What’s this? Android news on Cult of Mac?! Who the hell cares?! Maybe you don’t, maybe you do. Point is: these are a few of the popular topics going on in the Android world today. Maybe you’d like to know what the competition is up to, or perhaps your aunt received a Kindle Fire she needs to update. Regardless of the reason, having a resource such as Cult of Android allows you to learn more about what’s going on in the ecosystem powered by the world’s leading mobile OS.

LAS VEGAS, CES 2012 – Wandering the showfloor of CES as a juiced-out gadget writer, charging solutions can take on a bizarrely exotic appeal. That external battery pack you passed over the press release for with a yawn months ago can suddenly become this season’s must-have gadget, all because your MacBook’s battery icon is blinking red, all the outlets are taken in the press room and you’ve got three stories to file.

As such, it’s hard to tell if I like iLuv’s DreamTraveler so much because I’ve got a desert wanderer’s thirst for electricity or because it’s genuinely a sexy, useful product. Certainly the Cult of Mac team could have used one in the press room this week. But I’m definitely leaning toward ‘sexy’ and ‘useful’, because the DreamTraveler isn’t just a good looking power strip, it’s also a dock that can charge six Apple gadgets at a time from just one outlet.

LAS VEGAS, CES 2012 — Odds are that giving away free stuff will attract people to your CES booth no matter how high the level of suckiness of said free product. Earlier this morning Case-Mate wasn’t even giving away free cases, they were giving away fragments of free cases, but their booth was still mobbed by an army of swag seeking CES attendees, proving once again that freebies and booth-girls are still a viable way to get your product a momentary flash of attention.

LAS VEGAS, CES 2012 – Amazing to think Sony has never offered an armature-driven earphone before; now that they are, they’re diving in huge time with eleven models. Aussie new kid on the block Audiofly just have one in their new lineup, but it’s a doozy, and it sounded absolutely stunning; we fully expect these to be a huge hit.

Apple has always been discounted as a major player in terms of PC market share, despite the fact that competitors try desperately to copy Apple products.

The latest market share analysis from Gartner for 2011’s Q4 reveals that Apple was the only PC vendor in the US to see actual growth year over year.

LAS VEGAS, CES 2012 — Sennheiser is attacking the audio market with two exciting new headphones: the high-end HD 700s, and the mid-tier anodized-aluminum-crafted Amperior. Both have taken me to my happy place.

LAS VEGAS, CES 2012 – Taking a cue from their cutting-edge Command Messenger laptop bag, Timbuk2 have taken their popular, almost decade-old Commute Messenger and finally given it a major overhaul.

Sony is bringing its Music Unlimited service to iOS devices in the next three months. The Spotify-like service has been available on Android and PC devices, but Sony is looking to expand to the App Store.

LAS VEGAS, CES 2012 — Blue has announced three new microphones for Mac, iPhone, and iPad here at CES: The Mikey, Tiki, and Spark. I spent a bit of time at the Blue booth checking out their new mics, and I liked what I saw.

Popular music service Shazam has released a free iPhone app today called Shazam Player. The application is meant to serve as a replacement for the stock iOS 5 Music app, and Shazam is hoping to set itself apart with several marque features.

Firstly, Shazam Player brings LyricPlay to your iPhone’s music library, meaning that you can get fullscreen lyrics for tracks as you listen. You can also watch music videos on YouTube in-app, get tour information, read artist bios, and share what you’re listening to on Twitter and Facebook.

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LAS VEGAS, CES 2012 — The last Altec Lansing dock we reviewed, the Bluetooth-equipped InMotion Air, left us with a weird taste — it was just too funky. AL’s new LIVE 5000 more than makes up for this: It looks *really* stunning up close — and sounds fantastic to boot.

LAS VEGAS, CES 2012 – Remember the days before you had an iPhone and played games outside? Using sticks for swords and your hand as a gun? I bet you spent hours outdoors pretending you were some movie superhero trying to rescue Julia Roberts from a a plague of mutant zombie pandas. Then you got into video game consoles and iPhone games and your imagination just went in the toilet. Well, AppGear is here to bring back the nostalgia for your youth and make alien invasions a (virtual) reality.

Well looky here! Turns out the rumors are true and Apple really will be hosting an Education Event in New York City on January 19th. There are no details on what Apple will actually announce at the event, but our guess is it will involves textbooks on the iPad.

The event will be taking place at the iconic Guggenheim muesum, though no information was given on who will be the main speaker.

Remember Dell’s Streak tablet? Even though the device was just a blip in the minds of consumers, the PC maker wants to take another whack at going up against the iPad. The company is being coy with details, saying they want to get this attempt right.

LAS VEGAS, CES 2012 – Yes, it’s true, we’ve joined the masses on Instagram in order to give you more behind the scenes photos of what life is like for the Cult of Mac staff as they pound the streets of Vegas in search of gadgets galore. The team is currently rockin’ the party at CES, and we’ll be sending all our cute little followers photos from the showroom floor and behind the scenes looks at what goes into covering an event like CES. It’ll be like you’re here with us, even though you’re totally not but we wish you were. If you don’t already have Instagram, go download the app right now and add @CultofMac.

And if you’re hungry for even more info, here’s who’ll be on the ground, along with their Twitter handles. Follow us for on-the-floor updates, or if you’re at CES and see one of us, make sure to say hi.

**Update** The iOS Foundations Course bundle is expiring tonight. This is an excellent iOS app development course that will teach you the building blocks for C Programming and Objective-C. There are other courses out there, but these are built with beginners in mind.

Mobile is the future of technology and apps are the driving force of the mobile economy. Those who can build and design apps will be the most sought after talent. Anyone can come up with an idea for an app; it’s the getting it built that’s the tough part. So, if you’ve ever had a killer idea for an iPhone app, then the iOS Foundations bundle could be your chance to learn the one-two punch of iOS app programing from one of the best, Mark Lassoff.

After getting feedback from our customers, we found that the most effective way for a beginner to learn how to build iOS apps is to offer a combo of 2 courses: C Programming: iOS Development Starts Here!and the Objective C for Beginners. And, we’re including both courses for the price of one – just $79.

LAS VEGAS, CES 2012 – For Greg Kostello, an amiable ex-Apple and NeXT software developer with a goofily winning smile, there’s an intimacy and immediacy in a smaller audience. It’s something Greg discovered first as a kid showing his latest home movie neighborhood blockbuster in a small garage crammed with kids. It’s a lesson that deepened giving personal software demos at NeXT in a small office close to Steve Jobs himself. And it’s something that Greg is now trying to impart to the YouTube Generation with his new video sharing site, Givit.

Wall Street is cautiously optimistic that the update of RIM’s PlayBook tablet could avoid the BlackBerry maker from once again putting its finances in a ditch. The software update prompted one high-profile analyst to tell investors he was “less cautious” about the near future. Yes, that doesn’t scream confidence, but we are talking about the Titanic of mobile tech — and people are still running for the lifeboats at RIM.

LAS VEGAS, CES 2012 – Ever since Apple’s patent for a fold-down touch screen desktop computer, the internet has been wondering how the device would look and when Apple would come out with it (if ever). Taking some serious cues from Apple, Lenovo already has a computer that is very similar to the one described in Apple’s recent patent, so we met up with them last night to take a hands-on tour of their new machine and see if it’s something Apple might truly consider doing in the future.

The Lenovo A720 is one of the best touchscreen all-in-one desktop machine that we’ve seen at CES so far. It’s a neat machine sporting a 27-inch display that folds down to adapt to users’ needs. For the most part, Lenovo has built a good machine. The design is simple, but it’s definitely lacking those small details that Apple pulls off effortlessly. We’re still debating whether touchscreen desktops are something the world actually needs, so here are our thoughts on the Lenovo A720 and how Apple might attack the touch-screen desktop scene.

Comcast is introducing live cable TV to the iPad for Xfinity TV customers with a new device service called AnyPlay, allowing you to tune into your favorite shows on your tablet while the rest of the family watches another channel on the television.

Ever get tired of the dialog that appears whenever you run or access a file you’ve downloaded? It can be an annoying halt to a workflow, especially if you already know not to trust files downloaded from questionable websites. Here’s how to turn off the warning.

LAS VEGAS, CES 2012 – In the aftermath of this year’s Consumer Electronics Show, there are going to be hundreds of awards — some official, some decidedly not-so — declaring the best product of CES.

Why wait? We can already tell you what we think the best product of CES is: Verizon Wireless’s network, which is the only one that has not been frickin’ smeared into jelly by the insane data and voice demands of the show’s technical elite.

TomTom’s navigation apps for the iPhone and iPad are going social with Facebook and Twitter integration that will allow you to navigate to your friends, places, and events more easily. Version 1.10 of the official app, which will launch during Q1 2012, prides itself on using social networks as a source for turn-by-turn navigation.

LAS VEGAS, CES 2012 — Those studly hex bolts, that rubberized exterior, the thick mass of battery — Mophie’s new Power Station Pro was obviously designed with one idea in mind: keeping your iDevice-laden butt juiced out in the middle of nowhere.

Apple’s iPhone is now available on AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon in the U.S., but T-Mobile customers are still waiting for the popular smartphone to come to them. According to the company’s CEO, Philipp Humm, the reason the device still hasn’t arrived is T-Mobile’s unique 3G band, which isn’t used by other carriers.