Latest Technology News

It has been slightly over 3 months since the extra-marital affair website Ashely Madison was hacked and the details of millions of users were released to the world.

But the surprising thing is that other dating websites haven’t learned the lesson from this attack.

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Whole house audio has come into vogue and systems abound, if you care to pay the price. But none will work without content, and that's where services like Rdio come into the picture. The streaming music sevice has turned into a thriving ecosystem that competes with the other big players in the market.

Now it gets a little more capable as the company announces new whole-home audio compatibility and enhancements to Smart TVs.

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Apple just unveiled its new Apple TV at a media event. The set-top box, which is part gaming console as well, boasts several new functionalities including the iOS-based tvOS, support for voice-search Siri, and a new app store designed just for the media streaming device. Despite all these features, there are a couple of off-putting limitations that you should consider before purchasing the new Apple TV.

The Apple TV was rumored to be a great gaming console with support for tons of iOS titles. But when Apple stepped on the stage to make the announcement, not only did the company not announce those features, making it clear that not all the iOS games will support the TV, a couple of things that the company did unveil now are making the whole package, which starts at $149, less exciting.

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Last week one of the biggest events in the tennis calendar was disrupted as a small drone crashed into the stands at the Louis Armstrong Stadium. The US Open clash between Flavia Pennetta and Monica Niculescu may have only experienced a brief hiatus and no spectators, thankfully, were hurt, but the incident was unfortunately not a one-off.

Just two days after the crash at the Grand Slam match, a drone also crash-landed at the University of Kentucky football stadium prior to the match against Louisiana-Lafayette and it’s not just sporting events that are falling foul of amateur aviation enthusiasts. Emergency services are also struggling, with drones posing a significant hazard to airborne firefighters and medical teams. According to the US Forest Service there have been more than 13 instances of drones interfering with attempts to extinguish wildfires since the start of 2015. Not only do they risk endangering individuals that may be caught up in the blaze, they also pose a serious threat to emergency services staff.

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Microsoft and Apple are battling the US government over the right to keep their users’ data safe, and according to a report by The New York Times, the American tech companies are winning.

At least they’re winning in the public relations game, as the general notion today is that those companies are doing everything they can to protect their users’ privacy.

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This just arrived in my inbox from Apple: Offer to download what could be the final build before Apple certifies OS X 10.11 as golden: "Thank you for participating in the Apple Beta Software Program. Your feedback and usage of the OS X El Capitan public beta has helped us make this release great. We are pleased to give you access to the OS X El Capitan GM Candidate".

Promises. Promises. "If you are currently testing OS X El Capitan, please back up your Mac and do the following to install the GM Candidate. Go to your Purchased tab in the Mac App Store and click the Download button next to OS X El Capitan GM Candidate. When your download finishes, the installer will automatically launch. Follow the onscreen instructions to complete installation".

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Apple's decision to start iPhone 6s and 6s Plus preorders on Saturday September 12 surprises me. Friday is typical, which lets the company tabulate an extra day into the weekend when reporting the number of preorders the following week. So you have to wonder why the change. I asked Apple PR, but there is yet no response to my query.

In 2014, Apple announced iPhone 6 and 6 Plus also on September 9th, a Tuesday. Preorders began on Friday the 12th and sales one week later. In 2013, there was no preorder option for iPhone 5s, just straight sales starting Friday September 20th; announced the 10th. In 2012: Friday September 14th for preorders; the 21st for sales. In 2011: again Friday, October 7th preorders and October 14th sales.

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If you watched the Apple event today, you were treated to many amazing announcements. New iPhones are always something to get excited about, but the Apple TV was arguably more interesting -- an inexpensive iOS game console? Holy cow. The star of the show, however, was the often-rumored iPad Pro. Yes, the fabled larger tablet finally made an appearance. It certainly looks like a productivity beast, and companies like Microsoft and Adobe cosigned this notion with cool demos.

While Apple will sell an official keyboard attachment that should be great, expect many third-party options too. Today, Logitech announces that it will offer its own iPad Pro accessory, called the CREATE Keyboard. The company worked closely with Apple on the design, so it should be particularly wonderful. Of course, it uses the new Smart Connector port, and not Bluetooth -- awesome.

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You may have heard that Apple had a little get together today. There were lots of big launches -- the iPhone 6S, the iPhone 6S Plus, and the iPad Pro. Those waiting for an iPhone fix were given quite a lot to get excited about, but like your friendly local drug dealer, Apple has a 'sweetener' to help ensure its customers just keep on coming back for more: the iPhone Upgrade Program which lets you upgrade to a new iPhone every year as long as you keep paying each month.

On the face of it, it might seem like a good deal -- particularly as the price includes Apple Care -- but is that really the case? What Apple's actually doing is feeding the habit of iPhone junkies, keeping their addiction going a little bit longer, and a little bit longer, and a little bit longer. In reality, Apple would like you to perma-rent your iPhone and keep paying through the nose for it. Ideally forever. And the sad thing? People will be quite happy to bend over and take it.

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Even before Apple officially unveiled its new “professional” grade tablet, the seeds of its demise were being sown. The culprit? None other than arch-rival Microsoft which, by partnering with Hewlett Packard and Dell to distribute and support its Surface Pro line of products, essentially locking-down the enterprise tablet market once and for all.

Some were confused by the recent announcement that these two PC industry stalwarts would agree to resell Microsoft hardware, at least in the enterprise. After all, both HP and Dell produce products designed to compete with Microsoft’s Surface lineup. By adding the Surface Pro 3 (and eventually, Surface Pro 4) to their catalogs, they seemingly risk cannibalizing their own device sales.

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At a media event today, Apple announces an update to the Watch. The Cupertino-based company announces watchOS 2 with support for native apps, and on the hardware side, the new gold and rose gold aluminum Apple Watch Sport models. Available as a free upgrade, watchOS 2 will become available on September 16.

At the event, where the company also unveiled the iPhone 6s, the iPhone 6s Plus, the iPad mini 4, the iPad Pro, some much-anticipated features for the Apple Watch were announced. Among many new features, the company said that watchOS 2 is bringing support for native apps -- finally you can run an app on the Watch, instead of mirroring it to your timepiece, as well new watch faces. The company said that it would make apps faster and more fluid.

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The next version of Apple’s mobile operating system was announced three months ago, and developers and brave beta testers have been able to try it for a while. What we didn’t know -- until today -- was when the latest iteration would be available to the world at large.

If you’ve been waiting for iOS 9 the great news is you don’t have too much longer to go. The updated Apple OS will be available to iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users from September 16.

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Streaming media is not the future -- it is the present. Services like Hulu, Netflix and Spotify are all the rage with millennials and beyond. While some television sets have integrated access to streaming, most do not. Instead, consumers must buy a media box, such as Roku, Amazon Fire, or Apple TV.

Apple's offering has always been attractive, but the company has not updated it in a number of years. Today this changes, as Apple unveils a refreshed Apple TV running the newly-named "tvOS" operating system, which is based on iOS. This may be the most exciting thing to happen to television since we found out who shot Mr. Burns on The Simpsons.

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We have come to expect new iPhones to be introduced in September, and today Apple does not disappoint as it takes the wraps off the new iPhone 6s and its bigger brother, iPhone 6s Plus. Typical of "s" models, both smartphones retain the design first seen in the previous generation while improving upon their predecessors in a couple of key areas.

With the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, Apple has focused its attention on build quality, cameras, display, and performance. Both flagships, of course, ship with a new version of iOS, which will be generally available later this month, on September 16.

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The big iPad news coming out of Apple today was undoubtedly the new super-sized iPad Pro, but it wasn’t the only iPad mentioned. While there’s no sign of a successor to last year’s iPad Air 2 (rumors say that’s not expected until next year) Apple did mention -- in passing -- a new iPad mini 4.

This is the first update of the smallest iPad in nearly two years, and it’s been worth the wait.

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