Latest News - Page 2781

The European Southern Observatory's Council has announced that it has approved plans to start construction of the world's largest telescope, which will be built-in Chile, and completed by 2024.

Tim de Zeeuw, the Director General of the ESO said in a statement: "The decision taken by Council means that the telescope can now be built. Major industrial construction work for the E-ELT is now funded and can proceed according to plan". The ESO will build the massive telescope on top of a mountain in Chile called Cerro Armazones, in Chile's Atacama Desert.

Back in mid-2012, the telescope was approved, but construction could only start once 90% of the funding required had been secured. This has now obviously happened, with de Zeeuw adding: "the most powerful of all the extremely large telescope projects currently planned". How big will the telescope be? We should see it featuring a 39m aperture optical and infrared telescope, which means we should see scientists capable of seeing the details of Earth-sized exoplanets, and study star populations in nearby galaxies. de Zeeuw added: "the next few years will be very exciting".

We've just been made aware of Dell's commercial December showcase thanks to Techarp forums, showing us all of the latest corporate and consumer offerings that the large-scale company will release in the near future.

The main products covered in this showcase include Dell's Venue tablets, their PowerEdge FX, updated Dell monitors and new product pricing and availability across the range. Dell have been one of the major players in the corporate structure for many years now, alongside other big names such as HP, IBM and Lenovo.

This showcase took place on the 3rd of December at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Kuala Lumpur, seeing multiple topics covered. Firstly was a report on their revolutionary next-generation converted architecture. Claimed to feature a highly modular design, this method is designed to remove the need for SAN storage with the point to this being much better performance capabilities due to the storage being located locally to the server, removing any bottlenecks over your network infrastructure.

The first whispers of the upcoming successor to HTC's One M8 have been floating around for a few days now, with it coming with the One M9 moniker. Now we're hearing about the HTC "Hima", the company's purported upcoming flagship smartphone.

Hima will feature a 5-inch 1080p display, Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor (with a 2GHz quad-core processor, and 1.5GHz quad-core processor), 3GB of RAM, a 20.7-megapixel rear-facing camera, and a 13-megapixel "UltraPixel" front-facing snapper, VoLTE/CA/LTE Cat. 6 support, a 2840mAh battery, and Android 5.0 with HTC Sense 7.0 splashed on top.

We don't know whether this Hima smartphone will arrive as the One M9, or whether it will feature a different name, but we know it's coming and it should be unveiled at MWC 2015 which takes place between March 2-5 in Barcelona, Spain.

Mionix has taken to Kickstarter to fund its new gaming mouse, the NAOS QG, or the new NAOS Quantified Gaming mouse. Mionix's new NAOS QG is the first mouse of its kind to track all sorts of information on you, as it has built-in sensors that are always keeping a track on your movements, on the mouse pad, and off of it.

The NAOS QG "tracks your heart rate, galvanic skin response and actions per minute" the company explains on its Kickstarter page, with the information being displayed on your screen through a transparent overlay. Gamers can then use the "NAOS QG can even share and compare their QG stats with teammates, friends and the community. This opens a new dimension to how games are played, shared and professionally broadcasted".

You can track your stress levels in real-time, measure your body reaction times, and keep track of your changes, and goals all within the software that Mionix has created for the new NAOS QG. You can pledge $79 for the NAOS QG, which is $50 off of the RRP of $129. At the time of writing, Mionix had secured itself $12,046 of the required $100,000 funding goal.

Azubu TV has been on a mission, hiring a plethora of new staff over the past four months in different roles ranging from a Chief Technology Officer to Creative Directors and Social Media Marketing Managers.

As according to their press-release issued just a few days ago, Azubu are aiming to expand "with a clear goal in mind: to be the standout destination to watch, play, and engage in all things eSports."

They've been picking and choosing their staff, bragging acquisitions of people who have worked for big-name studios such as NBC Universal and Warner Bros. This is all in a plight to capture some market share of the now-dominant streaming platform Twitch.TV.

If you've been using AirDroid: great, if not, you might want to check it out. AirDroid 3 is now out, a piece of software that allows you to access, and use your Android-powered devices from your desktop.

Sand Studio has announced that it has released AirDroid 3, its latest and greatest update to AirDroid that has one very big new trick up its sleeve: a native app. AirDroid can still be used from your web browser, but with a native application out now, you have a big choice. There are some features that you should know about, which might swing your decision-making process:

The 4th of December marks Sony's 20-year birthday in the technology market. It's hard to believe that the PSone was released that long ago, seeing a decrease in school children's homework activity and birthing absolute classics like Crash Bandicoot.

To celebrate this milestone, instead of moving out of home, Sony have released their very own PSone-themed PlayStation 4 console. This 20th Anniversary edition console will only be available through special means, not your general retail stores. In total there will be 12,300 made worldwide, this is to signify the original amount of PSone products that were built on their first production run. If you're wanting to get your hands-on one of these consoles you're going to have to wait as Sony hasn't seemed to release this information as of yet.

Sony's president of Worldwide Studios, Shuei Yoshida, reminisced on a PlayStation Blog, saying that "In 1994, many outsiders thought that Sony was slightly crazy to launch the original PlayStation into an incredibly competitive gaming market. Who could blame them?"

The final nail in the Aussie retail coffin has been hammered, big-name retailer Kmart had only just joined its brother Target in removing the latest Rockstar Games release, GTA V, off their shelves. But wait, there's more!

In the latest breaking news, GTA IV has fallen victim to the wide sweep against the apparent misogynist, sexist and rape culture values that GTA are allegedly demonstrating through their campaign and free play modes. This was all started through a Change.org petition by former sex workers, claiming that GTA V was "sickening" which brought people to ask - why have you waited until now to protest and why only this singular game?

If GTA V has been removed, what is to say for GTA IV? Well, it's now off the shelves too.

Some months ago, pornography website 'YouPorn' teased that they were interested in entering the wide world of eSports - speaking publicly on their Twitter about this topic which urged multiple big name players, commentators and personalities throughout various gaming scenes to reply in haste, asking for their game of choice to be supported.

Well it's finally happening as YouPorn has just announced their sponsorship of a Spanish competitive gaming team team named Play2Win.

Although it's always nice to see more sponsors entering the scene, many people have expressed negative opinions on this matter - explaining that although having these kind of sponsors in the gaming world may help provide teams with funding in flights and accommodation, having these companies names associated with gaming might further perpetuate the 'basement nerd' stereotype and also bar competitive gaming from different kinds of A-grade sponsors such as seen in the 'real-world' sporting scene.

The 'Glacier 2' engine that powered Hitman: Absolution has been modified, with a new version being rolled out dubbed Dawn Engine. Dawn Engine will be powering the upcoming Deus Ex title, which still doesn't have a name.

The demo screenshot looks like it will be an incredibly perfect fit for the Deus Ex world, but I think we're seeing an incredible amount of detail that will be watered down before it makes it into the game. Eidos Montreal has teased: "We wanted to share a first glimpse of what we aim to achieve, with a screenshot taken directly from the Dawn Engine. Keep in mind - despite any hints you may pick up from this image, this screenshot was only taken in order to display the level of detail and artistic fidelity that is possible with the Dawn Engine".

After looking at the 2.3MB image in full quality, it looks absolutely incredible; a truly next-gen Deus Ex game could be upon us. But, as I said above, I think we'll see it watered down considerably, to be run on the consoles. We've seen virtually every other game debut this year running at much less than 1080p, closer to 720p, with nowhere near the level of intricate detail we see in the screenshot for the Dawn Engine. It's a shame.

It's been a great week for film fans, with the reveal of trailers for 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' and 'Jurassic World'. Now, it's time to get our first look at the fourth 'Terminator' sequel; 'Genisys'.

Unlike 2009's 'Terminator: Salvation', 'Genisys' sees Arnold Schwarzenegger return to his star making role from the 1984 original, and which he has played once a decade since. This time round, Jason Clarke plays the role of mankind's savior John Connor, while 'Game of Thrones' Emilia Clarke fills the shoes of Sarah Connor, the role once played by Linda Hamilton.

'Terminator: Genisys' hits screens on July 1, 2015.

China is a rising economic superpower that lacks one key ingredient to acquire their goal of complete self-sufficiency; the all-important processor. China has over 1.3 billion mobile phone users, but imports over 90% of their processors. This adds up to a whopping annual total of $232 billion in imported chips. China consumes over 45% of the worldwide chip production, and the lack of semiconductor technology is a huge strategic gap.

To that end, China has invested an unprecedented $5 billion in the last 18 months on procuring semiconductor-related companies, and that is just the beginning. These investments are largely funded by the Chinese government, and they have pledged to spend up to $163 billion over the next 5 to 10 years to reduce their reliance upon foreign chips. China is moving aggressively, and has plans to boost 2013 semiconductor revenue 40% by the end of next year.

Chip production has many advantages that extend far beyond cellular phone production. The wars of today are increasingly powered by technology, and this reliance is only going to increase in the future. If China became involved in a protracted dispute, and found itself on the unfriendly side of a blockade or sanctions, simply cutting off CPU supply could simultaneously cripple their economy and military. A major thorn in China's side is also the fact that over 25% of their processor supply originates in Taiwan. The continued animosity between the two countries only adds fuel to China's desire to produce their own chips.

A new tablet sporting one Terabyte of storage is making its rounds through the inidiegogo scene. The UbuTab tablet is designed for media enthusiasts and can use either an Ubuntu or Android OS. There is a built-in stylus and kickstand, and the tablet features a quad-core CPU and GPU along with its 10.1" IPS 1920x1200 screen. This tablet may actually be based upon a reference design Seagate demonstrated at CES 2014.

The tablet has a few limiting factors that might relegate it to niche applications. The UbuTab sports a 2.5" 1TB 5,400 RPM HDD that will not be as snappy as the flash-powered competition. The UbuTab includes 16GB of flash memory that is likely used to cache hot data to speed up performance. If the UbuTab is using a caching scheme it could offset many of the performance penalties of using a relatively slow 5,4000 RPM HDD. The HDD lowers the battery life to roughly six hours and also adds some heft to the device, which weighs in at 1.4 pounds. The tablet is also 14mm thick, which is more than double the thickness in comparison to the iPad Air 2 and the Tab S10.5.

The 10.1" IPS screen is powered by a Mali 400MP4 GPU, which might be a bit underpowered for this application. There is a rear-facing 5MP camera and 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, along with the obligatory Bluetooth 4.0. One positive aspect is the connectivity options, which include Micro-USB and Micro-SD capabilities. The manufacturers are hoping to price these tablets at $290 each.

Google is migrating away from the old annoyance of reCAPTHCA to a new system they are calling noCAPTCHA. reCAPTCHA relied upon distorted text to filter out robots and abusive scripts, and is widely used as a catch-all for websites to filter out spammers. As the use of robots and abusive scripts increased, they eventually began to decipher the reCAPTCHA distorted text with more accuracy. This led to more intense text distortions in an attempt to thwart these advances. These programs are now able to decipher over 99.8% of all distorted text images, even with the most difficult reCAPTCHA implementations.

Users are simply asked if they are a robot with the noCAPTCHA API, and with one click they can pass the new test. Several sites, such as Snapchat, WordPress, and Humble Bundle, have successfully tested the new noCAPTCHA system. noCAPTCHA relies upon an Advanced Risk Analysis backend that studies a user's activity before, during, and after, the noCAPTCHA challenge. If the system flags the user as a possible script or robot it will issue increasingly difficult challenges and eventually weed out the potential spammer.

Google isn't providing specific information on how the new API ascertains whether or not the user is a robot, but the time between clicks and other activity is likely to be an important factor. Bots surf the web with amazing speed, while humans will naturally not be able to accomplish tasks as quickly. WordPress has sent more than 60% of their traffic through the new system, and Humble Bundle has upped their percentage to 80%. The end result is a simplified user experience that can actually weed out the offending robots. The new API is ready for all to use, and a trip over to Google's website will get users up and running.

Data breaches have become an unfortunate reality for US consumers, and the problem seems likely to accelerate in 2015 while cybercriminals perfect their craft. Cybercriminals are aware banks are increasingly issuing chip-and-PIN credit cards - as retailers also switch to support the more secure cards - and will try to compromise companies as fast as they can in early 2015.

"There will absolutely be more breaches in 2015 - possibly even more than we saw in 2014 due to the booming underground market for hackers and cybercriminals around both credit card data and identity theft," said Kevin Routhier, Coretelligent founder and CEO. "This growing market, coupled with readily available and productized rootkits, malware and other tools will continue to drive more data breaches in the coming years as this is a lucrative practice for enterprising criminals."

In addition to consumer payment data, medical records will continue to prove lucrative to cybercriminals. Healthcare providers and companies hosting confidential payment information will have to prepare for an increase in attacks designed to steal this data.

The iPhone 6 and 6 Plus are huge successes for Apple. The company reported it sold 10 million phones in the weekend after launch, the best iPhone launch in Apple history. But it seems every on-top company lives with a target on its back, and both consumers and competitors are looking for any opportunity to criticize the latest Apple gadget. In 2010, the iPhone 4 launched with a defect in its antenna, which caused the phone to lose service when users gripped the edges. Branded "AntennaGate," the flaw made waves in the news, and ultimately Apple offered free cases to bandage the problem.

Well, AntennaGate is gone, but we have a new scandal on our hands: Bendgate. Soon after launch, a handful of iPhone 6 owners reported that the phone was actually bending in their pockets, creating a permanent new shape. Within days, "Bendgate" was all over the news, but was the hype justified? Consumer Reports studied the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus and its bendability.

With a certain amount of force, the phone does bend. This much is true. But how much force is the real question. Consumer Reports used a complex stress test to find out exactly how many pounds of pressure it would take to bend the phone.

TSMC is holding its annual supply chain forum sometime later today, where it's expected to unveil its new work on 16nm and 10nm node technologies. DigiTimes reports: "TSMC's 16nm FinFET process has passed full reliability qualification, and nearly 60 customer designs are currently scheduled to tape out by the end of 2015, the company announced previously. TSMC expects to move the node to volume production around July 2015".

NVIDIA is part of this meeting, but its competitor AMD, is not. This is an interesting part of the story, as AMD looks like it could coming out swinging with its Radeon R9 390X, but what process will it be made on, and by who? With NVIDIA looking to shift its already very efficient second-generation Maxwell architecture on the 28nm node, over the 20nm node and directly to the even smaller 16nm process, we could see quite a large jump in what NVIDIA could offer with what could eventually be known as the GeForce GTX 1080.

I personally think NVIDIA could rename, rebrand, or change things up with the next GPU launch. Moving its powerful, but energy efficient Maxwell architecture to a smaller process, could result in a massive change for NVIDIA. If we're already seeing such an improvement from the GeForce GTX 780 Ti to the GeForce GTX 980 on the same process, what can NVIDIA do when they're working with 16nm? Would it simply arrive as the GeForce GTX 980 Ti? Or would NVIDIA have enough power to really ramp things up, providing maybe an entire generational jump in performance, eclipsing anything AMD can do, or retaliate with, and change things up with a rebrand, or a new number scheme of GeForce GPUs?

ASUS has unveiled its new PB279Q monitor, which is a new 27-inch 4K display that offers an IPS panel for some beautiful color reproduction and image quality.

The ASUS PB279Q has a native resolution of 3840x2160, at either 30Hz or 60Hz depending on your display connectivity. 4K over HDMI will offer 30Hz, while DisplayPort will offer 4K at 60Hz. ASUS offers up 10-bit color, and 100% sRGB coverage which is better than Dell's IPS-based panels which offer 99% sRGB coverage.

We have MHL-based HDMI connectivity, with four HDMI ports on the monitor that are capable of displaying four 1080p feeds at once. There's no USB ports on the ASUS PB279Q, but we do have a 3.5mm headphone jack, and 3.5mm audio-in jack. The 4K monitor provides a fully adjustable stand which is capable of tilt, swivel and pivot, as well as being VESA compatible.

It's been a heavy three days for Grand Theft Auto 5 and Rockstar Games in Australia. Firstly a petition was made by former sex workers claiming that this blockbuster game release "encourages players to commit sexual violence and kill women", once this project had received around 40,000 supporters, Target Australia decided to remove the title from their shelves, seeing Kmart Australia follow suit less than 24 hours later.

This has sparked major outrage among many 'gamer' social circles, with people citing multiple games that are based around the beheading, maiming and/or murder of males - further claiming that this GTA V fight isn't so much about social justice, as it is about 'radical feminism'.

In order to fight back, one man named Stephen Ogden has opened up his own GoPetition, urging the large Australian retailers to remove other offensive content from their shelves, including some legitimate and also some very 'troll' requests.

Sony has pushed out another update for its PlayStation 4 console, with the 2.03 patch offering up some "system software stability during use of some features has been improved".

It was only three weeks ago that Sony updated the PS4 to version 2.02, with the previous patch offering pretty much the same thing the new patch is offering, system stability. In late October, Sony offered its major 2.00 update, but that update ushered in a smorgasbord of problems. The company quickly released the early November patch which put it on the path it is now.