If the U.S. elections bore you, if debate is just not action packed enough, if the issues aren't as compelling as a good hotdog to the jaw or lightsaber to the face, the the creators of Infinity Blade have just the game for you -- VOTE!!!

VOTE!!! brings the full power of the Epic Unreal 3 engine to the biggest political slobberknocker this side of the actual election. You get to play as your favorite Republican or Democratic candidate, President Obama or Mitt Romney, in a classic cartoon take on the fighting genre.

It's not meant to be serious, of course -- at least no more serious than actual election coverage these days -- though they do try to put some vote metrics and information alongside the punch-fest, including Rock the Vote. But let's be frank, it's mostly about winning crazy costumes, insane weapon props, and a bunch of beyond silly accessories so you can let off a little steam about the state of the union, regardless of which party you believe should be stating that union.

So, gear up, and fight your way through the White House lawn, the Oval Office, the debate stage, and more. Forget negative campaign and get into full on trash talk. Do to the American political machine what it's been doing to the electorate for years now -- game it. And in ridiculous fashion.

VOTE!!! is a universal app that works on both iPhone and iPad, and while it's free to download there are in-app purchases for "coins".

Free - Download now

Samsung, who is currently locking horns with Apple over various infringements with regard to cell phone and tablet patents, has just opened another retail store. This store is just a block away from Apple's own store in Sydney, Australia and what's more if you walked in without noticing the missing Apple logo outside, you may think you had walked into an Apple Store. Samsung claims otherwise but this store and the last store that Samsung opened in Canada appear to come straight from the Apple book of retail. The latest store details come from a report by The Sydney Morning Herald.

It's a flagship consumer electronics store on Sydney's George Street with smiling blue shirt-wearing sales staff, a minimalist design and smartphones and tablets that invite customers to pick up and play. But according to Samsung, the new store - just a block from Apple's Sydney store - was all its own idea.

Samsung Australia's vice-president of telecommunications, Tyler McGee, said Apple "didn't even come into the equation when we were looking for a location [for the store]". But come on, the layout of the store is pretty similar, right? "Well, if you look at our layout this is the layout that we use around the world and it's about basically giving the consumers the opportunity to interact, learn and play with our devices," McGee said.

Surely Samsung could have come up with at least a few original ideas; they even dress the sales staff in the traditional blue polo shirts worn by Apple Genius staff. The layout of the stores with the light wooden bench tables all laid out with working products is far too similar for it to be classed as an original Samsung idea. They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery but it's all getting a little bit silly now. Samsung can copy only so much from Apple, at the end of the day, Apple's customer service is second to none, I bet Samsung haven't fully copied that part yet and probably never will.

Take a look at the video below which gives you a brief look around the store. What do you think? Is Samsung trying to deliberately copy Apple's proven blueprint for retail success?

Source: The Sydney Morning Herald

If you've got a jailbroken iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch and have never been a fan of notification banners or how they take up the entire top of the screen until they decide to roll away on their own, MiniBanners may be for you.

MiniBanners aims to make notification banners less obtrusive by miniaturizing them. You can choose what position you'd like them to show up in such as top left, center, or right or any other position on the screen as well as customizing the animation type. By default MiniBanners will only show the app name that's receiving the notification and a notification count. A long press on the banner will show a preview within the banner but the notification will not go away until you actually view it. This is a nice feature considering you'll still have the reminder in Notification Center in case you can't respond right away.

Inside the main Settings app you have quite a few options for customizing MiniBanners just the way you'd like. The options include changing the font color or background color, including transparent, as well as moving the notifications around and controlling the opacity of banners. The only issue I see with MiniBanners at present is that longer names in texts cut off and the badge count appears over it. While this isn't a huge deal, it can be rather annoying if design and presentation mean a lot to you. For regular apps it isn't an issue as app names typically aren't that long to begin with. The only time this issue really presents itself is with text messages where you've got a full first and last name stored for a contact.

Overall, MiniBanners not only works surprisingly well but brings a fresh take to notifications to your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. Whether you're tired of not being able to access the top status bar when a notification pops up or you've just grown bored with the regular old notification banners, you really can't go wrong with MiniBanners.

$0.99 - Cydia Search Link

Facebook has just released the highly anticipated new version of Facebook for iPhone and Facebook for iPad, a update they've promised would make it better, faster, and stronger than ever before. That's important because Facebook has always been one of the most popular apps on iOS, yet has also been plagued by bugs and other problems unbecoming one of the largest companies in the world. And here's how Facebook's aimed to make it right:

We've rebuilt the app so it's faster and easier to use. * Scrolling through news feed is faster than ever * New banner lets you tap to quickly see more stories – no need to refresh * Photos open fast and close with one downward swipe * Instant access to your notifications

Now, here's the deal: Facebook may have re-architected their app to use native display elements instead of building everything out of HTML5, but they're still pulling almost all their content from the web, and that won't be significantly faster. So, while scrolling and other elements of the user experience are indeed improved, any time you try to pull anything not already cached, it's still going to take its sweet time.

That's why Facebook dedicating themselves to making great iOS apps is much more important than any relative claims of speed improvement or interface implementations. Facebook wanting to be proud of their mobile apps is what matters, and what I hope gets validated going forward.

In the meantime, grab the update and let me know how it works for you. Is this the Facebook for iPhone and iPad app you've been hoping for? Answer here or Facebook me at Rene Ritchie)...

Free - Download now

Samsung has released a new iPad-sized tablet and, of course, our Mobile Nations sibling site Android Central has a complete Galaxy Tab 10.1 review ready and waiting for you. Will it give Apple a run for their money in the large-form tablet space? Sadly, doesn't look like it. Here's Anndrew Vacca's bottom line:

The Galaxy Note 10.1 is unique and stands out among a seemingly endless sea of competitors, though not always in a good way. Samsung has stepped back and reshaped its tablet strategy, now focusing on user experience rather than specs alone, and if you keep an open mind about the included S Pen, you just might find it more handy than you would have imagined. However, we believe the $500 you'll spend on a base Note 10.1 would be better spent on two Nexus 7s. However, if you've got your heart set on a full-sized tablet, the Galaxy Note 10.1 is the way to go if you want to keep from breaking the bank.

I've used Wacom tablets for years. When I did design in enterprise software, it was the only sane way to navigate Photoshop and Illustrator on two really large monitors. I like Wacom's technology very much. I haven't had a chance to try the Galaxy Note 10.1 myself yet, but I hope, if nothing else, they've nailed the Wacom experience.

However, nailing the Wacom experience isn't going to do diddly squat against the iPad. They need to nail the tablet experience, and unfortunately it doesn't sound like they've done that. I've been using a Nexus 7 constantly for about a month now, and even that doesn't come anywhere close to the experience of an iPad, so if Samsung isn't even matching the Nexus 7, that's a big problem.

The S Pen-touting Galaxy Note 10.1 will be both a blessing and a curse for Samsung. On one hand, Samsung has created a device that stands out amongst its competitors with unique features and a truly different user experience. In the same breath, the S Pen is sure to scare away folks who balk at the idea of reverting back to a stylus. I'm here to say that love or hate the S Pen, the Galaxy Note 10.1 just may be the best 10-inch Android tablet on the market today.

And if that's truly the case, that's a bigger problem for Google and for Android.

Apple owns the 10-inch tablet market right now. Owns it in a way a market hasn't been owned since Windows began its ascent in the early 90s. Apple will probably never get to 90+% (which is a very good thing -- we want lots of competition), but when the iPad mini launches this fall, they'll likely grab a huge percentage of the 7- to 8-inch tablet market as well. Especially if the Nexus 7 is the best even Google can manage. (The iPad mini won't be a big iPod touch like the Nexus 7, it'll be a small iPad, with all the software implications that involves).

Samsung has been incredibly successful battling Apple on the phone front. They, or someone, needs to bring that same pressure to Apple on the tablet front. And soon please.

In the meantime, go read the entirety of Andrew's Galaxy Note 10.1 review over at AC, then come back and let me know what you think. What will it take to get a real iPad competitor to market?

Microsoft's new corporate logo looks more like a Windows logo that they're forced to use the word "Microsoft" on instead. Are Microsoft and Steve Ballmer really that obsessed with Windows that it has to permeate its way even into the corporate logo? Is there really nothing to Microsoft's aspirations beyond Windows anymore?

It's not like Windows is even a great brand. It's just a pervasive one. It's a beige box on your desk that your company forces you to use. It's the thing you bought at Best Buy that drives you insane and forces you to keep bugging the neighbor kid to help you restart. It's a relic from the past carried like a cangue around the neck of every next-generation phone and tablet and computer Microsoft intends to sell. How Xbox managed to escape being called WindowsBox we'll likely never know.

Conversely, the iPhone by itself now generates more money than all of Microsoft, and yet Apple treats it as a product, not as the company. Apple didn't call the iPhone the MacPhone or OS X Phone. And Apple would never redesign their logo to ditch the fruit and have an iPhone silhouette as their logo.

Microsoft's new typeface, Segoe, is nice, and it could easily have stood on its own. Had Microsoft let it. Which they didn't. Microsoft says the new logo is all about signaling the future, but you don't do that by anchoring the entire company to the past.

Windows should be one blade in an ever-increasing arsenal fielded by Microsoft. Just like iTunes, iPod, iPhone, and iPad, despite their success, remain beneath the core Apple brand. Microsoft's CEO seems intent on letting Windows subsume the entirety of Microsoft's identity, and that might just be why they've not yet managed to grow beyond it, despite decades of trying.

Ballmer, let the Windows go. Only that will truly signal a future for Microsoft.

Go vote in WPCentral's poll, then let me know what you think. And yes, we'll be talking about this on Iterate...

Rene, Georgia, and Seth talk iMore Forums apps, Kenny the Clown, LTE iPhones, AT&T FaceTime face-palms, the iPad mini, and what iOS would be like if Google had never made Android? This is the iMore show!

• Subscribe via iTunes: Audio | Video
• Subscribe via RSS: Audio | Video
• Download directly: Audio | Video

Meta

• Introducing the official iMore Forums app for iPhone and iPad!
• Steve Jobs' stolen iPad recovered, from 'Kenny the Clown'

AT&T and Verizon

• Why an LTE iPhone will mean the most to Verizon
• AT&T responds regarding FaceTime over cellular restrictions

iPad mini

• iPad mini preview: Imagining Apple's smaller tablet
• New, miniature iPhone and iPad Dock connector cable possibly caught on camera

Apple vs Google

• Google decides to litigate instead of innovate, sues Apple over Siri and more
• What if Google had never made Android: how would iOS 6 be different today, and who would be Apple's biggest competitor?

Hosts

• Georgia (GeorgiaTiPb
• Rene Ritchie (@reneritchie)
• Seth Clifford (@sethclifford

Credits

You can reach all of us on Twitter @iMore, or you can email us at podcast@imore.com

For all our podcasts -- audio and video -- including the iMore show, ZEN and TECH, Iterate, and more, see MobileNations.com/shows

Apple has just released OS X Mountain Lion version 10.8.1, the first point update to their latest generation Mac desktop operating system. Here's what Apple has to say about it:

The OS X Mountain Lion v10.8.1 Update is recommended for all Mountain Lion users and includes general operating system fixes that improve the stability, compatibility, and security of your Mac.

This update includes general operating system fixes that improve the stability and compatibility of your Mac, including fixes that:

• Resolve an issue that may cause Migration Assistant to unexpectedly quit
• Improve compatibility when connecting to a Microsoft Exchange server in Mail
• Address an issue playing audio through a Thunderbolt display
• Resolve an issue that could prevent iMessages from being sent
• Address an issue that could cause the system to become unresponsive when using Pinyin input
• Resolve an issue when connecting to SMB servers with long names
• Address a issue that may prevent Safari from launching when using a Proxy Automatic Configuration (PAC) file
• Improve 802.1X authentication with Active Directory credentials

You can grab it from the Mac App Store (MAS) now. Once you're setup, let me know how it works for you. Personally, I'm hoping for just a little bit more battery life love on the Retina MacBook Pro...

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LG Display has started to ramp up production of new displays, using in-cell technology that, coincidentally I'm sure, sound like perfect fits the rumored iPhone 5 that just might be announced at the rumored September 12 Apple event. Reuters scored comments from Han Sang-beom, chief executive of LG Display, which he gave reporters on Wednesday but which were embargoed until Thursday morning (?!).

"We just began mass production and we don't expect any disruption in supplies."

Reuters also, again, backs up the September 12 event date iMore first reported back in July, and reaffirms a 4-inch screen for the next iPhone with in-cell technology.

The iPhone screens will also be thinner than previous versions with the use of so-called in-cell panels. The new technology embeds touch sensors into the liquid crystal display, eliminating the touch-screen layer found in current iPhones.

So count LG and Sharp in the good to go category, which should help make sure Apple has plenty of screens to go around for what should be their biggest iPhone launch ever. While in previous year, including 2010, supply constraints on screen components were reportedly the reason for slower rollouts and lower iPhone and iPad availability, last year's iPhone 4S and this year's iPad 3 were among Apple's most aggressive rollouts ever. Given the massive Retina display in the new iPad, that's saying a lot.

iMore previously learned the new iPhone will become available for pre-order sometime following the event on September 12, go on sale in the US and other first-wave countries on September 21, and go on sale in second-wave countries on October 5.

In addition to a 4-inch, reportedly 16:9 display, the next iPhone is also rumored to have LTE 4G networking, a smaller Dock connector, a headphone jack at the bottom, and perhaps NFC capabilities as well.

We'll find out for sure in just under 3 weeks.

What's the worst device, accessory, or miscellaneous piece of technology you've ever had the misfortune to use? Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak recently said the Android-powered HTC Thunderbolt phone was one of the worst gadgets he'd ever bought. Given that Woz probably buys all the gadgets, that's quite a condemnation. How about you?

Was it a phone that did nothing but disappoint? A tablet that wasn't worth the cheap plastic it was made out of? Something you bought out of an airplane catalog store that you should have known better about? An early Android? A press-screen BlackBerry? A mouse made by Apple?

There's likely a lot of bad to choose between, but when it comes to the worst, there can be only one -- so which was it? Leave your answer below and we'll share our favorites, and our own picks, on the next episode of the iMore show

If there's one thing that all kids love to do, it's to color. They also love cute monsters. Put the two together -- and you get Monster Coloring Book! This iPhone and iPad app will allow your kids to color and paint without the mess or risk of markers making contact with your carpet or one of the other many disastrous things that can happen to your home when your child decides to express his artistic side.

Monster Coloring Book includes 175 different monsters to color, giving your child a plethora of options to choose from. They are separated into 7 different categories: starters, swimmers, sleepers, creatures, flyers, grab bag, and hairies.

Once a monster is chosen, you can select between nine different brushes and a wide selection of colors. For the younger kids who haven't mastered the skill of coloring inside the lines, they can use a paint bucket that automatically fills in the regions with the selected color. In addition to colors, Monster Coloring Book allows you to select between many different patterns. These patterns work nicely for clothing or the background or whatever your kid may decide! Lastly, a coloring book isn't complete without stickers, so Monster Coloring Book also includes stickers of hats, speech bubbles, balloons, glasses, hair, monsters, and more.

To use a sticker, you must activate it. When you first select the sticker, it will be automatically activated, but if you place it, you must hold your finger down on it to re-activate. When activated, you can adjust its size and rotation by pinching to zoom and rotate.

While coloring your monster, you can tap the magnifying glass to zoom into the picture. Intuitively, you may want to use two fingers to scroll around the picture when zoomed-in. Unfortunately, this doesn't work. Instead, you must tap the arrow buttons to scroll. I do understand why this may be favorable for small children because they might accidentally scroll with multitouch, but there are plenty of children who love to color that are old enough to understand the concept of multitouch. At the very least, there should be a setting that let's you decide what kind of scrolling will be best.

When you're done coloring your photo, you can save it to the in-app gallery where you can print your masterpiece, share it via email, turn it into a puzzle with the Monster Puzzles app, or export to your Camera Roll.

The good

• 175 different monsters
• Wide selection of brushes, colors, patterns, and stickers
• Fun, classical music
• Ability to activate a Child Lock to disable promotional messaging, sharing, and printing
• Universal for iPhone and iPad

The bad

• No undo button
• Have to scroll with a button -- no multitouch scrolling
• No sharing to Facebook or Twitter

The conclusion

Monster Coloring Book is a great iPhone and iPad coloring book for kids. Well, I keep saying it's for kids, but as an adult, even I find it enjoyable and relaxing!

$2.99 - Download Now

Apple has removed the set of three Genius ads from its website and YouTube channel with no explanation; they have just vanished. The three ads were originally aired during the Olympic Games London 2012 opening ceremony and received a very mixed reception. The ads were quite different to anything Apple had done in the past and mixed strange situations with a bit of humor.

The three ads were called Basically, Labor Day and May Day. Basically showed an Apple Genius laughing at not-Macs (Windows) and showing the customer all the add-on value of using a Mac. Labor Day showed an expectant Father knocking on the Genius's door at 4am; asking for assistance with a birth announcement card even as he should be calling the hospital. Finally, May Day was set on a plane with the Genius coming to the aid of a customer who has forgotten his anniversary and asks for help making an iMovie.

The ads received some severe criticism as they did tend to make Apple's customers appear a little simplistic and clueless when it comes to using Apple products. Of course the other argument was that the ads were aimed at attracting new customers to Apple products, customers who weren't aware of what exactly a Mac could do. Either way, the ads have now been completely removed from YouTube and Apple's own marketing webpage. After we heard the other day that the Genius Bar receives over 50,000 visits a day, maybe Apple doesn't need to advertise its services; as its customers seem well aware of what it offers.

What did you think of the ads? Are you sad to see them go or did you think they were ill advised?

Source: MacRumors

Found an interesting article you want to share with iMore? Have a burning question about that feature you just can't figure out? There is ALWAYS more happening just a click away in the forums. You can always head over and join in the conversation, search for answers, or lend your expertise to other members of our community. You check out some of the threads below:

If you're not already a member of the iMore Forums, register now!

Drafts, by Agile Tortoise is all about getting down your thoughts and ideas quickly and efficiently -- and it's now available on the iPad (as a separate purchase) with the ability to sync content between your iPhone and iPad based on the Simperium platform. The iPhone version has also gone 2.0 and features a fresh new look.

Every time you launch Drafts, you are immediately presented with a blank canvas to fill with your thoughts and ideas. Getting your text down quickly is the priority in Drafts, but it also offers extensive output options that let you send text to Twitter, Facebook, email, SMS, a Calendar event, quickly save it to Dropbox or Evernote – or forward it to a growing list of other Apps such as OmniFocus, Things, The Hit List, Byword, Sparrow and more.

Some of the other new features include the ability to swipe down on the toolbar to see your draft full screen for reading, add links for phone numbers, addresses, and web links, and support for more apps including Phraseology, Writing Kit, Threadnote, Appigo Todo.

So who's excited about Drafts 2.0 and the release of Drafts for iPad? Out of curiosity, what type of content do you add to Drafts? Topics to write about? Jokes? Reminders? Clever status updates for Facebook? Let us know in the comments below!

$1.99 for iPhone - Download Now

$2.99 for iPad - Download Now

Yesterday we launched the highly anticipated iMore Forums app, and while we've gotten tons of great feedback on it, we've also had a few users who experienced problems logging in. We immediately deployed the crack forum commandos and code curing ninjas to look into it, and the good news is, we've got it licked.

Don't ask me to explain why, because when the tech team starts talking about deep Drupal and VBulletin integration, my eyes roll back into my head and I start going through the early stages of a Scannersplosion, but it looks like a few users aren't properly synched between the two systems. That's what's causing the problem. Luckily, there's an easy way to fix it:

Head on over to your iMore user page and change your password. That should force the forums to re-synch and fix all your login issues. Apologies for the inconvenience, but it's quick, painless, and hey, a good excuse to make sure you're using a nice strong password!

Give it a try, and let me know how it works for you!

• How to change your iMore password