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Semiconductor and microcontroller company Microchip Technology announced a partnership with Intel to utilize its Enhanced Privacy ID (EPID) technology in future products.

"Microchip has long recognized the importance of security in IoT applications," said Ian Harris, VP of Computing Products Group at Microchip. "Collaborating with Intel to integrate its proven Intel EPID technology demonstrates Microchip's steadfast commitment to providing the very best IoT solutions, by working to enable designers with the safe and secure interoperation of their 'things' with Intel's devices, gateways and servers."

The IoT marketplace is growing drastically, but privacy and cybersecurity remain two major hurdles that must be addressed accordingly. EPID can be used for device authentication, standardization, and helps protect end-user privacy. The need for data security is crucial for the widespread adoption of Things in the workplace and at home, so expect similar partnerships from Intel in the future.

During the 2015 Intel Developer Forum, Razer has announced it is working with Intel to include its RealSense technology platform for virtual reality and video game streamers.

Utilizing RealSense, consumers can expect better game broadcasting and VR gaming capabilities, including the ability to change backgrounds while streaming. Intel RealSense-powered cameras provide motion and gesture recognition, 3D scanning, providing an immersive experience.

"Razer is excited to be working with Intel, using Intel RealSense technology to help pioneer work for game broadcasting, as well as with VR, with support from the growing OSVR movement," said Min-Liang Tan, co-founder and CEO of Razer. "Gamers will, we expect, be able to enhance their broadcasting and VR experience in unprecedented ways."

Epic Games wants to see its Unreal Engine 4 become the chosen platform for creating virtual reality applications, with the game studio fully embracing VR. In fact, "almost every one of the Oculus demos" shown to the public was "probably built in the Unreal Engine," according to Epic Games.

"It's easy to be excited about it. A lot of the guys, especially on the game side, there's a bit of fatigue," said Ray Davis, GM of the Unreal Engine 4 business at Epic Games, in a statement to GamesBeat.

It's not just about game studios with large budgets able to create content using Unreal Engine 4, but consumers realistically evolving into creators themselves. Hopefully, VR is able to help drive that interest in the future:

Millions of us play violent video games on our PCs and consoles, without feeling the need to go and commit violent criminal acts. However, there has been increased research into what impact, if any, video games play - especially among younger gamers.

Recently, the American Psychological Association (APA) noted there isn't enough research to put the blame solely on video games. Even though there are reports of increased aggression, it's still not enough to directly blame video games.

"One can never know for sure whether playing violent video games causes violent criminal behavior, because it is unethical for researchers to allow participants to engage in violent criminal behavior in their laboratory experiments," said Brad Bushman, professor of communication and psychology at Ohio State University, in a statement to CBS News.

It hasn't even been a month since Microsoft released Windows 10, but there have been 53 million installations of the new operating system so far.

According to StatCounter's data, Windows 10 now accounts for 4.95% of the OS market share, with Windows 10 being installed on 1500 machines per second at its peak. NetMarketshare is reporting that Windows 8.1 had 13.09% of the market by the end of July, while OS X 10.10 had 4.74%. Windows 10 has, in three weeks, surpassed Apple's most recent desktop OS.

The best numbers will come directly from Microsoft, with the only announcement so far being 14 million installations. It would also help that most people installing Windows 10 are upgrading for free, from previous versions of Windows.

The likely announcement of a new Apple iPhone has its customers excited, even after the infamous "Bendgate" fiasco from the previous iPhone's launch. The new iPhone 6s is rumored to launch in late September, so carriers in the United States are preparing marketing and sales campaigns to get customers to upgrade.

Carriers aren't the only ones preparing, as Apple has reportedly made a few critical improvements based on lessons learned following Bendgate:

"Each new iPhone launch should hopefully be an all-around improvement, with a focus on more than just the 'bells and whistles,'" said Stacey Vogler, US managing director for Protect Your Bubble. "To avoid a repeat of last year's Bendgate, Apple appears to be looking a a stronger frame this time around."

Jordan "Smealum" Rabet, a prominent Nintendo 3DS hacker, has released the "tubehax" exploit that launches homebrew software within the handheld's free YouTube app.

Using tubehax 3DS players can get access to a slew of homebrew content including old-school SNES ROMs running on the handheld's latest 9.9 firmware. The exploit also lets users run region-specific gamecards and set custom themes in the handheld's home menu. Rabet affirms that tubehax "does not in any way let users run pirated 3DS software", but NES and SNES games are a different story.

Smealum is notorious for finding innovative games and apps to manipulate into acting as doorways to homebrew, and frequently targets free and easy-to-download content. Nintendo has always been fast-acting to close these doors as soon as possible, and just recently the Japanese gaming titan removed the free-to-play game Ironfall: Invasion from the eShop because of Smealum's "ironhax" expoit--but not before thousands upon thousands of users snagged it.

UPDATE: According to a report from Know Techie, Microsoft will only disrupt access to pirated Xbox One or first-party games that attempt to utilize one of its many services like Xbox LIVE of the Xbox app. The publication relates this measure to any online DRM mechanism such as not being able to directly update fraudulent games on Steam or the PlayStation Store.

In the freshly updated EULA, Microsoft effectively stipulates that if you use its software it can effectively search your Windows 10 devices for fraudulent games and "unauthorized hardware peripheral devices" and disable access to said content.

"We may automatically check your version of the software and download software updates or configuration changes, including those that prevent you from accessing the Services, playing counterfeit games, or using unauthorized hardware peripheral devices," reads section 7b of the Updates to the Services or Software and Changes to These Terms subsection.

CD Projekt RED won't be releasing any more mod support for The Witcher 3, and it looks like modders are stuck with the current toolset.

A few days ago CD Projekt RED enjoyed unanimous praise from PC gamers upon the release of The Witcher 3's modding tools...at least until the modding community realized how "light" the toolset is compared to The Witcher 2's beefier REDkit.

"First of all, the modding tools we are releasing are not an editor," CDPR told Gamespot in a Q&A session. Instead of creating and editing world spaces gamers can extract and manipulate the files of the game, including adding custom textures and skins to characters as well as changing up animations and sounds. Plus modders can manipulate Witcher 3's scripts, opening a lot of potential for mods that tweak gameplay aspects like difficulty modes and altered quests. So far the Witcher 3 Nexus is filled with HUD alterations, graphics optimizations and small in-game convenience tweaks.

As a kid I always dreamed about a more futuristic, immersive laser tag experience that would let me enter the game and gun down virtual baddies. Now with the advent of VR tech, the future is here, and a company called Zero Latency aims to transport players into a chaotic first-person shooter sim to make our childhood wishes come true.

Zero Latency's VR gaming suite is comprised of an open 400square meter room specifically designed to let up six-players roam freely. Like any shooter sim experience every player has their own gear: an Oculus Rift DK2 headset stems to an Alienware Alpha PC stuffed in a backpack, and last but not least we have the wireless plastic gun whose VR version is a high-powered rifle that mows down zombies. Body movement is tracked by sensors outfitted on the Rift and the gun that curiously resemble Sony's PlayStation Move tech, relaying signals to mirror in-game transitions.

"Zero Latency VR is the experience the future of immersive gaming," the YouTube video description reads. Imagine a game that doesn't feel like a game. Where your body is the controller. And your mind believes it's real. The digital and real-world meshed seamlessly together, to transport you inside the virtual like never before. When you move, the game moves with you. Pure immersive mayhem with the freedom to get up and go."

We already know that most Americans are spied on in every facet of their lives, but it's now come out that AT&T has been working very, very closely with the NSA, sharing Americans' data with them on a scale that should scare most people.

The New York Times is behind the report, where the documents they've seen have said that the NSA has praised AT&T's "extreme willingness to help". The NSA has official instructions to its officials, where when they visit AT&T facilities, they're said to be very polite, with the US spy agency reminding agents that "This is a partnership, not a contractual relationship".

In 2010 alone, AT&T provided the NSA with 1.1 billion domestic cell phone records per day in a bid to stimulate its relationship with the US spy agency before the 10th anniversary of 9/11. In one document from 2013, it has been said that AT&T's "...corporate relationships provide unique accesses to other telecoms and I.S.P.s". This means that other companies that have been using AT&T's networks for transfers, are not safe from the eyes of the NSA, because AT&T has been handing over the information in bulk.

In the next 24 hours, we're going to find out if Apple and Google will be forced to declare how much tax they pay in Australia annually, with the Australian Senate committee pushing in new recommendations.

These recommendations are lengthy, with 18 of them in total, including that all companies should annually disclose how much money they've made in Australia. Not only that, but how much tax they paid, tax deductions, and other government write-offs. One of the bigger points of these 18 recommendations, is naming and shaming companies that dodge tax.

Labor senator Sam Dastyari said that one of the key issues was transparency, adding that every dollar avoided "is a dollar that's not going to a hospital, a school or an institution of welfare that's needed in this country. Right now, the laws as they currently stand mean that Australia's worst tax offenders are able to hide behind privacy provisions. It's time we named them, and we shamed them and it's time that we actually gave the Australian public an opportunity to know who these companies are, to know the practices they're engaging in, to not allow them to hide behind what currently exists as privacy provisions".

To capitalise on the upcoming release of 'The Force Awakens', 'Star Wars Battlefront' and 'Disney Infinity 3.0', Sony PlayStation and Disney have teamed up to release two limited edition Darth Vader themed PS4 console bundles, with a specially designed lid and controller, along with some other 'Star Wars' goodies.

To be released in November worldwide, the console will be available in two bundles; both with the 500GB console version and a download voucher for four classic remastered 'Star Wars' titles including the Super Nintendo 'Super Star Wars', the PS2 'Racer Revenge', 'Jedi Starfighter' and 'Star Wars Bounty Hunter', and your choice of physical copies of 'Disney Infinity 3.0' or 'Star Wars: Battlefront".

Samsung has been catching up and beating the likes of Qualcomm in the mobile processor race for the last year or so, but its upcoming SoC codenamed Mongoose, is shaping up to be quite the winner.

Benchmark results of the new Mongoose have leaked, making the 8-core Exynos 7420 from Samsung look like nothing in comparison. Mongoose has each of its four cores clocked at 2.4GHz, down from the eight cores on the Exynos 7420 clocked at 2.1GHz. Mongoose was run in Geekbench, where it scored 2136 in the single-core test, and 7497 in the multi-core test.

If we compare this against the Exynos 7420 with its 1486 in the single-core test and the 4970 from its multi-core test, Mongoose has some serious power to throw around. Even in its 'power-saving mode', Mongoose still beats the Exynos 7420, with 1698 and 5363 in the single- and multi-core benchmarks, respectively. We should expect Mongoose to be unveiled in the coming months, while it should be found in Samsung's handsets sometime in 2016.

With VR on the horizon, hardware makers have busily crafted motion-based controllers to power the new tech. Innovations like the Control VR glove or HTC Vive's laser-tracked wireless controllers have caught our attention, but one company aims to turn the gaming world on its head with a new controller that slides right on your finger.

Introducing the Talon, a new "smart ring" motion-controlled peripheral that uses a 9-axis motion control sensor to convert hand gestures into input signals to interact with games. There are also two "action buttons" placed on the band for manual button pressing, and the creators boast that the Talon will be compatible with a huge array of games including shooters, racing games and even sports titles.

"Currently, in order to play motion-controlled games, consumers must purchase all the expensive hardware: TVs, Wii, X-box or Kinect are just a few of them," says Titanium Falcon CEO and Founder Guo Juan. "We believe our touch-less and motion controlled smart ring will change the way users play games forever. Talon will enable gamers to play games instantly at any place and time, free hand, while on the go. Users can play mobile games or control applications even when they are doing other things such as running, cooking, taking the bus and so on."

After five years of timed exclusivity on the Xbox, Sony will gain timed exclusivity from the Call of Duty franchise, starting off with Call of Duty: Black Ops 3.

Sony will secure a 30-day platform timed exclusive for Black Ops 3 and its future DLC, with the multiplayer beta of Black Ops 3 launching on the PS4 first. At E3, Sony Computer Entertainment boss Andrew House said that the PlayStation was "the new home of Call of Duty". Under the deal, all future Call of Duty DLC will hit the PlayStation first, which is a big scoop for Sony.

During E3, Activision Publishing boss Eric Hirshberg told Gamespot: "The partnership with Sony was the right decision at this time. They've been a great partner on Destiny, and they have a ton of momentum with the PS4 and really got behind this thing. They wanted to see that deal on their platform. We're going to make it work".

It looks like the current generation consoles are selling quite well, with the Xbox One and PS4 sales being "close to" 50% ahead of where the PS3 and Xbox 360 sales were at the same time in their lifespan.

The news is coming from NPD Group's recent study into the current generation consoles, 21 months after they launched. A Microsoft spokesperson told IGN: "Xbox One and Xbox Live continued to see strong sales and engagement in July, with Xbox One sales in the U.S. up 44 percent over July 2014 and active global Xbox Live users (Xbox One and Xbox 360) up 22 percent".

Not only that, but game hardware sales also grew by 2% from June to July. NPD Group also said that the best-selling game in July was a surprise: LEGO: Jurassic World.

The time has come: TSMC has announced that its "16nm [chips] smoothly entered volume production as expected". The Taiwanese chipmaker told investors that it had started 16nm volume production after a report said that Apple was reducing the amount of orders it was sending TSMC's way.

Instead of Apple going to TSMC, the iPhone giant would instead send the orders to its largest rival; Samsung, as well as GlobalFoundries. The first production runs of the 16nm node will be for Apple's SoCs according to the latest rumors, while other companies are waiting in line. This includes NVIDIA, LG, Freescale Semiconductor, Avago, LG, and MediaTek. AMD is reportedly not on the list, but this could be wrong, with the company reportedly preparing its Zen CPU architecture, as well as its Arctic Islands GPU architecture that will be made on the 16nm process.

TSMC has also teased that it will soon begin ramping up "an enhanced version of 16nm chips, or 16 FinFET+ chips, in the third quarter and that production would reach a high volume in the same quarter". This is what NVIDIA is waiting for, especially for its gigantic and surely super-powered next-gen Pascal-based GP100 GPU. NVIDIA's GP100 chip is absolutely mammoth, with a rumored 17 billion transistors and up to 32GB of HBM2.

Kaspersky has reportedly created its own malware in order to get its competitors' software into flagging, and quarantining important, non-viral files on consumers' PCs. The report is coming directly from Reuters, which gives it some serious credit.

The malware that Kaspersky created would inject malicious bits of code into important files on consumers' PCs, such as .ini files for your important devices like printers and scanners, which the anti-malware would then pick up as a false positive, quarantining it, or deleting your important files.

Kaspersky Lab co-founder Eugine Kaspersky reportedly created the malware as an attack against Kaspersky's competitors, as he thinks that his competitors have copied his anti-virus system rather than create their own. An anonymous source of Reuters said: "It was decided to provide some problems" for other companies, with the source adding: "It is not only damaging for a competing company but also damaging for users' computers".

Fresh from the huge worldwide success of 'Jurassic World', we now know why director Colin Trevorrow so quickly bowed out from directing the next installment of the 'Jurassic Park' franchise. It turns out he was being courted by Disney and Lucasfilm to direct their third film in the new 'Star Wars' trilogy.

The Walt Disney company announced at the D23 expo that Colin Trevorrow will direct 'Star Wars: Episode IX', which continues on from J.J. Abrams 'The Force Awakens' later this year, and Rian Johnson's 'Episode VIII'.

The as-yet untitled 'Episode VII' will hit cinemas worldwide in May 2019.