Shuff's General Chat Thread ... #73 - Talk about anything and everything...  

Oh man, that ACA thing was the best.

Days numbered for illegal downloaders as crackdown passes parliament

THE Abbott Government has today passed a new law that will make illegally downloading movies and TV shows, such as Game of Thrones, much more difficult.

The law is designed to block Australians from accessing sites that house pirated content, such as KickassTorrents.

The new anti-piracy legislation, which cleared Parliament today with bipartisan support, empowers copyright holders to apply to the Federal Court to block overseas websites that offer content that infringes copyright.

The federal government says Australians need to be reminded that if they take too much from creative industries, such as film or music, without giving back, they will jeopardise content.

The legislation is a win for Hollywood studios and record companies, which will now be able to apply directly to the court for an injunction to disable access to the sites without having to establish whether the carriage service providers, which house the sites, are liable for the offending content.

Torrenting sites, such as The Pirate Bay, and streaming services, such as Project Free TV, are likely to be blocked.

The power to block offending sites would only apply to those operated outside of Australia.
The Bill states that the copyright holders would need to meet and “intentionally high threshold test” so that only sites that “flagrantly disregard the rights of copyright owners” are blocked.

The crackdown is designed to be an efficient way to “disrupt the business models” of infringing sites.

SO, WILL IT ACTUALLY WORK?

The same type of torrent blocking system has been in the UK since 2011 with little success. Some of the most popular torrenting sites in the world, including

The Pirate Bay and Kickass Torrents, have all been blocked, but people keep finding ways to download content.

Typically, within hours of a site being put on the block list by an internet provider, hundreds of mirror sites that offer the same content pop up for users to access. Then, by the time those sites are blocked or taken down, there are more to replace them. It’s a never-ending circle.

UK residents have also worked around blocks by using proxy websites, which stop the internet service providers (ISPs) from thinking they are actually visiting those websites.

As a result, proxy sites have also been blocked.

However, The Pirate Bay, the world’s biggest torrenting site, now uses a new service to host the site, which stops most ISPs from being able to block it. The new service effectively hides the information about The Pirate Bay from internet providers, making it harder for them to block access to their main site.

James Brandes from ORGZine, a UK digital rights magazine, says: “Not only is the block policy fundamentally failing, but it raises important censorship.”

‘A SIGNIFICANT NEW CENSORSHIP POWER’

Consumer advocacy group Choice slammed the reforms last week, saying they amounted to an “industry-run internet filter” that would “limit access to international websites that offer consumers a greater range of more affordable products and services”.

“At its heart, this is about protecting uncompetitive local industries who have failed to provide timely and affordable content and services,” Choice campaigns manager Erin Turner said.

Ms Turner said the reform wasn’t about just stopping access to torrenting sites. It was also designed to stop Aussies from using virtual private networks (VPNs), which can allow Australians to circumvent geoblocks in order to access overseas streaming services.

Many Aussies use VPNs to access the US version of Netflix because it offers more content than the recently launched Australian version.
“We know both sides of politics are under a lot of pressure from big rights holders to support this new law and it looks like they have given in,” Ms Turner said.

The Greens submitted a report criticising the Bill, saying that it would give a “significant new censorship power” to the court and copyright holders.
At the same time, the submission questioned the effectiveness of the crackdown.

“There is a substantial weight of evidence showing that it will be relatively easy to evade the Bill’s provisions, that it does not contain appropriate safeguards, and that it may result in legitimate online sources being blocked,” The Greens submission read.

“Most importantly, there is also a significant weight of evidence showing that the Bill will not meet its aims, as it does not address the underlying cause of online copyright infringement: The continual refusal of offshore rights holders to make their content available in a timely, convenient and affordable manner to Australians.”

The law passed the Senate today 37-13. It was opposed by The Greens, David Leyonhjelm, Glenn Lazarus and Ricky Muir.

I don't practice swing much. A few times just to feel the shot I want then go

Yer saw that. DJ choked big time. Wasent the nicest looking course at Chambers Bay.. greens looked like shit

this is what the greens were like up close.

O my, that grass is horrible. Never seen such bad grass at any course that I have been to

Just spent $100 on the MX Master. So much better than the rubbish magic mouse that I had

That's Biebers isn't it?

That's Biebers isn't it?

Netflix is off to a flying start in Australia with new subscription figures showing that the video on-demand service now reaches over 1-million Aussie eyeballs.

Roy Morgan Research reveals that the US TV giant is now in 408,000 households reaching 1,039,000 active users. More remarkable, is that these subscription numbers represent a 30% increase from the same stats collected by Roy Morgan a month ago.

Competing services Stan and Presto have not fared as well in the first half-year, with both services still falling short of 100,000 subscribers each. Netflix may have 10-times more subscribers, but Roy Morgan’s Tim Martin says there is a lot of overlap in these figures.

“Up to half of all subscribers to Stan, Quickflix or Presto are also subscribed to Netflix—perhaps bingeing for a month on free content across the options, preparing to make a decision about which, if any, earns their continuing monthly spend,” says Martin, General Manager of the Media category at Roy Morgan research.

“But it also might not be an either-or proposition. As each has different content available, many Australian TV lovers may choose to subscribe to multiple SVOD providers.”

This is an idea we flagged a few months ago when we argued at that TV and movie lovers needn’t choose between the services, given that the cost of subscribing to all three streaming services roughly equals the price you’d pay for a single Foxtel service with only he cheapest channel pack option.

Broadband boom
What these figures also suggest is that hundreds of thousands of Aussie households are also coming to terms with a huge increase in internet activity, and that the dent Netflix can make on your plan might chew into the data you'd need for everyday web browsing or watching videos on YouTube.

Our experiments suggest that a family watching Netflix 50-hours per month (less than 2-hours a day) will need a broadband plan with 100GB or month per month for all current internet use plus the in flux of Netflix data. To be safe, or to enjoy a better quality Netflix stream, you should consider a plan with 200GB or more.

Alternatively, you could consider switching to an Optus Broadband Bundle. This would give you a 6-month free Netflix subscription plus you get a Fetch TV box which makes it much easier to watch Netflix on your big-screen TV.

There was a big announcement last night regarding Independence Day 2: it was revealed that the title will be Independence Day: Resurgence. It's exactly the kind of title that you would expect from a sequel like this. You can watch a promo video introducing the title below. We also have a poster for the film above and three photos for you to check out. The photos offer us a glimpse at the set, which includes a key vehicle called the "Moon Tug." In the story it is operated by the Earth Space Defense (ESD). Another photo features director Roland Emmerich, and the other one includes actor Liam Hemsworth in costume.

The movie also stars Jeff Goldblum, Bill Pullman, Judd Hirsch, Vivica A. Fox, Brent Spiner, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Jessie Usher, Maika Monroe, and Sela Ward. It's officially described as follows:

We always knew they were coming back. After Independence Day redefined the event movie genre, the next epic chapter delivers global spectacle on an unimaginable scale. Using recovered alien technology, the nations of Earth have collaborated on an immense defense program to protect the planet. But nothing can prepare us for the aliens’ advanced and unprecedented force. Only the ingenuity of a few brave men and women can bring our world back from the brink of extinction.

Independence Day: Resurgence is set to be released on June 24th, 2016.

yep....so you and beiber share a car in common..... :thumbsup:

yep....so you and beiber share a car in common.....

Justin Beiber confuses me. Part of me enjoys the fact that he causes people to cry bitter tears of impotent rage at his antics.

Another part of me would never get bored with head butting him.

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pretty oridnary teaser..

still think the best teaser trailer was...
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he's good value, my brother loves him. :mamoru:

What's going on people. Long time no see.

Maybe he's different away from the media, I dunno. Even the Canadians don't want him back.

Look out! Autonomous, military-funded 'cheetah' robot is off its leash

What do you get when you combine state-of-the-art robotics and military funding? An epically cool yet slightly intimidating bouncing cheetah... obviously.

MIT researchers first made headlines with their four-legged bot last September when they announced they had designed a cheetah-inspired machine able to run and jump freely albeit "blind," as the robot carried no cameras or additional vision equipment.

Since then they have been hard at work improving their project, in part funded by the U.S. military's research arm the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

It can see!
Now the scientists have gone a step further with their robotic feline -- it's now able to "see" and bound over obstacles thrown into its path with ease. Don't believe it? Check out the video above!

"A running jump is a truly dynamic behavior," says Sangbae Kim, MIT research team leader and an assistant professor of mechanical engineering. "You have to manage balance and energy, and be able to handle impact after landing. Our robot is specifically designed for those highly dynamic behaviors."

The video clearly shows the four-legged bot hurdling over impediments as tall as 40cm as they are thrown in the path of the galloping beast -- all while maintaining a steady 5 mph.

Researchers say robots in the future must show not only the capacity to take orders but perform individual and networked action too. Ant colonies have become a perfect model for the future of robotics.

The 70 lb robot uses onboard LIDAR -- basically a 2D laser distance sensor -- to detect if there is a barrier in its path. It then estimates height and distance and a three-part algorithm works out the optimal position to ensure the bot can clear the obstacle and stick the landing before even leaping into the air.

While Kim and the development team are still working to improve the MIT robot (in campus experiments it only completed 70% of hurdles while on the treadmill in recent tests), they hope the cheetah bot could ultimately be of use to the military or provide assistance in disaster relief in the future.

An animal army?

This advance in robotics isn't a standalone concept. Many engineers in the robotics field are turning the animal kingdom for innovative inspiration.

Google has Spot the dog, the Bremen-based German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence has developed Charlie the chimp as a model for future lunar missions and Boston Dynamics (well known for developing animal-like bots and also funded in part by DARPA) has made multiple quadruped robots.

World’s First 3D Printed Supercar – 0-60 In 2.2 Seconds 700 Hp!!

Oh man, Alfa are knocking it out of the park atm. Have you seen the interior of that thing? FAAARRRKKKK. If the price is right I'd MUCH rather have it over any of the German competition.

Also:
http://www.realestate.com.au/property-apar...point-120094837
That's that, last Australian real estate going, and the Merc is sold.

Goodbye old life, lol