All weekend, BBC’s catch-up TV service iPlayer has been suffering major outages across the UK.

Fans of the UK’s licence-fee-paid TV provider first started complaining that they were unable to access television shows via the BBC’s iPlayer service on Saturday morning. BBC is still “working to restore normal service”, with many people being offered only a “simplified” experience via the website; and dedicated iPlayer apps such as those seen on YouView boxes and games consoles, or on smart phones, remain down for many viewers.

BBC did not respond to complaints about the outage until Sunday morning, when Twitter account @AboutTheBBC posted the following:

We're hoping to get @BBCiPlayer @BBCiPlayerRadio & @bbccouk up and running for all of you soon. We apologise for the inconvenience. #iPlayer

— BBC (@AboutTheBBC) July 20, 2014

At one point, the BBC News website and radio service were also affected by the outage.

Despite continuing complaints to the BBC, the corporation has chosen not to reply to individual tweets posted to them and merely continue to deliver pre-prepared tweets about the status of their services. The last update was over 12 hours ago however; and BBC have not offered any explanations yet as to the cause of the downtimes.

Steelseries a popular computer product company has announced it is making a special edition DOTA 2 mouse. Steelseries make everything from headsets to keyboards -I personally own one of their headsets- and their products are in high demand.

The mouse is said to have been developed with the help of professional DOTA players from teams Na’Vi, iG and Team Fnatic. Along with up to 16.8 million illumination options, the special edition Rival optical mouse comes with an exclusive in game item for the hero Doom. The mouse is reportedly the only way to get this item. Steelseries have a reputation for making very precise and robust products and it seems this mouse is no different.

(Editor’s Note: I don’t even LIKE DOTA2, and this mouse looks awesome.  ~Digm)

Remember Sony VAIO laptops and tablets? While Sony may have discontinued the brand as part of its exit from the PC market some time ago, the VAIO brand itself lives on. Tonight, VAIO will officially launch as its own independent computer manufacturer – or “small” PC maker company, as their Japanese blurb describes them – with a launch event in Tokyo. Teasing its relaunch online, the company says that it’s free and that things are going to change, with its new-found small-scale status being one of the catalysts.

That small-scale thinking extends to its current production line. While the new VAIO eventually aims for international success and brand recognition like it once somewhat had under the arms of Sony, a spokesperson said that it’s focusing on success in Japan first, with no plans to launch laptops outside its homeland.

What laptops, though?

Well, if you’ve been following VAIO right up until Sony ditching them, you might find its debut range a little familiar. The two debut models, also launching today in Japan, are identical to the Pro and Fit models its parent company launched almost exactly one year ago – minus Sony branding, of course. To the new CEO’s credit, Takayuki Sekitori admitted that the two initial models were very well received — and that was part of the point. The company is focusing on establishing a foothold first in its new independent status; but all new PCs will hopefully be making it out of the doors in the near future.

VAIO claim that the new company has a clear focus, and its future work will be based around that focus while also presenting consumers with choice. To that end, the the company plans only to make PCs going forward; and it vows that all the new PCs it will make going forward will show an attention to detail and the VAIO DNA we’ve all grown accustomed to. We at Sanitarium.FM wish the company all success for the future.

YouTube is the largest video site on the internet, hands down. If it weren’t for its creators though, there wouldn’t be a YouTube. With that in mind, the company announced a set of new tools today at Vidcon. The purpose of these tools? Simple: Allow creators to be more creative.

While many of the tools were previewed and can be considered as “coming soon” features, the reveal fits in nicely with the wider creator community’s repeated requests for more transparency about changes to YouTube’s platform. Let’s face it, changes can be disruptive and in the past YouTube has rolled out some fairly unpopular changes without telling anyone beforehand.

The new tools announced vary widely, but here’s a quick list:

YouTube Creator Studio – Out now on Android and coming soon to iOS. The Creator Studio allows creators to view analytics, manage and edit videos, blast notifications and sort through comments, all on the go.

Audio Library Enhancements –Creators will now have access to royalty-free sound effects. This means you don’t have to create all of your own sounds anymore, instead you can simply grab them from the library.

60 FPS Video- A HUGE part of YouTube is gaming videos. We all know the pain of seeing a 60 fps game moving at 30 fps on the video service, and now that all changes. Coming soon, 48 and 60 fps options will be available to go along with the 1080 quality settings now available. Will everyone care about this? No. is it a massively good thing for the YouTube gaming community? You bet it is.

Fan-submitted Subtitles- Not everyone on YouTube speaks the same language, but everyone does watch videos. Now, everyone can watch and enjoy the same videos. In theory.

Creator Credits- Creators love to collaborate with each other. So now, YouTube is letting collaborators name and link their fellows in a way that people might actually click. This one is in the “coming soon” category.

Bye Bye Annotations, Hello Cards- Annotations don’t work on mobile devices. So now, YouTube is changing the way links are displayed by replacing them with cards that will work across all mobile, tablets and desktops. Another “coming soon” feature.

Fan Funding- Here’s where the hate train probably starts for a lot of people. Kickstarter and other crowdfunding platforms have been attracting the attention of creators because theres really no way to crowd fund things on YouTube. In an effort to retain creators and, of course, make more money off of them, YouTube is basically creating an online tip jar. Right there in YouTube. No need to go elsewhere. This feature is currently being tested “by a handful of selected creator channels”.

So there you have it. Major changes are coming to YouTube. When all of them will be fully implemented is anyone’s guess,b ut it seems that the platform is at least intent on innovating as the landscape of online video evolves. What do you think? Sound off in the comments below.

After having already failed to make TV set-top boxes and Google-powered TVs attractive to punters, Google is planning another attempt at cracking the living room. The company is working with partners to produce several television set-top boxes that run its Android software, let users view content, listen to music, and play games on their television sets, according to people familiar with the matter.