Space X made history in the early hours of this morning, when it launched its new and improved Falcon 9 rocket into Low-Earth Orbit, separating the first stage booster part-way through the ascent, and returning it safely to Earth. This is Space X's first successful landing of the first stage …
Read More »Twitch streamers raised $17 million for charity this year
There is quite a bit of money to be made in streaming, but throughout the year plenty of Twitch streamers host charity events in order to raise money for good causes and this year, a substantial amount was raised, with the Twitch community generating over $17 million for charities. Twitch …
Read More »Toshiba to cut 7,800 jobs following accounting scandal
Toshiba is facing hard times right now, the company's former President and CEO Hisao Tanaka stepped down around six months ago, following a revelation that the company had $ 1.2 billion in declared false profit. Obviously, this is a serious offense that will require Toshiba to pay out a hefty …
Read More »Sky to introduce internet watershed for all new customers
Taking the initiative following the British government's interest in bringing forward the Investigatory Powers Bill, Sky has announced that it will be introducing its filtering system automatically for all new customers (it won't even ask first) and will even go so far as to instigate a watershed-like system. Before 9PM, …
Read More »Space X’s next Falcon 9 rocket launch to take place today
“Punting 24 hours,” sounds like a very relaxed way to push back the launch of a $50 million rocket, but that's exactly what Space X CEO Elon Musk did on Sunday, via Twitter. His announcement means that the improved Falcon 9 rocket carrying 11 ORBCOMM satellites will instead head into …
Read More »Toshiba to cull thousands of jobs, sell off businesses
Despite being one of the most recognisable technological brands in the world, Toshiba has announced that it will be cutting as many as 7,000 jobs in its electronics divisions following its accounting scandal from earlier this year. On top of that it will be selling its TV manufacturing facility in …
Read More »Splash back wall paint trial combats public urination in London
A new trial of an interesting technology is set to take place in London in the near future, designed to combat public urination. Instead of highlighting those responsible, filming them or threatening legal action later, this particular bit of tech is a hydrophobic paint job for local surfaces, that when …
Read More »PC options for last minute Christmas delivery
For those of you who've bought (or are thinking of acquiring) new games and don't have the GPU/CPU horsepower necessary, Christmas provides the perfect excuse to go and buy the rig you deserve. After a long hard year of grafting to cover bills and essential living expenses, surely December should include …
Read More »UK pirates sentenced to multiple year prison sentences
Although the music and movie industry have largely stopped going after individual pirates with lawsuits – unless you're the makers of Dallas Buyers Club – it hasn't stopped trying to take down those responsible for uploading content. In the finale of arrests made in early 2013, four men from the UK …
Read More »Facebook to offer $15,000 subsidies to ease worker housing costs
Working for the big tech companies has a lot of advantages. Earlier this year Netflix, Adobe and a number of other firms announced that they now offered their employees unlimited parental leave following the birth of a child, as well as unlimited holiday allowance. Facebook is upping the game again, …
Read More »Tencent now owns Riot Games, League of Legends
Although it started life as an indie developer back in the mid-00s, Riot Games has been anything but for a long time. That's why over the past few years it's courted investment from companies like Tencent, a Chinese game publisher and holding company. And now Riot has sold itself body …
Read More »Need a DIY Christmas idea? How about Netflix socks
Although it's usually easier to buy someone a Christmas present with money you've already earned, for those that would rather give the gift of effort and smart-technology, Netflix has put a guide online on to make a pair of socks with a special ability. They keep your feet warm of course, but …
Read More »Amazon has a lot of illegal weapons for sale
When it comes to buying illegal weaponry online, people often think of darkweb markets like the long-closed Silk Road, but it's actually far easier to get a hold of such items it seems, as Amazon sells most of them. As part of an investigation into the retailer's sales practices, it …
Read More »CISA surveillance bill bundled in with NASA’s budget
Following the years of failed-attempts by politicians and copyright lobby groups to have the world accept distasteful bills like PIPA and SOPA, it's no surprise that the tactics to push them through have changed. Nowadays they're hidden within legislation like trade bills in the case of the TTIP and TPP, …
Read More »PlayStation VR will come with an additional ‘processing box’
The PlayStation 4 only has so much power, which is limiting for developers, especially those looking to create games for the PlayStation VR headset, which will require games to run at a much higher frame rate in order to avoid issues and motion sickness. Fortunately, Sony has a solution to …
Read More »Chrome extension will block Star Wars spoilers
The time has come, after years of rumours and speculation Star Wars: The Force Awakens is releasing this week but obviously, not everyone can see it the day it comes out. For those who are wary of spoilers, a Google Chrome browser extension has been released to help block pages …
Read More »Samsung is making one last effort to avoid Apple patent suit payout
While Samsung did finally agree to pay Apple the $550 million over patent infringements, there was one little stipulation, Samsung wants the chance to win some of that money back in court and has filed an appeal with the US Supreme Court in one last effort to prove how ridiculous …
Read More »Space X set to test new and improved Falcon 9 this week
It's been nearly six months since Space X has launched one of its Falcon 9 rockets, after the last one spectacularly exploded due to an overpressure event shortly after launch in June. But this week will see the commercial space venture testing a new and improved version of the rocket, …
Read More »Facebook changes Real Name policy, adds more context
Facebook has been at the forefront of people using their real names on the internet since its inception. However as time has gone on, it's received more and more pressure from certain groups to allow for the occasional use of faux-names to cater to different lifestyle choices. To try and have …
Read More »New EU laws could kick under-16s off of social media, email
Being connected as a teen is pretty important. As much as older generations may have adopted social networking, children of today have grown up with it – it's in their blood. But it may not be for much longer, as a new change to EU data protection laws could make …
Read More »First British astronaut under the ESA banner heading to ISS
The first British astronaut to head into space under the banner of the European Space Agency, Tim Peake, is set to launch into Low-Earth-Orbit (LEO) and join up with the International Space Station later today. He will be joined by American astronaut Tim Kopra, and Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko aboard …
Read More »UK ISPs to block 85 more pirate sites
The UK High Court has once again ordered internet service providers to expand its list of blocked sites, with a new wave of 85 sites set to be blocked this week on the likes of Sky, Virgin Media, BT and TalkTalk. This will be one of the larger ban waves …
Read More »YouTube to stop direct video uploads from webcams
Over the years, Google has tried out a number of features with YouTube, some of which don't necessarily take off. One of these features happens to be the ability to upload video footage to the site directly from a Webcam, though this infrequently used feature will be going away for …
Read More »Amazon drops ‘hoverboards’ amid safety fears
This year's celebrity Instagram phenomenon has arguably been the ‘hoverboard,' the Segway, swegway, Elite-Board… whatever you know it by: the two wheeled, self balance board. It's been tearing it up in social media posts and many real-world people have enjoyed them too, but amid safety concerns, Amazon has now stopped …
Read More »Here’s what you need for a modern day protest
As much as many cheered on Arab Spring protests in Africa and the Middle East over the past few years, it was obvious even in less developed countries that the technological disparity between protesters and governments is widening. So what can modern day protesters do to keep themselves safe from …
Read More »The weird and wonderful at Multiplay i56
Although far from its largest show of the year, Multiplay's major Christmas LAN event, Insomnia 56 (i56) still has a lot on show. While we'd love to take you all with us on a virtual tour of the entire show, we can't quite afford that new Nokia VR camera just …
Read More »Microsoft is giving OneDrive users 15GB free space following complaints
A short while back, Microsoft announced plans to switch up its OneDrive cloud storage plans. One of the big changes was set to be the 15GB of free storage shrinking to just 5GB for users, this decision generated a ton of complaints, around 70,000 to be exact, so now, Microsoft …
Read More »HTV Vive is the VR must see at Multiplay i56
Although Oculus is the darling of the virtual reality world, HTC's Vive headset has been making waves since it started shipping out to developers who wanted to build games and experiences for its commercial release. However the general public have had a chance to play around with the headset and …
Read More »Microsoft will soon have extensions for Edge Browser
Back before Wind0ws 10 launched, there was talk of Microsoft's new browser, Edge, being compatible extensions. The feature has taken a while, in-fact Microsoft initially planned to include it in November's big Threshold 2 update for Windows 10, but now after a few delays it seems that a release is …
Read More »Zuckerberg must testify in Zenimax VS Oculus lawsuit
The Zenimax VS Oculus lawsuit is still going on and things appear to be heating up a bit, as Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook which bought Oculus for $2 billion a while back, has been ordered to testify for the case. A court in Texas gave the order for …
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