Wow. I don't think I've ever started any review with a "wow," much less an italicized wow, but here it is: That one word sums up my first impression of Silk -- Interactive Generative Art, an app for the iPad and iPhone. The app lets you create flowing, mirrored strands of silk-like lines of colored light. You do that simply by swiping, swishing, and dragging your finger. It's been around for a while, but after Apple highlighted it in the Entertainment section, it snagged a boost.

You’re going to see some changes in AppleCare this fall.
Per AppleInsider, in a town hall session held on Thursday, Apple informed tech staff that major changes to the AppleCare and AppleCare+ service programs will be enacted starting this fall, with a broadening of current policies likely to cut costs and make the service more attractive to consumers.
The town hall session was led by Apple Vice President Tara Bunch, who revealed a set of after-sales policy shifts would soon be rolling out across the U.S., and eventually the world, with many of the changes referred to under the “One Apple” brand, said a source close to the story. While Bunch was referred to as Vice President of AppleCare, AppleInsider cannot confirm this assertion....

Here's John and Dave, on a warm, Sunday evening, doing what they love to do: answering your questions, sharing their tips, and gabbing with you about all things Mac, Apple, and otherwise fun. Join them, would you? It's free! Just download, press play, and enjoy!

Tonight's the night for another edition of everybody's favorite live podcast (next to TUAW TV Live, of course), the TUAW Talkcast. As we go live tonight Mother's Day 2013 will be winding down, so we may talk for a minute about Moms and computers. Architect and Apple aficionado Neal Pann should be joining for his perspective on software licenses, and The Mac Observer's Jeff Gamet will be sharing his bacon bread recipe opinion on everything else.

Since it's really all about you, the community, do see if you can join us, won't you? To participate live, you can use the browser-only Talkshoe client, the embedded Facebook app, or download the classic...

In case you missed anything, here’s a quick weekend roundup of the news that powered AllThingsD this week:

1. Wondering just how much your new S4 costs? Market research firm IHS pegs the cost of Samsung’s new flagship smartphone at just above $237 per unit.
2. It planned to do so originally, but Google will not roll out a physical credit card later this month to bolster its “Google Wallet” commerce project.
3. Everyone who works in web advertising seems to be talking about the same video ad lately, and here it is: a three-minute-28-second mini-documentary from...

Have a need to attach more monitors to your USB 3.0-equipped Mac, but don't want to use a Thunderbolt, Mini DisplayPort, or HDMI port? Kensington may have just the thing for you -- the Universal Multi-Display Adapter (US$79.99 MSRP), AKA the USB 3.0 Multi-Display Adapter.

Previously this device was available only for PCs, but new drivers available from DisplayLink make the adapter compatible with any Mac running OS X Snow Leopard, Lion, or Mountain Lion. Essentially what the adapter does is makes one of your USB 3.0 ports available to drive a monitor or projector. It's a small (2" x 3.5" x .68") black box with a SuperSpeed USB 3.0 input on one end and a female DVI connector on the other end. That's a bit unfortunate, since many monitors are also equipped with a female DVI connector so you'll need to buy another adapter. LIkewise, the included DVI to VGA adapter is relatively useless -- although it plugs right into the Multi-Display Adapter, it has a female connector on the...

We squished that multi-device subscription bug dead.
∞ Read this on The Loop

It's been a big week for subscriptions: Adobe announced that its Creative Suite software would be entirely replaced by the subscription-only Creative Cloud service, and now a report from AppleInsider claims that Apple will be replacing or augmenting its AppleCare and AppleCare+ extended warranty plans this fall with a new subscription plan referred to as "One Apple." The new plan would support all of the Apple devices a subscriber owns rather than individual devices paired with individual plans.
Tara Bunch, an Apple vice president formerly of HP, reportedly broke the news during one of Apple's internal town hall-style meetings. AppleCare and AppleCare+ plans are currently sold on a per-device basis...

Sandro Cuccia revisits Preview in OS X. He shows you how to have the latest Mountain Lion version of this versatile app easily scan and store one or more signatures for later insertion into any PDF document.

The Hazard (iPad mini; $45) is a lightweight-but-durable hardshell case with a slim profile. Compatible with Apple’s Smart Cover, the case provides access to all ports, buttons, and cameras.

The Hazard is available in sheet metal or jet black.

At a Town Hall meeting with Apple employees, the company has announced some major changes to its AppleCare extended service plans.
∞ Read this on The Loop

Amazon on Friday released its Cloud Drive Photos app, and corresponding 5 gigabytes worth of free cloud storage, in what is essentially a competitor to Apple's own iCloud-based Photo Stream service.  ...

Amazon has launched an iOS version of its Cloud Drive Photos app (free), which gives users 5GB in free storage space for backing up or offloading photos taking up too much room on their own devices. Depending on the format of the pictures, the Amazon Cloud Drive Photos storage locker can hold up to thousands of photos, and the company offers additional storage space for a fee starting with 20GB of additional space for $10 per year. The iPhone-oriented app also allows sharing of photos to Facebook, Twitter and email.... ...

Readers ask about how to fix a flashing incoming network connection request, Trash that won't empty, and more.

According to leaked reports from an Apple "town hall" meeting, some significant changes are coming to AppleCare and AppleCare+ policies starting this fall -- however, unlike most news of this nature, the changes should benefit consumers while still cutting some costs. Among the bigger changes will be a new policy to repair, rather than replace, damaged iPhones when possible; an extension of telephone support; more remote hardware fault diagnosis, and a change to tie an AppleCare policy to a customer rather than a specific device.... ...

Just in time for the weekend, here's a few apps that have dropped their (already cheap) prices even lower, meaning that you've got plenty to play here for just a few bucks' worth.

• The PC classic turned iOS port Carmageddon has gone completely free for today only.
• The Incident is on sale for 99 cents.
• The Sky Gamblers: Storm Raiders flight simulation title has dropped down to just a buck.
• Just a few weeks after release, Sega's dropped The House of the Dead: Overkill to just $2.99. The game's not fantastic, but it does have a really innovative shooting mechanic built for iOS.
• ...

Apple has rolled out two-step verification of Apple IDs to additional countries.
∞ Read this on The Loop

Got photos? Online retail giant Amazon has released a new app that lets iPhone users save their pictures directly on the company’s own cloud storage space.

Dubbed Amazon Cloud Drive Photos and available free of charge from the App Store, the app can transfer photos back and forth between a device and Cloud Drive, where they can be accessed using a desktop computer, Web browser, or other compatible device, like a Kindle Fire.

The app’s goal is to let customers enjoy the benefits of cloud storage—including ease of sharing and easier backups—regardless of what platform they use. In addition, the app lets you view your photo albums in various layouts from your iPhone or iPod touch and share Cloud Drive photos on Facebook, Twitter, and via email.

Launched in March of 2011,...

Investor Carl Icahn and Southeastern Asset Management have proposed a new offer to Dell shareholders, who are considering a proposal by founder Michael Dell's group of investors, including Microsoft, to purchase existing shares at $13.65 each in order to take the company private. In a letter to Dell's board of directors, Icahn and Southeastern are counter-proposing a deal to give all Dell shareholders the option to retain shares in the company, plus take an additional $12 a share in cash or stock.... ...

Apple recently introduced two-step verification for your Apple ID in certain countries, and the process is now being expanded to the rest of the world. The feature, which requires two different codes for verifying your Apple ID (if you want to be extra safe) was initially only available in the US, UK, Australia, Ireland, and New Zealand. But Apple has now included Canada in on the feature, as well as users in Argentina, Pakistan, Mexico, the Netherlands, Russia, Austria, Brazil, Belgium, and Portugal. In other words, two-step authentication is now rolling out to a more or less worldwide release.

The authentication process is still optional -- if you don't think you need it, you can still stick with just your Apple ID password as a login. The...

In case you haven't launched Microsoft Office for Mac 2011 in the past few days, there's an update for the office suite that became available on May 7.

The 14.3.4 update of Microsoft Office for Mac 2011 is considered to be a "critical" update, and includes a number of fixes. Most of the fixes appear to be for Outlook for Mac and PowerPoint for Mac, although there is one issue with saving files to SkyDrive and SharePoint in Microsoft Word for Mac that has been fixed as well.

Microsoft also took the opportunity to let those who read the knowledge base article about the update know that Office for Mac 2011 is now available as a subscription offering as part of Office 365.

Owners of Microsoft Office for Mac 2011 can either wait for the update to show up and annoy them when they're trying to get some work...

The US Patent and Trademark Office has issued a preliminary rejection of some claims in an Apple patent, Method and apparatus for providing translucent images on a computer display, says FOSS Patents. Claims 29-30 and 33-35 have been rejected. The USPTO says that aspects of the patent were obvious or anticipated in light of another patent, Method and apparatus for displaying simulated keyboards on touch-sensitive displays, as well as prior art....  ...

It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world.

You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here.

No Flash? Click here to listen.

Subscribe via RSSDaily Update for May 10, 2013 originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 10 May 2013 15:15:00 EST. Please see our...

Your mum might like this for Mother’s Day.
Per TmoNews, wireless carrier T-Mobile has begun highlighting Apple’s newest smartphone to push the trade-in program that it’s had running since April 12. That program allows new and existing qualified customers to trade in an iPhone 4 or iPhone 4S, with the resulting trade-in value wiping out the purchase price for the iPhone 5.
The deal — good for both GSM and CDMA iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S units — requires that the device be able to power on, have no cracks in its screen, and bear no liquid damage or other physical damage.
T-Mobile will be running iPhone 5-specific advertising in...

I don't have an interactive R2-D2 in my life. Welcome to my first world problems, but there is at least a first world solution: the Star Wars R2-D2 Interactive Astromech Droid. This is a roughly foot-tall robotic replica of R2-D2 that not only moves, it responds to (a limited range of) vocal commands. It will activate a light, alert you to movement, and play Princess Leia's recorded message. Oh, and it makes all those awesome R2-D2 noises that continue to delight us almost 40 years after Star Wars was released. This has been around for a while, but if you haven't seen it check it out (there are a lot of videos on YouTube). It's priced at $199, but Amazon is offering it for $175.85 to Prime members right now.

Fuckin’ magnets, how do they work?

Now that Google Glass is being widely tested and written about, reactions are all over the map -- as they should be. That's a good sign for a new technology: our inability to come to consensus on the technical and social aspects at first. But in the long term, the technology always settles out.

The Reset Print System routine in OS X performs a number of adjustments to the print service's files and configurations to restore factory default settings, but these steps can be manually performed or can even be undone, if needed.

If you’re looking for more of a challenge from casual iOS games, then our own Matt Neuburg’s apps will hit the spot. 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.

Nancy Carroll Gravley has three great Mac tips to make our computing experiences more fun and less stressful, including some tips on using the built-in dictionary, some scrolling shortcuts, and information on how to use the 'proxy icon.'

If you want to stay heart healthy, you should exercise, eat right, not smoke, and… stay away from iPads? As Bloomberg reports, 14-year-old Gianna Chien has discovered that the 30 magnets in the iPad 2, which are used to hold the Smart Cover in place, could accidentally disable a pacemaker if the user falls asleep with the iPad on his or her chest. Apple warns of this danger on page 126 of the iPad User Guide, but how many of you read that far? Chien made the discovery while working on a science fair project, which sadly didn’t win first place. (We hope the media coverage of her project helps makes up for that!) 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...

Despite recent complaints about iOS security, it’s effective against at least one group: law enforcement. According to Declan McCullagh at CNET, police departments around the country are sufficiently stymied by iOS device encryption that they’re turning to Apple for help. They’ve flooded Apple with so many requests for assistance decrypting confiscated iPhones that Apple is putting them on a waiting list of up to 4 months. Of course, the flip side of this story is confirmation that Apple has a backdoor method of cracking iPhone encryption. 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...

Earlier this week in the MacNN forums, Mac Elite "abbaZaba" was trying to figure out why the Apple Bluetooth keyboard that they have paired with an iPad 4 will stutter the first letter when typing. After making a digital copy of a 20-year-old VHS home movie, one Fresh-Faced Recruit turned to the forums looking for any advice on ways to make the imported footage look a little less faded....  ...

This week at Apple's online store, save on refurbished iMacs starting as low as $1,099 for the 21.5-inch iMac with a 2.7GHz Intel Core i5 processor, 8GB of RAM and a 1TB hard drive. For $1,269, after a $230 price drop, is the refurbished 21.5-inch iMac with a 2.9GHz Intel quad-core i5 processor, 8GB of RAM and a 1TB hard drive....   ...

Currently, Walmart.com has the 16GB iPad mini with Wi-Fi for the rollback price of $299. That's $30 less than the MSRP and the lowest price available on this iPad brand new anywhere. In fact, it costs the same as a refurbished model from Apple's online store. The iPad mini features 16GB of storage space, Wi-Fi, an A5 chip, FaceTime camera with 1080p HD video recording, and it comes with iOS 6 pre-installed. A one-year warranty on parts and labor is included from Apple....  ...

While Microsoft has invited Apple to produce a Windows 8 iTunes app, Cupertino's response has essentially been "don't hold your breath."

Speaking to CNNMoney, Microsoft's chief financial officer Tami Reller said, "The welcome mat has been laid out [for Apple]. It's not for a lack of trying." Note that Windows 8 customers can use iTunes, but only on the desktop. That's a less-than-optimal experience, and poor Surface RT users are without iTunes altogether, as the device wont' run non-Microsoft desktop software.

As CNNMoney points out, Apple's position is understandable. With the best-selling tablet in the market, why would it rush to make Microsoft's offering more competitive?

Still, Reller believes that the Windows app store will feature all of the most popular apps from Apple's App Store by the holiday season. "That's not just our goal, but it'll be realistic to achieve that....

Bloomberg is reporting on a 14-year-old student in Colorado who found herself presenting data to the Heart Rhythm Society meeting in Denver this week. Gianna Chien's study of the effects of an iPad 2 on implanted cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) is making some waves among the medical community because it appears to demonstrate that in a statistically significant number of cases, close proximity to an iPad 2 can disable someone's ICD and potentially lead to their death.

A typical implanted defibrillator device....

Apple is inundated with so many requests from law enforcement agencies to decrypt seized iPhones that officials must endure a waiting list before their case is handled.   ...

Have a Mac equipped with Thunderbolt? Then head on over to your friendly neighborhood Mac App Store this morning, click on Updates and get yourself a nice firmware update.

Firmware update v1.2 for Thunderbolt "provides stability fixes for Thunderbolt and Target Disk Mode" and requires a machine restart. If the update hasn't made it to the Mac App Store yet, you can also download it from the Apple Support Pages.Apple issues stability fix firmware update v1.2 for Thunderbolt originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 10 May 2013 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds....

T-Mobile is continuing to tout the recent arrival of Apple's iPhone on its network, and this weekend will see the "UNcarrier" offering the iPhone 5 for no money down with a valid trade-in.  ...

Jacqui Cheng

If your smartphone is encrypted and protected by a long passcode, you're going to keep most people from being able to get at the data stored on it. However, companies like Apple and Google are being asked by law enforcement officials to bypass these protections to aid in investigations, and the frequency of requests is creating lengthy wait lists—one agent at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) was reportedly told by an Apple legal representative that the agency would need to wait at least seven weeks to have a phone unlocked.
CNET reports that the ATF agent tried for three months to find "a local, state, or federal law enforcement agency with the forensic capabilities to unlock" an iPhone as part of a drug investigation last year but came up short. At that point, he...

Windows 8 “Metro” users shouldn’t get their hopes up regarding an iTunes app on their operating system, according to a new report. “You shouldn’t expect an iTunes app on Windows 8 any time soon,” said Tami Reller of Microsoft’s Windows division. “ITunes (sic) is in high demand. The welcome mat…

ESPN wants you watching streaming video, even if they have to pick up part of the check…
Per the Wall Street Journal and AppleInsider, cable sports network ESPN has expressed interest in potentially subsidizing those data plans to allow users to stream video without worrying about overage fees.
ESPN has allegedly had discussions with at...

The International Space Station has switched laptops from Windows XP to Debian Linux in an attempt to improve reliability.
∞ Read this on The Loop

Since we’ve posted our exclusive details on what Apple and Jony Ive has in store for iOS 7, there have been a ton of great concepts popping up that take into account the company’s new “very flat” approach to redesigning the OS. The first concept, above, comes to us from Simplyzesty.com’s  art director Philip Joyce who has imagined a flat iOS including a new look for Siri and the lock screen, a customizable home screen, and redesigned icons that all take the “flat” approach to heart.
Another new concept for iOS 7 was posted today by apfelpage.de, below, that shows off a flat look for shortcuts, a new...

Well, this is kind of a new one.
Per Mac|Life and CNN Money, Microsoft has apparently been pushing Apple for a Windows 8-native edition of iTunes, which currently only runs in traditional Desktop mode on the company’s Metro-style software — and not at all on the tablet-centric Windows RT.
“You shouldn’t expect an iTunes app on Windows 8 any time soon,” laments Windows Division CFO Tami Reller. “ITunes is in high demand. The welcome mat has been...