When you open a new iPhone and boot it up for the first time, you’ll notice that Apple has already installed a bunch of apps for you.

It’s a great idea, because it lets you use apps right out of the box. Even the newest, most confused user can tap on an app icon and start trying various things.

Here’s the problem: Most users don’t replace the default apps with third-party alternatives. They mostly use the apps that came with the phone.

And this is why Apple should stop making apps: The default Apple-made apps are giving iPhone users a second-rate experience. 

Picking up a new skill is a very popular new year’s resolution. And this Cult of Mac Deals offer will go a long way in helping you pick up a skill that can bring both pleasure and profit – designing iOS apps.

The iOS App Design Course bundle is just $79 for a limited time, and if you have beginner level knowledge of Photoshop and a desire to learn iOS app design, this course trio will help you quickly learn how to design both iPhone and iPad apps and icons.

The entire camera world is in a state of flux at the moment; point-and-shoot cameras are being replaced by smarter phones with good-enough cameras, and accessory manufacturers know that us photo-crazy iPhone 5 owners are lacking the plethora of lenses, apps, and cases we once had available to us on the iPhone 4 and 4S.

That’s why, at this year’s CES, I expect to be hit with a title wave of lenses, gadgets, gizmos, cases, and apps that all promise to do the same thing: make your iPhone’s camera even better.

It’s not often that you get to say something like “Lewis and Clark RPG,” right? Not Lois and Clark, but LEWIS and Clark, the famous explorers from American history, who did a whole lot of exploring, have a trail named after them, and will always be associated with Sacagawea, the Shoshone woman who traveled with them to serve as guide and translator.

The Meriwether Kickstarter project has 50 hours to go to get as far past the initial funding goal (which it hit today) as it can to help fund even more historical awesomeness, like special outfits for Lewis that raise his stats, the addition of a Girardoni Air Rifle, an endless arcade mode, and a bizarre nightmare dreamscape extra bonus level with giant sloths and wooly mammoths.

The Steam Holiday sale continues through this coming weekend, as the Valve-owned digital distribution portal extends its amazingly deep discounts for a wide variety of games, including the Mac variety, until 1 pm Eastern time on Monday, January 7th.

The Mac games included in the sale are some great ones, including Amnesia: The Dark Descent, a game we included in our top scariest games list last October. This formerly $19.99 game is now up for sale for a ridiculous $4.99.

Michigan readers, rejoice, as AT&T announced today several new 4G LTE markets in the eighth most populous state in the US.

Users in the following areas of Michigan should start to see the little LTE symbol at the top of their iPhones and Android handsets very soon.

Ann Arbor, Michigan
Beverly Hills, Michigan
Birmingham, Michigan
Monroe County, Michigan
Kent County, Michigan
Ottowa County, Michigan

We’re in the holiday spirit here at Cult of Mac, and it’s with that spirit in mind that we are offering a great freebie to our valued readers. With MacX Video Converter Pro, you can convert various videos for playback on all your Apple devices.

And you’ll be able to do it for free.

Apple’s newest version of OS X – 10.8 Mountain Lion – has been the fastest adopted Mac operating system in history and it’s continuing to dominate. A new web traffic survey has concluded that Mountain Lion is now the most popular version of OS X used to browse the web.

iGuy is a new iPad and iPad mini case from Speck that’s built for one thing: taking a beating from sticky little kids. It’s design buries your device inside a bed of flexible foam that ensures no matter how many times its thrown, dropped, or sneezed on, it will come out looking as good as new.

The iGuy’s handles make the iPad easy to hold onto — not matter how small the user’s hands are — and the feet allow the device to be stood up when watching movies and cartoons. And despite all that EVA foam, you can still access all your iPad’s ports and buttons, as well as use its cameras.

iGuy comes in four colors — orange, green, red, and purple — and it’s likely to be the best iPad accessory you buy.

I like Instagram, with its fun filters and social features. I’m glad the latest controversy over the terms of use and privacy concerns has been dealt with, at least for now. One thing that I’ve always wondered, though is why Instagram didn’t have any text overlay features.

With InstaWeather (and InstaPlace, really), you can place some location and weather-aware overlays on your Instagram photos, giving you a whole new conduit for sharing information or amusing your Instagram friends.

Before Apple had their very own Internet browser, Mac users had to depend on Internet Explorer for Mac to surf the web. Part of Steve Jobs plan to resurrect the popularity of the Mac was to create its very own web browser – Safari.

Apple being Apple, the entire project was top secret. Even Apple employees weren’t allowed to know that Apple was cooking up its own browser. The secrecy of the project made things difficult because Apple needed to test the browser as they built it, but server logs would identify Safari before it was announced and Apple’s secret would be blown.

Rather than risk someone discovering Safari via their server logs, Apple cleverly hid Safari’s true identity by pretending it was Mozilla, and it actually worked. Here’s the story according to former Apple employee Don Melton who was in charge of the Safari team:

Amazon Instant Video is one of the best reasons to sign up for Amazon Prime. It’s not as good as Netflix yet, but it’s getting there, and it’s cheaper. To make things better, Amazon just announced that they’re adding A&E’s networks to Amazon Instant Video.

The licensing agreement between Amazon and A&E gives Prime Instant Video customers access to popular shows from A&E, bio, History, and Lifetime. So now you can watch all the shenanigans of Duck Dynasty right from your iPad or Kindle Fire.

The iPhone is fast becoming one of the most – if not the most – used cameras on the planet. But serious photographers know that nothing really beats a DSLR in terms of quality – and any serious hobbyist knows that as well. So if you’re looking to get some superior shooting, then learning how to use a DSLR camera is a must. And for those who already have a DSLR camera, I’m betting that you’re probably not using it to its full potential.

You’re not alone…I’m in the same boat. That’s why this latest Cult of Mac Deals offer is so huge. You’ll get two online courses that will help you achieve DSLR mastery and take your digital photography skills to new heights – and all for just $39!

Next week at CES every tech company in the world is going to cram under one roof and show off all their products that they hope will change the world. Well every company except Apple that is.

Even though Apple won’t have a presence at CES this year, we’ll see their influence everywhere, from ultrabooks to smartphones. But the biggest influence Apple will have on CES 2013 is with a product they haven’t even released yet – the mythical iTV.

Everyone is scared of what will happen if Apple launches an iTV because it will give them a virtual monopoly on all consumer screens (smartphones, laptops, tablets, and televisions). So naturally we’re going to see a lot of Smart TVs as everyone attempts to predict what Apple’s going to do, and then try to get there first.

You like robots? You’re gonna love this. This is an iPad app all about robots. Just robots, nothing but robots, loads and loads and loads of robots. It’s made of robots, in the same way we are made of meat. It’s fantastic.

G-Form is a case manufacturer that’s famous for taking expensive devices and running them over, throwing them off balconies, and dropping bowling balls on top of them. The company is so confident its cases can withstand damage of this magnitude that it’s more than happy to prove it. Its latest trick sees Apple’s latest iPod touch take a 100,000-foot free fall inside the company’s new Xtreme iPhone 5 case. It survives without a scratch.

Forbes Magazine has today made its debut on Newsstand, and it promises to provide you with the “ultimate Forbes experience combining all the original magazine reporting on business, technology, and investing with the dynamic interactive content from Forbes.com” Users can buy single issues as and when they wish, or commit to a monthly or yearly subscription.

Best Buy, Toys “R” Us, and others have complained to attorneys general in more than half a dozen states about an aggressive Walmart advertising campaign for the iPhone 5 and other electronics. The adverts promised better prices than those offered by competitors, with several retailers, including Best Buy and Toys “R” Us, specifically named. However, those retailers argue that Walmart’s information was incorrect.

As Samsung improves its cellphones by adding proper cameras, so it is tweaking its cameras to make them more like pocket computers. The new mirrorless flagship NX300 adds better Wi-Fi connectivity and a massive 3.3-inch, 768,000-dot 16:9 touchscreen.

It’s hard to believe we’ve just finished our 50th CultCast! But we’re not stopping to celebrate just yet.

On our newest episode, we say why Apple Maps integrating with Waze maps makes too much sense not to happen; why Bill Gates just made Microsoft Surface the new Christmas coal; and as we prepare to journey to Las Vegas for CES, we review which new gadgets and tech we’re most excited about, and give you the inside scoop on what it’s really like to report live from one of the biggest tech conventions in the world.

All that and more on our all-new CultCast! Subscribe now on iTunes or easily stream new and previous episodes via Apple’s free Podcasts App.

This is one Google Now bug that Google won’t be too happy about: a glitch that causes the service to randomly “praise the iPad” when a user performs certain voice searches. Google Now reads out its response, but adds “he now praises the iPad” to the end of it. Check out the video below.

Corning has today announced its third-generation Gorilla Glass, and as you’d expect, it’s significantly tougher than its predecessors. Gorilla Glass 3 boasts a new feature called Native Damage Resistance (NDR), which promises to provide three times the scratch resistance of Gorilla Glass 2. It’ll be on show at CES next week before making its way to the next generation of smartphones, tablets, and more.

And so it begins… iHome has kicked off the CES Lightning accessory announcements with a typically indigestible press release containing roughly one zillion new gadgets.

If you want to hear about the Bluetooth headphones and alarm clocks, and all the other stuff, then visit the link below. For the neat new do-everything iDL100 alarm dock, read on.

Smart Playlists are fantastic, and they really do work to help you listen to the kind of music you’re in the mood for, using a variety of user-controlled criteria. You can create a Smart Playlist for any given Artist in your iTunes library fairly easily.

But what if you want a playlist that includes more than one Artist? Well, that’s pretty simple, too. Here’s how.

This year is likely to be another big one for Apple — even if we don’t see that much-anticipated television set. One new product the Cupertino could have up its sleeve is an internet radio service called “iRadio.” It’s reportedly been negotiating the necessary deals with the music labels, and one analyst expects the service to be integrated into iTunes within the next 12 months, competing with the likes of Pandora.