Microsoft has announced that it will purchase Stockholm-based developer Mojang, creators of the smash-hit game Minecraft, for $2.5 billion. Minecraft is a procedurally generated sandbox game that mixes survival, construction, and fantasy. It rose from obscurity to be one of the most popular games of all time, with over 100 million downloads. Unfortunately, the founders of Mojang are moving on, so the game’s future is uncertain.

Billboard spoke with U2’s new manager, Guy Oseary, about the band’s deal with Apple to distribute their latest album, “Songs of Innocence,” for free to iTunes users. The deal is rumored to have cost Apple up to $100 million. Oseary discusses Beats co-founder Jimmy Iovine’s close relationship with U2, hints at future Apple collaborations, and talks about retailers’ annoyance at the deal.

The iPod Classic is dead, but its legacy lives on, with the 128 GB iPhone 6 carrying the torch of putting massive amounts of music in your pocket and the reincarnation of the click wheel in the Apple Watch’s digital crown.

Apple announced that it’s giving away a free copy of U2’s latest album, “Songs of Innocence,” to every iTunes customer. Here’s how to claim yours before time runs out on 13 October 2014. And if you really don’t like U2, you can remove all traces of the album from your account.

Apple has introduced two new iPhone models: the larger iPhone 6, and the even-larger iPhone 6 Plus. They aren’t revolutionary, but boast many new and improved features that make them compelling replacements for older iPhone models.

Apple’s next big media event is set for 9 September 2014 at 10 AM PDT, and you can watch it live in Safari for Mac and iOS or in the Apple TV’s Apple Events app. If you’re busy at that time, the recording usually remains available afterwards. Apple is expected to announce new iPhone models, and other possibilities include updated iPads, the much-rumored smartwatch, and an Apple TV refresh. And, although we’d be surprised to see it mentioned during this event, the Mac mini is long overdue for an update.

After the celebrity photo thefts from iCloud, Tim Cook spoke with The Wall Street Journal, promising better iCloud security. But with a high-profile product launch around the corner, is Apple doing enough to regain the trust of users?

With his wife’s music library locked up in a rusty iPod touch, Josh Centers had to find a way to rescue it. Luckily, he found DeTune, which can copy media from an iOS device that can’t be accessed normally via iTunes.

The image-hosting service Twitpic has announced that it will shut down on 25 September 2014 after over 6 years. Twitpic blames Twitter for the shutdown, saying that the social networking company threatened to pull API access if Twitpic did not abandon its trademark application. However, as Mashable’s Christina Warren pointed out on Twitter, the Twitpic service has largely been irrelevant since Twitter added its own image-hosting capability in 2012, so this may simply have been a way to save face.

Verizon will pay $7.4 million to the U.S. Treasury for not telling subscribers that they could opt out of their personal information being used for marketing campaigns. Approximately two million customers did not receive the opt-out notice between 2006 and 2012, a violation of the Communications Act. Verizon also agreed to include opt-out notices on every customer’s bill for three years and to set up a monitoring system to ensure that notices are being sent.

Kirk McElhearn has written an article for Macworld about Apple’s personalized support Web pages, which keep a record of every Apple product you own, as well as warranty coverage, support cases, and repairs. It’s also handy to know how to access these pages in case your gear is stolen, as they store your devices’ serial numbers.

Apple has released a list of the most common reasons apps are rejected from the App Store. Typical culprits include broken links, crashes, placeholder content, misleading or inaccurate descriptions, and substandard user interfaces.

Managing Editor Josh Centers once again joined the Tech Night Owl podcast to discuss his recent odyssey to replace his iPhone 5 battery, his growing annoyance with planned obsolescence, and the one thing that will keep him from buying an iWatch.

Anand Lal Shimpi of the respected hardware review site AnandTech is retiring from tech publishing at 32, but he’s far from done with the tech world. Shimpi is reportedly heading to Apple, but it’s not yet known in what capacity. AnandTech will continue on, with Ryan Smith as editor-in-chief.

It can be a challenge to coordinate all the people involved in the global TidBITS media empire, but a new iOS app makes it easier.