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A two-day meeting between chief executives of Samsung and Apple yielded no agreement between the parties mired in a global battle regarding alleged patent infringements, reports "The Korea Times" (http://macte.ch/pwfaq).

Samsung CEO Choi Gee-sung and Shin Jong-kyun, head of the firm’s mobile division, left Seoul Sunday for the United States to meet Apple CEO Tim Cook by order of the Northern District Court of California. This was an attempt -- and, apparently, a futile one -- to settle the patent fight without going into costly legal proceedings.

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The iHS iSuppli (http://www.isuppli.com) research group says -- as noted by "CNET" -- that Apple buys about 50% more memory, processors, and other semiconductor products than its nearest rival, Samsung.

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Apple has released Camera Raw Compatibility Update 3.13. You can obtain it via the Software Updates component of the Mac OS X Systems Preferences app.

The update adds iPhoto ‘11 and Aperture 3 support for new digital cameras from Canon, Nikon, Olympus, Panasonic and Sony. It requires Mac OX 10.6.8 or higher and is a 8MB download.

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Apple design guru Jonathan Ive has been knighted at Buckingham Palace. He said he's "both humbled and sincerely grateful" for the "absolutely thrilling honour," according to the "BBC" (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18171093).

In 2005, Ive was made a Commander of the British Empire (CBE). Another figure being honored by Princess Anne on Wednesday include Sir Peter Bazalgette, of Endemol, the TV company behind Big Brother, who is being knighted for services to broadcasting.

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Those of us who have used traditional computers for a while think the iPad is pretty magical. t's super fast, super portable, and the direct interactivity is a very different experience from what we're used to with a mouse and keyboard. But those comparisons aren't as valid for children who are growing up with this technology. While the iPad is a sea change for traditional computer users, the effect of using it on young minds is still mostly undetermined.

This article in the Wall Street Journal talks about the scientists currently studying that effect. Studies on developmental experimentation usually take about three to five years, so with the iPad only available to the public for a little over two, actual research is still forthcoming. But so far, there are both good and bad effects for children using the iPad.

First, because it is so direct and interactive, scientists have seen that kids are much more easily immersed in material they read and browse on Apple's tablet. Books, especially, are ideal on tablets, because they can use sound, video, and other forms of interaction to bring students right into the content.

But the flip side of that is that kids can apparently get too immersed. Because the iPad is so focused and easy to use, too much screen time can interfere with childrens' development. On the other hand, too much of anything is obviously a mistake for toddlers. As with everything, iPad use will have to come down to what parents think is healthy, and best for that individual child.

What happens in a toddler's brain when they use an iPad originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 23 May 2012 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Popular personal finance site Mint.com is launching an update to its iOS app today that adds the ability to split transactions and adjust budgets on the fly. Those two new features were the most requested from users and make an already excellent app even better. Intuit gave me a sneak peek of the updated app last week, and it's clear that the progression of their app demonstrates the company is keenly aware of how important mobile is becoming to the Mint platform. The company told me that Mint users are remarkably mobile-oriented. In fact, some 40% of the service's subscribers access their accounts only through their mobile devices - skipping the desktop browser entirely. And that number is rising thanks to the popularity of its iPad app. Intuit expects over half of Mint's users will only access the service via mobile very soon.

The new split transaction and budget features apply to both the iPhone and iPad app. To adjust a budget, tap the budget category to reveal a 6-month spending bar chart for that category. The bar chart is helpful for you to see how much your actual spending for that budget changes month-to-month. Your current budget is displayed in a slider to the right of the bar chart. If you want to change your budget, simply drag the slider up or down. A nice feature of the budget slider is a variable speed scrubbing that readers will be familiar with from iOS's video apps. While adjusting the budget, users can slide their finger to the left or right to decrease or increase the budget in smaller or larger increments (say, $1, $10, or $25 at a time). Users can also select additional budget categories to display in addition to the currently shown ones.

The other major new feature is the ability to split transactions. While viewing your transactions you'll now see a "split" button. Tap it to bring up the split transaction window. You can then divide a transaction into as many categories as you want. For example, a $2,500 transaction from Walmart, which by default would normally be labeled "Shopping," can now be split into multiple transaction categories -- i.e. $1,200 for "Electronics," $85 for "Food," $234 for "Clothing," etc. Best of all there's no arithmetic required. When you split a transaction, each category's sum is automatically deducted from the original category's total.

You can check out the new features in the gallery below. Mint version 2.4 is a universal app and a free download.

Gallery: Mint adds budget and split-transactions to iOS app

Mint adds split-transactions and budget adjustments to iOS app, 40% of users now mobile-only originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 23 May 2012 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Norton by Symantec released iAntivirus, a free app that protects Macs from malware and viruses. It requires Mac OS X 10.6 or higher and is available at the Mac App Store.

It's an on-demand virus and malware scanner that provides basic protection for Mac users through an user interface that leverages gestures to navigate the various application features. iAntivirus also scans the user's Facebook wall for malicious links for added protection against online fraud.

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I first saw Pocket Planes, Nimblebit's next freemium title, running at GDC earlier this year. Being a huge fan of both Pocket Frogs and Tiny Tower, I can't wait to see it in action on my iPhone and iPad. Unfortunately, the game's not out yet (it's still "coming soon"), but Nimblebit has released a trailer below, so you can at least see what the game is like and how it plays.

The game uses the same 8-bit aesthetic and characters as Tiny Tower, but instead of building floors in a building, you're growing an empire of airplanes, flying them around the world for fun and profit. You'll need to build up both planes and airports, and different types of planes fly at different speeds and have different fuel capacities, which can limit how far they can travel.

The game looks really fun. It's a little more complicated than Tiny Tower, but shouldn't be any less addictive. As soon as it's on the App Store, we'll let you know.

Pocket Planes gets a trailer, looks great originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 23 May 2012 07:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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QuickerTek has announced the Little Black Box II universal external battery (http://www.quickertek.com/products/lbb_II.php) . It costs approximately US$100 and purportedly adds 10 more hours of battery life to the iPad.

The Little Black Box II also works with the iPhone, iPod touch, all 30-pin iPodds and most USBS devices. LEDs indicate the charge status, and an on/off switch conserves power. Even the batteries themselves are user-replaceable.

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