The Apple TV+ series Foundation finds itself a favorite among digital pirates. Photo: Apple
The eagerly anticipated and much-praised Apple TV+ original series Foundation, based on the epic Isaac Asimov novels of the 1950s, has received a modern-day distinction, of sorts — it’s among the most-pirated shows of the year online. As such, it’s in good company.
It’s not quite the same sort of honor as the scads of awards Apple TV+ has been winning for shows like Ted Lasso and Stillwater, but it’s impressive nonetheless.
BitTorrent Now is exclusively for independent artists. Photo: BitTorrent
Just over a month after launching its own live video service, BitTorrent is getting into music. Legal music, that is. Its new BitTorrent Now app for iOS and Apple TV brings you the latest tracks and videos from independent artists as soon as they’re available.
BitTorrent Live wants to make streaming even greater. Photo: BitTorrent
In an effort to shake off its shady image, BitTorrent is launching a new streaming service that will bring a number of live channels to Apple TV, iOS, and Mac.
The service is called BitTorrent Live, and it will initially offer news, sport, music, and more.
Torrenters beware! The first ransomware attack on Mac users in the wild has been discovered, “courtesy” of Transmission, a BitTorrent client for Mac.
The torrent service received a major update last week, but it unfortunately the new software happened to be infected with ransomware, which went on to quietly install itself on the the Macs of everyone who downloaded the update from Transmission’s website.
You can replace iMessage and Snapchat with BitTorrent's new app. Photo: BitTorrent
BitTorrent’s not just a way to torrent anymore.
Released a couple years ago, BitTorrent Sync proved itself to be a great way to keep your files synced between machines without trusting a service like Dropbox with your data.
And now? BitTorrent Bleep, a serverless chat app, is here to show you you can do without Snapchat or iMessage.
The one thing Popcorn Time doesn’t have is an iPhone or iPad app. But that’s all about to change, and Popcorn Time for iOS could land within the next couple of days.
Video might have killed the radio star, but streaming hasn't killed the record store. Photos: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
Stroll into your local record store and you won’t find the dusty-floored wasteland of empty bins you might imagine. Chances are you’ll see something that’s more vibrant, relevant and vital than before.
Like the nerdy know-it-alls at specialty wine stores and comic book shops, today’s typical employee at an indie record store is still a tastemaking wizard — just turned up to 11. Staff picks bear the unerring zeal of the true believer, and staffers are more focused on uncovering stuff that you’ll never find on a Walmart CD shelf.
“Since there’s been a turn to Spotify, Bandcamp and iTunes, we sell way more vinyl,” said Jim Haynes, assistant manager at San Francisco’s Aquarius Records. “We’re at about 75 percent vinyl to 20 percent CD and a smattering of cassettes. People are turning to an even more seemingly obsolete medium.”
Predictions of the end of physical media are as played-out as those reports about the death of rock ‘n’ roll, with everyone and their mother proclaiming that Spotify and other streaming services have killed the local record store. That fear-mongering sounds smart and might even contain a kernel of truth, but the reality is much different.
Popcorn Time, the desktop app that acts as a Netflix for pirated content, has been resurrected by torrent site YTS.
Speaking with website TorrentFreak, YTS developer Jduncanato claimed that the (still legally dubious) service is in a better position from a copyright position because it’s built on their API:
When you see the word “BitTorrent” you probably think of pirating something like Game of Thrones. That’s not what a new app called BitTorrent Sync is about. Think of it like Dropbox without any storage caps or pricing tiers for data usage.
Don’t use a computer any more? Hate “pirating” TV shows and movies? Wish that your country had something as awesome as Netflix so you could pay and stream everything to your iPad mini? Read on, because you can do just that, and it is dead easy – all you need is a credit card and maybe a half hour to get things set up.