Today’s topics include Apple’s iPads and iPhones, Verizon’s preparations for 5G network trials in 2016, Microsoft’s rollout Office 2016 later this month, and Excellus blue Cross Blue Shield discloses a massive customer data breach.
Apple confirmed months of rumors with its Sept. 9 product announcements, unveiling a largest-ever 12.9-inch iPad Pro table for the enterprise, the new iPhone 6s models, updates for Apple Watch, the new version of Apple TV and the iPad Mini 4.
The new devices were announced during a two-hour media event in San Francisco where Apple CEO Tim Cook and a who’s-who list of Apple executives paraded out new devices and features along with improved capabilities for the company’s products.
Verizon officials are getting ready to kick off field trials of 5G wireless technology in 2016 even as most consumers and businesses are still embracing 4G LTE.
The company announced Sept. 8 that it is working with a range of partners—including networking technology vendors Alcatel-Lucent, Cisco Systems, Ericsson and Nokia Networks and chip makers Qualcomm and Samsung—to test 5G.
Microsoft officials announced Sept. 10 that it’s getting ready to roll out Office 2016 for Windows little more than two months after it released Office 2016 for Mac in July.
Company officials said the Windows version of the productivity suite will be widely available on Sept. 22.
Not only does the Office 2016 offer a more modern, collaborative and cloud-connected user experience—Microsoft has been working to integrate Office with its business software ecosystem including Dynamics CRM—it contains features that help businesses better manage and protect their Office content.
Excellus BlueCross BlueShield is the latest health insurance provider to disclose it’s the victim of a massive data breach. Excellus revealed the breach on Sept. 9, but admitted that it initially took place Dec. 23, 2013.
However, Excellus didn’t discover the network break in until Aug. 5. Since then, Excellus has called in the Federal Bureau of Investigation as well as FireEye’s Mandiant incident response division.
The health insurer hasn’t published stated how many of its customers were affected by the breach, but an Associated Press report estimated it was as many as 10 million.