The UK government has made password sharing of streaming services illegal, a fan reverse-engineered a 1995 Star Wars game, and artists are rebelling against AI art.
All these technology related news are trending right now. Welcome to trending hashtags. It’s Wednesday, December 21st, and I’m your host, Samira Balsara.
Yesterday, the UK government’s Intellectual Property Office (IPO) issued new piracy guidance, suggesting that people who share their Netflix, Amazon Prime or Disney Plus passwords are potentially infringing copyright law , TorrentFreak reported. In March 2017, Netflix tweeted; “Love is sharing a password”. Clearly it didn’t age too well, because this year, Netflix reported a significant drop in revenue, and password sharing was specifically blamed for limiting the number of new subscribers. Password sharing is almost always illegal in the streaming platform’s terms of service and watchdogs characterize it as such. The IPO told TorrentFreak that certain provisions in criminal and civil law may apply in the case of password sharing, where the intention is to allow a user to access copyright protected works without payment. However, the bar for criminality is very low as the use of the club’s services by non-paying members is cited as an example of fraud in the UK.
source: torrent freak
The 1995 Star Wars Dark Forces game doesn’t look like much by modern standards today, but it brought significant technological innovation to the first-person shooter genre, an Engadget report explained. Rewatching games from the ’90s is challenging and enthusiasts will have to purchase a digital copy of the game from Steam or GOG and use DOSBox to play it on a modern computer. LuciusDXL however launched the Force Engine (TFE) to reverse-engineer LucasArts’ proprietary Jedi Engine and make two games made with it—Dark Forces and 1997’s Outlaws—easier to run on modern systems. The Force Engine, version 1.0 is compatible with both the GOG and Steam versions of Dark Forces. Once you install the software, it will automatically detect the game’s executable, and you can start playing without needing to do things like adjust cycles in DOSbox. The Force engine also adds many features to make the game more engaging, such as widescreen resolution, MouseLook support, save system, and more.
source: Engadget
Artists are rebelling against AI-generated art on ArtStation. The platform owned by Epic Games allows game, film, media and entertainment artists to showcase their portfolios. Artists started protesting by spam by posting the same image, in which the AI generated image is not written. Artists pointed out that AI-generated images were being featured on the platform’s main Explore page and that the association of AI art against them was undermining their skills. ArtStation released an FAQ in response about AI artwork on its platform, where it defended the inclusion of AI-generated works on its platform. The company said that its “content guidelines do not prohibit the use of AI in the process of artwork being posted.”
source: vice news
Scientists in Australia have identified a molecule that activates receptors in a similar way to insulin, opening up the possibility of uncovering an oral alternative to insulin shots for people with diabetes. According to New Atlas, progress was long hindered by the instability of the hormone in the insulin pill and its inability to pass through the digestive tract without breaking down. So scientists have developed biocompatible packaging to protect the pill from digestive enzymes and oral capsules that inject insulin through microneedles. They claim that these findings solve the mystery of whether unrelated molecules can mimic the role of insulin and will help to explore ways of controlling the signaling of insulin receptors.
All these technology related news are trending right now. Hashtag Trending is a part of the ITWC Podcast Network. Add us to your Alexa Flash Briefing or your Google Home Daily Briefing. Be sure to sign up for our Daily IT Wire Newsletter to get important news straight to your inbox every day. Plus, check out the next episode of Hashtag Tendence, our weekly hashtag trending episode in French, which drops every Thursday morning. If you have any suggestion or tip, drop us a line in the comments or via email. Thanks for listening, I’m Sameera Balsara.
