Kickstarter continues growing and growing, or at least the amount of money that is pledged to the website.

According to LearnBonds, Kickstarter has registered over $4.56 billion USD that has been pledged to different projects. This number represents an over 16% increase since October 2018, and according to LearnBonds "Crowdfunding have been expanding all over the world during the last twenty years. Kickstarter was launched in 2009 and it launched over 460,000 projects."

It should be noted that Kickstarter does take a portion of the money that is pledged to successful projects, this is of course to keep the site running and give the creators some form of income for the idea. It should also be noted that 63.7& of projects don't receive the funding required to continue, while 37.3% are successful. Justinas Baltrusaitis, Editor at LearnBonds, said "The growth of these platforms is inevitable considering there are more and more creators being inspired by the success of the other crowdfunded projects."

Just this past week Blizzard revealed that there is a sequel coming for Overwatch. Yes, that's right, Overwatch 2 is in the pipeline, but when will it release?

Blizzard's Overwatch director, Jeff Kaplan sat down with PC Gamer to talk about the coming title and throughout they discussed the release date that was obviously lacking from the trailer. According to Kaplan, even he doesn't know when Overwatch 2 will release, again, yes, that right - the director of Overwatch 2 doesn't know when it will release.

This isn't a bad thing though, as Kaplan explains that the full focus is not on meeting a specified release date, but instead making sure the sequel is great. Here is Kaplan's full quote, "I don't know. I have no idea. Like, just let us make it great, that's what we care about more than anything. We don't have a date in mind." Kaplan also says that after BlizzCon 2019 the Overwatch team will most likely "go dark" to delve into the game.

Infrared light which isn't visible to the naked eye accounts for half of all solar radiation on Earth's surface, and at the moment we aren't converting as much as we should be into power.

Researchers out of the KTH Royal Institute of Technology have successfully made a breakthrough in solar energy technology. This breakthrough comes in the form of a film that goes on the top of ordinary solar cells. At the moment solar cells capture some infrared light and convert it into energy, but once this new film is applied that efficiency will be increased by 10% or more.

According to Hans Agren, professor in theoretical chemistry at KTH Royal Institute of Technology, and the lead the researcher on the team who developed the film, "We have achieved a 10 percent increase in efficiency without yet optimizing the technology. With a little more work, we estimate that a 20 to 25 percent increase in efficiency could be achieved." If you are interested in anymore information on this new efficient way of converting IR light into energy, check out this link here.

Just this past Sunday, it has been reported that the residents of India's capital city 'New Delhi' were in one big toxic gas chamber.

The gas came in the form of pollution which blanketed the mega-city and caused hundreds of flight delays. The pollution came from car fumes, industrial emissions and smoke from stubble burning at farms in neighboring states. According to US embassy in Delhi, who independently monitors pollution levels, the air quality index for PM2.5 hit 810, putting the air in New Deli beyond the "hazardous" categorization.

So who was to blame? Politicians began naturally pointing fingers at either the federal or state level governments. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal took to Twitter to voice his opinion, saying "Delhi has turned into a gas chamber due to smoke from crop burning in neighbouring states". Kejriwal was also accused of politicizing the issue and painting both the states "in a bad light and as villains".

Apple and Adobe have debuted Adobe Photoshop for iPad, the app is currently available on the App Store for download.

Back in October, I reported on Photoshop making its way over to the iPad, and the time has finally come as it has arrived as a 30-day trial on the App Store. The app supports full PSD editing, layers, tools, advanced tools and cloud syncing. Unfortunately, as it was detailed back in October, Photoshop for the iPad isn't full kitted out with all the features editors know and love.

Although, as time goes by Adobe plan on adding more and more features to the app, but at the moment its missing some core features. In the entirety of this article there are dot points listing the major features included within the app. There is also some dot points listing what features Adobe are currently working on. To go alongside Photoshop for iPad, contacts close to Bloomberg have said that Adobe eventually plan to bring Adobe Illustrator over to iPad.

Electronic Arts' recent financial report gave the public an insight in how the company is doing, and how some of their titles have shaped up since their release. One of those titles is none other than The Sims franchise.

One of EA's titles that the company was proud to show off was Apex Legends, and how it has now reached 70 million players and is still growing. EA CEO, Andrew Wilson also went out of his way to talk about a classic EA franchise, The Sims. According to the CEO, The Sims 4 is still going strong with the company reporting a 40% growth in monthly player count during 2019.

Wilson also mentions how much money The Sims franchise has made EA since the first games release back in 2000. He says, "Engagement across the franchise has led The Sims to surpass $5 billion in lifetime sales. The Sims continues to be one of the great franchise in gaming, and we have plans to bring new experiences to its amazing players for a long time to come."

Another day, another data breach. Or at least that's what it feels like when you keep up with cyber-security news. This time its not really that surprising though, as a porn website had its entire data base freely open.

Condition:Black, a cyber-security and internet freedom firm discovered that a network of camgirl websites had exposed databases. The sites run by Barcelona-based VTS Media, include amateur.tv, webcampornoxxx.net, and placercams.com. While most of the users were found to be based in Europe, some data logins were found to be in the Untied States and around the world.

What kind of data was exposed? According to Techcrunch, the database contained a month-worth of daily logs, those logs included: Usernames, IP addresses, viewing habits, private chats, failed login attempts and even some details of sex workers. It isn't clear if the data base had been hacked and the data stolen, but since its discovery it has been locked down.

Hideo Kojima has sat down with BBC Radio 1 Newsbeat to shine a light on what caused him to make Death Stranding, and the events that have taken place on a global scale to result in him creating such a unique gaming experience.

According to the interview, Kojima has created Death Stranding to give gamers a visual representation of the disconnect that he believes has taken over the planet. Kojima says, "We may be connected through the internet more than ever, but what's happening is that people are attacking each other because we're so connected." Death Stranding is designed to make players think about that connection and disconnection ratio.

Throughout the interview, Kojima dives further into the events that caused him to design this game the way he did. Kojima talks about real-world controversial issues that are causing mass divide around the planet, "President Trump right now is building a wall. Then you have Brexit, where the UK is trying to leave, there are lots of walls and people thinking only about themselves in the world." He continues and says that players will use Norman Reedus' Sam Porter Bridges see save the world from this disconnection.

Microsoft Japan recently went through a trial of a 4-day work week, with the results of the experiment showing that there was a huge 40% increase in productivity.

The 40% increase in productivity was mostly through shorter, more efficient meetings which saw all 2300 staff at Microsoft Japan taking 5 Fridays off in a row with the same salary, and no days removed from their annual leave. Microsoft Japan named the project the "Work-Life Choice Challenge Summer 2019".

Microsoft Japan president and CEO Takuya Hirano said: "Work a short time, rest well and learn a lot. It's necessary to have an environment that allows you to feel your purpose in life and make a greater impact at work. I want employees to think about and experience how they can achieve the same results with 20 percent less working time".

Joker is scaring up some serious cash at the box office, with the darker DC movie reaching $934 million worldwide since its debut.

So far, the movie has made $300 million domestically in the US and $634 million in international box office sales. Given that WB spent just $70 million to make Joker (and say another $100 million in marketing) then the profits on the movie are actually far greater than even something like Avengers: Infinity War which had a $316 million budget and most likely $200-250 million.

Avengers: Infinity War was also the 4th most-expensive movie ever made, while Joker has a modest $70 million budget. This is a very big win for DC and I'm sure unexpected (at least at hitting $1 billion) when it has already beaten Wonder Woman which had a great reception, and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice which was drowning in controversy (I don't know why, it was great -- especially the Ultimate Edition). We won't even talk about Justice League, but I do talk about it with the Snyder Cut of Justice League chatter.

TSMC, or as they're officially known Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp., have announced they are building a new research and development center in Taiwan that will begin research into a material beyond silicon.

The new center is part of a shift away from the previous talks of TSMC building a new plant in the United States, with TSMC Chairman Mark Liu saying recently that the US government has been in contact with its customers about moving semiconductor manufacturing into the US because of the recent allegations of spy equipment infused into major systems and motherboards including SuperMicro by China.

TSMC boss Mark Liu added that production of chips in the US is "very difficult" due to its costs, following up that the manufacturing giant will build a new Bell Labs-like research and development center in Hsinchu, Taiwan -- where 8000 engineers will begin research into materials beyond silicon. How damn exciting is that.

Oh, you thought Intel's new Core i9-9900KS cost $500 or so... well, it does -- but if you want a pre-tested Core i9-9900KS that is guaranteed to hit 5.2GHz on all cores... then Silicon Lottery has just that, for $1200.

If you want the guaranteed 200MHz overclock on Intel's new Core i9-9900KS processor, then Silicon Lottery has a few of those golden samples that has maximum OC at all times. The regular Core i9-9900KS sits at a 4GHz base CPU clock, but Silicon Lottery offers 5GHz all-day (and all-night) long.

However, the regular 9900KS still hits 5GHz you just have to manually do it -- Silicon Lottery admits that "100% of the tested 9900KS" processors "were able to hit 5.0GHz or greater". However, Silicon Lottery has a bunch of golden sample chips that will be guaranteed to go from 5.0GHz to 5.1GHz (a 100MHz overclock) which costs $750. If you want all-day all-night at 5.2GHz, it's gonna cost you $1200.

Secretlab has just unveiled the world's first Overwatch-themed gaming chairs, just as Blizzard unveiled Overwatch 2. The two new chairs include an Overwatch-themed variant, and an even better-looking D.Va Edition gaming chair.

The new Secretlab D.Va Edition gaming chair comes in two variants itself, with the OMEGA D.Va Edition and the TITAN D.Va Edition with the big difference here being that the OMEGA version is a slim fit chair while the TITAN allows you to sit (like me) cross-legged when you're gaming.

Secretlab uses a gorgeous bubblegum-pink themed SoftWeave Fabric, with a bunch of D.Va's iconic in-game decals which are all over the wings of the chair. It seriously looks so good, and I can't wait to have one in my gaming station next to my huge D.Va statue.

Blizzard openly admits fault for the massive Hong Kong controversy it kicked off last month, and promises to "do better" in the future.

Amid pressures from the games industry, fans across the globe, and even the U.S. Congress and Senate, Blizzard President J. Allen Brack formally apologized and accepts all responsibility for the controversial banning of Hearthstone player Blitzchung.

"Blizzard had the opportunity to bring the world together in a tough Hearthstone esports moment about a month ago, but we did not. We moved too quickly in our decision making, and then to make matters worse, we were too slow to talk with all of you," Brack said in an opening statement during Blizzcon 2019's big ceremony.

Diablo IV can't be played offline on PC, Blizzard confirms, and the same could be true for consoles.

Now that Diablo IV is basically an MMO with a shared world with social hubs, PVP areas, and a huge connected world, Blizzard is transforming it into an online-only game with never-ending content. In a recent interview with PC Gamer, Diablo IV lead designer Joe Shely confirmed the news:

"There's a large, seamless, connected, and shared space in the world, going down into dungeons, being able to group with your friends, trading and PvP. We feel that the best way to experience that is in a world that is online."

Overwatch 2 was announced at Blizzcon 2019, and the leaks were right on the money: It's a sequel that ties directly with the first game.

Overwatch 2 is a bit confusing. For all intents and purposes, the sequel is a co-operative-based expansion to the original game. It's not really a sequel that resets everything from scratch. Blizzard isn't leaving original Overwatch players out, either. Even if you don't buy Overwatch 2, you'll still get all new characters added into the sequel and be able to play alongside Overwatch 2 gamers with full PVP cross-play. All progress, cosmetics, and rankings from Overwatch 1 also carry over to Overwatch 2.

Overwatch 2's main selling point is two new PVE modes: A campaign-based Story Mode and a survival-esque Hero Missions gametype. The new RPG-like progression system, which sees each hero leveling up with passive upgrades and talents to "supercharge their abilities in co-op play," is exclusive to the Hero Missions mode.

A new Rick and Morty advertisement has been released onto the official Adult Swim Facebook Page, it shows Rick and Morty investigating the Death Stranding.

The ad shows Rick and Morty aimlessly walking around in Death Stranding, and as per usual the 4th wall is broken by Rick saying, "Alright look Morty, [Hideo] Kojima wants us to reconnect a fractured society and stop the death stranding." Rick then asks Morty what all the floating ghosts are around him and Morty explains that those ghosts are the "death stranding".

Morty then speaks out and says that they have been walking for awhile and that he's got this strange baby in a tube. Rick then says he has got an idea and begins to start shoving Morty thinking that the baby is some kind of upgrade triggered by pressure. After realizing that the baby isn't a pushable upgrade he then suggests to eat it, saying it could potentially "make us run faster or jump higher". Morty is then convinced and says "let's eat the baby".

Nintendo recently revealed their financial results and through this reveal the company let the public in on some extremely cool Super Mario Maker 2 statistics.

According to Nintendo's financial results, players have uploaded a staggering 8 million courses to date, and those very same courses have been played over 400 million times. This is a HUGE amount of play time considering Super Mario Maker 2 only launched back in June of this year.

Nintendo also said that the sales for the 13 weeks following the June release was 1.5x compared to past Super Mario Maker titles. If you are a Super Mario Maker 2 player and happened to be out of the loop as of late, Nintendo recently added a massive update to the title, bringing some epic multiplayer action. Check out more on that here.

TikTok's parent company could be in a little bit of trouble as an investigation has been opened up regarding its acquisition of Musical.ly.

According to a new report out of Reuters, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) has begun to open up an investigation into ByteDance's acquisition of Musical.ly back in 2017. The acquisition for Musical.ly was for a whopping $1 billion, and the reason for the investigation is over U.S. concerns the Chinese owned company might be censoring politically sensitive content.

Reuters reports that CFIUS has reviewed the company acquisition, and found that TikTok did not seek proper clearance from the CFIUS. A TikTok spokesperson said, "While we cannot comment on ongoing regulatory processes, TikTok has made clear that we have no higher priority than earning the trust of users and regulators in the U.S. Part of that effort includes working with Congress and we are committed to doing so." The CFIUS also had a spokesperson who declined to reveal any details regarding the ongoing investigation.

When you think about robots that can move all by themselves, your first thought probably isn't robotic jumping cubes. Yet they are here, and moving quite easily.

Researchers out of MIT have shown of version 2.0 of what has been called the "M-Block", a self-assembling robotic cube that was first revealed back in 2013. The above video has been released to showcase how the blocks work, and from the video we learn that the cubes generate their own momentum with an internal flywheel, and use magnets to latch onto other block faces.

Each of the blocks also have a specific 'barcode-like' print located on their faces, this barcode can tell the blocks to follow a fixed path to accomplished desired tasks. MIT News says that researchers imagine that this kind of block technology will be used in industries such as inspection, gaming, manufacturing, health care and strangely enough, disaster response. A quote from MIT News is located in the entirety of this article.