News

The dominant headline of the past week has been Apple's (NASDAQ: AAPL) seemingly imminent purchase of Beats Electronics. Founders Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine stand to make quite a bit of money (and possibly be given senior positions) when the $3.2 billion deal is finalized.

Apple's iBeacon continues to spread as Duane Reade and Virgin Atlantic install the transmitters at their locations. iBeacons use Bluetooth Low Energy technology to communicate with consumers based on location. Duane Reade, for example, will push product information, reviews and discounts relevant to the product a customer is standing in front of. The two companies are the latest in a growing list

This week's biggest news stories revolved around the future of Apple and its rumored acquisition of Beats Electronics LLC. According to various sources, Apple is close to closing a $3.2 billion deal with Dr. Dre and and Jimmy Iovine for their high-end music accessories company and music streaming service Beats Music. Apple is also purportedly working with a "team of senior medical technology executives" to build a suite of health related apps akin to the App Store. Both rumors seem to indicate that an Apple smartwatch is imminent.

Samsung attorney John Quinn announced on Tuesday that he will challenge the court verdict that awarded Apple $119 million in damages for patent infringements. Quinn will ask the trial judge to reduce the damages to zero because the verdict was "unsupported by evidence".

This week's big news came from Telltale Games who announced that the Walking Dead: The Game - Season 2, Episode 3 titled "In Harm's Way" will be available next week. The PC and Mac versions will land on May 13, followed by the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions on May 14, and finally the iOS version will hit the App Store on May 15.

Here are this week's App Store and Cydia releases for 05/04/14 to 05/10/14. Apple's Free App of the Week is Zynga’s endless runner Stampede Run. It will be free on the App Store until 05/15/14. Bardbarian is also free on the App Store this week.

Adobe is known for making complex software like Photoshop, not releasing free apps for Apple products, but that's exactly what the company did this week. Adobe's new iOS App called Voice is geared towards professionals and students, but it is also accessible to your basic consumer. Adobe describes its new video creation tool as a new way to breathe "new life into static presentation formats".

The app allows users to create animated video presentations to be used on social media or shared on mobile devices. Adobe Voice promises to be easier than shooting a video and better way to get your message across than using a slide-show presentation.

Several sources, including the Finacial Times and Bloomberg, have reported that Apple Inc. (AAPL) is in talks to purchase Beats Electronics LLC for $3.2 billion. If true, this would be the most money Apple has ever paid to acquire another company. But why is Apple considering paying so much for Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine’s music accessory company? While Apple hasn't officially announced its decision to buy Beats Electronics there are a few theories floating around as to why the iPhone-maker is making such a big move.

iTunes

Apple changed the music industry with the release of the iPod and iTunes, but services like Pandora and Spotify are causing an industry-wide drop in music downloads. According to various sources, Apple is reportedly looking to bolster its music-offerings by incorporating Shazam's song ID feature in iOS 8. The company's iTunes Radio has also also gotten off to a slow start, but adding Beats Music could help change all that.