Apple’s Texas Hold’em game was one of the first titles I purchased from the App Store when it opened for business in 2008, and the only game Apple has developed for iOS devices. And while it was a fantastic purchase at the time, the Cupertino company hasn’t exactly been committed to maintaining its popularity.

Its last update came in September 2008, and today, the game has been removed from the App Store completely.

Retailers have found getting rid of non-iPad tablets can be like selling Halloween candy in November. Retail giant Staples is taking a cue from other failed attempts to rival the Apple device and cutting up to $300 off RIM’s PlayBook,  just in time for Christmas.

aTV Flash (black) from FireCore has now dropped its beta tag and hit version 1.0. The software package is designed to supercharge your second-generation jailbroken Apple TV, introducing a whole host of functionality that isn’t available from Apple. In addition to a media player which supports a huge variety of formats, aTV Flash will also introduce a web browser, weather and RSS feeds, a Last.fm radio, and more to your set-top box.

Could it get any sadder? Ten years late, Microsoft is finally set to open its sad sack retail store later today at Tysons Corner, pretty much directly across from the original Apple Store that started it all way back in 2001. Needless to say, the world’s pretty much yawning at the news, and so Microsoft is trying anything to get people to attend the grand opening. I’m not sure what’s sadder, though: the fact that they hired a Jonas Brother to draw in crowds, or the fact that the Jonas Brother they hired, Joe Jonas, is both a Mac user and a former entertainment act for Apple, famously drawing scores of screaming teens to the SoHo Apple Store in 2008.

Digging through the bowels of iOS 5.0.1, developer John Heaton found something neat: some code strings that strongly hint iChat functionality will be coming to iOS sometime more or less relativistically soon.

It’s here. It’s Minecraft. And now you can play it on your iOS device. Clap your blocky hands together and praise Notch.

If you’ve played Minecraft before, this isn’t quite the game you’re used to. As it stands, Minecraft: Pocket Edition is a stripped-down version that removes what many existing fans of the game will say are the best bits. Don’t pay too much attention to the complaints, though, because there’s still a lot of fun to be had with what remains.

Apple released iTunes Match this week, and along with it a new version of iTunes which includes a lot of new features to support music in the cloud. We’ll look at these features in the Mac OS X tip for today.

Rumors that Apple’s third-generation will launch early next year have been strengthened by claims from “industry sources” today, who say the Cupertino company has moved to control supplies of its iPad 2 in a bid to reduce excess inventory. It will reportedly reduce the number of displays manufactured by the likes of Samsung, LG Display, and Chimei Innolux during the fourth quarter of 2011, which could lead to a reduction in iPad shipments.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBk_iHJU4tM

Verizon has launched a new ad featuring Apple’s popular iPhone which mocks the network coverage offered by rivals AT&T and Sprint.

In the 30-second clip, a group abandons a sinking ship, escaping with just their lives and their iPhones. Only one of the party gets enough signal to make a call, and that’s the one who’s on Verizon — a carrier which claims to offer “the best wireless service in the world for your iPhone.”

Review by Jordan Trimas

Let’s face it, with the smörgåsbord of gadgets that most of us use these days, having a few different bags to accommodate and protect our cherished portables is paramount. Despite a few minor drawbacks, the Tenba Messenger Large Photo/Laptop Bag ($110), may be good enough to replace a couple of your bags, backpacks or cases — especially if you’re a photography professional/enthusiast or techie with a DSLR and a laptop.

Apple’s newest editing software, Final Cut Pro X, has received an update in the Mac App Store. Version 10.0.2 brings several bug and compatibility fixes.

We all remember the infamous Camera+ fiasco. The popular photography app was updated with the ability to let users take pictures with the iPhone’s physical volume button, but Apple hadn’t approved that kind of hardware integration in the App Store at that time.

Mimicking the iPhone’s virtual shutter button, Camera+ let users type a URL scheme into Mobile Safari that enabled the hidden feature. Apple didn’t like Camera+ after the hack was made available, and the app was promptly pulled from the App Store last year.

After receiving Apple’s message loud and clear, Camera+ 2.0 was re-submitted to the App Store and made available with a host of new features. After the release of iOS 5 and the ability to natively take pictures with the iPhone’s volume button, Camera+ has re-added the feature to its app, too.

Fanhattan is absolutely the required guide for TV/Movie junkies who frequently view titles on the iPhone. Just like on the iPad version, the app acts as a gateway to entertainment — it gathers a heap of information about shows or movies that can be watched on the iPhone, then serves up that information in a super-cool, easy-to-navigate interface (that looks absolutely stunning on the iPhone 4).

https://vimeo.com/31513704

Ticket to Ride began as a hugely successful, massively award-winning board game, then jumped to the iPad and rocked the gaming world all over again as a shining example of what a board game should be on the iPad. Today, it’s set to take the mobile gaming world by storm again as it emerges on the iPhone — and it’s going to go through the roof.

Developer Jean-Christophe Naour has released an app for the iPad called Poly. Inspired by mathematician Boris Delaunay, Poly lets users create intriguing, colorful self-portraits with the iPad 2’s front-facing camera.

Poly creates geometric images that are complied by averaging color data within triangular fields that you trace with your hand. The artistically inclined will undoubtedly find Poly mesmerizing, while the rest of us should be content to just sit there and create shapes out of our faces on the iPad’s screen.

Evernote has announced “Clearly,” a new browser extension that mimics other enhanced reading services, like Instapaper and Readability. Clearly is available for Google Chrome now, with support coming for other browser in the near future.

While Evernote already lets you save webpages, take notes, archive memories and more, Clearly has one simple, clear (pardon the pun) focus: distraction-free reading.

AOL has completely redesigned its popular messaging service, AIM, from the ground up with a beautiful, new look for the iPhone, Mac, Windows, Android, and web.

The new apps look absolutely stunning, and several compelling features have been added. AIM’s free apps integrate with popular social networks, like Facebook and Instagram. There is support for Facebook Chat and Google Talk. Users can video chat and group chat. Conversations are synced across apps, and messages sent offline are saved for sending when connectivity is restored.

The Notification Center that ships with iOS 5 is nice. By default, it displays a stock ticker, weather, mail, and calendar entries. It all looks great, but behind the eye candy are some useful secrets. Today, we’ll take a look at the weather widget.

After a rather thorny relationship with the corporate class, Apple is getting downright chummy with businesses buying thousands of iPhones and iPads. The Cupertino, Calif. company now has access to the boardrooms co-founder Steve Jobs once rejected.

(Photo by Adam Riggall, used with thanks under Creative Commons license)

Former Englishman-in-New-York Sting has been speaking to journalists to plug his solo career retrospective album, the 25 Years box set. And in his opinion, the music industry is facing another big change. The CD is dead. And its replacement is apps.

We’ve been burned on Google’s official Gmail app for iOS before, but after having been pulled mere hours after its initial release for being completely broken, it is now back with fixed push support.

Don’t expect any other new features though: there’s no multi-account functionality or anything else, just a simple app wrapper around the HTML5 interface. Google swears more features are coming, but at this point, we’re taking any of Google’s promises with a grain of salt.

Looking for a nice Christmas gift for the Apple diehard in your life? Brooklyn-based Pop Chart Lab’s latest print, The Insanely Great History of Apple, gorgeously maps out the complete history of Apple products over the course of the last thirty years: from the original Apple I to the MacBook Air, from the Newton to the iPhone 4S.

Printed on 100 lb. archival stock certified by the Forest Stewardship Council, the first 500 copies are signed by the artists. Even better, the price is right: The Insanely Great History of Apple is a hell of a deal at just $20 a print.

You can grab the poster over at PopChart Lab, where you can also see a blown-up, zoomed-in version of the design. Want.

Steve Jobs had a life-long fixation on LSD, and often ended up asking potential Apple employees during interviews how many times they had dropped acid to throw them off guard. Steve Jobs personally considered doing LSD to be one of the formative experiences in his life, and was insistent that others should do it, too.

With such a famous advocate working for free, it’s not a surprise that the man who invented LSD eventually contacted Steve Jobs. What is surprising, though, is how long he waited to get in touch… until he was 101 years old!

Still having battery life issues on your iPhone 4S under iOS 5.0.1? We’ve already proven the issue is a software problem, not a hardware problem, which means Apple should be able to fix the iPhone 4S’s electric arterial spray… but when?

Real soon, as it happens. In fact, one Apple software engineer says the iOS 5.0.2 update is coming next week. In addition, Apple’s working on its first big point release of iOS 5, which will bring new extensions and abilities to Siri!

The sound from my iMac is actually pretty good, but for parties, I’ve long wanted a better speaker system that can really blast my iTunes tracks across the house, vaporizing any plaster that stands in the way. There are plenty of good options around, but I don’t like how they would disrupt the minimalist, contained aesthetic of my office.

The Tango Bar looks like just what I might want. It’s a USB powered sound bar that contains six, perfectly self-contained speakers, and looks great sitting beneath an iMac, matching its clean lines. And you can even use the build in 3.5mm jack to amplify your iPhone or iPad in a pinch.

Gorgeous, and not too pricey at just $100. Someone add this to my Christmas list.