Grand Theft Auto Vice City trailer shows off hit game's iPhone relaunch

A new trailer shows off the superb 'new look' of hit game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City as it returns as an app for Android and iPhone on December 6th.

The Eighties-tinged Grand Theft Auto: Vice City was a huge hit for the series in 2002 - and gaming sites often hail it as the best GTA game, full stop.

Halo creator Bungie forced to release first pic of new game before it wanted

Bungie, the games studio behind the phenomenally successful Halo franchise - until the latest, at least - has released the first piece of concept art from its new intellectual property, Destiny. However, it hadn't planned to do so quite yet, but leaks have forced its hand.

A story posted on games site IGN revealed some purported concept art and plot details of the new game, leaked by "a reader" who got his or her hands on an official document prepared by an advertising agency.

That sheet summarises the major storyline, and reveals plot details that Bungie would rather have kept secret for now. "Our story begins seven hundred years from now in the Last City on Earth, in a Solar System littered with the ruins of man's Golden Age," the document reads.

How to get cheaper data on your smartphone

If you're thinking of switching to a smartphone this Christmas, there's a potential 'hidden' cost - all the data you'll consume using the web, email and other apps. When you sign up, you will need to consider data on your tariffs.

Having to fork out extra cash to get online for those additional features and services can be a painful prospect, but there are ways to minimise the stress and monetary strain.

The most important thing to remember is that whatever data allowance you pick up, exceeding it could result in costly excess data usage charges. However just because you reach your mobile data limit doesn’t mean you have to stop browsing - there are other methods to make your internet go farther that don’t cost the earth.

'Hotel door hack kits' that can open millions of electronic doors

A spate of thefts from American hotel rooms has been linked to an electronic 'hack' which can open an electronic lock used in four million hotel rooms worldwide.

The 'Onity' locks in Hyatt hotels in America were the victim of burglaries where the doors did not appear to have been forced.

A hacker published a guide to how to open the locks in July, but it's now thought that thieves may have developed pen-sized 'kits' which allow them to open doors easily.

Nintendo to launch new Wii Mini for as little as £60

Nintendo is launching a smaller, stripped down console called Wii Mini, which could cost as little as £60.

The console is to launch in Canada before Christmas, priced at 99 Canadian dollars.

A company spokesperson told Yahoo! that Nintendo had 'no information' about a launch in other territories.

The machine has no internet connection - used for some of Wii's TV functions - and will not play old GameCube games, unlike Wii itself.

Norton unveils security software for iPhone as hacker fears rise

Norton has unveiled its first security software for iPhone as fears over smartphone security rise.

Norton by Symantec already made software for Android phones, but it now offers an iPhone and iPad version built to protect private data from cyber-criminals.

Two-thirds of phone users worldwide now use a phone to access the internet - and the data stored on phones is a major security concern.

One in three mobile users in the UK have had a mobile stolen - and 44% don't use a password.

eBay sued over hiring agreement

The US Justice Department has alleged that Meg Whitman, the former CEO of eBay, was intimately involved in making an anticompetitive agreement that prohibited eBay and Intuit from hiring each other's employees.
In a federal lawsuit, the government said Ms Whitman and Scott Cook, Intuit's founder and executive committee chair, were involved in forming, monitoring and enforcing the anticompetitive agreement.

California attorney general Kamala Harris filed a separate lawsuit under state law, which she said contains stronger protections against anticompetitive practices than federal law. Mr Cook was a member of eBay's board of directors at the same time he was making complaints about eBay's recruiting of Intuit employees.

The future world of 'Call of Duty: Black Ops II'

The future in video games is usually depicted in one of two ways.

There is the techno version of the future, filled with personal electronic implants, space travel and laser weapons. Or there is the apocalyptic version, where a world has been bombed back into the Stone Age -- and somehow still has laser weapons.

"Call of Duty: Black Ops II," the first-person shooter game that hit stores Tuesday, transports players into two separate time periods: the 1980s and the not-so-distant future of 2025. The relatively narrow time lapse was necessary to build a story around a new villain, Raul Menendez, a terrorist bent on revenge against a world he feels has wronged him.

Facebook launches job search app

Watch out, LinkedIn. Facebook is jumping into the job search space, with a Social Jobs App that includes listings from services like Monster and BranchOut.
The app, which launched Wednesday, currently includes 1.7 million job listings. It's part of the Social Jobs Partnership initiative, which Facebook formed in October 2011 in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Labor and three nonprofit labor organizations.

Facebook stock jumps 12.6 percent as share lockup expires

Shares of Facebook Inc jumped nearly 13 percent on Wednesday, as investors breathed a sigh of relief that expiring trading restrictions on a huge block of shares failed to trigger an immediate wave of insider selling.

"While the lockup is expiring, there is nothing requiring anybody to sell," said Tim Ghriskey, chief investment officer at Solaris Group in Bedford Hills, New York. "Given the low price, these long-term holders are deciding to hold the stock, and that is lifting it here as the fear of the expiration subsides."

Roughly 800 million Facebook shares were eligible for sale on Wednesday after restrictions on insider selling were lifted on the biggest block since Facebook's May initial public offering.

Is Microsoft's new Windows Phone 8 a match for iPhone?

One of the most fiercely fought tech battles is the rivalry between smartphone operating systems. Microsoft has just released its newest operating system, Windows Phone 8 to take on Android and iOS.

It's simple, colourful and looks great - but is it worth switching?

In late-2010 Microsoft revamped its mobile phone platform and Windows Mobile became Windows Phone 7. The new OS was designed to showcase the best of the company’s wares and provide a refreshing alternative to existing devices on the market.

New 'Smart Glasses' put emails and sat-nev infront of your eyes

Google Glass may be getting all the headlines, but Vuzix has been dabbling in the augmented reality glasses market for years now. It already has a number of products in its Smart Glasses range, and all manner of other video eyewear too - some offering 3D movie and TV viewing.

However, its latest product, which has just been awarded a Best of Innovations honour by the CES 2013 board, goes head-to-head with the Google AR concept, even offering a wider feature set to boot.

New trailer reveals stunning world of Grand Theft Auto V

A new trailer has revealed more details of a game expected to the biggest hit of all time - dwarfing this year's Call of Duty Black Ops 2.

The new trailer shows off cinema-quality graphics, duels between helicopters, train crashes and Reservoir Dogs-style dialogue.

The long-awaited sequel to Grand Theft Auto IV will be released in Spring next year. The often-controversial series has sold 114 million games since it launched in 1997.

Described as the 'largest and most ambitious title in the series', the new game will be set in the fictional city of Los Santos, loosely based on Los Angeles.

New browser available for Windows 7

The latest version of Microsoft's web browser is now available to the vast audience connecting to the internet via PCs running on the Windows 7 operating system.
The redesigned browser, Internet Explorer 10, made its debut last month when Microsoft released Windows 8, which makes dramatic changes to an operating system that has been powering PCs for decades.
Internet Explorer 10 initially is being introduced to Windows 7 users in a "preview" or test mode. The new browser is not compatible with XP, Vista or any other older Windows version.
Although Microsoft is staking its future on Windows 8, far more PCs rely on Windows 7.

How to get online for less on your iPad or Android tablet

The tablet market is hotting up. With the Microsoft Surface, Google Nexus 7 for Android and Apple’s new iPad Mini (and new iPad for that matter) for iOS just released, consumer choice has never been better.

But whichever platform you’re a follower of there are some key things to consider before you dip a toe in tablet town.

One of the primary sales points of any tablet is its convenience – the ability to take with you a fully-fledged big screen and internet-enabled device that’s small enough for a large pocket or small handbag.

Facebook Couples pages let you share your love

"We're introducing a new layout for friendship pages. Friendship pages combine posts, photos and events that you and another person have shared," says Facebook on the news.

The change means that if you have listed yourself as "in a relationship" with someone, you can also visit facebook.com/us to see the friendship page you share with that person.


Users can also see how they've linked themselves with other people on Facebook outside of their relationship status - something that could lead to trouble if ex-girlfriends or boyfriends have been involved.

LG's Nexus 4 phone sells out within 30 minutes in UK

The new LG Nexus phone sold out within 30 minutes of appearing on Google's Play store in the UK this morning.

The phone, an Android 'flagship' which offers a 'pure' version of the operating system, is £239 for an 8GB model.

Apple's cheapest iPhone 5 is £529.

Both models, including the £279 16GB model went from 'Buy' to 'Notify Me' within half an hour, according to tech site The Register.
[Related: YouTube sensation Fenton reappears in HD]

"It's not beyond the bounds of possibility that the initial Nexus 4 UK allocation - or that of any other recently released device - was pegged to ensure it would be sold quickly," said the site.

GTA V details revealed, Rockstars biggest game yet

The digital edition of video games magazine Game Informer is now available, with an exclusive 18 pages (and cover) dedicated to Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto V, so a whole swathe of details about the game are now known.
To begin with, the Los Santos-based open game world is the biggest the developer has created yet, even bigger than in Red Dead Redemption. There are three protagonists that you get to play and, using a brand new game mechanic for this title, you even get to switch between characters during missions through a pull down menu. Jumping from character to character could even be essential in some cases, as one of the others may be in a better place to take a shot, for example.

Intel, HP tout newest Itanium server technology

Intel and Hewlett-Packard Co unveiled new server technology based on the high-end niche Itanium processors at the centre of a recent dispute between Hewlett-Packard and Oracle Corp.
The future of servers built with Itanium chips was thrown into doubt last year due to a bitter legal battle between long-time partners HP and Oracle and it remains unclear to some experts even after a California state court judge ruled in favour of HP.
Intel and HP held a news conference on Thursday announcing the availability of the newest version of Itanium and introducing new HP servers using the chips.
HP will keep offering its customers choices between servers based on heavy-duty Itanium chips and Intel's more widely used "x86" chips, said Ric Lewis, vice president and interim general manager of HP's Business Critical Systems.

Twitter mistakenly resets passwords of large number of users

Twitter said that it mistakenly reset the passwords of "a large number" of its more than 140 million active users while conducting routine security screening to identify accounts that may have been compromised.
"In instances when we believe an account may have been compromised, we reset the password and send an email letting the account owner know this has happened," Twitter said in its blog on Thursday. "In this case, we unintentionally reset passwords of a larger number of accounts, beyond those that we believed to have been compromised."
Carolyn Penner, a spokeswoman for the social-networking site, declined to say how many Twitter accounts were affected by the error.

British game fan is first in queue for Call of Duty: Black Ops II

A British computer games fan has become the first in the world to start queuing for the new ''Call of Duty'' - days before it comes out.

Taylor Pelling, 19, is already queueing for ''Call of Duty: Black Ops II'' ahead of its global release on Monday.

Black Ops 2 is expected to be one of the biggest entertainment releases of all time.

It is the sequel to a game which earned a billion dollars in 16 days.

James Cameron’s Avatar, Hollywood’s biggest-ever hit, took 17 days to hit the same figure.

'Super-earth' is nearest planet ever found which could support alien life

A huge 'super earth' detected this week is the closest 'habitable' planet to Earth ever found - 42 light years away from our planet.

The huge planet is thought to be in the perfect place in its six-planet solar system to have liquid water, atmosphere and distinct 'days' and 'nights' - thought to be crucial life.

The huge rocky planet - seven times the size of our Earth orbits its star, at a similar distance to Earth's orbit around our Sun, so it receives a similar amount of energy from the star as the Earth receives from the Sun - increasing the probability of it being habitable.

Earlier this year, the Kepler spacecraft found a planet with a similar orbit.

Hackers 'blackmail' users of illicit websites with new cyber attack

A new cyber threat is earning millions for international hacker gangs - 'ransomware' attacks, which blackmail users into paying to get back into their own PCs.

The attacks often use clever 'social engineering' such as warnings which seem to be from local police which say, “You have browsed illicit materials and must pay a fine.”

The scam works by using malware to disable victims’ computers until they pay a ransom to restore access - a fee of up to £280.

Faced with such scare tactics, security experts Norton by Symantec found around 2.9% of victims end up paying ransoms.

Samsung Galaxy S3 overtakes iPhone 4S as world's best-selling smartphone

Apple has lost the title of world's best-selling smartphone to its bitter rival Samsung. In Q3 2012, the Samsung Galaxy S III shipped 18 million units, the iPhone 4S 16.2 million.

According to research conducted by the global independent research and consulting firm Strategy Analytics, the SGS3 held 10.7 per cent of the worldwide smartphone marketshare in the last quarter, while the iPhone 4S held 9.7 per cent.

The figures don't include the iPhone 5, launched during that period, which shipped six million units. But they also don't include the myriad other Samsung Galaxy handsets, including the recently launched Samsung Galaxy S III Mini.

Move over, Obama; Twitter had a big night too

President Barack Obama called it - in less than 140 characters.
Around 11:15 pm EST, just as the networks were beginning to call the race in his favor, Obama took to Twitter to proclaim himself the winner over Republican candidate Mitt Romney.
"This happened because of you. Thank you," Obama tweeted.
That the president would take his message to Twitter before taking the stage in Chicago underscored the tremendous role social media platforms like Twitter played in the 2012 election.
Minutes later, with the race called in his favor, Obama tweeted again.
"We're all in this together. That's how we campaigned, and that's who we are. Thank you. -bo."
Through the course of a long and bitter presidential campaign, Twitter often served as the new first rough draft of history.

Apple sold 3 million iPads this weekend

Apple said Monday that it sold 3 million iPads since Friday's debut of the new iPad mini and updated full-sized iPad tablet.
The weekend haul doubled Apple's previous three-day sales record of 1.5 million iPads, which was set in March, after the debut of the third-generation iPad.

Shares of Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500) jumped 1%.
Apple did not break out sales figures for the different variations of its tablet, but CEO Tim Cook noted that iPad minis were "practically sold out." At Apple's flagship store on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, the white iPad mini sold out in just an hour, and the black versions sold out in two hours.

Exclusive: Amazon to win out over Apple in e-book price tussle

European Union regulators are to accept an offer by Apple and four publishers to end an antitrust probe into their e-book prices, two sources said, handing Amazon victory in a bid to sell online books cheaper than its rivals, sources said.
The case underscores the battle between retailers and publishers over pricing control of e-books, which publishers hope will boost revenue and increase customers.
Apple and the publishers have offered to let retailers set their own prices or discounts for a period of two years, and also to suspend "most-favored nation" contracts for five years, the sources said.

'Terminator' bionic hand can peel vegetables, touch-type and pick up eggs

A father who lost his arm in an accident six years ago has been given a new lease of life by a high-tech bionic hand which is so precise he can touch-type, pick up eggs and even peel vegetables.
Nigel Ackland, 53, has been fitted with the carbon fibre mechanical hand which he can control simply by thinking.

The prototype device is among the most advanced on Earth, and could soon be available to other amputees.

"I have been blown away by the robotic hand, I could sit and watch it all day - I feel like the Terminator," says Ackland.

"With the special arm I can hold my dogs lead, hold the vegetables when I'm cutting them and even grab my bank cards.

PayPal Passwords 'Leaked By Anonymous'

Hacking group Anonymous has reportedly released confidential passwords and other log-in details for PayPal users as part of a global day of protest.
The group announced it had leaked 28,000 alleged account passwords through several Twitter accounts as part of an organised protest on Guy Fawkes Day.
The activists also said they intended to stage a "V For Vendetta" protest outside the Houses of Parliament in London from 8pm.
But PayPal has said it had yet to find any evidence of a security breach. Several of the links to the alleged passwords have since been taken down.

Grand Theft Auto V to get Spring 2013 release

The long-awaited sequel Grand Theft Auto V will be released in Spring next year for the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360.

Described as the 'largest and most ambitious title in the series', the game will be set in the fictional city of Los Santos, loosely based on Los Angeles.

The often-controversial series has sold 114 million games since it launched in 1997 - set in a series of cities where the player runs riot, stealing cars and committing crimes.

Newspapers and politicians have frequently called for the games to be banned for encouraging crime - but the 'open world' games are one of the most reliable hit machines in gaming.

Apple's iPhone loses name battle with Mexico's iFone

A Mexican telecommunications firm named iFone has declared victory in a trademark battle with Apple's iPhone, exposing the US company to a potential compensation payment.
The Mexican firm said in a statement that a court denied Apple's bid to protect the iPhone name in a case that began in 2009, when iFone sued the California-based company because the similar-sounding names caused confusion.
Apple introduced the iPhone to the Mexican market in 2007, four years after the Mexican telecom services and systems company says it registered the name iFone.
"It is the third time that Apple loses and this demonstrates the legal truth: iFone is within its full right to use its brand," the statement said.

Google's Android software in 3 out of 4 smartphones

Three out of every four smartphones sold in the third quarter featured Google Inc's Android mobile operating system, as the gap between Google and Apple Inc-based phones widened further, according to a new research report.

Shipments of Android-based smartphones made by Samsung, HTC and other vendors nearly doubled in the third quarter, reaching 136 million units, according to industry research firm IDC. The strong sales boosted Android's share of the worldwide smartphone market to 75 percent, from 57.5 percent in the year-ago period.

Over 20 million tweets sent as Sandy struck

Twitter users flocked to the micro-messaging network this week as Hurricane Sandy swept through the eastern U.S. seaboard, sending more than 20 million tweets about the storm between Saturday and Thursday, the company said.
This far exceeds the 13.7 million tweets sent during the Super Bowl in February, typically the largest media event of the year.
Founded in 2006, Twitter has sought to position itself as a "second screen" media product that users can pull up on their smartphones while watching events like the Super Bowl or the Olympics on television.

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Facebook Privacy Education

Facebook Makes Big Push To Educate New Users On Privacy, Adds In-Line Controls To Sign-up Flow

If new Facebook users understand their privacy on the site, they’ll trust Facebook more and share more too. So Facebook has just made privacy education a central part of the sign-up flow. New users are taught about their default controls, how to limit the audience of their posts, and how ads and apps work. Facebook also added in-line privacy controls so users can customize their settings right from the start.

Transformers ride in 2013

Universal Orlando to get Transformers ride in 2013


The popular 3-D ride based on the "Transformers" movie franchise is coming to Universal's theme park in Orlando in the summer of 2013, Universal announced Thursday.
The announcement about the ride coming to Universal Studios Florida was made Thursday evening as visitors watched the nightly outdoor light, water and film show at the Orlando park. The show was interrupted by the voice of Optimus Prime, a character from the "Transformers" movie, announcing that a "battle is coming to Orlando."

Review: 'Assassin's Creed' stumbles on Vita

There's never been a video game heroine quite like Aveline de Grandpre.
The daughter of an African slave and a French shipping magnate in New Orleans at the end of French and Indian War, Aveline is the deadly but charming protagonist of "Assassin's Creed III: Liberation" (Ubisoft, for the PlayStation Vita, $39.99). She seeks to fight injustice in and around the Big Easy as a member of the series' secret order of assassins.
The hallmarks of the "Assassin's Creed" franchise are all gloriously present here in hand-held form: traipsing across a jagged cityscape, dispatching foes with stealthy prowess and plotting against the clandestine group known as the Templars. "Liberation" doesn't feel like a typical PlayStation Vita game — and that's both its biggest strength and weakness.