Potential US president Rand Paul unveils his "NSA spy cam blocker"

Anthony Garreffa | Hacking, Security & Privacy | Apr 8, 2015 3:12 AM CDT

Senator Rand Paul has announced that he is intending to run for the position of the President of the United States in 2016, but the video of his announcement has been removed from YouTube because it contained a song that had a copyright claim filed on it.

Between now and then, Rand supporters can get behind the Senator with the usual yard signs, bumper stickers and more, but he has something that has never been seen before: an "NSA spy cam blocker". The NSA spy cam blocker is a $15 device with a huge "RAND" logo on it, with the listing on it explaining it as "That little front-facing camera on your laptop or tablet can be a window for the world to see you-whether you know it or not!"

The NSA spy cam blocker is 1.5mm thick, and is "made with high-grade plastic" and is designed for anything with a front-facing camera on it such as a laptop, smart TV and Xbox Kinect. It sports a plastic slider that will block the camera from working on your laptop for example, and then when you need it back, you slide the NSA spy cam blocker to the right to use your webcam once again.

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CD Projekt Red tease 30 hours of new content for The Witcher 3

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | Apr 8, 2015 12:17 AM CDT

We only reported on Sunday that CD Projekt Red were going to provide an insane 200 hours plus worth of content in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, but now we're hearing about some future DLC that will add over 30 hours of more adventures for gamers.

CD Projekt Red has started talking about two new expansions, with the first, Hearts of Stone, dropping in October. Hearts of Stone will see players traversing the wilds of No Man's Land, as well as the city of Oxenfurt in order to secure a contract from Man of Glass. The second expansion, Blood and Wine, will be released in Q1 2016. Blood and Wine will see a new in-game region for the game called Toussaint, which the developer explains as "a land untainted by war, where an atmosphere of carefree indulgence and knightly ritual masks an ancient, bloody secret".

The studio will be offering gamers an Expansion Pass for $24.99, which will include all DLC, but these two expansions can be purchased separately for $9.99 and $19.99 for the Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine, respectively. If you were to buy The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and the Expansion Pass together, it will cost $84.99 for the Xbox One and PS4, while PC gamers save $5, costing $79.99.

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LG teases f1.8 aperture on the G4 smartphone in a new video

LG is set to unveil the G4 smartphone to the world at its media event on April 28, but before then the South Korean electronics giant has teased us to "See the Great and Feel the Great" with a new video, below.

As you can see, the G4 is set to feature a new rear-facing shooter with an f1.8 aperture, but we don't know how many megapixels it will rock. We're sure that we can expect a 16-megapixel rear-facing camera at a minimum, and as for the display we are expecting a 5.5-inch QHD 2560x1440 panel, and a six-core Snapdragon 808 processor from Qualcomm.

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Deus Ex: Mankind Divided details leak, headed to Xbox One, PS4 and PC

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | Apr 7, 2015 7:35 PM CDT

Details on the sequel to Deus Ex: Human Revolution have been released, with Square Enix preparing Deus Ex: Mankind Divided for the Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC.

Russian website Kanobu is reporting on the new title, with the site reporting that Deus Ex: Mankind Divided will have Adam Jensen continue his path in the series, where he will have new augmentations and new technology to play with. Screenshots from the game are shaping up absolutely beautifully, so let's hope that we don't get a massively watered down version of the game once it gets closer to release.

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided reportedly takes place two years after the events of Human Revolution, where Jensen is now a part of an Interpol-backed team that hunts down augmented terrorists. We should expect a full reveal on April 8 at 9am PT.

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Netflix updates its Terms of Use, can terminate accounts that use VPNs

Anthony Garreffa | Internet & Websites | Apr 7, 2015 7:03 PM CDT

With Netflix making a very big splash Down Under, launching in Australia and New Zealand recently, it shouldn't come as a big surprise that the streaming content giant has updated its Terms of Use, adding that the use of a VPN could have your account terminated.

Redder user 'CrypticCraig' posted to /r/technology with Article 6C of Netflix's new Terms of Use, which states: "You may view a movie or TV show through the Netflix service primarily within the country in which you have established your account and only in geographic locations where we offer our service and have licensed such movie or TV show. The content that may be available to watch will vary by geographic location. Netflix will use technologies to verify your geographic location".

It continues, with Article 6H, stating: "We may terminate or restrict your use of our service, without compensation or notice if you are, or if we suspect that you are (i) in violation of any of these Terms of Use or (ii) engaged in illegal or improper use of the service". So there you have it in black and white, Netflix can and will terminate your account if you are in violation of these Terms of Use (using a VPN in short).

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South Korea is on track to produce graphene-based products by 2017

Anthony Garreffa | Business, Financial & Legal | Apr 7, 2015 1:48 AM CDT

The South Korean government has said that the country will begin producing and selling products using graphene by as early as 2017, making it one of the first countries in the world to commercialize the exciting new advanced material.

Graphene, is as thin as an atom and when spread out onto a sheet of carbon, can transmit electric currents up to 1 million times faster than current conductors like copper. Additionally, it has twice the strength of diamonds. Graphene-based products will include flexible display panels and touchscreen panels. South Korea has been at the forefront of graphene research, with the company hoping to become one of the world's first nations to commercialize graphene production, with research starting 10 years ago. The "government named six consortia made up of 45 private firms and research institutes in 2013 to develop related technologies", reports The Korea Times.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said in a press release: "The country believes it can create a new global market for graphene under its leadership as the country has developed leading technologies through over 10 years of research while it also has enough demand for the material in the mobile phone, display and secondary cell battery sectors".

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Stanford's aluminum-based battery charges up in just 1 minute

Scientists at Stanford University have come up with what could be the future of battery technology, with an early prototype using aluminum capable of charging up in just one minute.

The aluminum-based battery is also safe from the worries of catching fire, somethign that plagues the current lithium-ion batteries. Stanford chemistry professor Dai Hongjie explains: "Our new battery won't catch fire, even if you drill through it". Previous attempts to use aluminum in batteries failed after just 100 recharge cycles, but Stanford's new prototype is capable of over 7500 recharges without any capacity loss.

Right now, the aluminum-ion cell can only pump out 2V, which is far less than the lithium-ion and its 3.6V. Aluminum cells also only carry 40W of electricity per kilogram, versus lithium-ion which is capable of delivering 100-206W per kilogram. Dai added: "Improving the cathode material could eventually increase the voltage and energy density. Otherwise, our battery has everything else you'd dream that a battery should have: inexpensive electrodes, good safety, high-speed charging, flexibility and long cycle life. I see this as a new battery in its early days. It's quite exciting".

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The government has control of your naughty selfies, Snowden says

Chris Smith | Hacking, Security & Privacy | Apr 7, 2015 12:26 AM CDT

In a discussion on Last Week Tonight, Edward Snowden told comedian John Oliver about how we can think about the governments surveillance of citizens in a more relatable manner.

It is often discussed that the general population isn't up in arms about breaches of sensitive data as they can't closely relate with exactly whats going on. In an attempt to educate some, Oliver took a new approach as spotted on News.com.au.

Talking to Americans on the street, Oliver showed us that there was quite a number of people who weren't exactly sure who Snowden was - often confusing him for Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. He then asked how people would feel if their naughty 'nudes' were available for the taking.

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3D printing lets surgeons test practice before giving girl new face

3D printing is helping push the boundaries of modern surgery, allowing surgeons and other medical practitioners to work on more accurate models before live operations. Violet Pietrok, a two-year-old born with a rare cleft deformity, is undergoing a series of operations in large part because of 3D printing.

Trying to make precision cuts in the skull, which would be extremely close to the optic nerve, has serious consequences - but doctors were able to practice on a 3D model first. The firsthand experience gave them a better idea of sawblade trajectory - and to better understand how they would be able to make the cuts.

"We were actually able to do the procedure before going into the operating room," said Dr. John Meara, plastic surgeon-in-chief at Boston Children's Hospital, in a statement to CBC. "So we made the cuts in the model, made the bony movements that we would be making in Violet's case and we identified some issues that we modified prior to going into the operating room, which saves time and means that you're not making some of these critical decisions in the operating room."

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Angry Joe quits covering Nintendo over his flagged YouTube videos

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | Apr 6, 2015 10:31 PM CDT

One of the biggest YouTubers, Joe "Angry Joe" Vargas, has said he has stopped covering Nintendo games after the Japanese gaming giant started a dispute with him over his Mario Party 10 video.

Angry Joe's video on Mario Party 10 was flagged by YouTube, which led to him tweeting what you see below. After that, Angry Joe went on a tirade against Nintendo (and rightly so). His Twitter feed is a rage-filled rant against Nintendo and their policies, with most of the gaming community seeming to be behind him.

The bigger reason behidn this is that Nintendo seems to want revenues from videos shared by users - launching their own Creators Program earlier this year. This allowed YouTubers to release videos about Nintendo games, as long as Nintendo was given some of that sweet, sweet revenue. But, not every game is in this program, with Mario Party 10 being one of them.

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