Most days, you won’t hear us talk too much about a gaming genre that’s been beaten to death with a large stick, but upcoming Puzzle Knights is an exception to that rule, what with it’s interesting blend of, yes, matching colors, but also tactical strategy, light RPG elements, and online arena battles.

The game is expected to release sometime in the first or second week of September, so keep your eyes on this one. It’s exclusive to iOS, but will let you connect via Facebook to battle your FB friends.

Football season is nearly upon us and that means an all-new version of Madden is ready to bust onto screens. Madden 25 for iOS was released this morning and for the first time ever, EA Sports has made the game free-to-play while also offering in-app purchases.

Madden 25 boasts a new Ultimate Team feature that allows players to custom build their own NFL superstar team by collecting player cards or purchasing them from the Auction House. The game sports some new tap & swipe controls for a more intuitive experience, along with the new Solo Challenges, head-to-head mode, and more.

Here are the full release notes:

A lot has been said about the importance of learning to code – the importance that everyone learn to code. What seemed to be somewhat of a ridiculous suggestion only a few years ago has really gained steam as a great idea in recent months. But where do you find time to learn how to do that and still do everything else you need to do?

Well, if the price of this Cult of Mac Deals offer (just $79 for The Web Development and Programming Bundle) isn’t enough to entice you – then perhaps knowing that web programmers make an average of 80K per year will be.

There’s a nifty image editing feature inside Instagram for iPhone that helps you quickly straighten out wonky images before you upload them. It’s fast, and it seems to do a great job of straightening out your photo without any manual tweaking.

That’s thanks to Instagram’s intelligent correction technology, which uses data captured by your iPhone’s internal sensors to establish the orientation of your device when your image was taken.

Do you remember the Burnout series?

Developer Criterion’s crash-centric racing franchise for consoles was basically the exact opposite of more staid simulation racers like Forza Motorsport or Gran Turismo. It was about speed and stunts. It featured absurd crashes that played out in almost fetishistic slow motion with metal and glass separating from cars and sailing through the air like doves in a John Woo movie. The physics were loose, the action was intense, and the event types included several things that were almost, but not quite, entirely unlike racing.

Why do I bring this up? Because Asphalt 8: Airborne is Burnout for your mobile device.

Apple has today rolled out a new Apple TV update that adds yet more apps to the $99 set-top box. As expected, music video streaming service Vevo is part of the mix, as are the Weather Channel and the Smithsonian, and two new apps from Disney.

Unlike Apple, Google likes to make its hardware compatible with all of your other gadgets — regardless of which platform they’re running. So you may have purchased a $35 Chromecast dongle to work with your iOS devices. If so, you’ll be interested in Google’s new Chromecast app, which lets you set up and manage your dongle from your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

It stands shorter than a Steve Jobs doll. It can be held in the palm of your hand. It runs System 6, and elicits squeals of delight from vintage Mac fans.

It is the Smallest Mac in the World.

Hot on the heels of the news of the world’s oldest working Macintosh comes a breakthrough of much more modest proportions. John Leake, co-host of the RetroMacCast, has created what may be the world’s smallest working Macintosh using a Raspberry Pi computer, PVC, some off-the shelf parts and a Mac emulator running under Linux. He calls it “Mini Mac.”

Why? As Leake writes on his blog, “this is one those ‘because I can’ projects with no practical use – my favorite kind!”

There will almost certainly be new iPads this fall, and the Apple Predictotron in the CoM basement says that we’ll see a Retina-screen iPad mini, plus a thinner, smaller iPad 5 – a kind of enlarged iPad mini, complete with tiny side bezels.

Which might create a dilemma. You see, Like many folks I have all but ditched my large iPad for the mini. I still long for that amazing screen whenever I pick up the Retina iPad 3, but the mini is so just so damn convenient I choose it over the big version every time.

But what if the iPad 5 is small enough to compete with the mini?

When you drag a bunch of items into a folder in the Finder on your Mac and some of the items in there have the same name, your Mac will ask you if you want to replace the items in the folder you’re dragging to. This is all well and good when you’re trying to do just that, but what about when you want to merge the files from the first folder to the second?

Well, it’s amazingly simple.

Steve Jobs was known for his incredible presentation and keynote skills. The man could sell anything, but he needed a proper tool to do so. That tool was Keynote, which would eventually become part of the iWork suite. But how was keynote created?

While the iPhone 5C will certainly be cheaper than Apple’s high-end iPhone 5S, it’s likely to be too expensive still for many in emerging markets. But smartphone clone specialists Goophone already have an Android-powered alternative in the pipeline that will sell for just $100 in China.

Called the “i5C,” the device looks almost identical to the real iPhone 5C based on the leaks we’ve seen. Just don’t expect a Retina display.

In the two weeks preceding every major Apple product launch, the buy-back companies start circling, trying to convince you to sell your old iPhones and iPads to them instead of the competition. This year’s iPhone 5S and 5C launch is no exception, and even Apple is rumored to be starting a buy-back program.

Gazelle is one of the oldest “recyclers” of used iOS devices, and we have recommended the service before. This year, though, their service is getting even better, because they are allowing now offering a price-lock guarantee.

You know how when the iPhone first came out and people were all complaining about how you couldn’t take out the battery? I know, right? The market swiftly moved in to solve the “problem” by supplying battery packs that could be added only when you needed them, and without rebooting the phone to swap them, and in whichever sizes you needed.

Now we have come full circle, as they say, with the Mojo Refuel for iPhone 5. It’s an external battery pack which — get this — has its own removable battery.

Put your hands down on your keyboard. Now pick them up and rotate them as if you’re about to hold an iPad in landscape mode. Now imagine that you’re gripping a keyboard, and that the keys of that keyboard are around the back of the slab in your hand, running vertically under your fingers.

That’s how the TREWGrip was designed.

One of the best new features in iOS 7 is the revamped Photos app, which organizes your pictures for you, creating a timeline of events based on places. Eventiles for iPhone does something very similar, only it also chooses your best photos, and captions the resulting photosets — which it generates automatically.

It’s pretty rad.

The second piece of Sony news today (along with the neat new NEX 5T) is the Alpha A3000, an SLR-style mirrorless camera for the crazy, crazy low price of $400. Take that, entry-level Canon Rebel bodies.

Good morning folks, and welcome to the latest episode of [_____] is the new [_____]. Today we’re taking a look at Sony’s brand new NEX–5T mirrorless camera, which proves that [Wi-Fi] is the new [large sensor]. Or that [NFC] is the new [Wi-Fi]. Or something.

Apple may release iOS 7 to the public the same day as its accompanying iPhone event on Tuesday, September 10th. In the past, Apple has released the final GM build of the next iOS to developers on the day of the event and then waited about a week to push the update out to everyone. This year could be different.

An email sent out from Nuance to developers in its voice recognition program suggests that iOS 7 will indeed drop on the 10th. And the fact that Nuance powers Siri lends credence to the date.

Jabra made a big show of introducing their Sport Bluetooth music/phone earbuds at CES this year, even bringing in triathlete celeb and Ironman champ Craig Alexander to flaunt the buds while he sweat away the miles on a stationary bike. Unfortunately, the Sport has been plagued by reports of abysmal Bluetooth connectivity (possibly due to range) and poor fit ever since it shipped.

Jabra’s response is their new Sport Wireless+, the successor to the Sport, which Jabra says has made everything better.

We’re only two weeks away from the official unveiling of the iPhone 5C, but some eBay geniuses scammers are trying to make some quick Gs off desperate Apple fans hungry for a prototype scoop.

An eBay listing for a genuine iPhone 5C Rear Shell started out at $20 but has quickly received 70 bids, with the latest totaling over $13,600. With the insane amount of iPhone 5C leaks dropping over the past few months, we imagine it’s probably real. But what those clueless fanboys don’t know is they could save $13,584 and get one for $16.

Update: The listing has been removed, citing “the item is no longer available.”

Source: eBay

When the paid version of the very fine Feedly RSS aggregation service, Feedly Pro, was announced at the beginning of this month, the only option available was the Life Membership, at a fairly affordable $99.00.

Today, though, we just noticed that Feedly Pro’s monthly and annual subscriptions are available for purchase, at $5.00 and $45.00, respectively.

Following up on the Department of Justice’s revised proposed punishment from Apple’s e-book antitrust case, Apple’s lawyers filed a response this morning claiming the DOJ is trying to give Amazon an unfair advantage on e-books.

Defense attorney Orin Synder said that the DOJ’s 12-page proposal is just trying to find a remedy that will give Amazon a competitive advantage again. Synder had the following to say regarding the DOJ’s proposal that Apple allow App Store developers  to sell e-books through their apps without Apple taking a cut:

Apple is currently testing its own iPhone trade-in program in select Apple stores ahead of a September launch, according to multiple reports. Rumors of an Apple trade-in program first started earlier this summer with a public launch expected in late June, but Apple decided to delay the date to sometime next month.

The launch of the program will likely be tied to the unveiling of the new iPhone hardware Apple plans to show off on September 10th.

During Apple’s last earnings call, Tim Cook said that “our activations in Russia set a record last quarter as the highest-ever quarter.” Like China and other countries where the normal methods of selling phones are different than here in the states, Russia is full of growth potential for Apple.

A new report from TechCrunch claims that Apple executives are visiting the country this week to meet with retailers. One can only assume that the main topic of discussion will be how to market and sell the iPhone more effectively. Apple is expected to ship a cheaper iPhone 5C this fall, which would be hugely attractive in markets like Russia that don’t operate under carrier subsidies.

Russia is the largest internet market in Europe right now, and it is also the fastest growing European country for mobile usage. It makes sense for Apple to be focusing on expansion there. Visit the source link below to read more about the hurdles Apple faces in the Russian market.

Source: TechCrunch

Image: Vedomosti