We're now in the thick of the festive season, but there's little reason to be merry over at Sony as embarrassing details continue to leak after a devastating hack. This week also saw EE announce plans to scrap its popular and long-standing Orange Wednesdays 2-for-1 cinema offer.
There've been plenty of interesting stories from around the web and IT Pro takes a look at the best of the rest.
Science & Tech
- Scientists have warned that emerging drug resistant infections could kill 10 million extra people by 2050, reports BBC News, putting the number above those currently killed by cancer.
- Russian billionaireAlisher Usmanov paid $4.1 million for the Nobel Prize medal that was auctioned off by Dr. James Watson, a prize he received for helping to identify thestructure of DNA in 1962. In a gesture of goodwill, the billionaire handed the medal back.
"In my opinion, a situation in which an outstanding scientist sells a medal recognizing his achievements is unacceptable,"Usmanov said in the statement.
"Dr. Watson's work contributed to cancer research, the illness from which my father died. It is important for me that the money that I spent on this medal will go to supporting scientific research, and the medal will stay with the person who deserved it."
- Facebook has released a montage of 2014 - rounding up everything from the ALS Ice Bucket craze to the Fifa World Cup.
- Water on earth did not come from Comet, according to the results of the Rosetta mission.
Film
- It looks like Roberto Orci won't be directing Star Trek 3, despite being lined up to replace JJ Abrams who is off after he took up theStar Wars gig. Shaun of the Dead director Edgar Wright is apparently on the shortlist to replace him.
- The films shortlisted for the Visual Effects category at the 87th Oscars include:Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Godzilla, Guardians of the Galaxy, Interstellar, Transformers: Age of Extinction and X-Men: Days of Future Past.
- The first trailer for Disney's Inside Out has been released, which you can watch below:
- Benedict Cumberbatch and Kiera Knightly received SAG nominations for their roles in The Imitation Game, and will fight it out with Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones for their work in Stephen Hawking biopicThe Theory of Everything.
Both films also got nods from the Golden Globes, as did Cumberbatch, Knightly, Redmayne and Jones.
- Frozenwas declared Google Play's movie of the year.
TV & streaming
- Amazon Prime Instant Video has added Ultra HD content for no extra charge, reports DigitalSpy, meaning that subscribers can now watch content with 4x the pixels.
Steve Jobs Movie Watch
One of the standout revelations from this week's round of Sony Pictures leaks was all about the Steve Jobs biopic, which - if you remember rightly - was previously being worked on by Sony before Universal took over.
The leaks revealed a spreadsheet showing projected revenues for the project fell by a quarter once news broke that Leonardo DiCaprio had passed on it and Christian Bale had been ushered in as a replacement.
Incidentally, Bale has since, er bailed, on taking on the role of Steve Jobs too.
- The outlandishly successful podcast series, Serial, will deliver it's final episode to fans on 18 December.
- Venture capitalist Tim Draper is setting up a reality show based in Silicon Valley, and is currently looking for young entrepreneurs to star, reports TechCrunch.
- Messaging app companyLine is joining forces with music labels Avex Digital and Sony Music Entertainment to launch a new subscription-based music streaming service, which will be in direct competition with Spotify and other offerings.
- YouTube has released lists of the top 10 trending videos and music videos, which include Giant Mutant Spider Dog (113 million views) and the iPhone 6 Plus's bend test.
- Tatiana Maslany (Orphan Black) and Jim Parsons (The Big Bang Theory) received SAG nominations this week.
- HBO's Silicon Valley was nominated for Best Television Series Comedy or Musical at the Golden Globes.
Gaming
- The next Assassin's Creed game will be set in London, according to leads to gaming site Kotaku.
- Sony had its online Playstation store targeted by hackers this week.
- The most downloaded games in 2014 were Candy Crush Saga, Don't Tap the White Tile, Farm Heroes Saga, Subway Surfers and Clash of the Clans, according to Google Play.
