Sky Movies will become Sky Cinema next month
Sky isn’t just a household name in the UK, but in several other European countries too. In those regions, however, Sky Movies as a brand doesn’t exist. Instead, it’s called Sky Cinema in those parts, and come July 8th, that’s what it’ll be known as in the UK as well. Big deal, right? Well, the new name isn’t the only change. For starters, instead of debuting four new movies a week, a fresh film will be added to the roster every day. Sky Cinema will also devote more space to original content and foreign flicks in the future, with a new international release dropping on the service every Wednesday.
Sky’s on-demand library is now more popular than its linear channels, and this too will be growing as Sky Movies becomes Sky Cinema. For starters, the catalogue will increase from 1,000 to roughly 1,200 movies just throughout July. Themed events and transient “pop-up channels” that show back-to-back Harry Potter titles, for example, are to become more regular under Sky Cinema. On the technical side, Sky is implementing what it calls “better HD” on the Cinema service, which apparently carries one-third more pixels, as well as higher dynamic-range audio across the on-demand library.
Most importantly, upon the launch of Sky Cinema, HD movie channels will no longer command an added premium, so anyone with the right bundle (including Virgin Media patrons) will get the best resolution at no extra cost. Film discovery is also set to improve in subtle ways, and Sky subscribers will be able to skip back to the beginning of movies being shown on the linear channels from the EPG for the first time. Unfortunately, not a great deal of news for owners of a shiny new Sky Q box, though 4K flicks will be available at some point later this year.
U.S. Appeals Court Rules in Favor of FCC Net Neutrality Rules
A U.S. appeals court yesterday upheld landmark federal rules preventing internet service providers from obstructing or slowing down consumer access to web content (via Reuters).
The backing for the Federal Communications Commission’s net neutrality rules came in a 2-1 decision by a three-judge panel in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The outcome reaffirms the law enforced last year that says ISPs must treat all internet traffic equally.
The rules prohibit broadband providers from giving or selling access to faster internet lanes for specific internet services, which the FCC claims will help protect freedom of expression and innovation on the internet.
The court also rejected legal arguments from telecommunications industry groups that the rules should not apply to mobile phone web use or that they violated the constitutional free-speech rights of internet service providers.
The court’s decision in favor of the FCC means that it too considered the internet to be a public utility, and therefore subject to government regulations. White House spokesman Josh Earnest called the ruling “a victory for the open, fair, and free internet as we know it today,” and one that barred service providers from becoming “paid gatekeepers”.
The outcome will also be seen as a personal victory for President Barack Obama, who is a strong advocate of net neutrality rules, although ISPs have already said they plan to appeal to either the full appellate court or the Supreme Court over the ruling. Telecoms industry groups have also said they will continue with efforts to get Congress to limit the FCC’s authority.
Netflix and Twitter were among the companies that praised the ruling, while Google and others have backed the rules. Democrats in Congress also lauded the decision to back the FCC rules, which have been in place since June 2015.
However, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce business group accused the FCC of “essentially transforming an entire industry… from an innovative, lightly regulated enterprise that made huge investments into this country, into a public utility subject to the whims of regulators.”
South Dakota Republican John Thune, who chairs the Senate Commerce Committee, said the decision upholds FCC restrictions “designed for the monopoly-telephone era” and asked the Republican-led Congress to step in to overturn a decision that results in “a highly political agency micromanaging the internet ecosystem.”
US Telecom, the telecommunications industry trade association that led the legal challenge, said the court failed to recognize “the significant legal failings” of the FCC rules that “we believe will replace a consumer-driven internet with a government-run internet, threatening innovation and investment in years to come.”
But FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler called the ruling “a victory for consumers and innovators who deserve unfettered access to the entire web” and claimed that it would ensure the internet remained “a platform for unparalleled innovation, free expression and economic growth.”
Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.
Tags: net neutrality, FCC
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Apple Steps up Procurement for New Apple Watch, Targets Late 2016 Debut
Apple has stepped up procurement of chips and components for the second-generation Apple Watch, according to sources from the supply chain (via DigiTimes).
Shipments of chips and components for the second-gen Apple Watch are reportedly set to begin in the third quarter, indicating a launch later this year.
Orders for the upcoming Apple Watch have been higher-than-expected, according to the sources, after what they called “disappointing sales” of the first-gen smartwatch. Despite that, Apple’s pull-in of orders is said to be “rather aggressive”, and the sources estimated that about two million units of the new Apple Watch could be shipped monthly.
Taiwan-based website DigiTimes has a mixed track record at reporting on Apple’s upcoming product plans, but its sources within the upstream supply chain have proven reliable in the past.
Rumors had initially suggested Apple would introduce the second-generation Apple Watch in March 2016 with shipments of the device set to begin in April 2016, but a conflicting report confirmed the Apple Watch 2 would not be ready for a spring launch.
A rumor out of the Asian supply chain in January suggested work on the next-generation Apple Watch was already underway, with Quanta working with Apple on the development of the device. Trial production on Apple Watch 2 was rumored to have started in January, with full production beginning in mid-2016 in preparation for a fall launch alongside the iPhone 7.
Apple is said to be working on implementing cellular network connectivity and a faster processor. Built-in cellular capabilities would allow the Apple Watch to place calls, send messages, and access data without the need for an iPhone, while a faster processor would result in speed improvements when accessing apps.
Related Roundups: Apple Watch, watchOS 2, watchOS 3
Tag: Apple Watch 2
Buyer’s Guide: Apple Watch (Caution)
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Confirmed: The Xbox One S is a 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray player and upscales games too
Ever since Microsoft announced the Xbox One S, its smaller, more capable console for this year, there has been a lot of confusion over what it will be capable in a home cinema sense.
We had mentioned that it would support 4K Ultra HD Blu-rays in our round-up feature, but out at E3 there was still talk that it would only have 4K output for streaming services, such as Netflix and Amazon Video,
Pocket-lint can confirm that it does indeed have a 4K Blu-ray optical disc drive built-in. We can also confirm that it upscales conventional video and gaming outputs to 4K if you have an Ultra HD television.
READ: Xbox One S: Release date, specs and everything you need to know
It also offers HDR support across the board, for 4K Blu-rays and games that support the high contrast and wider colour gamut afforded by the image tech.
In essence, this information means that, as well as a better version of the Xbox One, starting at $299 (£212) means the new machine undercuts existing 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray players on the market significantly.
Some have been wondering whether, with Project Scorpio also announced for next year, people will invest in an Xbox One S this. In its 4K Blu-ray capabilities, we think we have the answer.
10 gaming sequels absent from E3 2016: Red Dead Redemption 2, Cyberpunk 2077 and more make our wishlist
It’s not that we’re ungrateful. E3 has delivered a bumper crop of exciting games that we’ll get to play in 2016 and beyond. It even lifted the lid on Microsoft’s new 4K-capable Xbox consoles, the Slim and Project Scorpio, and set a release date for PlayStation VR.
We’re simply greedy. Ahead of the show there was lots of talk about various titles – from Red Dead Redemption 2, to a Wolfenstein sequel, with even a titter of The Last of Us 2 – that didn’t show face, some of which we really expected to see.
Sure, we can’t live in a world of perpetual sequels with no room for true creativity. Games like Days Gone, Steep, Scalebound and other reimaginations such as God of War (ok, so that is a sequel, but it’s a different take) have excited.
Even so, here’s our list of sequels and games that we had hoped to see at E3 2016. Including some that might seem fairly far-fetched.
Red Dead Redemption 2
There’s been talk of Red Dead 2 for some time, but for good reason: a leaked map seemingly suggested that the game was deep in production and about to be shown. Some have even suggested it was pulled from Sony’s pre-E3 conference at the last minute. We’re not sure that’s true, but we do think the game will show face in the coming years. Here’s hoping, as it’s one of Rockstar’s true classics – and with the power on hand from the current-gen of consoles we suspect it’ll look amazing too.
Wolfenstein
Another that was largely expected to be shown at Bethesda’s pre-E3 conference, in particular because the pre-Quake presentation had an apparent MSDOS style reference to the game. How cryptic. Given that id software has had success with revamped Doom and the just-announced Quake Champions looks set to please battle arena players, timing looks good for a Wolfenstein revamp – particularly given how under-rated the last game was.
The Evil Within 2
Love it or loathe it, The Evil Within’s dark horror captured a fanbase in little time. Just two years on from the game’s release seems rather soon to be talking about a sequel, but it was high up the suggestions list ahead of this year’s E3.
The Last of Us 2
Pocket-lint
Sat in Sony’s pre-E3 conference we were thinking this would be Sony’s “one more thing” moment (ok, so we said that last year too). But it wasn’t to be: instead the new Days Gone was shown in playable gameplay depth – which looks both terrifying and incredible by the way – rather than the return of Ellie. One not to be rushed, we suspect, given how picture perfect the original game was.
Cyberpunk 2077
CD Project Red is at E3 2016, behind closed doors, and was taking appointments ahead of time to show off a new game. We know Cyberpunk 2077 is coming, so we though this might well be the stage for it. But, nope, the Gwent card game from Witcher 3 has been expanded upon and made into a game of its own right instead. Which is kind of cool, but we want to see more badass female androids and machine guns right about now. Here’s to next year on this one. Maybe?
Shenmue III
Ys Net
Ok, so we’re probably clutching at straws here. But after successful crowdfunding for Yu Suzuki’s third chapter to the Shenmue series we though we might get a tease of how the upcoming title might look. Given the stage Sony gave this game at last year’s E3, to go dead silent on the progress of the game perhaps seems odd.
Final Fantasy 7 remake
Similar to above here: we know that FFVII is getting reworked, as confirmed at E3 2015, but that’s as far as it goes right about now. Perhaps Square Enix leaving breathing space for Final Fantasy 15 (FFXV)’s imminent launch is the sensible priority for 2016.
Portal 3
Valve / Portal 2
The first-person puzzle game to beat all others, Portal 2 was one of our favourite gaming moments ever. Rarely is something so genius, so accessible, and yet so different to anything else ever made.
That was five years ago. And given that title’s success, surely publisher Valve has the incentive to be working on the follow-up, perhaps even in an HTC Vive-compatible VR form?
We’ve seen no suggestion of this game existing, of course, we just have wishful thinking.
Half-Life 3
Valve
Ok, so our suggestions are getting ever more “just because”, and this is yet another one angled at Valve, but Half-Life 2 was one of the best first-person shooters ever.
It’s been years since the last title, plus there was even a moment when a follow-up was in early production (collaboratively with Arkane Studios, which has since been canned). Wishful thinking for the time being, then, but here’s hoping for the future.
New Nintendo Mario title
Nintendo
For Nintendo to dedicate its entire E3 floor space to Zelda was brave. It was also quite amazing – in a positive way – given the tranquility and setup of the stand.
Anyway, it also goes right in the face of the already-announced Nintendo NX console, which is due in 2017. Other than Zelda what’s going to launch with that? We don’t know. But we thought Ninty might be pushing a new Mario or Donkey Kong title already.
Celebrate E3 and new ‘Zelda’ with this lavish Nintendo sale
E3 2016 is in full swing, and there’s already a bevy of titles being shown off that we can’t wait to get our hands on, particularly The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and the upcoming Pokémon Sun and Moon. Nintendo know this very well, and thus is running a special E3 sale from now through June 21 with up to 40% select digital games.
With an additional 10% off certain games for My Nintendo members, there are some real bargains here for digital copies of favorites like The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past for $4.79 and The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD for $29.99. The Zelda franchise isn’t the only one to get in on the savings, with the Game Boy hits Pokémon Trading Card Game and Pokémon Pinball: Ruby & Sapphire available for $3.59 and $4.79 respectively.
If neither Zelda or Pokémon are on your radar, there are some decent savings on 3DS games like Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS, Shin Megami Tensei IV, Story of Seasons and Zero Escape: Virtue’s Last Reward as well as scores of other titles. Wii U fans can pick up Splatoon, Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and more for a discount as well.
Time to pick up some titles to expand your collection while finishing off that backlog. The wait for the new Zelda isn’t that far off, after all.
Harley-Davidson will make an electric motorcycle in 5 years
Harley-Davidson wasn’t just fooling around when it showed off its electric Project LiveWire motorcycle. In a chat with the Milwaukee Business Journal, the bike maker’s Sean Cummings says that there will be an electric Harley within the next 5 years. That’s 2021, if you want to mark your calendar. He’s not giving any clues as to what this e-bike will entail, but it probably won’t resemble the 2014-era LiveWire.
As our Autoblog colleagues point out, the biggest challenge is maximizing range. The LiveWire concept only got 60 miles on a charge at best, which just won’t cut it when you’re riding to Sturgis. Harley doesn’t have the luxury of a large car floor to hold its battery packs — it has to cram a lot of cells into a narrow space without making the bike ugly or unmaneuverable. A cruiser may make more sense than a street bike.
Having said this, the very fact that Harley is planning a production e-bike is noteworthy. This is a brand that’s virtually synonymous with loud, roaring gas engines. Clearly, it believes there’s enough interest in the idea (or at least, enough pressure from an eco-conscious society) that it’s worth bucking expectations.
Via: Autoblog
Source: Milwaukee Business Journal (sub. required)
Former IBM employee accused of economic espionage
A former IBM software engineer working in China has been charged with six counts of economic espionage and theft of trade secrets, Reuters reports today. The employee, 30-year-old Xu Jiaqiang, is accused of using his access as a developer to steal and subsequently sell IBM’s proprietary source code.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Xu resigned from IBM in May of 2014, but he allegedly took the code for a clustered file system with him. The system is meant to facilitate “faster computer performance by coordinating work among multiple servers,” and is only valuable to IBM if the code is kept in-house. After leaving IBM, however, Xu tried to sell the code to two undercover law enforcement agents posing as an investor and a project manager who were trying to launch a data storage company.
Over the course of about six months in 2015, Xu demonstrated the code to the two undercover officers, who confirmed it was a “functioning copy” of IBM’s own software. Xu was finally arrested at a hotel in White Plains, New York last December after he openly admitted to the undercover agents that he used the code to build his own version of IBM’s software that he could sell to clients. In his discussions with the law enforcement officers, he even stated that he had concealed a block of code identifying it as copyrighted worked owned by IBM.
Phil Schiller and Craig Federighi Talk iMessage, Siri API and Mac App Store on ‘The Talk Show’
A day after Apple’s WWDC keynote address, Apple SVP of Marketing Phil Schiller and SVP of Software Engineering Craig Federighi joined Daring Fireball’s John Gruber on a special edition of his podcast, The Talk Show. The duo addressed many topics, including the emphasis on iMessage in iOS 10, opening up Siri and other parts of iOS up to developers and the Mac App Store.
The bulk of Apple’s presentation on iOS 10 was focused on the extensive improvements to iMessage. When Gruber asked Federighi about the focus on Messages Federighi said the company knew that it was the app iPhone users spent the most time in, and the one they get the most excited about.
Every time we add emoji it would be the biggest thing. We work all year on a new file system or something and people are more excited about the two more emoji. So we figured if there’s one place where we could make a difference in how people experience iOS it’s Messages.
With iOS 10, Apple announced that many of its services would be opened up to developers. Siri now has an API that allows developers to interface with it, iMessage includes a new App Store that will allow developers to create stickers and payments for it, and Apple Maps now allows developers to create extensions for their apps, allowing users to book a reservation or hail a cab via Maps.
Federighi and Schiller both said that Apple likes to create a baseline for its technology first, then allow developers to build on it. Federighi said this is illustrated by Share Sheets, which at first only featured Facebook and Twitter extensions that were built by Apple, rather than third-party developers. He said that once the company creates the systems they deem necessary for a feature, they feel comfortable opening it up to third parties.
Federighi said that Apple wants to give developers more opportunities to give users better experiences, and that if developers feel like they can help users get things done by invoking their apps through Siri they want to help.
Federighi also addressed the ability to “delete” stock apps in iOS 10, clarifying that the apps are not actually deleted, with only user data and necessary hooks being removed if a user opts to delete the apps from his or her device. The apps themselves remain on the device as part of the signed package Apple uses to assure authenticity. “Re-downnloading” the apps from the App Store doesn’t actually involve a download and instead simply re-links the apps back into iOS so they can be used.
When asked why Siri’s API is limited to certain kinds of apps, like ride-hailing services like Uber or messaging, Federighi and Schiller once again talked about Apple’s baseline philosophy. Federighi said the decision to go with those apps types was made because Siri largely understands the domains of messaging and requesting purchases, making it easier to give the keys to developers and ensure a great user experience. He also said that Apple is working to expand Siri’s familiarity with certain domains over time.
Recently, a survey indicated that developers were dissatisfied with the state of the Mac App Store. Gruber asked Schiller and Federighi whether the store was a second priority for the company because of the popularity of the iOS App Store, which Apple recently revealed a slew of improvements for. Schiller said that Apple “loves all of our kids” and that they’re very happy with the Mac App Store, noting that they think it’s important enough to host their own apps on it. Apple thinks it’s an important solution for the future of the platform and are dedicated to it.
Schiller said that Apple pushes to make sure that all things make as much sense as possible on all storefronts, and that they organize development time and resources based on what they think the need for some features are. For example, Apple felt like the need for TestFlight on iOS was more important than the need for TestFlight on macOS.
In the full talk, the pair also talks about Swift, WWDC lunch boxes, and more. The episode of The Talk Show is not yet online, but it should be available in video form on Daring Fireball in due time.
Related Roundup: WWDC 2016
Tags: The Talk Show, John Gruber, Phil Schiller, Craig Federighi
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Run an Android desktop on almost any computer – CNET
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Taylor Martin/CNET
Last month, it was rumored that official Android support would be coming to the Raspberry Pi after an empty directory for the $35 computer was discovered in Google’s Android Open Source Project repository.
Having official Android support on such a device would be useful, and could bring with it better touch support, countless Internet of Things applications and official streaming applications to make an extra cheap streaming device.
So far, however, there have been no further developments. The directory is still empty and Google hasn’t released an official statement.
That said, if you’d like to see how Android in a desktop environment might work or how it could be useful for you, you can give it a try for free (well, for the price of a cheap flash drive) and a few minutes of your time.
What you will need
The version of Android you will be running is a desktop-optimized fork of Android-x86 called Remix OS, developed by three ex-Googlers who founded Jide Technology.
Before you get started, you will need to download the latest version of Remix OS from Jide. It works on most computers (including Macs), and all you really need to get it up and running is a USB 3.0 flash drive with at least 8GB of storage.
You will also need a program that can write the ISO to the storage drive. UNetbootin is one of the best tools around for the job. It’s completely free of charge and works with Linux, Mac and Windows.
Installing and booting Remix OS
After you’ve downloaded the latest version of Remix OS and installed UNetbootin on your computer, setup and installation is pretty straightforward.
Taylor Martin/CNET
- Insert the USB drive and format it to FAT32.
- Extract the Remix OS ZIP you downloaded and locate the ISO.
- Run UNetbootin and select the Diskimage radio button.
- Choose ISO in the dropdown menu.
- Paste the path to the Remix OS ISO in the field or use the browse button to locate the file.
- In the Drive dropdown, make sure you’ve selected the correct USB drive.
- Click OK.
UNetbootin will begin installing the image on the storage drive, which will take several minutes. Once it’s finished, insert the USB drive into the computer you want to boot to Remix OS. From this point, instructions vary a bit between Mac and various PC models.
Mac
- Power down the computer.
- Once the computer has fully shutdown, hold option and press the power button to boot into Startup Manager.
- Use the keyboard or mouse to select the Windows drive and press enter (or click) and wait for the system to boot.
Windows
- Power down the computer.
- The first time you do this, you will need to boot into BIOS. Refer to this chart to find how to boot your PC into the BIOS/UEFI (usually F2, F10 or Delete).
- Disable Secure Boot under the Boot or Security tabs.
- Optionally, in the Boot tab, you can change the boot priority by highlighting a drive and using the + or – keys to change the order in which drives boot. Doing so means the computer can boot straight to a flash drive if it’s installed, otherwise it will boot normally.
- In the Save & Exit tab, select the USB drive which you installed Remix OS on to boot from and press Enter.
Once the computer has booted from the USB drive, select Guest Mode or Resident Mode and press enter. Resident Mode will save your data and settings, while Guest Mode will reset upon rebooting.
The initial boot will take several minutes, then you will be taken through a setup process where you will select a keyboard layout and connect to a wireless network.
After the initial setup, you will have a desktop version of Android running on your computer. The latest version of Remix OS doesn’t come preloaded with the Google Play services, meaning there is no Google Play Store app, Gmail, YouTube or any other typical Google apps. However, there is an icon on the desktop titled Install Apps which will walk you through the process of installing the Google Play services.
Now you can take this flash drive with you virtually anywhere and have a bootable version of Android tucked away in your pocket.
AIVAnet 