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GM brings its peer-to-peer car-sharing service to 10 US cities
Earlier this year, GM unveiled a peer-to-peer car-sharing service, expanding its Maven platform to allow GM owners and qualified lessees to rent out their own vehicles. At the time, the company said the service was in beta in Chicago, Detroit and Ann Arbor, Michigan, but GM has now announced that it's bringing the peer-to-peer car-sharing service to 10 US cities in the coming months. By the end of the year, the service will be fully launched in Ann Arbor, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Detroit, Jersey City, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington, DC.
Illinois governor vetoes bill that would stifle car sharing
Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner has vetoed a bill that stood to damage peer-to-peer car sharing companies like Turo, GetAround and Maven. The bill was passed by the state legislature in May and would have applied the same state and local taxes big rental companies like Avis or Hertz have to pay to the individuals that rent out their vehicles on the car sharing platforms. Those include a five percent tax as well as local taxes of up to 20 percent. While the bill didn't initially include such stipulations, Ars Technica reports that industry lobbyists pushed for the changes late in the process.
Apple Pay Cash leads Consumer Reports' first payment service test
Peer-to-peer mobile payment services are all the rage these days (eMarketer expects a 24 percent jump in US adoption in 2018), but which of them is actually the safest to use? Consumer Reports might have an idea. The publication has conducted its first head-to-head test of payment services, and it's clear that some services are better picks than others. While all of the payment platforms were "good enough to use," Apple Pay Cash was the victor due to its stronger-than-usual privacy and security.
New Mexico asks BitTorrent what it does to stop child exploitation
New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas is worried that technology is enabling child exploitation, and he's putting pressure on the companies creating that technology. His office has sent a letter to BitTorrent asking it to cooperate with an investigation into tech aiding child exploitation. The official wanted to know what BitTorrent is doing to block, monitor and report illegal material in its uTorrent client, and was concerned that the company's Cyber Ghost VPN was helping criminals hide their tracks by securing traffic. He also asked for subscriber counts in the state and the number of people removed so far.
Apple Pay Cash money transfers are available in the US
Apple had to rush-release iOS 11.2 to tackle a nasty date-sensitive bug, leaving hopeful Apple Pay Cash users twiddling their thumbs. Thankfully, you haven't had to wait too long -- Apple's money transfer service is rolling out in the US. As promised, you can add a virtual Apple Pay Cash card to iOS' Wallet app and send Venmo-style payments through your iMessage chats. If you owe a friend for pizza, you don't have to download a separate app or hit the ATM to settle your debt.
Facebook Messenger's money transfer tool is heading to the UK
Back in 2015, Facebook introduced the ability to send money to friends through Messenger and now it has brought that capability to UK users. It's the first time Facebook has launched the feature outside of the US.
US internet providers stop sending piracy warnings
Remember the media industry's vaunted Copyright Alert System? It was supposed to spook pirates by having their internet providers send violation notices, with the threat of penalties like throttling. However, it hasn't exactly panned out. ISPs and media groups have dropped the alert system with an admission that it isn't up to the job. While the program was supposedly successful in "educating" the public on legal music and video options, the MPAA states that it just couldn't handle the "hard-core repeat infringer problem" -- there wasn't much to deter bootleggers.
BitTorrent's live TV network streams to iPhones
BitTorrent's Live video streaming experiment is ready to go wherever you do. The peer-to-peer app is available right this instant on iOS, and, as you might expect it's 100 percent free. As with the Apple TV app, there isn't a lot to choose from as far as viewing material goes, however.
Amazon's 'Grand Tour' is the most pirated show ever (update)
Amazon's The Grand Tour, a reboot of the BBC's hit show Top Gear, has been an unmitigated success, with fans with its first episode alone garnering "millions" of views. It's also a hit with pirates who, instead of paying the annual $100 fee for Amazon Prime, have downloaded the first three episodes at unprecedented rates.
Interpol is using AI to hunt down child predators online
The FBI may have scored a big win with operation Playpen, which helped dismantle a ring of TOR-based pedophiles and prosecute its members (thanks, Rule 41), but that was just one battle in the ongoing war against the sexual exploitation of children. That fight is now a bit easier for European law enforcement, which as debuted a new machine learning AI system that hunts for child porn on P2P networks.
BitTorrent offers grants for budding artists
BitTorrent doesn't just want to rely on ready-made content from big-name artists and well-funded indies to fuel its constant distribution dreams -- it's contributing to the projects themselves. The company is launching the Discovery Fund to give movie makers, musicians and other creators the money they need to get their work off the ground. A total of 25 promising artists will get between $2,500 to $100,000 to help distribute and market their wares. Producers maintain control, BitTorrent's Straith Schreder says -- this is just about finding a "global audience."
BitTorrent comes to Apple TV through a live news app
BitTorrent just came to the new Apple TV... though not in the way you might have expected. OnAir Live Developers has released OTT News, an app for Apple TV (Android and iOS too) that uses BitTorrent Live's peer-to-peer streaming to cover the US election both in real-time and through pre-recorded clips. It's not as lavishly produced as the coverage from big TV networks, but that's part of the point -- the technology lets a small outfit stream to your devices without expensive servers and bandwidth. It opens the door to live living room video from more than just the usual suspects.
Hangouts gives you better call quality by skipping Google
If you don't think Hangouts calls on your phone are passing muster, don't worry -- relief might be in sight. The latest version of Hangouts for Android is telling users that it'll boost audio and video quality on future calls by making peer-to-peer connections "when possible." In other words, it'll bypass Google's servers if both ends of the conversation can establish a direct link. The exact criteria for this isn't listed, but it's safe to say that this will at least work between two people using the latest Android software. You likely won't notice much of a difference unless many of your friends upgrade, but don't be surprised if your face-to-face and VoIP chats get that much clearer.
Popcorn Time creator reveals himself (and why he left)
Up until the original Popcorn Time 'died' and became an open source project, its chief creator was only known as "Sebastian" -- not surprisingly, he wasn't keen on linking his real name to a pro-piracy initiative. At last, though, this mysterious man has revealed both his identity and his motivations. He's Federico Abad, an Argentinian designer who created Popcorn Time when he wanted a fast and simple way for people to watch any movie they wanted. Existing options took too long, or were confusing to a relative neophyte like Abad's mom. If she liked the technology, it was a good idea.
BitTorrent's messaging service goes wide, adds ephemeral options
Last we heard of BitTorrent's chat client, Bleep, it was just debuting. Today the news is that the secure messaging client is moving from open alpha to a release aimed at the general Android and iOS owning public. With it comes peer-to-peer messaging with the ability to communicate -- even sending messages to friends who are offline -- no servers required, which theoretically means no threat of hacking. Perhaps the biggest new feature is an ephemeral option called "whispers" for evaporating messages. Unlike Snapchat, though, you can choose on a message by message basis which texts or photos you send will evaporate after 25 seconds. It isn't an all or nothing affair here. And to further distance itself from the ghostly messaging service, you can even send these from a computer. BitTorrent says with whispers you can swap back and forth between them and normal messages seamlessly without breaking the flow of conversation too.
BitTorrent reportedly laid off dozens of employees
According to Buzzfeed, BitTorrent drastically reduced its US workforce on Thursday. Multiple anonymous sources reportedly confirmed that about 40 of the company's 150 domestic employees were sacked yesterday morning. BitTorrent has struggled to turn a profit over the last couple of years. Despite its ubiquitous name recognition and multiple profit-sharing partnerships with major musical acts, the company never quite shook the "pirated media" stigma with mainstream consumers. It also offered a string of peer-to-peer based products that never really went anywhere. I mean, do you remember Bleep, BitTorrent's P2P messaging app? No, of course you don't. BitTorrent reportedly made the cuts in order to streamline its business and focus on Sync, a cloud storage system based on it's peer-to-peer file sharing system. Update: Bittorrent PR has issued a comment on the reported firings. We've recently realigned resources based on a regular evaluation of the business. Regrettably, this did include some employee departures. The business however, remains healthy, profitable and growing.
BitTorrent's secure web browser one step closer to release
Last we heard of BitTorrent's Project Maelstrom it was going into alpha. Well, the peer-to-peer outfit's browser has made its way to the next logical step: beta. New additions include stability improvements, support for auto-updates and, for the first time, tools for its some 10,000 web developers to "leverage the efficiency of BitTorrent technology in their content and interactive experiences." For a peek at exactly what that means, the open beta for Windows users is available at the links below.
Popcorn Time's movie piracy app works on iOS without tricks, for now
Popcorn Time's piracy-centric streaming video service just got a little too easy to access on the go. The outfit has released an installer that lets you use the peer-to-peer app on iOS devices without jailbreaking (that is, loosening restrictions though unofficial code). All you do is run an app on your Windows PC (a Mac version is due soon) and start watching. Does this sound like something Apple wouldn't approve? You're probably right. Popcorn Time tells The Next Web that it fully expects the folks in Cupertino to block the software, and that its installer team is "ready for any obstacle" -- the crew went so far as to post a 1-year anniversary video (below) that thumbs its nose at, well, everyone. Something tells us that this confidence won't stop Apple from trying, though, so don't be surprised if the app stops working before long.
Windows 10 will deliver updates through your fellow PC users
Not fond of having to wait (and wait, and wait) while you download Windows updates from Microsoft's servers? You might not have to when Windows 10 arrives. The Verge has noticed that a leaked version of the operating system lets you grab updates from other computers, whether they're on your local network or online -- yes, it's a peer-to-peer network for patches. Besides accelerating the upgrade process, the option could save precious bandwidth (important on capped data plans) if you have a multi-PC household. There's no telling when this feature will show up in a Windows 10 build you can try, assuming Microsoft doesn't get cold feet. A new public test release is reportedly coming soon, though, so you probably won't have to wait very long.
BitTorrent now lets any artist offer paid bundles
BitTorrent's experiments with paid music and video bundles have clearly seen some early success -- and accordingly, it's opening up the floodgates. The peer-to-peer service now lets any artist apply to distribute content through paywall-based downloads, whether they're releasing music, apps or movies. As before, the allure is the sheer flexibility that artists get in deciding not just what you pay for, but when you pay for it. A musician might let the first 500 downloaders listen to an album for free, for instance, but can ask latecomers to pay for some or all of the songs. They also get 90 percent of the revenue instead of the 70 percent they get from most online music services, so there's a chance they'll take home more money if they produce a hit.
