Aptoide has removed two Android apps that are used to watch TV shows and movies for free from the market following a lawsuit two film companies.
TBV Productions and Hunter Killer Productions targeted Aptoide - an alternative Android app marketplace to Google Play - with a lawsuit for listing Showbox and Popcorn Time. Both apps allow for the streaming of mainstream films and TV shows from either the BitTorrent protocol (exclusive means for Popcorn Time) or from other sources.
The lawsuit had alleged that Aptoide promoted and encouraged the use of these Android applications for copyright infringement purposes. An interesting claim is that because Aptoide declared both apps as "100% safe" - referring to the apps being free of malicious software - that it was endorsing the apps.
Aptoide responded to the lawsuit by removing the main Showbox and Popcorn Time apps. Trying to visit their old URLs simply prompts an error now. Additionally, other Popcorn Time variants have disappeared from the alternative app store.
According to TorrentFreak, Showbox was downloaded between 5-25 million times, while Popcorn Time was downloaded between 300,000 and 3 million times.
Cambridge Analytica scandal results in a record $5 billion fine for the social network giant.
Approved by a 3-2 vote, Facebook was delivered a record fine related to the ability of political consultancy firm Cambridge Analytica to access data of up to 87 million users of the social network.
In 2011, Facebook had already agreed to notify users and gain express consent to share their data with third parties. Since March 2018, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has been probing whether Facebook had violated this agreement.
The $5 billion settlement was approved in a 3-2 vote along political party lines, with 3 Republicans voting in favor of the settlement, and 2 Democrats against. It still has some hurdles to clear, with the Department of Justice' civil division to finalize it yet.
Facebook had warned investors back in April that it was expecting a fine of this magnitude, but had reassured them that it has already put funds aside to deal with it. In fact, when the news broke of the FTC approving the settlement, shares in Facebook initially rose 1.8 percent.
The Finnish armed forces are readying new rules for the country's semi-compulsory military service. In the reform, entitled Koulutus 2020, Finnish for Training 2020, they disclose smartphone as training equipment, Finnish newspaper Ilta-Sanomat reports.
The service is compulsory for men starting at the age of 18 either as a combatant trainee or a civilian service member. For the ones choosing the path of military training they will be required to have a smartphone as a training tool in the future.
As it is mandatory, if the young recruit doesn't own a smartphone, they will be provided with one by the government. Also if the one doesn't want to use their own, in a very real worry that it might be broken for example, they also get a government issued smartphone.
The new training procedure including a smart device is currently being ran as a pilot in a couple subdivisions, specifically Army Academy (Maasotakoulu) and Coastal Brigade (Rannikkoprikaati).
Currently there are a few Android tablets per company and they are borrowed on an as-needed basis.
YouTube has managed to dodge the 'copyright mafia' since the beginning, or at least since acquisition by Google, fairly well. I guess having tons of lawyers from Google helping out fighting the copyright problems has been the key.
Obviously adding complete and easy-to-use copyright claim features to the platform has made it less likely of a target of copyright holders.
Unfortunately there are consequences to giving so much power to the individuals and organizations. There's even an aphorism of some kind about power and corruption.
There certainly has been corruption among the folk posting mass copyright claims on YouTube. So much so, that for much of the independent YouTube community copyright claims have become a joke.
Whether it is to suppress ideas or content of critics, or just to gain a competitive edge against competitors, YouTube's copyright claim has been used for it all.
Due to YouTube's abhorrent record in communicating with the community, many of the creators have probably given up that there's any kind of protective action against what can be truly called the copyright claim mafia.
However, sometimes it is very nice to be wrong. For those people, today is the day.
Some Macs may have been vulnerable to webcam hijacking due to a flaw in how the Zoom video conferencing app handled one-click-joining.
Zoom aims to make it as easy as possible to add users to a video conference. One of its selling points is that users can join a video conference session by clicking on a link. However, the way in which this was achieved posed some security risks.
Researcher Jonathan Leitschuh found that the Mac version of the app installs a web server on the local machine. The web server left the user's computer open to certain attacks.
For example, an attacker could send a target a link to a maliciously crafted website that would join the user to the Zoom call with their webcam activated. A malicious page could also effectively carry out a denial of service attack on the Mac by repeatedly forcing the user to join an invalid call.
Another issue noted by Leitschuh is that even after the Zoom client is installed, the local web server remains and can be tricked to reinstall the Zoom client by visiting a malicious webpage.
The mending relationship between Amazon and Google continues with Prime TV support coming for Chromecast, Android TV.
Amazon Prime Video subscribers will be able to cast their content to Google's Chromecast and Chromecast built-in devices. You'll need the latest Prime Video app and Android 5.0 or higher or iOS 10.1 or higher on your phone or tablet to receive the update.
Chromecast Ultra users get access to 4,000 titles included with Prime at no additional cost.
Whiole some select Android TV devices already have Amazon Prime Video, support will be rolling out to many more Android TV smart TVs, set-top boxes and streaming devices. The Prime Video app is available on Google Play for supported devices.
Another piece of good news that has come from Amazon and Google burying the hatchet is YouTube's availability on Fire TV devices. From today, the official YouTube app on Amazon Fire TV is available worldwide on Fire TV Stick (2nd Gen), Fire TV Stick 4K, Fire TV Cube, Fire TV Stick Basic Edition, and Toshiba, Insignia, Element, and Westinghouse Fire TV Edition smart TVs.
Additional device support will roll out in the coming months, and YouTube TV and YouTube Kids will launch later this year.
Netflix newest and most popular TV release is the nostalgic sci-fi series Stranger Things 3.
The third season of the 80s themed show racked over 40 million views in the first four days after the 4th of July release, and even Microsoft has decided to chime in, or perhaps forced by a contract with Netflix and its monetary value.
Regardless, Microsoft has released an app in the Microsoft Store entitled Windows 1.11. This app is bringing the authentic feel of 80s computing, more specifically in the era of Windows 1 and IBM PC in 1985.
The full description reads:
Experience 1985 nostalgia with a special edition Windows 10 PC app inspired by Windows 1.0--but one that's been taken over by the Upside Down from Stranger Things. Explore the mysteries and secrets plaguing Hawkins, unlock unique show content and easter eggs, and play retro games and puzzles--all building off Stranger Things 3. Join Eleven, Steve, Dustin and gang as they seek to save Hawkins and the world. Embrace the 80s and grab your hairspray, because it's basically the raddest show companion experience ever. But fair warning: beware the Mind Flayer.
Spotify has released a Lite version of its music streaming app designed for slower networks and older Android devices.
At just around 10MB in size the app is a small download and won't take up much storage space on the device. It is intended for regions that have slower network connections and for users of older Android devices.
Spotify Lite is compatible with Android devices running Android 4.3 or higher. It can be used by users of the premium or ad-supported tiers.
As you would expect, the Lite app strips a lot of the features available in the standard Spotify app, but users can still search for their favorite artists and songs, save them, share them and discover new music that might interest them based on their tastes.
For users with data limits, there is also the ability to set a data limit so that the app will notify you when you reach it. For those with limited storage space, there are also cache controls and all cache can be deleted with a tap.
"Spotify Lite was built from the ground up based on user feedback from around the world, allowing millions more to enjoy the world's best music experience -- especially in areas with limited bandwidth and phone storage," says Kalle Persson, Senior Product Manager at Spotify.
The third instalment of the Duffer Brothers' sci-fi/horror series has broken Netflix viewing records in the days following its hotly-anticipated release.
Stranger Things 3 was released on July 4, more than twenty months since the sophomore season was released in October 2017. Any suggestion that the appetite for the series - which became a cultural phenomenon of sorts when it debuted with little marketing and buzz three years ago - have been rebuffed by the initial viewing figures that Netflix is only too happy to brag about.
In the four days since its release on America's Independence Day, more than 40.7 million household accounts have accessed the third season of the show. Of course, the actual number of viewers is much higher, that is simply the number of accounts that accessed episodes of the season. In that time period, 18.2 million accounts have been used already to watch all eight episodes, which are typically an hour long.
Just last month, Netflix had bragged that Murder Mystery - starring Adam Sandler and Jennifer Anniston - had racked by 30.9 million views in its first three days, which broke its movie streaming records.
40.7 million household accounts have been watching the show since its July 4 global launch -- more than any other film or series in its first four days. And 18.2 million have already finished the entire season.
Google has updated Chrome's Canary developer build with a new feature that some of us are fairly excited about. The feature is called Global Media Controls (GMC) and, as you might imagine, it allows you to control Chrome's media playback.
The new Canary v77 brings the new feature as an opt-in in the settings. If you have installed the Canary 77, you can find the feature and enable it here. Be warned, however, it is an unstable release and might crash at any point.
When enabled, the feature will add a playback icon on the right side or the address bar. Clicking the icon opens up the global media controls as a pop-up.
You can control both video and audio playback on any of the open tabs on your Chrome browser. This is a very welcome addition, considering that Google recently removed the ability to mute tab with a simple press on the speaker icon.
You can still mute by right clicking the tab and press mute site. However, this will mute all the audio coming from that site, not just the one tab.
Also the new feature allows to stop playback, not just mute it, of both audio and video playing on any Chrome tab or window.
At this moment the GMC feature is only available in the Canary build but one can assume, or at least hope, that Google is bringing it to the official Chrome builds soon.
Tesla took a page out of Apple's playbook a while ago and started developing their own chips for their cars. Previously the self-driving chips were provided by Nvidia, but Elon Musk realized they could do way better in-house.
The chip that was unveiled this April is suggested to be many times faster than the previous one, and in some tasks it is said to outperform old Nvidia's offering 21 to 1.
According to Musk the new chip finally also is powerful enough that it can provide a fully autonomous driving. Unfortunately that is not yet possible due to software among other things, like regulatory action.
However, the hardware prowess should be there, and this means that Tesla will soon be able to replace the older Tesla models with the new chip. According to Musk this will begin in late Q4 this year for the cars with previous generation HW2, or Autopilot Hardware 2.0.
The new generation, previously known as HW3, Musk calls simply FSD for Full Self-Driving.
If you've bought a Tesla with the Full Self-Driving option, costing some $6000, you'll get the new chip with installation for free. Even if you didn't opt in for full self-driving, it is still possible to get the features, however you'll obviously have to pay for it and possibly have to wait quite a bit longer.
The South Korean consumer electronics giant has vowed to defend itself after a regulator filed a lawsuit over ads related to its Galaxy smartphones.
An Australian consumer watchdog is litigating against Samsung's Australian unit for allegedly misleading advertisements related to its Galaxy-branded smartphones and their suitability for use underwater.
According to the watchdog, in more than three hundred advertisements related to its Galaxy products, Samsung falsely represents the conditions for which its smartphones would be suitable for usage.
"The ACCC alleges Samsung's advertisements falsely and misleadingly represented Galaxy phones would be suitable for use in, or for exposure to, all types of water ... when this was not the case," ACCC Chairman Rod Sims said in a statement, reports Reuters.
It's not the first time Samsung's waterproof claims have drawn scrutiny. In 2016, Consumer Reports noted that a Galaxy S7 smartphone had failed an immersion test, despite advertisements showing a model inside a fish tank.
Some consumers also reported they had damaged their phones by using them in water, and others reported that Samsung even refused to cover water damaged devices under warranty.
Microsoft has rolled out an update that will enable users to see notifications from connected Android devices on their Windows 10 Desktop.
Microsoft's Your Phone is a Windows 10 application that pairs an Android device to your PC. Once paired, users can transfer data between the devices (media files, etc.) and see and reply to messages received on their phones.
With a new update, Your Phone users can now see Android phone notifications mirrored to the Desktop. This would include new messages from apps like WhatsApp or Twitter, for example. If you dismiss the notifications on your Desktop, they are also dismissed on the phone.
In an upcoming update, users will be able to click on the notifications in Windows 10, which will then cause the Your Phone app to mirror the phone's screen to the Desktop and let you you take appropriate actions.
A U.S. Congress financial services committee has written to Facebook requesting that it halt its Libra digital currency plans so they can be properly scrutinized.
The House Financial Services Committee, chaired by Maxine Waters, the U.S. Representative for California's 43rd congressional district, wrote a letter addressed to Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, Sheryl Sandberg, and David Marcus on Tuesday. In it, several Democrat members of the committee ask Facebook to agree to halt the development of Libra and the Calibra digital wallet.
"It appears that these products may lend themselves to an entirely new global financial system that is based out of Switzerland and intended to rival U.S. monetary policy and the dollar," the letter reads.
"This raises serious privacy, trading, national security, and monetary policy concerns for not only Facebook's over 2 billion users, but also for investors, consumers, and the broader global economy."
The letter goes on to cite Facebook's chequered history with data privacy and highlights some potential national security risks and financial market risks.
Libra is a digital currency that Facebook is pushing and will eventually cede control of to a consortium called the Libra Association, which claims VISA, MasterCard, Spotify, PayPal and others among its members. It has insisted that Libra will be separate from Facebook.
Users of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp have been reporting problems on Wednesday that affect their picture and video uploads.
Facebook acknowledged that a technical issue was causing problems for its users when they were sending media files on its platforms. The issue seems to have stemmed from something going awry during routine maintenance operations.
"During one of our routine maintenance operations, we triggered an issue that is making it difficult for some people to upload or send photos and videos,"Facebook revealed.
After a similar issue hit Facebook services back in March, the firm said it was considering refunding paying advertisers for lost exposure due the glitch, but did not confirm the same consideration over this issue.
Aptoide has removed two Android apps that are used to watch TV shows and movies for free from the market following a lawsuit two film companies.
Cambridge Analytica scandal results in a record $5 billion fine for the social network giant.
The Finnish armed forces are readying new rules for the country's semi-compulsory military service. In the reform, entitled Koulutus 2020, Finnish for Training 2020, they disclose smartphone as training equipment, Finnish 
