Earlier this week we reported that Apple CEO Tim Cook is slated to testify at an upcoming Senate hearing focusing on the offshore tax practices of American corporations. As it stands now, Apple currently has over $100 billion holed up overseas that it's hesitant to repatriate due to less than ideal U.S. income tax rates.

What's more, Apple employs a number of accounting mechanisms to both delay and lessen its tax liability.

With his congressional debut just a few days away, Tim Cook sat down for a rare interview with the Washington Post where he explained his plan to suggest a number of proposals which, if enacted, would encourage companies like Apple to bring back billions of dollars to the States....

Slate:

…as a scientist, I can’t help but notice that every now and again, just sometimes, maybe, Trek ventures into some pretty dicey science territory. Let me be clear: I have no problem with faster-than-light travel, time travel, teleporters, the Universal Translator, or anything like that. Every genre has a conceit, a gimme, and in scifi that means advanced tech that we can’t necessarily explain today. That’s fine, and as long as it’s internally consistent in the story I’m happy.

My beef is usually when the plot relies on some error in science, or when the tech is used inconsistently.

In honor of the release of the latest Star Trek movie today, this should get the Trekkies all wound

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According to a new report from IDC, the smartphone market continues to be dominated by Android and Apple's iOS. Together, the two mobile operating systems accounted for a whopping 92.3% of all smartphone shipments during the first quarter of 2013.

Impressively, Apple during the quarter gone by shipped 37.4 million iPhones, a 6% increase from the same quarter a year ago. Shipments of Android-based smartphones, however, increased by 79.5%. Consequently, Apple's share of smartphone shipments last quarter slipped from 23% down to 17.3%.

IDC's report notes:

Apple iOS marked its largest ever first quarter volume on the strength of its iPhone shipment volumes, yet the operating system posted a year-over-year decline in market share and lower year-over-year shipment growth than the overall market. Although demand remains strong worldwide, the iOS experience has remained largely the same since the...

Mr. Cook goes to Washington, an Apple Store grows in San Francisco, and Mac spyware turns up in Norway. The remainders for Thursday, May 16, 2013, are going global.

Apple on offense over $100B offshore stash (Politico)

Yes, that’s right: Politico. Tim Cook’s giving interviews to political sites in advance of his testimony in front of the U.S. Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. The topic? Offshore holdings by Apple and other companies. In his Politico interview, Cook categorically denied funneling domestic products overseas, and said that the company paid all of the taxes it owed. Furthermore, Cook apparently plans to make some suggestions about overhauling the tax code, which will finally let those salivating tech writers drag out the “Apple tax” headlines again.

Mosiaque is a very original puzzle game that I haven't quite figured out yet. It appeared on the App Store a little while ago from a company called Winning Blimp, and the core idea of the app is that you need to clear the screen of colored squares by firing them in from the sides.

The issue, however, is that if the square you shoot in hits a square of another color, it will switch out instead. Squares of the same color get cleared off, so your goal is to try and fire squares of the same color together, lining them up and clearing them off the board, refilling your meter for more shots. Mosiaque is the kind of game that's simple to play, but fairly tough to master -- even with the playtime I've put in, I'm not completely sure how deep the game's strategy gets. But there is a solid amount of fun to learning the game's mechanics, and as you play through the levels, there are some new tricks, too....

CW’s Xbox app

During a presentation with advertisers, CW Network president Mark Pedowitz announced that the network would be expanding its content offerings to new multimedia devices. This strategy will include a spot as an app on the Apple TV set-top-box’s home screen.

The network confirmed this to MacRumors:

It’s a dedicated CW app that will work like our Xbox and mobile and tablet apps – no cable authentication required, full episodes of our shows available next day after air, ad-supported.

Notably, as noted in the above quote, the CW content will be ad-supported.

CW currently streams its content to software on...

App analytics firm App Annie has released a new report about portable gaming, and announced that iOS gamers are now spending more money on Apple's platform than on traditional handheld titles. The light blue above is last year's fourth quarter, the dark blue is this year's first quarter, and as you can see, both iOS and Google Play spending is up, and has actually topped spending on traditional handheld devices like the Nintendo 3DS and the PS Vita.

This is mostly due, says App Annie, to a seasonal drop in traditional handheld game spending -- game sales always tend to go up over the holidays, and then drop in the new year. But it's also clear that iOS is growing a lot -- and in fact, in the chart above, it's actually higher than even traditional gaming was last quarter.

We'll have to see how this plays out going forwards. Both the PS Vita (made by Sony) and the 3DS (made by Nintendo...

Funny Or Die, creators of the awful iSteve film we recently reviewed, released a new trailer for their terrible movie today. The trailer features quotes from various reviews of the horrible waste of time, including a choice tidbit from your friends here at 9to5Mac: “Do not watch this movie.”

//

While we recommend viewing the trailer for a quick chuckle at the reviews, we should point out that under no circumstances do we recommend watching the full version of iSteve.

We do however recommend reading our full review for a complete run-down of why it’s the...

Shipping service UPS has launched a native iPad version of its iOS app. An iPhone app has been available for some time, but has never been updated to be universal. Both titles let people track up to five shipments simultaneously, which are displayed on a map....   ...

Macworld blogger Steven Aquino wrote a fascinating piece today on how Apple's Retina display technology has helped him -- a legally blind individual with extremely low vision -- to be able to enjoy Apple's products as if he had no vision limitations at all.

Aquino says that he had used the original iPhone and iPad successfully with their displays set to full brightness, but "seeing my iPhone 4's Retina screen was a total game-changer." The high pixel density -- 326 pixels per inch -- and turning the screen brightness all the way up made it so "even the smallest text was readable, and I was able to spot details in images that were previously indistinguishable."

How much of a difference does a Retina display make to Aquino? "Simply put, I will no longer use an iPhone or iPad that doesn't feature a Retina display. Having used a Retina...

Asa Mathat / AllThingsD.com

Apple CEO Tim Cook will testify Tuesday before the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigation, which is examining U.S. companies’ offshore tax practices. This will be Cook’s first appearance at a congressional hearing since becoming CEO of Apple in 2011, and a potentially tough one during which he’ll be asked to field hard questions about Apple’s offshore cash holdings.

Not that Cook won’t have some good answers prepared. In the past, Apple has dispatched questions about its shifting of profits offshore by noting that it remains one of the largest taxpayers in the United States despite that practice; the company paid $6 billion in...

Back in April, Apple gave shareholders yearning for a bigger cut of Apple's profits something to be happy about. Specifically, Apple a few weeks ago announced that it was upping its quarterly dividend by 15%, raising it from $2.65 a share to $3.05 a share.

Apple's first dividend payment under the increased amount is scheduled to go down tomorrow. Shareholders with shares that were purchased on or before May 9, 2013 will be eligible for the increased quarterly dividend.

Since Apple first announced its increased quarterly dividend, along with a massive increase to its stock repurchasing plan, shares of the company have gone up by 7%.

Apple noted in a press release at the time that it is now one of the largest dividend payers in the world, "with annual payments of about $11 billion."

...

Apple CEO Tim Cook will be using his time in a Congressional hearing to propose an overhaul to the U.S. corporate tax system. News that Mr. Cook would appear in the hearing broke early Thursday morning, but the leader of the world's richest corporation told The Washington Post that he will propose changes that make it easier for U.S. companies to bring profits back to the U.S. rather than holding them offshore.

The company behind the Pebble smartwatch, which not only looks awesome but connects up to your iPhone, has picked up $15 million in funding from venture capitalists, and has released yet another version of its SDK. The funding is obviously a solid chunk of change, and should help Pebble not only fulfill its current orders (the company is still aiming to get watches out to all of its supporters from a successful Kickstarter bid), but push the company on into the future as well.

This latest SDK release, called the PebbleKit, allows for two-way communication back and forth between...

Tim Cook is going to Washington to talk taxes and overseas cash holdings, and the Apple CEO is heading to the hill with a message: We pay every dollar that we owe.   ...

I've been using the Google Hangouts app on the iPhone since it was announced on Wednesday, and I've really liked it so far. I haven't messed around with it much on my iPad, except to install it, but it was enough for my Android-using husband to be jealous that we got it first.

Like Apple's Messages, it's pushing conversations to my iPhone when I'm not at my computer, a feature which I've grown to love in iOS and OS X. The Hangouts app has a great feature to snooze notifications, which is great if you're going to be at the computer for awhile and don't want the iOS app constantly alerting you to new messages. However, there's no way to change your status and alert people you're having discussions with that you might be out of pocket for a bit, but it's something that's not in Apple's Messages either.

The biggest missing feature in Hangouts is SMS integration, and Google vows it's on the way....

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.

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Daily Update for May 16, 2013 originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 16 May 2013 15:15:00 EST. Please see our...

myPhoneDesktop allows you to send data from your Mac, Windows, or Linux PC to your iPhone right from your desktop, allowing you to call phone numbers, open map routes, save images into your Photo album, etc. with your keyboard and mouse. Just select anything on your computer, drag it to the right edge of the screen, and drop it on the popup virtual iPhone. It does this with a combination of desktop client and iPhone app that communicate with each other. The desktop clients are free, and the iPhone app is US$4.99.

Yesterday Politico reported that Tim Cook will appear before Congress next week to testify in a hearing regarding how the company is handling its overseas finances and domestic taxes, and today Politico has published a brand new interview with the Apple CEO.

Tim Cook and Apple tend to avoid any public discussion aside from comments during quarterly earnings calls, but it seems the company is on a PR offense leading up to next week’s public hearings.

“We don’t have a large presence in Washington, as you probably know, but we care deeply about public policy and believe creative...

King, which used to be called King.com it pulled a namechange at GDC this year, has announced that it has 70 million daily active players, which is a crazy number. By far, King's biggest title is Candy Crush Saga. The company notes that the game has 15.5 million active players on Facebook every day. Candy Crush Saga is also a big hit on iOS, where it consistently appears in the top charts for both most downloaded and top grossing.

King also announced its intention to bring Pet Rescue Saga to iOS. That game has six million daily players on Facebook, and King says it will be the third saga game (along with Bubble Witch Saga) to make the leap to mobile platforms. Pet Rescue Saga will arrive on both iOS and Android later this summer...

The Pebble smart watch development kit was updated on Thursday to allow two-way communication between watch and phone apps, along with a new sports API for tracking exercise.   ...

Apple has posted a new support download for mid-2012 MacBook Airs, MacBook Air Flash Storage Firmware Update 1.0. Unusually, Apple states that the patch is mandatory; it fixes a problem with the Air's firmware that can, potentially, prevent a computer from recovering from a crash. The file is a 1.69MB download, and requires either OS X 10.7.5 or 10.8.3....  ...

iLuv announced Thursday that it is shipping the Aud 5, the company's first Lightning speaker dock for iPhone 5. The device allows you to charge your iPhone 5 through a built-in Lightning dock, and you can play music through the dock, too. The Aud 5 also has a 3.5mm auxiliary input for playing music from other devices. It features four speakers and a passive radiator, and it's priced at U$149.

Pebble, the smartwatch that started life on Kickstarter, has received an extra $15 million in funding. The additional funding from investors, on top of the $10.2 million received through its Kickstarter campaign, comes at the same time as the company updates its SDK to include two-way communication for third-party Pebble apps....  ...

Police broke up a fight at a sci-fi convention between fans of Doctor Who and Star Wars.

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If you were hoping that the next update to iTunes might reverse some of the drastic changes Apple made in last year’s version 11, don’t hold your breath. A minor update released on Thursday, iTunes 11.0.3, makes some tweaks to the program’s interface, as well as applying fixes for some security issues.

iTunes 11.0.3's new MiniPlayer (left) and the older version (right), with no progress bar.

Among the changes in 11.0.3 is a revamped MiniPlayer, which now features a progress bar, complete with draggable playhead. The audio output button, which now uses a speaker icon instead of Apple’s traditional AirPlay icon, is also now visible even when you’re not hovering over the window.

The album art player in iTunes 11.0.3 (left) sports a new look, with access to more of the program's features than the old one (right).

There’s...

On Thursday, Apple updated its flagship program iTunes to version 11.0.3, which brings some new features as well as addresses a number of minor bugs and improves security and performance for those running and sorting large collections. The main new features include a redesigned MiniPlayer that now features artwork and a progress bar, and some changes to the Songs view that also adds album artwork. Importantly, multi-disc albums are now seen and counted as one album rather than individual discs.... ...

Apple opened its first San Francisco store in Feburary of 2004, and now nine years later it’s planning an overhaul — by moving to an entirely new location.

Apple recently submitted plans to San Francisco’s planning commission for a brand new retail store at Stockton and Post on Union Square — home to many of the city’s luxury retailers. The store will be 24,819 square feet, about 45 percent larger than Apple’s current store at Stockton and Ellis. Apple figures it will require about 400 employees to operate, 50 more than its predecessor. And, as you can see from the embedded images, the store will boast a fresh, new design — big open floors and lots of glass.

No word yet on a start date or even a ballpark timetable for the project....

Today, iPhone 5 users have another way to keep their phone charged up for those times when the battery is getting sucked dry. Mophie, which previously brought us the Juice Pack Helium and Juice Pack Air for iPhone 5, today announced the Juice Pack Plus (US$119.95).

The case comes in hues of black, white and PRODUCT(RED), and differs from its siblings in thickness, weight, and capacity. The battery in the Plus is a whopping 2100 mAh, while the Air has 1700 mAh of extra power and the Helium provides 1500 mAh. Weight for the Plus and Air is 2.68 oz., while the Helium weighs in at a svelte 2.44 oz. The Plus is 0.70" thick, the Air is 0.63" thick, and the Helium is just 0.59" thick.

kenekaplan writes "In an interview with The Atlantic before stepping down as CEO of Intel, Paul Otellini reflects on his decision not to make a chip for the then yet released iPhone. 'The lesson I took away from that was, while we like to speak with data around here, so many times in my career I've ended up making decisions with my gut, and I should have followed my gut,' he said. 'My gut told me to say yes.'"

...

Apple on Thursday released a new version of its iTunes media suite, with a new MiniPlayer featuring artwork and a progress bar, along with an improved Songs View.   ...

Apple has released iTunes 11.0.3, adding a new MiniPlayer, improved Songs view, and support for multi-disc albums. A greater emphasis has been put on allowing users to showcase album artwork in the redesigned MiniPlayer and Songs view, and the MiniPlayer now includes a built-in progress bar. In…

TUAW has covered the US Department of Justice price-fixing case against Apple for the past several years. Now an email sent from late Apple CEO Steve Jobs to James Murdoch of News Corporation (parent company of HarperCollins publishers) is being interpreted by the DOJ as showing that Apple and HarperCollins conspired with other publishers to raise ebook process. John Paczkowski at AllThingsD pointed out yesterday that the DOJ might be taking the email out of context.

The seemingly incriminating portion of Jobs' email is this: "Throw in with Apple and see if we can all make a go of this to create a real mainstream e-books market at $12.99 and $14.99." As Paczkowski points out, reading the entire email, it appears that Jobs was simply using those price points as "price caps in broader pricing tiers" and that he "openly concedes that the agency model he's proposing may...

Apple just released iTunes 11.0.3 with several new features including enhancements to the MiniPlayer, an improved Songs View, and multi-disc albums.

Apple’s new MiniPlayer, which it first introduced in iTunes 11, today gets a new “beautiful view that showcases your album artwork” as well as a progress bar viewable right from the MiniPlayer. The new view for MiniPlayer can also be expanded to show an entire playlist (as pictured above).

Other improvements...

Apple has paid over $100,072 in fees for new building permits on three construction projects valued at over $16 million, all to be located within its new Reno, Nev. iCloud data center site.  ...

My last visit to Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah was in pre-iPhone days. My, how things have changed. I went to Bryce on a landscape shoot this week with my usual semi-pro equipment: Canon 5D, Manfrotto tripod and the usual gaggle of batteries, timers and other esoterica.

I was especially interested in seeing if people were toting different equipment in the age of the smartphone. I expected to see Android and iPhones snapping away, while the pros and semi-pros were hanging on to their expensive DSLRs.

It wasn't quite what I expected. I saw a lot of iPhones in the crowds of people gathered at the rim of Bryce Canyon waiting for the sunset. I saw a couple of Android phones, but there could have been more. I walked up to a large group of young girls from Tennessee and asked how many were using iPhones? Every hand went up. I asked them if they were still using their old point-and-shoot cameras, and everyone had dropped...

A newly published Apple patent application reveals a system whereby one iOS device could control the flashes on other devices to better light a scene for photos. The method would allow an iPad, iPhone or iPod touch to use the flashes on multiple other iPhones, for instance, by initiating…

Today Amazon founder and CEO, Jeff Bezos, announced that Amazon has struck a deal to add new shows from NBC/ Universal studios to Amazon Instant Video. The additions include Grimm Season 1, Suits Season 1, Covert Affairs Seasons 1-2 with Hannibal coming and Defiance coming at later dates....

High-resolution photos of what may be components from Apple's next-generation iPhone have leaked to the Internet, with multi-colored SIM trays adding to rumors that the so-called "iPhone 5S" will be available in more than just black and white.  ...

The San Francisco Chronicle is reporting that Apple will be eventually closing its One Stockton Street store -- which has been a flagship venue among the San Francisco stores -- and moving it about three blocks away, adjacent to Union Square. The new store will feature an updated design with a more glass-centric design, somewhat reminiscent of the Upper West Side store in New York City. It will also be about 45 percent larger than the current location and increase its staff from 350 to 400....  ...

Parental Controls on iOS are extremely helpful for parents of iOS-device-using kids. They allow a parent to block in-app purchases, restrict explicit content on the device and block apps that are not needed for younger children (Mail, Safari, etc.).

Setting up these restrictions requires a special 4-digit PIN that only needs to be entered when a parent makes changes to the parental control settings. Because the code is entered so infrequently, it is easy to forget the password, especially if you set up restrictions in haste and don't take the time to record the code in your favorite password keeper. This happened to me recently, and I will give you a few tips on what to do if you find yourself in this unfortunate situation.

Assess and Review

If you realize that you have forgotten your parental control password, don't panic. The first thing you should do...

When in doubt, offer some additional competition.

Per AppleInsider, Google on Wednesday introduced its long-anticipated Spotify competitor: Google Play Music All Access, a “uniquely Google approach” to subscription music service.

Google engineering director Chris Yerga announced the new music service during the keynote for the search giant’s annual Google I/O developer conference. As was previously rumored, the streaming service is similar to popular music service Spotify, but it also adds elements similar to Internet radio service Pandora.

“We set out to build a music service that didn’t just give you access to the world of music,” Yerga said, “but also helped guide you...

In the race for third mobile platform, there’s a new favorite: Windows Phone.

According to new research from IDC, Microsoft’s mobile operating system accounted for 3.2 percent of global smartphone shipments in the first quarter. That’s a significant gain from the OS’s performance in the first quarter of 2012, which saw it capture a market share of 2 percent. And it was enough for Windows Phone to unseat BlackBerry from its third-place spot and claim the rank for its own.

Admittedly, ousting BlackBerry wasn’t exactly a difficult task. In the first quarter, the struggling handset maker saw its share of global smartphone shipments halved year over year. In Q1 of 2012, it claimed a 6.4 percent share. This year, BlackBerry managed to snag only 2.9 percent.

An unfortunate loss of momentum for BlackBerry, though one that’s not entirely attributable to the ascension of other platforms...

JellyBus, the makers of popular iOS image editing software PicsPlayPro, recently launched a collage making app, Moldiv, and packed it full of features that'll appeal to creative types who are looking to throw together a beautiful collage.

The first thing you notice about Modiv is the large number of frames available at your fingertips. There are 80 free frames and 60 premiums that you can buy as a pack via a US$1.99. Moldiv's basic frames provide you with a variety of columnar and angular layouts that are sufficient for most users.

The next thing you notice about Modiv is how easy it is to use. Tap on your frame to select your photo layout and then tap on a section to add a photo. You can pull the photo from your photo gallery or take a new one using the camera. Once you add in your photos, you can spend a few minutes tweaking...

There’s some cool stuff coming out of Google IO 2013 and this is no exception.

Per Android Central, Google has announced that new features will be coming to the Google Maps for iPhone later this summer and, what’s more, it’ll be getting an iPad-specific interface as well.

Albeit unconfirmed at this point, the new version could also incorporate Google’s new five-point rating system, integrated Google Offers, and more.

Also interesting, Google Maps in the browser will be using WebGL, which could be interesting depending on how it’s implemented.

Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.

Swedish headphone maker Jays has announced its new a-Jays Five ($100) earphones. The in-ear earphones feature a custom driver and flat, tangle-free cables. A redesigned three-button remote is thinner than previous Jays remotes, and the microphone with built-in echo cancellation won’t degrade over time, according to the company.

It’s a long haul to OS X 10.8.4, but it’s getting closer…

Per 9to5Mac, a week following the previous build, Apple has released build 12E52 of the OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.4 beta to developers. Apple, once again, asks developers to focus on WiFi, Graphics Drivers, and Safari.

We previously noted that 10.8.4 includes support for Mac computers with 802.11ac WiFi chips.

While 10.8.4 is a minor update to OS X Mountain Lion, Apple also has a major...

EA’s making itself slightly less obnoxious by axing its unpopular “Online Pass” program.

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