It should come as no surprise that this week's big news was Microsoft's Surface Pro 3 unveiling. Brian had been looking forward to the NYC event and was at the event to get hands on with the new device. There's certainly a lot to love about Microsoft's third generation tablet, but there is that price to consider. If you like the look of what you see, the device is available for pre-order right now -- and if you're undecided between the Surface and a MacBook Air, Mihaita compared the two. Maybe you're one of those who thinks it’s a niche product.

The Surface Mini failed to make an appearance, but there are still lots of other tablets to choose from -- although they are yet to make much of an impression in higher education, unlike Chromebooks which have found their way into Welsh schools. Will Microsoft's tablet manage to attain the longevity of Apple's iPad? You'd be forgiven for thinking that hell itself had frozen over at the news that work is underway that will make it possible to run Android and iOS apps side by side on the same device.

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Reverse engineering apps is an interesting field of work. On one hand, it can be used by software engineers to determine how an app works so they can copy it. On the other, the method can be used by those with malicious intent to track down weaknesses that can then be exploited. But there's also a third hand. Reverse engineering can also be used to highlight security problems with a view to not only alerting those affected, but also addressing the problem.

Researchers at Include Security, whilst practicing their reverse engineering skills, turned their attention to the Outlook.com app for Android and discovered a potentially worrisome security issue.

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Today is a day of celebration for fans of Any.Do -- the todo list and task manager for iOS, Android and Chrome. Some four years after its inception -- and after many, many demands from the service's user base -- Any.Do has, at long, long last, gained a web app. Founders Omer Perchik, Yoni Lindenfeld, and Itay Kahana have successfully avoided a brouhaha from users by finally delivering what they describe as "the number one most requested feature by our users".

Any.Do has proved incredibly successful on mobile platforms -- as well as in Google's web browser -- amassing more than 10 million users. Perchik says: "Web is a huge market we haven't even touched yet. There's a world of people who haven't considered us because they need a full web experience, right on their computer screens" of the launch. "We're conquering mobile, now it's time to break out in a broader market".

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Google has passed Apple in the brand stakes for the first time with technology dominating the world’s top ten most valuable brands including a strong 12 months for Microsoft.

Research from Millward Brown shows that Google’s brand value grew by 40 percent from 2013 to 2014 as it moved from second to first place with a valuation of $159 billion ahead of its competitor Apple, which saw its value drop 20 percent to $148 billion.

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Google has acquired Quest Visual and its top translator app Word Lens, according to a statement on the Quest Visual site.

One immediate benefit for everyone is that the app -- and its language packs -- are now free to download, although apparently "for a limited time" only.

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Google yn dod i ysgolion Cymru. Google continues to battle Windows and Office 365, trying to get its own products adopted in the market, focusing on education, business and governments. And Chromebooks have made inroads in this area.

Now the search giant announces it has scored a victory in Wales, bringing its platform to schools within the nation. "Around the world, schools are finding innovative ways to use technology to break down the traditional walls of the classroom, while overcoming the challenges of higher academic standards and tighter budgets. Today, we’re pleased to share the stories from two schools in Wales who’ve gone Google to help them meet the demands of a modern-day education system" says Liz Sproat, head of education at Google.

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It may seem as though Google feels the sharp end of many tongues -- be it about problems with Glass, for shaping the content of the internet, or the way it handles advertising. But more often than not, the big G finds itself on the receiving end of criticism for being in bed with the NSA for the way it handles user privacy. In spite of all of the ammunition unleashed in Google's direction, the company has -- incredibly -- been awarded a full six stars out of six by the Electronic Frontier Foundation for protecting user data from government requests.

The EFF's Who Has Your Back? report ranks and rates the performance of some of the biggest names in the world of tech for handling user privacy in the face of government data requests. Finding ourselves in a world now tainted by the activities of the NSA, privacy and accountability have become more important to internet users than ever before. The Electronic Frontier Foundation prides itself on "defending your rights in the digital world", and its annual report looks at the performance and promises of 26 companies who handle your data.

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Google is reportedly readying an online tool which people will be able to use to request that search results pertaining to them are removed from Google's search engine.

This follows a ruling by an EU court earlier this week on the "right to be forgotten", which decided in favor of a Spanish man who had requested that Google remove links (not web content, but search links) which pointed to articles concerning his house repossession for debt repayments. The man claimed that because the incident occurred in the late nineties, it was now "irrelevant", and for it to be made publicly viewable by Google was a violation of his privacy rights.

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I’ve met and/or spent time with some famous icons over the years -- including drinking beer with the Sex Pistols in LA -- but oddly I’m most pleased to have met Alexey Pajitnov, the creator of Tetris, and Ernő Rubik, the man who invented the Rubik’s Cube (I didn’t meet them both at the same time, sadly -- that really would be a story).

Rubik’s most famous invention is forty years old today, and as clever and as frustratingly difficult to master as ever. When I was a kid, the only way I could crack it was by actually cracking it open. Popping the corners out, dismantling the cube and then reassembling it. Or cheating, as some people might say.

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If you believe the rumors -- and I rarely do, unsubstantiated -- Google+ and Nexus are over. Gossipers claim the social network will lose identity and prominence, while the Nexus 6 smartphone is no more than dust in the wind. Who is writing the script here? George R. R. Martin? Because the Google killing-spree has a "Game of Thrones" (aka Song of Ice and Fire) feel to it -- you don't know which product will be killed next. For sure, the death count is mighty since Larry Page's return as CEO three years ago.

But Google will make a huge mistake if it backs off Plus, or worse, puts Nexus to the sword. These assets' value is immeasurable. Enthusiasts are any company's best marketers, and these products command large and vocal fan bases. Enthusiasts are crucial to Google gaining and maintaining brand charm, particularly as government overlords answer competitor complaints: "Antitrust! Antitrust!" Fans aren't just good marketers, they are foot soldiers rallying against invaders, like European or U.S. trustbusters.

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The past week was one dominated by privacy and security related stories. A court ruling in Oracle's favor means that the company is able to claim copyright protection for APIs subsequently used by Google in Android. The long term effects of the ruling are yet to be understood, but they could certainly be far-reaching. Privacy hit the headlines again as SanDisk works on a self-encrypting SSD, and Google was told that users can request that information about them be removed from search results -- of course it didn't take long for the requests to start rolling in.

New research shows that there has been an increase in online suspicion, indicated by a huge increase in the levels of encryption used. The UK government approved the use of Samsung KNOX devices which could help to allay fears about BYOD. Google announced GAME -- Google Apps Message Encryption -- to provide end-to-end encryption for email outside of the Gmail ecosystem.

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Google's Gmail is a formidable email service, offering many features. Sadly, the UI is a bit poor and the overall feeling is amateurish. Many true professionals access email using the gold standard -- Outlook. While Microsoft's email software sometimes feels a bit bloated, that is probably because it is chock-full of useful things. Other than email, it is a dream for calendars, task-tracking and overall life organization.

With that said, whether I am on Windows or Mac, I always am sure to install Office so I can setup my email accounts with Outlook -- including Gmail. Unfortunately, by using Outlook rather than the Gmail web interface, I lose out on some goodies, such as starting a Hangout. Well, today this changes, as Google announces Hangouts and Outlook are hanging out with each other.

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A ruling by the EU Court of Justice earlier this week has caused considerable controversy, and that's likely to be fueled by the news of the people who have tried to jump on the "right to be forgotten" bandwagon following the judgment.

This whole affair began when a Spanish man noticed that Google search results of his name brought up newspaper articles about the repossession of his house due to debts back in the nineties. He argued that this was old news now, and "irrelevant", and that Google should remove those links from being publicly viewable in its results because they were effectively an infringement of his privacy rights. The EU court agreed.

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Many people think that printers are a dying technology. Well, to a certain degree those people are slightly right, but mostly wrong. As time marches on and smartphones become more ubiquitous, a need to print lessens. For instance, people are displaying airline boarding passes on their smartphones rather than print it. Me? I still print. For something like a boarding pass, I have too much anxiety that a glitch or dead battery would impede my travels. Just yesterday, I bought concert tickets and printed them -- the venue requires it.

So, as much as people want to declare the printer dead, they are wrong. We still do not have paperless offices in the enterprise, and that was expected a decade ago. It's not happening anytime soon. With that said, Android now offers native printing in KitKat and Epson is pledging its support, with over 60 compatible devices.

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Just yesterday we were looking at how there has been an increase in the level of encrypted traffic online, and today Google announces the launch of Google Apps Message Encryption (GAME). Google is partnering with Zix Corporation to bring fully encrypted communication to enterprise customers even when emailing contacts outside of Google's infrastructure. Emails sent to Google servers have been encrypted by default for a little while now, but the new launch means that emails sent to the likes of Yahoo and Outlook.com will also be encrypted.

As this is a third-party solution provided by Zix Corporation, Google is not offering full customer support for it, but a quick start guide has been published. Available for $35 per user, GAME enables Google Apps customers to not only ensure that the emails they send are encrypted, but also gives the option of setting up custom bounce messages for emails that are sent to unauthorized users who attempt to send encrypted emails.

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