Apple has snatched up several iPhone-related porn URLs from a domain squatter. The sites in question were handed over to Apple after the company filed a complaint a few weeks ago.

The high profile domains, including iPhone4S.com, have been given over to Apple from the previous owner.

Here’s an amazing utility that every iPhone, iPad or iPod touch owner should be aware of. It will recover data from your iOS backups in iTunes, but only if the backup isn’t encrypted. I have a work-around in this tip for the encryption problem, but you’ll need to be using Mac OS X Lion.

Mark Zuckerberg’s faithful hund Beast has apparently gotten himself a job as an engineer at Facebook, and like all the best dogs, he’s an Apple fan, through and through.

[via Obama Pacman]

It was recently reported that Apple was putting the finishing touches on its new flagship store in New York City’s Grand Central Station. The store was supposed to be unveiled to the public by Black Friday on November 25th or during this upcoming weekend.

Eager shoppers will apparently have to wait to drop their hard earned cash on Apple products in Grand Central Station, as the store’s opening “won’t be any time too soon.”

The iPhone 4S has an amazing camera for a smartphone. Heck, it’s already the second most popular smartphone camera on Flickr. But how does it hold up for the professional photographer?

As this beautiful testimony by pro photographer and gallery owner Ryan Bolger makes clear, it doesn’t just hold up well… it reinvents photography.

When Apple announced that it was going to sell OS X Lion exclusively as a digital download, many were skeptical. By not selling physical copies of the operating system, wouldn’t Apple be crippling Lion’s consumer reach?

As it turns out, Lion has already sold more than 6 millions copies in the Mac App Store, making it 80% more popular than Apple’s previous desktop OS, Snow Leopard. The folks in Redmond have taken notice, and Microsoft has announced that its upcoming operating system, Windows 8, will also be offered as a digital download.

This is a cute little stocking stuffer for the narcissistic Mac fangirl in your life: the MirrorBook Air, a $12 hand mirror that looks just like a tiny, palm-sized MacBook Air. Get it now before Apple C&Ds it, which they will, but hopefully not before Christmas.

Over the years, Steve wrote hundreds of mostly terse, often funny, irritable or persnickety emails to Apple customers who wrote him at [email protected]. Now a whole book of them is being published.

Over the weekend, we reported that the 4.1 update to VMWare Fusion allowed users to virtualize Leopard and Snow Leopard; a strict violation of OS X’s licensing terms.

At the time, we supposed this was a conscious decision on VMWare’s part to leave Leopard and Snow Leopard virtualization up to the user. But no, nothing of the sort: it’s just a bug VMWare’s going to patch.

When it comes to huge investors who buy mammoth blocks of Apple stock, there’s only one question: what have you done for me, lately? If you want to know why product launches are so important to Apple, it’s because the launch of a new product is critical to investors who believe Apple isn’t worth a plug nickel without its latest and greatest products.

Thanksgiving is just two days away, and if you’re smart, you’re already prepared for it: you’ve got a turkey in the fridge, the ingredients in the cupboard, and the invitations all sent out. Or maybe you’re like me instead, and have found yourself up against the wire to throw a last minute Turkey Day feast. Either way, your iPhone and iPad can make putting on a holiday dinner much easier than the Pilgrims used to do it.

For months now, we’ve all read reports Apple’s iPad 3 will feature a Retina Display. Now we’re seeing proof pop up that an iPad 3 with a 2048×1536 display is already being tested and manufactured. But is a higher resolution screen really likely in with a device touted as slimmer than the iPad 2?

Have you ever had an amazing idea for an iOS app but then been devastated by the realization that you don’t know how to code and build an app? Yeah, me too… been there, done that. Which is why we’re stoked to bring you a deal on how to build a killer iPhone or iPad app with the Dive into iOS instructional course from Udemy. If you don’t want to wind up like poor George Costanza, then this deal is something you need to check out over at Deals.CultofMac.com.

Now is your chance to make it happen…

Here’s the steal (yes, when course material like this is only $79 it’s better than a deal):

After just a couple of hours of online instruction you will be well on your way to building your dream iPhone and/or iPad app. Yes, your DREAM app; an app that could turn your ghetto ride into a Ferrari (literally); an app that could give you some serious points with the ladies (or fellas…we don’t discriminate); an app that could turn your diehard hobby into a new thrilling career; an app that could change the world.

The U.S. International Trade Commission has dismissed a complaint from S3 Graphics against Apple, ruling the Cupertino company has shown no violation of the patents held by S3, and terminating the investigation.

In 2012, Apple will roll out Near Field Communications technology (NFC) to their devices, allowing the iPhone 5 to finally function as an e-wallet. Big whup. Everyone’s already had that idea, even Google.

Here’s what will turn the mind-numbing technology into something that will blow your mind: NFC in the iPhone 5 will finally allow Apple to go live with their ambitious NFC-backed remote computing strategy which will totally blur the line between iOS devices and Macs.

There’s a huge demand for the iPhone in China, a demand so big that Apple is continually struggling to meet it. That means there’s plenty of business for scalpers who obtain the device any way they can, just to sell it off for a huge profit in the grey and black markets.

And these scalpers are smart and tech-minded. To make the whole process of buying iPhones a lot easier, scalpers have built a special application that purchases the smartphones in bulk from the Apple online store. Even worse, it runs on Windows. Oh, the irony.

Software can be a cantankerous thing. Sometimes programs won’t launch when you need them, and other times they won’t go away when you’re done! One reader is having a problem with iTunes refusing to quit when asked:

I have some questions related to 10.5 iTunes. When I quit iTunes it goes about the process normally and then starts back up. iTunes is using 80-100% CPU usage when running. Could this be related to a third-party plug-in? Very frustrating and have to force restart my mini as iTunes cancels the shutdown process.

Thanks, Tim

Like all of its predecessors, Mac OS X Lion ships with a Mail application. It is probably one of the most important applications you’ll find on your Mac, and although it isn’t perfect, it is at least free. You can buy more expensive alternatives, which I won’t list here, but I suggest you spend more time with Mail before giving up on it.

Mail has a lot of not-quite-obvious features that you might have missed and I’ve talked about a few of them in earlier tip posts. Today I’ll take a look at another one that will let you quickly access your favorite mailboxes or folders.

It hasn’t even been a month since Apple’s iPhone 4S first hit the market, and already its 8-megapixel camera is proving to be a huge hit amongst Flickr users. The device has quickly rocketed up the Flickr charts to become the second most popular camera phone on the photo sharing service, overtaking the iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, and the HTC EVO 4G.

Right on cue, Apple has begun teasing this Friday’s “special one-day” Black Friday sale. The company has introduced fancy new banners to its online stores, which encourage you to “mark your calendar” for November 25.

Apple has begun airing a new commercial for the iPad 2 called ‘Love’, which showcases our love for the company’s incredibly popular tablet. In the thirty-second clip, we see people of all ages using the device while they go about their daily lives, doing things like movie editing, music recording, painting, learning, and more.

“Getting lost in the things we love has never felt quite like this.”

The revamped Google Search app for iOS, which we reported on yesterday, is a huge improvement on what went before.

Fotopedia Japan is a lovely photographic tour of modern Japan, available for free right now on the iOS App Store.

If you liked that tip earlier today about adding track information to your iTunes dock icon, here’s another great tip for you: it’s easy to replace the boring old iTunes icon in the dock with the album art for whatever track is playing. Here’s how.

After Apple finally converted its entire Mac lineup to AMD, SemiAccurate is reporting that Apple is switching back to NVIDIA as the graphics chip supplier for the upcoming MacBook Pro model in 2012.

While the report doesn’t specifically say why Apple is planning its move back to NVIDIA, it looks as though the rumored MacBook Pro refresh for 2012 will include NVIDIA graphics and possibly the Intel Ivy Bridge processor.