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Apple knows how to make products consumers love (for the most part), but that is only part of the equation. When you charge such a high premium for your products, you have to offer a superior shopping experience too. For software, its App Store -- which just celebrated a 10th birthday -- revolutionized how consumers buy and install software. It inspired many copycats too, such as the Google Play Store and the Microsoft Store.

For buying hardware, the Apple Store also offers a unique and elegant retail experience. Not only can you walk in and try the products before you buy them, but if you have a problem later on, you have a physical location that you can go to for help. Not to mention, the Apple Store offers classes to help consumers learn how to use the new device that they purchased. Today, the iPhone maker announces that its newest such store -- called Apple Piazza Liberty -- will be opening in Milan.

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TP-Link is well known for making quality products at affordable prices. I don't hesitate to recommend the company's wireless routers, for instance -- they are a great value. TP-Link shows that you don't have to break the bank to get great gear.

The company doesn't just make routers, however. TP-Link produces other types of networking gear, such as smart light bulbs, cameras, and more. Today, it launches two new smart home products -- the Kasa Cam Outdoor Security Camera and Kasa Smart Wi-Fi Plug (2-Outlets). The former is a Wi-Fi security camera designed to be installed outside, while the latter is a really cool smart outlet adapter that controls two electrical devices, such as a lamp, coffee maker, and more. Wow, dual outlets in one device? How very cool!

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Of over 200 respondents to a new survey, more than half report the most vulnerable aspects of their IIoT infrastructure as data, firmware, embedded systems, or general endpoints.

But at the same time the survey by information security training organization SANS Institute reveals an ongoing debate over what actually constitutes an endpoint.

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Microsoft has announced that the Skip Ahead ring has been opened for people who want to get the first look at the Windows 10 Redstone 6.

Back with the release of Windows 10 build 17713, Microsoft announced it was "doing a complete reset of Skip Ahead". This is now complete, so you can sign up for the preview ring once again. Spaces are limited, so if you want to take part you're going to have to be quick -- once the maximum number of participants has been reached, Skip Ahead will close once again.

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Following on from lawsuits files against console ROM sites LoveROMS.com and LoveRETRO.co, Nintendo has succeeded in getting a Game Boy Advance emulator removed from GitHub.

The company filed a DMCA request asking that a JavaScript-based emulator that enabled retro gamers to enjoy the likes of Mario in their web browser be removed, GitHub has complied with the request meaning that the emulator is now longer available through the site.

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For PC builders and enthusiasts, these are quite exciting times. Hardware is faster than ever, making it possible to build some monstrously powerful computers. Solid state drives in particular have made storage blazing fast -- especially since NVMe began replacing the slower SATA drives.

Today, Toshiba unveils its latest NVMe solid state drive and it has some revolutionary technology on-board. You see, the "XG6," as it is called, is the first SSD to feature 96-Layer 3D Flash.

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Quantum computing is the future, and it has the potential to change everything. These new machines will be much more powerful than any "classic" computer available today. Quantum computers will be able to do calculations that we can only dream about today, potentially solving problems never thought solvable before. These powerful computers may even render current encryption methods obsolete.

Of course, hardware is just part of the equation. In order for quantum computers to truly change the world, we will need software written for them. Microsoft seems eager to get programmers on the quantum bandwagon, as today, it launches the open source Quantum Katas on GitHub. What exactly is it? It is essentially a project deigned to teach Q# programming for free.

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Earlier today we wrote about the sudden appearance of a new LibreOffice app in the Microsoft Store. There were a couple of peculiarities about the app -- not only was it made by an unknown developer, but it came with a price tag.

Now The Document Foundation -- the organization behind the LibreOffice office suite -- has spoken up to say that the app is not official and to point out that it is not getting any money from it.

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Tomorrow -- Tuesday, 24 July -- sees the release of Chrome 68. Many people will regard this as just another browser update, but the release sees an important change to the way Chrome handles unencrypted websites.

The new way in which non-HTTPS sites are handled means that Chrome is going to start throwing up warning messages whenever an insecure site is encountered -- a reversal of the way things have been up until now.

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What characterizes companies that do DevOps well compared to those that don't? A new study by Forrester for software testing company Tricentis aims to find out.

The research looked at 94 quality metrics that were classified into four categories. Key findings are that an understanding of business risk is the most important determining factor of DevOps and Agile maturity.

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As someone that is constantly on the move, I am very excited about the upcoming Surface Go. Yeah, an iPad with keyboard case is doable, but really, it is a poor experience. Apple still doesn't offer mouse or track pad support in iOS, which hinders productivity. Conversely, with Surface Go, you can use any Windows compatible hardware in addition to the official Type cover -- mice, keyboards, etc.

Currently, there are two consumer variants available for pre-order. Both have the same Intel Pentium Gold 4415Y processor, but the $399 model comes with 4GB RAM and 64GB storage, while the $549 variant gives you 8GB of RAM and a 128GB SSD. Surprisingly, there is a third model currently being sold exclusively at Costco that should be quite attractive to some consumers.

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According to a new study, 80 percent of IT decision makers and IT security professionals believe software supply chain attacks have the potential to become one of the biggest cyber threats over the next three years.

The survey by Vanson Bourne for endpoint security company CrowdStrike  finds two-thirds of the surveyed organizations experienced a software supply chain attack in the past 12 months.

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iOS 6 made its debut six years ago, in 2012. It wasn’t the most ground-breaking version of Apple’s mobile operating system, focusing mostly on refining elements, although it did introduce a number of new features, including Apple Maps, Do Not Disturb, and Passbook (now called Wallet).

With iOS 12 due this fall, most people have long forgotten about iOS 6, but the 2018 Edition shows why it was good, and how adding 3D Touch can improve things significantly.

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Snapchat confirmed that it is closing down Snapcash next month. The peer-to-peer money transfer service is due to shut up shop on 30 August.

The closure was not officially announced by Snapchat initially, but references to "Snapcash deprecation" were spotted in the code of the Android app. The company has now confirmed that Snapcash is coming to an end after four years.

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LibreOffice is one of many free alternatives to Microsoft Office, and the open source office suite has now arrived in the Microsoft Store.

While many people will be pleased by the appearance of a Store version of the software, some will be disappointed to find that the app is not free. At least not at first glance. There's a $2.99 price tag attached to Libre Office, but this is not necessarily a reason to let this put you off.

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