Monday's big news certainly centered around Adobe MAX 2013 and the company's big shift to Creative Cloud as its primary product offering starting next month. But that doesn't mean there weren't other stories making the rounds that didn't come from the Los Angeles Convention Center, so sit back and take a quick ride through a handful of the ones that caught our eye.

Gmail for iOS Adds Ability to Open Official Google Apps

If you're tired of the official Gmail app sending you to the mobile web versions of YouTube, Google Maps or Chrome every time you tap on a link, you'll want to head to the App Store and download the latest version. Gmail for iOS 2.2.7182 will now open the native apps for this trio of Google services, assuming you have them installed in the first place, a feature that can be disabled via in-app settings. The update also adds support for signing out of a single Gmail account, rather than nuking your login for all of them at once.

Apple Continues to Tighten Noose on App Discovery Services

AppGratis appears to be the first in a long line of app discovery services under fire from Apple. AppleInsider reported Monday that the iPhone maker has started to expand its enforcement of App Store regulation 2.25, which kicks any app to the curb that duplicates too much of the App Store's existing functionality. According to one unnamed developer with a sharing recommendation app, Apple rejected their title -- even though it appeared to follow the company's rules. "I think they aim to be the only provider of recommendations for apps, along with being the distributor," the developer remarked. We're likely to see plenty more yet to come...

Dropbox Announces First Developer Conference

Developing an app that taps into the Dropbox API? If so, you'll be very eager to learn that the cloud storage service is hosting its first-ever developer conference on July 9 at Fort Mason in San Francisco, Dubbed DBX, the conference will bring developers together to "see the great things they’re building, and share ideas with the engineers and designers working on Dropbox’s API." The one-day event will also give attendees their first chance to see what new products are on deck from Dropbox, which promise to make developing for the platform "even easier." Developers can request an invitation to attend, and while you're waiting for word back, be sure to follow @dbx2013 on Twitter for all the latest news on the event.

Report: Google May Take on Netflix with Paid YouTube Subscriptions

The Verge reported Monday that Google-owned YouTube may be poised to launch a new paid subscription service, offering up to 50 premium channels for a wallet-friendly $1.99 per month. According to Financial Times, the service could debut as early as this week, although Google wouldn't go on the record to confirm the service quite yet beyond a cursory confirmation the search giant was "looking into creating a subscription platform that could bring even more great content to YouTube."

Rumor: "Budget" iPhone Indeed on the Way, Claims Parts Supplier

Cult of Mac reported Monday that parts supplier ETrade Supply appears to be channeling a source inside Foxconn who claims that recent rumors of a "budget" iPhone are not only real, but they will be released sometime this year. As always, we advise readers to take these stories with a grain of salt, but ETrade did recently turn up parts for the rumored "iPhone 5S," for whatever that's worth. The real question is, exactly how "budget" will it be…?

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

 

Apple broke its way into the top 10 of the Fortune 500 list of top American revenue earners for the first time today, making an impressive leap from No. 17 to No. 6 since last year's rankings. Fortune also lists it as the second most profitable company in the United States after Exxon Mobil. This can only be good news for Apple in the wake of recent concerns about its falling stock prices and its shaky hold on the smartphone and tablet markets, and it stands as a stark reminder of the tech giant's potential for growth in spite of increasingly grim projections.

The news also follows on the heels of Saturday's announcement by Barron's that Apple also made the No. 1 spot in the Barron's 500, a survey honoring "stellar operating performance." Apple held the No. 2 spot in 2012, up from the No. 4 slot in 2011. Citing Apple's "terrific sales growth and wisely deployed cash flow," Barron's praised Apple for doing a bang-up job of investing in its future, but noted that its falling stock prices and increased competition point to tougher challenges in 2013.

Fortune, too, recounted some of Apple's slips over the last year in its brief write-up, citing Tim Cook's apologies for the sloppy introduction of Apple Maps and the slow repair rate for iPhones in China. Yet Fortune closed by reminding us of Apple's inescapable influence on the tech market. "Still, when every executive wants to invent the iPod of ___, Apple remains an innovation icon."

On Monday, Adobe kicked off its annual MAX conference by announcing its forthcoming new version of Creative Cloud, along with rebranded desktop and mobile applications. Here's what to expect from the rebranded Adobe InDesign CC, Illustrator CC, and more.

Adobe InDesign CC headlines the company's handful of design-centric applications, with faster performance thanks to native 64-bit support at long last, allowing documents to use all of the available system RAM. InDesign CC also brings a new, modern user interface (below) with a darker look and Retina Display support.

InDesign CC also cuts down on constantly scrolling to find a frequently used font, thanks to the ability to mark favorites for later use. Along with Illustrator CC, InDesign CC also taps into Adobe's new Sync Fonts, a Creative Cloud feature that allows designers to locate the perfect font and instantly install it as part of the regular monthly subscription fee. The two applications also share new font search and filtering tools as well.

Adobe Illustrator CC introduces a new Touch Type tool for manipulating individual characters in the same way other objects can be edited, creating brushes from images (shown at top), multiple file placement, CSS extraction, and much more.

Designing a visually rich, HTML5-powered website is still as easy as ever with Adobe Muse CC, which adds the ability to move elements in different directions (and at different speeds) when scrolling, as well as in-browser editing changes--perfect for clients to update content without changing the overall layout of a website.

For the first time ever, Adobe InCopy CC is included with Creative Cloud. This InDesign CC companion application adds a modern UI with Retina Display support and font search to help writers, editors, and designers work on the same document together without affecting each other's work.

Last but not least, Adobe is making some changes to two of its design-centric mobile apps. Adobe Kuler (right) will now be available as an iPhone app, perfect for using the built-in camera to grab color swatches on the go and keep them synced to both the tablet version and Adobe Illustrator CC on the desktop.

Adobe Ideas is also being updated to add Kuler integration, color themes, more accurate drawing, and social sharing to Facebook and Twitter. Best of all, the app will now be a free download for all users.

Adobe will release InDesign CC, Illustrator CC, Muse CC, InCopy CC, and the rest of the new Creative Cloud lineup worldwide on June 17, and stay tuned to MacLife.com for all of the news coming out of Adobe MAX 2013.

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

 

iPhone users rarely have any need to envy their Android-toting friends, but the introduction of Google Now certainly gave them one reason to do so. With the feature finally available on iOS with the latest update to Google Search, does it actually live up to expectations?

Google Now gathers weather, places, travel, and customized interests into neat stacks of virtual “cards.” Related entries are grouped to minimize clutter, but users can temporarily eliminate unwanted entries by swiping them off the screen, or permanently toggle off entire categories in Settings. On Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) or later, Google Now is baked into the operating system, but here the feature is confined strictly to the Google Search app. The experience looks and feels identical to Android, although Search currently doesn’t access the iOS calendar, so it can’t display upcoming events.

Otherwise, Now is search on steroids – it predicts information you’ll need based upon activity in your Google account. The feature works best for Gmail users, but it also comes in handy for web searches, presenting places as a card with real-time traffic information; tap one and Google Maps opens, ready to guide you there with turn-by-turn navigation. The update forces the Location Services icon to remain on at all times which, despite Google’s claims to the contrary, did seem to impact battery life by 10 percent or more each day in our testing. The app could also benefit from push notifications, a glaring omission that makes the Android implementation a superior experience for now.

Google Now is still a useful addition to Search, especially for travelers. We tested the app on a recent cross-country journey where it offered up nearby attractions, photos, and weather while keeping tabs on the current time back home – quite handy for calling loved ones in another time zone.

The bottom line. While it may not be as omnipresent as the Android version, Google Search with Google Now serves up a welcome variety of data with minimal input from the user. We’re just hoping that a future update will add push notifications and hopefully punish the battery a little less.

Review Synopsis

Product: 

Google Search 3.0.0

Company: 

Google

Contact: 

http://www.google.com

Price: 

Free

Requirements: 

iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad running iOS 5.0 or later

Positives: 

Google Now is a nice complement to existing text and voice search features. Settings allow users to control which categories are shown. Does a good job of predicting which information to show.

Negatives: 

No iOS Calendar support. Lacks push notifications found on Android version. Constant use of Location Services reduces battery life by 10 percent or more.

Score:  3.5 Good

Adobe Creative Cloud is poised to become more unified than ever, with updates to all future versions, cloud-based Sync settings, and Behance social networking for creative designers all built into the package. But its flagship application, Photoshop, has plenty of new tricks as well.

On Monday, Adobe kicked off its annual MAX conference by announcing its forthcoming new version of Creative Cloud, along with rebranded desktop and mobile applications. Adobe worldwide design evangelist Terry White gave us a demonstration of what to expect from the rebranded Adobe Photoshop CC.

For starters, Adobe has done away with the separate Photoshop Extended edition--all of that version's advanced 3D-editing and image-analysis tools are now rolled into a single, unified Adobe Photoshop CC product.

The software has also been updated with Adobe Camera Raw 8, which works on its own for importing RAW images as well as applying Camera Raw edits directly to any Photoshop layer or file, complete with new ways to heal images and fix distortions with the Upright feature.

Photoshop CC is also getting smarter about sharpening as well as fixing images with blur caused by slow shutter speeds. As recently previewed in a YouTube video, Camera Shake Reduction (above) provides impressive results for restoring sharpness lost by camera motion, while the all-new Smart Sharpen tool (below) offers what Adobe calls "the most advanced sharpening technology available today" to add clarity to images while minimizing traditional noise and halo effects.

Other welcome additions include more-intelligent upsampling of lower-resolution content; the ability to edit rounded rectangles as well as select multiple paths, shapes, and vector masks all at once; improved 3D painting; expanded Smart Object support; and new Conditional Actions for processing images under more customized rules than previously offered.

Adobe will release Photoshop CC and the rest of the new Creative Cloud lineup worldwide on June 17. Stay tuned to MacLife.com for more on all the news coming out of Adobe MAX 2013.

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

 

Though it draws heavy inspiration from a particular sci-fi franchise well known for boldly sending a spaceship full of uniformed crew where no one has gone before, Star Command doesn't fiddle around with any namby-pamby prime directive. The galaxy is full of danger and backstabbing aliens looking to get a piece of your sweet tech. Sure, diplomacy is sometimes an option with the strange crafts you encounter in this slick pixel-based quest, but it's just way more fun to blow your adversaries out of the stars or die trying in an often intense and chaotic adventure through the cosmos.

A good portion of your focus during more peaceful stretches of exploration – and in the downtime between encounters – is on managing a diverse crew and tinkering with your starship. Spending tokens from mission encounters lets you recruit new crewmembers, buy additional chambers for your vessel, and upgrade existing rooms. Fresh crewmembers can be sorted into three different types of positions, and their uniforms and job roles are determined by the color of the room you assign them to. Red shirts handle weapons and on-board security, yellow shirts tackle engineering and repairs, and blue shirts run sickbay and perform healing duties. Members can be reassigned anytime, but the more they serve in a particular role, the better they'll get at it, which rewards your ability to keep crew alive across the game's challenging and humorous campaign.

Staying alive isn't easy. It turns out that most aliens aren't so friendly, preferring to solve the galaxy's problems with laser blasts rather than playing nice. That's fine, because Star Command's encounters are pleasantly heart-pounding in execution. Real-time battles have you charging up ship-to-ship blasters to whittle down foes' shields and damage their hulls, and firing shots brings up a clever mini-game to dole out hits and damage, depending on the kind of weapon used. Meanwhile, raiding parties beam aboard and attack, forcing you to switch gears and cobble together a security team to fend off the on-foot assaults. It devolves into a mess of chaos at times, though there's something absolutely rewarding about making it through a particularly grueling encounter by the skin of your teeth – and then sending crew to patch up the damage afterwards.

The bottom line. Star Command's violent romp through the galaxy is equal parts challenging and clever, making it a must-play for sci-fi strategy fans.

Review Synopsis

Product: 

Star Command 1.0.0

Company: 

Warballoon

Contact: 

http://www.starcommandgame.com

Price: 

$2.99

Requirements: 

iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch running iOS 4.3 or later

Positives: 

Great Star Trek-inspired sci-fi vibe. Intense ship-to-ship battles. Cool pixel art presentation.

Negatives: 

Staying alive is a real challenge at times.

Score:  4.5 Excellent

Adobe kicked off its annual MAX conference in Los Angeles over the weekend, and MacLife.com was in attendance for the keynote address introducing the next generation of the company's creative applications.

Since late 2003, Adobe has maintained a nearly bi-annual schedule of assembling its creative Mac and Windows software into various bundles known as Creative Suite, with the most recent CS6 edition launched last April.

Adobe now plans to break from this decade-long tradition with the announcement Monday of all-new Creative Cloud ("CC") editions of its 15 most popular software titles, available exclusively for subscribers of its annual or month-to-month service.

Combining photography, video, design, and web applications with the cloud, the new CC product branding promises to eliminate past worries about having the latest version of your favorite software.

Thanks to Creative Cloud's new integrated menu bar software, Mac and Windows users will be able install or update applications from the very same place they move documents to the cloud, network with others via Behance, or sync new cloud-enabled fonts, colors, and settings.

At the core of its latest Creative Cloud offering are new CC editions of key applications: Photoshop CC, Illustrator CC, InDesign CC, Flash Pro CC, Dreamweaver CC, Premiere Pro CC, After Effects CC, Audition CC, SpeedGrade CC, Prelude CC, Adobe Muse CC, Adobe Edge Animate CC, Adobe Bridge CC and Adobe Media Encoder CC; also appearing for the first time ever as part of Creative Cloud is the InDesign companion, InCopy CC. The new versions will be available worldwide starting June 17.

Stay tuned for a quick run-through of key new features in the forthcoming new version of Adobe Creative Cloud, as well as additional Adobe MAX coverage straight from the conference floor.

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

 

Every Monday, we'll show you how to do something new and simple with Apple's built-in command line application. You don't need any fancy software, or a knowledge of coding to do any of these. All you need is a keyboard to type 'em out!

It’s rare to go through a high school or college-level math course and not use a graphing calculator. While those calculators are cool, they are costly and often clunky to use and carry around. With gnuplot, a powerful, freely available program used for graphing, you can graph items right from the command line without the need for any additional apps or a graphing calculator. It’ll produce easy-to-read graphs that are visible right from your Terminal. We’ll show you how to install the gnuplot program, and how you can put it to good use.

Installing gnuplot

To install gnuplot, you’ll need to have MacPorts or Homebrew installed on your machine. (If you don’t already, check out our handy guide on using MacPorts and Homebrew on your Mac.)

To install using Homebrew, type in the following command in the Terminal, followed by the enter key:

brew install gnuplot

To install using MacPorts, type in the following command in the Terminal, followed by the enter key (note that you will need to authenticate using your administrator password):

sudo port install gnuplot

Once installation has completed, move on to the next step to begin using gnuplot.

Basic Graphing with gnuplot

To begin graphing with gnuplot, you need to type in “gnuplot” into the terminal, and press enter. This will launch the program and allow you to start interacting with it. The first command that we’ll enter each time we want to graph something is:

set terminal dumb

This setts the terminal to dumb mode. After that you can type in any mathematical equation into the terminal to begin graphing it, so long as you see the “gnuplot” text to the left of the insertion point.

To graph a simple equation, let's type the following cosine function followed by the enter key:

plot cos(x+2)

The plot command tells gnuplot what to do with the equation, and the equation following the “plot” text is the mathematical equation you wish to graph inside of the gnuplot program.

We can try another nifty graph by doing the following:

plot sin(x) with linespoints pointtype 5, cos(x) w boxes lt 4

This will create a more complex graph with multiple curves. It is just one example of how complex the graphs can be with gnuplot. For more information on plotting with gnuplot, check out this guide posted by IBM. It covers all of the basics--and them some--to get you up to speed on all that gnuplot can do.

Producing Graph Images

Viewing the graphs in the terminal doesn’t give you the definition that you may need to truly utilize your graph. Luckily, you can output your graph to a PNG image that can be saved, shared, or printed for later use.

To do this, type the following commands into the terminal after you have plotted your graph:

set term pngset output “graph.png” replot set term dumb

This set of commands will set the Terminal to output PNG images, and will then output the image named “graph.png” once the “replot” command is used. After that, we’ll set the terminal back to dumb for another plot.

The graph file that you saved will be located in the working directory that you are using with gnuplot (usually your home directory if you don’t change directories after launching the terminal). 

Cory Bohon is a freelance technology writer, indie Mac and iOS developer, and amateur photographer. Follow this article's author on Twitter.

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Want to have a web presence that will keep people coming back? You're going to need to learn the language of the internet. No, not cats and memes, HTML5 and CSS3. These are key to any web development project, whether you're a web designer or a small business that needs a solid website, you need to learn these languages. We can help you out in that task with our latest Deal.

Learning a new language is no easy task but our HTML5 and CSS3 Training Bundle will have you coding in this popular web langauges in no time. You'll learn your way through seven courses that will provide you with over 18 hours of actionable information. This video instruction is provided by Train Simple and is the same course used by tons of Fortune 500 companies and top universities. You know you'll be getting your money's worth out of this offer.

Train Simple's HTML5 and CSS3 Training Bundle courses usually retail for $314. You can save yourself a whopping 81% off that price if you head over to our Deals tab. That means you pay just $59. That's a small price for the amount of knowledge you'll gain so grab this offer today!

It's been a busy weekend for tech news, with rumors of a new AT&T prepaid service on the way, Facebook retaliating against Path's API access for reasons unknown and Google Glass rumored to soon gain an iPhone app. If you were too busy out and about for the last couple days, feel free to kick back and soak in all the news in bite-sized morsels as part of our Monday morning recap.

AT&T Rumored to Launch New "All in One" Prepaid Service in June

Fierce Wireless is reporting that AT&T plans to launch a new prepaid initiative in mid-June marketed as "All in One." The service is said to include a $35 per month offering for feature phones and a second $50 per month plan for smartphones, each including unlimited talk and text plus an allotment of HSPA+ data -- as much as 2GB in the case of the latter. The report claims AT&T will begin testing the service in the Florida and Texas markets later this month, with a nationwide launch on June 15. While AT&T is confirming nothing at this time, it's not hard to imagine the move is in response to T-Mobile's recent "UNcarrier" plans, which are contract-free and far more generous than Ma Bell's existing prepaid GoPhone service.

Facebook Punishes Path by Disabling Find Friends Access

TechCrunch reported Saturday that Facebook is restricting the Path app's access to its API, a move presumably in response to last week's allegations of Address Book spamming. While Facebook has not blocked Path's ability to log in or even share posts to the social network, it has completely disabled its "Find Friends" ability, which is now limited to a user's Contacts, Gmail account or Twitter, with the latter being added on Friday as part of a 3.0.4 update to Path. Facebook has yet to confirm the reason why it is blocking Path from API access, but the blow to Path couldn't come at a worse time, having just hit 10 million users only last week.

T-Mobile TV App Now Available for Existing Subscribers

While there are plenty of great subscription services already available on the App Store, T-Mobile is jumping into the pool with one of their own now that the iPhone is officially available on the fourth-placed U.S. carrier. The free T-Mobile TV app for iPhone is free for the first 30 days, then only $12.99 per month which includes plenty of live, on-demand sports, programming for kids, primetime shows and much more. Five other packages are also available priced from $5.99 to $9.99 per month offering Spanish-language fare, kid shows, Crackle and more specific genres. Best of all, users don't need to be a T-Mobile customer to subscribe.

Google Glass Expected to Add More iPhone Support Soon

TechCrunch reported Friday that iPhone users will soon have their very own companion app for Google Glass, the futuristic eyeglasses which will enable text messaging and navigation, exactly like what Android users already enjoy. Glass already works with the iPhone over Bluetooth or Wi-Fi, but turn-by-turn directions won't work without a dedicated app. For the early adopters paying $1500 for the privilege of being the first to own Google Glass, we're sure the addition of a native iPhone app will be like an early Christmas present.

Corel Updates Pinnacle Studio for iPad with Speed Control

Corel Inc. announced a major new update to Pinnacle Studio, the company's $12.99 video editing app for the iPad. Version 3.0 introduces a new speed control for adjusting how fast or slow a particular clip will play, which the speed altered with the pinch of your fingers. Editors can also now create a freeze-frame effect with just a tap, as well as seeing exactly which media is used by any given effect. The update also adds faster render times, easier audio editing thanks to a new snapping feature and additional user interface language support for Russian and Brazilian Portuguese. As always, the Pinnacle Studio 3.0 update is free for existing users, and available now from the App Store.

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

 

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You probably have a few different duds from the thrift store, or perhaps you're a vinyl enthusiast. Heck, maybe you just watch old shows online. One way or another, you likely do something that embraces the retro style. Our phones keep getting fancier, but sometimes you long for the old days. Give your iOS device a throwback feel to it with a Retro Handset from Cozy Gadgets. It's on sale in our latest Deal.

It might not be an add-on rotary dialing system, but the Retro Handset still manages to give you that old school feeling without limiting your smartphone's capabilities. Plug it in and get a high-quality call with the built in speaker and microphone in the handset. You'll eliminate the phone radiation that would otherwise be pounding your face and you'll gain full access to your phone's functions without have to turn on speaker phone. It's fashionable and functional.

The Retro Handset from Cozy Gadgets usually retails for $40. If you want to save yourself some cash and still get that style, head over to our Deals tab. You can save 62% off that price. That means you pay just $15 for this fun phone accessory.

 

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Everyone loves a win-win situation. Why? Because everyone wins, of course. That's what you have here. We've put together a bundleof 10 beloved Mac applications that are valued at a total of $399. That's not what you'll pay, though, because you have the ability to write up your own custom price tag for this package. Get the bundle for as little as a buck, pay the recommended amount of $49, or go above and beyond to snag the top spot on the leaderboard and get entered to win a Macbook Air. No matter what you kick in, 10% of it will go to a charity of your choice, so you're doing some good for your Mac, your bottom line, and a worthy cause.

Here's what you'll get when you get yourself the Name Your Own Price Mac App Bundle:

• DiskTools Pro - The best hard drive utility you can get for your Mac makes it easy to defrag, backup, and repair your drive.
• Crossover 12 - Easily run and use Windows software on your Mac without the need to reboot.
• Snapz Pro X - Record and capture everything that happens on your screen and get easy outputs of your captures for sharing.
• Paperless - Get rid of the need for paper documents and physical files with the help of Paperless.
• Mac Blu-ray Player - Make your Mac capable of playing blu-ray discs so you can enjoy your favorite films on your Mac.
• Gemini - Gemini will help you keep your Mac clean and prevent it from getting bogged down in duplicate files.
• MusicTube - Take all of the music videos available on Youtube and make them viewable in more convenient way.
• HoudahSpot - Find any file or document on your Mac with ease.
• Elmedia Player Pro - Capable of playing nearly any file type and can capture streaming videos straight to your hard drive. 
• PhotoBulk - An easy to use photo editor that lets you resize, optimize, and watermark your photos.

All of these apps together would normally cost you $399. If you head to our Deals tab, you can name your own price and get your hands on these 10 must have apps for your Mac. Pay what you want, chip in to charity, and score some great tools for you as well. You can't go wrong, so grab this bundle while you can. And remember, if at any point your name is at the top of the leaderboard, you will be entered to win a Macbook Air!

 

Of all the rumors circulating in anticipation of the release of the next iPhone, none seems to bear as much promise as the supposed low-end iPhone that Apple may release to compete with its cheaper alternatives. That'd be a big move, but one that seems out of character considering Apple's past releases. Yet, as AllThingsD reports, J.P. Morgan analysts Gokul Hariharan and Mark Moskowitz have put forward what seems like a more enticing theory--that the next iPhone may not be a low-end model at all, but rather a "mid-end" phone aimed at capturing the best of both ends of the market.

Hariharan and Moskowitz believe the releases of past Apple products support this possibility, specifically the iPad Mini and the iPod Nano. Apple designed both devices for mid-range markets despite initial concerns that the devices might still be too expensive (especially the iPad mini), only to find that the market embraced them. When launched, the iPod Nano was priced at merely $100 below the standard iPod price, while the iPad Mini's $329 retail price placed it significantly above competitors like the Kindle Fire.

This strategy seems like it could work for the iPhone as well. As indicated by Hariharan and Moskowitz's graph above, the smartphone market is currently dominated by low and high-end smartphones, with a largely untouched middle ground that's dominated by Samsung. (See the graph above.) They believe that an Apple phone priced in the $350-$400 range could easily take up as much as 25% of the middle market.

It's a good idea in theory, but with one hitch--the iPhone 4 already occupies this market. Unless the new iPhone introduces a massive shift in the specs and features of the iPhone 4, there may be little reason to no reason to introduce a new phone into this marketplace. The pricing also might work well in the U.S.; what's less certain is how a move will appeal to the overseas markets currently dominated by Android. Another potential problem is that the iPod Nano and the iPad Mini appeared in emerging markets, while smartphones are now a part of our daily lives.

Still, as MacRumors reported from Digitimes this morning, Apple might release a low-end iPhone after all. According to Digitime's source, "Speculation currently circulating in the iPhone supply chain in Taiwan indicate that Apple plans to launch an inexpensive model targeting emerging markets with initial quarterly shipments of only 2.5-3.0 million units to test market response."

Well, there are some great app deals this week and a few apps we wanted you to have a closer look at. While Apple used to be pitted against Windows, Google makes more news relevant to iOS and Mac users these days, so let's have a peek at what they're up to. And the questions we're all starting to wonder, what's iOS 7 going to look like and bring to the table are starting to churn the rumor mills. All this and more in this week's roundup of stories you might have missed.      

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You want to do whatever you can to make your website stand out. The best way to do that is by creating a unique look that no one can match. Even if you aren't some sort of graphic artist guru, you can still give your site an extra layer or appeal--or should we say an extra dimension? Give your site 3D objects that are designed specifically for the web and save on them in our latest Deal.

Making 3D objects sounds like a challenge, especially if you have a hard enough time making flat images that look good. But don't worry, it'll come easy with Boxshot VR. This application is designed specifically to help you create 3D objects that are easy to make and look great on the web. Make your site look great with unique images that are easy to put together and are HTML5 compatible.

Boxshot VR usually retails for $49. If you'd like to save yourself some cash but still get this great app, head over to our Deals tab. You'll get 51% off the retail price and pay just $23.99. That's an offer you can't beat, so grab Boxshot VR today!

Internet analytics company comScore released their smartphone market share report for Q1 2013 this morning, revealing that Apple (as a manufacturer) now commands almost 40 percent of the U.S. smartphone market. The only other competitor to report an increase was Samsung, whose numbers inched up by a mere 0.7 percent from the last quarter to 21.7 percent. Competitors HTC, Motorola, and LG all saw their numbers go down for the same quarter.

For software, the news was a little different. Google's Android operating system remains in the lead with an impressive 52 percent, with Apple trailing at 39 percent. However, the overall data seems to report the findings of the Yankee Group that we mentioned last month, which state that Apple could eventually outpace Android by 2015 through consumer loyalty alone. During the last quarter, Apple's share went up by 2.7 percent while Android's fell by 1.4 percent.

But what of Microsoft, BlackBerry, and Symbian? Only Microsoft gained users (by a measly .01 percent), while BlackBerry and Symbian's shares fell by 1.2 percent and 0.1 percent respectively. Still, Microsoft's modest gain seems almost negligible considering Apple and Google's combined 91 percent dominance of the smartphone OEM landscape.

We have games from the old school and games from the new, so if you're looking for some game deals, you've come to the right place. But what if you're not into games? Well, we have a little music, we have a little photo, and we have a little other, but you'll have to come inside to discover.

STRATEGO

The classic board game gets a classic cut down to $0.99, so plan accordingly.

God of Blades

Sword swinging pulp fantasy is in your hands for only $0.99. So, CHOP-CHOP.

KAMI RETRO

Combines equal parts platforming and line-drawn strategy into an experience that’s as addictive as it is old-school cool. Free on your iPhone and just as free on your iPad.

PAC-MAN

Eight quarters gets you all the games of the arcade classic you can take. Now go eat some ghosts!

Yummiloo Rainbow Power

If you're no fan of retro or classic gaming then try Yummiloo Rainbow Power, one of Apple's picks for new and noteworthy, and free, did we mention free?

Vanished: The Island

Put on your boots and start digging for answers as you explore a majestic island, and search for your missing Aunt. Her archaeological digs may have uncovered something sinister tho, so watch out! $0.99 is all your answers will cost.

Ascendancy

Take your gaming to the next level, to the future as you create and control a space colonizing civilization for just $0.99.

All-in Fitness

Gamers aren't known for their ripped physiques, so maybe you can be the start of changing that. Does free as a price entice you?

Haze

If gaming ain't your thing, but you're a fan of pretty graphics, get this $0.99 weather app and turn your forecast super pretty.

PanoFrame

If pretty is what you're after, then how about an app that gives you frames for multiple panoramic shots? Go big with your pictures and do it for free. 

Reflex - Vintage Camera and Photo Editor

Turn your pictures into beautiful works of art and do it for free.

CarTunes Music Player

Kinda hard to control your music in the car, but with big total touch control actions and a big fat FREE price tag.

Jamn – The musician’s multi-tool

Don't just play music, but learn HOW to play it with this free visual teaching app.

 

It's that time again, where we at Free App Friday headquarters take a closer look at some of the more basic apps out there that are worth your time. Not unlike a fine IPA, just because they're smaller servings, doesn't mean they lack a punch. 

Way out on the app store there was this game I wanna tell ya about. Goes by the name of Dots. At least that was the handle its loving creator gave it, but it never had much use for it himself. See, this Dots, it told us it's a game about connecting. Now, "Connecting" - there's a concept no game would self-apply where I come from. But then there was a lot about Dots that didn't make a whole lot of sense. And a lot about how it played, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the game so darned interestin'. If the Lebowski-isms weren't enough, let's just say that the most complex and soothing connect the dots puzzle is massively addicting.

Click here to download Dots from iTunes.

You, dear reader, are certainly filled with many opinions. Perhaps you want to gauge how your opinions stack up with the many other users of Seesaw. With endless polls that often pose the ubiquitous "Would you rather:" situations, or general questions about the little things in life, Seesaw is a fun time-waster. Even if you look at it for 30 seconds a day, you'll find it was bandwidth well spent.

Click here to download Seesaw from iTunes.

Mother's Day is just around the corner, and we've got you covered. If you're in San Francisco, Washington DC, Chicago, Dallas or New York, H.Bloom Gifts will hand deliver tremendous gifts that'll be sure to delight. Or if you would just like to have some delicious chocolates and beautiful flowers delivered to your own home, that's okay too. Just don't mix the chocolates and the flowers up, as those roses can be a bit thorny on the way down.

Click here to download H.Bloom Gifts from iTunes.

Say that you're a responsible adult who has most of their monthly expenses mapped out, but seem to be burning a hole through your pocket anyway, leaving you wondering where all of those greenbacks are fluttering away to. Well, Cents: Micro-Expense Tracking will help you sort out your tiny expenses for free, and give you a report at the end of the week, month or whatever criteria you set. If you're anything like me, this will help you rationalize your bourbon budget.

Click here to download Cents from iTunes.

In preparing this year’s 20 Under $20 list, we loved the idea of presenting 20 killer Mac apps you might not know about—20 is such a round, pleasant number, and would hopefully let us find something for everyone. But $20 per app might not seem like the bargain-basement price that it used to, even just back in the summer of 2011, when we did our last 20 Under $20 feature.

But guess what? Most of these polished, stable, user-friendly, and utterly useful applications don’t come anywhere close to a full Andrew Jackson, anyway. Four of them are free, and only two cost over $10. We thought about calling it “18 Mac Apps Under $10 and Also Two That Are More Than $10 But Still Less Than $20, and By the Way, Four Are Free,” but that’s just too long, wouldn’t you agree?

In the gallery below, click the first link to see the application's Mac App Store preview page. The linked score goes to our full review. Click any screenshot to see it bigger, too.

Now that Apple's built-in Maps app finally includes turn-by-turn navigation, makers of traditional GPS navigation products like Magellan are trying to find new ways to market their services to the iOS crowd.

TUAW reported Thursday that GPS navigation firm Magellan has introduced a new SmartGPS device, combining the best of their old-school hardware with the advantages of a mobile app for iPhone or Android.

Resembling a miniature iPad with a five-inch touchscreen, the $249 Magellan SmartGPS is capable of connecting to a free iOS app (not yet available, but expected in the next week or so), capable of pulling content from the likes of Yelp or Foursquare as well as providing traffic, local weather, and even nearby fuel prices.

Content can also be downloaded over USB on any Mac or PC, and the SmartGPS works with Wi-Fi, when available, to cut down on the amount of data pulled from your iPhone.

In addition to the free SmartGPS app, Premium versions will also be offered later this summer for either $49 (U.S. maps) or $59 (U.S. and Canada maps) which include their own turn-by-turn voice navigation for those who don't want to fork over for the new hardware. (No word on whether this will be an update to the company's existing -- and long-neglected -- app or something new entirely.)

Magellan SmartGPS will be available initially from Best Buy, but should roll out to other retailers in the coming months.

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