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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
Vern Seward
Bryan Chaffin
John Martellaro
Nancy Gravley
