New Apple TV with App Store and Siri 'will be unveiled in June'

Apple will unveil a new version of its Apple TV set-top box in June that boasts an App Store and Siri, its virtual personal assistant.

The iPhone maker is planning to announce details of the next-generation television product at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference, Buzzfeed reported.

The Apple TV box is expected to feature a new design and updated operating system to support the Siri voice control and Homekit, which enables users to turn their house's lights on and off and change heating levels via an app. It could also come with a new remote control.

Apple told The Telegraph it does not comment on rumour and speculation.

The latest version of Apple TV would be released in addition to an online television service, allowing users to stream video content from around 25 channels on their iPhones, iPads and set-top boxes, which was reported on Tuesday.

The company is in talks with US broadcasters such as ABC, CBS and Fox to launch the service, according to the Wall Street Journal.

It is thought that Apple's online TV service will be accessed via a subscription, costing between $30 and $40 per month. The new service could be announced in June and launched in September. Apple refused to comment on the report.

Apple's Tim Cook offered liver to dying boss Steve Jobs

Apple chief executive Tim Cook offered a part of his liver to a dying Steve Jobs, according to a new book due to be released this month.

The book, Becoming Steve Jobs, excerpts of which have been published online, throws light on life inside Apple as it grew into one of the world's most powerful technology companies.

It also charts the relationship between Mr Cook and Mr Jobs.

According to the book, Mr Jobs angrily turned down Mr Cook's offer.

In 2004, Mr Jobs announced that he was suffering from pancreatic cancer and by 2009, the Apple chief executive was very ill, unable to come into the office and waiting for a liver transplant.

Mr Cook regularly visited Mr Jobs at home and after one visit he "left the house feeling so upset that he had his own blood tested", according to excerpts published by Fast Company executive editor Rick Tetzeli, who co-authored the book.

Fellow author Brent Schlender is a journalist who interviewed Mr Jobs several times throughout his life.

Transplant feasible

Mr Cook found out that he, like Steve Jobs, had a rare blood type, and guessed that it might be the same.

According to the book, he went through a series of tests and discovered that a partial liver transplant was feasible.

But when he shared the news with Mr Jobs, the dying Apple boss reacted angrily, according to the book.

"He cut me off at the legs, almost before the words were out of my mouth," an excerpt says.

"'No," he said. 'I'll never let you do that. I'll never do that.'"

"Steve only yelled at me four or five times during the 13 years I knew him, and this was one of them," Mr Cook added.

Swatch reveals plan to compete with smartwatch rivals

Swatch Group, the world's bestselling watchmaker, is to introduce models that can make contactless payments and display data sent by smartphones.

The Swiss company's chief executive said the first of the tech-enhanced timepieces would go on sale in May.

But he said he had no plans to sell the kinds of fully featured smartwatches being offered by Apple, Motorola, Pebble and others.

Swatch accounts for 18% of all watch sales, according to industry data.

The company, which makes devices under the Omega, Breguet, Calvin Klein, Rado and other brands, as well as its own, has consistently increased its market share over the past five years.

It recently reported 8.7bn Swiss francs ($9.2bn; £6.2bn) of sales for its last financial year, a 3% improvement on the previous period.

However, some observers believe it and other mainstream watchmakers face disruption from tech industry giants who have begun selling wearable products.

NFC and Bluetooth

• NFC (near-field communication) - a chip that can be used to trigger contactless payments and open hotel doors and other compatible locks. The first NFC-capable watches are set to be released in two months.

• Bluetooth - this chip will allow watches to send and receive data to smartphones. This could be used to show news updates, text messages and other notifications. Mr Hayek said the first Bluetooth-enabled models were due in "the summer"

Swatch's chief executive Nick Hayek said his company was planning to introduce two types of wireless communication tech to its wristwear:

Swatch said it had teamed up with China UnionPay, a Chinese credit card association, to provide touchless payments in that country. Reuters news agency reported that a similar deal with Visa is believed to be in the works for other parts of the world.

However, Mr Hayek indicated that Swatch would leave it up to others to unlock the full potential of its moves.

"Whatever usage you want, you ask some creative people to create some apps and then our chip has different layers that you can program yourself - we give it to you," he told a press conference in the Swiss town of Corgemont.

"You buy your Swatch, the one you like, and then you configure it."

He added that he believed that his company's expertise in manufacturing "ultra-low power" watches gave it an advantage over tech firms, whose products typically need to be recharged daily

Russia cuts interest rates as rouble crisis eases

Russia's central bank has cut its key interest rate by one percentage point to 14%, as concerns over inflation recede as Russia's economy falters.

The move, which was widely expected, comes as the rouble stabilises following its radical 46% decline in 2014.

That drop prompted the bank to increase rates up to 17% in an effort to halt the plunge.

The rate rise strengthened the rouble against the dollar.

In January, Russia's central bank surprisingly cut rates from 17% to 15%.

Interest rates were increased last year to encourage saving rather than spending after the currency's plummeting value prompted some Russians to snap up foreign goods in case its value fell still further.

Demand for goods during that spree allowed shopkeepers to raise prices, prompting high inflation.

Although inflation still remains high - February's reading showed that prices were increasing by an annualised rate of 16.7% - economists expect that depressed economic conditions, including rising unemployment, will lead to decreased demand and lower prices.

Russia's economy has been hit hard by the declining oil price as well as the impact of Western sanctions of its involvement in Ukraine.

Google is becoming wireless carrier

Soon, you will be able to buy a smartphone not through Verizon, AT&T, Sprint or T-Mobile -- but with Google Wireless.

Google (GOOGL, Tech30) will start selling cell phone service, the company's products chief Sundar Pichai announced at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on Monday. Google will formally announce its plans "in the coming months," with a launch coming at a later date.

PIchai said that the scale of Google's wireless service is expected to be small -- it won't be building out its own nationwide infrastructure. Instead, Google will piggyback on existing carriers. Multiple news reports say Google's service will operate on the Sprint (S) and T-Mobile (TMUS) networks.

Similar to Google Fiber's small rollout, Pichai said the point of Google Wireless won't be to unseat the established Big Four wireless giants. Rather, the point is to showcase wireless innovations and pressure the carriers to do the same.

"We don't intend to be a network operator at scale; we are actually working with carrier partners," Pichai said. "Our goal is to drive a set of innovations we think should arrive, but do it a smaller scale, like Nexus devices, so people will see what we're doing."

This has been a long time coming.

For years, Google has been assembling just about all the pieces it needs to become a mobile provider.

The search giant already makes the most-used mobile software on the planet, it designs and sells phones online, and it has become an Internet service provider with its Google Fiber initiative. It even has its own VoIP phone service called Google Voice, which allows people to get a Google phone number and call people through Gmail or Hangouts over Wi-Fi.

The missing link has been the cell towers needed to build out a nationwide network.

Google is expected to pay Sprint and T-Mobile just $2 per gigabyte, according to Macquarie Securities analyst Kevin Smithen. That means Google could choose to provide super-cheap service that gives Verizon (VZ, Tech30) and AT&T (T, Tech30) something to worry about.

Google declined to name its partners.

Step inside the world's first Google shop

Google is opening its first ever store this week.

Rather than offering a retail experience, the shop in central London is more like a Google-themed amusement park.

Visitors can press big red buttons to work an interactive display ofGoogle (GOOG) features, including a play pod and screens showing Google trends (filtered to make sure the results are family friendly).

They can take pictures in a photo booth, and fly a helicopter around the world using a giant screen and pumped-up version of Google Earth.

The store is selling Google hardware, such as wearable gadgets, Android phones and Chromebook laptops. But above all, it's pushing the Google brand.

Apple's App Store and iTunes go down

Millions of Apple users are unable to download music and apps from iTunes and the App Store due a problem with the applications.

The crash has generated a wave of complaints on social media, with other Apple users claiming to have difficulty logging-in to iCloud.

The problems are estimated to be costing Apple more than $4m (£2.7m) in lost sales from iTunes and the App Store. With these systems down, users are unable to buy new apps or install updates to ones that they already own. They will also be unable to buy music or videos from iTunes.

Apple's website said the problems had begun at 9am UK time, meaning that as of 7pm in the evening the company could have lost $40m in sales.

Apple has apologised for the problems. In a statement, it said: "We are apologise to our customers experiencing problems with iTunes and other services this morning. The cause was an internal DNS error at Apple.