In the early days of TV, it was routine to tape over the recording medium after the initial air-date, which means that no video record exists of many of the pioneering moments in television. (more…)
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Print of "lost" britcom discovered in Nigerian basement and restored with X-rays and laser-cutters
Historians can use scanning to peek inside mummies without risking damage, but that hasn’t been true for the papyrus boxes those mummies were placed in before entering the tomb. If you’ve wanted to read the discarded everyday writing on that papyrus, you’ve typically had to destroy the boxes. That won’t be necessary from now on, though: researchers at University College London have developed a scanning technique that lets you read a mummy case’s writing while leaving it intact. If you scan the cases with light at different frequencies, you can make the ink glow and thus see under the paste and plaster that would normally obscure the text. A lot of the writing is unspectacular (the BBC describes them as shopping lists and tax returns), but that’s the point — it’s about discovering Egyptian history beyond royalty and other famous people. The technique has already found success with one mummy stored in Kent. It’s not certain that it’ll find widespread adoption, but it’s hard to see historians turning this down. Much as with techniques used to read closed books , this lets researchers have the best of both worlds: they can read ‘secret’ text without having to sacrifice priceless relics. Source: BBC
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Scanning technique reads hidden writing in mummy boxes
We from Team-MediaPortal wish everyone a safe and happy 2018! To celebrate the new year we have just released a Pre Release of MediaPortal 1.19.0 . Happy testing! Pre Releases are provided as a way for the community to test and give feedback on all the exciting things we have lined up for the next release. We allocate about one month for Pre Release testing. In that time we will only fix bugs, after which comes the final release! Highlights of this release Bugfixes: We fixed some issues with MadVR We fixed an issue where MP was not able to manage audio volume correctly We updated SQLite to version 3.21. This reduces CPU load and add bugfixes We fixed TSreader crashing with MPEG2 stream We fixed some issues on MediaPortal Configuration New: We added some skin functions We provide a libbluray library based on our own fork.and updated to 1.0.2 (read information below) Along with the above items we kept consolidating our software. Note: For use Bluray with BD-J support, Java 8 must be installed. We recommend the version Java 8u151 in x86 version. Download-Link : Oracle Download Website Full list of changes You can review the complete change log for MP 1.19.0 Pre Release by using the link below: Changelog: MediaPortal 1.19.0 Pre Release Documentation of new features can be found at the following link: What’s new for MediaPortal 1.19.0 Pre Release Installation, Upgrade, Download and Feedback Installation Since we switched to .NET4 you need to make sure you have.NET4 installed on your computer (not needed if you are on Windows 8 because it comes with .NET4, but you NEED the .NET 3.5 features enabled! ). Otherwise you are not able to install MediaPortal and the installer just quits. Download-Link: Microsoft .NET Framework 4 (Standalone Installer) Aside from that when doing a clean installation of the 1.19.0 Pre Release there is nothing else to worry about. Upgrade Upgrading from MP 1.2.0 Beta or later to 1.19.0 Pre Release All MediaPortal 1.2.0 Beta installations can be upgraded to MP 1.19.0 Pre Release without losing your settings. Plugins: If you are running MediaPortal 1.6.0 or earlier, then it is possible that some of your previously installed plugins will be shown as incompatible after the upgrade to 1.19.0 Pre Release! Whether or not a plugin is incompatible depends on the MediaPortal subsystems the plugin uses. All plugins that work for the 1.7.1 HotFix release, should also work with the 1.19.0 Pre Release. Upgrading Extensions: The easiest way to upgrade your extensions is by launching the MediaPortal Extension Installer , and let it check for updated versions. However this only works for extensions that use our MPEI system. If the author of the extension releases it as a stand alone installer, you must contact them for an updated version. General note about Upgrades Manually stop TV-Service! On some systems our installer is not able to update the TV-Server installation because its files are locked or the service can not be stopped. For upgrades to 1.19.0 Pre Release we recommend that you manually stop the TV-Service and make sure, via Windows Task Manager (enable the “all users” option), that the TvService.exe process is really gone before starting to upgrade. Custom TV-Service properties If you manually changed the properties of the TV-Service (like restart on error options) , then you must redo these changes after the upgrade. The installer is not able to save and restore your custom service properties when it installs the new version of the TV-Service. Feedback Bugs If you think you found a bug then please post a detailed report in our Bug Reports Forum . Make sure your report includes all the required information . Incomplete reports will be removed to keep the forum clean. Download Finally – the download. We hope that you took the time to read this release news entirely because it includes vital information about the major changes. If you would like to support MediaPortal, we would be happy to receive a donation ! The Team wishes you a lot of fun with this new release! .::. Download – MediaPortal 1.19.0 Pre Release .::. :: Post a Comment ::
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MediaPortal 1.19.0 Pre Release
The new replay tools offered in PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds are so much more than standard video-capture technology. In fact, it isn’t video capture at all — it’s data capture. The 3D replay tools allow players to zoom around the map after a match, tracking their own character, following enemies’ movements, slowing down time and setting up cinematic shots of their favorite kills, all within a 1-kilometer radius of their avatar. It’s filled with statistics, fresh perspectives and infinite data points to dissect. This isn’t just a visual replay; it’s a slice of the actual game, perfectly preserved, inviting combatants to play God. The toolset comes from South Korean company Minkonet, which just opened a second office in Los Angeles. PUBG is its first big client, and last month’s rollout marks the first real mainstream implementation of this data-capture technology. It definitely won’t be the last. According to Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer Gilbert Kim, Minkonent’s phone has been ringing off the hook since the PUBG announcement, with studios around the world wanting a piece of the replay pie. “We’ve been getting a lot of calls and a lot of interest, ” he says. “Getting in new games is really competitive, and every feature counts, but we see data capture and replay technology is probably going to be mainstream in the next few years. … I think this is going to unleash new content that’s never been seen before in games, and it’s just starting. It’s just starting right now.” PUBG is an ideal test case. It’s a massively popular online game where up to 100 players parachute onto a map, scavenge for supplies, upgrade weapons and attempt to be the last person standing. Even though it technically came out in December, PUBG has been available in early access since March and it’s picked up a considerable number of accolades — and players — in the process. Just last week, SteamDB reported PUBG hit 3 million concurrent players on PC, vastly outstripping its closest competitor, Dota 2 , which has a record of 1.29 million simultaneous players. Part of PUBG ‘s success stems from developers’ relentless focus on making the game fun to watch. Live streaming is now a major part of the video-game world, with sites like Twitch and YouTube Gaming growing in prominence and eSports bursting into the mainstream. Kim says PUBG creator Brendan Greene and CEO Chang Han Kim built the idea of data-capture into the game from the beginning, and Minkonet’s tech is a natural evolution of this focus. Minkonet and PUBG developers connected in late 2016 and started working together on the actual software earlier this year. “One of their first visions was to have PUBG as not just a great game to play, but a great game to watch, ” Kim says. “So they were already from the very beginning focused on having PUBG as a great live streaming game; esports was also one of their sort of long-term visions.” Minkonet’s replay suite for PUBG addresses four main issues, as Kim explains it: cheating, learning, video editing and esports. Cheating is a huge issue in PUBG — more than 1.5 million accounts have been banned from the game since it hit Early Access 10 months ago. “One of the biggest sort of issues right now in gaming is cheating, hacking, ” Kim says. “There’s a core, a few people who are doing it to a lot of people. But I think with our 3D replay technology we can sort of provide an anti-cheat — we can’t prevent a hack completely. But because of what we do with the 3D death cam, people sometimes when they play, they want to know how they died, and sometimes our technology can find out how you died. Is there is something a little bit suspicious, maybe something we should be looking at?” On top of possibly catching cheaters in the act, Minkonet’s tech allows players to review their games and cut together cinematic videos of their best (or worst, or funniest) plays. Plus, it features improved spectator modes for esports and live-streaming goodness. All of this exists on PC for now, but PUBG is also available on Xbox One . Minkonet doesn’t have any concrete details to share about bringing 3D replay tech to consoles, but Kim says it’s definitely going to happen. Minkonet is working on fresh features to add to its 3D-replay technology, and it’s talking with developers about bringing these tools to other games. The days look numbered for traditional video-only replays. “We are just starting, but demand has been great, ” Kim says. “We just opened an LA office in the US. There are going to be several more projects next year.”
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‘PUBG’ is quietly changing video games with its 3D replay technology
From a report: Come CES, LG will be letting attendees get up close with its new 88-inch 8K OLED display, which is both the largest and the highest-resolution OLED panel to date. But as far as specs go, that’s all we have for now. Previously, the largest OLED screen size was 77 inches, and it “only” came in 4K. While this combination is currently offered to consumers by the likes of LG Electronics, Sony and Panasonic, they all source their large OLED panels from LG Display. Read more of this story at Slashdot.
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The World’s First 88-inch 8K OLED Display
If you shopped at a Forever 21 store this year, there’s a chance your credit card information may have been stolen, CNET reports. The retail store confirmed this week that between April 3rd and November 18th of this year, a number of point of sale terminals at stores across the US were breached. While it hasn’t provided any numbers on how many customers were affected, Forever 21 did say that in most cases, card numbers, expiration dates and verification codes, but not cardholder names, were obtained by hackers. However, in some cases names were also obtained. Encryption is usually used by the store to protect its payment processing system, but in some stores, the encryption was sometimes off, opening up their point of sale terminals to malware. Not every terminal in every affected store was infected with the malware and not every store was impacted during the full time period of the breach. In some cases, credit card data stored in certain system logs prior to April 3rd were also exposed. Forever 21 said payment processing systems outside of the US work differently but that it was investigating whether non-US stores were affected as well. Purchases made through its website weren’t impacted by the breach. Chipotle and GameStop suffered similar breaches this year while hotel giant HEI announced it was hit with the same type of data breach last year . In a statement , Forever 21 said, “In addition to addressing encryption, Forever 21 is continuing to work with security firms to enhance its security measures. We also continue to work with the payment card networks so that the banks that issue payment cards can be made aware of this incident. Lastly, we will continue to support law enforcement’s investigation of this incident.” Via: CNET Source: Forever 21
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Forever 21 breach exposed customer credit card info for months
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: Britain’s homes could be lit and powered by wind farms surrounding an artificial island deep out in the North Sea, under advanced plans by a Dutch energy network. The radical proposal envisages an island being built to act as a hub for vast offshore wind farms that would eclipse today’s facilities in scale. Dogger Bank, 125km (78 miles) off the East Yorkshire coast, has been identified as a potentially windy and shallow site. The power hub would send electricity over a long-distance cable to the UK and Netherlands, and possibly later to Belgium, Germany, and Denmark. TenneT, the project’s backer and Dutch equivalent of the UK’s National Grid, recently shared early findings of a study that said its plan could be billions of euros cheaper than conventional wind farms and international power cables. The sci-fi-sounding proposal is sold as an innovative answer to industry’s challenge of continuing to make offshore wind cheaper, as turbines are pushed ever further off the coast to more expensive sites as the best spots closer to land fill up. Read more of this story at Slashdot.
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Dutch Utility Plans Massive Wind Farm Island In North Sea
MojoKid writes: You have probably at some point been contacted via email spam by someone claiming you are the beneficiary in a will of a Nigerian prince. As the scam goes, all you have to do is submit your personal information and Western Union some funds to process the necessary paperwork, and in return you will receive millions of dollars. One of the people behind the popular scam, Michael Neu, has been arrested by police in Slidell, Louisiana. This may come as a shocker, but Neu is not a prince, nor is he Nigerian. He is a 67-year-old male possibly of German descent (based on his last name) who is facing 269 counts of wire fraud and money laundering for his alleged role as a middle man in the scheme. According to Slidell police, some of the money obtained by Neu was wired to co-conspirators who do actually live in Nigera. Read more of this story at Slashdot.
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Louisana Police Bust an Infamous Nigerian Email Spam Scammer
Long-time Slashdot reader cold fjord writes: As seething discontent has boiled over in Iran leading to mass protests, protesters have taken to the streets and social media to register their discontent… The government has been closing schools and shutting down transportation. Now, as mass protests in Iran go into their third day there are reports that internet access is being cut in cities with protests occurring. Social media has been a tool for documenting the protests and brutal crackdowns against them. Iran previously cut off internet access during the Green Movement protests following the 2009 elections. At the same time the Iranian government is cutting internet access they have called on Telegram, reportedly used by more than 40 million Iranians, to close the channels used by protesters. Telegram is now closing channels used by the protesters while Telegram itself may be shut down in Iran. Read more of this story at Slashdot.
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Iran Cuts Internet Access and Threatens Telegram Following Mass Protests
An anonymous reader quotes the Los Angeles Times: Hollywood is celebrating the end of 2017 with astronomical sales from “Star Wars: The Last Jedi, ” which is on track to soon exceed $1 billion in global ticket sales and eventually become the biggest movie of the year. But that won’t be enough to write a happy storyline for the industry. Although movie ticket sales in the U.S. and Canada are expected to dip just below last year’s record of $11.38 billion, the number of tickets sold is projected to drop 4% to 1.26 billion — the lowest level since 1995, according to preliminary estimates from studio executives. The falloff in ticket sales can mostly be explained by a handful of movies that flopped, especially during the dreary summer season that posted the worst results in more than two decades. Even such massive hits as “Wonder Woman, ” “Thor: Ragnarok” and “It” couldn’t make up for a lackluster summer lineup populated by rickety franchises (“Alien: Covenant”) and poorly reviewed retreads (“The Mummy”). However, the long-term decline in attendance reflects systemic challenges facing the industry. Audiences are spending less time going to the movies and are consuming more entertainment on small screens and through streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon that are spending billions on original video content. At the same time, while higher ticket prices have helped to offset attendance declines, they have made consumers pickier about what movies they’re willing to go see. And those increasingly discerning consumers turn to social media and Rotten Tomatoes to decide what’s worth their time and money. Read more of this story at Slashdot.
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Movie Ticket Sales Hit A 22-Year Low in 2017