CeBIT 2015 is all set for March 16th – 20th in Hannover, Germany and BlackBerry subsidiary Secusmart has some rather interesting plans laid out for a press conference ahead of the event. According to a brief press release sent out, Secusmart, in collaboration with IBM and Samsung, will be unveiling a new device for ‘highly secure mobile communication’.

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The Cortana team has been rolling out new Interests to Cortana’s Notebook for a few weeks now. One of them is the Lifestyle category, with Fitness Tracker as the particular class. (The other new interest is Showtimes + Trailers).

Many of Cortana’s characteristics and interests do not roll out to users all at once. Instead, Microsoft tends to push it out slowly, gauging feedback and usage. Lifestyle though is an interesting one: it appears that you can get the interest to show up by merely saving a favorite place as ‘Gym’.

If you are unsure on how to save places as favorites, follow these steps to get the Lifestyle interest in Cortana

Now’s a great time to pick up a new Apple TV, or two!

At Apple’s Spring Forward event this week the Apple TV saw its specs unchanged but its price slashed from $99 to $69. If you already have one, now’s a great time to grab another. That’s what I’m doing. Yep, it’s another episode of “first world problems,” cats and kittens.

Versatility in a little black box

My family and I have enjoyed Apple TVs ever since the first one came out. It looked like a Mac mini and ran hot enough to keep your coffee warm in the wintertime. We eventually went to the smaller second-gen black Apple TV, which we still use.

We subscribe to Crunchyroll, so we can get our fix of asian anime and costume dramas; we regularly use the YouTube channel to share funny videos and entertain friends when they came over. We streamed a Sleater-Kinney concert when we had a friend over for dinner last week.

There are other reasons we love the Apple TV. It’s simple to stream content from the Mac and the iPad onto it, for example. We’re able to catch new episodes of shows we like to watch without having to deal with our cable provider’s ads or sketchy on demand service.

The HomeKit connection

HomeKit is Apple’s framework for controlling devices in the home. We’ve been hearing about since June of 2014, when Apple talked about it at WWDC. So far, there haven’t been a lot of devices that take advantage of it.

Getting more Apple TVs into people’s homes isn’t just about a better bottom line for Apple. It’s also about laying the groundwork for HomeKit. Even the current generation model is a link between those devices and Siri control on the iPhone and iPad. And within the next few weeks, the Apple Watch too.

If Apple gets a few million more Apple TVs into the home, then HomeKit apps and devices will be that closer to critical mass once the technology is ready for prime time.

Patience is rewarded

I’ve set up an entertainment system in our bedroom, but I haven’t plugged in an Apple TV upstairs yet. I’ve been waiting for a big refresh, because the Apple TV hasn’t been touched except for software since March of 2013. That big refresh hasn’t happened yet.

Regardless of what the future holds for Apple TV, the current device and the lowered price make it practically an impulse buy for many of us; $69 is just a bit more than a AAA game for the PlayStation 4 or Xbox One. You can spend more on a Roku box or an Amazon Fire TV.

Last year Apple cut the price of the MacBook Air by $100 and had a kick ass quarter for Mac sales. Now they’re hoping lightning will strike twice by dropping the Apple TV’s price by one-third.

I predict a lot of people are going to see the repriced Apple TV as a great value, and will jump at the chance to save some money and add Apple connectivity to another room in the house.

Will you be purchasing your first Apple TV, or additional ones for your home? Let me know in the comments!

Disney Infinity 2.0: Play Without Limits is now available from the Window Store. The game gives you the opportunity to play through experiences as your favorite Disney and Marvel characters.

8Stream, the popular third-party Twitch streaming game video app that we included in a recent feature on similar apps, received an update today to version 3.0. The update turns 8Stream into a true universal app for both Windows Phone and Windows 8.1.

If you own a Surface Pro 2 or Surface Pro 3 and have been looking to utilize the device to draw a bit more, you will definitely want to check this deal out. The folks behind the powerful creative application Mischief have extended an offer to Surface Pro users for 20% off the application until March 16th.

Apple has issued an apology for the ongoing, wide-spread service outage affecting many of the company’s online stores, including the iTunes Store and the iOS and Mac App Stores.

The outage, which began just before 5 a.m. EDT, also hit iCloud account and sign in, as well as iCloud Mail, though service seems to have been restored to both of those. In a comment to iMore, an Apple spokesperson says that the company is working to fix the problem, which was caused by a DNS error.

We apologize to our customers experiencing problems with iTunes and other services this morning. The cause was an internal DNS error at Apple. We’re working to make all of the services available to customers as soon as possible, and we thank everyone for their patience.

The disruption, which Apple says currently affects all users, prevents people from downloading or purchasing content from the iTunes Store, App Store, iBooks Store, and Mac App Store.

Subscribers to the MixRadio streaming service have been receiving emails today informing them that Line Corporation will take over all of the personal data and contracts for the service when it closes its acquisition with current owner Microsoft.

After first announcing plans for a beta test a few months ago, the team behind the Onyu contact management app have launched its Windows Phone version to the general public this week.

Apple’s Jony Ive and Marc Newson will be opening the first Condé Nast International Luxury Conference in Florence, Italy.

Ive and Newson will appear at the opening of the conference in conversation with the event’s host, Suzy Menkes, international editor of Vogue, a Condé Nast magazine. The pair will discuss their work together, as well as what defines luxury in the 21st century, according to Vogue:

“Apple is now a powerful part of the luxury industry,” Menkes said today. “The iPhone, iPad, and the forthcoming Apple Watch are in direct competition with handbags, timepieces and high-end accessories. I want Jony Ive to tell the conference delegates where 21st century luxury is headed.”

Ive and Newson are long-time friends, who previously worked together on the Product (RED) Mac Pro. Newson joined Apple in September 2014, though he is still able to pursue projects outside of the company.

The Condé Nast International Luxury Conference will take place in April.

Source: Vogue