Apple starts writing its next chapter (week in review)

Apple CEO Steve Jobs had a busy week showing where his company is headed.

As expected, Jobs kicked off the week by announcing an online storage service called iCloud that's designed to make it simple to wirelessly share music, e-mail, photos, calendars, and other data between handheld gadgets and desktop computers.
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The company also revealed details of its upcoming desktop operating system, Mac OS X Lion. When it launches later this year, Lion will come with support for multitouch gestures, including tap-to-zoom, two-finger swiping, and more. The company also talked about a new Lion feature called AirDrop, which allows users to see friends on their network and transfer files to them within the same pane.

Apple also plans to release in the fall a new version of its mobile operating system, iOS 5, which will include more than 200 new features. The most important update is the addition of Notification Center. The service aggregates all updates into a single location for people to find out about new text messages, missed calls, and other notifications.

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After WWDC, Jobs went before the city council in Cupertino, Calif., to pitch plans to build a new corporate campus across town from its headquarters at Infinite Loop Drive. On a parcel of land acquired from Hewlett-Packard, Apple plans to construct an enormous four-story, circular building in which 12,000 people will be employed--a building Jobs described as resembling a "spaceship."
•  Cupertino mayor says city's ready for Apple HQ 2.0

More headlines

Sony debuts PlayStation Vita, its next-gen handheld

A Wi-Fi version of the newly announced successor to the PlayStation Portable will be available over the holidays for $249, and a 3G version with Wi-Fi will run $299.
•  At E3, Sony apologizes for security breaches

Nintendo's new Wii U set for 2012

The console comes with an iPad-like controller, opening up new style of gameplay and adding video calls and Web browsing to its repertoire.
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Can wireless networks support the promise of the 'cloud'?

Google, Apple, and Amazon are introducing new cloud-based services, but will it be too much for the wireless networks connecting users to the content?
•  Complaint to FCC: Verizon mustn't bar 4G tethering

Facebook facial recognition prompts EU privacy probe

European Union data-protection regulators say they will investigate the social network's new photo-tagging feature, according to Bloomberg.
•  Facebook quietly rolls out facial-recognition tool

Attacks on Sony, others show it's open hacking season

Spate of Sony hacks amid more serious attacks shows revival of digital pranks in wake of Anonymous online protests in support of WikiLeaks.
•  Hackers accessed Citigroup customer data
•  Hackers taunt Sony with more data leaks, hacks
•  Report: 25 percent of U.S. hackers are FBI informants

China linked to new breaches tied to RSA

Security experts say cyberattacks on defense contractors fits the pattern of China-related espionage.
•  China paper blusters at Google amid hacking affair

Analyst: Expect tablet market to commoditize

Tablets costing $300 are likely to emerge in 2012 with the arrival of cheaper screens as well as PC makers, Richard Windsor predicts. Also: No mid-range iPhone for at least a year.
•  Microsoft readying own Windows 8 tablet?
•  'Whitebox' tablets surge, gaining on Apple
•  Dell spurns U.S. in launch of Android tablet in China

Also of note
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