Wayne Williams

In just a few hours Apple will be taking the wraps off its latest smartphones, iOS 9, and possibly a new game-centric Apple TV. The event is scheduled to start at 10am PDT/6pm BST, and as always it will be streamed live so you can tune in at home or (maybe) work.

Apple likes to preach to the faithful, so there are the usual restrictions in place. Live streaming the event requires Safari 6.0.5 or later on OS X v10.8.5 or later; Safari on iOS 7.0 or later. Streaming via Apple TV requires second- or third-generation Apple TV with software 6.2 or later. This year, there’s another way to watch as well -- using Microsoft Edge on Windows 10.

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The Raspberry Pi is very low cost, but all you get for your money is the actual bare-bones device itself. You will still need to add an SD card, cables, a USB keyboard and mouse, and a screen before you can use it -- some of which you will likely already have lying around at home.

There are numerous add-ons available to buy too, including an official case, and today the Raspberry Pi Foundation introduces one more addition to its range -- a superb (and affordable) 7 inch touchscreen display.

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Everyday humans create 2.5 quintillion bytes of data, according to IBM. This data comes from virtually everywhere -- sensors used to gather environmental information, posts to social media sites, cell phone signals and more. In order to best determine how to put this data to use in meaningful ways, the science of analytics has changed (think: the amount of data that can be analyzed, the tools and methodologies that enable us to do so, etc.). Most importantly, companies can now be predictive based on data analytics, enabling them to better forecast demands and proactively prevent certain issues.

I spoke to Murali Nadarajah, Global Head of Big Data Analytics for Xchanging, a publicly listed multi-national business technology and services provider, about how organizations today are using predictive analytics, and how the ability to be predictive has -- and will continue -- to change the business landscape enabling the development of new approaches and products.

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The Action Center in Windows 10 is a pretty handy addition. It displays past notifications from apps and your system -- if you miss a message from Windows when it pops up you can find out what it said in the Action Center. You can also access various quick actions there.

But if you have no need for the Action Center -- and to be honest I’ve hardly ever used it -- it can be disabled with a simple registry tweak.

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We’ve covered a lot of what you can do with Windows 10 (and also explained how to overcome many of the operating system’s major problems), but if you want more guidance and handy tips and tricks, Microsoft has just released a collection of short How to videos for its new OS.

The guides cover everything from using Cortana and Windows Hello, to linking your Xbox to your Windows 10 PC. There are also videos explaining how to use Microsoft Edge, the Windows Store, OneDrive, and Surface Hub Touchback. And if you want tips to boost your productivity, and do more with the Start menu, there are videos covering those areas as well.

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The last lot of desktop OS figures released by NetMarketShare showed that Windows 10 had doubled its usage shared in a matter of days, but it wasn’t exactly an exciting number. Upon release the new OS managed to go from 0.16 percent to 0.39 percent.

But now that Windows 10 has had a month to settle in, we can finally see exactly how well it’s doing. Microsoft has said that there have been over 75 million installs, but what does that equate to in terms of usage share? NetMarketShare’s figures for August always promised to be exciting, and they definitely don’t disappoint now that they’re here.

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If you want to upgrade Windows 7 or 8 to Microsoft’s new operating system you can do so through the Get Windows 10 App which appears in your system tray, or by using the Windows 10 Media Creation Tool. Upgrading to Windows 10 is very straightforward, but what if you want to do a clean install, which will clear out all the old clutter and give your PC a performance-boosting fresh start?

According to Microsoft, in order to do this you will need to upgrade your existing version of Windows first. This will upgrade your Windows key, and you’ll then be able to Reset your PC, or format the drive and run a clean install (you can do this because your upgrade entitlement is stored in the cloud). There is however, a clever trick that will allow you to perform a clean install without ever going through the upgrade stage.

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There are lots of ways to create a connected home. My colleague Alan Buckingham is using Amazon Echo as the base to control his home’s lighting and heating, with occasionally interesting results (Alexa sometimes leaves him sitting in the dark).

If you’re not sure where to start, and you don’t want to spend too much money getting up and running, then mydlink Home's Smart Home HD Starter Kit from Ebuyer is a simple and smart solution. For your money you get an HD night-vision camera, Smart Plug and Wi-Fi Motion Sensor.

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If you’re part of the Windows 10 Insider Preview program you’ll already be rocking one build ahead of the version being used by 75 million plus upgraders. Today the software giant pushes out a second new build, which is starting to roll out now.

Build 10532 is available to those Insiders on the Fast ring and offers some big new features, including improved context menus and better feedback sharing. Naturally, there some potential issues to be aware of too -- but such is life on the bleeding edge.

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New updates are coming thick and fast(ish) to Windows 10, Microsoft's new operating system, fixing problems and making it a bit more usable.

Today the software giant pushes out three new updates. These will be installed automatically, and you can check for them now by going to Settings > Update & Security.

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Apple always live streams its launch events, but only users of its products can tune in as the company restricts the streams to Apple TV and Apple devices running Safari. It’s a little odd, preaching to the converted, but as much of the company’s new hardware sales go to existing users of Apple products it’s clearly an approach that works well.

Windows and Linux users can get around this restriction by using VLC Media Player to stream the event, but getting things set up is a bit of a pain. This year however, Apple is inviting a new audience to view the live stream -- Windows 10 users.

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I use two desktop operating systems regularly -- Windows 10 and Ubuntu. The former is on my main PC, while the latter came pre-installed on a laptop. I’ve always liked Ubuntu, but never enough to make it my primary OS. Because I spend my days writing about Windows it’s kind of a no brainer that I should immerse myself in Microsoft’s operating system.

However, Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu, would like people to question their choice of OS, now that Windows 10 is here.

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Why pay for something when you can get it for free? Provided free, really is free of course (so many "free" things these days come with hidden costs). If you’re an Android user you’ll want to sit up and pay attention to a new app from Amazon which provides a way to get your hands on all of the apps and games that are actually available for free throughout the Amazon Appstore.

Better still, while the apps and games offered might include in-app purchases in other stores, in Amazon Underground, everything is entirely free. Find an app you like and you'll pay nothing for it, ever.

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People worry about everything these days, and new technology is often a big cause for concern. Wireless charging, which is starting to appear in appliances, cars, and furniture, has some people fretting that it will microwave their internal organs while they sleep, and it wasn’t that long ago that people were stressing over the possible side effects of Wi-Fi too.

A BBC investigation a few years back found that RF radiation levels in some Wi-Fi-enabled schools were up to three times higher than the levels emitted by a typical mobile phone mast, leading to suggestions that Wi-Fi should be banned in places of education in the UK until its possible dangers had been fully investigated. Of course Wi-Fi hasn’t been banned in schools, or anywhere else for that matter, and it’s become far more ubiquitous. A new iPad app by Dutch designer Richard Vijgen uses augmented reality to visualize the network of radio waves that surround us, and it provides a truly fascinating glimpse into the invisible world that we now rely so much on.

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OneDrive, Microsoft’s cloud storage service, is heavily integrated into Windows 10. We've already explained how you can remove the OneDrive entry from File Explorer, but what if you don’t want the service in your new OS at all?

You can disable or uninstall it completely by following these simple steps. This will remove it from File Explorer, and everywhere else.

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