News written by Matti Robinson (March, 2017)

Apple's mobile OS's latest version has been in beta testing for weeks now. Today the Cupertino giant has finally finished ironing out the bugs and released iOS 10.3 to the public.

The new update brings a few visible changes even though its been under work for three months.

Among those are the new Find My AirPods under the Find My iPhone app, new and improved transition animations when closing and opening an app, a new widget for podcasts, and weather forecast in Apple Maps.

What's more important, though, is the file system change under the hood. Apple has moved away from HFS+ to its new Apple File System (APFS) which should prove to be more efficient especially with NAND flash memory. Apple has also said that it allows better encryption.

This might well be the last major update to iOS before WWDC in June and the release of iOS 11.

Apple also released minor updates to Apple Watches in watchOS 3.2 as well as Apple TV in tvOS 10.2.

Piracy has definitely been in decline during the past decade but there are still some industries that are suffering a lot – at least by their metrics – from illegal downloads.

While Spotify and the likes have largely killed music piracy, there isn't a similar solution for the movie industry. And no, Netflix isn't the doing it yet, even if they might get there one day.

Now someone has decided to take piracy to a more sinister level. A man who had acquired a leaked version of an upcoming movie, The Boss Baby, blackmailed the studios behind the animation for 20 bitcoins or he'd release the copy.

While he did choose an untraceable method of payment his tracks weren't covered perfectly. In fact, the studios managed to backtrack the traces of the Serbian copy to distributor MEGAKOM and from there on to a translator's PC where the blackmailer got his copy. According to the translator, the 26 year old Momčilo Đinović got the copy without her knowledge.

Instead of doing what most movie pirates do, let it loose in the peer-to-peer networks, Đinović contacted DreamWorks and 20th Century Fox for some extra cash. Obviously that was a critical mistake as instead of the nearly 20 000 U.S dollar payout he got his hand caught in the cookie jar.

The U.S. Senate voted on Thursday to allow service providers to sell private web browsing data to third parties, namely advertisers. Under Democratic control the Senate voted to apply new Federal Communications Commission rules to internet service providers (ISPs) last October but the proposal to eliminate them has now passed the Senate 50-48.

Once the ruling is passed, after a Republican majority in the House votes for it, your ISP can sell your private web browsing data to third parties without seeking acceptance from either the consumer or the courts. Usually ISPs would sell the data to advertisers or ad networks for them to target you more efficiently.

Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) called what seems to be an inevitable reversal of the FCC rules a "crushing loss for online privacy". If the House of Representatives pass the reversal it can be only be stopped by a President's veto. Will Trump be worried about privacy of the citizens in this case? I guess we'll have to wait and see.

Ars Technica has released a new guide on explaining how this new ruling might affect you and in what ways you could fight it. This includes using HTTPS, VPN services or Tor.

Apple announced today a new iPhone 7 (PRODUCT)RED as well as a new iPad with old tech. If neither a charity version of last year iPhone or an iPad with rather uninspiring features don't excite you, then maybe the third product is up your alley.

The Cupertino giant introduced a new app called Clips. Like we've come to expect from Apple, there is no play-on-words here, it's exactly what you're thinking. It's an app that allows you to easily generate video clips.

The app aims to be as straightforward and easy to use so iPhone (maybe a red one) and iPad (maybe the new one) users can get their footage fast and effortlessly to the social media sphere. The one thing that makes it stand out from the crowd is the ability to edit the videos with voice only with a support to 36 different languages.

It is not meant for professional video production but instead has kind of the same approach as Snapchat. You can decorate your videos with special effects, pictures, and text. You can share the finished product on for example Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Vimeo, and Messages.

Clips will be available on the App Store in early April for free. You need and iPhone 5s, iPad mini 2, iPad Air or any other Apple device that is newer than those. It also requires iOS 10.3.

Apple has today announced new products in its Spring Event. The new, or refreshed, iPad might get most of the attention but another new product introduced today might be even closer to Apple's own heart.

Tim Cook and his company introduced today a new iPhone 7 model. The new red model is a continuation of Product Red – or (PRODUCT)RED – lineup by Apple which raises money to help eliminate HIV/AIDS in Africa.

Apple, like many other companies including Coca-Cola, Nike and Starbucks, have supported Product Red years in their efforts against the massive public health concern in 3rd world countries. Apple's first contribution to the campaign was 10 years ago with the iPod nano Product Red. Today's iPhone 7 Product Red follows suit with the same features as a normal iPhone 7 but with a vibrant matte red finish.

Red iPhone 7 is available in both the traditional form factor as well as the Plus model.

In another small iPhone update, Apple changed iPhone SE's storage capacity. The previous options (16 and 64 GB) were doubled to 32 and 128 GB.

Apple has today revealed new products in its annual Spring Event. The event usually pales in contrast to the main fall event which iPhone is used and even often garners less attention than the developer focused WWDC in June.

However, there's always some excitement when Apple releases new hardware. This time around Apple updated their iPad lineup but unfortunately it's not as exciting as one might think.

The new iPad is a refresh of the traditional 9.7 inch, lower-end, iPad. The new version even uses older tech, such as the A9 chip used in iPhone 6s. You know, the phone released in 2015.

The iPad Air has been removed from the lineup so excluding the smaller iPad mini 4 the "iPad" is now the only option in addition to iPad Pro. The new iPad has an 8 megapixel camera, 10 hours battery life, Touch ID fingerprint sensor, .

The prices start at $329 and preorders go live this Friday, March 24th. It will be available in both WiFi and WiFi+Cellular, latter of which starts at $459, 32 or 128 GB, and in Silver, Gold and Space Gray.

Still remember the first time you played Resistance: Fall of Man or Ridge Racer 7? I might well be that it was over 10 years ago on a brand new PlayStation 3. Now after over 80 million sold PS3 consoles Sony is allegedly seizing production.

Reports from Gematsu have it that Sony has decided to call it quits with PS3 after over 10 years of production. The production of the last model, a black 500GB PS3, will be ended "soon" according to Sony's Japanese website.

PlayStation 3 was released in November 2006 almost a year after its rival Xbox 360. Now after approximately a year after Microsoft stopped the Xbox 360 production, Sony is ready to move on too. According to Wikipedia, to this date they have both sold an almost identical 84 million units within their 10 year lifespan.

Sony is definitely ready to move on and reap the benefits of the new generation. PlayStation 4 has outsold Xbox One every step of the way and is looking to easily surpass PS3's numbers in few years. Sony has sold over 50 million PS4 units in just over three years.

PlayStation 4 might very well surpass the 100 million mark and the first PlayStation but it probably will never reach the heights of PlayStation 2 with over 150 million units sold.

Nintendo's new gaming console has been in the stores for just a few days but the buzz around it seems to have proved it a success. The console and the highly-anticipated Zelda game have been sold out in stores around the US – and it is not because of supply problems.

The head of Nintendo of America Reggie Fils-Aimé has confirmed to the New York Times that Switch has indeed become the fastest Nintendo gaming console of all time. In the first two days has outsold the Wii which held the title after a booming start in the late 2006.

Fils-Aimé also said that the new Zelda title, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, has become the most successful standalone launch title in the company's history. This obviously excludes the likes of Wii Sports that were included with the console.

A good start is as important as anything but will it defeat the reigning king, Wii, in the long? Wii has amassed more than 100 million sold units in the ten odd years it's been on the market. And if it can top Wii will its portable pedigree propel it to the heights of Nintendo DS, past the 150 million mark?