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Infamous torrent tracker The Pirate Bay has been taken down today following a raid by Swedish police in which servers, computers and other equipment were seized.

Other torrent sites and even Pirate Bay's forum Suprbay.org is down too.

"There has been a crackdown on a server room in Greater Stockholm. This is in connection with violations of copyright law," read a statement from Paul Pintér, police national coordinator for IP enforcement in Sweden.

It is unclear if the raid was aimed at The Pirate Bay, although it seems very likely given the high profile of the site and its ire in the global anti-piracy community.

We will keep you updated on the situation.

According to a new report, luxury Swiss watchmaker TAG Heuer is preparing to unveil a smartwatch at next month's CES event.

CES 2015 starts on January 5th and there is expected to be a plethora of new wearables revealed for release in the Q1 or later.

The new rumored watch will run on an Intel processor and it expected to be able to measure steps, burned calories, and sleep patterns.

It is unclear if the watch will have a touchscreen, but it is not expected to, with the design rumored to be similar to the Withings Activité or the HP Chronowing.

Source:
BI

The Twitch app for Xbox One has gotten a major update greatly improving search, and also adding video-on-demand and a Home screen revamp.

The search now allowed you to use Xbox Live's new ability to associate real-time gameplay stats with broadcasts, which enables a massive array of search options. The filters could include player stats, game modes, maps, player skill level, in-game activity, progress, and so on.

"Want to search for the Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare broadcaster with the highest kill/death ratio? How about instantly queuing up a Halo match from whoever has the highest rank in Slayer mode, or finding Forza Horizon 2 players who are driving a specific class of car?" writes Larry Hryb.

The update means that up and coming broadcasters can find an audience because if they are very good at games they could quickly attract an audience.

Additionally, Xbox One is the first platform which brings a full-featured Twitch app including video on demand. You'll begin to see highlights and past broadcasts available to watch at any time, even when the broadcaster is offline.

The Home screen has also been updated to provide a more personalized experience while broadcasters can take advantage of new profile pages.

Several media organizations are trying to get Steve Jobs' deposition video from the antitrust trial currently under way released for the public to view.

The two hour video was recorded six months prior to Jobs' death in 2011, and thirty minutes of it was shown in court last week during an antitrust case. The video caught the attention of the media very quickly, as it's one of the last videos recorded of the Apple founder before his death.

"Given the substantial public interest in the rare posthumous appearance of Steve Jobs in this trial, there simply is no interest that justifies restricting the public's access to his video deposition," attorney Thomas Burke, representing the Associated Press, Bloomberg and CNN, wrote in a filing.

The video is not technically sealed evidence, but it could be sealed retroactively if the judge chose to do so. Apple does not want the Jobs' video released.

The case is almost a decade old. Apple stands accused of harming competition by using its FairPlay digital rights management system to tie iTunes-purchased music to its iPods, which generally sold for a higher price than rival's hardware.

The video player that Microsoft bundles with Windows 8.1 has finally gotten support for MKV files, meaning users will no longer have to rely on third party applications for every video.

The MKV support was added in the latest version of the app (Xbox Video v2.6.0432.0) and it means that users will not longer have to use third party apps like VLC in some cases to play MKV files. However, when it comes to MKV files, simply supporting the container doesn't provide guarantees of success.

MKV is popular because of the flexibility of the container, it can contain a wide variety of video streams, audio streams, subtitle streams and so on. Therefore, you could run into problems playing MKV files correctly if the content streams in the container format aren't supported by the player - in other words if it doesn't have the appropriate codecs for them.

So perhaps it is better to stick to VLC for now, rather than the bundled Metro Xbox Video app.

Other than the MKV support, the update only provides a few minor bug fixes and nothing really major. It is available at the Windows Store.

The group claiming responsibility for the massive Sony Pictures breach in November have demanded that the release film starring Seth Rogen and James France be cancelled

The Interview stars the pair as journalists who have been recruited by the CIA into a plot to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. North Korea has condemned the movie as an act of war and of sponsoring terrorism, though North Korea has denied any involvement in the Sony hack.

Despite denying involvement, North Korea did describe the hacking and later leaking of massive amounts of data from the entertainment company as a "righteous deed."

A message from the group calling itself the Guardians of Peace has demanded that the film be dropped. "Stop immediately showing the movie of terrorism which can break the regional peace and cause the War," the demand reads. The group also denied that it sent e-mails to Sony Pictures employees last week threatening them and their families.

Amazon has announced that some content is now available to Amazon Prime members in Ultra HD, but the selected is limited for now.

Customers will not have to pay any additional fee for the resolution upgrade, which is always nice. The selection for now is very limited, including Amazon Original Series including the sophomore season of fan-favorite Alpha House, the critically-acclaimed Writers Guild of America nominated series Transparent, and children's series Gortimer Gibbon's Life on Normal Street, and more content from Amazon Studios.

BBC America's Orphan Black is also available, and several films from Sony Pictures Entertainment including Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Funny Girl, Hitch and Philadelphia are available in 4K.

The video will be streamed at a resolution of 3840 x 2160, or 8.3 million pixels, and are available through the Prime Instant Video app or on supported Smart TVs from LG, Samsung and Sony.

"We want to deliver the best entertainment experience, and offering Ultra HD movies and TV shows raises the bar on quality and innovation that customers have come to expect from Amazon," said Michael Paull, Vice President, Amazon Digital Video.

"We're also excited that Ultra HD is the latest benefit of the Amazon Prime membership, giving members instant access to great movies and TV shows in a premium picture resolution at no additional cost."

Sony has confirmed that its systems are back online and operating as normal after the PlayStation Network and PlayStation Store were inhibited by a DDoS attack.

The Japanese firm has insisted that there are no indications of a wider hack that would involve any sensitive user data. A group called Lizard Squad took credit for downing the services and promised there would be more disruption for gaming services during the holiday period.

The same group took credit for an Xbox Live outage recently.

There is no link between this cyber attack on Sony's gaming services, and the massive breach of Sony Pictures in November.

The pressure is piling on Uber overseas, and now it is facing more domestic opposition as the City of Portland, Oregon has filed a lawsuit against the app-driven car service.

The lawsuit alleges that Uber has started operating private-for hire transportation services in the city, and it wants the court to declare that the San Franciso firm is subject to and in violation of the Private for Hire Transportation Regulations and Administrative Rules of the city.

It seeks an injunction to force Uber to stop operating the service in the city until it complies with the safety, health and consumer protection rules that apply to it.

"I am hereby directing that Uber Technologies Inc.... or any other Uber affiliate entity immediately cease and desist operating within the City of Portland until such time as appropriate permits are obtained and Uber is in full compliance with the requirements of Portland City Code Chapter 16.40," Transportation Director Leah Treat wrote in a cease and desist letter sent to Uber.

"Please alert all Uber-affiliated drivers that they are to cease and desist."

Source: Portland Bureau of Transportation

After two years, VLC for Android is out of beta and it comes with bug fixes but not with Chromecast support just yet.

VLC for Android 1.0 is now available and officially puts the project out of beta. Specifically, it fixes known bugs with devices with ARMv8 processors and also some bugs when running under Android 5.0.

Unfortunately, it would appear that Chromecast support that was announced earlier this year still evades this release, but hopefully it will be coming along soon.

VLC is one of the most popular multimedia players for Desktops because it supports a very wide range of multimedia content natively, and doesn't rely on external codecs for playback. When it was announced for Android in 2012 it excited a lot of Android tablet and smartphone owners, but its journey out of beta has been longer then anticipated.

Other apps, such as MXPlayer, have gained a lot of support on Android. VLC for Android is available for free of course to download from Google Play and supported by Android 2.1 and newer.

NOTE: It has just been updated so the latest update might not be visible for everyone yet.

Download VLC for Android from Google Play

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Amazon will trial one-hour delivery of goods via bike messengers starting in New York City.

"Amazon Prime Now" aims to cut delivery time of products to customers in order to cut more into the benefits of shopping at physical stores, according to sources cited by the WSJ.

They also revealed that Amazon has been experimenting with three separate courier services to determine the fastest and most careful option for the trial.

Amazon will use its West 34th Street location as a base for bike messengers, who will earn around $15 an hour and work eight hour shifts.


Sources and Recommended Reading:
Amazon Tests Bike Messengers for One-Hour Delivery in New York City: www.wsj.com

You can now get your hands on an 'innovator edition' of Samsung's Galaxy VR headset for $199.99 in the United States.

However, you should remember that you need a Galaxy Note 4 in order to use the device, and no other smartphone or devices will work with it. In fact, at this current time, even the Verizon version of the Note 4 will not work, but Samsung has promised support is coming soon.

Some high-quality gaming apps may require the use of an Android game controller to offer control capabilities in addition to the Gear VR's integrated touchpad and tracking sensors.

"The Galaxy Note 4's amazing screen and processor makes it all possible. Samsung's industry leading Super AMOLED display technology and cutting-edge Oculus-driven software fuse to create an experience that you have to see to believe," Samsung's Gear V4 product page reads.

"With the Gear VR Innovator Edition, users can explore new worlds, be on-stage at a performance with full 360 degree video, and can enjoy gaming in a way that's never been done before – all with just your Galaxy Note 4 and Gear VR Innovator's Edition."

This device is targeted at developers and early adopters who typically just want to be ahead of the rest when it comes to newer technology, so most people will want to wait a while to see where this goes.

Under copyright law reform proposals in Australia, access to piracy websites could be blocked by Internet users, but downloaders would escape further punishment.

The proposals are the latest part in an ongoing debate in Australia over how to tackle Internet piracy in the region. Internet providers and content owners already attempted to come to terms face to face, but issues such as who pays the cost of enforcement led to talks largely going nowhere.

Now Attorney-General George Brandis and Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull have come up with a minimalist set of reforms for debate, and it means that downloaders will avoid harsh penalties, such as the throttling of speeds by the ISP.

The copyright lobby is likely to be unhappy with the proposals, despite opening the door to blocking access to websites overseas that provide access to illegal downloads.

"We have a very high rate of internet piracy in Australia, particular in film and TV product. At the same time – and Malcolm Turnbull himself has commented on this – I think we need to see more being done to make content more readily and more cheaply available," said Shadow attorney-general Mark Dreyfus, reports The Age.

According to new reports, Vimeo Pro users can now upload their content in 4K and make it available for others to download.

For the time being, streaming in 4K is being blocked by Vimeo but it is not out of the cards for the future. Vimeo CTO Andrew Pile noted that "It's pretty early for streaming but the new iMac is gonna be a turning point." Apple's latest device has the capability of streaming 5K content, which is way beyond what any mainstream service currently offers.

Vimeo On Demand is where you will find the most content in the future, as users have been able to upload 4K videos to the service, but Vimeo was transcoding it to lower resolutions.

With the move, Vimeo joins Amazon, Netflix and YouTube in offering limited 4K content.

Source:
Gigaom

Grooveshark, the music streaming service that has been almost completely destroyed by copyright lawsuits, is looking to reinvent itself next year with a legal radio service.

If accurate, the reports claim the radio service will launch as soon as next month, and cost just 99 cents per month for streaming without ads.

Grooveshark will call the service "Broadcasts" and it will be a direct rival to Pandora, the $4 billion public company with strong ties to the music industry. Grooveshark has 30 million users and Pandora has 80 million.

Broadcasts will get to use the government-mandated royalty rates for Internet radio stations, and will not require direct negotiations with the labels that have been trying to shut them down.

Source:
Nasdaq