Despite early grumbling about how it was unveiled, users of Apple’s iPhone 4S are overwhelmingly satisfied with the smartphone, ranking the Siri voice-recognition system as their favorite feature. At 96 percent satisfaction, the iPhone 4S is Apple’s most popular handset, besting even the iPhone 4.

The Carrier IQ scandal has broken everywhere since we first reported it yesterday morning. The invasive rootkit is installed on over 140 million phones the world over, and logs everything you do with your device, from the numbers you dial to the smutty pictures you send to your girlfriend.

Yesterday, we reported the story as one proving Steve Jobs right about how Android tracks everything you do, but a day later, things seem a lot less black and white. Carrier IQ’s software comes pre-installed on other devices besides Android, like BlackBerrys and Nokias, and as even the name of the software suggests, seems to be something installed by carriers. And, as it turns out, some iPhones. Luckily, disabling it is the easiest thing in the world, and it logs none of your personal information, unlike the software’s more nefarious Android counterpart.

While Apple computers today are famous for their svelte aluminum enclosures, the company’s first machine — born way back in 1976 — was made out of wood. In a bid to bring back that look, the iStation dock attempts turns your iPad 2 into the original Apple Computer.

An Australian airline revealed in a press release last week that one of its cabin crew was forced to extinguish an iPhone 4 that very nearly burst into flames shortly after the plane touched down in Sydney. As it turns out, that certainly won’t be the last iPhone to self combust.

An iPhone 4 user in Brazil has experienced a similar scenario with his own handset. While charging just inches away from his face, the device began emitting plumes of smoke and caught fire.

There are many other development tools available besides the free copy of Xcode that comes with every Mac. LiveCode 5 (starts at $99; $49 for upgrades), a development tool running on Mac OS X and other operating systems from RunRev, gets it inspiration from the programming language HyperTalk. It is designed with an intuitive user interface to make application development easier using a language that uses an understandable English-like syntax. You can use it to create your own iOS apps.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkSfIJ5ZGSw

Cables are so last month. Just a few weeks ago, iOS 5 cut the sync umbilical cord, and gave us AirPlay, which liberated the iPad from cables when streaming video or music — and today Dana Innovations’ new LaunchPort freed the iPad completely.

HP CEO Meg Whitman recently said that Apple is poised to be the dominant PC maker in 2012. In an interview with French publication Le Figaro, Whitman admitted that Apple will likely take the lead in the market next year.

Whitman says that HP “will try to be champion again in 2013,” and it seems clear that the company’s new CEO is painfully aware of the mess that HP has found itself in during recent months.

Apple is giving away free apps from the App Store on Facebook. As it has done in the past, fans can visit Apple’s App Store Facebook page and receive a free promo code for an iOS app.

This time around, fans can get codes for Where’s My Water, a game by Disney that typically sells for $0.99. If you’ve liked the App Store Facebook page, you can redeem a code for this game today.

In the latest report regarding Apple’s future adoption of LTE/4G for its mobile devices, Japanese carrier NTT DoCoMo is allegedly set to release a 4G-equipped iPad in the summer of 2012. An LTE-equppied iPhone is then set to premiere in the fall of next year.

We’ve been hearing whispers about a 4G/LTE-flavored iPhone for quite some time, and Macotakara is relaying that Apple has been in talks with carriers about making 4G a reality for its next-generation devices.

Because hanging a fragile slate of glass and aluminum from a thin twig of Christmas fir is a road to ruin: these iPad 2 and iPhone 4 Christmas Tree ornaments.

Don’t expect anything fancy — they are strictly two-dimensional, printed from photo-quality paper and backed by high-quality cardboard. Heck, you could probably save $11.00 and make them yourself from paper lying around your office. Still, ’tis the season to spend lots of cash on silly ornaments…

The latest iTV rumor is hitting the web today as Gene Munster told the crowd at IGNITION: Future of Media that the new Apple Television Set has been in the works for sometime now but should be released next year.

Munster is so certain that the new device is coming that he told everyone to wait before buying a new TV because Apple’s is going to be awesome.

Apple has introduced another way to add events to your calendars in iOS. You can quickly and easily start the process to add an event to any of your iOS calendars with only one finger!

Sonos has issued an update to its Sonos System Software today which adds a number of exciting new features that promise to enhance your Sonos experience. In addition to support for Slacker Radio in the U.S. and Canada, and new Spotify features, the update adds support for Android tablets, and a ‘Sonos Labs’ beta.

Click the image above to embiggen.See that notebook to the left (his right) of a casually-dressed President Obama? That’s not a notebook, it’s the iPad 2 3G Obama got “a little bit early” from Steve Jobs, wrapped in a Moleskine-like DODOcase.

DODOcase must be beside themselves. They’ve got a good claim to being the only iPad case manufacturer personally endorsed by the President of the United States himself.

[via TNW]

Here comes more evidence Amazon’s $199 Kindle Fire tablet is Apple’s first serious rival in a tablet war so far strewn with the corpses of the iPad’s Android-based victims. In the first skirmish between the two tablets, the Kindle Fire is outselling the 16GB iPad on Best Buy’s website.

After what seemed like an endless wait, Infinity Blade II is almost here! The follow-up to Epic and Chair Entertainment’s elegiac App Store masterpiece has just hit the App Store in New Zealand, and will creep out slowly around the globe from there, hitting the US App Store at 11pm ET tonight.

We’ll have a review in the next couple of days, but so far, early reviews suggest it’s even better than the first one. We can’t wait to give it a spin.

When it is released, you should be able to find Infinity Blade II at this link for just $9.99.

Not even the threat of costly early-termination fees are enough to keep many consumers from jumping ship for the newest iPhone. Some 45 percent of cell phone owners have broken their carrier’s contract in order to grab Apple’s iconic smartphone, according to a new survey showing just how loyal many people are to the Apple brand.

Apple’s new retail store set in the heart of New York’s Grand Central station is set to open its doors next week, according to a report from the New York Post. And thanks to Apple’s infamous negotiation skills, the Cupertino company paid peanuts for the lease.

Yesterday we heard word that Microsoft is planning to bring the Microsoft Office suite to iPad, but how will Microsoft adopt Office’s clean ribbon interface to a tablet? Here’s your exclusive first look, thanks to Gadget Lab’s brilliant blighter, Charlie Sorrel.

Yesterday, Corning announced that weak tablet sales have caused the glassmaker to cut by 25 percent its forecasted fourth-quarter sales of the tough material used to protect mobile displays. Now one analyst estimates Apple could account for up to 88 percent of Gorilla Glass sales.

Back in April, Apple had a bit of a PR problem when it was discovered that iPhones were storing a cache of data on which GPS locations that handset had visited in an unencrypted file. The whole thing was just a bug, but the controversy was dubbed LocationGate, and Apple even had to testify in front of the Senate about the matter.

The whole fiasco even prompted an email from Steve Jobs, which dropped something of a bombshell: he said Apple doesn’t track anyone’s location, but that Android tracked everyone.

At the time, there wasn’t a lot of proof to back up Steve’s assertion, but as it often does, time has proven Steve Jobs right. Android phones do track you. In fact, software that comes pre-installed on millions of Android, BlackBerry and Nokia phones log everything you do with your device, and sends them off secretly to its own servers.

Just to let everyone know, this deal is ending in 16 hours, so if you’ve been debating whether you should buckle down and buy it, now is the time for action.

Admit it. Sometimes when you see people’s photos online your body tingles with jealousy. You probably think, “If only I knew Photoshop I could do that too!” Well, Cult of Mac is here to help you on your quest to join the ranks of great photographers on the internet. And while our newest deal won’t buy you any actual skill with a camera, it will make your pictures look awesome. This week we’re offering a discounted Adobe Photoshop CS5 for Beginners Course. Normally this package would cost $150, but Udemy is hooking us up and giving it to us for $49. This killer online video course comes with over 230 videos and 13.5 hours of one-on-one training for 67% off the retail price.

Anyone will tell you that Photoshop CS5 is the definitive tool for photographers or web designers…but that doesn’t really mean much if you don’t know how to take advantage of what it offers!

Apple could offer three versions of its popular tablet in 2012 by repeating a tactic seen with the iPhone. The tech giant may introduce the iPad 3 with a high resolution screen, while also unveiling the iPad 2S for customers wanting more speed, and converting the iPad 2 into a lower-cost entry-level model.

Apple’s release of Final Cut Pro X earlier this year was controversial, to say the least. While the update finally brought 64-bit support to the flagship video editing application, it left behind loads of functionality that users of Final Cut Pro 7 and Final Cut Pro 8 had come to depend upon.

In fact, the debacle was so bad that except for the speed increases that came from Final Cut Pro X’s 64-bit support, many video professionals thought the update was effectively a downgrade from FCP8. Which makes today’s report even more incredible, because a prominent Final Cut expert is now asserting that Apple killed off a completed 64-bit version of Final Cut Pro 8 at the last minute. What?

Apple and Google have chosen to opt out of a new industry-sponsored app ratings system developed by the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) in favor of their own internal systems. CTIA-The Wireless Association and ESRB issued a press release announcing the new system today, but both companies were absent from the list of adoptees.