Month: January 2016

Wi-Fi HaLow wants to be a better Bluetooth.

The post Next-Gen Wi-Fi Will Actually Connect the Internet of Things appeared first on WIRED.

Source: Wired.com Top Stories

George R. R. Martin’s next book in the saga won’t be released before the HBO show returns in April. That brings Westeros to a troubling crossroads.

The post Game of Thrones Book Delays Hurt George R. R. Martin, Not Fans appeared first on WIRED.

Source: Wired.com Top Stories

The long-awaited installment in the Japanese game series will receive a final release date in March, director Hajime Tabata has announced.

The post Final Fantasy XV’s Release Date Has a Release Date appeared first on WIRED.

Source: Wired.com Top Stories

It took an awful long time to arrive but late 2014 the movie and music industries eventually reached agreement with the UK’s leading ISPs to send warnings to subscribers suspected of downloading content from file-sharing networks.

The warning scheme (which is currently notable only by its absence) is part of the Creative Content UK (CCUK) initiative which marries the ‘stick’ of direct-to-door warnings with a broader educational campaign focused on deterrence.

As previously reported the first campaign titled “Get It Right from a Genuine Site” used a colorful cartoon to encourage viewers to boycott ‘pirate’ sites in favor of those which pay licensing fees supporting the entertainment industries.

And now, at the start of a new year, CCUK’s latest initiative can be found on the Intellectual Property Office’s education site, which was launched under the ‘Cracking Ideas‘ brand last November.

Fronted by clay animation stars Wallace and Gromit, ‘Cracking Ideas’ is offering a lesson plan which asks 14-19 year old students to consider “the impact and ethics of film piracy, the consequences of downloading a film illegally and the impact of film piracy on the creative industries.”

Produced in partnership with The Industry Trust, The Intellectual Property Office and the Federation Against Copyright Theft, the lesson (titled “Vin Diesel’s Socks”) is built around a student-created anti-piracy PSA of the same name which questions who will fund the action star’s footwear if people pirate rather pay.

When placed side-by-side with ‘classics’ such as “You Wouldn’t Download a Car“, the change of tone is notable.

The lesson is centered around 18 slides with accompanying notes encouraging teachers and other educators to question students on issues including illegal uploading.

“Why do you think people distribute and upload films illegally? What do you think are the consequences of this activity?” one slide asks. Students are given time to think but are then offered these reasons.

Slide

It’s no real surprise that cash is put forward as the prime motivator, even though the country’s most recently jailed pirates made not a single penny from their activities. It is interesting, however, that the slide balances this with the honest statement that pirates often beat legitimate providers to the market, with pricing and availability.

Mirroring similar campaigns underway in the United States, the lesson also reinforces the notion that ‘pirate’ sites are dangerous places. It also falls back on the controversial ‘disappearing money’ argument that money not outlaid on movies is somehow not spent elsewhere in the economy.

But credit where it’s due. A later slide concedes that people who pirate content online are often the same people who pay to visit the cinema, buy DVDs and stream content from legitimate sources.

Slide

Later, students are asked to consider “Should things that are online be free?” and “Should you do things just because they are technologically possible?”

But what if students believe that piracy generates free buzz, that if they download something and rave about it to their friends, that will boost sales? The lesson’s covering notes provide guidance for teachers on how to respond.

“You may like to explain that creators of films, music or any other product should be in control of how they distribute their product. If they want to share it for free that is their choice, but illegal distribution removes that choice from the creator,” the notes suggest.

And, if students think that plenty of people still go to the cinema and film companies continue to make lots of money, the suggested response is as follows.

“You can suggest that it can take a long time for many films to make a profit and that unless people pay for the film at the cinema, online, on DVD etc, films will not cover their costs or make a profit, this will affect the quality and range of films that are made, and the career opportunities available in the film industry.”

But what if students get really tricky by suggesting that the film industry “is behind the times” by not serving those who want to watch movies as soon as they become available?

“You can suggest to students that some films are available online and on DVD at the same time as they are in the cinema, but that watching a film in the cinema is a different experience to watching it at home and many filmmakers and studios want their films to be an experience, and viewed in the optimum conditions. How a film is released and how much the creators charge for their product is their choice.”

In a later slide students are advised about being monitored online by copyright holders and the subsequent ISP warnings their activity might generate. Notably there is no mention of any punishments or references to breaking the law. The warnings are mentioned solely as a way to direct alleged infringers to legitimate content. This is a big change from past campaigns.

Finally, students are shown slides detailing the work of the Federation Against Copyright Theft but again there is little for them to feel threatened over. Instead, teachers are encouraged to explain that even pirates love movies.

“Explain that many people who access pirated film actually love film and want the industry to continue making great movies. If students love film, they should look for legal providers through Find Any Film next time. Play the Moments Worth Paying For/Star Wars: The Force Awakens trailer and ask students why they think film is worth paying for,” the notes to teachers conclude.

The Vin Diesel’s Socks lesson plan can be downloaded here.

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

Source: TorrentFreak

Last November several pirated copies of 4K videos started to leak from both Netflix and Amazon. These leaks were unusual as online 4k streams were always well protected against pirates.

While it’s still not clear how these videos were copied, a new lawsuit from Warner Bros. and Intel’s daughter company Digital Content Protection (DCP) suggests that HDFury devices may be involved.

The companies have filed a lawsuit at a federal court in New York against the maker of the devices, technology company LegendSky.

Starting a few weeks ago the Chinese company launched a range of new devices which allow users to strip the latest HDCP encryption. This hardware sits between a HDCP-compliant source device and another device, allowing it to pass on a “stripped” 4K signal.

The Hollywood studio and DCP argue that these devices violate the DMCA’s anti-circumvention provisions and should no longer be sold to prevent further damage.

One of the HDFury devices

TF obtained a copy of the complaint in which Warner Bros. allege that the hardware threatens copyright holders because it enables users to render 4K video “in the clear,” making it easy for pirates to share it online.

“The HDFury Devices harm copyright owners like Warner Bros. because they enable Digital Content to be displayed without the protections of HDCP, thereby enabling users to access copyrighted works, make and/or distribute copies of copyrighted works […] all without the permission of the copyright owner,’ they write.

DCP, on the other hand, is harmed because it owns and controls the HDCP standard. When this copy protection is easily circumvented it loses much of its value and potential licensing revenue.

“The HDFury Devices harm DCP because, among other things, they undermine the effectiveness of HDCP, lower the value of HDCP, and thereby jeopardize DCP’s ability to license HDCP to Digital Device manufacturers and Digital Content owners,” the complaint reads.

Both Warner Bros. and DCP accuse LegendSky of violating the DMCA’s anti-circumvention provisions. In addition, they claim that the company violated the Lanham Act by falsely stating that the HDFury devices comply with HDCP’s license requirements.

The plaintiffs ask the court to prohibit these devices from being sold and advertised. In addition, they want to be compensated for the damages they’ve suffered.

In discussions with TorrentFreak, someone who recently purchased an HDFury 4K ‘stripper’ confirmed that the product does indeed work. The first devices were shipped from China early November, a few days before the first 4K rips appeared online.

For Warner Bros. it is essential that 4K copy protection remains strong. The company just announced that it will release several dozen 4K Blu-ray movies this year and would like to keep these out of the hands of pirates.

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

Source: TorrentFreak

This week we have two newcomers in our chart.

The Martian is the most downloaded movie for the second week in a row.

The data for our weekly download chart is estimated by TorrentFreak, and is for informational and educational reference only. All the movies in the list are BD/DVDrips unless stated otherwise.

RSS feed for the weekly movie download chart.

Ranking	(last week)	Movie	IMDb Rating / Trailer
torrentfreak.com
1	(1)	The Martian	8.2 / trailer
2	(…)	The Big Short (DVDscr)	8.1 / trailer
3	(2)	The Revenant (DVDscr)	?.? / trailer
4	(7)	Spectre (DVDscr)	7.1 / trailer
5	(3)	The Hateful Eight (DVDscr)	9.1 / trailer
6	(5)	Bridge of Spies (DVDscr)	7.9 / trailer
7	(4)	Creed (DVDscr)	8.2 / trailer
8	(…)	Burnt	6.7 / trailer
9	(8)	The Intern (Web-DL)	7.4 / trailer
9	(2)	The Peanuts Movie (DVDscr)	7.7 / trailer
10	(10)	In The Heart of The Sea (DVDscr)	7.1 / trailer

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

Source: TorrentFreak

There are dozens of sync and backup services available on the Internet, but most have a major drawback. They rely on external cloud-based hosting.

This may work well for smaller files, but when large videos have to be distributed among several devices people may run into trouble. This is one of the reasons why BitTorrent Sync has become quite popular.

Dropbox, one of the leading cloud syncing services, also appears to realize that there’s an opportunity here. Behind the scenes the company has been working on a technology that allows users to share files across different devices through secure P2P transfers.

This month the company scored a patent for a secure peer-to-peer synchronization system through which users can quickly share and collaborate on files without uploading them to Dropbox’s servers.

“Peer-to-peer distributed sharing of the content items in such an online content management system can eliminate bottlenecks, thereby increasing the speed at which the content items can be shared among the individuals,” Dropbox explains

“In particular, in peer-to-peer distributed sharing, the individuals can directly transfer the content items from one computer or electronic device to another, instead of uploading and downloading the content items to and from remote storage in the online content management system,” they add.

Dropbox’ P2P synchronization

This type of peer-to-peer sharing is useful for groups of people who require access to the same files, especially if they are large. In addition, the technology could also help to quickly share the files of one person between different devices.

However, P2P syncing can also lead to all kinds of conflicts and errors, in particular when more people are working on the same file at the same time. After all, the system must know what files are the most recent and how to properly distribute them.

To address this Dropbox’s system will allow users to provide a cryptographic key to a server. This signals what version of the file they have and how it should be synchronized across the other devices.

“…the recipients can use the cryptographic key during peer-to-peer distributed sharing of the version of the content item among the user and the recipients in a shared network (intranet or Internet) without synchronization conflicts …,” the patent reads.

The patent is an interesting development. If Dropbox goes ahead and implements a form of peer-to-peer syncing then this would greatly increase the appeal to users who share large data files, such as editors and graphic designers.

In a way it’s framed as a competitor for BitTorrent Sync, which specifically targets this niche. Launched in 2013, BitTorrent Sync allows users to become their own cloud and share massive files without storing them on external central servers.

BitTorrent Sync previously announced that it was seven times faster than Dropbox, which may have prompted the cloud syncing service to follow BitTorrent’s peer-to-peer lead.

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

Source: TorrentFreak

The endlessly entertaining /r/trackers and /r/torrents subs of Reddit are inhabited by a broad range of BitTorrent users, from the just starting out to the seriously experienced. As a result discussions range from the very basic to the fairly complex which makes them great environments for those of all skill levels.

The million dollar question

Pretty regularly the topic lands on the differences between public and private torrent sites and the inevitable million dollar question: Which is the best?

As someone who has seen this conversation play out dozens of times before it’s no surprise what happens next. Users of each type of site regularly batten down the hatches and go head to head with their perceived rivals in a battle to be won at all costs.

But the truth is this: public and private sites and their users might sometimes pretend to hate or have disrespect for each other, but the existence of both amounts to a match made in heaven. They squabble and bicker in public, but quietly they crave each other’s attention. In fact, these secret lovers can barely stand to be apart.

‘Elite’ torrent users didn’t appear by magic

Many (not all) private trackers work on the assumption that their users are among the elite. These individuals have perfectly honed systems, underpinned by the finest torrent client setups ever seen. Their sharing manners are impeccable and their access to content unprecedented.

Surprise!! These users didn’t simply appear out of thin air.

The majority of today’s “elite” users will have started out on the public torrent scene where they picked up knowledge and developed their skills over time, possibly several years. Like many they will have heard of the private tracker streets paved with gold and aspired to tread them one day.

Eventually, when luck, judgment and an existing member with invites all collided, Joe Public will have entered the Promised Land. The chances are he will have been impressed by what he found. Many private trackers display exceptional attention to detail, are meticulous in their presentation, and have great communities to boot.

But make no mistake, without his training on the public scene Mr Public would not have lasted long on a private tracker. Thankfully he already knew many if not all of the basics and while private site staff might not like the public scene too much, they are grateful to it for educating their new recruit. Rarely will they admit it, however.

Join us – if you can (but it won’t be easy)

Perhaps one of the most interesting things about the private / public rivalry is how the former absolutely needs the latter to boost its ranks. Many private tracker users/staffers hang out on /r/trackers and /r/torrents and many are happy to answer questions. Need movies faster? Better quality music? Cure for arthritis? Join a private tracker!

However, as many advice recipients discover, that’s often easier said than done. Most private sites have strict limits on the number of members allowed in and the majority require users to be invited. Several demand that prospective members sit an entrance exam or interview to get in. It can be a real hassle.

No room at the inn 🙁

That said, limited availability of member slots exists for a number of reasons, not least technical limitations and other practicalities of running a relatively small site.

While this is a nuisance for those looking to get in, this is a real plus for private trackers. Not only do they have the luxury of picking and choosing new entrants, they also maintain the exclusivity that makes them so desirable to join in the first place. But just as new members trickle in, other things flood right out.

Thanks for the content, private trackers

For many years the so-called warez scene was the source of much of the content available online today. Things are changing in a very big way though and P2P distribution is now the uncrowned king.

Recently a flood of DVD screeners began to hit the Internet yet none of them came from a traditional ‘Scene’ source. In fact (and as far as the masses are concerned) most of them first appeared for the early enjoyment of the lucky individuals inhabiting private trackers. Eventually nearly all of them spread to public sites though. And users of those sites are grateful, even if they don’t mention it.

They should just get along

The ubiquitous nature of public sites has created a wealth of interest in file-sharing that private sites could never have managed on their own. Both have benefited as a result and it’s hard to escape that.

Also, most private torrent site users were doing their thing in public at one stage and when it comes to swelling their ranks, footfall to private sites is provided by the public. ‘Elite’ users don’t just appear out of thin air.

And, when Joe Public finds he can’t or refuses to keep up with the often stringent rules and requirements of private trackers, there needs to be a safety net or he could disappear from the P2P sharing scene entirely. Where does he go? Back to public torrent sites, of course.

Finally, for those who like to measure the quality of public and private sites by comparing YIFY rips with those more exclusively available – two words:

Gateway. Drug.

Excited new recruits coming up……and the secret love affair continues.

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

Source: TorrentFreak

Most file-sharers are creatures of habit, but when their favorite site disappears they gladly hop over to the next one.

This is also reflected in our annual top 10 which sees the usual names on top but also features some dubious newcomers.

One of the major changes came with the hostile takeover of the popular TV-torrent site EZTV. This prompted the popular TV-torrent distribution group to shut down last May. Another group took over the popular brand and continued with their own ‘unofficial’ EZTV releases. We therefore marked the site as a newcomer.

Something similar happened to YIFY’s YTS website, when the Australian admin ran into legal trouble. The official YTS website shut down but it was quickly replaced by the “unofficial” YTS.ag, which gathered a large user-base over the past two months.

Apparently, most torrent users are happy as long as they can get their fix, no matter what the source is.

KickassTorrents (KAT) remains the most visited torrent site and continues to grow. The Pirate Bay is listed in second place and made a strong comeback after nearly two months of downtime spanning the turn of the year. Since the site has been operating from several domain names until a few days ago, we chose not to list an Alexa rank.

Finally, it’s worth noting that Rutracker would have made it into the top five based on the number of visitors. However, we choose to only include English language content sites.

Below is the full list of the top 10 most-visited torrent sites at the start of the new year. The list is based on various traffic reports and we display the Alexa rank for each. In addition, we include last year’s ranking for each of the 10 sites.

1. KickassTorrents

KickassTorrents was founded in 2009 and surpassed The Pirate Bay in traffic last year. Battling various censorship efforts the site has burned through a few different domain names over the years. Most recently it switched to a Costa Rican .cr domain after it lost its Somalian .so address.

2. The Pirate Bay

The Pirate Bay is one of the main piracy icons. The torrent site wasn’t online at the beginning of 2015 and had to deal with a staff revolt. However, it quickly regained millions of users after a successful comeback operating from a hydra of domain names until last week.

3. ExtraTorrent

ExtraTorrent continues to gain more traffic and has become one of the most active torrent communities. The site is also the home of the popular ETTV and ETRG release groups.

4. Torrentz

Torrentz has been the leading BitTorrent meta-search engine for many years. Unlike the other sites featured in the list Torrentz does not host any torrent files or magnet links, but redirects visitors to other places on the web. The site uses several domain names with .eu being the most popular.

5. RARBG

RARBG, which started out as a Bulgarian tracker, was last year’s newcomer and continues to rake in more visitors. The site was blocked by UK ISPs last year, which put it on par with most other sites in the top 10.

6. 1337x

1337x has traditionally been a community driven torrent site but several weeks ago most of the admins and moderators abandoned ship over security concerns. The coming year it will become clear whether 1337x can keep its popular status.

7. EZTV.ag

TV-torrent distribution group EZTV shut down earlier this year after a hostile takeover. The site continued to operate under new ownership and releases its own torrents now. In solidarity with the original owners several large torrent sites have banned these ‘new’ releases from their sites.

8. TorrentHound

TorrentHound has been around since the last decade but is a newcomer in the top 10. It has also been on the radar of copyright holders this year. The torrent site is blocked in several countries and was reported as a piracy haven to the U.S. government, alongside many other sites in this list.

5. YTS.ag

YTS.ag has nothing to do with the original YTS or YIFY group, but aims to take its place. As with the new EZTV, several large torrent sites are not allowing the group to use the YIFY or YTS brands on their sites.

10. TorrentDownloads

TorrentDownloads has been around for several years. The torrent site regained a spot in the top 10 this year after it was featured for the last time in 2011. It’s a no-nonsense index that provides torrents to millions of users each month.

Disclaimer: Yes, we know that Alexa isn’t perfect and that Compete has plenty of flaws, but when combined both do a pretty good job at comparing sites that operate in a similar niche.

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

Source: TorrentFreak

In the latest installment of the ‘Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy’ podcast, the panel discusses the new Star Wars movie and what it means for the franchise.

The post The Force Awakens Has Changed Star Wars Forever appeared first on WIRED.

Source: Wired.com Top Stories