It's the quiet in between storms. Both BlackBerry Live and Google I/O 2013 are over, yet #TM13 and more importantly, WWDC 2013 are fast approaching. Tomorrow's a public holiday here in Canada, but I'll be working through it. And there's a bunch of reasons for that. Cue the bullet list...

It's been a busy, busy week on iMore, and this time the iOS headlines have been dominated by news from ostensibly competing conferences -- BlackBerry Live and Google I/O. The main conversation topic this week was cross platform messaging from BlackBerry and Google both, though also making the headlines was Google's answer to Game Center, Amazon taking on iTunes on the desktop, and the App Store finally hitting 50 billion downloads. Read on for the recap!

Every week, the editors and writers at iMore carefully select some of our favorite, most useful, most extraordinary apps. This week's selections include a war game, a videography app, a classic board game, and a popular twitter client for Mac.

To see what we picked, follow along after the break!

It’s quite popular for people reporting on Apple’s financial position to quote the absurdly high level of cash the company holds on its balance sheet. At the end of last quarter the $145 billion is more than a rainy day fund, which is why the board of directors approved a massive stock buyback and dividend hike. Of course Apple won’t be using much of its cash to do this. Instead, it raised debt. Why? Because so much of the cash -- about $102 billion -- is not on US soil. Instead this money is held in other countries.

It's been said time and time again that the camera on the iPhone is an excellent camera. In fact, it's become such a popular camera that there's a whole genre of photography known as 'iPhoneography'. iPhone photographers not only use the camera and lens built into their iPhone, but also an assortment of apps to edit, enhance, and show off their work. There are so many great apps out there, so we've narrowed it down to a few of our favorites.

If you're shopping for a new 13-inch laptop, you may have noticed that Apple's product line in that category is a bit more crowded than in other spots. The company has three distinct 13-inch models - the MacBook Air, the MacBook Pro and the MacBook Pro with Retina Display. Which model should you get? Let's compare, but let me warn you at the outset: I think you should wait.