judge

AppWizard
March 25, 2025
A judge compared the due process received by Nazis to that of Venezuelans facing deportation under the Trump administration. High-ranking officials from the Trump administration discussed classified military operations on the messaging app Signal, raising security concerns. A GOP senator admitted that claiming Social Security will remain untouched is disingenuous. GOP Senator Curtis clarified that Elon Musk's comments on potential cuts were merely suggestions rather than specific policy advocacy. A GOP senator indicated that impeachment of a judge who ruled against Trump is unlikely. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer reaffirmed his commitment to his position amid internal party pressure and expressed concerns about a constitutional crisis in American democracy. Canadian officials responded to Trump's tariffs by stating that "nothing is off the table" regarding retaliatory measures. Trump asserted that he will have the final say in deportation cases, prompting discussions about the need for a nuanced approach to immigration policy.
AppWizard
March 23, 2025
Pavel Durov, founder and CEO of Telegram, has been allowed to return to Dubai after a French investigating judge modified the conditions of his supervision due to an ongoing investigation into alleged criminal activities associated with the messaging platform. Durov was previously arrested in August 2024 at Le Bourget Airport and held in police custody for four days before being released on bail. The Paris criminal court is investigating allegations that Telegram facilitated organized fraud, illegal transactions, and the distribution of child sexual abuse material. In response, Telegram has improved its moderation policies, allowing users to report private chats and removing millions of groups and channels to comply with legal standards. Durov has expressed gratitude towards the French authorities and emphasized the company's commitment to responsible platform management.
Winsage
March 17, 2025
The development of the Macintosh in the early 1980s led to a correspondence between Bill Gates and John Sculley regarding the licensing of the Macintosh operating system. Sculley showed cautious interest in Gates' proposal, but it was dismissed by Jean-Louis Gassée on June 25, 1985. Gates then focused on creating a mass-market operating system, resulting in the debut of Windows on November 15, 1985. The introduction of Windows provoked a strong reaction from Sculley, despite Windows 1.0 being inferior to Mac OS. On November 21, 1985, Sculley and Gates formalized an agreement licensing Macintosh's visual displays to Microsoft, which included a non-exclusive license for Microsoft to use aspects of Mac technology. As Windows 2.0 was released, Apple filed a lawsuit against Microsoft on March 17, 1988, claiming appropriation of its innovations, but the court ruled in favor of Microsoft, stating that the existing license covered certain interface elements.
TrendTechie
February 10, 2025
Meta has acknowledged using torrents to download a dataset known as LibGen, which contains tens of millions of pirated books, for training its AI models. Recent reports indicate that Meta downloaded at least 81.7 terabytes of data from various shadow libraries, including a minimum of 35.7 terabytes from Z-Library and 80.6 terabytes from LibGen. The scale of Meta's illegal torrent activity has been described as staggering, with the writers highlighting that much smaller acts of data piracy led to a criminal investigation. A judge rejected Meta's attempt to prevent the disclosure of its use of pirated books, stating that the company's actions were aimed at avoiding negative publicity. Additionally, Meta had previously trained its language model, Llama, on fragments from a dataset called Books3, which includes around 196,000 books sourced from the internet, without publicly acknowledging the use of LibGen data until now.
TrendTechie
February 5, 2025
Researchers from the French National Institute for Research in Computer Science and Control tracked user activities on torrent trackers for 103 days, collecting 148 million IP addresses and identifying 2 billion copies of files, many of which were unlicensed. They observed the distribution of 500,000 to 750,000 files at any moment and identified 1.4 million unique .torrent files, noting that a small number of individuals shared the majority of these files. The UK has enacted legislation requiring internet service providers to disconnect users accused of downloading pirated content, while the Supreme Court of Ireland upheld the legality of disconnecting users accused of music piracy. In 2008, Europeans downloaded €10 billion worth of copyrighted materials without charge, resulting in 185,000 job losses in the creative sectors. The European Parliament is reviewing statistics related to digital piracy, and several EU countries are drafting anti-piracy legislation. UNESCO announced the launch of the "Global Anti-Piracy Observatory" on World Book and Copyright Day.
TrendTechie
February 4, 2025
Meta is facing a lawsuit in 2023 regarding the training of its LLM model, Llama, with allegations of using pirated content from torrent trackers. A judge has ordered the release of original documents, revealing internal discussions about the appropriateness of using torrents for AI training. An engineer raised concerns about using torrents on a corporate laptop, confirming the use of pirated content. There are indications that Mark Zuckerberg may have approved the use of such materials. Among the sources of pirated content was LibGen, a repository of pirated books and articles. Meta is defending its actions by citing the legal doctrine of "fair use."
BetaBeacon
December 28, 2024
ES-DE Frontend is a paid app that brings all emulators and games into a unified UI, but it does not emulate anything. The most difficult part of the installation process is setting up RetroArch. The app allows for customization with various themes and the addition of Android apps and games through external tools. However, the app lacks touch controls, only works in landscape mode, and requires manual scrolling to access apps, making it less suitable for daily use. Tasker can be used as a workaround to switch the launcher to ES-DE when a controller is attached. Despite its limitations, ES-DE Frontend is recommended for Android-based gaming handhelds.
AppWizard
December 21, 2024
The Department of Justice (DOJ) has proposed that Google divest its Chrome browser as part of addressing alleged antitrust violations. In response, Google has suggested alternative proposals that focus on its financial arrangements with partners like Apple and Mozilla, rather than breaking up its products. Google's proposed remedies include a three-year prohibition on bundling licenses for Chrome, Search, and Google Play with other applications, while still allowing payments for default search placement in browsers. Google plans to appeal a ruling by Judge Amit Mehta that labeled it a monopolist and intends to submit a revised proposal by March 7th before a trial in April.
BetaBeacon
December 20, 2024
The Analogue Pocket is a handheld device that allows users to play original GameBoy cartridges with modern upgrades like a better display and USB-C charging. The device does not require Wi-Fi and offers six to ten hours of gameplay on a single charge. The price of the device is steep, but the real cost comes from purchasing retro GameBoy cartridges, which have increased in value over the years. Despite the limited number of titles available, the Analogue Pocket provides a nostalgic gaming experience without the distractions of ads and microtransactions.
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