Weekend Wrap-Up: New Apple TV On the Way; Microsoft Releases Windows 10 SDK
Apple’s in the news again for something TV-related. Microsoft actually has people excited about Windows 10 and the potential for a Surface 3 tablet. And Asurion’s phone insurance claim process really isn’t all that secure — in fact, it isn’t secure at all. We’ll explain more below.
Welcome to the Wrap-Up.
New Apple TV Coming Soon
It’s been a solid three years since we’ve received an update to the Apple TV hardware. Fortunately, it appears we won’t have to wait much longer. We reported this past week that Apple plans on unveiling a new Apple TV model at its Worldwide Developers Conference, which typically takes place in June. WWDC would also be a great launch point for Apple’s rumored TV service, and perhaps the launch of an App Store on Apple TV (fingers crossed). June is a long way out — we’ll keep you up to speed should we learn anything more.
Microsoft Releases Windows 10 SDK
The launch of Windows 10 is coming like a bullet train, and it’ll be here before we know it. Microsoft’s already told us that Windows 10 will release this summer, but ahead of that, the company has released the operating system’s official software development kit (SDK) so that developers can get to work on software. The Windows 10 SDK is super interesting — not only will it provide the tools to develop desktop applications, but also smartphone and tablet apps. And, in the coming months, tools will be made available for devs to put Windows 10 apps on Xbox One. Microsoft’s ecosystem is finally coming together — we’ll see if that’s good enough.
Microsoft Could Put Out Surface 2 Sequel
Remember the Surface line of tablets? Not the Surface Pro — just the plain old Surface. We haven’t seen a new one in a while, as Microsoft decided to put all of its focus on promoting the Surface Pro 3. But Redmond apparently feels that there’s still a market for the less-powerful version of its flagship tablet; the company is reportedly looking into following up the Surface 2 with a new device. And good news: it’s said that this new tablet would run Windows 10, which means the head-scratching Windows RT experiment may be coming to an end.
Asurion’s Phone Insurance is Super Easy to Defraud
Jeff Weisbein discovering something over the weekend — Asurion’s phone insurance plan, which helps you replace your lost or stolen device with a new one, is super easy to defraud. Unfortunately, the people who are suffering at the moment are those who bought the plans, as it appears a total stranger can simply enter your name and phone number and have a replacement phone shipped to their home. Jeff has reached out for comment and will update his post when (or if) Asurion responds.