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Jon Martindale

Derren Browne’s VR Thorpe Parke ride uses the HTC Vive

Although virtual reality has a lot of potential for giving us amazing gaming experiences in the home, there's also huge potential for more advanced entertainment at bespoke locations. Take the upcoming re-imagining of the ghost train in a partnership between Thorpe Park and Derren Brown, utilising virtual reality to enhance …

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EU demands tighter controls for U.S. data requisitions

Following its ending of the EU-U.S. Safe Harbour data exchange scheme last year, the European Union is demanding tighter controls and protections on how America requests information from EU companies. If those assurances aren't received soon, it may start taking enforcement actions against various firms. Safe Harbour previously gave U.S. companies the …

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Rocket League season one to end in February

Rocket League, one of the biggest break out successes of 2015, has been running its first season of ranked play for several months now, with no initial announcement about how long it would be. Well now we know, roughly. Psyonix' first update of 2016 will bring an end to Season …

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Accused movie pirates in U.S. can receive free legal counsel

Although its much less of a common tactic today than it once was, some movie distributors still like to target individual downloaders and attempt to have them pay through the nose for pirating a single movie. Considering defending yourself can be an expensive practice, one judge in the U.S. has …

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Daesh has its own encrypted chat app

In an effort to help obscure its communications from the many worldwide intelligence agencies trying to hunt them down, members of terrorist group Daesh now have their own encrypted chat application. This follows members of the organisations being kicked off of the likes of WhatsApp, Telegram and other platforms. Governments …

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Space X Falcon rocket touches down… and then falls over

Space X has once again narrowly missed out on a successful drone-ship landing of its Falcon 9 first stage booster rocket. Although the orbital launch vehicle did manage to touch back down on the automated platform, it only stood upright for a few seconds before toppling over and exploding on …

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Forget passenger drones, what about a drone ambulance?

Although drones have promised lots of interesting developments in film making, surveillance and delivery, they are getting powerful enough to transport people, as we saw recently. But forget making travel easy for the rich, transporting injured people between the scene of an accident and a hospital quickly and without disturbance …

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U.S. government to invest $4 billion in autonomous cars

President Obama's secretary of transportation, Anthony Foxx, announced this week that the government had pledged to spend $4 billion over the next 10 years to help advanced autonomous vehicle technology. It's currently thought that partially self-piloted vehicles will be available by 2020 and fully autonomous ones by 2025, but this …

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ESPN just launched it own Esports site

ESPN has finally begun to take Esports seriously, launching a new website dedicated entirely to pro-gaming. It features coverage of many of the latest news stories for some of the more popular competitive games, as well as twinned social media accounts, strategy videos and profiles of the most iconic players …

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UK public doesn’t want 10 year piracy prison sentences

The British public has almost unanimously rejected a call from the government to extend the maximum prison sentence for media pirates from two years to ten, following a consultation on the matter. The results suggest that the public just doesn't see piracy in the same way the government does. To …

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PewDiePie launches game dev, promo firm with other Youtubers

Felix Kjelberg, more famously known as the most popular Youtuber Pewdiepie, is launching a new promotional firm and production company in one, called Revelmode. He's bringing some friends with him too, signing on other big Youtubers like Mark “Markiplier” Fishbach, Sean “JackSepticEye” McLoughlin and Emma Blackery. The idea behind Revelmode …

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Rock Jaw Audio Alfa Genus V2 earphones review

As much as Beats may have gone a long way to making the idea of having decent quality headphones cool, not everyone wants bass heavy cans, or giant over-the-ear sets. Some prefer an in-ear design for their stealth and ability to stay in place during vigorous activity. It is to …

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Qualcomm switches allegiance, gives chip contract to Samsung

Qualcomm has made a landmark choice for its next-generation Snapdragon mobile chips, as it's chosen to have Samsung manufacture it, rather than its long standing partner, TSMC. This marks the first time that Qualcomm has had any firm other than TSMC manufacture its high-end chips. The chip in question is …

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Ross Ulbricht appeal kicks off with attack on corrupt feds

Convicted Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht has served a year of his double-life sentence without parole, but is now getting the chance to appeal his original conviction. The first step on that road is a big one too, as his legal team submitted a 140+ page document requesting the original trial …

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EU Court rules bosses can read employee private messages

If you access Facebook messenger, Twitter DMs, Skype or any other messaging service during work hours, be careful, as there is now legal precedent for your boss to look over your shoulder. In a landmark ruling that could have serious repercussions for in-work privacy, the European Court of Human Rights has …

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U.S. national intelligence director had his phone hacked

In yet another instance of top intelligence officials in U.S. agencies having their personal details revealed to the world, director of national intelligence, James Clapper has had his phone hacked, with calls redirected to the Free Palestine Movement. Those involved also purportedly accessed his wife's personal email account too. “We …

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Fleye shows not every drone needs exposed blades

As drones become more popular, the conversation has turned to safety. With their multiple rotors, exposed blades and ever increasing weights, there is some danger to them flying around near humans. Not so much with Fleye though. The circular drone was revealed at last week's CES show and using an …

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Information commissioner attacks UK’s new Snooper’s Charter

Independent public data rights authority, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), has attacked plans by the government to push through the Investigatory Powers Bill, often called the Snooper's Charter. It claims that there is little justification for some of the measures it wishes to push through and claims that it weakens …

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