The wireless spectrum crunch is forcing most mobile carriers to consider options to address a future in which there simply isn’t enough frequency available to easily meet the ever-growing demand for 3G and LTE connections. One idea that has been floated is developing systems that can offload mobile data onto Wi-Fi networks.

That idea isn’t new. In fact most iPhone and 3G/LTE iPad users tend to offload data service to home or public Wi-Fi networks. Doing so has clear advantages to consumers in that it helps avoid any overage fees and it can provide a faster connection in some circumstances.

Dealing with limited spectrum resources, however, carriers have been forced to consider ways of offloading data themselves rather than waiting and hoping that users to take action on their own.

Apple is finally preparing high resolution graphics for its online store to accommodate the Retina displays on the new iPad and the next-generation MacBook Pro. Although the Cupertino company has already overhauled most of its website, the online store still includes plenty of old graphics that appear fuzzy on its latest devices. But not for long.

If you want to watch a movie on your Apple TV, but you want the sound to play through a stereo or home theater system, rather than through your TV, the only way to do that right now is to install a bunch of messy cables that connect one device to the other — and they need to be relatively close together.

In iOS 6 beta 3, however, you can send audio from the Apple TV to an AirPlay-enabled speaker system at the other end of the room wirelessly.

Apple’s presentation software Keynote is, in my opinion, a fantastic application for making presentations on your Mac. It’s easy to use, presents a unified metaphor for designing slideshow presentations, and makes using rich media a very simple process. Unfortunately, not everyone who uses a Mac will have Keynote, as it seems that Office is the de-facto standard in many businesses and computers.

Fear not, however, as viewing Keynote files on a Mac is super easy, even if you don’t have the Keynote app itself, which is also an affordable and very worthwhile $10 in the Mac App Store. Here are three ways to do just that.

Back in June, Cult of Mac reported that Apple was set to introduce a new requirement for iOS apps that meant every single one had to ship with an icon measuring a whopping 1024×1024 pixels for Retina display devices. Developers are now reporting that the same requirement has been applied to Mac apps being sold through the Mac App Store, and that they cannot physically upload their apps without them.

Antivirus software specialist Bitdefender has found that nearly 19% of iOS apps access your address book without your knowledge — or your consent — when you’re using them, and 41% track your location. What’s most concerning is over 40% of them don’t encrypt your data once it has been collected.

That’s all going to change when iOS 6 makes its debut later this year, however.

Remember that early iPad prototype we showed you yesterday, built between 2002 and 2004, which looked like an old white iBook with a touchscreen? Now some new shots have surfaced that show a comparison between this and the iPad 2, and there are some interesting differences.

First of all, Apple originally built the iPad with a 12-inch display, and it was huge.

The day has finally come. Subatomic Studios has released Fieldrunners 2 for the iPhone and iPod touch in the App Store. In case you don’t remember, the original Fieldrunners pioneered tower defense games on the iPhone back when the App Store first launched in 2008.

Fieldrunners 2 has now gone live in the App Store, and it looks to be another smash hit.

It was recently discovered that AT&T will likely charge for FaceTime over 3G when iOS 6 launches for the public this fall. Users could previously only use Apple’s FaceTime when connected to a WiFi network, but iOS 6 (now in its third developer beta) will allow for FaceTime over both WiFi and a cellular connection.

Sprint, the nation’s third largest carrier, now says that it will not charge its customers for FaceTime over 3G in iOS 6. Both AT&T and Verizon still refuse to give any details.

Popular keyboard shortcut launcher Alfred has been updated with several new features and improvements. Version 1.3 of Alfred for Mac integrates with Apple’s Quick Look in OS X to let you see previews of files inside Alfred. A neat feature called file buffer gives you quick access to app and file placeholders above Alfred’s main search window.

The developers of Alfred have also added numerous other improvements and bug fixes in this 1.3 update. We’ve got the full change log.

The Dark Knight Rises is like the most anticipated movie of the year. People are going straight up loco for this movie. Is Batman going to die? Is Bane really just Ricky Martin’s alter-ego? Will Michael Keaton make a cameo? We don’t know, we haven’t seen it yet.

If you’re as excited we are though, then you’re probably trying to gorge on as much Batman stuff as humanly possible right now. Don’t worry, we got you covered and put together this little guide on all the ways you can use your iPad to get your Batman fix while waiting for the movie to finally hit theaters.

A recent Reynolds Journalism Institute study indicates that the iPad is becoming a primary vehicle for many users to consume (read, listen to, or watch) daily local, national, and world news and that it is leading a revolution in terms of how frequently people read news as well as how much news they read on a daily or weekly basis.

The survey noted that the iPad is the preferred large media tablet on the market with news consumers surveyed with an 88% share of that market. The Kindle Fire was the top pick among small media tablets with 68% of the news consumer market. The iPhone was the overall preferred smartphone with 39% of the news consumer market.

It also noted that the iPad (and other large tablet devices) seem to be encouraging news reading among all demographics including young adults. Among young adults (18 – 24 years old), 67% read news on one or more mobile devices and averaged five hours of news reading/consumption per week. Among young adults with iPads, 84% read news on their device(s) for an average of 7.3 hours per week.

Verizon’s 4G LTE coverage map continues to look like a teenager with a bad case of acne, however, they are lighting up more cities per month than other carriers have all year. The next batch of markets to receive the Verizon 4G LTE treatment is just as large, with 33 new markets and 32 expanding markets set to go live tomorrow. There’s a reason you pay Big Red all that cash, and this is one of them.

While Apple’s taking a wait and see approach to the nascent mobile payments and digital wallet industries, PayPal seems ready to launch an all-out offensive. In addition to its existing assortment of mobile, local, and online payment systems, PayPal announced this week that it is acquiring startup card.io.

card.io currently works with a range of iOS and Android developers to help them integrate mobile credit/debit card payment capabilities into their apps without the need of additional hardware like Square’s card reader or PayPal’s Here card reader. Instead, card.io’s partners use the built-in camera of an iPhone (or other iOS or Android device) to snap a photo of a credit card. The card number and related information is extracted and passed to a payment processor to complete the transaction (manual keying in a card number is also supported as a backup).

The National Cancer Institute estimates that there will be 2 million new diagnoses of skin cancer in the U.S. alone this year, including nearly 80,000 cases of melanoma. Besides the obvious practice of routine checkups, those known to be a bit more preemptive have taken to whole body photography as a means to spot cancerous activity before it’s too late.

An iPhone app called UMSkinCheck is meant to be an easy way to check for skin cancer without the need of a trained professional. All you need to do is have someone use your iPhone to take 23 pictures of yourself completely nude.

One of the limitations of the iPhone and iPod touch version of Safari has always been a lack of tabbed browsing. Granted, there’s only so much space on the smaller mobile screen, but all the same – tabbed browsing is great.

So is being able to open tabs in the background, so that you can continue reading, say, an article on Cult of Mac, but still save an interesting link in another tab, just like you can on the Mac with a Command-click. With a simple Settings tweak, you can.

If you use your MacBook with a Thunderbolt Display at home or at the office, and you don’t use your MacBook’s display as a secondary monitor, then a Henge Dock is a great way to keep your desk neat and tidy.

Available for all recent MacBooks, MacBook Airs, and MacBook Pros from 11 to 17 inches — with prices ranging from $55 to $75 — it provides you with a place to dock your MacBook in a vertical position so that it takes up as little space as possible. Its integrated ports mean you can still all of your notebook’s USB ports, its MagSafe connector, audio jack, and more.

The Henge Dock promises to be the “first truly comprehensive docking station solution for Apple’s line of notebook computers” There are some things it could do better, however.

Seeking to challenge the iPad’s ongoing success in the healthcare field, Panasonic has announced an updated version of Toughbook tablet for doctors offices and hospitals. The update is the latest for Toughbook product line that Panasonic introduced in 2008.

The 10-inch screen size is about the only thing in the new Toughbook CF-H2 Health tablet offers that is similar to the iPad. The Toughbook is a Windows 7 tablet powered by an Intel Core i5 processor that relies on a 320GB hard drive rather than flash memory for storage (though a 128 GB SSD is available as a custom build option). It weighs in at a whopping 1.58 kg (3.48 pounds) – more than double the weight of the new iPad.

The Toughbook, which will ship next month, will have an entry-level price of €1,898 (approximately $2,330). That’s more than four times the cost of an entry-level new iPad and just shy of six times the cost of the entry-level iPad 2.

Evernote had released a new update for its Mac app that brings stunning Retina graphics and a new feature called Activity Stream. Version 3.2 of Evernote for Mac is available now on the web and soon in the Mac App Store.

The new Activity Stream acts as a notification hub for your Evernote account that is automatically updated within the Mac app. This latest update from Evernote also includes a few other improvements.

Apple and Samsung have been duking it out in court rooms around the world for many months, and a ruling today brings an interesting twist to the never-ending saga.

A U.K. judge has ordered Apple to admit on its website and in British newspapers that Samsung has not copied the design of the iPad. Previously, the U.K. court had ruled that Samsung’s Galaxy Tabs didn’t ripoff the iPad because “they are not as cool.” What today’s ruling essentially means is that Apple will have to advertise for Samsung’s Galaxy series on the web and in British newspapers.

The OKSU printer is kind of like a real life Pinterest concept, only cooler, and not just for girls. Found some  Prada shoes you like but can’t afford? Print their picture out on the OKSU, pin them to your wall or something so you can drool over them everyday, and then when you finally got enough cash to buy them, you just drop the picture on top of the OKSU printer and the website pops up on your MacBook, iPad, or iPhone automatically. It’s magic, ta-da!

Bring your own device (BYOD) programs that allow employees to use their personal iPhones, iPads, Android devices, or other mobile technologies in the office are becoming more mainstream. While there are many advantages to allowing or actively encouraging employee-owned devices in the workplace, reducing costs isn’t one of them for most companies despite the fact that cost reduction is one of the most common goals for a BYOD program.

In fact, companies are more likely to see costs increase after adding BYOD as an option for employees. That’s a common perception that is being proved accurate by a new study that looks at home companies are handling BYOD, the cost savings or increases associated with BYOD, and the mobile platforms supported by BYOD programs.

I bet you didn’t consider this feature when deciding between an iPhone 4S and an Android device such as the Galaxy S III. The company behind the radiation measurement app Tawkon has released a semi-disturbing infograph (which can be found at the bottom of this post) detailing the SAR (a measure of the rate at which energy is absorbed by the body when exposed to a radio frequency(RF) electromagnetic field) score of various popular smartphones.

Vertical Video Syndrome is a very serious problem, but it’s totally preventable. Next time you’re sitting on your couch, watching your baby and cat play together and think, “Oh snap, the spawn of my loins is like sooo freaking cute! I just totally need to film him for the 73rd time and upload it to Facebook for my friends.” That’s cool, go ahead. Film the crap out of your baby. But turn your iPhone horizontal so we can all enjoy that footage.

Only you can prevent Vertical Video Syndrom, so make sure to politely share this image with all your friends, and make the internet a safer place.

Image: Reddit

Over the last couple of months Apple has been trying to secure a real estate deal that will allow them to expand their Austin, Texas campus and bring an additional 3,600 new jobs to the area. Recent records show that Apple purchased three large tracts of land adjacent to their current campus, that will allow the company to expand and make good on their plans to invest $304 million in the area.