Weekly News Roundup – 5 April 2013

  Once again the week is coming to an end and that means it’s time for a roundup of the past weeks news!

12 iPhone Tricks You Didn’t Know Your iPhone Could Do – Discovering new iPhone features is a great way to spice things up when interacting with your device. Not only that, but finding out about a new feature could even make your iPhone-using experience more productive.

The Ten Life Lessons From Steve Jobs We Should Never Forget – After Steve Jobs died, his friend Larry Ellison was asked by Kara Swisher what were the key things that we – regular people – could learn from him.

Apple And T-Mobile Begin Taking Pre-Orders For iPhone 5 – Apple and T-Mobile have begun pre-orders for the iPhone 5. The launch date for the iPhone 5 is scheduled for April 12th, so if you’re eager to jump the gun on the T-Mobile iPhone 5, here’s your chance.

Apple reportedly closing in on ‘iRadio’ deals, still aiming for summer launch – CNET takes a look at some of the recent talks between Apple and the record labels recording Apple’s plans for a streaming, radio-like service. According to the report, Apple is working to strike deals with both the Warner and Universal Music groups within the week, but Sony would still be one the major holdouts.

France Telecom CEO says iPhone sales threatened by lack of cheaper option – European consumers are cutting back spending in the face of a fragile economy, and the CEO of one telecom says that could signal tough times ahead for Apple’s iPhone.

Apple Patents A Convertible MacBook Design, And Street View Navigation That Can Go Inside Buildings – A couple of new Apple patent applications published today (via AppleInsider) show how the company might be thinking about competing with recent innovations from other big tech companies with similar, but different designs.

Apple’s planned ‘spaceship’ HQ will reportedly cost $5B –  Apple’s planned second corporate campus is turning out to be a headache. That’s according to Bloomberg Businessweek, which profiled the development process of the proposed “spaceship” building, an unusual structure shaped like a doughnut or ring.

3 Years of the iPad – The iPad launched three years ago yesterday, and it was a monumental day in the short history of tablet computers. Apple investors have been on a wild ride since 2010, but let’s take a look at how one of Apple’s most innovative products has fared over the past few years.

Why disc drives are an endangered species – Could the phrase “burn a disc” soon be interred in the computing graveyard, resting peacefully alongside 8-bit graphics and the chirping, buzzing hum of a dial-up modem?

iOS 7 Running Behind, Rumored to Have Significant Visual Makeover – In a Branch chat, Daring Fireball’s Jon Gruber says that, according to what he’s heard, iOS 7 is running behind schedule and that it will bring a significant user interface (UI) refresh.

iPad Price Cuts Mean New Models Can’t Be Far Behind – It’s been a scant six months since the announcement of the iPad Mini and the fairly superfluous iPad 4, but it looks like the new generations might be on the horizon. Walmart, Best Buy, and MacMall have all slashed their prices on the devices, as good a sign as any that new ones are on the way.

70+ Essential Mac Apps For OS X – So a little while ago I had to do a clean install of OSX after upgrading to Lion. I took the opportunity to go through all my apps (applications) and see which I actually really needed. In the process I gained about 40gb of hard disk space (!) and put together this list of essential applications for the Mac.

Apple adds age rating tags to iOS App Store descriptions – In a slight tweak to the App Store, Apple recently began highlighting apps’ recommended age ratings by adding a small informational box located directly below a title’s developer credits, possibly in response to growing concern from parents over in-app content.