Office for iPad reportedly coming in the first half of this year

The long rumored 'Office for iPad' project isn't dead, according to a new report from ZDNet. In fact, the outlet believes that it's likely to make it to market sooner than most people think—ahead of Microsoft's touch-first version of Office.

For years, Microsoft has been said to be working on an iPad version of its popular Office suite, but those rumors have yet to materialize. An iPhone Office app appeared last summer for the iPhone, but it offers limited editing functionality...

iBeacons ready to go at MLB ballparks in Los Angeles and San Diego

Good news for Dodgers and Padre fans this afternoon. Major League Baseball announced today that it has finished outfitting its first two ballparks with iBeacon sensors, those in Los Angeles and San Diego, California.

The move comes just two weeks after it was reported that the MLB was looking to have iBeacons ready to go in over 20 ballparks by the Opening Day of 2014, and the organization confirms that rollout is still on track...

How to colorize app badges with ‘ColorBadges’

ColorBadges is an upcoming jailbreak tweak that was recently submitted to Cydia's BigBoss repo. It allows users to colorize app badges based on the color of the app icon. For example, if you have a badge on the Cydia app, the color of the badge will be brown, which corresponds to the color of the Cydia app.

Along with the addition of app matching color to the badges, ColorBadges adds an outline to the outside of the badge to make the color stand out even more. ColorBadges is a great looking jailbreak tweak, and I think that it significantly improves the look of app badges. It makes it so that you don't mind having tons of app badges proliferating your Home screen, and that's saying a lot.

Take a look at our full video walkthrough of ColorBadges after the break...

Flextronics joins Apple’s supply chain as assemblers of ‘Made in USA’ Macs

As part of the 2014 Supplier Responsibility Report that was published yesterday, Apple has refreshed its Supplier Responsibility website with a newly updated list of component suppliers and major manufacturing locations where Apple's gadgets are being assembled.

Bloomberg analyzed Apple's public documents and discovered that Flextronics International Ltd. has now joined the company's supply chain as assemblers of 'Made in USA' Macs. Although Flextronics now gets to assemble Macs in Apple's $100 million Austin, Texas plant, Foxconn remains the largest manufacturer of Apple products, with seven assembly locations in China and Brazil...

Apple Store app offering Tetris for free, grab it now

This week's Free App of the Week on the App Store is Max Axe, an over-the-top endless runner where you kill beasts by drawing with your finger to throw axes. If this sounds a little underwhelming, the official Apple Store app in its ongoing promotion is now giving away Electronic Arts' excellent take on the classic Tetris game. Having played countless Tetris versions over the years, Twintris for the Amiga 500 was by far the most fun I've ever had smashing simple geometric shapes down to clear the lines.

Electronics Arts' modernized mobile Tetris edition is the closest thing to Twintris. It's a highly recommended download so fire up the Apple Store app and claim your free copy now, here's how...

Here’s what happens if your phone number shows up on news after iPhone unveiling

Here's an interesting little anecdote from analyst Ben Bajarin who has attended every Apple event sans the January 2007 iPhone introduction. Although he wasn’t there and his father was, the iPhone launch has impacted Bajarin's "life–temporarily–even before I got my hands on one".

The analysts dad was lucky enough to land himself a private demo of the original iPhone by an Apple executive whom he knew, right following Steve's legendary presentation. After calling his son using a demo iPhone unit, the phone number ended up showing up on the news, resulting in a minimum of 1,500 calls a day...

Kahuna review: play your way to paradise islands

This whole “board games ported to iOS” thing is a huge money saver for me. My favorite types of games average $40 and can cost upwards of $80, not taking into account expansions. So, whenever there is version ported to the iPad, I jump at the chance to play it. If it’s one I’ve never heard of, it gives me the opportunity to see if I like the mechanics before dropping a few “twomps” on the physical version (which I usually do).

Kahuna is a port of the land grab strategy game of the same name by Rio Grande Games. This is one of those titles I’ve seen at my local board game store, but had not invested in yet because I wasn’t sure if I’d like it. Guess I’ll be heading to the game shop this week…

Samsung and Apple bosses fail to resolve patent disputes in mediation talks

We told you in January that Samsung and Apple CEOs were scheduled to meet for a new round of peace talks ahead of a trial next month. According to multiple reports today, the meeting between Apple CEO Tim Cook and Samsung mobile chief and co-CEO JK Shin indeed took place last week, but failed to yield tangible settlement opportunities.

As a result of the failed talks, the two frenemies are definitely going to slug it out in the courtroom all over again in a second California trial scheduled to kick off on March 31, 2014. Grab your popcorn...

Square Enix Montréal teases new turn-based Hitman GO mobile game, launching soon

Square Enix, the prolific studio behind the Final Fantasy franchise, today released Deadman’s Cross, a new card battle game for the iPhone and iPad. And now another studio, Square Enix Montréal, is set to bring the console-only Hitman franchise to iOS.

The company has confirmed that it is putting finishing touches on Hitman GO, a turn-based strategy game set in the Hitman universe. Hitman GO promises "diorama-style set pieces", will focus strongly on strategy planning and is “almost ready for launch”. Jump past the fold for additional tidbits...

Apple sold more Macs and iOS devices than all Windows PCs combined last quarter

Apple may not have impressed Wall Street with its holiday quarter, but it did reach a major [symbolic] milestone. During the 3-month period, the Cupertino company sold more Macs, iPhones, iPads and iPod touches than the total number of Windows computers combined.

According to data gathered by analyst Benedict Evans, this is the first time Apple has surpassed the PC market in hardware sales. Now this doesn't include Windows Phone. If you add that in, the two are more or less exactly equal, though Apple still wins in average selling price...

Square Enix’s card battle RPG ‘Deadman’s Cross’ hits the App Store

Square Enix, the studio behind the Final Fantasy franchise and several other hit games, has released a new title in the App Store this morning. It's called 'Deadman's Cross,' and it's a zombie-themed card battle RPG for the iPhone and iPad.

The game comes from the same team that brought you the uber-successful RPG 'Guardian Cross,' and promises to deliver similar addictive gameplay. It takes place sixteen years in the future, where a virus has caused a zombie apocalypse...

Viber acquired by e-commerce giant Rakuten for $900 million

This is kind of interesting. The Wall Street Journal is reporting this morning that the popular voice call app Viber has agreed to a deal to be acquired by Rakuten for $900 million. For those unfamiliar with the e-commerce giant, it's essentially Japan's version of Amazon.

Viber is available on all major mobile and desktop platforms, and is one of Skype's biggest competitors with over 300 million users worldwide. It was one of the first apps to allow 3G VoIP on the iPhone and it now supports land-line calls, messages and even push-to-talk...