Movies Anywhere App Launches with Joint Studio Backing - <AUTHOR> http://variety.com/2017/digital/news/movies-anywhere-launches-with-joint-studio-backing-1202587915/ <comment><USER2> My biggest issue with buying digital movies has always been the lock in factor. If I buy from Amazon, I can't watch it on my Chromecast, if I buy from Google, I can't watch it on the Xbox, and if I buy from iTunes, I can't watch anywhere but an Apple device or iTunes. The only digital movies I've bought to date have been Disney movies because of the previous Disney-only version.

I wonder how it works if a partner decides to leave. From what I understand, when Microsoft left the Disney program, Disney movies shared to your Microsoft account stuck around and Disney movies shared from your Microsoft were still available on the rest.

<comment><USER3> Playstation 4 + Chromecast

The PS4 has Amazon Video, Netflix, and its own movie store.

Chromecast for everything else.

But did you notice yet that iTunes, Google Play, Amazon and the Playstation Store all stream from the exact same catalogue at the exact same prices. I mean sure, they are all attempting their exclusive content, but when you are looking for a blockbuster movie or old show its all the same selection and prices.

<comment><USER4> The Playstation 4 also has YouTube, which has the same selection of films as Google Play movies (including giving you access to films you've bought on Google Play).

<comment><USER3> thats right. the main rebuttal I get from people after that is just the cost of the ps4 vs a $30 chromecast.

shrug

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> You can't create an account without agreeing to this:

"I authorize Movies Anywhere to share personal information regarding my Movies Anywhere account, together with my video titles, descriptions, and other video activity information (collectively "Video Data") with:

Each Digital Retailer to which I connect my Movies Anywhere account and its service providers; Participating Studios and their affiliates and service providers; and Service Providers of Movies Anywhere."

Yeah, not gonna happen.

<comment><USER6> I'm fairly privacy-obsessed, but this doesn't sound like a massive issue to me. I don't consider my movie collection to be significant privacy-wise. My movie collection is actually poor at indicating my interests, it's also only a fragment of my actual movie watching activity, and for what it's worth, Movies Anywhere collects barely any personal information: It asks for your _first name only_ and your email address. (This information is ALREADY going to be available to any retailer you have an account with.)

I think it makes sense that retailers would want to sync your "video activity information" and that studios (who bear the cost of running MA, unlike UV, which retailers ate) would want to see usage activity and be able to correlate that with how well their films are marketable long-term.

<comment><USER7> First name and email address is plenty to associate with an identity. They just need one other source for the email address that has your last name.

Having a whole network of companies know what you watch, when, the rating (if they have ratings), etc, is fairly intrusive in my view, but we all have our own threshold.

When you give up control of your data, act accordingly. Given the scope of the disclosure, it is probably best to assume that any data you give this service will eventually be stolen (perhaps made public), resold (if possible, if not, watch for retroactive assignment of rights), requested by law, etc.. Basically, there's a not-insignificant probability that at some point, anyone who is interested will be able to see your activity or some portion of it.

<comment><USER6> I agree with all of those notions. But again: Every retailer I connect already knows my name and email address (I have an account with them), and I pretty much talk/post about what I watch online publicly to begin with.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> Nice, my UltraViolet codes for Mad Max and The Revenant now show up as 4K HDR versions on iTunes. And I even got the Black and Chrome version of Mad Max as a bonus "iTunes Extra."

This is a very pro-consumer move.

<comment><USER9> That is pretty awesome. I have a ton of VUDU codes it might hit. Still waiting on it to sync. Almost tempted to get an Apple TV for that. Almost.

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> Noticed the other evening that Amazon no longer streams HD to my ThinkPad. I'm guessing because I took the recommended steps a few months ago to cripple its Management Engine functionality as a work-around to the severe ME exploit (you know, runs its own web server whose password is trivially and unavoidably bypassed).

At this point, I'm going to say "Fuck it." I've never pirated. (Well, there was that time in the 90's when I used, as an experiment, Napster, to download a French music album I couldn't even buy in the States, at that time. Oh, and, by the way, it's on Spotify, now... And I also now a bought and paid for physical copy, courtesy of a visit to Montreal or Germany (I forget which), not too long after my Napster experience.)

Anyway... fuck it. I'm willing to pay, but it's going from hassle to outright security risk. I'll taking pirating over this.

</comment><comment><USER11> Is this just a digital locker for movies? Other HN comments seem excited about this but I think it will be irrelevant for most users. When I used to digitally buy/rent movies, I would watch them that same day and then be done, so a "locker" feels like an insignificant problem. Maybe I have uncommon usage.

Netflix is brain-dead easy to use. I don't always know what I want to watch so I browse and can watch anything. Movies Anywhere sounds like more work than it's worth.

<comment><USER12> > I would watch them that same day and then be done, so a "locker" feels like > an insignificant problem. Maybe I have uncommon usage.

Kids.

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> I really hope Paramount and any other studios get onboard so a single standard can finally exist. UltraViolet seemed like such a good idea, but never really seemed to work.

</comment><comment><USER14> Eh, still prefer physical media when buying movies. This way you can't ever have the rights taken away to watch it (which just happened to me with a show I purchased digitally on Amazon).

(not to mention physical media is usually cheaper, you can loan them, sell them, servers are never down for maintenance, etc.)

<comment><USER15> This gives you the best of both worlds, because when you buy your physical media, it'll have a code in there for digital redemption too.

You don't have to rip the disk in order to use it in different devices, especially devices that can't physically take the physical media.

Good luck passing an actual bluray on your tablet using physical media etc. Possible to do, technically, but a total faff.

But this way, load the code into the locker and it "just works". And you still have your physical disk. Win win.

</comment></comment><comment><USER16> Can't register, only shows cryptic:

"Unable to register. Please try again or contact Movies Anywhere Customer Service."

Turns out after digging through the site:

"Eligibility. Only legal residents of the United States, all U.S. territories, and the U.S. associated states of the Federated States of Micronesia and Palau (collectively, the "Territory") are eligible to register for a Movies Anywhere account, provided that the Movies Anywhere Service is subject to availability of Digital Retailers and Movies Anywhere Content in the Territory."

Another incredibly useless waste of time, just like Youtube Red.

</comment><comment><USER17> So I just downloaded the "Movies Anywhere" app for iOS and connected my Amazon account and my iOS account. I got my five free movies — all surprisingly recent and well known to try it out. The movies showed up in my Amazon Prime library immediately and after an hour in my iTunes library as a purchase.

I also thought that the app was going to ask Me for my itunes password because in 13 years of being an iTunes user, I've never known Apple to let you use your iTunes credentials to authenticate with a third party platform.

Buying a digital movie is still a no go for me because the rare movie I want I could find cheaper physically. But the main complaint I had against buying a movie digitally - being tied to one service is gone as long as the movie is available on Movies Anywhere.

Even if this service does go kaput, I still have access to the movies from Apple, Amazon, and Google.

</comment><comment><USER18> _> UltraViolet libraries will also port over through the participating digital retailers._

How will that work?

<comment><USER19> I'm assuming you will just link whatever account you already redeemed your ultraviolet copies with (e.g. Vudu), and they will show up.

<comment><USER8> That's exactly how it works. It took about an hour after linking my Vudu account before they showed up on the Movies Anywhere site and iTunes.

<comment><USER2> My Vudu account has yet to work. It'd be nice since I've got a lot of Ultraviolet DVD/Bluray codes there, but generally don't bother going to Vudu for much else.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER20> This is great, but it doesn't go far enough.

Obviously more studios need to sign-on, and then we need to add TV shows into the mix at all. (HBO, for example)

Studios that are signed on should be committed to putting their entire library on it.

For example: despite Disney having signed on, Disney Channel movies like "Halloweentown" are not part of Movies Anywhere.

As a parent, the fact that children's movies aren't part of these lockers (like Elena of Avalor, like Disney Channel original movies, etc.) is the bane of my existence.

</comment><comment><USER21> This seems too good to be true. What's the catch?

Seriously, this sounds great.

<comment><USER22> Three things from what I can tell:

1) All of your watch history on all services are shared with the other services and the studios.

2) This gives studios and providers an argument against loosening DRM/lock in.

3) This locks out new services unless the group lets them join.

<comment><USER21> > 1) All of your watch history on all services are shared with the other > services and the studios.

After signing up and looking at preferences, I see they do allow you to opt- out of sharing data with the studios and their "service providers".

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER23> An interesting bug with the itunes integration... I now have multiple copies of the same movies in my library.</comment>


Why We Love Ephemeral Messaging (And You Should, Too) - <AUTHOR> http://pingpal.io/2014/01/ephemeral-messaging-for-privacy-protection/

<comment><USER2> Page has a graphic of a cloud of smoke with the word "Puff!" superimposed.

So this looks legit...

</comment><comment><USER3> Ephemeral messages and electronic communications are two incompatible things.

</comment><comment><USER4> Reminds me of layer.com (yeah I know, with more privacy an all)

</comment><comment><USER5> Ephemeral has to rank up there as one of the more irritating buzzwords of recent times.

Can we stick it in the bin, along with skeuomorphic and Artisanal?

<comment><USER6> My initial reaction to your comment was "ephemeral has been around for a while, and has real, tangible meaning, especially when dealing with crypto".

Then I realized the same could be said about the terms 'skeuomorphic' and 'Artisinal', and pretty much any other over-utilized buzzword.

And then I was enlightened.</comment></comment>


How The Zetas Cartel Took Over Mexico With Walkie-Talkies - <AUTHOR> http://www.popsci.com/article/technology/radio-tecnico-how-zetas-cartel-took-over-mexico-walkie-talkies

<comment><USER2> Hmm... interesting the NSA wasn't there to help - by doing the same the Zetas did, kidnapping their radio relays so that the relays provide information to law enforcement.</comment>


Ask HN: Learning Erlang from scratch - <AUTHOR>

I've been reading a lot about how wonderful Erlang is. So I'd like to learn Erlang properly from scratch.
Any books/websites/docs/whatever is greatly appreciated. I've started reading the official documentation but it's not very friendly. I want something that starts from the basics, through to the syntax through to deployment. I'm sure one resource will cover all this so anything you may have is welcome.
Thanks! <comment><USER2> <http://www.pragprog.com/titles/jaerlang/programming-erlang>

No question. Written by the author of the language.

It has lots of great practical examples and walks you through everything from start to finish.

<http://www.trapexit.org> also has some really nice tutorials and discussion.

<comment><USER3> It's an amazing book, a rare example of well balanced content. Highly recommended.

<comment><USER4> This.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> 1) read all courses in <http://www.erlang.org/course/course.html> then do the exercises in <http://www.erlang.org/course/exercises.html>

2) read official Getting Started manual <http://erlang.org/doc/getting_started/part_frame.html>

3) learn about erlang OTP <http://www.erlang.org/doc/design_principles/part_frame.html>

4) this book is a MUST get! "Programming Erlang: Software for a Concurrent World" by Joe Armstrong <http://www.pragprog.com/titles/jaerlang/programming- erlang>

good luck!

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks! The courses look really good.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> A few days ago, I was looking at this presentation on Erlang presented at one of Google Tech Talk. This was my first introduction to Erlang and I found it very informative.

[http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=240707194662243675&#...

</comment><comment><USER7> The best way to learn any language is to build stuff. Build something you think is cool. Allow yourself to suck at it and do everything wrong. Then build it again, or build something else cool.

<comment><AUTHOR> Agreed 100%. I have an idea that I want to build with Erlang.

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> After seeing it referenced a lot on HN, I've also been really interested in learning Erlang.

What projects have you fellow hackers used/are using Erlang for? Are you glad you did?

<comment><USER9> I just published a screencast demo of a web framework that I made in Erlang, called Nitrogen.

See <http://nitrogen-erlang.tumblr.com>

Also, the technology behind my startup company, Stitcho.com is in Erlang. See <http://www.stitcho.com>

I would definitely recommend it, especially if you are one of those people who really stretches a language. Once you get past the new syntax, it is very quick to learn.

<comment><USER10> RKlophaus: Your stitcho.com site needs to tell the reader more about why they need Stitcho -- on the first page.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> Bob Ippolito (who wrote mochiweb, a webserver written in Erlang) did an introductory talk last year: [http://bob.pythonmac.org/archives/2008/03/08/exploring- erlan...](http://bob.pythonmac.org/archives/2008/03/08/exploring- erlang-c41-video/)

<comment><AUTHOR> Video is always good. Thanks!

<comment><USER11> I should also mention I found this one a little more engaging than the Google Tech Talk one.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> I don't know Erlang and I haven't read this, so I can't vouch for it, but I came across this book:

<http://www.erlang.org/download/erlang-book-part1.pdf>

<comment><USER10> That's the first Erlang book, and is very good. Unfortunately, it's out of print, or was the last time I checked, but might be available used. It's very good for wrapping your head around programming with pattern matching, single assignment, and message passing concurrency, but light on the OTP, since, I believe, it was written before much of today's OTP was written. Think of it as the book the writers of OTP must have used to learn how to write OTP.

If you can find a used copy, grab it. I bought mine when it was still in print, and wouldn't part with it.

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> I wrote a few Erlang tutorials was I was learning: <http://20bits.com/tag/erlang/>

The public documentation for the language is awful.

</comment><comment><USER13> We did it as part of a group and found that to be highly advantageous. I recommend finding someone near you who is also interested in learning Erlang and work through it together.</comment>


Sony's robot dog Aibo is headed to the US for a cool $2,899 – The Verge - <AUTHOR> https://www.theverge.com/2018/8/23/17773084/sony-aibo-dog-us-release-robot <comment><USER2> It's hard to imagine how Sony is justifying that price tag in 2018. When the old Aibos were out, it made a lot more sense, robotics weren't something you could pick up at the nearest drug store.

I also find the design choices here a bit unfortunate. While it arguably looks more like a dog than the classic Aibo, the older Aibos really had their own distinct style and brand, that I think they lost here.

<comment><AUTHOR> Indeed. In order to justify the price tag, it'd need to be a whole lot better than the robotics you can pick up at any toy store for 10% of this price. If they managed to use muscles instead of motors or tiny and silent hydraulics for quick explosive movements, it'd be a much more interesting proposition.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> What's wrong with "organic" dogs? Get one at the nearest Animal Shelter and save yourself $3K.

<comment><AUTHOR> My landlord does not allow us to have a pet. Most importantly, I can't hack an organic dog. ;-)

Besides, natural and artificial intelligences will eventually need to learn to coexist.</comment></comment>


Roku OS 7: Developer Highlights - <AUTHOR> https://blog.roku.com/developer/2015/11/23/roku-os-7-dev-highlights/ <comment><USER2> I love web pages about products that don't explain what the hell is this product about, but are eager to sign me up and declare features like "seamless foo", "responsive bar", or "baz integration".</comment>


After 29 years, I bought my first Mac–and I hate it - <AUTHOR> http://www.dailydot.com/opinion/why-i-hate-macbook-air/

<comment><USER2> So in other words you wrote an entire post about how you are used to outdated technology and are mad because you have to come into the 21st century....got it - next time go complain to you cat instead of wasting time telling people how your technical knowledge is 4 years behind. By the way, my 3 yr old figured out the Magic Mouse in about 5 minutes.</comment>


802.11 Packets in Packets: A Standard-Compliant Exploit of Layer 1 - <AUTHOR> http://events.ccc.de/congress/2011/Fahrplan/events/4766.en.html

<comment><USER2> Fortunately this attack is for 802.11b, which is becoming outdated (it is slower than many DSL/Cable Internet connections). I'd like to know if a similar attack is possible on the newer versions of the protocol.

<comment><USER3> Travis is investigating physical layer attacks on most popular protocols, including Ethernet. He talked about it at RECon.</comment></comment>


HSN-1000 Nuclear Event Detector (2005) [pdf] - <AUTHOR> http://www.maxwell.com/images/documents/hsn1000_rev3.pdf <comment><USER2> Previous discussion: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3179645](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3179645)

The top comment there explains a good use-case for this chip.

</comment><comment><USER3> This would be nice feature in home weather station.

<comment><USER4> Its minimum detection level is ~200Krad/sec (~2000Gy/sec). You would be extremely dead by the time it tripped.

<comment><USER5> That does seem pretty intense. To be close enough to get that dose I'd imagine thermal/blast effects would be incredibly high anyways, rendering this chip pretty useless.

<comment><USER6> 1 Gray is an absorbed dose of 1 J per kg, so a 2,000 Gy/s event would mean a typical 75 kg/165 lb human absorbing 150 kW.

This reminds me a bit of the XKCD question about how close you need to be to a supernova to die from neutrinos: inside it.

<comment><USER7> Or the XKCD question about how much energy would be needed to take the phrase "speed enforced by radar" literally - basically a fairly large nuclear weapon.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> I want one in a hat. Perhaps wired to a party popper, or small flag.

</comment><comment><USER9> Is it possible for a normal person to order one of these? I can't seem to find a source.

</comment><comment><USER10> I'm a sucker for T&M equipment and actually own a Geiger counter, but this is a bit much...

</comment><comment><USER11> How would you even test this? do they have an xray machine and remove the filter?

<comment><USER12> You'd use a laboratory test source. It appears to be a miniaturized radiation detector, which trips when the gamma and/or neutron fluence exceeds a certain level. "Nuclear event detector" does not necessarily mean anything extreme like a bomb going off, it just means exposure to an amount of radiation (from any source) above a given threshold; it can't actually distinguish what the source is.

So testing and calibrating it would consist of exposing it to a source of known strength and making sure it trips. For this kind of setup, the source doesn't have to be an actual nuclear weapon going off or whatever target event, it'll trip for any sort of gamma or neutron source (presumably, it's light on details and I haven't ever seen one of these in the wild). There are a wide range of suitable industrial sources available commercially.

Edit: you can safely assume that the manufacturer provides a detailed calibration procedure wherever the more complete documentation is. Probably specifies what test sources to use and how to correlate them with different types of target events, which they determined through simulation and laboratory measurements. Also worth noting that this thing is very likely entirely analog, given its intended use.

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> >Maxwell Technologies Specified, Controlled, Tested and Guaranteed

Oh no.</comment>