Back in May, we reported upon a seemingly ridiculous rumor that Apple would release a 12.9-inch ‘iPad Maxi’ in early 2014. We dismissed the report pretty much outright, saying that not only did we think that Apple would avoid naming a tablet that had already been ridiculed at launch for sounding too much like a feminine hygiene product after a Maxipad, but pointing out that the iPad mini was outselling the iPad since debut. People want a smaller tablet, not a bigger one.

We assumed that was the last we would hear of the rumor, but we were wrong. The 12+ inch iPad rumor is back with a vengeance… and now it has a manufacturing partner.

PopCap Games free-to-play Plants vs. Zombies 2 is a contentious game to many. If you’re our own good friend Buster Heine, you probably think it’s a masterpiece of a sequel, proof-positive that free-to-play can be done well in the right hands. If you’re me or my girlfriend, though, you likely think it is inferior to the first game in pretty much every way, and a perfect example of how free-to-play mechanisms can ruin an otherwise great game.

Whatever your feelings on the matter, you have to admit that getting Plants vs. Zombies 2 exclusively to iOS is quite the coup. According to EA, it’s a coup that Cupertino (get it?) was willing to pay buckets of money to get. But is that the truth?

Do you want an iPhone 5s, but can’t have one, whether because of Apple’s extreme devices shortages, an unsympathetic carrier who won’t let you upgrade early, or a lack of the dosh? Never fear: the iPhone 5s conversion kit is here!

If Apple made a notebook (a paper notebook, with paper pages) then it would probably look something like the Baron Fig notebook: The design is understated, obvious even, but it’s chock-full of tiny details that should make it a pleasure to use.

Nothing makes Microsoft happier than seeing an iPhone user ditch their device for a Windows Phone smartphone. In fact, the company will even buy your iPhone off you if you promise to make the switch.

Starting this Friday, you’ll be able to take your old iPhone 4s or iPhone 5 into select Microsoft stores across the U.S. and Canada and receive a minimum of $200 in-store credit for a new Windows Phone device. The move comes weeks after Microsoft kicked off an iPad trade-in program to encourage consumers to switch to its Surface tablet.

Oh, man, this is an invention likely to make it impossible for me to ever leave the house. It’s called the Brewbot, and it’s an iPhone controlled machine which brews “high quality craft beers” without leaving your armchair.

Is nothing sacred? I had thought that paper airplanes might be the last holdout for fully-analog toys. After all, all you need is a sheet of paper, a pair of functioning hands and a place to throw stuff. Even in jail these things can be found, and while your first attempts might not fly so well, the joy of the game is in the tuning and improving of your designs.

But now even that simple pleasure has been ruined by technology: the PowerUp 3.0 iPhone-Controlled Paper Airplane is a thing which will soon be available.

Up until today, my page scanner of choice has been Scanner Pro from Readdle, a universal app which uses the iPhone/iPad camera to snap pictures of your documents and send them off to any and every cloud service.

But after today, my new favorite might just be the new PDFPen Scan+, a universal app from Smile Software that not only scans but turns your images into searchable PDFs using OCR.

Amazon has today unveiled its new third-generation tablet called the Kindle Fire HDX. Like its predecessors, the device is available in 7-inch and 8.9-inch variants, and both feature speedy quad-core Snapdragon 800 processors, high-resolution displays, 2GB of RAM, and stereo speakers.

The larger model also offers an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera, which is a first for the Kindle Fire lineup.

In addition to the new models, Amazon has refreshed the Kindle Fire HD to add improved displays, faster processors, and Amazon’s latest software. The retail giant has also reduced the price of the 7-inch device to $139, while the 8.9-inch model is now just $269.

While we’re all looking over here at the big, bulky, ruggedized mounts that let us carry our iPhones on our bike handlebars, over there in Austria they’re making a minimal mount that you can leave on the bike or carry in your pocket. It’s called the Finn, and according to at least two of my German friends, it’s excellent.

Cult of Mac reader Rishi Kaneria e-mailed to tell us about his amazing slow-motion video, shot on – you guessed it – the iPhone 5S, at 120fps. Not bad, huh?

Wunderlist, the hugely popular cross-platform productivity app that now boasts over 5.3 million users worldwide, got a new feature called Comments this week, which brings the conversation to your to-do list. If you use Wunderlist in a professional environment, you can now discuss tasks and projects with your team within individual to-dos.

What’s more, you can now try Comments — as well as Files and Assigning — for free for a limited time, without signing up to Wunderlist Pro.

Apple is expected to unveil the fifth-gen iPad and second-gen iPad mini at an October event, and we’ve been seeing part leaks for the devices since the beginning of this year. Now that the iPhone 5s has come out with different color variations, it looks like Apple will be bringing a new look to the iPad as well.

Fresh parts from prolific leaker Sonny Dickson have hit the web, and they show what is believed to be the next iPad in “Space Grey.”

There’re tons of battery cases out there for the iPhone, and a good selection of waterproof cases. But a battery case that’s waterproof? Just one: the new Mojo Refuel Aqua from iBattz.

The Refuel Aqua isn’t just mildly, get-caught-in-a-little-rain waterproof — it’s go-snorkeling-with-your-iPhone-for-hours waterproof; It’s rated at a mighty IPX8, the highest waterproof rating, and iBattz says it’ll seal out water at a depths of up to three meters.

Two of the versions are on sale till the end of the week: The most basic version, DataMan Next, is free (from a buck); and DataMan Pro is on sale at $5, which is half off its regular $10 price. The Pro version also now reports hourly data usage by app, which pretty much makes it the most detailed data-tracking app out there.

Perhaps it’s more of a gold trickle than an actual bona fide rush, but we’ve already found two just-released gold versions of previously un-gilded gadgets: the Kickstarted eleMount iPhone stand, and Parrot’s luxury Zik headphones (above).

The Mac has been aluded as a machine that can really help you get things done. As a convert from a Windows machine to a Mac, I can attest that I am definitely more efficient and effective with my work – and life. The Mac platform has a number of apps that are solid choices to help you get more productive, and Cult of Mac Deals has an offer that contains a few of them this time around. Now, you can get 16 mac apps for 90% off at Cult of Mac Deals.

President Obama announced today that he has tapped Catherine Novelli, VP of Worldwide Government Affaris for Apple to fill a position in the State Department. Novelli has been Apple’s top lobbyist since 2007 but is set to serve as Under Secretary for Economic Growth, Energy and the Environment.

Although the nomination still has to be approved, it sounds like the president is confident Novelli and the other nominees will be joining his administration his soon:

“It gives me great confidence that such dedicated and capable individuals have agreed to join this Administration to serve the American people. I look forward to working with them in the months and years to come.”

With last week’s iOS 7 launch, Apple also released iTunes Radio, its long-awaited internet radio service that’s available for free on all iOS devices and iTunes on the desktop. While iTunes Radio was thought to be a Spotify-killer before Apple’s Eddy Cue unveiled it at WWDC in June, how it works is more similar to Pandora. You listen to stations based on artists or genres you like, and more importantly to Apple, you can quickly buy played songs through iTunes.

I’ve had access to iTunes Radio all summer through the iOS 7 beta, and I maybe used it for a total of 10 minutes. Since everyone got access last week, I’ve tried using it more to see how well it works post beta. My experience was largely one of frustration. It’s obvious that iTunes Radio still has a lot of growing up to do.

Good thing you listened to us this morning when we posted about a new Google Play app that seemed to let you send Apple iMessages via an Android app.

When something seems to good to be true, it usually is.

In this instance, Google agrees, and has pulled the app from the Google Play Store for violating its terms of use. A spokesperson emailed ComputerWorld, saying, “We remove apps from Google Play that violate our policies.”

Fairly clear, right? As we pointed out this morning, the iMessage Chat app for Android devices turned out to be sending data, including users’ Apple IDs, through another server in China, which is kind of an easy way to steal people’s sensitive information. Apple IDs and passwords can be used to purchase apps, books, and music from the App Store, as well as connect to iCloud data, which can have addresses and more personal info.

Apple announced a new iMac this morning, and now a software update has already been pushed out for the new hardware.

EFI Update 2.1 was released today for Apple’s late 2013 iMac. It “addresses an issue which may cause a black screen to appear when installing Windows 7 or Windows 8 using Boot Camp Assistant if both an external optical drive and USB thumb drive are connected to the system.”  The update “also ensures that the system will boot by default into OS X after installation of Windows 8.”

Source: Apple

Pixelmator, a popular photo editor on the Mac, was updated today to version 2.2.1. Don’t let the number fool you; the new version packs some big improvements. Most notably, the app’s overall speed has been increased twofold and edits are now automatically saved in the background.

Getting a gold iPhone 5s has become nearly impossible the last few days – unless you’re willing to shell out some cash on eBay. As demand has ramped up to a fever pitch, online shipping estimates have slipped deep into October. To keep track of all the changing shipping estimates Walter Piecyk at BTIG shared the following chart on Twitter this afternoon.

All carriers and the Online Apple Store are now estimating that new iPhone 5s orders won’t ship until October regardless of color, so if you’re wanting an iPhone 5s before the holidays you better jump on it. Keep in mind that even though the online shipping estimates appear dire, if you want to get an iPhone 5s sooner you can still check for stock at your local Apple Store which should be receiving new iPhone 5s shipments nearly every day.

Source: Walter Piecyk

It used to be simple to delete text messages from your iPhone (or, I suppose, your iPad if you use iMessages), but with iOS 7, the cute little Edit button has gone away from the upper right corner. Instead, there’s a Contact button up there, which–while useful–used up the space where the Edit button used to be.

You can still delete entire message conversations by swiping to the left in the list of all your text messages, but how do you delete specific messages within a conversation? Swiping to the left just shows you the timestamps of the messages.

Never fear, we’ve got the answer.

An early teardown of the iPhone 5s by research firm IHS found that even though Apple has added a new A7 processor, fingerprint sensor and improved camera to its high-end iPhone, the company pays less for the components of the iPhone 5s than it did for the iPhone 5.

The new teardown revealed that Apple pays about $191 on the components to build one 16GB iPhone 5s unit. Add in an extra eight bucks to assemble all the parts, and the $199 total it costs to build the iPhone 5s is six dollars cheaper than the $205 build price IHS estimated for the iPhone 5 last year. The teardown didn’t stop with the iPhone 5s though, as the company put the 5c under the knife as well and estimated it costs about $173 to build a 16GB iPhone 5c.