Latest news

Apple had a big day yesterday in San Jose, CA. The Cupertino Goliath announced a multitude of platform updates, device upgrades, and even some new products. One thing that might have not caught everyone's eye as much, but yet is something most Apple users will be very familiar with, is the revamped App Store.

Apple said the new App Store user interface will modify how people use the store and bring a new fresh look. Major changes to user experience means that there's a new style to the whole app which can be found from some of the company's other apps (including Apple Music) as well as their new website.

The new App Store is divided into three tabs: Today, Games, and Apps. The first category introduces the user to exclusive premieres, recommendations, and new apps. Games are now also separate from other apps, which will bring more focus to the largest and most popular app category. In addition to the three main tabs, the store has Updates and Search tabs.

Apple CEO Tim Cook wasn't kidding when he said in the opening of the Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) yesterday that there's a lot to talk about. Skipping the typical recap of the year in numbers, Apple employees went straight on to updates and new products.

The day was mostly filled with operating system updates but there was surprisingly many product launches as well. Usually Apple only refreshes their Mac line and maybe touches on some niche products, like the Apple TV or Apple Watch, during the WWDC.

This time around the audience consisting largely of developers – it is a developer conference after all – witnessed quite a few new devices. In addition to unveiling the new Mac Pro and even a completely new HomePod, the company unwrapped the new and improved iPad Pro.

The smaller iPad Pro has grown from a 9.7 incher to a bigger and better 10.5 inch display. The size however has now budged as the company has managed to squeeze the bezels to incorporate the bigger display that hosts a new technology called ProMotion.

In yesterday's keynote speech Apple had a lot to talk about. All the operating systems got a new versions, Macs were updated, and even the Apple TV had some good news to share.

Even after this Apple managed to release a completely new product. Well, new to them. It is, of course, the anticipated HomePod.

For a while now it has been rumored that Apple was making a competitor to Amazon Echo, and the larger family of Alexa devices, and of course all the other voice assisted smart speakers. Obviously Apple thinks theirs is superior in every way, many of which might be true.

HomePod is a combination of seven speakers surrounding a subwoofer, and is controlled using voice only. Siri is listening with six microphones around the device. Apple claims that HomePod is smart enough to know its surroundings and optimize the music output to your living room, or whatever area it might be.

Apple has today announced the new version of the company's most important operating system. The operating system running on all iPhones and iPads updates to version number 11 within the upcoming months.

The iOS 11 comes with changes to both underlying technologies as well as features seen on the surface of the platform experience.

Apple has updated the Messages with a new iCloud synchronization which allows a better multi-platform and multi-device sync with automatic updates to message threads. First time ever you'll also be able to use Apple Pay within Messages to transfer money to another iPhone user with just a simple P2P transfering "message".

Siri has been enhanced with loads of machine learning which you will both hear and see whether it is the improved Siri voices expressing themselves in more nuanced way or the more contextual information provided. Siri also now can translate to five different languages and the SiriKit allows better voice command integration in third-party apps.

As you might imagine, Photos has been updated as well. One of the more important upgrades to Photos is the support for HEVC codec which means that videos use now half the storage. In addition Apple has replaced the very traditional JPEG format with a new and more efficient HEIF, which should also decrease the size by 50%. This should not affect the picture quality thanks to new algorithms.

Apple has finally, after years of pressure from professionals, answered the call to update their top-of-the-line Mac. The company unveiled a new Mac Pro, which this time around is a all-in-one computer.

The new Mac Pro is obviously the most powerful computer Apple has ever released and has more to offer than anything they've previously had. The base model includes a 5K Retina display, 8-core Xeon processor, Radeon Vega graphics, 32 GB ECC memory, a one terabyte SSD, and first time ever 10 Gb Ethernet connection. This starts at $4999.

You can upgrade the Mac Pro to up to 18 cores and Vega graphics up to 16GB of VRAM and 400GB per second of memory bandwidth. The ECC RAM goes up to 128 gigabytes and SSD can be upgraded to 4 TB. This obviously will cost, a lot.

The Mac Pro is an all-in-one product just like the iMacs but includes more I/O options, including four Thunderbolt 3 ports, and comes in a stealth-like dark silver color.

One piece of bad news for the people that have been waiting for this for years is that you'll have to wait a little bit more. Apple expect the new Mac Pro to ship in December.

Apple has unveiled the next update to the oldest Apple OS currently on the market. The update to macOS is called High Sierra – cue puns, Federighni – and will bring updates to almost all aspects of the OS.

Major updates include Safari update which makes it, according to the company, the fastest browser on the planet. This means that depending on the benchmark you can expect as much as 80% faster performance than Google Chrome.

Another big update is heading to Photos app. The new app includes updated organization and editing tools, a new side bar, and filtering option. The filtering gives you a faster search based on keywords, favorites, and media type. The app also has an automatic face recognition.

High Sierra also brings the first time ever a native VR support. The Industrial Light & Magic team demoed the feature with HTC Vive and Star Wars content. The new macOS uses the new Metal 2 graphics platform to render high quality VR in 90 frames per second.

There are also updates to many apps, including the Mail app, as well as the underlying file system, which has been now updated to a faster and more modern APFS.

High Sierra is available right now to developers willing to try the beta. All beta tester will get the update later this month through the beta tester program and the final version will ship free for all Sierra compatible Macs later on this fall.

Apple's keynote at the WWDC is currently ongoing but already the company has introduces the first major update to one of its many platforms. After a small update to Apple TV, Tim Cook passed the torch to Kevin Lynch to tell about Apple Watch.

Apple Watches get an update which is called watchOS 4. This update brings a variety of new watch faces, a major expansion to Siri capabilities, and updates to apps like Apple Music.

Siri now shows an information stream quite like Google Now on your Apple Watch. The new watch faces include kaleidoscope and Toy Story characters with fun animations.

The activity tracking has updated as well with more functionality and the Workout app has a brand new UI.

You get all this and more right now, that is if you update to Developer build. Or you could wait for the official release some time during fall.

Apple's annual Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) has been opened by Tim Cook. Cook started the keynote by telling how popular the developer community is currently but quickly moved on to updates about products.

The first product update announced by Tim Cook is for Apple TV. Apple has managed to make deals with Amazon and finally gets online shopping giant's video service on its platform.

This means that later this year Amazon Prime Video will be available on Apple TV with its thousands of movies and TV shows. This of course includes all the critically-acclaimed original shows, such as Man in the High Castle.

Apple did not reveal a date for update but as said earlier it will be coming before the end of the year.

Microsoft has informed us at Computex trade show that its partners are going to unveil a slew of new so-called Always Connected computers in the upcoming months. These computers, mainly laptops of varying form factors, will include an integrated LTE modem that allows the computers to be, well, always connected.

The concept has brewed a long time within Microsoft, and it is certainly not the first time company has tried to bring computers equipped with modems to consumers. ARM based computers were one of the main points in the Windows 8/Windows RT division.

Now the Redmond titan, however, believes that the technology is mature enough. Always Connected computers are said to be released from multitude of manufacturers, including ASUS, Hp, VAIO, Xiaomi, and the leading PC manufacturer Lenovo.

They come equipped with either Intel's or Qualcomm's chips, which include the popular smartphone flagship system-on-a-chip Snapdragon 835 found in for example the new Galaxy S8. All the computers run Windows 10, albeit different versions for ARM and Intel chips.

The computer come with their own eSIM slot and are thus mostly meant for people that are on the move, such as students and business customers, who don't want the hassle of sharing their mobile data from a smartphone.

Intel has announced that it will start the commercializing of a concept called Compute Card. This credit card sized computer concept is obviously incredibly small and light which means it will make a lot of new kind of computer applications possible, says Intel.

What makes the Compute Card great is that it allows the modular use of computer technology in a new way. When you can easily detach and reattach the computing part of whatever system is it a part of, this means that the separate hardware, whether it be the Compute Card or the remaining equipment can be modified or replaced easily.

This kind of feature would be essential in devices like TVs, refrigerators, and cars among other Internet of Things applications.

Compute Card will come available in four different models that vary in performance. The processors used include a dual-core and 1.2Ghz Kaby Lake Core i5-7Y57 and a less powerful quad-core Celeron 3450. All four versions of Compute Card include four gigabytes of RAM, 128 GB SSD storage, Wi-Fi (ac), and Bluetooth 4.2.

Air passengers flying to the United States from European countries will not be subjected to an electronics ban, at least for the time being.

That was made clear today by U.S. Department of Homeland Security Press Secretary Dave Lapan in a statement. It followed consultation between Secretary of Homeland Security, John F. Kelly, and European counterparts, which included EU Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship, Dimitris Avramopoulos, and the EU Commissioner for Transport, Violeta Bulc.

It was expected that an electronics ban that would keep laptops and other equipment out of the cabin on U.S. bound flights could be announced, but it didn't come to pass. However, the possibility has not been ruled out in the future depending on the circumstances.

"Secretary Kelly affirmed he will implement any and all measures necessary to secure commercial aircraft flying to the United States – including prohibiting large electronic devices from the passenger cabin – if the intelligence and threat level warrant it," the DHS statement reads.

Aside from that clarification, the three agreed on a need to raise the bar for aviation security globally, including through a range of potential seen and unseen enhancements. Additionally, the parties agreed to continue to work together to secure global aviation and to maintain clear lines of communication and cooperation.

Xbox One had gotten its own SoundCloud App, letting subscribers access their full music collection, playlists and so forth on the Microsoft platform.

SoundCloud can be controlled with voice commands via Cortana. All of the typical SoundCloud features are abailable, including your favorite tracks and newest releases.

Subscribers can find new artists and songs that you can't find anywhere else to create unique playlists--discover new remixes from well-known and up-and-coming artists.

Whether you're a SoundCloud Free, SoundCloud Go, or SoundCloud Go+ user, the app is optimized to seamlessly integrate your SoundCloud music collection on Xbox One.

The SoundCloud app for Xbox One can be gotten from the Xbox Store.

Additionally, The SoundCloud Beta app for Windows 10 PCs is also available from today from the Windows Store.

More Info: SoundCloud Blog

The parents of a deceased teenager have been denied the right to access their late daughter's Facebook account by an appeals court.

In late 2015, a regional court in Berlin had ruled in favour of the mother as she sought to look for clues of whether or not her daughter had committed suicide. The 15 year old girl was killed by a subway train in Berlin in 2012.

According to the regional court, the girl's contract with Facebook passed to her parents when she died, and that since she had been a minor, she had no absolute right to privacy online as it was up to her parents to protect her rights.

That decision has been overturned by the Berlin appeals court this week, which has clarified that the right to private telecommunications outweighed the right to inheritance. The court also found that the parents' obligation to protect her rights expired with her death.

Facebook is refusing access to the girl's account, which has since been memorialised.

There are a few futuristic concepts in smart devices that are are persistent as the flexible display. Companies, especially the couple Korean ones, have been trying to create different kind of flexible and stretchable displays for quite some time.

One of the examples of this is of course the LG G Flex introduces first in 2013 and its successor Flex2. Samsung has been twisting displays in its own right with the curved displays since Note Edge, and now even with its most popular flagship Galaxy S8.

Now Samsung has unveiled a new kind of display that might revolutionize the smart devices yet again. This time it is a stretchable OLED display, first of its kind, the company says. The technology is on display at a international SID conference and you can also see it in action in a YouTube video below.

The display featured in the video is a 9.1 inch OLED panel – if you can call it a panel anymore – that would fit perfectly in a traditional tablet. Instead it stretches like a fabric. The stretch height is at maximum 12 millimeters, just under half an inch, so it can't compare to rubber-like materials, though.

Currently the technology is still very much a concept and needs more development. There still doesn't seem to be any real life applications for it but surely someone will come up with a use for that.

Samsung has been investing a lot on its semiconductor business in both Asia and even in the United States. Now the company is expanding even further and creating its own business around the chip manufacturing.

According to Bloomberg Samsung is separating the foundry business to show how serious it is in challenging the world's leading semiconductor manufacturer Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, better known as TSMC.

The Korean giant hopes that the new business will be more attractive to its core customers. Currently the company is competing with many of its most important chip customers in other areas. For example Apple has been buying chips from Samsung but there's fierce competition in the smartphone and tablet space among others.

Samsung and its foundry business can't risk losing important customers that are hard to attract because of competing intrests in other fields. Customers like Apple and Qualcomm are invaluable to retain and the move will ensure a stronger positions in the market, the Korean manufacturer believes.

Samsung has also revealed its future plans in chip manufacturing. On the main advanced will be a new EUV lithography in 7 nanometer process but before that the company will expand to 8 nm process. There will also be an upgrade to 6, 5, and even 4 nanometer processes as we head towards 2020.