TechEye |  |
- KDE project at risk as developer disappears
- Wall Street goes insane over Spotify
- Media companies pay up for nicking snaps
- NSA infected computer with malware
- Intel will make rivals' chips
- Skype man says have fun, or shrivel up
| KDE project at risk as developer disappears Posted: 25 Nov 2013 03:51 AM PST An open sauce video editor project has stalled after the project leader, known by the handle Jean-Baptiste Mardelle, disappeared. Kdenlive development efforts have stopped completely after Mardelle stopped posting in July and has not been seen since. So far no one has been able to find Mardelle to establish if he is ok, but it does pour cold ice cubes down the pants of those who see Open Sauce as reliable. Without Mardelle it has been impossible to get commits moving and the software development has stopped completely. According to Phoronix, with the leadership and commits are gone and there was a risk that there would never be a new release again as people drift away. There have been some questions on KDE Forums recently whether Kdenlive development is over, only to have the only response being from a user saying, "no one answers, you might think that the development is finished." There's been no communication from Jean-Baptiste and one of the mailing list threads created one month ago still doesn't have any actual answer on what's going on with the project. |
| Wall Street goes insane over Spotify Posted: 25 Nov 2013 03:50 AM PST The cocaine nose jobs of Wall Street who created the dot.com bubble seem set to do the same thing again. Spotify has reportedly been valued at $4 billion after securing $250 million in financing for global expansion. The round of funding, spearheaded by Technology Crossover Ventures, will help the music streaming giant break into new territories such as Japan, enthused The Wall Street Journal. . However, the valuation figure is a little daft. It makes the company more valuable than Pandora in terms of market capitalisation, with the firm's US rival currently worth $5.7 billion. The Journal said that the Swedish company has pulled in more revenue than Pandora over the last financial year - $585 million compared to its competitor's $427 million, most of which was generated from sales of premium subscriptions. The only downside is that none of them have made any money. Pandora said it had a third-quarter loss of $1.7 million as it spent more on content and sales and marketing. Spotify pulls in most of its revenue from premium subscriptions and the rest from advertisers. It also has more than 24 million active free users. In other words, they are both valuable to Wall Street and yet none are actually making profits yet. True they are on their way to making profits, but they are a long way from doing so yet. For those with long memories that was the scenario which was playing out during the dotcom bubble bursting. |
| Media companies pay up for nicking snaps Posted: 25 Nov 2013 03:49 AM PST Two media companies have been ordered to write a cheque for $US1.2 million to a freelance photojournalist for their unauthorised use of photographs he posted to Twitter. The court found that Agence France-Presse and Getty Images wilfully violated the Copyright Act when they used photos Daniel Morel took in his native Haiti after the 2010 earthquake that killed more than 250,000 people. The case is one of the first to make a ruling on how images that individuals make available to the public through social media can be used by third parties to make a bob or two. According to ABC, it is likely to be the first time any other major digital licensor of photography, have been found liable for wilful violations of the US Copyright Act. US District Judge Alison Nathan, who presided over the trial, ruled in January the two companies were liable for infringement. The court heard how an editor at AFP discovered Morel's photos through another Twitter user's account and provided them to Getty. The snaps were widely distributed to Getty's clients, including several television networks and the Washington Post. The fine of $US1.2 million was the maximum statutory penalty available under the Copyright Act. AFP had asked for the award to be limited to $US120,000. It was lucky, if they had nicked music, Big Content would have been after them for a trillion or two. The Washington Post, CBS, ABC and CNN previously settled with the photographer for undisclosed amounts. Getty sniffily told the court that Daniel Morel was asking the jury "to make him the best paid news photographer on the planet". Such a line may not have won the jury over, but it does reflect the attitude among big media companies that photographers and writers should be paid peanuts and should have no rights when big media companies steal from them. AFP, blamed the infringement on an innocent mistake and said the Twitter user who posted the photos without attribution bore responsibility for the error. In fact it sued Morel, seeking a declaration it had not infringed on his copyrights after Morel accused it of improper use. Morel then filed his own counterclaims. AFP then had a go at claiming it was allowed to steal the photos and Twitter's terms of service permitted the use of the photos. Judge Nathan found in January that the company's policies allowed posting and "retweeting" of images but did not grant the right to use them commercially. |
| NSA infected computer with malware Posted: 25 Nov 2013 03:47 AM PST If you have a problem with a Trojan Horse you might be relieved to know that it comes with the blessing of the US government. According to the latest Snowden release, the American intelligence service infected more than 50,000 computer networks worldwide with malicious software designed to steal sensitive information. According to a management presentation the NSA uses something it calls 'Computer Network Exploitation' (CNE) in more than 50,000 locations. This is spyspeak for the secret infiltration of computer systems achieved by installing malware, malicious software. Apparently the NSA employs more than a thousand hackers called TAO (Tailored Access Operations) to carry out the attacks. Computer hacks are cheap and provide the NSA with opportunities to obtain information that they otherwise would not have access. The NSA-presentation shows their CNE-operations in Venezuela where the malware installed in these countries can remain active for years without being detected. The malware can be controlled remotely and be turned on and off at will. Snowden also revealed how the Dutch intelligence services - AIVD and MIVD – have displayed interest in hacking and has created its Joint Sigint Cyber Unit. But the new unit is prohibited by law from performing the type of operations carried out by the NSA as Dutch law does not allow this type of internet searches. |
| Posted: 25 Nov 2013 02:04 AM PST Fashion bag maker Chipzilla has surprised punters by saying that it is happy to start making its rivals' chips. Intel said that it has changed a major tenant of its contract manufacturing strategy and will allow chips based on rivals' designs in Intel's own factories. It had previously said that it will not allow competitors access to Intel's leading-edge factories and would not make chips based on designs from Intel rival ARM. New Intel President Renee James told investors and analysts at the company's annual investor day at corporate headquarters that Intel was evolving. We guess this means that its business plan has opposable thumbs and will totally annoy those who believe that chips are created in seven days. Under the new plan, Intel will evaluate prospective foundry clients on a "deal by deal basis, not on an architecture by architecture basis". Apparently, it will not matter if they are making chips that will compete with Intel's. It will be all part of Intel's moves to become a foundry operation. |
| Skype man says have fun, or shrivel up Posted: 25 Nov 2013 01:06 AM PST A co-founder of Skype told an audience of luminaries and me that if you aren’t having fun with your start-up, the chances of success are slim. |
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