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Finland is far from the minds of most iPhone users. However, the frigid, Nordic country is huge on carriers’ radar because it is there that text messaging was born and where it could very well die. The number of Christmas Eve texts in Finland fell off a cliff, plummeting to 8.9 million from 10.9 million in 2010. With text messages accounting for 20 percent of carrier revenue, its enough to give companies nightmares — but this bad dream is far from over.

Apple plans to announce how well it did during the holiday buying period later this month. A conference call to announce the tech giant’s first quarter of 2012 financial results is set for January 24. Wall Street consensus forecasts a blowout quarter with Apple earnings up 43 percent on $38.16 billion of sales.

Do you ever wish that you could get quick access to your iOS apps from your device’s lock screen? With LockLauncher installed on your jailbroken iPhone, you can.

Apple is reportedly gearing up to bid for English Premier League streaming rights that would allow it to show live matches through its Apple TV and iOS devices. The Cupertino company hopes the content will boost sales of its set-top box and the iPad in the U.K.

What’s the point of robbing your local 7/11 and going to prison in exchange for a quick $200 when you can just drive uptown, pull a heist on the Apple Store, and walk out with every Apple device? At least, that’s the thinking of some thieves lately and Apple Store robberies have started to become more frequent over the past few years.

Early on the morning of January 3rd, six armed teenagers broke into the Apple Store at Scottsdale Quarter by shattering the front glass. The crew made quick work of the store and stole between $70,000 – $80,000 worth of merchandise. The burglary occurred before business hours and fortunately no one was harmed. Spotting the thieves as they were fleeing the scene, a local cab driver followed their vehicle down the street. Noticing the trailing cab, the thieves fired two shots at the cab, but both missed and the cab driver was uninjured.

Did you know that you can easily record your jailbroken iOS device’s screen with an app called Display Recorder? Thanks to a recent update that introduced iOS 5 compatibility, jailbreakers running the latest version of Apple’s mobile OS can record screen activity and share it with the world.

Display Record is a fantastic Cydia app that has been around for years. Version 1.2.5 introduces the ability to record your screen on iOS 5, save the movie file, and share it with YouTube or your desktop computer.

There’s nothing else quite like the highly sophisticated Real Racing 2 HD on iOS. It’s the platform’s best racing simulator, is one of the best games available for the iPad and may even be one of the most fun racing games on any platform (using the iPad as a steering wheel trumps a console controller any day).

Remember when Apple’s 2011 Worldwide Developer Conference sold out in under 12 hours? With the suspicion that the same thing could happen in 2012, developers Anthony Herron and Aaron Wardle have created a website called WWDC Alerts.

The simple site allows anyone to sign up to receive a SMS message when Apple makes tickets for the 2012 event available for purchase.

A Canadian technical consultant by the name of Ade Barkah has uncovered a particularly weird bug in iOS 5 that lets anyone see a locked iPhone’s Camera Roll from the device’s lock screen. The only catch is that viewable photos must have a time stamp that’s newer than the iPhone’s internal clock.

If an iPhone’s clock were to ever roll back or get manually set to a time in the past, any photo taken after that date can be easily seen by means of the Camera app shortcut on the iOS lock screen.

What’s this? Android news on Cult of Mac?! Who the hell cares?! Maybe you don’t, maybe you do. Point is: these are a few of the popular topics going on in the Android world today. Maybe you’d like to know what the competition is up to, or perhaps your aunt received a Kindle Fire she needs to update. Regardless of the reason, having a resource such as Cult of Android allows you to learn more about what’s going on in the ecosystem powered by the world’s leading mobile OS.

It’s been rumored that Microsoft is planning an iPad version of its popular Office productivity suite, but until then, we’ve got a free alternative. CloudOn is an iPad app that brings Word, Powerpoint, and Excel to your favorite Apple tablet.

CloudOn integrates with Dropbox to let you edit and create documents on the go. Your work is then synced back to your desktop.

Apple has begun an attack on App Store piracy. The popular resource for cracked iOS apps known as Apptrackr recently said that Apple has begun sending large amounts of takedown notices, thereby forcing Apptrackr to relocate many of its servers and implement more steps for its users to avoid legal ramifications.

In a note to users of Installous, a Cydia app for downloading and installing pirated apps from the App Store, Apptrackr frontman “dissident” explains Apple’s attempts at crippling the piracy service and how Apptrackr supporters can help keep the resource running.

You know that media event Apple plans on throwing later this month in New York City, featuring Senior VP Eddy Cue? Well, more details have leaked out, and it appears we were right: Apple’s preparing to revolutionize textbooks.

Not much else to say. Hot on the heels of his iOS 5.0.1 jailbreak for A4 devices and lower, jailbreak hacker extraordinaire pod2g has now reportedly made progress jailbreaking the iPad 2 and iPhone 4S running iOS 5.0.1, and says that we could even expect a release next week. Hurrah!

Thanks to iCloud and iOS 5, we no longer have to plug our iOS devices into our computers to back them up. With iCloud backups enabled, all of our precious data is sent to the cloud and is easily retrievable when we need it — providing we have a data connection.

But we only get so much cloud space, so we need to look after it. If you’ve got backups saved from old devices you’re not using anymore, it’s important to delete them so that your existing devices have plenty of storage for their own data. Here’s how to delete iCloud backups on your iOS device!

Over the course of the past year, Samsung has shamelessly stolen Apple’s design on everything from the iPod touch, the iPad 2 Smart Cover, iOS’s homescreen, and more. Heck, they’ve even poached the actresses who star in Apple’s current iPhone 4S commercial!

Having apparently run out of new Apple products to rip-off, Samsung has decided to examine Apple’s past portfolio of devices for new designs to flagrantly plagiarize. The latest? Meet the Galaxy Ace Plus, Samsung’s new entry-level Android phone that looks just like the three year old iPhone 3G design!

This is just beyond parody at this point. Next up? Samsung announces the Galaxy Tab 8.5 Noir, which shamelessly violates the design of the 1993 Apple Newton.

See that iPhone 4 above? If you click here, you can see it in its full, remarkable glory on the website of its creator, HTML5 and CSS3 maestro Vasily Zubach.

Why is it so remarkable? Because in its original incarnation, it was accomplished entirely in Javascript and CSS. That’s right: there’s not a single image file in the whole shebang.

BlackBerry maker Research in Motion often seems to have two left feet when it comes to management. Now, after becoming a serial failure, the company is considering removing its biggest roadblock: RIM’s co-CEOs. But can it quiet a months-long investor revolt?

In the highly-competitive holiday sales period, Amazon’s $199 Kindle Fire tablet ‘at most’ cost Apple 1 million to 2 million iPad sales, one Wall Street observer said today. Despite the dent in sales, the tech giant is expected to turn in record iPad sales figures for this quarter.

Following a report that claims Nintendo is set to open up its own app store for its upcoming Wii U console, there are now suggestions that the Japanese gaming giant is “actively courting” iOS developers in a bit to lure them over to Wii U game development. One developer reports that the company even offered “assistance” with porting their title from iOS to be played on the console’s new controller, which features a 6.2-inch touchscreen.

How did HP get into such a mess with webOS? Essentially, the company shot itself in the foot as a parade of managers streamed through the corporate suites in a nightmare scenario reminding one of the worst days of Apple. Ousted HP CEO Leo Apotheker must take the blame, a former webOS head said.

Imagine having your iPhone stolen while you’re out with your friends one night, then discovering that the thief who stole it had the audacity to return it to an Apple retail store for replacement after you had it blocked. Thanks to Apple’s policies on theft, that’s exactly what happened to Scott Barkley from Toronto.

To prolong the life of Grand Theft Auto 3 on the PC all those years ago, gamers began introducing all sorts of things — such as new cars, weapons, and skins — to the game by modifying numerous files within its directory. If you were a “modder” then, then we have good news for you: the recently released GTA 3 games for iOS and Android are also susceptible to modding.

How can Apple ward off iPad challengers such as Amazon’s $199 Kindle Fire tablet? One way, according to experts, is to offer the popular iPad 2 device at a much lower price – perhaps $299. Such a move could “seriously” impact the Kindle Fire and others attempting to gain market share by providing a low-cost alternative to the iPad. Others are dropping prices for another reason — nobody wants their tablets.

Nikon fans, rejoice! Word on the street says the Nikon mothership is going to announce a new flagship professional-grade FX (full frame) DSLR camera, possibly two, at its Thailand headquarters during their January 6th “The Image You Are Waiting For” press event. And if the rumors are true, you can bet Nikon is going to be showing off their new baby on the floors of CES, and we’ll be there to cover it.