The most popular stories on BetaNews this past week: June 1 -- 7
The biggest news of this week came from Apple which held a keynote speech at WWDC in San Francisco. One of the major announcements was the unveiling of iOS 8 which will be making its way to iPhone and iPads around the world sometime in the Fall. There was a lot to take in, including "Hey, Siri", HealthKit and iCloud Drive. OS X also got a new lick of paint with Yosemite, with beta versions made available for immediate download. There was also an intriguing change to the App Store Review Guidelines that suggests the doors may be opened to virtual currencies such as Bitcoin.
Windows 7 continues to grow faster than Windows 8.x, but if you're looking for an alternative to Windows, Linux Mint 17 "Qiana" could be worth a try. Windows XP is still managing to hang on it there for the time being. Microsoft celebrated the news that Windows Phone is becoming increasingly popular -- if not with developers -- particularly when security is important; which is just as well, because reports suggest that handsets need to be made more secure for enterprise. Microsoft also had cause for celebration after helping the FBI to take down the Zeus botnet.
The HTC One just became slightly more affordable as a version not constructed entirely from metal was launched and Samsung announced its first Tizen smartphone. The same company pushes the size boundaries with the Galaxy W which seems unsure whether it is a tablet or a phablet. HP embraced Android by releasing a laptop running Google's mobile operating system, and ASUS is also keen to get in on the Android party, unveiling a number of tablets running the OS. It's all just part of the Android Army's march forward, says Joe. On the subject of Android, 4.4.3 KitKat was released.
Google's other mobile operating system is also spreading around the world as the HP Chromebook 11 launched in nine more countries, but are the models built without Google's involvement of quite the same standard? For the security-conscious, Google's End-To-End encryption extension is worth a look. There are new features coming to Internet Explorer, and hopefully by the time it arrives the world will have been saved from the Cryptolocker ransomware. We also learned that fans of online pornography are likely to be using the latest version of Microsoft's web browser.
Demonoid returned and Pirate Bay founder is arrested as torrenting hits the headlines for the first time in a while. In the UK, the copying of digital media was legalized meaning that -- at long, long last -- music fans who create MP3 copies of their favorite albums are no longer the breaking the law. The backlash against the activities of the NSA continues, and this week Reset The Net called for users to take control of their online privacy by using encryption tools. The question remains… is Snowden a hero or a villain?
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