This week on The Flickcast, Chris and Matt try to keep it a bit more civil and, well, almost succeed. They also manages to discuss several new topics (and a few old ones) including Mark Millar’s love of digital comics, new Pacific Rim trailer, the new Wolverine trailer and what Summer movies they are most looking forward to seeing.

They also talked about the upcoming games Grand Theft Auto V, the recently announced Call of Duty: Ghosts and how Matt loves all-things side-scrolling and hates the smell of death. And no, sadly, they don’t really go to Japan. We just thought that title was funny.

And, as usual, the boys made some picks this week with Matt’s being the side-scroller game Battleblock Theater and Chris’ being his new favorite desktop computer: the iMac from Apple.

As always, if you have comments, questions, critiques, offers of sponsorship or whatever, feel free to hit us up in the comments, on Twitter, at Facebook, Google+ or via email.

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It isn’t that often that iOS users don’t get the latest and greatest aps first, before their Android-using pals. However, when the app in question happens to come from Android-maker Google, iOS users tend to take a back seat.

Most apps from Google do eventually arrive for iOS (thank you Google for Maps) and when they do, iOS users are usually very happy. However, when the app in question causes a problem, that happiness can turn to anger pretty fast.

Sadly, that seems to be the case with the newly-released Google Now feature update to Google’s iOS search app. The shot story is the updated app, which just went live earlier this week, seems to be draining users batteries at an alarming rate.

Fortunately, the folks at Cult of Mac have got you covered. Over at their site they detail just how to make sure Google Now doesn’t kill your battery in short order. You simply turn off location reporting from the privacy setting in the app.

It’s really pretty simple and we’ve included the pic (courtesy of LifeHacker) of where to look for the setting after the break.

If you’re an iOS user who has installed this app are you having any issues with battery life? Let us know in the comments.

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Even though they don’t release updates quite as often as a company like Microsoft, Apple does tend to update its products pretty often. In fact, they just issued an update today.

Today’s update is for iOS and the iPhone 5 and brings the software on that device to version 6.1.4. In typical Apple fashion the notes for this up;date don’t really tell a whole lot what the update actually contains.

In fact, ion this particular case, they only contain one sentence: Updated Audio Profile for Speakerphone.” Heck, maybe that’s all it does? Although, it’s kinda hard to believe Apple would got to the trouble to release this update for only one issue.

Still, you never know. iOS 6.1.4 is available from Apple immediately as an over the air (OTA) update. It should also be available for download through iTunes soon.

If you’re a developer of software for Mac OS X or iOS, the event you probably want to go to is Apple’s WWDC in San Francisco. That is, if you can get a ticket.

Turns out tickets went on sale today and sold out in minutes. That’s great for Apple and those who managed to complete their purchases without errors, but what about the rest of the Apple developer community that’s been left out in the cold?

Fortunately, there’s an alternative. It’s called AltWWDC, is organized by the folks behind Appsterdam, runs June 10-14 and best of all, it’s free.

Some of the folks expected to speak at the event include Mike Lee, Saul Mora, Steve “Scotty” Scott and a couple of my old TUAW colleagues, Brett Terpstra and Victor Agreda, Jr. The event takes place at the downtown campus of San Francisco State University, which is only a block from Moscone Center where Apple’s WWDC is held.

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As fans of Apple and its products, we love things like this. Sure, these kinds of results should be taken with a grain (or three) of salt, but still, it’s kinda cool to see and makes us love Apple stuff even more.

What are we talking about? Well, this week ZDNet reports that based on a new study from Soluto, which uses “data from its massive online database of PC crashes, hangs, and performance metrics to identify the 10 most reliable Windows PCs you can buy today”, the most reliable Windows PC in the world is a 13″ Retina MacBook Pro running Windows via Boot Camp.

How abou that? According to the study, the MacBook Pro is “at the top of the list” with other hardware like the Acer Aspire E1-571, the Dell XPS 13, the Dell Vostro 3560, the Acer Aspire V3-771 and Apple’s 15-inch Retina-equipped MacBook Pro taking the next spots.

What about other vendors like Toshiba, Lenovo or market leader HP? Yeah, they don’t even crack the top ten. Sad, but true.

So, if you need to run Windows and are looking for the best, most reliable hardware out there to run it on, guess you should get a Mac. We’re not really surprised. We could have told you that.

Thank goodness for Twitter because now we have yet another way to find music and get recommendations from fiends and anonymous bots. That’s right folks, today Twitter took the wraps off of one of the worst kept secrets of the Internets: Twitter Music.

In case you’re somehow not familiar with the new service, it helps users discover music based on what their friends are listening to, along with recommendations from popular artists.

“It uses Twitter activity, including Tweets and engagement, to detect and surface the most popular tracks and emerging artists,” Twitter said in a post at its blog. “It also brings artists’ music-related Twitter activity front and center: go to their profiles to see which music artists they follow and listen to songs by those artists. And, of course, you can tweet songs right from the app.”

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Yes, we were supposed to get a Steve Jobs biopic featuring Ashton Kutcher as the iconic Apple frontman, but who knows what happened to that. We hear it’s not that great (putting it nicely) and will likely end up on video very soon.

However, even with the Kutcher movie coming out eventually, that hasn’t stopped the gang at Funny or Die from making a Jobs biopic of their own. This one features Justin Long as Jobs, who you may recall played opposite John Hodgman in Apple’s popular “Get a Mac” ad campaign. The hour-long movie, called iSteve, will make its debut on April 15th on the Funny or Die website.

To promote it, Funny or Die released a trailer, as you might expect. Watching the trailer, which isn’t much more than a collection of words and audio with one shot of Long as Jobs, we already think it’s going to be better than the Kutcher version. Well, at the very least, it will be intentionally funny.

Check out the trailer after the break.

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Another day, another software update for one (or more) of our devices. This time it’s from Apple in the form of an update to iOS, which brings the software to version 6.1.3.

According to Apple, iOS 6.1.3 fixes a bug that could allow someone to bypass the passcode and access the Phone. Bummer. It also provides improvements to iMaps in Japan. Well, that’s nice for Japan, but what about here in the U.S.?

Maybe next week, right Apple? Meantime, we’re liking Google Maps just fine in iOS, thank you.

The download is 17 MB in size and can be found by going to System Prefs> General on your iOS device. We’re updating now and will report back if anything breaks or, more to the point, improves.

Now that the cat, er smartphone, is out of the bag, Samsung has wasted no time in releasing all sorts of cool stuff about their new flagship device: the Galaxy S IV. One such tidbit is a video highlighting some of the many featutes the device has to offer.

The video include everything from an explanation of the new display tech, how to use the phone with gloves on, group gameplay, S Translator, S Health, and more. Plus, it gives you a good idea of how the device responds to commands and the speed in which it executes various tasks.

Samsung has really taken things to a new level with the Galaxy S IV. As Apple’s only real competitor in this market, they have definitely thrown down the gauntlet.

It will be very interesting to see if Apple picks it. Our guess? They will likely just keep on doing what they’ve ben doing and, for the most part, ignore the competition. It seems to have worked pretty wel for the so far.

Check out the video after the break.

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One thing you can say about Apple, they seem to provide a rather steady stream of updates to their various operating systems. Today’s example is an update to OS X Mountain Lion, which brings the software to version 10.8.3.

It features a good amount of fixes, improvements, etc. including:

• The ability to redeem iTunes gift cards in the Mac App Store using the built-in camera on a Mac

• Boot Camp support for installing Windows 8 and Macs with a 3 TB hard drive

• Various fixes for issues that cause a URL to quit apps unexpectedly, that might cause Logic Pro to become unresponsive and stuttering audio on 2011 iMacs.

The update also includes Safari 6.0.3, which is nice. Although, I still prefer Chrome. But that’s a topic for another day.

The update is available via Software Update or through the Mac App Store. Here’s the full list of fixes and improvements.

With Google’s Maps app for iOS pretty much dominating the scene, the company has released another app for iOS that could be almost as useful. Or, at least, potentially more fun.

The new app, called Field Trip, had previously been Android-only and is a location-based augmented reality app that displays information on your screen or into your Bluetooth headset when you are near an area of interest.

Here are some of the apps main features from the iTunes Store description:

• Discover thousands of interesting places/experiences that fall under the following categories: Architecture, Historic Places & Events, Lifestyle, Offers & Deals, Food Drinks & Fun, Movie Locations, Outdoor Art and Obscure Places of Interest around you.

• Choose from three different modes to set frequency of Field Trip notifications. See “Field Trip”-worthy places around you on a map, by tapping on cards in map view to pull up enthralling points of interest around you.

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At one time or another, we’ve all needed to go somewhere, but didn’t know how to get there. Back in the old days, that probably meant a paper map and trying to plan a route or, in extreme circumstances, asking directions. And sometimes, things went wrong or didn’t work, and we ended up getting lost. Embarrassing to say the least.

Fortunately, those times pretty much ended with the advent of modern GPS navigation systems you could bring along with you in the car to make sure you didn’t end up someplace you didn’t want to go. Of course, the undisputed king of modern navigation and maps is Google. Sorry Apple.

And today, Google has given we iOS users a gift and updated its Maps application for iOS with several new features that make the app a bit more “personal.” The biggest change is in search, which now integrates with your Google contacts. Once you sign in to your Google account with Google Maps, the app will pull in the names and addresses from your contacts. These addresses will appear when you search for your friends or family members by name.

Google also added a new local feature that lets you search for nearby businesses by selecting categories such as restaurants, bars, gas stations and more. There’s also a new setting that lets you toggle between kilometers or miles. You can also leave that on automatic and it will choose for you depending on where you are.

Get the latest version of Google Maps for iOS in iTunes.

Using an iPhone or iPad to read books via Amazon’s Kindle App? If so, you will want to hold off on upgrading to the latest version of the app, which was released on Tuesday. That is, if you don’t want your content accidentally erased from your iOS device.

Don’t worry, even if this does happen. the content is still safe in Amazon’s cloud. What it really means is that Kindle app on your iOS device will be reset and you will have to , basically, start over again from scratch by entering your mazon account information and then downloading your content again.

“We have identified an issue with the app update that may cause your app to become deregistered,” an Amazon spokesperson said. “To register, enter your Amazon account e-mail address and password and all your Amazon content will be available in the cloud. We have submitted an update fix for this issue and are working with Apple to release.”

Bummer. At least, if this does happen, all your content isn’t permanently gone. It’s more of a pain than a catastrophe.

Yes, even Apple has security problems sometimes. They also have problems with other things, like maps. Still, that hasn’t stopped them from becoming one of the biggest tech companies in the world and one of our favorite companies too.

Even if we do love all-things Apple (well, most of us anyway) that doesn’t mean we won’t tell you when the company has a problem. Case in point this time is a security vulnerability recently discovered in iOS 6.1.

This vulnerability allows an iPhone’s unlock passcode to be bypassed, giving unauthorized users access to the device’s Phone app, contacts, voicemail and photos. Yeah, that’s not cool.

Recognizing that they have a problem, an Apple spokesperson confirmed to the website AllThingsD that the company is aware of the issue and plans to release a fix in a future software update.

And yes, there’s also video of this vulnerability in action. If you want to see it, check it out after the break.

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Two things in life we like: faster processors and lower prices. Today, Apple has given us both along it’s Retina MacBook Pro line.

That’s right, with today’s announcement, the 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro now starts at $1,499 with 128GB of storage and $1,699 for the 256GB model with a new 2.6 GHz processor. The entry-level 15-inch model now includes a faster 2.4 GHz quad-core processor and the high-end model now has a 2.7 GHz quad-core processor and 16GB of RAM.

In addition, the company also cut the base price of the MacBook Air with a 256GB SSD to $1,399. Apple’s full press release is after the break.

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