."

It gets a UK release on September 26. Head to this early clip for a closer look.

Android: Nutrition fact labels can be handy as a general guide for the health contents of the food we eat. Unfortunately, your home cooked meal doesn't come with the label. Until now.

Food Builder allows you to input the ingredients for your food into individual "plates" and then get a nutrition label-style layout of what's in the meal per serving. The app includes a database of ingredients if you want to cut down on the tedium (and presumably it would grow over time), but you can also add your own ingredients and their health content from the slide out side bar.

Food Builder | Google Play Store via Addictive Tips

Welcome back to Android Gaming Weekly, our weekly recap of new game releases. We still plan to cover upcoming releases and games we’re playing, but this column is dedicated to new games that you can start playing right now. Check out our top picks and let us know in the comments section if you have any suggestions for next week’s post.

Monument Valley

Description: In Monument Valley, you will manipulate impossible architecture and guide a silent princess through a stunningly beautiful world. Monument Valley is a surreal exploration through fantastical architecture and impossible geometry. Guide the silent princess Ida through mysterious monuments.

 

JoyJoy

Description: JoyJoy is the new fantastically satisfying twin-stick shooter from Radiangames, creators of Inferno+, Ballistic SE, Super Crossfire and more.

 

Summoner Wars

Description: Summoner Wars for Android is a digital card game with all the tactical elements of a board game. Summoner Wars for Android allows players to control the Phoenix Elves faction and battle against AI opponents or go online to play against others.

 

MemeDuel

Description: Meme Duel is a meme-themed game. Its gameplay is mix of two classic arcade games: Pong and Breakout (Arkanoid).

 

Striker Soccer 2

Description: Take to the pitch in Striker Soccer 2, the sequel to the hugely popular Striker Soccer. Create your own team of star players and lead them to glory as you show off your skills on the big stage.

 

Front Wars

Description: Front Wars is a turn-based strategy game. Take control of allied troops and revive the great battles of the second world war in a tense campaign against the German army. You can challenge your friends online on Facebook, Gamecenter or by the passing the device.

 

Tiny Dice Dungeon

Description: Tiny Dice Dungeon is a free, epic RPG full of danger, warriors, wizards and loot! Adventure with tiny heroes through dark dungeons full of giant monsters and ultimate treasure. Tame evil creatures to fight at your side as you build a powerful army to take over this fantasy universe.

 

Doom Tower

Description: Alone! In the tower, the gate through which demons are trying to enter this world. And you are the only one in their way! Can you withstand or just delay their appearance in the world of people? We will learn this later.

 

Mega Dead Pixel

Description: When pixels collide, it’s game over! Tap to steer your plucky pixel left and right as it descends through a minefield of dangerous retro shapes to build up your meter and transform into the almighty Mega Pixel.

 

Twin Robots

Description: Rescue your twin and find the way out of each level together! Switch control between the two robots at any time, or even better: play with a friend in local multiplayer! You’ll be running, jumping and solving puzzles together, but beware: both robots are battery-powered, so they consume energy in everything they do. Watch out for their battery levels!

 

The internet doesn't have a shortage of ways to save links. Stashhh.me may be one of the simpler (and prettier) ways to do so, though. The service allows you to create "Stash boxes" containing a collection of pictures, links, quotes, and conversations, then share them with a single link.

While the service bears a slight resemblance in function to services like Pinterest, there's less of an emphasis on the social aspect. You can also add large cover art (called "lids"), and individual posts feature big images, making them great for storing and showcasing photography collections or personal artwork.

Stashhh.me | via AddictiveTips

The Internet Engineering Task Force has published RFC 7258, which is a bombshell whose title is: "Pervasive Monitoring Is an Attack." It represents the outcome of a long argument about whether the Internet's technical architecture should take active countermeasures to fight mass surveillance, which Tim Bray summarizes. I especially like his rejoinder to people who argue against this because there are places where it's legitimate to monitor communications, like prisons: "We don't want an In­ter­net optimized for prisons." Read the rest

Comics don't always have the best track record when it comes to portraying mental illness. In superhero stories, mental illness is often associated with violence and villainy. There are, however, other, often personal, comics that can open your eyes to real human experiences with mental disorders.

Just a heads up: many of these comics deal with self-harm, suicide, and other issues that can be triggering to some individuals.

1. Psychiatric Tales by Darryl Cunningham

Darryl Cunningham worked as a nursing assistant in a psychiatric ward and witnessed the realities of mental illnesses and their symptoms. Psychiatric Tales combines science, history, and anecdotes to demystify and destigmatize mental illness, and Cunningham's stark artwork can be deeply affecting. You can read portions of Psychiatric Tales online in their pre-press form, including "People With Mental Illness Enhance Our Lives," "Dementia Ward," "Suicide," "Schizophrenia," "Cut and Delusions," and the last chapter.

2. Hyperbole and a Half, "Adventures in Depression" and "Depression Part Two" by Allie Brosh

Allie Brosh turns her manic humor on her own depression in a pair of comics that are both deeply personal and explain brilliantly the sense of hopelessness, exhaustion, and self-loathing that comes with depression. It's also a reminder that relief can come from unexpected (and sometimes completely nonsensical) places, like a shriveled-up piece of corn found beneath the refrigerator.

3. Marbles: Mania, Depression, Michelangelo, and Me by Ellen Forney

When cartoonist Ellen Forney was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, she was in a manic phase and not eager to seek treatment, fearing that medication would impair her creativity. But after she was hit with a major depressive episode, she started her journey toward reconciling her illness and treatment with her creative life. Marbles is a look at bipolar disorder from the inside, capturing the seductive qualities of mania and the ambivalence some people feel about treatment and medication.

4. depression comix by Clay

The artist once famous for The Thin H Line and Sexy Losers (both NSFW) has created a sometimes gut-wrenching, sometimes tender, often relatable series of comics about the daily struggles of life with depression. Decidedly unclinical, depression comix instead gets into the heads of depression sufferers and the people around them, exposing many of the tragedies of depression: how it encourages sufferers to mask their true feelings, the sense of worthlessness that comes with the illness, and how sufferers can shove friends away just when they're desperately in need of social support. However, he'll also capture the occasional moment of happiness and love.

5. I Do Not Have an Eating Disorder by Khale McHurst

Mental illness isn't a straight line from diagnosis to recovery, and sometimes even nailing down a diagnosis can be harder than it appears. Khale McHurst chronicles her journey with disordered eating and the tangled web of depression and anxiety tied up in it. She is upfront about her sessions with therapists and dietitians, her body dysmorphia, the appeal of pushing herself when she's not eating. and the problems she continues to struggle with.

6. better, drawn

better, drawn is an online collection of comics by various artists who are dealing with long-term mental and physical illnesses: anxiety, PTSD, social phobia, heart disease, cancer, dissociation, and more. If you're looking for a series of comics that cover a wide range of health topics in a variety of styles, this is it. The above snippet is from a comic by crazygoingslowly.

7. Look Straight Ahead by Elaine M. Will

Unlike the other comics on this list, Look Straight Ahead is a work of narrative fiction, although it was inspired by Elaine Will's own experience with what she describes as a mental breakdown. Her protagonist, Jeremy Knowles, is suffering from bipolar disorder with severe delusions while trying to cope with high school and the bullying and peer pressure that come with it.

8. I'm Crazy by Adam Bourret

Adam Bourret's award-winning autobiographical webcomic appears to be available only on Facebook, but it's worth paging through the album to read a tale of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder that looks nothing like what you see on television. Bourret is plagued by obsessive, intrusive thoughts that get stuck in his brain, affecting his life and his relationships, especially when he treats his disorder as a heavy secret.

9. Invisible Injury: Beyond PTSD by Jeff Severns Guntzel and Andy Warner

The Public Insight Network, WBUR, and the comics news magazine Symbolia collaborated on this piece, interviewing a psychiatrist who treats post-traumatic stress disorder in veterans as well as a veteran suffering from PTSD. This short comic addresses not just the symptoms of PTSD, but also the sense of "moral injury" that people can feel when they are asked to betray their sense of right and wrong.

10. The Next Day by Jason Gilmore, Paul Peterson, and John Porcellino

Rather than focus on any one particular mental illness, The Next Day explores the persistant suicidal thoughts that can accompany mental disorders. The book consists of interviews with four survivors of near-fatal suicide attempts—discussing their family histories, their dark thoughts, and their experiences with trying to end their own lives—accompanied by John Porcellino's stripped down illustrations. The Next Day also exists as an interactive film from the National Film Board of Canada. You can watch it now, but prepare to come away from it shaken by the participants' experiences.

There are, in addition to these comics, numerous other comics related to therapy (including Alison Bechdel's Are You My Mother? and Philippa Perry and Junko Graat's Couch Fiction) and addiction (including Jonathan Ames' and Dean Haspiel's The Alcoholic and a recent essay by Julia Wertz), as well as comics that sensitively portray mentally ill characters (such as Nate Powell's Swallow Me Whole). Do you have a favorite mental health-related comic or other resource? Post it in the comments.

 A spot of brand consolidation is in the works at Amazon U.K. The online retail behemoth is planning to migrate users of its standalone shoes and accessories website, Javari.co.uk, over to Amazon U.K. Read More

After taking the Internet by storm earlier this year, Popcorn Time needs very little introduction. The subject of dozens of news articles, this application massively simplifies the viewing of videos online via a Netflix-style interface.

Even after several controversies, including the retirement of both the original team and the developers who subsequently took over the project, the software lives on in various forms.

One of the more successful variants, known as Cuevana Storm, is less known in English-speaking regions since it’s presented in Spanish. However, several users in Germany are now dealing with issues arising from its use.

Yesterday, German lawfirm GGR Law reported that three of its clients had received demands for cash settlements from the Waldorf Frommer law firm based on allegations of copyright infringement. However, during discussions all of the recipients insisted that they had never installed a BitTorrent client on their machines. Instead they had used only streaming services.

The use of unauthorized streaming sites came to the forefront in Germany during December 2013 when users of the RedTube site suddenly started receiving settlement demands from the U & C lawfirm. That provoked a government announcement in January this year that viewing pirated streams is not illegal.

So are these latest settlement demands for 815 euros each just another attempt at illegally extorting cash following legal stream views?

Firstly and importantly, the letter recipients believed that the content in question had been accessed via streaming – certainly, nothing had been accessed via BitTorrent. However, this is where the confusion lies.

While the interfaces of Cuevana Storm / Popcorn time give the impression of server-to-client streaming (like YouTube), both have BitTorrent under the hood. This means that while streaming video to the inbuilt player, content is also being uploaded to other users, just as it would in any regular BitTorrent swarm.

“In the warnings from the Waldorf Frommer law firm, Cuevana.tv isn´t mentioned. Also it is not stated that this is a streaming warning letter,” GGR lawyer Tobias Röttger told TorrentFreak.

“The warning letter is the classic standard file-sharing warning letter, which the law firm Waldorf Frommer has used for some time. The culprit was accused of uploading the file via BitTorrent. I suspect that Waldorf Frommer don´t know that the download was made over Cuevana.tv.”

The above illustrates why it is extremely important for people to have at least a cursory understanding of how software on their machine operates. Streaming video server-to-client or server-to-web browser is either legal or at the least non-detectable in most Western countries. Uploading content to others without permission is generally illegal.

For some the difference between the two will only be discovered after receiving a fine for hundreds or maybe thousands of dollars.

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

Following on from yesterday's brutal, awful news that Mozilla is going to add DRM to its Firefox browser, the Electronic Frontier Foundation's Danny O'Brien has published an important editorial explaining how Mozilla's decision sets back the whole cause of fighting for a free and open Internet. Read the rest

New apps need lovin’ too, right? Every day there are thousands of additions to the Google Play Store, but many go unnoticed and never receive the attention they deserve. We’ve shown in the past that this community can discover great apps and propel them to new heights. Our weekly Fresh Meat column highlights new apps with fewer than 100,000 installs. Browse our new Android app picks below and let us know which ones you enjoy.

Yahoo News Digest

Description: Yahoo News Digest provides a definitive summary of all the important, need-to-know news. Digests are delivered twice a day – once in the morning and once in the evening. All the top stories are summarized and presented with the key information that you need to stay on top of what’s happening.

 

Picaword

Description: Picaword is a new way to take, share, and search photos. You take a picture, attach a keyword to it, and then upload to a public, free to download, database.

 

Bright Weather

Description: Bright Weather is the most comprehensive weather app available on Android. It makes the daily weather essentials easily available and a simple access to deeper information while presenting it in a tasteful, lightweight experience that makes checking the weather enjoyable.

 

Focus out Distractions

Description: This FREE – NO ADS app is for anyone who wants to block distracting apps for certain amount of time. Simple select apps to block, how long you want to block them for and you are done!

 

LoopWallet

Description: LoopWallet is the first mobile wallet that actually lets you use your Android device to make credit, debitand gift card payments at 90% of retail locations. LoopWallet is the smart and convenient way to pay unlike other mobile wallets that require special equipment at the POS, the LoopWallet can be used almost everywhere.

 

Motorola Alert

Description: Motorola Alert lets you quickly alert people important to you when you need them. Simply put your phone on alert, and it will begin sending periodic notifications with your location to the people you designate so they can act fast to get you the help you need.

 

American Interior

Description: Follow Gruff Rhys as he searches for the true story of John Evans, and his quest to find a long lost tribe of Welsh speaking native Americans!

 

Dynamics CRM

Description: Microsoft Dynamics CRM is the essential business tool to help you stay connected and productive wherever you are. Stay up to date with your customer info—even when you’re on the go.

 

QuizToWin

Description: Real-time Quiz Application that can played on-line independent of the physical location with questions launched from a central CRM system.
Players can follow in real-time their personal score and also view a real-time general leader board and friend’s only leader board.

 

Transformers:Age Of Extinction

Description: Discover clues about the upcoming Transformers: Age Of Extinction movie, view exclusive content and compete in a worldwide battle for the future of Earth. Watch movie trailers and interviews for the Transformers: Age Of Extinction movie while checking out character bios and meeting the newest bots.

 

The cheapest iPad mini with Retina display costs $399, but today it's being undercut by a competitor that goes to great lengths to emulate everything about Apple's popular tablet. Xiaomi's MiPad has the same 7.9-inch screen size and even the same 2048 x 1536 resolution, while its color scheme, shape, and design are all evocative of Apple's iPhone 5C lineup. In fact, Xiaomi openly acknowledges that it's using the same materials as on the "unapologetically plastic" 5C. Its customized MIUI interface running atop Android seems to take similar inspiration from the look of iOS 7.

The one area where the MiPad distinguishes itself is in being the first Tegra K1 device to be announced from any manufacturer. Nvidia's latest chip showed great...

Continue reading…

Jim Casey's three-minute-long tribute to visual effects in film is a vivid reminder of how the industry has advanced over the last 136 years. Set to Nobuo Uematsu's beautiful Liberi Fatali, the video begins with the stuttering zoetropes of the late 1880s and ends with some of the best examples of modern-day computer animation. While it's arguable if the clips showcased represent all the "great moments that changed visual effects,"  they do combine to make a wonderfully nostalgic walk through time.

Continue reading…

Following Nest's UK launch early last month, the Google-owned connected home company is partnering with nPower to bring smarter heating to the British energy supplier's customers. Nest is available through nPower's Intelligent Fix April 2017 price plan for £99 including installation, which it says is a saving of £179. (Nest's UK retail price is £179, but this doesn't include installation.) Energy prices are then fixed until 30 April 2017 under the tariff, which is available to dual fuel customers paying by direct debit.

nPower isn't the first energy provider to show an interest in connected thermostats — the "Hive," created by British Gas, launched in the UK market while Nest was still limited to the U.S. market, though that device sells for a pricier £199.

More: Two weeks with a Nest thermostat

Source: nPower; via: CNET

RIP: Mary Stewart (1916 – 2014): SF Site is reporting that author Mary Stewart died on May 10. SHe was best known for her Arthurian fantasies, such as The Crystal Cave and The Last Enchantment among others. She also wrote children’s books and her novel The Moon-Spinners was made into a film by Disney.

[Video Link]

If one would like to gauge the opinions of the world’s leading entertainment companies on Canadian attitudes towards BitTorrent sites, one only needs to look at this year’s International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA) submission to the USTR.

“It is hard to avoid the conclusion that Canada remains a magnet for sites whose well-understood raison d’être is to facilitate and enable massive unauthorized downloading of pirated versions of feature films, TV shows, recorded music, entertainment software, and other copyright materials,” the IIPA wrote.

These claims are actually the tip of a very large iceberg. It’s indeed true that some large public torrent sites are at least partly hosted on Canadian soil but mildly under the radar are also dozens of private tracker communities, many of which have happily operated from Canada for many, many years.

The overall impression is that Canada is one of the safest countries in which to put a file-sharing site, but developments yesterday cast a shadow over that notion.

With 10,000 members, Sparvar.org (Sparrows) was a reasonably sized private site. Aimed largely at a Swedish audience, Sparvar had enjoyed Canadian hosting on an IP address belonging to Montreal-based Netelligent Hosting Services, a company that has welcomed many similar sites in the past. Sometime in the past 24 hours, however, Sparvar disappeared from the Internet.

Netelligent servers

Soon after a rumor began circulating that Sparvar had been raided by the police. That version of events has now been confirmed by Scandinavian anti-piracy outfit Rights Alliance.

Update: Netelligent confirm action against Sparvar’s server, but deny any raid took place. See update below.

“Police in Canada have seized a server belonging to the illegal file-sharing service sparvar.org. Sparrows was a secret service with some 10 000 registered members. The server was located in Canada, but the activity was directed mainly against Sweden,” the anti-piracy group says.

“Behind the complaint stands Rights Alliance which has long been monitoring and documenting this business. The investigation is continuing with a focus on identifying the perpetrators. The seized server will be analyzed.”

The action against Sparvar shows that Rights Alliance have long memories. More than two years ago following their action against private site Swepiracy, Rights Alliance warned of further action to come, specifically naming Sparvar as a target.

That the group can conduct its work across borders, especially into Canada where it was believed there was a more torrent friendly environment, will come as a surprise to the many other sites hosted there under similar circumstances.

Canada has been paying more attention to IP issues in recent years, enacting the Copyright Modernization Act in 2012 and subsequently introducing a bill designed to strengthen IP enforcement. Following these efforts the United States shifted Canada from the Priority Watch List to the standard Watch List in this year’s Special 301 Report. How much further Canada is prepared to go remains to be seen.

Update: TorrentFreak has been informed by Netelligent president Mohamed Salamé that the police action against Sparvar was carried out in an orderly cooperative fashion with authorities and was not the product of a raid.

“The fact of the matter is we are a datacenter hosting all sorts of customers downstream from us. And as long as there are no violations of our AUP, we take no actions against torrent sites which are still legal in Canada,” Salamé explains.

“We also don’t get ‘raids’ as we have a very professional relationship with all agencies on the federal and provincial level to address the issues. And by professional relationship I mean that we do not just give out information or hardware just because they are law agencies. We make sure their requests are legitimate and that they have subpoenas, court orders, or warrants before complying with any of their demands.”

A separate source familiar with the case informs TorrentFreak that contrary to claims by Rights Alliance, no hardware was seized. It appears that a server was indeed cloned but that was in response to an official order to preserve data following a request by Swedish and Canadian authorities.

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

 Mozilla today announced that it will reluctantly implement the HTML5 DRM standard in its Firefox browser. With more and more copyrighted content being streamed over the Internet, rights holders have long been worried that there is no standardized way to wrap a DRM solution around these streams in HTML5 without resorting to using Flash or Silverlight. A while ago, Microsoft and Google decided to… Read More