Our Source Has Seen The Apple HDTV, Here’s What It Looks Like

We have a source who claims to have seen a prototype Apple high-definition television set in action, indicating that Apple is readying the long-awaited device for market.

According to our source, who has asked to remain strictly anonymous, the Apple HDTV looks like Apple’s current lineup of LED-backlit Cinema Displays but is “much bigger.” It has a built-in iSight camera for making free FaceTime video conference calls. And it has Siri, the iPhone 4S’s voice-activated virtual assistant.

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This Could Be The Coolest iPhone Dock Out There [Video]

Apple’s iPhone dock looks good, but has a couple of big problems. It doesn’t accommodate cases and it hangs onto your iPhone and won’t let go. The ODOC stand fixes both these issues, and looks great too.

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How Steve Jobs Got The NeXT Name From Bill Gates, Got Nelson Mandela To Think Different And Other Tales

Thanks to Ken Segall’s new book about Apple, Insanely Simple, we have heard about how Steve Jobs was willing to dress up as Willy Wonka, and how he felt about the negative reaction to the infamous hockey puck mouse.

Here are three more great anecdotes about Jobs from the book. They include Jobs asking the President to help with Apple’s Think Different campaign, the untold story of how NeXT got its name, and how Jobs almost integrated advertising into Mac OS.

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Insanely Simple: The Obsession That Drives Apple’s Success [Exclusive Book Excerpt]

According to Ken Segall's new book, "Insanely Simple," Steve Jobs loved the PowerMac G4 Cube, but had to let it die.

Here’s an exclusive excerpt from a new book about Steve Jobs and Apple by ex-advertising Mad Man, Ken Segall. The book is called Insanely Simple: The Obsession That Drives Apple’s Success, and it’s on sale tomorrow. In the excerpt, we learn about Steve Jobs’s great reaction to criticism of the infamous hockey puck mouse, how he responded quickly to mistakes, and his attitudes toward the “brand bank.”

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Where Are All The Billboards For the New iPad?

Two weeks after the launch of the new iPad, this iPad 2 billboard is still up. This is the first time in years that Apple hasn't updated its signage to feature the new product. Photo: Leander Kahney

Whenever Apple launches a major new product, massive billboards usually go up within days. I know this, because my commute along San Francisco’s 101 freeway passes three giant billboards on the way into the city.

Year after year, I’ve seen the ads go up within days of the new product’s launch. Last year, ads for the iPad 2 were posted almost immediately after the device’s introduction by Steve Jobs.

Thing is, those same iPad 2 billboards are still there. Two weeks after the launch of the iPad 3, the billboards along 101 are still advertising the old iPad 2.

It seems to be the same situation across the country. We’ve been talking about this for days, and no one on the Cult of Mac staff has seen a outdoor ad for the new iPad.

What does it mean?

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Letter From London: Waiting In Line For The New iPad

.@Redbulluk Please come to Regent street Apple store, we need energy in the queue. PLEASEEEEE. RT guys!!

Camping out for a new Apple product is a time-honored tradition. Outsiders think it’s crazy, and even some insiders do — couldn’t you preorder it this year — but waiting for the product is just part of the reason you do it. It’s really about the camaraderie, the friendship, the adventure.

Craig Fox, organizer of the upcoming JailbreakCon, is roughing it on the streets of London outside Apple’s flagship Regent Street Store. Even if you’ve never considered waiting in line for a new Apple product, his account of the experience might just change your mind.

Here’s his report:

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The New iPad: It’s All About The Software [Opinion]

It’s all about software.

Watch the video of this morning’s iPad event, and note how Apple’s execs spend more time talking about the apps that the new iPad can run than the new iPad itself.

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U.S. Air Force To Buy Up To 18,000 iPads

The U.S. Air Force has been awarded a $9.36 million to buy up to 18,000 iPads. They will be used for navigation and as digital flight manuals.

It’s one of the military’s largest orders of tablets.

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Win An iPad 3 — Just Take Our Reader Survey

Want an iPad 3?

Tim Cook will be introducing it next week. Take our reader survey and you’ll be entered into a sweepstakes to win one.

We’ve grown a tremendous amount these last three years, from just a few thousand pageviews a month to more than 9 million in February — and that was a short month. We need a favor — some data about you, the readers, to help attract advertisers and sponsorship partners. This is crucial — our bandwidth costs are through the roof!

There’s more. We’d like to learn something about the state of the Apple ecosystem — what devices you are using and how. Do you use your iPad at work? What are you planning to buy this year? We’d also like to learn what you think of the site and what we could do better.

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25 Billion Downloads: Apple’s App Store Hits Giant Milestone

Apple’s App Store just hit 25 billion app downloads. The countdown just clicked over at about 9.45PM PST. Apple has promised a $10,000 gift card to the person who downloaded the 25,000,000,000 billionth app. The winner will be notified shortly and revealed on the countdown’s web page.

The countdown began on February 17th and proceeded at an estimated rate of 49 million app downloads a day. It took the wildly popular App Store just four years to reach the 25 billion download mark. By contrast, it took eight-and-half years for 16 billion songs downloaded to be downloaded from the iTunes Store.

Here’s a video of Apple’s 25 billion countdown timer clicking over:

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