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According to multiple reports, Apple will unveil their new iPads at a press event on October 22nd, just a month after unveiling the iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C.

Additionally, the company is expected to unveil more details of the Mac Pro and the latest operating system, Mac OS X Mavericks.

The fifth-generation iPad will be thinner and lighter and run on the new Apple A7 chip with 64-bit processing.

Perhaps more importantly for the company, the second-generation iPad Mini is expected to upgrade to a Retina display, use a variant of the A7 and add the new Touch ID fingerprint sensor, making it a heavyweight in the industry.

More news when the date is confirmed by the company.

Skype for Android 4.4 improves the quality of video calls and brings a new UI experience to the Android application.

The update will also be available for Kindle Fire HD and Kindle Fire HDX tablets. Tablet users will now see a new interface that puts conversations first, displaying your most recent calls and chats.

With good network conditions, users will experience up to four times the video resolution of previous versions with better clarity and frame rates. There are also some other bug fixes and improvements:

• Accessibility improvements with full support for TalkBack screen reader
• Updates that address incoming call issues, including one that was causing phones to reboot
• Additional changes to audio routing
• Display and UX enhancements when switching orientation

Russian police have reportedly arrested a man alleged to be behind two infamous exploit kits used by cybercriminals to spread malware.

According to reports, the man arrested used the alias Paunch and is responsible for the distribution of the Blackhole and Cool exploit kits. While the Russian authorities did not confirm the arrest, Kaspersky Labs expert Alexander Gostev said anonymous sources had confirmed it to him.

Blackhole dominated the so called "crimeware" market, sold for an annual license fee of up to $1,500. It targeted vulnerabilities in very popular software, such as JRE, Flash, PDF readers and so on. It could be used as part of the creation of malicious websites, for example, that could target visitors running vulnerable software.

Combined with a successful hack of a popular website, these tools could yield strong results for their operators.

"If it's true that the brains behind the Blackhole has been apprehended it's a very big deal - a real coup for the cybercrime-fighting authorities, and hopefully cause disruption to the development of one of the most notorious exploit kits the web has ever seen," said Graham Cluley of Sophos.

Comcast and Twitter have announced a deal that will allow you to get more control over some content directly from tweets.

The deal will result in a "See It" button becoming visible on some tweets that are linked to NBCUniversal programming. By tapping the See It button, Twitter users (and Xfinity TV customers) will be able to tune-in to those programs in several ways.

A See It menu will provide options including the ability to tune to live TV or start a show On Demand on their set-top box, tune in to a show online or on their mobile device, set DVRs, set reminders or even buy theater tickets through Fandango.

"See It is a simple yet powerful feature that creates an instant online remote control," said Brian Roberts, Chairman and CEO, Comcast Corporation.

"Comcast is taking a leap forward in social TV by enabling Twitter users to more easily find and view the shows they want to watch and discover new shows. Twitter complements the live viewing experience and is an ideal partner for Comcast and NBCUniversal."

Panasonic will reportedly get out of the plasma TV panel production business by the end of March next year, according to a report.

Sources familiar with Panasonic's plans told the Reuters news agency that the company seeks to end its production of plasma TV panels by the end of its financial year, which ends March 2014.

The move is no surprise given that Panasonic's losses in its TV business have contributed to monstrous losses in recent years. A strong yen has also given it a major disadvantage over flat panel television rivals, such as South Korea's Samsung and its domestic rival LG Electronics.

On top of that, plasma televisions have declined in a market dominated by LCD, which has witnessed considerable improvements and innovation over recent year. According to DisplaySearch, only 6 percent of TV shipments in 2012 were plasma, compared to 87 percent for LCD.

According to Reuters sources, Panasonic will book an impairment loss of more than 40 billion yen with the closure of its plasma factory in Western Japan.

Microsoft has paid a security researcher a reward of $100,000 for detailing a bug and attack method on Windows 8.1.

James Forshaw, a security researcher at Context Information Security, got the $100,000 bounty from Microsoft by showing how to work around protective measures in the preview version of Windows 8.1. He also previously got a cash reward for finding an Internet Explorer 11 bug.

"The reason we pay so much more for a new attack technique versus for an individual bug is that learning about new mitigation bypass techniques helps us develop defenses against entire classes of attack," said Microsoft's Katie Moussouris.

Microsoft has paid out $28,000 for bugs found affecting Internet Explorer 11 - the browser at the core of Windows 8.1 - as part of a reward program that was initiated in June and is set to run for a year.

Samsung has unveiled its new Galaxy Round smartphone, confirming rumors about an upcoming Samsung device with a curved display.

The device will be launched in South Korea over the coming days through carrier SK Telecom. It features a 5.7-inch curved OLED display (1080p), and weighs 154g.

As a result of its unique curved design, users can take advantage of round integration experiences like the Roll Effect that enables the user to check information such as the date, time, missed calls and battery easily when home screen is off, and the Gravity Effect for creating visual interaction with the screen by tilting the device.

Further technical details and information about available outside South Korea are unavailable at this time. It will launch in South Korea beginning tomorrow in "luxury brown" for the equivalent of around $1,000.

Some of Samsung's older smartphones and tablets will be banned from import and sale in the United States.

Apple filed a complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) in 2011, accusing Samsung of infringing its patents in some of its smartphones and tablet products. In August, the ITC found that some of the products did infringe Apple's patents and banned their importation into the country.

The ban could have been overturned within a 60 day period by U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman, but he declined to do so.

"After carefully weighing policy considerations, including the impact on consumers and competition, advice from agencies, and information from interested parties, I have decided to allow the commission's determination," Froman said in a statement.

He recently overturned a ban imposed on Apple products for patent infringement. Needless to say, Samsung is less than pleased.

"We are disappointed by the US Trade Representative's decision to allow the exclusion order issued by the US International Trade Commission. It will serve only to reduce competition and limit choice for the American consumer," a spokesperson said.

The new HP Chromebook 11 has been shown off this week, available for just $279.

The new 11-inch HP Chromebook 11 weighs just 2.3lb. It is powered with a Sasmung Exynos 5250 CPU, 2GB of RAM and 16GB SSD storage. It support 802.11 a/b/g/n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0. It charged via microUSB for more convenient travel.

Its magnesium frame has no sharp edges with a completely screw-free design, and no air vents or fans. The new Chromebook's screen has a 176-degree viewing angles so you can see even when looking at it almost completely sideways.

The speakers are located under the keyboard rather than on the bottom of the chromebook for better sound.

Google also throws in 100GB of Google Drive cloud storage for free for two years, and a 60-day free trial of Google Play Music All Access.

It is available now for just $279 from all the usual suspects.

Amazon appears to be shipping Chromecast outside of the United States, despite Google not yet expanding the product beyond the territory.

Android Central noticed that Amazon had added new shipment options for territories outside of the U.S., including full shipping and import costs. Orders have been placed for the device to the UK and as far as Australia by some customers.

Chromecast provides a way to stream content to a television from a variety of devices over a home WiFi network, as long as your TV has a spare HDMI input it can plug into. Priced at just $35, it may be worth placing an order.

(via: Engadget)

British police have arrested four men as part of an ongoing investigation into the Silk Road, a dark web drug market that was shut by the FBI this month.

Three of the arrests were made in Manchester, and the fourth in Devon. They were arrested on suspicion of drug offenses by the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA).

"These arrests send a clear message to criminals; the hidden internet isn't hidden and your anonymous activity isn't anonymous. We know where you are, what you are doing and we will catch you," said Keith Bristow, director general of the NCA.

"It is impossible for criminals to completely erase their digital footprint. No matter how technology-savvy the offender, they will always make mistakes."

Indeed, alleged Silk Road operator Ross Ulbricht appeared to unmask himself through a number of mistakes that led the FBI to him, rather than a failure of the TOR network that protected the source of the Silk Road server.

Executive chairman and former CEO of Google, Eric Schmidt, has claimed that Android is more secure than the iPhone.

Gartner analyst David Willis asked a question of Eric Schmidt during the Gartner Symposium/ITxpo where he touched on Android's security reputation.

"If you polled many people in this audience they would say Google Android is not their principal platform... When you say Android, people say, wait a minute, Android is not secure," Willis commented.

Schmidt was having none of it. "Not secure? It's more secure than the iPhone," he declared, drawing laughter from the audience.

Schmidt went on to tout Android 1 billion+ device activations and the stringent security testing it undergoes.

Recently, a U.S. government report highlighted the lack of a upgrade path for many devices running Android, which can leave them vulnerable to malware attacks.

Microsoft has paid bug hunters a total of $28,000 for finding and reporting security vulnerabilities in the preview version of Internet Explorer 11.

As the primary browser app in Windows 8.1, Internet Explorer 11 is likely to be probed by malware authors the world round, and Microsoft sought to minimize the risk that serious bugs will be found after launch, with a bounty program announced in June.

As part of the program, Microsoft is paying up to $11,000 per vulnerability discovered, depending on how serious it is. The reward program is set to run for a year.

So far, Microsoft has paid a total of $28,000 to six researchers for reporting a total of 15 bugs in the preview release of Internet Explorer 11.

Voice actors for Grand Theft Auto V have dismissed criticisms that the game encourages violence in children as hypocritical.

Since the game was launched last month, it has enjoyed overwhelming success on the market with over $1 billion in sales in three days. Criticism of the games content was entirely expected though, as it comes around with every release of a new GTA.

"Anyone who has any conception at all about the games and hasn't played them should go play the games before they open their mouths," Ned Lukes, who voices Michael in GTA V, told PC Advisor.

"As an actor, I got to go out and do all these crazy things and then go back home to my wife and my son and go out in the back yard and throw a baseball around like a normal all-American dad. I think that's what these games are. People who take them too seriously and go, 'Oh, this is life.' No, this isn't life. This is imagination. It's just fun. You definitely don't want GTA raising your children. But it's not a bad release from them, when you need to get away."

The BBC is to update iPlayer to cater more to the personal tastes of each user.

Tony Hall, director general of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), is to outline the changes today in a keynote speech.

The new iPlayer will be aimed at giving BBC viewers/listeners the power to more easily personalize the content they get from the publicly-funded group. For example, BBC Radio 1 has already revealed it will have its own iPlayer channel that will have exclusive performances and interviews that are not broadcast elsewhere, in a bid to appeal to younger audiences.

The changes are likely to spark an old debate however. If this is the direction the BBC is taking, then the continued requirement to pay the fixed licence fee will be called into question. If you can personalize the type of content that you want to see from the BBC, then why pay a blanket fee toward the BBC's entire content production?

A launch is planned in 2014, with content available both in the UK and internationally. Mobile apps are also expected to be announced for BBC radio programmes with exclusive content.