The Chicago Sun-Times, one of the oldest daily newspapers in America, fired its entire pool of 28 photographers on Friday, and plans to source future graphics from reporters who will be trained to capture print-worthy images with their iPhones.  ...

Wanna be a star, or would you rather just stalk one? Vern Seward points you to Hang W/ so you can do either with ease in this week's Free on iTunes.

Apple’s brought on engineers to help its image(s), the Mac Pro appears to be heading towards the big tech graveyard, and might more targeted ads be in Cupertino’s (and our) future? Viewer discretion is advised for the remainders for Friday, May 31, 2013.

More Details on Apple’s New Orlando ‘GPU Design Center’ (MacRumors)

Apple has reportedly opened an office in Florida focused around developing graphic processors and staffed largely by engineers recruited from AMD (which bought graphics firm ATI in 2006). So much for my hope that we’d see a bigger focus on text adventures on Apple platforms!

Mac Pro Retail Supplies Drying Up Ahead of WWDC (MacTrast)
...

Readers ask about attaching multiple drives to a Time Capsule, managing photos in both iPhoto and the Finder, and dealing with black MacBook screens.

In a rare move, Apple has notified developers working on the forthcoming OS X 10.8.4 update that it is closing down the seeding of new betas, essentially signalling that release of the update is likely to come next week. In the message, the company explains that scheduled maintenance on its Software Update project requires it to close existing projects and that the system for developer updates will be down from today, Friday the 31st. Apple also took a moment in the message to thank developers for their efforts in helping finalize the software.... ...

The Dutch Supreme Court this week ruled that Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1 doesn't infringe upon the design elements of Apple's iPad, thus throwing more water on Apple's efforts to get Samsung's tablet off of store shelves in the Netherlands.

ComputerWorld reports that while Apple's design patents for the iPad were held to be valid, the fact that a number of previous products implemented similar design elements limits the extent to which Apple can successfully persuade a court to issue an injunction.

According to Apple, Samsung infringed on the registration of a so-called community design, a form of intellectual property right available in the E.U. that allows businesses to prevent others from copying the outward appearance of their products. The design Apple registered in 2004 shows a rudimentary version of the iPad.

......

Sonic Port delivers inspiring guitar tones and best-in-class audio quality on your iPod touch, iPhone and iPad. Jam with the tones of your favorite artists, connect keyboards and speakers to create your mobile recording studio, or plug into your amp and play live. Every time, Sonic Port gives you pro-quality sound with GarageBand, Line 6 Mobile POD, Jammit and other CoreAudio music apps.

This looks incredible. I’m getting one.
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 May 31, 2013 3:04:00 PM PDTThe problem with Google Spreadsheets should be resolved. We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience and continued support. May 31, 2013 2:56:00 PM PDTOur team is continuing to investigate this issue. We will provide an update by May 31, 2013 3:56:00 PM PDT with more information about this problem. Thank you for your patience.This issue is specific to Google Spreadsheets, not Google Drive as previously stated.

Reflow bills itself as "music notation for the rest of us" and I have to say the app packs a punch for musicians and students of music. Reflow's notation software has a lot of great drag-and-drop functionality for quickly building compositions, and takes away some drudgery from the process. Plus, it features iCloud sync so you can quickly take your Mac work on the go via iPad or iPhone/iPod touch.

Here's creator Sébastien Bourgeois telling me how Reflow came to be in this week's Origin Stories (recorded in October, 2012 at MacTech conference).

Origin Stories: Reflow originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 31 May 2013 17:00:00 EST. Please see our ...

This year's WWDC is just around the corner, so we're all wondering what -- if any -- new products Apple might reveal at the event. If Apple's inventory at a number of different retailers is any hint, we might be looking at a new Mac Pro sometime in the near future. J. Glenn Künzler over at MacTrast did a little bit of sleuthing and checked the stocks of a dozen major Apple sellers, from Apple's website and retails stores to major websites like Amazon.

His search discovered a majority of the stores he examined were either out of stock of the 2012 Mac Pro or were running low on inventory. Apple officially stopped selling the Mac Pro in Europe on March 1 of this year...

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Apple has updated its Apple Certified Macintosh Technician (ACMT) program for people aiming to service products under AppleCare warranties. Under the new terms, beginning on June 23rd, Apple says it should easier to both get and maintain certification. Technicians will no longer need to be recertified every year, and all exams will be available online, instead of forcing people to go to testing centers. When a test is done at a center, exam proctors will no longer be required....  ...

Given the complexity of the high technology marketplace, changing demographics, new technologies, cutthroat competitors, and product design and positioning, it's a miracle that a CEO and his or her executive team can build and maintain a profitable, admired company. This week's Particle Debris looks at how difficult that really is.

Slash is incredible.

The latest edition of iLounge Weekly, our weekly newsletter covering all things iLounge, will be arriving in subscribers’ inboxes early next week. iLounge Weekly is a summary of the week’s best news, reviews, and feature articles we’ve published, and it also features giveaways and accessory discount offers from various companies.…

Here are some tips and tricks to keeping your Mac running at its optimal speed.

The last Reality Absorption Field discussed how most of the big names in the PC industry tried to take on the iPod and the fates of their eventual efforts. This week's column will look at PC peripherals companies and how the consumer electronics giants reacted, while next week's final installment will finish a look at the CE companies as well as discuss some of the pure plays that competed with the iPod.

PC Peripherals Companies

Diamond Multimedia and Creative. For many years, these two companies were two of Apple's most tenacious competitors. Diamond Multimedia, primarily known for its video cards, introduced the Rio PMP300 that opened many people's eyes to the promise of MP3. It also bore the brunt of the labels' wrath, which sued it into bankruptcy. However, the Rio name would resurface under the SonicBlue.brand (I was particularly fond of the microdrive-based iPod...

PearlMountain has launched a new version of its software for creating personal picture collages. Picture Collage Maker for Mac provides users with the necessary tools for creating collages, including more than 140 templates for making calendars, greeting cards, and scrapbooks. Version 2.0 introduces a number of new features, including smart photo and text effects, borders with rounded corners, and the ability to share collages directly on Facebook. While the ability to add text is not new, v2.0 does expand the functionality by providing users with new effects such as glow and stroke. Picture C... ...

Intel pushed back on Friday against allegations that it was the company's own policies that have hindered the wider adoption of Thunderbolt beyond Apple's Mac lineup, with the chipmaker saying that until now it has been more focused on the quality of its partners' devices, rather than quantity.  ...

The former AMD people Apple has hired for its Orlando Design Center were actively targeted for recruitment, and primarily through their LinkedIn profiles, MacRumors sources say. Apple reportedly discovered that many of AMD's 3D graphics patents were issued from Orlando offices, and hence concentrated hiring efforts on the city. AMD has posted job listings hoping to fill the recent vacancies....  ...

Apple's new graphics chip development facility in Central Florida features the Intrinsity team that was acquired years ago, as well as newly recruited employees from AMD, according to a new report.  ...

According to Apple, Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet infringes on the look and feel, or so-called “community design,” of its iPad. But according to the Supreme Court of Netherlands, it does not. And in a Friday ruling, it dismissed Apple’s appeal for a preliminary injunction against the sales of Galaxy Tab 10.1, saying its design rights are too limited in scope to justify such an action. Apple declined a request for comment.

Beautifies your CSS automatically so that it is consistent and easy to read.

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This week in the MacNN forums, members try to help "Geoff" figure out why it appears as if the screen is dimming when using Windows 7 on a Mac Pro. For helpful tips on how to use the iPad, check out the sticky thread titled "iPad tips" started by Clinically Insane member "subego."...   ...

Currently, JR.com has the Mac mini with OS X Server priced at $935. That's $64 off the list price of $999, and about $5 less than the lowest price offered on this Mac anywhere else. Free shipping is included, but sales tax applies for residents of New York. The Mac mini features a 2.3GHz Intel quad-core i7 processor, 4GB of RAM and dual 1TB hard drives. A one-year warranty on parts and labor is also included from Apple....  ...

Erich Huang and the team at Just Mobile don't seem to be getting any rest these days. The company is well-known for its line of well built aluminum accessories for Apple products, and it was only about a month ago that TUAW reviewed the HeadStand headphone stand, AluCup dock for iPhone, and the AluFrame iPhone 5 bumper. Today the company announced two new products -- the AluPocket for iPhone (US$29.95) and AluDisc ($69.95).

The AluPocket (see image above) is a stylish aluminum and plastic wall mount for iPhone that attaches to a wall using 3M glue-free tape. At the bottom of the round pocket-shaped mount is a recess for a Lightning or 30-pin connector, and the front of the AluPocket has a vertical slot into which a charging cable can be placed.

The AluDisc is a new take on an old idea -- years ago, I...

Aspyr has announced that its port of the classic Star Wars RPG, Knights of the Old Republic, is now available for the iPad. First released 10 years ago, KOTOR puts players in the role of a young Jedi Knight and gives them the freedom to choose between the light and dark sides of the Force. Throughout the game players travel through a number of iconic locations, including Tatooine and Kashyyk, and can build a party from a selection of nine customizable characters. The iPad port includes a streamlined interface that has been designed for touchscreen play, and requires at least an iPad 2 to run.... ...

The Dutch Supreme Court has ruled that the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 doesn't infringe on the design of the Apple iPad, according to reports. Although Apple does hold a European design patent, the Court has limited the applicability of the patent based on prior art. The iPad has predecessors, such as a Knight Ridder concept tablet dating back well over a decade before Apple's product was released. The iPad may have a "unique character," the court adds, but the Galaxy Tab is sufficiently different that an informed person can tell.... ...

Musyc from FingerLab isn't your standard music-making app. There's no fretboard, no keyboard, or synthesizer interface. There is just a bunch of lines and shapes. I was doubtful when I first downloaded the app, but I was pleasantly surprised to discover that Musyc is a blast.

Musyc allows you to draw lines on a canvas, select shapes that make sounds and start making music. You drop the shapes on the line and they bounce to create a rhythmic sound. Each shape has a different sound and a different beat. Add a few circles, throw in a triangle and you've got a basic rhythm. You can create multiple lines and bounce the shapes from line to line to change their pattern of bouncing. Shapes can even bounce into each other to make even more sounds. Once a shape bounces off the end of a line, it falls down the screen and disappears.

As you can imagine, you can build an...

Rene Ritchie:

With these latest commercials, Microsoft shows they’re no closer to learning that lesson today than they were back with Bill Gates and the Tablet PC. They’re still mired in Windows and in Office. They’re so afraid of letting go of past success that they’ll take future failure instead. They’ll refuse to compromise on anything other than making the user experience horribly, needlessly, compromised.

That pretty much says it all.
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As physician practices and hospitals are increasingly required to bring their operations into the present with digitized records, Apple's iPad is the device of choice when it comes to doctors interacting with health records, a new study shows.  ...

Your smartphone is an incredibly powerful computer that fits inside your pocket.
So, what happens when you put that technology on even smaller devices, like glasses, watches and other stuff you wear?
We’re starting to see a glimpse of that future now, with the first iteration of Google Glass. And the notion of what’s to come seemed to captivate many of the speakers and attendees at our D: All Things Digital conference — even if most of them weren’t wearing Glass during the event.
Here’s a compilation reel of D11 speakers talking about wearable computers, and what they do and don’t intend to do with them in the next few years. The list includes:

• Apple CEO Tim Cook
• Kleiner Perkins’s Mary Meeker
• Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg
• Disney Parks head Tom Staggs
• Twitter...

A question has come up about Apple's ability to inspire our dreams. Apple doesn't seem to be sharing its vision for the future right now. Has Google usurped that role? That idea is all wrong. Apple shares its dream when the product ships.  John Martellaro explains.

We’ve got our hands on the new, stripped-down $229 16GB iPod touch. The new edition lacks the rear iSight camera and loop wrist strap found on the 32GB and 64GB models. We have pictures of the new device and our initial thoughts in our original fifth-generation…

Apple is planning to launch an ad exchange, a Business Insider source claims. The person is described as "an executive who is one of the biggest players in online advertising." Business Insider cautions, though, that it can't confirm the plans, and that two other sources say they haven't heard anything about an exchange....   ...

Pioneer has announced the XDJ-R1 ($899), an all-in-one DJ system using wireless control functionality through an iOS app. The app lets users continue music mixing performances even while away from the system by allowing access to many of the system’s functions. …

By Mr. S
Tycoon… What is a Tycoon? Websters defines a Tycoon as “A top leader (as in politics) or a businessman of exceptional wealth and power”. So basically a capitalist that can make something out of nothing. A leader of men and a maker of things.
At some point we have all said to ourselves “I would do a much better job if I was in charge, gob smack it!” and that’s the basis of attraction for “Tycoon” games. They put you in charge and say “Here ya go, sonny! Make it happen or lose it all! It’s up to you!”. This is where Game Dev Tycoon falters big time and it’s heartbreaking considering the amount of love that went into its creation.
But more on why I don’t like it later. Lets talk about the things it does right.
Starting off in the garage of your mystery house you start the journey of a fledgling game designer from the golden era of video games, the 70’s. Like the legendary game designers from that period, you start on your Commodore 64 or PC, pumping...

A photo of an alleged front panel for Apple’s fifth-generation iPad has leaked on Apple.pro. The picture shows what appears to be a smaller front panel — the left and right bezel are nearly eliminated, and the areas above and below the screen also appear to be reduced in…

With Intel largely absent from the current booming smartphone and tablet markets, the chipmaker has reportedly secured a deal with Samsung to power one of the company's upcoming 10-inch Android tablets.  ...

Chinese-language site Apple.pro says it has obtained a photo of a front panel for the upcoming fifth-generation iPad. The part mostly resembles panels for previous iPads, except for sporting a thinner bezel on the sides, mimicking the design of the iPad mini. Such a change could help Apple shrink both the size and the weight of a fifth-gen tablet....  ...

Apple has raised its prices for the iPad and iPod in Japan in response to a weaker yen, according to a report. For instance, the 16 GB Wi-Fi iPad now sells for 49,800 yen ($493), an increase of about $70. The iPod shuffle increased roughly the equivalent of $6. “We…

If you enjoyed this week's roundup of iPhone cases, check out the previous edition, Caped Crusader.

Apple has raised iPad and iPod prices in Japan, placing the blame on the weak yen. As reported by Japan's NHK, the iPad and iPod are the only devices that have received the quiet price jump.

AppleInsider compared cached versions of the Apple's Japanese online store and found the 16 GB iPad selling for 49,800 yen, vs. 42,800 yen from last April. As of this writing, that reflects a change of approximately $70 difference. Similarly, the iPad mini is selling for 32,800 yen vs. 28,800 yen last April.

Apple spokesman Takashi Takabayashi told Bloomberg, "We made some pricing adjustments due to changes in foreign exchange rates."Apple raises iPad, iPod prices in Japan originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial...

Adding to speculation that Apple is preparing the next generation of its iPad tablet computer, a new image has emerged that shows what looks to be a full-size fifth-generation iPad's front panel, again showing design cues taken from the iPad mini.  ...

Pour one out for Camino. The Mac-only browser, born a decade ago, is no longer under active development.

Camino was a free, open-source browser for the Mac, built on Mozilla’s Gecko engine. Unlike other Mozilla-based browsers of its era, Camino featured a totally native OS X interface from day one. By contrast, Firefox has long used a cross-platform interface markup language, which to this day makes some Mac users feel that the app isn’t quite “Mac-like.”

First launched in February 2002 as Chimera, Camino started as a project within Netscape; it was originally created by Dave Hyatt, who went on to join Apple’s Safari team later that year, where he remains today. (Hyatt also co-created Firefox.) Legal considerations later forced the name change to Camino.

One of the Chimera/Camino project’s co-founders was Mike Pinkerton, who became the project’s lead when Hyatt left for Apple. Pinkerton later moved onto Google, where he...

Adobe has heard the complaints about the subscription-only Creative Cloud, and says it will address them. Josh Centers has the details. Read the full article at TidBITS, the oldest continuously published technology publication on the Internet. To get a full-text RSS feed, help support our work and become a TidBITS member! Members also enjoy an ad-free version of our Web site, email delivery of individual articles, the ability to make long comments with live links, and discounts on Take Control orders and other Apple-related products.

ASUS today revealed that it will launch a 31.5-inch 4k monitor late next month, its 3840×2160 pixels allowing four 1080p HD videos to display full-size on the same screen without overlap. A 4k monitor in such a small package is made possible by using an IGZO panel, whose smaller transistors enable greater pixel density, and is likely to be in the same league (and possibly from the same manufacturer) as the 32-inch Sharp panel we saw at CES.
However, don’t rush out to buy one just yet: it’s unlikely that even a top-spec Mac from today’s line-up would be able to drive the resolution at a decent frame-rate. But the next-generation of Haswell-powered Macs almost certainly will. Indeed, as we mentioned...

Because she spends approximately 23 percent of her time clicking aimlessly around on her Mac, Melissa Holt finds some useful stuff, and this tip is no exception. Want to map an address or start a Skype call right from your Contacts program? Well, you can, and we're gonna tell you how—no aimless clicking required.

After more than 11 years, development on the open-source Camino Web browser has ended. Back in the dark ages of Mac OS X, before Safari and Chrome, the Camino Project was established to graft a Mac-native interface onto Mozilla’s Gecko rendering engine. Many of Camino’s developers were later hired by Apple and Google to work on their respective browsers. Web browsing on Mac OS X wouldn’t be what it is today without Camino, and for that, we thank them, salute them, and wish them the best in whatever they do next. Read the full article at TidBITS, the oldest continuously published technology publication on the Internet. To get a full-text RSS feed, help support our work and become a TidBITS member! Members also enjoy an ad-free version of our Web site, email delivery of individual articles, the ability to make long comments with live links, and discounts on Take Control orders and...