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Apple’s 2017 Worldwide Developers Conference is set to kick off in just a few short hours, and rumors indicate we could be in for the iPhone-maker’s most action-packed keynote in years.

Not only is Apple expected to unveil iOS 11, macOS 10.13, tvOS 11 and watchOS 4, but today’s event could also showcase some fresh new hardware. Cult of Mac will be here to liveblog all the festivities with up-to-the-minute analysis on all the new software, hardware and more.

Tim Cook and company take the stage today at 10 a.m. Pacific in San Jose, California, but we’ll be kicking off the fun a little early. Come join the action!

Apple’s Feedback app on iOS has been updated ahead of its WWDC keynote later today, and it hints at an interesting new “Drag and Drop” feature coming to iPad in iOS 11.

Foxconn Chairman Terry Gou has confirmed that Apple will help it in its bid to buy Toshiba’s semiconductor business — and it’ll be getting a helping hand from Amazon, too.

A working Apple-1 computer will go under the hammer at a Christie’s auction later this month, with an estimated value of between $300,000 and $500,000.

Not only is the Apple-1 motherboard one of relatively few working units still in existence in 2017, but it also includes some unusual modifications by its original owner — with the original 4K of RAM boosted up to a whopping total of 12K.

Apple has updated its Siri design patent in the European Union and Hong Kong to also cover “smart glasses” as a category.

Ahead of a WWDC event where Apple is rumored to be introducing a standalone Siri speaker to take on the Amazon Echo and Google Home smart speakers, the news suggests that Siri could also be a key part of Apple’s future augmented reality plans.

Apple’s online store is now down ahead of its WWDC keynote.

The temporary shutdown all but confirms new products will be appearing later today. Apple is expected to announce updates to the MacBook Pro lineup, an all-new 10.5-inch iPad Pro, and maybe even a Siri-powered smart speaker.

In a spoiler for what Apple might unveil today at its Worldwide Developers Conference, a placeholder app has appeared for “Files” in the App Store.

There are no details about exactly what the app will offer, but it supports only 64-bit architecture, in line with reports that Apple will ditch support for 32-bit apps.

Bozoma Saint John, head of global consumer marketing for Apple Music, may be on her way out of Apple, a recent report claims.

Saint John is probably best known to Apple watchers as the person who took the stage at last year’s WWDC event to show off Apple Music’s then-new user interface — which included attempting to get the crowd to somewhat awkwardly clap along to The Sugarhill Gang’s song “Rapper’s Delight.”

Apple’s updated Swift Playgrounds app, giving would-be coders the chance to learn to program by controlling a robot, is just one of the great titles we’ve picked out for this week’s “Awesome Apps” roundup.

We’ve also got a fun space blaster, a big Wonder Woman-themed upgrade to a fun RPG battler, and a useful multi-person planning app. Check out our picks below.

In this week’s Cult of Mac Magazine, we give you everything you need to know for WWDC 2017, including Cult of Mac’s expectations and predictions, wish lists for macOS 10.13, watchOS and iOS 11, and how WWDC became the tech juggernaut it is today.

Check out Dubai-based Ullu’s luxurious Apple Watch bands in the company’s big, summer sale. Save 15-20 percent on Ullu’s exotic straps at Watch Store through this month.

Here are this week’s top stories.

This week, on The CultCast: new evidence points to one of the most hardware-packed WWDCs in years! Add in four new OS reveals and, by golly, you have one heckuva exciting show. We’ll tell you all we know, and share all the products we predict will hit the stage.

Our thanks to Squarespace for supporting this episode. It’s simple to accept Apple Pay and sell your wares with your very own Squarespace.com website. Enter offer code CultCast at checkout to get 10% off any hosting plan.

All next week, student Kenny Batista will be writing a diary from Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference in San Jose, California. Kenny won a coveted scholarship, which includes food, lodging, keynote access and meeting Apple CEO Tim Cook. In his first entry, Kenny describes how he won the scholarship.

A few weeks ago, Apple selected me for a WWDC scholarship. I’ll be heading down to the conference this Saturday and staying there the whole week.

I’ll be writing a first-person perspective of the event from the dorms, the scholarship orientation (after which we meet Tim Cook, supposedly), the keynote, the sessions and more.

I got the scholarship by creating a demo in Apple’s Xcode version of Swift Playgrounds and writing a short essay about it. It took me six days — about 30 hours of work after school — but it was worth it!

Here’s how I did it.

Apple’s WWDC event is less than a week a way, where it is expected to release big upgrades to its family of operating systems. The youngest Apple platform, watchOS, got some serious improvements in watchOS 3. With the fourth interaction, Apple is expected to squash some of the biggest problems while breathing life with new features too.

Full details on watchOS 4 still haven’t been revealed, but we’ve got some ideas of our own that we’re really hoping made the cut this year.

This is what we want in watchOS 4:

Apple’s first major event of 2017 is right around the corner. WWDC will deliver our first previews of the next big upgrades to its software platforms, with the possibility of new hardware thrown in for good measure.

But with three months left to wait for the iPhone 8, will the event really be all that exciting? Will Apple’s improvements to iOS and macOS be all that significant? And is anyone actually looking forward to a 10.5-inch iPad Pro?

Join us in this week’s Friday Night Fight as we discuss whether WWDC 2017 will be worth watching.

There are less than two weeks until Apple introduces the next version of macOS at the WWDC. While the rumor mill has been busting out tons of hardware leaks, details have been scant on the software side of things.

Apple is expected to reveal some amazing features for the Mac with the new software update. We still don’t know everything that will be included in macOS 10.13, but of course, we have our own wish list of the features that we really hope make it onto the Mac.

This is what we want to see in Apple’s next big update:

iPhone 8 leaks are dropping thick and fast ahead of its official unveiling this September. We’ve gotten our hands on some exclusive leaked schematics direct from Apple’s factories, plus new case photos that give us an idea of what the tenth anniversary upgrade will look like.

We’ve also put together some awesome 3D prints that give us a feel for the iPhone 8’s larger form factor that is expected to accommodate a new OLED display.

With WWDC 2017 right around the corner, it’s that time of the year when Apple can fix all the annoyances of iOS 10 and unveil something truly revolutionary for the next generation of iPhones and iPads.

Apple is expected to show off all the major features of iOS 11 at the WWDC in a couple of weeks. Surprisingly, the rumor mill has been quiet on what to expect, but that hasn’t stopped a flurry of speculation. We’ve got some ideas of our own too that we really want to see come to iOS 11.

This is what we want in Apple’s next big update:

The internet is furious at Apple Music boss Eddy Cue after the exec was supposedly spotted heckling singer Rihanna last night during Game 1 of the NBA Finals in Oakland, California.

Video of Cue at the game appears to show the Apple VP telling Rihanna to sit down. Rihanna had been doing a bit of heckling herself during the game, yelling at Warriors superstar Kevin Durant. Twitter immediately went in on Cue for going at Rihanna, but most people thought he was just your average court-side rich white guy.

WWDC is almost upon us. Ahead of Monday’s keynote event we’re running down everything we’re expecting for the annual developers extravaganza. You can watch the keynote live, and follow coverage here at Cult of Mac.

From software to hardware, here’s what we are predicting for next week:

Microsoft is rolling out a complete top-to-bottom overhaul of Skype in an effort to do battle with the likes of iMessage and Snapchat.

Its revamped service combines familiar Skype features like instant messaging and international calling with third-party service integration, improved group chat, and photo sharing with the ability to add annotations and emoji stickers.

Want to earn money and help out your favorite tech company? According to a new report, Apple has created a Mechanical Turk-style web app that lets people sign up and help improve Apple Maps for money.

People in the program reportedly earn about 54 cents per task (correcting or verifying a placemark in Apple Maps), with a maximum of 600 tasks every seven days. That’s about $324 per week — which is roughly in line with U.S. minimum wage for a full-time job, minus any additional benefits.

A simple to-do list isn’t enough when you’re managing tasks for more than one person, which is why Microsoft gave us Planner.

Its productivity tool makes it easy to organize teamwork among multiple people, and now it’s available on Android and iOS.

Following President Trump’s decision to take the United States out of the Paris climate agreement, Apple CEO Tim Cook shared an email with Apple employees.

Cook, who spoke with Trump ahead of the announcement, said that his efforts to persuade Trump to stay in the agreement had failed. Despite this, Cook noted that it will have no impact on Apple’s environmental initiatives. Check out the letter below.

Banners and other WWDC paraphernalia are going up at San Jose’s McEnery Convention Center, ahead of next week’s 2017 Worldwide Developers Conference.

Images posted online so far show a large banner at the front of the venue, decorations covering one side of the building, and smaller banners hung from nearby light posts. The images show variations on the artwork reportedly created by Los Angeles artist, graphic designer, and movie title sequence creator Geoff McFettridge.

Four months after going on sale online in the U.S., Snapchat Spectacles have finally landed in Europe.

The glasses cost £129.99 in the U.K. and €149.99 elsewhere, and they’re available from popup Snapbot vending machines as well as the Spectacles website.