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One thing you can be sure that Apple will improve with every iteration of its iPhone is the device’s camera. The original iPhone packed a 2-megapixel camera that wasn’t all that great at taking photos; things got significantly better two generations later with the iPhone 3GS. The 5-megapixel camera in the iPhone 4 received a ton of praise, but its 8-megapixel successor in the iPhone 4S is even more terrific.

So terrific, in fact, that the developer behind the hugely successful Camera+ application for the iPhone, Lisa Bettany, says the device “outshines” many of the high-end compact cameras currently on the market.

Apple’s iPhone 4S has been a huge success for Sprint since its launch on October 14, breaking both opening day sales and activation records. For many customers, however, life with the latest iPhone on Sprint isn’t all that fun, with painfully slow data speeds throttling the iPhone’s capabilities when away from a Wi-Fi connection. According to the carrier, however, its data speeds match those offered by its competitors.

Bloomberg reports that the original creator of iTunes, Jeff Robbin, is allegedly working on Apple’s upcoming TV set. Robbin also helped co-launch the original iPod with Tony Fadell.

The report cites “three people with knowledge of the project” and notes that Robbin’s involvement is “a sign of Apple’s commitment to extending its leadership in smartphones and tablets into the living room.”

Apple appears to have resolved the problems where 15-inch Mid-2010 MacBook Pro computers may intermittently free or stop displaying video.

The resolution has appeared in the form of a software update that is available now.

Apple has updated the firmware for Apple TV to version 4.4.2 about a week after pulling and releasing for a second time the earlier 4.4.1 update. The earlier update provided a some bug fixes and if we were to guess this one probably does too.

It looks like Apple is also offering an Apple TV tip for updating which I hope isn’t the normal thing to expect going forward. I’ve had a lot of trouble getting my Apple TV to find and install new updates. I hope that 4.4.2 resolves that problem for good.

David Kelley and Steve Jobs have a lot in common. Kelley, the designer of Apple’s original mouse, was diagnosed with throat cancer back in 2007.

In addition to working with Apple on the mouse project, Jobs introduced Kelley to his wife. When Kelley was in the hospital, Jobs came to visit his old friend. And just like any well-wisher, he didn’t come empty handed.

Instead of flowers or candy, Jobs brought Kelley, who went on to found seminal design firm IDEO, the very first iPhone as a “get well” present. There was just one small problem: Jobs couldn’t get the iPhone to work.

Earlier today I got a chance to talk to Walter Isaacson, Steve Jobs’ authorized biographer. Isaacson’s 620-page book hits bookstands today. He spoke while preparing to check out of his hotel in New York, where he’s conducting a whirlwind media tour for the book, which promises to be one of the biggest hits of the year.

In our interview, Isaacson revealed that Jobs was actually a lot more active in his cancer treatment than previous reports have suggested. He also thinks Apple will be OK without Jobs because he spent a decade building a great team and an institution infused with his DNA. And that the man, like the company he built, was an intriguiging mix of the arts and sciences.

The official Steve Jobs biography by Walter Isaacson went live on the iBookstore and Amazon last night, and the title hit shelves everywhere this morning.

Initial pre-orders of the bio ushered it to the top of the charts on Amazon, and after less than 24 hours of availability, the book is on track to become Amazon’s best-selling title of 2011.

Serial entrepreneur Kevin Rose is known for founding companies like Digg and Revision3. He now works at an app development company he started called “Milk.”

Rose demoed his newest creation at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco last week. “Oink” is an upcoming app that lets users rank and share things with each other. Taking cues from Digg, the platform will act as an all-encompassing tool for finding the best things out there — whether you’re in need of a good massage or a slice of pizza.

The world’s largest carrier, China Mobile, has over 600 million wireless subscribers. 10 million of these customers have iPhones despite that fact that China Mobile is not an official Apple partner.

What’s even more surprising is that the iPhone isn’t currently compatible with China Mobile’s TD-SCDMA 3G network, meaning that these 10 million unofficial iPhone users are all limited to 2G data speeds.

Steve Jobs was a man who adopted many mentors in his life, but one of his mentors deserves more than a passing look: Robert Friedland, a charismatic, free love wacko who dealt LSD and had his own free love commune on the same apple orchard that inspired Steve for the name of his company. It was also where Steve allegedly got his “reality distortion field” from.

A first-ever drop in smartphone sales could be good news for Apple but portend ‘ominous signs’ for the many companies tied to the Android mobile operating system. Despite launching several Android-based phones, carriers AT&T and Verizon both reported a drop-off in smartphone sales during the September quarter, one analyst noted Monday.

If you received a video file via email or stumbled across a clip in Safari that you wanted to save under iOS 4, it just wasn’t possible. You could watch it, but you couldn’t save it. However, one feature you may not yet have noticed in iOS 5 is that you can now download videos to your camera roll.

Walter Isaacson’s much anticipated biography of Steve Jobs is releasing today, and we’re already busy poring through it, gaining new insight into the life and philosophies of Apple’s volatile, sometimes enigmatic co-founder.

Throughout the morning, we’ll be live updating this post with some of the best revelations, funniest stories, most interesting quotes and most enjoyable tidbits of the biography.

The growing importance of international iPhone sales, along with demand for Apple’s latest smartphone, should remove any Wall Street doubt that the fourth quarter was only a fluke. One analyst Monday announced bullish expectations for the first quarter of 2012, forecasting 42 million iPhones will have sold in December – more than double that of last quarter.

Apple’s MacBook Pro family wasn’t the only product lineup to get an update today. The Cupertino company has also issued a refresh to its iPad 2 Smart Covers, which has seen the orange cover discontinued in favor of a new dark gray model, and interior lining that’s colored to match the exterior.

Apple is set to launch a new pilot program that will allow customers to make orders through its online store and then collect their purchases from their local Apple store, according to a new report. The program has reportedly been given the name “Sherwood” and will cover any product available online, including custom-build computers, third-party accessories, and products which have been gift-wrapped an engraved.

The belief that Apple will enter the TV set market appears too good to let drop. One high-profile Apple analyst tells investors Monday the Cupertino, Calif. tech giant already has prototypes of a device worth $2.5 billion next year.

iPod 10th Anniversary: To celebrate the iPod’s 10th anniversary on Sunday October 23, we’ve been running several special features which we hope will allow our readers to look back at Apple’s most iconic product with fun and fondness.

Over the last ten years, the iPod has gone from a single device designed to hold your MP3s to a family of devices that have literally revolutionized the music industry.

As part of our iPod 10th Anniversary Celebrations, we put together this family tree infographic so you can look back at all of the iPods that have come before, and helped get us to where we are now: the future of digital music.

Feel free to repost this graphic, but if you do, please make sure to link to Cult of Mac. Thanks!

We’ve seen a number of rumors surrounding a MacBook Pro refresh in recent weeks, and just as expected, the latest models hit the Apple online store this morning. In addition to increased storage for some models, there are speed improvements across the board with faster Intel Core i5 and i7 processors.

Siri co-founder Dag Kittlaus has reportedly left Apple just days after his sophisticated voice-recognition technology made its debut on the iPhone 4S. It was an ‘amicable’ departure, according to sources, that will allow Kittlaus to focus on “new entrepreneurial ideas.”

If you have questions for Steve Jobs’ authorized biographer, Walter Isaacson, please post them here in the comments.

I have an interview with Isaacson today at 3PM PST. It’s a telephone interview, and I’ll be sure to ask him some questions in the comments.

I’ll post the interview as soon as I get it transcribed, likely early Monday evening.

If you want to hear a really great, revealing and insightful tribute to Steve Jobs, tune into the Celebrating Steve video Apple posted earlier and go to the 48.30 mark.

Here Apple’s long-time head designer Jony Ive starts talking about his “best and most loyal friend.”

Ive’s tribute to Steve is by turns funny, touching and insightful. Unlike a lot of the negative stuff we’ve heard about Steve over the last few weeks, Jony describes Steve’s passion and enthusiasm, his sense of humor, and his great joy in doing things right.

I’d love to post the video here, but it’s streaming only for the moment. Here’s a snippet of what he said:

Now while hopefully the work appeared inevitable. Appeared simple, and easy, it really cost. It cost us all, didn’t it?

But you know what? It cost him most. He cared the most. He worried the most deeply.

He continues:

The official Steve Jobs biography by Walter Isaacson is now available in the U.S. iBookstore. The book officially goes on sale tomorrow, but it has been popping up early on Amazon Kindle stores and iBookstores around the world.

Simply titled “Steve Jobs,” the biography takes a thorough look at the many sides of Jobs and the stories surrounding his rise to becoming one of America’s greatest innovators and CEOs.

I thought the 60 Minutes interview broadcast just now with Steve Jobs’ biographer Walter Isaacson was great. Absolutely great.

It covered a lot of ground I was familiar with and is familiar to most other Apple fans too. But it fresh and fascinating because of the accumulation of small details and revelations. Like the fact that Jobs rarely locked his back door in Palo Alto, and that anybody could have walked in off the street, because he didn’t want to pervert his life by being rich. Alternatively, he looked his childhood friend Daniel Kottke in the eye and denied him the shares in Apple that would have made him a millionaire. So many contradictions.

But there were three profound revelations for me, which really shed light on Jobs’ life and work: