Kindle Unlimited Is Actually Very Limited

It's been called the Netflix of books but is Amazon's new Kindle Unlimited service actually any good. Well, not really. The service offers a choice of 600,000 books to read whenever you want and however you want (it's available on Kindles and the Kindle app on Android and iOS) but the problem is that the 'Big 5' publishers which consists of Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins, Macmillan Publishers, Penguin Random House and Simon and Schuster haven't signed deals with Amazon leaving Kindle Unlimited with mostly smaller, independent publishers. Of course, these independent publishers have some pretty good books including Life of Pi and the Harry Potter series but there's definitely a huge hole which the 'Big 5' would fill.

Kindle Unlimited launched last week for US customers only and it's not currently known if they'll release the service in the UK but at $9.99 (<£6) would you sign up? Leave your comments below.

Microsoft Stock Jumps on Lay-Off News

Microsoft's stock has jumped today by almost 4% on news that is laying off 18,000 staff, most of them from it's recently acquired Nokia division. The stock has been rising steadily since the start of 2013 as investors have become more confident of the computing giants future. Microsoft's tablets and smartphones have been doing reasonably well, even with the strong competition from Samsung and Apple. There also seems to be confidence in it's new leader, Satya Nadella and these cost cutting measures prove he's got a good idea of Microsoft's future strategy.

At the time of writing the stock was at $45.

Gmail Gets Encryption

Since 2010 all Gmail has been encrypted between Google's servers and your computer but, as Google announced in a recent blog post, all Gmail wherever it goes will now be encrypted using HTTPS. This includes between Google's own servers. Google cite 'last summer's revelations' i.e. the NSA as the driver behind this security upgrade. Although this encryption is great PR I very much doubt it will thwart those that really want to access your email so don't think all is 100% safe.

GoPro To Go Public

GoPro, the rugged and wearable camera company announced on Friday that it plans to go public and has filed confidential IPO documents - meaning it doesn't have to release financial information just yet. The company is thought to be worth just over $2 Billion and only a few days ago appointed a new CFO, Jack Lazar.

GoPro have come a long way since they released their first camera back in 2005 which used 35mm film and weighed 200g. The latest camera is the Hero3+ which can shoot in 4K video and weighs just 74g.

GTA V sells more than $800 million on day one

After arguably the most hyped launch of 2013 the latest iteration of the Grand Theft Auto gaming series, GTA V, broke records for the game's developers Take-Two Interactive Software. The open-world video game available on Sony's Playstation 3 and Microsoft's Xbox 360 took an estimated $800+ million (~£500 million) in just the first 24 hours. This even excludes upcoming releases in countries such as Japan and Brazil.

The game received rave reviews from critics and gamers worlwide and is expected to easily make more than $1 billion (~£600 million) in total sales.

The company revealed these figures in a post on their website.