Apple rarely buys other companies, so when the Cupertino giant makes an acquisition, it’s worth noting. CNET is reporting that Apple has recently purchased Particle, a small creative consulting company based in San Francisco that specializes in HTML5 development. Particle is a relatively small firm, but it has done some big projects for companies like Google, Sony and even Apple.

What does the acquisition mean? While the reason behind the deal remains unknown, Apple likely wants the web talent from Particle.

The MacHeist folks have thrown the covers off to reveal all the Mac software that you’ll get if you purchase the latest bundle for $29. In addition to this insanely good deal on some fantastic software, you’ll be gifting a charity of your choice (from a list provided at the site) with 25% of the proceeds. If all 1.5 million MacHeist members end up purchasing the bundle, that’s a lot of extra cash for the many worthwhile organizations in the charity list.

Just Mobile is one of my favorite third-party accessory makers for Apple products. They make beautifully minimal stands, chargers, styluses, and other random accessories for iPhone, iPad and Mac. What makes Just Mobile’s stuff great is that most of their products look like they were designed by Apple itself, and that’s no exaggeration—just take a look at their catalog. It’s all great.

A couple of the newest products to be announced by Just Mobile include the AluBase and AluRack MacBook mounts.

We just got tipped an email from a reader who emailed Apple VP of Mac Software Engineering Craig Federighi. Cult of Mac reader Stephen Gilbert emailed Federighi about not being able to use fullscreen Mac apps on multiple displays. When you make an app enter fullscreen mode in Lion or Mountain Lion, it will fill one display and blackout your secondary monitor.

For some reason Apple doesn’t allow you to use an app in fullscreen mode while viewing content on another display, and it’s annoying. For instance, entering fullscreen mode for an iTunes movie will make it impossible to use your second display while the video is playing. Not exactly an optimal experience for those who fancy lots of screen real estate.

I’m a borderline weather geek. I don’t just like to know the temperature — both inside and out — I even keep a hydrometer in my home so I can keep tabs on the humidity, cause you know, that’s important.

So naturally, when I found out about the Netatmo Weather Station ($179), I was a little excited. With its indoor and outdoor weather modules, the Netatmo tracks a lot more than just the current temperature. Plus, unlike my crappy $5 hydrometer, it relays all its readings in a unified way, presented beautifully in an iOS app optimized for both my iPhone and iPad.

Here’s how it works.

iFixit called the the 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display the “least repairable” laptop ever made, and for good reason. Apple’s super-strong glue, soldering, and proprietary screws make it impossible to replace the battery, upgrade RAM, swap the circuit boards, etc. That’s why Apple originally withdrew its products from EPEAT, the American standard for eco-friendly consumer electronics. After plenty of public outcry, Apple issued an apology and re-added its products to the EPEAT’s registry, despite the fact that laptops like the Retina MacBook Pro aren’t exactly “green.”

Last week EPEAT said that Apple’s products, including new laptops like the Retina MacBook Pro, meet its eligibility requirement for registry approval. Now EPEAT is giving the Retina MacBook Pro its highest “Gold” approval rating.

We got a couple of comments yesterday on our tip about using shared Photo Streams on iOS devices. One of them was how to add new people to a Photo Stream once it’s been created. It’s fairly unintuitive (Apple, are you listening?), so here’s a quick step-by-step on how to do so.

When Apple sends out invitations for their media events, they often include little hints as to what people can expect to be announced. The iPhone 5 event nvitation had the shadow of a gigantic five emerging from underneath the date, and the iPad 3 invitation showed off the clarity of the tablet’s still-unannounced Retina display.

In comparison, today’s invite for the October 23rd event doesn’t seem to have many clues as to what Apple is announcing. The design of the invitation doesn’t seem to mean much. However, the writers of Apple’s invitation have tipped their hat a little bit in the wording of the invitation: “We’ve got a little more to show you.”

What does it mean? Well, everything Apple is expected to announce next week is either a smaller version of an existing product (thinner iMacs, a 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro tear) or ‘mini’ (the iPad mini, a new Mac mini). It’s not a lot to go on, but it’s definitely a purposeful choice and a nod to the products we’ll see next week.

There are an unlimited number of ways a developer can manage to get their new game rejected by the App Store police. Terry Cavanagh’s free game was rejected for probably the silliest reason you’ve ever heard – he told users that in-app purchases are complete nonsense.

The maker of Super Hexagon submitted his new iOS game, Don’t Look Back, to the App Store a few weeks ago. The game itself is a very basic retro scrolling adventure type game with blocky pixel art. The game is supposed to be free, so in the app description Cavanagh tried to point out to people that they can play Don’t Look Back without having to worry about purchasing items in the game. The game description submitted to Apple read:

iTwin SecureBox is a movie-thriller plot waiting to happen. It is also a security device modeled on those tacky his-n-hers heart-shaped pendants which snap in two so you can “show your love” at all times.

Back in the mundane real world, the iTwin SecureBox is a hardware encryption gadget for DropBox.

Yes, this is a fish story. Over the summer my son and I were fishing on the lake in Maine where I’ve been fishing for nearly 40 years. One day I caught the biggest fish (smallmouth bass) I’ve ever caught anywhere, any time. The problem is that you won’t believe me (I don’t expect you to) because I don’t have a picture of it. Why no picture? Because I didn’t want to risk bringing my iPhone or camera in the boat with us. Later I thought, because I had seen them before, “I wish I had one of those uber-waterproof, floating case/bags for my iPhone…”

Well, guess what’s on sale now (and a few months too late for me), yeah you guessed it—Waterproof Your Smartphone With DryCASE: The Ultimate Dry Case for Your Smartphone—and let me tell you why it’s cool and why you should have one.

Imagine that you are chatting to somebody on your iPhone. Now imagine that — at the touch of a button — you can cause a fragrance to squirt from their iPhone and into their unsuspecting nostrils. Amazingly, there is a device which will make this nightmare scenario real, and — of course — it comes from Japan.

As a great man once sang, there’s 57 channels and nothing on). But that was before iOS and apps came along. Now you don’t need channels. You need something like Vodio.

Owners of the new iPod Touch may spend a lot more time manually updating the brightness of their device because, unlike previous models, the iPod Touch doesn’t have an ambient light sensor or auto-brightness settings.

After checking the iPod Touch spec sheet, we found out yesterday that Apple left the sensor out on purpose. Why did they ditch it when users have come to expect it? According to a purported email from Apple VP Phil Schiller, the iPod Touch was just too dang for them to fit it in.

Apple’s iMac line hasn’t been updated since May 3rd, 2011. On average, that makes an update almost a year overdue. So you know a big update is coming, and rumor has it that when it comes, the new iMac will jettison the the optical drive to achieve a vastly thinner, teardrop form factor.

We were curious what that would look like, so we asked our designer Dan Draper to mock-up what a revised iMac with a thinner design would look like while largely retaining the iMac’s iconic portrait. The answer is familiar, and yet entirely new… the best iMac yet.

The new iMac is believed to be announced next week at Apple’s October 23rd event. Check out the full concept after the jump, and let us know what you think in the comments.

Today is Steve Jobs day in the state of California. October 16th was declared Steve Jobs day by Governor Jerry Brown on Twitter shortly after Apple’s co-founder and former CEO passed away last year following a long battle with pancreatic cancer. Although it may have been a one-off holiday, today is a perfect opportunity to reflect upon Steve Jobs’s legacy.

Been looking for an excuse to exercise? Then look no further than the App Store, for a new app from Striiv — the people who brought us the “smart pedometer” — will count your steps and turn them into gold. Virtual gold, that is. Metaphorical virtual gold. Whatever. Rewards?

It’s finally here. After months of rumors and speculation, the iPad Mini keynote is just days away. Apple just sent out invites to their October 23rd event where they are expected to reveal the iPad Mini, 13-inch MacBook Pros with Retina display, and possibly some new iMacs. The tag line for the event is “We’ve got a little more to show you.”

The event will take place in San Jose at the California Theatre on October 23rd at 10AM PDT. Along with the new hardware, the iPad Mini event is rumored to focus heavily on iBooks. Cult of Mac will live-blog the event, so mark your calendars and tune in.

It’s nearly time for Halloween, which mean you really need to figure out what you’re going to wear when you go trick or treating. Yeah, you could just stop by the store and buy a costume that thousands of people across the country are also going to buy, or you could be totally awesome and make your own.

To help you out we’ve created a guide on how to make your own Apple themed costume. Some are extremely easy, while others require a lot of work. No matter which costume you choose to go with you’ll be ready to show of your love for Apple in a unique way. Check them out:

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The Microsoft Surface looks really neat. It does all the cool things that a tablet can do, plus you can use the keyboard cover to switch toward more desktop oriented tasks. Now that Microsoft has announced pricing and a release date for the Microsoft Surface, we’re finally getting a clearer picture of whether it can truly compete with the iPad, and we think it’s going to put up a good fight.

For dedicated Windows users, the Surface is a dream machine that’s just as cheap as an iPad with an innovative operating system to match. There aren’t as many apps available for Windows 8 RT as there are for iOS 6, but surely Microsoft is going to be throwing dollar bills at developers over the next few months to get them to port their apps over. Are you thinking about getting a Microsoft Surface, or will you just get an iPad Mini instead?

Click here to go to the Cult of Mac Forums to tell us what you think about Microsoft’s new iPad competitor

DigiTimes has a rather poor track record when it comes to Apple rumors, so it’s always best to take its reports with a healthy heap of salt. The latest claims that Apple has informed its suppliers to prepare for a next-generation iPad in “mid-2013.” The Cupertino company has always launched its latest tablet around March, it is expected next year’s model will come slightly later.

The report also claims that Apple is working to reduce the number of LED backlights in the new model in an effort to simplify its manufacturing process.

T-Mobile is now the only major carrier in the United States that doesn’t offer the iPhone, because Apple’s device isn’t compatible with its 3G network. However, that could be about to change. One analyst believes that T-Mobile will finally get its chance to offer the iPhone 5 from early 2013.

Perverts rejoice! Now there’s an iPhone accessory which will let you shoot pictures of pretty girls in public without anyone ever knowing. And it’s even better than a specially adapted camera, because you can just pretend to be like checking your messages or whatever.

It’s called the HiLo lens, and it puts the “can” and “did” into “candid.”

Foxconn has admitted to finding underage interns as young as 14 working in one of its Chinese plants, where the minimum legal working age is 16. The company, which assembles Apple’s hugely popular iOS devices, has sent all underage workers back to their schools, and it’s now investigating how they were ended up at its plant.

MagFilters are — surprise! — filters for your compact camera which are attached to the lens by magnets. Unlike SLRs and other interchangeable-lens cameras, compacts lack the interior thread on their lens which lets you attach these light modifiers, so MagFilters take a leaf out of the iPhoneographers book instead.