Stories by: Michael deAgonia

Apple surprised the tech world last week by pulling the curtain back on its latest desktop/laptop operating system: OS X Mountain Lion. The final version will be released this summer, but the developer preview unveiled on Thursday shows that the upcoming OS picks up where OS X 10.7 -- code-named Lion -- left off. The coming update incorporates even more popular features from iOS , the software which runs the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.

After a month of using Siri, the new voice-controlled "personal assistant" available on the iPhone 4S, I've decided it may be time to add voice control to the list of paradigm-shifting ways to interact with a computer -- right behind the mouse, keyboard and, more recently, touch gestures.

On Friday, Apple's new iPhone 4S began to reach the hands of eager buyers -- a record 1 million pre-orders, including mine, were made as soon as the phone went on sale. With a noticeably faster dual-core A5 processor, more storage (up to 64GB), an improved 8-megapixel camera, a revamped antenna design and an artificial intelligence-powered assistant called Siri, the new iPhone promised to be the best Apple phone yet.

Four months after it was introduced at this year's Worldwide Developer's Conference, iOS 5 is finally available. Apple released the free update to its mobile operating system yesterday, two days ahead of the iPhone 4S, which arrives tomorrow.

Apple's big iPhone event later today has naturally generated a retinue of rumors, almost all them focused on hardware. Will Apple announce one new iPhone or two? Will the next-generation device retain the basic iPhone 4 shape and design? What about the prospect for voice-activated assistance software?

Since its unveiling in January 2005, the Mac Mini has been the cheapest Mac that Apple sells, making it the least expensive way to get hardware that natively runs OS X. In the past, this usually meant settling for older components -- especially compared to the pricier iMac and MacBook Pro lines. Although Apple has updated the Mini's look several times since its debut -- most recently in 2010 -- the internal hardware often received only minor improvements.

Earlier this week at its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), Apple finally offered up a look at iOS 5, the planned update to the company's mobile OS. Although it wont be out until this fall -- Apple isn't yet saying exactly when -- iOS 5 promises to deliver much-needed changes to the OS, which is used on the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.

Eleven months ago, Apple released the first iPad, a touchscreen handheld computer that redefined tablets, disrupting the laptop/desktop market just as the iPod did to music players and the iPhone did to smartphones. On Friday, 15 million iPads later, Apple released its successor, the iPad 2. Many people -- myself included -- predicted long lines and sell-outs, just like last year. So did Apple deliver?

Apple's update for iOS 4, released Wednesday (two days earlier than expected), offers a number of changes and new features for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch owners, plus 59 security patches for the mobile version of Safari.

Apple's iPad 2, unveiled by CEO Steve Jobs in a surprise appearance Wednesday at an invitation-only media event, is thinner, lighter, faster and more full-featured, and incorporates enough changes and updates to maintain Apple's strong sales in the tablet market.