Apple CEO Tim Cook kicked off the Wall Street Journal’s tenth annual D: All Things Digital conference, appearing at the same event that his predecessor, Steve Jobs, had headlined several times before. Answering questions from conference hosts Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher, Cook said his company is doubling down on Siri, played coy about Apple’s approach to the gaming and television markets, and spoke emotionally about Jobs’s death.

Double doubling down

As with any public appearance of an Apple executive, there was a good-natured give and take about future product releases. Mossberg and Kara tried to cajole Cook into revealing future product details, knowing full well that he would do no such thing. (In fact, the Apple CEO declared that the company was “doubling down on secrecy” when it comes to product releases.) However, he did offer a few tantalizing tidbits, most notably about the Siri feature of the iPhone 4S.

[Tim Cook kicked off this year’s D: All Things Digital conference on Tuesday. The Apple CEO was interviewed by conference hosts Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher, in a lively, engaging conversation. Here’s an edited roundup of the highlights.]

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange may be extradited to Sweden for questioning about allegations of sexual offenses, the U.K. Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday, upholding a lower court ruling and dismissing Assange's appeal.

The Swedish Prosecution Authority issued a European Arrest Warrant for Assange in November 2010, seeking his extradition to Sweden for questioning over allegations of sexual offenses. He was arrested in London on Dec. 7, 2010, and placed under virtual house arrest while courts examined the extradition request, which he opposed.

The head of TED, the organizer of conferences around brainy presentations on a wide variety of subjects, says online video will continue to play a central role for the group and he has high hopes for its new education platform.

TED Curator Chris Anderson said that the group's popularity surged after its decision to post its content freely online about six years ago, and that a million people watch a TED presentation each day around the world. But he said the current model of watching embedded videos on Web pages may eventually fade.

A McAfee study of PCs around the world found that 17 percent had no antivirus protection, and the U.S. outpaced the average with 19 percent of PCs unprotected.

The study counted as unprotected machines those that had no antivirus protection installed, or whose antivirus subscription had expired. In the U.S., 12 percent of PCs did not contain any antivirus program, and 7 percent had software that was expired.

A court in New Zealand has granted Kim Dotcom, founder of the Megaupload file-sharing site, access to documents which contain evidence against him, and are held by prosecuting authorities both in New Zealand and the U.S.

"A denial of the provision of information that could enable a proper adversarial hearing in my view would amount to a denial of the opportunity to contest and that would effectively mean that the process is one sided...," District Court Judge David J. Harvey said in his ruling on Tuesday.

Here's how to use Plex, a free tool for streaming media from a PC to a Roku set-top box. And if your PC seems to be too sluggish to play media promptly, I'll give you some tips to decide when it's time to reinstall Windows.

My tiny Roku set-top delivers everything I could possibly want to my TV: Amazon (both Prime and Instant), Netflix, Hulu, HBO, and Pandora.

Well, okay, not quite everything: The Roku can't stream my personal library of music, photos, and videos without a little help from Plex, anyway. Plex works like a charm, though it can be tricky to set up. Here's how to get started:

1. Add the Plex channel to your Roku.

2. Download and install the Plex Media Server utility for Windows. This is the software that'll link your media library to your box.

3. Right-click the Plex Media Server icon in your System Tray, then choose Media Manager. That should open a new tab in your browser, which is where you'll set up the media you want to share with your Roku. It may take a minute or two before any options appear, so be patient.

4. Eventually you'll see five options for adding media to your library. The process is the same for all, so click one (say, Photos), then click Add and navigate to the folder containing the photos you want to add. Click Add again if you want to include additional folders.

5. When you've finished making your selections, click Add Section. Again, it may take a minute or two for your media to appear in the browser tab.

6. Now head to your TV, fire up the Roku, and choose the Plex channel. You should see your selected media channels, which you can now browse and view as you like.

If you have trouble navigating your media owning to filename confusion, check out Plex's Naming Guide, which is a bit confusing but can ultimately be of some help.

Also, if you have trouble with pixelation, grab the latest version of Plex Media Server directly from Plex.

HTC said on Wednesday its newest smartphones models had all passed a required U.S. Customs review, clearing device shipments to the country after they were previously delayed because of the inspection.

The Taiwanese smartphone vendor completed the review process with U.S. customs, and the devices were found to be in compliance with an International Trade Commission (ITC) ruling, HTC said in a Taiwan Stock Exchange filing.

Whether or not Facebook acquires facial recognition services provider Face.com, as rumors say it will, the persistence of the speculation calls attention to the expanding use of the technology in social applications.

Face.com's first app, Photo Finder, allowed Facebook users to search for photos of themselves that others had uploaded. Photo Tagger, which suggests names for people pictured, launched in November 2009. Just over a year later, Facebook licensed Face.com's technology to begin suggesting friends for users to tag.

PayAnywhere's card reader is one of the smallest on the market.With PayAnywhere’s free card reader and app for iOS 4.0+ devices, Android 2.1+ phones (but not tablets), and BlackBerry 4.7+ devices, you can accept Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover cards with a transaction fee of 2.69 percent per swipe. Keyed-in transactions are subject to a fee of 3.49 percent plus 19 cents.

In addition to performing regular charges, you can perform preauthorizations, forced transactions, voids, and full or partial refunds from either the app or the company’s website. You have the option to waive the customer’s signature if the charge amount is less than $25.

Square kick-started the mobile processing market, and it still offers a strong product.Square offers a free card reader and app for iOS 4.0+ devices and Android 2.1+ phones (it also works on some Android tablets, but none are officially supported). Through the Square service, you can accept Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover cards for a transaction fee of 2.75 percent per swipe. You have the option of waiving signatures for charge amounts less than $25 (but customers can’t add tips unless they sign). The fee for keyed-in transactions is 3.5 percent plus 15 cents. You can issue full refunds (but no partial amounts) within the app or via the Square Web interface.

On top of that, you can accept and track cash payments and tips, and Square’s customer loyalty program helps you generate repeat business by rewarding your regular clients. You can send electronic receipts to customers via email or text message, and you can connect a cash drawer or receipt to an iPad.

The oversized "sail" on VeriFone's SAIL card reader is intended to prevent the reader from swiveling when you swipe a card.VeriFone, one of the largest payment-processing companies around, developed SAIL after startups such as Square successfully created a new market to provide very small businesses with payment-processing services. SAIL comes with a free card reader and an app for iOS 4.3+ devices; the company plans to add Android phone and tablet support in the months to come. Using the SAIL pay-as-you-go plan, you can accept Visa, MasterCard, and Discover cards for a per-transaction fee of 2.7 percent, or 3.7 percent for keyed-in transactions. The transaction fee for American Express cards is higher, at 3.7 percent.

Sign up for the SAIL subscription service at $10 per month, and your per-transaction fees will drop to 1.95 percent per swipe or 2.95 percent per keyed-in transaction. You can void and refund sales using the app, but only for the full transaction amount; you can issue partial refunds through the Web interface. You can also view and download transaction details (including sales, tax, and tip amounts) on the Web.