iPad By Davis: “Google's goal is to make the Star Trek computer commonplace” plus 6 more

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• Google's goal is to make the Star Trek computer commonplace
• Editor's desk: Putting the more in iMore
• Satechi Smart LED Desk Lamp with built-in USB charger
• Tonight. iMore show. Guy English. Marc Edwards. Comics. iOS 7. Facebook. 6pm PT/9pm ET. Be Here!
• Weekend iPad Wallpaper: Constellations
• Price Drops: 2 Good iPad Wargames 50% Off Today and This Week
• Welcome to iMore ... Peter Cohen!

Google's goal is to make the Star Trek computer commonplace Posted: 14 Apr 2013 02:39 PM PDT Apple says its goal is to delight its users, but in reality it's probably closer to continually making the personal computer more personal, more accessible, and ultimately, more human. What then is Google's goal? To index all the world's data? Turns out, it might also be something far more human. Farhad Manjoo of Slate writes: "You already see hints of the Star Trek computer in your phone," [Amit Singhal, head of Google's search rankings team] said. "Now we're trying to get it to a point where it passes the 'toothbrush test' of you using it twice a day." Singhal predicted that will happen in three years' time—by then, he says, Google's Star Trek machine will be so good that you'll ask it a question and expect a correct answer at least twice a day. "And in five years you won't believe you ever lived without it. You'll look back at today's search engine and you'll say, 'Is that really how we searched?'" Singhal says. He adds: "These are the best times we've ever had in search. I have done this for 22 years, and I've been at Google for 12 years, so I should know. This is the most exciting time—every morning I come into work more excited than ever. Strap in. It's all happening in our lifetimes." We can see those hints in Google Search for iOS, which like Apple's Siri takes our voice questions and gives us internet-powered answers. Only much, much faster. Google Now, which tries to predict what we need and hand it to us on cards before we even know we need it, is perhaps an even greater hint. It's not Kirk or Spock or Bones or Scotty leaning in and asking "Computer" to answer a question, but it's getting closer. And hopefully it's doing so in a way that's really more Star Trek than Skynet, MCP, or Matrix. Because Google often goes both ways. On one hand, they're an amazing company that seeks to make all the world's data easily, elegantly accessible to everyone, every where. But on the other, they're disingenuous, manipulative, and sometimes seem out to take everyone's data by hook or by crook. Power corrupts and any corporation sufficiently large is indistinguishable from evil. Yet the future rides on the wings of hope. I for one very much like the sound of Google's Star Trek dreams. I hope they achieve them, something between Majel Barret and Memory Alpha. And I hope they give it to us in a way that helps us achieve our Star Trek dreams as well. Source: Slate

Editor's desk: Putting the more in iMore Posted: 14 Apr 2013 12:54 PM PDT Change is scary. Change is exhilarating. Change is hard. It's going to be a huge month for iMore and Mobile Nations, and a lot of that involves change, growth, and our continual drive to reach for more. Today we announced that Peter Cohen is joining the team starting April 22. When we changed our site name to iMore, it was with full knowledge that Apple was bringing iOS "back to the Mac", and that iMore could just as easily cover iMac as iPhone and iPad. We simply lacked the capacity to do it the way it needed to be done. Likewise, gaming. Apple splits apps and games into two for a reason, but with limited time and a seemingly unlimited amount of software to deal with, we haven't been doing the job for you we've wanted to do. Until now. Peter's going to be doing a lot more for iMore, to be sure, but getting our Mac and gaming content is one of the things I'm looking forward to most. We started as a phone site. We grew into tablets and set top boxes. Now we're focusing on the whole Apple, from palm-top to desktop to cloud and beyond. We'll be bringing a few more people on board over the next few months, all of them to help us better do the one thing we're all here to do -- delight our readers. And I'm thrilled about that. I'm also thrilled with the current iMore show. I get to spend an hour talking with the best and brightest in the business, and bring you what I think is some of the best Apple content on iTunes. Ryan Block, MG Siegler, Clayton Morris, Jim Dalrymple, Arnold Kim, Seth Weintraub, Brian Klug, Dieter Bohn, David Chartier, and the recent guest list goes on and on... But it's not exactly your typical Mobile Nations show. Unlike the Android Central and Windows Phone Central shows, and the CrackBerry show when Kevin deigns to do it, we're not covering the community the way we should. We're not addressing all the latest news, especially the latest apps and accessories. Worst of all, we're not properly involving the fantastic chatroom or answering the questions you fantastic folks keep sending in. So we're going to fix that. The current iMore show isn't going away, so don't worry. And I'm not going to duplicate everything I'm already talking about on MacBreak Weekly, but I am going to bring you something new, and something more for you. Stay tuned. Meanwhile, iMore 3.0 for the web, and the iMore 3.0 app for iPhone and iPad are about to get underway. No spoilers, but as you might remember, I name all iMore projects after Star Wars planets. In other words... Begun both Coruscent and Corelia have. Now I'm off again to NYC and the temporary Mobile Nations HQ there this week. A lot of other people will be joining me soon, some of whom you can probably guess, some of whom will be a surprise. We'll all be there working on [Redacted]. I can't tell you any more than that yet, but I can tell you we have some mind-blowing, network-shaking news coming your way later this week. That's all for now. And if you have any ideas or input on what you want to see on iMore in 2013, let me know!

Satechi Smart LED Desk Lamp with built-in USB charger Posted: 14 Apr 2013 11:54 AM PDT I love the Satechi Smart LED Desk Lamp. It's beautiful. It's bright. It's got easy-to-use touch controls. And what's more, it's got a handy USB port so you can plug in your 30-pin Dock or Lightning cable and charge your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad right from the lamp. You can pivot the Satechi Smart LED Desk Lamp to several different angle, though sadly not all the way upwards. There are also several different modes, including reading mode, study mode, relaxation mode, and bedtime mode. Based on our recent ZEN and TECH episode on sleep hygiene, I think this is a lamp even Daniel from Windows Phone Central could love! $99 - Buy now

Tonight. iMore show. Guy English. Marc Edwards. Comics. iOS 7. Facebook. 6pm PT/9pm ET. Be Here! Posted: 14 Apr 2013 10:31 AM PDT It's a mighty Mobile Nations team-up on tonight's iMore show as Dubug's Guy English and Iterate's Marc Edwards join Rene to talk about comic confusion, the Facebook phone, iOS 7, and more. 6pm PT/9pm ET. Be here. Want to go full screen? Head to iMore.com/live. Want to watch via iPhone or iPad? Grab the Ustream app and search for "mobilenations". Want to subscribe to any or all of our shows? Head on over to our podcast page.

Weekend iPad Wallpaper: Constellations Posted: 14 Apr 2013 09:43 AM PDT This weekend's iPad wallpaper pick is Constellations, shown above. I think this image is striking and looks great on the iPad home screen of course, and I especially like how it highlights one app icon towards the top right of the screen. It's another one that was shared to our iPad Insight Flickr group by Brett Jordan (no relation). Brett is a prolific contributor to our group with a wide array of cool iPad wallpaper designs at a good range of sizes that go right up to retina quality. Check out our Flickr group when you have a chance – it now has a ton of great iPad artwork as well as lots of cool iPad wallpapers. © patrickj for iPad Insight, 2013. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us Post tags: iPad wallpapers Related Stories Weekend iPad Wallpaper: Finder Weekend iPad Wallpaper: Birth of a Star Weekend iPad Wallpaper: This Corrosion This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Price Drops: 2 Good iPad Wargames 50% Off Today and This Week Posted: 14 Apr 2013 08:58 AM PDT    A couple of good wargames for the iPad are on sale at 50% off this week. Tank Battle: North Africa and Civil War: 1863 are both available now for just 99 cents and will be until April 22. That's down from their standard price of $1.99 each. I did a review of Civil War:1863 a few months ago and I was very impressed with it. Here's a little slice of what I had to say about it: I've become a huge fan of this game over the course of the last few weeks. I've played it a whole lot – playing nearly all the missions in all the available free and paid-for campaigns at all three difficulty levels. Like a good book, I find this game quite hard to put down. It was also included in our list of the Best iPad Apps of 2012. The game had a recent update that added a number of new missions and campaigns – so I am still playing it fairly often. I've also been... Read the whole entry... » Related Stories Real Racing 3 for iPad Updated: New Cars, New Event Type & More iOOTP Baseball 2013 for iPad in the App Store Now Civil War: 1863 iPad Game Updated – New Missions & Campaigns This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Welcome to iMore ... Peter Cohen! Posted: 14 Apr 2013 07:03 AM PDT Peter Cohen has spent most of his life writing about technology, especially as it pertains to Apple and gaming. He ran MacGaming, which was acquired by MacCentral, which in turn was acquired by Macworld, where Peter worked for many years as a Senior Editor. Since then, Peter has written for Mac|Life, MacUser (UK), Tap! and a variety of other online and print publications. Most recently, Peter began the Angry Mac Bastards podcast, and co-founded The Loop with Jim Dalrymple, where he serves as the executive editor. Over the course of his career, Peter has accumulated a tremendous amount of experience, insight, and understanding, as well as a unique voice, attitude, and editorial sensibility. And starting April 22, he's bringing it all to iMore. Not surprisingly, Peter intends to immediately ramp up Mac and gaming content, and make iMore not only the place you go to for the very best iOS coverage, but for the very best Apple coverage. Period. What's more, Peter will also be working with everyone here to take our entire community to the next level, helping out with our iMore 3.0 projects (both web and app), some amazing Mobile Nations stuff we'll be announcing soon, and some future stuff we're all really excited about. I've been a huge fan of Peter's work for years and I'm thrilled we'll all get to enjoy even more of it now, and right here at iMore. Please give him a warm welcome, and if you aren't already, you should follow him on Twitter @flargh.

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