Google’s annual developer conference kicks off at the Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View, California today, starting with a keynote which the search giant traditionally uses to make big announcements. Last year Google showcased Android "M" (which later became Marshmallow), Google Photos, Google Cardboard, and Android Pay.

So what does the Google I/O 2016 keynote have in store? During past Google I/O conferences Google has unveiled the next version of Android, and there’s every reason to expect we’ll see details regarding Android "N" this year, but that’s just for starters.

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Microsoft continues to try to stir up interest in Store in Windows 10. Insiders who have installed Windows 10 Build 14342 are now being treated to an updated version of the Window Store app complete with a batch of new features.

This update is about not only changing the overall Store experience, but also pushing apps more than ever. The new look mimics that of the updates Store in Windows 10 Mobile and it goes some way to improving usability and ironing out irritations.

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Earlier this year we reported on the risk Android devices faced from a technique called Accessibility Clickjacking which would allow attackers to monitor all of a user's activity.

At the time of that story the company that uncovered the vulnerability, Skycure, thought that it could affect around half a billion devices. It now believes that despite additional protection being added from Android Lollipop, more than a billion devices may be at risk.

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After a successful launch in the US, Google has now debuted its contactless payment service Android Pay in the UK. If you're packing an NFC-enabled smartphone running Android 4.4 or higher, you can now make payments in a number of stores -- as well as Transport for London -- with just a tap.

For payments under £30, there's no need to unlock your phone, and Google says that the number of supported banks and retailers will expand over the coming months. At the moment, support is limited to Mastercard and Visa credit and debit cards from Bank of Scotland, First Direct, Halifax, HSBC, Lloyds Bank, M&S Bank, MBNA and Nationwide Building Society, and if you're able to take advantage of the service from launch, there are also special offers to look forward to.

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The Chinese government is quietly scrutinizing foreign technology products sold in the country, the New York Times has reported.

According to the report, executives from companies like Apple are being called in by a Cyberspace Administration of China committee to explain, in person, things like encryption and data storage.

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Here at BetaNews, we try to avoid political topics; unless it is somehow technology related, of course. Obviously, one reason for this is that politics is not the focus of our site. Another reason that I personally avoid it, is that the subject of politics is very polarizing and can potentially lead to non-productive name-calling in the comments.

With all of that said, Microsoft has pulled me into the "Brexit" discussion, otherwise known as the EU referendum. Don't know what that is? Well, in very basic terms, the UK has to make a decision on whether or not to leave the European Union. As an American, I will keep my opinion on the matter to myself. Michel Van der Bel, Microsoft UK CEO, however, has decided to share the company's Brexit stance -- opposition to leaving the EU -- in a letter aimed at its UK employees. You can read the full letter below.

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While Microsoft is desperate to get as many users as possible on to Windows 10 before the free period expires at the end of July, it hasn’t entirely forgotten about its previous operating systems.

The software giant today announces it has created a convenience rollup package for Windows 7 that will bring that operating system up to the newest patched version without users having to install all previous updates one by one. It’s also making monthly update rollups available for that OS and Windows 8.1 (as well as Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1, Windows Server 2012 and Windows Server 2012 R2).

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Amazon has been actively pursuing improvements to its line of products, be it Echo, Fire TV, Kindle or Fire tablet. Of all of the products, perhaps the most updated one and the one which gets the most attention, is the Echo, often referred to as Alexa.

The latest improvements are to Fire TV, gaining Alexa-like features. This isn't technically an Echo update, but an update to the set-top box.

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Google may soon face a record €3 billion fine from the European antitrust authorities over how it abused its control of the online search market in the EU.

This will be the highest fine the European Commission has ever issued as an antitrust punishment. In addition to the fine, Google will be banned from manipulating its search results to favor itself over its rivals.

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The days when you forget your driver’s license and ending up paying a fine for it might soon be a thing of the past, as there are people out there working on a paperless version of the license.

According to a BBC report this week, the UK’s Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency is working on such a project, and there’s already a prototype in place. A photo of the prototype was tweeted recently by CEO Oliver Morley.

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ActiveState Software has released Komodo IDE 10, a major update for the already powerful development environment. New support for Chrome Remote Debugging means there’s no need to keep switching from the IDE to Chrome’s web tools: you can do all your coding and debugging from inside Komodo.

PhoneGap and Cordova integration makes life easier for mobile developers, and it’s not just about switching environments: Komodo provides context-sensitive actions to suit each situation.

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Companies are increasingly turning to analytics to gain a competitive advantage and help with customer retention. But a recent study from cloud analytics specialist Birst reveals that half of the companies surveyed that attempted to create in-house analytics products reported being unsatisfied with the results.

To meet demand for reliable analytics products, Birst has announced new capabilities that boost time-to-market and deliver improved user experiences.

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Digital media is arguably making its analog counterparts less important. For instance, an old vinyl album or rare CD can be streamed -- the physical version just takes up space and can be a burden. The same can be said for books -- having a house full of bound sheets of paper is sort of pointless nowadays -- get a Kindle, y'all.

One thing that is not easily represented in the digital world is paintings. Sure, you can always view a captured image of a work of art, such as the Mona Lisa, on your computer, but it was never the same. Why? You need to experience it in person to truly see the detail, like brush strokes. This is changing, however, thanks to Google's new invention -- the Art Camera.

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Internet Explorer and Microsoft Edge are slowly but surely losing ground in the desktop space. In fact, according to web analytics company StatCounter, for the first time Mozilla Firefox has more usage share than the two other browsers combined. However, Google Chrome still reigns supreme

Google Chrome is now the most popular desktop browser according to all the major web analytics companies. NetMarketShare was the last one to crown it king earlier this month -- Google Chrome surpassed Internet Explorer in its rankings with a 41.71 percent usage share to the latter's 41.33 percent.

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Eassos PartitionGuru Free is an easy-to-use hard drive manager which can create, resize, split, extend, clone or recover partitions. The latest edition can also format multiple USB keys simultaneously and automatically, without any user intervention at all.

Making it so easy to wipe storage devices could be a little dangerous, of course, but fortunately the program only wipes empty drives by default.

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