Oops! Less than a month ago, Microsoft accidentally let it slip that it was about to acquire email firm Acompli. Not to be outdone, Apple has now let a cat out of the bag a little early as well. A job ad spotted by iClarified shows that the company's Apple Pay service is set to expand outside of the US.

While rolling out outside of the States is not exactly surprising, Apple has given no hints about the timescale it is working to. More and more companies are signing up to get involved with Apple's contactless payment system, and a European launch was all but inevitable -- and now we know for sure.

With Windows Phone still struggling to gain considerable traction, Microsoft is trying to boost its operating system's market share by focusing on the low-end of the market, which has real potential of attracting consumers, especially those in emerging markets. And, so far this year, Microsoft has introduced quite a few affordable Windows Phones, with the latest of the bunch being the still-Nokia-branded Lumia 638.

Lumia 638 is a new Windows Phone 8.1 handset that is designed for India. It is touted to be one of the most affordable smartphones with 4G connectivity available in this Asian market, which is sure to attract the attention of price-conscious local buyers. What else does it have to offer?

There’s no shortage of cut-price mono laser printers on the market, but the multifunction Canon i-SENSYS MF229dw is the perfect example of why it’s worth paying a little extra to get a printer that can do everything you’d want it to, and more besides.

Obviously it’s a mono printer, so the one thing it can’t do is output color pages, but aside from that it can print single and double-sided, scan (in 24-bit color), copy pages, and fax documents. It’s a wireless printer, and you can send photos and documents to print directly from iOS and Android devices.

China's monitoring and control of how its citizens access the internet is something that has been going on for some time. Now there is something new for Chinese smartphone owners to worry about. Security researchers at Palo Alto Networks have discovered a backdoor built into millions of handsets produced by Coolpad.

Known as CoolReaper, the backdoor potentially places more than 10 million smartphone owners at risk. The security firm conducted investigations after users complained on message boards about suspicious activity on their handsets. After downloading multiple copies of the stock ROM used on Chinese CoolPad phone, it was found that "the majority of the ROMs contained the CoolReaper backdoor".

Keeping Windows software up-to-date can be complicated. There are settings to be configured, maybe several update processes to be left running, troubleshooting rules to follow if they don’t work. And of course if an application can’t check for updates itself, you’ll have to do it manually.

NeoSetup is an application manager which simplifies this process by installing and updating many applications for you.

A new report from Freedom House, a watchdog dedicated to promoting the cause of freedom across the globe, has been published with some interesting observations on how free various nations are in terms of their internet access.

The Freedom on the Net 2014 report, spotted by Mashable, involved evaluating some 65 countries, and the bad news is that over half of them, 36 to be precise, actually dipped in their levels of online freedom between May 2013 and 2014.

Binary Fortress Software has released DisplayFusion 7.0, a major update for its comprehensive multi-monitor management tool for Windows.

The commercial editions now support remote controlling your system from iOS or Android devices. You can move windows around, change wallpapers, enable/ disable monitors or use hundreds of other options, and if that’s not enough it’s also possible to call your own custom C# or VB.net functions from the program.

Enterprise computing is more and more centered around the user, but how will this trend affect the workplace and what changes will it make to productivity and the way systems are managed and delivered?

We spoke to Torsten Volk, VP of product management, cloud at business software specialist ASG Software Solutions to find out.

The High Court in Delhi has temporarily banned the sales of smartphones built by Chinese smartphone maker OnePlus.

The ban comes after Micromax, an Indian consumer electronics company, filed a lawsuit alleging OnePlus violated an exclusivity agreement it signed with Cyanogen.

Bitdefender Labs has announced the availability of Bitdefender CryptoWall Immunizer, a free Windows tool which offers some protection against versions 1 and 2 of the file-encrypting malware.

The program appears to work by setting Windows policies to block programs from running when they’re in the %appdata% or %startup% folders.

Plex, who makes a popular media server and client software package, has never been shy about adapting any platform it can manage to get on. Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS, Roku, Xbox, even NAS devices. Now the organization reaches out to yet another community.

While jokingly saying at the beginning that it was arriving on Sega Genesis consoles, the real target this time is Sony. Plex is headed for both games consoles available from the currently troubled company -- the PS3 and PS4.

As a fat guy, I love doughnuts; it's like its in my DNA. If the detectives on Law and Order took a sample of my blood, and looked under a microscope, they would see sprinkles and frosting swimming around with the platelets and stuff. If they were hunting for a robbery suspect called the Doughnut Bandit, I'd likely be guilty. They could probably follow the trail of powdered sugar from the crime scene to my house.

Truth be told, I do not discriminate either; all doughnut brands are welcome -- Entenmann's, Dunkin Donuts and Krispy Kreme to name a few. Today however, one of those companies, Krispy Kreme, turns to Google for its newest tech need. You see, the doughnut pusher is now using Chromebooks in its stores. The usage is odd though, as the company wants its customers to talk to strangers over Hangouts.

Microsoft's Gabe Aul has given an insight into how the Windows 10 Technical Preview has been received by testers. In a blog post, Aul reveals that there are more than 1.5 million registered Windows Insiders testing out preview builds, and that nearly a third of this number -- around 450,000 -- are using it on a daily basis.

So far there have only been three official preview builds: build 9841, build 9860, and build 9879. There have also been a few unofficial leaks including, 9888 complete with a limited preview of Cortana and more recently build 9901. Microsoft does not shy away from acknowledging the existence of these leaks, but it's not clear if they have been included in the usage figures.

Companies are always forward-looking, but it's at this time of year that this is really focused on. Consumers are excited to see what products they'll be able to get their hands on in the year ahead, businesses want to know what services the coming year has to offer, and technology enthusiasts are keen to learn about what projects are in the works.

Today, Microsoft shares its view of which areas of technology are going to be of the greatest importance for businesses in 2015. Corporate Vice President, Enterprise and Partner Group, Susan Hauser believes that security will continue to be strengthened, the Internet of Things will grow, and predictive tools will be more heavily utilized.

Do I believe in psychics? No. I do not believe that people have magical powers that can predict the future. With that said, I like watching the Long Island Medium, Theresa Caputo, on TV. If you aren't familiar, she claims to talk to the dead, and transmits messages from the deceased to their families. I watch it from an entertainment perspective only.

I prefer my predictions to come from good ol' fashioned computers. Microsoft's Bing has seen some success in its predictions, but today, it is taking it to another level. You see, the search-engine is now predicting the events of 2015! As a Jets fan, and overall hater of New England sports, I hope Bing is wrong, as it predicts Tom Brady and the Patriots to win the Super Bowl.