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Comment: Re:So what is VideoLAN anyway? (Score 1) 142

by BLKMGK (#39090493) Attached to: VLC 2.0 'Twoflower' Released For Windows & Mac

It's a small install that plays most anything you throw at it including damaged files. It doesn't require you to install CODECs and it's pretty highly optimized code to run on even slow machines. anytime I have someone I know complain they cannot play some file or other I tell them to load VLC - problem solved. Perhaps you just only ever play standard sorts of files

Comment: Just tested this..... (Score 1) 142

by BLKMGK (#39090473) Attached to: VLC 2.0 'Twoflower' Released For Windows & Mac

Wow! I can now skip merrily through a multi-gig MKV file at high bitrates without lag. I can jump halfway through the video and with almost no pause it begins playing with only a little pixelation. This is on Win7 so YMMV on other platforms but I can tell you that compared to even the beta I WAS running this is a giant leap forward - no pun intended. Previously it would hang and slog through the video and was just really awful to skip through big files when I wanted to just check something. Now? Zero issues, clear picture, and plenty of control. I can grab the slider and get pretty good playback too although it obviously jumps some. So far I haven't tried many other video containers or ISO etc. just this one test but for me this was a really big one - very very pleased.

Bravo to the VLC team!

Security

Compromised Steam Data Included Credit Card Info->

Submitted by
AaronLS
AaronLS writes "Steam has released additional information about a previous security breach, indicating that with the help of third party security experts they have determined no passwords were compromised, but billing information and credits cards were compromised. This information was encrypted, but no details were given on the level or type of this encryption, which would be significant since the attackers would have free reign to throw as much computing power at trying to decrypt the data, either through brute force guessing of the key or other means if the encryption has weaknesses. Also of significance, would be whether all the data shared the same key, or if each user's billing information was encrypted with a different key."
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Privacy

Encrypted P2P Voip 2

Submitted by shaitand
shaitand writes "I've been combing the web and have yet to find what I think is pretty much a basic operation for secure digital voice. Communication must be encrypted from end to end not decrypted and recrypted at the server. This also should be supported by major phone platforms such as android, blackberry, and iphone. Or at least android. Does anyone know of such a beast? A search for android security apps gives no gpg, no secure im, no secure voip, no tor, no truecrypt like plausible deniability whole os encryption, no stenography, just lists of anti-virus and password vaults. Where is the real mobile security?"
Social Networks

Update on Journalist Arrested By Interpol For Tweet->

Submitted by cosmicaug
cosmicaug writes "For all practical purposes, he’s dead. Islam is going to be demanding a blood sacrifice on this one. The international attention is going to turn this into a loss of face for the clerics if it goes any other way.

Sadly, the most likely outcome is that they are going to execute this man for three tweets."
Link to Original Source

Batery Turns Saltwater into Drinking Water->

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes "German researchers have developed a battery that can remove sodium and chloride ions from seawater. In theory, their invention could be far more energy efficient than thermal desalination or reverse osmosis. This would cut the cost of using salt water for drinking or irrigation. It could also be used to make compact desalination systems for boats and life rafts, or crops. Each battery is made with manganese oxide nanorod electrodes, which absorb sodium when an electrical current passes through them. When the current is reversed, they dump the sodium ions out into waste water."
Link to Original Source
Censorship

Iran Shuts Down HTTPS Protocol-> 1

Submitted by bonch
bonch writes "Since Thursday, Iran has shut down several major websites using the HTTPS protocol, including Google, Gmail, and Yahoo. Banking sites, proxies, and other services are also affected. Iranian web users believe that the shutdown will end after the 33rd anniversary of the Islamic Revolution. A thread on Hacker News provides first-hand accounts as well as workarounds."
Link to Original Source
Businesses

Sale or License? Sister Sledge Sues Over iTunes

Submitted by
Hugh Pickens writes
Hugh Pickens writes writes "The Hollywood Reprter reports that members of the iconic disco-era musical group Sister Sledge have filed a major class action lawsuit against Warner Music Group claiming that the music giant's method for calculating digital music purchases as "sales" rather than "licenses" has cheated them out of millions of dollars from digital music sales. Songwriters typically make much less money when an album is "sold" than they do when their music is "licensed" (the rationale derives from the costs that used to be associated with the physical production of records) but record labels have taken the position that music sold via such digital stores as iTunes should be counted as "sales" rather than licenses. The difference in revenue can be significant as Sister Sledge claim their record deal promises 25 percent of revenue from licenses but only 5-1/2% to 6-1/2% of net from sales. Eminem's publisher brought a nearly identical claim against Universal Music Group and won an important decision at the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in 2010 when the 9th Circuit ruled that iTunes' contract unambiguously provided that the music was licensed. The lawsuit argued that record companies’ arrangements with digital retailers resembled a license more than it did a sale of a CD or record because, among other reasons, the labels furnished the seller with a single master recording that it then duplicated for customers. “Unlike physical sales, where the record company manufactures each disc and has incremental costs, when they license to iTunes, all they do is turn over one master,” says attorney Richard S. Busch. “It’s only fair that the artist should receive 50 percent of the receipts.”"

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