Welcome to this morning's edition of “First To Know,” a series in which we keep you in the know on what’s happening in the digital world. We’re keeping our eyes on three particular stories of interest today.
Apple Unveils iPhone 4S, Voice Assistant
At press event in Cupertino Tuesday, Apple unveiled a slew of new gadgets and software, including: the iPhone 4S; Siri, the iPhone 4 voice assistant; a new iPad nano, which also functions as a fitness watch; a Find My Friends app for location-sharing; an AppleCare plan+ that covers accidental damage; and a virtual greeting cards app. In addition, Apple cut the price of the iPhone 3GS to $0 with a two-year contract, announced that the iPhone is coming to Sprint, disclosed that iOS 5 would be available for download Oct. 12 and that the company has sold 250 million iOS devices to date.
Kindle Fire Might Be Selling Faster Than the iPad
More than 250,000 Kindle Fires have been pre-ordered since Amazon announced the new tablet computer last Wednesday, according to unverified reports.
Google Senior Management Using Google+ Sparingly, If At All
Use of Google+ among senior management at Google is concerningly low: co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin have posted publicly on Google+ 22 times, and Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt doesn’t even have a Google+ account.
Further News
Disney is planning to re-release a cadre of its most popular and beloved animated films in 3D.
Wikipedia is threatening to shut down its Italian site in response to a proposed wiretapping measure.
Google+ users can now disable sharing and commenting on posts before they publish them.