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France Bans Unsolicited Telemarking Calls

2 weeks 2 days ago
Starting today, unsolicited telemarking calls are banned in France unless consumers explicitly consent to them. Companies that violate the law can face fines of up to 375,000 euros per call, though existing customers can still be contacted with related offers. Le Monde reports: The government says the law is a response to years of consumer complaints. Authorities estimate that about three-quarters of people in France receive at least one unsolicited sales call every week, and many receive more. In 2024, 11 consumer organizations issued a joint call for a ban, denouncing "relentless harassment of consumers through countless unwanted telemarketing calls to both landlines and mobile phones -- an intrusion that has become a regular part of their daily lives." Now, "businesses are prohibited from contacting consumers without their prior consent," said Alice Vilcot, chief of staff at the Directorate-General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Prevention of Fraud. "That consent can be withdrawn at any time." [...] Previously in France, people who wanted to avoid marketing calls had to register their number with a government-run service, but consumer groups said some call centers ignored the list. Vilcot noted that an Ireland-based company was fined 6 million euros ($6.9 million) last year for violating France's previous telemarketing rules by calling people on the no-call list.

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Intel’s Linux Vulkan Driver Adds AV1 Video Encoding for Arc Alchemist GPUs

2 weeks 2 days ago
by George Whittaker

Intel’s open-source Linux graphics stack has taken another step forward with hardware-accelerated AV1 encoding through Vulkan Video. New code merged for Mesa’s ANV Vulkan driver enables the VK_KHR_video_encode_av1 extension on Intel’s DG2/Alchemist graphics hardware, including Arc A-Series GPUs.

The development expands Intel’s Vulkan Video capabilities on Linux and gives applications another standardized way to access the dedicated video encoding hardware found in modern Intel GPUs.

AV1 Encoding Arrives in Intel ANV

The key change is support for the Vulkan extension VK_KHR_video_encode_av1 in Mesa’s open-source Intel ANV driver.

The extension was finalized by the Khronos Group in 2024 and provides a standardized Vulkan interface for hardware-accelerated AV1 encoding. It complements Vulkan Video’s existing AV1 decoding support and means Vulkan can provide both encoding and decoding interfaces for AV1, H.264, and H.265.

Intel had previously stated that its Arc graphics products would support Vulkan Video AV1 encoding through a future software update.

Initially Targeting Intel Arc Alchemist

The newly enabled Linux support specifically targets DG2, better known commercially as Intel’s Arc Alchemist GPU generation.

These GPUs already contain dedicated hardware capable of AV1 encoding, so the Mesa update does not add AV1 capability through software. Instead, it provides Vulkan applications with another way to access the GPU’s existing hardware video engine.

That distinction is important because hardware encoding can deliver much better performance and efficiency than encoding AV1 entirely on the CPU.

Why AV1 Matters

AV1 has become increasingly important for streaming, screen recording, video conferencing, and online video distribution.

The codec can provide high image quality at relatively low bitrates, making it attractive for applications where bandwidth and storage efficiency matter. It is also royalty-free, which has helped encourage adoption throughout the open-source ecosystem.

Hardware AV1 encoding can be particularly useful for:

  • Game streaming

  • Desktop recording

  • Live broadcasting

  • Video conferencing

  • Video transcoding

  • Content creation

For Linux users with supported Intel Arc hardware, Vulkan Video now has the potential to provide a common API for these workloads.

Building on H.264 and H.265 Support

The AV1 work follows recent improvements to Intel’s Vulkan Video encoding support for other codecs.

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George Whittaker