Wayne Williams

Google was one of numerous tech companies implicated in last week’s PRISM scandal, and despite issuing a carefully worded denial, many people still believe the search giant provides the NSA with unfettered access to its servers.

Unhappy with the situation, Google has written a letter to the offices of the Attorney General and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, asking them to give the company permission to publish in its transparency reports at least some information about the FISA national security requests it receives. This will prove, Google hopes, that it complies with legal requests, but no more.

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If you’re the sort of person who views a seatbelt as an inconvenience, you might soon have to reconsider your stance as according to Jeffery Evenson, senior vice president of Corning, the firm’s durable Gorilla Glass could start appearing in vehicles within the next 12 months.

Corning’s scratch resistant Gorilla Glass can already be found in 1.5 billion electronic devices, including the Apple iPhone, Samsung Galaxy S4 and HTC One, but it’s not just the strength of the glass that might appeal to automobile makers.

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There’s no question that iOS 7 is a sexy looking mobile operating system. Jony Ive and his team have done a fantastic job of reinventing and modernizing the interface, but the great news for fans of Apple products is iOS 7 isn’t all style and no substance.

Apple ran through a lot of the new or improved features yesterday, including Control Center, AirDrop, Photo app, Siri (with added Bing!), iOS in the Car, FaceTime Audio, and iTunes Radio. But there were features that Craig Federighi, SVP of Software Engineering, didn’t mention but which appeared on a slide in the background.

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We all knew that Apple would be revealing a redesigned version of its mobile operating system today at the 24th Worldwide Developer Conference in San Francisco, and we've just been treated to an in-depth look.

As was widely reported, the Jony Ive designed iOS 7 has a flatter, functional design and the skeumorphism -- faux wooden bookshelves, green felt and the like -- that was a central theme in previous versions of the operating system is no more.

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Live at WWDC 2013, Apple's Craig Federighi has just announced the first new non-cat named version of OS X 10.

After admitting Apple had run out of Lion variations, and making a joke about calling it OS X 10 Sea Lion, he revealed OS X 10.9’s real title -- Mavericks (named after the surfing location in Northern California rather than Tom Cruise’s character in Top Gun). Which is probably the worst name of any operating system ever. Even worse than Windows Me.

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The Xbox One has been grabbing all the headlines lately, and not all for the right reasons, but Sony will be hoping its next gen gaming console draws at least some of the limelight today when we finally get to see what the fabled machine looks like and find out more about what it has to offer.

At the E3 press conference Sony is expected to reveal the home entertainment features of the console, and of course we’ll get to see some of the games for it. You don’t need to fly or drive to LA to watch the conference as we’ll be streaming it right here, live.

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Apple events are always preceded by rumours and occasional leaks, so we usually have at least a rough idea of what to expect prior to the keynote. There haven’t been any major leaks ahead of this year’s Apple Worldwide Developers Conference which could mean one of two things -- there’s nothing really big coming, or there’s something so big to be announced, security is super tight.

We do know some of what Apple CEO Tim Cook will talk about when he takes to the stage later today, and we have a good idea of what else might be announced, so prepare to get excited for the following…

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The BBC’s weather predictions tend to be reasonably accurate, and now you can check the corporation’s latest forecasts on a new app available for iOS and Android.

When you launch the app it detects your location and tells you what the weather is like where you are, providing details such as high and low temperatures, current conditions, humidity, visibility and wind speed.

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The good news for many frustrated users of Windows 8 is Microsoft is bringing back the start button in Windows 8.1. It might not operate in quite the same way as the Start button does in previous incarnations of the operating system, but at least it’s there.

Microsoft released a teaser video a couple of days ago which highlighted many of the new features to look forward to in the OS refresh, but the Start button wasn’t among them. The software giant did however, demo the button -- and the improved interface -- at Computex 2013, and a video captured by NetworkWorld shows our little clickable friend in action.

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To celebrate the theatrical release of Star Trek Into Darkness, Taiwanese PC maker Acer partnered with Paramount Pictures to create a limited Star Trek themed edition of its Aspire R7 touchscreen notebook. Just 25 of these special R7’s were produced, none of which were made available to the general public.

Until now. Acer is putting one -- and just one -- up for sale on eBay, with all proceeds going to two charities -- The Mission Continues and Save the Children.

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We've written a lot about Windows 8.1 lately. We covered what to expect, and reported on the return of the Start button, the official Windows 8.1 announcement from Microsoft, and most recently the changes the software giant has made to woo the enterprise. But unless you downloaded and played around with one of the early leaked builds, you won’t yet have seen the Windows 8 refresh in action.

Well, Microsoft has just released a "First look at Windows 8.1" video which provides a preview showing just some of the highlights to look forward to (or to absolutely despise, depending on your perspective).

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The first version of Windows I ever installed was Windows 3.1, and the most recent was a leaked build of Windows 8.1. In between those two points I’ve installed every new version of Windows Microsoft has produced, most more times than I care to recall.

The installation process has definitely improved over the years, but I shudder to think how much of my life has been spent waiting for each install and reinstall to complete.

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Microsoft is really pushing Windows 8.1 to businesses. As my colleague Ian Barker reported yesterday, the OS upgrade will offer a raft of new features targeted at the "world of cloud computing and connected devices, with enhancements for bring your own device (BYOD) connectivity, enhanced mobility features and security enhancements".

If the global Windows 8 enterprise adoption data released by SysAid Technologies earlier today is to be believed, the software giant is really going to have its work cut out convincing firms to switch to the divisive OS.

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Eye-Fi memory cards can automatically copy photos from your camera to a wireless enabled device, such as your PC, whenever you get in range. The new Mobi card, announced today, is designed to transfer photos from a camera to any iOS or Android handset.

All you have to do is insert the Mobi card into your camera, and use it as you would any ordinary SD card. Install the free app on your phone and pair it to the Mobi by entering a unique 10 digit code. Once paired, photos and videos can be copied over automatically.

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Today at Computex in Taiwan, Asus announced a lot of new products, including a new MeMO Pad HD 7 tablet.

The Android device is 10.8mm thick and weighs just 302g. It packs a 7-inch 1280 by 800 IPS display with 170-degree wide viewing angle. The device is powered by a Qualcomm quad-core processor, has 1GB of RAM, and features a 1.2 megapixel front facing camera and an optional 5 megapixel rear facing camera.

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