PIRATE BAY IS DEAD AND YOU’RE FINALLY NOT A THIEF

Piracy

Pirate Bay has gone down and it may not be coming back. Police in Stockholm, Sweden raided a facility of servers and disconnected them taking the site offline. This is not the first time a raid has taken the servers offline and it is possible that anti-copyright enthusiast, who prefer to be known as “the creative industry,” will migrate to another server.

Those same enthusiasts have migrated the back end servers of Pirate Bay after such raids in the past. As long as someone has a backup of the code to run the servers, finding another facility and stocking it with a powerful enough servers will bring the service back online. Petter Sunde, one of the co-founders of Pirate Bay, has even asked for the closure of the servers. 

THIS IS GREAT!

While I know I live in the minority on such things, let me tell you why this is a good thing. First and foremost, piracy is stealing. It shouldn’t have to be said, but it blows my mind the number of people that don’t consider downloading a movie or song as legitimate stealing because there is nothing tangible. I’ve even met federal employees who download movies and music without blinking an eye.

Often times the question is asked, “Is it really stealing if nobody is losing anything?” In other words, because the physical copy of a CD is not being pulled from the shelf, or because you’re not stealing someones black scented lipstick out of their purse; it doesn’t feel like stealing. The fact of the matter is, Piracy is stealing and companies who invest heavily in providing us music, movies and software need to be able to pay off the investment and make a profit to survive.

Let me ask you a question. Would you consider going Ocean’s 11 on me to get the information you need so that you can login to a company’s bank account and steal a few hundred dollars? Of course not, because you’re a logical human being. Pirating music and movies IS taking money out of the bank account of these companies, it’s just indirect.

Piracy

The creative industry often claims that by preventing these resources from being available, we’re stifling the creative people in the world from being able to get their creations into the hands of the world. I’ve never understood this argument. There are plenty of resources available for sharing your creativity that also assist in preventing copyright materials from being shared. (i.e. Youtube, Vimeo, Soundclick, etc…) Many of these services help you gain added publicity as well.

Now, I know what your thinking, “But Ryan, Paul stated in trial that over 80% of the torrents are legal.” Keep in mind, my friend, he only pulled from a small sample size of 1,000 torrents which likely could have been hand-picked. I know a lot of people that use Pirate Bay and not a single one of them use it legitimately.

You know what happens when more people start pirating? Less movies, music, software, games, stuff you love gets made. There have been plenty of companies out there that have shut the doors due to not being profitable largely in part due to piracy. You PC gamers out there, many publishers are thinking twice about publishing PC games because they are so rampantly pirated. I’m sorry you don’t have Halo 4 for PC, go take it up with your pirating friends.  The CEO of Ubisoft has stated that PC piracy is at 95%! That is insane and terribly destructive to the PC gaming industry.

Now, I’m sure you’re asking the question, “why is this guy so intense about piracy?” Let me tell you. I once worked for a respectable company that sold educational DVDs for children’s development. They heavily invested early on and were way ahead of their time. Consequently, 20 years later they were still paying off their investment and as a result had to charge a higher premium for said DVDs.

When I sold these DVDs door to door, I often met people who would say, “Oh, I don’t need those. I just downloaded all of them to my hard-drive last…” Case in point: here we have a company who was trying to change the world with their product who is still struggling to pay off their investment. Is Piracy completely to blame? Of course not, there are a variety of contributing factors; but it certainly contributes.

In short, reducing piracy leads to an increase of creativity because people can PROFIT off of that creativity. A human’s most valuable asset is time. Without a way to profit off of something, being creative is extremely minimized. I’m a musician myself, however, because I work 60+ hours a week on non-related activities I have less time to be creative. Piracy destroys creativity no matter how you look at it. It’s also bad for the economy.

The next time you decide to hack into a company’s bank account (i.e. piracy), think again. Do it because you’re a respectable person, not because you don’t want to get caught.

However, this is just one man’s opinion. My cohort in crime, Curtis Wallen, has a differing opinion than I. Check back in the future for his take on Pirate Bay, piracy, and creativity. 

What do you think of piracy? Should it be punishable by death? If you feel piracy is justified, why is that your opinion? Let me know your argument in the comments below!

PHOTOBUCKET HACKERS ARRESTED FOR HACKING SOFTWARE

Photobucket

One of my worst nightmares would be for someone to hack my photos and then sell them to the highest bidder. Unfortunately for some, this nightmare may have come true. Photobucket users beware; you might want to make sure you were not affected by a recent hack. 



Today the FBI arrested Brandon Bourret, 39, from Colorado Springs, and Athanasios Andrianakis, 26, from Sunnyvale, California for creating a software that gave them username and passwords of protected Photobucket accounts. Currently, we don’t know how many accounts were affected as the Department of Justice has not released the information. We do know that Photobucket accounts were sold between July 12th, 2012 to July 1st, 2014. Photobucket receives over 60 million visitors a month, so one can only image the amount of people that were affected in those two years.

Michael Clark, Chief Technology Officer, stated the following:

Unfortunately, the defendants were intent on not only victimizing Photobucket and its users, but violating federal criminal statutes between 2012 and 2013 as alleged in the indictment. We congratulate the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the United States Attorney’s Office for their vigilant investigative work in identifying and bringing these perpetrators to justice. We will continue to support the government’s work and our users through this ongoing criminal investigation.

If convicted, the suspects are looking to serve up to five years in prison and will be charged up to a $250,000 dollar fine. For those interested in knowing what Bourret and Andrianakios have been charged with, you can view the indictment.

In regards to Photobucket, we’ll have to wait to find out how many users were affected, and will hopefully be updated in the near future. Since the photos have already been released, there is not much that can be done, but we hope Photobucket’s security will be beefed up quickly. 



What will this do for other photo sharing websites? Sadly, not much. I have found that most organizations are reactive rather than proactive when it comes to security. Most social media outlets and cloud storage sites have security measures in place (so they think), and feel there is no need to update, or increase their security. Heck, if I don’t see issues on my computer I don’t feel the need to find better protection. When you add the fact that it’s extremely difficult to protect yourself against something that has not yet been created, sometimes your only other option is to react as quickly as possible to those threats. 

What are your thoughts? Do you think Photobucket should have been able to catch these hackers rather than the FBI? What should we expect from Photobucket going forward? Let us know what you think in the comment section below. 

PEOPLE AMAZED BY SONY’S ‘NEW’ PROJECT MORPHEUS

Project Morpheus

Courtesy of Eurogamer


Virtual reality is making strides and headlines almost every day. Today, Sony announced a newer version of its upcoming Project Morpheus; Sony’s attempt at getting into the VR scene. This new iteration sports a full HD screen (1920 X 1080) and a 120 Hz refresh rate. Sony has also added an additional 3 motion tracking sensors, making a total of 9 sensors. The latency on the device is also improved to less than  18 milliseconds; an astoundingly low amount of latency.

Compared to the previous iteration, Sony has doubled its refresh rate and upped the screen resolution from 720P to 1080P per eye. The added sensors also improve the devices ability to track movement, creating a more realistic and immersive experience. These changes are critical as many people in the past have experienced motion sickness due to latency and low refresh rates. So far, those who have tried Sony’s new device have been excited and positive. Check out what people are saying all across the internet:


“I tried for Sony’s Project Morpheus offered its combination of excitement and interaction, it’s got me beyond excited for the future of VR.”

Alex Roth – IGN Editor

“I just survived a shark attack. I just stole a priceless diamond in an upscale London heist. I did it with Sony’s new Project Morpheus headset. It’s the best I’ve ever tried.”

Sean Hollister – Gizmodo

“The new Project Morpheus is also much lighter and more comfortable. That’s a big win”

Sid Shuman – Playstation Blog

“It’s an amazing demo. I felt in control of everything as it happened, and ducking to avoid gunfire while being able to aim back in a “realistic” way was a great way to show off the technology.”

Ben Kuchera – Polygon

“The enhanced field of view creates a more potent form of immersion [and] image quality is also improved”

Richard Leadbetter – Digital Foundry


It’s clear that Sony is dedicating substantial time and resources into developing a virtual reality headset that will change the future landscape of gaming forever. Shuhei Yoshida, Sony’s president of Worldwide Studios stated, “Our goal with VR is to deliver a sense of presence, making the player feel as though they’ve stepped inside the world of a game.” It seems that they are succeeding.

While VR technology is improving drastically, whether or not it will gain mainstream adoption in the gaming world remains a mystery. Sony is bound to run into challenges with Project Morpheus similar to that of Playstation Move. If Morpheus is treated as an add-on for Playstation 4, developers will struggle to justify creating experiences for it when there are so many more standalone Playstation 4s on the market. Time will tell. Sony announced that we can expect Project Morpheus to hit shelves in early 2016.

What do you think about Sony’s new Project Morpheus? Are you excited about the prospect of virtual reality? Let us know in the comments below.  

PEBBLE’S TIME BREAKING KICKSTARTER RECORD

Pebble Time

Today, Pebble announced their latest smartwatch the Pebble Time. The new smartwatch was made available to backers on Kickstarter before its release to the general public. What’s amazing about the release of the Pebble Time was how quickly it reached its goal of $500,000 dollars, which also led the Pebble Time to break the record for the fastest campaign to reach $1 million dollars.

The Pebble Time reached $500,000 dollars in just 33-minutes and passed $1 million dollars in only 49-minutes. This blew the 162-minute record held by Reaper Miniature Bones out of the water. Currently, the campaign has received over $7.5 million dollars pledged and continues to increase in backers. At this rate, it does not appear that the Pebble Time will struggle to surpass the $10 million dollars pledged in the original Pebble campaign; especially with 30 days to spare.

Pebble also introduced their new interface “Timeline,” a new way of organizing and accessing your information. Pebble Time is also 20% thinner than the original Pebble and has an ergonomic curved design to more comfortably fit around your wrist. You can find out more about the new smartwatch in the video Pebble put out below:

If you did not catch everything in the video, here are some of the key features of the Pebble Watch:

  • Always-on, daylight readable color screen with a great backlight
  • Up to 7 day battery life even with the color screen
  • Use any standard 22mm watch band
  • Water resistant and durable 
  • Tactile buttons for easy eyes-free clicking 
  • Silent vibrating alarms
  • Step tracking with Misfit and Jawbone
  • Language and international character support (Chinese coming soon!)
  • The timeline feature will work on Pebble and Pebble Steel (exact date TBD)
  • Works with iOS 8 on iPhone 4s and above
  • Works with all Android 4.0+ phones including Samsung, HTC, Sony, LG, Google, Motorola, Xiaomi and more

One of the major differences of Pebble watches (including the Pebble Time) is the fact that it does not feature a touch screen. This helps the watch provide greater batter life. It will be interesting to see how the Pebble Time does after the release of the much-anticipated Apple Watch. Although if their Kickstarter campaign is any indication of their ability to contend, we shouldn’t have need for concern. 

Do you think the Pebble Time will be as successful as the original Pebble? How do you think the release of the Apple Watch will impact the Pebble Time? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below. 

OCULUS RIFT NEWS ROUND UP: CONSUMER RIFT, TELEPORTATION, XBOX ONE, AND MORE

Oculus Rift

E3 is around corner and Oculus is getting ahead of the action in a number of unveilings in a press conference the week beforehand. Virtual reality is an emerging industry and a number of players are getting aggressive in their attempt to take hold of early market share. Oculus made a number of huge announcements Thursday. We’ve packaged them up for you so that you don’t have to dig around for the details. Check out all the best Oculus announcements below!

Consumer Oculus Rift Revealed!

We’ve seen a number of prototypes of the Oculus Rift over the past couple of years. Oculus finally displayed the consumer version of their soon to be released virtual reality headset. The new rig looks polished with a set of wireless integrated (yet removable) headphones, a lighter and more “glasses friendly” design, and an incredibly engrossing OLED screen with an incredible field of view. (Photos at the bottom of the article) The consumer version of the Oculus Rift is set to be released in quarter one of 2016. Every Oculus Rift will include a wireless Xbox One controller. (More on this partnership in the next section.) 



A full Oculus Rift setup may be a bit costly for some. Due to the render intensive nature of Virtual Reality, the goggles require a high-end gaming computer to be able to fully support the Oculus Rift. As a result, the total setup cost has been estimated by some to be around $1,500 dollars. The exact cost of the headset alone has not been revealed. 

Oculus Rift

Oculus + Xbox One = Project Morpheus’ Twisted Sister

After Sony announced their virtual reality headset for the Playstation 4 last year, many have wondered what cards Microsoft has up its sleeve in the virtual reality space. Some speculated that the console would make use of Microsoft’s Augmented Reality headset, the Hololens. However, in Oculus’ press conference we found out Microsoft’s real Ace of Spades.

Xbox announced at the Oculus’ press conference that the Oculus Rift will be Windows 10 compatible. They also announced that using the Virtual Cinema feature, users will be able to play Xbox games on their Oculus Rift. How will this work?

  1. Xbox will stream its games over the local network to a compatible Windows 10 PC
  2. User will plug-in their Oculus Rift and Xbox One controller into their PC
  3. Using the Oculus Rift, users will be able to play games on a virtual big screen

Currently, the VR experience is limited to playing regular style video games within a virtual theater. What I mean by this is that the virtual reality experience is the theatre as opposed to the Xbox One game itself. Streaming an actual virtual reality experience over a local network could be problematic. One of the biggest hurdles virtual reality has faced over the years is latency. Latency was one of the primary causes for the motion sickness that many experienced in early builds of the Oculus Headset.

Game streaming over a local network has improved drastically with experiences such as Playstation’s Remote Play and the Nividia Shield, however, neither are without noticeable latency. Such added latency would not bode well for a virtual reality experience.. This is likely why Oculus chose to make the virtual cinema the virtual reality experience while simply playing video games in classic “on-screen” style within the virtual cinema; as the computer (not the Xbox) is natively generating the imaging for the virtual cinema. It will be interesting to see if this new partnership between Microsoft and Oculus will eventually bring native Oculus Rift support to the Xbox One without a PC as the “middle-man.” Time will tell.

Announcing a New form of Input: Oculus Touch

The included Xbox One controller will not be the only form of input for the Oculus Rift. Thursday, Oculus announced the Oculus Touch controllers. These unique input devices place two motion controllers in each of your hands. These controllers allow you to interact with virtual content in a much more realistic way. In addition to capturing your motion, each controller has two face-buttons, a joystick, and two trigger buttons. (Shooting seems to be a common thread in video games – a trigger-less input would be like an empty banana.)

As you can see in the picture, the controllers wrap around your hand. While you may have thought this was just a futuristic design, the controllers can actually read your hand gestures. You might finally be able to give that sarcastic thumbs up sign to your virtual friends in the near future. 

No word on price or release date, but the Oculus Touch is expected to release in Q1 2016 after the release of the Oculus Rift itself. 

$10 Million Fund for Indie Developers

Every gaming platform released struggles to have sufficient titles to keep users busy while developers finish the development cycle of their next games. Oculus is pushing hard to fill that oft-famine that occurs shortly after a gaming platform’s release. The company has created a $10 million dollar fund to provide capital to independent developers to develop VR games and experiences. The folks at NDTV have a particularly good explanation as to why this is such a smart move on Oculus’ behalf:

This is particularly important because most big developers – who have huge budgets on the line – can’t take too many risks to figure out what works and what doesn’t in the world of VR. A small indie on the other hand is going to be willing to make weird experiences like a VR cinema, or a Web browser. These early experiments are going to be very important in helping to understand what works and what doesn’t in VR.

Can’t say we don’t agree. Virtual Reality is still in its infancy and most projects are/have been experimental. For the Oculus Rift to be a viable consumer platform, a variety of polished virtual reality experiences need to be available out of the gate. Capital will be a driving force behind this. 

Teleportation Device?!

It’s easy to visualize the Oculus Rift as a gaming or movie platform, but many have overlooked the potential application of virtual reality within other aspects of life. According to the New York Times, Facebook’s Chief Technology Officer Michael Schroepfer, made a very interesting comment about the company’s plans for Oculus beyond gaming when he said, “This is a teleportation device…”

This comment helps bridge the gap as to why a social media company would pay billions to purchase a virtual reality company. In the same way video calling revolutionized communication, virtual reality could be the next step to finally bringing gramps to that family reunion; despite being tethered to his bed in the nursing home. The implication of such technology is huge and shows incredible promise. Schroepfer goes on to say, “What people are missing is that we have a clear path of research and development”, indicating that Facebook has calculated plans in terms of bringing such technology to the masses. The future is bright. 

These are exciting times in the virtual reality space. What are your thoughts on all of Oculus’ recent announcements? Are you going to buy the Oculus Rift? Let us know in the comments below. 



For your viewing pleasure, below are some additional images of the Oculus Rift:

Oculus Rift
Oculus Rift
Oculus Rift


Oculus RIft
Oculus Rift
Oculus RIft

OCULUS DRIVING VIRTUAL REALITY INNOVATION THROUGH $1M CONTEST

Oculus

Before Virtual Reality can reach mainstream adoption, Oculus and other VR advocates need to foster games and apps that really showcase its potential. It’s for this reason that Oculus is throwing an “Oculus’ Mobile VR Jam” contest this year. This “Jam” will allow developers the ability to compete in creating the best “apps, games, and experiences” tailored for Samsung’s Gear VR Innovators Edition. (VR already on the consumer market that leverages the screen of the Galaxy Note 4)

Oculus is offering a pool of $1 million dollars in prizes that will be divided into prize packages for two groups; one for games and the other for apps and “experiences.” The contest will last about a month beginning on April 13th and winners will be announced in June. Developers are expected to submit work at various milestones to qualify and demonstrate progress on their project.

Judgement day for these apps will work as follows per Oculus:

Mobile VR Jam 2015 will have 2 rounds of judging. First, we’ll review videos, images, and descriptions of all the entries to find the most fun and innovative ideas. The top 20% from each track (with a minimum of 30 games and 20 apps or experiences) will go on to the next round, where a panel of judges will play and rate them. 

The$1 million dollar cash prizes will be divided amongst 26 winners. The game that is chosen for “Platinum Game” will receive a hefty paycheck of $200,000 dollars. The two “Gold Games” will be chosen and awarded $100,000 dollars each. Four “Silver Games” will be awarded $50,000 dollars each, while 10 “Bronze Games” to receive $10,000 dollars each. 

Interestingly enough, Apps and Experiences are allotted a lesser amount of cash prizes with the “Platinum App” only receiving half of what the “Platinum Game” will receive: $100,000 dollars. Still a nice paycheck for what most developers would consider a fun, exciting, and engaging project/competition. You can view all the prize amounts and details about the contest on Oculus’ contest post.

This is not the first time that Oculus has put on a development contest to foster such innovation. Back in 2013, the company held a similar contest, but the focus was solely on game development and the prize was microscopic in comparison; $50,000 divided amongst the winners.

Fatter wallets aside, what’s more interesting about this year’s contest are the prizes for apps and “experiences.” Over the past few years, developers have created a number of interesting “experiences” for the Oculus Rift that show ways in which Virtual Reality can be used beyond the application of gaming. Below are some of the more interesting “experiences” we’ve seen with the Oculus Rift thus far:

Virtual Reality Films

Earlier this year, Oculus demoed the potential for Virtual Reality films at the Sundance Film Festival. They also premiered their new film production crew led by a former Pixar director. While reviews on the experience were across the board, many were enamored with the idea of being completely immerse in their films. Critics stated that it wasn’t sufficiently interactive. The question is, at what point does an interactive film become a video game? Most of us want to be lazy when we watch movies anyway. We think they are onto something that could be huge. You can read our full article on Oculus Rift films here.


Oculus

Virtual Reality Fitness

Virtual Reality had a strong presence this past January at the Consumer Electronics shows. A number of different Virtual Reality fitness apps were on display. Two apps that stuck out to us were Runtastic and Ebove B\01. Runtastic is a virtual personal trainer that takes you to exotic locations to do your squats; because living room squats just aren’t enough. The Ebove B\01 is actually more than just an app, it’s a full-fledged interactive VR bike that enables you to exercise inside of your home while hitting some incredible trails. The bike moves in accordance with the elevation changes of the ground creating an extremely immersive experience. You can read our initial thoughts on these “experiences” here.


Oculus

Google Street View

Oculus Street View is an app that mods the typical Google Street View from Google Maps and allows you to immerse yourself into various places. Because Google captures a 360 degree image in its Street View application, you can look around and experience some incredible landmarks. Now, you can finally experience that Eiffel Tower that you’ve always wanted to visit. 


As you can tell, we’re extremely excited for the prospect of Virtual Reality. Hopefully, the hefty cash prize of this year’s contest will foster some innovation in both the areas of both games and apps. We’ll keep you posted and we learn more about cool and exciting projects that result from this contest.

What do you think of Virtual Reality? Do you think it’s a fad that will soon die out? Or do you think Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg knows what he’s doing in investing big in Virtual Reality? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below. 

OBAMA SPEAKS OUT ON NET NEUTRALITY

These internet fast lanes have the potential to become a catalyst for monopolies.”


Net Neutrality has been a public debate for a few years now. Today, Obama made a public announcement on Whitehouse.gov about his plans and intentions for Net Neutrality. In his official statement (which can be viewed below) he explains why we have a need for Net Neutrality and urges the FCC to adopt stricter Net Neutrality standards. Check out his official statement in the video below:

Obama’s primary philosophy in his statement is that we, as the general public, have become just as reliant on an internet connection as public communication services, such as the telephone. He urges to the FCC  to reclassified broadband internet as a public utility to protect our rights to it.

In case you’ve been in a coma for the past couple of years, Net Neutrality, according to PublicKnowledge.org, “is the principle that Internet service providers should enable access to all content and applications equally, regardless of the source, without favoring or blocking particular online services or websites.” Why is this such a big deal? Without Net Neutrality, companies like Verizon and Comcast would have the ability to charge a premium for fast lanes on the internet. Thus, making it harder for the little guys to connect with their consumers because priority connection is given to the highest bidder. These internet fast lanes have the potential to become a catalyst for monopolies.

Net Neutrality

Courtesy of Commonprogress.com

Additionally, these extra charges eat into the margins of the services provided by any company offering an online service; such as Netflix or Hulu. The likely way to absorb the cost would be to put as much onto the consumer as possible without driving away too many customers. Remember when Netflix changed their pricing a few years ago? Imagine the public outcry if every internet service did that at the same time. These fast lanes have the potential to cause such a ripple.

The converse argument coming from internet service providers is that becoming a public utility could potentially stifle innovation in the area of broadband internet. If they can’t increase their bottom line, how can they invest more heavily in further developing higher connection speeds and mediums of connections. It is a valid argument, but in my opinion, the trade-off is not worth the potential to stifle our entire nation from online innovation.

Join with us in promoting the cause of Net Neutrality. Heck, if fast lanes existed today, it’s unlikely that most of you would be reading this article due to us being a start-up and getting much lower priority than the giants out there.

What are your thoughts on Net Neutrality? Are you concerned more about enabling online innovation or further developing the technology behind broadband? Let us know in the comments below.