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.

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.

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.

Apple has denied U.S. Justice Department claims that it colluded with publishers to artificially raise ebook prices and is saying the companies had independently decided they wanted to break Amazon's stronghold on the market ahead of iBookstore negotiations. The company said it ultimately negotiated individually with publishers to strike content deals through what it called hardline talks.

Jeff Gamet, The Mac Observer's Managing Editor, joined the team at The Mac Show to talk about more about Adobe's licensing changes and Creative Cloud, as well as what may be in store for Apple's World Wide Developer Conference this year.

How much is an hour with Apple CEO Tim Cook worth? Roughly a 2013 Lamborghini Aventador judging by the final results from a CharityBuzz charity auction. That auction closed Tuesday at US$610,000, tying CharityBuzz's previous record for the above-mentioned super car.

Apple released iMovie 9.0.9 for Mac on Tuesday. The update improves support for importing projects from iMovie for iOS. It also includes a bug fix and unspecified stability improvements.