Apple iphone 6S event event confirmed for 9 September

Apple has announced that their next product update will take place in San Francisco on 9 September, as widely expected.

New iPhones, including a flagship iPhone 6S and 6S Plus are widely assumed to be on the slate. A new iPhone 6C with a friendlier, colourful exterior and slightly lower price point is possible, as is a new TV device and maybe new iPads -- though it's likely these will be held back for a later event in October.

The invite is typically cheerful and playful, emblazoned with the words 'Hey Siri, Give Us A Hint'.

In a nice twist, if you actually ask Siri that question she will give you a contextual response, telling WIRED that "we'll just have to wait until September 9".

The iPhone 6S is expected to come with an improved 12 megapixels camera, and processor, the addition of Force Touch actions launched with a hard press on the screen, refinements to its design (though given it's a 'S' series device, probably minor ones) and all the software additions expected from iOS 9, announced in June. It's also thought that animated wallpapers (as on the Apple Watch) will be a feature, along with 4K video recording.

The announcements will be made on September 9th 2015, at 10AM PT and at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco, California.

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Questioned cloud Microsoft's universal Windows apps plan.

With the release of Windows 10, Microsoft is emphasizing development of universal Windows apps.

The OS provides platform convergence with Windows running on a single, unified core, meaning an app targeting the universal Windows platform can run on every Windows device. However, the universal Windows plan keeps changing, stressed analyst Rob Sanfilippo, of Directions on Microsoft, who questioned the plan's usefulness at this point with Microsoft de-emphasizing Windows phones.

Universal applications provide the most utility when transitioning between Windows 10 and Windows 10 Mobile devices; Windows desktop PCs, laptops, and tablets all provide the same experience already, SanFilippo said. "The biggest challenge is getting the same app to run on these devices and phones. But Microsoft's recent de-emphasis on Windows phones has gutted the promise of Windows 10 Mobile, leaving the primary usefulness of Universal Applications -- same app on desktop-laptop-tablet and phone -- in question." Microsoft, in fact,may not see as many upgrades to Windows 10 Mobile as planned, with many phones lacking the prerequisite software updates.

Initially, the plan featured a developer strategy for organizing code and minimizing work to target the same application for Windows 8.1 and Windows Phone 8.1. "Today it refers to the capability to build a single application binary -- usually with the Modern, aka Metro design style -- that runs on Windows 10, Windows 10 Mobile, and other systems that are or will be Windows 10-compatible, such as Xbox One, Surface Hub, IoT devices and HoloLens," said Sanfilippo.

The Visual Studio 2015 software development platform, released July 20 features project templates for building Universal Windows apps via languages including C#, Visual Basic, C++, or JavaScript.

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