News written by James Delahunty (February, 2017)

Apple's next iPhones will feature a curved screen and ditch the proprietary Lightning connector for industry standard USB, according to a report.

The report comes from the Wall Street Journal, citing sources familiar with Apple's forthcoming iPhone revisions, typically referred to as iPhone 7s, iPhone 7s Plus iPhone 8. If the sources are correct, then Apple will follow rivals like Samsung with a curved OLED display for its new 'iPhone 8'.

More interesting though is the claim that Apple is preparing to dump the proprietary Lightning connector, used for charging and data transfer, and instead use industry-standard USB-C. As had previously been rumored, the iPhone 8 models won't feature a Home button.

Other recent rumors about Apple's iPhone upgrades include a camera that can sense depth on the front of the phone, producing 3D selfies and also enabling accurate facial recognition.

This year will mark the tenth anniversary of the original iPhone that made waves when it was unveiled in 2007, and an expensive "10th anniversary edition" iPhone has also been rumored, expected to have a price tag around ~$1,000.

Source: Wall Street Journal

SpaceX is planning to fly private citizens beyond the Moon next year, according to chief executive Elon Musk.

According to the rocket firm, two private citizens have already paid a significant deposit for a trip that would see them fly out to the orbit of the Moon and return. Initial training and health probes will be begin later this year.

The private citizens will ride atop a Falcon Heavy rocket, which is set for a demonstration flight in 2017. Dragon v2 (or Crew Dragon), which is SpaceX' human-rated capsule, will hold the passengers for the journey.

SpaceX will demonstrate the Crew Dragon later this year, and then intends to fly American astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) on contract from NASA. The firm is currently contracted to perform an average of four Dragon 2 missions to the ISS per year, three carrying cargo and one carrying crew.

"Once operational Crew Dragon missions are underway for NASA, SpaceX will launch the private mission on a journey to circumnavigate the moon and return to Earth," SpaceX announced.

"Lift-off will be from Kennedy Space Center's historic Pad 39A near Cape Canaveral – the same launch pad used by the Apollo program for its lunar missions. This presents an opportunity for humans to return to deep space for the first time in 45 years and they will travel faster and further into the Solar System than any before them."

The new Nokia-branded Android devices are not aimed at taking on flagships from heavyweights like Samsung, but instead target the affordable end of the market with competitive pricing and decent specs.

Among the new Nokia gear is the Nokia 6, Nokia 5 and Nokia 3. The Nokia 6 was introduced in China in January this year and immediately roused interest, with over a million reservations being placed, and soon it will be availble in more markets.

It features a 5.5-inch 1080p display, 3GB RAM and 32GB internal storage with a microSD slot if you need more. A special edition Nokia 6 "Arte Black" will bump memory to 4GB RAM and internal storage to 64GB.

The Nokia 5 features a 5.2-inch 720p display, 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage with a microSD slot for expansion up to 128GB. It packs a 13 megapixel camera on the back and 8 megapixel on the front. Like the Nokia 6, it is powered by a 3000mAh battery.

Huawei has shown off its new anticipated P10 and P10 Plus smartphones at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

Details on the new high spec devices have been leaking in the days and weeks up to the show, with some hits and some misses. The devices are quite striking in appearance with eight different color finishes available; Ceramic White, Graphite Black, Mystic Silver, Prestige Gold, Dazzling Blue, Dazzling Gold, Rose Gold and "Greenery".

Specifically which finishes will be available in what region was not revealed.

While a clear evolution from the P9, one major difference is the location of the fingerprint scanner on the front of the devices, placed in the home key position. Like an iPhone, the sensor features vibration feedback.

We start to spot the differences between the P10 and P10 Plus when we look at the displays. The P10 packs a 5.1-inch Full HD (1080p) 432ppi display, while the P10 Plus upgrades to a 5.5-inch WQHD (1440p) 534ppi display. It had been rumored that the P10 Plus would feature a curved screen, but both feature a flat screen.

Both the P10 and P10 Plus feature Leica Dual Camera 2.0 which places two lenses on the back, one monochrome 20 megapixel sensor and one 12 Megapixel color sensor. The difference between the P10 and P10 Plus is the latter features f/1.8 aperture lenses instead of f/2.2 lenses.

Police have arrested sellers of so called 'Full Loaded Kodi Boxes' as pirate streaming add-ons become more popular.

The devices are typically low-cost Android-based media set top boxes that come with apps and add-ons pre-installed. Despite being called 'Kodi boxes', they have nothing at all to do with the development of the Kodi media center software.

Last year, developers of Kodi threatened legal action against individuals who use the Kodi brand or images while selling devices marketed to enable piracy.

Kodi, formerly XBMC, is a very powerful media center solution that can run on Windows, Mac OS, Linux and Android. Its support for third party add-ons has made it very popular, as third-party add-ons can provide access to live TV, including live sports, while some provide a Netflix-like experience with access to tens of thousands of movies and TV shows, all without paying a subscription fee.

That does not make Kodi illegal of course, but marketing a media device as "fully loaded" with piracy add-ons pre-installed may be illegal in some places. It is currently being tested in the UK.

In the latest action against the growing trend of streaming, five traders were arrested in the UK for advertising and selling such devices online. The Federation Against Copyright Theft (Fact) estimates that the individuals have earned more than £250,000 selling such devices.

EU Netflix, Sky, Amazon, etc. subscribers will be able to continue using their service as they travel through the 28 nation bloc, if current proposals go through.

An agreement made on Tuesday between the European Parliament and Malta, which currently holds the rotating presidency in the EU, is likely to see subscription service barriers between states abolished. Essentially that means that customers of services such as Netflix and Sky should be able to access their subscription services if they travel to another EU member state.

The move has some opposition from rights holders, but is seen as a positive step for subscribers who travel frequently throughout the 28 nation bloc. It would effect services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Sky and Apple Music.

The plan is yet to be formally approved but is expected to be part of new regulations that come into force at the beginning of 2018.

Many subscription services lock their subscriber to their home country because the library of content offered varies in different territories. If this regulation comes into effect, the subscriber should have access to the same library of content they have in their home country, but it does not force streaming services to offer the same content to all 28 EU member states.