We’ve seen a number of classic patents published recently, referring to iconic Apple inventions, and this week is no different.

The recently published “Multi-Button Mouse” patent refers to Apple’s first steps away from the single-button mouse that Steve Jobs had insisted on ever since the days of the Lisa computer in the early 1980s.

The patent describes what would eventually become the Apple Mighty Mouse, which shipped with iMacs from 2005, before being replaced in 2009 by the multi-touch Magic Mouse currently used.

BlackBerry has confirmed that sponsored content will soon be coming to BBM Channels after ads were spotted in its latest BBM beta release. The Canadian company also insists, however, that it will not be inserting advertisements into your instant messages, and that it will be “very strict” about the amount of content that is pushed to the BBM community.

An investigative magistrate in Belgium reportedly considered forcing Internet service providers to block Apple’s website, after claims that the company is misleading customers over warranty options.

Apple has been involved with a long-running dispute with the European legal system over its one-year limited warranty, which it offers as standard to consumers around the world — but which is in conflict with European regulations that allows buyers a minimum of two years’ free protection.

In news that will come as a shock to absolutely no one, it seems that Corning Glass (makers of Gorilla Glass) aren’t big fans of Sapphire glass.

Asked by Morgan Stanley analyst James Fawcett his thoughts about “one large handset and device maker” planning to use Sapphire in its products, Tony Tripeny, a senior vice president at Corning Glass, responded that:

The Tylt Vu wireless charger looks like it would make a great iDevice stand, even if it didn’t have an induction charger hidden inside. The idea is that it not only charges your iPhone, but the shape of it means that the iPhone is always positioned in just the right spot to let the magnets do their thing, even if you just toss it into the cradle.

Watching so much True Detective — among other shows — that you need an iOS app to track what it is that you’ve already seen?

To help with this very quandary, and generally to help you sift through the television trash pile for the hidden gems, TV-tracking app Trak TV Show has just received a major update — adding universal support for optimizing the app for iPad and iPad mini, in addition to iPhone and iPod touch.

They say cellphones have ruined dramatic fiction. Next time you watch a TV police procedural or read a modern novel, check how many times the characters stray out of cellphone range, or lose their handsets altogether. The truth is that – in fiction just as in real life – the cellphone is just too useful, too good as a means of rescue.

Would Stargate have worked so well if James Spader could have just snapped a photo of those runes and used Google Translate? No. Would Marty McFly have gone back to 1955 if he could have just FaceTimed Doc Brown when he woke up late? Of course not.

And yet it gets worse. Now there’s a case which will let TV characters –and you – get rescued every damn time.

Nikon might be content to lose out to its competitors in every field except SLR bodies and lenses, but it beginning a big comeback, starting at the very top – literally. Two new camera straps – the Quick-Draw and the Quick-Draw S – are made in partnership with Black Rapid, and promise to let you never buy a third-party camera strap ever again.

The Baron Fig Confidant notebook started out on Kickstarter, and is today available to buy for just $16 – $4 less than the original price. I have one here on the desk, laying open at a fresh two-page spread without anything to weigh the pages down and stop the book from closing (that’s a Baron Fig feature by the way).

This isn’t a review – that’ll come later when I’ve filled the book with words and doodles. I just thought you’d like to know you can buy one, becasue it’s a pretty amazing notebook. In short, Moleskine can go suck it.

Neglected iOS and Mac app The Hit List has been snapped up by Karelia software, promising to breath life into a pretty great to-do app. One look at the iOS version of The Hit List tells you all you need to know: it still sports an aged iOS 6-style interface, and there is still no iPad version. That’s pretty bad for an app that costs $50 on the desktop, and requires a $2-per-month subscription to sync with the $10 iPhone app.

Hopefully that’ll be fixed soon now the app is in better hands.

Aether’s Cone speaker is simple, in both its physical design and its interface. Inside, though, it has a brain that learns what you like.

The Cone is a cone-shaped AirPlay-ready speaker which also streams music straight from the internet. It learns your tastes, and even lets you cue up tracks by asking for them, just like Siri.

Your website is often the first interaction customers have with your brand, and effective user experience can boost sales, bolster conversion rates, and improve customer satisfaction. Don’t you owe it to yourself to know how to implement it?

Well, that’s exactly what The Ultimate Guide to User Experience Video Course will teach you. And Cult of Mac Deals has this course for 75% off the regular price – only $49 – for a very limited time.

The fine folks at Twelve South have brought the popular SurfacePad case to the iPad mini. The cover is made from Napa leather, and it bends to form a viewing stand or typing wedge.

One of the coolest design aspects of the new SurfacePad is how the iPad mini is held in place when upright. Instead of resting the iPad in little leather notches like most bendable cases, the edges of the iPad are secured by invisible magnets.

Twenty years ago, if someone had told us we’d be streaming our favorite shows from the internet legally, we would have scoffed at them and disregarded it, never mind how the speed of broadband internet has changed the way we live our everyday lives. Roll on to the last couple of years, where media streaming services such as Netflix and Hulu Plus have taken over and the days when we sat in front of the television flicking through 57 channels with nothing on are no more. Now there’s a whole host of entertainment right at the tap of a button, and we literally have to make no effort to leave our seats as these services take over our smartphones, tablets and electronic devices in a huge way.

But which service to pick? We’ve researched every possible choice out there, engaged in some elaborate hands-on testing, and narrowed down the extensive list to one reigning champion. If you look at the table below, it becomes fairly obvious that each media streaming service provider excels in some aspects but lags behind in others. By comparing each feature, it became much easier to narrow down the overall ultimate media service app.

Apple designed CarPlay “from the ground up” to be the future of car dashboard systems. And while technology is still based on iOS, how it communicates with the car is another matter. CarPlay utilizes QNX, the leading platform in the growing “infotainment system industry” that is owned by none other than Blackberry.

Apple is listed as a partner on the QNX website. QNX runs the embedded systems in many vehicles, including luxury brands Apple has associated CarPlay with, like Mercedes.

The more and more we use our devices daily, the easier it is to become tired of them. In the effort to rejuvenate your experience with your device, changing your wallpaper can make a big difference. From the developers behind the hit app “Pimp Your Screen” is a new app called Wallpapers for iOS 7 that can give you access to tons of great wallpapers right away. Are you ready to love your device again?

Take a look at Wallpapers for iOS 7 By Pimp Your Screen and find out what you think.

This is a Cult Of Mac video review of the iOS application Wallpapers for iOS 7 By Pimp Your Screen brought to you by Joshua Smith of “TechBytes W/Jsmith.”

Yesterday Apple announced CarPlay, and we’ve already seen the software working in Volvo and Mercedes-Benz vehicles. Apple’s head of iOS marketing, Greg Joswiak, took the stage with Ferrari at the Geneva Motor Show to unveil CarPlay in the Ferrari FF, the world’s fastest four-seater.

CarPlay is launching this week with Ferrari, Mercedes-Benz, and Volvo on board. Apple says more partners are coming later this year, including BMW, Ford, Kia, Land Rover, Nissan, and Toyota.

This post first appeared in Cult of Mac Magazine’s “No Fail iPhone Photography” Issue.

Let’s just first say that you all are awesome. We had over 300 entries in last week’s Cult of Mac Magazine photo contest, in which we asked for photos taken with an iPhone that exemplified the topic word, “silver.”

Y’all filled up our Twitter and Instagram feed in spades. Well done!

We don’t have space to print all gajillion photos here in Cult of Mac Magazine, though, so we narrowed things down to our favorite ten submitted photos, with the top three there at the end of our list.

Here’s the top seven, in no particular order:

A waterproof case for your iPhone is more fun than you might think – especially one that is designed to fit onto any of a zillion different action mounts. And a waterproof case for your iPhone that also comes with a box of interchangeable lenses is even better.

Last summer I used a Griffin case to take photos in the pool, kayaking at the lake and in many other places I would never usually take a phone, let alone a camera. That case broke (thankfully not when it was submerged), and also took bad pictures thanks to the cheap plastic window over the iPhone lens.

The Optrix PhotoProX has no such problem, thanks to the proper, screw-on lenses. And its no slouch as a case, either. In fact, I’d say that not only is it the best waterproof iPhone case I’ve tested, it’s the best rugged iPhone case I’ve tried, too.

iOS 7.1 has already been expected to drop this month, and now a more specific timeframe has been given by Daring Fireball’s John Gruber. According to Gruber’s source, iOS 7.1 will be required to stream Apple’s SXSW iTunes Festival from its dedicated app.

Since the festival begins in a week on March 11th, that means iOS 7.1 should be released “any day now.”

The fifth developer beta of 7.1 was seeded a month ago, and Apple released iOS 7.0.6 with bug fixes a couple of weeks ago.

Source: Daring Fireball

Apple finally revealed its CarPlay system yesterday that brings iOS access to your car’s dashboard. Some suburbanites rejoiced at a new rush-hour-infotainment center – especially those who can afford a Ferrari or Benz — but  if you’re a car-less city slicker iOS in the elevator would be a hell of a lot more useful.

This ‘iOS in the Lift’ mockup was created as a joke by a Behance user, but after thinking about it,  a dash of iOS would go great in tons of other things too, like showers, the subway, a hotdog stand, you name it.

Here’s a closer look at the interface:

GyroScan is a little intimidating.

It works a lot like the panorama function on your iPhone’s camera, but you can capture a complete 360-degree image either horizontally or vertically by spinning in a circle or rotating your phone up or down. When you look at the instructions, it all gets very technical, but once you work with it for a little while — and maybe rig something up to keep your phone still — you can get some really good results.

You can also scan in “stereo mode” and make 3D pictures, but that’s just showing off, GyroScan.

Source:GyroScan – $0.99 | Intelligent Gadgets

This week Apple announced CarPlay, a rebranding of ‘iOS in the Car’ from WWDC last summer. The software is an extension of iOS that is designed for hands-free use of Siri, Apple Maps, Phone, Messages, and services like iTunes Radio.

While Apple’s focus with CarPlay is clearly on its own apps and services, the company has chosen to launch with four “select third-party audio apps.” It’s good news for the chosen four, but how Apple plans to work with other developers on CarPlay integration in the future remains unclear.

God of Light has a simple, fun concept. It has pretty graphics and some cool music by British electronica outfit Unkle. And it has realistic light physics. And all of these are great, but a lot of games look and sound good.

But God of Light is special because in addition to all of these good qualities, it also offers something else: a meditation on what puzzle games are, what they do, and how and why we play them.

And the best part is that the developer accomplishes this not by telling us, but by building all of these qualities into the gameplay and mechanics.