Google and Microsoft have called a truce on their legal battles in the US and Germany, spanning across many lawsuits all in regards to certain patents and royalties- perhaps Apple and Samsung could find some inspiration here. Some of the lawsuits concerned Xbox technology, while others were related to mobile …
Read More »Amazon might be stopping sales of Apple TV and Google Chromecast
Amazon apparently has made plans to discontinue sales of the Apple TV and Google Chromecast devices on its store, forbidding third-party merchants from listing either device. These two devices are massively popular for those wanting a streaming box but they obviously compete with some of Amazon's own Fire products. This …
Read More »Samsung denies using software to cheat TV power efficiency tests
An independent research group recently levied some pretty hefty accusations at Samsung recently, claiming that the company was using software on its TVs to cheat energy efficiency tests. This isn't the first time that Samsung has been accused of this, it was discovered that past Galaxy smartphones were capable of …
Read More »Toshiba accounting scandal may end its TV, appliance business
Over the past few months, Toshiba has been through the ringer. After it was discovered that it had over-reported its finances for the past near-decade by more than a billion dollars, the CEO resigned and it was announced that much of its now-clearly under-performing appliances would be manufactured by third …
Read More »Users and business heads come out in support of Uber London
The app-based, ride hailing service, Uber, has faced a lot of criticism as it's launched around the world, with governments and local authorities unsure how to deal with the relatively unregulated platform, and taxi drivers facing a very disruptive competitor to their long-standing monopoly on taking people from A-to-B. The …
Read More »Nvidia Shield Android TV box heads to the UK and GeForce NOW announced
Nvidia's Android TV console, the Shield TV, is finally heading to the UK this week. From tomorrow, those in the UK and EU will be able to pick up a Shield at certain retailers, featuring the Nvidia Tegra X1 Maxewell based chip. In addition to that, the GRID streaming service …
Read More »Dutch filmmakers want piracy compensation from government
One of the most hotly contested aspects of film, tv and games piracy, is whether it leads to a drop in sales or not. Some argue that those that downloaded would have bought it if there was no illegal source, whilst others suggest that the reason they pirate rather than …
Read More »New Zealand can’t find Kim Dotcom’s extradition notice
Kim Dotcom's long awaited extradition trial has been ongoing for the past week, giving those who have followed his continued delaying tactics a light at the end of the tunnel: whether he goes or stays, at least soon there may be some resolution to the problems that have tied up …
Read More »Tesla Model X officially unveiled, has ‘bioweapon defense mode’
Although we've seen concept imagery and teasers for Tesla's Model X 4×4 electric car, it was only officially unveiled and launched in the early hours of this morning at an event in the U.S. Tesla debuted the vehicle itself along with a laundry list of features, announcing that the first …
Read More »Snowden breaks cover and chats with Neil Degrasse Tyson on Twitter
As much as Edward Snowden has been a popular public figure over the past couple of years after he revealed the depths of intelligence agency spying in America and around the world, he's had to live in relative hiding within Russia since. While he's made the odd video appearance at …
Read More »AMD’s talks with private equity firm Silver Lake stalled – report
The discussions between Advanced Micro Devices and private equity firm Silver Lake Partners have stalled because the two companies have failed to agree on the price and the future of AMD. The chip designer is reportedly considering other options. Silver Lake was interested to acquire a 25 per cent stake …
Read More »Most interesting indie games at EGX 2015
If you like games, then EGX, formerly the Eurogamer Expo, is a fun place to visit. It's got something for everyone, whether you're into shooters, RTS, puzzlers, card battlers or any other number of genres; you're catered for. However, as much as the big games are all exciting, with their …
Read More »Virgin Media boosts top broadband speed to 200Mbps
Virgin Media has increased its top broadband speeds in the UK to 200Mbps, in addition to these, the ISP's speed tiers will be changing up. Up until now, Virgin Media has offered broadband in 50Mbps, 100Mbps and 152Mbps packages but going forward, the ISP will be offering broadband at 70Mbps, …
Read More »Ideas worth spreading: VR director commentaries, with the director
Not every news story needs to be cutting edge news, but they do need to be interesting. Take the idea of making director and crew commentaries on films and TV shows that bit more exciting, by having them not only record their vocal thoughts on the content, but their visuals …
Read More »Tesla Model X launching today, teased and webcast announced
Tesla is set to launch its Model X 4×4 later today, webcasting the entire show for viewers around the world and releasing more information on the vehicle than ever before. Company founder Elon Musk made the announcement himself earlier today, linking through to a page for the vehicle that teases …
Read More »Forget ancient water, Mars may have flowing water on its surface now
Mars has long been thought to have once been a lush, green world with ancient oceans, lakes and rivers flowing across its surface. However those days are long gone and though there is evidence of ice, until recently the idea of flowing water on Mars was just a pipe dream. …
Read More »It looks like YouTube’s paid subscription option is finally arriving
We have been hearing about YouTube's potential plans to put a subscription option in place for months now but it looks like it will finally arrive as soon as next month. According to new reports, Google is planning to launch paid subscriptions at the end of October, with an email being sent …
Read More »Pebble announces ‘Pebble Time Round’ smart watch
Pebble has become quite popular with its line of smartwatches, with two successful Kickstarter campaigns under its belt, the company has now announced its next smartwatch, the Pebble Time Round. The round-faced Pebble will look more like a traditional watch, with a very thin body, though it will make some …
Read More »GlobalFoundries: We started to tape-out chips using second-gen 14nm process technology
GlobalFoundries on Friday confirmed that the first products to be made using the company’s advanced 14nm LPP [low-power plus] manufacturing technology had been taped out. The contract maker of chips did not reveal any details, but indicated that prototype chips had demonstrated “excellent” performance and yields. One of the customers, …
Read More »GlobalFoundries: 14nm yields are exceeding our plans
GlobalFoundries, which started to manufacture chips using 14nm low-power early (14LPE) manufacturing technology several months ago, said on Friday that its yields exceed its original expectations. One of the world’s largest contract makers of semiconductors does not reveal its actual 14nm volumes, but since the chips are made for customers, …
Read More »EGX 2015’s most eye-catching booths
Since we spent much less of our time at EGX 2015 queuing than we have at previous years, that meant we didn't have as much time to look around aimlessly as we might do. That said, there were still some booths which really caught our attention for their statues, giant …
Read More »Twitch will soon allow direct video uploads, just like YouTube
A few weeks back, YouTube attempted to break in to Twitch's market with YouTube Gaming, its own revamped live-streaming service. Now, Twitch is throwing a punch back with its own VOD service, allowing Twitch users to upload fully edited videos to Twitch. Up until now, Twitch has focussed on being live, …
Read More »EGX 2015 fixes up previous years’ queue issues
One of the biggest issues with attending a lot of the biggest game shows in the UK and elsewhere around the world, is that they involve a lot of queuing. We saw it at this year's big Multiplay Insomnia series festival and we saw it was last year's EGX in …
Read More »The Oculus Touch controllers won’t be ready in time for launch
The Oculus Rift is on the way and should release around Spring next year. However, the Rift headset isn't the only bit of hardware that Oculus is set to release next year, it also has a brand new controller known as ‘Oculus Touch'. It's two motion sensing controllers that will …
Read More »The US is investigating Google for anti-competitive behaviour
Google is going to be fighting anti-trust legal battles on both sides of the Atlantic, as the FTC and US Justice Department have launched an official investigation in to Google's business practises with Android, similar to the one European Commission conducted over the last year. US regulators have apparently decided …
Read More »China to start charging companies for pollution from 2017
China has revealed new plans designed to push back against pollution, by setting limits on the greenhouse gas emissions of companies and then charging them for going over that limit. The hope is that by discouraging companies from excessively polluting the environment, overall carbon emission levels will halve by 2030. …
Read More »Samsung is launching a new, cheaper GearVR this November
Samsung is betting bigger on virtual reality this year, as it plans to release another version of its GearVR headset. This year's latest model will launch in November with a slight re-design and a much lower price. Oculus is once again in charge of developing the headset, which will rely …
Read More »Intel drained PC channel inventory to speed up transition to ‘Skylake’, Windows 10
Sales of personal computers have been sluggish in the recent quarters, which decreased revenue of PC makers and PC hardware manufacturers. Apparently, Intel Corp. has prepared for slow demand for PCs and significantly reduced shipments of its central processing units in the first half of the year, draining inventory at …
Read More »Judge invalidates copyright claims on ‘Happy Birthday’ song
A US federal judge has ruled that all copyright claims on the song ‘Happy Birthday To You' are now invalid. Music publisher, Warner/Chappell can no longer charge licensing fees for its commercial use and as long as the ruling holds up, the song will enter the public domain. The original copyright …
Read More »Facebook accused of snooping in the EU
The Commission for the Protection of Privacy (CBPL), Belgium's data authority, has been investigating Facebook and has now accused it of NSA-style snooping. The Commission has been looking in to the social network for quite some time now and things have only gotten worse since the Snowden revelations. Back in …
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