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.

∞ Read this on The Loop

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.

∞ Read this on The Loop

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,...

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...

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...

The Electronic Frontier Foundation is asking for your help to fight a patent troll who wants to kill podcasting. Personal Audio claims to have a patent on key podcasting technologies, and has been legally threatening many podcasters, including Adam Carolla and HowStuffWorks. Though the EFF has already raised nearly $45,000 as of this writing, beating its goal of $30,000 in under 10 hours, legal fees can get expensive, and they need all the help they can get. So if you love podcasting, or just hate patent trolls, consider supporting their cause!

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...

Apple has added support for Raw files from 13 more cameras in Camera Raw 4.06. The update  is compatible with Aperture 3 and iPhoto 11, and is available by selecting Software Update from your Apple menu.

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Asa Mathat / D: All Things Digital

And that’s a wrap — our third and final day of D11 finished strong yesterday with more high-caliber interviews and some awesome tech demos. For those of you who couldn’t join us in Rancho Palos Verdes, here’s a good starting place for catching up on all the action.

1. Google SVP Sundar Pichai announced that his company will sell an unlocked version of the HTC One with the stock Nexus UI for $599, starting on June 26. Pichai also said he’s not worried about Samsung’s dominance among Android manufacturing partners.
2. When asked why Microsoft started making hardware, ex-Windows boss Steven Sinofsky said...

A while ago, I wrote about an ingenious little app named Bloop, which was a multiplayer game for one iPad, where up to four different players had to tap on little colored squares on the screen to see who could clear them off fastest. The creator of that app, Rusty Moyher, was later approached by another team of developers named Game Oven, who were then working on this app, called Bam Fu. Bam Fu is similar to Bloop, in that it too is a multiplayer game for one iOS device, and you need to hit certain colored shapes on the screen.

But Bam Fu's one big innovation is that it adds a little more complexity to the game. Instead of just clearing your own color from the board, the various "stones" on the iPad's screen instead switch to the next color in the sequence when you touch them. So you might flip them one way, your...

After being announced in 2011, and promoted earlier in May, Adobe's Kuler color-picking iOS app hit the App Store on Thursday, offering an easy method for artists to capture and modify color swatches while on the go.  ...

Apple took a dislike recently to a press release announcing the availability of a new app. After Tim Cook passed this week on a question about sharing solutions across iCloud, the CEO of a company making an app named Glide, Donald Leka, sent out a press release for his app stating that "consumers really don't care that much what platform they are on, where their files are stored, or what the file types and file formats are."

That apparently earned Leka the ire of Apple Worldwide Developer Relations, who sent him a memo suggesting he see things as a bit more Apple-centric. Customers do care about what platform they're on, said Apple's rep, adding that "the tone of your release and your product positioning is at odds with not just our primary marketing messaging, but the entire reason Apple exists." Apple...

Mobile platforms are under increasing attack, according to security researcher Kaspersky Lab. A recently released report indicates that not only has the pacing of attacks quadrupled, but 99.9 percent of new mobile malware discovered in the first quarter of 2013 are Android-specific. The most common attacks are trojan viruses, with 63 percent of all infections....  ...

Threadflip is an app where users can buy, sell, and discover various clothing and other fashion items, and it's just undergone a major redesign. The app was introduced about a year ago, and since then, Threadflip has seen about 20 percent of purchases made and 40 percent of items listed come directly from the mobile app, so it's a fairly big market for them. That follows the trends that we've seen with mobile shopping lately, with more and more people using their iPhones and iPads to shop, either buying items directly on the touchscreen, or using the mobile devices while out in a more traditional retail environment.

Threadflip's new design includes both a new shopping experience and a new seller dashboard, so users can easily and quickly find what they want to buy (and then check out with those items), or put items up for sale....

Apple has reportedly tapped Pegatron for production of a rumored low-cost iPhone model, according to The Wall Street Journal. Citing unnamed "sources familiar with the matter," the financial newspaper said that Apple CEO Tim Cook wants to diversify risk and save money by taking the new mobile device to a manufacturer other than Foxconn.

Elcomsoft, a software firm that sells security-cracking software used for forensics and testing purposes, says Apple’s two-factor logins leave enormous security gaps that aren’t immediately apparent.

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.

Mobile software developer and former Apple employee Ken Landau was engaged in a bit of spring cleaning when he uncovered a rare find: a still-functional, Apple-sanctioned portable version of the Mac SE created and built by electronics pioneer Chuck Colby in 1987, two years before Apple would begin its own journey into mobile computing with the Macintosh Portable. The Colby Walkmac (as it was known) was the first battery-operated Macintosh, as well as the first portable Mac with an LCD display. At the time, the 13-pound Walkmac sold for around $6,000.... ...