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One of the better Yuletide traditions is the venerable holiday Advent Calendar, in which each day of December leading up to Christmas is marked off on a special calendar by opening its corresponding door to find a small gift, toy or chocolate squirreled away inside.

This year, we here at Cult Of Mac decided we wanted to give our readers their very own Apple-themed advent calendar, filled with the year’s best apps, gadgets, stories and other curios. So each day in December, we’re going to lovingly peel back the door on the Cult Of Mac 2012 Advent Calendar to reveal another delicious morsel, something really special that came out this year that we think every one of you should enjoy.

What’s on the other side of the door for Day 3? It’s Jasmine, an exquisitely designed, utterly beautiful app that will make you rediscover how cool YouTube can really be.

iTunes 11 is a huge upgrade from its predecessor, and it has received lots of positive feedback since it became available for download on Thursday, November 29th.

Apple has baked iCloud into the core of iTunes, and the app’s interface has been decluttered and enhanced with new features like the MiniPlayer. We’ve been combing through the innards of iTunes 11 to find all of the little changes and additions. Here’s our updating list of iTunes 11 tips and tricks:

The new iMacs are lovely, but the smaller units are hard as hell to get into if you want to make some upgrades of your own. The recent iFixit teardown of the 21.5-inch iMac revealed that you’ll have to unglue your display if you want to swap out your hard drive or add more RAM, even though it’s a piece of cake on the bigger, 27-inch iMacs.

Apple added a new feature for the 27-inch iMacs that makes swapping out RAM easier than a push of a button. Well, it’s almost that easy – here’s how to do it.

Say what you will about Apple losing marketshare to Android and Samsung. The iPhone 5 is still the most lusted-after gadget of 2012 if search queries are any indication of where the public’s heart lies. People want the iPhone 5 more than they want to see pics of Kim Kardashian.

Yahoo released their year in review report on the most searched terms of 2012 and the iPhone 5 came in second place, beating out Kim Kardashian, Lindsay Lohan, Kate Upton, Kate Middleton, and Whitney Houston, while “elections” was the most searched term overall.

Looking for a gift for a loved one, a workmate, or even someone you secretly hate but are obliged to buy something for? Then let us help you. Our Cult Of Mac Holiday Gift Guide is running throughout November and December, thrice weekly with farm-fresh updates every time.

Looking for something in particular? Here’s the full rundown:

One of the better Yuletide traditions is the venerable holiday Advent Calendar, in which each day of December leading up to Christmas is marked off on a special calendar by opening its corresponding door to find a small gift, toy or chocolate squirreled away inside.

This year, we here at Cult of Mac decided we wanted to give our readers their very own Apple-themed advent calendar, filled with the year’s best apps, gadgets, stories and other curios. So each day in December, we’re going to lovingly peel back the door on the Cult of Mac 2012 Advent Calendar to reveal another delicious morsel, something really special that came out this year that we think every one of you should enjoy.

We’re running a little behind, so playing catch up today by posting our first and second day picks along with our choice for December 3rd.

Our Day 2 choice? Clear, iOS’s best and most beautiful list-maker.

When most people think of Apple they think of hardware. Apple’s got the iPhone, iPad, and iMac — and they also make their own software to power those devices — but one of Apple’s secret weapons is its gigantic media division.

iTunes was just updated last week, and you already know that it sells everything from books, Apps, newspapers, music, TV shows, movies and more. But did you know that iTunes would be one of the largest and most profitable media companies in the world if Apple decided to set up iTunes as a separate company?

Believe it or not, Black Friday has already come and gone. Pretty soon the Christmas season will begin, and we’ll mark this midwinter festival by getting together with friends and family and continuing to drink and eat far too much.

Meanwhile, we also buy gifts for those same friends and family members, whether they want them or not. Luckily, we’re here to help, and if you follow our festive advice, your gifts just might make it into the “wanted” category.

From now until Christmas, Cult of Mac will be putting together holiday gift guys full of ideas for the special ones in your life, no matter what their interests or your budget. Today, we’re looking at gifts for the good gentleman in your life.

Apple has just released the third beta build of iOS 6.1. Anyone with a developer account can install the latest iOS 6.1 beta 3 on their iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch by either downloading the update directly from the developer portal, or checking for a software update from the Settings app in iOS.

We’ll let you know if we find any new goodies in the beta once we’ve installed it on our devices and ran our fingers through it.

The bad news? Instagram has a vulnerability that could allow a hacker to take over your account. The good news? That hacker would have to be close enough that he could just walk over and punch you to do so.

I can’t be the only person who took a look at the new iPods’ wrist straps and thought, “I want that for my iPhone.” I’m forever pulling my iPhone 5 from my pocket to snap something for Instagram, and it’d be totally neat if I could just keep the thing in my hand instead, and never have to worry about dropping it.

Happily, the fine folks at Photojojo also felt the persistent pull of gravity and did something about it. Presenting: The iPhone Wrist Strap.

The Transformers movies aren’t all that bad. Well, except for the moronic plots, Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox, Michael Bay, and the over-the-top explosions. I mean, at least the robots are kind of cool. Who wouldn’t want a Camero that can annihilate an entire city for you?

Brave Robotics is a Tokyo-based company that’s bringing Transformer-style robots into the real world, complete with arm missiles and everything. The only catch is that right now a humanoid that transforms into a car costs about $26,000.

Apple’s future notebooks could be even thinner as Intel works to “significantly” reduce the power consumption of its future Ivy Bridge processors. The company’s existing chips — like those installed in today’s MacBook Air — are rated at 17 watts, but sources say the new version will be well below this.

JLab’s brand new Bouncer is a Big JamBox competitor with a Big Jambox competitor’s price-tag: $250 (the BJ is $300). Inevitable comparisons aside, this looks to be a decent portable patio speaker, and it certainly looks the part.

When Samsung lost this summer’s $1.05 billion trial against Apple, we knew Samsung would try any means within their power to get the ruling overturned. And who can blame them for wanting to keep a billion dollars in their bank account?

Since the verdict was read, Samsung has learned that the jury foreman, Velvin Hogan, withheld key facts, like how he was sued by Seagate Technology and went bankrupt because of it. Seagate is partly owned by Samsung, so it could have been that Hogan had an axe to grind against them. Samsung thinks Apple knew all about Hogan, so Apple had to disclose everything they know about Hogan and when they knew it.

One of the better Yuletide traditions is the venerable holiday Advent Calendar, in which each day of December leading up to Christmas is marked off on a special calendar by opening its corresponding door to find a small gift, toy or chocolate squirreled away inside.

This year, we here at Cult of Mac decided we wanted to give our readers their very own Apple-themed advent calendar, filled with the year’s best apps, gadgets, stories and other curios. So each day in December, we’re going to lovingly peel back the door on the Cult of Mac 2012 Advent Calendar to reveal another delicious morsel, something really special that came out this year that we think every one of you should enjoy.

We’re running a little behind, so playing catch up today by posting our first and second day picks along with our choice for December 3rd.

Our Day 1 choice? FitBit, an awesome iOS accessory that can help you get healthier and more fit in no time.

An iPhone case has never “felt” this good (#rimshot). OK, I’ll stop with the puns already. This case for the iPhone 4 from Studio Credence is fashioned from merino wool felt with a leather pocket (and strap, depending on the model). It comes in a variety of tasteful colors, and looks both tough and useful enough to be a permanent iPhone case, even for the committed bareback user.

I’ve been on the lookout for the perfect iPhone 5 dock, and I think I’ve found it in the OCDock. Built from high-grade aluminum and designed to seamlessly integrate itself beneath your iMac or Thunderbolt Display, the OCDock stays out of your way and keeps your desk free from clutter. It also appears to be completely wireless.

I love everything about Foldify, except that fact that it isn’t available yet. I love the name, the promo video, the only-possible-on-an-iPad interface, and even the icon (or maybe, especially the icon). Foldify is an app that lets you design and print 3-D papercraft models, but that description makes it sound a lot lamer than it really is.

Apple’s iPhone penetration strategy is to not release a lot of conflicting models, but to drop the price on previous iPhone models every time the new one comes out.

Right now, for example, Apple sells the iPhone 5 starting at $199 on contract, the iPhone 4S starting at $99 on contract, and the iPhone 4 with a two-year contract. In this way, Apple can sell an iPhone to anyone, regardless of their income level.

This strategy might be leading to negative repercussions for Apple, though, at least according to a new report, which suggests that Apple is proportionally selling considerably fewer iPhone 5 units during launch than they sold iPhone 4S and iPhone 4 units during their launch window.

News Corp. has announced that it will cease publication of The Daily on December 15, less than two years after the iPad-only newspaper made its debut. The company has said that “technology and other assets from The Daily, including some staff,” will be folded into its New York Post tabloid.

Apple has announced today that the iPhone 5 will be launching in South Korea on December 7, followed by 50 additional countries throughout the month, including Brazil, Russia, and Taiwan. Add that to the 47 countries where it’s already on sale, and Apple’s latest smartphone will be in 97 markets by 2013.

In Russia, you don’t buy music… you pirate it, along with pretty much everything else digital. That could soon change, though, as Apple is apparently now inviting a small group of Russians to an iTunes event scheduled to take place in Moscow tomorrow, December 4.

Samsung has once again taken the top spot for mobile market share in the United States after attracting more than a quarter of mobile subscribers. The Korean company claimed 26.3% of the market as of October 2012, but rival Apple is quickly catching up. The iPhone maker saw the highest level of growth among cellphone manufacturers, and managed to overtake LG to take second place.

When you open up a new Apple gadget — whether it be a new MacBook Pro or an iPhone 5 — the packaging will almost always tell you it’s been “designed by Apple in California” and “assembled in China.” But Apple’s new iMacs are an exception to that, because some of the all-in-ones are being assembled in the good old United States of America.