Intel has been in a world of hurt ever since the major security bugs inside of virtually every Intel CPU and many other CPUs on the market, but the news of Intel CEO Brian Krzanich selling $24 million worth of Intel shares - even though he knew about Meltdown and Spectre, has people not-so-happy.

Krzanich sold $24 million worth of stock back in November 2017, with the sale taking place after Intel found out about the huge Meltdown and Spectre bugs, as they found out months before that . Krzanich had the required 10b5-1 plan that allows company executives to sell their stock, but the plan was made at the end of October, a massive 5 months after Intel found out about Meltdown and Spectre.

But the thing is, Kzranich sold the maximum about of his Intel shares as he could, but there are thoughts that the Intel CEO sold as many company shares as he could, as he knew about Spectre and Meltdown and the possible effect it would have on Intel share prices. This is insider trading, and brings some very heavy things into the argument.

In what feels like the most ironic story I've written in a while, the North American Bitcoin Conference ticking page doesn't support Bitcoin payments, with an explanation from the group saying the "no cryptocurrency" policy is because of the "network congestion and manual processing".

There's a valid reason here, but it's just ironic that one of the best Bitcoin conferences in the world... doesn't accept Bitcoin right now. Bitcoin.com is reporting that more and more merchants are not accepting Bitcoin payments anymore because it's not quick and easy like other cryptocurrencies.

But the point is that Bitcoin isn't a transaction coin, and more of a stored value coin and "USD" of crypto. You need to trade BTC for most alt coins, and isn't something you buy your coffee or pay for your Netflix subscription with.

CES 2018 - ASRock was teasing their new Ultra Quad M.2 Card at CES 2018, with their new card capable of housing 4 x NMVe M.2 SSDs, cooled by a 50mm centrifugal fan.

The company is comparing it against the ASUS Hyper M.2 x16 card, with ASRock's new card featuring a bigger fan, and 6-pin PCIe power connector. ASRock also mounts the M.2 SSDs angled from the bottom, which also looks awesome, now we just need RGBs.

ASRock says that the angled placement of the M.2 sockets is better, as it minimizes the trace distance from the M.2 slots to the PCIe slot.

With all of the hoopla surrounding the Spectre and Meltdown security bugs found in consumer CPUs, setting Intel pretty much on fire, how are the other companies fairing? Well, NVIDIA is doing fine.

NVIDIA's revised security bulletin has provided some insight, with NVIDIA CEO and co-founder Jen-Hsun Huang saying: "Our GPUs are immune, they're not affected by these security issues. What we did is we released driver updates to patch the CPU security vulnerability. We are patching the CPU vulnerability the same way that Amazon , the same way that SAP, the same way that Microsoft, etc are patching, because we have software as well".

Huang added: "I am absolutely certain that our GPU is not affected".

In the last few hours over $50 billion has been wiped away from the global cryptocurrency market cap, down to just $628 billion (at the time of writing) from its record high of $835 billion on January 7.

Why the massive drop in cryptocurrency prices? Well, there have been massive stories that the Chinese government will be banning Bitcoin mining in the country, and with 80% of Bitcoin mined in China, this is huge on its own. But then news broke a couple of hours ago from Reuters that the South Korean government was pushing laws in to ban cryptocurrency trading on SK exchanges.

This has seen the drop of virtually every single cryptocurrency, with Ethereum going from its record high of $1400+ to $1230 in a matter of hours.

Just as my story about the Chinese government and authorities putting their boot down onto cryptocurrency miners in China, the South Korean justice minister said he's preparing a bill a ban on cryptocurrency trading through South Korean exchanges.

Park Sang-ki said in a press conference: "There are great concerns regarding virtual currencies and justice ministry is basically preparing a bill to ban cryptocurrency trading through exchanges".

There are no other details on South Korea's movements in banning cryptocurrency trading on SK exchanges, but it will be working directly with the government task force on it.

With the price of Bitcoin cranking up to $20,000 and now Ethereum breaking through multiple new all-time high prices and now steady at $1300, China is spoiling the party for cryptocurrency miners in the country.

According to local news sources, Chinese authorities had a notice being sent around telling them to "guide" an "orderly exit" for cryptocurrency mining operations, as they begin shutting down their mines. These sources said that the notice was issued by an inter-agency task force (The Dark Army?!*) assigned to looking into risks in internet finance.

Electricity prices are dirt cheap in the remote areas of China, where there the temperatures in those areas is also super-low. This is perfect for crypto miners as operating gigantic mines uses lots of computing power, and that all generates heat. So mining in remote China is a perfect blend: cheap electricity and low temperatures, it's like Christmas everyday for miners.

Microsoft might be targeting more dynamic engagement interactions with Xbox LIVE users with a new, multi-faceted approach to its avatar system.

In an older article I explained how Xbox LIVE, not Xbox consoles, is the center of Microsoft's gaming division. Rather than compete directly with Sony and try to sell as many Xbox consoles as they can, Microsoft took a more long-term route that you may recognize from the likes of EA, Ubisoft, Activision, Blizzard, and Take-Two Interactive: monetizing engagement and ensuring players remain "sticky" in the network. By adding in tons of social features such as communities and giving players a direct line of contact with one another in a more organic fashion, Microsoft promoted a more personalized and engaging atmosphere for gamers--thus ensuring they'll likely continue subscribing and buying games, thus Microsoft is able to monetize this engagement (advertisements too!).

Microsoft also recently announced Xbox Quests, a new way to engage players by offering tantalizing prizes for completing objectives or "quests" within the network or specific games--ie getting a certain GamerScore in an alotted time, or play X matchmade games, etc etc.

Sony nearly sold 6 million PlayStation 4 consoles in less than a month's time, according to company estimates.

An estimated 5.9 million PS4 units were sold-through (sold, not shipped) to consumers during the holiday season, which was measured from Nov. 20 through Dec. 31, 2017. This spike bumped the total PS4 sell-through to over 73.6 million units globally since its launch in 2013, meaning that 8% of total PS4 sales were made during 2017's holiday timeframe.

Sony also touted that over 55.9 million PS4 games were sold during the period across digital and retail, and total PlayStation Plus subscribers has now reached 31.5 million, meaning Sony now enjoys a 42.7% conversion rate in subs (of course we don't know how many of these were full year/monthly/3 month subscribers).

CES 2018 - DEEPCOOL has revealed its new AIO cooler with RGB lighting at the trade show in Las Vegas - the Captain 240EX RGB.

The Captain 240EX RGB (what a name!) is a closed-loop liquid CPU cooler with (you guessed it) a 240mm radiator and dual fans. The company also launched the TR4 version of the AIO cooler, which can be used with more CPUs including the latest hardware from Intel and AMD.

RGB lighting adorns the Captain 240EX RGB that can be customized and controlled on-the-fly by software or directly with a controller. DEEPCOOL is also offering a custom "Electro Limited Edition" version of the cooler that comes in ivory or ebony, and will be purchasable in May 2018.