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A 4K Apple TV: Does anyone still care?

Normally, you'd think a rumor that never comes true, despite being circulated continuously for years, would shrivel up and die. Such is not the case with the legend of a fabled Apple TV set, which later became an Apple HDTV set, and now apparently is an Apple 4K screen, according to the latest iteration of the gossip.

But after all this time, the more pertinent question becomes not "will there be an Apple TV?" but "do we still care about an Apple TV?"… Read more

Q&A: MacFixIt Answers

MacFixIt Answers is a feature in which I answer Mac-related questions e-mailed by our readers.

This week, readers wrote in with questions on fixing a stuck locking mechanism for a MacBook lid, the inability to boot to or otherwise use the Recovery HD partition in OS X Lion and Mountain Lion, and tackling nonspecific slowdowns in OS X. I welcome contributions from readers, so if you have any suggestions or alternative approaches to these problems, please post them in the comments!

Question: Stuck locking mechanism for a MacBook lid MacFixIt reader Dominic asks:

The locking mechanism on the lid of … Read more

Apple iTV iffy this year because of supply issues, says report

A new report from Asia claims that Apple will not have an easy time getting the very-high-resolution display it needs for the iTV.

That would purportedly be a 3,840x2,160 Ultra HD display, according to a report in Digitimes. That resolution is sometimes referred to as 4K Ultra HD.

The report cites two obstacles for Apple. One, Ultra HD TV makers in Taiwan are booked up already for 2013 orders. That supply is going to China-based TV makers. Two, it's not clear if one Apple's favorite display suppliers, LG Display -- which provides displays for the iPad … Read more

T-Mobile's new twist on monthly plans

CNET Update can spare some change:

T-Mobile is ditching the typical contract and smartphone subsidy for a new plan. Pay full price for a phone, or pay it off over time with monthly payments -- and data plans start at $50 a month for 500 MB. Expect T-Mobile to release more details at a press announcement Tuesday morning.

Other stories featured in Monday's tech roundup:

- Barnes & Noble is working on incorporating in-app purchases for apps on the Nook tablets. And for those seeking an e-reader for their Easter basket, Barnes & Noble is giving a free Nook Simple Touch e-reader with the purchase of the Nook HD+ tablet. … Read more

B&N offers free e-reader with Nook HD+ for limited time

Over the last few months, Barnes & Noble has been running a number of special deals on the Nook HD+, the larger of its two tablets, including a free credit of $50 to spend on Nook content. But now the company is taking things a step further by throwing in a free Nook Simple Touch E Ink e-reader -- usually $79 -- with the purchase of Nook HD+, which starts at $269 for the 16GB model. The offer is available from March 24 to 30.

The deal comes at a turbulent time for the company. Much has been written lately … Read more

Google smartwatch in the works?

Now Google is making a smartwatch.

You didn't think Google was going to sit the smartwatch party out, did you? Since the Pebble watch made a splash at CES, we've gotten word that both Apple and Samsung are busy working on wearable tech that will talk to our mobile phones. It should come as no surprise then to find out that Google is now exploring the market with a watch based off its Android operating system. There's no date on when to expect these watches, but for now you can read reviews of ones that have already … Read more

Game maker: Apple banned our sweatshop iPad game

Education becomes more difficult by the day.

Kids have their heads buried in gadgets and bongs. For them, virtual communication is the only real communication there is.

So how can you get them to think about the wider world? One game developer, Littleloud, thought it would be stimulating to create an iPad game called Sweatshop HD.

This tasked the young players to maintain, yes, a sweatshop. It was, indeed, helpful during the game to ignore human rights and hire frightfully young employees. Just as in real life.

Apple, though, felt it was too much like real life. According to Pocket Gamer, … Read more

Record your own songs over built-in beats with Song Studio HD

The idea behind Song Studio HD is very good. It comes with nine beats installed and you can record yourself singing, beat boxing or rapping over those beats. When you start the app, press the "setup" button and then choose which beat to use. The app will then play the beat and you can record your voice. Once done, all completed songs are saved to the "My Songs" menu, though there is no way to change the names of these songs, so if you use the app extensively, it will get confusing as to which songs … Read more

Leaked benchmarks portend shift in Windows 8 'PC' design

The first benchmarks of Intel's upcoming "Haswell" Fourth-Generation Core processors have leaked. But asking how fast future Windows 8 PCs will be is probably the wrong question.

The Haswell chip that Tom's Hardware got a hold of and tested showed only modest central processing unit, or CPU, performance improvements over the latest hardware.

This would seem to indicate the future of Windows PCs -- which in this case means newfangled devices like Microsoft Surface and HP's Envy x2 -- isn't about the desktop anymore.

"The mobile space is where Intel's efforts should … Read more