Hardware

You may want to dial back your expectations for Microsoft's oft-rumored smartwatch. According to sources speaking to the historically well-informed Paul Thurrott, the wearable isn't intended as a watch -- it's a Gear Fit-style health tracker that happens to deliver phone notifications and timekeeping. The tipsters also back earlier rumors, suggesting that there will be a host of fitness sensors along with support for Android, iOS and (naturally) Windows Phone.

Philips has shown off its Ethernet-powered connected lighting for offices of the future, which can transmit data to mobile devices through light via embedded code.

Arriving in the form of LED "luminaires", Philips' connected office lighting will aim to not only save businesses money on energy costs, but also serve as a means of providing information and data about the general running of a building, transmitted through light, to improve the overall efficiency of business infrastructure.

Based on some recent experience, I'm of the opinion that smartphones are about as private as a gas station bathroom. They're full of leaks, prone to surveillance, and what security they do have comes from using really awkward keys. While there are tools available to help improve the security and privacy of smartphones, they're generally intended for enterprise customers. No one has had a real one-stop solution: a smartphone pre-configured for privacy that anyone can use without being a cypherpunk.

While we wait for Google I/O (which starts tomorrow) to find out what will become of the company's TV platform, a team that we've seen bust open the padlocks on Google TV, Chromecast and Roku has a new target.

It has finally come: Microsoft's all-new Surface Pro 3—all-new in the sense that it's third in a trilogy of devices. Where the second was actually just a rehashing of the original, the third is showing some promise of striking out on its own. Good for you, Surface Pro 3! Time to confirm or deny the only way we know how—it's teardown time.

Alternative names that Microsoft probably considered for the Surface Pro 3:

Amazon’s first smartphone, the Fire Phone, looks like an amazing piece of hardware. You’ll want to play around with it the first chance you get.

APPLE'S iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C might have made their debuts only eight months ago, but that hasn't stopped the online rumour mill from churning out rumour after rumour about Apple's next generation smartphone(s) likely to launch as the iPhone 6.

Here, we round up everything we know about the anticipated iPhone 6 handset so far. Keep this page bookmarked, as we'll update it with every new detail, feature and rumour about the iPhone 6.

Jules Yap (a pseudonym) created the IKEAHackers website in 2006 for the purpose of gathering together all the cool "hacks" of IKEA furniture she had seen around the Internet. The ideas range from simply adding decorations to make a piece look unique to major revamps that require "power tools and lots of ingenuity."

Yesterday, Yap told her following that she had "a bit of bad news"—IKEA's trademark lawyers sent her a "cease and desist" letter that was causing her to give up the domain name.

The Blackphone security-focused smartphone will go on the market in three weeks and “a few thousand” have already been sold through pre-orders, executives from the device’s makers say.

The fifth annual HITB Security Conference in Amsterdam kicks off this week and prominent security researcher Rahul Sasi is scheduled to present a way to allow you to hijack a cable TV channel and broadcast your own content - just like in the movies! From his talk abstract:

The talk will have various small demos that will include,