This week has been quite the busy week in tech as events, such as Apple’s WWDC and E3, kicked off in San Francisco and Los Angeles, respectively. E3 kicked off with more in-depth looks at Microsoft’s Xbox One and Sony’s PlayStation 4. Both were revealed earlier in the year. As for WWDC, the formal announcement of iOS 7 gained waves with an all-new redesigned interface being shown. If you’re a fan of tech, you had a lot of information pushed into your brains in one long day. Let’s start with E3 first.

Microsoft Xbox One

The Xbox One was revealed back in May with a bit of some questions. The main features that were mentioned was the entertainment, such as Halo with a TV series. The biggest gripe was the fact of DRM on games, meaning you cannot share your game with anyone else other than yourself. Another gripe was the infamous ‘always on’ feature. With this, you have to check in to the Microsoft servers at least once every 24 hours to continue playing a game. While this is Microsoft’s way of providing a pathway to an inevitable digital future, it does hurt those that do not always have a stable connection to the Internet. In addition, all of your achievements from the Xbox 360, in terms of Xbox Live Arcade, will not transfer over as you will basically need to start from scratch with the newer games.

All’s not entirely lost though. If you have been on the fence about Xbox in the past, and are looking for an all-in-one system that has the best in terms of video content, live TV and web browsing, Xbox One is truly the way to go. Keep in mind about the price, though, as it will run you about $499 when it goes on sale in November. With new exclusives and entertainment, Microsoft wants to REALLY compete for your current cable or satellite provider, and they just might create a challenge out of it.

Sony PlayStation 4

Like Microsoft, Sony revealed their newest generation PlayStation earlier in the year back in February. However, it was a limited reveal, as they did not announce a price nor a console. At E3, they finally revealed the system with looks almost similar to the Xbox One. After about a 7+ hour delay between conferences, Sony strategized on some of the heavy criticisms that were given after Microsoft’s conference and went on the offensive. They announced fan-favorite next-generation games like Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts and Assassin’s Creed. The biggest story of that night was the details on the console. Sony said that they will support used games. In other words, you can share games, buy used ones without having to have a special identifier to confirm the use of the game, and it’s region-free. These were obviously direct blows to Microsoft’s policies, providing the opposite plans that generated massive praise for Sony. The final pricing for the system was listed $100 less than the Xbox One at $399.

Overall, Sony maintained an extremely positive showing during their conference, compared to Microsoft’s. Keep in mind, though, that Microsoft has reported pre-order sellouts for their newest console. So just because Sony had their moment doesn’t mean Microsoft will back down and concede. When the sales numbers come out within the next year, we’ll see who will truly be off to a better start.

Apple WWDC 2013

During the same time Microsoft had their conference, Apple was presenting their latest versions of their operating systems for iOS and Mac OS X.

Apple announced the newest update to Mac OS X, named OS X Mavericks. The name was given based on attractions in California. This would also provide upcoming commercials and promos of their items being designed in California. With OS X Mavericks, new features include push notifications (similar to iOS notifications), Finder tabs, an update to the Calendar app, iBook synchronizations with iOS and an update to Safari with sidebar support.

Also announced was an update to the MacBook Air. The new features include a 4th gen Intel Core processor, better battery life and more WiFi support.

Another update in the hardware department was a long-waited redesign of the Mac Pro. For years, the Mac Pro has gone without any substantial updates, much to the dismay of loyal Pro users. The radical re-design include features such as an Intel Xeon 12-core processor, 1866mhz DDR3, PCIe flash, 6 ‘Thunderbolt 2’ ports with 20gbps, dual workstation GPU’s and 4K video support. It definitely sounds like they heard the people and they have delivered.

iWork for iCloud was revealed during the conference, a new addition that has support for Mac and PC and browser support for Internet Explorer, Chrome and Firefox.

The anticipated announcement of iOS 7 was finally announced with a total interface overhaul. Features of the new mobile OS include Control Center (where you can access many of the setting controls with a flick of the bottom of the screen), new multitasking on all apps, new AirDrop support, updates to Camera, Music, Photos and Safari, an update to Siri with a male voice addition, iOS in the Car, an update to the App Store, and the anticipated announcement of iTunes Radio to compete with Pandora.

While initial reactions from social media sites such as Twitter have their loyalists and naysayers about iOS 7, the UI change is definitely welcome, as the current one has been around for the better part of the last 6 years. Having said that, there are still many things Apple can do to make iOS 7 even better by the time it is officially released to the public in the Fall. In the meantime, all we can do is observe, speculate and enjoy this time in technology.