Despite it being barely the end of the school year in some places, Apple’s annual back to school sale is now live, offering a $100 App Store gift card with the purchase of a Mac and a $50 card with the purchase of an iPad or iPhone. To qualify, you must be a college student, a student accepted into college, a parent purchasing for a college student, or a teacher of any grade level. Educational pricing also applies to Mac purchases, potentially saving you up to $200.

To celebrate Independence Day in the United States, the folks at iFixit are offering free “iPhone Liberation Kits” from 1 July until 5 July. The kits, which are being offered for the iPhone 4 and iPhone 5, include all the tools needed to replace Apple’s proprietary pentalobe screws with standard Phillips screws. iFixit offered free shipping to the first 1,776 people who ordered them, but they quickly sold those, so now you’ll have to pay $5 shipping per order.

Sky Gamblers: Storm Raiders is an award-winning game that brings console-quality World War II action to your Apple devices.

Since the debut of the iPhone, everyone from competing smartphone makers to Web developers has wanted to copy its onscreen aesthetics. But developer Marco Arment argues that the forthcoming iOS 7 leverages Apple’s hardware in such a way as to make it tough to copy. Specifically, he notes that since much of iOS 7’s interface is dependent on the powerful graphics processors and high-resolution screens in iOS devices, it will be difficult to imitate on competing platforms with weaker specs.

Starting with iOS 7, Apple will finally allow children under age 13 to access its online educational services.

With Google Reader shutting down after 1 July 2013, Josh Centers takes a look at the alternatives that have sprung up to replace it. We report on the best of the lot, and which third-party RSS clients will still be viable after the shutdown.

Gizmodo reports that many owners of the new 2013 MacBook Air are complaining of lost Wi-Fi connectivity, requiring a reboot to reestablish the connection. The issue is reportedly worse when the MacBook Air is on a desk, which might indicate a hardware issue. So, if you’re thinking of buying a new MacBook Air for its significantly improved battery life, perhaps hold off until more is known about this Wi-Fi issue.

The Verge has a compelling account of the barriers HBO had to hurdle to get its content on the Apple TV. One was technical, including efficient encoding of the entire HBO library and writing the software, which was made possible by a new HBO development center in Seattle. The other was political — cable companies are distrustful of online distribution and set-top boxes.

Pre-paid cell phone users rejoice! The iPhone 5 is finally headed to Virgin Mobile on 28 June 2013. Virgin Mobile, which runs on the Sprint network, will be selling the 16 GB iPhone 5 for the unsubsidized price of $549.99 at RadioShack and other participating retailers. The iPhone 5 will be compatible with Virgin Mobile’s Beyond Talk plan, which starts at $35 for 300 minutes of talk, unlimited texting, and unlimited data (throttled to 256 Kbps or lower after 2.5 GB of monthly usage), with a $5 monthly discount for customers who enable automatic payments.

Badland is a dark, gorgeous running puzzler for iOS that breaks new ground in mobile gaming.

Apple has updated its puckish Apple TV to add a bevy of new content options. Josh Centers offers an overview of what’s now available.