Apple has posted a public letter addressing the recent PRISM scandal where companies like Google and Facebook were accused of giving the government access to personal data without a warrant. Apple, Google, Facebook, Yahoo and Microsoft all originally denied secretly cooperating with government officials, and said they only disclose user data when in accordance with the law. However, Edward Snowden, the former security contractor who leaked details of the PRISM program, said the tech companies were "misleading" in their responses. Perhaps that's why Apple felt it needed to clarify its customer privacy policy by posting an open letter to its users on its website.

Here's Apple's original response:

"We have never heard of PRISM. We do not provide any government agency with direct access to our servers, and any government agency requesting customer data must get a court order.”

iOS 7 may not be here yet, but developers have been hard at work creating jailbreak themes to simulate the look and feel of Apple's latest beta firmware. Of course, the key word is simulate, as many of the themes are simply new graphical elements and other skins that use Winterboard to camouflage icons.

For those who just can't wait until this fall to see what iOS 7 is all about, there are several free iOS 7 themes popping up in the Cydia jailbreak app store. Not only can the home screen be themed, but there are options for an iOS 7 style lock screen, status bar, control toggles, messages, and even the calculator. All of the themes require a jailbroken iPhone and Winterboard.

AirPlay is a great way to stream music to your favorite stereo or Apple TV, but what if you don't have special hardware designed to receive AirPlay? Now any jailbroken iOS device can be used thanks to the tweak AirPlayServer. For example, an unused old iPhone can be set up as an AirPlay receiver, so that other iOS devices on the same Wi-Fi network can send audio to the unit.

This becomes especially handy when connecting the AirPlay receiver to a stereo or other external speakers. Instead of spending money on an AirPlay-specific accessory, simply plug the headphone jack of the jailbroken iOS device into the stereo for full sound. Any other iOS device on the network can be configured to send audio to the new AirPlay receiver using the built-in AirPlay menu.

Microsoft has finally launched the first official Office companion app for iOS. The software is set to compete with Apple's productivity apps Pages, Numbers and Keynote. One catch, although the Office Mobile iOS app is free, you must be an Office 365 subscriber to use the software.

Of course Excel, Word and PowerPoint documents can be edited in the app, and changes can be synced to other devices thanks to built-in SkyDrive, SkyDrive Pro and SharePoint support. Since this is Microsoft's official Office app, documents look like the originals with support for SmartArt, animations, charts, comments and more. Documents attached to email messages can be opened and edited as well.

Remember the old Emergency Broadcast System that would interrupt your favorite radio station or TV show? Fast forward to 2013. AT&T customers with an iPhone 5 or iPhone 4S running iOS 6.1 or later are set to begin receiving government-issued safety messages with the next carrier settings update.

The software update will be automatically delivered to your iPhone, after which the message "Carrier Settings Update: new settings required for your device have been installed” will appear. The alerts are part of the Commercial Mobile Alert System (CMAS). Initially your iPhone will be set by default to receive all Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA).