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There are seven days left. So far 23 witnesses have testified. There could be up to 57, maybe more.

1 day ago on Was an American engineer in Singapore killed for what he knew? So far, testimony points to suicide

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The answer to your second question is still unclear but it’s likely the hackers extracted their cut before the ground guys got caught. They were watching the withdrawals in real time to keep an eye on their little minions. Now we’ll see just how sophisticated the top guys really were. Did they tell the groundlings any identifiable information? Did they get caught on CCTV when they went to pick up the wire transfer? Did they use Bitcoin?

5 days ago on Cyber caper: behind the scenes of the $45 million global ATM heist 1 reply

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We actually wrote about it at the time: http://www.theverge.com/2013/5/9/4316626/criminal-flash-mob-accused-stealing-45-million-hours-atm-attack

We thought it was really interesting, so I took some time to report it out and write something longer.

5 days ago on Cyber caper: behind the scenes of the $45 million global ATM heist 1 reply 7 recommends

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HAH, right.

Although, it’s unclear who will have to eat the losses. It’s possible that the bank that dispensed the cash will get stuck with the bill, in which case it’s out $3,985 instead of $4,000.

5 days ago on Cyber caper: behind the scenes of the $45 million global ATM heist 2 replies 1 recommend

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Pretty common, as I learned when I did this story: http://observer.com/2012/01/cyber-schmucks-how-the-manhattan-das-cyber-squad-did-a-mitzvah-for-uja/?show=all

5 days ago on Cyber caper: behind the scenes of the $45 million global ATM heist

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Good catch, thanks. You’re correct, the totals are taking from bank records which include the ATM fees. In Manhattan they range from $1.75 to $3.75 in my experience.

5 days ago on Cyber caper: behind the scenes of the $45 million global ATM heist 1 reply 1 recommend

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Thanks! Fixed.

5 days ago on Cyber caper: behind the scenes of the $45 million global ATM heist 2 recommends

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It does both, according to police.

5 days ago on Cyber caper: behind the scenes of the $45 million global ATM heist 1 reply

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FYI, there was some incorrect information circulating that was corrected in court today.

Todd’s Internet activity on his laptop showed that he had ran searches on the words including “noose,” “hangman” “methods,” “knots,” and “suicide,” and visited several suicide-related websites.

(http://www.businessinsider.com/shane-todd-evidence-from-internet-search-2013-5#ixzz2TC1AAiv9)

Actually, those words were just the words investigators used to search through the sites in Todd’s browser history, he did not search with those keywords. He did visit suicide-related sites, however.

5 days ago on Singapore police present evidence of suicide in controversial death of American engineer 2 recommends

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It was a complaint called in by a neighbor, who was checking for several violations in several apartments. The inspectors did not enter the apartment, they interrogated his visitor outside the door. The inspectors said they got into the building by randomly buzzing doors.

8 days ago on Landlords beware: Airbnb is booming in big cities, but many users run legal risks 1 reply

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As I mentioned above, hotels are actually not pushing their interests here. The hotel business in NYC is so gangbusters that they don’t perceive Airbnb as a threat (yet). It’s mostly neighborhood associations, coop boards, landlords, and so on.

8 days ago on Landlords beware: Airbnb is booming in big cities, but many users run legal risks 1 reply 4 recommends

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In NYC, it’s actually not about hotels losing money. Hotels don’t feel totally threatened yet — they’re still selling out. It’s neighborhood associations, coop boards and landlords that are raising objections.

8 days ago on Landlords beware: Airbnb is booming in big cities, but many users run legal risks 2 replies 3 recommends

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Yes, BitTorrent is saying it will be free.

Sorry if that came off too literally. What I meant is, we have arrived at a point in speculating about the benefits of the Bundle product that I feel is beyond my duties as a journalist.

9 days ago on BitTorrent goes legit with new ‘gated’ file format

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I don’t want to get too deep into an argument where I’m defending BitTorrent, because they’re not paying me to do that. But for one thing, artists who release with Bundles won’t have to pay Amazon or iTunes.

11 days ago on BitTorrent goes legit with new ‘gated’ file format 1 reply 1 recommend

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Some people want to pay for music, movies, etc.

And some people will do whichever is easier: pirate or pay. So if the Bundle is easy enough, they’ll go that route rather than download some sketchy crack.

11 days ago on BitTorrent goes legit with new ‘gated’ file format 1 reply 1 recommend

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The positive is that, in theory, the tools will be simple enough that anyone can create a file this way. It is DRM-like and no doubt crackers will try to break the gate. But it’s so simple, and the gates are so modest, that it seems like something fans would go for.

Also, DRM smacks of evil. The BitTorrent bundle just feels a little more indie, more friendly to art. To me at least.

11 days ago on BitTorrent goes legit with new ‘gated’ file format 1 reply

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The company is building one: http://blog.bittorrent.com/2013/04/15/bittorrent-surf-beta-launches-today-on-chrome-and-firefox/. The goal is to have a searchable library of only legal files.

11 days ago on BitTorrent goes legit with new ‘gated’ file format 1 recommend

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BitTorrent, the company, is attempting to work with content creators and publishers to make the BitTorrent ecosystem into a library filled with legal files. Right now, it’s a go-to for pirated copyrighted content.

11 days ago on BitTorrent goes legit with new ‘gated’ file format 1 reply 1 recommend

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Yes, it can be monetary.

11 days ago on BitTorrent goes legit with new ‘gated’ file format

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BitTorrent owns uTorrent, which is the most popular client: http://torrentfreak.com/utorrent-keeps-bittorrent-lead-bitcomet-fades-away-110916/

11 days ago on BitTorrent goes legit with new ‘gated’ file format 2 replies 3 recommends