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Valve has released a standalone SteamVR performance test utility that benchmarks your system to see whether or not it's ready for the upcoming VR revolution.

The program itself runs through an amalgamation of the Portal VR demo from Valve, assessing whether or not your system is optimized for a full VR experience. You don't need a headset in order to run the demo, and after it's complete it'll show you the assessment with an average fidelity score and whether or not the framerate dropped below 90FPS, the refresh rate of the HTC Vive, which is the partnered VR platform.

Oculus and HTC have already released their recommended requirements for their headsets, but it's still very nice to have a benchmark capable of telling us pointedly whether games will generally run well in VR. Of course, different games will have different requirements and this only runs on Source Engine 2, which isn't the most demanding.

The DNS system that forms the backbone of the Internet, resolving those names into the numbers that correspond to the actual websites we visit, has a critical flaw that effects nearly all DNS servers. That is, any server that runs Linux and relies on the GNU C standard library. A flaw in that library could case a buffer overflow, which might allow an attacker to take full control over someone's PC.

The flaw itself is actually from 2008, where it was discovered that overly long DNS names being replied to requests from those servers could result in a tragic buffer overflow in the victims browser, potentially letting an attacker execute code remotely. It's even possible to perform a full-blow man-in-the-middle attack, taking over a machine completely. It can be triggered by already malicious DNS servers.

Thankfully a fix is already ready fro most distributions of Linux, which requires only a quick update to fix. If your server distro isn't running one, then you can configure your firewall to drop long DNS responses altogether, so no overflows happen. So the majority of the Internet is largely safe, but it still might effect smaller connected and embedded devices that have Glibc that likely won't see any updates with the patched version. Routers, DVR's, some TV's and even NAS devices might still and continue to be at risk.

DOOM is was never originally about multiplayer, being made in an era when the Internet, and even LAN parties weren't exactly common, but the reboot will have some very fun and interesting new takes on classic multiplayer concepts. Warpath is the new King of the Hill.

Multiplayer in DOOM will mirror the frenzied single-player campaign, forcing you to move quickly, with agile reflexes. It's a homage to the genre they helped create with Quake, Quake II and ultimately Quake III. Warpath changes the rules by having the capture point that you're after move about the map. In the opposite direction they've placed a moving rune that can change your into an almost indestructible demon.

The movement of both points of interested changes things considerably. You have to move with it, which shifts along a clearly marked path, thankfully, and defend it through a constantly changing environment. Or you can choose to head off the magic power-up that can almost surely bring you victory.

Kyocera has a pretty interesting invention that they're showing off at MWC this year; the solar powered phone. This little device is a rugged proof-of-concept meant to integrate usable solar panels into a smartphone. And it works, sort of.

Last year they showed off a phone that integrated solar cells into the phones display. It was a very interesting concept that could potentially be very useful in certain, more rugged, sectors of the workforce. Or even those wanting to go off the grid completely. The redesigned solar cell technology, called Wysips Glass, from Sunpartner Technologies are much more efficient this time around. Three minutes of sun bathing net you a minute of uninterrupted talk-time. The device has a 5-inch 1080P screen with a newly designed app that can tell you how efficient it's charging. The other specs are absent at the moment.

The concept is just that, a rugged concept trying to show how easily this technology can be used. And like most concepts, it likely won't go to market in this form, but will form the basis for the integration of this into existing or newer technologies. Just the mere fact that transparent solar cells can be integrated into glass is a step towards bringing clean power to everyone through putting this into windows on buildings everywhere. The phone is a nice start, and seems to be a well thought-out design, thus far.

Mobile graphics really are getting a huge upgrade, and Vulkan is leading the charge to make those graphics that much more vivid and immersive. Epic Games released a tech demo called ProtoStar that shows off Unreal Engine 4 rendered atop Vulkan while running on an unnamed mobile chipset, though it's likely the Snapdragon 820 and the Adreno 530.

The demo makes use of some very advanced rendering techniques to deliver some very good graphics. This is also the first public demonstration of the Unreal Engine 4 running successfully on Vulkan and being run on a mobile chipset. Tim Sweeney already announced that Samsung's Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge packed enough graphical punch to change the state of mobile gaming, but words aren't as good as a good ol' tech demo.

Though we don't know the framerate, it looks to be running smoothly and has a lot of there's a lot of action happening on screen. Below is a list of all the graphical goodies that are being demoed here, all on a new mobile chipset. Not quite on-par with the graphical prowess of a good PC, but it's certainly a very beautiful scene.

Mobile GPU's and SoC's are getting quite powerful these days, able to gently sip power and provide a graphical experience that's more than acceptable for smaller, and even some larger, screens. High-end mobile devices have always enjoyed great (relative) performance, but now Imagination Technologies wants to make powerful GPU's accessible even to lower-end hardware.

High resolution is cheap now, with better displays showing up on phones and in TV's for not much money. But GPU's powering our apps and features are not always up to the task. Imagination Technologies is seeking to change that by making more powerful, more efficient and overall less expensive to manufacture GPU's with their PowerVR8XE series.

They're making the entry-level GPU's smaller than the competition, by about 30-45%, while still keeping the same basic pixel fillrate. In otherwords, we're looking at seeing a 60-100% increase in performance at the same size. The PowerVR GE8200 and GE8300, their entry-level solutions, can pump out a surprisingly good two and four pixels per each clock, respectively. That's pretty impressive considering the power-envelope they're shooting for.

The Brazillian Ratings Board is at it again, providing a window into a few upcoming games we might otherwise be ignorant of. This time, they've tipped us off about a certain Bioshock: Collection that's just been rated. And it's definitely not recommended for children under the age of eighteen.

Being the governmental body that rates and allows incoming games to be imported into the country, the ratings board doesn't have to necessarily abide by the numerous NDA's or other rules or threats of legal action. They are the law. Thankfully we now know that a collection of the Bioshock games is in the works, and could be making an appearance sooner than later.

It's been rated for all consoles, including the ancient Xbox 360 and PS3, meaning a remaster version of the original Bioshock could make it to those older consoles as well. The story-based franchise hasn't had a new game or even any new information leading us to believe that any new game is on the way. So perhaps a revival and remaster of the old is a sign that something new is on the way. Regardless, a collection, of sorts, is on the way according to Brazil.

ZDNet has noticed something that many of us may never think about - Google has changed its side-displayed advertisements on searches. Previous 'versions' of this search program would display direct link advertisements for product sales, with companies vying for your dollar and continued service through this marketing option.

This changes a few things for certain companies, now unable to directly market to consumers looking to buy something on a whim or look for reliable resellers of wanted products. While a good opportunity for Google to ensure its pages load faster and look more streamlined, many are upset at this move - taking out a popular advertising avenue used by many.

Small business' may be the ones suffering majorly due to this change, meaning that companies are now going to have to pay top dollar to this tech giant in order to increase their search ranking. With less advertising space comes a higher asking price for what's left - I hope your budget is big!

Synaptics has a new fingerprint sensor that could make it that much more useful and widespread. They've been able to shrink the dimensions so much that it can be placed on side-mounted buttons or any tiny area on any device. And it's accurate too.

The minuscule Natural ID FS4304 touch-based fingerprint sensor is a scant 3.5mm wide allowing it to be placed on nearly anything. Imagine a more natural interaction with your phone, putting your fingers where they naturally lay, such as on the side of the device, and being able to unlock it more convenient. That might seem silly, but it leads to making biometrics something that can secure anything.

It also has the potential to make fingerprint readers more discreet, drawing attention away from attempting to spoof and bypass them, which is possible with enough resources (though not always successful unless under the right conditions). As we've explained here before, as part of a multi-factor authentication scheme, using your fingerprint as a biometric is one of the better and more convenient options. Unfortunately facial recognition and iris scanning isn't commonplace enough yet.

Designed to appease those who love both adventure and technology, Garmin has announced the Vivoactive HR and Vivofit 3 smartwatch models, set for release sometime in March or April this year.

The Vivoactive HR comes packed with up to eight days of battery life, an always-on touchscreen that can be read in full sunlight, a 24/7 heart rate monitor and plenty of features for those who are looking to take it golfing, cycling, swimming or more. This watch is able to track pace, distance, intervals, speed, calories and more, depending on what sporting or action function you want it for.

The much smaller Vivofit 3 allows for functionality with Gamin's Move IQ, a daily activity tracker. Designed as a thinner model, this product is able to automatically recognize when you are running, riding or swimming, utilizing Gamin in Connect to sync your activity throughout the day, stored for later consideration.

Giant: Citizen Kabuto was going to have a spiritual successor that continued the unique, bawdy humor of the original and make it a modern masterpiece. First Wonder isn't going to make it, they just weren't able to find the funds to make it happen like they wanted to.

The lead designer, Nick Bruty, sent out an email to backers saying that "We had some interesting conversations but regardless of how excited some were for the project it came down to numbers and risk. For publishers, the kickstarter showed we just didn't have or couldn't find the audience." Despite the encouraging turnout, it just wasn't enough to help them realize their dream.

If you were a backer you can receive a full refund of your purchase or you can get a key for the demo of First Wonder and one of their previous games, Gunpowder. They'll refund everything over $15 in the latter case. They do warn, however, that because the money was actively used for development, refunds will take some time to issue. But they're committed to making this right for fans. "For those seeking a full refund please be patient. We have incoming funds dedicated to this but can only do so much per month. If everyone opts for a refund it will take us a little while to pay back everyone but we will get there. This is very important to us."

Bloomberg and ZDNet are telling us that Yahoo will start its look for bidders as soon as Monday, approaching companies and private equity firms alike.

This announcement as a whole isn't too surprising given that Yahoo has already publicly announced a committee to deal with this task, with a slew of companies already pinpointed for a possible buyout. Bloomberg thinks that some large names are keen on this purchase, including the likes of Verizon, Comcast, AT&T, Bain Capital Partners, KKR & Co and TPG.

Bids are expected to kick off later on in March this year, coming amidst Yahoo's plans to restructure and focus its operations.

Researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have made a pretty startling discovering, finally figuring out just how large a capacity our brain actually has when put in normal computing terms. With the help of GPU computing they figured out that we can store around one petabyte, which is nearly 10 times larger than what we originally thought.

Modeling the full function of the brain isn't easy, and even with clusters of GPU powerhouse servers it takes time to properly model the actual function of the connection between neurons, the synapses. The team of researchers modeled the full hippocampus of a rat with startling accuracy and 26 different sizes of synapses. Size matters, apparently, and the bigger the more storage the accompanying neurons have. They found that the average amount of information that can be held in one synapse is around 4.7 bits, far more than we thought previously.

The amount of information stored and transferred across those still misunderstood synapses doesn't translate directly to computing terms, however. We obviously don't store our moving memories as GIF's or even H.265 encoded MPEG's either. In fact, our brain is incredibly efficient, moving information across the synapse at a rate of around 10-20% of the time.

The CAT S60 is somewhat of a Superman smartphone, providing users with the ability to see when others cannot thanks to its thermal camera, live underwater for an hour due to its IP68 resistance rating and take a physical beating.

Released with 4G LTE functionality and a 3,800 mAh battery, Tim Shepherd from Bullitt Group is from the designer company of this phone and he told PC World that the sim and expandable storage dock is located under a rear door for good reason: "We put it on the back, not the side, because otherwise it's a structural weakness."

While the structural process was a major focus in the S60, the thermal camera is certainly a big selling feature. With the thermal camera being powered by FLIR and utilising a Lepton image sensor, you can expect a raw recording resolution of 80 x 60 infrared pixels, explained as interpolated up to a 640x480 image thanks to integration with the 13-megapixel camera sitting alongside.

Wearable computing is just becoming a little more insane. If you told me 15 years ago that I could be carrying a computer in my pocket, strapping one to my wrist and even having the option to slide one on my finger - I would have called you quite mad. In comes 2016 and Gizmodo has just told us that researchers in Australia have developed the basic technology needed for a smart contact lens.

Developed by RMIT University and the University of Adelaide, this new technology is a stretchable nano-scale device that can be used to manipulate light, allowing it to be fully transparent yet still alter light for the person looking through it. While not a full smart device itself just yet, this is the first (and a major) step towards technology being further incorporated into the lives of many.

Wondering how it works? Adelaide University's Dr Withawat Withayachumnankul stated that "With advanced techniques to control the properties of surfaces, we can dynamically control their filter properties, which allow us to potentially create devices for high data-rate optical communication or smart contact lenses." He further explained that "The current challenge is that dielectric resonators only work for specific colours, but with our flexible surface we can adjust the operation range simply by stretching it."

MWC 2016 - I've been a big fan of Lenovo's Yoga range for a few years now, rocking the awesome Yoga 2 Pro as my travel companion for years - until I replaced it recently with the HP Spectre X2. Lenovo took some time at Mobile World Congress to unveil their new Yoga 510 and Yoga 710 models, as well as a Windows 10-based tablet: the MIIX 310.

The new Yoga 710 is a mid-range offering, arriving in both 11- and 14-inch models. The 14-inch Yoga 710 is a full Ultrabook, sporting Intel's new sixth-gen Core processor (up to a Core i7 model), while the 11-inch model kicks off with a quad-core Pentium processor, but can be configured with up to a Core m5 processor. The bigger 14-inch model has Lenovo offering an optional NVIDIA GeForce GPU, if you need some GPU grunt. Lenovo says that there's 20% better Wi-Fi reception thanks to the use of a new hinge antenna on the 14-inch Yoga 710, and up to 256GB SSD for fast storage. Both models will feature up to 8 hours of battery, while the 11- and 14-inch displays rock a native resolution of 1920x1080.

As for pricing, the Lenovo Yoga 710 will start at $499 for the 11-inch model, while the 14-inch model will start at $799. Both models will be available in May.

MWC 2016 - Samsung unveiled its new Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge smartphones yesterday, with Jeff calling them a "surprising refinement" from last year's Galaxy S6 and S6 edge.

Included in the announcement was the new Gear 360 camera, which captures 360-degree videos and photos to playback through the Gear VR - which comes free if you pre-order the Galaxy S7 or S7 edge smartphones. The Gear 360 features two 15-megapixel sensors, which are both find behind a fisheye lens, accompanied by a small 0.5-inch display.

Samsung's Gear 360 camera captures 3840x1920 @ 30FPS - which isn't exactly 4K, but it's damn close. As for images, it captures 30-megapixel images, with a resolution of 7776x3888. With no on-board storage, you'll need a sizable microSD card to keep the Gear 360 happy during those video-taking or photo-taking sessions. You can sync your new Galaxy S7 or Galaxy S7 edge to the Gear 360 with remote control features, and you'll be able to preview the video or images from the Gear 360, in real-time on your Galaxy S7 smartphone. Any videos taken on the Gear 360 can be viewed, stitched together, or saved directly to a Galaxy S7 smartphone.

To celebrate this week's release of 'Hannibal: Season Three' on Blu-ray HD and DVD, we have ten Blu-ray prize packs to give away thanks to our friends at eOne Home Entertainment.

Hannibal (Mads Mikkelsen) is on the run in Europe - accompanied by his psychiatrist, Bedelia Du Maurier (Gillian Anderson) - sporting a new identity, but servicing the same insatiable appetite. As the lives of Will (Hugh Dancy) and Jack (Laurence Fishburne) converge toward Hannibal again, each with their own motivations to catch him once and for all, their deadly dance turns in startling and unexpected ways.

To go into the running to win a prize, simply answer the following question in 50 words or less:

MWC 2016 - Samsung has unveiled their new Galaxy S7 and S7 edge smartphones while LG truly surprised with its G5 announcement - but HTC isn't left out in the cold, as it took a different approach with its new mid-range Desire smartphones.

HTC unveiled the Desire 530, 630, and 825 smartphones at Mobile World Congress - something the company is calling a micro splash design. The smartphones definitely look good, with HTC saying that the look was achieved using spray nozzles with different settings of pressure and paint viscosity. All three Desire smartphones are polycarbonate with rear cameras in the upper left corner, zigzagging speaker grills, and holes in the back for a lanyard.

Starting with the Desire 530, we have a Qualcomm Snapdragon 210 processor, while the Desire 630 and 825 feature the snappier Snapdragon 400 processor. The Desire 530 has 1.5GB of RAM while the other two Desire handsets have 2GB of RAM while the Desire 530 features an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera, the other two models bump it up to a 13-megapixel snapper. All three models include a 5-megapixel selfie-shooting camera while all the models include 16GB of internal storage, it's expandable by microSD.

For a film that studio 20th Century Fox were incredibly reticent to make, 'Deadpool' continues to be as unstoppable as Colossus at the worldwide box office, adding to its largest R-rated opening weekend and biggest opening day in February .

According to BoxOfficeMojo, the Marvel feature film is edging to a $500m worldwide gross - which is nearly 8.5 times the film's economical $58m budget. Fox is said to be incredibly pleased with the result, which is why they've moved to quickly greenlight a sequel.

Stay tuned for our review coming very soon.