Tech Features

This week in the world of tech, Nintendo got tough on pirates and Facebook snooping was on the increase.

Nintendo applaud the first arrest of a DS pirate

Don't let the fun-loving portrayal of pirates in The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker fool you; Nintendo hate them. To prove it, an arrest has been made in Japan which is the first of its kind - an individual jailed for selling DS flashcards.

This Wednesday the arrest was made under the Unfair Competition Prevention Act and found a 39-year-old man accused of selling flashcarts for around $91 a pop on at least three occasions this year.

The device used was a Majikon adapter - recently outlawed in Japan - while in Europe similar R4 devices were banned under a similar. As of this writing, however, no European arrests of the same nature have yet been made.

Facebook employer snooping is on the rise

Is your employer snooping on your Facebook profile, unamused by your videos of cats playing piano? Apparently so, as data analysts Garnter claim that by 2015, 60 per cent of employers will monitor their workers' social media pages.

"The growth in monitoring employee behavior in digital environments is increasingly enabled by new technology and services,' said Andrew Walls, research vice president of Gartner.

"Surveillance of individuals, however, can both mitigate and create risk, which must be managed carefully to comply with ethical and legal standards."

Quick everyone, back to Bebo!

PS Vita to receive YouTube functionality

It may have not received a new game in around four months (rough estimate) but now the PS Vita has what it apparently always needed - a YouTube app. Fair enough...

Sony says that the upcoming app has "many of the functions you're already familiar with" and means that "You can easily search for videos, choose favorites and make comments, and your personal YouTube account is available right on your PS Vita." This isn't the kind of software we've been crying out for but it gives us a reason to at least dust off the console.

Is this the new iPhone? No idea...

Who likes baseless iPhone rumours...? Well whether you do or you don't; get used to them. Earlier this week an image purported to be the iPhone 5 hit the interwebs and features a bigger display, new casing and a new dock connector. The image also seems to show bigger speakers and a slightly altered.

Will such minor changes convince Apple fans to part with their hard-earned cash. That was a sarcastic question - of course it will.

Skylanders is officially a monster franchise for Activision

These days video game publisher giants Activision exist mainly due to the strength of Call of Duty and World of Warcraft yet perhaps we should now add Skylanders into that bracker.

The kids-targeted video game series has now made more revenue than any other game property this year claims Activision, owed to the success of the tie-in toys which are required to unlock further gameplay. It's a smart, albeit slightly evil tactic to entice its young fanbase but it is paying dividends already.