Wayne Williams

I’m a big fan of fitness apps and wearable gadgets -- anything that can help make working out more interesting and fun is a big plus in my book, which is why I love apps like Zombies, Run! and Superhero Workout.

I’m not alone either -- one in four smartphone owners use a device to track health, diet or exercise, and fitness apps are among the fastest growing niches in the app market, rising by 49 percent in 2013.

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At the end of its iPhone 6/6 Plus/Apple Watch launch last week, the tech giant kindly gave everyone a gift -- a free U2 album. Songs of Innocence is the first album from the Irish band in five years, and Apple made it instantly available to all 500 million plus iTunes registered users. Which was a nice thing to do, after all who doesn’t like a free gift?

It turns out quite a few people were less than pleased to discover U2's new album appearing in their music collections whether they wanted it or not. If you’re one of those people unhappy about the presence of the album, and despite hunting for an easy way of removing it, still haven’t found what you’re looking for, don’t worry -- Apple has released a new tool for the job.

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Walter Isaacson's Steve Jobs is a superb biography of the late, great co-founder, chairman, and CEO of Apple, but at 592 pages it’s a bit of a hefty tome.

If you’re interested in Jobs’ life, but don’t have the time, or inclination, to read the full book, there’s always the forthcoming film adapted by Aaron Sorkin to look forward to, or -- if you just want a super quick guide -- there’s this excellent infographic.

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Last week, thanks to a series of leaked screenshots and videos from build 9834, courtesy of WinFuture.de, we got our first real look at the next version of Windows, including seeing the new Start menu and virtual desktops in action.

That’s not the only new feature being shown off however. In yet another new video we get to see the Notifications center which Microsoft is introducing.

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My colleague Brian Fagioli reported some news a couple of days ago that had me smiling. "Microsoft's Surface Pro 3 is a worldwide success -- strong sales cause limited supply" his headline declared. It’s the sort of headline Microsoft would have hoped for when it announced the news that some overseas retailers had run out of Surface Pro 3 stock.

"A worldwide success" is pushing it. What happened was demand outstripped supply, in some countries, and the supply was probably on the low (prudent, if you like) side to begin with. Microsoft announced no numbers, and posted a cleverly worded blog which makes it sound as if Surface Pro 3 is a huge hit. Unless you read what it actually says.

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It’s always nice to take the occasional stroll down memory lane, reminiscing over past experiences and the things you used to like or grew up with.

Our first computers, or game consoles, are usually something of an important milestone in our lives as we discover the possibilities they offer. I had my first computer at the very start of the 1980s, and even to this day I share a slight bond with other users of the same system, due to that shared experience.

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After having released some screenshots from Windows 9 build 9834, an early build of the forthcoming Technical Preview which is expected to debut later this month, WinFuture.de released a video showing off the new Start menu in action.

The site has now followed that up with two new videos. The first gives us another look at the new Start menu and live tiles, while the second shows us how the new virtual desktops will work.

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Want a proper look at the next version of Windows? WinFuture.de, the website behind the recent batch of leaked screenshots, has recorded a video showing Windows 9 Technical Preview (build 9834) in action.

The video focuses on the Start menu, and we get to see how well it all works. The tiled section on the right is unobtrusive, resizable, and disappears when not required. Microsoft has done a superb job of making a Start menu that functions as you’d expect, but which is modern and beautifully presented. The video also shows Modern UI apps running on the desktop, and more.

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Microsoft is, according to several reliable sources, planning to announce its next operating system on September 30, with a developer preview arriving on the day or shortly after, and the finished OS expected to appear in spring next year.

We already have a good idea of what the next operating system will look like, and the changes we can expect to see (you can get up to speed on Windows 9 here) but new screens from build 9834, which was created just a couple of days ago, have surfaced on the web that reveal the new Start menu, Modern UI apps running on the desktop, notifications center, virtual desktops and more. Plus something interesting regarding the Start screen.

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Lymphoma is a type of blood cancer with over 60 subtypes. It is the fifth most common type of cancer (after breast, lung, colon and prostate) and has an unprecedented prevalence among young adults and adolescents -- it’s the most common form of cancer in the under 30s. It’s also the cancer that killed my mother.

The disease is still largely ambiguous to many, however, and so ahead of World Lymphoma Awareness Day (15 Sept), the Lymphoma Research Foundation is pushing its first-of-a-kind mobile app, Focus on Lymphoma, which provides comprehensive information and tools to help patients and caregivers understand the disease and manage treatment.

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Smartphone manufacturers like to attack Apple. Microsoft is currently running a series of ads in which Siri comes off very badly compared with Microsoft’s own voice assistant Cortana, and now Samsung has released a collection of commercials making fun of the recent iPhone 6 reveal.

In the series, titled "It doesn’t take a genius", two tech guys are less than impressed with Apple’s new iPhone 6 which is lacking and dated compared to the Galaxy Note 4. It’s a similar campaign in some ways to the "A fly on the wall in Cupertino" ads that Microsoft ran, and quickly pulled, a year ago. But while those ads were ill judged and unfunny, Samsung gets the humor just right.

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Digital advertising intelligence firm Exponential Interactive analyzed the anonymous online behavior of 1.7 million Britons researching mobile phones in May 2014, and used this data to work out what the key interests of the different groups was.

For each of the brands -- Apple, Sony, Nokia, Motorola, Samsung, HTC, LG and BlackBerry -- it noted the top interests in categories such as Celebrity, Movies, Cars, Travel, Home, Shopping and Sport. And what did it find? Those interested in Apple phones are 16x more likely to be interested in Brad Pitt than the average person online, apparently, while Samsung devotees are 12x more likely to be into Rafael Nadal, and Motorola fans are 89x more in love with Emma Watson. And that's just for starters.

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According to the IBTimes, around five million Google Account credentials have been leaked online by hackers, with around 60 percent of the compromised accounts judged to still be active.

A user called "tvskit" made the announcement on the Bitcoin Security forum along with a link to the alleged email list. The majority of the leaked accounts seem to belong to Russian users.

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So Apple has unveiled its latest flagship phone(s), and also finally taken the wraps off its first wearable. What you think of the products will probably depend on your view of Apple, but there’s no doubt the new phones will sell in great numbers, and the Apple Watch will likely be the first wearable that you see people actually wearing in the real world.

The base 16GB iPhone 6 will be priced at $199 on a contract ($299 for 64GB, $399 for 128GB), while the 16GB iPhone 6 Plus will set you back $299 on a contract (or $399 for 64GB, $499 for 128GB). Unlocked of course you’ll pay a lot more than that -- from $649 for the 16GB iPhone 6, and $749 for the same capacity 6 Plus. The price for the Apple Watch starts at $349, but you’ll probably need to pay more to get a decent looking model.

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Apple’s iPhone 6 launch was hotly anticipated, but anyone tuning into the live stream had to initially endure stuttering video and a lovely, but rather annoying Chinese or possibly Japanese woman talking over the top of things. Apple might make great hardware and software, but it really needs to work on its live streams.

As expected, the rumors and leaks turned out to be spot on. Apple is indeed launching two new devices -- the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 Plus, both of which are larger than the existing iPhone 5s.

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