Refuting an earlier report claiming Microsoft would release Xbox games for iOS this year, Microsoft Studios corporate VP Phil Spencer tweeted that the company won’t be bringing Xbox games to non-Microsoft devices. Spencer said the earlier article was a “translation error.” The first report also noted Age of…

Apple will pay royalties for iTunes Radio based on both how many times listeners hear a song, and how much advertising Apple sells, according to a report. iTunes Radio will pay labels 13 cents each time a song is played, in addition to 15 percent of net advertising revenue, “proportionate…

The Galileo shuttlecraft from the original Star Trek series survived the harsh vacuum of space and alien attacks, at least on a soundstage, but didn't fare so well for the next 45 years stashed on back lots and outside in storage yards. Luckily, a group of dedicated fans took on the project of restoring the crumbling set piece with the help of actual ship builders. The video starts with some clips from Star Trek, and the restoration itself starts at about 5:30. The fully restored Galileo looks fantastic, and is going to be available for anyone to see because the group donated the shuttlecraft to NASA's Visitor Center at the Houston Space Center.

There are several ways an OS can telegraph the status of its health and well-being.  However, how that's communicated to the user, the developer and Apple are all very different things. Providing information to the Mac user that they can really use is a better approach. No intelligent agent required.

With the July 1 death of Google Reader quickly approaching, it's time to stop procrastinating and move your RSS feeds to another service. The Mac Observer has been watching the RSS landscape, and here are some of the options we've for you found so far.

The BtX350 wireless compact bluetooth stereo speaker provides rich, full-bodied sound, strong bass and wirelessly streams via Bluetooth or connects to non-wireless items, such as iPods, with a standard 3.5mm plug. The addition of easy to reach operational buttons, makes this a useful speaker.

Apple has launched its official Russian online store, offering Russian customers the opportunity to directly buy iPhones, iPads, iPods and more. In addition to a full product lineup, the store also offers customer support. An August report noted Apple was…

Apple released iTunes U 1.3.1 for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch on Tuesday. The update for the iTunes U online course management app added a pull-to-refresh gesture for checking for course updates, and also fixed an issue related to updating course information.

Many people really love what they consider their ultimate iPhone case. For those folks, a bulky battery pack inside a case just won't do. If that describes you, but you still need additional power for your iPhone, the best choice is a small, handy, external battery pack that can be used with any iOS device. That's just what the Antec Advance PowerUp 6000 is. It's small, cleanly designed, full of 6000 mAh goodness, and could save the day by being able to charge your iPhone four times before exhaustion. And the price is great.

South Korean electronics giant Samsung is in talks with European Union regulators to settle patent abuse charges. The EU charged that Samsung violated EU antitrust rules when it tried to win injunctions against Apple using standards-essential patents. Bryan Chaffin explains the nuts and bolts of what's going on.

ZOMG, but this is something I need: ByteMyApple.com announced Hone on Tuesday, a key fob that you can activate from an iPhone app. Stick it on your keyring and when you lose your keys, the iPhone app will make it flash and beep, perfect for people (like me) who misplace our keys. All the time. It's $59.99, and was originally funded via KickStarter. A single CR2032 watch battery lasts 6 months, and as you can see in the image, it's roughly the same size as auto key fobs. The app works up to 150 feet away. Hone is built in the U.S. Now, if they could make one I could dangle from my glasses, I'd be in business...

Your iPhone is a powerhouse do-it-all office in your pocket right out of the box, but it can do so much more with the right apps. In fact, when you find the right apps, your iPhone feels down right hobbled if they aren't installed. That's exactly how TMO's Jeff Gamet feels if these five apps aren't on his iPhone.

Samsung is in discussions to settle with the European Union regulator regarding charges that the company blocked Apple from using an essential patent. In December, the European Commission informed Samsung it was unfair in seeking injunctions over the use of essential patents. Samsung has been discussing a settlement for months,…

The folks at 9to5Mac reported that Siri will become a lot more proactive in learning how to pronounce names in iOS 7. This will happen in two ways: the first is that she will ask for pronunciation tips if she doesn't immediately understand you. Users will also be able to tell Siri "That's not how you pronounce [any name]" in order to start the same name-learning process. There's no word yet on whether there will be other ways to say it. This wasn't a feature announced by Apple—the company barely scratched the surface when showing off the new mobile OS—but it will be a welcome one that greatly enhances the Siri experience for all users as the data gets added to Siri's knowledge base. There are a couple of screnshots in the 9to5Mac story.

Microsoft will bring Xbox and PC games to the iPhone within this fiscal year, according to a report. Japan’s Nikkei says that Microsoft plans to team up with Japanese company Klab Inc. to bring its games to the iPhone, including Age of Empires—a title that will be free to play…

Another month, another report showing that iPad owners use their iPads far more than owners of competing devices. Chitika reported on Monday that iPad owners generated 82.4 percent of traffic across the company's ad network in the U.S. during the month of May, a five month high that continues to leave little for iPad competitors.

Photos of an iPhone 5S prototype posted on MacRumors appear to confirm both a next-generation chip and multiple changes to the device’s camera flash and microphone system. While A7 branding is notably absent from the prototype, smaller numeric markings on the chip are consistent with true generational changes, seemingly…

Mobile Device and computer shipments are set to grow this year by nearly 6 percent, and while Google's Android may account for a big part of that, Apple's iOS and OS X operating systems will take a substantial bite out of the market, too. Based on data from Gartner, smartphone shipments will climb 4.3 percent this year, while tablet growth will hit 67.9 percent, and Apple's OS X and iOS combo approach is working to give the company a growing piece of the overall computer market.

The Mac Observer Spin:
Apple has managed to carve out a piece of the market where it managed to be among the most valuable companies in the world based on a combination of profit margins and sheer number of devices sold despite the fact that more Android devices and Windows PCs are sold every month. That's a pretty good market strategy that Apple's competitors just haven't been able to copy.

...

A developer has released Lightning cables that allegedly bypass iOS 7’s new authentication feature, which warns users about non-certified Lightning accessories. iPhone5mod.com claims that it has cracked the chips, allowing the cables to bypass Apple’s authentication process. Apple could fix the iOS 7 software to identify these cables,…

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company has reached a three-year agreement to develop the next generation of Apple processors, according to a report. Using 20nm, 16nm, and 10nm process technologies, TSMC will manufacture A8 and A9 chips for Apple. Production of the A8 chips will start next month, with the processors expected…

About 6 million Facebook users shared more personal information than they planned thanks to a bug in the social networking service's database system. The flaw was discovered at the end of last week and had been exposing the email addresses and phone numbers of users.

The Mac Observer Spin:
Facebook has a reputation for playing fast and loose with its user's personal information, so it's nice to see some transparency when an issue like this crops up.

Now that Ashton Kutcher's Steve Jobs biopic has been renamed Jobs (from jOBS, a title I liked) and rescheduled for an August 16th, 2013 release, it's time for the trailers. The first one has been posted on YouTube, and it's a slickly-edited ad that focuses on the drama, some sex (somehow I suspect that's being overplayed), and the tension in Steve Jobs's corporate struggles at Apple. It also plays on some fan heart strings with phrases like "The Original Innovator," and "It only takes one person...to start a revolution." There are smashing phones, votes to kick him out of Apple, some screaming, and at the end, Ashton Kutcher reads the voice-over narration of "The Crazy Ones" commercial. In short, it's pretty cool. My favorite shot was Steve Jobs's eyeball reflecting the prototype for what became the Apple I TV display.

...

Apple has posted a chart of iOS fragmentation for developers with a message that it's OK to focus development on the current version of iOS because 93 percent of users are on it. Bryan Chaffin argues this is a three-for-one for Apple in that it's a useful tool for developers, a slam at Google's Android, and a demonstration of the advantage of Apple's whole widget model.

There was a time when many observers thought about Apple changing the way consumers watch content on their HDTV. Over time, it's become clear that the content holders have an iron grip on content, and so the new question may be: what can we do with that big display that we haven't been doing? Something that Apple is uniquely suited to do.

Virgin Mobile is joining the iPhone 5 family in the United States. The carrier will begin offering the current iPhone model to its customers starting June 28. Like other phones the carrier offers, the iPhone 5 will be offered with pre-paid plans starting at US$35 a month with unlimited texting and data.

The Mac Observer Spin:
Better late than never, and now U.S. customers looking for pre-paid iPhone options have another carrier they can check out.

A Japanese Court has ruled that Samsung is infringing on Apple's rubberband, or bounce-back, patent. The ruling came in the two company's ongoing patent infringement battle, and could lead to a ban on some of Samsung's Android-based smartphones in the country.

The Mac Observer Spin:
Samsung just can't seem to keep up with Apple's winning streak in court. Despite its losses, Samsung has very deep pockets, so these patent infringement cases won't be going away any time soon.

The skies may soon be a friendlier place for your iPhone and iPad if the Federal Aviation Administration follows through on a recommendation to lift a ban on using electronic devices in airplanes during takeoff and landing. The recommendation is under consideration by the agency following a report from a 28-person advisory panel that said forcing passengers to shut off devices such as smartphones, tablets and ebook readers below 10,000 feet altitude has little impact on flight safety.

The Mac Observer Spin:
Stopping passengers from listening to music, reading ebooks and playing video games during takeoff and landing is a throwback to a time when far less was known about the potential in-flight interference from portable electronics, plus many airlines already offer inflight Internet via WiFi. It's about time the FAA made a change.

...

Against his better judgement, Bryan Chaffin was convinced to whip out his Steve Ballmer impression in the current episode of The Tech Night Owl with Gene Steinberg. Between you and me and this here fence post, he is desperately hoping that the decision to do so ranks only in the Top 100 Worst Decisions of His Life, rather than, say, the Top 10.

Scott Morrison was teaching high school computer science when he decided he needed a hobby. So he decided to learn Objective-C as a hobby. One thing led to another, and soon he was creating mail plug-ins for OS X 10.3 Jaguar's Mail app.Mr. Morrison quit his job with some trepidation, worried about the isolated life of a developer, and started his software business. He told his story to TMO's Dave Hamilton at WWDC.

The GripBase Podium from Newer Technology is a light weight, heavy duty iPad stand that adjusts to almost five feet high, rotates 360 degrees, tilts and swivels, and provides a protective case for iPad, 2, 3, and 4 with options to acquire the case for the original iPad or the iPad mini.

Burbn’s popular photo-sharing app Instagram (free) has added video in version 4.0. The addition will provoke comparisons to Vine, but the two are much different: Instagram video lets users take video clips as long as 15 seconds, and 13 video filters are also available. Videos notably do not loop,…

Apple was hit with a new patent infringement lawsuit this week, this time from Bluebonnet Telecommunications over the call forwarding feature in the iPhone 4S and iPhone 5. According to the lawsuit, Apple is inducing customers to use features it knows infringe on the patent in question.

The Mac Observer Spin:
A quick check showed that Bluebonnet Telecommunications is packing the court docket with patent infringement lawsuits against Apple, Motorola, Google, Sony, and more. Those lawsuits all happen to be in the patent troll-friendly District court in Eastern Texas. Looks like we have some pretty easy lines to connect.

Big box retailer Best Buy has issued a recall for ATG-branded laptop batteries for Apple's MacBook lineup because they pose a potential fire hazard. The batteries were sold between September 2008 and June 2012 and are available in black or white to match Apple's consumer laptop line.

AltaMail from Eurosmartz just got an update, and it's a big one. The "alternative iOS email client" market is exploding right now, but thus far I haven't found anything like AltaMail. This is a pro-level mail client for iOS tailor-made for email geeks who need to do more than the built-in Mail.app will let them. 

Online and brick-and-mortar book retailer Barnes & Noble shot a massive hole through the Department of Justice's ebook price fixing case against Apple on Tuesday. When Theresa Horner, B&N's Vice President of Digital Content, took the stand she told the court her company was already negotiating agency pricing deals with publishers before Apple was on the scene in hopes of killing the profit losses it was suffering at the hands of Amazon.com. That doesn't sound like testimony that helps the DOJ case at all.

Boris Teksler, who headed Patent Licensing and Strategy at Apple for four years, recently left the company to join Technicolor, a French media and entertainment company. Teksler notably played a large role in the company’s patent battles with Samsung, and departed while Apple and Samsung remain tangled in litigation. [via…

Apple is reportedly testing “deep LinkedIn integration” for the release of iOS 7. Similar to prior integration of Facebook and Twitter, a single sign-on system for LinkedIn accounts was found within code in the first beta of iOS 7. Apple could introduce this feature in the final release of iOS…

Apple today released Apple TV Software Update 5.3, the latest update for its second- and third-generation set-top boxes. The latest update adds support for HBO GO, ESPN, Sky News, Qello, and Crunchyroll for users in specific regions such as the United States. …

If you're in the city that never sleeps, there's a good chance your iPhone doesn't, either. To that end, AT&T, Goal Zero and Pensa have teamed up to bring solar powered smartphone chargers to the streets of New York City. The outdoor charging stations include built-in Dock and Lightning connectors as well as USB ports for people that prefer to use their own cables, small shelves to hold your phone while charging, and can be placed anywhere there's direct sunlight. The chargers are part of a test program in several locations such as Fort Greene Park, Union Square, Central Park. They'll be moving around and could end up in other cities at some point, too. Assuming the test program is successful, this'll be a handy way to power up on the go or when regular electrical service is down. If you get the chance to try one out let us know!

...