Apple's 'Move to iOS' app makes it easy to switch from Android

Apple's upcoming mobile platform apparently comes with a new app called "Move to iOS" that wirelessly transfers data from Android devices to iPhones and iPads. It was curiously skipped over during the company's WWDC keynote earlier, but Daring Fireball points it out buried underneath all the new features on the iOS 9 preview page. The page doesn't go into details, but "Move to iOS" will presumably be available on the Play Store, so you can download it on an Android device -- right next to Apple's other upcoming Android app -- to enable wireless transfer.

Apple says the process can securely copy over "your contacts, message history, camera photos and videos, web bookmarks, mail accounts, calendars, wallpaper, and DRM-free songs and books." Plus, it marks your free apps like Facebook as suggested downloads in the App Store, adds paid ones to your iTunes Wish List and "helpfully" suggests recycling that old Android phone. It's unclear when the app's Android part will hit Google's app marketplace, but you might be able to check the iOS 9 version as soon as July if you sign up for public beta access.

Windows 10 is coming to the Raspberry Pi 2 for free

Over the years, the Raspberry Pi has helped children learn to code and has powered many homebrew projects around the world, but some users have often lamented at the lack Windows support. Luckily, now that the Raspberry Pi 2 is here, that's all about to change. Microsoft has announced that it will support the Raspberry Pi Foundation's latest board, making a specialized version of its Windows 10 operating system available to the wider Pi community for free via its Windows Developer Program for IoT (Internet of Things).

Microsoft says that Windows 10 will be made available "later this year," offering it to "Makers" in the same way it delivered Windows builds for developers tinkering with Intel's Galileo board. The key thing here is price: tinkerers can grab the new ARMv7 board, which is said to deliver at least six times the performance of the old Model B+, for just $35 and begin building their own home automation tools. Microsoft says it will share more details on what its new version of Windows 10 can do in "the coming months", but it shouldn't mean that you wait until then before buying one.

Source: Microsoft

First Tizen tablet launches in Japan, caters exclusively to developers

Despite absorbing MeeGo, learning to run Android apps and pushing through a significant UI overhaul, devices running Tizen are notoriously hard to come by. Developers eyeing the platform in Japan, however, just got one more option: the Tizen build kit, from Systena. It's a package that includes developer tools, manuals and technical and consulting services from Systena, but the real star of the kit is the included 10.1-inch developer tablet. Packing a quad-core 1.4 GHz ARM Cortex-A9 processor, 2GB of RAM and 32GB of storage underneath a 1,920 x 1,200 display, this slab offers a Tizen 2.1 experience built specifically for app development and product demonstration. The company hasn't publicly posted a price for the kit, but interested developers can request more information through the company's website. The rest of us will have to settle for flashing our own devices.

[Image Credit: S-Max.jp]

Source: Systena

HTC One gets bonus Google Drive storage as Sense 5.5 update rolls out abroad

Google is taking a page out of Dropbox's book and offering free extra storage for certain HTC One handsets. The HTC One Max got 50GB of storage space out of the box, but we've been tipped that those with the handset's smaller sibling will net an additional 25GB of room in the cloud,all thanks to the international Sense 5.5 (and Android 4.3) update that readers have already started receiving in Europe. These expansions are in addition to the complimentary 15GB of Drive space available to all Google users, bringing the allotted storage totals to 65GB and 40GB for the One Max and One, respectively. There are a few caveats, though. According to Mountain View, the HTC One Developer Edition isn't eligible for this due to its unlocked bootloader. Furthermore, you can only activate this promo once per Google account, which rules out gaming the offer to get even more space. Got all that? Good -- there's a quiz later. 

Source: Google Support, LlabTooFeR (Twitter)

iFixit tears apart Apple's new 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Pro

It's only been a couple of days since Apple released its shiny new MacBook Pros and iFixit has already torn them apart, in more ways than one. Just like its older sibling, the new 13-inch Retina notebook didn't perform that well on the repairability scale, scoring a one out of 10 -- dropping one point from its predecessor's less than impressive two. That's largely down to the same restrictions as before: a glued battery that has been positioned to cover important screws, a Retina display that is fused inside a whole unit, soldered RAM and a non-standard SSD drive. Apple's also reduced the size of the battery, relying on Intel's Haswell processor and Mavericks' improved power management to boost battery life. The same fate befalls the 15-inch model, meaning it'll be almost impossible to upgrade either of Apple's latest notebooks when they start suffering from the effects of entropy.

Source: iFixit (13-inch MacBook Pro), iFixit (15-inch MacBook Pro)

Automatic Link promises to be personal driving assistant, available now for $100

First Automatic said its driving assistant dongle and related iOS app would be ready in May, and then it said the app needed until August to fully bake. Well, it's now October, and at long last, it appears the San Francisco-based startup is finally ready to launch its connected car platform to the general public. As a reminder, Automatic utilizes a piece of hardware called the Link that attaches to your car's OBD-II port -- most cars built after 1996 have one -- along with an iPhone app that communicates with it via Bluetooth LE and translates that onboard diagnostic information into usable data. For example, the app will monitor your driving habits and let you know when you're riding the gas pedal too hard or hitting the brakes too aggressively. If your car's Check Engine light shows up, it'll give you its best guess as to what caused it and even lets you clear it if you've managed to solve the problem. There are other uses too, like dialing 911 if you've been in an accident or finding a parked car. Have a peek at our hands-on for more info, and if you feel like picking one up yourself, Automatic's Link hardware is on sale for $99.95 on Apple's online store and retail locations starting today.

Source: Automatic, App Store

Aperture 3.5 supports iCloud Photo Sharing, uses Apple Maps for Places

You can add one more thing to Apple's list of new hardware and software upgrade announcements: the latest iteration of Aperture. Version 3.5 brings a handful of new features to the OS X app, including iCloud Photo Sharing support that lets you access (or give access to) shared image or video streams. In addition to that, Aperture's Places feature now uses Apple Maps to pinpoint locations where photos are taken -- not a huge surprise considering OS X Mavericks has Cupertino's map app baked right in. The upgraded app can also recognize and support iOS 7 image filters, upload videos up to three minutes long to Flickr and sync with a SmugMug image hosting account. All these features come free along with a barrel of bug fixes, so long as you have Aperture version 3.0 -- otherwise, the app's available on iTunes for $80.

Source: Mac App Store