Behind the successful launch on iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus and the teaser release of Apple Watch is an ambitious project to kill off the wallet.

During Apple’s big media event last 9 September 2014, the company initiated a new service which will be called Apple Pay and it aims to take all of the pain points from having multiple credit cards and identification cards in everyone’s wallets.

Although Google has tried to do this in the past with its Google Wallet app, Apple is going to try to take advantage of its hundreds of millions of iTunes accounts to get the job done.

Not surprising, Apple Pay will take advantage of NFC capabilities on the iPhone 6 to help enable mobile payments. Apple says that Apple Pay stores information securely through encryption and will integrate with the Apple Passbook application.

The app will support credit cards from MasterCard, Visa and American Express at launch and will also be supported by the six largest American banks. Apple has also worked out deals to get Apple Pay supported at more than 220,000 retail outlets at its launch.

The card-issuing banks have agreed to pay a per-transaction fee to Apple to be included on the phone, according to people familiar with the situation. While the amount of the fee couldn't be determined, banks believe that cost will be offset by the number of transactions that consumers make on the phone. The banks collect fees from merchants on every credit and debit-card transaction.

Apple also took some not-so-subtle digs at Google by emphasizing that it doesn’t collect user data and financial data from customers. Furthermore, it says that "Apple doesn’t know what you bought, where you bought it, or how much you paid for it" when you use Apple Pay.

The company will require a thumbprint scan on its new iPhone 6 smartphone to make the tap-and-go payments—meaning a stolen device can't be used for a shopping spree. It wasn't immediately clear how Apple would authenticate payments on the smartwatch.

The move toward paying with just a phone is the latest development in an industry that once relied on carbon paper and manual processing machines known as "knuckle busters." Credit cards and debit cards have steadily eclipsed cash and checks, representing more than half of retail goods and services purchased by Americans since 2003.

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September is fast becoming the month for new techno gadgets and electronic innovations. Aside from the much-hyped launching of new Apple flagship smartphones, September also hosted the IFA 2014 in Berlin. The global trade show for consumer electronics and home appliances from 4 to 9 September, presents the latest products and innovations in the heart of Europe‘s most important regional market.

Only IFA offers such a comprehensive overview of the international market and attracts the attention of trade visitors each year from more than 100 countries. It is also the main meeting place for key retailers, buyers, and experts from the industry and the media.

As the international electronics trade show winds down, here are some of the most notable IFA announcements made by Samsung, Sony and others.

Samsung Galaxy Note Edge
In terms of product design, the Edge was without a doubt the most innovative smartphone at IFA 2014 thanks to its curving screen, which extends around the right-hand edge to offer an extra panel or info bar when the device is in standby mode, for example. The 5.6-inch Galaxy Note Edge will be available in select markets before the end of 2014.

Sony Xperia Z3 devices
The Japanese manufacturer took advantage of IFA to present its new Xperia Z3 range, which includes two smartphones (4.6-inch and 5.2-inch) and an 8-inch tablet. Slated to go on sale in October, the three new Android KitKat devices are NFC-compatible, water-resistant and dustproof. In Europe, the Xperia Z3 and Z3 Compact are expected to sell for €679 and €499 respectively, while the Z3 Tablet Compact is priced at €379.

Nokia Lumia 830
The Finnish brand, now a division of Microsoft, made the trip to Berlin to unveil the Lumia 830, a new mid-range Windows Phone 8.1 smartphone with a 5.1-inch screen. Designed in part for developing markets, the device offers all of the American software giant's expertise at a relatively affordable price. The Lumia 830 is slated to launch in Europe this October for around €350.

Samsung Galaxy Note 4
In one of the most anticipated announcements at IFA, the South Korean brand revealed the latest edition of its Galaxy Note phablet, which is equipped with a 5.7-inch QHD screen (2,560 x 1,440 pixels). The most surprising element of the presentation was the pairing of the Galaxy Note 4 with a virtual reality headset (the Gear VR, expected to sell for less than €200) and dedicated stylus pens designed by Montblanc (from €275 each). The phablet is due to launch in various markets this fall.

Asus ZenWatch
The computer maker's first item of wearable tech, dubbed the ZenWatch, places particular emphasis on health and well-being. Offering a relatively elegant and discreet design, the smartwatch is equipped with a heart-rate monitor and can be piloted from a smartphone or tablet. The ZenWatch is expected to go on sale before the end of 2014 for just under €200.

LG G Watch R
Officially unveiled by the South Korean brand at IFA, the G Watch R stands out for its circular 1.3-inch screen. The Android Wear smartwatch, which is waterproof for up to 30 minutes, can be configured to deliver notifications of incoming calls, texts, and upcoming appointments and to offer useful reports on the weather, for example. The device will go on sale this fall for around €300.

Sony SmartWatch 3
The third generation of Sony's wearable device has a 1.6-inch square screen with a resolution of 320x320 pixels. Like the brand's previous smartwatches, the device has a microphone, an accelerometer, an internal compass, a gyroscope and GPS sensors for the most accurate activity tracking possible. The model is slated to ship in October, priced at €229.

Dyson 360 Eye
Known for its groundbreaking and innovative products, the British manufacturer showed off the first working models of its robotic vacuum at IFA this year. Mounted on a set of continuous tracks and powered by a Dyson V2 motor, the 360 Eye can be controlled from any iOS or Android mobile device. The titular 360 Eye -- a swiveling camera capable of detecting objects on all sides within a range of 15cm -- is used to map rooms and thus better avoid obstacles. Although the battery life is limited to 30 minutes, the device rolls back to its charging station on its own when it needs to power up. The robotic vacuum is expected to go on sale in the US early next year, priced at US$ 1,000.

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Two years ago, it was expected that with the large volume of gadgets and devices it is launching every year, Apple is bound to streamline production soon and may take some items off the circulation.

It appears that the time has come. The launching of iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, including the prospective release of Apple Watch next year, has compelled the tech giant to retire the iPod earlier than many had hope for.

It will be recalled the very first iPod music player debuted 13 years ago, in October 2001. It remained one of Apple’s core product categories over the years, despite declining sales and a world of listeners increasingly more reliant on streaming subscription services. Now that Apple moves into larger-screen smartphones and wearable wrist devices a standalone MP3 player has become too antiquated to keep alive.

When Apple’s online store came back online in the afternoon of 9 September 2014, the iPod classic — the company’s last touchscreen-less music player that first debuted in 2007 — was gone. It was removed from the shelf as quietly as possible so as not to take the attention from its more famous cousins and siblings.

It’s no surprise that Apple bid farewell to its sixth-generation iPod. The device eventually held as much as 160 GB of music and accounted for a healthy chunk of the 54.83 million iPod units shipped at the division’s sales peak in 2009. Yet those numbers began steadily sliding downward as Apple’s iPhone and competing Android smartphone sales began to eat into the MP3 market, while new device form factors like the iPad tablet carved out a new product niche.

Through all that the iPod classic persevered. Thanks to a diminishing price tag — US$ 249 for the 160 GB by September 2009 — and position among music enthusiasts as the best all-purpose gadget for those that want a no-frills MP3 player, the iPod classic held a nostalgic place in Apple fans’ hearts, especially its beloved click-wheel.

The iPod Touch, which debuted in 2007, nine months after the first iPhone, claimed the title of most popular iPod in recent years. That device, which resembles Apple’s smartphone line minus the cellular connection, hasn’t undergone a major overhaul since the fall of 2012, the same time Apple introduced the iPhone 5. It lacks many features found in the newer iPhones, including a TouchID fingerprint sensor and an updated processor that supports more intensive apps and gaming.

Last June 2013, Apple cut the price on the iPod Touch line and gave it a new rear-facing camera plus new color selections. After three quarters in 2014, the iPod division has yet to break more than 12 million units sold, less than half of 2013’s sales figures.

It seems that even nostalgia cannot keep the once-flagship Apple product from a world of larger screens and diminishing storage needs.

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A hacker just revealed the tremendous amount of effort they have put in to penetrate the security flaw in Apple’s iCloud. He added that they were responsible for uncovering several sexy photos of more than 100 celebrities including Jennifer Lawrence and Kate Upton.

It's unlikely that someone has broken into Apple's iCloud service. Instead the photos most probably emerged after exposed to a type of hacking known as "social engineering."

The hack job exploit works by learning which online services the target uses, and then compiling as much data on them as possible before using that data to either spoof access, or to simply use their email address and a guessed password to log in to their account.

Daily Mail's James Nye found the alleged hacker's comment on an anonIB thread early on 1 September 2014. In the comment, the hacker thanked the community for its support and added that they were on the run. He also disclosed that they will be moving to a new location where they would continue to post about the hacked photos and videos.

The Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) has launched an investigation into the hacking and Apple has patched up a security flaw in iCloud that could have enabled the hacker(s) to access the celebrities' private photos. Apple has not officially commented on how the security breach happened but says it is "actively investigating" the situation and that it takes its users' privacy "very seriously."

Most of the celebrities whose compromising photos were already posted online are not really technically capable of protecting their online accounts. For instance, Jennifer Lawrence is known to use iCloud after she let slip in a red carpet interview with MTV this year that she frequently has trouble with the service, remarking "My iCloud keeps telling me to back it up, and I'm like, I don't know how to back you up. Do it yourself."

Security experts revealed that once the hacker discovers the iCloud account of a celebrity, it's trivially easy to access their online photo backup through Apple's Photo Stream utility and iCloud photo backups.

Analysis of the embedded EXIF data (information about where and how the picture was taken that is frequently appended to digital photo images) included in one of the leaked images shows it was taken a few weeks ago, well within Photo Stream's limit of 30 days before images are deleted. However, actress Mary Elizabeth Winstead claimed on Twitter that the leaked photos of her included in the hack were taken "years ago."

It should also be noted that despite the hacker claiming to have accessed the trove of photos thanks to an iCloud exploit, the range of devices showcased suggests that another service may have been to blame. Various naked celebrities are photographed taking selfies with Android devices and webcams. Leaked videos could not have originated from the iCloud photo backup service. The range of devices and media may mean that another backup service like Dropbox or Google Drive could be the originator of the leaked photos, with both services offering automatic backup tools for photos and videos imported from cellphones.

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