Storage company Seagate has unveiled the Seagate Personal Cloud and Seagate Personal Cloud 2-Bay storage solutions for consumers to be able to enjoy content at home, in the office, and via mobile devices. The drives also can be used as central backup for PCs, Apple OS X machines, USB flash drives, Apple iOS, and Google Android mobile devices.

The storage solutions can stream to the Sony PlayStation 3 or PlayStation 4, Microsoft Xbox 360 or Xbox One, and other DLNA-based devices. It'll be possible to auto-backup to Amazon S3, DropBox, Google Drive, Box, Baidu, HiDrive and Yandex.Disk, according to Seagate.

The Seagate Personal Cloud will begin shipping later this month, with 3TB, 4TB, and 5TB storage capacities available. The Seagate Personal Cloud 2-Bay will launch with 4TB, 6TB and 8TB capacities. Pricing details weren't made available.

Xiaomi, the No. 3 global smartphone manufacturer, saw its sales triple in 2014, racking up more than 61.1 million units sold in 2014. It's impressive growth from 18.7 million units in 2013, as the company continues to expand outside of China - with a focus on India, Russia, and other markets.

Sales also doubled year-over-year, up to $11.97 billion, as the company continues to prove it may have what it takes to put pressure on Samsung and Apple. Although the company has focused on selling cost-friendly devices - with no specific rush to enter the United States or UK - there are plenty of first-time smartphone owners the company is able to cater to.

"In 2015, the smart devices playing field will become extremely competitive, especially as the growth of the smartphone industry in mainland China slows down," said Lei Jun, Xiaomi founder and chief executive, in a blog post.

The Internet of Things (IoT) has a large amount of momentum to start 2015, with 65 percent of American consumers reportedly moderately or extremely interested in adopting some type of smart home product, according to the Internet of Things Consortium (IoTC). There is great potential for manufacturers to sell these products to consumers, with 54 percent of consumers saying word-of-mouth is the largest consumer factor.

It is now up to manufacturers to make affordable, easy-to-use solutions, along with creating proper security protocols to keep customers safe. Constant connectivity could be a great asset, but not if customer data and privacy are at risk.

"This survey highlights that IoT is moving towards mass adoption, but that industry leaders must make their connected home solutions intuitive, simple and cost-effective to put into play," said Nate Williams, CMO of Greenwave Systems, in a press release. "Consumers don't really care how they manage their smart devices, but they want a frictionless experience - ideally with a solution that someone else installs for free - that saves them money and improves their quality of life over the long-term."

If you're looking for an excuse to bludge your way through the new working year, you just cannot wait until the launch of the new Star Wars film or you're a big space fanatic - NASA has just released their new "NASA's Eyes" application - created by NASA themselves, allowing users to explore the galaxy and view information collected by Kepler, Hubble and Spitzer.

If download sizes are a concern, the whole package amounts only to 28.5mb, also including self-updating capabilities the ensure you're always kept up-to-date with the latest findings and information.

NASA also provide a bunch of video tutorials to get you going, alongside a handy "demo" mode - which sets out to rescue any idle PC by zooming between Earth, satellites, telescopes and the Kepler stars.

Intel has given Vuzix a $24.8 million investment, as the hardware manufacturer wants to help Vuzix possibly create fashion-based wearable glasses. Vuzix will use the Intel cash investment to accelerate fashion-based wearable display products directly to the consumer market, as Google Glass seemingly fell flat.

Intel missed the boat on smartphones and tablets, but is interested in making sure it has a major presence in the wearables market. The Silicon Valley company has already created a partnership with Opening Ceremony to create a wearable smart bracelet, catering to a higher-end market.

Meanwhile, Vuzix has had success in wearable development - and the enterprise market seems most appealing to manufacturers - but with Google Glass unable to appeal to most consumers, Vuzix has a unique opportunity to use Intel's investment to invade the market.

Sony Pictures received a lot of public criticism, from the Obama Administration and the public, for its decision to pull "The Interview" from theaters ahead of its Christmas release. The company decided to push ahead and release the movie in a smaller number of theaters, while heavily pushing online rentals and sales.

There are now questions as to whether movie studios should begin offering movies directly to the Internet from day one - while also screening movies in theaters. It's not going to be an overnight change, as movie theaters still help produce increased revenue per viewer than online rentals or sales, industry figures indicate. However, this could help spur interest in movies from viewers that otherwise wouldn't go through the trouble of seeing a movie in theater.

"The floodgates are now open for digital distribution," said Roger Kay, technology analyst and founder of Endpoint Technologies Associates, in a statement published by the San Francisco Chronicle. "Yes, these were special circumstances, but they allowed the world to see there's no reason not to stream on day one. I think it will change movie distribution ever."

CES 2015 - If you're still searching for a GeForce GTX 970 card, Zotac will be showing their new AMP! Extreme and AMP! Edition models in Las Vegas very soon at CES 2015.

Quoted as "designed for enthusiast gamers" in their recent press release, these two new graphics additions to the Zotac family will be focused around extended features and performance capabilities.

ZOTAC will be displaying these cards in an SLI configuration, showcasing their stellar 4K gaming capabilities to the public. One system each will be displaying their AMP! Edition and AMP! Extreme Edition cards.

Acer are looking to please the gamer with their recently announced release of the XB270HU and XG270HU gaming monitors.

Their XB270HU model is claimed as the world's first NVIDIA G-SYNC gaming monitor equipped with IPS technology, with Acer's XG270HU being quoted as "the world's first gaming monitor with an edge-to-edge frameless display" as according to their newly issued press release.

Both of these models feature WQHD, 2560 x 1440 resolution coupled with a speedy 144hz refresh rate - said to massively improve and enhance in-game performance and feel. The XB270HU will provide a large 178-degree viewing angle all held up by its multi-functional ErgoStand - enabling the user to tilt, swivel and adjust the screen to their optimal position.

CES 2015 - SteelSeries will be showcasing their new Sentry eye tracker at CES 2015 in Las Vegas and streaming the action live via Twitch TV. This new technology sets out to improve a users game play in any popular competitive or eSports title, helping them track their eye movements and analyze the results or see through the eyes of their favorite professional gamer.

SteelSeries' CEO, Ehtisham Rabbani, commented in their recently issued press release, saying that "today, with our Sentry Eye Tracker, we are announcing an entirely new way for streamers and viewers to see the game. This is just the tip of the innovation iceberg for Sentry, and we could not be more excited to realize all the possibilities that emerge when your game knows where your eyes are looking." This eye tracking technology has been made in partnership with Tobii Technology. Their president, Oscar Werner is reportedly quite excited about the project, stating that "eye tracking also provides an entirely new way for streamers and eSports competitors to entertain their audiences and use their eye tracking data to train and enhance their gaming strategy/ We are thrilled to partner with SteelSeries to realize the impact our eye tracking technology can have across different audiences throughout the video game industry."

Claimed as "the future of streaming", the Sentry will enable viewers to view the game through the eyes of the streamer, giving the fans an insight into the gamers though process, map awareness and other extremely important aspects when learning to master a game. The Sentry will also enable for out-of-game analysis of results, pointing out different screen fixation points and how often they complete crucial tasks like glancing at the mini-map.

Password length, complication and changes are something that many companies, news outlets and IT whizz-kids often drum into the general consumer. One of the best ways to prevent yourself falling victim to your 'general hacker' is to keep your passwords fresh, long and complicated.

iDict is a basic password-guesser that has just been pushed to GitHub. Containing a list of 500 passwords in its library, it will try to guess your accounts password based solely upon the list it has at hand. If your password looks anything like those of this list, we suggest you change them immediately for all services and never look back.

These types of simple passwords are often seen in the 'most popular password lists', with password1 or 12345 often ranking quite highly.