Our story so far: For the better part of a decade, Orb Audio proceeds to build a stellar reputation for high-end home audio with their award-winning, modular systems based around the iconic spherical speaker for which the outfit is named.

But then the iPod and its iDevice cousins sneak into a rapidly-growing number of pockets, creating a massive, swollen market that’s eager to be introduced to high-end audio, yet yearns for a more compact, less complex setup than the traditional high-end home audio layout. And what about all those computer users stuck with tinny PC speakers? Surely they deserve siren-like audio too.

So the company comes up with a solution: Take a pair of the celebrated spheres, marry them to a tiny amplifier and call it the Orb Audio Mini-T Amplifier and Speaker Package ($299): bam, instant Orb Audio experience for your iDevice or Mac!

No, not quite.

The holiday season came a little early this year for Apple’s top executive team. According to CNET, Apple has given 7 of its execs stock bonuses that could mean huge payouts in the years to come.

Many Senior Vice Presidents at Apple have been given 150,000 shares, while the newly-added SVP Eddy Cue has been given 100,000 shares. For the majority of the exec team, this 150,000 shares bonus will equal a $60+ million payout in 2016.

Apple added a subtle solution for developers in iOS 5.0.1 that addresses the issue of purged app data. In iOS 5.0, apps were suddenly restricted from caching large amounts of data in-app for offline access. Apps were effectively “cleaned” of temporary data when iOS 5 determined that the app was taking up too much space.

Previously, iOS would allow an app to store needed information, such as saved web articles for a news app, in a temporary cache that wouldn’t slow down iTunes backups, restores, and syncs. When Apple introduced iCloud, the company became more aggressive about not allowing apps to temporarily store too much information in-app.

In the recently released iOS 5.0.1 beta 1 and beta 2, Apple has provided developers with a new way to “specify files that should remain on device, even in low storage situations.”

Over the years we’ve seen lots of crazy things happen in the Apple Store, but we have yet to see an astronaut.

Until now.

The above photo, spotted by OS X Daily, was taken at the 14th St Apple Store in New York City. Apparently this moon man is part of an upcoming promotion for the Mini Cooper car. Very weird.

The idea of Apple entering the fractious and shark-infested waters of the television set industry has always made us scratch our heads. We were almost convinced the fever had passed when Steve Jobs biography was released, quoting the Apple co-founder that he’d “finally cracked” the problem of integrating home computers with television. Now comes an analyst suggesting the whole idea is bonkers and why even bother?

After only two days, Apple has released iOS 5.0.1 beta 2 to developers following the release of the iOS 5.0.1 beta.

The iOS 5.0.1 beta addressed battery life issues, patched the Smart Cover security flaw, and added enhanced multitasking gestures to the original iPad. iOS 5.0.1 beta 2 seems to be a minor update.

Developers can check for 5.0.1 beta 2 in the iOS Dev Center and also check for an over-the-air update on devices running iOS 5.0.1 beta 1.

Here’s a good riddle: What has just four percent of the market, yet pockets more than half of the profits? The answer is Apple, the tech giant known for squeezing every ounce of profit from its iconic products. According to one analyst, Apple took 4.2 percent of the mobile handset market and transformed it into 52 percent of industry profits. Neat trick, huh?

Amazon reportedly plans to scale down the screen size of its next Kindle Fire tablet, producing an 8.9-inch device, rather than an originally expected 10.1-inch product for 2012. The report could be another indication that suppliers are busy filling orders for Apple’s iPad.

Apple has added a feature to iOS 5 that will allow you to check the storage apps use on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. It’s an important feature to know if you are using any of these devices without a computer and syncing straight to iCloud.

I didn’t own many cassette tapes when I was a kid — CDs had already taken over — but I did have a small collection. There wasn’t much about the cassette that I liked actually; the sound quality wasn’t great, waiting for them to rewind was a pain, and they’re no good for Frisbee-ing at your friends like the compact disc. AirCassette for iPhone, however, is one cassette tape that’s just plain awesome.

Don’t look for the Occupy movement to picket Apple. The iPhone maker is among just a few tech companies paying their fair share of corporate taxes. According to a report released Thursday, Apple paid a 31 percent tax rate. By comparison, the likes of HP, Yahoo and Amazon.com appeared to have paid less than half the 35 percent corporate rate — or even lower.

Even just looking at the picture, it’s easy to see this 11-inch MacBook Air “luxury mod” is a grotesque mockery. Crystallize-Your-Design would probably have you believe that recreating “Angel of the Chapel Sistine” on a MacBook Air in Swarovski Crystals took some sort of artistry, but this is the high-end equivalent of smearing your laptop in glue and then rolling it in crushed glass and glitter.

Here’s where you’ll want to lose your lunch, though. This frickin’ thing is being positioned as a product that pays tribute to the life of Steve Jobs! A man whose obsession with clean zen aesthetics would have caused him to suffer some sort of rectal prolapse just looking at this glittering pile of faux-diamond puke. The audacity!

I’ve been in the blogging-in-my-underpants business for a long time now, and over the years, one of the only things that has been an immutable law is that the long-awaited iControlPad for iPhone will always be just on the cusp of release.

So imagine the way my whole world flipped topsy-turvy when I checked my email box this morning and noticed that the unthinkable had happened, and iControlPad had finally been released. Is this even real life?

The iPad nano is undoubtedly the coolest wristwatch available if you’re an Apple fanboy, and it has become so popular as a watch that Apple even introduced a number of new clock faces in its latest nano update. However, because it’s an iPod, it’s also very delicate and it doesn’t cope well with water damage. Unless you have the Proof strap — a wrist strap that not only makes your iPod nano waterproof, but also introduces Bluetooth functionality.

This is one iOS app I am particularly excited about. I’m a huge fan of the Sparrow email client for Mac OS X, and ever since rumors started circulating that claimed the app is coming to iOS, I’ve been itching to get my hands on it. According to the application’s developer, Dominique Leca, Sparrow will land on the iPhone in the coming months.

It’s not set to open for another hour yet, but the curtain’s already been pulled back on Apple’s redesigned 5th Avenue store, which sees the iconic cube pared down from 90 panes of glass to just fifteen, and the architectural cruft needed to support them eliminated in favor of a new “seamless” design.

The end result is quite lovely, and makes the 5th Avenue location even more of a wonderful contradiction: how ironic that New York’s most photographed landmark is also its most invisible! More pictures below.

A deal to bring CBS shows to the Apple TV has been the focus of a number of rumors in recent times, but neither company had officially confirmed whether or not a deal had been met. Until this week, when CBS CEO Les Moonves confirmed the company had turned down an Apple TV deal.

Apple’s Migration Assistant is a handy utility for moving data between old and new Macs, but sometimes you can get duplicates of existing applications. Here’s one way to avoid the issue:

I’ve transferred over my user account from old to new mac. I’m just about to transfer a second user account from another mac to this same new mac. The new Mac has all the applications from the first transfer in the System level Applications folder.

The second user account that I’m about to transfer also has apps in the System Level Application folder. I was wondering what would happen, would they replace the existing apps on the new Mac when I transfer the second user account using Migration Assistant? – Phillip

Late last night, Apple seeded a new build of Safari to developers, 5.1.2 beta, which brings a fix to the embedded PDF viewing and printing issues that were present in previous versions of the browser. It also introduces a “known bug” that causes extensions to crash. As the ancient Romans used to say, caveat developor.

How does Apple do it? How do they keep secret products that require huge billion dollar deals, years of planning and cutting-edge technology up until the moment Apple wants to announce it? How does Cupertino consistently leap frog the competition to market with new products at such low prices, then keep that lead for years? And how does Apple do all of this while maintaining record profits and 40% gross margins?

BusinessWeek has a fantastic look at the intricacies of Apple’s supply chain, which is the best on Earth. The secret? Hoarding lasers, they cheekily suggest. But that’s not actually all that far off.

Following reports Apple is set to introduce a new self-checkout system in its retail stores using its Apple Store app for iOS, the Cupertino company has begun preparing stores with EasyPay signs that inform customers they can pay for certain products by themselves.

One of my first favorite portable video games was a boxing game on — of all platforms — a Casio calculator (that’s right — you think your life’s tough, try living in a world where the most entertaining handheld a kid can play with is a calculator). The third-person perspective of Manny Pacquiao: Pound for Pound, a new iOS title that’s expected to be released soon (pending approval by Apple), reminds me of that game. But with features like swiping for attacks, customizable outfits and being able to level attributes, it’s bound to be, well, a knockout.

Feral Interactive has released the popular game Batman: Arkham Asylum in the Mac App Store. For $39.99, users can download the title and play it on any authorized Mac.

The game has been highly regarded since its release, with Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill reprising their roles from Batman: The Animated Series as Batman and the Joker.

The quality of Audio-Technica’s products is legendary, and their ATH-M50 headphones ($200) are no exception. Mids are  smooth, highs are clear — and the bass rocks my ears. In fact, these guys are the cans for rock.

Apple’s head of security has left the company, according to 9to5Mac. The site’s sources are reporting Apple’s Vice President of Global Security, John Theriault, has departed the company after the recent scandal involving the lost iPhone 4S prototype.

John Theriault has been responsible for managing Apple’s security division since 2007. His departure will be added to the growing list of Apple executives that have jumped ship in recent months.