Full disclosure: the publisher of the naughtily-named Age of Booty: Tactics sent Cult of Mac a really nice wooden treasure chest with some fun promotional stuff in it. This usually means that we’d give it a skip, as generally, the better the swag, the crappier the game. We were pleasantly surprised, then, when we found Age of Booty‘s first outing on iOS to be a pretty darn great free-to-play game, with only a few caveats for the novice player.

The original Age of Booty was a 2008 downloadable real-time strategy game for Xbox and PlayStation, developed by Certain Affinity and published by Capcom. This time around, Certain Affinity took the concept to iOS with Age of Booty: Tactics, which switches things up, adding some new mechanics to the strategy formula and putting it into an asynchronous multiplayer format.

The graphics are charming enough, the soundtrack is appropriately pirate-themed, and the sea and boat sounds are nicely atmospheric. It’s in the strategic gameplay, though, that Age of Booty: Tactics surely shines.

Yo went from being what was considered a dumb joke to an amazing success basically overnight. The app’s idea dead simple: let the user send only the word “Yo” to a friend in a push notification. Now there’s an API for the app and it’s being used to warn citizens about missile strikes in the Middle East.

As you can imagine, there are plenty of app makers trying to jump on the Yo bandwagon after all the attention it has been getting. One app that sticks out from the rest is AHOY, a new iPhone app that takes the Yo concept one step further by adding location to the mix.

Watch today’s Cult of Mac news roundup for details on a lawsuit filed by Apple employees. Plus, you’ll get info on the latest Apple software updates, a look at the Starbucks app’s new capabilities and Jimmy Kimmel’s hilarious iWatch prank.

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Verizon has announced that it will begin throttling customers still on an unlimited data plan beginning this fall. Until now, Verizon has only throttled 3G data usage, but the new policy will also apply to LTE usage in congested network areas.

Today the U.S. House of Representatives unanimously passed a bill that lets customers legally unlock their cell phones and switch carriers. The same bill was passed in the Senate last week, and now President Obama is expected to sign it into law.

The process of unlocking a phone to take it to another carrier in the U.S. has been a convoluted and questionably illegal one. The “Unlocking Consumer Choice and Wireless Competition Act” is designed to make the process easier for those looking to take phones to a different service provider. But there’s an important caveat.

Beats just launched a legal assault against Chinese copy cats earlier this month, but it looks like the company just got hit with a legal bomb for copying another headphone maker itself.

Bose Corporation has filed a lawsuit against Beats for allegedly infringing on the company’s noise-canceling patents, according to CNBC’s Josh Lipton.

You know how it is — you want to share that lovely photo of your new puppy, but you really don’t want the person you hand your iPhone to swiping to those over-the-top party photos from your last lost weekend.

Overswipe, a new app from developer Haley & Hughes, aims to solve that very problem in a super intuitive way. All you do is open the app, tap on the photos you want to share, and then hand over the iPhone. Your intended viewer will only see the photos you chose, and won’t be able to swipe into anything super embarrassing.

There are a lot of reasons to be excited about Apple right now, but if you believe Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty, we’re just getting started.

Based on Apple’s quarterly SEC filing, Huberty believes Apple’s revenue is set to explode over the coming quarters, since she claims Cupertino’s off-balance sheet commitments “confirm major product ramps later this year.”

What’s better than getting new tech? Winning new tech! Winning stuff is kinda of like taking all the good things in life and rolling them into one ultimate, insanely happy feeling.. only better!

Now, at Cult of Mac Deals, you have the chance to walk away with some amazing new technology, like a PS4, a MacBook Air, and a multi-sync keyboard, in three separate giveaways.

The PlayStation 4 Battlefield Bundle Giveaway

The next generation of console gaming is here and the new Playstation 4 is a popular choice among gamers. With great titles like Battlefield 4 in its constantly expanding library, you’d be nuts to not want one.

Now you can have a new Playstation 4 of your very own with a copy of Battlefield 4 with The PlayStation 4 Battlefield Bundle Giveaway from Cult of Mac Deals.

Battlefield 4 is the latest Battlefield franchise. As the name suggests, you are a soldier and are immersed into an action packed war zone. With realistic sounds and imagery, you’ll think you are actually there!

You can read the full giveaway details here or enter today for your chance to win The Playstation 4 Giveaway at Cult of Mac Deals.

A Florida man has been charged with federal wire fraud for racking up $309,000 in illegal credit card transactions, with many of them carried out at Apple Stores.

Sharron L. Parrish Jr. visited different Apple Stores — including those in Brandon, Boca Raton, Millennia and Wellington Green — and spent up to $7,400 in each one; adding up to a total of 42 purchases.

Coinciding with the forthcoming Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot produced by Michael Bay, Apple has announced its latest free App of the Week as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Rooftop Run.

It’s an endless runner combat game, in which the heroes in a half-shell fight against the sinister Foot Clan and evil associates. If you’re a Turtles fan, you’ll find plenty of familiar faces here — including the obvious (Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo, and Raphael) and less obvious faves (Kraang, Baxter Stockman, Casey Jones).

Apple might have its most exciting product pipeline in years underway, but exactly when we’re going to see these devices is another question.

According to new reports in the Taiwanese media, the reported 5.5-inch iPhone 6 has yet to enter production, and is being pushed back to September. The report doesn’t state whether this decision is deliberate on the part of Apple — perhaps as a way of confusing the market by launching two new iPhones simultaneously — or is being forced on the company as the result of manufacturing problems.

I’ve been trying to slip past demonic guards to escape magical chambers for the past few hours as I fight my way through the horrific world of Hellraid: The Escape. At its best, the game is gruesome, bloody and full of suspense, but it can also be painful and highly frustrating.

Because in this iOS game, death is no stranger: Die you will, over and over — that’s bloody guaranteed.

U.S. District Judge Denise Cote says that it is “most troubling” that Apple could potentially be made to pay just $70 million in its antitrust case related to e-book price fixing.

Cote was speaking during a teleconference on Thursday regarding the long-running case claiming that Apple conspired with five publishers to fix e-book prices.

In the original ruling made by Judge Cote in April 2012, Apple was expected to pay $674 million after the plaintiffs reached settlements with the individual publishers.

By day, Robert Larner works for an investment firm. By night he directs Stormtroopers, Transformers and Daleks.

Using toys, camera tricks and a keen sense of story, the photographer delights Flickr and Instagram fans with movie stills. But the movies don’t exist.

The Scotsman grew up a discerning cineaste with a taste for the Indiana Jones, Back to the Future and Ghostbusters movie franchises, but his greatest inspiration — in film and toys — was Star Wars.

“I could probably track my interest in toys via Star Wars,” Larner says. “When I was a kid in the early ’80s, I was completely swept up by the original Kenner 3.75-inch range. Then, in the ’90s, the remastered movies came out along with whispers of the prequels so the Star Wars toy range was reintroduced, so that caught my interest again. However, it was when Lego had the bright idea of making Star Wars Lego sets in 1999 that I really got sucked in and I haven’t looked back since!”

Though our iPads can be great for relaxation, sometimes it’s crucial to use these mobile workhorses for business. Luckily, when there is a lot being asked of you and deadlines are to be met, there are applications that can help save the day.

In today’s video, we reveal our top three must-have applications that will help you get your work done more efficiently. Take care of your documents, get your to-do lists organized and more with these functional apps.

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SAN FRANCISCO — A parking app that reliably helps find open spots in this congested city was coded on a turn-of-the-century tugboat in Sausalito.

The Terrapin served David LaBua as a coding den for VoicePark, a free app that uses sensors to monitor parking spots. It’s the only one we’ve tested to date that guided us to viable public spots on the busy streets of San Francisco.

“Parking is probably San Francisco’s biggest stressor, and writing about it has been very therapeutic for me,” says LaBua, who holds a master of science in psychology. “I had no intention of getting into the app game, but there was a real need for it.”

Popular torrent sharing network The Pirate Bay is finally easier to access on your smartphone thanks to a new mobile site. It’s almost identical to the desktop version and offers all the same features, but it is optimized for smaller displays.

Tim Cook told investors he’s happy with Apple’s trade-in program and other used iPhone sales, and it turns out so is eBay.

In the last 12 months nearly $2 billion worth of Apple devices, ranging from iPhones, iPads, and old Macs, have been sold on eBay’s store, according to data obtained by Computer World, and just like Apple’s own sales, the iPhone brought in most of a money on eBay too.

If you’ve been wary of joining the digital comics revolution because of digital rights management (DRM) concerns, Comixology, a comics portal and mobile app, is creating a solution.

Announced Thursday at the company’s San Diego Comic-Con panel, the new DRM-free backup service will let you keep a local copy of your purchased digital comics from the likes of Image Comics, Dynamite Entertainment, Zenescope Entertainment, MonkeyBrain Comics, Thrillbent, and Top Shelf Productions. You’ll be able to save a local copy in PDF or CBZ (a comic-book archiving format) right on your iPad.

“For those out there who have not joined the comic reading community because of DRM – you have no excuse now,” said ComiXology’s John D. Roberts in a statement. “We’re excited about the launch of DRM-free backups today and look forward to announcing more innovative features as we move ahead with our mission of making everyone on the face of the planet a comic book fan!”

Alongside the fall release of OS X Yosemite, iTunes will be getting its own new look and feel. In today’s video, we show you exactly what to expect in the upcoming iTunes 12.

Check out the video above to see the sleek new design of the latest iTunes beta and some of its new features in action.

Subscribe to Cult of Mac TV on YouTube to catch all our latest videos.

Late night show host and habitual Apple-prankster, Jimmy Kimmel, toasted Apple’s successful earnings report last night with a hilarious iWatch prank that shows just how deliciously potent the Apple Kool-Aid really is.

After tossing in a few jabs at the iPhone 6’s bloating screen size, Kimmel took to the streets to see if Apple fans love for the brand would magically turn a cheap calculator watch into the Apple iTime smartwatch.

If you thought people wouldn’t be fooled by a $20 Casio watch with an Apple sticker on the back, especially after Kimmel has already pulled this prank like 37 times, you’re wrong.

The Angry Birds are, ahem, transforming yet again in this new trailer from Rovio and Hasbro, released to coincide with San Diego Comic Con this week.

You’ve got the red bird cosplaying as a voice-less Optimus Prime, running his way through an island-style world, smashing through crates, and then finally facing a giant, laughing pig-bot Deceptihog. It doesn’t get much better than this. Check out the video below.