Month: July 2016
U.S. takes control of the KickassTorrents web site – Owner arrested
One of the biggest illegal file sharing web sites, named KickAssTorrent, has now been seized by the U.S. Government and its owner, 30 year old Artem Vaulin, has been arrested in his home country of Poland and charged with criminal copyright infringement.  The U.S. Government is seeking to extradite him to the U.S.  The U.S. Department of Justice also seized several domains associated with the service.
KickassTorrents, also known as KAT, has distributed well over $1 billion in copyrighted materials, prosecutors said. Since 2008, the service has run a directory for downloading pirated movies, TV shows, music and more using the BitTorrent protocol.
Fifty million unique users visit the site every month, the department alleges.
Vaulin, who went by the screen name "tirm," is believed to have designed KickassTorrents' original website and overseen its operations.
"During the latter part of the conspiracy, Vaulin allegedly operated KAT under the auspices of a Ukrainian-based front company called Cryptoneat," the DOJ added.
To evade law enforcement, Vaulin allegedly moved his domains to servers across the world, following repeated seizures and lawsuits. Courts in the U.K., Italy and Malaysia have blocked the site.
Without Fanfare: Hulu’s Universal Windows App appears on the Xbox One Console Store
Late Wednesday, Xbox One users noticed that their is a new app in their list of choices in the console store - Hulu. Â Users now have the option to view content from the video service right from their Xbox One game system.
The Hulu app now does a full circle with Microsoft as it can be run on Windows Phones, the Surface Hub, and even Microsoft’s HoloLens augmented reality headset.
Apple Pay officially launches in Hong Kong with support for AMEX, MasterCard, and Visa
Apple Pay has now officially launched in Hong Kong with support for major Credit Cards such as American Express, MasterCard and Visa.
In Hong Kong, Apple Pay is supported with Visa, MasterCard, and American Express cards issued by Bank of China, DBS Bank, HSBC, Standard Chartered, and Hang Seng Bank. Finally, cards issued directly by American Express are also supported.
In the future, Apple says that Hong Kong’s Bank of East Asia and Tap & Go cards will also be supported with Apple Pay in Hong Kong, though no timetable is given.
Full details regarding Apple Pay support in Hong Kong are available on Apple’s website, including a list of supported retailers. With the Hong Kong launch, Apple Pay is now available in 9 countries and regions.