You might think that the new MacBook Pro with Retina display breaks the bank as far as computers go, but compared to some of Apple’s older machines, it’s just a drop in the bucket. Apple has never had the most economical options for computers, but they’ve come a long way towards being affordable to most consumers. Don’t believe me? Forbes has compiled a list of the five most expensive Apple computers of all time.

According to a recent study, iPhone and iPad app development has a bigger learning than curve than any other mobile platform. It also costs developers more in terms of time and expenses to develop an iOS app than to create an Android, BlackBerry, or Windows Phone app.

Despite those challenges, iOS has boosted the popularity of Objective-C, the programming language used by Apple for both Mac and iOS development – making it the third most popular language with developers.

Recording a musical masterpiece with GarageBand for iPad is fairly straightforward, especially when using the “smart” instruments to layer a song together. However, if you don’t get the music out of your iPad, no one will hear it. If no one hears it, how will you know how amazing it is? Let’s take a look at some basic mixing and sharing features of GarageBand for iPad.

Killspencer might sound like an order to murder somebody with a fancy name, but it is in fact just an innocent iPhone card-case made from Rosenkrantz*. No. Wait… I mean rosewood.

Wood is the perfect complement to tech. As mere consumers, wood calms us whilst surrounding more complicated hardware. It provides warmth. It is accessible. And it looks brilliant.

I was an early adopter. The television I grew up with was a wood-blocked behemoth that took both parents to move across our jungle of shag carpet; a task embarked upon only once a year, when we needed to make room for a Christmas tree. Wood has received a wonderful resurgence in the design community of late, with some covet-worthy examples in this desk set and the Monolith iPhone back, lovingly reviewed in April on this very site.

You can imagine my delight, then, when Charlie Sorrel posted about the Miniot Cover Mark Two, or Mk2, this spring. Dissatisfied with most covers I’ve tried for the new iPad, I had to get my hands on the Mk2. And what a dapper little devil it turned out to be.

Apple has already conquered the world of PCs, mobile phones, tablets, and soon, television. But Steve Jobs had aspirations of dominating more than just the world of computers, and on our newest CultCast, we’ll tell you where we’d love to see Apple head next.

And then: we’ve been iffy on ever seeing an iPad Mini, but we now have reason to believe that the mystical device will indeed see the light of day. Don’t buy that Kindle Fire just yet!

All that and more on The CultCast. Go on and hit the ‘ol subscribe button here, or download Apple’s brilliant new Podcasts app and effortlessly stream The CultCast whenever you’d like!

Show notes ahead!

Now that Microsoft has unveiled the pricing and licensing models for Windows Server 2012, it’s easy to see why Apple’s focus on the small business market has been a genius move. Apple has been positioning its server platform as a small business solution for a while and Mountain Lion Server is the premier example of this focus.

Mountain Lion Server provides all the core needs for a small or mid-size firm – file sharing, email and messaging, shared contacts and calendars, and collaborative tools – for both Mac and Windows users. It also provides Mac deployment and update services as well as Mac and iOS device management capabilities. All of that is insanely affordable at just $31.98 ($19.99 to buy Mountain Lion, if needed, and then $19.99 for Mountain Lion Server).

By contrast, Microsoft’s so-called streamlining licensing for Windows Server 2012 lists a Windows Server Essentials Edition, which is the new equivalent of Windows Small Business Server, as starting at $425 with serious limitations.

Italian designer Federico Ciccarese is well known throughout the blogosphere for his Apple product concepts. Chances are that you’ve seen his gorgeous iPad Mini and iPhone 5 concept designs in recent months.

Ciccarese has released a futuristic iPhone concept that takes a very different approach to wearable technology. Kinda creepy, right?

Do you use OmniFocus on your iPhone? Do you use Launch Center Pro? Then you need to watch the above screencast, put together by Michael Schechter of A Better Mess. It uses the latter to create shortcuts and snippets of text to enter into the former, and makes the whole thing way, way faster.

U.K. carrier O2 decided to survey its users to determine which devices iPhones or other smartphones commonly replace in the lives of its customers. The most commonly replaced device turned out to be one of the more low-tech devices in daily life – the alarm clock.

54% of O2’s iPhone and smartphone customers have relegated their alarm clocks to the dustbin of history.

The second most commonly replaced device was also a time-keeping device: the watch.

OK. You spent $100 on your iPhone 4 (plus the invisible $1 trillion your contract will extract from you over the next 24 months). What do you do next? How about dropping $160 on an aluminum bumper case? Thanks to the fine folks at ElementCase, you can do just that with the Viper Pro Stealth 2.

Well, here’s a good idea that’s been a long time coming: AT&T is about to launch a new service that will make it easy for you to report and block your iPhone or iPad’s service if it has been stolen.

Although Apple quietly fixed the problem on their end that led to numerous corrupt app updates being sent out to customers, the after effects continued to plague app developers who had been bitten by the bug in the form of one-star App Store reviews from outraged customers. Now Apple’s done the right thing, and obscured these one-star reviews from influencing afflicted apps’ ratings.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YP5goKA4dQ

Blind? Then you’re most likely reading this post on an iOS device, because no other platform has quite the same great level of accessibility options built-in. But that still doesn’t help you when you want to write (unless using Voiceover to find the individual keys is your thing). But I bring good news! Fleksy is a new app which takes predictive text to a ridiculous new level.

Steve Jobs’s family home in Palo Alto, where he lived with his wife Laurene Powell and their children, is currently undergoing a major renovation project that has forced the family to vacate the property. It’s unclear exactly what modifications are being made, but it is believed that the roof will be replaced and that there will be changes to the roofline.

If you’re waiting for Apple to add wireless charging to the iPhone, you could be waiting some time. We’ve been hearing rumors of its introduction for a number of years now, but five generations in, it’s yet to arrive. If you’re a skilled solderer, however, you could always add wireless charging to your iPhone yourself.

That’s what Tanveer did. He took apart a wireless charging case for the iPhone and installed its components into the iPhone 4S. Now all he has to do to charge it is place it down on a USB charging mat.

Led by the iPad, tablet sales are now expected to overtake laptop sales within four years. Given how disruptive the iPad has already been to many industries, it’s almost impossible to read reports like that without wondering which industries the iPad will topple or transform over the next five to ten years.

A new Morgan Stanley report identifies some of the likely winners and losers in an iPad and tablet dominated world. The industries expected to succeed include a couple of surprises – at first glance.

Everyone wants the latest hot Apple product, even gangs of masked thieves carrying deadly assault rifles.

U.K. Interactive Entertainment (UKIE) chairman Andy Payne has revealed that Activision’s new studio in Leeds is working to bring a new Call of Duty game to iOS. The hugely successful first-person shooter already has its name in the App Store, but the existing titles only provide access to the game’s “Zombies” element.

As usual, Lonelysandwich (aka. Adam Lisagor)’s video is hilarious and makes you want to buy the product right away (remember the Jambox?). Checkmark is a soon-to-be-released iPhone app which makes setting (and forgetting – for now) location-based reminders easy, and effective.

Sick of forgetting to pick up that [insert household item here] every damn time you visit the grocery store? You need Checkmark.

GarageBand is not only a full featured recording studio, a highly capable MIDI synth station, an electronica musician’s dream, or a place to record full songs without a day of music lessons. It’s also fantastic software for podcasting. GarageBand makes creating a podcast easy and fun.

Back in the heady days of the early 2000s, I recorded and distributed a podcast of my own, called The ANC Podcast. It was a short internet radio show that focused on local music in Anchorage, Ak, where I had recently relocated to. I spent some time working on the craft of creating a podcast, and let me tell you, GarageBand makes it much easier than it really has any right to be. Most of the podcasters I know use a Macintosh and GarageBand to get their internet audio show on, including the Insomnia Radio Daily Dose, The Portable Podcast, and The Touch Of Gaming Podcast, just to name (drop) a few.

Apple is clearly working towards making solid-state storage a standard for its MacBook line, which means our notebook computers have never been speedier. The only problem is, the flash storage Apple uses is still pretty expensive, and so most of us have to settle for less of it when we’re buying a new MacBook.

That means we either need to come up with ways to decrease our data consumption, or add cheaper external storage for things like our iTunes libraries and torrent archives. If you’re going for the latter (the easier option) then you need the Nifty MiniDrive, an SD card specifically designed for MacBooks that you’ll hardly ever notice.

Although we’ve been deeply skeptical over the speculation surrounding another new 10-inch iPad this year, there is a possibility Apple could be gearing up to make some modifications to its existing device. The Cupertino company has been quick to dismiss the new iPad’s heat issues, but the latest report from DigiTimes claims it is looking to remove one of its two backlight modules in an effort to decrease its operating temperature.

Raise your hand if you really like managing your home/personal finances. I’m betting the few of you who did raise their hands are either in the financial industry or just dig numbers. The rest of us? Well we all hate trying to track budgets, spending, the “can I afford a new 32GB iPad now…” questions, and keeping work/tax expenses straight. I think I might have the solution for you.

Cashculator.

Manage all your finances, simply and easily and only $15!

Amazon has taken the next great leap in competition with Apple. Jeff Bezos and company, not resting with their Kindle Fire bargain tablet, has apparently been working on its own smartphone device, reportedly with Focxonn International, the phone maker based in China that Apple has had some press about lately.

Citing “people with knowledge of the matter,” Bloomberg reports that Amazon is also acquiring wireless technology patents to help it get a leg up on the current patent infringement lawsuit frenzy. If the rumors are true, could Amazon bring a third horse to the race?