Sunday 31 July 2016

CEO Secrets: Reddit boss shares three tips for success

Steve Huffman, co-founder and chief executive of Reddit, offers the business advice he wishes he had been given before he started out, for the BBC News series CEO Secrets.

Game on: A history of computer games

An exhibition at the Science Museum looks at the history of computer games.

Saturday 30 July 2016

Square Enix’s new RPG comes to the Apple Watch

Cosmos Rings Because if someone builds a screen, Square Enix is going to bring an RPG to it – no matter how small or seemingly difficult such a proposition might ultimately be. Cosmos Rings is the gaming company’s first crack at the prohibitive form factor – and it’s an exclusive no less. The title utilizes an accompanying iPhone app, but users need Apple’s wearable to play.… Read More

Pokémon Go’s paying user base has reached a plateau

pokemon go Pokémon Go may be the most downloaded app in its first week post-launch ever, and is said to be raking in some $1.6 million daily on iOS alone, but a new report out on Friday suggests that the popular game’s paying user base may have already shrunk. According to data from Slice Intelligence, the app’s paying users peaked mid-July when the game had 56 percent more paying players… Read More

Microsoft awards hardware startup ENTy the 2016 Imagine Cup

ENTy-pose The festivities have wrapped for Microsoft’s Imagine Cup, a global competition among students and young people to create new software and devices. The winner this year was ENTy, a polished and highly practical hardware solution for tracking posture, helping with diagnosis and possibly treatment of diseases that affect balance. Read More

Friday 29 July 2016

Minecraft support for Oculus Rift is finally almost here

1 Oculus Minecraft After months of teasing, Microsoft is finally almost ready to give Minecraft Windows 10 Edition Beta users a taste of VR. In a blog post celebrating the first anniversary of Minecraft Windows 10 Edition Beta, Microsoft announced that support for the Oculus Rift will be coming “in the next few weeks” as a free update to existing users. People who want to get in on the action have… Read More

Oculus launch-exclusive Adr1ft nows lets you get lost in space on HTC Vive

ADR1FT Screenshot 01 I’m going to put this right up front: Adr1ft isn’t for the weak of stomach. The virtual reality free-floating space survival sim left me a tad queasy, and I’m somewhere in the middle of the VR sickness sensitive spectrum. But for those looking to boldly barf where only Oculus Rift owners have barfed before, Adr1ft is launching on HTC Vive today. Even if you might feel a… Read More

Twitter will stream its first eSports competition, starting today

_0008_26193_040_3318 It’s no Twitch, but Twitter this weekend will live stream its first eSports competition on its service, thanks to a partnership with Eleague. Twitter will provide live coverage of the organization’s semifinals and championship held today and tomorrow in Atlanta, where teams will be playing Valve’s “Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Game.” The first… Read More

PlayStation VR play area requirements detailed, seated play recommended

LOS ANGELES, CA - JUNE 14:  Attendees participate in VR virtual reality demos during E3 Electronic Entertainment Expo 2016 at Los Angeles Convention Center on June 14, 2016 in Los Angeles, California.  (Photo by Daniel Boczarski/WireImage) PlaySTation VR is set to arrive on October 13, but a new official pamphlet being distributed by the company (via Polygon) sheds some light on what players can expect in terms of space requirements and gameplay style. The document shows that the idea space is about 6′ x 10′ big, with the player seated roughly in the middle, facing the PlayStation Camera at the long end. HTC… Read More

Pets left hungry as smart feeder breaks

Owners of smart pet-feeding device Petnet are told to "feed their pets manually" after a server problem stopped the device from working.

Thursday 28 July 2016

Dunkers competes with one million downloads in its first week

dunkersgif Dunkers, a new game by Colin Lane (known for Wrassling and other fun sporty games), has racked up 1 million downloads since it was released last week. The success in large part is thanks to heavy featuring from Apple; it has been featured more than 150 times worldwide. Currently in iTunes, it sits at No. 1 sports app, No. 4 sports game, No. 8 free game and No. 34 free app overall. The game… Read More

Toy-maker designs £15 VR headset in deal with Google

A toy-maker from the West Midlands has signed a deal with Google to design and manufacture a low-priced cardboard virtual reality headset which works with smartphones.

Technology explained: What is the internet of things?

Jane Wakefield explains what the so-called internet of things is all about.

Facebook profits beat expectations

Facebook announces another exceptional quarter of growth, with profit climbing 186% from this time last year.

Samsung profits boosted by smartphone sales

Strong smartphone sales help Samsung Electronics post its best quarterly results in more than two years.

Democrat hack: Who is Guccifer 2.0?

A lone hacker is claiming responsibility for the hack on the US Democratic Party but is that person to be believed?

Pokemon Go: Player claims to have caught all UK characters

A Pokemon Go player claims to have become the first to catch all the characters available in the UK.

Wednesday 27 July 2016

Real trainers don’t Pokemon Go without a little Willow in their pocket

willow-app After a storied history making Poke balls, Saffron City tech firm Silph Company recently started trying its hand at software. Inspired by Pokemon Go’s popularity, its latest app Willow aims to hep trainers enjoying Niantic’s location-based hit to be the very best, like no one ever was. Willow is an app that wants to provide trainers with a competitive edge by making sure… Read More

Councils demand reassurance on universal broadband pledge

Councils urge the government to "reaffirm its commitment" to a minimum broadband speed to stop thousands falling into a "digital twilight zone".

Twitter reports slowest revenue growth since 2013

Twitter has reported its slowest quarterly sales growth in three years, as the company fends off competition from a growing number of social media sites.

Apple sees iPhone sales drop again but beats forecasts

Apple reports a second consecutive quarter of falling iPhone sales, but the 15% drop was not as bad as analysts had feared.

Osram Lightify light bulbs 'vulnerable to hack'

Security researchers discover nine vulnerabilities in a range of internet-connected light bulbs made by Osram.

Tech groups told Europe funds 'on pause'

Tech companies express concern over the current freeze on allocating crucial European funding in the wake of the Brexit vote.

Tuesday 26 July 2016

Investors realize Nintendo didn’t develop Pokémon Go and shares plummet

Nintendo Nintendo’s shares plunged after the company said late Friday that the worldwide success of Pokémon Go will not significantly impact its financial results. Nothing Nintendo disclosed about the ownership of the game was new information, but markets were shocked anyway. The stock sank 18 percent to 23,220 yen at the close in Tokyo, the maximum one-day move allowed by the exchange,… Read More

Pokémon Go estimated at over 75M downloads worldwide

This photo illustration taken in Tokyo on July 13, 2016 shows the Pokemon official site through a Japanese internet website announcing the latest information for "Pokémon GO".
With Pokemon-mania sweeping the planet, Nintendo's nascent shift into mobile gaming has proved a massive hit, vindicating the Japanese videogame giant's decision to unshackle itself from a long-standing consoles-only policy.         (Photo: KAZUHIRO NOGI/AFP/Getty Images) Pokémon Go has already earned one official record — most downloads on the App Store in a launch week ever. But it’s going to break a lot more records still: app analytics firm Sensor Tower estimates that it hit 50 million downloads on Google Play alone over the weekend, another record, and overall the company says that PoGo has racked up more than 75 million installs across iOS… Read More

Mobile gaming company Scopely raises $55M

The Walking Dead Road to Survival - PVPCombat Scopely is announcing that it has raised a $55 million Series B round of funding. The Los Angeles-based company has built tools for promoting and monetizing mobile games — some of those games are developed in-house, others are created by outside studios. “The vision is creating the most premium experiences on people’s phones across a network of developers,” co-founder… Read More

Nintendo NX said to be a portable console with removable controllers and a TV dock

Image (3) nintendobooth-001-1973.jpg for post 322806 Nintendo’s upcoming NX console is slowly taking shape, but a new report provides a lot more specificity than we’ve seen in the past, claiming the still-secret gaming hardware is actually primarily a portable console – albeit with some modular features that could make it more versatile than most handhelds. According to new info from Eurogamer, the NX core system will be a… Read More

Vault-Tec Workshop gives Fallout 4 players their own Vault to toy with

Screen Shot 2016-07-26 at 12.12.21 PM Fallout 4, I can’t quit you. At least, not while Bethesda continues adding content, like today’s launch of the Vault-Tec Workshop add-on. The $4.99 DLC brings players on Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC the ability to create their own Values, stock it with furniture and fill it with residents to mislead and mistreat. For those unfamiliar with the series, Vaults in Fallout are… Read More

Monday 25 July 2016

Pokemon Go to get more Pokemon, trading, and customizable PokeStops

ANKARA, TURKEY - JULY 13 :  A Pokemon Go user plays Pokemon GO game in Ankara, Turkey on July 13, 2016.  (Photo by Erçin Top/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images) Pokemon players will eventually be able to fill out their collections via trades, which is very good news for people eyeing region-specific Pokemon like Australia’s Kangaskhan from the other side of the world. Niantic CEO John Hanke revealed at a San Diego Comic Con panel that Niantic is indeed working on adding trading (and new training features) to their game, as well as… Read More

Sunday 24 July 2016

Tinder launches group dates feature

Tinder now allows groups of friends to meet up - a feature one expert says risks turning it into an "orgy app".

More misery for BT broadband users after new power cut

BT and Plusnet users were unable to access some websites again, after problems with the service yesterday.

Japan 'to stop making VCR machines'

The last videocassette recorder (VCR) in Japan is to be produced by the end of the month, according to the Nikkei newspaper.

Saturday 23 July 2016

Pokémon Go is doing a lot of good, here are 3 surprising ways

shutterstock_450883366 “What are they doing?” That was the question an older woman, probably around 70 or so, asked me yesterday. She was pointing to a group of 18-ish boys and girls near a YMCA, the biggest (and, so far, only) Pokestop in the city where I live. Without exception, the teens were all staring at their smartphones. “They’re playing Pokémon Go,” I replied. The lady… Read More

Dots & Co. tweaks the Dots games by adding a friendly companion

dotsandco Dots & Co., the follow-up to the popular puzzle games Dots and Two Dots, launched on iOS and Android earlier this week. If reading about the new game isn’t enough for you, you can watch me try it out in the video above. In many ways, Dots & Co. should feel pretty familiar to fans of the previous games. Your goal is to clear as many dots as you can by connecting dots of the… Read More

Friday 22 July 2016

R.I.P. VHS

VHS has come unspooled. It's been taped over. The screen has filled with static, then gone blank.

Pirate sites are 'affecting dance music in a bad way'

Pirate Download Stores imitate legal sites and fool people into thinking subscription fees are paid to the industry.

Children make 3D-printed boot for penguin and other news

BBC Click's Lara Lewington looks at some of the best of the week's technology news

Pokemon: Detective Pikachu live action movie confirmed

A live action Pokemon movie is to begin production in 2017, Legendary Entertainment has confirmed.

Desktop banking use falls, as users switch to apps

The use of internet banking on a computer has fallen for the first time, as users switch to mobile apps, according to the banking industry.

US man jailed over bitcoin fraud scheme

A Texan man has been sentenced to 18 months in jail for running a fraudulent Ponzi-style scheme based around the Bitcoin virtual currency.

Pokemon Go finally launches in Japan

Nintendo's Pokemon Go is now available for players in Japan, the birthplace of the little monsters, says game developer Niantic Labs.

Players probe Elite game space mystery

Elite Dangerous gamers are working feverishly to decipher a puzzle uncovered by one player of the space simulation.

Thursday 21 July 2016

Meet Dots & Co, the latest game in the Dots series

dotsco Dots, the gaming studio that brought you ultra-successful time sinks Dots and Two Dots, is today releasing Dots & Co. Dots & Co is very familiar for folks who have played Dots and Two Dots, yet it puts a greater focus on characters you meet along the way, each of which has a different ability that will help you solve puzzles. There are over 15 different game mechanics within Dots &… Read More

Nintendo NX could bring “lots more casual players back” according to Ubisoft CEO

Nintendo block question The Nintendo NX is one of the most long-teased console releases I can ever remember, especially as an officially acknowledged thing. Speaking on his company’s quarterly earnings conference call yesterday (via IGN), Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot shared some tantalizing impressions about the NX: It’s “really great,” and it should “help the industry continue to… Read More

Pokemon Go: Where might you catch 'em all in Japan?

Fans are still waiting for Pokemon Go to be launched in Japan, the birthplace of the phenomenon, so where might the monsters be hiding out?

Facebook's Aquila drone takes to the air

Facebook invites BBC's Rory Cellan-Jones into its drone-making factory to mark the first successful flight of one of its aircraft.

Nearly six million fraud and cyber crimes last year, ONS says

Almost six million fraud and cyber crimes were committed last year in England and Wales, new figures from the Office for National Statistics suggest.

What will stop Tumblr's tumble?

Three years have passed since Yahoo bought micro-blogging site Tumblr, but it is not the goldmine it once hoped.

File-sharing 'mastermind' arrested in Poland

US authorities have charged a Ukrainian man alleged to be the mastermind of the world's biggest online piracy website.

Cleric flags fatwa against Pokemon

A leading Saudi cleric has urged followers to shun Pokemon Go because of a fatwa against it.

France data authority criticises Windows 10 over privacy

Windows 10 gathers an "excessive" amount of personal data on users, the French data authority says in a formal notice about the operating system.

Mozilla to block Flash in Firefox browser

Mozilla is planning to end full support for Adobe's Flash software in its Firefox browser from next month.

Valve tackles Counter Strike gambling sites

Game maker Valve is threatening to shut down sites that use add-ons for its Counter Strike game to gamble.

Wednesday 20 July 2016

Pokémon Go launch in Japan postponed after email leak

A woman holds up her cell phone as she plays the Pokemon Go game in Lafayette Park in front of the White House in Washington, DC, July 12, 2016.
Pokémon Go mania is sweeping the US as players armed with smartphones hunt streets, parks, rivers and elsewhere to capture monsters and gather supplies in the hit game. The free application based on a Nintendo title that debuted 20 years ago has been adapted to the mobile internet Age by Niantic Labs, a company spun out of Google last year after breaking ground with an "Ingress" game that merged mapping capabilities with play. As of July 11, 2016 Pokémon Go had been downloaded millions of times, jumping topping rankings at official online shops for applications tailored for smartphones powered by Apple or Google-backed Android software.

(Photo: JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images) Game-maker Niantic has postponed today’s scheduled launch of Pokémon Go in Japan after internal emails leaked out on to the internet. Read More

Pokemon Go is a hit at Hot Topic, but hardly happening at Home Depot

poketopic As Pokemon Go moves into the real-world partner marketing business with McDonald’s, one might wonder what businesses potentially stand to gain the most from association with Niantic’s world dominating location-based collect’em game. Well, Red Robin should plan a Squirtleburger™, if data gathered by location analytics firm Placed is any indication. The company used info… Read More

Get lost in 10,000 square miles of multiplayer VR with MetaWorld later this year

metaworld_fireside1 Virtual reality as it exists is generally an isolating experience. Plenty of VR worlds are sparsely populated, inhabited by robots, or empty. There are social platforms for VR already, but MetaWorld, an upcoming collaboration between UK-based Improbable and Berkeley-based HelloVR, will expand the horizons of social VR – expand them nearly 10,000 square miles, to be exact. MetaWorld… Read More

Learn-to-code startup CK targets the Minecraft modding craze

Code Kingdoms The learn to code space is packed with ideas. But when it comes to what children want to do online, towering over everything else is the build-it-yourself Microsoft-owned Minecraft platform. All lesser virtual, creative playgrounds are overshadowed by this pixellated silhouette. Read More

Tuesday 19 July 2016

Meet 6 weird new Pokemon from Pokemon Sun and Moon

Screen Shot 2016-07-19 at 8.30.07 AM Nintendo and The Pokemon Company have another game besides Pokemon Go that they want you to remember: Pokemon Sun and Moon. Since I loved Pokemon before it was about getting exercise and meeting new people, I’m very excited about Sun/Moon’s release on Nintendo 3DS, which happens November 18. But I’m struggling to remember if all new Pokemon in each sequel were as weird as… Read More

ARM: 'The jewel in the crown of British technology'

UK technology firm ARM Holdings is to be bought by Japan's Softbank for £24bn ($32bn) it confirmed on Monday.

Why fencing with a drone could make it smarter

The drones being taught to avoid moving obstacles in real-time

How F1 tech could help Ben Ainslie win the America's Cup

BBC News goes on board a high-speed catamaran with Sir Ben Ainslie and his team as they practise for the next leg of the America's Cup.

Melbourne students' 'sexualised' Instagram posts spark anger

Two students at an elite Melbourne school are suspended and police are investigating after an Instagram account giving sexual ratings to pupils sparks anger.

Train game parodies 'shambolic' railway

Web developers create an online game where players cancel Southern Rail trains and take profits from passengers.

Social media harms moral development, parents say

A majority of parents in the UK believe social media harms their children's moral development, a survey suggests.

How Pokemon Go took over the web

A dive into the data showing the popularity of the monster-hunting mobile game Pokemon Go.

Microsoft to miss 'one billion' Windows 10 target

Microsoft says it will miss a target of getting Windows 10 running on more than one billion devices by 2018.

What is ARM and why is it worth £24bn?

ARM's technology is at the heart of millions of smartphones and tablets - but the company's inventions are used wider still.

Monday 18 July 2016

Pokemon Go T&Cs strip users of legal rights

The Pokemon "Pikachu" is seen at the amusement park in Tokyo, July 13, 2016. (Photo by Hitoshi Yamada/NurPhoto via Getty Images) Players of Pokemon Go are not only giving up their right to act like sane human beings in public, as they walk around, zombie-esque, reaching into the phones held in front of their faces, they are also likely to be waiving legal rights if they don’t take a very close look at Niantic Labs’ Terms of Service for the game. Read More

How Pokemon Go did what these 3 hype-heavy startups couldn’t

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - JULY 13 :   A group of Pokemon Go users playing Pokemon gathered outside the State Library of Victoria Melbourne, Australia 13 July 2016. Australia is one of only three countries where the game is currently available. (Photo by Asanka Brendon Ratnayake/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images) Pokemon Go has been continuing its global rollout fairly slowly, with a launch in Canada just this past Sunday, and even without an official debut in some key markets like Japan, it already dominates. In the course of winning so winningly, Pokemon Go has also achieved – almost as a side-effect – the kind of success some celebrated (but ultimately shuttered) startups have pursued in… Read More