Showing posts with label News. Show all posts
The Pirate Bay Website Runs a Cryptocurrency Miner
A few hours ago a cryptocurrency miner appeared on The Pirate Bay website, using the computer resources of visitors to mine Monero coins. The operators of The Pirate Bay are testing it as a new way to generate revenue, but many users aren't happy.
Four years ago many popular torrent sites added an option to donate via Bitcoin. The Pirate Bay was one of the first to jump on board and still lists its address on the website.
While there’s nothing wrong with using Bitcoin as a donation tool, adding a Javascript cryptocurrency miner to a site is of a totally different order.
A few hours ago many Pirate Bay users began noticing that their CPU usage increased dramatically when they browsed certain Pirate Bay pages. Upon closer inspection, this spike appears to have been caused by a Bitcoin miner embedded on the site.
The code in question is tucked away in the site’s footer and uses a miner provided by Coinhive. This service offers site owners the option to convert the CPU power of users into Monero coins.
The miner does indeed appear to increase CPU usage quite a bit. It is throttled at different rates (we’ve seen both 0.6 and 0.8) but the increase in resources is immediately noticeable.
The miner is not enabled site-wide. When we checked, it appeared in the search results and category listings, but not on the homepage or individual torrent pages.
There has been no official comment from the site operators on the issue (update, see below), but many users have complained about it. In the official site forums, TPB supermoderator Sid is clearly not in agreement with the site’s latest addition.
“That really is serious, so hopefully we can get some action on it quickly. And perhaps get some attention for the uploading and commenting bugs while they’re at it,” Sid writes.
Like many others, he also points out that blocking or disabling Javascript can stop the automatic mining. This can be done via browser settings or through script blocker addons such as NoScript and ScriptBlock. Alternatively, people can block the miner URL with an ad-blocker.
Whether the miner is a new and permanent tool, or perhaps triggered by an advertiser, is unknown at the point.
We were told that the miner is being tested for a short period (~24 hours) as a new way to generate revenue. This could eventually replace the ads on the site. More info may be revealed later.
The operators have posted a statement on the site as well.
“As you may have noticed we are testing a Monero javascript miner. This is only a test. We really want to get rid of all the ads. But we also need enough money to keep the site running.”
“Let us know what you think in the comments. Do you want ads or do you want to give away a few of your CPU cycles every time you visit the site? Of course the mining can be blocked by a normal ad-blocker.”
“Note: Initially there was a small typo so all CPU for a client was used. This should be corrected now so only 20-30% should be used. Also it is restricted to run in one tab only so even if you have 10 tabs oven it will only be running in 1.”
Huawei Mate 10 Review
Update: A new leaked image gives us a clear look at the Huawei Mate 10, and Huawei has all but confirmed that it's landing on October 16, complete with facial recognition skills.
The Huawei Mate 9 was one of the best large screen phones of 2016, offering great battery life, impressive internal power and a good snapper on the back of the handset.
Huawei will follow it up with the Mate 10 later this year, so we've collected all the news and rumors about the handset. You'll find that below, followed by a selection of the features we'd most like to see on the upcoming phablet.
The Mate 10 will probably have to compete with the Samsung Galaxy Note 8,Galaxy S8 Plus, iPhone 8 Plus and many other big name handsets, so hopefully some of this comes true, to make it worth holding out until the end of the year to upgrade your phone.
Cut to the chase
- What is it? The next large screen phone from Huawei
- When is it out? Probably October 16
- What will it cost? A high price
Huawei Mate 10 release date and price
Key points:
- The Huawei Mate 10 will launch this year
- Expected to launch on October 16, plus you can probably buy it soon after
- Price wise, it's going to be expensive
The Huawei Mate 10 will almost certainly launch on October 16, as Huawei hasteased a new phone for that date.
That adds up, as previously a Polish website called TableTowo reported that the Mate 10 would launch on October 16 at an event in Munich.
One other source pegs it at October 2017, which would be less than a year after the Mate 9, as that launched in November 2016.
Even if that date doesn't come to fruition, we know it will arrive in the coming months as Huawei CEO Richard Yu revealed details about the firm's upcoming phablet in an interview with Bloomberg.
One source has also said the codename for the Huawei Mate 10 is Marcel, while a higher end Mate 10 Pro has the name of Blanc.
As for the price, Huawei's Mate 9 was quite a bit more expensive than the Mate 8, so with the price already being very high we don't expect Huawei will put the price up much for the Mate 10.
The Mate 9 launched at $599.99 (£579, AU$999), so we'd expect a similar price for the Mate 10 when the it launches later this year.
Huawei Mate 10 design and specs
- A bezel-less, 6-inch, 2:1 display
- A 2,160 x 1,080 resolution
- A dual-lens front-facing camera with 3D face scanning skills
One thing we know for sure about the Huawei Mate 10 display is that
it will have very slender bezels, after CEO Richard Yu said the phone will have a large screen to bezel ratio.
it will have very slender bezels, after CEO Richard Yu said the phone will have a large screen to bezel ratio.
The latest leaked image somewhat backs that up, showing tiny bezels to either side of the screen, but still significant ones above and below it.
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| The Huawei Mate 10 is set to have a big screen. Credit: @evleaks |
We've also seen a series of leaked renders, showing a big phone with a fingerprint scanner below the screen on the front, a glass back and a dual-lens rear camera jutting out.
The source of the images adds that the Mate 10 will have a 5.9-inch display and dimensions of 150.2 x 77.5 x 8.4mm, which would make it marginally smaller than the Huawei Mate 9.
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UberGizmo has reported that Chinese sources claim the phone will come with the now commonly used bezel-free screen design, seen on competitors like theGalaxy S8 and LG G6 as well as the iPhone X. |
Elsewhere, we've heard that it will be a 6-inch 2,160 x 1,080 display with a 2:1 aspect ratio. That would make it long and narrow, again like key rivals.
Huawei Mate 10 facial recognition
The same source claims the Mate 10 may have an iris scanner, and will have 3D facial recognition skills, which will apparently make it better at augmenting reality.
This is looking very likely, as Huawei itself has now taken a stab at Apple in aFacebook post, saying "facial recognition isn't for everyone" and "Unlock the future with #TheRealAIPhone."
Huawei Mate 10 camera
That adds up with talk on anunconfirmed Weibo thread
that hinted at a dual-camera system for the front of the Mate 10, but there's no confirmation on who posted the rumors, so it may turn out to all be false.
that hinted at a dual-camera system for the front of the Mate 10, but there's no confirmation on who posted the rumors, so it may turn out to all be false.
Yu has also said that Huawei will improve camera quality for the Mate 10, while also providing a longer lasting, and faster charging battery in the phone.
But Huawei is putting a lot of money into its dual-camera tech made in partnership with Leica, so it makes sense that the firm will look to upgrade the front camera.
Huawei may also bring its upgraded dual rear camera system from the
Huawei P10 to the Mate 10.
Huawei P10 to the Mate 10.
Huawei Mate 10 OS and power
It's also expected Huawei will debut it's long-awaited Kirin 970 chipset on the phone. The Mate 9 came with the latest processing tech at the time - the Kirin 960 - so it would make sense if Huawei decides to upgrade the processor on the Mate 10 to what will likely also be seen on the Huawei P11.
That makes sense, as Yu also revealed that the Mate 10 will be more powerful han the new iPhone - so expect it to be crammed full of grunt.
Huawei has also shown us a little hint of what the software will look like on the Mate 10, but we expect it to launch with a new version of Emotion UI that's based on Android 8 Oreo software.
The Huawei P10 launched with Emotion UI 5.1, so it may be Emotion UI 6 that we see on the new device.
The few screenshots that you can see in the video below are meant to show how the Mate 10 allows color to come through the text on the lock screen, which you can see most prominently on the clock in the bottom left.
Huawei has said these little nuances and more will be coming on the software included with the Mate 10.
Huawei Mate 10: what we want to see
While we wait for more rumors of the Huawei Mate 10 to heat up, we've put together some of our most wanted upgrades for the company's next phablet flagship.
1. A lower price
This is a must for the Huawei Mate 10 to be one of the best phones of 2017. Huawei has been known as a cheaper Android alternative to the likes of HTC, LG and Samsung for a number of years now, but the Mate 9 saw the company raise its prices up above what we're used to.
Hopefully Huawei will drop the price back down a little for the Huawei Mate 10 considering the $599.99 (£579, AU$999) price of the Mate 9 is pretty expensive.
2. A QHD screen
The Huawei Mate 9 was not built for virtual reality and at 1080p it doesn't have a particularly high screen resolution like the Galaxy Note 8 almost certainly will.
We'd quite like the Mate 9 to embrace a slightly higher screen resolution, so the company can make the phone Google Daydream compatible without forcing users to squint.
3. A new UI
Emotion UI for Huawei handsets is a controversial element of the phone's design. Some people love the look of Huawei's own UI overlay, but many others also hate how it looks and works.
Huawei has done a lot of work to improve it in recent years, but we hope by the time of the Mate 10 the company has slimmed down the amount of bloatware and excess apps to offer a cleaner and easier to use phone experience.
4. Water resistant design
Huawei has shown no interest in embracing water resistant designs on its previous phones, but we have our fingers crossed there will be a new design for the Huawei Mate 10.
A more durable design would be a big benefit to the Mate line of products, allowing you to dunk your phone in the bath or use it in the rain - like you can with an iPhone 7 or Samsung Galaxy S8 - without any major concerns.
5. Amazon Alexa integration
The Mate 9 now has Amazon Alexa support in the US, but we've yet to see it around the rest of the world. We hope soon Huawei will see fit to roll this out to the Mate 9 in other countries, but if not it'd be a great feature to launch on the upcoming Mate 10.
- Take a look at the HTC 11 or the Google Pixel 2 rumors