Latest News - Page 2592

It looks like the iPhone 6S is going to feature upgraded cameras, with the front-facing side of things getting bumped up from the ludicrous 1.2-megapixel camera on the current iPhone 6 to a better snapper - let's hope for a 5-megapixel shooter.

Round back, we can expect the 8-megapixel iSight camera to be upgraded to a 12-megapixel shooter that is 4K-capable. Up until now, the iPhone has been stuck at shooting 1080p video, but this is all set to change with the 'S' upgrade to the iPhone 6. The new iPhone 6S will also reportedly feature Force Touch technology built-in, where it can be used as a shortcut button to execute commands throughout iOS.

Apple is also expected to cram 2GB of LPDDR4 into the iPhone 6S, with 16GB, 64GB and 128GB models to be put on offer. iOS 9 will be included, and will reportedly include the ability for iPhone users to temporarily delete their app data to make more room for iOS updates, which sounds ridiculous - but it's needed with these big iOS updates of late. We should hear all about the new iPhone on September 9 at Apple's iPhone event.

Gaming peripheral company Razer has unveiled a redesigned version of the Nubu wearable during the Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) convention in Seattle. The new device is able to monitor steps taken, distance, calories burned, activity minutes, and sleep duration each evening.

The wearable has an OLED 128x16 single color display, and features a 3-axis accelerometer and cylindrical vibration motor.

Pre-orders begin on September, and the updated Razer Nabu will begin shipping in October 2015. It has a $99.99 MSRP.

Official Xbox boss Phil Spencer has shut down the rumors that the Xbox One console will be getting a slimmer SKU this October.

Rumor has it that Microsoft is set to announce the Xbox One's new hardware refresh, the Xbox One Mini, alongside the Surface Pro 4 and Lumia 940/940 XL in October. But according to Xbox's own Phil Spencer the speculation is all for naught; in a recent Twitter exchange, Spencer confirmed the news is "not real".

The reports claim that the Xbox One Mini will be 1/3 the size of the current VCR-sized behemoth, with the extra space allocated thanks to the carved out Blu-ray disc drive. This would effectively make the slim console a digital-only system, and the SKU would be marketed at a lower price point.

Gearbox Software's landmark post-apocalyptic shooter series Borderlands will be getting its own movie adaptation, with Marvel Studios founder Avi Arad being a major influence.

With the rousing success of George Miller's new Mad Max film, it's no surprise that other studios want to get in on the post-apocalyptic cash crop. Variety reports that Lionsgate studios has acquired the rights to a Borderlands film, and plans to bring the franchise's distinct chaotic humor and explosive action to the big screen.

"Lionsgate has emerged as a major creative force in the global marketplace with an incredible portfolio of brands; our partners at Gearbox have pioneered and cultivated an iconic property; and Avi and Ari Arad are two of the most successful producers of action franchises," Take-Two Interactive boss Strauss Zelnick said. "This alliance is ideally positioned to create a bold, provocative, no-holds-barred motion picture phenomenon that will delight Borderlands' current legions of fans and captivate moviegoers around the world."

With MSI enjoying the fruits of its labor with the just-released MSI GeForce GTX 980 Ti Lightning, we should all turn our attention to ASUS which just teased that they've got their ROG MATRIX GeForce GTX 980 Ti and ROG MATRIX Radeon R9 Fury on their way.

The company will reportedly unveil the two new enthusiast video cards during IFA 2015 on September 2. The new ROG MATRIX cards look like they'll feature the same cooler shroud as previous cards, but the color theme has changed a little - and we think it looks great. It looks like both ROG MATRIX cards could be dual-slot cards, boasting improved PCBs, much higher clock speeds, and much more.

We should definitely expect a new ROG MATRIX card based on the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti, but it shouldn't be too far out of our expectations to see a new ROG MATRIX card based around the AMD Radeon R9 Fury as well as the Radeon R9 390X. We will be reporting on any new video card launches from ASUS as they happen.

Now that the new Skylake processors are floating into PCs across the world, Apple is preparing new 12-inch Retina MacBook models using Intel's latest and greatest processors.

Intel will be reportedly providing low-power Skylake-Y processors including the Core M3, Core M5 and Core M7 for the new Retina MacBooks. The new Retina MacBook that will have an expected price of $1299 will rock the Cor M3 6Y30, with a default clock speed of 900MHz and two cores. Intel's Turbo Boost technology will push it up to 2.2GHz when needed.

The mid-range processors will include the Core M5 6Y54 and Core M5 6Y57 and will be clocked at 1.1GHz with Turbo Boost speeds of 2.7GHz and 2.8GHz, respectively. These chips will be plopped into the MacBook priced at $1599. The higher-end model will feature the Core M5 6Y75 that will be clocked at 1.2GHz, with Turbo Boost of up to 3.1GHz and doesn't yet include a price. If we had to guess, it would be $1999.

Razer has just announced its latest peripheral, a customizable controller for the Xbox One known as Wildcat. Razer says that it built the Wildcat as a controller for competitive Xbox One gamers, reducing the weight of the original Xbox One controller by 25%.

Wildcat features four additional buttons that can be remapped to whatever you want, as well as a "quick control" panel at the bottom of the controller which lets gamers quickly switch between profiles, adjust chat volume, or mute their audio. The new Razer Wildcat also features rubber palm rests, an analog stuck that is covered in a green grip, and something that Razer calls "aircraft-grade" aluminum triggers.

Razer will be offering the new Wildcat controller for the Xbox One in October for $150.

Audio company Turtle Beach has announced the Star Wars-themed Sandtrooper gaming headset on the same day Star Wars Battlefront will be released to gamers.

The Sandtrooper headset has an over-ear design, high-sensitivity boom mic, 50mm speakers, and pair of removable speaker plates.

"With as many Star Wars fanatics as we have at Turtle Beach, it's been hard to not let the droid out of the bag about this unique gaming headset," said Juergen Stark, CEO of Turtle Beach. "Our top-quality gaming headsets allow us to work with the biggest brands in the world, and we're very happy to continue our ongoing collaboration with Lucasfilm and EA to support Star Wars Battlefront."

Junaid Hussain, an Islamic State member reportedly in charge of the Cyber Caliphate hacker division, was killed earlier this week by a US drone strike. Hussain served a 6-month sentence after sharing former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair's contacts in 2012.

The 21-year-old convicted computer hacker was the No. 3 person on an IS kill list, because he served as an important part of the Islamic State's infrastructure. Hussain also reportedly played an important role in recruiting members for the group, in addition to influencing "lone wolf" attacks.

"If you don't have anybody who is kind of fluent in computer operations, you've got a problem," said Michael Sulmeyer, project director at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard Kennedy School. "The ballgame is pretty much the coder or the individual."

Scosche has launched the boomBOTTLE+ Bluetooth speaker, a waterproof audio device designed to withstand being taken into nature.

The speaker has 55mm drivers and two passive radiators that provide 360-degree immersive audio. It features a 6000mAh rechargeable Lithium-ion battery and 15 hours of playtime, while also being able to charge mobile devices. BoomBOTTLE+ also supports an Outdoor/Indoor EQ function, so music listeners are able to adjust sound based on physical location.

The Scosche boomBOTTLE+ is available for $179.99 MSRP.

Today 2K Games has announced that the RTS sequel the XCOM: Enemy Unknown, XCOM 2, will release in 2016 instead of its original scheduled launch this year.

Firaxis notes that the team just needs more time to make XCOM 2 a worthy successor and an extension will ensure they can make the "best possible game". "We want to give you an update on the release date for XCOM 2," Firaxis Games said in a new update. "We've set a high bar for the sequel and the entire team has been working hard to make sure we deliver a great follow-up to Enemy Unknown. We just need a little more time to make it the best possible game."

"With XCOM 2, we want to have more depth, more replayability, and more investment in your soldiers and this extension will give us the time we need to deliver on our promise to you."

ARCHOS has announced its Diamond Tab, an impressive flagship Octa-Core 4G/LTE tablet aimed at providing users with some hardware power for gaming and CPU-intensive activities.

The tablet is powered by a Mediatek MT8752 Octa-Core 1.7GHz CPU, 3GB RAM, 32GB storage, running Google Android 5.1 Lollipop. The front-facing camera is 2-megapixels, and also has a 5-megapixel rear-facing camera. The 7.9" IPS screen supports a 2048 x 1536 resolution.

"Tablets have become a crucial piece of hardware in many customer's tech lineups. We wanted to expand our Diamond line to include a tablet without sacrificing any of the specs that make an ARCHOS Diamond special," said Loic Poirier, CEO of ARCHOS.

Acer hasn't been doing so well lately, with the Taiwanese giant welcoming a takeover bid. The news is coming directly from Acer founder Stan Shih, where he welcomed a takeover of his company after big dips in its share price.

Shih told reporters in a response to question about Acer being open for a takeover, that they would be "welcome" and that the buyer would get an "empty shell" and pay deeply. He added: "U.S. and European management teams usually are concerned about money, their CEOs only work for money. But Taiwanese are more concerned about a sense of mission and emotional factors".

A company spokesperson confirmed Shih's remarks on Thursday. Acer has taken some big dips recently, with big on-year sales falls, with a huge 33% drop in July alone. The company took a $90 million loss for the first half of 2015, after a slight profit in the same period of 2015. Acer noted losses for the entire of 2011, 2012 and 2013 following drops in PC sales.

If you were excited about getting your hands on the HTC Vive headset sometime this year, you're going to have to have a lot of luck on your side to just get your mitts on one this year.

HTC has told Engadget that they "have a limited number of units by the end of the year, with more to come in Q1 2016". But not all is lost, as this is HTC's first time manufacturing a VR headset, and it has a lot more going on inside and outside of it compared to the Oculus Rift. But those numbers are scary, as I'm guessing they'll be in the tens of thousands of units.

On the other hand, it'll be great marketing to sell them all out quickly and have people wanting the Vive after hearing all of the, hopefully great feedback on them when they reach the general public later this year.

Well then. According to the information scraped from Ashley Madison's database, it looks like as much as 95% of their members were male. But now The Impact Team has gone through the dumped data, with quite the revelation: just 12,000 of the 5.5 million women on the site were 'real'.

Out of the 37 million accounts, 31 million were men and 5.5 million were women. But this is where The Impact Team and their look into the data gets juicier. After speaking with a data scientist, the publication began comparing male and female profiles, looking for certain patterns. Looking at members' e-mail addresses pointed towards a few very obvious accounts, such as 100@ashleymadison.com, 200@ashleymadison.com and so on. When the IP addresses were checked, it showed that 80,000 or more accounts were created locally, within the company.

But the biggest anomaly of them all is that there were unusual last names for hundreds of accounts, but there's the biggest glaring fact: just 1,492 women checked their messages on the site. Comparing 1,492 women checking their messages, against the 20 million men who checked their accounts, we can see that there is a big disparity in the sexes there. Just 2,400 women started a conversation using the chat system on Ashley Madison, compared to the 11 million men that used the chat feature.

Dell has just unveiled its latest monitors, with one of them featuring NVIDIA's G-Sync technology. Starting with the Dell S2716DG, with it being the company's first gaming-grade display.

The Dell S2716DG is a 27-inch monitor with the QHD resolution of 2560x1440, and the beautiful refresh rate of 144Hz mixed with G-Sync. The monitor includes a bunch of other goodies, such as tilt, pivot, swivel, and height adjustment. Connectivity wise you're covered, with Dell providing DisplayPort 1.2, HDMI 1.4, 4 x USB 3.0 ports, USB 3.0 upstream and line-out/headphone out.

The second, less exciting model is the SE2716H and is Dell's first curved display. Dell hasn't rolled out the specifications on the SE2716H just yet, but it does feature two 9W speakers and a thin bezel. As for pricing, the S2716DG with NVIDIA's G-Sync technology is $799.99 while the SE2716H is priced at $399.99. Dell will be offering up the G-Sync model on October 20, while the SE2716H will be available on September 15.

Apple has made its first appearance in the wearables market, and is already within striking distance of No. 1 company Fitbit, according to IDC. Apple shipped 3.6 million units during the second quarter of 2015, trailing Fitbit by just 0.8 million units - with the wearables market getting a whopping 223 percent year-over-year growth, increasing from 5.6 million units up to 18.1 million units.

Fitbit leads with 24.3 percent market share, with Apple (19.9 percent), Xiaomi (17.1 percent), Garmin (3.9 percent), and Samsung (3.3 percent) in the top five. It looks like Fitbit needs a drastic boost to keep its overall market lead, as Apple clearly took wearables by storm.

"Anytime Apple enters a new market, not only does it draw attention to itself, but to the market as a whole," said Ramon Llamas, research manager for wearables at IDC. "Its participation benefits multiple players and platforms within the wearables ecosystem, and ultimately drives total volumes higher.

If you're a Microsoft Xbox One gamer looking for a possible Star Wars Battlefront bundle, you're out of luck. It looks like the custom bundle is only available for the Sony PlayStation 4, which will launch on November 19.

In a Q&A on the EA website, news regarding a possible Star Wars Xbox One bundle was shot down: "The exclusive console for Star Wars Battlefront is limited to PlayStation 4." Pre-orders for the bundles will be announced soon. Pricing information also hasn't been released just yet.

Star Wars Battlefront is scheduled for release on November 17, and will be available for PC, Xbox One, and PS4.

We've seen some interesting emails and marketing campaigns come out of Mozilla in recent times, including it's FoxYeah! slogan - asking all users to 'invite your peeps' over to what Firefox has to offer.

This email is a little more tame - informing users that the newest Firefox is now here and stating three simple reasons as to why Mozilla thinks that its browser is worth a look at. First up is more security, with the company stating that its download protection will prevent you gathering nasty virus'. Next up is better performance, which comes in the form of improved video playback, smoother animation and better scrolling. Lastly is "the independent choice," with Mozilla priding itself on respect for your private information.

With some users being unhappy with Chrome reportedly hogging resources, have you made the change to Firefox? If so, what's your own reasoning?

As confirmed by Valve and ESL, the recently completed ESL One Cologne event saw teams gather a massive $4.2 million dollars in total - split between prize money, stickers and signature sales.

Coupled with a total viewership of 27 million people and a peak concurrent number sitting around 1.3 million, HLTV reported that this event saw a massive 180% increase in crowd-funded dollars over ESL One Katowice, which involved $1.5 million in community support given away.

This method of funding means that teams and players must market themselves well, hoping to sell in-game stickers and signatures to adoring fans to represent them whilst playing in public servers. This is slightly different to the Dota 2 model, which sees funding go directly into the prize pool, whereas ESL One sits at a static $250,000 no matter how much is raised.