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Facebook Plans Camera-Equipped TV Device, Report Says (cheddar.com)

Facebook is developing hardware for the TV, news outlet Cheddar reported Tuesday. From the report: The world's largest social network is building a camera-equipped device that sits atop a TV and allows video calling along with entertainment services like Facebook's YouTube competitor, according to people familiar with the matter. The project, internally codenamed "Ripley," uses the same core technology as Facebook's recently announced Portal video chat device for the home. Portal begins shipping next month and uses A.I. to automatically detect and follow people as they move throughout the frame during a video call. Facebook currently plans to announce project Ripley in the spring of 2019, according to a person with direct knowledge of the project. But the device is still in development and the date could be changed.

114 comments

  1. Here comes the telescreen! by FrankMalenfant · · Score: 5, Insightful

    1984 was an instruction book after all.

    1. Re:Here comes the telescreen! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The Zuck can go fuck himself.

    2. Re:Here comes the telescreen! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Or maybe this is the Facebook's understanding of the web: everybody is a content consumer and provider. The hypertext, or hypermedia pioneers would be proud.

    3. Re:Here comes the telescreen! by Aighearach · · Score: 1

      1984 was an instruction book after all.

      To be fair, Star Trek had this too.

    4. Re: Here comes the telescreen! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This will be great for live cams...

    5. Re:Here comes the telescreen! by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 1

      The one in Star Trek could be turned off. The one in 1984 could not.

      Facebook's telescreen can be "turned off" but it will still be powered on, listening and watching everything in your house. Hey, look at the bright side: they'll be able to identify and label dissidents and troublemakers by hearing your conversations at home. Don't like that the government is harming the working class with globalist policies? Silence, peasant!

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    6. Re:Here comes the telescreen! by Aighearach · · Score: 1

      Star Trek didn't really go into if it was really off. They certainly turned things on remotely whenever they need to.

      According to Blake's 7, it had more nefarious uses in a political context that wasn't shown in Star Trek because they only showed loyalists with cushy jobs.

      I think people should make sure to be in control of their screens, and input devices. Run your own video phone on an open system that you trust. Don't just buy a screen that talks to a network and trust it blindly.

  2. No thanks, Zuck. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Buy one, take the sloppiest dump, don't wipe and then stand in front of it with your buttcheeks pulled open a and show the Zuck and his minions your unwiped asshole.

    1. Re:No thanks, Zuck. by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

      If you buy one, you just increase their number of units sold which is a strong marketing bullet point.

      --
      #DeleteFacebook
    2. Re:No thanks, Zuck. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think I'll just send him this pic.

    3. Re:No thanks, Zuck. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Tubgirl, brah.

    4. Re:No thanks, Zuck. by greenwow · · Score: 1

      Or goatse.cx

    5. Re:No thanks, Zuck. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Score: -54328942, goatse.cx

    6. Re:No thanks, Zuck. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's a paid email server, now. Kinda pointless, tbh.

  3. Nope by grasshoppa · · Score: 4, Interesting

    When time comes for me to buy a new TV, if I can't find a non-smart, non-camera equipped TV then I'll forgo the purchase.

    Too much nonsense in modern TVs, too much crap I'm being asked to pay for that I don't want.

    --
    Mod me down with all of your hatred and your journey towards the dark side will be complete!
    1. Re:Nope by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 2

      Buy the biggest, dumb computer monitor that you can find.

      --
      #DeleteFacebook
    2. Re:Nope by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I recently bought a Visio TV. I tried keeping it off the network, but it would constantly pester me to set up a network connection for its SmartCast crap. I eventually caved and connected it to my WiFi. Then, one of the first things I did was to give it a static DHCP reservation and set my firewall to block all traffic to and from that IP address. That got rid of the nags, and I'm happily using it as a "dumb" TV paired to an Apple TV.

    3. Re:Nope by Blue+Stone · · Score: 1

      I mean, as long as you don't hook it up to the network, it won't make any difference if it's 'smart' or dumb.

      --
      Corporation, n. An ingenious device for obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility. - Ambrose Bierce
    4. Re:Nope by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I agree and all... trouble is, they are much more expensive for a comparable size, and they (mostly) don't get as big as TVs on the large end of the scale anyway.

    5. Re:Nope by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      They have their own wifi now. Probably a new feature is going to be actively scanning and beaconing for any possible network egress. Malware ops as a feature is already a thing.

    6. Re:Nope by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ... for now. Until mfgs decide that the TV won't operate at all unless it can successfully phone home.

      Thing it won't happen? Shit, it happened with computer games and people kept buying online activation DRM ones even over the cries of warning from some.

      It can happen with TVs too, and the baaah-ing masses will keep buying them because shiny.

    7. Re:Nope by CastrTroy · · Score: 1

      I seriously think the next TV I buy will just be a projector. The only way to stay away from all this smart TV nonsense.

      --

      Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
    8. Re:Nope by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Or another step along that line: 3G chipsets are under a buck in quantity. They can build in their own connectivity, just bypass the customer's networking entirely.

      It's coming.

    9. Re:Nope by sconeu · · Score: 1

      Ooh! Hadn't thought of that! I'll have to remember that when it's time for a new tube.

      --
      General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
    10. Re:Nope by b0s0z0ku · · Score: 1

      Or buy a cheapie WiFi router on Craigslist for $5, don't connect the Ethernet, and connect the TeeVee to its SSID.

    11. Re:Nope by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yea, from what I've read, what you describe is really the only way to stop this kind of crap.
      The problem is, it will get like all the other cloud connected "phone home" shit we live with now, if it can't phone home it won't work at all.

    12. Re:Nope by dstyle5 · · Score: 1

      Who wouldn't want Bixby in their TV, Samsung is full of "great" ideas.

    13. Re:Nope by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 1

      The only problem with that is the lack of a tuner, but if you have a DVR like TiVo then it's not an issue.

    14. Re:Nope by Aighearach · · Score: 1

      I bought the only "dumb"-TV I could find in the size I wanted, and it didn't even have a headphone jack!

      It was easy enough to solve with a closed-circuit jack, a little soldering, and a drill.

      It did come with a 3.5mm stereo phone plug on the back, but it is actually a TTL serial input for wired remote control.

      Don't expect the dumb TV to be cheaper, though. The creepy features of a smart-TV have value to the manufacturer, so they're more likely to reduce the price than to increase it.

    15. Re:Nope by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Don't give it access to the net.

    16. Re:Nope by scottrocket · · Score: 1

      When time comes for me to buy a new TV, if I can't find a non-smart, non-camera equipped TV then I'll forgo the purchase.

      Too much nonsense in modern TVs, too much crap I'm being asked to pay for that I don't want.

      Your post prompts a question: What would FB, et.al do about projectors? A separate spy unit on some wall, or a wide-angle lens looking down?

    17. Re:Nope by scottrocket · · Score: 1

      Or another step along that line: 3G chipsets are under a buck in quantity. They can build in their own connectivity, just bypass the customer's networking entirely.

      It's coming.

      Followed by a monthly bill, or bundled contract.

    18. Re:Nope by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The only problem with that is the lack of a tuner, but if you have a DVR like TiVo then it's not an issue.

      Nobody needs a tuner unless they wanted to watch broadcast TV, and nobody wants to do that anyway.

      Is TiVo still in business?

    19. Re:Nope by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I did the same thing years ago with the Windows installation on my dual-boot computer systems. Windows was only on the computers at all to play certain games...so I didn't let it connect to the internet al all. The machines were connected to the router via Ethernet so that I could go online in Linux. I see that someone has raised the prospect that "smart" TVs (and probably other devices) could use 3g technology to connect, and we probably would know nothing about it.

      BTW, I have a 32 inch Visio T that has no smart TV functions, and no way to connect to the internet, although ALL of the larger TVs (any brand available) were all "smart" TVs when I got this one. It is used in my small bedroom, so its plenty large enough.

      The problem is that there are few regulations on the collecting, buying, and selling people's private data. The collection, buying, and selling of this data is one of the biggest businesses in the world, and in my not so humble opinion, the one business most in need of being totally shut down!!!

    20. Re:Nope by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Someone else suggested buying a monitor instead, but since I didn't see anyone else mention it: they can be a bit more expensive, but you might want to look into buying a commercial display. IIRC, they're basically just a screen with I/O plugs, and come in sizes up to ~100" (I mean, if you're not in the mood to buy a car with that money instead...).

    21. Re:Nope by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 1

      So are you utterly clueless or are you a troll?
      ..oh, never mind, same difference.

  4. What could go wrong? by gander666 · · Score: 2

    Srsly, what the actual fuck.

    --
    Suppose you were an idiot and suppose you were a member of Congress ... but I repeat myself. - Mark T
  5. Please... by Lab+Rat+Jason · · Score: 1

    ...Can we stop calling them set-top-boxes... I can hardly balance a Bic pen on the top of my TV, let alone any kind of electronic device.

    Also, this is stupid... nobody wants more Facebook in their lives.

    --
    Which has more power: the hammer, or the anvil?
    1. Re:Please... by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

      So... set-aside-boxes? Set-under-boxes?

      --
      #DeleteFacebook
    2. Re:Please... by PPH · · Score: 1

      Besides, that's where the penguin sits.

      Sure hope he doesn't lay an egg on your camera, FB.

      --
      Have gnu, will travel.
    3. Re: Please... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Tubular!!!!!!!

    4. Re:Please... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So... set-aside-boxes? Set-under-boxes?

      Consumer monitoring appliance.

      All of them: Smart TV's. Smartphones, Smart Fridges, Smart Speakers, Smart Thermostats, Smart Cars, etc. They are all "consumer monitoring appliances".

    5. Re:Please... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Besides, that's where the penguin sits.

      Sure hope he doesn't lay an egg on your camera, FB.

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwTqC2T6q4E

    6. Re:Please... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Now you've really done it!

    7. Re:Please... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ooh, we'll have to watch for that!

    8. Re:Please... by sexconker · · Score: 1

      Hey Bic boy...

    9. Re:Please... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      My wife certainly isn't a ""consumer monitoring appliance". Wink-wink.

    10. Re:Please... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      My wife certainly isn't a ""consumer monitoring appliance". Wink-wink.

      Your wife is an IoT device?

    11. Re:Please... by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

      I think his wife is the opposite of smart.

      --
      #DeleteFacebook
  6. Security by PhotoGuy · · Score: 1

    Awesome, 'cause there's no one I trust more than FB with security, to make sure that camera is never used unknowingly to the owner.

    --
    Love many, trust a few, do harm to none.
    1. Re:Security by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Just tape a picture of a morbidly obese guy with a micropenis in front of the camera. That way the Zuck always gets a sexy show.

    2. Re: Security by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You deserve a +5 funny even though creimer downmodded you.

    3. Re: Security by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      One of your sockpuppets probably does.

    4. Re: Security by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And you jack off with tweezers.

    5. Re: Security by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And you jack off with tweezers.

      Nine year olds on Slashdot are just as bad as they are on YouTube.

    6. Re: Security by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Dumpty typically has his ability to mod revoked. It's a secret flag that the admins seem to have few restrictions on using.
      It's personally never happened to me but I've heard enough to know it happens. I've even heard of them revoking mod for every single poster in a thread where people were playing lame "poster above/below you" forum games.
      Since I trolled dumpty for like an entire year and was getting 15 mod points a day/every other day we have to assume that the limited powers that be don't like the little fucker either.

      Capcha: unfair

    7. Re: Security by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And even THEY are better hung than you, you Snuffleup-a-sock-pocketus.

    8. Re: Security by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Chris there are no nine year olds anywhere on slashdot.

      I guess you didn't know that. Now will you fuckoff to youtube?

    9. Re: Security by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Lurking means not posting, you Seaquarium stunt double.

      "and LMAO every once in the while"

      Maybe grab a dictionary once in A while, askance.

    10. Re: Security by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You used to post dozens of times a day. The only reason you lurk is because Slashdot has a moderation system.

      The only reason you're still here is because a technology board where everybody talks shit about you is your only real social outlet in life.

    11. Re: Security by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Cool story creimer. You're as hung as a nine-week-old fetus.

    12. Re: Security by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Capcha: unfair

      Now you're the victim? Cry me a fucking a river.

    13. Re: Security by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Will you stop dropping my name in random comments because you hope that I will respond?

      WIll you stop harassing users because you *think* they are me when they are not?

      When you stop being the bully, I'll be happy to leave Slashdot for a while.

    14. Re: Security by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The only reason you are on Slashdot is because Reddit has a better moderation system. Sad but true.

    15. Re: Security by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Reddit is for socially awkward men in their 20s, why would I go there?

    16. Re: Security by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Cry me a fucking a river"

    17. Re: Security by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You're right, they're far too young to understand your fresh references to rickroll videos. Better stick to baby boomers and senior citizens, more your speed.

    18. Re: Security by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Lol you confused creimer with a creimertard. Go back to reddit, weirdo.

    19. Re: Security by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Golly, If the mods revoked my ability to moderate and granted my haters 15 mod points a day. Maybe instead of doubling down I'd go outside, study, post on hacker news, or even masturbate instead of wasting any more of my life there?

    20. Re: Security by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Your choice, Tardo Lardo. You're giving us all the power! Probably gives you another excuse to fail at all your projects, by blaming everyone except yourself.

  7. Send that portal to /dev/null by enjar · · Score: 1

    No fucking way I spend money on that.

    1. Re:Send that portal to /dev/null by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Fakebook can go FSCK themselves!

  8. "Features" that are gone or almost gone.#1 Privacy by Seven+Spirals · · Score: 1

    2. TV without a spy cam for The Man.
    3. Phone without a spy cam for The Man.
    4. Car without an "eco" nag feature
    5. Thermostat without a microphone
    6. Car with manual windows
    7. Phone without TCP/IP stack that also has modern 4G connectivity and a easily replaced battery
    8. Apple or M$ desktop OS without an "App Store"
    9. Car without a GPS and camera that will upload to The Man via The Cloud
    10. Computer OS from Apple or M$ without "management" features or a forced upgrade death clock.

  9. Fuck. That. Shit. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Facebook's surveillance devices are even less welcome in my home (if that's at all possible) than Amazon surveillance devices, Google surveillance devices, and Microsoft surveillance devices.

    This is nothing short of Orwellian, and a bunch of bozos are no doubt pre-ordering these atrocities.

    I'll have one of those in my home over my dead body.

  10. No Way by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Goodbye Facebook. Enough said.

  11. Is there actually a market for this kind of crap? by rogoshen1 · · Score: 1

    What kind of idiot would willingly invite facebook into their home in this fashion? It's bad enough how they have dug in like a horrible, privacy invading tick into out phones and browsers, and now this?

    Fuck off.

  12. "Ripley?" by Nidi62 · · Score: 2

    Nuke it from orbit, it's the only way to be sure. And by "it", I mean all of Facebook.

    --
    The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
  13. Ripley by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Nuke it from orbit its the only way to be sure.

  14. Re:"Features" that are gone or almost gone.#1 Priv by nitehawk214 · · Score: 1

    What would be the point of a phone with 4G but no TCP/IP stack?

    --
    I'm a good cook. I'm a fantastic eater. - Steven Brust
  15. uh, no. just, no. by swschrad · · Score: 1

    spy machine that gets hacked as soon as it's hooked up? uh, no.

    --
    if this is supposed to be a new economy, how come they still want my old fashioned money?
  16. people aren't stupid enough to fall for that! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    fool me once, shame on me
    fool me 19,382,821 times and I might be a Republican voter.

    1. Re: people aren't stupid enough to fall for that! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      At least portal users will know THE CAKE IS A LIE.

  17. Re: "Features" that are gone or almost gone.#1 Pri by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    they dont exist. all modern "cell" phones are VoIP phones. There is no such thing as a 4G non ip phone capable of actually making calls let alone connecting to the netqork at all.

  18. Re:"Features" that are gone or almost gone.#1 Priv by Seven+Spirals · · Score: 1

    The ability to use modern cell towers (4G vs 3G) which also gives you lower battery usage, but without the need to worry about the phone being hacked over IP or by crappy applications that depend on TCP/IP and thus create lots (how every many apps you use) of tiny attack surfaces on your phone. I don't want apps. I don't want a phone that can do anything but calls and SMS. To that end, it'd also be nice if the call and SMS log wiped itself after about 12 hours. Haven't seen that feature set anywhere, but it's probably because I'm about the only person left on Earth who thinks phone apps are the most laughable useless excuses for applications I've ever seen (and nowhere near worth the security risk).

  19. Congrats FB, you've invented.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    the Kinect!

  20. Re: "Features" that are gone or almost gone.#1 Pri by Seven+Spirals · · Score: 1

    There is, however, the possibility that the phone's VoIP stack could be separated by hardware or software from the general purpose IP stack for apps, though. Just don't allow any socket calls in the phone's OS.

  21. So... facebook is using video-calling... by QuietLagoon · · Score: 1

    ... as a cover to get an always-on camera in your living room? How much creepier can facebook get?

  22. Re:Is there actually a market for this kind of cra by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This falls into the “they didn’t know they needed it until they were Zuckered into it.

  23. In Soviet Russia by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    TV watches you.

  24. Re:"Features" that are gone or almost gone.#1 Priv by sconeu · · Score: 1

    My phone has an option to turn off cellular data...

    --
    General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
  25. Re:"Features" that are gone or almost gone.#1 Priv by Seven+Spirals · · Score: 1

    Cool. I think I've seen that in many phones, but it makes me nervous that it's just a software "option" rather than physically disconnecting something inside. Plus, in one case the phone was still nagging to "upgrade" it's OS even after I turned off cellular data access. Since the transceiver is all commingled with the voice features, I doubt that a kill switch would be an easy feature to make nowadays.

  26. Ripley by bozzy · · Score: 1

    I say we log off, and nuke the entire site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.

  27. Re:"Features" that are gone or almost gone.#1 Priv by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    As has already been said, 4G is purely IP. If you want to make a phone call on a 4G network you have to have an IP stack. It's all VoIP. No IP stack, no connectivity.

  28. Really? by nospam007 · · Score: 1

    "The project, internally codenamed "Ripley," "

    I guess with that name it has a hidden mother(fucker) inside?

  29. 1984 by OneHundredAndTen · · Score: 1

    And a huge middle finger to you, Facebook.

  30. 8 years ago, the Logitech Revue came out by bobstreo · · Score: 1

    with an available camera for video calls.

    Other than constantly listening to what you are saying, and what you are watching, and the inability to play Netflix, and probably no keyboard, I don't really see anything new here.

    The Revue was pretty good for what it was at the time. It died a horrible screaming death, (due to lack of continued support) along with Google TV.

  31. Click the link, it's SFW by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 1

    https://i3.kym-cdn.com/photos/...
    That's about where Zuckerbook is, now, they're hardly even trying to hide the fact that they're spying on everyone and want to do it more.
    What's next, Zuckerbook? Convincing people they should put their sex lives and bathroom visits on Facebook, too? Facebook ankle monitors?

    1. Re:Click the link, it's SFW by lgw · · Score: 1

      What's next, Zuckerbook? Convincing people they should put their sex lives and bathroom visits on Facebook, too?

      Don't be silly, that stuff goes on Twitter.

      --
      Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
  32. Dead man walking = Facebook by WaffleMonster · · Score: 1

    Facebook is no longer relevant. The platform is currently being rapidly abandoned while brand toxicity reaches new heights.

    Even if by some miracle they were to produce something completely unmolested by corporate sociopaths devoid of creeptastic stalker malware nobody would trust them enough to care.

  33. Re:God's gift to the rescue of your privacy... apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Look, you have to stop being so rude to the guy. I mean, consider the greatness of his accomplishment! He wrote a program that manipulates strings and dumps the output to a text file in a particular filesystem location. I could only *dream* of one day having the programming skills to do a thing like that!

    I don't blame him for refusing to share the source code. Can you imagine what all those evil hackers could do with techniques like this?! I shudder to think of it.

  34. Only morons start writing the comment in the... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    subject box!

  35. No way by JustAnotherOldGuy · · Score: 1

    "Portal begins shipping next month and uses A.I. to automatically detect and follow people as they move throughout the frame during a video call.

    No way this could ever be misused or exploited or hacked or whatever. I mean, if Facebook does it then it must be 100% safe and wholesome, given their incredible, dare I say outstanding track record on privacy and security.

    --
    Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
  36. Re:"Features" that are gone or almost gone.#1 Priv by Seven+Spirals · · Score: 1

    DUH. No shit, but has already been said, that TCP/IP stack doesn't have to be shared with the OS or the applications ("apps"). That's the threat vector, not so much the cell carrier.

  37. While the Zuck covers his own camera with tape. by shm · · Score: 1
  38. Compulsory Add-On by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    PIC or Andrino solution that cuts the camera mic and speakers(that can be turned into mics).
    Call the device 'Blank screen' - alternative to electrical tape and a dot of hot melt glue.
    2nd Add on a few life size cut- out bikini figures, or President(s) mouthing off to a background of porn muusic, saying they want to buy worrld peace and emiminate poverty.

    Ideally hook the camera into a screensave of fish aquarium or security camera in a shopping mall entrance. As they are spying anyway, direct their feed to a .ru porn site.

  39. Is it 2007 again? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Most tv sets are already equipped with a camera, why don't just use those?

  40. there must be more to it. by sad_ · · Score: 1

    I mean, why would anybody buy a device that does the things it says in the summary?
    Even if you paid me money to use it, i still wouldn't.

    --
    On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero.
    1. Re:there must be more to it. by ennis99 · · Score: 1

      I do not understand, why make a device equipped with a camera for video calls ? For me it's the most useless invention. ____________________________________________________ https://downloader.vip/minecra... https://downloader.vip/google-... https://downloader.vip/counter...