The current marketplace for mobile apps is maturing and usage is mellowing, according to a survey from the Gartner research group.

Users are integrating apps more deeply into their lives, but it's now becoming more difficult for app providers to try to stay one step ahead. App creators must focus on development, marketing and branding as even more apps seem to hit the market for smartphone and tablet users.

"It's not that smartphone users have lost interest in apps, users remain excited about what apps can do for them in their daily lives, including for work and nonwork app scenarios," said Brian Blau, research director at Gartner. "However, app users need to be convinced about the value of the app. Their willingness for new app experiences is open-ended, but their plan is to keep their same patterns of use. Users will try new apps, but they need to be convinced of an app's value before they adopt them and change use patterns over the long term."

The GreatFire free-speech group says the Chinese government is using its incredible Internet infrastructure to launch cyberattacks. Many national governments are modernizing their cyberattack capabilities, and China is notorious for targeting political opponents.

GreatFire itself suffered a major distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack, and now GitHub and other companies are facing sophisticated cyberattacks. Not surprisingly, the Chinese government didn't respond to GreatFire accusations, though officials previously accused the group of being "anti-China."

If true, this is a new strategy from the Chinese government, which has been long suspected of organized cyberespionage. "The last couple months, we've seen a real sea change in Chinese Internet policy, where they've become more assertive about blocking Western sites and pushing back on their citizens' ability to access information from outside the country," said James Lewis, senior fellow of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Although this video is currently sitting at 10.6 million views, many technology and 3D-printing enthusiasts still haven't discovered or thought about the possibilities ranging around developing weapons out of their newly-found printing machines.

VICE talked to Cody R Wilson two years ago and looked at his life surrounding 3D-printing of weapons conducted out of his own home. This 25 year old Texas law student lists himself as an advocate for 3D-printed weapons with this documentary covering the making and firing of a real-life 3d-printed rifle.

Are you against 3D-printed weaponry of some or all kinds, or is it something you encourage and support? Let us know in the comments below or on our Facebook page.

Researchers from Check Point Software Technologies in Israel have found a surprising computer spying operation that "likely" originated from a government agency or political group operating inside of Lebanon.

The spy software, once installed via hijacked public websites, could steal personal and corporate information from victims.

"They are not 'script kiddies,'" said Shahar Tal, a researcher at Check Point Software Technologies, in a statement published by Reuters. "But we have to say in terms of technical advancement, this is not NSA-grade. They are not replacing hard drive firmware."

Smartphone company HTC wants to continue its expansion away from just smartphone hardware, and the Vive head-mounted display (HMD) is an important next step. Partnering with Valve gives HTC the chance to build trust among hardcore gamers, and the experiment will begin soon. Vive is expected to be released before the end of 2015.

The room scale experience, full-room virtual reality, is something that HTC and Valve hope is great for gamers.

"We look at it similar to the way we looked at smartphones in the late 90s - as really, the future," said Jason Mackenzie, president of HTC America, when speaking of the HTC Vive. "Gaming is where it will start. Plenty of application for that right away. As soon as you experience it, you will see how it can change the world of education, travel, real estate. There are so many different vehicles."

Digital game developers are being enticed to head across the pond and set up shop in the UK, with millions of dollars in possible tax breaks. Up to an estimated £115 million ($171 million) could be at stake over the next four years, though the government hasn't set a tax break cap yet.

To qualify for the tax break, however, developers will be required to take a "cultural test," in an effort to verify they are creating games directed to Europe. Games in the English language, made by European developers, in-game locations in Europe, or with characters with European influence, will earn more points of the test.

"I remember when people were first talking to me about this," said Jason Kingsley, chairman of the London-based game industry group Tiga, in a statement published by the Wall Street Journal. "They were saying, 'Are we going to have tons of games based on double-decker buses and people with bowler hats?" The answer is no. But you could have games like that, and they would probably qualify very easily."

It's getting more difficult to identify and track terror groups online, with the Dark Web and file encryption proving effective.

It's up to tech companies to think about the supposed damage facing police agencies and federal investigators, said Rob Wainwright, director of Europol, while speaking to 5 Live Investigates. Using forms of encrypted communications helps terrorists avoid detection while corresponding with one another.

"With the right resources and cooperation between the security agencies and technology companies, alongside a clear legal framework for that cooperation, we can ensure both national security and economic security are upheld," said a spokesperson with TechUK, a UK technology trade organization.

VR is a hot topic right now, with Impression Pi hitting Kickstarter with a funding goal of $78,000 and bursting through it in just four days. At the time of writing, they have $145,000 raised with 37 more days to go.

Impression Pi sees a slew of technologies built into the VR headset, with the mobile VR HMD featuring 3D gesture input, position tracking and AR overlays. It features custom-designed sensing hardware, computing unit and advanced algorithms. The 3D gesture control side of things collects the image of your hands and their movement, and generates 3D gesture modelling. From there, you have full gesture control for mobile VR devices.

The position tracking will see the Impression Pi using "unique techniques" designed to track your head position, inside-out. The AR overlay will use its dual camera module to capture everything around you, overlaying this with VR images and virtual objects. This includes collision detection capabilities, and a warning-based obstacle system when it detects objects in the real environment.

Samsung has launched its Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge smartphones, but its fellow South Korean rival has been hiding in the shadows with its forthcoming G4 smartphone.

We're beginning to hear more about the G4, which should feature the Snapdragon 808 processor instead of the Snapdragon 810 according to some leaked Geekbench results. The G4 should rock a 5.5-inch 2560x1440 display, 3GB of RAM, a 4K-capable rear-facing 15-megapixel camera, with a 7-megapixel front-facing camera.

The big news is here is the change from the Snapdragon 810 from previous rumors, to the 8-core Snapdragon 808 processor. This should be partnered up with Qualcomm's Adreno 418 GPU.

Google has released an updated version of Gmail for Android that includes a new "All Inboxes" option which does exactly what it sounds like; offers all of your inboxes in one spot.

Even if you have inboxes from Outlook or Yahoo, Gmail for Android will display them, and you'll be able to read and reply to each e-mail, without swapping tabs or logging out. The Mountain View-based search giant has also teased that e-mail threads from external accounts will now be displayed with the same threaded conversation format that internal Gmail e-mails use.

The new integrated accounts will also make use of the improved autocomplete function, larger attachment previews and one-touch saves to your Google Drive account.