Blanco Sackville

Take 2 in hot coffee again

Take 2’s shares are crashing on the back of news that it is being sued by the city of Los Angeles over the “Hot Coffee” Grand Theft Auto adult mod and a key board resignation. Bank Of America analyst downgraded Take 2’s share status to “sell”, noting that the company is going through cash reserves at an “alarming” rate, and facing “more title delays, a possible SEC investigation and key employee departures”. Audit Committee Chairwoman Barbara Kaczynski resigned from Take 2’s board because, according to her lawyer, of an “increasingly unhealthy relationship between senior management and the board of directors.”

Japanese analysts get their turn on PS3 launch date

Japanese analysts at Daiwa Institute have said they believe the PS3 will launch between April and June in Japan. They also predict a very limited list of launch and initial titles, and an initial price of at least $350. The same analysts believe Nintendo’s next console, the “Revolution” will launch in June for a lower price of around $250. By the end of the year, analysts predicted a 50 per cent market share for the PS3, with the Xbox 360 taking 30 per cent and Revolution 20 per cent.

Microsoft admits Xbox 360 Japanese launch “more difficult than we imagined”

Speaking to Japanese magazine Famitsu Weekly, Microsoft has admitted the Xbox 360 console launch in the country didn’t go according to plan: “We couldn’t prepare the launch titles we had promised,” said Xbox Japan operational chief Yoshihiro Maruyama. “We also received criticisms toward our promotions, that people don’t understand what high definition is. The Xbox 360’s main appeal is high definition, but we couldn’t successfully convey it.” A shocking admission considering the high level of appeal High Definition has in Japan. The Xbox 360 sold approximately half the numbers the Xbox did during its Japanese launch.

EA fires 300 staff

Electronic Arts has, according to GameSpot, fired around five per cent of its global workforce. An EA spokesperson commented to the site: “During transition we always look to realign our resources, whether that’s people, technology or our investments.” EA has recently been forced into offering its first ever profit warning based on the tougher-than-expected move, or “transition” from current generation to next-generation consoles.

EA cuts its game prices in the US

Electronic Arts has officially knocked between $10 and $20 off most of its current-generation console games out on shelves now. The titles hit include Need For Speed: Most Wanted, Medal Of Honor: European Assault and Madden NFL ’06. Analysts at Banc of America Securities believes other publishers will follow suit: “Very few new current generation releases will be able to charge a premium price. The Godfather is the only EA game that has a chance to be priced at $49.99 at launch though we would not be surprised to see the game priced at $39.99.”

Xbox 360 launch sells less than GameCube, Xbox or Nintendo DS

A+E Interactive has analysed the sales of key consoles in the first six weeks of their lives. The Xbox 360 managed around 1.1 million in the US, Japan and Europe. The original Xbox sold 1.4 million, the Nintendo DS sold 1.2 milliom, the GameCube, 1.2 million and the PS2 1.1 million, all just in the US. However, launch velocity is clearly no indication of long-term success, as the Dreamcast sold 1.8 million units in its first four months in the US.

Xbox Live Arcade a smash success

“As the business has grown, we now are swamped with folks that want in Arcade, large publishers and small publishers alike,” said Greg Canessa, General Manager, Xbox Live Arcade to Larry Hryb, Xbox Live Director Of Programming on his blog. “The Capcoms, Namcos, Midways, Konamis, EAs those types of guys were like: ‘Maybe one or two titles.’ Now they’re saying: ‘We wanna do 25 titles. We’re starting up a division to do arcade titles.’ So we have a huge amount of opportunities from them. Not just back-catalogue stuff, but also new content.” Although the blog of a Microsoft Live honcho is obviously going to be fairly biased, it is clear that Xbox Live in general, and Arcade in particular, is one of the best things going for the Xbox 360 right now. Sony – watch and learn. Fast.

Gizmondo going under?

Gizmondo Europe has been placed into administration, in an attempt to stave off absolute bankruptcy for the ailing potato-shaped handheld console manufacturer. The company has managed, according to the Financial Times, to secure $50 million in refinancing and has cut its European workforce by half. However, its Regent Street store remains suspiciously open.

Microsoft working on Xboy portable device?

The original “Xboy” rumour came about through a misprint. But now, according to BusinessWeek magazine, it might not be a silly rumour at all. The article, based on previous comments made by Xbox head Peter Moore and insider sources, suggests that Microsoft is working on a multimedia device to play games, music and movies – aimed at beating the iPod. BusinessWeek concludes that involving the Xbox brand would be risky as: “Most consumers will view it as a game player, like Sony’s PSP. That might limit its appeal, since the portable gaming market is smaller than the one for digital media.”

Pioneer says 4 to 7 million PS3s

Andy Parsons, senior VP of Pioneer Electronics has flatly refuted the downbeat belief of some US analysts that a mere two to three million PS3s will be out by the end of 2006, with Europe unlikely to see any. Instead, Parsons told video website The Digital Bits that a much higher number will be produced, presumably paving the way for a global 2006 roll-out including Europe.

Need For Speed game found at scene of crash

Taxi driver Tahir Khan was killed in a horrific crash in Canada when two teens racing their parents cars crashed. While one teen initially fled the scene, both have now been apprehended. A copy of Need For Speed: Most Wanted was found on the front seat of one of the two racing cars.

Gamers breeding

35 per cent of US parents are gamers, according to a study by industry body ESA. And 80 per cent of those play videogames with their kids. The average gaming parent is 37, and has spent 13 years playing games. And nearly half (47 per cent) are women – so it’s not just dads passing down the joypads.

Nintendo unveils widely-rumoured DS redesign

After many weeks of rumours, Nintendo has officially unveiled its redesign of its handheld console. The DS Lite is slimmer and lighter than the original DS, and will cost only slightly more than the original DS design when it goes on sale in Japan on March 2. The only added functionality to the design is adjustable screen brightness. No word yet on US or European arrival dates. But Nintendo’s Japanese website certainly implies it will be coming.

Sony predicts profits thanks to PSP

Sony had predicted an overall loss of $87 million for its financial year. In a recent announcement of better-than-expected third-quarter financial results, the consumer electronics giant has reversed that figure – it now expects to make around $608 million profit for the year. The company puts that down to three factors – great results from the Bravia TV range, job cuts and restructuring by new boss Howard Stringer and the PSP. The videogames division of Sony has seen sales and profits both rise by around 50 per cent year-on-year, largely due to the PSP. Nintendo also announced more than doubled profits for the quarter year-on-year to $480 million, on the back of the success of its rival handheld, the DS.

Boxing day is already here. Micro-enterprises and small businesses can benefit from the massive price cuts that often happen around this period, something that could save them thousands of Pounds (and Dollars) off products and services they would normally have bought anyway. 

That’s a massive boost to the bottom line, EBITDAE and profitability. Boxing day, also known as St. Stephen's Day, became popular in the 19th century and refers to the day after Christmas and is one of the most important days of any retailer calendar.

Over the next few days, we will update this page to reflect any new business tech deals that retailers like Amazon, Currys or others will push online. These will cover business monitors, connectivity, storage, laptops, desktops, servers and even software and services.

Boxing day tech deals

> Solve your connectivity woes. The Devolo dLAN 1200+ Wi-Fi AC Powerline Starter Kit should allow you to cure your weak Wi-Fi problems using your electrical circuit. A massive 33% off or £53 off the RRP. Purchase it from Amazon for £106.99.

> Blisteringly fast connectivity. Check out the alien-looking, top-of-the-range TP-LINK Archer C3200 Tri-Band Wireless Gigabit Cable Router. A bargain with 32% off or £55. Snap it from Amazon for £114.99.

> A monitor with a killer feature. Samsung S24E370DL is a monitor that can wireless charge your smartphone, assuming that it is compatible. A cracking deal thanks to 46% discount or £125. Own it from Amazon for £144.99.

> Cheap workstation laptop. Get £150 or 17% off MSI GP62 6QF Leopard Pro laptop. It has a quad-core CPU, 8GB RAM, an Nvidia GTX960M GPU and two hard drives. Get it from Amazon for £749.99.

> Star-rated Ultrabook. The award-winning Asus Zenbook UX303UW is 12% cheaper (that's £90 off). Comes with Windows 10 Pro, a Core i5 CPU, 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD. Get it from Amazon for £659.99.

> Complete desktop deal. Almost 30% off this Dell Inspiron 3000 mini tower desktop, now with a Core i5 CPU, 8GB of RAM, a 1TB drive and a 27-inch curved monitor. Get it from Amazon for £499.99.

> Affordable workstation laptop. Get £150 or 13% off MSI GP62 6QC Leopard Pro laptop. It has a quad-core CPU, 8GB RAM, an Nvidia 940MX GPU and two hard drives. Get it from Amazon for £649.99.

> A fabulous graphics tablet. The Huion GT220v2 21.5-inch IPS display tablet monitor is on sale. Wake up the artist within you with 24% off (or £133) off the RRP. Grab it from Amazon for £415.20.

> A palm-sized projector. It's tiny, powerful, cable-free and doesn't need a computer. The LG Minibeam PV150G portable wireless LED projector is great for busineses. Buy it from Amazon for £169.99.

> Cheap Windows Surface tablet. The most affordable Microsoft Surface tablet is now even more affordable thanks to a 27% discount or £140 off. It has an Atom CPU, 2GB of RAM and a 64GB SSD. Grab it from Amazon for £379.99.

> Stylish external storage. It's bold, stunningly beautiful and now comes with 19% discount (or almost £60). Meet the LaCie d2 5TB dual TB2 and USB 3.0 desktop external hard drive. Buy it from Amazon for £224.99.

> Affordable super fast storage. Transcend ESD400K SuperSpeed 512GB USB 3.0 Portable Solid State Drive is a steal with a whopping 27% discount or about £60. It comes with 3-year warranty. Purchase it from Amazon for £160.99.

> Computing with an edge. The HP Pavilion 15-au193sa has a powerful Core i7 CPU with 8GB RAM and a 2TB hard drive. Available in white and five other colours, it comes with a £200 discount. Get it from Currys for £549.

> All-rounder for work and play. The HP Pavilion 15-au181sa has a capable Core i5 CPU with 8GB of RAM, a 1TB had drive and even a DVD writer. With a 33% discount, this is its lowest ever price. Get it from Currys for £399.

> Print your world, your way. The HP Envy 5541 AIO Wireless Printer comes with up to a year of Instant Ink, allowing you to print a lot of pages for free. It's an absolute bargain at half price. Get it from Currys for £59.

> Boost your Wi-Fi coverage. The Netgear EX3700-100UKS AC750 Mbps Mini AC Dual Band Universal Wi-Fi Range Extender with external antennas, now with £16 or 39% off the RRP. Purchase it from Amazon for £28.99.

> Enjoy better internet. Use multiple internet connections and never lose connectivity. Get 1 Year of Speedify Unlimited for 90% off! Better Internet is only a few clicks away. Buy it direct from £50.23, Use DEAL75 at checkout.

> A powerful desktop PC in disguise. The Alienware Steam machine is geared for gaming but you can easily transform it into a shockingly good workstation PC with a dedicated graphics GPU by putting Windows 10 on it. Grab it from Amazon for £370

> For a strong wireless network. There is a staggering 76% off this Linksys Wireless Access Point LAPAC1200, a business-grade WAP device that supports up to 16 SSIDs and is ceiling-mountable. Snatch it from VikingDirect for £47.99.

>  A bargain-basement server. The HPE ProLiant ML10 Gen9 is an entry-level server with a Pentium G4400 GPU, 4GB of RAM, support for six drives and two DisplayPort connectors. Now with a saving of 43%. Get it from Ballicom for £167.

> Cheap and powerful laptop. The Asus X556UA has almost everything you'd want from a high-end laptop: A Core i7 CPU, 8GB RAM, a 1TB hard drive, a full HD display and even a USB Type C connector. Buy it from Amazon for £500.

> Laptop with massive storage. There's a lot to love about this HP 15-ba046na Laptop: it has a cheap optional 3-year warranty, 16GB RAM, a massive 2TB hard disk drive. You even get a £220 discount. Buy it from HP for £379.

If you've been wondering about the strange familiarity of music when you are doing your weekly shop, and an unusually heavy amount of people wearing red and white hats then we're happy to reveal that this is because it's nearly Christmas - and that means the annual Google Santa Tracker is here.

Yep, every year we bring you the news that Google is allowing you to keep an eye on just where Father Christmas' sleigh is parked up, and keep tabs on how many presents he has delivered.

And even better you can follow all of this on the internet at https://santatracker.google.com/.

In some households, Home Alone is as much a part of Christmas as presents under the tree and charades after dinner, so this new video from CineFix is perfectly timed.

It gives an authentic-looking 8-bit feel to the legendary battle between 8-year-old Kevin McCallister - abandoned by his family - and the Wet Bandits, intent on robbing Kevin's house while his parents are away.

The retro video stays pretty faithful to the film and covers all of the major scenes, complete with 90s-style audio effects.

Our only complaint is that it's only a video and not a fully playable game - there were actually some real Home Alone games released at the start of the 90s, but none of them looked as good as this does.

Perhaps the success of the Nintendo Mini Classic this holiday season might persuade someone to have a try at producing a new Home Alone game - with a suitably retro feel, of course.

In the meantime we can hope that we see more Christmas movies given the 8-bit graphics treatment - Die Hard or Jingle All The Way, anyone?

• These are the best Christmas movies you can stream right now

Via BGR

More folks in the UK are selling goods or skills online to make some extra cash, according to a new piece of research.

The survey of 1,000 adults in the UK commissioned by ePages showed that no less than 44% said they’ve earned extra money by selling goods or skills online – 54% if you look at the 25 to 34-years-old bracket – and 30% said they expect to do this on a regular basis going forward.

Furthermore, 36% said they would ‘consider trying’ online retail as an activity, and one in five felt that selling online was a way to achieve a better work/life balance (presumably the extra cash helps in terms of ensuring a bit more life, and a little less work).

When asked about running an online shop and/or a bricks-and-mortar store, 50% said they’d prefer to run just an online outfit, and only 10% wanted to run solely a high street shop. 27% said they’d do both (and presumably the remaining percentage didn’t commit).

Path to retail success

Most felt that an online store was the best way to sell the most goods – 43% of those surveyed in fact, compared to 39% who viewed both an online and physical shop as the best option to generate the most sales.

And when asked whether they felt that setting up an online store was a possibility within their reach, 54% of respondents said they believed this was ‘achievable’, and 16% even felt it would be easy.

Wilfried Beeck, CEO of ePages, commented: “The survey suggests a high participation level – today a large proportion of Britons are both keen and confident to become online merchants whenever the need arises.

“Affordable cloud-driven software, popular online marketplaces and easy payment methods have done a remarkable job of democratising retail – enabling any level of computer user to advertise, communicate and transact online”.

• We’ve rounded up the best business broadband deals out there

Microsoft is forging ahead with its idea to create underwater data centres (known as ‘Project Natick’), with the company now having filed a patent for an ‘artificial reef data centre’ that would not only provide a good home for servers but also ocean life.

Spotted by Patent Yogi, and filed at the end of December, the patent describes a vessel that would hold the data centre and be situated on the ocean floor, or anchored just above it (if the floor was too uneven).

As Microsoft has observed before, taking a data centre underwater offers a number of benefits, including hugely reduced cooling costs (it’s already very cold down there) and easy setup, plus they can be located close to the shore and cities, reducing the distance to population centres and hence reducing latency.

There are also benefits in terms of having a stable environment under the sea which isn’t affected by the likes of storms and so forth.

• Meanwhile, the Surface Pro 5 release date may be imminent

Green machines

And making the data centre an attractive potential abode for marine life will obviously give Microsoft a thumbs-up on the environmental friendliness front.

The idea will be to design a structure which provides shelter and warmth for sea creatures, with noise from the PCs inside kept to a minimum – Microsoft has previously said the shrimp exploring the sea floor will make more noise than the data centre – and possibly going as far as to disperse nutrients for sea life to feed on.

Microsoft has already conducted trials – for three months back in 2015 it tested out a data centre in a 10 x 7-foot container in the Pacific Ocean which boasted a computing power equivalent to 300 desktop PCs.

Project Natick won’t necessarily be limited to oceans, either, with the likes of lakes and rivers also being considered as possible watery data centre locations.

Via: Thewhir.com

• We’ve rounded up the best business broadband deals out there

With Barack Obama now in the final stretch of his presidency, the US leader recently joked about wanting to work at the music streaming service Spotify.

Unsurprisingly, Spotify is totally cool with that, with CEO Daniel Ek tweeting out a playful job listing for a new role entitled 'President of Playlists' which seems to have a very specific list of qualifications

The job description requires an applicant that can “identify and substantiate new playlist ideas,” with examples such as “a playlist for shooting hoops with your friends, to the perfect warm up playlist for addressing the nation about health care legislation that bears your name.”

Spotify is asking for someone who has “at least eight years experience running a highly-regarded nation,” and is “familiar with the Spotify platform, with experience in programming playlists at a federal level,” clearly referencing Obama’s extremely popular hand-picked Spotify lists, including the President’s 2016 Summer Playlist.

Showing a fair bit of cheek, the ad also suggests the creation of an “I just found my birth certificate” playlist.

Now, before former presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush start polishing up their resumes, it should also be noted that the role also requires that applicants have “good team spirit, excellent work ethic, a friendly and warm attitude, and a Nobel Peace Prize.”

The complete job listing can be read at Spotify's Career Opportunities page. 

• Here's what Obama jams out to on Spotify

Autofill turns a whole lot of tedious typing into a breezy single-click affair, but the simplicity may come at a cost.

Viljami Kuosmanen, a Finnish web developer, has discovered that when filling out information on Chrome, Safari or Opera web browsers, autofill may provide the website with stored information beyond what it's seemingly asking for. You may just see a box for your name and email address, but if you choose to autofill these two data fields, you might actually be sending over details about your address, phone number and even credit card.

Kuosmanen has created a simple website where you can witness the sneakiness for yourself. With only a name and email entry field to fill out, it seems unassuming, but through the use of several other hidden fields the site ends up collecting a whole heap of other details as well. Instead of using these details for nefarious purposes, Kuosmanen’s site just gives you raw output of the form data, which autofill has so generously provided it with.

If you find yourself using one of the aforementioned browsers, or any plugins or utilities with similar functionality such as LastPass, it could be worth having a look at disabling your autofill settings – or at the very least, avoid giving up even seemingly innocent information to dodgy looking sites.

Firefox users can rest easy for now as it does not yet support this kind of autofill, however you should keep an eye out for this in the future as it is said to be in development.

• After dealing with autofill, find out how else you can stay safe online

The internet is the backbone of the modern economy, and when the internet is fast, the country moves forward. But the latest State of the Internet report for the third quarter of 2016 from American web company Akamai makes Australia’s internet speeds look as stark as the red heart of the country.

The report, released on December 21 last year, documents that Australia’s average internet speed is a measly 9.4Mbps, way below the 25Mbps speeds that’s needed to be classified as a broadband nation.

Slow and low

A quarter of all the countries in the world – developed or developing – have faster networks, including our neighbours across the Tasman Sea. New Zealand – ranked 40th – still doesn’t qualify as for that ‘broadband nation’ badge, but does fare a little better at 11.3Mbps.

Topping the charts is South Korea, clocking up average speeds of 26.3Mbps, followed by Hong Kong, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland in the top five, and Latvia coming in at number 10.

In Asia-Pacific, Singapore, Japan, Taiwan and Thailand all outshine Australia’s performance.And to add salt to the wound, Australia’s year-on-year improvement is dismal, too – it was the second-lowest behind Japan which, it should be said, averages twice the internet connection speed as Australia.

And these rankings could well change in the coming years, with China gaining about 100 million new fibre-to-home connections this year and the Filipino government, a country with one of the lowest broadband speeds and adoption rates, now investing in wireless and fibre networks across the country.

• Do you run Windows 10 and want to increase your average internet speed? Here’s how to test and improve it.

Amazon Prime Video may have made its name on original series like Transparent, Mozart in the Jungle, and Man in the High Castle, but the e-market powerhouse has had little for anime fans to enjoy - until now.

Amazon has unveiled Anime Strike for its Prime Video service, allowing viewers to stream contemporary anime series and movies - alongside a few classics like Ouran High School Host Club and Akira - right to their favorite devices for an extra $4.99 a month.

The 'extra' there is key. Anime Strike operates through Amazon Channels - Prime Video's series of add-on premium networks like Showtime, HBO and Starz - meaning that interested anime watchers will need to also be Amazon Prime subscribers to access the channel. 

An Amazon Prime membership starts at $10.99 a month (or $99 a year) though those interesting in just the streaming perks can subscribe to a standalone Prime Video membership for $8.99 a month.

Anime Strike's selection, though a bit on the thin end at the time of writing, is expected to expand and refresh on a weekly basis, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Nibbling at Crunchyroll?

Five bucks on top of an already perk-stuffed service like Prime isn't too bad a deal, especially considering Anime Strike plans to run ongoing series like Scum's Wish and Blue Exorcist: Kyoto Saga as soon as they air in Japan - a feature many on-the-pulse fans will appreciate. 

That said, Strike has its work cut out for it. Internet-savvy fans of Japanese animation tired of importing old DVDs are likely already subscribers to Crunchyroll - the reigning big dog in anime streaming.

Crunchyroll's premium subscription offers unlimited anime viewing for just $6.95 a month, though curious folks can still try the newest Amazon Channel free for seven days. (We regret to report that we couldn't find Dragon Ball Super or One-Punch Man anywhere but hey, Paprika is still really good!)

• 30 must-see shows to add to your next Netflix binge

By: Gavin Kelly

By: Victoria Woollaston

By: Liat Clark

By: Matt Kamen

By: WIRED

By: Matt Burgess

Samsung Xcover 2 Smartphone

You can use the Samsung Galaxy Xcover 2 safely in dusty or wet environments. Go swimming, biking or skiing: nothing is too crazy for this phone. The Samsung Galaxy Xcover 2 is equipped with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. This will automatically receive a wealth of practical and fun applications. The Samsung Galaxy Xcover 2 features a stunning 4-inch screen display for optimal comfort and lets you capture all your experiences with excellent quality pictures.

DESCRIPTION

Compatible with all operators – IP67 Smartphone – Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) – 4 Inch Touchscreen that is scratch resistant – 16.7 M° colors (480 x 800 pixels) water resistant – 1GHz Dual-Core CPU – MP3 Ringtones – 3G – APN 5 Megapixels – GPS – SMS / MMS / Email / IM / Push Mail / RSS – Lamp integrated LED flashlight.

• Water resistant and dustproof (IP67)
• A wealth of practical and fun applications with Android™ 4.1 (Jelly Bean)
• A stunning 4-inch display for optimal comfort
• 1GHz dual heart
• Optimized for outdoor activities

Specifications: SamsungSamsung – Xcover 2
General
Dimensions (h / w / e)	130.5 x 67.7 x 12 mm
Weight	148.5 g
Battery	Li-Ion 1700 mAh
Screen	TFT touch 4″° 16.7 M colors (480 x 800 pixels / 233 dpi)
Talk time	570H
Standby time	15h
Color	Gray
Vibrating alarm function	Yes
Network communication
Category	Quad -tape
Gprs	Yes
Wap	Yes
Login pc	Yes, Micro USB
Edge	Yes
HSDPA (3G +)	Yes
Integrated GPS	Yes
Connectivity
Bluetooth	Yes, v4.0 (A2DP)
Wifi	Yes
Memory
Internal memory	4Gb
Memory Card	Micro SD slot (expandable up to 32GB)
Multimedia
Mp3 player	Yes
Radio	Yes
Diary	Yes
Date / Time / Alarm	Yes
Ringtones	MP3
Games	Yes
Photo Feature	5 Megapixels, Autofocus, LED Flash
Video function	Yes, 720p @ 30 img / s
Operating System (OS)	Android OS, v4.1.2 (Jelly Bean)
SIM Card Type	SIM
Office
Hands free	Yes
Written messages	MMS, SMS, Email, IM, Push Mail, IM, RSS
SAR (Specific Absorption Rate)	0.50 W / Kg

http://www.samsung.com/uk/consumer/mobile-devices/smartphones/android/GT-S7710TAABTU

NETFLIX has got itself another winner with the launch of their new, original adaptation of Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate events.

So what is the show about? Who’s in the cast and what happens this season?

Here’s everything you need to know about the show…

What is A Series of Unfortunate Events about?

Based on the book collection by Lemony Snicket (pen-name of Daniel Handler), A Series of Unfortunate Events follows the lives of the Baudelaire children, whose lives are turned upside down when their parents are killed in a mysterious house fire.

They are then left in the care of their ‘uncle’, Count Olaf (Neil Patrick Harris), an eccentric actor whose idea of looking after them involves giving them a single mattress to sleep three of them and demanding they cook and clean for him.

But all is not as it seems, and soon it becomes clear that the Count is planning on offing the children as soon as possible to get hold of their wealth.

What he doesn’t take into account though, is how smart the children are – with Klaus being a genius, Violet an engineering whizz and baby Sunny being wise beyond her years and more than a little bitey.

The group then face off in a battle of wills, with Count Olaf adopting a number of disguises from his costume collection in a bid to get to the money he wants.

Who is in the cast?

Neil Patrick Harris (Count Olaf)

Neil Patrick Harris is an acclaimed actor of both stage and screen - and he uses both skills to his advantage as the theatrical Count Olaf.

The star originally found his fame as child doctor Doogie Howser, with the show running from 1989-1993.

He is now most notably known for his super-macho, womanising alter-ego Barney Stinson in comedy series How I Met Your Mother.

Neil also took on the role of Desi Collings in 2014's movie smash-hit, Gone Girl.

He is married to actor and TV chef David Burtka, and the pair have 6-year-old twins - Harper Grace, and Gideon Scott.

Patrick Warburton (Lemony Snicket)

Patrick Warburton is an actor and voice actor that has put his name to a series of smash-hit TV shows.

These include starrting as David Puddy in comedy classic Seinfeld, led the cast as loving but aloof Jeff Bingham in Rules of Engagement and

In animation, Patrick plays Joe Swanson in the adult comedy show Family Guy, and was the loyal but dim Kronk in Disney's The Emperor's New Groove.

He takes on the role of author and narrator Lemony Snicket in A Series of Unfortunate Events - and keeps viewers updated with the ill-fate the children face.

Joan Cusack (Justice Strauss)

Joan Cusack is an actress that show to fame in the 80s alongside her brother, John Cusack.

Since then she has often played the ditzy but lovable characters in films, or the straight-talking, no-holds-barred voice of reason.

However, one of her most loved characters is Jessie - the cowgirl whose owner abandons her in Toy Story 2 and 3.

Joan takes on the role of Justice Strauss, Count Olaf's neighbour who becomes a shining light in the Baudelaire children's suddenly miserable lives.

Malina Weissman (Violet Baudelaire) and Louis Hynes (Klaus Baudelaire)

Malina Weissman is a relative newcomer to the screen, but has already worked on a series of ambitious films and TV shows.

She plays the young Kara Zor-El in the TV series Supergirl in the US, and starred alongside Kevin Spacey in the cat-transformation flick, Nine Lives.

In this series, she takes on Violet Baudelaire, who becomes the head of the family after her parents are killed and must help save her brother and sister from the hands of the evil Count Olaf.

Klaus Baudelaire is only Louis's second TV show - having taken on the role of Young Alaric in the short-lived TV series Barbarians Rising.

In the show, Klaus is book-smart, and works with her sister to take down his new guardian.

How can I watch the show?

Netflix aptly released the show on the infamous day of misfortune, Friday the 13th.

The first series, which includes musical numbers in the dark and twisted fairytale, runs for eight episodes.

You must have an account for the streaming site in order to access the episodes.

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Lemony Snicket’s, Revenge Body with Khloe Kardashian and Acquitted…all at your fingertips this week