The rumors were true -- Apple iPad Pro is real and priced from $799

iPad Pro in use

There have been rumors of a super-sized iPad for ages now, but at today’s Apple event Tim Cook finally took the wraps off the iPad Pro -- the most advanced (and largest) iPad ever.

It's a sizable tablet -- 12.9 inches on the diagonal. Cleverly the width of the iPad Pro is exactly the same as the height of the iPad Air, which will allow you to run iPad apps with space to spare. Handy since iOS 9 allows for multi-tasking.

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Live Blog: Apple's 'Hey, Siri' iPhone 6s, iOS 9, Apple TV and iPad Pro launch

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Apple knows how to put on a show, and today is no different. Even those with little more than a passing interest in the company are (come on, admit it!) eager to see exactly what will be unveiled. For the most part we know what to expect. There's the iPhone 6s, iOS 9 and Apple TV which are all but guaranted to make an apperance, and there have been suggestions about the long-rumored iPad Pro. Whatever the event holds, there is sure to be at least one surprise, and there's not long to wait to find out more.

There's a live stream if you fancy watching the event live, but if you're not able to for any reason we've got you covered with this live blog. Thing kicks off at 10am PDT/6pm BST -- just keep hitting refresh for the latest updates!

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Google slashes the minimum price for Android apps in India

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Google has cut the minimum price for which apps can be sold by a fifth. The price cut currently only affects India, and sees the cost plummet from 50 Rs (around $0.75) to just 10 Rs (around $0.15). It is a decision that has clearly been taken to both entice new customers to Android, as well as discouraging existing users from switching allegiances to Apple -- particularly with the launch of the iPhone 6s.

The lower price point was made available to developers at the end of July, but now Google is starting to promote apps and let users know that there are now many apps available for the reduced price. As well as applying to apps and games in Google Play, the 10 Rs minimum now also applies to in-app purchases.

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Spanning expands its Salesforce backup capability

Globe hard drive

Backup specialist Spanning will be using next week's Dreamforce '15 event to showcase the latest developments in its Saleforce backup solution.

Spanning Backup for Salesforce will now offer a European data center giving companies a choice of backup destination and aiding compliance with policies that specify data must be stored within the EU.

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How to watch Apple's iPhone 6s launch live on any device including Windows, Linux and Android

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In just a few hours Apple will be taking the wraps off its latest smartphones, iOS 9, and possibly a new game-centric Apple TV. The event is scheduled to start at 10am PDT/6pm BST, and as always it will be streamed live so you can tune in at home or (maybe) work.

Apple likes to preach to the faithful, so there are the usual restrictions in place. Live streaming the event requires Safari 6.0.5 or later on OS X v10.8.5 or later; Safari on iOS 7.0 or later. Streaming via Apple TV requires second- or third-generation Apple TV with software 6.2 or later. This year, there’s another way to watch as well -- using Microsoft Edge on Windows 10.

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Samsung paves the way for mobile devices with 6GB of RAM

Shock surprise

The amount of RAM that manufacturers pack into our mobile devices will only increase as time goes by. It seems like only yesterday that 2 GB was reserved for premium handsets, but now you can find much cheaper mid-rangers featuring that much memory.

However, the latest crop of Android flagship phablets now ship with 4 GB of RAM. Samsung's Galaxy Note 5 and Galaxy S6 edge Plus are prime examples, and so is the more expensive OnePlus 2 model. And you can expect next year's batch of standard-sized flagships to follow suit, if not exceed them. But, pretty soon, that too will no longer be enough. Thanks to Samsung, in the near future our high-end mobile devices will have 6 GB of RAM.

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Corporate virtual drives targeted by ransomware attacks

Ransomware

Recent discoveries like Adult Player have brought ransomware back into the news, but it's not just individuals that are being targeted.

Data recovery specialist Kroll Ontrack says it's seeing a rise in ransomware attacks aimed at corporate virtual drives. Recently Bitcoin payment was demanded in exchange for stolen data with the threat of the user's information being auctioned off.

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Take full control of the Windows clipboard with CLCL

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If you’ve been using PCs for longer than 5 minutes then you’ve almost certainly run into the limitations of the Windows clipboard, and tried a few clipboard managers to keep a complete history of your copy-and-pasting.

Testing out yet another example in CLCL probably isn’t high on your list of priorities, then. But wait -- it’s way more interesting than you might expect.

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Context-aware security keeps businesses safe and employees productive

Network security

Common access management processes limit employee productivity and often force employees to find workarounds that expose organizations to greater risk. In fact, 91 percent of business respondents report that their productivity is negatively impacted by security measures their employer has put in place.

This is among the findings of a new survey by Dell which shows that if a context-aware security approach were in place 97 percent of IT professionals say they would see the benefits, including improved worker productivity without compromised security.

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Our smartphone addiction, by the numbers

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One in ten smartphone owners in Britain checks the device the moment they wake up. Sky News, reporting on Deloitte’s research of the matter, calls it an addiction. (I thought everyone checks their smartphone the moment they wake up, but I guess I was wrong.)

Deloitte’s research on how much Britons use smartphones has shown some crazy statistics: a third of smartphone owners look at their device more than 25 times a day. Even worse, a sixth check it more than 50 times each day.

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Avant browser tops the vulnerability charts in the May-July quarter

On screen lock

According to the latest quarterly update from vulnerability management company Secunia, the product with the most vulnerabilities over the three months from May to July was the Avant browser and, once again, IBM is the vendor with the largest number of vulnerable products.

Avant clocked 206 vulnerabilities over the period, and this is partly because it uses both the Chrome and Firefox engines making it open to the vulnerabilities in both. Also Avant's July 2015 update was the first major version since March and will therefore include many of the Firefox and Chrome vulnerabilities uncovered in the meantime.

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How to stop Slack from using Action Center notifications in Windows 10

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Slack has done an incredible job of taking over the hearts of countless offices and teams around the globe as a means of keeping in touch. It's what we use here at BetaNews, and it has become the go-to service for many other organizations. But while the app is great, it's not without the occasional issue, and a recent update spoiled an otherwise great user experience for some people.

To fit in with Windows 10, Slack's notification system was updated so that message alerts appear in Windows' Action Center rather than as little popups from the taskbar. 'Great!' you might think, but the Action Center is an incredibly inflexible, awkward, and irritatingly inaccessible place to have notifications. Thankfully there is a hidden setting you can use to shun Windows 10-style notifications and get things back to how they used to be!

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Image batch processor ImBatch adds script engine

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High Motion Software has extended its batch image processor ImBatch with a new scripting engine.

ImBatch 4.20’s Tools menu now includes a Script Editor, enabling users to dynamically change the current batch task based on any criteria, then maybe skipping one task, running something else, whatever they need.

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Messaging slowly replacing phone calls for smartphone users

Breakup Smartphones

Smartphones are a great way to communicate with people, but according to some new research, our communication is switching from voice to other means.

Talking over the phone is actually dropping in popularity. The number of people making a phone call once a week went from 96 percent to 75 percent over the past three years, according to research carried out by Ipsos Mori for Deloitte, The Guardian reports.

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More than a third of companies are looking for new file syncing solutions

file sharing

Over a third of companies are planning to adopt a new file, sync and share (FSS) solution in the next year according to the findings of a new survey.

The study released by enterprise sharing specialist Connected Data shows that 21 percent of companies surveyed plan to make a change in their current FSS solution within the next year. It also finds that 13 percent of companies plan to adopt their first-ever FSS system within the next 12 months.

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