Christopher Butler has taken to Kickstarter to fund his own version of Half-Life 3, as "Valve seems set on not re-creating a Half-Life 3" but then he adds that he and his fellow developers are "looking to steal the market for this ourselves".

Butler was asking for just $2500 or so for the development of the game, as he has "a small team of 6 people including myself". Butler said on the Kickstarter page for Half-Life 3 that "we all have our own funds in order to keep ourselves paid for the duration of the project, the main ask for pledges is literally just to keep up to date with the latest software and maintenance in a project such as this".

Butler claimed to have worked for both EA and Valve in the last ten years, admitting that he hadn't approached Valve about making the game. He added that he hoped to have a playable alpha build of the game for backers to play within 10 months. Butler was quick to pull the project from Kickstarter, with it now all but gone.

IBM thinks that the days of silicon are numbered, as it spends $3 billion over the next five years on finding ways to create the future generations of microprocessors. Senior VP of IBM Systems & Technology Group, Tom Rosamilia, says: "We really do see the clock ticking on silicon".

Right now, IBM's very latest silicon components are baked onto a 22nm process, but the company is looking five years into the future where parts will become so small that it will be hard to maintain a reliable on and off state. Rosamilia adds: "As we get into the 7 nanometer timeframe, things really begin to taper off".

This has IBM looking at new ways of making components work, funding this new set of research. The company has faith in an alternative to silicon, something known as carbon nanotubes. The concept of this technology still needs considerable work if it hopes to see the fabrication of carbon nanotube-based processors as an alternative to silicon. Another route that IBM could go into is silicon nanophotonics, which uses light instead of electrical signals to blast data around the chip.

It looks like Edward Snowden might not be the only NSA whistleblower according to Glenn Greenwald, with the tease coming from Greenwald who tweeted over the weekend that the fact of a second US whistleblower "seems clear at this point".

Greenwald believes there is a second US whistleblower that is leaking information about the NSA to media around the world. Greenwald added: "The lack of sourcing to Snowden on this & that last article seems petty telling". The tweet was made after a German site published an analysis of the NSA's XKEYSCORE code, which doesn't seem to have some from Snowden.

It was only after this that speculation of a second US whistleblower began, with experts agreeing that it looks like Snowden isn't alone. ARD, a German public broadcaster, said in a report last week that the NSA is using its XKEYSCORE program to track Internet users who search the web on how to stay hidden when on the Internet. Greenwald added: "I've long thought one of the most significant and enduring consequences of Snowden's successful whistleblowing will be that he will inspire other leakers to come forward".

Microsoft hasn't even had its Xbox One on the market for over 12 months yet, but that shouldn't stop you from thinking the company isn't thinking ahead for its true, proper next-gen console. The company is looking for a new Industrial Designer for its Xbox team.

The company has posted an ad looking for a new Industrial Designer, with their responsibility being: "The Xbox Industrial Design studio is building a world class in house team. We love entertainment. We live for building transformative entertainment experiences that resonate with consumers. We are looking for passionate designers who want to help us create next generation entertainment hardware for Microsoft".

I think we're going to see a new console from Microsoft much quicker than previously thought, something I hope replaces the Xbox One as a proper next-gen console capable of at a bare minimum, 4K at 60FPS. This will pave the way for Microsoft to allow VR headsets like the Oculus Rift to work with it, as VR requires serious horsepower. The Xbox One has seen most of its games rendered at 720p, with most of the frame rates on 'next-gen' games locked at, or around 30FPS. This isn't really any better than the Xbox 360, and if the Xbox One is going to be here for another five years or so, it's simply not good enough.

The German government remains upset that the NSA snooped on German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other government leaders, requesting the top U.S. intelligence official in Germany to leave the country. It was an unexpected move by the German government, as the CIA official works at the U.S. embassy in Berlin - as parliamentary inquiries continue in Germany.

The German government wants to speak with Snowden, but the American turned down an in-person meeting that would have taken place in Russia. Even if German investigators are unable to chat with Snowden in the near future, there are obvious political tensions between Germany and the United States at the moment.

"The representative of the U.S. intelligence services as the Embassy of the United States of America has been requested to leave Germany," said Steffen Seibert, a Germany government spokesperson, in a statement. "The Federal Government takes these incidents very seriously. It remains vital for Germany, in the interest of the security of its citizens and its forces abroad, to cooperate closely and trustfully with western partners, in particular with the USA. To do so, however, mutual trust and openness are necessary. The Federal Government continues to be ready for this and expects the same from its closest partners."

Automakers like GM and Ford have been recalling thousands and thousands of vehicles around the world for issues that pose a safety hazard to drivers. Motorcycle maker Harley Davidson has now issued a recall on certain motorcycles in the 2014 model year.

The recall covers 66,421 Touring and CVO Touring motorcycles that have anti-lock brakes. Harley is warning riders of these bikes that the front wheel can lock up without warning. The issue has caused five known accidents with two minor injuries reported.

The front wheel lockup happens when the brake line is pinched between the fuel tank and frame. That pinch increases the pressure of fluid in the lines and locks up the front wheel. The fix Harley will offer is to replace brake lines and add straps to hold the lines in place.

A man named Ryan W Simonetti and two of his coworkers were in Washington DC recently where they hailed an Uber ride via the app. When the trio walked up to the Uber car, they noticed a DC Taxi inspector talking to the driver of the Uber car. As the inspector walked off, Simonetti says the Uber driver just drove off.

The inspector turned on his lights and started to follow the Uber car according to Simonetti. The passenger told the driver the cop was following him and the Uber driver allegedly responded, "He's not a real cop." The driver then ran a red light and proceeded to drive above the speed limit. Simonetti said it was like an episode of cops.

The driver allegedly told the passengers he couldn't stop and let them out because he would get a $2,000 fine. "It was insane," Simonetti said. "I physically tried to force his leg to hit the brake. I ripped off his pant leg ... I said, 'Here's two options. You take this exit, or I'm going to knock the side of your head in. If we crash, we crash, but you're gonna kill us anyway.'" The driver eventually let them out of the car and continued to flee authorities. The matter is under investigation by law enforcement and Uber.

Bell LAbs, which is a division of Alcatel-Lucent, is claiming to have "set a new broadband speed record of 10Gbps using traditional copper telephone lines". This was achieved in a research project that could see gigabit broadband speeds delivered to normal broadband networks with copper, by combining fiber.

These 10Gbps speeds can only be achieved at 30 meters (or 100 feet), and at 70m (or 230 feet) the top speeds drop to 1Gbps. Alcatel-Lucent has said that bidirectional 1Gbps speeds can be achieved in the real-world over networks that deliver fiber to the curbside, and rely on copper for the final few feet of the connection.

Alcatel-Lucent said: "When it becomes commercially available in 2015, G.fast will use a frequency range for data transmission of 106MHz, giving broadband speeds up to 500Mbps over a distance of 100 meters. In contrast, XG-FAST uses an increased frequency range up to 500MHz to achieve higher speeds but over shorter distances. Bell Labs achieved 1Gbps symmetrical over 70 meters on a single copper pair. 10Gbps was achieved over a distance of 30 meters by using two pairs of lines (a technique known as 'bonding'). Both tests used standard copper cable provided by a European operator".

TSMC is reportedly increasing the development of its upcoming 10nm process so that it can better prepare itself against Samsung, which has reportedly received an order from Qualcomm to build 14nm FinFET chips, reports DigiTimes.

DigiTimes writes: "TSMC and Samsung are currently competing fiercely in the development of FinFET process, with the Korea-based foundry house utilizing a 14nm process and TSMC a 16nm node. Both the 14nm and 16nm processes are scheduled to enter volume production in early 2015". TSMC has been at the forefront of FinFET development, with plans to begin producing 16nm FinFET chips in Q4 2014.

DigiTimes' sources have said that TSMC has rescheduled its commercial production for the 16nm FinFET process, pushing forward with the more advanced 16nm FinFET Plus process. This process will consume less power, and shrink die sizes even more. TSMC is running scared at the moment, as it didn't anticipate Samsung to develop its 14nm process so quickly, so now the Taiwanese company is accelerating its development of the 10nm process, to continue staying out ahead of its competitors.

A young Chinese couple has sold their two sons to child traffickers, all so they could fund their gaming habits. The couple sold their two sons on two separate occasions, to fund the purchase of in-game items such as armor, and weapons.

During an interview with Guangdong TV from a local detention center, the couple said that their first child wasn't planned. The father, A Hui, said that he had no intention of financially supporting the child, so they sold him to Fujian-based child traffickers. His partner, A Mei, fell pregnant again, where he explained: "[A Hui] likes buying items in online games, and he likes staying out all night at internet cafes".

This meant that most of their finances were being funneled into A Hui's gaming life, so it meant the second child couldn't be supported. They then sold him to traffickers. The traffickers in China sell children to couples who want to be parents, street gangs and street peddlers, and even to orphanages where they put them up for adoption overseas. A Hui's father was aware of what was going on, and in the end reported the couple to the police. The two were arrested, and are now awaiting trial and sentencing for the crime of selling children.