You might think that the week before Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference — where the company is expected to unveil iOS 6 and potentially reveal a few surprises along the way — would be a quiet one. Of course, you might also think that the duck-billed platypus is extinct. You’d be wrong on both counts. Let’s remember the Macworld week just ended:
In the news
Virgin Mobile will become the second U.S. prepaid carrier to carry the iPhone, as Apple continues its quest to get every man, woman, child, and well-trained mammal in this country to start using one of its smartphones.
A couple of third parties announced accessories that offer USB 3 connectivity on your Mac via Thunderbolt. Speaking of connections, before you make yours at some airports, you may relieve some stress with iPad installations there.
On the Web, LinkedIn had a rough week, though at least anyone fired at the company in the wake of a pair of security lapses should have a head-start on finding contacts to hit up for new work. Meanwhile, Google bought QuickOffice, furthering Google’s plan of, you know, owning everything.
The Macintosh II turned 25, so it can finally rent a car.
Oh, and Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference begins this Monday, so—as is our wont—we made a few predictions. Find out how they turn out in our keynote live blog on Monday.
How-to’s and tutorials
Frankly, we write so much, we should rename them “How-many’s” and “Manytorials.” (Editor’s note: No, we shouldn’t.)
With your Mac, we can show you how to store files on your camera card, how to stop Lion’s rubber band scrolling effect, how to reinstall Rosetta for running PowerPC apps on Snow Leopard, how to pick the perfect names for your files, and even how to speed up a slow Mac with Activity Monitor.
And for the Web-savvy with remote coworkers, we can help you make Google+ Hangouts your new meeting room. We can’t help you with the fact that such video hangouts may require that you put on pants.
A slew of reviews and app news
Boy, did we cover a lot of apps. (Answer: Yes.) On the iOS side, we looked at OmniPlan, Any.do, the camera app Pris, and a gaggle of games: Botanicula, Magnetic Billiards, Mega Run, and Temple Run: Brave.
And in our efforts to leave no corner of the App Store unexplored, we also evaluated a variety of potty-training apps; one is clearly the best, the others all compete for number two.
On the Mac side, we took a fresh look at Dropbox, because we like to stay in sync when that service updates. We also reviewed CheatSheet, which displays the currently available keyboard shortcuts when you hold down the Command key. And we pointed you towards a few Gems-packed software bundles available for a limited time. If you like Gems—and who doesn’t?—be sure to check out our newest Superguide: Macworld Gems, second edition.