Australian airline Qantas has announced its support for Apple’s Passbook service, allowing users to checkin using digital boarding passes on their iPhones.

A USB 2.0 Ethernet adapter is a pitiful thing, an ugly workaround only really useful when you find yourself in a Wi-Fi-free hotel room with only your MacBook Air for company.

A USB 3.0 Gigabit Ethernet adapter, on the other hand, is every bit as good as having a real 10/1000 network connector hole in the side of your machine.

Adobe pushed out a big update to its Ideas app for iOS today, introducing a number of news tools and features that promise to give you “more creative options and control.” There are enhanced tools for drawing, working with color, and managing layers, Adobe says — in addition to support for the iPhone 5, iPad mini, and iOS 6.

The iPhone 5 has become Apple’s fastest-selling iPhone yet, with 5 million units sold during its first three days of availability. More than two months after its debut, the handset is still facing a one-week shipping delay via the Apple online store. In fact, the device is selling so well that it just helped iOS overtake Android’s market share in the United States.

What could be classier than adding a few extra millimeters to the height of your keycaps whilst simultaneously collaborating in the death of a walnut or cherry tree? Nothing, that’s what. Which is why these Lazerwood keys for Apple keyboards are pretty much the best thing ever.

I remain firmly of the opinion that a driver should drive, and not sip coffee, or listen to the radio, or text his lover, or use cruise-control. As a cyclist, I rely on the pilots of these road-going behemoths to pay attention to the road in order for me to remain alive.

So I have mixed feelings about a gadget which puts a cellphone within such easy reach.

If you’re anything like me, you use the Messages app in OS X Mountain Lion to keep chatting with those iMessage-happy iOS users in your group of friends when you’re at your computer. Nothing’s more annoying than having to pick up my iPhone while I’m on my Mac, just to text someone back.

With the OS X Messages app, I can just chat with them as if they were on any other instant message client, using the full keyboard on my app instead of the tiny one on my iPhone. Sometimes, though, friends might send along a web link. When I don’t want to have to click through to see it in Safari or Chrome, I preview it right in Messages.

Apple promised us that its new 21.5-inch iMac would be available to order before the end of November, and it will be — just about. The Cupertino company has issued a press release confirming that the new all-in-one will be available on Friday, November 30.

Sometimes, you really need to make an important Skype call when you’re on the go. Or you want to use your bike as a giant (and slightly unwieldy) “tripod” for your camera. At these times, what you need is Photojojo’s Bikepod

General Motors has announced that its upcoming Chevrolets will be the world’s first cars to offer “Eyes Free” Siri integration, allowing drivers to use the voice control capabilities of their iPhone without taking their hands off the wheel. The feature will be integrated into GM’s MyLink infotainment system.

Black Friday was just the beginning. Now that Cyber Monday has arrived, there’s plenty to offer our readers here at Cult of Mac. Most notably, we’ve got a pair of killer Cult of Mac Deals offers lined up for you that will net you a whole slew of value for under $100!

To celebrate Cyber Monday, we’re offering two great bundles – The iStack Mac Bundle and The Mac Utility Bundle – that on their own are standout sales – but together they are perhaps the best deal we’ve ever offered.

BetaDwarf definitely walks the walk, instead of just talking the talk. In their Kickstarter video, the indie developer team from Copenhagen, Denmark talk about how sleeping over at the university while learning game development got a bit silly, so they all moved out of their apartments and into a house to finish development on their game, Forced, which will play like a cooperative version of Diablo crossed with Left 4 Dead, according to the developers.

The guys worked and worked on their game, which if funded will be coming soon for Mac, Windows, Linux, Xbox360, PS3 and Ouya. Then they realized they needed some money to finish, so that they could pay, like rent and stuff. The idea for a Kickstarter campaign was born.

With all the junk floating out there at the Apple App Store and Google Play (Android users, you get the nastier end of the shaft in this case), it’s no wonder good apps can often go undiscovered and neglected, withering pitifully under a heap of flashy debris.

One way to find diamond-in-the-rough apps — or apps that actually do what you want them to — is to regularly read blogs like either of the Cult twins. But there’s another way, and it involves using an app discovery tool like Hubbl.

Good news, everyone! Barnes & Noble’s Nook app for iOS has just been updated with support for Apple’s fantastic VoiceOVer accessibility feature, as well as the zoom functionality. This brings the Nook iOS app up to parity with iBooks, the only other iOS e-reader app that can be used by folks with a visual impairment or learning disability to have books read out loud.

Zoom lets those with low vision see the screen at much higher magnification than just increasing the font size, allowing them to use the buttons, icons, and other visual interface systems that they can’t see at the standard size on the iPad or iPhone screen.

The original Air Display is a great way to add a temporary second screen to any laptop or desktop Macintosh. It’s also super easy to set up and use, as we told you in an iOS tip a while back.

Unfortunately, it’s also a bit on the spendy side. While $10 really isn’t that much to spend for quality software that lets your Mac use an iPad as a second monitor, some folks might not want to spend that much without giving it a good try first.

Two months after Apple released the iPhone 5 and iOS 6, Google Voice has finally been updated. Google’s official iOS app received support for the newest iPhone’s taller display and iOS 6 today.

About time.

CultCast listeners know that I have a particular fondness for Christopher Walken. Sometimes he even likes to make an appearance on the podcast. It’s truly magical.

My love for Walken means that I couldn’t be more excited for an upcoming iOS app called Cowbell Hero. With the app, I’ll be able to relive the infamous Saturday Night Live skit in all of its glory. I gotta have more cowbell. I really do.

Mozilla released another public beta of its Firefox browser today. Version 18 beta 1 brings a number of new features and improvements, most notably Retina display support for Apple’s 2012 MacBooks. When this version of Firefox becomes official, the once-popular browser will join the ranks of Google Chrome, Opera and other third party browsers that have already received Retina support.

The current Apple TV set-top box just doesn’t cut it. We all want more from Apple, and hopefully we’ll get the perfect TV experience one day. Until then, there’s only the imagination.

Content distribution and management is a convoluted mess right now, especially in the living room. That’s why I’m floored by the beautiful simplicity of this Apple TV concept:

Wow, I could have used this tip last week when I was getting constant iMessage errors, having to tap the “please try again” icon again and again to send some messages along to my friends. There have been a few iMessage service outages lately, and when that happens, there’s the potential for some upset.

Luckily, there is a way to easily turn that frown upside down as well as turning that iMessage into a regular SMS text message. Here’s how to do just that.

I swore that I would never put a case on my iPhone 5. Then I accidentally nicked the shiny antenna frame. Ever since that dreadful moment, I’ve been on the search for the perfect iPhone case. That’s how I stumbled onto Grove.

For about two weeks, I’ve been using Grove’s bamboo case for the iPhone 5, and it has been a bittersweet experience.

Apple and Facebook haven’t had the most loving relationship ever. There was that time that Facbeook wouldn’t let them integrate Facebook Connect into Ping. And then Apple got them back by integrating Twitter into iOS before even talking to Facebook about it.

Things might have gotten a little bit better between the two companies though after Apple put Facebook into the core of iOS 6. Now delicious little fruits are springing out of their relationship, the latest of which, let’s Facebook users give their friends iTunes credits as a “gift.”

When you just look at the money Apple made in 2012 it’s pretty incredible. But when you provide some context to those earnings and put Apple’s profits next to the competition’s profits, Apple’s performance is absolutely mindboggling.

From October 2011 to September 2012 Apple made more money than Microsoft, Ebay, Google, Yahoo! Facebook and Amazon combined. In that same period, Dell, Asus, Intel, Acer, IBM, Lenovo, and HP (basically the entire PC industry) only made $19.3 billion in profit, which is less than half of Apple’s profit.

Source: Statista

Apple has released their first beta of OS X 10.8.3 to developers today. The download is live and functional, so if you have a developer account and want to see the new changes coming to OS X Mountain Lion you can log in to the developer center and download it right now.

Even though Android leads in terms of marketshare, iPhone and iPad owners use more data than Android users. It also appears that iOS users are also more comfortable with shopping online via their mobile device than Android users.

IBM released their Holiday Benchmark Report and found that among U.S. consumers shopping for Thanksgiving and Black Friday deals from their mobile device, a strong majority were using iPhones or iPads and about 77% of all mobile purchases originated from an iOS device.