Australian retailer EB Games will remove The Elder Scrolls Online from its bricks and mortar shelves on January 13, a Kotaku AU source claims. If the report is true then it serves as fresh evidence that Bethesda intends to scrap the MMO’s monthly subscription fees in favour of a free-to-play model.

Both boxed copies of the game, as well as pre-paid subscription cards, will reportedly be discontinued.

The development follows news late last year that players can no longer purchase six-month subscriptions to the MMO, which was met with mixed reviews when it launched last year. While a moderator on an official French TESO forum claimed the six-month blocks were discontinued due to lack of demand (ie, customers prefer to buy shorter blocks), evidence is certainly mounting that a change is imminent.

We will keep you upto date on this story, as we’ve not reviewed the game since release, however if Free to Play does happen, we’ll have another look at the game which we were underwhelmed by during the betas

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A couple of months back, HTC released the RE Camera – a portable, waterproof, accessorisable camera that you can connect wirelessly to an iOS or Android-powered smartphone for wide-angle photography and video without taking out your phone – and now, it’s good for live YouTube streaming too. As of tomorrow, the camera’s Android app will be updated to add a YouTube live broadcast feature; with a similar update for iOS users promised by the end of the quarter – given the portable nature of the RE Camera makes it easy to attach to the strap of a rucksack and the camera’s waterproof exterior, with this new update we may just see the RE Camera become a new favourite with the outdoor explorer types who like to live broadcast their adventures.

Image courtesy Samsung

Colour me impressed. Hot on the heels of Samsung’s XP941 Solid State Drive – a drive similar in size to a large USB memory stick which was already capable of 1.4 gigabytes per second read speeds – the Korean company has now unveiled its successor which is even more mind-blowing. The new SM951 SSD not only manages to blow its predecessor out of the water with blazing fast speeds of 2.15GB/s read and 1.55GB/s write (tested on PCIe Gen 3 tech), but also consumes 50% less power during operation, thanks to utilising new 10-nanometer MLC flash tech. This same smaller, more power-efficient technology also means that the drive uses barely any power when idle – a mere 2 milliwatts, in fact. The SSDs will come in 128, 256 and 512GB sizes; and at first will be exclusive to major laptop manufacturers – but if it turns out to be a TRUE successor, expect to see it in laptop models from even lesser names soon enough.

Everybody knows that Dr. Pepper is one of the few carbonated drinks synonymous with online gaming, so a new deal by Keurig may make its upcoming Keurig Cold machine a winner in the make-it-yourself beverage market.

The normally coffee-focused company has reached an exclusive deal that will let you make some of the Dr. Pepper Snapple group’s drinks when the SodaStream rival launches this Autumn; and while no specific brands have yet been mentioned, if the two in the company’s name don’t appear then something is seriously messed up in the world. Add to this Keurig’s deal with Coca-Cola last year, and we’re seriously disappointed that Pepsi signed with SodaStream preventing us from enjoying the perfect trifecta of gamer fuel drinks. Let’s just hope that the create-your-own recipes taste at least recognisably similar to the real things, so we can forget all the generic recipes likely to be released for it as well.

One of the problems with modern smart phones is that all their modern capabilities comes at a price: they’re MASSIVE power hogs. Unless you have an external battery pack or a spare battery to swap in at those key moments, you will probably find yourself charging them incredibly often, perhaps even in the middle of a day. If statistics released from Blu Products are to be believed, however, we may just see a model that bucks that trend. Included within a range of new Android-powered smart phones – revealed by the company today at CES – is the Studio Energy, a 5-incher that claims to be capable of four day’s “standard” use, which in realistic terms means even a moderately heavy user might find it enough to get through the weekend without plugging in.

Part of this longevity comes from its whopping 5,000mAh battery pack, which is even capable of charging other devices by plugging them straight into the phone if you’re so inclined. The other contributing factor is the phone’s hardware itself, which sadly fails to impress: the low-end 1.3GHz MediaTek processor may be an efficient, low-power piece of chippery, but it’s also not the fastest or most capable processor out there; and combined with just 1GB of RAM the result may disappoint those looking for performance. Meanwhile, the display is only capable of Enhanced Definition 720p resolution rather than full HD; and with just 8GB of storage, HSPA+ data and 8-megapixel rear / 2-megapixel front cameras, many others are likely to walk away disappointed too. The budget phone specs however do give this model a budget phone price – the Studio Energy is expected to retail at just $179 (roughly £118) unlocked when it ships in late January, which may make it a decent choice for the budget-conscious smartphone purchaser; or as a backup phone for the outdoors man likely to spend long periods away from a mains socket.