Lirodon - Slashdot User

Submission + - Facebook bans sale of piracy-enabling set-top boxes

Submitted by Lirodon on Friday May 26, 2017 @06:00PM

Lirodon writes: "Facebook has joined the fight against illegal video-streaming devices. The social behemoth recently added a new category to products it prohibits users to sell under its commerce policy: Products or items that “facilitate or encourage unauthorized access to digital media.”

Submission + - Video game cheaters outed by logic bombs

Submitted by Lirodon on Tuesday February 02, 2016 @01:23PM

Lirodon writes: A Reddit user decided to tackle the issue of cheaters within Valve's multiplayer shooter Counter Strike: Global Offensive in their own unique way: by luring them towards fake "multihacks" that promised a motherlode of cheating tools, but in reality, were actually traps designed to cause the users who installed them to eventually receive bans. The first two were designed as time bombs, which activated functions designed to trigger bans after a specific time of day. The third, which was downloaded over 3,500 times, caused instantaneous bans.

Submission + - Exploitable backhole accidentally left in some MediaTek-based phones (ndtv.com)

Submitted by Lirodon on Monday February 01, 2016 @12:37AM

Lirodon writes: MediaTek has confirmed findings by security researcher Justin Case, who discovered that some devices running Android KitKat on MediaTek processors (often used in lower-cost devices) had a debug function, meant to be removed on production devices, accidentally left in by their manufacturer. This hole could be used to trivially gain root access, among other possibilities.

Submission + - There is no "Next Great Copyright Act", remain calm

Submitted by Lirodon on Monday July 20, 2015 @01:26PM

Lirodon writes: A YouTube video has gone viral, particularly around the art community (and the subsection of the art community populated by the same type of people who tend to spread these around to begin with), making bold claims that a revision to U.S. copyright law is being considered, with a particular focus on orphan works. Among other things, this video claims that it would require all works to be registered with a for-profit registry to be protected, that unregistered works would be "orphaned" and be usable by "good faith infringers" and allow others to make derivative works that they would own entirely.

Thankfully, this is all just hyperbole proliferated by a misinterpretation of a report on orphan works by the U.S. Copyright Office, as Graphic Policy explains.

Submission + - GameStop swoops in to buy ThinkGeek for $140 million (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by Lirodon on Tuesday June 02, 2015 @11:31AM

Lirodon writes: Remember a few days ago, when our former parent company was the subject of a $122 million takeover bid by Hot Topic? Slashdot remembers. Well, another geeky retailer entered the fray in the battle for ThinkGeek, and won. GameStop will be acquiring Geeknet for $140 million. The video game retailer has promised synergies, such as in-store pickup and integration with its rewards program.

Submission + - LG arbitrarily denying Android Lollipop update to the G2 in Canada?

Submitted by Lirodon on Tuesday June 02, 2015 @11:20AM

Lirodon writes: Its funky rear-mounted buttons may have left critics divided, but the LG G2 is still a pretty capable Android device. While it has gotten an update to Android 5.0 "Lollipop" in some major markets (including the United States, of course), one major holdout is Canada. Reports are surfacing that LG's Canadian subsidiary has decided not to release the update for unknown reasons.

But, what about custom ROMs? Well, they handled that too: they have refused to release Lollipop kernel source for the Canadian variant of the device. It is arbitrary actions like this that cause Android's fragmentation problems. A curious note, LG has not specifically made reference to the bugs other users have been having with the update.

Submission + - Best Buy kills off Future Shop (theglobeandmail.com) 1

Submitted by Lirodon on Saturday March 28, 2015 @01:31PM

Lirodon writes: Future Shop, a Canadian electronics store chain that was bought by Best Buy in 2001, but continued to operate in parallel with the newly-opened Canadian locations of the U.S. retailer, is no more. Today, the company abruptly announced the closure of the Future Shop chain, and the permament closure of 66 of its remaining 131 locations. The remaining 65 Future Shop locations (specifically, those that weren't within driving, or even walking distance of a Best Buy to begin with) will be converted to Best Buy stores over the next few days.

This is just the latest step in the subsidiary's steps to downsize its Canadian operations to focus its efforts on online retail. The new, downsized chain will consist of 136 Best Buy chains. Still, it's sad to see such an iconic brand killed off like this.

Submission + - Google Fiber partially reverses server ban

Submitted by Lirodon on Monday October 14, 2013 @11:40PM

Lirodon writes: After being called out by the Electronic Frontier Foundation for banning the loosely-defined use of "servers" on its Fiber service, Google appears to have changed its tune, and now allows "personal, non-commercial use of servers that complies with this AUP is acceptable, including using virtual private networks (VPN) to access services in your home and using hardware or applications that include server capabilities for uses like multi-player gaming, video-conferencing, and home security"

Submission + - The Chromebook Pixel is real, and expensive (theverge.com)

Submitted by Lirodon on Thursday February 21, 2013 @03:48PM

Lirodon writes: Just when you thought Google's rumored Chrome OS laptop, the Chromebook Pixel, was an elaborate fake, think again. This high-end Chromebook with a 12.85-inch high resolution touchscreen (available in both Wi-Fi only and Verizon LTE versions) and an Intel Core i5 processor under the hood is super fancy, and also super expensive: starting at $1299. Would you want to pay that much for what is essentially a premium netbook? Critics are divided...

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