iPad By Davis: “Editor's desk: Home... for now!” plus 3 more

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• Editor's desk: Home... for now!
• iPad Art: Portraits
• Battle of the Bulge Lite (free version) for iPad Coming Soon
• Week in review: Google and BlackBerry go iOS, 50 billion app downloads, and more!

Editor's desk: Home... for now! Posted: 19 May 2013 08:08 PM PDT It's the quiet in between storms. Both BlackBerry Live and Google I/O 2013 are over, yet #TM13 and more importantly, WWDC 2013 are fast approaching. Tomorrow's a public holiday here in Canada, but I'll be working through it. And there's a bunch of reasons for that. Cue the bullet list... BlackBerry Live, fun as it was, and awesome as the CrackBerry crew and John P. from GeekBeat.tv was to work with, it kept me away from a lot of what I had to do here on iMore. Both Peter and Richard, our new Mac and gaming, and news editors respectively, more than helped keep things going, but June is one of our busiest times and I'm going to have to haul ass now to catch up. There are still a lot of iOS 7 wants I have to add to my list. And if you have any as well, throw them in the comments! We're changing up the iMore show. It's going to move back to Wednesdays, move to earlier in the day, and take on more of a panel, more of an encompassing format. We won't just be talking news, but apps and accessories, and taking your help and how-to questions as well. In other words, it'll be more of a Mobile Nations-type show. And we'll be starting that in just a few days. If you have anything specific you want to see in the all-new iMore show, let me know asap! If you're a fan of the current iMore show, where I talk to other Apple and tech-centric people about specific subjects, don't worry. That won't be going away, it'll just be moving over slightly. Stay tuned! Georgia's show, ZEN & TECH will be adding something new to the mix. I'm calling them moments of ZEN & TECH, but Georgia hates that name so it'll likely change. Basically, they're going to be short segments on specific topics. Again, stay tuned. We just might be getting our media-centric podcast, Ad Hoc, back in gear. If you think this timing suggests Iron Man 3 and Star Trek: Into Darkness episodes, you're either a genius billionaire playboy philanthropist, a Vulcan, or both. The size and diversity of people we have on those shows makes scheduling them tricky, but we're going to get them done. Speaking of Vulcans and Avengers, if you hadn't heard already, Derek Kessler has gone full time on Mobile Nations. He'll be working across all our sites, and that means you should be seeing him even more often here on iMore. He's fantastic, we're lucky to have him, and please take a moment to join me in welcoming him into his new role! And some news bites: Sounds like Yahoo! is buying Tumblr for 1.1 billion, at least according to Kara Swisher of AllThingsD. We'll cover it more fully in the near future, but for now I'm curious to know what the Tumblr users among us think? Yahoo! hasn't taken anything approaching good care of its web properties in recent years, but will new management and a hot new property make any difference? Apple sold 5 million iPhone 5 devices in one weekend, failed to meet expectations, and got lambasted for it in the media and the market. According to Philip Elmer-Dewitt in Fortune, Samsung has shipped (not sold) 10 million Galaxy S4 devices in 10 weeks. Yet that doesn't seem to have failed to meet any expectations, or gotten them lambasted in any of the same media or markets. Again, we'll cover that more fully in its own article, but in the meantime, does that tell us more about the expectations placed on both companies, the general perceptions, or both? Photo: Mobile Nations Tango & Cash by Martin Reisch... Though I have no idea which of us is meant to be which of them...?

iPad Art: Portraits Posted: 19 May 2013 10:29 AM PDT I'm continually amazed with the incredible art being created on iPads. For years I've watched as a growing number of both traditional and 'digital artists have embraced the Apple tablet as not just one of their tools, but as their primary canvas. I'll share some great iPad artwork here each weekend, and I hope some of you will become fans of it too, or better still be inspired to create your own art on the iPad. Today's selection of amazing iPad art is around the theme of portraits. First up is Halle Berry by Woon Tien David Chong – created using the Procreate app. One of the most beautiful women in the world, and this portrait does her justice I think. Next is 'My Angelina' by Cheeky Raffy – another one that's a striking as its subject – and also done with the Procreate app. And finally 'Adrianna' by Michael Acosta. As far as I know Adrianna is not a... Read the whole entry... »         Related Stories iPad Art: Solar Powered Incredible iPad Paintings Cool Things: iPad Finger-Painted Caricatures at Macworld/iWorld   This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Battle of the Bulge Lite (free version) for iPad Coming Soon Posted: 19 May 2013 09:18 AM PDT A new free version of the fantastic Battle of the Bulge iPad game is coming soon. Battle of the Bulge Lite was submitted to Apple for approval on May 16 and could hit the iPad App Store any day now. Battle of the Bulge Lite will feature the 'Race to the Meuse' scenario from the full Battle of the Bulge game, with unlimited play in single player and online multiplayer modes. The Race to the Meuse scenario simulates the first three days of the Axis surprise attack in 1944. It can be played online against friends or random online opponents; or versus the game's excellent AI. Some of the other features of the new Lite version of Battle of the Bulge include: • A quick start guide, to get you playing fast • An interactive tutorial to teach you the game more in depth • Extensive history notes and photographs about the battle • Strategy hints and tips • Full rules to... Read the whole entry... »         Related Stories Notable New iPad Apps: MLB.com Home Run Derby Battle of the Bulge iPad Game Updated: Adds New Scenarios and New AI Opponents Battle of the Bulge for iPad: Update Coming Tomorrow – New Scenarios!   This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Week in review: Google and BlackBerry go iOS, 50 billion app downloads, and more! Posted: 19 May 2013 06:20 AM PDT It's been a busy, busy week on iMore, and this time the iOS headlines have been dominated by news from ostensibly competing conferences -- BlackBerry Live and Google I/O. The main conversation topic this week was cross platform messaging from BlackBerry and Google both, though also making the headlines was Google's answer to Game Center, Amazon taking on iTunes on the desktop, and the App Store finally hitting 50 billion downloads. Read on for the recap! The big story early in the week came from BlackBerry Live in Orlando. While we may have expected some news of the enterprise kind that affected iOS devices, we weren't quite prepared for what came next. CEO Thorsten Heins took to the stage and announced that their signature messaging tool, BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) would be coming to iOS this summer. Some see it as too little, too late, but there seems to be a healthy early interest in the product. We'll be looking forward to putting it through its paces later this year. It also now means, as Rene pointed out, that each competing platform owner now makes apps for iOS. Apple by contrast, makes squarely nothing for any of its competitors. BlackBerry Messenger coming to iOS this summer Every major mobile competitor makes apps for iOS Messaging was the talk of the town over in San Francisco too, at Google I/O. Much-rumored leading up to the conference, Google debuted their new, cross-platform, Google+ Hangouts messaging service, now available on iOS as well as Android and the web. Hangouts seems to amalgamate the existing Hangouts experience of group video chat, with the existing Google Talk instant messaging service. Early impressions are good, but for the complete run down be sure to check out Leanna's full review. Google+ Hangouts for iPhone and iPad review Also coming out of Google I/O was news of an iPad version of Google Maps heading our way this year, updated Google Now cards and Google Play game services. Google's answer to Game Center, the game services API's are going cross-platform and are available to developers of iOS games too. Our own Peter Cohen gave his take on Google's new services following the announcement, so be sure to give it a read. Google Maps for iPad, new features coming this summer Google takes on Game Center with Google Play game services The third competing platform announcing a move to Apple products this week was Amazon. Until now, Amazon's Cloud Player music service has only been available via the web browser, but the launch of a desktop version takes on Apple's own iTunes. Initially, Cloud Player is only available for Windows PC's, but there is a version for the Mac in the works. This is great news for Amazon MP3 Store customers however, as getting your music onto your Mac and into iTunes isn't the most user friendly experience as it stands. Amazon taking the fight to iTunes on the desktop with new Cloud Player client One piece of big Apple news this week, was the App Store finally reaching its milestone 50 billion downloads. The lucky winner was one Brandon Ashmore, who downloaded Say The Same Thing to win the $10,000 App Store gift card. Congratulations to Brandon! Apple announces 50 billion app downloads. For real Elsewhere this week, the iMore staff gave us their thoughts on a variety of subjects. Leanna gave us a sterling round up of the best photography apps for the iPhone, while Peter weighed the pros and cons of all three (!) of Apple's current 13-inch MacBook offerings, and also gave us the arguments against touchscreen Macs . All excellent items well worth reading if you missed them the first time round. Best apps for iPhone photographers Battle of the 13-inch MacBooks: Which one wins? Time for touchscreen Macs? Hell no! Rene, meanwhile, is still pining on a better way to surface files on iOS. Four years of that and counting. Will Apple finally put him out of his misery? iOS 7 and my continued, unrequited desire for a Files.app! There you have them, the best of iMore for week. What stood out for you in everything that went on in the last 7 days? What do you still want to comment about? Have at it below!

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