Every year, the TVs, phones and gadgets at CES seem to get bigger and bigger – but Intel’s reversing the trend with its brand new computer, the Intel Edison, which fits everything you need into a board the size and shape of an SD card. Raspberry Pi, eat your heart out.

This might look like the storage card for your compact camera, but make no mistake, this is a computer, with its own 22nm dual-core processor, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth capabilities.

It can run multiple operating systems, including Linux, and will be available for manufacturers and hobbyists this summer – price is still TBC, but we’re hoping it’s as low as the £25 Raspberry Pi computer.

Intel’s making a big push with wearable technologies this year at CES in Las Vegas – the company also showed off its own smartwatch prototype yesterday, although it is not planning to release it to the public – and it’s betting big that Edison will play a part in that.
One of its demonstrations showed the little computer working in harmony with sensor’s connected on a baby’s onesie, displaying temperature and even turning on a bottle warmer when the baby started to wake.

When you consider what hackers have turned the Raspberry Pi into, a robot, a media centre, a pet feeder and much more besides, the ideas a computer this small could be put to are dazzling.

During Valve’s CES 2014 event this evening, the company released a brochure featuring images, prices, and specificiations for 13 third-party Steam Machines. Let’s take a look-see!

Aside from Alienware, the party pooper, each of the 13 machines at the very least comes with some basic specs, giving us an idea of what to expect from these Valve-approved gaming PCs. Some we’ve seen earlier today. Others we’ll be getting to know more about later this evening. According to Valve’s Gabe Newell, Maingear’s system was too late to make the brochure, but I’m sure there will be more about that down the line.

So, what do you guys think? That certainly a bunch of PC gaming machines, right?

Give that there are so many options, could it be that this will confuse consumers? After all, when you purchase a console you know that you are evenly matched with anyone else who buys it and developers know the specs everyone has under their TV.

With Steam Machine there seems to be so many options and some are so expensive that it seems it’d be more sensible to go out, buy a PC and hook that up to your TV. Can anyone actually see this venture being a success?

Check out the brochure here.

CES 2014 kicks off this week and you can expect to see a plethora of Steam Box related news.

Up until now we have received a good amount of information pertaining to Box’s specs but very little has been known as to whom would be selling the machines.

iBuyPower will be showing off their machine fitted with a multi-core AMD Cpu, 500GB hard drive (we are not sure if this is SSD), WiFi, Bluetooth, and an AMD Radeon R9 270 graphics card.

The size if the unit is said to be around the same size as a PS4 and a tad smaller then an Xbox One.

A retailer in the UK has accidentally sent some customers a free PlayStation Vita. And is now resorting to some heavy methods in an attempt to get them back.

According to a report on Eurogamer, “a number” of people who had preordered Vita game Tearaway were instead sent a Tearaway PlayStation Vita bundle, which included the game and the hardware.

Upon realising its error, the retailer – Zavvi – asked for the bundles to be sent back. And that’s where things get messy.

British customer rights website What Consumer says “if you’ve been sent unsolicited goods, you are entitled to treat them as an unconditional gift and do with them as you choose.”

Understandably, some of those affected have done just that, leading Zavvi to send out further letters, including a “final notice” that reads:

This is our final notice to politely remind you that you did not order, or pay for, a PS Vita and if you fail to contact us by 5pm (UK time) on 10th December 2013 to arrange a convenient time for the PS Vita to be collected we reserve the right to enforce any and/or all legal remedies available to us.

Normally in these circumstances, the retailer would admit the mistake and simply take the hit. It’s rare a company would try and engage in a move like this; the PR backlash will probably make them wish they’d never bothered.

Original post by Eurogamer here

Blizzard have announced that their Warcraft-themed virtual trading card game,  Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft – currently in a closed, invite-only beta – will soon be available to all; as the game enters an open beta some time next month.

Battle.net players interesting in trying out the game before its official launch will be able to login, download and experience the game in its current early form starting December 2013.

Blizzard also today announced that the game is also planned to have iPhone and Android versions, allowing a similar game experience in smartphone or tablet form. A release is due in early 2014.