Is Apple’s $3 billion acquisition of Beats Music a potential antitrust case? European Union antitrust regulators announced this morning that it will rule on whether or not to clear Apple’s Beats music bid by July 30.

It is hoped that the deal will help Apple gain the lead in the rapidly-growing and lucrative music streaming business. The European Commission has the power to either clear the Beats deal unconditionally, or else demand concessions if it sees competition issues.

When it was released in August last year as a free-to-play game, Plants vs. Zombies 2: It’s About Time shipped with three distinct worlds and countless new plants and zombies.

But for lovers of the first game, all of the new levels, plants and enemies in Plants vs. Zombies 2 didn’t make it a total improvement over its predecessor. Notably, many of the plants from the first game — including all of the nocturnal plants — were missing.

Luckily, Plants vs. Zombies 2 is being constantly updated, and the latest update adds the nocturnal plants back to the game in a new world, appropriately called the Dark Ages.

iOS 7’s Notification Center is useful, but Apple’s made a number of improvements in iOS 8. For one thing, they dropped the ‘Missed’ tab, which was always next to useless. There’s also support for third-party widgets in Today View, as well as interactive notifications and the ability to individually dismiss notifications that are no longer applicable.

They are all good changes, but unfortunately, you need to wait until September to make use of them… that is, unless you have a jailbroken phone, in which case, a simple tweak is all you need to get an iOS 8-style Notification Center today.

Glenn Jones didn’t set out to build a one-man T-shirt empire. The Aukland, New Zealand-based designer and illustrator started emblazoning tees with his visual witticisms on Threadless in 2004 and then hit the virtual shelves with his own store featuring just six designs in 2008.

He now sells more than 100 designs at Glennz Tees — you may remember his Melting Rubik’s Cube worn by Sheldon Cooper on The Big Bang Theory — all of which look as home at South by Southwest as they do at your favorite watering hole.

Google will make several big announcements during its Google I/O keynote today — and one of them will almost certainly be about Android TV.

Sources familiar with the plans claim we’ll see “at least one” set-top box powered by the search giant’s latest entertainment platform during the event. In addition to playing movies and music, they’ll also allow users to play Android games through their TVs.

With a much larger screen size, the iPhone 6 may be the most radical redesign of Apple’s smartphone ever. But with such a major redesign in the works, there’s a lot that can go wrong, and it looks like something already has: according to reports, defects in the iPhone 6’s metal chassis could lead to short supply of enough devices to go around when it launches in September.

I recently wrote about an upcoming game that re-imagines SNK Playmore’s The King of Fighters as an, um, music-based beat-em-up, called The Rhythm of Fighters. As a huge fan of the franchise (and the proud owner of a 4 CD compilation of the series’ various soundtracks) I was intrigued by the idea — even if it is a major departure from what we’re used to.

Jump forward a week and the game has now landed in the App Store, priced $0.99.

Slingshot, Facebook’s new Snapchat competitor, has today been made available internationally on Android and iOS. The free service, which first made its debut in the U.S. last week, allows users to send “shots” containing pictures or videos to each other — but only after they’ve sent a shot back.

SAN FRANCISCO — In a city obsessed with parking, app developers who came up with disruptive ideas to turn vacant spots into cash found their apps targeted by local officials. But the crackdown might be unnecessary: So far, the sharing economy seems to stall when it comes to auctioning off parking spots.

Cult of Mac offices are in the Mission District, epicenter of the parking crunch, so we took MonkeyParking and Sweetch — two of the “predatory” apps named in a cease-and-desist letter from San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera — for a spin.

Common sense would dictate that Apple should release the iPhone 6 right around the time that iPhone 5 early adopters’ two-year phone contracts run out — which would mean a mid-September launch.

For the second time in two months, a source has come forward claiming to know the release date Apple has its eye on, and it “reconfirms” the date given by Deutsche Telekom’s support representatives back in May.

Apple’s constantly evolving set of Apple Store policies cracked down on apps earlier this month that incentivize users to watch crappy video ads for certain rewards. Two weeks later and Apple has already reversed course.

Developers who monetize their apps by offering rewards for sharing to social sites or viewing videos ads were sent packing by Apple’s Review Team, but according to a report from TechCrunch, Apple had a change of heart and is allowing those apps back in the App Store, but there’s a catch.

There’s nothing more boring than going on a road trip without entertainment for the ride. While the iPad is good for storing all your favorite movies and television shows, when squeezed into your car there’s no convenient way to hold the tablet for hours on end. In today’s video, we review Speck Products’ Showfolio case for the iPad mini, the perfect remedy to this common problem. Simply snap your iPad into the case and hook it onto your car’s headrest: Your mobile movie theater is set to go.

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Tim Cook and Craig Federighi took a few swipes at Android during WWDC’s keynote, but now that Google is readying its hype machine for Google I/O tomorrow, Sundar Pichai, the head of Android, tossed a few jabs Apple’s way in an interview with Bloomberg this morning.

Pichai noted that all the data points to people adopting Android faster than any other operating system, but the dude’s so gosh darn nice, he couldn’t insult Apple without flattering them in the same breath.

Addressing Tim Cook’s comments that Android is a “toxic hell stew of vulnerabilities,” Pichai said it’s difficult to compare the two, because iOS is like the $100,000 Mercedes Benz of mobile platforms, and Android is like your cheap ass Honda Civic, taking over the world one delicious dessert fueled update at a time.

With the World Cup in full swing, our latest video takes a look at apps that will help you get the most out of 2014’s biggest sporting event. Score these top apps and you’ll get everything from games to news.

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

With summertime here in the northern hemisphere, it’s definitely time to get outdoors and sample all that the world has to offer.

Of course, if Steam or GoG.com have anything to say about it, you’ll stay inside working on your pasty complexion playing all these amazing games for very little money.

Both gaming digital distribution platforms have their respective summer sales on right now, and you can grab some amazing games without emptying your wallet. All of the games below are playable on Mac or PC, so pick your poison.

Just lay off the sunscreen, ok?

Assimilating into the mothership’s culture isn’t easy (just ask John Browett) but Angela Ahrendts looks well on her way to becoming one of the regulars at Apple HQ.

The recently hired retail chief has only been at Apple for two months, but in a recent blog post, the former Burberry CEO says she’s learned a few tips transitioning from London and the fashion industry to Silicon Valley’s tech scene, and she’s ready to divulge her wisdom to anyone disoriented during the first 90 days of a new job.

Here are three tips she has on how to assimilate and thrive during a transition:

Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Like most, you probably capture all of your life’s significant moments by taking video with your smartphone. Likely, the majority of those shots end up being riddled with bumps and shakes that render the subject of your video a blurry mess. Well, say goodbye to the blurs and shakes thanks to the iStabilizer Dolly, available now at the low cost of $38.99 from Cult of Mac Deals.

The iStabilizer Dolly attaches to your smartphone providing it with a smooth ride to take professional looking panning and tracking shots. All you need in a flat surface for the iStabilizer Dolly to ride on and you’ve got shots that look like they are out of a Hollywood blockbuster!

ABC News has landed on Apple TV this morning as a stand alone app, but unlike other channels on the set-top box, ABC is giving away all its content for free. Starting today Apple TV customers can watch on-demand content from ABC News along with access to four live stream video sources and a dash of exclusive content.

Along with the added ABC News channel, Apple TV also added new channels for AOL, PBS Kids, and a channel dedicated to to the sport of cricket, called Willow.

It may seem hard to believe, but there was a time when Apple shipped computers without built-in monitor, not as an exception, but as the rule. Such was the case with the venerable Apple II, which shipped with a behemoth of a 320 x 200 CRT monitor that weighed a monstrous 22 pounds… more than a 27-inch iMac weighs today!

So in a very real way, this computer — built from an old Apple II connected by some kind of magic to an iMac running as the display by Franceso Zaia — isn’t just a sext Frankenstein. It’s actually a lighter, more efficient Apple II monitor than the original. And as an added bonus, you can dual boot up to OS X when the mood suits.

Via: TUAW

In the interest of saving you time (and money) when you travel on apps that won’t help you get from point A to point B, we’ve sounded out dozens of road warriors — including flight attendants, serial conference goers, travel writers, CEOs, expats and even a comedian — to find out what they really need when stuck in an airport or mired in the daily commute.

Here are their picks – which just may get you some extra airline points or mellow out on the way to work.

Purchased last year by Dropbox, Mailbox is already one of the most intuitive apps on the iPhone and iPad for rapidly reaching inbox zero. Employing a series of swipes, Mailbox users can quickly delete, archive, or save emails for later, without ever leaving the inbox screen.

But after an update yesterday evening, Mailbox got even better. A new swipe action has been added to the app, giving users the ability to swipe a message once, and automatically file away all messages that resemble it.

Bono is a tireless promoter of his global AIDs and HIV nonprofit, (RED), but according to the U2 frontman (and, more ignobly, Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark composer), Apple’s dropping the ball when it comes to charity: not in regards to giving enough money to charity, but in regards to promoting how much charitable work it does as a company.

Although BlackBerry hasn’t been a serious competitor to the iPhone in years, the UK phone trade-in website “Cash for phones comparison” has published some pretty damning statistics, showing just how massive the gulf is between the two “competitors.”

Only 8 percent of customers who traded in an old BlackBerry phone claimed any kind of loyalty to the brand, while an overwhelming majority of 66 percent decided to switch to an iPhone. However, it seems that these people weren’t looking so much to get a new iPhone as they were to get any iPhone — since 42.1 percent of respondees decided to ditch their trustworthy BlackBerry for an iPhone 4: a phone which was introduced all the way back in 2010.

Apple will kick-off mass production of its eagerly anticipated 12-inch MacBook Air in Q3 this year, according to a new report from DigiTimes.

The report notes that Quanta Computer is set to manufacture the laptops, and suggests that they will feature minor under-the-hood changes although will retain the look of the current generation 11-inch and 13-inch MacBook Air models.