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During a recent interview, Apple CEO Tim Cook was asked whether consumers would ever be able to delete pre-loaded apps from their iOS devices, like 'Podcasts' or 'Stocks.'

Cook surprisingly said the company is working on it, but that it is actually pretty complex. "There are some apps that are linked to something else on the iPhone," Cook said. "If they were to be removed they might cause issues elsewhere on the phone. There are other apps that aren't like that. So over time, I think with the ones that aren't like that, we'll figure out a way," he concluded.

The CEO was not able to give a timeline, but it was nice to see that they are working on it.

While many people use pre-loaded apps like Maps and Weather, there are plenty of people who have never looked at the Stocks apps, or don't have an Apple Watch (for example) and would prefer the homescreen space instead.

According to the China Daily, two men tried to sell their kidneys in order to afford the new Apple iPhone 6S.

One man, Wu, knew he could not afford the smartphone so his friend Huang suggested they sell their kidneys to have enough to buy it. They found an agent online who said he could help them if they took medical exams at a hospital on September 12th, however the agent never showed up.

Wu then decided against the move but Huang still wanted to go through with it. To stop the sale, Wu called the police and Huang ran away and has been missing ever since.

As an aside, I feel like we shouldn't have to say this but - DO NOT sell your vital organs for a new smartphone. You're welcome.

Snapchat has rolled out a new update to their mobile app today, adding some interesting features including the ability to pay to replay past snaps.

Dubbed 'Replays,' the in-app purchase will let users pay $0.99 to replay snaps that have disappeared in the past. For the price, you get three replays to use when you want, but one caveat - you cannot use your three replays on the same picture.

"We introduced Replay in Additional Services almost two years ago, and we've used it to relive those amazing moments (or the ones we weren't paying attention to...) just one more time before they disappear," said the company. "We've provided one Replay per Snapchatter per day, sometimes frustrating the millions of Snapchatters who receive many daily Snaps deserving of a Replay. But then we realized -- a Replay is like a compliment! So why stop at just one?"

Additionally, the company has introduced 'Lenses' to enhance your selfies with playful filters, animations and distortions (like Photo Booth from Macs) and 'Trophies,' virtual awards and stickers similar to Four Square.

As we have reported in the past, some local municipalities have begun taxing streaming services like Netflix, Spotify, and Amazon in an effort to make up for lost revenue from physical disc sales.

Besides being controversial in its own right, at least one government now has a lawsuit on their hands. Subscribers to the popular services have filed a lawsuit against Chicago, claiming the 'cloud tax' is illegal.

Chicago was charging a 9% "Amusement Levy" on the services which had previously only applied to live shows such as concerts and baseball games.

In their suit, the plaintiffs claim that the tax could only have been imposed by a city vote, but in this case it was decisioned by the city comptroller. In addition, the suit claims that the tax violated the federal Internet Tax Freedom Act, which strictly prohibits states and cities from "imposing discriminatory internet-only taxes."

Read the full complaint here, as the decision will likely have national implications in the future.

Sony PlayStation 4 fans will soon have the option to get DualShock 4 controllers in four different colors.

Showing off the new controllers at the Tokyo Game Show press conference, Sony also introduced new hard drive panels in yellow, gold, pink, yellow, light blue, red and purple.

Gold, silver, Steel Black and Crystal will be available in Japan on November 6th, with the gold and silver controllers also headed to the U.S. and Europe in November. It is unclear if the other two colors will eventually be available everywhere.

The plates will sell for 2,500 yen each (about $20) and the controllers will sell for 6500 yen ($55 USD) although it is likely the pricing will change for different markets.

Nintendo has named long time executive Tatsumi Kimishima president following the sad passing of Satoru Iwata.

Kimishima previously managed The Pokemon Company and also led Nintendo of America from 2002 to 2006, but unlike other presidents he does not have a gaming background, just a business and management one.

Somewhat strangely, Nintendo legend Shigeru Miyamoto was given the title of 'Creative Fellow,' meaning he has advanced specialized knowledge that will be used to guide the company. For Miyamoto, he will be an adviser in a creative capacity.

There are more title changes as the company restructures, which can be seen at the source.

Apple has said today that it expects to best last year's first-weekend iPhone sales record, mainly thanks to strong demand in China.

"Customer response to iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus has been extremely positive and preorders this weekend were very strong around the world," the company said in a statement. "We are on pace to beat last year's 10 million unit first-weekend record when the new iPhones go on sale Sept. 25."

As has been the case for years, Apple expects delays on some of the new models in some nations thanks to lack of supply (or high demand). "As many customers noticed, the online demand for iPhone 6S Plus has been exceptionally strong and exceeded our own forecasts for the preorder period," the company also wrote. "We are working to catch up as quickly as we can, and we will have iPhone 6S Plus as well as iPhone 6S units available at Apple retail stores when they open next Friday."

There had been concerns that the economic and stock downturn in China would lead to lackluster sales, but that is clearly not an issue. Both new phones have 3-4 week delays in all colors in the country.

Microsoft has confirmed that gamers in the Xbox Preview Program will be able to test out the new Xbox One dashboard update before it launches in November.

"Because this is a significant update, we are giving Preview members the opportunity to decide for themselves if and how they want to participate in helping us release the New Xbox One Experience," said Mike Ybarra of the Xbox team.

Of note, Microsoft will not roll out the preview to everyone, at least not to start. "Preview members who have historically submitted the most feedback" will be the first to receive the update, with the ultimate goal "to start with a group, get feedback, then roll out to larger groups for additional feedback over time."

If you do choose to opt in, you will get regular updates up until the official release in November.

The November update will introduce a completely re-hauled user interface, new backward compatibility with over 100 Xbox 360 titles and smaller updates to the store and OneGuide. Additionally, there is a new 'Community' section which adds a ton of social features.

The former Google CEO and now the Executive Chairman of newly found holding company Alphabet Eric Schmidt has written an op-en for the BBC about the strides artificial intelligence (AI) has made – and will make. Unlike Apple, Eric Schmidt believes in computer curated music rather than few human individuals.

Schmidt clearly pokes fun at Apple's human curated music on Apple Music, Recode reports. The former Google CEO calls human curation "elitist" since it relies on few people making the choices for you based on their own preferences.

Music curation being one of the editorial's main focuses Schmidt says that maybe a decade ago it was reasonable to use human curation but today AI has come so far that it provides better results and could "help you predict who and where the next Adele might be".

What do you think, does human curation to it better for you and/or do AI curated playlists cater the large crowds better?

Music and movie organizing software Plex is headed to the new updated Apple TV.

The software, which allows you to organize and stream your personal collections, has been popular for PCs for quite some time and is also available on consoles on set-top boxes but has been notably absent (officially) from the aging Apple TV. Now that the set-top is getting a makeover, the company has confirmed it will be on-board.

"We are very excited to have a crack at bringing our users Apple TV," says co-founder Scott Olechowski. "It's been a long requested platform and we're excited to work on it. We want it, our users want it ... and we're anxiously awaiting the tvOS developer beta info, so we can finally dig in."

The co-founder also confirmed Apple TV would be getting a fully featured app, although not likely for a few months as development is not done as the tvOS was just released.

OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei has apologized for the botched launch of the OnePlus 2, which is only now shipping "in meaningful quantities," a month later than expected.

"We messed up the launch of the OnePlus 2," said Pei, starting off a long post apologizing to consumers and partners alike.

"With the OnePlus 2, we made rosy plans. We were more confident, and prepared a lot more inventory. We told our users it would be 30-50x easier to get invites, and they needn't worry. Yet, we only began shipping in meaningful quantities this week, nearly a month after our initial targeted shipping date. You can talk all you want, but in the end, flawless execution speaks much louder than unfulfilled promises.

I'd like to apologize on behalf of OnePlus for the delay.

To our fans, sorry. We were equally excited when we saw your excitement around the OnePlus 2. We know how it feels waiting and waiting for something you really want, while being given ETAs that go unfulfilled. We appreciate the trust and support that you have given to a relatively small and unknown company like OnePlus. We know that you are rooting for us, and want nothing more than to see us succeed. Therefore, it feels extra terrible to let you down this time around, again," concluded the post.

Apple has confirmed it will shut down popular transit and directions service HopStop by the end of October.

"HopStop will no longer be available starting October 2015," reads the website, despite being used in over 300 cities. Apple acquired the service for a reported $1 billion back in 2013 to expand its Apple Maps service.

With the launch of iOS 9, Apple is adding transit directions and transit maps right into Apple Maps, so it appears that it wants to limit the service to Maps and no longer as a standalone app. At the start, the transit directions will be available in just 10 major metros.

Apple has been investing heavily in Maps as it tries to take on Google's more mature Google Maps. The company recently renewed a license with GPS mapping company TomTom and has been sending out Apple Maps cars to collect data, just like Google does for its 'Street View' service.

If you were a fan of HopStop but not Apple Maps, it may be time to try out the latter.

While Windows 10 has been generally well reviewed my users, fans of privacy are having a field day with how invasive the new operating system is.

Since the OS went into Technical Preview last year, security experts (and others) have warned that Windows 10 has a keylogger built-in and unfortunately, that keylogger is still there in the final retail version.

Microsoft, for their part, has never tried to hide it: "When you interact with your Windows device by speaking, writing (handwriting), or typing, Microsoft collects speech, inking, and typing information--including information about your Calendar and People (also known as contacts)," reads their own FAQ.

Thankfully, the keylogger can be turned off rather simply if you follow the following steps:

Microsoft is now downloading Windows 10 installation files to your PC, even if you didn't ask for it nor have enough available hard drive space for it.

Disgustingly, Microsoft is using their "automatic updates" system to download the files to eligible PCs (Windows 7 or Windows 8.1) and the installation files take up about 6GB of space. Making it worse is the fact that you will get the files even if you have not "reserved" the upgrade to the new operating system.

There are a few major problems with Microsoft's move. First, many of the people getting the files don't want to upgrade to Windows 10, free or not. Ever. Second, there are plenty of laptops out there running on SSD drives that may not be expecting an extra 6GB of space to suddenly disappear. Finally, there are still consumers out there with hard caps on how much bandwidth they can use on a monthly basis. No one wants to get their data maxed out by an unexpected download they didn't ask for.

Microsoft seems to want to make sure they can keep adding milestone numbers to their Windows 10 install figures, but this is the wrong way to go about it. Thankfully, with a little Windows know-how, you can get rid of the files. Enable hidden folders in your root folder and look for the $WINDOWS.BT folder. Your installation will be hiding out in there.

As part of the 30-year anniversary celebration of the launch of Mario, creator Shigeru Miyamoto revealed which myths about the classic games are true and which are not.

The new video, which also promotes the upcoming 'Super Mario Maker,' has Miyamoto basically shaking his head yes or no to a bunch of urban myths about Mario that have been around for years but never confirmed.

Finally confirmed is how Mario's name came to be. Nintendo of America was leasing a warehouse from a landlord named Mario Segale in the early 80s (before Donkey Kong and Mario) and actually fell behind on rent. Segale granted them extra time to pay and out of gratitude Mario the character got his name.

Additionally, it has long been speculated that Super Mario Bros. 3 was really a theatrical performance, and Miyamoto confirmed that. Finally, Miyamoto also notes the he is the mom of Bowser Jr., the son of the monstrous Bowser. How that works, who knows.

The video is short and worth watching: