I’ve had iPhones for years, but I’ve never really been keen on using one that wasn’t jailbroken. As much as I love iOS, some of Apple’s decisions always kept my iPhone from working exactly how I wanted it to.

Jailbreaking gave me the ability to sidestep those limitations and make iOS my own. I could experience some of the freedom that Android users have grown to love while retaining the reliability, stability and polish of iOS. While I was frustrated that Apple wasn’t making major changes to improve its platform, I was happy that I could make them myself using unauthorized third-party tweaks.

Then I started using iOS 7, and everything changed.

Some gadgets are unique, carving out their own nonpareil niche while eliciting wide-eyed, slack-jawed appreciation. Other gadgets swim in a thick soup of contemporaries, and stand out for their high bang-for-buck score. It’s the latter reason we mention Swann’s new SwannEye HD, a weather-resistant, bell-and-whistle-stuffed outdoor security cam priced at $180.

PlayStation’s official app has received its first update — adding several notable features to the service, which functions as a second-screen app and social networking hub for PS4 players.

Chief among the updates is “Live from PlayStation” integration, which allows users to view live streams from Ustream and Twitch — although it is worth pointing out that this service works by redirecting you to an external Web browser — or corresponding live-steaming service app — to watch the footage, rather than streaming it directly within the PlayStation App.

The New York Times has updated its official apps for iOS.

Both NYTimes for iPhone and NYTimes for iPad now promise complete coverage of the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, which will take place from Feb 7 to 23 — including news alerts which can be signed up for once the games begin.

This Sunday is the Super Bowl and, contrary to what Steve Jobs may have thought, yes, people will be watching it — around 108 million, if last year’s numbers are any indication.

The real question is whether Apple will have an ad ready for the event, to commemorate three decades since the company’s iconic Macintosh commercial kicked off an advertising trend that is still followed today.

To celebrate Chinese New Year (that’s the Year of the Horse to you!), 2K Games has launched a massive iOS sale — with reductions on a ton of its titles.

Among them is the popular tactical role-playing game XCOM: Enemy Unknown (down from $19.99 to $9.99) and the much-anticipated racer 2K Drive (going for just 99 cents, compared to its usual $9.99).

The full list can be seen here, alongside their usual prices:

Apple has regained its lead over Android in the battle for U.S. smartphone marketshare, according to the latest report from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP).

Going by CIRP’s figures, in the final quarter of 2013 iOS eked out a 2 percent advantage over Android — with Apple capturing 48 percent of the market to Google’s 46 percent.

Arguably, the iPad needs an external camera add-on more than the iPhone, stuck as it is with a previous-gen camera and features. And Sony seems to agree. Now it will sell you an adapter that puts one of its neat QX lens cameras onto any table (or phablet, I guess).

Transloader 2 is an update to the very handy iOS/Mac utility that lets you browse the web on your iPhone or iPad, and have any files you want to grab downloaded to your Mac, automagically. V2.0 gets an overhauled design, but otherwise keeps performing the same useful service as before.

Apple has released the fourth beta of OS X Mavericks 10.9.2 to registered developers — suggesting that the OS update could be made public in the very near future.

The update follows one week after developers received Apple’s OS X 10.9.2 beta 3, and more than five weeks following the launch of the first beta.

Quick! If you want to bake iPhone-shaped cookies, you should grab this i-Cookie Cutter from ThinkGeek before Samsung buys them all up to help it make more iPhone clones.

Chil’s Notchbook iPad Air case has one great feature that sets it apart form other cases. There’s a notch, or rather a slice, cut into the bottom of the front cover just next to the spine, and this notch lets you shove your palm up in there making the whole caboodle sit on your hand with no effort needed to grip it.

Neat, especially for when you’re reading books.

PDF Scanner is a new iOS app that scans your paper documents and turns them into PDFs. The gimmick that sets this app apart from all the others that do the same thing is that PDF Scanner can auto-detect and split double-page spreads into single sheets. And if that’s what you need then it may be worth struggling through the rest of the app to get to them. But probably not.

You know how when you open the Evernote iOS app to joy down a quick note, or snap a quick photo reminder? Usually what happens is that you spend the first half a minute desperately trying to remember whatever it was you wanted to remember while you tap around trying to find the new note buttons. Well, the new Evernote doesn’t help you if you launch into the depths of a previously-taken note, but it does at least make the main page a lot easier to use.

Just like the old Trapper Keeper, the STM Dux iPad case keeps all your notes (which are actually inside your iPad, safe within the Dux’s covers). You can plaster photos all over the inside of the clear plastic back. And it even has a little flip-open clasp that keeps the front cover from opening.

WordPress is one of the titans of desktop blogging, but when it comes to mobile, the WordPress app has been my least favorite ways of publishing from my iPhone. Since the release of iOS 7 though the company has pushed to revamp their app, including an update today that brings a redesigned post editing experience.

The free update is available in the App Store now but is exclusively for iOS 7, bringing with it an enhanced Reader  section so you can follow your favorite blogs while you blog. They’ve also improved inline commenting, notifications, and stats while throwing in lots of bug fixes into the mix.

Here’s the full list of changes:

Realmac’s Clear ushered in a new approach to designing productivity apps, and a new calendar app called Peek has taken the same visual aesthetic and built upon it.

The name says it all. Peek is designed to let you see your schedule at a glance, and there are plenty of fairly intuitive gestures to help.

After an incredibly successful Kickstarter campaign, Sensordrone is here to turn your smartphone into the world’s first mobile, wearable, programmable, sensing computer.

Packing more than 11 sensors into one tiny package, Sensordrone turns your smartphone into a carbon monoxide detector, non-contact thermometer, gas leak detector, lux meter, weather station, diagnostic tool, breath analyzer, and more. And Cult of Mac Deals has it for only $149 during this limited time offer.

How do you increase the size of a touchscreen without increasing the screen real estate? Answer: by creating a smart bezel.

A new patent published today reveals how a future generation iPad could feature a bezel able to detect gesture and touch inputs through Force Sensing. Not only would the technique described allow gestures — such as swipes — to continue off the normal surface of the screen, but it would also allow specific virtual buttons for tasks such as scrolling to be incorporated into the iPad’s bezel.

Apple holds one of the world’s largest collection of active credit cards in the world thanks to iTunes, yet despite all that purchasing power, it has only recently begun to look into processing payments for physical goods, and PayPal is desperate to play a role in the action.

Payment industry executives say that PayPal is pitching Apple hard to let it in on the company’s rumored payment initiative, according to a report from Re/code. At this point, executives aren’t sure what type of tech Apple wants to use, or even how big a role it wants to play in the industry, but they’re willing to go as far as white-labeling their payments service, just so Apple will use it.

iPhone wallet cases are traditionally cases first and wallets second; their focus is on protecting your iPhone, and then a few pockets are added for carrying your cards and cash. But the Danny P Pocket Book for iPhone 5 and 5s is a little different.

Made from the finest Italian leather, it’s essentially a traditional wallet that has space for your iPhone, so you don’t need to make any compromises to use it. You can continue to carry as many cards as you want — there are 8 card slots in total with two additional sleeves for business cards, receipts, and anything else you might want to stuff in there — and there’s more space for bills than most of us will ever need.

The Pocket Book is available in cognac — a beautiful tan color with blue internals — and it’s priced at $129. As iPhone wallets go, it’s pretty darn good.

This is Cult of Mac’s exclusive column written by an actual Apple Store Genius who answers all your questions about working at an Apple Store. Our genius must remain anonymous, but other than “Who are you, anyway?” ask anything you want about what goes on behind that slick store facade.

This week our Genius answers why the iPhone screen can be repaired in stores while the iPad has to be shipped away from special care. We also discuss whether working at the Apple Store can be turned into a solid career, plus the top 5 most annoying things customers do at the Apple Store.

Got a question you want the inside scoop on? Send us your questions and the answers will be published first in Cult of Mac’s Magazine on Newsstand. Send your questions to newsATcultofmac.com with “genius” in the subject line.

Q: How do you move from retail to corporate?

Moving from retail to corporate is really hard. In fact, during the hiring event I went to with Apple one of the managers got up and told all the applicants that if they were looking for an easy way to get into Apple Corporate and work at Cupertino, this wasn’t it.

It’s not unheard of for someone to make that move, but it’s pretty hard. Some people dream of going to Cupertino for Genius training only to have an Apple bigwig recognize their skills and be offer them a job to work at HQ, but that’s not reality. Only managers and regional managers really have a shot at making the transition, and in those cases it’s just to manage retail efforts from corporate. However, if you’re in high school or college and want to go into software or hardware design, it wouldn’t hurt your resume ten years down the line to have some Apple Store experience when applying for a corporate job.

Q: Ever want to punch someone?

All the time! Ha ha, not really. I’m not the fist-fighting type. I’m more into cruel and unusual punishments – like plastering your MacBook with My Little Pony wallpaper if you’re a grumpy jerktard.

I’ve never come to blows with a customer, but there are times I’ve been particularly upset with management or other Apple Specialists. Occasionally a customer will freak out at you, but there are plenty of managers around to help diffuse a situation, and we’re trained to help you find the silver lining in life at the Apple Store.

Q: Do you jailbreak? Do any of your coworkers?

I’ve been an Apple fan long before I actually worked at the Apple Store, so when the first couple iPhones came out I was very into the jailbreaking scene. Nowadays, I’m not really feeling jailbreaking. Jailbreaking iOS 7 took a couple months and good hacks are just starting to come out, so there’s been little incentive to void your warranty until recently. I’m pretty happy with iOS 7 so I don’t see myself jailbreaking anytime soon.

I have a couple of coworkers who have played around with jailbreaking, but it’s usually on extra devices. A lot of jailbreak tweaks can cause problems with other system apps on the iPhone, so its pretty rare to see an Apple Genius jailbreak their main device that they’re going to be using at the store, plus it’s like totally forbidden by Apple. So why push the line when you get every app in the App Store free?

iTunes Radio now lets you create stations full of the artists and songs you like, just like Pandora. You can also add artists to the list that you don’t want playing in the station.

When you create a new iTunes Radio station, though, it’s typically named after the first song or artist that you create the station with. That’s not always what you want.

You can rename any station you like with a couple of easy taps.

Rather than slogging through a lake of reviews to find something you’re just going to put down after 10 minutes, Cult of Mac has once again waded through the iTunes store to compile a list of the best new albums, books and movies to come out this week.

Enjoy!

Albums

Dum Dum Girls – Too True

At 31 minutes in length, half of the 10 tracks on Dum Dum Girls’ third album, Too True, barely make it past the three-minute mark, which is great in that the songs take you somewhere fast but Dee Dee’s commanding, playful voice leaves you wanting to stay a little longer.

iTunes – $8.99

Actress – Ghettoville

While Darren J. Cunningham announced that Ghettoville, his fourth album as Actress, would be the project’s final album, Ghettoville is supposed to be the sonic sequel to Actress’ first LP that came out five years ago. The sound is dark, tense complex and very obscure. Great for listening at home in the dark to unwind.

iTunes – $9.99

Supreme Cuts – Divine Ecstasy

Before combining forces to form Supreme Cuts, Mike Perry and Austin Kjeultes tried to make it as solo rap producers, so naturally their second album relies heavily on a lot of guest vocal performances to tie the productions together. The end result are 14 tracks you could imagine some of hip-hop’s biggest names rapping on.

iTunes – $9.99

Books:

Call Me Burroughs: A Life
by Barry Miles

Counter-cultural writer and artist William Burroughs one of the most influential characters in the Beat era and definitely the strangest cat in the bunch. He painted, made collages, took thousands of photos, wrote novels but also had an obsession with Scientology, UFO abductions, took tons of drugs, and had weird theories that giant intergalactic insects that control everything, making Barry Miles biography one of the most interesting reads of the month.

iTunes – $16.99

Badluck Way: A Year on the Ragged Edge of the West
by Bryce Andrews

Taking off and living on the western edge of civilization is kind of one of my fantasies. Bryce Andrews has actually done it, ditching life as a city kid to becoming a ranch hand in the windswept Sun Ranch in southwest Montana. His memoir describes what it’s like to live in one of the few places where the West still feels wild, building fences, riding, roping, and just plain old getting your hands dirty.

iTunes – $12.99

The Doodle Revolution: Unlock the Power to Think Differently
by Sunni Brown

If you’ve ever been busted by a teacher for doodling in school, rest assured that your great mind is kin to Einstein, John F. Kennedy, and Henry Ford, all of whom were doodle-crazy. Sunni Brown’s new book Doodle Revolution busts the myths of doodling and reveals how the silly little drawings lining the edges of your notebook is really deep thinking in disguise. So take that with you to detention, kids.

iTunes – $14.99

Movies:

Ender’s Game

The Seabirds and Ponies are set to clash in the Big Game this week, but the stakes of the Lombardi Trophy are nothing compared to the consequences facing Ender and his team of elite young soldiers if they don’t successfully defend earth from a terrifying alien species.
iTunes – $19,99

Schooled: The Price of College Sports

Pro football players will be all over your TV this weekend, but don’t forget about the other professional athletes that will be invading the living room this spring. No not the NBA, or NHL, we’re talking about the huge business of college sports. Sam Rockwell narrates Schooled, which gives a comprehensive look at how money has influenced collegiate basketball and football, and how the rights of student-athletes have been compromised in the process.

iTunes – $9.99

Off The Rez

While phenomenally talented college athletes take the stage in Schooled, Off the Rez follows Shoni Schimmel, a high school basketball star living on the Umatilla Indian Reservation in Oregon. The documentary reveals the changes in Shoni’s life after her mom takes a job as a Portland  high-school coach. Leaving the rez, provides a host of new challenges for Shoni who’s out to prove Native American woman can be champions off the rez too.

iTunes – $12.99

Episodic noir-thriller adventure game, The Wolf Among Us, gets its second episode next week with “Smoke & Mirrors.”

Bigby Wolf is hell-bent on solving the murders revealed in Episode One, and will stop at nothing to get at the truth.