Bing for iPad has just received an update and added in a few new features. Bing is Microsoft's alternative search engine) or decision engine as Microsoft likes to call it). The new features, especially the “lasso” for text selection, looks intriguing.

This new version introduces several user experience updates and a patented gesture based way to make searching easier with *lasso*. Simply lasso a word or phrase with your finger to do a search instead of copying and pasting into the search box. Search the way it was meant for the iPad.

I have never actually tried Bing myself but I would like to after seeing it in the video, which you can see after the break. Unfortunately Microsoft, for whatever crazy reason, hasn’t made it available outside the United States…

[Free – iTunes link]

Verizon Wireless has confirmed they’ll be ditching unlimited data and switching to tiered data plans beginning on July, with prices starting at $10 per month and going up from there.

New smartphone customers will choose from one of four options:

• 75 MB for $10
• 2 GB for $30
• 5 GB for $50
• 10GB for $80

Overage charges will be $10 per GB.

Existing Verizon customers will be “grandfathered in” and able to keep their unlimited data plans even when upgrading their device. Users who take advantage of their free LTE mobile hotspot feature on devices like the ThunderBolt or Droid Charge will also be seeing changes, as Verizon will begin charging for the service, starting at $20 for 2GB per month for new customers or $30 for unlimited usage for existing customers.

Although most data plans are less expensive on AT&T, the addition of 5GB and 10GB per month options offer more flexibility for users who consume large amounts of data on the go. AT&T also charges $15 for an additional 200MB ($75 per GB) in data overages under their lowest plan, compared to Verizon at $10 per GB. In addition, AT&T doesn’t currently offer an unlimited tethering option for grandfathered subscribers.

[FierceWireless via BGR]

Anonymous, a well-known hacker group, is claiming to have broken into an Apple server and obtained usernames and passwords. The server in question appears to be the abs.apple.com server, which Apple utilizes for online surveys. Anonymous issued a tweet from its Twitter account on Sunday claiming Apple could be a potential target.

“Not being so serious, but well … Apple could be target, too. But don’t worry, we are busy elsewhere,…”

The usernames and passwords of 27 individuals were then published to the text-sharing site Pastebin. As of Monday, that specific server displayed an error message. Apple declined to comment when asked.

For those of you not familiar with the hacker group Anonymous, they are well-known for attacking sites and companies that they consider opponents of the popular site WikiLeaks. It’s also said that the hacker/WikiLeak group LulzSec emerged from Anonymous as well. These groups have hit Sony Corporation, the Central Intelligence Agency, and many others simply for their own enjoyment (or maybe to make a point?).

I don’t see groups like these setting their eyes on Apple when it comes to a seriously malicious attack but who knows? They don’t seem to put all their efforts into exploiting any one particular company but any data breach is a concern. Hopefully Apple is looking into this.

[Reuters]

From the Forums is a great way to see what all of the current hot topics are on the TiPb forums. In order to create any new threads of your own or reply to any of the existing threads, you must be a registered member. Becoming a member is a simple process that will only take a few minutes out of your day, so if you have not already already done so, head on over and register now!

• Going Google free

• Is it worth installing iOS 5 even though I am not a developer?

• What will you use instead of iDisk?

• iOS 4.3.3/4.2.8 jailbreak with sn0wbreez 2.7 step by step guide

See you in the forums!

It appears VZBuzz has gotten their hands on some Verizon marketing material showing the iPhone 4 price dropping to $150.99. The screen also shows a plethora of Android and Blackberry price drops as well. I don’t find it hard to believe this is legitimate as many carriers and retailers have been known to drop the price of the iPhone in anticipation of a new hardware announcement — like iPhone 5 — in order to clear out inventory.

Verizon currently offers refurbished iPhone 4′s for $150, so could we see a price drop in those as well?

[VZ Buzz via 9to5Mac]

We’ve gotten a lot of requests for ZENandTECH in video format. If you’re not up on ZENandTECH yet — and you really should be! — it’s is our new podcast focused on dealing with stress, anxiety, procrastination, avoidance, and other issues in the context of our tech and gadget filled modern lives. The goal is to help all of us center our inner geeks, and many of you think that’s easier if you’re watching and not just listening along. Fair enough.

Consider this an experiment. Up top (part 1) and after the break (part 2), are the videos for ZENandTECH 6: De-cluttering, where Georgia asks whether you own your stuff or whether your stuff owns you? We discuss the joys of de-cluttering your life, and how getting rid of the physical clutter can help you get rid of the mental clutter as well.

Check them out, let us know what you think, and if enough of you find them of value, we’ll try to do more of them in the future.

Apple USB Power Adapter with Sync and Charge Cable 50% off!

Whether you’ve had an iPhone for a while or just picked up a new white iPhone 4, nothing comes in more handy than an extra Apple charge and sync cable with USB power adapter. One for home and one for the office, one for travel and one for your school bag, whatever the combination a good backup is essential and a good backup at 50% off… well that’s just outstanding.

Shop Apple USB Power Adapter with Sync and Charge Cable now…

Unique App LLP, has released their iOS to iOS movie remote control, Movie Remote Kids. It lets you control the video on one iOS device with another iOS device, for example, to control the video on your kids’ iPad using your iPhone.

• Choose which movie to play from your library list
• Control volume
• Pause or stop a movie
• Skip to any point using the scrub bar
• Confirmation prompts to avoid mistakes and annoying the kids!
• Kids have no controls on the ‘Player’ device
• Works on iPhone, iPad or iPod
• Easy to setup, single app can be both ‘Controller’ and ‘Player’
• Effectively creates parental control over movies viewed on a device

This app does exactly what it claims to do and does it well. Unfortunately, due to Apple’s restrictions, you have to add videos to the app via iTunes connect, but once you do, you’ll all set and ready to go.

Movie Remote Kids is available for $2.99. Screenshots after the break.

[iTunes link]

Have an app you’d love to see featured on TiPb? Email us at iosapps@tipb.com, tell us about your app (include an iTunes link), and we’ll take a look.

There’s a fascinating answer up on Quora that suggests how Apple uses their massive $70 billion bank account to literally stay years ahead of the competition when it comes to manufacturing and components.

Apple actually uses its cash hoard in a very interesting way to maintain a decisive advantage over its rivals: When new component technologies (touchscreens, chips, LED displays) first come out, they are very expensive to produce, and building a factory that can produce them in mass quantities is even more expensive. Oftentimes, the upfront capital expenditure can be so huge and the margins are small enough (and shrink over time as the component is rapidly commoditized) that the companies who would build these factories cannot raise sufficient investment capital to cover the costs.

What Apple does is use its cash hoard to pay for the construction cost (or a significant fraction of it) of the factory in exchange for exclusive rights to the output production of the factory for a set period of time (maybe 6 – 36 months), and then for a discounted rate afterwards. This yields two advantages:

1. Apple has access to new component technology months or years before its rivals. This allows it to release groundbreaking products that are actually impossible to duplicate. Remember how for up to a year or so after the introduction of the iPhone, none of the would-be iPhone clones could even get a capacitive touchscreen to work as well as the iPhone’s? It wasn’t just the software – Apple simply has access to new components earlier, before anyone else in the world can gain access to it in mass quantities to make a consumer device. One extraordinary example of this is the aluminum machining technology used to make Apple’s laptops – this remains a trade secret that Apple continues to have exclusive access to and allows them to make laptops with (for now) unsurpassed strength and lightness.

2. Eventually its competitors catch up in component production technology, but by then Apple has their arrangement in place whereby it can source those parts at a lower cost due to the discounted rate they have negotiated with the (now) most-experienced and skilled provider of those parts – who has probably also brought his production costs down too. This discount is also potentially subsidized by its competitors buying those same parts from that provider – the part is now commoditized so the factory is allowed to produce them for all buyers, but Apple gets special pricing.

Apple is not just crushing its rivals through superiority in design, Steve Jobs’s deep experience in hardware mass production (early Apple, NeXT) has been brought to bear in creating an unrivaled exclusive supply chain of advanced technology literally years ahead of anyone else on the planet. If it feels like new Apple products appear futuristic, it is because Apple really is sending back technology from the future.

Once those technologies (or more accurately, their mass production techniques) become sufficiently commoditized, Apple is then able to compete effectively on cost and undercut rivals. It’s a myth that Apple only makes premium products – it makes them all right, but that is because they are literally more advanced than anything else (i.e. the price premium is not just for design), and once the product line is no longer premium, they are produced more cheaply than competitor equivalents, yielding higher margins, more cash, which results in more ability to continue the cycle.

Steve Jobs, when he announced the original iPhone, said it was 5 years ahead of the competition. This has often been discussed in terms of software, but the above makes a compelling argument about its applicability to hardware as well (or perhaps even more so). webOS and Android can easily be seen as equal to iOS, if not better than iOS in certain areas. By contrast, few would contend that Palm/HP phones, or any Android device on the market (many of which creak like old Hasbro toys) are anywhere near the build quality of the one year old iPhone 4.

It’s not even clear to me if the competition would make Apple-style investments in design, production, and components even if they could. It’s a risky gamble and many seem far more content to play the low margin game, hoping to make it in the volume that sometimes comes with it.

Philip Elmer-Dewitt of Fortune, crediting Asymco‘s Horace Dediu says:

Apple has become not a monopoly (a single seller), but a monopsony — the one buyer that can control an entire market.

If so, it’s not only by virtue of Apple being bold enough to step forward, but by everyone else hesitating or stepping back.

[Quora, The Critical Path via Fortune]

Every day, TiPb gets flooded with announcements for new and updated iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad apps and games. So every day we pick just a few of the most interesting, the most notable, and simply the most awesome to share with you!

• Parkbud (sale): A high-end, immersive Car Locator and Parking App that combines functionality with thoughtfully engineered sound, animation & design. On sale for this week! [$0.99 for iPhone - iTunes link]

• Breast Cancer Advocate: A simple, password-protected application, which allows breast cancer patients to manage all aspects of their treatment such as chemotherapy, radiation, medications, office visits, insurance co-pays, hospitalizations, lab results, etc. [$2.99 for iPhone - iTunes link]

• Great Maine Food: Over 100 recipes ranging from piquant appetizers to mouth-watering desserts (lobster gets its own section) that will make your taste buds tingle! [$4.99 for iPad - iTunes link]

• Neenites: Guide the loveable, huggable little guys to their ships by maneuvering them through an elaborate maze of pesky obstacles. [$0.99 for iPhone - iTunes link]

• Meteoric Download Manager: A fast, feature rich download manager with stunning UI [$1.99 for iPhone - iTunes link] [$2.99 for iPad - iTunes link]

Any other big app or game releases or updates today?

Have an app you’d love to see featured on TiPb? Email us at iosapps@tipb.com, tell us about your app (include an iTunes link), and we’ll take a look.