WWDC 2013 is ready to kickoff in San Francisco next week, and in preparation for the event, Apple has already started decorating Moscone West with WWDC 2013 banners.

The banner art shows the same graphics that Apple used on the official WWDC 2013 logo. the graphics appear to be a bunch of flat app icons, which support the rumors that iOS 7 will ditch its skeumorphic roots for a more minimalist and modern look. One of the tag lines for the banners reads, ‘Where a whole new world is developing.’

Here are some more pictures of Apple’s WWDC 2013 decorations:

Next time you drop your iPhone 5 and shatter the screen, you won’t have to pay a third-party to fix the display for you, or pay Apple the price of a new device to fix the screen for you. Instead, your friendly neighborhood Genius Bar will do it for $149.

Yes, you read that headline correctly. Someone developed an iOS theme that makes your iPhone look like it’s powered by the Apple online store. It’s called “Apple Web OS,” and although you probably wouldn’t want to use it every day, it’s actually rather impressive.

Apple Worldwide Developer Relations has slapped down TransMedia CEO Donald Leka for suggesting no one cares about iOS in a press release for a new iPhone app. “Consumers really don’t care that much what platform they are on,” Leka said — but it turns out Cupertino does not agree.

In the U.S, lucky market traders, beggars and panhandlers can stick a sugarcube-sized dongle into their iPhone’s (or iPad’s) headphone jack and start taking credit cards. Over in Europe, we don’t yet have the Square reader, so our street-folk have had to put up with old-fashioned cash. Until now that is. Thanks to a combination of Apple’s liberal policies governing how dirty you have to be before you’re refused entry to a store, and the newly-stocked Payleven chip’n’PIN machines, tramps and bums all over the EU can now take plastic.

Wouldn’t it be great if your iPhone automatically increased its speaker volume when you pulled it away from your ear, or decreased it as you moved it closer? According to a new Apple patent recently published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, this could be a feature of future iPhones. 

The iPhone 5 is the best mobile phone ever made, in my opinion. And the iOS platform has the best mobile apps.

Unfortunately, this doesn’t add up to the best phone experience anymore.

What Apple lacks is the best experience with using Internet-based services. And Apple will fall much further behind on June 26.

Here’s what Apple needs to change in order to offer the best overall mobile phone experience.

This week on The CultCast: Apple Chief Tim Cook brings his Southern charm to Washington, hints at an iHologram; we break down the Apple tax debacle and say why their overseas billions are too legit to quit; and Xbox One vs. Apple TV, should Apple be worried?

All that and more on this week’s CultCast. Stream or download new and past episodes on your Mac or iDevice by subscribing now on iTunes, or hit play below and let the good times roll.

Show notes up next.

Music is what started it all for the modern Apple with the iPod back in 2001.

Today, the consumer electronics giant released a new TV ad entitled “Music Every Day.”

Apple is rumored to be working on a budget iPhone targeted at emerging markets. The device will allegedly be made of plastic and look like an iPod touch in the back and an iPhone 5 in the front. Other reports have claimed that Apple is working on multiple color variations beyond the traditional black and white.

Today a new report from Japanese publication Macotakara claims that Apple is currently testing such a device in the supply chain for production later this year.