A Canadian systems security consultant discovered that an Android TV box purchased from Amazon was pre-loaded with persistent, sophisticated malware baked into its firmware. BleepingComputer reports: The malware was discovered by Daniel Milisic, who created a script and instructions to help users nullify the payload and stop its communication with the C2 (command and control) server. The device in question is the T95 Android TV box with an AllWinner T616 processor, widely available through Amazon, AliExpress, and other big e-commerce platforms. It is unclear if this single device was affected or if all devices from this model or brand include the malicious component.

Milisic believes the malware installed on the device is a strain that resembles 'CopyCat,' a sophisticated Android malware first discovered by Check Point in 2017. This malware was previously seen in an adware campaign where it infected 14 million Android devices to make its operators over $1,500,000 in profits. The analyst tested the stage-1 malware sample on VirusTotal, where it returns only 13 detections out of 61 AV engine scans, classified with the generic term of an Android trojan downloader. [...]

Unfortunately, these inexpensive Android-based TV box devices follow an obscure route from manufacturing in China to global market availability. In many cases, these devices are sold under multiple brands and device names, with no clear indication of where they originate. [...] To avoid such risks, you can pick streaming devices from reputable vendors like Google Chromecast, Apple TV, NVIDIA Shield, Amazon Fire TV, and Roku Stick.

According to the HDMI Licensing Administrator (LA), the HDMI Alt Mode feature is dead. Notebookcheck reports: According to HDMI LA, there are simply no more uses for Alt Mode. One of the reasons is that companies like Apple have begun putting HDMI ports on their products again. HDMI Alt Mode also no longer offers any advantages. As a result, the specification will not receive any further updates. This means an HDMI output has to come from somewhere else on a laptop. Besides the standard and mini sockets, DisplayPort is typically used in Alt Mode via a USB-C port. Eventually, the signal is converted to HDMI output. As HDMI LA mentioned at CES, there are people currently working on a logo program for labelling certified HDMI adapters to help consumers be sure that a USB-C to HDMI adapter will work properly. Right now, such a program only exists for cables. Whilst USB to HDMI adapters with DisplayPort undergo base certification, this is not something that is apparent in retail shops.

HDMI Alt Mode has never managed to win over manufacturers. HDMI LA said that it doesn't know of a single adapter that has ever been produced. Similarly, at the USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF), people who are familiar with the certification process have yet to see a true USB-C to HDMI adapter. This is good news for consumers because there is no longer any risk that an HDMI adapter on the market won't work with conventional USB-C ports that support DisplayPort. The HDMI Licensing Administrator may have given up on Alt Mode, but it's still working on improving power delivery. "At just 0.3A@5V, HDMI Cable Power is at most able to drive a cable over longer distances," reports Notebookcheck. "The specification was announced back at CES 2021 but only officially introduced in mid 2022."

"There are now plans to further increase the amount of power provided. This means it may be possible in future to power streaming devices (e.g. Fire TV Sticks) directly over an HDMI port."

That said, HDMI LA cautioned that the upcoming standard is still in the discussion phase and there's no date for when the update will arrive.

DirecTV is laying off hundreds of employees -- roughly 10% of its upper ranks -- as the company looks to reduce costs amid the heightened pain of cord cutting for pay-TV providers, according to people familiar with the matter. CNBC reports: Most of the job cuts will be at the manager level, the people said, citing an email to employees sent on Friday. Managers make up about half of DirecTV's fewer than 10,000 employees, one of the people said. The affected employees' last day will be Jan. 20. "The entire pay-TV industry is impacted by the secular decline and the increasing rates to secure and distribute programming," a DirecTV spokesperson said in a statement. "We're adjusting our operations costs to align with these changes and will continue to invest in new entertainment products and service enhancements."

DirecTV and its peers have long been under pressure as customers cut the cord and opt for streaming services. The rate of cord cutting accelerated in the third quarter, according to MoffettNathanson. [...] DirecTV reportedly lost around 500,000 customers in its most recent quarter, according to ratings agency Fitch. Although DirecTV's losses slowed during the height of the pandemic, they recently accelerated to nearly 17%, according to MoffettNathanson.

Paramount+ has given an eight-episode, straight-to-series order to an adaptation of Hasbro's wildly popular Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game franchise. Deadline reports: Red Notice filmmaker Rawson Marshall Thurber wrote the pilot script and is set to direct the first episode of the series which will be a co-production between eOne and Paramount Pictures. At Paramount+, the Dungeons & Dragons series will join Halo, the video game adaptation, which is one of the streamer's most popular originals. Over the last couple of years, there has been a resurgence in bringing gaming titles to television, and this is the latest example.

Adapting Dungeons & Dragons for television has been a major focus for eOne under President of Global Television Michael Lombardo following the company's 2019 acquisition by Hasbro. The live-action series has been tipped to be the studio's largest-scope TV project ever, potentially launching a "Dungeons & Dragons" universe spanning multiple scripted and unscripted shows. Overseeing the series for eOne is Gabriel Marano, the company's EVP Scripted Television.

AmiMoJo writes: Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko has signed a new law that legalizes piracy of movies, music, TV shows and software owned by rightsholders from 'unfriendly countries'. The law also allows goods protected by intellectual property law to be imported from any country without obtaining permission from rightsholders.

Lukashenko's support for Russia's invasion of Ukraine led to new sanctions being imposed by the EU, U.S. and other countries. In common with Russia, Belarus relies on intellectual property owned by foreign rightsholders that are currently unable or unwilling to supply and/or license it. So, to ensure legal access to pirated movies, music, TV shows and software, the government drafted a new law to restrict intellectual property rights.

Saturday night in the Silicon Valley city of San Jose, the assistant police chief tweeted out praise for their recently-upgraded Automatic License Plate Readers: Officers in Air3 [police helicopter], monitoring the ALPR system, got alerted to 3 stolen cars. They directed ground units to the cars. All 3 drivers in custody! No dangerous vehicle pursuits occurred, nor were they needed.

2 drivers tried to run away. But, you can't outrun a helicopter!"
There's photos — one of the vehicles appears to be a U-Haul pickup truck — and the tweet drew exactly one response, from San Jose mayor Matt Mahan: "Nice job...! Appreciate the excellent police work and great to see ALPRs having an impact. Don't steal cars in San Jose!"
Some context: The San Jose Spotlight (a nonprofit local news site) noted that prior to last year license plate readers had been mounted exclusively on police patrol cars (and in use since 2006). But last year the San Jose Police Department launched a new "pilot program" with four cameras mounted at a busy intersection, that "captured nearly 300,000 plate scans in just the last month, according to city data."

By August this had led to plans for 150 more stationary ALPR cameras, a local TV station reported. "Just this week, police said they solved an armed robbery and arrested a suspected shooter thanks to the cameras." During a forum to update the community, San Jose police also mentioned success stories in other cities like Vallejo where they've reported a 100% increase in identifying stolen vehicles. San Jose is now installing hundreds around the city and the first batch is coming in the next two to three months....

The biggest concern among those attending Wednesday's virtual forum was privacy. But the city made it clear the data is only shared with trained police officers and certain city staff, no out-of-state or federal agencies. "Anytime that someone from the San Jose Police Department accesses the ALPR system, they have to input a reason, the specific plates they are looking for and all of that information is logged so that we can keep track of how many times its being used and what its being used for," said Albert Gehami, Digital Privacy Officer for San Jose.
More privacy concerns were raised in September, reports the San Jose Spotlight: The San Jose City Council unanimously approved a policy Tuesday that formally bans the police department from selling any license plate data, using that information for investigating a person's immigration status or for monitoring legally protected activities like protests or rallies.

Even with these new rules, some privacy advocates and community groups are still opposed to the technology. Victor Sin, chair of the Santa Clara Valley Chapter of ACLU of Northern California, expressed doubt that the readers are improving public safety. He made the comments in a letter to the council from himself and leaders of four other community organizations. "Despite claims that (automated license plate reader) systems can reduce crime, researchers have expressed concerns about the rapid acquisition of this technology by law enforcement without evidence of its efficacy," the letter reads. Groups including the Asian Law Alliance and San Jose-Silicon Valley NAACP also said the city should reduce the amount of time it keeps license plate data on file down from one year.....

Mayor Sam Liccardo said he's already convinced the readers are useful, but added the council should try to find a way to measure their effect. "It's probably not a bad idea for us to decide what are the outcomes we're trying to achieve, and if there is some reasonable metric that captures that outcome in a meaningful way," Liccardo said. "Was this used to actually help us arrest anybody, or solve a crime or prevent an accident?"
An EFF position paper argues that "ALPR data is gathered indiscriminately, collecting information on millions of ordinary people." By plotting vehicle times and locations and tracing past movements, police can use stored data to paint a very specific portrait of drivers' lives, determining past patterns of behavior and possibly even predicting future ones — in spite of the fact that the vast majority of people whose license plate data is collected and stored have not even been accused of a crime.... [ALPR technology] allows officers to track everyone..."
Maybe the police officer's tweet was to boost public support for the technology? It's already led to a short report from another local news station: San Jose police recovered three stolen cars using their automated license-plate recognition technology (ALPR) on Saturday, according to officials with the San Jose Police Department.

Officers inside of Air3, one of SJPD's helicopters, spotted three stolen cars using ALPR before directing ground units their way. Police say no pursuits occurred, though two of the drivers tried to run away.

"We are seeing, across the gamut, products that impact our privacy, products that create cybersecurity risks, that have overarchingly long-term environmental impacts, disposable products, and flat-out just things that maybe should not exist."

That's the CEO of the how-to repair site iFixit, introducing their third annual "Worst in Show" ceremony for the products displayed at this year's CES. But the show's slogan promises it's also "calling out the most troubling trends in tech." For example, the EFF's executive director started with two warnings. First, "If it's communicating with your phone, it's generally communicating to the cloud too." But more importantly, if a product is gathering data about you and communicating with the cloud, "you have to ask yourself: is this company selling something to me, or are they selling me to other people? And this year, as in many past years at CES, it's almost impossible to tell from the products and the advertising copy around them! They're just not telling you what their actual business model is, and because of that — you don't know what's going on with your privacy."

After warning about the specific privacy implications of a urine-analyzing add-on for smart toilets, they noted there was a close runner-up for the worst privacy: the increasing number of scam products that "are basically based on the digital version of phrenology, like trying to predict your emotions based upon reading your face or other things like that. There's a whole other category of things that claim to do things that they cannot remotely do."

To judge the worst in show by environmental impact, Consumer Reports sent the Associate Director for their Product Sustainability, Research and Testing team, who chose the 55-inch portable "Displace TV" for being powered only by four lithium-ion batteries (rather than, say, a traditional power cord).

And the "worst in show" award for repairability went to the Ember Mug 2+ — a $200 travel mug "with electronics and a battery inside...designed to keep your coffee hot." Kyle Wiens, iFixit's CEO, first noted it was a product which "does not need to exist" in a world which already has equally effective double-insulated, vaccuum-insulated mugs and Thermoses. But even worse: it's battery powered, and (at least in earlier versions) that battery can't be easily removed! (If you email the company asking for support on replacing the battery, Wiens claims that "they will give you a coupon on a new, disposable coffee mug. So this is the kind of product that should not exist, doesn't need to exist, and is doing active harm to the world.

"The interesting thing is people care so much about their $200 coffee mug, the new feature is 'Find My iPhone' support. So not only is it harming the environment, it's also spying on where you're located!"

The founder of SecuRepairs.org first warned about "the vast ecosystem of smart, connected products that are running really low-quality, vulnerable software that make our persons and our homes and businesses easy targets for hackers." But for the worst in show for cybersecurity award, they then chose Roku's new Smart TV, partly because smart TVs in general "are a problematic category when it comes to cybersecurity, because they're basically surveillance devices, and they're not created with security in mind." And partly because to this day it's hard to tell if Roku has fixed or even acknowledged its past vulnerabilities — and hasn't implemented a prominent bug bounty program. "They're not alone in this. This is a problem that affects electronics makers of all different shapes and sizes at CES, and it's something that as a society, we just need to start paying a lot more attention to."

And US Pirg's "Right to Repair" campaign director gave the "Who Asked For This" award to Neutrogena's "SkinStacks" 3D printer for edible skin-nutrient gummies — which are personalized after phone-based face scans. ("Why just sell vitamins when you could also add in proprietary refills and biometic data harvesting.")

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Motherboard: Every day between 6 to 11 pm GMT, Neuro-sama streams herself playing Minecraft and osu, a musical rhythm game. Like many V-tubers, or virtual YouTubers, Neuro-sama appears as a Japanese anime-style character who interacts with her over 50,000 followers by responding to their comments in the chat. But there's one thing that separates Neuro-sama from her peers: she is controlled entirely by AI. [...] Vedal, the AI's pseudonymous creator, says that Neuro-sama was created as a fun experiment. "I made her a Twitch streamer so that she can interact with her audience in real time. A lot of the fun comes from her interactions with Twitch chat," Vedal told Motherboard. "I think the fans play an important role in her success and how fun her streams are. Having the interactions with Twitch chat are what makes her entertaining to watch, without that I don't think she would be as successful." Neuro-sama often impresses online users with her ability to successfully play games such as Minecraft and osu while also interacting with them in a conversational way. Vedal told Motherboard that Neuro-sama has already beaten the top-ranking osu player in a 1 v. 1 game. Though she is not allowed to be ranked on the main osu leaderboard, Neuro-sama is currently ranked number one on the private server she plays on.

Neuro-sama's earliest incarnation was first created in 2018, when Vedal made an AI that learned to play osu. But at the time, the virtual streamer did not have an avatar or speaking capabilities. Relaunched in December 2022, Vedal used a free sample avatar from Live2D, an online avatar maker, and paired it with an anime-style voice to create Neuro-sama. Vedal said that there are plans for her to get her own custom avatar and for her to play more games in the future. Like many modern AI chatbots, Vedal says Neuro-sama was made using a large language model, or LLM, a type of AI model trained from massive amounts of text taken from the open internet. As Motherboard has previously reported, many open-source AI models have a high propensity for human bias, and often mimic racist and sexist stereotypes. So while Neuro-sama's streams are 100 percent automated, Vedal has a team that monitors and moderates her and the chat.

Four years after introducing its MicroLED technology at CES 2018, Samsung claims the technology is ready for the masses and "will set the standard for picture quality in 2023," reports Engadget. From the report: At CES 2023, the company announced it would offer 50-, 63-, 76-, 89-, 101-, 114- and 140-inch MicroLED models, greatly expanding the amount of choice consumers have when it comes to the new display technology. Samsung didn't provide pricing and availability information for the expanded line, but the company claims the new models are its most affordable MicroLED TVs to date. [...] The set sports a 240Hz variable refresh rate and 2-nanosecond response time. It also offers 20-bit black detail for "intense" contrast.

Samsung is also promising upgrades for its Neo QLED sets, starting with the line's new flagship. The QN900C features an 8K Quantum MiniLED-lit panel capable of maxing out at 4,000 nits of brightness. As with Samsung's 2022 Neo QLED sets, the QN900C features a 14-bit backlight. However, the TV offers even better contrast thanks to a tweak the company made to its 8K Real Depth Enhancer Pro software. Samsung is also promising improved picture quality when viewing older movies and TV shows thanks to the inclusion of its new Auto HDR Remastering algorithm, which can automatically apply HDR effects to standard dynamic range content.

For those who would prefer a 4K set, there's also the QN935C. Samsung's new 4K flagship features a redesigned power board that eliminates the need for an external connection box and allows for bezels that are less than 20mm thick. The QN935C also features top-firing speakers, allowing the set to produce Dolby Atmos sound without a dedicated soundbar. You can use both the QN900C and QN935C as a smart home hub thanks to the fact Samsung's entire 2023 Neo QLED line will feature built-in Zigbee and Matter Thread all-in-one modules. As for its OLED models, Samsung announced the 2023 QD-OLED TV line, which will offer up to 2,000 nits of peak brightness and support 144Hz refresh rates -- all while being more energy efficient than before. "Additionally, the company has gone out of its way to get the panels AMD FreeSync Premium Pro certified," adds Engadget.

Is the world ready to move beyond movie, standard, and vivid? LG seems to think so. From a report: Setting up a new TV? Ask any videophile or home theater nerd and they'll probably tell you to set your picture mode to the movie/cinema option (or whatever's closest on your particular TV) and leave it there. Traditionally, this has been the most color accurate option and leans toward a pleasant, warm white balance instead of the cooler temperature that usually accompanies "standard" modes. But there are inevitably those people who prefer the standard or vivid settings -- much to the chagrin of enthusiasts. With its new 2023 TV lineup, LG is throwing these conventional choices out the window -- if you're willing to try -- and has come up with a new way of personalizing your picture preferences. Instead of giving you a few labeled options to switch between, a new "Personalized Picture Wizard" will present you with a series of images. On each screen, you choose one or two that look best to you.

After you do this six times, the TV will formulate a preset that's based on your selections. It considers the brightness, color, and contrast levels that you indicated a preference for. LG says a ton of AI deep learning is involved throughout this process; it sampled millions of images in creating the Picture Wizard. If you're ready to see how your picture mode looks while watching real content, you can hit "apply." Obviously LG will still be offering the tried and true picture settings along with deeper calibration options; your personalized picture mode will appear right alongside those in the settings menu on 2023 LG TVs.

Roku is stepping up from streaming sticks and audio bars to making its own TVs. At CES 2023 the streaming device manufacturer introduced two new lines: the Roku Select and Roku Plus. From a report: The new lines will consist of 11 models in total, ranging in size from 24 to 75 inches, and will include up to 4K resolutions. The HD-based Roku Select series will come equipped with Roku Voice Remotes, while the step-up Roku Plus units will ship with the $30 Voice Remote Pro. Roku's first foray into TV manufacturing comes on the heels of successful partnerships with more established TV suppliers such as TCL, Hisense and Sharp. "These Roku-branded TVs will not only complement the current lineup of partner-branded Roku TV models, but also allow us to enable future smart TV innovations," Mustafa Ozgen, the president of Devices at Roku, said in a press release.

Although it's talking about the future, there's no indication that Roku is looking to push the technological envelope with its own TVs just yet. The company will initially be competing with its own partners, in fact, for a segment of the budget market. Roku has released only limited information so little is known about the differences between Roku-made TVs and Roku-branded ones. Roku has so far relied on partners to innovate in terms of picture quality. The TCL 6-Series Roku TV, for example, uses the latest in mini-LED technology and comes with full-array local dimming and a reasonable price. But the company also announced a reference design for a Roku OLED TV in the hopes that one of its manufacturing partners will take up the task. The Roku TV lineup will range between $119 and $999.

Perhaps the biggest reason TVs have gotten so much cheaper than other products is that your TV is watching you and profiting off the data it collects. From a report: Modern TVs, with very few exceptions, are "smart," which means they come with software for streaming online content from Netflix, YouTube, and other services. Perhaps the most common media platform, Roku, now comes built into TVs made by companies including TCL, HiSense, Philips, and RCA. But there are many more operating systems: Google has Google TV, which is used by Sony, among other manufacturers, and LG and Samsung offer their own.

Smart TVs are just like search engines, social networks, and email providers that give us a free service in exchange for monitoring us and then selling that info to advertisers leveraging our data. These devices "are collecting information about what you're watching, how long you're watching it, and where you watch it," Willcox said, "then selling that data -- which is a revenue stream that didn't exist a couple of years ago." There's nothing particularly secretive about this -- data-tracking companies such as Inscape and Samba proudly brag right on their websites about the TV manufacturers they partner with and the data they amass.

The companies that manufacture televisions call this "post-purchase monetization," and it means they can sell TVs close to at cost and still make money over the long term by sharing viewing data. In addition to selling your viewing information to advertisers, smart TVs also show ads in the interface. Roku, for example, prominently features a given TV show or streaming service on the right-hand side of its home screen -- that's a paid advertisement. Roku also has its own ad-supported channel, the Roku Channel, and gets a cut of the video ads shown on other channels on Roku devices.

According to the Information, Amazon is working on a standalone app for watching sports content. Reuters reports: Sports remains one of the biggest attractions for live viewing as U.S. audiences increasingly switch from pay TV subscriptions to streaming apps. The move will likely complement Amazon's effort to double down on sports programming through its Prime Video service, a key channel to attract consumers to its shopping platform.

Amazon already owns the rights to stream games including National Football League's Thursday Night Football franchise and Premier League soccer matches in the UK, setting it up to better compete with sports streaming leader Walt Disney Co. It was not clear when Amazon would roll out the sports app and whether it would go through with the plan, according to the report.

"The first mostly non-human-run McDonald's is open for business just outside Fort Worth, Texas," reports the Guardian. CNN calls it "an almost fully-automated restaurant," noting there's just one self-service kiosk (with a credit card reader) for ordering food.

McDonalds tells CNN there's "some interaction between customers and the restaurant team" when picking up orders or drinks. But at the special "order ahead" drive-through lane, your app-ordered bag of food is instead delivered to a platform by your car's window using a vertical conveyor belt.

CNN reports that it's targetted to customers on the go. For example, there's dedicated parking spaces outside for curbside pickup orders, while inside there's a room with bags to be picked up by food-delivery couriers (who also get their own designated parking spaces outside). But for regular customers, CBS emphasizes that "ordering is done through kiosks or an app — no humans involved there, either." But not all customers are loving it. "Well there goes millions of jobs," one commenter on a TikTok video said about the new restaurant said.

"Oh no first we have to talk with Siri and Google [and] now we have to talk to another computer," another one opined.

"I'm not giving my money to robots," another commenter wrote. "Raise the minimum wage!"

Other customers had more personal concerns, expressing worries about how they could get their order fixed if it was incorrectly prepared or how to ask for extra condiments. "And if they forget an item. Who you supposed to tell, the robot? It defeats the purpose of using the drive thru if you have to go inside for it," one consumer noted....

To be sure, not everyone had negative views about the concept. Some customers expressed optimism that the automated restaurant could improve service and their experience.

Subscribers to "NFL Sunday Ticket" can watch broadcasts of every Sunday game of American football. But for access next season, "fans will have to Google it..." warns the Associated Press — because Thursday the football league announced plans to distribute their game package on YouTube TV and YouTube Primetime Channels.

Google beat out both Apple and Amazon by offering over $2 billion a year for 7 years — but Yahoo Finance believes it's more about drawing attention to YouTube's streaming TV services. "Don't expect the package to be profitable, one analyst warned." "They're not making money on this — this is a loss leader," Michael Pachter, managing director of equity research at Wedbush, told Yahoo Finance Live, referencing YouTube TV's current price point of $64.99. "I don't think they make a penny at that level...."

"It's an extremely expensive package of content," Tim Nollen, analyst at Macquarie Group, previously told Yahoo Finance Live, noting the Sunday Ticket package was not a profitable service for DirecTV [which since 1994 has held the exclusive broadcast rights in the U.S.]

[...] YouTube TV has more than 5 million subscribers and trial users as of July. "Five million subscribers is just not enough," Pachter stressed. "Even if all 5 million pay the $400 bucks a year...they're going to barely cover their costs." Still, despite the lack of profitability and sky-high price tag, Pachter noted YouTube might be best positioned to take advantage of the package, especially as the demand for live sports escalates. "I think they can be smart about how they carve up the content," Pachter said, suggesting the platform could more easily sell games to bars and restaurants.

Satya Nadella keeps thinking bigger. Microsoft's chief executive has been buying new businesses at an impressive clip. Look for him to add Netflix to the list in 2023. Reuters reports: [...] The two companies are already closely aligned. Netflix chose Microsoft as its advertising partner for a new advertising-supported subscription service. Microsoft President Brad Smith also sits on the Netflix board. Part of the rationale for a deal is that Microsoft wants to offer a video-game streaming service over multiple devices. Netflix has its own big plans in gaming. In 2022, the company co-led by Reed Hastings snapped up developer Spry Fox, its sixth in-house studio. Becoming part of the Microsoft empire would supercharge those ambitions. A bundle with streaming TV and games together is not hard to fathom.

With a market value 13 times that of Netflix, as of early December, $1.8 trillion Microsoft can afford Netflix. A 30% premium would value the Netflix enterprise at nearly $190 billion. Significant cost savings would be hard to find, however. And after taxing the $8 billion of operating profit that analysts project for Netflix in 2024, the implied return on investment would only be half its 8% weighted average cost of capital, per Morningstar analysts. Nadella has defied such back-of-the-envelope financial logic before. And if nothing else, he has shown a willingness to be a bold dealmaker. On that basis, it's easy to believe Microsoft will set its sights on Netflix.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from TorrentFreak: The UK Government's Intellectual Property Office published new piracy guidance today, and it contains a small, easily missed detail. People who share their Netflix, Amazon Prime, or Disney+ passwords are violators of copyright law. And it gets worse. The IPO informs TorrentFreak that password sharing could also mean criminal liability for fraud. [...] In a low-key announcement today, the UK Government's Intellectual Property Office announced a new campaign in partnership with Meta, aiming to help people avoid piracy and counterfeit goods online. Other than in the headline, there is zero mention of Meta in the accompanying advice, and almost no advice that hasn't been issued before. But then this appears: "Piracy is a major issue for the entertainment and creative industries. Pasting internet images into your social media, password sharing on streaming services and accessing the latest films, tv series or live sports events through kodi boxes, fire sticks or Apps without paying a subscription all break copyright laws. Not only are you breaking the law but stopping someone earning a living from their hard work."

TorrentFreak immediately contacted the Intellectual Property Office for clarification on the legal side, particularly since password sharing sits under a piracy heading. The IPO's response was uncompromising, to put it mildly. "There are a range of provisions in criminal and civil law which may be applicable in the case of password sharing where the intent is to allow a user to access copyright protected works without payment," the IPO informs TorrentFreak. "These provisions may include breach of contractual terms, fraud or secondary copyright infringement depending on the circumstances." Given that using the "services of a members' club without paying and without being a member" is cited as an example of fraud in the UK, the bar for criminality is set very low, unless the Crown Prosecution Service decides otherwise, of course.

"Peak TV has peaked," reports the new York Times: The never-ending supply of new programming that helped define the streaming era — spawning shows at a breakneck pace but also overwhelming viewers with too many choices — appears to finally be slowing. The number of adult scripted series ordered by TV networks and streaming companies aimed for U.S. audiences fell by 24 percent in the second half of this year, compared with the same period last year, according to Ampere Analysis, a research firm. Compared with 2019, it is a 40 percent drop. "The second half of the year has really gone off a bit of a cliff," said Fred Black, a research manager at Ampere.

It may take some time for that to become apparent to viewers — if it becomes apparent at all, given the glut. It is usually months and sometimes more than a year for a TV show to premiere after a network orders it.

The drop is a result of broader reckoning inside the entertainment industry. For years, television executives tossed off billions of dollars on TV series to help build out their streaming services and chase subscribers. The spending has been a boon to high-profile writers and producers, who captured eight- and nine-figure deals, as well as for the actors, directors and behind-the-scenes workers who kept the engine going. But Wall Street soured on the buy-at-any-cost strategy starting in the spring, when Netflix, the streaming powerhouse, announced that it had lost subscribers for the first time in a decade. Netflix's stock nose-dived, and other entertainment companies soon watched their share prices fall, too. Hollywood companies quickly shifted, putting a new emphasis on higher profits instead of raw subscriber counts.

Then, in recent months, entertainment companies became increasingly anxious about a slowing economy, the cord-cutting movement and a troublesome advertising market. Since the summer, scores of executives have abruptly been dismissed, strict cost-cutting measures have been adopted and layoffs have taken hold throughout the industry.... Netflix also cut hundreds of jobs and introduced a cheaper advertising tier, overturning the company's longtime pledge to never allow commercials on the service. Warner Bros. Discovery, a company that was formed in April, faces a debt of roughly $50 billion, and has been in severe cost-cutting mode. There have been rounds of layoffs companywide, including at HBO and HBO Max, as well as sudden cancellations. The once-popular series "Westworld" was canceled last month — a move that surprised Hollywood — and the lesser-known, raunchy dating series "FBoy Island" was cut a few weeks ago....

There are a few outliers to this year's trend: Apple TV+ and Amazon have increased the number of adult scripted series they have purchased this year. So has Disney, according to Ampere's research. (For the second half of the year, however, Disney's buying has declined compared with the same period last year.)

Longtime williamyf writes: Both ArsTechnica and The Register report that Amazon, Vertigo, and Games Worksop have entered a preliminary deal for the movie, TV, and merchandising rights of the Warhammer 40K franchise. The deal also brings Henry Cavill -- longtime Warhammer 40K fan, actor who played Geralt in Netflix's The Witcher series and Superman in the Zack Snyder DC superhero films -- as both executive producer and actor.

While this is only a memorandum of understanding, it's highly likely that the deal will pass. What is still not clear is if this will be handled by MGM (meaning a higher probability of theatrical releases and physical media) or if it will go to Amazon Studios (increasing the probability of a streaming-only affaire), or both.

What is your opinion? Let us know in the comments. "Warhammer 40K is set in the very distant future (the 40K roughly refers to the years when it takes place) that is analogous in some ways to what historians used to refer to as Europe's Dark Ages," reports Ars. "The franchise is the definition of 'grimdark,' painting a picture of a universe in which billions toil to serve a God-Emperor and vast, brutal warfare."

"The universe is much more expansive than its politics, though, with countless threats to humanity, including Starship Troopers-like insect hordes and space orks, among other beings." It started as a tabletop game and has gone on to spawn numerous popular video games and books over the almost 40 years it's been around.

It was 29 years ago today that DOOM was first released — and we're still using it! Here in 2022, the latest mod reportedly converts its demons into the zombies and creepers from Minecraft. This week Hackaday wrote about a simple emulated RISC-V processor that runs DOOM. Last month someone even got DOOM running in Notepad. And recently WebTV enthusiasts not only jerry-rigged a contemporary TV to a WebTV unit, but then actually got it to play a 1990s-era WebTV version of DOOM on their TV screen.

The last 29 years have been a long, strange trip. A hidden Doom level appeared in Microsoft Excel. A Doom video was also used to promote Windows 95. And then there was that weird Doom movie starring The Rock and Karl Urban... By 2015 Doom was inducted into the World Video Game Hall of Fame. In 2016 John Romero created a new level. Later that year a new release of Doom even featured a mod with one of the the original Doom II levels from 1994.

In 2016 we'd asked Slashdot readers to share their own favorite stories about Doom — and the best thing about that post is those 351 comments. ("I went to the door, confused why the police were banging on my door.... They said they had reports of shots being fired." )

Is anyone still playing Doom today? Share your own thoughts and memories in the comments.

And what's your own favorite story about Doom?