Namco this week released the match-three game Tinseltown Dreams: The 50s (US$2.99) to the App Store. Players assume the role of a movie director and swap tiles on the game board to earn a budget, hire a cast and crew, and purchase props. They can choose from seven different film genres; 35 levels are included.

Developers hoping to have their iPad applications available on the day the iPad ships need to submit their work for approval by March 27. Apple informed developers of the deadline via email on Friday, giving them about a week to finish their apps ahead of the iPad’s April 3 official launch date.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs joined California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital in Palo Alto, Calif. on Friday to help make a push for organ donor legislation. Recalling that he was able to fly to Memphis last year  to have a liver transplant, he remarked: “Last year, 400 other Californians died waiting. I could have died.”

All-digital lifestyle magazine VIVmag is working on an interactive iPad version that it plans to introduce when Apple releases the new device next month. Demos on the New York Times’ web site showcase what VIVmag has in store, which includes video spreads and full-motion advertising. Other publications, including Wired, are planning similar efforts.

Microsoft this week began quietly removing its Bing app from all versions of the App Store except the US one. A spokesperson quoted by the web site Neowin explained: “When we released the iPhone application we inadvertently made it available to all countries in which the Apple Marketplace has a presence. We noticed the error within 24 hours and took steps to remove availability for all countries except for the US.”

Palm this week warned Wall Street that its fourth quarter revenue will be less than US$150 million, in stark contrast to the $306 million expected by analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters. That news, along with the revelation that Palm sold less than half of the handhelds it shipped to carriers during the third quarter, led many analysts to downgrade the stock and cut their price targets.

PhoneSuit makes one of many battery packs for the iPhone. Jeff Butts has been testing the PhoneSuit MiLi, which has a 2,000 mAh (milliamp-hour) smart battery. The device does an excellent job extending the iPhone’s battery life. The battery pack has its drawbacks, but it’s definitely one of Jeff’s favorite iPhone accessories so far.

This week, the opening briefs in the Viacom vs. YouTube lawsuit were made public, and YouTube chief counsel Zahavah Levine posted a blog entry in which he noted: “Some of the very clips that Viacom is suing us over were actually uploaded by Viacom itself.” According to Mr. Levine, Viacom has over the years “hired no fewer than 18 different marketing agencies to upload its content to the site. It deliberately ‘roughed up’ the videos to make them look stolen or leaked.”

PocketMac announced the immediate availability for PocketMac for BlackBerry 5.0 on Friday. The new version of the BlackBerry data synchronization app for Mac OS X includes drivers for Mac OS X 10.6, or Snow Leopard, along with overall improved performance.

Filings with the U.S. Patent Office indicate that Apple is working on its own social networking service dubbed iGroups. The service looks to be designed for iPhone and MobileMe users, and will let friends find each other when they are near each other at events like conferences, expos and concerts.

Palm’s stock value is dropping, and today TMO readers are talking about which companies might be lining up to snatch up the company’s assets and patent portfolio.

India’s Bharti Airtel will be joining the ranks of iPhone 3GS distributors now that it has finalized a deal with Apple. The mobile phone service provider is the largest in the country, and has submitted a bid to participate in India’s 3G bandwidth auction.

Apple’s iPad will miss the promised March release window by three days, and some reports claim Wintek, the tablet’s touch screen supplier, is behind the delay.

Apple is allegedly working on a 27-inch version of its LED Cinema Display, along with a 12-core Mac Pro Upgrade. Based on anonymous insider reports, the new gear could arrive some time in June, according to AppleInsider.

Zevrix Solutions announced the immediate availability of File Courier 1.5 for Mac OS X on Friday. The update for the file transfer utility added support for sending multiple files, added file queue support, and improved the user interface.

Apple on Thursday updated Logic Pro to version 9.1.1, delivering a variety of stability improvements and addressing various compatibility issues, including compatibility with Novation’s Automap feature and Euphonix Eucon protocol in 64-bit mode. System requirements were also updated: 32-bit mode now requires Mac OS X version 10.5.7 and 64-bit mode requires version 10.6.2.

As the iPad launch looms, Apple is in last-minute negotiations release with media companies regarding its price cut for TV shows but has temporarily set aside digital distribution deals with newspapers, magazines, and textbook publishers, according to sources cited by the Wall Street Journal.

Macgamestore has announced that next week it will release the Mac version of Ubisoft’s strategy game Settlers 7: Paths to a Kingdom. Players build a kingdom full of towns, villages, and production settlers, making critical decisions about how to best expand their realm while taking on ruthless kings, forbidding lords, and dark knights.

Bundle Box, an import service that lets customers order and import goods from the US, has had to temporarily halt iPad pre-orders to give it time to process the flurry of purchases from the UK. Bundle Box registers free US postal addresses for its customers so they can place orders through US retailers, such as the US online store at apple.com.

Wang Jianzhou, CEO of China Mobile, said at a news conference on Thursday that his company would like to offer the iPad, as well as a version of the iPhone 3G that supports alternate 3G mobile technology. Apple sells the iPhone in that country through China Unicom, which uses a compatible 3G network.

Future Apple hardware could have miniature projectors – known as pico projectors – built in, if a recent patent filing is any indication. According to Patently Apple, preliminary R&D work on the technology began in June 2009, and now the company is expanding the technology into different types of systems, such as integration with a dedicated projection remote control or use as a client device, like an iPhone.

Apple Director Jerome York passed away on Thursday after suffering from an aneurysm. Mr. York had been hospitalized on Wednesday, and at the time was said to be unresponsive and gravely ill.

Speaking recently in an interview on Fox Business Channel, News Corporation chairman Rupert Murdoch had this to say about the latest product to come out of Cupertino: “All media is going to go into the iPad, whether it’s music, or books, or newspapers, or movies, you’ll be able to get on your iPad. It will be pretty small to start with.”

Apple has several new workshops for kids that it’s planning to offer through its own retail locations. The Apple Web site is now highlighting learning programs geared towards families and schools, along with the upcoming Apple Camp summer workshops.

STM announced the immediate availability of its glove sleeve for laptops and Apple’s iPad in five new colors on Thursday. The new colors for the neoprene sleeve include black, burgundy, magenta, teal and orange.

With the South by Southwest Music festival officially underway, Dave Hamilton shares his tips and experiences from previous years to help you make the absolute most out of this annual event.

app4mac announced the immediate availability of CheckUp 2.6 on Thursday. The update for the Mac OS X system maintenance application improved support for Macs with Intel Core i5 and Core i7 processors, and added support for the company’s CheckUp Remote application.

iPhone and ipod touch app developers now have more control over the prices the set at Apple’s App Store thanks to the addition of price change scheduling. Apple added the feature to iTunes Connect, so developers can automate single or multiple price changes.

Mobile phone maker HTC publicly announced that it is ready to “fully defend itself” over allegations that it has infringed on iPhone-related patents owned by Apple. The company found itself on the wrong end of a lawsuit with Apple at the beginning of March for accusations that it was infringing on 20 different patents the Mac and iPhone maker owns.

Amazon released a public beta version of its Kindle ebook reader application for Mac OS X late on Wednesday. The application lets users read Kindle-compatible ebooks, and synchronizes bookmarks and last page read information with their Kindle and the Kindle app for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad.

Apple Director Jerome York was hospitalized on Wednesday after suffering a burst brain aneurysm.

Dave’s in Austin for SXSW, but your geeks brave the hotel bandwidth and bring you this episode of the Mac Geek Gab. Topics include Time Machine, measuring network performance, and more! Don’t miss it.

CNET this week released a list of 20 mobile phones with the highest radiation levels, and Apple’s iPhone was not among them. Topping the list was Motorola’s V195 flip phone, which emits 1.6 SAR (Specific Absorption Rate), followed by the company’s Zine ZN5, at 1.59 SAR.

There are plenty of articles floating around that advise one to wait on the iPad, not buy one sight unseen, or not buy one at all - especially of you already have a Mac and an iPhone.  I believe that’s nonsense.  Here’s why.

A new comedy series, “iCon,” will “attempt to do nothing less than a modern ‘Citizen Kane,’” according to director Larry Charles, who is best known for his involvement with the show “Seinfeld” and the movies “Borat” and “Brüno.” Dan Lyons, who rose to prominence for his fake Steve Jobs blog, will be the writer, and the show will air on the cable channel Epix.

Aspyr Media on Wednesday released Civilization III: Complete for Mac at its GameAgent digital download site, while Ludosity Interactive announced the release of the physics-based puzzle adventure game Bob Came in Pieces for Mac.

There was a time, back in 2007, when advertisers’ eyes glazed over with the thought of being front and center on everyone’s smartphone.  Consultants told them that this was the next big wave, “The Third screen.”  But they were slow to act, develop standards and learn new technologies. As a result, adverting on the smartphone, especially the iPhone, has taken a new twist, mostly controlled by phone specific apps. Our worst fears have not come to pass, thanks to Apple.

While the bare essentials of Apple’s surprising iPad Battery Replacement Program are clearly stated, a number of questions remain unanswered. I attempt to fill in the gaps.

Analyst Robert Cihra of Caris & Company on Wednesday issued a research note in which he said that not only will desktop PC sales finally shrug off two years of doldrums this year and eke out three percent growth compared to 2009, but Apple’s iMac will fuel 25 percent of that sales increase.

In May, Apple will end the sale of screen films for iPhones, iPods and Macs at its retail and online stores, including films that are included with cases or other accessories. iLounge confirmed that news with several vendors, one of whom speculated that the move was a marketing decision to eliminate the idea that consumers need screen protection. Apple did not respond to a request for comment.

MacUpdate introduced a special spring application bundle discount on Wednesday. The bundle is available through March 31, 2010, and includes Parallels Desktop 5, Spell Catcher, and more.

The mobile app market for devices such as Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android platform is already growing fast, but could expand even faster over the next two years as more consumers join the smartphone party.

Apple’s MacBook Pro hasn’t seen a significant update since mid 2009. Today TMO readers are talking about when they think new models will roll out of Cupertino.

Apple added new social networking and iPhone features to its iWork.com public beta on Thursday. Users can now share links to their documents via social networking services, iPhone and iPod touch users now have an updated interface for accessing documents on the go, and iPad users can download iWork documents, too.

Rumors that new Mac Pro, MacBook Pro and MacBook Air models are on the way got a boost thanks to ads that appeared in Australia. PC Authority apparently displayed ads showing prices for Apple’s portable and tower computers that are higher than the current list pricing, leading to speculation that new models are on the way, and that they’ll cost more than the computers they replace.

Navigon announced the immediate availability of MyRegion for the iPhone on Wednesday. MyRegion is a turn-by-turn GPS navigation app with built-in maps for specific regions in the United States.

Konami on Tuesday led a slew of new games at the App Store with Frogger Inferno (US$0.99), an update to the arcade classic in which the main character leaves a trail of fire behind him as he tries to cross busy freeways; the flames keep him from doubling back. Facebook Connect integration lets players post their high scores to the Frogger Leader Board.

Research firm Flurry on Tuesday reported its estimate of sales of the Google Nexus One smartphone through its first 74 days of availability, finding that it has lagged far behind the iPhone and the Motorola Droid with 135,000 units in circulation, compared to one million iPhones and 1.05 million Droids. However, Google brought the Nexus One to AT&T the same day; availability on another carrier (it launched on T-Mobile) could help boost those sales.

Rap recording artist Sean “P. Diddy” Combs’ diamond-studded iPod (of the HP variety) may soon have a new companion: Mervis is offering on its web site a diamond-bordered iPad. The price is a cool US$19,999, and orders will ship on June 1.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs emphasized the iPad’s capabilities as an e-book reader when he unveiled the device in late January, but its usefulness for carrying around electronic textbooks remains debatable, according to analysts interviewed by Computerworld.

Software developer Tim Bray, who co-edited the XML specifications in the late 90s and was most recently the Director of Web Technologies at Sun, on Monday published a lengthy blog post explaining he accepted a job at Google and why he hates Apple’s handling of the iPhone and the App Store.

Nancy Carroll Gravley tested a unique mouse specifically designed to reduce complaints of, and the risk of, Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI): The HandShoeMouse. She thinks it is worth both the unusual look and the price.

During a recent Twitter chat, a Blizzard representative revealed that the Mac version of the Starcraft II Beta “will be available in April, when it’s ready.” The publisher is also planning a major content patch for the game in mid-April “to enable some basic achievements and improved voice chat, 3x3 and 4x4 maps, among other unidentified features.”

Research firm Flurry, which provides analytics to mobile software developers, this week said that new iPhone OS application starts jumped 185 percent in January and February, compared to last August through December. “The January spike represented the single largest spike in Flurry history,” Peter Farago wrote in a blog post.

PayPal released a new version of its iPhone and iPod touch payment app on Tuesday that adds the ability to transfer payments by “bumping” the devices together.

Apple’s crop of recent hires includes Richard DeVaul, founder and president of AWare Technologies. Mr. DeVaul is known for his work in wearable technology, and will be taking on the title of Senior Prototype Engineer at Apple.

Selznick Scientific Software announced the immediate availability of PasswordWallet 4.5 on Tuesday. The update for the password management application added the ability to sync data between your Mac, iPhone, and MobileMe.

Apple’s iPad is available for pre-order now, and will ship on April 3. Today TMO readers are talking about where they see the iPad fitting in, and which markets it will chip away at.

Current broadband speeds in the U.S. average about 4Mbps, but that isn’t fast enough for the Federal Communications Commission. The agency wants to see 100Mbps speeds, and it wants broadband in every U.S. home by 2020, according to the BBC.

Apple’s iPad is set to ship on April 3, but some of its accessories won’t make it in time for the launch party. Only the iPad Dock and VGA adapter will be available on the 3rd, and some accessories have been delayed into May.

Xeric Design announced the immediate availability of EarthDesk 5.3 on Tuesday. The update for the real-time Earth Desktop image application improved Mac OS X 10.6 screen saver compatibility.

The latest retail sales data from the NPD Group show that Mac sales in February jumped 43 percent year-over-year, coming on the heels of a 36 percent increase in January. Those results led Piper Jaffray anlyst Gene Munster to estimate sales of 2.8 to 2.9 million Macs this quarter, according to AppleInsider.

Almost 10,000 Microsoft employees used iPhones to access the company’s email system last year, according to two people who told the Wall Street Journal that they heard the estimate from senior executives. That’s approximately 10 percent of Microsoft’s global workforce, and it doesn’t take into account employees who have iPhones but don’t access their Microsoft email with their devices.

Tim Cook, Apple’s COO and temporary CEO for six months while Steve Jobs received a liver transplant, was awarded US$5 million and 75,000 share options last week. The total would be $22 million at Apple’s current stock price, noted The Register.

Investor Village’s AAPL Sanity board, which requires a subscription to view its content, on Monday noted that iPad pre-orders dropped from an estimated 25,000 per hour on Friday, the first day of availability, to around 1,000 per hour over the weekend. For the three-day period, the cumulative total was estimated at 152,000.

Apple was in the process of 1) crushing a 16 year old Canadian boy and his family over a Domain Name dispute, 2) hiding code in a recommended G3 ROM update that took control of the Mac away from the customer. Here’s how I called it at Macopinion.com in October, 1999.

As Apple’s relationship with Google has soured in recent months, the situation has become so acrimonious that one unnamed Silicon Valley investor, described as “well-connected,” has observed: “It’s World War III. Amazing animosity is motivating two of the most powerful people in the industry, [Apple CEO Steve Jobs and Google CEO Eric Schmidt]. This is emotional. This is the biggest ego battle in history. It’s incendiary.”

Apple CEO Steve Jobs has been wound up in a multi-year battle to tear down a mansion in California, and a judge has finally given him the go ahead so he can apply for a demolition permit. Mr. Jobs has been trying to get a demolition permit since 2001 so he can build a new house on the property, but a historical preservation group has been fighting to save the structure.

John F. Braun check out Growl, a notification manager that lets you know what your applications are up to.

Today TMO readers are discussing network-based data backup strategies and issues in the Mac Geek Gab Squad Support forum. Hop in and share your ideas and problems.

PA Semi founder and CEO, Dan Dobberpuhl, has apparently left Apple to join a Silicon Valley startup company founded by other former PA Semi employees. PA Semi is a chip design company that Apple purchased in 2008.

Since the iPad ships with a battery that isn’t user replaceable, potential customers have been asking how Apple will deal with dead batteries. The answer: Apple will send you a replacement iPad.

Nicolas Seriot and Anton Anton announced the immediate availability of TweetyShow 1.0 for the iPhone and iPod touch on Monday. TweetyShow is an app that shows photos as they’re posted to Twitter in real time.

Vern peeps out EveryTrail, The Amateur Traveler Podcast, French 24/7 Tutor and much more this week in Free on iTunes.