Latest News - Page 2843

Ireland's high court has passed a request on to the European Court of Justice to examine Facebook's compliance with data protection rules after its alleged role in providing data to the USA's National Security Agency.

Ireland's High Court has conceded it is not able to force an investigation from the country's data commissioner, which acts as watchdog to companies all across Europe. High Court Justice Gerard Hogan did say this application for review is likely to fail, as the European commission already ruled the USA has provided an "adequate level of data protection." However, the application does bring about questions on whether the EU data protection directive is in line with the EU's Charter of Fundamental Rights.

"The critical issue which arises is whether the proper interpretation of the 1995 directive and the 2000 Commission decision should be re-evaluated in the light of the subsequent entry into force of article 8 of the EU charter," Hogan said, in a statement which appeared to suggest laws were in dire need of an update for the technology age.

Auction house eBay has banned the sale of smartphones from Chinese manufacturer Star, as the company's N9500 cheap Google Android-powered device ships with the Usupay.D Trojan malware pre-installed. The device tracks phone user activity and cybercriminals can remotely control and manipulate the phone, if necessary.

The only app shown running on the device is the Google Play Store icon, and the malware is completely hidden. After reports showed the phone was compromised, eBay decided to pull all sales of the Star N9500, which has become popular due to its low cost and close design to the Samsung Galaxy S4 smartphone.

"The options with this spy program are nearly unlimited," said Christian Geschkat, G DATA Product Manager of Mobile Solutions, in a press statement. "Online criminals have full access to the smartphone. G DATA customers reported a detection by our security solutions and thus alerted us to this criminal tactic."

Popular e-tailer Amazon today officially launched the Fire Phone, marking the company's first foray into a very competitive smartphone market.

The Fire Phone has a 4.7-inch screen, 2.2GHz CPU, 2GB of RAM, and a 12-megapixel camera. Safely enclosed with a rubberized frame and featuring anodized aluminum buttons, Amazon chose Gorilla Glass 3 to help protect the screen from scratches and potential cracks.

"The phone is gorgeous," said Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder and CEO, during the press event. "I can't wait for you to get your hands-on it. Premium materials, rubberized frame. Gorilla Glass on both sides."

Samsung's Galaxy S5 is barely two months old, but the company is ready to unveil an even more powerful flagship, the Galaxy S5 LTE-A. What's different with the Galaxy S5 LTE-A, well starting with the display - which has had its resolution increased from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440 - matching the display found in the G3 smartphone from LG.

The provides the 5.1-inch display with a massive 557 PPI, cramming more pixels into a smaller space compared to LG's 5.5-inch display on the G3. The LTE-A side of the new Galaxy S5 LTE-A is LTE-Advanced, which is capable of an incredible 225 Mbps, in the right country - where right now, this is locked to South Korea.

Inside of the updated Galaxy S5 LTE-A is a better SoC, with Samsung opting for Qualcomm's Snapdragon 805 SoC - but we'll see 3GB of RAM and 32GB of on-board flash, which is expandable right up to 128GB with a microSDXC card. We still have the 16-megapixel rear-facing camera and 2800mAh battery, as well as the water- and dust-resistant goodness.

It looks like we can expect NVIDIA to unleash next-gen GPUs this year, with the GeForce GTX 800 series to be revealed this year. Sweoverclockers is reporting that NVIDIA will launch both the GeForce GTX 880 and GTX 870 sometime in Q4 2014 - so between October and December.

While the GeForce GTX 880 and GTX 870 will be based off of NVIDIA's second generation Maxwell architecture, it will be on the 28nm process - not the 20nm process that we expected. TSMC has started volume production of the 20nm node for everyone, but this should start being spun on new GPUs in 2015 - something that will provide a large jump in performance, thermals, noise and much more for both NVIDIA and AMD.

Another interesting part of this news, is that NVIDIA has reportedly canceled the production of GM100 chips, in favor of the GM200 chips. These new GPUs are still based on the 28nm process, so it will be 2015 before things really ramp up for next-gen GPUs. This means that the new GeForce GTX 800 series are cards 'for now,' and intermediary product before NVIDIA can ramp up 20nm-based products next year.

Ubisoft is in a massive web of trouble right now, with Watch Dogs on PC gimped - to possibly make it not stand out from the next-gen console versions - and now a promise that Far Cry 4 on next-gen consoles will be 'equal' to Ultra High settings on a PC. How can Ubisoft's week get worse? The slightly older news that its upcoming open-world title The Division will be locked to 30FPS.

The reason? Massive Entertainment, the studio developing The Division, didn't want to trade graphic fidelity for frame rate. Massive Entertainment's Managing Director, David Polfeldt, explained the reasoning behind the 30FPS target: "I think we're shooting for 30fps because it's a trade-off, right? Graphical fidelity and immersion are more important to us than the frame rate. If we go for [60fps], we'll have to make a trade-off on fidelity and other things. But because we want to have very, very complex destruction and extremely detailed environments; a complete weather system, full day/night cycle...at some point you have to make up your mind: where do you invest? And for us, it's going to be 30fps".

Massive's Ryan Barnard also talked with OXM, where he said: "We are at the point where we're focusing on making sure that we have the graphical quality we want across all consoles. Of course, [we have] our partnership with Xbox and all the exclusive content - I don't know when we're going to be talking about the details on that, but there will be goodies for our Xbox customers that they will very much enjoy for The Division".

Come on, Ubisoft - the Internet and PC community is still rabid about Watch Dogs being gimped on PC, but now promising something once again for your other big title coming soon - Far Cry 4?

Well, Ubisoft has said that Far Cry 4 on the PS4 and Xbox One will be equal to that of the PC version set on Ultra High settings. This means that Far Cry 4 won't look that great (for a big budget, AAA title released in 2014 on next-gen platforms) or the PC version will be gimped, like Watch Dogs was most obviously.

Far Cry 4's Creative Director, Alex Hutchinson, talked with Major Nelson on his latest podcast, talking about the differences between current- and next-gen consoles. Hutchinson also talked about showing off how beautiful Far Cry 4 is on both next-gen consoles, and PCs, where he said: "We want the gameplay experience to be the same on all platforms so we're leaning on technical differences. Everything you see, whether it's the fur on the animals, the grass on the ground or the leaves on the trees. All these things are bumped up a huge amount in the next gen version".

Sandisk is adding one more acquisition to its flash play with the latest announcement to acquire Fusion-io. Over the past two years, Sandisk has been rounding out its flash portfolio by acquiring Pliant Technology, Smart Storage Systems, and Schooner, but this latest acquisition is nearly twice the value of all three of those combined.

While the Fusion-io stock price has been on a steady decline over the past few months, the company still possessed a significant portion of the enterprise flash based PCIe market. Sandisk is looking to capitalize on this strength of Fusion-io in combination with its own capabilities from a component manufacturing standpoint. According to Sanjay Mahrotra, Sandisk president and CEO, "Customers will benefit from the addition of Fusion-io's leading PCIe solutions to Sandisk's vertically integrated business model."

Beyond these PCIe cards though, Fusion-io additionally brings an external flash play to Sandisk, the ioControl Hybrid Storage Appliance, technology that originates from Fusion-io's acquisition of NexGen Storage just last year. While Mahrotra may highlight the PCIe business, the addition of external arrays, albeit only hybrid for the time being, puts Sandisk in the mix of EMC, Netapp, Nimble, and the many other flash array vendors vying for enterprise storage business. Not to mention, the Fusion-io technologies combined with the other recent acquisitions now puts Sandisk in every possible flash market - software, modules, cards, and external arrays.

We were one of the first media to post about Ubisoft deceiving gamers with the PC version to one of its biggest launches ever, Watch Dogs. There has been a mod created which makes the game look like it did back when it was first shown off at E3 2012.

Since then, we've seen Watch Dogs look worse when it was better shown in 2013, and then the delay was announced - pushing it over 6 months from its original launch date. There were obvious problems with the development of Watch Dogs, but why would Ubisoft hold back much more advanced graphics when compared to consoles and even next-gen consoles.

If you visit Reddit right now, and visit /r/pcmasterrace, you'll see some very disgruntled PC gamers - and rightly so. PC gamers seem to have been robbed by shafted.

I don't know why I'm just reading about, and thus reporting about it just now, but more details are leaking out on next iteration of the PCI Express specification - PCIe 4.0.

As it stands, PCIe 3.0 has a maximum throughput bandwidth of 32GB/sec, but PCIe 4.0 will ramp things up to 64GB/sec - as it will have a base speed of 16Gbps per data link. At the moment, GPUs won't make much more use of this, but with SSDs moving toward PCIe - we are seeing a huge increase in the required bandwidth - with OCZ showing off 3.8GB/sec with PCIe-based SSDs in RAID 0 at Computex this year as an example.

When will we see PCIe 4.0 rolled out? We should expect it to come baked into Intel's upcoming Skylake platform, with its 100-series chipset.

Children at younger ages are frequently using smartphones or tablets, and that has led to some problems for parents trying to limit technology use. Since 2011, children smartphone and tablet use has tripled, according to Common Sense Media, and that number is expected to only accelerate further.

The DinnerTime Parental Control app, designed for both Apple iPhones and Google Android devices, will let parents pause activity - giving children the chance to finish schoolwork, exercise, finish chores, or other activities. There also is a feature so parents are able to purchase app usage details, giving them a better look at how much time kids are using certain apps on their devices.

However, critics say parents should speak with their children about appropriate and inappropriate use of their devices - but that won't slow down the market for apps that provide parents with a better ability to limit technology use.

The Department of Transportation (DoT) is struggling to keep up with navigation apps on smartphones and tablets, seeking regulation from Congress regarding mobile devices behind the wheel. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) would be given permission to restrict navigation apps, and make future changes if needed to preserve driver safety.

Automakers support the measure, as they are used to adhering to voluntary guidelines that put restrictions on built-in navigation systems. Not surprisingly, technology companies are against government interference, saying legislation would be difficult to enforce.

"They don't have enough software engineers," noted Catherine McCullough, Intelligent Car Coalition executive director, said in a recent interview. "They don't have the budget or the structure to oversee both Silicon Valley and the auto industry."

Jibbed has posted on the NeoGAF forums, saying that "The Worse," who is the creator of the mod for Watch Dogs, has seen some huge improvements and locked away goodies within Ubisoft's open-world hacking title. He has discovered that Ubisoft has left "almost all of the shaders and improvements seen in 2012 and 2013 are still in the game files, such as the e3 2012 explosions". The mod, as it stands right now, includes some huge improvements, such as:

I think we're about to see a huge explosion on the Internet about this - on one hand, this is amazing for PC gamers - on the other hand, it would seem that Ubisoft deliberately gimped Watch Dogs on PC for what reason exactly? More sales on consoles? To not see the PC version look undeniably better than next-gen consoles? No matter the reason, this will not end well for Ubisoft - but it will end well for gamers, who can expect Watch Dogs to look even better.

Warner Brothers Home Entertainment Australia, in conjunction with HBO have announced the forthcoming release of the fully remastered complete series of 'The Sopranos' on Blu-ray.

The series, which was shot on film, began airing in 1999 in standard definition format until HBO began a restoration effort a few years ago, a pain-staking process which involved re-scanning the 35mm elements and reassembling the series, much like similar restorations for television shows such as 'Friends', 'Star Trek The Next Generation' and 'The X-Files'.

The 28 disc Blu-ray boxset includes all 86 episodes from six series and includes hour of bonus material including audio commentaries, featurettes, two cast and crew round table discussions, deleted scenes and more. The boxset will be released on August 27th, with a retail price of $199.95 AUD.

The movie industry is working to see if they can integrate mobile phones into the movie watching experience, giving viewers the chance for a unique second screen experience. Using the second screen can help viewers instantly share thoughts, receive additional content, and embrace the social aspect of the movie going experience, supporters hope.

Broadcasters and content providers have dabbled with second screen apps and services - but have learned viewers will do whatever they want when using a smartphone or tablet. However, second screens have become popular during live events, such as concerts, sporting events, and political speeches.

The current generation of second screen technologies might not take the world by storm, but increasing popularity of smartphones and tablets will provide a unique opportunity for software developers, advertisers, and other third-party companies.

Computex 2014 - Just when we thought the 1.8GB/sec transfer speeds with a PCIe-based G.Skill SSD was fast, OCZ has to e-mail me notifying me of its RevoDrive 350 PCIe SSDs in RAID 0 at Computex 2014 - pushing an incredible, bandwidth-crushing 3.8GB/sec!

Yes, 3800MB/sec. It's an insane number, something that had OCZ use "specialized cooling fans to keep the SSDs humming along smoothly, the demo system was able to reach staggering speeds of nearly 4,000 MB/second!". The OCZ RevoDrive 350 SSDs are available in 240GB, 480GB, and 960GB with up to 1.8GB/sec sequential read speeds and up to 1.7GB/sec on writes - so a single drive kicks some ass, but in RAID 0? Wowzers.

The medical industry is under increasing threat of cyberattacks, with hackers compromising patient records that can be sold on the black market. Medical identity theft amounted to 43 percent of identity theft cases, according to research released earlier this year, as security experts warn of sophisticated attacks.

"Although you can't stop criminals from attempting a cyberattack, you can take several steps to reduce your risk of having your personal information stolen, misused, or deleted," according to Experiant Health. "Start by using strong passwords, avoiding malware and viruses, and protecting yourself against scams and security breaches."

Experiant urges the following practices: don't use the same password for multiple accounts; passwords should not be dictionary words; install antivirus security software; scan all drives for viruses or malware; never email personal information; and be careful not to click on links or download attachments from unknown/suspicious contacts.

We've already entered the world of 8K gaming thanks to Crysis being hacked to run at the insanely high resolution, but now someone has taken a screenshot of Mass Effect 3 running at 8K, or 7680x4320.

7680x4320 sounds like a lot - and it is - it is 16 times the amount of pixels that Full HD pumps out at 1920x1080 - and nearly infinitely more than what next-gen consoles seem to be doing lately with their 792p or 900p gaming. Whatever game throws 8K at me, bring it - now we need some truly next-generation GPUs to drive these insane resolutions. I think we're edging close to a world where 8-12GB of VRAM will become the norm, and I for one, cannot wait.

A full gallery of Mass Effect 3 run at 8K can be viewed right here.

E3 2014 - Most gamers think the world of Skyrim is absolutely huge, but behind closed doors at E3 2014, Square Enix was showing off something much, much bigger, with what they're calling "Project Flare".

Project Flare is cloud gaming technology, which uses supercomputers as servers to produce gaming world's that simply aren't capable on consoles, or regular PCs. Square Enix said that what they were showing off to Polygon was "not representative of a final product," with the demo showing off a huge forested world that could be explored quite quickly from a bird's eye point of view, or much slower through the perspective of a little creature.

Square Enix said that the full world map shown off was 32 kilometers by 32 kilometers - a mind-blowing 17x the size of Skyrim. Better yet, none of this was being streamed into the computer, it was being fully rendered, in full detail, across the entire gigantic game world - this included over 600,000 trees, hundreds of packs of creatures, hills, mountains, and much more.

It is pretty obvious that the new GeForce GTX 880 will be faster than the GeForce GTX 780, but what is interesting, is that it will be both cheaper, and more power efficient - something nobody can complain about.

The news is slowly floating out that the 20nm-based Maxwell-powered GeForce GTX 880 will be faster, cheaper, and more power efficient - but that is only one GPU in a massive lineup of cards. We should expect the new high-end Maxwell-based 20nm GPU late this year, or early 2015. NVIDIA could be forced to reveal 28nm-based Maxwell GPUs, but right now there's no threat to force their hand.

If NVIDIA do release the Maxwell-based GeForce GTX 880 on the cheap, faster than what we have with the GTX 780, or even the GTX 780 Ti, at around 200W power consumption, it would really put the pressure on AMD. This only ends up being great for consumers, though.