News written by James Delahunty (August, 2019)

A decade and a half after the third installment of the Matrix trilogy, a fourth in the series has been announced.

Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss - Neo and Trinity - will return for The Matrix 4 which is to begin production in early 2020. Lana Wachowski is set to direct the fourth film, written by Wachowski, Aleksandar Hemon, and David Mitchell.

"We could not be more excited to be re-entering 'The Matrix' with Lana," Warner Bros. Picture Group chairman Toby Emmerich said, reports Variety.

"Lana is a true visionary -- a singular and original creative filmmaker -- and we are thrilled that she is writing, directing and producing this new chapter in 'The Matrix' universe."

Wachowski noted that many of the ideas she explored with her sister Lilly when they wrote and directed the Matrix trilogy movies a couple of decades ago are more relevant now than they were then. This is undoubtedly true with artificial intelligence and even theories of simulated realities being in the mainstream.

European Union regulators are to investigate Facebook and its upcoming 'Libra' digital currency for potential anticompetitive behavior.

Bloomberg reported the story on Tuesday after seeing an official document that detailed a European Commission investigation into potential anti-competitive behavior related to Facebook's proposed Libra digital currency.

The concerns surround the exchange of information and the use of consumer data and who it is limited to, with an eye on the integration of Libra-based applications into WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger.

Libra is supported to launch globally in 2020.

This is only the latest in a slew of probes into Libra from authorities around the world, whose concerns range from the amassing and use of consumer data to the threat to the financial system that digital currencies pose.

Ahead of its foray into the smart television space, OnePlus has revealed a predictable name for its upcoming product and revealed the logo.

Having asked users on its forums for name suggestions for a smart television over a year ago, the folks at OnePlus have decided to keep it simple and go with OnePlus TV. The first lucky person to suggest the name in the contest held by OnePlus will still receive a big prize, of course.

"Honestly, it was harder than you could imagine during the naming process as we have seen so many creative names which made it a difficult decision. Eventually, we chose to be true to our core values, but we are thankful for all the suggestions from you," wrote dsmonteiro on the OnePlus forums.

Unfortunately, there are no tech specs or any indication of when we will see a OnePlus TV product, but we are told to 'stay tuned' as there is more exciting news coming soon.

For now, though, the firm has unveiled the logo for its OnePlus TV products.

Facebook has confirmed that some of its workers were tasked with listening to audio snippets from Messenger conversations.

Just as had been revealed at Google and Apple, employees at Facebook reportedly listened to snippets of audio and were tasked with transcribing them. According to a report from Bloomberg, the Facebook employees were not told where the audio they were transcribing was coming from.

The purpose of such transcribing is to aid artificial intelligence systems to improve automatic voice to text transcription for users as a service if they required it.

Facebook insists that the recordings of the audio were only made when users had opted into transcription service and given permission for microphone access. However, the social network giant followed Apple and Google and paused human review of audio more than a week ago.

Regulators around the world will now probe the practice at Facebook and others. In the European Union, the Irish regulator has already confirmed that it is seeking information from Facebook.

"Further to our ongoing engagement with Google, Apple and Microsoft in relation to the processing of personal data in the context of the manual transcription of audio recordings, we are now seeking detailed information from Facebook on the processing in question and how Facebook believes that such processing of data is compliant with their GDPR obligations," the commission said in a statement sent to Reuters.

In an interview with GameSpot, Xbox boss Phil Spencer shared some extra details about Microsoft's goals for the next Xbox generation.

Project Scarlett was detailed in some ways at E3 this year when Microsoft said that it would be approximately four times as powerful as the Xbox One X. Besides providing for better graphics, Spencer said they are focused on how smoothly games run on the new system, with a view toward ensuring the maximum frame rate at 4K.

"People love 60 frames-per-second games, so getting games to run at 4K 60 [FPS] I think will be a real design goal for us.," Spencer said, while also emphasizing the desire to have games load incredibly fast.

Beyond that, there is also good news for those who care about backward compatibility.

"Making sure that all four generations of content--so the original Xbox games that run on your Xbox One today, the OG Xbox; the 360 games that run on your Xbox One; your Xbox One games; and the new generation games--all run on the next platform is important to us," Spencer said.

He also confirmed that cross-generational play will be supported, so you can continue to play against others on older hardware. Additionally, Spencer said Microsoft is aiming to make sure that controllers bought for the Xbox One X will be compatible with newer hardware.

Video sharing apps and platforms may soon face very large fines if it is determined they fail to prevent vulnerable people from accessing harmful content.

Ofcom, the UK's communications regulator, may soon have the power to fine tech companies millions of pounds if it determines the firms are failing to tackle harmful videos. Such videos could include adult-oriented content that is unsuitable for younger people, or videos depicting serious violence.

Such new fines are under consideration as part of the UK's adoption of the European Union's Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD), but the UK may not have to comply with the directive at all as it is set to exit the EU on October 31.

"If the UK leaves the European Union without a deal, we will not be bound to transpose the AVMSD into UK law," a spokesman for the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, confirmed to the BBC.

Regardless, it was reportedly agreed before the summer break that Ofcom should be able to find firms up to 5 percent of its revenues or even outright block them in the country if they don't comply with certain rulings. Ofcom is keen on getting such strong regulatory powers.

Roscomnadzor has warned Google to stop promoting 'illegal mass events' through YouTube as protesters target the government.

Russia has seen some of its largest protests in years ahead of elections in Moscow. Some opposition political candidates have been blocked from taking part in the elections, sparking demonstrations which have since widened to protests against the Russian government.

The communications regulator in Russia, Roscomnadzor, sent a letter to Google complaining about the use of its platform to organize and raise awareness about 'illegal mass events'. It says that some YouTube users have been buying advertisements on YouTube and using push notifications to spread information about the protests.

If Google fails to respond and address the issue, Roscomnadzor warned that it will be seen as interfering in the country's sovereign affairs.

Russia has introduced tough laws in recent years that can force search providers to remove results, messaging services to share encryption keys, and social networks to retain users' personal data on servers within the country.

Source: Reuters