Star Wars: Episode VII principal photography wraps in London

Ben Gourlay | Celebrities & Entertainment | Nov 3, 2014 4:40 PM CST

Over 11 years from the principal photography wrap of the last 'Star Wars' film 'Revenge of the Sith', filming is now complete on the as-yet untitled 'Episode VII', with director JJ Abrams and Lucasfilm head Kathleen Kennedy presenting cast and crew with a cap and a heartfelt thank you note.

Star Wars: Episode VII principal photography wraps in London

According to MTV News Lucasfilm held a well attended wrap party with key cast including veteran leads Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher and franchise newcomers JJ Abrams, Daisy Ridley, Andy Serkis and John Boyega all in attendance.

Episode VII now enters the post production editing phase, including the creation of mind blowing visual effects from the now Disney owned entity Industrial Light and Magic, along with music from veteran composer John Williams. The release date of December 18th 2015 is now a little over a year away, and we're counting down with equal parts glee and trepidation.

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Some Xbox One gamers having trouble downloading COD: Advanced Warfare

Michael Hatamoto | Gaming | Nov 3, 2014 1:30 PM CST

The public launch of Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare didn't go as well as some would have hoped, with an unknown number of Microsoft Xbox One gamers reporting problems with the digital download.

Here is what Microsoft said: "We've received reports that some users are having issues getting their pre-ordered copy of Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. We're happy to say that our team has fixed the problem, but if you are still experiencing any issues, delete the game and re-download it. Thanks for your patience while we got this issue worked out. Have fun!"

Interested gamers can download the Day Zero edition of Advanced Warfare for the Xbox One today, even if it wasn't pre-ordered. Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare officially launches on November 4 for the PC, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, and PlayStation 4.

Continue reading: Some Xbox One gamers having trouble downloading COD: Advanced Warfare (full post)

Samsung acquires Proximal Data for server-side caching software

Paul Alcorn | IT/Datacenter & Super Computing | Nov 3, 2014 8:25 AM CST

Samsung has formally announced their purchase of Proximal Data for their innovative server-side caching software. As enterprise SSD manufacturers continue to mature we have witnessed a string of acquisitions of various caching companies. Caching technology provides HDD capacity and the speed of flash, and also provide companies with a clear differentiator for their products. Samsung originally purchased NVELO in 2012, and their caching solution was quickly merged into Samsung's client offerings as RAPID caching technology.

Proximal Data is geared for virtualized environments. Their award-winning AutoCache software embeds I/O intelligence inside the hypervisor to cache hot I/O onto server-side flash. It's intelligent and selective caching removes the I/O bottleneck and improves VM density and efficiency. As with all caching software your mileage may vary, but typical AutoCache implementations sport 2x to 3x performance improvements.

Pairing easy-to-deploy software with leading hardware is key to attracting many of today's datacenter customers. Many administrators struggle with the best method to deploy cache, and value-added software offerings are becoming the deciding factor for many. Pairing AutoCache software with Samsung's high-performance SSD offerings, such as the XS1715 we tested recently, can provide transparent acceleration for virtualized environments. As always, jump over to our IT/Datacenter section to take a look at our recent competitive performance analysis of Samsung enterprise SSD products against their competitors.

Continue reading: Samsung acquires Proximal Data for server-side caching software (full post)

China develops anti-drone laser able to shoot down small drones

Michael Hatamoto | Drones | Nov 3, 2014 5:30 AM CST

Engineers in China successfully created a new laser weapon system capable of shooting down low-altitude light drones, able to lock on and engage a target within five seconds. The machine can engage "various small aircraft" and has a two-kilometer range against targets flying up to 112 mph.

The US Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) recently made flying drones near large sports stadiums and race tracks illegal, but trying to enforce the airspace restriction could be problematic. However, this new laser technology will allow the Chinese to better protect large venues.

"Intercepting such drones is usually the work of snipers and helicopters, but their success rate is not as high and mistakes with accuracy can result in unwanted damage," said Yi Jinsong, China Jiuyuan Hi-Tech Equipment manager.

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Amazon admits it got Fire smartphone pricing wrong at launch

The Amazon Fire smartphone was launched in July, and while it received a tremendous amount of hype, the phone fell completely flat. Amazon suffered a $170 million hit, mainly due to the Fire phone and associated supplier hardware costs, with the company also holding on to a whopping $83 million in unsold Fire units.

The 32GB model launched at $199, while the 64GB model originally cost $299 - typical pricing for new smartphone launches - but the company, which is well known for offering consumers cost-friendly prices, decided not to undercut Samsung, Apple, and other smartphone rivals.

Here is what David Limp, Amazon SVP of devices, recently noted in an interview: "I think people come to expect a great value, and we sort of mismatched expectations. We thought we had it right. But we're also willing to say, 'we missed.' And so we corrected."

Continue reading: Amazon admits it got Fire smartphone pricing wrong at launch (full post)

Jump into our '22 Jump Street' Blu-ray promo

Ben Gourlay | Contests & Giveaways | Nov 2, 2014 5:54 PM CST

Thanks to our friends at Universal Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Australia, we have copies of this weeks Blu-ray release of the hilarious comedy sequel '22 Jump Street' to give away to ten lucky readers.

Jump into our '22 Jump Street' Blu-ray promo

Having survived high school, twice, big changes are in store for undercover police officers Schmidt (Jonah Hill) and Jenko (Channing Tatum) when they infiltrate a local college on a drug bust. Tasked with finding the dealer of new drug, Whyphy, Schmidt and Jenko must pose as fresh faced college students to get in with the right crowd. The hilarious duo soon find themselves pulled in different directions when Jenko meets a kindred spirit on the football team and Schmidt falls into the bohemian art major scene. As they make new friends and explore new interests, the duo starts to question the future of their friendship. Not only do they have to crack the case and discover who the Whyphy dealer is before more students get hurt, they must also decide if their partnership has a future.

To go into the running to take one Blu-ray copy home, simply correctly answer the following question:

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EU practices cyberattack response ability during recent 24-hour event

Michael Hatamoto | Hacking, Security & Privacy | Nov 2, 2014 5:30 PM CST

Companies operating in the European Union (EU) recently held another round of cyberattack simulations, designed to help test cyberattack response ability. The European Network and Information Security Agency (ENISA) used white hat hackers to mock attack 200 companies located in 25 EU nations for a 24-hour period.

The Cyber Europe 2014 drill focused on financial institutions, security companies, government ministries, energy providers and Internet service providers (ISPs), with distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks, data exfiltration, and Web defacement attacks.

"The outcome of today's exercise will tell us where we stand and identify the next steps to take in order to keep improving," said Udo Helmbrecht, ENISA executive director.

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Consumers will determine the winner in mobile payments battle

Apple and other mobile payment providers are preparing for a long-term battle in the mobile payments sector, but it will ultimately be up to consumers to determine a winner. As additional retailers begin to embrace NFC-enabled mobile payments, their competitors will watch closely - and likely follow suit - offering the same type of payment services.

Mobile payments aren't new, but it appears Apple Pay and the Merchant Customer Exchange (MCX) CurrentC appear to be the two most serious competitors at the moment. As Apple Pay is available to a large number of US consumers, CurrentC - supported by Walmart, CVS, Rite Aid, and a collective group of more than 50 major retailers - will have to take a more creative marketing approach to win over consumers.

"This skirmish will go on for a while, but ultimately it seems shortsighted to tell customers that you can't use their competitor's alternative," said Creditcards.com analyst Matt Schulz. "The baseline really is the credit card. The process of using one is still very easy, so everything compares to that."

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Windows 8, 8.1 finally surpass 15% operating system market share

Michael Hatamoto | Software & Apps | Nov 2, 2014 12:29 AM CDT

Microsoft Windows 8.1 is finally beginning to pick up market share, increasing from 6.7 percent in September up to 10.9 percent market, according to Net Applications. The company has continued to try to convince users to leave behind older versions of Windows and upgrade to 8/8.1, but has struggled to entice users.

Due to the failure of Windows 8/8.1, Microsoft is fast tracking Windows 10 to be released in 2015 - listening to user feedback - as consumers were unhappy with 8/8.1. Windows 7 currently has 53.05 percent market share, as Vista continued its slide, down to 2.82 percent - and the unsupported Windows XP has dropped 6.69 percent down to 17.18 percent.

It seems many consumers are interested in waiting to see how Windows 10 operates before upgrading - and could be waiting to purchase new PCs and laptops.

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Star Citizen FPS mode detailed at PAX Australia 2014

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | Nov 2, 2014 12:02 AM CDT

PAX AU 2014 - Last night, Roberts Space Industries took the stage of the Forum Theatre in Melbourne to show off the FPS mode of Star Citizen. We found out that developer Illfonic has been tirelessly working on the first-person module of the game for quite a while now. We were at the event itself, watching the entire thing in awe. Check out the footage below.

What the video doesn't show you, is the little details that RSI and Illfonic have put into the game. Because you're in space, and on various spaceships, in the game you're wearing a suit. When you breathe, your breathe is hitting the visor and creating a fog. As you run, you will breathe faster, and more often, which results in the visor getting foggier and foggier - immersing you into the world of Star Citizen. From there, Chris Roberts explained that they've created "correctly simulated eyes, head & body", which allows a much more realistic portrayal of the game world to be achieved.

From there, it allows the first- and third-person animations to be unified. The team explained this by showing off switching between first- and third-person modes, which was seamless, as the eyes were being rendered in the same place. So instead of the eyes being a camera or window into the game world, and then the third-person view being a wider, but more far away look into the world, it's completely unified. It provides a much more realistic sense of being there, as your eyes and where they're fixated, becoming your focal point.

Continue reading: Star Citizen FPS mode detailed at PAX Australia 2014 (full post)