Here’s how to access a secret setting to make your Mac’s volume very quiet indeed—ideal if you’re trying to listen to something in a very quiet room where somebody else is working or sleeping, for example. As a tip this can be filed under the category, “Cool! I never knew that!”.

Apple has made another addition to its team this week with a former Microsoft Product Marketing chief, Robin Burrowes, joining the ranks to become the head of App Store Marketing for iTunes Europe. Burrowes was previously part of Microsoft’s Xbox LIVE team, and he’s not the first gaming executive to head for Cupertino as Apple gets serious about battling consoles head on.

Every once and a while, some big box retail pricer huffs a little too much of Apple’s pixie dust and goes mad enough to start selling iTunes gift cards for less than their actual value. Ladies and gentlemen, now is just such a time of madness, as Best Buy is now selling iTunes Gift Cards for 20% off (digital delivery only). That means every $25 of iTunes credit — useable on songs, movies, Mac software, iOS apps, iBooks and in-app purchases — can be had for just $20.

That’s a pretty swank deal if you make most of your purchases in Apple’s digital ecosystem, which is most of us. Get buying here, but be fast about it: you only have until 7PM!

Thanks, Dave!

It’s been a of couple years since the social food finding photogasm app Foodspotting hit the scene, and now — thanks to many hours of hard work — the guys over at Foodspotting are proud to introduce Foodspotting 3.0. In what they’re calling “Pandora for food,” Foodspotting 3.0 has received a complete visual makeover with a Pandora-like interface for discovering and rating dishes. In version 3.0, user can:

For longtime Apple fans and new Mac and iOS users alike, this is a fascinating time to be living and working. Apple is becoming a fixture in every kind of workplace. It seems like every week there are stories of businesses investing in iPads or MacBooks, including the recent Forrester report that one in five people now use an Apple device on the job and 50% of companies issued Macs to at least some staff members. Not to mention the Checkpoint study that showed corporations preferring iOS over both Android and BlackBerry.

In other words, Apple, the iPad and iPhone are revolutionizing business, and Cult of Mac is joining that revolution. That’s why I take great pleasure in introducing Ryan Faas, Cult of Mac’s new business reporter. Ryan will be writing for the site full-time, covering the incredible march of Apple technology into the workplace. Ryan is a veteran tech journalist who has written extensively about Apple, business and enterprise IT, and the mobile industry. He’s contributed to Computerworld, InformIT and Peachpit Press.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhLz1MwgFzI

We’ve been covering the teaser trailers for Reckless Racing 2 in the run-up to its launch, itching to get our hands on the latest release. This is the sequel to the hugely popular Reckless Racing from Polarbit, and it promises to be even more incredible, with a new selection of 18 highly-detailed cars, 24 different routes, and new game modes. And it’s available to download now.

Apple broke from its traditional June unveiling for the iPhone 4S, choosing instead to launch the device at a dedicated “Let’s talk iPhone” event in October. But we may not have to wait until October of this year to see the iPhone 5.

According to one analyst, the sixth-generation device will get back its traditional June announcement at Apple’s Worldwide Developer’s Conference in 2012.

Dreams of an iPad 3 announcement this month have been shattered by the same publication that initially claimed when the device would get its grand unveiling. It is now reporting the much-anticipated third-generation device won’t be uncovered until March — as we had always expected — but that Apple still has plans for an “unusual” event this month.

If you’re the kind of geeky person who experienced a little thrill of joy when the hacking scene in Tron:Legacy included realistic use of a genuine command line interface, you (or perhaps your kids) might also enjoy playing with Hacker Typer.

Some gadgets love the rugged outdoors; the iPhone, with its sensitive, water-fearing innards, is more of a house gadget. Awww. Then LifeProof stepped in to change that when it launched its $80 water-, dirt-, snow- and shockproof case last summer. Now, the company has unveiled a line of four modular mounts that fit the LifeProof case, turning the iPhone into an electro-Leatherman.

I’m actually typing this review using Belkin’s Bluetooth Keyboard Folio for iPad 2 ($100). There are a few keyboard cases out there created to both house the iPad 2 as well as provide an alternative to the iPad’s digital keyboard, but this keyboard case’s keyboard is an iPad-toting writer’s dream.

This is a guest post by Mike Daisey, who’s latest monologue, The Agony and Ecstacy of Steve Jobs, is at New York’s Public Theater through March 4. We highly recommend you go see it. It made Steve Wozniak cry. The post originally appeared here.

Stephen Fry, brilliant comedian, wonderful actor, and bon vivant just posted this in his Twitter feed:

As a fellow raconteur it’s painful to have to confront Mr. Fry with this fact, but he’s being a total idiot.

He’s in good company—most of the Mac universe is in the midst of a massive propaganda campaign, trying to convince itself and the universe that the cognitive dissonance they are feeling at this moment isn’t real.

So you’re going to see some good people, like Mr. Fry, who happen to love their Apple products very much, say some horrible things because they don’t actually understand how to reconcile the beauty and grace of their wonderful Apple products with the unvarnished, verified truth of how they are produced.

Last week we told you about Evi, an iPhone app that challenges Apple’s own Siri voice control technology. Powered by the same Nuance backend, Evi and Siri offer similar voice control/assistant features. The main difference between the two is that Evi is available on the iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS, while Siri is only available natively for iPhone 4S owners.

Another App Store app has come to our attention, and its name is vokul. As the first and only 100% handsfree voice control app for the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad, vokul allows users to dictate text messages, make calls, and play music without ever having to lift a finger.

An update for the Corona untethered jailbreak tool has been released for all A5-based devices.

If you’re having trouble with iBooks on your newly-jailbroken iPhone 4S, you’re not alone. As with most jailbreaks, Apple’s eBook app can tend to act up and sometimes not work at all when opened on a liberated iOS device. Thanks to the most recent Corona update in Cydia, iPhone 4S jailbreakers should be able to use iBooks on the iPhone 4S. The update also addresses general stability issues for users on iOS 5.0 and is recommend for iPad 2 owners as well.

Apple just released the latest 10.7.3 update to OS X Lion over Software Update. You can download the update either through Software Update or by downloading the installer here.

Here’s the list of changes and bug fixes.

Remember that iPod nano prototype we saw this morning, complete with 1.3MP camera? A prototype for a reason, says a new report, which claims that while Apple does want to put a camera on the next-generation iPod nano, this particular prototype took pictures so crummy that Apple shelved it.

Having someone snoop into your private life is a horror that sends most Americans into a state of demonic rage. People went completely nuts over the Carrier IQ controversy,  and we wonder how most people would react if the internet had transparent access to all their text messages. Unfortunately, Apple’s iMessage has revealed what such a scenario might look like, and it’s not only not pretty… it’s something that can happen so easily that even an Apple Store Genius has had his private text message history exposed, sexting and all.

Siri’s notorious inability to understand a thick Scottish brogue is pretty notorious at this point, but perhaps no video makes the point more humorlessly than this mock advertisement for Siri from Apple Scotland. It’s more than a little foul-mouthed, so if you’re at work, put some headphones on.

The ability to have mobile Safari save the usernames and passwords that we enter frequently on our iOS devices can be hugely helpful, especially for the forgetful minds amongst us. But not everyone feels comfortable having these details saved on their device. After all, if it gets into the wrong hands, anyone can login to our favorite sites at the tap of a button.

So what if you save these credentials accidentally, or you decide that you no longer want these details saved on your device. Well, fortunately, it’s very simple to delete them without having perform a complete restore on your device. Here’s how to delete saved usernames and passwords in mobile Safari.

Earlier in his life, Steve Jobs was known for his dark mop of hair, but later in life, the onset of male pattern baldness meant that Steve kept his hair closely and fashionably cropped. In other words, it didn’t exactly take that long to dry when he climbed out of the shower in the morning.

So we’re puzzled by the existence of this limited edition Chinese hairdryer, the so-called ‘iFeng 4S’ (Feng means “wind” in Chinese). It comes from a small home appliance company in Chaozhou,and only 100 9.7 watt units are available for sale for a little under $100 yuan (or about $16).

Best Buy is offering up a $50 Gift Card to anyone who upgrades to a new phone before the end of the year. The promo is actually a bit confusing as you have to already have an existing mobile number and you must register that number before February 12, 2012 to be eligible for the promo. Then, when you finally decide to upgrade your phone, you must upgrade using the number you registered and then you will be provided with your $50 gift card. Whew, I’m glad I got that cleared that up.

A TV commercial in Taiwan shows an actor dressed like Steve Jobs, but with wings and a halo, onstage introducing a new product. It’s not an Apple product, but a competitor to the iPad called the “Action Pad” from Action Electronics.

In the ad, the translation says: Introducing the next generation of the pad.” The commercial closes with the line: “Thank God, I can finally play another pad.”

We’re all hankering for Apple to announce its iPad 3, but some lucky so and sos already have their hands on the third-generation device. One of whom has revealed photographs of its internal specifications, which confirm it will feature a quad-core processor and global LTE capabilities.

Apple did nothing towards changing the design of the iPod nano last September, but it could have something special up its sleeve for this year’s refresh. A series of images that have surfaced in Taiwan revived rumors the next device will feature a 1.3-megapixel camera, allowing you to snap impromptu photos while you’re on your morning run.

A recent Match.com survey of Canadian smartphone users has revealed some interesting patterns surrounding one’s love life in regards to the mobile operating system they use. Cell phones have become a huge part in how we communicate and build relationships, whether through talking, email, or texting. 75 percent of Canadian singles seem to agree with that, and here’s what Match.com found out about their relationship habits and what mobile OS they happen to use: