Penguin is a step closer to ending its headaches over ebook price fixing allegations now that the publisher has agreed to a US$75 million settlement with states and consumers. The proposed settlement is part of a deal in a lawsuit that claims the company colluded with other publishers and Apple to artificially raise the price of ebooks.

The Mac Observer Spin: Spending $75 million to end this civil anti-competition case on top of the settlement Penguin agreed to last year in the DOJ case is a lot of money, which means the publisher was probably facing the prospect of even higher penalties if it lost in court. Ouch.

You've heard about the phablets, notably the Samsung Galaxy Note II with a 5.5 inch display, running Android. Unfortunately, not all of the writing about the device, and phablets in general, has been phabulous.  Here is an in-depth, no holds barred, technical analysis and detailed review of the Galaxy Note II by John Martellaro. It may not be what you were expecting.  

Jeff Gamet, The Mac Observer's Managing Editor joined MacVoices host Chuck Joiner to discuss Apple CEO Tim Cook's testimony in a U.S. Senate hearing on corporate taxes, and accusations that the company has been sheltering revenue to avoid tax payments.

Following a U. S. Senate hearing where lawmakers suggested Apple is sheltering revenue from taxes by using a subsidiary company in Ireland, the country is saying the real issue is that companies are working the system across borders and that international cooperation is needed to make real changes. Ireland's government is right, but some of that change needs to happen in the U.S., and there isn't any guarantee politicians want to take on that fight with corporations.

Getting frustrated with that red "archive" button when you try to delete a message on your iOS device? Melissa Holt is here to report that there's a trick to select whether you want to archive or delete each message, and you can also turn off the archiving feature entirely. Hooray! She also reports that she likes pie, which is somewhat less relevant.

Apple CEO Tim Cook and CFO Peter Oppenheimer had a straight-forward and direct message for a Senate subcommittee questioning the company about its tax practices: we comply fully the law, we don't hide profits from the U.S., and if you don't like what we're doing, change the law. Note that in this analysis, Bryan Chaffin discusses the politics of the situation.

I've been wrestling with the right way to put this for weeks. There was something about Samsung that's been bugging me since the bizarro world GS4 media event, but I couldn't put my finger on it. Yesterday's news about the  Samsung Smart App Challenge 2013 helped crystallize it for me—Samsung has delusions of relevance.

Native Instruments (NI) announced the release of Abbey Road 50s Drummer, a collection of samples of two classic drum kits popular in the 1950s and recorded inside the famous Abbey Road studios. Built for NI's Kontakt engine, the samples also include templates that allow them to be used as MIDI instruments, with electronic drum kits, and with various software packages. This collection was sampled using a combination of current state-of-the-art equipment and vintage gear. All of the Abbey Road collections have been amazing, and the 50s Drummer collection joins 60s Drummer, 70s Drummer, 80s Drummer, Modern Drummer, and more. It's priced at US$99/€99 and is available now.

While Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Carl Levin (D-MI) are accusing Apple of using shelters in other countries to avoid paying U.S. taxes, Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) is accusing the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of bullying Apple. Senator Paul's comments came on Tuesday during a subcommittee hearing into corporate tax practices in Washington DC.

The Mac Observer Spin: If Apple is complying with the law, but you think the company should pay more taxes, it's time to change the law. Assuming Apple is in the right and hasn't violated any tax codes, Congress needs to look to itself for change and not big corporations.

AT&T has reversed its stance blocking FaceTime video chats over cell signals and will begin supporting that, along with all pre-loaded video chat apps, over LTE without any service plan restrictions before the end of the year. Currently, AT&T allows FaceTime video chats on its data network only for subscribers on shared family data plans.

The Mac Observer Spin: Better late than never, but AT&T should've had this policy in place from the beginning.

Jeff Gamet, The Mac Observer's Managing Editor, joined the team at The Mac Show to talk about Apple's tax payment practices and the U.S. Senate hearing where CEO Tim Cook will be testifying.

Google is still axing services, and this time it's Google Checkout that's on the execution block. The Internet search giant warned retailers they have until November to find a replacement for the feature, although some users can move to Google Wallet.

The Mac Observer Spin: This time Google already has an alternative in place for the service it's killing, but considering the number of services the company has killed off over the past few months, that probably isn't instilling much confidence in users.

As you have come to expect from your two favorite geeks, this show brought to you with real-time logistics: Dave flew in just in time to make the recording of the show, coordinating with John and prepping the agenda from the car while Dave's wife drove him straight to the studio. Good stuff in this show, too, as you'd expect with the kind of frantic energy that went into the prep! Download today (it's free, after all) and enjoy!

Apple's chain of retail stores continue to be the most profitable retail outlets in the world on a square-foot basis. According to Asymco, Apple hit yet another record in the March quarter for dollars-per-visitor, getting US$57.60 on average from the hordes of ravenous Apple fans that frequent Apple Stores.

The Mac Observer Spin: Looking at these charts, it's hard to fit the Apple-hater narrative that the company is on some kind of downhill trajectory. Maybe we just need more time, and then surely it will come to pass?

A Senate committee investigating U.S. corporate tax rates has accused Apple of using a global network of complex subsidiaries to avoid paying billions of dollars in U.S. taxes. The accusation represents a rare bipartisan front in the U.S. Senate, with both Democrat and Republican senators issuing statements in the accusation.

TMO cofounder and copublisher Bryan Chaffin will be speaking Monday evening at the monthly meeting of the Silicon Valley Macintosh User Group. Bryan will be talking about Apple, the high noise-to-signal ratio in coverage of the company, and what we might expect at June's World Wide Developer Conference.

Apple released the testimony CEO Tim Cook will submit to a Congressional hearing on Tuesday, including some of the details of a proposal to overhaul the U.S. corporate tax system. In a 16 page PDF, Apple asked that Congress eliminate all corporate tax loopholes, lower the corporate income tax rates, and to implement a "reasonable tax" on foreign earnings.

Everyone who's into theatrical movies knows the drill: what do I want to see next?  What have I already seen? What's available now in theaters? iTunes? What's coming out soon? Let's view the trailer. And so on. ToDoMovies is an iPhone app that manages all that beautifully, and it's a must for movie fans.  

Samsung is hoping to draw more developers to the Android OS platform and to spark interest in the Group Play feature on the Galaxy S4 smartphone with a contest that includes US$800,000 in prize money. Group Play lets Galaxy S4 users share content like photos, music and games, and for the feature to take off, Samsung needs some apps that actually take advantage of what it offers. Investing in a contest, however, probably isn't the best use of the company's money.

The team behind the social networking service App.net has a new app out called App.net Passport that gives users an easy all-in-one tool for managing their account on their iPhone. The app lets users create and edit accounts, find and follow other App.net users, and search for client apps. You can also use the app to sign up for a free-level App.net account. What it doesn't do is let you post to or read your App.net feed -- but that's on purpose, since App.net Passport is all about account management, not posting and reading. App.net Passport for iPhone is free and is available at Apple's iTunes-based App Store.

Rumors out of Taiwan claim Apple is currently testing 1.5-inch OLED displays from RITEK for its smartwatch device. That display will apparently be linked to RitFast sensors to make it touch-sensitive.

The Mac Observer Spin: If the iWatch is just an accessory to the iPhone or iPad, it doesn't make sense for Apple to release the product. Apple's primary product line is all about stand-alone devices that also happen to interact really well with other Apple gear.

Apple's Knox Street store in Dallas, Texas, was targeted by a thief over the weekend that made off with about US$2,000 in iPhones. The suspect walked into the store in the evening, grabbed several display iPhones, and ran out before anyone caught him.

The Mac Observer Spin: It seems the criminals are always on the hunt for iPhones, but never Samsung, HTC, or Motorola smartphones. How about that?

The Mac Observer's Managing Editor Jeff Gamet joined The BIG Show from the British Tech Network to take a look at Commander Chris Hadfield singing from space, along with the mayhem from Star Wars and Doctor Who fans fighting at a convention. Really.

Internet search company Yahoo! confirmed rumors on Monday with the announcement that it is purchasing the blogging site Tumblr in a US$1.1 billion deal. Yahoo! said Tumblr will continue to operate as an independent company and that it doesn't have any plans to "screw it up."

The Mac Observer Spin: Yahoo! says the deal is about enhancing user experiences for its users and Tumblr users. That may be the case, but it sure feels like a great way for Yahoo! to build a captive audience for advertising revenue tied to over 50 billion blog posts.

OS X looks great, but sometimes you need to give your Mac a little personality, or maybe you just need some quick visual cues for your folders files. Sandro Cuccia shows you how to engage in a fun, but Apple-sanctioned method for customizing your Mac desktop icons.

We hope you never need the apps Vern Seward looks at this week in Free on iTunes, but you'll be glad to have one if you are ever involved in an auto accident. Car Accident Report, Car Accident Sidekick, and Accident Wizard. Check it out.

Warner Music Group and Universal Music are both excited about Apple's planned streaming service, but Sony Music is apparently hung up on how much it gets paid for songs that are skipped. Bryan Chaffin is mystified by this kind of myopia and thinks that Sony needs to pull its corporate head out of its corporate behind.

Apple and Google are engaged in a fight for our technological souls. With a temporary lull in activity from Apple, it looks as if Google is winning the war. But really? What will determine the winner in the long run not simply new product announcements. It's something else. John Martellaro takes the 30,000 ft view.

The Pentagon approved Apple's iPhone and iPad for use on military networks Friday, a first for the Cupertino company. The U.S. Department of Defense approved Apple's mobile devices that run iOS 6, giving Apple the chance to play a greater role in future U.S. military information systems.

Love your Apple TV, but don't love all of the applications that come pre-installed? Then hide the ones you don't want, and enjoy a cleaner user interface! All you need is your Apple remote and a couple minutes of your time.

Science fiction TV shows and movies have given us some iconic space craft over the years, and Sci-Fi Airshow brings many of those together in virtual... well... airshow. The site includes shots of Space: 1999's Eagle transporter, the Jupiter 2 from Lost in Space, Battlestar Galactica Vipers, and more. Instead of just shots from the shows, however, Sci-Fi Airshow displays the craft as if they really exist and even has images of crowds checking them out. The images are great, and the pics include some fun historical information, too.

CW has struck a deal with Apple to bring its shows to the Apple TV. The network already offers its content through iPhone and iPad apps the day after it airs on television, but with the new deal CW will offer content through a native Apple TV app.

The Mac Observer Spin: CW coming to Apple TV sure looks like a hint at what Apple wants for its hobby set top box: Cable TV content with a viewer contract. If this works well for CW other networks will likely follow, and viewers will have even more excuses to cut the cable cord.

In this tip, we're going to dive into the new options available for the MiniPlayer under the just-released version of iTunes, including the lovely new album art view. Melissa Holt informs us that she listened to a lot of Pink Floyd while writing this tip, so it may turn out to be her grooviest yet, man.

Apple CEO Tim Cook will be using his time in a Congressional hearing to propose an overhaul to the U.S. corporate tax system. News that Mr. Cook would appear in the hearing broke early Thursday morning, but the leader of the world's richest corporation told The Washington Post that he will propose changes that make it easier for U.S. companies to bring profits back to the U.S. rather than holding them offshore.

myPhoneDesktop allows you to send data from your Mac, Windows, or Linux PC to your iPhone right from your desktop, allowing you to call phone numbers, open map routes, save images into your Photo album, etc. with your keyboard and mouse. Just select anything on your computer, drag it to the right edge of the screen, and drop it on the popup virtual iPhone. It does this with a combination of desktop client and iPhone app that communicate with each other. The desktop clients are free, and the iPhone app is US$4.99.

iLuv announced Thursday that it is shipping the Aud 5, the company's first Lightning speaker dock for iPhone 5. The device allows you to charge your iPhone 5 through a built-in Lightning dock, and you can play music through the dock, too. The Aud 5 also has a 3.5mm auxiliary input for playing music from other devices. It features four speakers and a passive radiator, and it's priced at U$149.

Apple released iTunes 11.0.3 on Thursday with several changes including a new album artwork view in the MiniPlayer. iTunes is Apple's media player and management app as well as the gateway to the company's music, video, movie, and iOS app stores.

Apple is on the move, or at least its San Francisco flagship store is. The company is moving the retail store from its current Market Street location about two blocks away to Union Square.

The Mac Observer Spin: Apple's San Francisco flagship store is already nine years old and is so popular it feels cramped. The move to Union Square means more square footage and most likely a boost for traffic in surrounding stores, too. This looks like a win for everyone.

Apple CEO Tim Cook has apparently been scheduled to testify before the United States Senate next Tuesday in an investigation into corporations moving funds into offshore accounts to reduce their tax liability. Mr. Cook will be speaking before the Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations and while Apple has an estimated US$100 billion outside the United States, the hearing isn't being used to charge the company with any wrongdoing.

The Mac Observer Spin: It's a safe bet that Apple made sure it isn't violating any tax laws before it started moving money outside of the United States, so the Senate subcommittee is most likely looking for information it can use to push for changes that make it easier for the government to take a cut of that cash.

Apple wrapped up its latest iOS App Store promotion on Wednesday when the 50 billionth app was downloaded, and Thursday morning the company announced the app thathit the major milestone was the free word guessing game Say the Same Thing. According to the company, iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users are downloading apps at more than 800 per second, or over 2 billion a month.

The Mac Observer Spin: It took five years to hit 50 billion App Store downloads. At the current download rate, Apple will hit 100 billion in about two years.

Apple's competitors have been busy, so this week Jeff and Bryan take a look at Google's just announced music streaming service, new online photo editing and storage features, updated Hangouts options, HTC's stumble with its Facebook Phone, and BlackBerry's decision to offer its Messenger service on the iPhone and Android devices.

Apple announced that its 50 billion download promotion is over, though the company has yet to announce the winner of the event. Announced on May 2nd, the App Store's home page now shows the simulator counter at 50 billion, and clicking through to that page offers the following image:

Google announced several new features to the company's products and services at Google I/O 2013, its annual developer conference. In addition to music streaming All Access service, Google announced enhancements to Google+ for sharing photos, Maps features, and a FaceTime competitor being rolled into Google Hangouts.

Google announced on Wednesday that it would be offering customers a version of Samsung's new Galaxy S4 (GS4) that has been stripped of Samsung's layered-on-top interface and other added software. At Google I/O 2013, the company's annual developer conference, Google said that it was "Google's take on Android"*, and that it would sell the device for US$649 direct to consumers.

Google tossed its hat into the online streaming music market on Wednesday with the introduction of its Google Play Music All Access at its annual Google I/O conference. The Internet search giant promised All Access will be available through smartphones and tablets as well as Web browsers, and includes features for searching music, building playlists, and streaming music like radio stations, and is squarely targeted at competing with services such as Pandora, Spotify, Rdio, and Rhapsody.

The Mac Observer Spin: Google may be the new kid in the streaming music game, but the company pulls a lot of weight. Pandora, Spotify, and every other online music subscription company's job just got a little harder, and if Apple is launching its own rumored service, the barrier for entry just got higher, too.

Mac Geek Gab cohost John F Braun joined the Not Another Mac Podcast team to talk about Adobe and Microsoft moving into software subscription models, and the glaring lack of iTunes on Windows 8.

Square's new stand does more than simply hold your iPad: Thanks to its built-in credit card reader the Square Stand turns your iPad into a complete payment station without the look of a clunky cash register or bland card reader. It works with Square's Register app so that's customizable for what you sell, and it works with the Square cash drawer, receipt printer and barcode scanner to make a complete POS terminal that looks sleek on your shop counter. Square Stand is priced at US$299 and should be on store shelves in July, but you can pre-oder from the company now.

The science fiction writer Robert Heinlein, in his legendary novel, "Stranger in a Strange Land," introduced the concept of the "Fair Witness." A Fair Witness was an expert observer with a perfect memory whose testimony in court was unimpeachable. When you think about it, that's what Google Glass offers.

I've long been a fan of the concept of a Network-attached Storage (NAS) drive, that being a device which attaches to your network and provides both storage and network-centric services beyond just simple file sharing. I've tried nearly everything out there, and it wasn't until I used the Synology DiskStation units that I finally felt someone got it right. Yes, they're "network attached storage" units, but they also easily provide additional services like an iTunes server, the ability to stream audio/video to dedicated iOS apps (even across the Internet), their own private cloud called Cloud Station (i.e. your own Dropbox), and more. In fact, third parties have created (unsupported) packages you can install to let your DiskStation become a Minecraft Server, a CrashPlan client and server, and much, much more. It's too cool, and I highly recommend these to everyone looking to add functionality to their existing network. Yesterday Synology added the DS1513+ to their line-up of DiskStation NAS units, and the DS1513+ has a few things that prosumers will find attractive. First is the 2GB of RAM that is (finally!) user-upgradable (to 4GB) – this makes running lots of packages feasible. It's also got a dual core processors, necessary for doing on-the-fly video transcoding, and more. The DS1513+ also has 4 Gigabit Ethernet ports (admittedly overkill for us home users), and the ability to expand beyond the five drive bays included. Cool Stuff Found, indeed!

Mac Geek Gab cohost Dave Hamilton joined the Mac Roundtable crew to talk about the the lull in Apple news, and what type of leadership the company needs.