Google’s secret weapon in the TV wars could hardly be more simple: It’s an inexpensive little dongle called Chromecast that’s designed to change the way you watch TV.

Chromecast does that by turning almost any smartphone, tablet or PC into a remote control on steroids. Rather than limiting its audience to those with Android devices, Google hopes to lure customers to Chromecast by working across multiple platforms. The 2-inch dongle plugs into your HDTV and allows users to send videos from iPhones, Androids or laptops via WiFi to almost any TV with an HDMI port, giving users powers similar to Apple’s AirPlay — except it plays nice with strangers.

It’s ridiculously simple. And at only $35, it’s cheap as hell, which is precisely why Google thinks it’s the perfect device to take over your living room.

You may know that Starbucks, perhaps the most ubiquitous coffee shop in the US and beyond, gives out free iTunes stuff each week. Sometimes it’s songs, sometimes TV show episodes, and sometimes Apps.

This week, Starbucks is giving away Cyto’s Puzzle Adventure, a cute little regularly $0.99 game that sees you flinging a little cell-like organism around a beautiful, organic-looking playing field to recover his memories.

Room 8, the game’s developer, sent us an email to let us know.

Apple just sent out an email announcing that it has a new System Status page for developers who want to track what’s going on with the still-down Dev Center after it was apparently hacked a couple of days ago.

The email apologizes for the “significant inconvenience” caused by the downtime, and assures developers that it’s been working non-stop to overhaul the systems behind the Dev Center, update server software, and rebuild the entire database now that it’s been compromised.

In addition, they’ve created a one-stop web page with the status of each specific service, noting whether the services in question are yet online or still off.

Today Google unveiled its second-gen Nexus 7 tablet. The 7-inch, ASUS-made device packs a stunning 1,920 x 1,200 display. That translates to 323 pixels per inch, which is up considerably from the first Nexus 7’s 216 ppi. It’s also a higher resolution display than what Apple offers with the iPad mini, the company’s only flagship product that hasn’t been Retina-fied yet.

Google is right when it says that it has the “world’s highest-resolution 7-inch tablet.” The first Nexus 7 beat the iPad mini’s display quality too. So will Apple finally answer with a Retina iPad mini this fall?

The bundles offered at Cult of Mac Deals are arguably the most popular – and when they can be delivered to our readers at no cost then their popularity is a given. Now’s the time for Cult of Mac Deals to offer up another “freebie” bundle, and this one has apps that will help you with your design work, your photos, and your overall productivity.

The Mac Freebie Bundle 2.0 features 10 apps that you can get for free – but only for a limted time!

If you backup your iOS devices to your Mac, you will overwrite the latest backup each time you do so, creating a new, fully up-to-date copy of your iOS device, including settings, apps, and data.

But what if you want to save a certain backup as a snapshot, like before you upgrade to a new operating system, or add a troublesome app to your iPhone or iPad?

The trick here is Archiving your backup, which tells iTunes to stop using the backup as the latest one, and instead backup to a new file. It’s easy to do, and here’s how.

The Olloclip must be one of the most useful iPhoneography accessories around. It’s a tiny clip-on widget which adds three additional lenses to the iPhone: macro, wide-angle and fisheye.

And until now, the only thing it was really lacking was a telephoto – after all the more-or-less 35mm equivalent lens on the iPhone is already wide enough for most uses. Olloclip has fixed that with this new lens, and added another handy accessory in the box: A circular polarizer.

Google’s Sundar Pichai just got done hosting breakfast at a press event in San Francisco and even though our expectations weren’t high, the event was packed with awesome goodies. Not only did Google show off Android 4.3 and all the new features, but some seriously great hardware was announced too.

Here’s a rundown of all the new stuff Google presented:

Thanks to Best Buy and Sam’s Club, we’ve known what the new Nexus 7 looks like, what’s inside it, and how much it costs since early this morning — but at an Android event in San Francisco just now, Google’s Sundar Pichai has finally made it all official.

As expected, the new Nexus 7 will be the first device with Android 4.3, and you can pre-order yours today.

Apple’s fifth-generation iPad will feature a new touchscreen technology that will help it become thinner and lighter, according to industry sources. The device is expected to adopt a new form factor much like the iPad mini’s, with thinner bezels and a smaller frame — and Apple will have to make a number of changes to its internals to enable that.

If you had to guess which of EA’s retail partners made it the most cash last quarter, you’d probably say Best Buy, GameStop, or another game store. But you’d be wrong. EA’s biggest partner last quarter was actually Apple, which helped it reach $90 million in sales on smartphones and tablets.

Google’s Sundar Pichai is hosting a press event in San Francisco in less than two hours, where we expect to see the company’s latest Android 4.3 Jelly Bean update, and the second-generation Nexus 7. If you want to stay on top of the event as it happens, you’ll be pleased to know you can watch it live — right here.

We have a good idea what the budget iPhone will look like fully assembled thanks to the pictures we published a little while ago, but if you’re still having doubts that those plastic shells are genuine, take a look at this in-depth video.

We’ve seen lots of pictures of budget iPhone parts in recent weeks, but these images from case maker Tactus show us what the device will look like when it’s fully assembled — complete with a display, a camera and flash, buttons, and a Lightning connector.

I use Apple’s built-in Screen Sharing app all the time to connect from my Macbook Air to my Mac Mini. It’s a great way to just quickly log in from the Air and restart a Minecraft server, for example, or get a screenshot of the latest OS X Mavericks beta feature.

I also use Command-Tab a lot on my Macbook Air to switch between running apps. However, I was never able to Command-Tab my way out of Screen Share, as the keyboard combination gets sent to the remote Mac Mini, keeping me fully in Screen Share Mode.

Until now.

Rockstar may not have a massive catalog of games on Android and iOS, but with the likes of Grand Theft Auto and Max Payne, there’s no denying that it has some of the best. And they’re currently on sale in the App Store and on Google Play for a limited time.

EE has today announced that its super speedy 4G network has reached ten new towns across the United Kingdom. The move comes just as the carrier, which is the first and only one to offer 4G in the U.K., prepares to celebrate 700,000 4G subscribers.

Landcam comes from the folks behind Currency, a currency-converter app which manages to be more beautiful, easier to use and – somewhat paradoxically – more information-rich than its rivals.

The legacy is clear. Landcam is also beautifully uncluttered, and yet easily as powerful as most other iPhoneography apps in the store. And all this for $1.

One of the best things in the new iOS7 beta is Command Center, which lets you toggle Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, the flashlight (on the iPhone anyway), AirDrop and others from one quick-to-access place. Fast Toggles wants to do the same and more, only on your Mac.

The DB60 speaker looks a lot like the tip of an airliner’s wing, ripped off, shrunken, polished and hung on the wall. And it might well be – who knows where the designers got their materials? But once mounted on your wall and hooked up to power, it becomes a Bluetooth speaker of uncommon practicality.

Apple’s Earbuds and EarPods mightn’t be the best-sounding headphones around, but they come with every iPhone, and they’re tough enough to wrap up and keep conveniently in your back, unnoticed until you need them. And I would do exactly that, if the ’pods didn’t just drop out of my giant ears no matter how hard I jam them in.

What I need are some EarSkinz. Yes, that’s with a “Z.”

Have you ever wondered what 1,107 MacBook Airs would look like? I sure hope not. I mean, hopefully you have more pressing things on your mind, like how to solve world hunger or where to get a burrito for lunch. But if you do fantasize about stacks-on-stacks-on-stacks of Apple products, then check out this massive order of MacBook Airs.

The entire pile includes 1,107 MacBook Airs. If the company just bought the baseline 11-inch $999.99 model then you’re looking at $1,106,988.93 worth of Apple hardware.

Have you ever seen a bigger stack of Apple products? Tell us your fish-tale in the comments.

Source: Reddit

ShareThis, the popular content sharing button on many websites, reported a study in which user patterns suggest that the iPhone is the “Most Social Device,” accounting for three times as much sharing as from the desktop, and up to one and a half times as much sharing as any other mobile platform.

In addition, the study found that Facebook is the social network shared to the most, with 60 percent of the mobile sharing going to the big blue website. Twitter and Pinterest, interestingly, are the next two most shared to networks.

KING Art and Nordic Games just released a brand new, gorgeous point and click adventure game, The Raven – Legacy of a Master Thief to Mac, PC, and Linux via the Steam or Nordic Games shop in both Standard and Deluxe editions. The game will also come to PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade later this summer.

The first of three chapters, The Eye of the Sphinx, is now ready for download on either distribution platform, and is even 10 percent off as a launch special through the 30th of July.

Apple’s third quarter earnings call didn’t produce many interesting comments from the company’s executives, but CFO Peter Oppenheimer and CEO Tim Cook did mention new products coming in the fall. But then again, Apple has been beating the same “stuff is coming” drum all year.

When asked a philosophical question about how Apple operates, Cook reiterated the company’s mantra on manufacturing quality gear.