Allwinner Technology, the company primarily known for its ultra-cheap application processors for entry-level smartphones and tablets, may become a major chip design house in China, if it acquires Rockchip Electronics using money provided by the Chinese government. Last year the government of China announced intention to invest about a trillion …
Read More »Australia takes home the robot football world cup
While most of us might still be trying to perfect our aerial shots on Rocket League, the ability to manipulate the ball without a human foot going anywhere near it has been pushed to the limits at the 19th annual robot world cup, held in China as part of the …
Read More »NASA announces discovery of most Earth-like planet yet
The search for a planet that is as Earth-like as possible is an important one. Not only could it one day prove to be a second home for humanity when we stretch our influence outside of the confines of this solar system, but it could also potentially be a place …
Read More »Universal finds own servers seeding Jurassic World torrents
Universal is one of the major movie studios that has gone after pirates with everything it's got over the past decade, but it might want to look inside its organisation as much as without. One of the automated DMCA takedown tools utilised by the company has filed a takedown request …
Read More »Samsung adds 10nm FinFET tech to roadmap, mass production in 2016
Samsung Foundry this week said that it had officially added its 10nm FinFET fabrication technology into its foundry roadmap. The company also clarified that it will start mass production of chips using its third-generation manufacturing process with FinFET transistors in late 2016, which means that the first 16nm commercial chips …
Read More »Twitch is moving from Flash to HTML 5
Following on from other sites abandoning Flash, streaming site, Twitch, has also revealed that it will be switching from Adobe's solution to HTML 5, just as YouTube did some time ago. Flash Plenty of big name companies have been moving away from Flash recently, including Mozilla and Facebook, whose Chief …
Read More »Soyuz TMA-17M successfully docks with ISS, delivers crew
Even though supply runs to the International Space Station have been rather problematic as of late, that doesn't mean we've forgotten how to make it into low-earth-orbit. The Soyuz TMA-17M has successfully launched and docked with the ISS, delivering its ultra-precious cargo of Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko, Japanese astronaut Kimiya …
Read More »Universal sent Google takedown requests for news articles and IMDB
Google gets hit with thousands of takedown requests a day, a significant portion of which tend to be from movie studios attempting to combat piracy. Unfortunately, these requests often tend to be automated and sometimes don't make any sense at all. This week, Universal Pictures sent a Google a new …
Read More »Google’s next version of Glass to feature ‘rugged’ design
We have been hearing more and more about Google's next version of Glass recently and now it looks like the next iteration of the wearable will go through a bit of a redesign in an effort to make it more rugged and durable for enterprise use. Google is currently working …
Read More »New York rules Facebook must hand over data on fraud cases
In a ruling that is likely to have knock on effects for the privacy of New Yorkers, a state appeals court has ruled that when it comes to users suspected of Social Security fraud, Facebook must bend to the will of warrants applied to the site's users and hand over …
Read More »Kerbalnaut Scott Manley explains Space X CRS7 launch failure
It's good that the New Horizons Pluto flyby went off (almost) without a hitch, as recent missions into the inky blackness of space haven't been quite so successful. The most recent failing was an explosion of Space X's CRS7 resupply mission to the ISS, which exploded during the first stage …
Read More »Wikileaks release suggests NSA spied on Germany pre-11th Sept.
Although many people believe that intelligence agencies are a major part of a modern society's national defence, most of the big name ones have been through the ringer in recent years for unlawful spying on their own citizens and allies. However it turns out the NSA has been doing that for …
Read More »CAA threatens jail time after another drone near-miss
The Civil Aviation Authority, which directly and indirectly handles all sorts of aircraft regulation within the UK, has announced that any drone users found to be endangering other aircraft will be prosecuted and could face up to five years in jail if convicted. This follows on from another instance where …
Read More »TSMC plans to use EUV lithography for 5nm process technology
For quite a while, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. has been talking about using extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography for its advanced 10nm process technology. However, since appropriate scanners are not ready and will not be for at least a couple of years, the company will be unable to take advantage of …
Read More »Tech giants side with Samsung in Apple patent suit
Several massive tech firms including the likes of Google, Facebook, HP, Dell and eBay have all apparently sided with Samsung in its on-going patent dispute with Apple. According to a new report, the companies filed a ‘friend of the court' briefing earlier this month, speaking out against the ruling that …
Read More »Unity addresses ‘asset flippers’ in blog post
The Unity Engine has been used to power plenty of good games, ranging from indie hits like Thomas Was Alone, to Kickstarter success stories like Pillars of Eternity. However, recently the engine and more specifically, its asset store, have been placed in a somewhat negative light due to a shady …
Read More »Vertagear Racing series gaming chairs now available
Although we're all aware that sitting down for extended periods of time isn't good for us, the fact that gaming is as engaging as it is means that we're unlikely to ever stop doing it; so the best we can do is make sure we're comfortable and well supported during …
Read More »Grooveshark founder Josh Greenberg found dead
The co-founder of music-streaming service Grooveshark, Josh Greenberg, has been found dead at his home, aged just 28. Authorities have said that there was no evidence of foul play or suicide, prompting many to wonder just what it was that ended the life of the developer so early. The Grooveshark …
Read More »Google pushing ahead with plans for paid service
It seems that Google is pushing ahead with its plans to launch a paid YouTube service some time this year. So far, the company has signed up partners that make up around 90 percent of YouTube views, though apparently Google's efforts on getting TV networks involved are falling a bit …
Read More »Samsung shows off Galaxy Tab S2
Samsung is set to take on the iPad Air with its thinnest tablet ever in the form of the Galaxy Tab S2. The Lollipop powered tablet was announced this week, coming in a 9.7 inch model and an 8-inch one in an effort to compete with both the iPad Air …
Read More »Overclockers UK is running a competition for UK livestreamers
Overclockers UK has a little something in store for UK based live-streamers on Twitch, so to get the ball rolling, here is a little giveaway running. If you are a UK streamer, you could end up winning yourself one of three Kingston HyperX Cloud II headsets, while one person will manage …
Read More »Microsoft could buy another Israeli computer security firm
Microsoft might have been trimming the fact over the past year, with thousands of employees losing their long standing positions with the company, but that doesn't mean it doesn't have the money to invest. While preparation for the launch of Windows 10 continues apace, Microsoft is said to be looking …
Read More »Pluto is much more active than scientists thought
Following the New Horizons flyby of Pluto last week, data has been trickling in and showing us things about the dwarf planet we never knew before and it turns out we wrong about a lot of things. So much so in-fact that scientists that studied the far flung object have …
Read More »Google: people hit our driverless cars ‘surprisingly often’
Google's quest to develop a car that can drive itself across cities and to and from people's houses, places of work and elsewhere, has been one it's been working on for years now. While not there just yet, it's helped push the boundaries of what is technologically possible with an …
Read More »TSMC’s 7nm tech will use 10nm elements, production starts in 2018
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. this week disclosed some additional details about its 7nm fabrication process. TSMC reiterated plans to start qualifications of the technology in early 2017 and then initiate volume production in 2018. The 7nm process will use certain elements derived from the 10nm fabrication process, which will help …
Read More »TSMC: 10nm is on-track for volume production start in Q4 2016
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. this week denied any delays of risk or mass production of chips using its 10nm process technology. The company intends to start volume production of semiconductors at 10nm node late next year, which means that its clients will receive their first 10nm chips in the first quarter …
Read More »Reddit clarifies content rules in new CEO address
Since the ousting of Ellen Pao at discussion site Reddit, new CEO (and original founder) Steve Huffman has been adamant about improving lines of communication between site admins and the community. To that end he spent a lot of time late yesterday discussing just what is ok and what is not …
Read More »High Court rules Snooper’s Charter unlawful
Theresa May will need to go back to the drawing board is she wants to try and force through the controversial Communications Draft Bill, otherwise known as the Snooper's Charter, as a High Court judge has ruled it unlawful in its current guise. The piece of legislation was said to …
Read More »TSMC begins shipments of chips made using 16nm FinFET process tech
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. announced on Thursday that it had started volume production of chips using its 16nm FinFET manufacturing technology in the second quarter of 2015. The world’s largest contract maker of semiconductors is delivering the first batch of products made at 16nm node to its customers right now, …
Read More »New Horizons Pluto update, new images, more coming today
It's already been a few days since the New Horizons space craft made its historic flyby of the furthest flung planetary entity the human race has ever visited: Pluto. It took some awe inspiring images, the first of which we've begun to get our first look at, but there is …
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