In our article series, we're digging into AfterDawn's news archive and looking what happened exactly 20 years ago. This article series also celebrates AfterDawn's 20th anniversary.
So, we're digging into our news archive and trying to figure out what was hot and what was not, back in November, 1999 when our site was only four months old. I'd like to remind you, our readers, that back then, AfterDawn was strictly focused on digital audio and video technologies and reporting events in those genres. More generic "all about tech" arrived to our site much later.
New file sharing software pop up almost daily
As Napster has grabbed the headlines across the world, competitors appear on almost daily basis to take a slice of the growing file sharing business. Legal or not, there's a goldrush among software developers those days, hoping that somehow, file sharing would be deemed legal and one of the players would emerge out of the wars as the winner.
In our news back in November, 1999, we covered several software releases related to file sharing software. One of the strongest players back then was CuteMX. Software itself didn't live for very long, as the developers decided to call it quits after Napster's troubles with the law started to grow. But for a very short time, back then, it was considered as the top contender to Napster - superior technically in many ways.
Valve's Steam Controller is to become a part of gaming history as the company confirms it is manufacturing no more units.
Valve first introduced the initial Steam Controller to the world in September 2013, as part of its Steam Machine initiative. It was a different controller than most gamers were used to. Instead of the common-place thumbsticks, it sports clickable trackpads that deliver haptic feedback. It also features fourteen separate buttons.
It's odd-looking design and unconventional feel did earn it some scorn from gamers, but that didn't stop it amassing its own following. This is due to the fact that it is one of the most customizable gamepads available, and thousands of gamers uploaded their own custom configs for their game libraries on Steam.
If you haven't used one and would like to own a piece of gaming history, you can buy it for a limited time for $5, if you are willing to pay the full shipping cost. Valve confirmed to The Verge that this is the last of the supply and there will be no more. It will be on sale until December 3, presumably only if stocks last.
Twitter has backtracked on plans to remove inactive accounts after users pleaded with the social network not to delete accounts of people who have passed away.
The service was planning to do some house cleaning by removing inactive Twitter accounts, starting on December 12. Accounts that could be removed would have to be inactive for at least six months. Twitter had assured users that there will be no mass purge on December 12, rather the removal of inactive accounts would be spread out.
However, concerns were raised immediately that accounts belong to users who have died would be included in the deletions. Some users took to Twitter to plead with the firm to reconsider, often admitting to visiting the accounts of dead relatives and friends from time to time.
Hi @Twitter, please consider the possibility of memorialising accounts. I often refer back to my late partners tweets as a reminder of Dean's thoughts & feelings & the memories we've shared. Don't remove accounts before sorting this, please. https://t.co/qd6TYW9Ode
Owners of new Chromebooks can redeem three months free Disney+ streaming if they activate the Chromebook within a limited time frame.
Google is pushing Chromebooks ahead of the busy holiday season. It is offering three months of free Disney+ streaming access to users who buy (or receive) a brand new Chromebook during the holidays. To be eligible for the offer, you must activate a new Chromebook between November 25 and January 31.
After that, you must visit a dedicated page to redeem the offer on Google's website.
Disney+ typically costs $6.99 per month. It provides access to a library of around 500 films and over 3,500 TV show episodes from the company's extensive catalog.
The service already has had more than ten million sign-ups since it launched.
In one of those "WHAT?" decisions, Google has removed one of the most popular torrent client, LibreTorrent from its Android app store.
LibreTorrent has become extremely popular among Android users simply bacuse it doesn't use aggressive advertising and it simple works as should. So, as the app has a good reputation, it has sparked tons of copycats in Google Play store, with name variations created from LibreTorrent's official name. Typically, those clones use 3rd party torrent code and come bundled with massive pile of aggressive advertising, creating a bad user experience.
One would imagine that Google would clean its store by kicking out the copycats?
Nope. Instead, Google has decided to remove the official LibreTorrent from its store.
After this rather surprising move, the developer of the app filed an appeal to get his app listed back to the Play store. Google, however, refused to do so, stating that "We don't allow apps that spam users or Google Play, such as apps that are duplicative and low-quality".
Good reasoning. Only problem with that is the fact that it applies to all the LibreTorrent clones, not to the official product itself. Only way for the author to get the app listed again would be to change its name and add it as a completely new app to the Play Store - losing the millions of downloads, reviews and the name recognition of the app. The very name recognition that caused the mess in the first place.
Elon Musk took the stage last week to announce their long-awaited pickup truck. The Cybertruck, as he calls it, was finally unveiled, and it was exactly what Musk promised.
The Cyberpunk and Blade Runner themed angular all metal beast was undoubtedly one of the most questionable designs in a vehicle ever.
Obviously the design has been the primary debate for the past few days, but the trucks specs are definitely good. So is the pricing.
While pre-orders aren't ready yet, since the production is yet to begin. However, in a very Tesla way, you can post a small deposit to reserve a spot in the pre-order pipeline.
This time around the deposit is only $100 and its refundable, which might explain in large part how many have actually reserved their pre-order spot.
Musk has been occasionally updating us over the past few days on Twitter, and last night he posted a simple tweet indicating that over 200 000 people have posted their deposit.
This is a massive amount of people showing interest in the futuristic truck, especially after such a divided, even harsh response to the truck's design.
One has to still remember that Ford sells more than a million F-150 trucks each year, and a $100 deposit does not a $40 000 purchase make.
It was kinda inevitable, really. TV series piracy is booming again, thanks to a one TV series that is availabke only in handful of countries.
You don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure this one out. Star Wars universe has always been extrenely popular - and in recent years, even more so. In fact, the final movie in the original movie series is set to hit the movie theaters in December, 2019. Then, you create a first live action, made-for-adults TV series to the Star Wars universe, with massive budget. Series gets extremely good ratings in IMDB (pilot has the average of 9.3/10 and two other episodes have also average around 8.5/10).
Only legal way to watch the series is recently launched Disney+ service.
And Disney+ service is only available in five countries in the world.
What happens? You have a massive amount of people who are eager to watch the show, no matter what.
So, even those people who kinda dropped the whole torrenting business half a decade ago or so - when Netflix et al finally arrived to most countries, providing a legal way to binge-watch movies and TV shows - are back into the piracy game again. Disney+ is currently available only in United States, Canada, the Netherlands, Australia and New Zealand.
Electronic cigarettes, or vaping as the kids call it, has grown in popularity immensely in the past decade or so. It has largely grown out of people wanting to get rid of traditional cigarettes for a healthier option, but it also differs in terms of technology.
Vaping involves a technology that uses usually electricity to turn liquid into inhalable vapor. This combined with the fact that everything is nowadays intermingled with smartphones, you expect there to be vaping apps too, right?
Well there's an app for it, in fact tons of them. However, Apple's recent decision has purged all of them from the App Store.
This is due to the fact that recently some deaths and other health issues have been connected, however loosely, to vaping. Not too long ago China banned the selling of electronic cigarettes online.
While that might not be because of realistic health concerns, who knows what kind of market control idea is really behind it, Apple seems to believe there's a reason to discourage vaping. In fact, the company had halted the submit process for vaping apps already June.
To go a step further, now they are all gone from the App Store.
According to Apple, the removal decision has been made with help of CDC as well American Heart Association who've determined that vaping has resulted lung injuries.
Google's try at a gaming platform is right around the corner. Stadia is set to release tomorrow to the public.
The search giant has confirmed previously that the games you'll see in the streaming game service aren't going to be the same games you play on traditional consoles or PC. In fact, they aren't even ports of those games.
While it's certainly exciting that Stadia offers if not exclusive, at least games that are ground up built for the platform, the question remains, how are they going to acquire enough games to keep the platform lively.
Google has previously promised around a dozen games at start. However, we've got some good news for those of you ready to rock you brand new Stadia controller. The company has added another 10 launch titles, nearly doubling the game selection.
The new games include: Attack on Titan: Final Battle 2, Farming Simulator 2019, Final Fantasy XV, Football Manager 2020, Grid 2019, Metro Exodus, NBA 2K20, Rage 2, Trials Rising, and Wolfenstein: Youngblood.
As you can see from the list above as well as the full list of launch titles below, there are some interesting triple A titles from big publishers. There's still ways to go for Stadia, as 22 games is not going to keep people playing for long.
Facebook who owns the extremely popular messaging app WhatsApp has announced that they have found a potentially very dangerous security problem with WhatsApp.
Issue is related to video playback within the WhatsApp software and namely, to a buffer overflow problem related to MP4 videos. Malicious party can send a specially crafted MP4 video file to the recipient and hijack the phone, without user even knowing about it.
The video itself would play just fine, but in the background, the specially crafted MP4 file could open the phone operating system for hackers to run their own code on the phone. Such malicious code can be pretty much anything: mining cryptocurrency for the criminals, sending out millions of spam emails to other recipients, to be part of a denial-of-service attacks against other services, etc.
The bug is related to parsing the elementary stream metadata of MP4 video files.
There's a patched version of WhatsApp available for Android, iPhone and Windows Phone users.
Affected versions:
Android versions prior to 2.19.274
iOS versions prior to 2.19.100
Enterprise Client versions prior to 2.25.3
Windows Phone versions before and including 2.18.368
So, head to your phone's app store immediately and update your WhatsApp right away!
Tesla's success with electric vehicles shouldn't be a surprise to anyone at this point. Traditional automakers have been concocting their own recipes for years now to beat Tesla at its own game, but no challenger has yet been really worthy.
Even the recently announced Porsche Taycan Turbo S isn't going to cut it, after all with all its impressive performance and Porsche prestige it is nearly $200,000.
One is waiting for a proper competitor in the sub-$50,000 segment from the likes of Volkswagen or Toyota. Or Ford.
Indeed, Ford is now ready to announced its sporty electric vehicle. Mustang Mach-E seems to be the most direct competitor to Tesla from a old-school car giant.
The official release party is held in couple of days but we've got some leaked imagery of the futuristic Mustang.
MachEForum managed to acquire screenshots from the official website that was launched pre-maturely and pulled after the leak.
While it's undeniably a Ford, and a Mustang, there are some changes in the design which could be considered EV features. There's no grill up front since there's no engine to cool down, and there are no exhausts because it doesn't pollute – no at least in the similar fashion as gas cars.
Google has today started the rollout for its Rich Communication Service messaging feature on Android. RCS allows rich messaging on Android's default Messages app, including pictures and read receipts among other things, not unlike Apple's iMessage.
The company has been trying to work with carriers and partners to bring the feature to Android. However, now Google has decided to bypass some of the slow-moving machinery to implement it themselves.
The feature should come to all handsets in the U.S. shortly. The rollout has already began and you might be seeing a new popup window in Messages to suggest about the new chat features.
RCH uses Wi-Fi or cellular data connection to send rich messages in the SMS app. It allows sharing of higher quality images, including those precious meme gifs, as well as videos, and has support for read receipts and shows when the recipient is writing.
If you are among the first to find yourself with the new feature, you can enable it following the instructions of the popup window.
Currently the RCS is only available in France, Mexico, the U.S., and the U.K., but more countries are surely soon to join. Google said that U.S. customers should receive the feature broadly by the end of the year.
SpaceX has successfully run tests on its human-rated Crew Dragon capsule following an unfortunate explosion earlier this year.
The launch provider sent a Crew Dragon capsule to the International Space Station back in March this year. The mission was a success with a nominal launch and docking of the Crew Dragon to the station. After a few days, it left the ISS and returned to the surface of the Earth.
Unfortunately for SpaceX and NASA's short term goals, the same Crew Dragon that was docked to the ISS for several days subsequently exploded during a test in April. This pushed things back while SpaceX investigated the cause of the explosion during the tests, delaying America's return to human space flight following the retirement of the space shuttle.
Last month, SpaceX CEO met with NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine at SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne following a public spat between the two. It was sparked by a tweet sent by Bridenstine that seemed to remind SpaceX of its delays in the crew launch area as the firm was showing off its latest developments with Starship.
SpaceX found that the explosion was due to a leak of a liquid oxidizer into high pressure helium tubes due to a fault component. The test was being carried out on the vehicle's launch escape system, which would separate the capsule from a failing rocket during ascent, protecting the lives of the astronauts on board.
Rockstar Games has provided an update for frustrated PC gamers after a rocky launch for its Read Dead Redemption 2 title on the platform.
Rockstar said it has been working around to clock to address issues that have affected RDD2 players since it launched last week, but acknowledged that despite the work there are still issues for some players. The developer identified game stuttering issues and linked them to "unforeseen issues related to specific combinations of Nvidia graphics drivers, Nvidia GPU cards and certain CPU's."
It is rolling out an update that will address the stuttering issue alongside other fixes, but it is still working with Nvidia to completely resolve the stuttering issue. It may take a few days for the developer to properly test new updates before they can be pushed out.
"We sincerely apologize for this temporary inconvenience and will update you as soon as we have more information to share," Rockstar said in a press release.
"And as a show of gratitude to our PC fans while we sort this out in the coming days, everyone who plays Red Dead Redemption 2 on PC this week and through to the holiday season will receive a complimentary care package for Red Dead Online that includes the Prieto Poncho and an assortment of provisions and ammo. Look for more details on the care package to come."
Netflix and Nickelodeon have announced a new deal to produce new animated content for Netflix' streaming service.
Under the new deal, the pair will produce new animated content based on Nickelodeon characters from its extensive library. Netflix has worked with Nickelodeon before on content like Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus, and Rocko's Modern Life: Static Cling.
Forthcoming content will also include specials based on The Loud House and Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
"Nickelodeon has generated scores of characters that kids love, and we look forward to telling wholly original stories that re-imagine and expand on the worlds they inhabit," said Netflix vice president of original animation, Melissa Cobb.
"We're thrilled to continue collaborating with Brian Robbins, Ramsey Naito, and the creative team at Nickelodeon in new ways as we look to find fresh voices and bring bold stories to our global audience on Netflix."
The announcement comes after Disney launched the Disney+ streaming service on Tuesday. Disney+ attracted ten million users in its first two days despite technical glitches.
Motorola Razr is among the most legendary mobile handsets ever to roam the earth, and now it has made a comeback.
As rumored, Motorola announced their modern day revamp of their epic clamshell phone. The new Razr is a clamshell design but with a full touch screen on the inside.
This is perhaps the most innovative way to use the new folding display technology we've seen to date. However, it comes with a steep price tag or $1499, and it's unfortunately a Verizon exclusive for the foreseeable future.
Let's take a look at the specs. While closed, the device looks pretty much like the old Razr phones with a 16 MP camera with f/1.7 and EIS. Under the camera you'll find a small 2.7 inch 800x600.
The secondary display can be used for quick look at the time and notifications, but it also makes the 16 MP camera work as a selfie shooter while the device is closed.
Disney launched their hotly anticipated streaming service just couple days ago, and already it has become a strong competitor with subscriber count in the double digit millions.
In its first day, Disney+ managed to accrue more than 10 million subscribers, a surprisingly large audience which brought along some technical issues to deal with. Many of the subscribers had already joined before the launch, of course.
10 million users is nothing to scoff at. It took four years for HBO to accumulate similar numbers for their HBO Now service. Hulu, which has support of major cable companies behind it only has 28 million users at this point.
Netflix is still fairly far away with 60 million U.S. subscribers, but it will be interesting to see how figures develop in the coming months and years.
Disney has already managed to complete its first official goal of 10 to 18 million users in its first year, assuming that customers are not going to abandon the service. While the service launched with some strong titles, it remains to be seen whether Disney's updating catalog is enough to reel in additional customers.
Google's Chrome Browser will soon show varied warnings about slow loading webpages.
At some point in the near future, users of Google's Chrome Browser will start to see various flags and warnings about slow loading webpages as they browse the web. Google engineers refer to this planned practice as "speed badging", with the ultimate goal to alert users to slow websites and give some explanation as to why they are so slow.
The warnings will vary from text to graphic warnings that reflect the reasons for the delays. A webpage could load slowly if it uses inefficient coding, for example. However, the problem with the slow loading of a webpage may not lie with the developer of that particular website at all.
These days, a lot of page load delays are caused by the inclusion of third party elements in the webpage. These can include advertisers that have to be provided by the servers of an ad network (Google Adsence, for example). Another common element is the inclusion of analytics code which can require third party services (Google Analytics, for example).
More common nowadays again is the inclusion of social media and other gadgets, which also require the web browser to connect to third party servers to load elements.
Despite technical glitches affecting the new streaming service from the entertainment giant, Disney is positive about the reasons for the disruptions.
Some users who have signed up for the new Disney+ streaming service have experienced some technical difficulties on launch day. One common problem is the appearance of a blue screen featuring an image of Mickey Mouse, accompanied by a message instructing the user to exit the app and try again.
Whatever the glitches may be, Disney has explained that the problems are down to heavier demand for the new service that was anticipated for launch day.
"The consumer demand for Disney+ has exceeded our highest expectations. ... we are aware of the current user issues and are working to swiftly resolve them," Disney said in a statement, reports Reuters.
While that's a bummer for affected customers, this is a good sign for Disney as it aims to take on rivals in space including Netflix. Disney+ costs $7 a month and provides access to a library of around 500 films and over 3,500 TV show episodes from the company's extensive catalog.
If you have an older Samsung Smart Television then Netflix might not work anymore in a few weeks' times.
Due to the technical limitations of older devices, Netflix and other such services often have to kill official support for apps on those devices. The latest roundup of devices that will not have Netflix soon include several Samsung smart televisions and older Roku set top boxes.
Specifically, Samsung has confirmed that some of its Vizio line-up of smart TVs sold from around 8-9 years ago will no longer support Netflix from December 2nd. This is an unfortunate long term cost of being an early adopter of any new product.
"Netflix has announced that due to technical limitations, as of December 2, 2019, the Netflix streaming service will no longer be supported on several consumer electronics devices, including some from Samsung. This change will impact select 2010 and 2011 Samsung Smart TV models that were sold in the U.S. and Canada. Affected devices will receive a notification reflecting this change."
It's not the end of the world if your television is affected however. Things have changed dramatically since 2010 with streaming devices like Chromecast carrying a wide range of supported services with a low cost. A new Chromecast would not only fix the Netflix problem on your old Samsung TV, it would be an upgrade compared to the old functionality.
Google has partnered with several security firms in forming a group that aims to detect and prevent malware-laden apps from getting onto the Play Store.
There are currently more than 2.5 billion Android devices in the wild. Most get their apps from Google's Play Store. While Google does have systems in place to find malicious apps and prevent them from being published to the service, some do slip through the cracks from time to time.
In order to fight back, Google has announced the App Defense Alliance. Its members include ESET, Google, Lookout, and Zimperium. Google's Play Protect detection systems will be integrated with the partner's scanning engines.
Apps queued for publishing will face intense scrutiny from the technologies of each member of the alliance. Their systems use a combination of machine learning and static/dynamic analysis to detect abusive behavior. Google's position is that more eyes are better for detecting problems ahead of time.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has announced when the company will show off its electric pickup truck.
Musk previously suggested that Ford's F-150 is a benchmark model for its electric pickup truck, which he says has a "cyberpunk" design. The goal, Musk said at a recent shareholder meeting, is that the Tesla pickup will meet or exceed the abilities of the Ford F-150.
The world will get a look at Tesla's take on an electric pickup on November 21 in Los Angeles. Musk announced the date and location on Twitter.
He went on to tweet that the date was strangely familiar, along with a link to the Opening Titles of the original Blade Runner, which is set in November 2019.
Disney's online streaming service is about to launch, and some of you might have already decided to subscribe, perhaps due to a persuasive deal that was in high demand.
There's going to be tons of stuff straight from day one, as the company has portrayed here in a three-hour marathon trailer spectacular. However, there's one film that will likely bring much more customers their way than all the old Disney cartoons combined.
We're of course talking about the blockbuster of all time, Avengers: Endgame.
It has now been revealed that Disney will release the movie earlier than previously suggested, perhaps to accrue more impressive early numbers for their streaming service. It was suggested earlier that the movie would hit Disney+ roughly a month after the service launched.
Avengers: Endgame joins launch titles, available immediately on November 12, alongside the likes of Star Wars show The Mandalorian and Captain Marvel. This is the case for the US and Canada, as well as the Netherlands.
A criminal investigation resulting from a data center raid almost five years ago has come to a close with no conviction.
In December 2014, police raided a data center in Sweden. The action brought down several major BitTorrent websites and pushed the notorious Pirate Bay offline for around two months. As part of the investigation, police targeted Pirate Bay co-founder Fredrik Neij.
Prosecutors reportedly had evidence against Neij, but as of now, the case is formally closed. Under Swedish law, the prosecution needed to reach Neij for "final serving", which gives a defendant a chance to review the evidence in a case.
In the five years since the December 2014 raid, the prosecution failed to reach Neij for final serving, and now the time has run out. The statute of limitations has expired and so no case related to the 2014 raid can be made against him.
"The investigation was closed because the statute of limitations expired," prosecutor Anna Ginner told TorrentFreak.
"The investigation was finished. However, we did not manage to contact the suspect to give him the possibility to review the investigation on final serving."
While the criminal case is now closed, the aftermath of the raid did result in a tug of war over the ThePirateBay.se domain, which ended up in possession of the Swedish state.
In our article series, we're digging into AfterDawn's news archive and looking what happened exactly 20 years ago. This article series also celebrates AfterDawn's 20th anniversary.
Valve's Steam Controller is to become a part of gaming history as the company confirms it is manufacturing no more units.
Twitter has backtracked on plans to remove inactive accounts after users pleaded with the social network not to delete accounts of people who have passed away.
