Apple iPhone

As a matter of course, virtually all the internet-capable hardware you use supports trusted certificates, or proofs that secure data connections (such as those for apps and websites) should be legitimate. Have you ever wondered exactly how much faith your gadgets place in others, however? Thanks to Karl Kornel, we now have a good sense of how iOS 8 devices fare -- and apparently, they trust a lot of organizations. Apple's latest mobile software has no less than 222 certificates that greenlight data sharing. Most of these are from companies you'd expect to oversee security on iPads and iPhones, including Symantec's various brands (35 certificates) and Apple itself (five). However, there are also quite a few governments that also get iOS' all-clear in certain circumstances, including China, Japan, the Netherlands, Taiwan, Turkey and the US.

Out with the old, in with the new. That was the theme of last year's iOS update, known as iOS 7, which ushered in a flat new design. Although Apple threw in some new functionality as well, it was clear the company was mainly focused on giving its mobile OS a face-lift and setting the stage for future updates -- the first of which is coming out tomorrow. iOS 8 builds on last year's software with a plethora of new features, including third-party keyboards, camera controls, widgets, home automation, health and fitness tools and the ability to interact with other apps. (Yes, it's hard to believe these are just arriving on iOS.) Here's what to expect.

To say that Apple's doing things differently would be an understatement. With the 4.7-inch iPhone 6 and the 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus, the company introduced two new high-end phones at the same time, both with a complete redesign and a much larger screen size than any iPhone that came before. Gone are the days of 3.5-inch and 4-inch phones that, at one time, seemed to provide more than ample amounts of screen space. Now, the new iPhones make their predecessors look like the tiny handset Ben Stiller used inZoolander. The market has changed, and it was high time Apple did the same.

Even though this is Apple's first attempt at building large phones, it's not breaking new ground -- in fact, it feels more like the company is catching up than innovating. To be fair, finding a fresh take is a difficult thing to do in this crowded space: Samsung's Galaxy Note series, which started out at 5.3 inches and is now up to 5.7, is selling by the millions, and most competing flagships aren't much smaller. Basically, Apple would be leaving money on the table if it didn't address this segment of the market. So how did the company do on its first try at large phones? Pretty well -- mostly.