CEO that raised the price on AIDS medicine wishes he charged more

Anthony Garreffa | Business, Financial & Legal | Dec 7, 2015 8:27 AM CST

It wasn't too long ago when Turing Pharmaceuticals' CEO cranked up the price on off-patent drug Daraprim, mostly used for people with AIDS and cancer, by a huge 5000%. Now, Martin Shkreli has said he wishes he raised it higher.

Shkreli said: "I could have raised it higher and made more profits for our shareholders, which is my primary duty". During the Thanksgiving holiday, Turing released a press release saying the company had seen the error in its ways, and would be reducing the cost of Daraprim. But, it won't be doing that at all. Turing has said it will offer hospitals a 50% discount on the medicine (still up 2500%).

This is where it gets worse, with Shkreli adding: "My shareholders expect me to make the most profit. That's the ugly, dirty truth. I'm going to maximize profits. That's what people [in healthcare] are afraid to say".

Continue reading: CEO that raised the price on AIDS medicine wishes he charged more (full post)

Tetsuya Nomura confirms Final Fantasy VII Remake is multi-volume

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Dec 7, 2015 6:31 AM CST

At this year's PlayStation Experience, Sony and Square Enix ignited a firestorm of hype, anticipation and excitement by showcasing the first-ever gameplay footage of the Final Fantasy VII Remake. The trailer created an explosion of activity on Twitter and Facebook, with millions of gamers ahh-ing in unison, making for a kind of universal celebration across the collective gaming world. However, a new development may extinguish that rampant hype-storm, and ensure gamers have to wait quite a bit before the game is released in its entirety.

Tetsuya Nomura confirms Final Fantasy VII Remake is multi-volume

Square Enix's own Tetsuya Nomura and Yoshinori Kitase confirm that Final Fantasy VII Remake will be split into multiple games rather than a final release. "If we tried to stuff the whole game into one release, some part of the game would have to appear as digests. We'd have to remove some contents from the game, and it would be difficult to add more to the game. Considering that a full remake of the original game must be achieved, we have decided to split the game into episodes," said Tetsuya Nomura in an interview with Famitsu.

"From the beginning, we have considered it impossible to remake FF7 into one single game," adds Square Enix's Yoshinori Kitase. "Taking the No.8 street shown in the video this time, even just this is already highly dense. If we are to remake the content of the original version at that quality, it would have been impossible to do with a single release."

Continue reading: Tetsuya Nomura confirms Final Fantasy VII Remake is multi-volume (full post)

VR market will be worth $70 billion by 2020 according to TrendForce

According to research firm TrendForce, the VR market will be worth a huge $70 billion by 2020, a market that includes both the VR hardware, and software.

TrendForce said that VR hardware will be worth around $20 billion by 2020, but the software side of things is where the money will be made, with an estimated $50 billion by the end of the decade. TrendForce expects to see VR generate around $6.7 billion of revenue in 2016, with most of it coming from the sales of VR headsets, like the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive.

The research firm's wearable device analyst, Jason Tsai, said: "These explosive growth projections actually do not sufficiently reflect just how hot the VR industry is right now. The figures do not include the value of non-commercial uses of VR technology. For example, the industry is currently pushing the development of free software and do-it-yourself apps. While these projects do not immediately generate revenue for the developers, they have a vital role in the promotion market growth and innovations".

Continue reading: VR market will be worth $70 billion by 2020 according to TrendForce (full post)

Infinity is a not-for-profit modular laptop and tablet for education

Chris Smith | Computer Systems | Dec 7, 2015 3:31 AM CST

Designed through not-for-profit organization 'One Education' by CEO Rangan Srikhanta and his staff, this brand new product is called the Infinity and it's a modular laptop (or tablet) designed for educational purposes.

Infinity is a not-for-profit modular laptop and tablet for education

Aimed at school-aged children, you can find Infinity on IndieGoGo, aiming to reach an overall goal of $50,000. Currently sitting at $18,452 funded thanks to 76 backers with 33 days remaining, a donation of $269 will earn one of these products for yourself.

Set up primarily as an educational tool, Srikhanta has allowed people to purchase a "Give One, Get One" pack, charging $499 for users to receive a device themselves while donating the other to a needy child. Running on Linux, Windows or Android, you can pick one up for yourself or a child in need here.

Continue reading: Infinity is a not-for-profit modular laptop and tablet for education (full post)

Sony offering new $99.99 yearly plan for PlayStation Now

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | Dec 7, 2015 2:25 AM CST

Sony has just announced an unlimited streaming plan over 12 months for PlayStation Now, which is "less than half of what a subscriber would pay in month-to-month subscription fees alone", reports Polygon.

The company announced the new plans at its PlayStation Experience event, with the new plan going on sale on Tuesday. Up until now, PlayStation Now has cost $19.99 per month or $44.99 for three months, so this new plan allows for a yearly subscription at a reduced cost. Sony adds that the annual subscription is a limited-time offer, but didn't state when the offer would expire.

PlayStation Now has been available since May on all PlayStation platforms, with the 2015 model Blu-ray player from Sony in the US, and select smart TV models from the company in the US and Canada. We suggest if you want to jump on this, you do it now, as the deal could stop at any time.

Continue reading: Sony offering new $99.99 yearly plan for PlayStation Now (full post)

Intel's Skylake processors bending under pressure from some coolers

Anthony Garreffa | CPU, APU & Chipsets | Dec 7, 2015 1:18 AM CST

It seems as though Intel is in some trouble with its new Skylake processors, like the new Core i7-6700K, with reports that they're bending under pressure from third-party CPU coolers.

Some CPU coolers are putting too much pressure on the Skylake-based CPUs and the socket on the motherboard, causing damage. The problem begins when shipping or moving a PC, as well as other general shocks and movement - putting pressure on the mount point, bending the CPU. This can cause the pins on the motherboard to be damaged, which as you can imagine, is not good at all.

Intel talked with Tom's Hardware, confirming that their Skylake processors are thinner than previous designs, adding that they are looking into the issue as we speak. Cooler Master reached out to us today, saying: "Cooler Master has been at the forefront of Cooling Technology since its inception. With the Cooler Master designed heat-sink technology in your coolers, you are getting the best standards of thermal cooler in the world. Every cooler we ship meets Cooler Master's highest standards for providing incredible performance, regardless of the design or model".

Continue reading: Intel's Skylake processors bending under pressure from some coolers (full post)

Porsche's all-electric 'Mission E' vehicle will be here before 2020

Anthony Garreffa | Electric Vehicles & Cars | Dec 7, 2015 12:24 AM CST

Tesla gets all the headlines when it comes to electric vehicles, but Porsche will soon be competing in the all-electric vehicle race with its forthcoming Mission E sedan.

Porsche showed off the four-door Mission E concept vehicle in September, saying that the all-electric vehicle would have the equivalent of 600 horsepower. This will provide the Mission E car with 0-60 mph times of under 3.5 seconds, with a range of more than 310 miles. At these specs, Porsche's Mission E car will be slower than Telsa's more-than-impressive Model S P85D, which is rated at 762 horsepower - enough power to usher in 0-60 mph in less than 2.8 seconds (with Ludicrous mode enabled).

Mission E will feature an 800-volt charger that will charge up the all-electric vehicle to 80% charge in only 15 minutes. This is impressive, considering Tesla's vehicle takes nearly twice as long to get to 80%. Porsche also promises to build its lithium-ion battery pack into the floor of the car, just like Tesla does. Porsche's chairman of the executive board, Oliver Blume, says that the Mission E is the beginning of a new chapter in the history of the sports car. We should expect the first vehicles to roll off the production line before 2020.

Continue reading: Porsche's all-electric 'Mission E' vehicle will be here before 2020 (full post)

Asetek demands suspension of sales of AMD's Radeon R9 Fury X

Anthony Garreffa | Business, Financial & Legal | Dec 6, 2015 10:32 PM CST

It looks like AMD will be hitting a brick wall with the sales of its Radeon R9 Fury X, as Asetek has sent both AMD and GIGABYTE cease and desist letters over the watercooling on their video cards. GIGABYTE's GTX 980 Waterforce cards are also set to see sales stopped.

Asetek has been in a long battle with Cooler Master, a legal battle which kicked off in 2014. Asetek said that it had won an injunction against Cooler Master over patent infringement claims that went to court late last year. Fast forward to now, GamersNexus received the following statement from Asetek: "Asetek's attorneys have recently sent cease and desist letters to GIGABYTE, demanding that it cease selling Giga-Byte's GEFORCE GTX 980 Water Force (sold under at least model number GV-N980WAOC-4GD) because it contains the Seidon 120M found by the court to infringe Asetek's patents".

Asetek continued: "Asetek's attorneys have also written a cease and desist letter to AMD, demanding that it stop selling its Radeon R9 Fury X product, because it infringes Asetek's patents. Our attorneys have had some difficulty obtaining a GIGABYTE GV-N98TXTREME W-6GD, but we expect to receive and analyze one very soon for infringement".

Continue reading: Asetek demands suspension of sales of AMD's Radeon R9 Fury X (full post)

100 Foot Robot Golf looks great, is another PlayStation VR exclusive

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | Dec 6, 2015 8:22 PM CST

We've just heard that Ace Combat 7 will be a PlayStation VR exclusive, but there was an announcement trailer for something quite unique at PlayStation Experience; 100 Foot Robot Golf.

100 Foot Robot Golf looks great, is another PlayStation VR exclusive

Yeah, it's a thing. 100 Foot Robot Golf has PlayStation VR gamers stepping into the cockpit of a massive mech, and well... playing golf. It looks crazy as hell, but you know what? This is the type of stuff I want to see on VR headsets - games and experiences you simply can't get anywhere else.

The one thing I have to criticize are the graphics, which look somewhere between PS2 and PS3 level, which I'm guessing is because the PS4 isn't capable of rendering 1080p+ at 90FPS for PlayStation VR...

Continue reading: 100 Foot Robot Golf looks great, is another PlayStation VR exclusive (full post)

Rise of the Tomb Raider DLC includes new outfits for Lara, and more

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | Dec 6, 2015 4:49 PM CST

While Rise of the Tomb Raider is a timed exclusive for the Xbox One for now, we're hearing more details on the DLC that will roll out for the Xbox 360 and Xbox One versions of the game throughout 2016.

Major Nelson posted some details on the DLC coming soon for Rise of the Tomb Raider, with the first DLC pack dropping on December 29. Endurance Mode will be the first DLC, where Lara must "scrounge, scavenge, craft and survive the harsh elements by day, as well as lethal threats from enemies, both man and beast, by night. This is her ultimate woman-versus-wild test to push the limits of how long she can survive on her own in sprawling, unforgiving landscapes. Fire takes fuel, cold kills the unprepared, food restores health, but everything must be caught, collected, or crafted. You start with nothing and must find everything. Challenge friends to your longest survival run and battle to the top of the leaderboards for the title of Ultimate Survivor. Includes a new outfit and weapon".

The other modes, we'll detail below:

Continue reading: Rise of the Tomb Raider DLC includes new outfits for Lara, and more (full post)