London is looking for new ways to tackle city congestion. Instead of focusing on cars, a new scheme would allow cyclists to move around the city at a faster pace.

The plan, created by Transport for London, adds new sensors to traffic lights. These sensors can keep the lights green for large waves of cyclists for longer, allowing bike riders to commute around the city without holding up regular traffic.

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Virtual reality. The term has been a curse for more than 50 years. A curse, because the name is almost inherently an over-promise. It's such a grandiose concept that since its inception, companies and ideas ranging from experiential theaters to video games who dared use the term would inevitably end up being mocked and ridiculed out of existence. Yet the dream and the hype have never fully faded away, and at next week's E3 2015 trade show, all the big names in the current VR landscape will once again make the pitch that virtual reality is now here to stay.

Of course, VR enthusiasts will be most interested in the presence of Oculus VR, whose Oculus Rift headset, in development since 2012, finally got an official release window last month. The impending headset, which has preemptively become the standard-bearer of virtual reality today, will be available to consumers in Q1 2016.

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Diversity is one of the latest buzzwords that tech companies are keen to throw around whenever the chance arises. If you were to knock back a shot of something every time it cropped up in press releases, keynote speeches, and company reports, rates of global alcoholism would shoot through the roof. Now a follower rather than a leader, Apple is ready to jump on just about any bandwagon that happens to be passing.

Google, Microsoft and other companies have recently waxed lyrical about the diverse sexual and racial makeup of their workforces -- it looks great for public relations, after all -- and Apple wants a slice of that pie for itself. It's a company that is highly adept at capturing the zeitgeist; as my colleague Joe Wilcox puts it, Tim Cook is an opportunist. The latest attempt to curry favor with the in-crowd, it seems, is to wheel out a few token women at today's WWDC keynote.

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According to Gartner, businesses spent more than $70 billion on cyber security tools in 2014, and collectively lost nearly $400 billion as a result of cyber crime. This suggests that existing security technologies are struggling to cope with the growing number of cyber threats.

Californian company Menlo Security is launching an new approach which it calls Isolation Platform, a technology that claims to eliminate the threat of malware from key attack vectors, including web and email.

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MaxCDN, a content delivery network based in Los Angeles, has launched a new partner program for web hosting providers, digital agencies, and other companies that create and/or deliver web content on behalf of their customers.

The highlight of this new program is the redesigned CDN management system for resellers. According to a MaxCDN announcement, the new reseller platform offers:

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There are lots of options available for those in the market for a low-end smartphone, but few are truly exciting and worth considering. Poor camera performance is to be expected in this segment, but a decent screen and adequate performance are must-haves, in my book.

Chinese maker Xiaomi has a very appealing low-end smartphone in the form of Redmi 2A. It just went on sale, as an affordable alternative to Redmi 2, costing as little as $80 off-contract. For that kind of money, it sure comes with all the right features a prospective buyer might be looking for.

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Ever wanted to see a robot playing at being a master swordsman? Well, now’s your chance thanks to an enterprising Japanese firm by the name of the Yaskawa Electric Corporation.

The company has put together the Yaskawa Bushido Project which shows its Motoman-MH24 290kg industrial robot learn from a Japanese master swordsman, Isao Machii, and then take him on over a series of challenges to test their skills with a blade.

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Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference kicks off today, Monday 8 June, in San Francisco, with the big keynote speech scheduled for 10am PST/6pm BST.

As WWDC is for software developers, Apple doesn’t usually reveal major new hardware -- typically it’s just updated versions of existing products. You can certainly expect news on iOS 9 and OS X 10.11, as well as Apple Watch.

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Skype users, beware. There are nefarious links being spread around through Skype, and if you click them you will be presented with a lot of adware. However, there are good news, and bad news here.

Researchers at the security behavior management company PhishMe have identified a campaign in which Skype was used to distribute adware, SC Magazine reported on Wednesday.

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Windows 10 looms ever closer and there seems to be some noticeable excitement. Perhaps that is simply because of what it isn't -- Windows 8x. But, for any ecosystem to succeed it has to have developers willing to create for it. That's been the lifeblood of Windows, as it is for Android and iOS.

Now Microsoft is offering to help get you started. A new course is being offered in Vitual Academy and it's titled "A Developer's Guide to Windows 10".

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If Apple's streaming music service launches tomorrow at WWDC and is branded with the company's name/logo, look for broad naming changes ahead. My guess, and it's only that: the lower-case letter before products like iMac or iPhone will disappear; over time. Under CEO Tim Cook, the branding strategy differs from Steve Jobs. That's sensible considering where the company is today compared to 1998 when the cofounder introduced iMac.

Apple Watch foreshadows the new nomenclature. Contrary to months of iWatch rumors before launch, the device is identified by sound as Apple Watch, but what you see is the company's logo, which is one of the most recognizable brand icons ever created. If Apple Music turns out to be more than just streaming, but the replacement for or displacement of iTunes, consider that as sign of future naming conventions to come. If I am mistaken -- well, Apple should do what I predict.

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A paper produced by a team at the University of Pennsylvania confirms something many people have probably thought true for some time: the notion that internet users are unhappy with the way their privacy is undermined by advertisers and online companies, yet feel there is nothing they can do about it.

While marketing companies like to present an image of customers who are happy to hand over personal information in return for certain benefits, the truth is rather different. Rather than dedicating time and energy to trying to stop personal data from being exploited, people are instead taking it on the chin and accepting it as part and parcel of modern, online life. It's just the way things are.

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It has been rumored for as long as we can remember (well... almost...). The idea that Apple would launch a streaming music services -- bearing in mind everything else Apple does -- is something that just makes sense. Now the cat is out of the bag as the rumor is confirmed by Doug Morris, CEO of Sony Music.

The official announcement will come from Apple at its World Wide Developers Conference tomorrow (Monday 8 June), but Morris' statement in an interview in the Midem Music Industry Festival in Cannes is a solid source. He said that the launch will represent a "tipping point" for the industry as music listeners make the move from downloading tracks to streaming them on demand. Just don't expect Apple service to be free.

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Your PC has some files you'd like to keep private. Encryption is the best way to protect them from snoopers, but if that's too much hassle you could simply hide their folders, so that they’re no longer visible from Explorer.

This isn't enterprise-grade security, of course -- your files may be hidden, but they’re still on the drive, in their original form, and a determined attacker could retrieve them. But if you just want to keep something out of sight of friends or family, and they've no reason to suspect you’re hiding anything in the first place, the technology could work very well.

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Wow. What a wicked week it is for Microsoft platforms. As May closed, Insider Preview Build 10130 dropped, followed by a preorder page for OEM versions. Then came the big reveal just five days ago: Windows 10 will be available on July 29th. System requirements are out now, though. On June 3rd, the company showed off devices designed for the operating system. A day later, Office 2016 Preview updated with new features, many tapping cloud services. Yesterday, Build 10135 release notes leaked.

Fitting with the "beta" in BetaNews, it's time to pose the big question for those of you daring enough to grab Windows 10 now ahead of next's month's big release. Most of the BN writing team runs the operating system. I'm late to the upgrade party but will join the gang later today or tomorrow. Meanwhile, I ask: What do you like about Windows 10? If you must: What don't you like -- and, related, what do you still want?

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