With the Harry Potter book series franchise finished and the last 'Hobbit' movie being released later this year, Warner Bros have been keen to develop their next multi-film franchise, previously announcing that a trilogy feature film adaptation of author J.K. Rowling's 2001 'Harry Potter' spin-off 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them' was on the way.

While the studio initially courted 'Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban' and 'Gravity' director Alfonso Cuarón, who turned them down, The Hollywood Reporter is sending word that the studio has selected director David Yates, who helmed four of the eight 'Potter' films, including the final two parts 'The Deathly Hallows', to steer the course. Yates is seen as a steady hand by the studio, a trusted figure by author J.K. Rowling (who is also penning the scripts) and by the franchises legions of fans.

The book, which is based on Newt Scamander, the author on one of Harry's textbooks, is set approximately 70 years before the events of the 'Harry Potter' series.

It looks like Microsoft could unveil its new version of Windows as previously reported, with Windows 9 to be unveiled at a special media event on September 30, according to The Verge.

We should see this event have Microsoft unleash a preview version of the OS, codenamed Threshold. Windows 9 will deliver an evolution of Microsoft's ever-changing desktop OS, where we'll see a new Start Menu, virtual desktops, the removal of the Charms bar, and much more. We should also see Microsoft include its digital assistant Cortana, but we don't know if this will make it into the preview build or not.

Microsoft and Opera Software have teamed up so Nokia's Xpress browser will be replaced by Opera Mini on Microsoft's struggling line of feature phones. The deal is focused on the Series 30+, Series 40 and Ashwa software platforms, and Opera Mini is currently used by about 250 million users - including 100 million Google Android users.

As more Internet users, especially in emerging markets, relying on phones to access the Internet, ensuring Opera Mini is on as many devices as possible makes sense. Meanwhile, Microsoft's feature phones and Windows Phone-powered smartphones struggle against Apple and Google - but this is still a strong partnership for Opera.

"This is a great opportunity to spread the benefits of Opera Mini to millions more consumers in our core markets," said Lars Boilesen, Opera Software CEO, in a press statement. "There are still massive numbers of people who have not moved to smartphones, but Opera Mini can provide them with an amazing browsing experience right now."

U.S. universities face a bigger threat of security data breaches than the retail and healthcare sectors, according to a recent study published by BitSight. As the school year begins again, hackers are preparing to target universities once again, the report said.

Using data based on major athletic conferences, including the Pacific-12, Big 10, Big 12, Southeastern Conference, Atlantic Coast Conference and Ivy League from July 2013 to June 2014, all divisions saw a drop in cybersecurity performance.

"From Social Security and credit card numbers to health records and intellectual property produced by research departments, colleges and universities house a vast amount of sensitive data," said Stephen Boyer, BitSight co-founder and CTO, in a statement to FierceCIO. "While not surprising given the unique challenges universities face securing open campus networks, it's concerning to see that they are rating so far below other industries that we've seen plagued by recent security problems."

Acer today announced its Chromebox CXI line of PCs for low-budget consumers, designed for education, small to medium businesses and budget-conscious users.

The system is powered by an Intel Celeron 2957U dual-core 1.4GHz CPU, 16GB solid state drive, 2GB or 4GB RAM, and should boot in just 8 seconds. Chromebox CXI also includes 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi, Gigabit Ethernet and Bluetooth 4.0, one HDMI port, combination audio jack for microphones and headsets.

"The Acer Chromebook CXI is an excellent fit for schools and any other institution or business where conserving costs and space are high priorities," said Simon Hwang, Acer President of Stationary Computing and Display Business Group, in a press statement. "Due to the ease of management, the Chromebox can significantly reduce technical support and consequently lower the total cost of ownership."

An interesting new game has jumped onto Kickstarter, with Sienna Storm having Sheldon Pacotti, who wrote the first two Deus Ex games. Sienna Storm puts you in "The Game", with the game being espionage. Sienna Storm will feature "stunning hand-drawn environments let the action span the globe" with "2D animations bring to life infiltrations, evasions, fights, and also other influential characters as you mark targets, meet assets, go black or drop heat".

The gameplay of Sienna Storm sounds intriguing, where it is a departure from the games we know and love today. The Kickstarter page for Sienna Storm explains the gameplay: "Sienna Storm is a unique interactive comic-style video game. Every scene is a hand drawn, animated work of art and there are multiple actions points the player may select to progress the game. Dialogues are rich and non-linear, and choices you make throughout the game not only have consequences, but also influence your standings with certain characters and involved parties".

The page continues: "There is a fair amount of challenges to resolve such as combat, hacking computers, and tailing an enemies. When you enter these challenges, you play a short strategic card game using a customizable deck. At the start of each card match, you can modify your deck to best suit the situation, even adding in new cards you've earned over the course of the game. This allows you to pick a strategy - trickery, gadgetry, or straight-up violence - that works best for the mission and your personal play style. But watch out! The matches are dynamic and based on the story, so you never know what new enemies, old allies, or dramatic plot twists are in the cards to keep you on your toes!"

It wasn't even a month ago that Star Citizen had reached its $48 million funding goal, but now it hasn't just broken through $50 million, but it is half way through $51 million sitting at $21,523,485 at the time of writing.

The $50 million milestone unlocked Alien Languages, which will see Star Citizen gamers enjoying alien languages in the game. RSI explains: "Do you speak Banu? We will work with real-world linguists to create distinctive and realistic alien languages for Star Citizen's three biggest alien races, the Vanduul, the Xi'An and the Banu. No universal translators, no garbled animal noises: Star Citizen's aliens will be speaking their own authentic languages!"

When Star Citizen hit $51 million, it saw the Web-based Known Universe Map unlocked, which is "The platform web team priority will be shifted to making the Known Universe Map available." The $52 million goal will be hit without a problem, where we'll see "The BB-12 is a brand new Manned Maneuvering Unit from Azure Sky Aero. Whether you are engaging in precision mining operations or delicate salvage retrieval, the BB-12 is capable of EVA operation for six uninterrupted hours. This new model features twenty-four precision nozzle thrusters and two redesigned heavy-duty tanks of gaseous nitrogen propellant, capable of being hot-swapped while on the drift or refueled back on the ship. With the BB-12, Azure Sky has once again cemented their place as the premier EVA tech provider."

NVIDIA's new Tegra K1-powered Shield tablet is now available in the select markets, with the company announcing that it has unveiled new Tegra K1-exclusive effects to two of Valve's most popular titles: Half-Life 2 and Portal.

These new Tegra K1-exclusive effects bring the mobile versions of the game to be "just as visually rich as the full PC editions of the game". NVIDIA says that these new effects include "render-to-texture shadows, bump mapping, specular highlights, motion blur, and higher-quality texture filtering".

Both of the new Tegra K1-powered titles are optimized to play well on the new Shield tablet, thanks to its optional ultra-low-latency Wi-Fi Direct Shield wireless controller.

During an event in New York City overnight, Sharp unveiled its new Aquos Crystal smartphone, which will hit Sprint and its pre-paid Boost Mobile and Virgin Mobile brands. It's a mid-range smartphone with some slightly redeeming features, such as its barely there bezel.

The Sharp Aquos Crystal has a 5-inch 1280x720 - or 720p - display, with barely any bezels at the top and sides. Inside, we have a 1.2GHz quad-core processor, 1.5GB of RAM, 8GB of flash storage, and a 2040mAh battery. On the back and front we have an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera, and 1.2-megapixel camera up front. For the software side of things, we have Android 4.4.2 KitKat.

Sharp has also provided Harman's LiveStage, which "adds dimension to the sound" according to Android Central, who went hands-on with the device in NYC. There's also Clari-Fi technology which "improves digital sound quality by restoring all types of compressed digital music". If you want to get your hands-on the Sharp Aquos Crystal, it'll cost you $0 down on a 24-month contract of $10 on Sprint Easy Pay. Virgin Mobile and Boost Mobile will be offering the smartphone for $149.99 plus tax.

With only nine months on the market, Sony has sold over 10 million PlayStation 4 consoles - a number that is far beyond most people's predictions on Sony's fourth-generation console. Sony's Worldwide Studios for Sony Computer Entertainment Inc., Shuhei Yoshida, sat down with Eurogamer for a chat, where he had some interesting things to say.

Yoshida was asked about the 10 million PS4s sold milestone, where he said: "The 10m sell through in the first nine months is well beyond what we had hoped for. As you know, we have struggled to keep up with demand of PS4 for so many months. It was hard to find and purchase PS4. Now we are able to supply units so in every territory I believe you can find PS4. So we just managed to catch up with demand".

"It's just beyond our imagination. We are so happy. But I for one am a bit nervous because we do not completely understand what's happening. You need to understand why your products are selling well so you can plan for the future, right? It defied the conventional thinking. Lots of people thought the dedicated game hardware might not be needed going forward, but still lots of people are very excited. When you see the new games coming out and being announced this E3 and Gamescom, I think there's a good enough reason for a gamer to believe this is something worth investing in."