Microsoft has released an iPad version of its popular OneNote app. The note-taking app is available in the App Store for free with limited functionality. A $14.99 in-app purchase unlocks the ability to take an unlimited number of notes, while free users are limited to 500.

The Computer History Museum currently has a great exhibit of Steve Jobs on their website. Among the neat tibits on their site is a 20minute video gifted from marketing guru Regis McKenna that shows Steve Jobs explaining the history of Apple back in his younger years. The video was probably recorded sometime in the early 1980’s as Steve and his crew were secretly working on the Macintosh after Apple had been enjoying an enormous amount of success from the Apple II.

Apple has released iTunes 10.5.2 to the public alongside an update to its iTunes Match service. The new version of iTunes only deals with audio distortion issues when playing or importing certain CDs. Apple has remained vague about the specific improvements that have been made to iTunes Match.

Noting that the latest iTunes Match features “several improvements,” Apple has made its new download available in Software Update and on its website.

We’ve got an affinity for great Apple tattoos here at Cult of Mac, but let’s face facts: most of them are pretty bad. But the Apple-themed tattoo we’ve fallen in love with today is a lot better than another hipster giving him or herself a “Think Different” tramp stamp.

Reader Karissa B. wrote us to show off her new Apple tattoo. We already liked it a lot: not only is the retro-style Apple logo nursing a mean mouthful of fangs, but the Pac Man like motif of Cupertino trying to gobble up its Clyde in a fleeing Microsoft logo was funny and whimsical. But it’s the story about what the tattoo means and why Karissa got it that really makes this tattoo shine.

9to5Mac’s Mark Gurman has been peeling through the .plist files of the latest iOS 5.1 beta, and it appears that Apple is screwing with bloggers on purpose: weary of people dissecting the iOS files for mention of future iPhones and iPads, iOS 5.1 Beta 2 references the Apple TV 9, iPad 8, and iPhone 10, among others.

We’ve dedicated more than a few posts t0 declaring that a new iPad or iPhone is coming thanks to .plist references, but even so, I think this is pretty funny. Way to screw with a poor tech blogger’s head, Apple! The message is clear from here on out: you can’t trust iOS’s .plist files for a scoop. Well done!

Spotlight search on an iOS device is a fantastic feature. If, like me, you have pages and pages filled with apps, it’s easy to find the one you’re looking for simply by typing the first few letters of its name into Spotlight. You can do the same with songs, contacts, messages, emails, reminders, events, and lots, lots more.

However, there may be some things you don’t want to show in Spotlight. That doesn’t mean you should avoid the feature altogether — just customize its results to suit you. It’s incredibly easy, and not only will this remove items you don’t want to see, it’ll also make it faster to find what you’re looking for.

If you’ve got a developer account, time to get downloading: Apple has just knocked up the second beta of iOS 5.1.

In addition, Apple’s gone ahead and updated the beta of the latest Apple TV software, as well as release Xcode 4.3 Developer Preview 2.

Release notes are below, but here’s hoping Cupertino’s finally cracked some of those battery life issues.

If you’re a fan of The Neverending Story, here’s an iPad case that even a Rockbiter could love.

If you’re an iPad user and sick of waiting for something like the Mac’s Dashboard to appear on your tablet, you’ll love to know about iDashboard, a new iPad offering that consolidates many individual apps into one screen.

I can guess your age by asking you two questions: What smartphone do you own and what’s your favorite mobile game? If you answered Android and Angry Birds, you must be between 35 and 44 years old. Turns out, 35 percent of that age group simply adores Angry Birds, while younger gamers could care less about the blue, red and yellow pig-haters.

We all know how the mano a mano duel between an iPad and a blender turns out, but what happens when you open up an iPad 2 and then plop it down in some molten lava? That’s just what accessory maker ZooGue wanted to find out, so they jumped on a plane to Hawaii and then threw their iPad 2 into a volcano.

The result? Pretty much as you expect: the iPad 2 complains about the heat for awhile, then bursts into flame and melts into metallic goo. It’s strangely cathartic, but that’s doubtless because it’s not my iPad 2.

[via NeoWin]

Are you underage and in need of a drink? There used to be an app for that, but not anymore. Apple has pulled an app that created fake driver’s licenses after a U.S. Senator from New Jersey complained it “poses a threat to public safety and national security.” No more 19-year-old Al Qaeda members trying to sneak in on happy hour, I guess.

Short on cash for the holidays? If you don’t mind shopping at Radio Shack and have an old iPhone to trade-in, you can get a killer deal on a new iPhone 4 or iPhone 4S this week.

How killer? Well, how does a free iPhone 4S with no money down sound to you? Pretty good? Well, guess what: play your cards right and you could not only get a free iPhone 4S, you’ll get Radio Shack to pay you a little money to take an iPhone 4S off their hands. You just need to combine the right offers.

Chronic Dev-Team member and iOS hacker Pod2g, who we’ve mentioned a number of times in recent reports surrounding an untethered iOS 5 jailbreak, claims to have successfully developed an untethered jailbreak for the iPhone 4 running iOS 5.0.1 and says it’s safe to update to the latest firmware.

There’s over half a million apps on the App Store at this point, but that’s not to say that apps can’t still stand out from the crowd. Choosing the cream of the crop, though, can be a daunting and contentious task.

That’s why we need your help. A week from now, we’re going to announce our ten favorite iOS apps of 2011, then later in the month declare our vote for the best app of the year. Hence this poll; we need you to tell us which app you think qualifies as the best of the best.

By making your photographs available across all of your devices, Photo Stream makes it easier than ever to share your holiday snaps with your friends and family. However, the experience is ruined somewhat when your stream gets cluttered up with screenshots you’ve taken on your iOS devices.

Screenshot Dam is a new tweak for jailbroken devices that aims to solve this problem by preventing screenshots from entering your Photo Stream altogether.

We’ve had some great response to the Winter 2011 Mac Phenom Bundle over the past week. We’re really happy to see so many readers enjoying the apps. As a reminder to all those who have been debating whether or not to purchase the bundle, the deal ends tonight at 11PM PST, so get it while you can!

The Holiday season is here, and you can get all your holiday shopping done while sitting in your pajamas sippin’ eggnog in front of your computer screen. With the Winter 2011 Phenom Bundle you can either gift individual apps from your own bundle, or better yet, get the entire lineup for your friends and family! We’re really excited to be able to bring you 11 amazing apps for a tasty price of $50. Individually these little gems would cost a total of $486, but we’ve been able to negotiate a great deal for you just in time for the holidays.

This great bundle of Mac OS X apps includes:

Nisus Writer Pro
Motion Composer
Bellhop
PhotoStyler
Tidy Up!
MacGourmet Deluxe
Rubbernet
Boom
AppDelete
Remote Buddy
MacScan

Got a new Mac? You’ve probably realised that OS X provides an excellent out-of-the-box experience. Unlike with Windows, few add-ons are required. There’s a great browser, for example, and full PDF support. But there’s still some tools that most experienced Mac users download the minute they boot-up a new Mac. Here they are, listed for possibly the first time…

Here’s a great sleight-of-hand trick from Samsung: trumpet that you’ve sold 300 million phones through November. While everyone is amazed that the South Korean company pumped out nearly six times as many mobile phones than Apple, people will forget the iPhone maker rules smartphone profits. Nice try, but it won’t work.

Did you miss checking out Apple’s new Grand Central Terminal location on its totally insane launch day? Apple doesn’t want anyone to miss out, which is why they’ve posted a 360 degree panorama of the inside of the store on their official website.

Late last week, Apple uploaded this fantastic new ad to their official YouTube account, and it really is a beautiful piece of work: a magical mystery tour through a collection of living, breathing Beatles covers.

It’s really charming how proud Apple is of getting the Beatles on iTunes, to the extent that over a year later, Apple is still advertising the Beatles as if they are one of their own in-house products, like an iPhone or iPad.

Half a million. Most app stores would be happy to have half a million users, but that’s just the number of apps Apple has in the App Store. And while they are bragging about their big swinging stats, Cupertino’s got another one to announce: over 100 million apps have been downloaded from the Mac App Store since its debut in early November last year. Wow.

Rovio, the creators of Angry Birds, celebrated the game’s second birthday on December 11 with an update that’s guaranteed to please fans of the bird slinger. In addition to 15 brand new levels, version 2.0 of the original Angry Birds game unlocks every episode available.

AirPlay has been around for well over a year now, but the range of AirPlay compatible accessories available is still pretty slim. However, that could be about to change.

Apple is reportedly planning to introduce Bluetooth support to AirPlay, which would significantly extend the range of accessories currently compatible with the feature. The company will also improve iOS connectivity for third-party accessories.