News You May Have Missed: 9/15 - 9/21

Here's something new we're going to be doing. Here at TechRaptor, we're still a little small. We all have other jobs and no one can do this yet full time. There are stories that fall through the cracks. We all mention it and say 'hey, can someone write an article about this real quick?' and then realize we still need to pay to keep our Interwebs on. So we're going to start wrapping up some headlines quickly on Saturdays so all the hard working people who may have missed it would see them as well. With that being said, here's what you may have missed this week.

Apple, Apple Everywhere

This week was a big week for Apple. On Friday, the next generation of the iPhone was released in two different variants. The first one is the flagship iPhone 5s is sporting the first phone with 64-bit architecture with their new A7 chip along with a fancy new gold color variant. The most eye-catching feature on the 5s is the TouchID fingerprint identity sensor that is on the revamped home button to give owners a new way of unlocking their phones. The second variant is the iPhone 5c which essentially is the current iPhone 5 in a plastic shell. The position of this phone is the pricing. The 16GB version will be $99 on contract, the 32GB $199. The iPhone 5c comes in 5 different color variants and has various cases that will make them visually cool. The 'one more thing' for this week is the release of iOS7. This was one of the first major update to Apple's OS system sporting new features like AirDrop, better multitasking, and a notification bar. Check out TechRaptor's Mike Sassman opinion of it here.

Netflix went underground to help keep people out of jail

When Netflix rolled out this week in the Netherlands, the VP of Content Acquisition Kelly Merryman said that part of the way they figure out what shows will do well is by checking out what shows do well on BitTorrent and other pirate websites. A goal of Netflix is to convert those evil pirates into lawful citizens by making it a breeze to watch the popular shows, legally. According to the CEO, there is evidence that once Netflix launched in Canada BitTorrent traffic reduced by 50%.

YouTube going offline

No, not like going away...pssh. According to YouTube's blog, they will be rolling out an update in the near future that will allow you to temporally download files and be able to watch them without streaming from an internet connection. The release is supposed to be in November so stay tuned.

Cyanogen going legit, gets a 7 million dollar high-five

Cyanogen MOD, one of the most used custom ROMs for Android have announced that they are officially forming a start-up, called Cyanogen, Inc. in the hopes of bringing their custom ROM experience to the masses. Many Android readers that have rooted their phones have used a CM rom or some variant of it. I'm running one right now and I have enjoyed Android 4.3 on my Samsung S3 for a while now. Their ROMs are great, but they aren't user friendly to install. This is about to change as well by the team announcing that there will be an installer coming soon to Google Play. It's only going to get better for the team as their first round of funding ended with a $7 million payout.

Microsoft Windows 8.1 almost here and it became a little cooler

This week Microsoft showed off all of their info for Windows 8.1. It will be released to the public on October 17th. There will be two versions like before, where the basic form will be available for $119.99 and the Pro (read: Media Center included) version will be available for $199.99. Both forms will be code complete. They will....wait, what? Yup, that's right, code complete. This means that you can install it on a blank system. There's no need for a system builder special it's going to be wrapped up in one nice package. If you will ever want to do a clean install you will be able to now. It may seem like a small change but anyone who has built a computer knows that this just made things a lot easier.

Google is bumping Bump into their pocket

This week Bump announced that they will be joining the Google team. If you don't recall Bump, it was an app that would allow you to share information, pictures, and other content by simply 'bumping' your phones together. Google did not announce what they will be doing with this powerhouse of a company nor the price, but the hopes will be to incorporate this into their Android Beam, or into something even better. Android Bump anyone?

Another nail was hit in Blackberry's coffin

Blackberry halted trading of stock to say some sad, sad things. They confirmed the rumors that they will be doing some massive layoffs that will account to 30-40% of their current staffing while also telling everyone that they will miss their quarterly net operating loss....of almost one billion dollars. Ow.

Shocker, GTA V is a smash

Speaking of one billion dollars, that is how much the newest iteration of Grand Theft Auto has made....in 3 @#$%@ing days. There's nothing much else to say about that but wow.

Valve's Steam Box is almost here

Those geniuses at Valve love to tease us, and it just got worse. They launched a teaser webpage describing a their Steam Universe will be expanding in 2014. Theres not much information yet, but there is a countdown timer that will end on Monday, September 23rd at 1:00pm EST. I cannot hit refresh fast enough.   Whew, well that was fun. Hope you got your fill. Check us for more stories throughout the week and if I missed any stories, let me know.