Don't rule out a return from Crash Bandicoot, says SCEI chief

Tamlin Magee | Gaming | Jul 15, 2014 7:30 PM CDT

Woah! Old PlayStation staple and Naughty Dog retiree Crash Bandicoot could well make a comeback, Sony Computer Entertainment's CEO Andrew House has said.

Speaking with Britain's Telegraph newspaper, House remarked that not only is it too soon to be closing the door on old friends like Bandicoot, but that the company has actively been thinking about the possibilities of bringing the character back, along with other franchises such as Spyro. "In concept, it is something we've been thinking about and discussing, and this is a shift for us," House said. "We've started to say that maybe there isn't anything wrong with going back and looking at characters that people still talk about, that were a big part of either their childhood or their youth. I definitely wouldn't close the door on that."

When Crash Bandicoot made his debut on the original PlayStation he was touted as Sony's answer to Nintendo's iconic Mario. And although he may not be quite that level of legendary - Bandicoot spurred platformer after popular platformer along with some well received spinoffs, like karting game Crash Tag Team Racing. As House says, it's certainly a bit of a shift for Sony to be considering such a resurgence, but we're sure fans new and old would welcome back the marsupial.

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AMD rumored to have 1GHz core clock on the next-gen Radeon R9 390X

Anthony Garreffa | Video Cards & GPUs | Jul 15, 2014 6:57 PM CDT

We know it's coming, but we don't know what exactly to expect. AMD is preparing its mammoth new GPU, which will be a huge 500sq.mm+ GPU, something that will arrive into our hands as the Radeon R9 390X.

AMD's new Radeon R9 390X is being designed by Synapse Design, a company that recently announced new GPU tapeouts - including two 28HPM silicons. The first is the massive 500sq.mm+, which will be as powerful as 20nm SoC technology, which should end up being the new R9 390X. The R9 390X should have a core clock of over 1GHz, but will unfortunately not feature High Bandwidth Memory, or HBM.

We should begin to hear more on the new GPUs as time goes by - but if these rumors are correct, the Radeon R9 390X is shaping up to be a beast.

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Via launches VIA Viega, an Android-powered rugged tablet

VIA has launched its 10.1" Viega tablet, designed for business and enterprise users that need a durable tablet for use out in the field. Mobility is increasingly important for many businesses, but trying to take an Apple iPad or Samsung Galaxy Tab, for example, is risky business in factories, on job sites, and other locations where it could be damaged.

The tablet features a 1.2GHz dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 chip, 1GB DDR3 DRAM, Mali-400 DP GPU, and 16GB eMMC flash that powers a 10.1" LED blacklit screen. The tablet also has a micro SIM and micro SD card slot, 2 USB micro USB ports, 1 micro HDMI-output, along with an optional 2-megapixel front and 5-megapixel rear camera. The tablet runs Google Android 4.2, and can be customized based on customer needs. VIA also included Wi-Fi, 3G, GPS, Bluetooth 4.0 and NFC connectivity support for its Viega tablet.

"As more and more enterprises seek to increase productivity and improve customer service by equipping their staff with mobile devices, they are quickly learning that it is critically important to deploy customized solutions built to withstand the demands of their target environments rather than standard off-the-shelf products," said Epan Wu, VIA Embedded Platform Division head, in a statement. "With its rugged design, enhanced security features, and customization support, the VIA Viega addresses this need and provides the longevity support that enterprise level customers require."

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Orbital Sciences Cygnus spacecraft heads to ISS with supplies

Shane McGlaun | Science, Space, Health & Robotics | Jul 15, 2014 10:06 AM CDT

Typically, when we talk about missions to the ISS to resupply the crew aboard the space station, we are talking about SpaceX. The other company that has a contract in the US to resupply the ISS is Orbital Sciences, and it has just launched its third mission to the ISS.

Orbital put its Cygnus unmanned spacecraft into orbit yesterday with a cargo hold packed with supplies for the space station. Among the supplies aboard the spacecraft was food, science gear, and mini satellites. Cygnus launched and was successfully put into the required orbit to link up with the ISS after a "perfect" launch. Orbital has one more resupply mission set for this year with three to take place in 2015.

"Today's mission was the fourth successful launch of Antares in the past 15 months and the third deployment of Cygnus in less than year," said David W. Thompson, Orbital's president and CEO. "So far, our second operational CRS mission is off to a great start with Cygnus operating exactly as anticipated at this early stage of the mission. We are very pleased to be a reliable partner with NASA to meet their need for reliable, regularly scheduled cargo resupply for the ISS."

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Chromebooks outpace OS X and Windows in commercial sales

Shane McGlaun | Computer Systems | Jul 15, 2014 6:01 AM CDT

The Chromebook may not be putting a massive dent in the consumer market when it comes to outselling OS X and Windows machines to the public, but in the business and education market Chromebooks are growing massively. In the three weeks that ended on June 7, Chromebooks were a solid 40% of all computers sold in the commercial realm.

Commercial sales include sales to businesses, schools, governments, and other organizations. Beating out Mac and Windows machines in the education environment is a big deal as that is a very coveted market for all manufacturers. The reason so much weight is placed on educational sales is that when you get users when they are young, they are more likely to stick with a platform forever.

"Chrome's unit strength ahead of this year's education buying season shows how it has become a legitimate third platform alongside Windows and Mac OS X and iOS," Stephen Baker, NPD vice president of industry analysis, says. "The next test for Chrome will clearly be the most difficult, as both Apple and Microsoft get more aggressive in pricing and deal making over the next few months", Baker says. "By the end of the third quarter we will have a much clearer picture of the long-term impact Chromebooks will have in the commercial channel".

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Ferrari designer creates luxury train for Japan Rail East

Shane McGlaun | Business, Politics & Money | Jul 15, 2014 5:24 AM CDT

Many people get around by train all around the world, but Japan has some of the coolest trains in the world. The Japanese bullet trains can streak down the rails at very high speeds cutting transit times significantly. A Japanese rail service called Japan Rail East has had a Ferrari designer create a very cool luxury train.

The designer creating the sleek train is Ken Okuyama and the design is called the Cruise Titan and is set to go into service in the spring of 2017. The train will hold 34 passengers and is to feature ten carriages with five suites inside. One of the suites will be a deluxe unit and the train will feature two glass walled observation cars, a dining car, and a lounge.

The train will have an observation car in the front to allow the passengers to see down the tracks in front of the train. All of the suites will have a shower and toilet with space for four people to sleep. Cruise Titan will be able to operate on electric and non-electric rails.

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PC hardware market valued at over $21.5 billion, what consoles?

Anthony Garreffa | Business, Financial & Legal | Jul 15, 2014 4:30 AM CDT

Jon Peddie Research, or JPR, has a new report out that sees the PC hardware market valued at a huge $21.5 billion. This figure is over twice the amount of the console gaming market, which should see people finally seeing that the PC market is just as, if not more important than the console market.

JPR Senior Analyst Ted Pollak said: "We continue to see a shift in casual console customers moving to mobile. While this is also occurring in the lower-end PC gaming world, more money is being directed to mid- and high-range builds and upgrades by gamers". Pollak continued, saying that PC gamers simply aren't interested in gaming consoles, something he calls "pure content consumption platforms".

He added that PC gamers have no problems paying thousands of dollars for "the ability to play games at very high settings" while also having the ability to do other desktop tasks, such as content creation and video editing "with maximum horsepower at their disposal in a desktop ergonomic environment".

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Rift DK2 customer tries to sell his VR headset on eBay for $5,000

A US-based Oculus Rift DK2 pre-order customer had attempted to sell his Rift DK2 unit (once he received it) on eBay for $5,000 - but once the VR community saw what was going on, they contacted Oculus VR which swiftly cancelled this order.

This person claims to have made his pre-order on the morning that Oculus VR announced the Rift DK2 unit, and is based in Laguna Beach. He went to eBay to sell his pre-order for some $5,000 - but was shut down within hours. 'cyberreality' on the Oculus VR forums, who is the Community Manager for the Facebook-owned VR start up, said posted in the Oculus VR forums: "Don't worry guys. We found him and cancelled his order".

The forum exploded with praise from future Rift DK2 owners with posts such as "This was literally the highlight of my afternoon" from 'racerx2', and "AWESOME!! Thank you!" from the thread starter, 'kingzope'.

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Hacker involved in $14 million theft pleads guilty to bank fraud

Michael Hatamoto | Hacking, Security & Privacy | Jul 14, 2014 7:36 PM CDT

Qendrim Dobruna, 27, has pleaded guilty to bank fraud in a case stemming back to 2011, and could face up to 30 years in prison. Operating under the names "cL0sEd" and "cL0z," he played a part in an operation that lasted 48 hours and led to $14 million stolen - with criminals withdrawing the funds via ATMs in 20 different countries.

Dobruna initially decided to plead not guilty, but thought better of it before changing his plea to guilty - and will serve at least nine years. Dobruna and his accomplices chose to defraud "JPMorgan Chase, and to obtain moneys, funds, credits and other property owned by, and under the custody and control of said financial institution, by means of materially false and fraudulent pretenses, representations and promises," according to the federal government's indictment.

It took a growing number of cybercrime-related cases before the federal government jumped into action - but criminals conducting fraud and theft on a large scale are increasingly being targeted by police and federal agencies.

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Scientists patent a new flexible nano-pixel bendable screen technology

Scientists were able to invent a nano-pixel ultra high definition. The researchers at the Oxford University were able to achieve this by using a very small layer of a phase-change material which also allows you to be bend while maintains thousandths of a millimetre thickness.

Phase change materials are used for heat management purposes, and is used in rewritable DVDs. The layer is kept between two transparent electrodes and were able to produce pixels are as small as 300 nanometers which is smaller than the width of a human hair.This technology and has a lot of usefulness especially for wearable technology that benefits from foldable or flexible screens while having minimum thickness, such as smart contact lenses.

This implementation will still time take to appear as ready-to-use products. As of now, they aren't able to use it to display movable pictures but it is able to produce different colour changes. Professor Harish Bhaskaran explained,"The cool part about this is that the functional part is very thin. Because of that you could actually have displays that are non-intrusive, because you can keep the electronics far away."

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