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It’s the shoegaze band’s third full-length since reuniting in 2014View the full article

Webster’s new album, Underdressed at the Symphony, arrives in March via Secretly CanadianView the full article

A new single from the band arrives in time for Merge’s 35th anniversary. A summer festival celebrating the label is happening this summer.View the full article

The Acer Swift Go 14 is now unleashed ahead of CES 2024, and at first glance, it may seem like your average laptop. It's got the ever-so-popular silver chassis and a clamshell form factor — what's the big deal about it? Well, something curious happens to the touchpad when you fire up YouTube on the Swift Go 14. SEE ALSO: CES 2024: Is this wild foldable 8K TV a hint of what’s in store? The Swift Go 14's funky touchpadWhile you're watching YouTube on a laptop, and you need to pause it to grab some lunch, why go through the arduous journey of dragging the cursor all the way to the pause button? Your poor pointer finger shouldn't have to go through such a strenuous task. via GIPHY That's why Acer, coddling our first-world problems, decided to place media controls on top of the touchpad. In other words, the trackpad doubles as a hub for play, pause, rewind, and fast-forward buttons. The best part is that the Swift Go 14 can automatically detect whether media is playing on the display. So it's not just YouTube these LED-lit controls will appear for — it should pop up for sites like Spotify, Twitch, and other media platforms. Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable I got to test the Swift Go 14 at an Acer showcase. The touchpad lit up with the integrated media controls when I fired up YouTube, allowing me to hit pause, play, and skip without a hitch. Credit: Joe Maldonado / Mashable However, when I tried to pull up other sites besides YouTube (e.g., Twitch), the controls didn't show up. However, Acer stressed that I was experimenting with a pre-production model and the units bound for store shelves will work as marketed. Once we get the Swift Go 14 in for testing, we'll know for sure. 12-hour battery life?The Swift Go 14, equipped with the new Intel Core Ultra processors that are designed to improve AI workflow performance, can reportedly deliver 12.5 hours of battery life. (Again, this is yet another claim I'll have to test in our lab once Mashable receives a review unit.) Credit: Joe Maldonado / Mashable It comes with up to 32GB of RAM and up to 2TB of SSD storage. While all configurations offer a 14-inch display, you can choose the panel you want, from a 1920 x 1200-pixel IPS screen with a 60Hz refresh rate to a 2880 x 1880-pixel OLED display with a 90Hz refresh rate. It comes with a 1440p webcam, and from what I saw at the showcase, it features a microSD card slot, a headset jack, two Thunderbolt 4 ports, two USB Type-A ports, a Kensington lock slot, and an HDMI port. Credit: Joe Maldonado / Mashable The Swift Go 14 will be available in March and has a starting price of $749.99. Can't wait until March? Here are some laptops on sale you can grab now. Dell Inspiron 15 3525 Ryzen 7 1TB SSD 16GB RAM 15.6" Laptop — $479.99 (List Price $649.99) Dell Inspiron 15 3520 Intel i5 256GB SSD 15.6" Laptop — $329.99 (List Price $429.99) Asus Zenbook 14X Intel i5 512GB SSD 14.5" 2.8K OLED Laptop — $499.99 (List Price $799.99) Lenovo IdeaPad 3i Intel i3 256GB SSD 15.6" Touch Laptop — $319.99 (List Price $499.99) Lenovo IdeaPad 3i Intel i5 512GB SSD 15.6" Touch Laptop — $399.99 (List Price $629.99) View the full article

Mirror mirror on the wall, who's the most mindful of them all? That's a question healthtech company Baracoda hopes you'll pose. At CES 2024 the company unveiled BMind, a smart mirror for mental wellness and managing stress. Baracoda's smart mirror launched last year with a skincare analysis feature that tells you what products to use and how to take care of your skin. Now it's adding the checkin, the mindfulness routines as well as, you guessed it, an AI voice assistant. Because it's 2024, and apparently no product is allowed to get to market without an AI assistant. You interact with the mirror via voice as well as hand gestures, so you don't smudge up the glass. A fist pump or "knock" gesture brought you back to the main menu; thumbs up to select. As for the wellness checkin, the mirror begins by asking how you're feeling. I replied I was a little tired but excited to be here at CES. In response it gave me a gratitude meditation, in which I was asked to close my eyes and think of a moment today that made me happy — like an interaction with a loved one. Then it told me to take deep breaths. That's an example of BMind's guided meditation based on your mood that includes affirmations and breathwork. The idea is to integrate a mindfulness practice into your mirror routine, whether or not you're also using that time for skincare. The Barracoda BMind wants you glowing inside and out, with meditation and skincare routines. Credit: Cecily Mauran / Mashable As with other AI assistants, you can ask the mirror just about anything, such as the weather. Unlike with many AI voice assistants, the Baracoda's proprietary operating system, CareOS, takes privacy very seriously — because so much of our mirror time is, well, private. "It's placed in your bathroom, so we are being extremely careful with sharing data," says Huong Le Dieu, lead product manager. "We only connect to the internet if the user asks for it." The generative AI model that powers the assistant lives locally on the device; and yes, you can only connect to the internet by opening the accompanying app and opting in. Unfortunately, you can't buy the smart mirror directly through Baracoda. As a B2B business, it partners directly with mirror manufacturers — but that could also meen you'll see its technology cropping up in mirrors from smart home brands sometime soon. Until then, we'll just have to settle for plain old non-talking mirrors. Want to check out some smart fitness mirrors you can actually buy right now? Here's what we recommend.ProForm Vue — $449 (List Price $999) Echelon Reflect — $1,499.99 FORME Studio — $2,495 Tempo Studio — $2,495 Tonal — $3,995 View the full article

The Asus Zenbook Duo took everyone's breath away when it got unveiled at CES 2024. How could it not? It looks like two gigantic tablets welded together. But what really shocked me is its price. You see, the Zenbook Duo's dual-display design isn't new. Lenovo did something similar with the Yoga Book 9i, which is about $2,000 via its official website. If you think that's painful for your wallet, wait until you hear the price for the Spectre Fold I reviewed recently (see GIF below) — it's a whopping $5,000 at HP. The Spectre Fold isn't a dual-display model per se, but it can split apps between the fold, which delivers a similar functionality. Via Giphy But then Asus came in and managed to undercut both Lenovo and HP with a jaw-dropping price tag of $1,400. Asus Zenbook Duo steals CES 2024 spotlightNot only is the Zenbook Duo an eye-catching product in its category (i.e., laptops), I'd argue it's a showstopper across all CES 2024 showcase items. For some background, the Asus Zenbook Duo's predecessor had a dual-display, too, but it was a tiny panel that spanned only half of the deck. The Asus Zenbook Duo's predecessor is now a thing of the past. Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable This time around, however, Asus launched a mind-blowing upgrade, swapping that limited second display for another jaw-dropping 14-inch display that matches the top panel. Two sick displaysThe Zenbook Duo comes with two full-sized 14-inch, 3K, OLED displays, and when I played around with them, I found that I could make use of both of them with supercharged multitasking. Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable I can, for example, launch YouTube on the top screen while firing up Google Docs on the second panel to take notes. However, I worry about the Zenbook Duo's battery life. Not only does it have two sizable screens, but both feature a 120Hz refresh rate and 500 nits of peak brightness: two aspects that can be a huge drain of battery. We'll be lucky if the Zenbook Duo can last two hours on a charge at this point. Innovative keyboardAnd can we talk about the keyboard? Credit: Joe Maldonado / Mashable First of all, the second display can double as a gigantic virtual keyboard. Before testing it, I was skeptical. "Pfft, there's no way it'd be comfortable typing on digital keys." To my surprise, the experience was actually comfortable. I thought I'd need to "feel" the keys to facilitate my touch-typist ways, but as it turns out, they don't need to be tangible to type without looking. The keyboard layout is still familiar, so it supports muscle-memory typists like myself. Credit: Joe Maldonado / Mashable Fortunately, if the idea of virtual keys turn you off, the Zenbook Duo features a physical, detachable keyboard that you can place over the second display for that traditional laptop look. Or if you prefer, you can allow both displays to shine and use the keyboard without attaching it to the system. Credit: Joe Maldonado / Mashable And here's what's particularly striking about it — there's actually a touchpad on it, which detachable keyboards typically don't have. (Non-touchpad detachable keyboards force you to use your finger to navigate the display.) The detachable keyboard on the Zenbook Duo, however, has a touchpad, freeing you from being imprisoned to the display for navigation. You can scribble on it, tooThe Zenbook Duo also offers a stylus, the Asus Pen 2, allowing you to smoothly glide across both screens. Credit: Joe Maldonado / Mashable However, the stylus doesn't come with the Zenbook Duo; it's sold seperately. Credit: Joe Maldonado / Mashable It transforms into several different modesYou may be wondering, "How does the Zenbook Duo stand up on its own like that?" Well, on the back of the laptop, you'll find a built-in kickstand that lets you prop it up at the most optimal angle for yourself. Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable As you can see in this picture, it can transform into a book-like mode that lets you interact with two apps side-by-side. As shown on the far right, you can also lay it flat in a posture Asus calls "sharing mode." Final thoughtsAsus made a big splash at CES 2024 because the dual-display world is typically inaccessible and painfully pricy. However, the Zenbook Duo only costs $1,400. It's packed with new Intel Core Ultra processors and offers configurations up to 32GB of memory and up to 2TB of SSD storage. It also has two Thunderbolt 4 ports, an audio jack, an HDMI 2.1 port, and a USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A port. I'm concerned about battery life, but interestingly, the Asus Zenbook Duo is Intel Evo-certified, which means that it has been designed to meet an acceptable battery life standard. But I'll only know for sure when I test it in the Mashable lab. Prefer a more traditional 2-in-1 laptop? Here are some on sale right now. Dell Inspiron 14 7435 Ryzen 5 512GB SSD 14" 2-in-1 Laptop — $499.99 (List Price $699.99) Dell Inspiron 14 7435 Ryzen 7 1TB SSD 16GB RAM 2-in-1 Laptop — $649.99 (List Price $899.99) HP Envy x360 Intel i7 512GB SSD 16GB RAM 15.6" 2-in-1 Laptop — $799.99 (List Price $1,099.99) Lenovo Yoga 7i Intel i7 512GB SSD 14" 2.2k 2-in-1 Laptop — $749.99 (List Price $1,049.99) Samsung Galaxy Book3 360 Intel i7 512GB AMOLED Laptop — $899.99 (List Price $1,349.99) View the full article

Oh hey there! If you're here, it must be time for Wordle. As always, we're serving up our daily hints and tips to help you figure out today's answer. If you just want to be told today's word, you can jump to the bottom of this article for Jan. 11's Wordle solution revealed. But if you'd rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you. Where did Wordle come from?Originally created by engineer Josh Wardle as a gift for his partner, Wordle rapidly spread to become an international phenomenon, with thousands of people around the globe playing every day. Alternate Wordle versions created by fans also sprang up, including battle royale Squabble, music identification game Heardle, and variations like Dordle and Quordle that make you guess multiple words at once. Wordle eventually became so popular that it was purchased by the New York Times, and TikTok creators even livestream themselves playing. Not the day you're after? Here's the Wordle answer for Jan. 10. What's the best Wordle starting word?The best Wordle starting word is the one that speaks to you. But if you prefer to be strategic in your approach, we have a few ideas to help you pick a word that might help you find the solution faster. One tip is to select a word that includes at least two different vowels, plus some common consonants like S, T, R, or N. What happened to the Wordle archive?The entire archive of past Wordle puzzles used to be available for anyone to enjoy whenever they felt like it. Unfortunately, it has since been taken down, with the website's creator stating it was done at the request of the New York Times. Is Wordle getting harder?It might feel like Wordle is getting harder, but it actually isn't any more difficult than when it first began. You can turn on Wordle's Hard Mode if you're after more of a challenge, though. Why are there two different Wordle answers some days?Though usually Wordle will only accept one correct solution per day, occasionally it has rebelled against the norm and deem two different answers acceptable. This is due to changes the New York Times made to Wordle after it acquired the puzzle game. The Times has since added its own updated word list, so this should happen even less frequently than before. To avoid any confusion, it's a good idea to refresh your browser before getting stuck into a new puzzle. Here's a subtle hint for today's Wordle answer:A short duration. Does today's Wordle answer have a double letter?There are no letters that appear twice. Today's Wordle is a 5-letter word that starts with...Today's Wordle starts with the letter B. SEE ALSO: Wordle-obsessed? These are the best word games to play IRL. What's the answer to Wordle today?Get your last guesses in now, because it's your final chance to solve today's Wordle before we reveal the solution. Drumroll please! The solution to Wordle #936 is... BRIEF. Don't feel down if you didn't manage to guess it this time. There will be a new Wordle for you to stretch your brain with tomorrow, and we'll be back again to guide you with more helpful hints. Reporting by Caitlin Welsh, Sam Haysom, Amanda Yeo, Shannon Connellan, Cecily Mauran, Mike Pearl, and Adam Rosenberg contributed to this article. View the full article

Connections is the latest New York Times word game that's captured the public's attention. The game is all about finding the "common threads between words." And just like Wordle, Connections resets after midnight and each new set of words gets trickier and trickier—so we've served up some hints and tips to get you over the hurdle. If you just want to be told today's puzzle, you can jump to the end of this article for January 11's Connections solution. But if you'd rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you. What is Connections?The NYT's latest daily word game has become a social media hit. The Times credits associate puzzle editor Wyna Liu with helping to create the new word game and bringing it to the publications' Games section. Connections can be played on both web browsers and mobile devices and require players to group four words that share something in common. Each puzzle features 16 words and each grouping of words is split into four categories. These sets could comprise of anything from book titles, software, country names, etc. Even though multiple words will seem like they fit together, there's only one correct answer. If a player gets all four words in a set correct, those words are removed from the board. Guess wrong and it counts as a mistake—players get up to four mistakes until the game ends. Players can also rearrange and shuffle the board to make spotting connections easier. Additionally, each group is color-coded with yellow being the easiest, followed by green, blue, and purple. Like Wordle, you can share the results with your friends on social media. Here's a hint for today's Connections categoriesWant a hit about the categories without being told the categories? Then give these a try: Yellow: Observable science Green: The GOAT Blue: F-words that aren't f-words Purple: Pitch types Featured Video For You Connections: How to play and how to win Here are today's Connections categoriesNeed a little extra help? Today's connections fall into the following categories: Yellow: States of Matter Green: All-Timer Blue: "PH" Words That Also Work With "F" Purple: ___Pitch SEE ALSO: Wordle today: Here's the answer and hints for December 27 Ready for the answers? This is your last chance to turn back and solve today's puzzle before we reveal the solutions. Drumroll, please! The solution to Connections #214 is... What is the answer to Connections todayStates of Matter: GAS, LIQUID, PLASMA, SOLID All-Timer: GREAT, HERO, ICON, LEGEND "PH" Words That Also Work With "F": PHAT, PHEW, PHILLY, PHISH ___Pitch: ELEVATOR, FEVER, PERFECT, SALES Don't feel down if you didn't manage to guess it this time. There will be new Connections for you to stretch your brain with tomorrow, and we'll be back again to guide you with more helpful hints. Is this not the Connections game you were looking for? Here are the hints and answers to yesterday's Connections. View the full article

The HP Spectre x360 14 got a refresh for CES 2024, and I got a chance to get my hands on it. And let me tell you — I can't keep them off. So much so that I actually contemplated chucking my MacBook Pro out the window for that sweet, sweet typing experience on this irresistible HP laptop. Opens in a new window Credit: HP HP Spectre x360 14 $1,499 at HP Buy Now I thought the keyboard on the Microsoft Surface Laptop Go 3 was blissful, but that's nothing compared to the clackers on the Spectre x360. In addition to HP continuing to equip its laptops with addictive keyboards, the Spectre x360 14 has updated internals, including new Intel Core Ultra processors that now have AI-focused components (i.e., the NPU). Oh, and did I mention the keyboard? 7 ways AI benefits the HP Spectre x360 14The HP Spectre x360 14, as I hinted at the outset, is filled with new upgrades, particularly in the realm of AI. Credit: Joe Maldonado / Mashable So what, exactly, is new with the next-generation HP favorite? Let's start with how the Intel Core Ultra processors, now equipped with a Neural Processing Unit (NPU) for running machine-learning tasks, will use AI to benefit the Spectre x360: Stable Diffusion, a deep-learning, text-to-image model, gets a performance boost Adobe Premiere Pro gets a "tremendous advantage," according to an HP rep, while rendering AI effects AI apps like Superpower, a platform that records everything you do and turns it into a searchable archive via an AI assistant, will see improvements, too It can detect when someone is watching your screen over your shoulder — and alert you Instant wake is improved Better customization for battery life and power consumption Your laptop's behavior is optimized based on the apps you run and other activities Credit: Joe Maldonado / Mashable Other notable HP Spectre x360 14 featuresAside from the uptick in AI dedication, what else does the HP Spectre x360 14 have to offer? Let's start with the display. Credit: Joe Maldonado / Mashable The 14-inch OLED panel offers a variable refresh rate display, which means it adjusts the refresh rate depending on what you're watching. For example, if you're simply watching static content, the refresh rate drops to 48Hz. But if you're diving into some light gaming, it can climb to 120Hz for a smoother experience. HP also claims that the OLED screen, featuring high resolution and dark blacks, is IMAX enhanced, a certification that confirms that the Spectre x360 14 meets high standards when it comes to vibrancy, contrast and clarity. Credit: Joe Maldonado / Mashable Other notable upgrades include a new 9MP webcam, up from 5MP. Plus, you should expect better performance — not just because of the new processors, but due to an improved system. And finally, the HP Spectre x360's four-speaker system were tuned to deliver "studio-class" sound. But it's the keyboard that steals the show Credit: Joe Maldonado / Mashable As a laptop reviewer, I've never experienced such clicky keys and responsive feedback. But what really makes this laptop stand out of all the rest is its bounce-back capabilities. The moment my fingers land and hit an actuation point, they're already flying off to the next letter. As a keyboard snob, take it from me when I say the HP Spectre x360 14 has the best keyboard on the market. I'm not joking when I say that I struggled to take my fingers off it. View the full article

UPDATE: Jan. 10, 2024, 5:18 p.m. EST This story has been updated to reflect that Evolve MVMT is now available to buy. Wearables that track your steps are nothing new, but what about a wearable that tracks how you step? At CES 2024, Evolve MVMT unveiled an ankle wearable that tracks the quality of your steps, and helps you improve your gait over time. Claiming to be the first of its kind, Evolve MVMT uses proprietary tracking technology to analyze heel strike – the act of landing hard on your heels – which is hard on your joints and can lead to certain injuries. SEE ALSO: CES 2024: This smart mirror doubles as a mindfulness coach As someone with flat feet, this is something I'm painfully aware of, and I'm not the only one. According to 2017 study, almost 27 percent of people have fallen arches or flat fleet. Whether it's walking on hard surfaces all the time, or wearing shock-absorbing sneakers, we've evolved to be bad at walking. Basically, many of us are guilty of heel striking, and even though walking is one of the most basic activities humans do, a lot of us are doing it wrong. Evolve MVMT uses a technique developed by founder and physiotherapist Luke Pickett called "light walking" to minimize heel striking and make walking more efficient. Wearables on your ankles? Why not. Credit: Evolve MVMT Evolve MVMT works by doing a walking test to measure your baseline. From there, the app will give you live guidance on how to improve your steps. The idea is that over time, practicing "light walking" will activate the right muscles, and make walking more beneficial. In studies conducted at the Cleveland Clinic and Monash University, patients reportedly burned 36 percent more calories when using the Evolve MVMT technique. Track the quality of your steps through the app. Credit: Evolve MVMT If decreasing stress on your joints, improving your posture, and burning more calories sounds good to you, Evolve MVMT is available now. That said, improving your gait doesn't come cheap — the device and accessories costs $499. But if you've ever had to pay for expensive orthotics or special footwear, which have to be replaced every few years, this might be a solid alternative. Opens in a new window Credit: Evolve MVMT Evolve MVMT $499 at Evolve MVMT Buy Now View the full article

Percy Jackson and the Olympians fans, the wait is over. A worthy adaptation of Rick Riordan's beloved novels is finally hitting TV, and I, for one, could not be giddier to relive my childhood. As is the case with all book-to-screen adaptations, Percy Jackson and the Olympians deviates occasionally from the source material. However, the main arc of the series remains the same: 12-year-old Percy Jackson (Walker Scobell) learns that he's a demigod, the son of a human woman and a Greek god. Not long after this discovery, he undertakes a cross-country quest to recover Zeus's stolen Master Bolt and stop a war of mythic proportions. Accompanying him are Annabeth Chase (Leah Sava Jeffries), a daughter of Athena, and Grover Underwood (Aryan Simhadri), Percy's satyr protector. This story will sound familiar to book fans, but the show does make a few changes along the way, adding new story beats, omitting others, and focusing on other characters beyond Percy's narrative point of view. So what are some of the biggest changes the show makes? Do they work? And if so, what do they add to the show? Let's dive in. (But take heed: From here on out, spoilers for the show and the novels are in full effect.) SEE ALSO: 'Percy Jackson and the Olympians' review: The adaptation fans have been waiting for Episode one: The Mrs. Dodds fight (and aftermath) look a little different. Walker Scobell in "Percy Jackson and the Olympians." Credit: Disney / David Bukach Season 1 of Percy Jackson and the Olympians tackles Riordan's The Lightning Thief, meaning it kicks off, like the book, with Percy's fateful field trip to the Met. In the novel, math teacher Mrs. Dodds (Megan Mullally) lures Percy into the museum alone. She reveals herself to be a Fury and attempts to kill him. Luckily, Latin teacher Mr. Brunner (Glynn Turman) — later revealed to be the centaur Chiron — tosses Percy a ballpoint pen-turned-sword, and he's able to slay Mrs. Dodds. The show takes a different approach, moving the fight to the front steps of the Met and removing Mr. Brunner's involvement. Instead, Mrs. Dodds lands on top of Percy and nearly finishes him off. It's only by a stroke of luck that Percy survives, as his pen (given to him earlier) turns into his sword Riptide and impales Mrs. Dodds without Percy realizing it. SEE ALSO: 'Rebel Moon - Part One: A Child of Fire' review: Zack Snyder's Star Wars ripoff is a trap On the one hand, this change threw me for a loop, as the scene plays out extremely quickly and robs Percy of his first big monster-slaying moment. If anything, Dodds's death here reads more like an accident! However, the fast-paced, confused framing of the incident places us deeper in Percy's horrified mindset. His math teacher is trying to kill him — of course he'd be freaking out and not be completely aware of what's going on. His less coordinated attack here also contrasts nicely with his slaying of the Minotaur at the end of episode one. Armed with more knowledge about who he is, Percy is able to take down another fierce beast with more control this time. It's his first classic hero moment, something the show has built to from his initial flailing defense against Mrs. Dodds. The fallout from Mrs. Dodds's attack plays out a little differently in the show as well. Percy is expelled from Yancy Academy because he supposedly pushed bully Nancy Bobofit (Olivea Morton) into the Met fountain — a story Grover corroborates even though he's supposedly Percy's best friend! While this may seem like a betrayal at first, it was actually Grover playing the part of protector to a tee. Knowing that monsters will find Percy at Yancy, Grover realizes he has to get him away from the school as quickly as possible. We get hints of this motivation in the book, especially when Percy eavesdrops on a cryptic conversation between Mr. Brunner and Grover. Yet Grover's choice in the show is a concrete example of him doing everything he can to keep Percy alive — even if it means he may lose his friendship. The seeming betrayal also isolates Percy further, bringing him to an even lower emotional point by the time he learns the truth about who he is. Episode one: Sally Jackson has a bigger part to play.Speaking of the truth about who Percy is, let's get into how he finds out the truth in the show versus the books. The Lightning Thief sees Percy getting a crash course in very real world of Greek myth from his mother, Sally (Virginia Kull), and Grover on the ride to Camp Half-Blood. At camp, Chiron, Annabeth, and Luke (Charlie Bushnell) teach him even more, including telling him outright that he's a half-blood. However, in the show, a lot of these revelations fall to Sally. She's the one who tells Percy he's a demigod, hoping to console him about why he's always felt different from everyone else. We also see how she's been training Percy for his birthright his whole life. One sweet flashback scene features her telling Percy why she named him after Perseus. It's not just because Perseus was a hero, but because of the bond he and his mother shared while cast adrift at sea. Later, we also understand just how far Sally will go to get Percy to safety. When the Minotaur attacks, Sally takes a more active role in keeping it away from her son, including distracting it with Percy's red jacket, matador-style. SEE ALSO: 'Carol and the End of the World' review: Existential dread has never been so sweet None of this is to say that Sally doesn't get a lot to do in the books: Right from the start, we see that she's a fiercely devoted, loving mother. She listens to Percy's worries about being expelled from Yancy and even gives him tips on how to survive the Minotaur attack. We just get less time with her is all. In the show's first episode (which was co-written by Riordan), that time is expanded upon somewhat. By giving Sally more of a say in telling Percy about who he is, the show also helps build their emotional connection, which in turn informs Percy's decision to go on his quest in the first place. Episode two: The hellhound goes missing. Walker Scobell in "Percy Jackson and the Olympians." Credit: Disney / David Bukach The main set piece of the second episode is a camp-wide game of Capture the Flag. The game plays out the same way it does in the books, with Annabeth using Percy as bait to distract the rival team captain — and daughter of Ares — Clarisse La Rue (Dior Goodjohn). Her plan results in victory, and here's where the show and the book diverge. In the book, the win is quickly overshadowed by the appearance of a bloodthirsty hellhound, whose attempt to kill Percy is thankfully unsuccessful. The hellhound scene is all of a page and a half long, so perhaps that's why it simply doesn't appear in the show. After all, Percy Jackson and the Olympians calls for the creation of several complicated on-screen beasts. If you're going to cut one to save the brunt of visual effects for other creatures, this would be the one to choose. Still, the hellhound's arrival marks an important change for the atmosphere at Camp Half-Blood. A hellhound on camp grounds is a signal that something is very wrong. Only a traitor in the campers' midst could have summoned the beast, stoking an atmosphere of paranoia that culminates in Percy accepting the quest to recover Zeus's Master Bolt. Without the hellhound, we unfortunately get less of a sense of that paranoia, or much of a hint at a certain traitor. The absence of the hellhound also changes the sequence where Poseidon claims Percy as his son. After suffering severe wounds from the attack, Percy goes into a nearby creek on Annabeth's orders. Just like with his injuries from Capture the Flag, his hellhound wounds heal magically thanks to the water. Poseidon chooses this moment to reveal himself as Percy's father. With the hellhound missing from the show, we only see the water's healing properties working post-Capture the Flag. But between that instance and Percy's magical control over water in his bathroom fight with Clarisse, Annabeth has gathered enough evidence to realize who Percy's father is. Wise girl, that one! To prove her point, she shoves him back into the water, and we get the show's rendition of the Poseidon-claiming scene. Honestly, I adore the shove — it's so deeply in keeping with the mildly contentious start to Percy and Annabeth's dynamic, as well as a reminder of just how young these kids are. The only part of this scene that disappoints me is the Poseidon reveal. After the triton appears over Percy's head, we get a disembodied Chiron voiceover telling us what that means. However, we don't get to see his or the campers' reactions in the moment. And given that Percy is a forbidden child of one of the Big Three gods — Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades — their reactions should be massive! For example, the book sees campers kneeling (some, like the children of Ares, do it reluctantly). I wish the show could have included something like that in order to let us sit in this moment more and understand the momentous consequences of Percy's parentage. Episode two: Grover learns about Sally Jackson's fate from the Council of Cloven Elders. Aryan Simhadri in "Percy Jackson and the Olympians." Credit: Disney / David Bukach A totally new subplot in episode 2 involves Grover speaking to the Council of Cloven Elders, a group made up of satyrs. He learns from them that Sally is not actually dead, a fact neither Chiron nor camp director Dionysus (Jason Mantzoukas) want Grover to tell Percy. However, Grover does so anyway, as Percy is his friend and deserves to know the truth about his mother. Knowing that Sally is alive and could be brought back from the Underworld motivates Percy to take the quest to get the Master Bolt back from Hades, lending an extra layer of drive to his epic journey. In the book, Percy doesn't know his mom isn't fully dead. Still, when he realizes his quest will take him to the Underworld, he does think about what that could mean for Sally. The show just surfaces this thought even more. The addition of Grover's involvement also helps him mend his somewhat rocky relationship with Percy, who's understandably upset about his best friend keeping major secrets — god-tier secrets, in fact — from him. Book-wise, we don't learn Sally's fate ourselves until (spoiler alert!) our valiant crew reaches the Underworld. There, Hades reveals he took Sally hostage right before she died in order to gain some leverage over Percy. You can bet we'll get that confrontation in the show farther down the line, but for now, we know that Percy didn't just accept his quest in order to gain glory or save the world. He accepted it to save Sally, whose relationship with Percy is the emotional core of the show's two-episode premiere, even when she's not on-screen. Episode three: The selection ceremonyAs Percy prepares to undertake his quest to retrieve Zeus's Master Bolt, Chiron presents him with a selection ceremony. Here, he must choose two companions from the camps' best and brightest. Options include Clarisse and Luke, but Percy has eyes for only one member of this formidable lineup: Annabeth. He picks her without hesitation, finally giving her the chance at the quest she so desperately craves. When telling Chiron his reasoning, he also acknowledges that she will do anything to succeed — even push him down the stairs without hesitation. Percy's second choice is Grover, who wasn't even an option at the selection ceremony in the first place. Yet Percy knows he needs someone on his team he can trust completely, especially after the Oracle prophesied that Percy would be betrayed by someone who calls him a friend. The selection ceremony is a show-only invention, but it certainly works as both a character- and world-building device. On the one hand, it gives Camp Half-Blood an even deeper sense of ritual. On the other, it also strengthens the bond between our main trio. Percy choosing Annabeth is a deep demonstration of respect, particularly after Luke told Percy about Annabeth's desire to go on a quest. (Also a great moment for Percabeth shippers!) Elsewhere, Grover and Percy have gone through a lot in the past two episodes, with Grover getting Percy kicked out of Yancy (granted, for his own safety) and revealing that he was Percy's satyr protector this whole time (again, for safety reasons). Any tension from these secrets is long gone, and these two best friends are ready to take on the impossible. Episode three: Alecto offers Annabeth a deal. Leah Sava Jeffries in "Percy Jackson and the Olympians." Credit: Disney / David Bukach Thought evil math teacher Mrs. Dodds died in episode 1? Think again! She's a monster — a Fury, to be more exact — and monsters can't truly ever die. Her real name is Alecto, and she and her Fury sisters are back on the hunt for Percy. They find him and his friends at a bus stop in New Jersey. Here, Alecto offers Annabeth a deal: If she lures Percy to the Furies, they'll make sure her quest continues unimpeded. But Annabeth is having none of this. Sure, she may disagree with Percy sometimes, but she's not going to sell him out to the Furies who killed her friend (and daughter of Zeus) Thalia! She warns Percy and Grover, and they manage to escape. Alecto's proposed deal is completely new to the show. It is also a scene without Percy's perspective, marking a departure from the books, which are told strictly from his point of view. We see this broadening of perspective often with TV adaptations, as they take the opportunity of a new medium to explore other characters whose interiority we don't always get to see in the source material. In this scene's case, that character is Annabeth. Annabeth's conversation with Alecto hints at an interesting element from the books: fatal flaws. These are weaknesses demigods must reckon with, as they could lead to their tragic undoing. In Riordan's work, Annabeth's fatal flaw is hubris, or pride. Alecto's bargain works to exploit that flaw, balancing Annabeth's friendships and sense of duty against her need for glory and acknowledgment from Athena. But it looks like Annabeth isn't ready to let her pride be her downfall just yet. Episode three: A very different MedusaThe main set piece of the third episode is an encounter with Medusa (Jessica Parker Kennedy), she of the snake hair and stony gaze. The Lightning Thief sees our main trio stumble upon Aunty Em's Garden Gnome Emporium, where Aunty Em, concealing her real identity as Medusa, plies them with food before trying to turn them into statues. The show changes that entirely, and in doing so, opens up some fascinating thematic questions. In Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Annabeth realizes right away they're in Medusa's realm — and why wouldn't she? She's well-versed in Greek myth, and since her mother cursed Medusa in the first place, it makes sense she'd be familiar enough with her legend to the point of recognizing her in the wild. Medusa doesn't keep up any Aunty Em pretenses either. She introduces herself right away and offers Percy, Annabeth, and Grover shelter from a pursuing Alecto. Once inside, Medusa gives our heroes her side of her myth, showing us a completely different side of the character we got in the book. She likens herself to Annabeth: The two are devoted worshippers of Athena, even if they hear nothing back from the goddess. So when Poseidon told Medusa he loved her, she felt seen by a god in a way she never had with Athena. Unfortunately, Athena did see Medusa's interaction with Poseidon. She blamed her for desecrating her temple and cursed her, even though it was all Poseidon's doing. (Given that Percy Jackson and the Olympians is meant for a young adult audience, the show skirts around the sexual violence of the original myth. However, if you are aware of said violence, Medusa's discussion with the children takes on an even more somber quality.) Because of her past relationship with Poseidon, Medusa also feels a kinship with Sally Jackson. She tells Percy, "Your mother and I are like sisters, in a way. Targeted by the same monster." Her words cause a reckoning, in more ways than one: Did Poseidon take advantage of Sally in the same way as he did with Medusa? Should Percy continue on this quest to help his father clear up his quarrel with Zeus, even after all the pain he's caused? This is the test Medusa poses Percy: Let her get rid of his companions so he can save Sally without worrying about the quest, or continue to serve the wrathful, unjust gods. Like Annabeth with Alecto, Percy chooses his friends and the Medusa fight ensues, ending — like it does in the books — with Medusa's severed head shipped to Mount Olympus. Still, the ideas Medusa raises in this iteration of Riordan's story will reverberate throughout the rest of the series. Should the demigods really be serving their parents if all they do is ignore them and mistreat others? And in becoming monster-slaying heroes, are they doomed to repeat their mothers' and fathers' mistakes? Episode four: More time with EchidnaThe fourth episode of Percy Jackson and the Olympians introduces us to yet another important adversary from Riordan's books (and Greek mythology, obviously): Echidna (Suzanne Cryer), otherwise known as the Mother of Monsters. Naturally, like every other monster from Hades to Olympus, she's after Percy Jackson. Both the book and the show versions of Echidna's pursuit of Percy end with a confrontation at the top of the Gateway Arch in St. Louis. However, the buildup to that point varies from page to screen. In The Lightning Thief, Echidna takes the form of a tourist at the Arch, with her beloved Chimera disguised as a chihuahua. Percy Jackson and the Olympians introduces Echidna far earlier. She meets Percy, Annabeth, and Grover on a train, then chases them all the way to the Arch. As with Medusa in episode three, this shift from the books allows for an expansion of Echidna's character. She spends quite a bit of time talking to Percy, Annabeth, and Grover on the train. And as sinister as she is, this discussion clues us into her relationship to her darling children (aka her brood of terrifying monsters) and how she trains them to hunt. After all, she only lets Percy escape her initial clutches so the Chimera can get some practice. These changes — like most of Percy Jackson and the Olympians' shifts from the books so far — complement our understanding of Echidna as she appears in The Lightning Thief, while also allowing for fun twists that will surprise new and old fans alike. Episode four: Percy Jackson and the self-sacrificing streakHere's a much smaller change between Riordan's books and the show, but an important one nonetheless. In The Lightning Thief, Echidna only reveals herself to Percy after he gets separated from Grover and Annabeth at the Arch. The separation isn't anything dramatic, just that the two of them get on a different elevator down. Notably, the two don't know about the Echidna attack until after the fact. With Echidna and the Chimera hunting our main trio for much longer in Percy Jackson and the Olympians, the reason for that separation gets tweaked a bit in the show. Annabeth tells Grover and Percy to save themselves while she takes on the Chimera in the Arch. But at the last second, Percy shoves her to safety and locks her and Grover out of the Arch's observation deck, all so he can face the Chimera alone. Remember how Alecto's offer to Annabeth in episode three hinted at pride being her fatal flaw? Here, Percy Jackson and the Olympians is hinting at Percy's own flaw: He's loyal to a fault. In fact, he's so loyal he'll risk fighting a monster — while poisoned! — in order to save his best friends. Since we don't officially learn about fatal flaws until The Sea of Monsters, book two in Riordan's book series, instances like this are a nice way to seed them for future seasons of Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Plus, Percabeth fans get another awesome new moment to freak out about, with Percy getting Annabeth out of harm's way. It may be a seaweed-brained move, but it's only making this ship stronger. Episode five: Say hi to the Fates!In the fifth episode of Percy Jackson and the Olympians, our characters have a brush with fate — sorry, I meant a brush with the Fates. Annabeth spies three old women knitting by the Gateway Arch. One of them snips a piece of yarn with foreboding flair, meaning that a member of our main trio will die soon. The Lightning Thief features a similar scene much earlier on, where Percy sees the Fates on his way home from Yancy Academy. In that scene, the yarn snip foreshadows the loss of Sally. Here, it's hinting at Percy and Annabeth's disastrous trip to Waterworld, raising the stakes for the episode. SEE ALSO: 'Echo' review: Can the first 'Marvel Spotlight' show fix the MCU's TV woes? Episode five: Percy and Annabeth visit Waterworld Walker Scobell and Leah Sava Jeffries in "Percy Jackson and the Olympians." Credit: Disney / David Bukach Speaking of Waterworld, let's get into all the ways Percy and Annabeth's side quest to retrieve Ares's (Adam Copeland) shield differs from the book. The main conceit is the same: Hephaestus (Timothy Omundson) used the park as a trap to catch his wife Aphrodite in an affair with Ares. In the book, said trap involves a Tunnel of Love ride, booby-trapped Cupid's arrows, and a livestream to Mount Olympus. In the show, only the Tunnel of Love ride remains, and it poses Percy and Annabeth with a heartbreaking choice: In order to get the shield, one of them will have to sit in an inescapable chair designed by Hephaestus. It's as good as a death sentence, and both Percy and Annabeth know it. Just like in St. Louis, Percy is ready to sacrifice himself in order to save Annabeth so she can continue with the quest. But even once she gets the shield, Annabeth isn't willing to leave Percy behind, proving just how deep their friendship has become. Her attempts to tinker with the chair's mechanism summon Hephaestus, who is so moved by Annabeth's insistence that Percy isn't like the other backstabbing Olympians that he releases him. Hephaestus's appearance and the dilemma with the chair are all entirely new to the series, though they are based in Greek mythology. However, they all serve the episode's larger theme of how horrible the familial relationships between the Olympians are — and how people like Percy could break away from the gods' violent, self-destructive patterns. Episode five: Bonding time with Grover and AresWhere was Grover during all this drama? Buddying up with the Greek god of war, that's what. In a twist from the books, Grover doesn't actually go to Waterworld. Instead, Ares keeps him as collateral. A nature-loving satyr might seem like the antithesis of all that Ares stands for, but Grover wins him over by citing some of his "deep cuts," like the Turbot War and the Lobster War. (In classic satyr fashion, both are bloodless conflicts over various fishing disputes.) Grover uses Ares's goodwill to pry for information about Camp Half-Blood's visit to Mount Olympus on the winter solstice, the day the Master Bolt was stolen. As he does, he uncovers some information about Ares's annoyance with Athena. Based on what he tells Percy and Annabeth at the end of the episode, it seems like this conversation clued him into who really took the Master Bolt. But did he really solve the mystery? Or is this another red herring? This story will be updated weekly as each new episode drops. Percy Jackson and the Olympians is now streaming on Disney+, with new episodes weekly. View the full article

The year 2024 could be the dawn of a new Space Age, full of landing attempts on the moon and successive rocket launches. It may seem doubtful that it could top 2023: The super-sensitive infrared James Webb Space Telescope enriched astronomers' understanding of other worlds and the early universe, and NASA flew home its first asteroid chunks. SpaceX's Starship is priming to become the most powerful spaceworthy rocket. And India joined the ranks of nations that have successfully landed a robotic spacecraft on the moon. But 2024 promises another banner year in space. Much of North America will get to experience a total solar eclipse in the spring: Another such opportunity for the United States won't come for two decades. And several more robotic moon landings are in the pipeline. UPDATE: Jan. 10, 2024, 1:31 p.m. EST This calendar has been edited to reflect a delay for NASA's Artemis II crewed moon mission, pushed back to 2025, according to an agency announcement Jan. 9. It also includes the tentative February timeframe for SpaceX's third Starship test flight. SEE ALSO: This NASA crew has survived Mars for six months — sort of Here's a round-up of space missions and cosmic events just around the bend. Astrobotic's moon landing attempt: January 2024 The Astrobotic Peregrine lander is expected to deliver NASA instruments to the moon's surface in February 2024. Credit: Astrobotic Technologies illustration An Astrobotic Technologies lander will blast off atop a new rocket in January on a quest to be the first commercial company to land on the moon. The launch, expected no earlier than Jan. 8, will be the maiden voyage for United Launch Alliance's Vulcan rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida. If the spaceflight succeeds, the company will try to land its Peregrine spacecraft on Feb. 23. NASA tapped Astrobotic as one of several vendors for its Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative to explore the moon over the next few years. The program has recruited the private sector to help deliver instruments and send back crucial data. Astrobotic is set to be the first of the CLPS vendors to embark on the 250,000-mile trek from Earth to the moon. Japan's moon landing attempt: January 2024 The Japanese space agency JAXA will try to put its own lander on the lunar surface early this year. The SLIM mission, short for Smart Lander for Investigating the Moon, is expected to touch down near Shioli crater on the moon's near side on Jan. 20. Its goal is to demonstrate so-called "pinpoint landing" with an accuracy of less than 100 yards, a level of precision unprecedented for moon landings. JAXA announced that the mission had achieved a major milestone on Christmas, successfully inserting into an oval-shaped orbit around the lunar north and south poles. Intuitive Machines' moon landing attempt: February 2024 A private Houston company is nipping at the heels of Astrobotic's first lunar lander mission. Intuitive Machines recently announced its IM-1 mission is targeting a mid-February launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral. Assuming a successful spaceflight, it will attempt to touch down its Nova-C lander near the lunar south pole about a week later. Like Astrobotic, Intuitive Machines is part of NASA's CLPS initiative, and the two companies are neck and neck in a race to achieve the first successful private moon landing. The space agency's payloads onboard the lander will focus on testing communication, navigation, and precision landing technologies, as well as gather data about rocket plume and lunar surface interactions. SpaceX Starship orbital spaceflight: February 2024 SpaceX's Starship made significant progress over the past two test flights. Credit: SpaceX SpaceX attempted two orbital flights of its skyscraping rocket and spacecraft, known collectively as Starship, in 2023. During both attempts, Starship exploded before completing the space journey. But billionaire Elon Musk's company is getting closer. It made significant progress over the past two tests — in particular demonstrating a new method of separating the booster from the spacecraft in the air, known as "hot-staging." These tests are crucial for NASA, which will depend on Starship and its human landing system to get astronauts on the moon in the next few years. If successful, it'll mean Musk is one small step closer to realizing his personal dream of building a city on Mars. As part of SpaceX's contract with NASA, the company will need to show a successful uncrewed test flight to the moon before Artemis III, the return of astronauts to the lunar surface, which could come as early as 2026. Total solar eclipse for North America: April 2024 A rare total solar eclipse will cross North America, passing over Mexico, the United States, and Canada on April 8, 2024. Credit: Carlos Avila Gonzalez / The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images A rare total solar eclipse will cross North America, passing over Mexico, the United States, and Canada on April 8, the likes of which won't return until Aug. 23, 2044. A total solar eclipse happens when the moon passes between the sun and Earth, completely blocking the face of the sun. People can’t normally see the sun's outer atmosphere, known as the corona. During a total solar eclipse, the sky will darken as if it were dusk, allowing people to remove their protective eclipse glasses for a few minutes. This phenomenon can confuse wildlife, causing nocturnal critters to wake up and other animals to head off to bed. Boeing Starliner's first crewed flight: April 2024 Boeing encountered many technical problems with the spacecraft, finally docking an uncrewed capsule at the space station in 2022. Credit: NASA Boeing's Starliner spacecraft will take astronauts to the International Space Station for the first time, becoming the second commercial carrier capable of transporting NASA crew to the outpost. No longer serviced by its own shuttle program, the U.S. space agency relied on Russian rockets after 2011 to get astronauts into space. That period ended in 2020 when SpaceX largely took over that responsibility, but NASA has been without any backup, which wasn't the original plan. Boeing encountered many technical problems with the spacecraft, finally docking an uncrewed capsule at the station in 2022. But more issues arose with the spacecraft, causing the first crewed flight to slip. NASA will send two astronaut test pilots — Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams – to the station on Starliner no earlier than April. Peak of Lyrids meteor shower: April 21-22, 2024Meteor showers happen every year or at regular intervals as Earth passes through the dusty wake of previous comets. Each time a comet zips through the inner solar system, the sun boils off some of its surface, leaving behind a trail of debris. When the planet intersects with the old comet detritus, the result is a spectacular show, with sometimes up to hundreds of meteors visible per hour. The Lyrids, best viewed from the Northern Hemisphere, will be active from April 14 to 30. China's return to the moon: January — June 2024 China plans to return to the moon with another uncrewed robotic mission this year. The mission dubbed Chang'e 6 will send a probe to the South Pole-Aitken Basin on the far side of the moon. It's expected to collect rock samples from different regions and periods. To enhance communications between the moon's far side and Earth, China plans to launch its new relay satellite Queqiao-2, or Magpie Bridge-2, according to China's State Council Information Office. It's unclear when exactly the mission will launch, as the military-controlled space program is often secretive. The Chinese government has previously said the mission would happen in the first half of the year. The spacecraft will carry instruments from France, Italy, Pakistan, and the European Space Agency. The United States has prohibited NASA by law from collaborating with China or participating in scientific exchanges with the national program. Peak of Eta Aquariids meteor shower: May 4-5, 2024The Eta Aquariids meteor shower, best viewed from the southern tropics, produces strong "persistent trains" of shooting stars. The celestial event will be active from April 19 to May 28. Peak of Perseids meteor shower: Aug. 11-12, 2024The popular Perseids, made up of remnants of comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle, is a spectacular show for the Northern Hemisphere. The meteor shower is active from July 14 to Sept. 1. NASA's Europa orbiter launch: October 2024 One of Jupiter's moons could hold double the water that is in Earth's oceans. That's why experts are eager to send the robotic Clipper spacecraft to explore Europa up close. Scientists think Europa could perhaps have conditions capable of supporting life. Clipper, set to launch on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Cape Canaveral in October, will determine the thickness of the moon’s icy shell and its surface interactions with the ocean below. Instruments will also help scientists investigate its geology. The spacecraft, expected to arrive at Jupiter in 2030, will make nearly 50 flybys of the water world, coming within 16 miles of the surface at its closest approach. DART follow-up asteroid mission: October 2024 In 2022, NASA deliberately crashed a spacecraft into a harmless asteroid to practice thwarting a space rock, should a hazardous one ever be on a collision course with Earth. The European Space Agency is providing a follow-up to that Double Asteroid Redirection Test, better known as DART. The Hera mission's spacecraft will launch no earlier than October and rendezvous with Dimorphos, the slammed asteroid, in 2026. Performing a sort of post-op investigation, the spacecraft will measure the asteroid's mass and take a close look at the crater. The data should tie up the loose ends of the experiment, perhaps making DART a repeatable planetary defense technique in the future. NASA's water-mining mission: November 2024 Hitching a ride on an Astrobotic Griffin lander, NASA's rover will set out on a mission to drill for ice at the lunar south pole. Scientists believe ice is buried in permanently shadowed craters in the southern region. The plan is for VIPER — short for Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover — to land on Mons Mouton in late 2024. Over 100 Earth days, it will explore roughly 12 miles and venture into craters where it will drill and measure frozen water. Delivery of NASA moon rover and orbiter: 2024 Intuitive Machines has the added responsibility of sending a new NASA rover to the south pole of the moon later in the year. This mission, referred to as IM-2 or PRIME-1, is to land and test a drill and mass spectrometer, a device that identifies the kinds of particles in a substance. As currently planned, another spacecraft, NASA's Lunar Trailblazer, will also hitch a ride on this flight. The small satellite will orbit the moon to map out the locations of lunar water. The mission will launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral. Firefly's moon landing attempt: 2024 In yet another CLPS initiative mission, a private U.S. company will carry 10 NASA instruments to the moon. The space agency tapped Firefly Aerospace, a Cedar Park, Texas, company, to take its payloads to Mare Crisium on the moon's near side. The mission, using Firefly's Blue Ghost lander, is expected to happen in 2024. The NASA cargo is designed to test soil sample collection, navigation systems, radiation-tolerant computing, and moon dust mitigation. Peak of Geminids meteor shower: Dec. 13-14, 2024Widely regarded as the best meteor shower of the year, the Geminids can be seen from most any part of the world, especially the Northern Hemisphere. The Geminids are denser meteors, allowing stargazers to see them as low as 29 miles above ground before the cosmic dust burns up. The shower will be active between Nov. 19 and Dec. 24. This year a full moon will obscure the number of meteors people can see. If skies are clear, though, you could glimpse bright meteors by facing a direction with the moon at your back, according to the American Meteor Society. Other 2024 space mission events Sept. 5, 2024: The European Space Agency's BepiColombo mission is expected to make its fourth Mercury flyby. Dec. 2, 2024: ESA's BepiColombo mission should make its fifth Mercury flyby. Dec. 13, 2024: NASA's Lucy mission will make its second Earth flyby. View the full article

Slack knows you've got a lot going on at work. There are just so many channels, messages, and threads. A new feature is aimed at making things easier to navigate. The Verge reported Slack is set to add a feature called "Catch Up" that'll let you swipe through channels and DMs, either marking it as read or leaving it unread. Catch Up is reportedly slated to drop only for the mobile app and is aimed at helping workers parse through the massive amounts of messages at any given time on Slack. SEE ALSO: How to add custom emoji to Slack Slack envisions Catch Up as a tool to help people start or resume their workday. The company noticed that folks often use the mobile app as more of a prep station for the real work. "Before they get to their desk in the morning, or when they're away from their desk, or maybe at lunch — a 30-second session, super fast, just trying to catch up," Akshay Bakshi, a product management director at Slack, told The Verge. "Then the stuff they want to get back to at their desktop, they leave it for later." Slack has been playing around with changes lately, including a complete redesign of the app that wasn't particularly well received. It has, of course, added some AI functionality like every other company on planet Earth. But hopefully, Catch Up will prove useful for folks. Oftentimes it feels like all the Slack channels and messages distract from real work instead of helping you get it done. Maybe this new feature can be a fix. SEE ALSO: Huddle is Slack's messiest feature View the full article

In 2012, Google expanded its transparency report with a new section dedicated to DMCA takedown requests. For the first time, outsiders were able to see which URLs were being targeted by copyright holders and in what quantity. The decision to make this information public was in part triggered by a rapid increase in removal requests. The increased activity impacted the “free flow of information”, the search engine argued. According to Fred von Lohmann, Google’s Senior Copyright Counsel at the time, the volume of DMCA notices was skyrocketing. At times, the company was processing over 250,000 takedown requests a week, more than previously received in an entire year. Today, that weekly figure of 250,000 requests has increased to well over 30 million, a new record. While Google has set plenty of records in the past, the recent resurgence in DMCA takedowns is somewhat atypical. From Millions to Over a Billion When Google first made the numbers public it was processing a few million DMCA takedown requests in a year. That number swiftly increased to hundreds of millions and eventually reached a billion yearly DMCA requests in 2016. The exponential growth curve eventually flattened out and around 2017, the takedown volume started to decline. The decrease was in part due to various anti-piracy algorithms making pirated content less visible in search results. By downranking pirate sites, infringing content became harder to find. As a result, Google processed fewer takedown notices, a welcome change for both rightsholders and the search engine. DMCA Resurgence Today, Google continues to make pirate sites less visible in search, but the reduction in takedown notices didn’t last. On the contrary, over the past several months, Google search processed a record number of DMCA notices. Last summer, the search giant reached a new milestone when it recorded the 7 billionth takedown request and, five months later, it can add more than 700 million new ones to this tally. The company is now handling removal requests at a rate of more than 1.6 billion per year; a new record. This is more than 30 million takedown requests per week and roughly 50 every second. The graph below illustrates how these numbers have grown over time, with the most recent uptick on the right. Google Search Takedown Notices (2012-2024) Will it Last? We noticed that the volume of takedown requests had begun to increase again last August. At the time, we suggested that this could be a temporary uptick since the increase in volume could in large part be attributed to adult company MG Premium, which reported hundreds of millions of URLs in just a few months. Since MG Premium scaled down its efforts last summer, volumes should have normalized. What we didn’t foresee was several other rightsholders stepping in to take over. Over the past few months, takedown outfits Link-Busters.com and Comeso have increased their efforts. Together, they now submit roughly two-thirds of the recent DMCA notices to Google. If that persists, this would be good for a billion yearly requests. The two companies work with a variety of rightsholders. Link-Busters mostly works with major publishers, including Penguin Random House, HarperCollins, and Hachette. Comeso, in turn, has sent most takedowns on behalf of KakaoPage, a major webtoon publisher. In the past, video and music rightsholders were responsible for the bulk of DMCA requests, but this has now switched to publishers. How Google’s takedown volume develops going forward, and if any new records will be broken in the near future, will largely depend on these players. Then again, it’s also possible that an entirely new anti-piracy outfit will surface and take over. There’s never a dull moment in takedown land. — For background, this article refers to the number of URLs reported in DMCA takedown requests to Google. The search engine can remove the URLs from its index in response, or place them on a preemptive blacklist if they are not yet indexed. Finally, a small number of notices don’t link to infringing material, requiring no response from Google. From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more. View the full article

Vietnam’s approach to the protection of intellectual property rights has long been criticized by the United States, earning the country prominent placement in successive USTR Special 301 Reports. With the world’s largest online piracy operations now publicly linked to Vietnam, Hollywood has been urging authorities to take meaningful enforcement action. A criminal complaint against the operator of Phimmoi.net had previously offered some optimism but for reasons that still aren’t clear, local authorities suspended the investigation. News that police in Vietnam have just arrested three men behind an illegal streaming operation could be a step in the right direction, even if MPA/ACE had bigger fish in mind when they visited Vietnam last summer. Alleged Leader Arrested Reports that authorities had made three arrests first appeared on Tuesday. Information supplied by the Quang Binh Provincial Police Department and later reported by state-controlled media, claims that Phan Ngoc Tuan, a resident of Quang Ninh district, Quang Binh province, is the leader of a piracy group behind the websites bilutvt.net, tvhayh.org and animefull.net. TV Report on the Arrests According to the authorities, 30-year-old Tuan sought to buy source code for the sites back in 2019. The aim was to launch services that would distribute movies to the public, without permission from rightsholders, for the purpose of generating illegal profits from advertising. Hired Online, Two ‘Employees’ Also Arrested It’s alleged that Tuan later went on to recruit two men, 24-year-old Ngo Quang Huy and 25-year-old Nguyen Thanh Nhan, both of Ho Chi Minh City. According to the authorities, the men never met in person, since all duties were assigned via Telegram. Police say Huy and Nhan were tasked with downloading, editing and distributing movies, but offered no specific details in relation to that work. Images of all three men have since been published online, but the main focus is on alleged ringleader, Phan Ngoc Tuan. Three suspects arrested (image credits: 1,2) Profits From Advertising Information released by the authorities states that Tuan tried to stay in the shadows by using “anonymous intermediary servers” and rented movie storage servers located overseas. In total, police say that Tuan stored 188,322 movie files, around 40TB of data. During the raid on his home, police seized two desktop computers, a laptop and a tablet device, a “high-speed wifi transmitter” and three mobile phones. Three bank accounts were also seized. No value was placed on deposits but its claimed that Tuan generated profits of 80 to 100 million VND per month (US$3,300 to US$4,100) to an estimated total of 3 billion VND (US$123,000) The authorities are being especially clear on the alleged offenses and which laws apply. The confirmed prosecution will be for “Infringement of copyright and related rights” under Article 225 of the Penal Code; when a person (without the permission of the copyright holder) intentionally copies a copyrighted work and/or distributes copies of the work to the public, that person can be criminally prosecuted. Whether the type of advertising deployed on Tuan’s sites will form part of the prosecution is unclear, but illegal gambling ads are clearly visible on bilutvt.net, which for unexplained reasons is still online. Anti-piracy PSA from Vietnam From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more. View the full article

Over the past several years and especially over the past several months, major rightsholders’ interest in India appears to have risen. India’s piracy rates provide the most obvious explanation but seemingly sudden and escalating use of India-based anti-piracy outfits is more difficult to quantify. Maybe they’re simply cheaper than the alternatives, or perhaps the jurisdiction has benefits. Certainly, Indian courts might already be providing access to one of the most powerful anti-piracy tools seen in years. Cautious Approach Disappears Into History Last May, the High Court in Delhi issued an injunction that among other things, required ISPs to block domain names that hadn’t even been registered. That was just another example of what can be obtained relatively easily from an Indian court today that would’ve been unthinkable just a few years ago. Guided by the experience of courts in other jurisdictions, in April 2019 the High Court of Delhi issued the country’s first dynamic injunction, carefully crafted to deal with pirate site countermeasures such as domain hopping and mirror sites. The Court acknowledged the “wide ramifications” of permanent site-wide blocking orders, the need to mitigate risk of over-blocking, and the corresponding need for judicial scrutiny. Justice Manmohan’s order also considered the importance of balancing the interests of rightsholders, ISPs, and the public, with a strictly proportionate response to online piracy. Supercharging Site-Blocking Having brought India right up to date, courts seemed happy to press ahead. Within months, a court ordered the preemptive blocking of over 1,100 websites, to protect a movie that hadn’t been released yet, while injunctions issued previously were updated to tackle the hydras. In September 2022, the High Court of Delhi issued a site-blocking injunction that required domain registrars in the United States to immediately suspend a list of site domain names. The stated aim was to prevent an unreleased movie from appearing on those domains, at an unknown date sometime in the future. A month later another court handed down an order to block over 13,400 sites to protect another unreleased movie. Major U.S. rightsholders could ask a court in the United States for something similar but for obvious reasons, have not. However, Indian courts are much more predictable and, when it comes to site-blocking injunctions, now seem receptive to new mechanisms being included to ensure compliance. Suspending Domains Under Dynamic+ Injunctions What we’re able to show today is that at least one domain registrar in the United States has suspended domain names under the instructions of the High Court of Delhi. The suspensions are part of a dynamic+ injunction issued in India last year, to protect the rights of several Hollywood studios and Netflix, ostensibly in India. There are more than 70 domains in the injunction and orders for domain registrars to suspend them all have already been issued. fztvseries.mobi, mobiletvshows.net, www.stagatv.com, vexmovies.uno, coolmoviez.cloud, coolmoviez.com.de, coolmoviez.com.co, fztvseries.mobi, mobiletvshows.net, www.stagatv.com, vexmovies.uno, www.coolmoviez.cloud, www.coolmoviez.com.de, www.coolmoviez.com.co, aniwave.to, aniwave.bz, aniwave.ws, aniwave.tv, www.animehana.in, www.animesenpai4u.com, gogoanime.is, w7.123animes.mobi, anix.to, freemovies2021.com, freemovieswatch.tv, freemovieswatch.net, medeberiyaa.com, medeberiyaa.com, kinogo.biz, ridomovies.pw, lmoviestv.com, moviehax.me, ripcrabbyanime.in, moviehunt.us, mlwbd.rent, mlwbd.digital, mlwbd.love, mlwbd.me, mlwbdofficial.com, mlwbd.photos, www.mov.onl, nyafilmer.gg, 02tvseries2.com, projectfreetv.one, raretoons.me, raretoonsindia.in.net, uflix.cc, waatchmoviess.top, waatchmovies.top, watchmoviiess.top, yifymovies.xyz, kickassanime.am, kaas.am, kickass.onl, wwI.kickass.help, hindimoviesonline.to, www.hindimovies.to, freedrivemovie.lol, freeseries.watch, hdmp4mania2.com, hdmp4mania I .net, genvideos.org, hdflixtor.com, www.24-hd.com, 123serieshd.ru, anihdplay.com, nocensor.cloud, nocensor.click, www2.showbox-movies.net, moviestowatch.tv, moviestowatch.cc, torrentbay.net The most striking domain in the list is Aniwave.to, a site dedicated to anime that currently receives 317 million visits per month; roughly 40% from the U.S., 9% from the United Kingdom, 8% from Canada, 3.5% Australia, and 2.5% Philippines. Whatever percentage visit from India, it’s less than 2.5% of the site’s traffic according to SimilarWeb stats. A domain suspension, meanwhile, has global repercussions. MPA Requests Blocking Injunction “In a continued effort to curb dissemination of pirated content and its availability on internet, the Plaintiffs who are well established Hollywood Studios have approached this Court seeking blocking and removal of their copyrighted content, from the internet, accessed through rogue websites,” an order handed down by the High Court of Delhi explains. “The suit is filed against a number of rogue websites who are unlawfully disseminating and communicating a large quantum of copyrighted content of the Plaintiffs,” the order continues, adding that the content “can be accessed and viewed on a variety of devices including Televisions, Personal Computers, Laptops, Tablets, Mobile Phones, etc.” The order notes that the “rogue websites” offer “illegal viewing almost on a real-time basis” of the studios’ content including Stranger Things, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Batman, Spider Man: No Way Home, Top Gun: Maverick, and The Jungle Book. Court Issues Dynamic+ Injnction In light of the claims, the Court says it’s necessary to restrain the sites from streaming, reproducing, distributing, making available to the public and/or communicating to the public, in any manner, any copyrighted content owned by the Plaintiffs including any content they may own in the future. The scope of the injunction includes all domains listed above, plus any mirror/redirect websites or alphanumeric websites or any variations thereof. At this point the scope of the injunction starts to become apparent. “….websites identified in the present suit or any mirror/redirect websites or alphanumeric websites, or any variations thereof including those websites which are associated with the Defendants’ websites either based on the name, branding, identity of its operator, or discovered to provide additional means of accessing the Defendant’s website, and other domains/ domain along with their sub-domains and sub-directories, owners, website operators/ entities or even sources of content.” Assumed association due to “sources of content” could be significant. The vast majority of movie and TV show piracy sites use the same pool of movie and TV show content by default. Arguing these sources of content are effectively the same wouldn’t be difficult in this type of court procedure, especially when arguing otherwise would require a pirate site operator to explain to the contrary. Block Domains But Also Suspend Them The order instructs local ISPs to block the domains listed above and as explained, any and all domains (plus “associated” domains) that subsequently appear to facilitate access to them, in perpetuity. However, it also goes further still by ordering domain name registrars to “lock and suspend” all affected domains while handing over domain owners’ details to the Hollywood studios. “The Domain Name Registrars (DNRs) of the rogue websites’ domain names, upon being intimated by the Plaintiffs shall lock and suspend the said domain names. In addition, any details relating to the registrants of the said domain names including KYC, credit card, mobile number, etc. be also provided to the Plaintiffs,” the order reads. Whether all registrars will comply remains to be seen but if they want to continue doing business in India, they appear to have little choice. Non-compliance could mean that registrars themselves will be blocked by ISPs. TorrentFreak can confirm that at least two domains were suspended recently due to this action; fztvseries.mobi and mobiletvshows.net “In the month of December, Namecheap suspended our domains based on the order from an Indian court,” the former owner of the domains informed us this week. “The suspension was done without any warning or any sort of communication from either Namecheap or the plaintiff. It was only after noticing the suspension that we reached out to Namecheap. It took approximately five days for Namecheap to reply with an explanation for the suspension.” Communication between the domain owner and Namecheap is included below. Follow-up request for information Eventual response from Namecheap “Indian courts have a reputation of issuing broad orders that encompass thousands of websites in a single directive, often without thorough verification. Such practices could potentially cause significant global disruption, especially if domain registrars begin to comply with orders from various countries,” the former domain owner concludes. The sites in question have moved to new domains (fztvseries.live and mobiletvshows.site) and claim that traffic levels have returned to 80% of the levels seen before the suspensions. Given the nature of the injunction, those domains are vulnerable to being blocked at bare minimum or even seized again. The bigger question is whether Indian courts are now being viewed as the preferred option for enforcement moving forward. The order issued by the High Court of Delhi can be found here (pdf) The domains affected by the initial order are listed below but according to the Court’s instructions, any domains that can be linked to these sites or their operators in future must also be blocked and suspended fztvseries.mobi mobiletvshows.net www.stagatv.com vexmovies.uno coolmoviez.cloud coolmoviez.com.de coolmoviez.com.co fztvseries.mobi mobiletvshows.net www.stagatv.com vexmovies.uno www.coolmoviez.cloud www.coolmoviez.com.de www.coolmoviez.com.co aniwave.to aniwave.bz aniwave.ws aniwave.tv www.animehana.in www.animesenpai4u.com gogoanime.is w7.123animes.mobi anix.to freemovies2021.com freemovieswatch.tv freemovieswatch.net medeberiyaa.com medeberiyaa.com kinogo.biz ridomovies.pw lmoviestv.com moviehax.me ripcrabbyanime.in moviehunt.us mlwbd.rent mlwbd.digital mlwbd.love mlwbd.me mlwbdofficial.com mlwbd.photos www.mov.onl nyafilmer.gg 02tvseries2.com projectfreetv.one raretoons.me raretoonsindia.in.net uflix.cc waatchmoviess.top waatchmovies.top watchmoviiess.top yifymovies.xyz kickassanime.am kaas.am kickass.onl wwI.kickass.help hindimoviesonline.to www.hindimovies.to freedrivemovie.lol freeseries.watch hdmp4mania2.com hdmp4mania I .net genvideos.org hdflixtor.com www.24-hd.com 123serieshd.ru anihdplay.com nocensor.cloud nocensor.click www2.showbox-movies.net moviestowatch.tv moviestowatch.cc torrentbay.net From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more. View the full article

Despite the widespread availability of legal options, online piracy remains rampant. Every day pirate sites are visited hundreds of millions of times. This presents a serious problem for major content producers, Hollywood studios included, who are working hard to shut down the most egregious piracy sources. 141 Billion Visits in 2023 Fresh data released by piracy tracking outfit MUSO and consulting firm Kearney suggests that piracy remains rampant nonetheless. In a report released today they reveal that there were 141 billion video piracy visits globally in 2023, a 12% increase since 2019. It’s not clear why the report uses a comparison base this far out. The reported visits for 2023 are up roughly 10% when compared to previously released data for 2022. The data covers over 730,000 films and TV titles and includes a wide variety of pirate sites. These include sites that offer software and music, but only visits to video content are counted. Traditionally, this is the most popular content category by far. TV, Films, Anime, and Sport Zooming in on the numbers we see that film and TV content are in the lead, good for 65% of the visits. Anime is in second place with a quarter of all video piracy visits, followed at a distance by live sports (9%) and live linear broadcasts (1%). There are some regional differences in what type of content is most popular. In part, this depends on how easy or affordable it is to access legal content. In the Asia–Pacific region, for example, live sports accounts for 5.3% of pirate site visits, a figure that can reach 11.3% in the US. In previous years we have repeatedly mentioned that the United States is the top country when it comes to the absolute number of pirate site visits. There was no change in 2023, but there is some serious competition now. India Rises Through the Ranks India is on its way to surpass the U.S. as the top piracy nation in the world. This isn’t a surprise as India is also the country with the largest population, over 1.4 billion people. However, the increase in Internet penetration is just as important. Roughly 15 years ago, India only had about five million broadband subscribers. Today, there are more than 700 million. This massive increase in access has left its mark on society and, as predicted, proved to be a growth market for pirates. The 2023 report places the U.S. and India as joint leaders, both with 11% of the global video piracy visits. However, the piracy rate in India has increased 80% year-on-year, which suggests that it will be the sole leader next year. The top four is completed by Russia (6%) and the UK (3%) at a respectable distance. Comparing countries without taking the population size into account doesn’t say much, of course. If we look at the average number of visits per capita, a new region comes to the fore. Europe leads the relative chart with 34 pirate site visits per capita, followed by North America with 26 visits. With 13 visits, the relative numbers are much lower in South America, dropping to ‘just’ 5 visits per capita in the Asia-Pacific region. Piracy as a Goldmine These numbers are not exactly uplifting for the video entertainment industry. However, MUSO and Kearney stress that understanding why people pirate, and responding appropriately, can help to convert some pirates into paying consumers. “The global rise of video content piracy is concerning. However, with a slight adjustment of perspective, it also becomes an opportunity for those media companies that can change their approach to commercialize pirate users and plug the revenue leakage,” Kearney’s Christophe Firth says. MUSO Founder and CEO, Andy Chatterley, adds that piracy today is more of a problem than ever, so understanding why people pirate is key. “MUSO’s data is driving real transformation for entertainment companies to truly understand how their content can be better positioned, better marketed and better tailored towards a vast audience that is not currently being satisfied with legal offerings,” Chatterley says. According to the press release, legal subscription services can earn billions extra if they convert just a fraction of these pirates. This messaging is in part out of self-interest, as MUSO offers piracy insights and solutions as a commercial service. In closing, it’s worth highlighting that the numbers reported above only apply to regular pirate site visits. This means that a large and growing part of the piracy ecosystem, including dedicated piracy apps and illegal IPTV offerings, are not included. From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more. View the full article

Darren Morilla & Oliver Dela Cruz are the creative minds behind Australian disco/dance-house project Midnight Pool Party. They have been around for a few years now with a knack for making fun, helplessly catchy dance music. They recently closed out 2023 with a disco house heater titled ‘BADDIE ERA,’ a uplifting track full of bright melodies with a simple message – celebrating how far they’ve come, being proud of the people they’ve become, and remembering that it’s never too late to do achieve your goals. Listen below! This article was first published on Your EDM. Source: Midnight Pool Party Drops Infectious Disco House Single ‘BADDIE ERA’ View the full article

When it comes to avant garde electronic music, Australian artist 44 Ardent stands at the forefront. His music explores a myriad of sub genres in the electronic music realm, time and time again pointing towards his artistic genius and prowess. He recently unveiled his LP ‘leo’, a 14-track masterpiece that is a beautifully executed ride from start to finish. His ability to make the listener feel emotions from the pluck of a note is incredible, as he weaves a dynamic tapestry of blissful, nostalgic, even hopeful arrangements throughout. A few standouts include “bitbybit” – the retro-house track that puts you in your feels instantly. “mightaswell” traverses the deeper UKG sounds while “serenity” offers a chilled out, lo-fi esque sound that is irresistible. Check it out below! This article was first published on Your EDM. Source: 44 Ardent’s LP ‘leo’ Is A Masterpiece View the full article

For people on a budget and even for those who are not, there’s a lot to like about free, ad-supported television; FAST for short. Available via the internet on almost any device, streaming services like Pluto TV, Tubi, The Roku Channel, and Freevee, offer TV shows and surprisingly large movie libraries, delivered across hundreds of channels. Completely free to use, with quality improving all the time, FAST services are growing in popularity thanks to almost no barriers to entry. Caveats Create Niche Market FAST’s main quid pro quo is the installation of an official app through which viewing takes place. Easy to find on the App Store, Google Play, Amazon, and elsewhere, these apps act as a viewing portal, video player, and electronic program guide (EPG), all rolled into one. They’re also adept at pumping user data, including viewing habits and associated behavior, back to providers to ensure that free ad-supported TV makes up for lost currency through a firehose of advertising intelligence. Another issue with the FAST approach is that availability on almost any device isn’t the same as being available on all devices. While PC users are catered for via a web browser, those accustomed to viewing using a dedicated player like VLC, or the full IPTV-approach of IPTVnator, are not. Enthusiasts of TVHeadend, NextPVR, and indeed Jellyfin, Kodi, and Plex users with a NextPVR plugin, face the same problem. Or would, if a solution hadn’t already been found. Fast Solutions to FAST Problems Developer Matt Huisman solves problems like these for fun. Helping to ensure that availability is universal, behind the scenes Huisman’s software generates .m3u8 playlist files for many FAST services and makes those files available on his site. Designed to be used as live links rather than downloaded, these .m3u8 files are not only convenient and easy to use. They automatically update when providers change their stream URLs. This provides a seamless experience, and for TVHeadend users, Huisman explains, helps to eliminate the annoyance of existing channels being detected as new channels when their URLs change. How the .m3u8 files are generated isn’t something most users need to concern themselves with. For anyone hoping to understand DAZN’s DMCA takedown notice, filed against Huisman’s VPS host Vultr, after those details were handed over to DAZN by Cloudflare, a basic understanding of Huisman’s service is an absolute must. Basics of Pluto TV and Huisman’s Playlists It’s important to note that Pluto TV’s stream URLs are public. Streams are supplied via regular HTTP URLs (not HTTPS) in .m3u8 playlist format. No systems need to be bypassed to access the streams from a technical perspective although as the image shows, the URLs are pretty long and carry some identity-type strings. For the sake of privacy, if any exists, some chunks are redacted. Huisman’s software acts as a 302 redirect, a temporary redirect from one URL to another. In this case, there’s a redirect from Huisman’s site to the latest legal stream available at Pluto TV, an alternative to hard-coding non-permanent stream URLs in the .M3U8 playlist file. A loose analogy can be found in domain names, IP addresses and DNS. Huisman’s URLs are always the same (like domains) because when stream URLs change (IP addresses) the .m3u8 file quickly points to the right location but remains static to playlist users. We’ll return to other important functionality shortly, but these are the basics needed to understand DAZN’s DMCA notice. DMCA Notice – Copyright Infringement on DAZN Content A notice with the title above begins by explaining DAZN’s role as a streaming service offering live sports events and on-demand streaming in territories worldwide. DAZN is the exclusive licensee of copyright in the audio-visual production of various live sporting content and events, the notice adds, before claiming the following (emphasis ours): [DAZN] is also the creator of and thereby the owner of copyright in the original content created for DAZN (DAZN live linear channels) that have been infringed upon and hosted on your platform, pursuant to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), 17 U.S.C. Section 512. “The unauthorized and infringing material can be found at the following URLs,” the takedown notice adds. (small sample of URLs below) Identify Original Content Infringed and the Allegedly Infringing Content These two pieces of information are the basics and basis for a valid DMCA takedown notice; identify the content owned and identify the location where the allegedly infringing content can be found. “The copyrighted work that has been infringed upon consists of DAZN live linear channels DAZN 1, DAZN 2, DAZN Fights, DAZN Pluto, and DAZN Womens for which DAZN has not authorized the use of its copyrighted material on the aforementioned websites,” the notice reads. This paragraph correctly identifies the original content but since the URLs listed in the DMCA notice (“the unauthorized and infringing material”) link to official stream URLs on the Pluto TV service, it appears that DAZN’s legal streams, on Pluto TV itself, are the original content and the allegedly-infringing content. This inevitable conclusion is underlined in evidence supplied in support of the DMCA takedown notice. A screenshot of VLC clearly shows a live football match to which DAZN owns the rights, with one of Huisman’s redirect URLs listed as the ‘location’. To a casual onlooker, this seems to imply that the match is being illegally streamed from the URL on Huisman’s site when it’s actually being streamed directly from a URL on Pluto TV’s servers. The lack of clarity certainly caused issues at Huisman’s host, which requested the developer to remove his entire domain due to the allegations in the DMCA notice. If the playlist had been the type often found on IPTV piracy sites, which typically contain links to pirated DAZN streams being made available from servers operated by pirates, that would make complete sense. That’s not the case here, however. What Was The Aim of the Notice? While the nature of this takedown notice always seemed destined to cause confusion, when DAZN files DMCA notices against pirate sites, no such confusion exists. A typical example takes a few seconds to read and less to understand. The goal is the same in both notices, i.e. to have the URLs listed in the notice taken down. In that respect the notice targeting Huisman appears to have achieved its goals; as of this morning all URLs return ‘404 Not Found’. However, in common with links that point to infringing content, the legal content linked in Huisman’s playlists also (and obviously) remains up. That raises the question of what DAZN hoped to achieve and why. We don’t know for sure, but it seems reasonable to assume that another aspect of Huisman’s playlists may have implications for the DAZN bottom line. While the official Pluto TV playlist URLs are extensive and continue long after ‘.m3u8’ to facilitate the delivery of adverts, Huisman’s URLs end at ‘.m3u8’ and lack any additional advertising/tracking functionality. In short, users see DAZN channels directly from Pluto TV’s servers but with no advertising whatsoever. Again, just a theory, but trying to crowbar an ad-blocking complaint into a regular DMCA takedown notice would likely meet challenges. There’s no statement in the DAZN notice to indicate an ad-blocking issue, so we have to assume that isn’t the case here. However, the prospect conjures up all kinds of possibilities, especially in Germany where the DAZN channels in question are broadcast on Pluto TV. In 2019, German publisher Axel Springer sued the company behind Adblock Plus, claiming that since adblockers “change the programming code of websites” that amounts to copyright infringement. A district court went on to dismiss the copyright claims, and the case. The court further noted that prevention of ad-blocking would represent a “disproportionate encroachment” on users’ freedoms to make various choices, including not loading images to save bandwidth, deactivating Javascript, or block pop-ups or tracking elements. For Huisman, everything is actually very straightforward. “In my mind – no matter what the destination URL is – at the end of the day – it’s a simple redirect/shortcut. It’s the exact same thing as TinyURL or other URL shorteners,” the developer concludes. From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more. View the full article

Two weeks ago we published our overview of the most pirated TV-shows of 2023, with HBO’s “The Last of Us” emerging as the clear winner. The annual list featured series from all popular video subscription services, except one. In line with previous years, Netflix titles were notable for their absence. This could lead to the conclusion that pirates simply think that Netflix content isn’t worth watching. Possible, perhaps, but when paired with comments made by Netflix’s top executives over a decade ago, another explanation is much more intriguing. Pirates Have Subscriptions In absolute terms, the U.S. harbors the most pirates by far, good for billions of visits every year to pirate sites. Many of these pirates are not simply freeloaders; they have legitimate subscriptions too. However, since subscribing to more than a handful of services is quite costly, piracy is used on the side. As pointed out in the past, the fragmented streaming landscape has kept piracy relevant. Consumers are willing to pay for content, but their budgets are limited. This explains why legal streaming platforms are frantically fighting for market share. According to the latest numbers, Netflix continues to be firmly in the lead. With 77.3 million paid streaming subscribers in the U.S. and Canada, Netflix beats all competitors and some have already declared it the winner. Today, many people see their Netflix subscription as a fixed cost and are more willing to give up subscriptions to other platforms. This tendency would help to explain why there are no Netflix titles in the Top 10 Most Pirated TV-Shows overview; the number of potential pirates for these shows is lower. Netflix: Piracy is No Problem for Us When Netflix launched its streaming service years ago, it initially billed itself as a piracy competitor. At some point, the company even used illegal download statistics as market research, to determine which TV shows and movies should be added to its library. Netflix viewed piracy as an opportunity rather than a threat. According to CEO Reed Hastings, piracy could even help to create demand for online streaming, which was a good thing. “Certainly there’s some torrenting that goes on, and that’s true around the world, but some of that just creates the demand,” Hastings said at the time. Hastings appeared to be right; Netflix amassed hundreds of millions of subscribers worldwide, producing its own content as well. The Hollywood incumbents were caught sleeping at the wheel, and have been trying to catch up ever since. In recent years the legitimate video streaming landscape welcomed many new players, all offering exclusive content. At the same time, however, many pirates moved from torrents to illegal streaming sites and apps, acting as direct competition to paid services. Piracy as a Secret Weapon? On paper, all streaming platforms are affected by piracy. While it’s hard to put an accurate dollar number on the impact, it’s safe to say that streaming services would have more subscribers if piracy magically disappeared overnight. Not all platforms are hit equally, however. If Netflix is indeed the service able to retain the most paying subscribers, pirates are more likely to watch content from other platforms without paying. This would be in line with what we saw in our most pirated TV show list. In terms of numbers, a recent survey found that the percentage of U.S. consumers without access to a Disney+ (46%) or HBO Max subscription (54%) is twice as high when compared to Netflix (20%). This naturally means that the potential for piracy is much higher for these platforms. If the other streaming platforms suffer from higher piracy rates, online piracy could inadvertently help Netflix to keep its lead. This type of conclusion, which requires backup from more elaborate data, would be an interesting one. Does this mean that Netflix isn’t cracking down on piracy? Not quite. As a member of the Motion Picture Association and the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment, Netflix is a key sponsor of anti-piracy efforts worldwide. This makes sense because piracy ultimately affects Netflix’s subscriber volumes too. That said, Netflix does find itself at an advantage since piracy appears to hurt the competition more. For now, it seems that the entertainment industries have yet to find a way to permanently defeat piracy. As the Daily Beast highlighted this weekend, randomly pulling popular content from legal services doesn’t help to keep people on board. Aside from anti-piracy efforts and litigation, the streaming landscape should benefit from less fragmentation and more unified access. From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more. View the full article

Original Photo by Orhun Uygur for Insomniac Events That’s a wrap on 2023. Insomniac, the foremost promoter of North America West Coast raves, just capped off their 30th anniversary year with Countdown NYE at the NOS Events Center in San Bernardino. Featuring incredible performances from Tiësto, Oliver Heldens, Kayzo, Eli Brown, the Chainsmokers, deadmau5, Porter Robinson and many more; all amongst the theme of an impending alien invasion. This year’s Countdown just got even bigger and better, as Insomniac always seems to do. As per usual Countdown was held at the NOS Events Center in San Bernardino, so if you’ve been to another Insomniac festival there, it’s a pretty easy place to navigate. Headliners were greeted by a photo opp featuring the invading Lazer Rayz as well as the Ravebots from last year’s edition of Countdown. Insomniac again comes through with a super immersive environment featuring all sorts of alien performers, flying saucers and just a general feeling like you are in the Twilight Zone. It’s all in good fun of course, the main danger is alien probing. Original Photo by Jake West for Insomniac Events The stages and production were bigger than ever. The main stage at Countdown is the Mothership and it is a gigantic screen in the shape of a flying saucer equipped with a mind-blowing amount of lasers and pyro stacks along the bottom part of the stage. While it would be kinda cool if there was a giant alien behind the stage, like the Grimm at Escape, there’s something to be said for just blowing away the crowd with the maximum amount of lighting, color and lasers. The second stage was Nebula and it was essentially a mini version of the Mothership. The screen on the stage was more trapezoidal, but it was the same concept, complete with lasers and pyro. The third stage was Area 51 which hosted Bassrush for the weekend. Head bangers were treated to sick stage design featuring screens shaped like capsules with aliens floating in suspension were broadcast on the stage. One major change from Escape was that the Factory 93/Insomniac Records stage, the Twilight Zone (not the show) got moved indoors to one of the hangars near the south part of the NOS Center. Not only were the vibes on point, but an indoor stage is very welcome when the weather is on the colder side. (Sidenote: This was the best weather I’ve experienced at Countdown in as long as I can remember. See last year’s recap.) A fifth stage, Galactik Gate, was also added. It was an outdoor stage just south of the lagoon, where the Psycho Circus is usually located for Escape. It hosted Space Yacht and Lost in Dreams over the weekend. While I did not catch a set at this stage, it seemed like it was going off whenever I walked by. Original Photo by Jake West for Insomniac Events As always, the lineup was absolutely stacked. And, heading into 2024, it seemed like all the artists were embracing hard techno and hard dance in general. For Saturday I decided that I wanted to explore as many stages as I could and that I would try and check out some artists whose sets I don’t usually get to catch. I arrived just in time for Morten’s set at the Mothership and met a friend, and just like that, the weekend was off! Morten dropped a bunch of his Future Rave hits and just brought incredible energy. After that, I knew that I had to get some techno in, so I headed to the Twilight Zone and caught some of Layton Giordani’s set. Like I mentioned before, the indoor stage was such a nice change of pace, and heated too! After that I headed back to the Mothership for Mau P’s set. Hard to believe it’s been a year since the Dutch producer burst onto the scene with “Drugs from Amsterdam.” Fast forward a year later and his set was filled with other hits including “That Bounce” and “Metro.” Original Photo by Orhun Uygur for Insomniac Events Next, Alison Wonderland took the stage, and this is where the hard techno really took over. She started out with some of her more old school trap stylings and her psychedelic visuals were mind blowing. Eventually though, the thumping kick drums of her hard techno took over. Here’s hoping for more of this from Alison in 2024. I headed over to the Nebula stage for 4B x JSTJR and they dropped an unrelenting set filled with hard techno. The intro was actually JSTJR’s just released single, “Bassline.” These two understood the assignment and delivered maybe the most energetic set of the weekend. Original Photo by Jake West for Insomniac Events Although, that honor might go to the man who followed them on the Nebula stage, Kayzo. Kayzo absolutely killed it with an impressive and innovative set of hard dance music. This man dropped everything, heavy dubstep, hardstyle, hard techno, hardcore, Kayzo put on an absolute masterclass. For Day 2, I pretty much just planted myself at the main stage, the lineup was too stacked. SOFI TUKKER started the night off and they were incredible. They basically went from their hit with John Summit “Sun Came Up” into blistering techno, all the while their backup dancers brought the energy. This was the perfect set to kick things off on New Year’s Eve. One of the quirks of Countdown is the sometimes strange scheduling, since top tier artists are probably playing multiple shows. That’s why the Chainsmokers took the stage at 6:40 PM and absolutely packed out the Mothership. Having just buzzed his hair, Drew and Alex, unchanged, took the stage and mesmerized the crowd with a set that incorporated all of their classic hits like “Don’t Let Me Down”, “Paris”, “Closer” and “Something Just Like This” with a variety of drops and mashups across the spectrum. Techno, psy-trance, drum & bass, Alex & Drew threw it all down. Oh, and of the course, the lasers. Original Photo by Ivan Meneses for Insomniac Events After that Oliver Heldens took the stage, and he blew the crowd away with a mix of some Oliver Heldens classics, some new Hi-Lo tracks, and everything in between that Oliver always incorporates into his sets. His remixes of “Push Up” and Dua Lipa’s “Let’s Get Physical” were also highlights. Finally, deadmau5 was up on the main stage, and he kept the good times going. Joel opened things up with some dark techno, but eventually he started mixing in all of the deadmau5 classics, from classics like “Some Chords”, “Channel 43”, “The Veldt”, and, of course, “Ghosts N’ Stuff”. I finally broke from the main stage to check out APASHE’s set at Area 51, and, oh boy, the classically trained trap lord did not disappoint. The Belgian-Canadian producer showed why his blend of classical and electronic is on the cutting edge. It’s all the energy of a dubstep set with the precise musicality and instrumentation of a John Williams’ score. 10/10 recommend checking out APASHE if he visits your town. From there, there was no question where I was going to ring in 2024. At the Mothership stage with Porter Robinson. This was Porter’s first appearance at Countdown since he closed out 2019’s edition. The fan favorite did not disappoint, dropping some of his classics from his Worlds period, including “Easy” and “Language” at midnight. After that Porter thrilled with some hard dance tunes. At one point, he told the crowd, “I know you like ‘Shelter’ but we’ve got 10 more minutes of rawstyle before that.” What a way to bring in the New Year. Original Photo by Ivan Meneses for Insomniac Events There you have it, Insomniac continues to dominate. Even with no shortage of options on one of the biggest party nights of the year, Insomniac still managed to pull together one of the most impressive lineups of any festival that went on this weekend. Countdown 2023 was business as usual for Insomniac. I’d expect nothing less than excellence in live events in 2024. Beyond Wonderland will be returning to the NOS Events Center in March, and tickets are also available for EDC Las Vegas in May. Keep following Insomniac’s socials for updates on festivals in Southern California. This article was first published on Your EDM. Source: Insomniac Wraps Up their 30th Anniversary with Exceptional Edition of Countdown NYE [Event Review] View the full article

Here at TF we track a lot of lawsuits, not to mention buy, research, and then ultimately report on them. While that can be a lot of work, in the United States detailed information is mostly easy to find. The same can’t always be said when piracy-related news is made available by various third-parties, often with a commercial interest in how information is presented. Through selective emphasis, useful information may not even be presented at all. As a result, indirect yet open sources of information are increasingly important, not necessarily to report directly in public, but to better understand the bigger picture. Sometimes the bigger picture starts with an actual picture. Zoom In. Now Enhance. Enhance Again We’ve all seen the memes and subsequent compilations of those memes, so finding yourself in a zooming and enhancing situation can be unintentionally comical, at least initially. Last year we reported on a series of raids in the UK against suspected IPTV resellers. With no services named and no clear idea who had been arrested, we reluctantly published the news as provided along with the officially-supplied images below. Images from the raids A few days later, after being alerted to a failing SSD, a swift check of the data revealed little worth saving; if the SSD died, it died. However, the drive contained a handful of images with one in particular standing out due to a larger-than-usual file size. After quickly opening the image in GIMP, the picture of the Firestick boxes in a bag appeared so, given its size, a quick zoom on the label seemed in order. Before the image finally ran out of resolution, it was possible to zoom and enhance nine times. The image below shows the detail at just six. Zoom Out. Zoom Out Again In itself, an image of Firestick boxes in an evidence bag is nothing unusual. The devices are cheap, functional, and as such are popular among those selling and buying pirate IPTV packages. Whether there were any physical devices in these particular boxes is unclear because, on closer inspection, it appears that some of the boxes had been previously opened. The evidence label also mentions ‘4x Fire TV Stick’ but for some reason, the word ‘boxes’ was written on another line. For those wondering why that might be important, it probably isn’t. The fact that GIMP indicated that the image had previously been rotated is very important, however. GIMP was able to determine that fact due to the image’s EXIF data, a collection of metadata tags embedded in a file that can show anything from shutter speed and exposure compensation, to whether a flash was used or not. All of this data should’ve been stripped before the images were published online. EXIF Data Jackpot EXIF data can be extracted with a number of tools but in this case, FOCA was to hand and it always does a great job. According to the data, the Firestick photo was taken on a Samsung S21 smartphone (SM-G998B) at 07:44 and 16 seconds on the day of the raid. The metadata also confirmed (orientation: Right side. top (Rotate 90 CW) that the image had indeed been rotated. Image metadata, also not stripped before being made available to the public, included GPS coordinates. This information is usually accurate to about five meters and revealed where the photo was taken. The coordinates reveal that both photographs were taken at the same address in an area of London, not far from an area previously mentioned in connection with the case; although not exactly the same area according to a pair of helpful tools. Distort. Mirror. Blur. Rotate. Flip Thanks to Google Maps and Google Street View, identifying addresses and cross-referencing with other public data sources referencing people and sometimes historical events, building a bigger picture can be time-consuming. Frequently, however, it’s worth the effort. Don’t Take Data For Granted While the GPS coordinates in any image can be useful, they also have the potential to mislead or, in fringe cases, may have even been tampered with. Taking this case as an example, just because the photograph was taken inside a particular address, it doesn’t necessarily follow that the items were actually seized from inside that address. We’re unable to commit the resources to prove one way or the other, but these devices may have been retrieved from a vehicle, rather than bricks and mortar. While not necessarily used or useful in this case, other items in images like these can at times prove helpful. With carpet clearly visible, that has the potential be matched to an address. Since knocking on the door and asking to look around might not be well received, the property may have been sold recently. If so, an estate agent has probably photographed the entire house and left the listing online. Finally, feel free to freak yourself out with GeoSpy AI, an online tool which tries to identify the location of photographs taken outside, even with metadata stripped. It can be hit-and-miss depending on image and location but when it gets it right, it does so with startling accuracy. TorrentFreak previously notified the source of both photographs that metadata hadn’t been stripped From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more. View the full article