Khronos Group, the organization responsible for multiple open-standard application programming interfaces (APIs), such as OpenCL, OpenGL and WebGL, this week announced intention to rebuild the OpenGL API from scratch. The purpose of this is to be able to compete against Microsoft’s DirectX 12, AMD’s Mantle and other possible APIs (e.g., …
Read More »Apple could use sapphire glass for more expensive iPhone models
Earlier this year it was reported that GT Advanced Technologies, a company that produces sapphire crystal glass that has an exclusive supply agreement with Apple, had greatly expanded its manufacturing capacities (with the help of Apple). However, later on a rumour emerged that the iPhone 6 would use “traditional” Corning …
Read More »New photos of Core i7-5960X ‘Haswell-E’ show up on the web
While the photos of the upcoming Intel Core i7-5900-series “Haswell-E” processors are no longer considered a breakthrough news, they still pose a lot of interest, especially if they are in high-resolution and reveal the backside of the chips. The first image of an engineering sample of the Intel Core i7-5900-series …
Read More »Own €30k porcelain speakers sculpted on ‘men of power’
How would you like to own a range of porcelain speakers sculpted to represent ‘men of power'? No, it's not a question I ever thought I would be asking our readers either. Until I received an email tonight from one of the people involved in the project I never even …
Read More »Samsung acquires smart home company SmartThings
Samsung Electronics this week said that it had acquired SmartThings, a company that develops software and hardware for smart homes. The acquisition will help SmartThings to expand its product line, whereas Samsung will be able to enter a new market of smart home appliances. The company will continue to operate …
Read More »Apple and Google control 96% of smartphone market
In the second quarter of 2014 shipments of smartphones reached a new milestone: 300 million units per quarter for the first time in history, according to International Data Corp. When it comes to operating systems, then Apple and Google controlled 96.4 per cent of the market, whereas shares of BlackBerry, …
Read More »NASA might have dust formed outside of our solar system
Our solar system is a vast tract of space, but compared to our entire galaxy, or the universe as a whole, it's less than a single grain of sand compared to all the beaches in the world. That's why finding out what it's actually like outside our little plot of …
Read More »Security researchers turn smartphone gyroscope into a microphone
It turns out that an Android Smartphone's gyroscope can be transformed into a microphone capable of listening in on you without your express permission. The discovery was made by security researchers at Stanford University in conjunction with defense firm, Rafael, which developed a new app called ‘Gyrophone'. While apps have …
Read More »PS4 SharePlay feature will be limited to 60 minute chunks
At Gamescom this week, Sony announced that one of the PS4's biggest advertised features, ‘SharePlay' will finally be coming to the console this year. However, details on how game sharing will work are starting to emerge, revealing a 60 minute time limit on play sessions. Sony's game sharing implementation will …
Read More »Microsoft could change Internet Explorer name to bury reputation
It turns out that Microsoft's Internet Explorer engineering team has considered changing the name of its web browser in order to escape its negative reputation. While the name hasn't changed yet, the team admits that it could one day. During a Reddit Q&A session, users asked Engineer, Jonathan Sampson, if Microsoft …
Read More »Assassin’s Creed Unity will have micro-transactions
Following on from last night's report that Ubisoft wants to take PC gaming ‘more seriously', it has been revealed that Assassin's Creed Unity will contain Micro-Transactions for those who would rather pay for progress than play the game. Assassin's Creed IV had a similar option, users could buy ‘DLC' resource …
Read More »Apple Store staff arrested in $500k stolen iPhone scheme
Seven Apple Store employees and one Best Buy worker have been arrested in Florida and charged with selling stolen iPhones. The seven Apple staff members worked at a store in Fort Lauderdale and apparently took part in a scam to trade legitimate iPhones for stolen ones. The scheme supposedly generated …
Read More »Cities: Skylines pokes fun at Sim City in new trailer
Remember when Maxis and EA released Sim City? The latest one, the one without lots of features that everyone wanted. It was a disaster. It was online only, so of course people couldn't connect on day one, it had bugs and missing features and wasn't moddable. It was bad. Clearly …
Read More »ESL to take DotA 2 to MSG during NY super week
If that was just one too many acronyms for you to figure out, don't worry, it's not as complicated as it looks. That's the Electronic Sports League, an eSports organisation, that's looking to take Valve's Defense of the Ancients two, to Madison Square Garden, for what it's describing as New …
Read More »Premier League to crack down on Vine goal videos
With the World Cup only taking place every four years, the way people interact over it and share related content changes quite dramatically each time as technology evolves. This time around, it was Vine that caused a lot of controversy – at least among Premier League Executives – as when …
Read More »Crytek releases first Arena of Fate gameplay trailer
Crytek is in a state of flux at the moment, following on from poor sales of its Ryse: Son of Rome on the Xbox One. It's had to underpay staff, sell of franchises and shut down studios, but it's still kicking, hoping to bring itself back to the fore of …
Read More »Intel demos DX12 benefits: boosts performance, cuts-down power consumption
At the Siggraph 2014 conference Intel Corp. demonstrated how the new DirectX 12 application programming interface can speed up rendering performance and improve battery life of mobile devices. The results of the demo were nothing but impressive: the new low-level API not only rather dramatically improves performance, but also allows …
Read More »Undisclosed OEM to use Asetek’s liquid-cooling for graphics cards
Asetek, one of the world’s largest suppliers of sealed liquid cooling solutions, said on Thursday that an undisclosed “OEM customer” had chosen the company’s coolers for “a graphics liquid cooling product.” Asetek did not reveal anything about its new customer, but it is highly likely that the company signed a …
Read More »Intel speeds up launch of next-gen Core i7 ‘Haswell-E’ processors
Intel Corp. has decided to speed up the introduction of its next-generation Core i7 5800/5900-series “Haswell-E” microprocessors by several days or weeks and introduce the new chips already in August. This should give Intel and its partners several additional days of sales and therefore additional revenue, but it will not …
Read More »Intel acquires LSI’s Axxia networking processor unit from Avago
Avago Technologies continues to resell assets it got from LSI last year. On Thursday Avago and Intel said that the latter will acquire the Axxia networking business from the former. The acquisition of Axxia essentially makes Intel a supplier of network processors based on ARM Cortex and IBM Power processing …
Read More »Ubisoft to take PC gaming more seriously
Apparently, Ubisoft finally wants to patch things up with PC gamers and take the platform ‘more seriously'. The change of heart comes down to the fact that PC gaming is continuing to rise, despite the release of the Playstation 4 and Xbox One. Speaking with MCV at Gamescom, European Ubisoft …
Read More »Edward Snowden talks ‘MonsterMind,’ the NSA’s Skynet
Edward Snowden is back in the news again today, after detailing to Wired during an extensive interview, that the NSA is working on a system that will not only be able to pinpoint DDOS and other more nefarious attacks against the US and shut them down automatically, but potentially even launch …
Read More »Metal Gear Solid V and Ground Zeroes will come to PC
Hideo Kojima has officially announced that Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain and Metal Gear Solid Ground Zeroes will both come to the PC platform via Steam. The announcement was made at the MGS livestream at Gamescom last night. Metal Gear Solid enjoyed a long and successful life as …
Read More »The Samsung Galaxy Note 4 specs have leaked
The Samsung Galaxy Note 4 appears to have leaked ahead of its supposed unveiling next month, revealing its full specifications which include a 1440p QHD display and a Snapdragon 805 processor. This leak comes via a retailer based in India, Eraphone, which is prematurely taking pre-orders for the upcoming device. …
Read More »You can now play the Unreal Tournament Pre-Alpha
Earlier this year, Epic Games announced that it was working on a brand new and completely free Unreal Tournament game. One of the highlights of the announcement was the shooter's transparent development scheme and Epic is staying true to its word. You can now download and play Unreal Tournament in …
Read More »Overclockers taking pre-orders for Corsair DDR4 RAM
Overclockers UK is now taking pre-orders for Corsair Vengeance and Corsair Dominator Platinum DDR4 memory kits in preparation for Intel's upcoming X99 chipset. In addition, the store is already offering a range of Crucial Ballistix DDR4 modules. Corsair Vengeance RAM starts off at £239.99 for a 16GB 2666 MHz kit and …
Read More »Receiving Whatsapp images can earn you a criminal record
Anyone can understand that creating illegal images and distributing them via a service like Whatsapp could get you in trouble with the police, especially if they happen to come under England's controversial “extreme pornography” laws. However there's some concern arising over a recent case where two men found to have received – …
Read More »Xbox One will let you play pirated TV shows, movies
One thing consoles have always been a bit tighter on than PCs, is piracy. That's why I had to get a friend of a friend to modify my PS One back in the 90s so it could play pirated games (only in black and white for some reason), but it …
Read More »George R.R. Martin: some fans already figured out the ending
In the absence of a fifth series for a while yet and potentially even a greater wait for the next book in the A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R.R. Martin, it can of course be tempting to read fan forums, or delve into theories about where …
Read More »Payday dev is making a Walking Dead co-op shooter
The less said about Walking Dead: Survival Instinct the better. It was awful, let's move on, as clearly comic book series creator Robert Kirkman has, since he's hired on the likes of Overkill – the guys behind the Payday games – to make another shooter based in the zombie infested …
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