daveoc64

Notably, access to this article is blocked in the UK.

As there is a pending retrial, there are legal restrictions on reporting:

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/article/2024/may/15/mp-u...

(2017)

The DRM clearly does work in preventing "casual piracy" - where average users do things like downloading a file and keeping it forever (even after cancelling a subscription) or copying the file to a friend.

The lower levels of Widevine protection are weaker, so the content providers like Netflix only allow playback in standard definition or 720p at those levels.

They don't want the highest quality to be available on devices where the DRM can easily be broken.

I don't really understand why they've decided to do this in 2024.

We all know that older systems had problems with encoding and escaping special characters, but wouldn't they have encountered and dealt with all the possible problems by now?

It's not all that interesting technically, but the idea behind it is to bring a service like Freeview to people who don't have a TV aerial.

You can access the major live channels from BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 (plus several of the other FTA channels) through the Freely service.

It has an electronic programme guide and allows easy switching between channels (similar to the paid Sky Stream and Virgin Media Stream services).

It is currently possible to watch all of the Public Service Broadcaster live content on their separate apps or websites, but that's cumbersome if you want to "channel surf".

The government has indicated that it eventually wants to switch off the terrestrial TV network and re-use the spectrum for other things. Services like Freely are essential if that's going to happen.

It's a great idea for a service, but they really should have had it on a range of Smart TV platforms from the start

It's still there for me!

https://imgur.com/a/mQ5tMQO

I don't see the point in this, sorry.

First of all, it seems to be inaccurate.

If you're going to sell people a VPN so that they can watch something, at least make sure that the suggestions are correct.

Oppenheimer is listed as being available in the United Kingdom on Netflix - and suggests that I sign up for NordVPN to access it. I'm already in the UK, so wouldn't need to do that.

Oh wait, it's not on Netflix in the UK - it's on Now (which is also listed to be fair).

There is an Oyster Card for children aged between 11 and 15, but you have to apply for it in advance and supply a photo. I think it's aimed at people who live in/regularly visit London:

https://tfl.gov.uk/fares/free-and-discounted-travel/11-15-zi...

The other option is a child's paper ticket - those can be purchased without having to apply for anything in advance.

Adult fares via Oyster/contactless may still be cheaper than a child's paper ticket.

You can use the Single fare finder to check the price of a specific journey - for both adult/child:

https://tfl.gov.uk/fares/find-fares/tube-and-rail-fares/sing...

If the Oyster/contactless adult fare is cheaper than a child's paper ticket, you could just use a standard Pay as you go Oyster card:

https://tfl.gov.uk/fares/how-to-pay-and-where-to-buy-tickets...

>Because the computer clock advanced past a date which triggers bugs or limitations on some component, and it cannot be adjusted backwards without a full reinstall, or it's talking to networked services which expect the clock to be close enough to reality. It might be possible to fix with third-party updates, but that's no longer "without updates".

This is possible with any piece of software. I don't know if Windows 95 will work after the year 9999, nor do I think it's a scenario we should really worry about.

>And if you need a reinstall, the online account requirement and/or activation servers being turned off might make it hard without third-party modifications.

The online account requirement can be bypassed with a command line option during setup. It does also have some fail safe processing that catches if the online account login fails, falling back to an offline account option.

In terms of activation, you can use Windows 10 or 11 without activating it, but you'll end up with a watermark on the desktop.

Windows XP was the first Windows version to use activation, and it's still possible to activate it via the telephone 22+ years later, so it's likely the activation process for Windows 10 and 11 will continue for some years.

Yes they will work indefinitely. Why wouldn't they?

It's not at all interesting.

Google closes services with no alternative, and as they are almost always cloud-based, you can't use them at all after the closure.

Microsoft is selling products that can be used indefinitely, albeit without continued software updates from Microsoft.

That's not at all standard.

Most books Apple sells come with DRM.

This section of the Apple documentation explains how a publisher can control whether DRM is used for their book:

https://itunespartner.apple.com/books/support/30-manage-book...

All of the major eBook stores sell books with and without DRM (including Amazon Kindle, Rakuten Kobo, Apple Books, Google Play Books).

Whether an individual book includes DRM on all of these stores is down to the publisher, and you won't typically see books from the major publishers offered without DRM.

The common file actions like rename and copy are now shown as icons at the top or bottom of the context menu.

I too am surprised at how people seem unable to find the readily accessible options to turn these features off.

Many of the things people don't like in Windows 10 and 11 can be switched off from the Settings app.

The source of complaint in the article (Widgets) can be switched off with Group Policy on Windows 11 Pro and above.

Coca-Cola did not change their standard "Coca-Cola Original Taste" drink to contain any less sugar in the UK.

Some other drinks (including Pepsi) have been reformulated with less sugar in the UK, but Coca Cola isn't one of them.

You can see their logo on their website - https://www.20thcenturyflicks.co.uk/

There is also Street View - https://maps.app.goo.gl/SiJXmz8wYWaN9KNC8

In a typical SIM swapping attack, the attacker will contact the Cellular Carrier (either in-person at a retail store, or by phone/online support), impersonating the victim and claim that they've lost their phone (including SIM) and that they need a new SIM for their account.

Carriers should have procedures in place to ensure that the identity of someone who presents themselves with this situation is verified, but it can often be bypassed.

In the case of the article, corrupt employees of the carrier are being bribed to bypass the ID and security checks that should take place in the above situation.

In other attacks, there are social engineering ways of bypassing the ID checks - such as claiming to be the victim of a robbery where both the phone and wallet were taken - so they don't have any ID, credit cards, or phone to prove who they are and that getting a new SIM would really help them out.

I think that there might be rose tinted spectacles in use here.

Tapes (both audio and video) wore out over time and could get chewed up.

CDs and Vinyl records could get scratched or could crack.

I can recall spending a long time trying to sort out problems with CDs or VHS in the 1990s or 2000s, but can't think of a time where Spotify didn't work for longer than a few seconds.

That's interesting.

The episode is available on Disney Plus in the UK (we don't have Hulu in the UK, so most Hulu-exclusive content is on Disney Plus here).

I live in Bristol, so I'm not far from 20th Century Flicks (featured in the article).

They have some things I'd like to rent (and that are hard to find elsewhere), but ultimately I'm still put off by the prospect of having to pay late fees!

Given that the article says that there is a toggle to hide the recommended apps, this doesn't make any sense.

I'd imagine for many developers, the probability of something like Google's Hosted Libraries (https://developers.google.com/speed/libraries) going down or being hacked is far, far lower than the probability of their own site hosting having a problem.

As stated in the article, by getting a passport from any EU nation, you are free to travel to/live in/work in any EU country.

>Can I ask you to consider buying your ebooks from a better vendor? Kobo is a good choice; they state whether or not a given book is DRM-free or not

Amazon also does state when a book is DRM-free, but you might have missed it as it's not clear.

Kindle Books that are DRM free will show "Simultaneous device usage : Unlimited" in the "Product details" section.

Books with DRM will either not list this if they have the default DRM device limit of 6, or will list a specific number if the book has a specific limit set by the publisher (usually expensive textbooks).

Example of DRM-free book:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B088P9Q6BB#detailBullets_feature_d...

Example of book with DRM (default limit of 6 devices):

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00B7NPRY8#detailBullets_feature_d...

Example of book with DRM (publisher-set limit of 3 devices):

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00UGE1DGA#detailBullets_feature_d...

People without a credit card are still subsidising those with reward cards, as the high interchange fees are spread out across all of a store's transactions.

The Smart Meters were designed with this concept from the beginning.

https://www.smartdcc.co.uk/our-smart-network/network-product...

As noted in the article and by other comments, a short wave radio network is used in the northern parts of the UK instead of cellular networks.

This already gives a need for different modules to be used for communication.

>the increase in the number of people who is LGBTQ+ which again it's their choice

Choice?