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John Williams to compose 'Star Wars' score? J.J. Abrams hints at it

Getting the straight word about the next "Star Wars" movie might be tougher than trying to escape out of a Sarlacc pit, but director J.J. Abrams has let loose a juicy tidbit about who may compose the score -- John Williams.

The impromptu revelation occurred during a "Star Trek: Into Darkness" press conference in Berlin on Monday, as Abrams fielded a question about the possibility of composer Michael Giacchino -- who has worked extensively with Abrams on previous ventures -- taking on "Star Wars." After speaking a few sentences about Giacchino's brilliance, Abrams threw everyone a curve ball and name-dropped Williams. … Read more

Jonathan Ive's keen eye for design to cause iOS 7 delay?

Jonathan Ive, Apple's senior vice president of industrial design and the visionary behind its hardware products, is taking his role as head of software design at the company very seriously, according to a new report.

Ive, just six months since taking over for ousted Scott Forstall as head of iOS design, has been going over the next iteration of the software, iOS 7, with a fine-toothed comb, Bloomberg is reporting, citing people who claim to have knowledge of the matter. His oversight and desire to dramatically change some parts of the software could cause the operating system to fall … Read more

iPad Mini popularity burying regular iPad, claim suppliers

The iPad Mini appears to be trouncing the iPad in popularity based on estimates coming out of the Asia-based supply chain.

Of the 19.5 million iPads sold in Apple's second quarter (January to March), 12.5 million were iPad Minis, according to an estimate from Taipei-based Digitimes that cited sources. The publication defines the number as "shipments."

Of course, only Apple (which does not break down iPad and iPad Mini sales) knows the real number, but this jibes with shipment trends that DisplaySearch was seeing in December.

At that time, DisplaySearch expected Apple to sell 6 … Read more

Apple's iOS 7 said to be visually different, flat

It's no secret Apple plans to show off the next major version of iOS at its annual developers conference in June, though what exactly will be different about the new software has been fuzzy.

Citing multiple people who have actually seen Apple's next iOS endeavor, 9to5Mac says Apple's making big changes in the look and feel of the software. Specifically making everything -- from app icons to interface features -- "very flat," as opposed to the bubbly and oftentimes realistic interfaces that have stayed mostly unchanged since 2007.

On top of this, the report adds … Read more

The fastest Android gaming tablets

The development of new chips that deliver zippier performance, smoother gaming, faster Web surfing, and longer-lasting battery life will soon make their way into new Android tablets. While the chips themselves -- and the high-end tablets that will house them -- have yet to be released, we have it on good authority that they'll deliver on their promise.

Gaming is an increasingly popular way tablet owners are spending time with their devices, and chip makers are paying attention. The gaming experience on Android tablets has improved in just the last year, and it's bound to only get faster, … Read more

Instawrite Lite 1.7 Review

Are you tired of boring, old text messages? Instawrite Lite gives you the tools to take your text messages and tweets up a few notches by letting you create graphical text messages; but the tools are wrapped in a poorly-designed package.

Instawrite Lite's user interface isn't light on clutter. The app's text design options are stacked on top of each other and each option resembles its design function, making for a manic, amateurish look. The buttons are teeny tiny, and on several occasions, we tapped the wrong button by accident and almost tapped on the banner ad … Read more

iCalculator for free 1.7 Review

Maybe it's because we're getting old and our eyesight isn't what it used to be, but we much prefer using our iPad for productivity apps because of its larger screen. For that reason, we've been on the hunt for a simple calculator app for our iPad and were looking forward to trying out iCalculator for free. And what can we say? It's pretty bare bones, but gets the job done.

iCalculator for free introduces a very large, basic calculator -- you won't find a scientific calculator here. The buttons are very large, making this … Read more

Windows 8 touch ultrabooks see price cuts at Microsoft Store

Touch ultrabooks are seeing decent price cuts at the Microsoft Store, making these expensive models a bit more affordable.

Touch-screen laptops are generally priced significantly higher than non-touch models, as the screens have been expensive to procure.

The well-received Acer Aspire S7 has seen one of the steepest discounts, falling to $1,299 from $1,649.

The S7 features a 256GB solid-state drive, a 13.3-inch 1,920x1,080 resolution display, and a 1.9GHz Intel Core i7-3517U processor.

Next up, Sony's Vaio T Series 13 has been reduced to $999 from $1,299. That 13.3-inch touch model … Read more

How to lock the Windows 7 Start menu (if you really must)

Three things I don't get:

Face tattoos The popularity of books, movies, and TV shows about vampires and zombies Windows users' devotion to the Start menu

The one thing all three of these mysteries have in common is that they will eventually run their course and fade away -- well, maybe not the face tattoos, at least not without a series of laser treatments.

Since the introduction of Windows 8 late last year PC users have been clamoring for the return of the Start menu. There's more to the widespread disdain for Win8's Start screen than just … Read more