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Luca Maestri Takes Over As Apple CFO As Peter Oppenheimer Steps Down

Joseph Keller, iMore

Peter Oppenheimer formally stepped down as Apple's Chief Financial Officer this week, with vice president of finance and corporate controller Luca Maestri succeeding him in that position. The transition was originally announced in March of this year. Oppenheimer was at Apple for eighteen years, having joined the company in 1996, and was CEO for the last eight years. Maestri took over the CFO position on May 29, according to Apple's SEC filing.

How To Listen To Podcasts On The Road

Dan Miller, Macworld

Today, I’m going to focus on just one of those: Apple’s own Podcasts app. It’s not perfect by any means, but it does have some advantages. For one thing, it ties into Apple’s iTunes ecosystem.

New York Times Crossword App Gets Its Appeal Across (And Down)

Dan Moren, Macworld

The latest update to the gold standard of crossword puzzles is not without glitches, but it does provide an updated interface design, new customization options, and, best of all, sync between devices.

The Unlikely Marriage Of Apple And Beats

Michael Wolff, USA Today

Beats has built its business by incurring serious losses. That's why other streaming services, most notably Spotify, eschew Apple — they can't afford it.

Of course, the math improves if Apple owns the steaming service. Apple might charge everyone else 30 percent on its App site, but cut a special deal for itself. Or, maintaining appearances, it might continue to charge its house service 30 percent, but underwrite its losses. That is a powerful, and peculiarly legal, advantage — at least in the U.S. On the other hand, it promises a monster anti-competitive battle in Europe, where such self-dealing isn't legal.

Apple Must Face E-Book Price-Fixing Trial Before Appeal

Edvard Pettersson and Bob Van Voris, Bloomberg

Apple Inc. lost a last-ditch effort to challenge a ruling that millions of e-book buyers could sue the company as a group, setting the stage for a trial where it faces claims by consumers for as much as $840 million in price-fixing damages.

How To Make Animated GIFs On iPhone Easily With GifMill

OS X Daily

Apple's WWDC Banners Show iOS 8, Next OS X Are Coming

Josh Lowensohn, The Verge

One of those is a banner with a large 8 on it, the first indication of iOS 8, which is expected at the show.

One Year After The RSS Apocalypse

Brent Simmons, Inesential.com

This is all good news. An ecosystem is better than a single 800-pound gorilla.

Daily App: Two Dots Will Have You Thinking About Connecting Dots All Day Long

Kelly Hodgkins, TUAW

Two Dots takes the basic gameplay of the original Dots game (connect as many vertical or horizontal dots of the same color in a grid as you can) and builds upon it with a new level-based architecture that makes the game more challenging as you progress.

Anti-Google Search Engine Alternative DuckDuckGo Updates Official iOS App

Aldrin Calimlim, AppAdvice

Ask The iTunes Guy: Special Tagging Issue

Kirk McElhearn, Macworld

In this week’s column, I address a number of questions about tags: fixing duplicate artists, adding Year tags, and correcting Genre tags.

Leafnote: A Text Editor That's Powerful In Its Simplicity

Steven Sande, TUAW

Marco Polo: A New Way To Find Your iPhone

Mallorie Deaton, Today's iPhone

When running the app, it stays on in the background and listens for the phrase “Marco.” It then responds by saying, “Polo.” This is a pretty simple, but effective solution.

Apple Paying Less Than $500 Million For Beats Music Streaming Service

Hannah Karp, Ryan Dezember and Alistair Barr, Wall Street Journal

Apple Inc. is paying slightly less than $500 million for the Beats Music streaming service, and more than $2.5 billion for Beats Electronics in its $3 billion deal, according to people familiar with the matter.

The people familiar with the matter cautioned that the breakdown of the purchase price was largely an accounting issue, because the two Beats units are backed by different investors.

Best Cloud Storage Apps For iPhone And iPad: Dropbox, Copy, Box, And More!

Allyson Kazmucha, iMore

Looking for the best iPhone apps and best iPad apps to help you store and access your files from anywhere? Cloud storage services not only keep us in sync and let us access our files wherever we are, whenever we need them, but they can be a great way to backup, share, and collaborate as well. They can even help free up precious local storage on our iPhones and iPads. There are a lot of great cloud storage options to choose from, and almost all of them have apps on the App Store. More importantly, which cloud storage apps are the absolute best?

Xamarin 3 Review: Making Cross-platform Mobile Development Painless

Peter Bright, Ars Technica

Xamarin is striving to produce the best—and perhaps only—framework that can target the major mobile platforms while still not giving up the quality and performance expected of native apps.

Six Tips For Efficient Use Of Your Mac

Topher Kessler, MacIssues

There are many ways to optimize the way you use your Mac, but here are six tips that may help you reduce frustrating and seemingly cumbersome approaches to dealing with window clutter, or locating files and folders that are buried in your hard drive.

Review: Maskify For iOS Is A Nice Photo App For Adding Frames And Text

Mel Martin, TUAW

Omnifocus 2 For Mac Review

Allyson Kazmucha, iMore

Apple Issues First Conflict Minerals Report, Says Majority Of Suppliers Are In The Clear

Josh Lowensohn, The Verge

Apple today issued its first ever conflict minerals report, a full breakdown of where it gets key materials that end up in its phones, tablets, and computers, but that can be mined in politically unstable countries. In it, the company says 21 of the 205 smelters it used in 2013 got those minerals from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) or adjoining countries, and that four of those had not been certified as conflict-free. Apple added that it commissioned its own audits of those four companies and "found no reasonable basis" that they were financing armed groups.

RSS Client Reeder 2 For Mac Now Available On The Mac App Store

Zac Hall, 9 To 5 Mac

The new version supports a number of RSS services that have proven popular since Google Reader ended (like Feedbin, Feedly, and Feed Wrangler), and it now serves as a standalone RSS client without syncing so you won’t have to depend on an RSS service to use the app in the future.

Pocket Read-Later App Introduces Premium Tier With Permanent Library And More

Aldrin Calimlim, AppAdvice

For a monthly or yearly fee, Pocket Premium offers several “premium” features, including permanent saving of bookmarked content, search refinements, and personalized tag suggestions.

How To Use Storage Space On iPhone To Backup Files From Mac: Use An App To Turn iOS Device Into A USB Flash Drive

Lou Hattersley, Macworld UK

Extra! Extra! The Guardian Updates Official iOS App With New Design And Features

Aldrin Calimlim, AppAdvice

A New Irreverent Spirit At Apple

Vindu Goel, New York Times

Uh, did anyone tell Apple’s chief executive, Timothy D. Cook, that Mr. Iovine, a music mogul with an impressive track record, was going to be a little hard to control?

Apple's Eddy Cue Touts 'Best Product Pipeline' In 25 Years Coming This Year

Josh Lowensohn, The Verge

"Later this year, we've got the best product pipeline that I've seen in my 25 years at Apple," Cue said at the Code Conference, which is taking place this week in California. Cue appeared on stage with Jimmy Iovine, who cofounded Beats and is joining Apple as part of its purchase of the music software and hardware company.

iOS App Store’s Top Charts No Longer Show Top 300 Apps, Now Only Top 150 Get Ranked

Sarah Perez, TechCrunch

The Third Era Of WWDC

Manton Reece

Getting videos out the same day makes the conference more useful for both those without a ticket and actual attendees (and their team) too.

Bug Splitting

Rusty Rants

Xamarin 3 Launches With UI Design Tool For iOS Apps, Cross-Platform Interface API And More

Frederic Lardinois, TechCrunch

Apple Brings ESPN And 42 Local NPR Stations To iTunes Radio

Mike Beasley, 9 To 5 Mac

Beats Music Lowers Its Yearly Subscription Fee And Extends The Free Trial Period

Brent Dirks, AppAdvice

Tim Cook Explains Why Apple Is Buying Beats (Q&A)

Peter Kafka, Re/code

"The point is that Jimmy and Dre have built something phenomenal. And they have phenomenal skills. And we can begin, the instant that this deal is approved, working on the future together. And I think that future is better than either company could create on their own."

Cook To Employees On Beats Buy: ‘I Hope You Are As Excited As I Am About This New Chapter In Our History’

Mark Gurman, 9 To 5 Mac

"Beats Music was built with deep respect for both artists and fans. We think it’s the first subscription service to really get it right. Both Apple and Beats believe that a great music service requires a strong editorial and curation team, and we will continue to expand what we do in those areas. The addition of Beats will make our incredible iTunes lineup even better, extending the emotional connection our customers have with music."

Apple Confirms Its $3 Billion Deal For Beats Electronics

Brian X. Chen, New York Times

Apple and Beats executives on Wednesday said that the companies would work together to give consumers worldwide more options to listen to music. The Beats brand will remain separate from Apple’s, and Apple will offer both Beats’s streaming music service and premium headphones.

Apple said that iTunes, which sells individual songs and albums and offers a streaming radio service, would continue to be offered alongside the Beats music service.

10 Indispensable iPhone Apps For Windows Users

Tony Bradley, PCWorld

If you’re one of the two out of three Windows users who also own Apple products, you may not realize you can use the traditionally adversarial platforms to get a productivity edge. Microsoft made waves when it launched Office Mobile for iPhone and the Office for iPad apps, but those were just the biggest steps in a strategy the company has been building for awhile. As a result, there are a slew of iPhone apps to help those who depend on Microsoft tools to get things done. Here are the 10 most essential.

A Great iPad Air Keyboard With A Few New Angles

Scott Stein, CNET

The newest Logitech Ultrathin Keyboard Cover adds flexible angle adjustment and a row of dedicated iOS shortcut keys, but keeps the same great typing experience and key layout.

VoxxBoxx (For iPhone)

Max Eddy, PC Magazine

With this iPhone app, you can tune in to eight-second audio clips uploaded anonymously from other VoxxBoxx users. It's a really provactive and stirring idea, but it's held back by a dated, wonky design.

How To Capture Movies Of Your iOS Device's Screen

Christopher Breen, Macworld

File A Bug

Daniel Jalkut, Bitsplitting.org

If we developers want Apple’s platforms to work as well as they can, the sad and short truth of the matter is we have to report bugs. If you’ve only reported 15 bugs over 6 years, as Marco has, I’m afraid to say that you haven’t done enough. To stand a statistical chance of either helping the cause or of being gratified by a personalized response, you’ll have to step it up, grin and bear the frustration and continue to press “Build and Run” on the Apple Bug Reporter and see what comes out the other end.

AirPlay Troubleshooting: How To Fix The AirPlay Device Is Not Available Errors In Mac OS X

Lou Hattersley, Macworld UK

File A Bug

Marco Arment

But actions speak louder than words, and Apple’s actions tell a different story to the vast majority of developers who actually bother filing bugs.

iCloud Not Compromised In Apple ID Attack: Apple

Chris Duckett, ZDNet

"Apple takes security very seriously and iCloud was not compromised during this incident. Impacted users should change their Apple ID password as soon as possible and avoid using the same user name and password for multiple services. Any users who need additional help can contact AppleCare or visit their local Apple Retail Store."

iOS Ransom Hack Spreading To US

Topher Kessler, MacIssues

While initially users from Australia and New Zealand were affected, several people from the US have also seen their devices locked with the same message, suggesting the attack may affect others until Apple is able to get a handle on it, or until users properly secure their iCloud accounts.

Apple To Live Stream ‘Exciting’ WWDC Keynote For Everyone To Watch

Mark Gurman, 9 To 5 Mac

Fix About This Mac Not Showing Proper Disk Space

Topher Kessler, MacIssues

Vesper 2 For iPhone Adds Sync Support For Backing Up Notes

Zac Hall, 9 To 5 Mac

Reeder For iOS Gets Background Refresh And Interface Tweaks

Simon Sage, iMore

Popular news-reading client Reeder 2 got a healthy update for iPhone and iPad today. The most notable addition is background refresh, so the latest stories will always be there waiting for you without having to pull them in once the app launches. Reeder will also kick into gear when external apps refer to an RSS feed, which is a nice touch for those that are regularly adding new sites to their collection.

Audiobooks App Goes 6.0 With iOS 7 Redesign, Podcast Support And More

Aldrin Calimlim, AppAdvice

Audiobooks 6.0 also sees the addition of nearly 1,600 new audiobooks to the app’s free catalog. Moreover, it adds support for podcasts, allowing listeners to enjoy a selection of radio-like episode recordings as well as audiobooks.

Australian Apple iDevices Hijacked, Held To Ransom

Ben Grubb, The Sydney Morning Herald

Owners of Apple devices across Australia are having them digitally held for ransom by hackers demanding payment before they will relinquish control.

One iPhone user, a Fairfax Media employee in Sydney, said she was awoken at 4am on Tuesday to a loud "lost phone" message that said "Oleg Pliss" had hacked her phone. She was instructed to send $50 to a PayPal account to have it unlocked.

Google Releases VirusTotal Uploader For OS X To Help Keep Your Mac Secure

Joseph Keller, iMore

Google has released VirusTotal Uploader for OS X, an app that will let you upload suspicious apps and files to VirusTotal so they can be scanned by the service to identify malware.

How To Share Photo Streams With People Who Don't Use iPhones, iPads, Or Macs

Allyson Kazmucha, iMore

Apple, Google, Others Agree To $324.5 Million Settlement In Wage Case

Robert Faturechi, Los Angeles Times

Apple, Google and other tech giants accused of artificially suppressing wages by conspiring not to poach each other's talent have agreed to settle a lawsuit filed by their employees for $324.5 million.

Alternatives To Garageband For Mac | Eight Musical Options Compared To Garageband

Martyn Casserly, Macworld UK

Gargeband is one of the best free-programs available on the Mac. It can record entire albums with a friendly and intuitive interface. But if you want something a little different, or more powerful, then here are the best alternatives to the Apple offering.

Alternatives To Pages | Pages Compared To Other Mac Word Procesors

Cliff Joseph, Macworld UK

Pages may be free with your Mac, but it's not the only word processor. Here we look at some of the best alternatives.

How To Set A Default To Address In Mavericks' Mail

Christopher Breen, Macworld

No Time To Text? Say It With Stickers

Hiroko Tabuchi, New York Times

Such start-ups are no longer just competing for users and their time. They are also racing to define how a younger generation — one that has increasingly moved away from traditional text messaging, as well as Facebook and Twitter — will message on the go.

Latest ‘Your Verse’ Campaigns Highlight iPad Usage For Orchestras, Traveling Writers

Mark Gurman, 9 To 5 Mac

Apple No Longer Allowing App Downloads Or Updates Following Refund Requests

Chris Parsons, iMore

If you've ever bought an app through the App Store and, for whatever reason, decided you needed to request a refund from Apple, then kept on using it and even updated it, bad news for you — it looks like Apple has begun blocking that practice. If you legitimately had an issue and didn't want the app, you won't be affected. If you were taking advantage, those days are done.

What Happened At UserLand

Brent Simmons, Inesential.com

Frontier had been a Mac-only app for its entire career. But it was clear that, for the product to survive, it needed a Windows version, since the Mac market share was clearly dwindling.

As a Mac guy this pained me. Those were dark days for the platform.

I was using Frontier as a CMS (content management system) for my projects. Later, some guy had a bright idea to migrate to Vignette, the CMS with all those digits and commas in the URL.

Also: Brent's story of UserLand (Dave Winer, Scripting.com)

Pro Tip: Setting Up Profile Manager In OS X Server

Jesus Vigo, TechRepublic

Profile Manager allows for network wide (or even worldwide) configuration of Apple devices -- OS X and iOS -- over a network connection. When integrated within a Mac environment, it can provide a host of configuration, app deployment, and system lockdown settings to harden existing or new devices.

Review: Pregnancy Apps Track Baby, Mom's Progress

Bree Fowler, Associated Press

Although the apps don't cover everything an expectant mom needs to know, they offer enough that I've barely dusted off my pregnancy books this time around.

Apple Requests Retrial Of Samsung Patent Case, Demonstrates Dissatisfaction With Jury Verdict

FOSS Patents

Apple Store Geniuses: A Rare Peek Behind The Curtain

Patrick May, San Jose Mercury News

These blue-shirted, mostly young men and women hovering at the trademark Genius Bar are what some customers call the heart and soul of Apple Stores. And in the 13 years since Apple launched its first tech-support station at its first store in Virginia, these digital doyens have helped make the planet's 424 Apple Stores the revenue-churning envy of the retail world.

The State Of The Apple Developer Ecosystem

Nik Fletcher

Beyond the customer implications for the changes we’ve seen though, I believe there’s a bigger story to tell, and questions to ask about the entire ecosystem that are (I suspect) being asked as much in Cupertino as they are elsewhere.

Tapbots Rolling Out Critical Update For Tweetbot

Chris Parsons, iMore

It's critical due to the fact that if you don't update, any versions of Tweetbot prior to 2.8.8 or 3.2.2 will stop working and you may need to log into your account again. The reason for the update is a small change with how Tweetbot communicates with Twitter as noted on the Tapbots blog.

Review: Apple's CarPlay Headed in Right Direction

Michael Liedtke, Associated Press

The key to CarPlay's success may hinge on Siri, the iPhone's digital personal assistant. Apple has been striving to make Siri smarter and more versatile, an endeavor that CarPlay figures to put to the test.

OmniFocus 2 For Mac From A Reminders User’s Perspective

Federico Viticci, MacStories

OmniFocus is a professional project management tool that's not meant for people like me who are fine with Reminders. While the new app does make things easier, there's still friction caused by longstanding limitations (lack of sharing, complicated settings for views and perspectives). I don't need to switch from Reminders and Fantastical to OmniFocus, but that's just me.

Review: Omnifocus 2 For Mac

512 Pixels

It doesn't bring a long list of new features, but it does its job reliably and easily. It's hard to ask for much more from a tool I depend on daily.

Popular Marijuana Game Gets Pulled By Apple

Garett Sloane, Adweek

The developer, Manitoba Games, had been riding high in the app charts at No. 1, but today Weed Firm vanished. The game doesn’t seem to be especially scandalous considering the rest of the video game industry, but Apple does often censor content.

Medium For iOS Gets Supersized As It Goes Universal For iPad

Aldrin Calimlim, AppAdvice

Apple Releases iAd Producer 4.2 With Full-screen iPhone Banner Support

Zac Hall, 9 To 5 Mac

OmniFocus 2 For Mac Brings A Fresh Look To GTD

Josh Centers, TidBITS

4 Myths About Apple Design, From An Ex-Apple Designer

Mark Wilson, Co.Design

What's life really like designing for Apple? An alum shares what he learned during his seven years in Cupertino.

10.9.3 Causing Headaches For Mac Pro Users

Topher Kessler, MacIssues

Some Mac Pro users have noticed that after updating their systems to OS X 10.9.3, their systems are showing significant graphical artifacts that can impact their work in video editing software packages, especially when exporting video files.

How To Adjust Your iPhone Camera's Settings

Lauren Crabbe, Macworld

Unlike a compact camera or a DSLR, your iPhone doesn’t let you adjust the most popular settings: aperture, lens length, shutter speed, and white balance. That said, several tools within the Camera app (and other third-party programs) can aid you in taking very attractive pictures.

Review: Djay 2.5 Adds Spotify Integration, Automix Radio

Federico Viticci, MacStories

Algoriddim wants to tear down the barrier to entry for its popular DJ software with a simple, yet technologically complex solution: full Spotify integration.

The Online Apple Store’s Humble Beginnings

Ken Segall's Observatory

Ten minutes later, a woman showed up. She was barely inside the door when Steve confronted her: “We can configure Mac memory in the Apple Store, right?” In a matter-of-fact way, she said “No, Steve, we’ll be able to do that soon, but we can’t do it at launch.” She proceeded to give him a few technical reasons why.

Steve rejected her rationale and said that this was simply unacceptable. Right there in front of a roomful of people, he directed her to fix this immediately and sent her on her way.

Tools Of The Trade: Why I Prefer Nisus Writer

Joe Kissell, Macworld

Word processing isn’t the most amazing thing a Mac can do. But back in 1991, it was a word processor called Nisus that convinced me to buy my first Mac, because there was nothing like it for PCs. Nisus was my primary application for years, and now—after more than a decade in which it was all but useless to me—this app (now called Nisus Writer Pro) is back on my A-list. Here’s why I’ve re-adopted it, and why I think more people should consider it.

Apple’s iMessage Issue Goes From Bad To Worse With Server Glitch

Ina Fried, Re/code

“We recently fixed a server-side iMessage bug which was causing an issue for some users, and we have an additional bug fix in a future software update,” Apple told Re/code in a statement. “For users still experiencing an issue, please contact AppleCare.”

Notifyr Lets You Receive iOS Notifications On Your Mac

Federico Viticci, MacStories

Notifyr uses the Bluetooth LE technology available in recent Macs and iOS devices to let the iOS app communicate in the background with a OS X preference pane without consuming too much battery life. After an initial pairing process, Notifyr will monitor all the notifications you receive on your iOS device and send them to the Mac app, which will display a native OS X notification using the icon of the original sender app.

Apple Releases Safari 7.0.4 & 6.1.4 For OS X With Security Improvements

Zac Hall, 9 To 5 Mac

Apple Schedules WWDC 2014 Keynote For Monday June 2, 10Am PT

Rene Ritchie, iMore

Apple Releases WWDC 2014 App

Federico Viticci, MacStories

The WWDC 2014 app is available for free on the App Store, and it can be used by attendees to browse times, locations, and descriptions for sessions, labs, and special events, but, for developers who weren't selected for a ticket by Apple's lottery system, the app will also provide a handy way to view session videos (which will be uploaded throughout the week) and sync video playback across devices using iCloud.

The Desktop And The Developer

Matthew Garrett

Apple and Microsoft may spend significant amounts of effort on improving developer tooling, but they're mostly doing so for developers who are targeting their platforms. A desktop environment that made it easier to perform generic development would be a unique selling point.

Four Window Management Options For OS X

Topher Kessler, MacIssues

There are several third-party window-management tools for OS X, that can be used to augment Apple’s built-in functions, and especially make use of functions with somewhat ambiguous uses, such as the green Zoom button next to the standard Close, and Minimize buttons on OS X windows.

Adobe Updates Photoshop Touch For The iPhone, Brings Quick Selection Tool And New Brushes

Simon Sage, iMore

Apple Updates iWork For iCloud Beta With ePub, CSV Exports And More

Dan Moren, Macworld

You can now have up to 100 collaborators in a single document at the same time—which hopefully won’t be too confusing—and you can choose from almost 200 new fonts. There are also additional options in the color panel, and you can finally create and format both 2D and interactive charts.

Apple Negotiating Paid Interconnect Deals With ISPs For Their Own CDN

Dan Rayburn, StreamingMediaBlog.com

Apple is currently negotiating paid interconnection deals with some of the largest ISPs in the U.S. I’m not going to disclose which ISPs they are talking to and what deals they have already done, but it’s interesting to note that with all the talk lately of net neutrality, peering and interconnect relationships, Apple isn’t out in the market making any complaints.

A Math App That Offers An Unusual Human Touch

Kenneth Chang, New York Times

So what does the $50 a month buy? Unlike any other math teaching app I’ve encountered, it comes with a human being.

Daily App: Why 100 Balls Is At The Top Of The App Store Charts

Kelly Hodgkins, TUAW

100 Balls has the great combination of easy, but enjoyable gameplay. The app literally takes a minutes to learn and can entertain you for hours a few minutes at a time.

Angela Ahrendts’ Plan For The Future Of Apple Retail: China Emphasis, Mobile Payments, Revamped Experience

Mark Gurman, 9 To 5 Mac

Ahrendts is said to be eyeing a major focus on blurring the lines between Apple’s online and physical stores in order to improve the overall experience for Apple customers.

How To Shoot Anything On Your iPhone

Lauren Crabbe, Macworld

Here are a few common situations and some tips on how to photograph them successfully. We emphasize basic approaches, but don’t be afraid to get creative and capture something unique.

How To Make Mac Dashboard Useful: Install New Widgets And Turn Dashboard Into A Games And Music Centre

Lou Hattersley, Macworld UK

The Mac OS X Dashboard isn’t the most popular feature ever introduced into the Apple Mac. Dashboard is not hated, so much, as mostly ignored. Most people don’t use Dashboard anymore. This is a shame, because with a bit of thought you can make Dashboard really useful again.

Apple Strikes A New Chord In The Future Of Music

Christina Farr, Ronald Grover and Lisa Richwine, Reuters

With digital music downloads in decline, record labels have put pressure on Apple to get its act together on streaming, according to two of the three sources. The record labels hope Apple can turn Beats Music into a strong competitor with Spotify and other streaming services, the sources said.

"The labels wanted Apple to build a premium service," said one of the sources, who like the others were not authorized to speak about the matter on the record. "They wanted ... to make money through the stream."

Thomas Was Alone Moves To The iPad

Kit Eaton, New York Times

The game is a puzzle, where you have to navigate colorful rectangles and squares over a tricky, 2-D blocky terrain full of shadowy platforms and glowing toxic puddles to get to the next level.

But to describe Thomas like this is to miss out on the delightful charm of the game.

App Review: A Game About Plants Is One Of The Prettiest Things On iPad

Kirk Hamilton, Kotaku

If people would just get around the silly title and play the game, they’d find one of the most charming games of the last few years. Now it’s found a new home on iPad, and it fits right in.

Apple CEO Cook Dares To Be Different From Steve Jobs

Michael Liedtke, Associated Press

"Think different" became Apple's creed during the late Steve Jobs' reign as CEO. Now, chief executive Tim Cook is embracing the idea while making decisions that would have seemed crazy to his fabled predecessor.

iTunes 11.2.1 Review

Peter Cohen, iMore

Apple Issues iTunes Update To Fix /Users Issue

Dan Frakes, Macworld

The real fix came from Apple late Friday night in the form of iTunes 11.2.1. Install this minor update, and both the visibility and permissions of the /Users and /Users/Shared folder will be corrected—and will stay correct.

Italy Investigates Internet Companies' Mobile App Practices

Eric Sylvers, Wall Street Journal

The move by Italy's Antitrust and Competition Authority comes after the European Union earlier this year called on companies to reform their use of the "freemium" model in which apps are free to download, but then later require payments that often get charged to credit cards by default. The EU says consumer confusion with the freemium model threatens the long-term health of the continent's booming "app economy" that employs more than one million people and is forecast to produce €63 billion in total revenue in 2018, more than triple last year's level.

10-Year-old From Wexford Publishes Game On Apple App Store

Siliconrepublic.com

The youngster began learning how to code four years ago at his local CoderDojo and is now proficient in a number of programming languages, including C, CSS, JavaScript and Objective C.

The Slow Evolution Of Apple's Online Store

Seth Fiegerman, Mashable

Adobe Recovering From Massive Creative Cloud Failure

Mel Martin, TUAW

Adobe blamed the issues on server maintenance and the company says everything is up and running now.

Users Folder Being Hidden With iTunes 11.2 Installed And Find My Mac Enabled

Der Flounder

Apple, Google Settle Smartphone Patent Litigation

Dan Levine, Reuters

Apple Inc and Google Inc's Motorola Mobility unit have agreed to settle all patent litigation between them over smartphone technology, ending one of the highest profile lawsuits in technology.

In a joint statement on Friday, the companies said the settlement does not include a cross license to their respective patents.

"Apple and Google have also agreed to work together in some areas of patent reform," the statement said.

Daily App: FilePane Is A Versatile Multi-tool Utility For OS X File Management

Kelly Hodgkins, TUAW

FilePane is handy Mac utility that simplifies the sometimes cumbersome task of managing your files. It's lightweight, sits in the menu bar and provides quick access to a variety of tasks such as resize image, convert text to PDF and more.

FooDo Kitchen (For iPad)

Fahmida Y. Rashid, PC Magazine

The puzzles are easy, with good clues, and there are some interactive features. The graphics are adorable and cartoonish, and, since there are no time limits or text for players to try to decipher, FooDo Kitchen is perfectly suited for pre-schoolers.

EFF Marks Apple’s ‘Remarkable Improvement’ In Protecting Customer Data From Governments

Mark Gurman, 9 To 5 Mac

Apple Integrates LLVM Compiler To Boost WebKit JavaScript Performance

Peter Bright, Ars Technica

Modern browsers use a scheme called just-in-time compilation to convert JavaScript into executable code and achieve high performance when they do so. As the optimization process has become more advanced and performance improved, Apple's WebKit developers have realized that they're increasingly building the same capabilities as traditional compiler developers have already built. Feeling that's rather wasteful, they've decided to stop building their own and instead leverage the optimization capabilities of the LLVM compiler.

Ten Rules For Great iPhone Photography

Lauren Crabbe, Macworld

The big challenge when you shoot images with an iPhone is to successfully capture great-looking photos from a gadget that’s primarily designed for chatting. If you keep these tips in mind as you shoot, however, you can take some pretty sharp pictures.

iTunes 11.2: Podcast Management Changes

Kirk McElhearn, Kirkville

With iTunes Connect 3.0, Apple Is One Step Closer To Bringing An iOS 7 Look To All Its Apps

AppleInsider

Apple on Thursday unveiled a new revision to its developer-focused iTunes Connect app for iOS, sporting an all-new design and the ability to manage multimedia content in the iTunes Store and iBooks Store alongside apps on the App Store.

Mac Keyboard Shortcuts

Matt Gemmell

In this piece, I’d like to share some of the keyboard shortcuts and related functionality that I use every day on the Mac.

Tethered Syncing Returns With iTunes 11.2 And OS X 10.9.3

Christopher Breen, Macworld

In the recent release of iTunes 11.2 and OS X 10.9.3, Apple brought a measure of joy to those users who missed the ability to sync contacts and calendars over a tethered USB connection. Gone since the introduction of OS X Mavericks, its reintroduction will be welcomed by those who don’t care to sync this kind of data over iCloud.

Bring Back The Hidden /Users Folder In OS X 10.9.3

Kirk McElhearn, Kirkville

10.9.3 Restores Local Contact And Calendar Sync, Improves 4K Support

Josh Centers, TidBITS

Apple has released OS X Mavericks 10.9.3 Update, which brings a pixel-doubled Retina mode to external 4K displays and restores contact and calendar syncing between a Mac and iOS devices in iTunes. The Retina mode makes content much sharper, rather than just using all the pixels to create a truly huge desktop.

Adobe Creative Cloud Has Been Down For Almost 24 Hours

Karissa Bell, Mashable

Desktop applications that are already installed are up and running, according to Adobe — but downloads, web files, user and admin accounts are all down.

Podcasts For iOS Updated With Siri Integration, CarPlay Support And Improved Browsing

Juli Clover, MacRumors

Developers Now Able To Provide Promo Codes For In-App Purchases

Juli Clover, MacRumors

OS X: Everything You Need To Use Smart Folders

Jonny Evans, Computerworld

Inside OS X since 2004, Smart Folders can save you time -- so long as you use them. In this short report we'll look at what they are, how they're made and create an example folder.

Belkin's New Ultra-thin iPad Air Keyboard Is A Svelte Productivity Option

Jordan Golson, TechRepublic

The Judge That Apple Hates

David Margolick, Vanity Fair

Last year, federal judge Denise Cote leveled unprecedented sanctions against Apple and major publishing houses for e-book price-fixing. Here’s how an old-school jurist upended the industry with a landmark decision.

Facebook For iOS Hits Version 10.0, Adds Post Review, Hides Recent Posts

Rene Ritchie, iMore

Mac Gems: Deckset Excels At Presentation Minimalism

Serenity Caldwell, Macworld

It’s the kind of program that begs you to save time with it rather than spending hours styling font colors and sizes.

Design Is About Intent

Rampant Innovation

Design has lifted Apple to great heights, and I suspect it can take them further. The rest of the world has certainly noticed. But they would do well to think a little harder about what adopting design really means.

5 Fantastic iOS Games You Aren't Playing, But Should Be

Mike Wehner, TUAW

Eight Terminal Utilities Every OS X Command Line User Should Know

Mithcell Cohen

Power users often aren’t aware that OS X comes with a number of its own text-based utilities not found on any other operating system. Learning about these Mac-only programs can make you more productive on the command line and help you bridge the gap between UNIX and your Mac.

Coda 2.5 Won’t Be Coming To The Mac App Store, But There’s No Need To Panic

Mike Beasley, 9 To 5 Mac

App Store apps need to be sandboxed (a security feature in OS X that doesn’t let apps modify data outside of their designated “sandboxes”), and Coda 2.5 simply doesn’t work as a sandboxed app.

Also, Panic's own syncing solution.

Firefox’s Adoption Of Closed-source DRM Breaks My Heart

Cory Doctorow, The Guardian

Future versions of the open-source Firefox browser will include closed-source digital rights management (DRM) from Adobe, the Mozilla project’s chief technology officer, Andreas Gal, announced on Wednesday.

The purpose is to support commercial video streams. But this is a radical, disheartening development in the history of the organisation, long held out as a beacon for the open, free spirit of the web as a tool for liberation.

From Altair To iPad: 35 Years Of Personal Computer Market Share

Jeremy Reimer, Ars Technica

Data shows that smartphones and tablets have been adopted far faster than PCs.

Review: Apple's iWork For iCloud Is Elegant But Limited

Woody Leonhard, InfoWorld

Apple is a newcomer to the online office game, and it shows. The three iWork for iCloud apps feel like they were designed from the ground up to unify the concepts behind word processing, spreadsheets, and presentations. Their interfaces are remarkably similar, minimalist, and easy to follow. The design is at once elegant and accessible.

But Apple's file interface stinks. Of the three major browser-based office suites, Apple's is the worst for handling files. The only simple way to get a file into iWork for iCloud is to drag and drop it into a specific app's Web page. You can't sync a folder on a Mac or PC with iWork for iCloud, as you can Office Online and Google Drive. And if there's a way to set up folders from inside iWork for iCloud, I couldn't find it.

Apple's 'Convoluted And Unclear' iCloud Agreements Break Norwegian Law, Says Watchdog

Stig Øyvann, ZDNet

The Norwegian Consumer Council has filed a complaint over the terms and conditions of Apple's iCloud service, on the grounds they're in violation of several articles of Norwegian law governing marketing in the country.

Apple, Google Shaped By Silicon Valley Judge Koh’s Gavel

Joel Rosenblatt, Bloomberg Businessweek

Lucy H. Koh’s fingerprints are on your Gmail account, your smartphone, and, if you’re a Silicon Valley engineer, possibly your prospects for changing jobs.

Apple Remains Mum As Complaints Mount Over 2011 MacBook Pro GPU Failures

Mikey Campbell, AppleInsider

With an increasing number of early-2011 MacBook Pros suffering from what appears to be similar issues relating to built-in discrete AMD video cards, owners are now calling for a replacement program.

Apple Sued Over Patents More Than Any Other Company Last Year

John-Michael Bond, TUAW

Apple’s iOS Human Interface Guidelines Now On The iBooks Store

Federico Viticci, MacStories

Google Search For iOS 4.0 Adds New Voice Search Options, More Relevant Results, And More

Mike Beasley, 9 To 5 Mac

Best Expense Tracking Apps For iPhone: Concur, Expensify, Mileage Log+, And More!

Allyson Kazmucha, iMore

iMessage Purgatory

Adam Pash

Apple has completely hijacked my text messaging and my phone number portability (portability between devices, not networks). No one can fix this but Apple because it’s a problem at the device level, which means people in my position have no recourse but to wait for Apple to figure out what the problem is.

Beats Music For iPad Review: Putting Music Discovery Front And Center

Allyson Kazmucha, iMore

Beats does an excellent job at curation and music discovery. You'll never run out of new things to listen to and the iPad app just adds even more value to the service.

Moju, A Self-styled Instagram On Steroids, Showcases Photos With An Animated Twist

Jackie Dove, The Next Web

With Moju, an iPhone app released today by Moju Labs, there’s a brand new content type: an animated still image –hologram-style – comprised of up to 24 individual shots that can be viewed in any angle or order by twisting the iPhone in your hand back and forth.

iPad For The Windows Guy

Paul Thurrott, Supersite For Windows

The iPad, ostensibly a toy, is now quite a bit more interesting than it was without Microsoft.

Twitter Launches Mute Feature, Updates iPad App

Federico Viticci, MacStories

Teleprompt+ 3 For iPhone And iPad Takes Professional Prompting To The Next Level

Rene Ritchie, iMore

Apple Tries To Lift Online Sales By Cutting Refund Times In Half

Christina Farr, Reuters

Apple Inc has cut in half the time it takes to give refunds to online store customers who want to return their iPhones and other gadgets, a small but crucial step to try to get more people to buy direct from its website.

Apple is processing refunds at a faster rate because the company now uses an expedited service, FedEx 2Day, to let customers ship returned items with prepaid labels to its warehouse in three days.

Square Finally Gives Up On Square Wallet And Bets On New Order-Ahead App

Jason Del Rey, Re/code

The grand Square Wallet experiment is over. As of today, Square has pulled the app from the Apple and Google app stores. At the same time, it is introducing Square Order, an app that lets shoppers place pick-up orders from, and pay at, coffee shops, cafes and other Square merchants right from their smartphone.

iPad Charger Teardown: Inside Apple's Charger And A Risky Phony

Ken Shirriff's Blog

I look inside real and counterfeit chargers and find that the genuine charger has much better construction, power quality, and most importantly safety. The counterfeit turns out to be a 5 watt charger in disguise, half the power of a genuine charger.

Reading, Writing, Arithmetic, And Lately, Coding

Matt Richtel, New York Times

It is a stark change for computer science, which for decades was treated like a stepchild, equated with trade classes like wood shop. But smartphones and apps are ubiquitous now, and engineering careers are hot. To many parents — particularly ones here in the heart of the technology corridor — coding looks less like an extracurricular activity and more like a basic life skill, one that might someday lead to a great job or even instant riches.

What Happened At NewsGator

Brent Simmons, Inesential.com

And that’s the tech industry for ya. Everything I brought to NewsGator is now somewhere else. Everything I created while I was there is now somewhere else. Nothing of me remains there — and all I have from the company is a red stapler they gave me when I reached five years of service. (And some money.)

Apple MacBook Air 13-Inch (2014)

Brian Westover, PC Magazine

This year's Apple MacBook Air benefits from an updated Intel processor, but sticks to a tried and true design that doesn't need to change. The result is improved performance while retaining all of the thin-and-light portability that has made the MacBook Air so popular.

Review: TodoMovies 3 – Manage And Discover New Movies In A Great Free App

Whitney Marks, 9 To 5 Mac

How To Easily Backup (And Restore) Using Backblaze Or CrashPlan

Peter Cohen, iMore

Apple Kicks Off Its Big In-store iPhone Upgrade Event

Jordan Kahn, 9 To 5 Mac

Apple’s Pursuit Of Beats May Foretell A Shift

Ben Sisario, New York Times

Has streaming music’s moment in the mainstream finally come? Or is it here already, and has Apple — once the great innovator of music technology — finally caught on?

Epson Invents A Clever Label Printer That Works With iOS

Mel Martin, TUAW

With an iOS device and the printer running on battery and Bluetooth you can be a printing demon around the house or office with no wires.

How To Remove A Windows Boot Camp Partition From A Mac

OS X Daily

Facebook Poke Is Dead

Ellis Hamburger, The Verge

To Facebook, Poke was always "more of a joke" than anything else — so why did the company leave it in the App Store for more than a year after its troubled debut? We may never know, but today, Facebook finally put an end to Poke.

Apple-partner Vimeo Revamps Its iOS App With New Design, Faster Video Loading

Mark Gurman, 9 To 5 Mac

The Man Who Hired Apple’s Design Genius Jony Ive Is Also The Guy Who Designed Beats Products

Lisa Eadicicco, Business Insider

PSA: This Hidden Feature In OS X Makes It Easy To Sign Digital Documents

Chris Kirk, Slate

Buried deeply in OS X’s otherwise boring Preview application (the default app for viewing PDFs) is one of the most thoughtful features on the whole system: a function that allows users to quickly scan signatures via the Mac’s camera and drop them into any PDF.

I love Slate's Terms of Employment. :-)

8Tracks Releases Major iOS Overhaul As It Prepares To Take On Music Streaming’s Biggest Players

Owen Williams, The Next Web

The update focuses on helping get users to the music they feel like listening to right now, by offering them a range of choices that add up to the ‘path of least resistance’ to finding music they like.

Apple Just Hired One Of Nokia's PureView Camera Experts

Steve Dent, Engadget

Spotify For iPhone Review: Finally, Some Progress!

Allyson Kazmucha, iMore

If you only stream music on your iPhone, the Spotify service paired with its new iPhone app won't disappoint. For those that depend on their iPads for streaming music, other options such as Rdio are still more worthy of your money.

California Senate Passes Smartphone Kill Switch Bill

Michael B. Marois, Bloomberg

The same legislation was rejected a month ago amid pressure from the industry. The author of the legislation, San Francisco Democrat Mark Leno, amended the bill to exclude tablets from the mandate and to extend the date it becomes effective by six months to allow companies to sell off existing supplies.

Instapaper Freshens Up With A New Logo, Website Redesign And Text Highlighting Feature

Nick Summers, The Next Web

The company is keen to push its premium subscription service, so free users will be capped at five highlights per month, while subscribers have an unlimited number.

Titles

John Gruber, Daring Fireball

Unintentional sexism is sexism nonetheless. There’s almost never a good reason to use a different word to describe a woman’s job than the words you’d choose if the position were held by a man.

Apple In Talks For $3.2Bn Beats Deal

Matthew Garrahan and Tim Bradshaw, Financial Times

The deal could be announced as early as next week, people familiar with the negotiations said, but they cautioned that some details had yet to be agreed and talks could still fall apart.

Review: Pregnancy Apps Track Baby, Mom's Progress

Bree Fowler, The Associated Press

Although the apps don't cover everything an expectant mom needs to know, they offer enough that I've barely dusted off my pregnancy books this time around.

Apple's Head Of North America Sales To Depart

Reuters

Apple Inc's head of North America sales, Zane Rowe, will leave the company and will be replaced by Doug Beck, who oversees sales in Japan and Korea.

Adobe Voice Helps iPad Users Make Video Stories

Peter Cohen, iMore

Adobe on Thursday announced Voice, a new animated video app designed for the iPad. The software lets you create a video story complete with your own narration, imagery, music and motion graphics. It's free and it's available for download now from the App Store.

I Was Having A Lot Of Fun With This iOS Game, And Then It Rained

Mike Wehner, TUAW

Every time I think I've seen the last, best new puzzle game idea, another game comes out of nowhere to blindside me. You wouldn't think a concept as simple as catching drops of rain in buckets could translate into a gripping puzzle experience, but you'd be wrong. '... and then it rained' is just such a game, and it's both relaxing and brutally punishing at the same time.

GoodReader Update Adds Masses Of Editing Flexibility, Offers 60 Percent Discount

Ben Lovejoy, 9 To 5 Mac

An iPhone App Offers Quick And Inexpensive Melanoma Screening

Jeannie Kever, University Of Houston

George Zouridakis, professor of engineering technology, has worked on the project since 2005, moving it to an application for a mobile phone after the iPhone became ubiquitous. The goal is to provide quick screening in rural areas or in the developing world, where specialty medical care generally isn’t available, he said.

Early testing found the device to be accurate about 85 percent of the time, Zouridakis said, similar to the accuracy rate for dermatologists and more accurate than primary care physicians. Patients would be referred for follow-up if the lesion were suspected to be cancerous.

Apple Publishes New Legal Process Guidelines For Law Enforcement Information Requests

Mike Beasley, 9 To 5 Mac

Much of the information is pretty straightforward: Apple can’t give law enforcement officials the passcode to a locked iOS device, geolocation data for active iOS devices is not stored by Apple and thus cannot be turned over to law enforcement, and so on.

6 iPad Apps For Creative Writing

Monica Burns, Edutopia

For students at all levels, creative writing is an important part of English language arts curriculum. Not only do the Common Core State Standards specifically outline the expectation that students should be able to express themselves through the written word, but this is also an essential real-world skill. Students should have the ability to write narratives that tell a story from their own life or a story that they've imagined. The following apps will inspire young writers and give them a vehicle for sharing their work.

Family Unity Doesn't Extend To Apple IDs

Lou Carlozo, Reuters

As parents come to realize the limitations of their Apple ID and Google Play strategies, they are frustrated. All the apps, songs and movies they've purchased are quarantined in their own accounts. When the kids branch out to their own devices, they pretty much just have to start over, with limited workarounds.

Apple Inviting Employees To March In Annual San Francisco LGBT Pride Parade

Zac Hall, 9 To 5 Mac

Apple has invited its employees through an internal memo to participate and represent the company together next month at San Francisco’s annual LGBT pride parade. Apple will host a base camp for registered attendees made up of Apple employees and their families and will supply entertainment and breakfast as well as T-shirts for participants.

How To Set Up And Use Screen Sharing In OS X

Topher Kessler, MacIssues

Katie Cotton

John Gruber, Daring Fireball

Most big corporations employ outside PR agencies. Not Apple. Apple’s internal public relations team is itself a world-class agency. That team was built entirely under Cotton’s leadership.

Katie Cotton, Apple’s Vice President Of Communications, Is Leaving

Daisuke Wakabayashi, Wall Street Journal

Cotton headed up communications for Apple, one of the most secretive companies in the technology world, during a period of incredible growth fueled by the introduction of the iPhone and iPad. She is one of the driving forces behind Apple’s carefully orchestrated product launches. Her public relations team aggressively controlled the message around new key products and maintained an air of mystery around the company and the brand.

Importing Windows Outlook Messages Into Apple's Mail

Christopher Breen, Macworld

Google Maps Takes Your Trips Offline; Adds Lane Guidance, Saved Places And More

Simon Sage, iMore

New MacBook Air Review: Can The Best Get Better?

Joanna Stern, Wall Street Journal

My verdict: If you need a new laptop, this is the one to buy, especially with the $100 price cut. In fact, that's been my verdict on the Air for several years. I've never met a better laptop. And I've met a lot of laptops.

Strava (For iPhone)

Jill Duffy, PC Magazine

Runners, bicyclists, and other outdoor types have a host of apps and devices they can use to track their activities. The best one for competitive types is Strava. Whether you're competing against yourself to beat your best time, or looking at the long list of strangers who have smoked you on some nasty uphill stretch of your favorite route, Strava brings a fierce competitive angle.

Jefit Workout (For iPhone)

Jill Duffy, PC Magazine

The iPhone app Jefit Workout gives you simple tools for crafting weight-lifting workouts and keeping track of the details as you complete your routines. You can log sets and reps, as well as how much you lifted. A calendar helps you plan your workout days and rest days.

MacBook Air Review: A Little Faster, A Little Slower, A Little More Affordable

James Galbraith, Macworld

While the faster processor did help the new MacBook Air in our application tests, the flash storage didn’t always perform as well as we’ve come to expect.

Solving The Mysteries Of The Mail Downloads Folder

Sharon Zardetto, Macworld

The scenario is straighforward: You receive a message with an attachment in Mail and double-click the attached file to open it in the appropriate app. But what happens next is anything but straightforward: file attachments are stored in a hard-to-find folder; they are sometimes downloaded more than once; and different apps treat these opened files in very different ways.

Apple Is Aware Of iOS 7 Mail Attachment Bug, Working On A Fix

Rene Ritchie, iMore

"We're aware of the issue," an Apple spokeswoman told iMore, "and are working on a fix which we will deliver in a future software update."

Why The MacBook Air Design Never Changes

Joel Santo Domingo, PC Magazine

Review: Zoom iQ5 Stereo Condensor Microphone For Lightning Compatible iDevices

Kirk Hiner, TechnologyTell

The Zoom iQ5 is a mid-side stereo condenser mic that’s small enough to fit in your pocket. It attaches directly to the Lightning port on your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch, but because of the wide base of the unit, you may run into some fit issues with your case.

Adobe Lightroom Mobile For iPad Review - Use Your iPad To Bring Order To Your Collections

Michael Burns, Macworld UK

Despite several glaring omissions, which hopefully will be addressed in version 2.0, it offers a useful mobile extension to a professional photography workflow. Those who have already purchased Lightroom as a standalone product are cut out of the loop however. Rather than take out a Creative Cloud subscription, third-party standalone apps seem more likely to receive their patronage.

Alternatives To iPhoto: Eight Of The Best Options For iPhoto Users

Cliff Joseph, Macworld UK

Most Mac users are perfectly happy to organise their photos in iPhoto. It’s a fast, efficient program with an attractive interface and, of course, it comes free with all Macs. In those respects it’s a typical piece of Apple software – but, like most Apple products, it also likes to do things its own way. Here are eight options for iPhoto users.

How To Share iWork '13 Files With iOS Devices

Christopher Breen, Macworld

iOS 7 Doesn't Encrypt Email Attachments

Larry Seltzer, ZDNet

A researcher has reported to Apple that email attachments stored on an iOS device are not encrypted at rest, contrary to Apple's claims.

A Path To Retirement, For Those Far From It

Jeff Sommer, New York Times

In his advisory business, he is aiming at a different group: rich people with portfolios of at least $25 million, who pay him for advice and other services. But he said the “If I Can” guide is “entirely eleemosynary” (or a charitable offering, if you don’t feel like running to your dictionary). “I hope some of the people who use it will become rich, but I don’t expect to be around when they are,” said Mr. Bernstein, 65.

Calibrate Your Mac’s Monitor To Ensure Proper Color Representation

Topher Kessler, MacIssues

What Writing - And Selling - Software Was Like In The 80'S

Andrew Wulf, The Codist

We got a good review in Macworld, but the guy who wrote the MacUser review had a bad day and the review was horrible. Of course these were written in January and only came out 3 months later. The one bad review killed our sales. When the only source of information is reviews it only took one bad one. Being a small developer we couldn't fix it fast enough - it took months to make changes, ship it, and then wait for an updated review 4 months or so later in the magazine. A year later we met the author and he admitted he hadn't been fair and took his personal issues out on us.

The Great Smartphone War

Kurt Eichenwald, Vanity Fair

For three years, Apple and Samsung have clashed on a scale almost unprecedented in business history, their legal war costing more than a billion dollars and spanning four continents. Beginning with the super-secret project that created the iPhone and the late Steve Jobs’s fury when Samsung—an Apple supplier!—brought out a shockingly similar device, Kurt Eichenwald explores the Korean company’s record of patent infringement, among other ruthless business tactics, and explains why Apple might win the battles but still lose the war.

Mailbag: Can I Back Up My Mac To Windows Home Server 2011?

Terry Walsh, We Got Served

When Hitting ‘Find My iPhone’ Takes You To A Thief’s Doorstep

Ian Lovett, New York Times

With smartphone theft rampant, apps like Find My iPhone offer a new option for those desperate to recover their devices, allowing victims like Ms. Maguire to act when the police will not. But the emergence of this kind of do-it-yourself justice — an unintended result of the proliferation of GPS tracking apps — has stirred worries among law enforcement officials that people are putting themselves in danger, taking disproportionate risks for the sake of an easily replaced item.

More Coding Nits

Brent Simmons, Inesential.com

My point, by the way, is not to make anyone afraid of releasing their code. Don’t be afraid — releasing code is a great thing to do.

I’ve released dumb stuff sometimes. Totally idiotic things. It’s fine. The point is to learn and get better. That’s it.

I'm learning a lot from Brent's blog.

How To Put Your Mac To Sleep And Keep It There

Topher Kessler, MacIssues

Putting your Mac to sleep is perhaps one of the easiest tasks you can do; however, there are several options for doing this that you might not know about, and in addition, if your Mac is either not going or not staying in sleep mode, then there are several things you can try to remedy the situation.

Four Cloning Solutions For OS X

Jesus Vigo, TechRepublic

Let's take a look at four cloning solutions for OS X to further diversify your disaster recovery plan.

ComiXology, In-app Purchasing And How Quickly Things Turn

Andy Ihnatko, Chicago Sun-Times

Did ComiXology learn anything from this?

What do they regret?

I imagine that ComiXology’s leaders have been struggling with these questions ever since the online response began to flood in, and the one-star reviews of the new iOS app surpassed the 1,000 mark.

The New Firefox Is Fantastic. So Is Every Other Web Browser.

Farhad Manjoo, New York Times

What iOS RSS Readers Are Missing

Ben Brooks, The Brooks Review

Since I took the time to dive into Unread and really consider the app, and the app category, I came up with a few things that I think are generally missing for some, if not all, RSS apps.

Lab Tested: New 2014 MacBook Air Benchmarks

James Galbraith, Macworld

While the faster processor did help the new MacBook Airs in our application tests, the flash storage didn’t perform as well as we’d expected.

3 Simple Ways To Clear Up "Other" Memory On Your iOS Device

John-Michael Bond, TUAW

With storage at a premium and a whole wonderful world of apps just waiting at your finger tips you've probably found yourself looking at your iPhone memory information and quietly cursed the name of Other.

Jury Finds Samsung Phones Infringe On Several Apple Patents, Awards $119.6 Million

Ina Fried, Re/code

Steve Jobs, A Genius At Pushing Boundaries

James B. Stewart, New York Times

Mr. Jobs “was a walking antitrust violation,” said Herbert Hovenkamp, a professor at the University of Iowa College of Law and an expert in antitrust law. “I’m simply astounded by the risks he seemed willing to take.”

6 Safari Secrets For OS X Mavericks

Jonny Evans, Computerworld

There are many little-known tricks and tips you can use to improve your experience with Apple's Safari browser. I've selected just six you may not have seen before.

What’s That In Your Menu Bar?

Brett Terpstra

The Goodies In My Menu Bar

Mark Frauenfelder, Boing Boing

iPhoto Versus Aperture: Which Apple Photo App Is Best For Your Needs

Cliff Joseph, Macworld UK

Apogee One For iPad And Mac Review: Audio Interface Does It All (Almost)

Christopher Breen, Macworld

Apple, Facebook, Others Defy Authorities, Notify Users Of Secret Data Demands

Craig Timberg, Washington Post

Major U.S. technology companies have largely ended the practice of quietly complying with investigators’ demands for e-mail records and other online data, saying that users have a right to know in advance when their information is targeted for government seizure.

Fueling the shift is the industry’s eagerness to distance itself from the government after last year’s disclosures about National Security Agency surveillance of online services. Apple, Microsoft, Facebook and Google all are updating their policies to expand routine notification of users about government data seizures, unless specifically gagged by a judge or other legal authority, officials at all four companies said. Yahoo announced similar changes in July.

Use The New Slingshot App To Share Your iPhone Or iPad Screen With Anyone

Brent Dirks, AppAdvice

Targeted to the business market, Slingshot allows iPhone and iPad users to share their screens with other platforms including Mac, PC, and even Android.

Microsoft OneNote For iPhone, Mac Receive Major Updates

Mark Hachman, Macworld

Beats Music 2.0 Update Delivers iPad Version For Subscription Music Service

Zac Hall, 9 To 5 Mac

How To Disable AMBER Alerts On The iPhone

OS X Daily

How (And Why) You Should Clean Up Your iTunes Tags

Kirk McElhearn, Macworld

I’m slightly tag-obsessive, but only because I want to be able to find my music when I search for it. And I use smart playlists that depend on tags. So here are some of the ways I correct these problems.

Make Your Mornings Less Stressful With Morning

Leah Yamshon, TechHive

It keeps your day beautifully organized in one glanceable screen that should simplify your morning routine.

How Adobe Is Moving On From Flash To Embrace HTML5

Chris Minnick and Ed Tittel, CIO

Steve Jobs' famous Thoughts on Flash article from April 2010 marked the beginning of the end for Adobe Flash's future on mobile. Jobs listed several reasons why iOS wouldn't support Flash. At the time, Mobile Flash was seen as a pretty hot technology and a great way to create cross-platform apps - if only Apple would just get with the times and approve it for the iPhone.

Not supporting Flash was a bold and controversial move. In short order, however, Apple's position pushed Web developers to start learning about HTML5. It also got Adobe to move beyond Flash and reinvent some of its core product offerings.

Beamer 2 Review: Drag And Drop To Stream Any Video To An Apple TV

Dan Frakes, Macworld

I Made A Video Game With A Pencil And Paper

Andrew Webster, The Verge

Pixel Press lets you build a Mario-style iPad game any way you want.

Thanks For Nothing, Apple, Say Forensic Security Chaps

Darren Pauli, The Register

Apple's decision to encrypt data on the iPhone is responsible for this state of affairs because a factory reset not only wipes data but also erases the decryption key required to reveal the handset's contents, according to Jason Solomon, a forensics investigator with Sydney-based Klein and Co.

Apple Keeps Locking Up New Property Even As Its 'Spaceship' Office Build Proceeds

Nathan Donato-Weinstein, Silicon Valley Business Journal

The Mac maker is closing in on leases for roughly 250,000 square feet of additional office/R&D space in Sunnyvale, according to multiple industry sources. That's on top of a couple of deals completed in recent weeks.

Andy Ihnatko’s Window Into The MacBook Air Price Drop

Andy Ihnatko, Chicago Sun-Times

I think the MacBook Air price drops have fixed the lack of clarity that once affected the “MacBook Air or MacBook Pro?” buying decision and moved it over to the choice between the low-end MacBook Air and the high-end iPad Air.

Best AirPlay Speaker Systems For Your iPhone, iPad, Or Mac

Peter Cohen, iMore

A lot of us love to listen to music while we work, do chores, exercise and entertain. If you're looking for a compact speaker system that helps you get the most out of your AirPlay-equipped Apple device, I've rounded up five of my favorites here.

Google Launches Google Docs And Sheets Apps For iPhone And iPad, Slides ‘Coming Soon’

Zac Hall, 9 To 5 Mac

Google is out today with a brand new set of productivity apps for iOS with the release of Google Docs and Google Sheets for both iPhone and iPad. Previously, documents stored in Google’s collaborative productivity apps were restricted to access in Google Drive or browser-based web apps. While both Google’s word processor and spreadsheet editor have appeared on the App Store, Google says that Google Slides, its presentation app, is “coming soon”.

Aerial Photo Shows Outline Of Apple's Spaceship Campus Taking Shape

Juli Clover, MacRumors