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At today's Worldwide Developers Conference keynote presentation in San Francisco, Apple Senior VP of Software and Engineering, Craig Federighi, unveiled new features of the Messages app that most people are going to like. The improvements, which include changes to group messaging and a "tap to talk" feature, will debut with iOS 8 in the fall.

There are several big improvements to group messaging in iOS 8. You will be able to add and remove people from ongoing threads, rather than starting a new thread without someone, as you currently have to do. If you want to remain on a thread, but don't wish to be disturbed (and who hasn't been in this situation), there is now a

Apple has given parents more control over the App Store and iTunes by adding a "Family Sharing" option to iOS 8. The new feature allows up to six users to share App Store purchases such as songs, apps and games when using the same credit card. Families can also share photo streams, calendars and reminders without sharing their individual Apple IDs or passwords.

Family Sharing gives moms and dads more parental control over purchases thanks to its "Ask Permission" feature. The credit card holder will receive a notification every time a member of the household attempts to purchase a new app or song on their iPhone or iPad. Parents will then have the choice to deny the purchase or review the media and approve the transaction. The new "Ask Permission" feature and the ability to disable in-app purchases are just two ways Apple is helping parents protect themselves from unwanted App Store and iTunes purchases showing up on their credit card bill.

Aside from the WWDC kickoff, the big news on everyone's mind today (at least shareholders' minds) is the 7-to-1 stock split that will affect all shareholders of record at market closing time. Everyone holding one share of Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) at that point will be holding seven after the market closes this Friday, June 6. Shares will begin trading on a split-adjusted price beginning Monday, June 9. This prompts a question: What happens to shares bought between today and Friday? The split will still take place, it will just take a bit longer for your brokerage account to be credited with the additional shares.

The big news of last week was Apple's agreement to purchase Beats Music. The acquisition of the subscription streaming music service, as well as Beats Electronics, which produces high end audio equipment like the "b" headphones, will finalize in

The news this week was mostly dominated by Apple's agreement to purchase Beats Music and by speculation about next week's WWDC 2014, but there were some other items of interest.

Apple's annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) is scheduled to kick off with a keynote presentation this Monday morning, June 2, at 10:00 AM PST. The banners are up and everything is set to go. Tim Cook's keynote presentation will likely center on iOS 8 and its features. Another hot topic that ties in with the new iOS

The keynote presentation at this year's WWDC is only hours away, but this hasn't stopped ongoing speculation surrounding the event. New banners have gone up at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, all but confirming that iOS 8 will be the star of the show. The banner shows the number 8 in the same typeface used for iOS 7.

Yet another banner has Mac fans buzzing about the next release of OS X. Scenery from Yosemite National Park has sparked rumors that the next release will be named after the park. This fits the California-themed naming system Apple kicked off with Mavericks at last year's WWDC.