• Home
  • News
  • Weekly News Roundup and Top Ten: iPhone 5 Rumors, Rough Week at Apple and New Features Galore

Weekly News Roundup and Top Ten: iPhone 5 Rumors, Rough Week at Apple and New Features Galore

May 15 top tenThere was a lot of big new this week that you may have missed, but we’ve got you covered. Catch up on the top 10 most-read stories from last week, followed by a round-up of the biggest news about iPhone 5 (iPhone 4S or whatever you want to call it), Apple’s US Senate hearing, new features in OS X Lion and more.

Reading tip: use command-click to open stories in a new tab. Enjoy!

iPhone 5 Parts Leaked
It must be getting close to September’s iPhone launch. Check out these goodies.

iPhone 5 Case Leaked, Shows Shifted Camera Flash & Edge-to-Edge Screen
Real or not?

How To: Useful Mac, iPad and iPhone Keyboard Shortcuts and Symbols
Check out these helpful keyboard shortcuts and special characters. Be sure to bookmark this page for a handy reference.

How To: Play Blu-Ray Movies on a Mac in 10 Simple Steps
Uncle Steve may not like Blu-Ray (and neither do I, frankly) but that shouldn’t prevent you from playing those overpriced plastic discs on your Mac.

iOS 5 May Free iPad from its PC Dependency
Can we finally untether our devices and usher in the post-PC era?

Best Google Docs App for Mac
A great way to have easy access to all your Google Docs.

Gorgeous iPhone Photographs
This proves the iPhone has an excellent camera.

Google Announces Chrome Book: MacBook Air Alternative?
Google is betting on the cloud with this fast-booting lightweight notebook. How will it compare to a MacBook Air? The price is certainly nice.

The Beauty of a Well-Used iPhone Aged to Perfection
The original iPhone takes a licking and keeps on ticking.

Coming Soon: Run Android on Your iPhone or iPad
This one is for the jailbreakers. But why would you soil your iOS device this way?

Rough Week at Apple

Not everything is rosy in Cupertino. China got a taste of new Apple products, but unfortunately the Beijing Apple store was the scene of a violent iPad 2 launch with injuries and property damage reported. It’s just a tablet, folks. Later, Apple and Google testified in the US Sentate and may pull DUI checkpoint apps as part of the Federal inquiry on mobile privacy. As if that wasn’t a big enough headache, independent iOS app developers are getting sued for Apple’s in-app purchasing, as a result of alleged patent infringement. This appears to be a back door route the plaintiff is taking in order to sue the computer giant. More controversy has arisen as it was discovered Apple makes it nearly impossible to replace the 2011 iMac hard drive. Meanwhile, the iOS 4.3.3 update is causing data connection problems. The iPhone and iPad 2 may be in short supply this summer.

New Features and Rumors

A well-respected analyst says the iPhone 4S will be launched in September on Sprint, T-Mobile USA and China Mobile. I think we may have a name for the next-gen device. Steve Jobs thinks Apple will be ok without him while Fortune has a great piece on Jobs as well as an inside look at Apple. The iPhone may be getting text-to-speech capabilities as well as environmental sensors such as a hygrometer and thermometer. An iOS-style app uninstaller might be coming to OS X Lion. Will the next MacBook Air be switching from Intel to an ARM-based processor? If so, it would blur the lines between iOS and OS X.

The Rest of the Story

Twitter is rolling out a new mobile web app for iOS and Android that looks pretty slick and they’ve updated Twitter for Mac as well. Probably the biggest tech story this week was Microsoft buying Skype for $8.5 billion. How will this affect non-Windows versions – namely our favorite Mac VoIP client? Please fix Skype 5’s UI and whatever you do, don’t kill it off, ok Ballmer? Speaking of Redmond, Apple surpassed Microsoft’s quarterly profits for the first time and is now the world’s most valuable brand. Finally, Google Music beta was introduced this week, putting it in direct competition with Amazon’s Cloud Player and Apple’s forthcoming iCloud.

Topics