On consoles, The House of the Dead: Overkill took one of the most well-trodden premises imaginable — shooting zombies in first-person, on rails — and used it to create one of the most memorably over-the-top games of all time. Taking tropes from '70s grindhouse horror movies and cranking them to ridiculous levels, HotD:O was gruesome, hectic, and — as its characters clumsily shoehorned f-bombs into nearly every sentence — so deliberately crass that it was impossible to see it as anything other than a comedy.

The iOS version, subtitled The Lost Reels, scales all that back considerably. Once again following the exploits of Agent G, his absurdly foul-mouthed partner Detective Washington, and two hyperviolent strippers out for revenge, it does its best to approximate the original as players blast their way through two creepy environments (a dilapidated mansion on the bayou and a filthy-looking hospital) filled with flesh-hungry zombies. Power-ups and secret paths occasionally pop up to offer players something new to gun for, and while there are only three zombie types per level (or four, in the $1.99 "Naked Terror" add-on level), they mix up their attacks just enough to keep you on your toes, and to keep the action from getting too stale.

Compared to the console versions of Overkill, The Lost Reels feels like a pale imitation. Its characters still swear copiously between levels, and zombie heads still explode on a near-constant basis, but the gameplay's slower, the zombies far less diverse, and the levels — which cut some of the original areas and recycle the remaining ones — are more drab and repetitive than crazy and threatening. And while it packs in two of the boss fights from the full-sized version (or three, with Naked Terror), they've been simplified to the point that any personality or challenge has been sapped away.

Taken on its own, however, it's a fun (if somewhat expensive) rail shooter that packs in an awful lot of blood for an iOS game. Aiming with its virtual-thumbstick controls works surprisingly well, and being able to swap between a pistol and shotgun to keep from being mauled while reloading adds a light element of strategy. Also, as stingy as the game is with its levels, it's generous enough with its in-game currency that you'll be able to rapidly upgrade your guns and abilities to near-unbeatable heights. And while you'll revisit the same areas frequently, the fact that the game charts different paths through them each time definitely helps. 

The bottom line. The Lost Reels is a pale shadow of the original, but it does a decent job with what little it's been given.

Review Synopsis

Product: 

The House of the Dead: Overkill – The Lost Reels 1.00

Company: 

Sega

Contact: 

www.sega.com

Price: 

$4.99

Requirements: 

iPad, iPod touch or iPhone running iOS 5.1 or later

Positives: 

Fun and bloody, with enough variety to stay interesting throughout its short run time. Looks great. Generous with in-game currency and upgrades.

Negatives: 

Three enemy types per level can get pretty repetitive. Floor plans get recycled a lot, especially during the first level. No sweary character commentary (or any voices at all) during gameplay. Having to pay another $1.99 to unlock the third level (and its two stripper characters) is annoying.

Score:  3 Solid

Remember how we announced earlier this week that Apple chief designer Jony Ive aims to strip iOS 7 of the operating system's skeuomorphic elements? Apparently that's a much bigger task than originally anticipated, as AllThingsD reported this morning that Ives is bringing engineers from the Mac OS X 10.9 team to help finish iOS 7 in time for the preview at WWDC on June 10-14.

Yet unnamed sources say there's no cause for alarm. One compared it to the time in 2007 when Apple borrowed OS X 10.5 engineers to work on the iPhone, but added that this is "Not as much of a fire drill, though. It will ship on time."

Investors aren't so sure. As Bloomberg reported earlier today, Ive's sudden decision to make such an extensive design shift puts iOS 7's release date in danger, not to mention OS X 10.9. Greg Sterling, an analyst for Opus Research in San Francisco, also expressed concerns that the project may be too ambitious for Ive considering the time constraints.

"Apple is really under tremendous pressure to come out with something different and something new," Sterling said. He added that he believes that Ive has "a tremendous sense of design, and he's been the guru behind a lot of these enormously successful products, but he's always had someone like a Jobs to push back on him and give him some guidance, and it's not clear that Tim Cook is capable of playing that role. Maybe without a collaborator, he’s not as strong."

Still, Ive appears to be doing his best to overcome that limitation. The Bloomberg report also reveals that Ive stepped out of character to lead a two-hour presentation at a town hall meeting on the changes planned for iOS 7 in March. He's also fostering better cooperation with the software and hardware teams at Apple, and listening respectfully at meetings rather than trying to force his ideas. However it turns out, Ive's take on iOS 7 looks poised the deliver the most fascinating news we've heard from Apple in a while.

Follow this article's writer, Leif Johnson, on Twitter.

[This is an advertorial. Maclife gets a portion of each unit sold.]

Headphones aren't just about sound. You also have to take into account how comfortable you are wearing them. They have to feel good and look good to be the perfect package for you. Luckily, the Runaway collection from MeElectronics meets all of the requirements and bring you some amazing audio as well. Even better, they are on sale in our latest Deal.

When you need solid sound delivered to your ears for your listening enjoyment, you don't have to sacrifice style or convenience to get it. The Runaway series from MeElectronics cuts the cords and brings sound wirelessly via Bluetooth. Pair that with top quality sound and a beautiful design and bold color, and the Runaway Bluetooth headphones are a must have for an audiophile or just a person looking for a new pair of quality headphones.

The Runaway Bluetooth headphones from MeElectronics usually retail for $100. If you'd like to save yourself 43% off that price, head over to our Deals tab. You can get these great headphones for just $57. That's an offer you can't miss, so grab it today!

It's like deja vu all over again. This fall, Apple and Samsung will return to the courtroom battlefield to argue about the same issues they've been arguing about for years. In fact, both companies will only be permitted to discuss exactly the same issues as a previously settled case. Well, mostly settled. Read on, we'll explain.

Apple vs Samsung

"It's going to be 'Groundhog Day,'" said Judge Lucy Koh. "There's going to be nothing new in this case." With that seemingly apathetic pronouncement, Judge Koh has ordered Apple and Samsung back to court this November to figure out if the jury got it right or not last summer when Apple was awarded more than $1 billion in damages.

To be fair, we already know that jury did it wrong, as the initial award has already been reduced by a federal judge to about $450 million. Now, Judge Koh is concerned that the jury's damage award was, at least in part, incorrectly calculated, based on a flawed understanding of the legal and technical issues involved. A new damage award could cost Samsung more than the current $450 million, or they could escape with even less of a bill. Apparently only a new trial can accurately determine the final amount to be awarded to Apple.

However, a lot has changed since this original trial started; some of the devices in question are not for sale anymore, some of the patents debated are not even valid anymore. Judge Koh has ruled that no new evidence can be submitted, that this hearing will be to determine a damage award for a ruling already issued, but it's not as easy as that. The United States Patent Office is investigating several of Apple's patents for validity right now, patents that were integral to this original case. If the USPTO rules before this new trial in November, Samsung would be permitted to request a stay and have a ruling on the damages delayed further or even dismissed. 

Everything is proceeding as I have forseen.

When the initial, blockbuster ruling came out last summer, it was met with a great deal of shock and awe. The idea of a $1 billion award is powerful enough, but the ruling was lauded as the first big win for Apple in the Patent Wars. However, there was also a bit of discussion about whether, even with having to write a ten-digit check, Samsung still came out on top.

Apple was poised to run away with the smartphone market until Samsung jumped in and snatched up market share with a copycat phone. Even if it cost Samsung $1 billion, it was money well spent if it prevented the iPhone from dominating the way the iPod did just a few years before.

Now, already owing Apple less than half of the original ruling, Samsung is sitting pretty launching Galaxy phones left and right and assumedly laughing between trips to the bank and the courtroom. There is the possibility that Apple could win back some of the lost damages, but there is also the very real possibility that the damages will be reduced or eliminated altogether. Were that to happen, Cupertino would have diverted millions of dollars to cover legal costs, money that could have been spent on new product development, and end up with next to nothing to show for it but a lot of awkward and snarky media hype.

And that's what happens when you "go thermonuclear," as the late Steve Jobs proclaimed Apple was prepared to do to defend its patents (despite oppostion from Tim Cook); the only way to win is not to play.

Follow this writer, Adrian Hoppel, on Facebook.

Bullets! Explosions! Wreckage! Encounters are plenty hectic, online or off.

Storm Raiders is the best entry yet in the Sky Gamblers aerial-combat franchise, sending you soaring through two separate World War II campaigns—the Battle of Britain and Asia-Pacific War—packed with diverse missions, intense action, and impressive visuals. Even more notable are the eight-player dogfights, which span a large number of play modes (like team deathmatch and capture the flag) and deliver ample competition whenever you want it. The Mac version doesn’t control quite as comfortably as the iOS version, but it’s still plenty enjoyable.

The bottom line. Great combat and a tiny price make Storm Raiders a Mac flight favorite.

Review Synopsis

Product: 

Sky Gamblers: Storm Raiders 1.0.3

Company: 

Atypical Games

Contact: 

www.atypicalgames.com

Price: 

$4.99

Requirements: 

OS X 10.7 or later

Positives: 

Excellent flight action in both campaign and multiplayer.

Negatives: 

Limited control options. Keyboard/trackpad options aren’t ideal.

Score:  4 Great

Click on tiles to change their orientation, and drag them to reposition.

Getting from one place to the next is trickier than it seems in Hairy Tales, a colorful Mac puzzler that finds you moving and turning various tiles to send the hero safely toward a goal. Initially, this means little more than evading hazards and creating a safe path forward, but as the 70-plus stages progress, you’ll encounter new obstacles, like enemies and fixed arrow tiles. It’s solidly smart and only occasionally frustrating, though the samey puzzles turn a bit monotonous before too long.

The bottom line. While not consistently enthralling, Hairy Tales is a pleasant and accessible puzzler for all ages.

Review Synopsis

Product: 

Hairy Tales 1.24

Company: 

Arges Systems

Contact: 

www.hairytalesgame.com

Price: 

$4.99

Requirements: 

OS X 10.6.6 or later

Positives: 

Navigational puzzles are smart, but rarely overwhelming. Good for kids and adults alike.

Negatives: 

Turns repetitive more quickly than expected. Visuals (while colorful) are a bit garish.

Score:  3 Solid

Guide a pursuing monster toward a beacon and he’ll be zapped from the screen.

Finding your way through elaborate and impressively rendered mazes is the goal in each of Shardlands’ atmospheric stages, and you’ll do so by clicking to make heroine Dawn move to a location, as well as dragging movable panels into position and clicking buttons. There’s a nice puzzle-solving aspect to the navigation, as well as a bit of action, as you’ll have to avoid hazards plus dispatch enemy beasts using your surroundings. But the thankfully deliberate pace lets you consider each move before you make it.

The bottom line. Nicely paced and presented, Shardlands offers an intriguing array of subtle (but smart) exploration puzzles.

Review Synopsis

Product: 

Shardlands 1.0.1

Company: 

Breach Entertainment

Contact: 

www.breachentertainment.com

Price: 

$3.99

Requirements: 

64-bit processor, OS X 10.7 or later

Positives: 

Intelligent maze-based navigational puzzles. Slick visuals and music. Deliberate pace is welcome.

Negatives: 

Mouse-centric design can create rare interaction issues.

Score:  4 Great

Ensoul Contacts has a near-perfect interface.

No matter how “first world” the problem may be, it’s still a drag when a friend calls you and a horrid, pixelated, grainy mess appears on your iPhone’s beautiful display. Ensoul Contacts (ironically, a Mac app) solves this easily.

On first launch, it asks your iPhone’s screen size and pixel density, a nice touch. The clear main interface lets you select a contact on the left, then drag in a photo from your iPhoto library (or other sources) on the right. If you use iPhoto’s Faces feature, Ensoul can even auto-match the faces to the contacts, which worked seamlessly. Once you’ve selected a photo, you can zoom and crop it, add filters, and preview how it will look on your exact model of iPhone. Ensoul Contacts syncs those photos to your Contacts app, where they’re updated on your iPhone via iCloud or a manual sync.

The bottom line. The interface couldn’t be much better, and if you’re willing to pay $9.99 to fix the low-res caller ID image problem, this doesn’t just solve it, it obliterates it.

Review Synopsis

Product: 

Ensoul Contacts 2.0

Company: 

MacPaw

Contact: 

www.macpaw.com

Price: 

$9.99

Requirements: 

OS X 10.7.5 or later

Positives: 

Goes above and beyond solving the problem. Great UI and design. Great customization options.

Negatives: 

Pricey, considering the problem. Some filters decrease image quality.

Score:  4.5 Excellent

You won't get big sound from the iPad's built-in speakers, and who wants to lug around external speakers? You do, if they're the powerful set built in to Belkin's Thunderstorm case for iPad 2 and 3. The Smart Cover-like cover bends into a stand for viewing videos and playing games, and the speaker bar cranks out teeth-rattling sound without any distortion even cranked all the way up. 

But don't take our word for it. Hearing is believing with this thing, and the winner of our contest will get the review unit straight from the Mac|Life Testing Lab. It works for iPad 2 and iPad 3, and of course the original iPad and iPad 4 aren't included. Sorry!

 

Loading...

 

The fine print:
Mac|Life "Win Belkin Thunderstorm" Contest rules: The winner will be chosen at random from qualified entries. Only one entry per person is valid. All entries must be received no later than June 30, 2013. By entering this contest, you agree that Future US, Inc. may use your name, likeness, and website for promotional purposes without further payment. Employees of Sponsor, its respective parent, subsidiaries, affiliated companies, and agents, and foregoing employees¹ household or immediate family members (defined as parent, spouse, child, sibling, or grandparent) are NOT eligible to enter Contest. All prizes will be awarded, and no minimum number of entries is required. If two or more people enter identical designs and that entry is selected as the winner, the entry received first will be awarded the contest prize. Prizes won by minors will be awarded to their parents or legal guardians. Future US, Inc. is not responsible for damages or expenses the winners might incur as a result of this contest or the receipt of a prize, and winners are responsible for income taxes based on the value of the prize received. A list of winners may also be obtained by sending a stamped, self-addressed envelope to Future US, Inc. c/o Mac|Life Contest, 4000 Shoreline Court, Suite 400, South San Francisco, CA 94080. This contest is limited to residents of the United States. No purchase necessary; void in Arizona, Maryland, Vermont, Puerto Rico, and where prohibited by law.

Just paint over an object and click Erase. It’s that easy.

The last time we reviewed Snapheal, we marveled at how it could easily erase unwanted objects from your photos. MacPhun calls it magic, and we said, “It’s a bold claim we happen to agree with.”

Version 2.2 keeps that magic, and fixes a lot of the problems we had — and for $3 less. You can now import from Aperture as well as iPhoto, Photo Booth, and the Finder. In the Erase tab, you can paint on objects you want to remove, use the polygonal or free lasso, or even choose the Clone tool to pick the exact part of the photo you want to use to cover the unwanted part. Erasing modes include Shapeshifter, the most universal according to the app’s tooltip, as well as Twister and Wormhole, although the app doesn’t explain what the other two are or how they differ.

After you’re done in the Erase tab, the Retouch tab lets you paint a mask over parts of your photo, and then use the sliders to make edits to just those areas (exposure, contrast, saturation, and more). The Adjust tab has similar adjustments but applies them to the whole image, and a cool side-by-side mode lets you see the before and after.

The bottom line. This might just be the most powerful image editing 12 bucks can buy.

Review Synopsis

Product: 

Snapheal 2.2

Company: 

MacPhun

Contact: 

www.macphun.com

Price: 

$11.99

Requirements: 

OS X 10.7 or later

Positives: 

Remove unwanted objects easily. Brighten colors and easily make other adjustments. Make edits on one part of the photo while leaving others untouched.

Negatives: 

Masking tools could be more intuitive.

Score:  4.5 Excellent

PopClip brings OS X just a little closer to iOS.

Over the course of the past few OS X updates, Apple has taken to bringing some of the better features of iOS “back to the Mac.” PopClip adds one of the ones they left out. On our iPhones and iPads, selecting text automatically brings up a context menu, but when using our Macs, those options require an extra right-click. With PopClip, a customizable, iOS-style pop-up menu appears over selected text, allowing easy access to the actions we use most.

But the real power is in its extensions. Dozens of options are available to soup-up PopClip, from integration with Fantastical to translation and spotlight searching, and PopClip is smart enough to know which ones you might need for your block of text. We experienced a couple of crashes using PopClip, and the lack of distinct separation between actions was confusing at times.

The bottom line. PopClip makes your Mac a little more like your iPad—and that’s a good thing.

Review Synopsis

Product: 

PopClip 1.4.4

Company: 

Pilotmoon Software

Contact: 

www.pilotmoon.com

Price: 

$4.99

Requirements: 

OS X 10.6.6 or later

Positives: 

Quick access to common functions. Integrates well with apps. Fantastic customization.

Negatives: 

Some crashing. Long rows of extensions can get confusing.

Score:  4 Great

Dropmark combines a web-based interface with a Mac menubar item for quickly collecting & sharing.

Sharing links is easy. Send them with Messages or email. Use Facebook, Twitter, Google+, or any other social network to share with your friends and colleagues. But what happens when you need to share a collection of stuff? Dropmark aims to simplify this process, allowing you to share not only links and images, but videos, files, music, and nearly anything else on your Mac.

Dropmark installs as a menubar item that is tightly integrated with the Dropmark website. Find something you like, drag it to the Dropmark menu, drop it into one of your Collections, and it’s instantly added to Dropmark’s cloud. Collections make sharing a bunch of stuff as easy as sending someone a single link, giving them read-only access. You can also collaborate by sharing collections with another Dropmark user.

Dropmark accepts all kinds of items: Web links, text files, images from iPhoto, mp3s, and even tracks from SoundCloud, all synced to our Dropmark account without a problem. If you’re more interested in clipping items from the web, you don’t even need the Mac menu bar applet: Dropmark’s web interface offers a sidebar for easy uploading, and a bookmarklet.

By default, collections are only available to you. You can also share with anyone who has the link, or make your collections public. Public collections are viewable at username.dropmark.com, but Pro users can specify a custom domain. Pro users also get 5GB of storage (compared to 1GB for free accounts), uploading by email, display options, and search capabilities.

The bottom line. Dropmark is great for creating, sharing, and collaborating on scrapbooks full of related stuff.

Review Synopsis

Product: 

Dropmark

Company: 

Oak Studios

Contact: 

www.dropmark.com

Price: 

Free. ($5/month or $48/year for Pro account.)

Requirements: 

64-bit processor, OS X 10.7 or later

Positives: 

Sharing links, photos, and local files made easy. Three privacy levels. Drag-and-drop uploads.

Negatives: 

Occasional upload glitches.

Score:  4 Great

With Doo’s sorting options, you’ll never forget which cloud is storing your document.

With our files scattered across so many cloud services, it can be a pain to remember where we put things. With Doo Document Organizer, that problem is a thing of the past.

Think of Doo as kind of like a Finder for the cloud. Once you link your storage services—Dropbox, Google Drive, and SkyDrive—it quickly indexes your files and folders and presents them all for easy viewing, either as a giant list or organized by location. It does the same for your email or any local folder on your Mac; just tell Doo where to look and it will add whatever it finds to your library. And if you’re wary about letting Doo see too much, it’s easy to eliminate folders and wide swaths of files from its prying eyes.

Much like the Finder, there’s no actual editing to be done in Doo. In simple terms, it’s like a dynamic snapshot of your documents; none of your files are actually moved or copied, but anything can be accessed in an instant and quickly opened in its associated app. You can view your documents in preview or list mode, and finding things is a snap thanks to predictive search, coupled with powerful, multi-layered sorting. Constant syncing makes sure everything stays current, and a handy duplicate finder helps eliminate clutter.

Like other cloud services, Doo puts a limit on its free tier, and while the 1GB cap is one of lowest we’ve seen, a bit of selection should keep Doo humming along. We were bummed to learn that Doo couldn’t sync our iCloud documents, and while we were interested to add our mail accounts, it required us to set far too many filtering rules to make it useful.

The bottom line. If you’ve ever wished for a cloud-powered Finder, you can’t Doo much better than this.

Review Synopsis

Product: 

Doo 1.0.5

Company: 

Doo.net

Contact: 

http://doo.net

Price: 

Free. (Storage beyond the free 1GB starts at $4.99/month for 10GB.)

Requirements: 

OS X 10.8.2 or later.

Positives: 

Excellent file handling. Powerful sorting and searching. Speedy syncing.

Negatives: 

Small storage cap requires vigilance. No support for iCloud files.

Score:  4 Great

The Lytro camera is an amazing way to add perspective to photos, but at $399, it’s beyond the financial grasp of many amateur shutterbugs. Thankfully, a new iPhone app promises to deliver refocusable, ready-to-share images for a whole lot less. FocusTwist takes a page from the Lytro playbook, creating images where the key focus can be changed to another object with just a tap.

The app is fairly specific about how to create a so-called twist: Foreground images should be no more than four inches from the lens, while background objects need to be further than five feet away. Tap the screen, and FocusTwist begins recording a series of images capturing objects from the entire focal range. During this time, you’ll need to hold the iPhone as still as possible – any motion could effectively ruin the shot. That pretty much eliminates FocusTwist for shots of kids or most pets, although we did manage to get decent twists of a Labrador retriever, albeit one who is quite used to posing for photos by now.

FocusTwist does indeed produce effective images, but you’ll need to use the app or its companion website to actually view them. Refocusable images are shot at a mere 512 x 512 pixels, and there’s no way to export them aside from sharing via Twitter, MMS, or email, although flattened versions are automatically saved to the Camera Roll (this can be disabled via Settings). The developers also maintain an in-app feed of user-supplied images to foster a community atmosphere. Add the #focustwist hashtag when posting to Twitter – a one-tap button is included for this very purpose – and the image will be considered for inclusion on the feed. We were notified via Twitter within 20 minutes of posting that our first attempt was selected, which appeared in the feed 10 minutes later.

The bottom line. There’s not a whole lot to FocusTwist, but the app does produce nice results with only a little extra effort for those with a steady hand. For unique shots of inanimate objects, it sure beats dropping 400 bucks on another device.

Review Synopsis

Product: 

FocusTwist 1.2

Company: 

Arqball

Contact: 

http://focustwist.com

Price: 

$1.99

Requirements: 

iPhone or iPod touch running iOS 5.1 or later

Positives: 

Creates unique images with minimal effort. Easy-to-understand, settings-free UI. In-app feed of company-selected twists inspires creativity.

Negatives: 

Small 512 x 512 pixel image size. Twists only saved to Camera Roll as flattened JPEG files. Requires strict adherence to guidelines for best results.

Score:  4 Great

Draw Something 2 is exactly the kind of sequel we'd expect from a casual gaming juggernaut like Zynga: It's slickly refined, nicely expanded, and slathered with silly marketing tie-ins. Seriously, when will pop starlet Carly Rae Jepsen continue the game that it made us send "her" during the tutorial? All the same, this follow-up builds upon the sketch-guessing sensation by adding more social features and ways to interact, while wrapping everything up in a flashier package.

As ever, the objective here is to pick a prompt from a list of terms and then use the available drawing tools to sketch out your best visual approximation of the subject – whether it's dominoes or Kanye West. Once your masterpiece is complete, you'll send it to an opponent, who will try to guess the word and then send his/her own drawing back based on a different one. And so it continues, with players earning coins for successful guesses. There's no defined "competition" to the game, but assuming your counterpart puts at least a smidgen of humor and creativity into the artwork, it can be a lot of fun to see the drawings come together. Draw Something 2 adds more than 5000 new words to the library, and now allows nine-letter words, but otherwise the approach is largely identical.

This enhanced sequel lets you follow friends and other users, with a social feed displaying saved drawings and other top community pieces, plus it bundles in Achievements that can earn you currency to use towards additional drawing tools. It also adds Daily Draw and Daily Guess objectives, so there's a little more going on besides your currently active games.

Draw Something 2 is available in paid and ad-supported free versions, with the latter lacking the sparkle pen and some built-in currency, but most of the tools remain behind coin and star barriers that are eased by in-app purchases. We expected the premium release to be a bit more bountiful instead of nickel-and-diming us for so much, and it makes the free version seem a lot more appealing in hindsight. In the end, this is more – and slightly better – Draw Something, and easily worth the upgrade for regular fans, but the additions won't seem particularly revelatory for those who cooled off on the concept some time ago.

The bottom line. Sleeker and super-sized but ultimately very similar, Draw Something 2 maintains its charming approach, though it lacks the fresh hooks to pull back lapsed fans.

Review Synopsis

Product: 

Draw Something 2 1.4.8

Company: 

Zynga

Contact: 

http://www.zynga.com

Price: 

$2.99

Requirements: 

iPod touch or iPhone running iOS 5.0 or later

Positives: 

Social features and daily objectives offer additional reason to hang around. More words and drawing tools than before. Polished interface. Still fun to swap drawings back and forth.

Negatives: 

Premium version still locks most of its tools and colors behind in-game currency barriers. Doesn't add a lot of fresh appeal to the familiar concept.

Score:  3.5 Good

We're generally fans of Path, the more private social network. But that could be because we have yet to experience the horror of having the service begin spamming our address book -- even after uninstalling the app.

The Verge reported Tuesday that Path is under fire again over how the app taps into users' address books in an effort to recruit new users. Worse yet, those hoping to avoid such a dilemma have been shocked to discover the same thing happening even after the app has been removed from their device.

While we haven't personally experienced any such problems on iOS, U.K. user Stephen Kenwright gave it a try earlier in the week but ultimately deleted the app, only to discover the service had send text spam overnight to many of his contacts.

The unfortunate incident also resulted in a series of "robocalls" -- although Path does not call users, U.K. landlines "automatically read out text messages that are sent to them," an experience users in the U.S. won't have to worry about.

Kenwright isn't alone in having Path go rogue on him, and the service is investigating why the message delivery took place after deleting the app, when they should have gone out while he was actually signed up. Otherwise, the company appears to stand by Path's ability to seek out friends, claiming it creates the best experience possible.

"Path is really best with friends and we really want to help users invite the people that they care about to their Path as quickly as possible," explained Path VP of Marketing Nate Johnson.

Path recently announced it is now in use by 10 million people, and continues to add a million more new users each week.

Follow this article’s author, J.R. Bookwalter on Twitter

 

That was quick! Less than a week after MetroPCS shareholders approved a merger with T-Mobile USA, the companies have announced the deal is done and the combined company is already trading on the stock exchange.

Deutsche Telekom AG and T-Mobile US, Inc. announced Wednesday that the parent company's merger with MetroPCS Communications, Inc. is now complete. The deal should give a nice boost to fourth-placed U.S. carrier T-Mobile, who plans to use existing MetroPCS spectrum to accelerate its plans for 4G LTE expansion.

“The combination of T-Mobile and MetroPCS creates an even stronger disruptive force in the U.S. wireless market,” said John Legere, President & Chief Executive Officer of T-Mobile US, Inc. “Together, as America’s Un-carrier, we’ll continue our legacy of marketplace innovation by tearing up the old playbook and rewriting the rules of wireless to benefit consumers.”

The combined company will now be known as T-Mobile US, Inc. and began trading on the  New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday under the new ticker symbol "TMUS."

While it's totally unrelated to the merger, 9to5Mac is reporting that T-Mobile customers who happen to be fans of Major League Baseball can celebrate with an entire season of free streaming access to the MLB.TV Game of the Day.

New and existing customers on the T-Mobile network can download the free subscription app between May 1 and June 30 from the App Store or Google Play and receive full access to the 2013 MLB season, a $19.99 value.

Follow this article’s author, J.R. Bookwalter on Twitter

 

We don't know about you, but we have yet to find the perfect third-party video player for iOS. Apparently neither have the folks at FireCore, who have just released one of their own called Infuse.

FireCore, LLC announced a new iOS app called Infuse on Tuesday, a slick-looking, universal video player for those averse to Apple's own built-in solution. FireCore is best known as the company behind the popular aTV Flash software for the Apple TV, and Infuse marks their debut effort on the iOS platform.

Infuse combines existing videos already on your iOS device with others than can be added via iTunes Fire Sharing, which can include formats that Apple typically frowns upon, such as AVI, MKV, WMV and others. That eliminates the need to convert existing videos -- just add them to Infuse and you're good to go.

While there are plenty of third-party players capable of doing the same thing, Infuse attempts to do it in style with a more visual user interface that automatically downloads artwork and details for the movies and TV shows you add to it.

Infuse also makes it easy to enjoy media that requires subtitles, by tracking down the required text for you with just a tap. For files that already include them, Infuse will use those by default.

Much like aTV Flash, Infuse also features built-in support for tract, which keeps track of the TV shows and movies you've already watched and offers recommendations for other content you might like, with full sync support.

Infuse is available now on the App Store at an introductory price of only $4.99; the universal app requires iOS 5.0 or later. We're already hard at work on a review of the app, so stay tuned to MacLife.com to find out more!

Follow this article’s author, J.R. Bookwalter on Twitter

 

Happy May Day! April sure flew by quickly, but it had plenty of highs and lows and the month ended on the higher end of the scale, judging from our last recap from the month. We've got a pair of Tim Cook tales to bookend today's edition, along with a Vine update, Hulu statistics and the CEO of BlackBerry predicting the end of the tablet within five years -- and he doesn't mean the company's own. Stay with us, won't you?

Apple CEO Will Kick Off Annual AllThingsD Conference

With May now in full swing, the folks over at AllThingsD have announced the list of speakers to appear at their D11 conference taking place in Rancho Palos Verdes, California. For the second year in a row, Apple CEO Tim Cook will appear for an interview, this time as the opening night speaker on May 28. The event will also include executives from Twitter, Motorola Mobility, Sony, Google, Pinterest and others, and hosts Kara Swisher and Walt Mossberg always do a bang-up job of keeping things lively. While the event has long since been sold out, coverage can be found on the AllThingsD website, which will include videos posted throughout the conference.

Vine Updated with Front-Facing Camera Support

Vine announced on its blog Tuesday that a version 1.1 update is now available, which introduces the ability to shoot video with the front-facing camera, including the option to switch willy-nilly between cameras. Vine also now supports mentions, so Twitter users can tag people in posts so they'll be notified about your video. As usual, this feature will offers username suggestions as you begin typing -- perfect for those of us who can never remember them.

Hulu Announces 4 Million Paid Subscribers, New Summer Lineup

The Hulu Blog announced Tuesday that the service now has more than four million paid subscribers for its Hulu Plus service, a new record for the first quarter of the year. Judging from the chart included with the post, Hulu's subscription base continues to grow at a steady clip each quarter, with mobile viewing said to make up approximately 15 percent of the service's viewers in the year to come. The service is also announcing a pair of new shows to debut this summer: Quick Draw and East Los High, which will join nine others already announced, as well as new episodes of classic soap operas All My Children and One Life to Live.

BlackBerry CEO: Tablets Will Be Dead in 5 Years

Bloomberg reported Tuesday that BlackBerry Thorsten Heins doesn't see much of a future for tablets -- which may have something to do with the company having a tough time selling its own BlackBerry PlayBook. “In five years I don’t think there’ll be a reason to have a tablet anymore,” Heins explained. “Maybe a big screen in your workspace, but not a tablet as such. Tablets themselves are not a good business model.” Needless to say, Apple would probably disagree with that sentiment as the market leader. Heins also predicts BlackBerry will return to its former glory as "the absolute leader in mobile computing" in the same timeframe, so there's that.

Highest Bid for Tim Cook Coffee Date Made with Stolen Credit Card

Remember last week's auction for a coffee date with Apple CEO Tim Cook? The highest bid hit a whopping $605,000 last Friday, but by Monday morning had dropped $5,000. According to CNNMoney, the drop was made because the $605,000 winning bid had been made using a stolen credit card, so the folks at Charitybuzz had to void the highest bid and go with the next one in line. The charity auction for the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice & Human Rights originally had an estimated value of only $50,000, so what's a few grand either way, are we right?

Follow this article’s author, J.R. Bookwalter on Twitter

 

Alisher Usmanov, the Russian billionaire whom some of you may recall from his jaw-dropping 10-fold return on his investment into Facebook last year, recently announced to Bloomberg that he'd invested as much as $100 million into Apple stock in the belief that it will return to the highs of September 2012 or beyond. That's an impressive gamble. Apple's stock has dropped by close to 40 percent since then due to concerns about competition from Samsung and sluggish sales.

Still, Usmanov believes Apple will get back on its feet, and soon at that. "I believe in the future of this company even after Steve Jobs," Usmanov said in an interview at Bloomberg’s Moscow offices on April 25. "When the company lost $100 billion of its market value, it was a good time to buy its shares, as the capitalization should rebound."

The actual date of Usmanov's investment is unknown, but he points to recent announcements such as Apple's generous dividend and share buyback overhauls as reasons to believe Apple will distinguish itself as a "very promising investment" in the next three years.

Also, Usmanov has lost little of the faith in Facebook that drove his initial investment there in 2009, when Facebook was valued at a "mere" $6.5 billion. "I still believe in the high technology sector and I am also absolutely confident in the future of Facebook," he said. Usmanov, Russia's richest man, believes he's ahead of the curve on a similar turnaround in value at Apple. If correct, it'll pay off royally. For instance, when Facebook went public in May of 2012, Usmanov earned $1.4 billion when his DST Group sold a $1.7 billion stake while the social media giant was valued at $100 billion.

Bloomberg notes that Usmanova also keeps his eyes on Russia itself, where he holds stakes in VKontakte, Russia's largest social network. "Russia is a country that created free economy and market in the last two decades, while the U.S. and Great Britain have it for centuries," he said, hinting at the potential of Russia's technology market.

(Photo credit: www.kremlin.ru)