Stream Xbox One games to Windows 10 & tablets this year.

So it looks like Microsoft is going to take another stab at PC gamers with Windows 10 while muddying the waters with being able to stream your Xbox One to windows 10 PC's

http://www.joystiq.com/2015/01/21/stream-xbox-one-games-to-windows-10-pcs-and-tablets-later-this/

http://www.joystiq.com/2015/01/21/fable-legends-confirmed-for-windows-10-pcs/

BT confirms it’s in exclusive negotiations to buy EE for £12.5 billion

So it's looking more and more likely now.

BT would then have a quad-play offering akin to Virgin Media. It will be interesting to see how Sky and TalkTalk react. TalkTalk already has the quad-play offering with YouView and an MVNO mobile product which is something Sky lacks.

http://thenextweb.com/mobile/2014/12/15/bt-confirms-exclusive-negotiations-buy-ee-12-5-billion/?fromcat=uk

ISPreview: The Top Broadband ISP Technology and Internet Policy Changes for 2014-15

http://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2015/01/quick-recap-major-uk-broadband-isp-technology-changes-2014.html

Windows 10 to get Cortana voice control / search

Took their time. I hope it improves on OS dictation. Double tapping Fn on a Mac is a great feature I've been surprised MS haven't been eager to replicate.

http://www.neowin.net/news/windows-10-cortana-gets-refined-adds-hey-cortana-feature

Gigabit-over-copper VDSL successor G.fast signed off at last

G.Fast standard is ready to roll. Lets hope BT don't drag their feet and put this to good use while also opening up support quickly for other ISP's.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/12/08/gfast_at_last_phy_standard_signed_off/

Windows 10 will play your .MKV and .FLAC files all on its own

Great news! Here's more from Engadget: 

High-end audio enthusiasts love FLAC since it promises to preserve everything just as it was heard in the studio. Unfortunately, it isn't the most widely-supported of formats, but it appears as if it's going to get a warm embrace in Windows 10. Gabriel Aul of Microsoft's Windows Insider program tweeted out a screenshot (above) showing FLAC support in Windows Media Player, later adding that the OS is offering platform-level support - so any compatible app will now be able to play the files without a plug-in. Given that Microsoft also recently let slip that it'll support the .MKV container in its next-gen OS, it's clear that Redmond is reaching out to the inner AV geek in all of us.

http://www.engadget.com/2014/11/27/windows-10-native-flac-mkv-support/

TalkTalk Gobble Virgin Media’s UK Copper ADSL Broadband Users

That'll boost TalkTalk's subscriber base while increasing Virgin Media's average Download speeds no doubt (while possibly decreasing Virgins operating costs also). 

http://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2014/11/uk-isp-talktalk-gobbles-virgin-medias-copper-adsl-broadband-users.html

Microsoft's Office for iPad, iPhone, and Android goes free!

I'm guessing it wasn't doing so well.. They shouldn't have avoided those markets for so long.

http://www.theverge.com/2014/11/6/7163789/microsoft-office-free-for-ipad-iphone-android

Diagnosing a fault MacBook Fan.

Argh! One of the fans in my Macbook is humming away on its last legs.

On the plus side, this fan controller is great for diagnosing the fan in question as there are two in the device..

Mine is a MacBook Pro Mid 2012 and the right fan.

http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/23049/smcfancontrol

The app could do with some better auto adjusting profiles based on temperature. It has three 'modes': AC-Power, battery and charging which can have separate profiles.

I can happily turn up the fans on any GPU / CPU intensive tasks now and keep the system cooler than Apple seemed to want to, prolonging the devices life in the long run!


For repairs on this laptop see iFixit!:
https://www.ifixit.com/Device/MacBook_Pro_15%22_Retina_Display_Mid_2012

EE 4G+ hits London with a top speed of 150Mbps

Trying times ahead for fixed line providers if we see mobile infrastructure keep going at the current rate!

http://www.trustedreviews.com/news/ee-4g-hits-london-with-a-top-speed-of-150mbps

Drone racing in the woods evokes more than a few Star Wars memories

This is cool!



http://www.engadget.com/2014/10/08/drone-racing/?ncid=rss_truncated

Eurogamer Expo 2015 headed to Birmingham NEC next September

"EGX has experienced amazing growth during our four years at Earl's Court," Gamer Network head honcho Rupert Loman explained.

"While we are sad to leave, we see the move to the NEC not only as a real opportunity to continue its success, but also to evolve and improve the experience we offer both attendees and exhibitors."

More details on EGX 2015 will be announced in due course.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2014-10-01-egx-2015-headed-to-birmingham-nec-next-september

Solarbox london phoneboxes get solar powered charging

I think it would be better implemented in bus stops with a larger top surface area and where people would generally be waiting around. 

http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2014-10/03/solarbox-london-phone-chargers

Tesco's Hudl 2

Tesco's sold 750,000 of their last tablet with a reasonable price point, decent specs and a toughened exterior aimed at lower age groups and parents. This should also be a winner then...

FreeNAS 9.2.1.8-RELEASE is now available

Time for another FreeNAS release! This one fixes a number of issues in 9.2.1.7 as well as addressing the “shellshock” security vulnerability in bash (to which FreeNAS is not generally vulnerable as bash is not the system shell, but it was still worth fixing).

The list of bugs fixed in 9.2.1.8-RELEASE can be found here. The release notes for 9.2.1.8:

• Fix bug where use of NONE cipher in replication erroneously reported an error on a successful replication.
• Don’t enable lz4 compression on replication by default if upgrading from a pre-9.2.1.7 release.
• Multiple kernel iSCSI / CTL improvements. This includes VMWare VAAI and Microsoft ODX acceleration support, improved performance and fixes for number of bugs. Kernel iSCSI can be activated by checking the experimental target checkbox under services -> iSCSI.
• Improve performance of viewing snapshots when replication tasks are set up.
• Allow binding CIFS to specific IPs.
• Fix LDAP bind URL when using TLS.
• Validate AD advanced settings. If the GC or DC are manually specified make sure they are reachable.
• Set UNIX permissions when the Mac permissions radio button is selected. Netatalk does not play nicely with ACLs.
• Fix a bug in the mail sending routines used by FreeNAS. With some mailserver configurations the To: address could’ve been set to root instead of the address specified in the root user.
• Fix a bug that prevented the system from showing the replicated status of a snapshot if the remote path differed from the local path.
• “Shellshock” security vulnerability in bash (which is not the system shell FreeNAS or FreeBSD) proactively closed.

http://www.freenas.org/whats-new/2014/09/freenas-9-2-1-8-release-is-now-available.html