Facebook has been under the microscope over the last couple of months following on from the Cambridge Analytica revelations. Since then, Zuckerburg and the Facebook team have been reviewing policies and have been investigating other apps that may be harvesting large amounts of user data. So far, the investigation has …
Read More »The Apple V Samsung lawsuit is getting another retrial next week
Seven years ago, Apple accused Samsung of infringing on its design patents for the iPhone. This lawsuit has become infamous over the years, largely because it just never seems to end. The case has gone through appeals and retrials, with Samsung often coming out on the losing end. Now, the …
Read More »Sony and Nintendo adjust warranty policies following FTC warnings
As tech enthusiasts, we’ve all come across ‘warranty void if removed’ stickers. They are very common on lots of electronic devices, ranging from games consoles, to PC parts and other products, like TVs or mobile devices. Last month, the FTC called out six companies over warranty voiding practices, stating that …
Read More »Nvidia’s latest Game Ready driver prepares for Conan Exiles, Pillars of Eternity II and Destiny 2
Nvidia’s 397.31 Game Ready driver ended up causing a lot of issues for GeForce GTX 1060 users last month, with the problem finally resolved with a quick hotfix a week later. Moving on from the debacle, the company has now launched its 397.64 driver, optimising Conan Exiles, Pillars of Eternity …
Read More »Twitch files a countersuit in response to Phantoml0rd’s legal action
James ‘Phantoml0rd’ Varga began his crusade against Twitch earlier this year, when he launched a lawsuit alleging that he was unfairly dismissed without written notifications of his violations, as well as not being allowed a period of time to correct them. Twitch has now responded, adapting the case into a …
Read More »Microsoft’s Kinect sensor has found a new home in Azure AI
The Kinect has had a bad run in the video game world, with the original Xbox 360 sensor failing to catch on, and history repeating itself after the launch of the Xbox One. In October last year, Microsoft stopped manufacturing the Kinect 2.0, but it is making a surprise return …
Read More »Leo Says 19 – Nvidia GPP, AMD chase ASROCK GPU sample, Twitter unhashed, Apple RECORD earnings
Our opinionated hero is back - the man from England with an opinion on literally everything. This week Leo discusses the apparent death of Nvidia GPP (yay, but is it really dead?). We don't blame you if you missed the 'announced' death of GPP - the news appeared on a blog post on the Nvidia website (a blog post, seriously). Leo also discusses AMD going after ASROCK to find out how Tomshardware got a 580 GPU sample. For those who don't know - AMD have a rule in place that ASROCK are meant to be selling their hardware only in ASIA - but is it really worth making a big fuss over?
Read More »YouTube hits 1.8 billion concurrent users per month
While YouTube’s place as the de facto media platform is now in question thanks to the rise in prominence of competitors such as Twitch, there’s no denying that it is still an impressively large site. Proving this point, CEO Susan Wojcicki has revealed that YouTube manages to pull in a …
Read More »Radeon GPU users will now also be able to stream Netflix in Ultra HD
In 2017, 4K Netflix streaming finally started making its way to PCs, in large part due to the launch of Intel's Kaby Lake processors and its support for HEVC decoding. Over time, the number of systems capable of streaming Netflix in Ultra-HD has grown, with Radeon's latest GPU drivers adding …
Read More »The FTC is cracking down on companies using ‘warranty void if removed’ stickers
Update (02/05/18): Late last month, the FTC began cracking down on companies using ‘warranty void if removed' stickers, amongst other tactics that are apparently illegal. This came as a surprise, because warranty void stickers are common practise across the tech world. At the time, the FTC had issued warnings to …
Read More »Twitter admits to selling data to Cambridge Analytica-affiliate Aleksandr Kogan
Aleksandr Kogan gained notoriety thanks to his involvement in the recent Facebook scandals, where he collected user data and facilitated a deal with Cambridge Analytica without user consent. Now, it seems that Twitter has admitted to selling data to the same man, albeit restricted to public data only. Twitter admitted …
Read More »Pre-orders for the Atari VCS will go live at the end of May
Atari’s new retro-inspired console has had a bit of a rough ride during development, as its crowdfunding seems to have missed its second deadline. Although pre-orders were expected to go live in December and then again in April, it looks like buyers will have to wait until the end of …
Read More »Nyko hit with class action lawsuit amid third-party Nintendo Switch dock controversy
At the end of March, owners of third-party Nintendo Switch docks received a nasty surprise as an official update began bricking consoles. Affected customers are now beginning to hold the peripheral makers responsible, with a class action lawsuit formed against Nyko in the US. While it was Nintendo that distributed …
Read More »Cooler Master launches its MasterBox K500L chassis
Cooler Master has moved on from adding to its MasterBox Q-Series and is now focusing on bolstering its K-Series range instead, introducing its new K500L and K500. The K500L was first seen at last year’s Computex in a very different form, with its new look taking a more ‘gaming’ aesthetic …
Read More »Facebook scales back third-party apps that can access user data, worrying researchers
Facebook has been under a lot of scrutiny since its Cambridge Analytica scandal, forcing CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his team to take a closer look into how it handles user data. Although the social media giant doesn’t plan on adopting the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) anywhere outside of the …
Read More »US detectives tried to bypass biometric security with dead suspect’s fingerprints
The Largo Police Department in Florida has caused a stir in its latest attempt to access the data of its suspects, after a fatal shooting made things more complicated than usual. Crashing the funeral home of the dead suspect, detectives attempted to unlock his smartphone’s biometric security by using his …
Read More »Doom is rumoured to get another film adaptation
Doom is one of the many gaming franchises to suffer from the video game movie curse, in that its Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson-fronted film from 2005 was a complete disaster. Given the success of the 2016 video game reboot, it seems that a new Doom movie adaptation might be in …
Read More »ZTE says US ban will ‘severely impact’ its survival and partnerships
Last week, ZTE was hit hard as the US government banned the company. Under the ban, the China-based smartphone maker can't get hold of Qualcomm chips and it stands to lose its license to use Android. Now ZTE has spoken out on the subject, saying that the ban will “severely …
Read More »Gmail users report spam emails sent from their own account
One of the main identifiers to spam emails is often the email address itself, usually containing a questionable domain. Unfortunately, things aren’t always as clear cut as that, as some Gmail users spotted that spam was coming from their own accounts. Despite having two-factor authentication, Gmail users found that their …
Read More »Facebook’s FTC-authorised audit missed Cambridge Analytica scandal
Back in 2011, the Federal Trade Commission struck a deal with Facebook to have its privacy practices audited once every two years by an external company. The system has now been called into question, after its 2017 audit failed to detect behind the scenes activity surrounding the Cambridge Analytica scandal. …
Read More »noblechairs Icon Leather Gaming Chair Review
It's a lush, high end gaming chair from Noblechairs. At over £500 does it deliver the goods?
Read More »Oculus will adjust its Terms of Service and add a ‘privacy centre’ to comply with GDPR
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is coming into place fairly soon here in the EU, which means companies around the world are preparing changes to fall in line with the new laws. Facebook might be trying to skirt around it, but Oculus will be going in a different direction …
Read More »Qualcomm is set to cut 1,500 jobs in an effort to save $1 billion
After just recently managing to dodge a hostile takeover, Qualcomm is looking to cut costs, with plans to let go of 1,500 staff members. A while back, Qualcomm's board promised investors that it would save $1 billion in operating costs this year, the layoffs are supposed to help the board …
Read More »Atari attempts to explain where its upcoming VCS console fits into the current market
Atari is on the cusp of its hardware revival, with the Ataribox evolving into the retro-inspired Atari VCS. Although not much has been revealed since its crowdfunding was suspended last December, Atari COO Michael Arzt has taken time out at the Game Developers Conference to shed more light on what’s …
Read More »Facebook restructures to lessen number of users protected by EU’s new data regulations
The EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) comes into effect on May 25th, clamping down on how privacy and data is handled throughout the online world. Of course, this hits Facebook hard in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, however, Zuckerberg and his company are still trying to find …
Read More »Intel has cancelled its promising smart glasses project
Intel has been trying to get a foothold in the wearable tech market for years now. Back in February, it looked like good progress was being made, after the Vaunt smart glasses were first shown. However, it looks like Intel will be taking a step back from wearables for now, …
Read More »YouTube is cracking down on false positives causing demonetisation
Back in February, YouTube controversially introduced new eligibility criteria for monetisation, raising the barrier for content creators to earn money from their videos. The Google-owned platform has revealed that this has been working as intended since its implementation, and that further changes are on the way, including a way for …
Read More »Tesla fans successfully crowdfund a replacement couch for billionaire Elon Musk
Tesla and Boring Company CEO Elon Musk has had a rough time lately, with many sleepless nights at the office trying to fix the problems with the Tesla Model 3. To aid the billionaire’s woes, fans have banded together to crowdfund enough money in order to replace what can only …
Read More »Google working on an ‘Alt OS’ mode for Chrome OS
We've been hearing a lot about Google's laptop plans recently. Back in January, developers began testing Fuchsia OS on the Pixelbook, then we heard that we may see a new Pixelbook launch later this year. Now, it looks like the Chrome OS team is trying something new, as references to …
Read More »Microsoft protects Google Chrome users with Windows Defender extension
Microsoft has been tackling computer viruses with Windows Defender for quite some time, acting as a countermeasure once malicious software makes its way onto the system. Now, the company is taking a more proactive approach, implementing Windows Defender into browsers to stop it getting to that stage, starting with Google …
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