Apple is said to be finalizing deals with major movie studios that will allow the Cupertino company to introduce movie streaming to iCloud for Macs and iOS devices.

Back in March, at the next to last Apple keynote he would ever attend, Steve Jobs coined the phrase “post-PC world.” The usual cynics tittered at the time, and perhaps are still tittering, but as he often was, Steve was right: day by day, the iPhone in our back pockets or the iPad in our messenger bags are the most important computers in our lives.

For iOS 5, Apple put their money where Steve’s mouth was. Apple was going to prove to everyone that the umbilical between iOS and a Mac or PC could be cut.

Apple’s strategy was simple. They would go through iOS, identify every feature that assumed or required a PC, and radically retool it so that it relied on the cloud instead. With iOS 5, Apple stores all of your data — your mail, your calendar, your address book, your photos, your music, your ebooks, even your Doodle Jump save games — in the iCloud. iTunes Match hurls your complete music collection onto Apple’s servers, available to download anywhere and anytime without pulling out your Apple Connector cable. Meanwhile, Wi-Fi Syncing makes sure that if your iPhone or iPad does need to talk to your PC, it can do so just by being plugged into a wall socket and within stone’s throw of your PC.

All of this would be ambitious enough, but Apple didn’t stop there. They added major new features to almost every core iOS app: Mail, Safari, Camera, Calendar and more. They integrated Twitter sharing into the core of the operating system. They made a serious play for the hearts of magazine publishers with Newsstand. They totally overhauled the way iOS handles notifications. They introduced over the air updates. And then they introduced their own new iOS device messaging system that threatens the bottom line of every wireless carrier’s extortionate, hopelessly overpriced SMS texting plans.

So now iOS 5 is here, and the question is: has Apple severed iOS’s innate tether to the PC, or will iOS 5 be remembered as a smaller interim step towards the post-PC world Steve so presciently envisioned?

We’ve been playing with iOS 5 for months. Here’s what we think: by gum, Apple’s done it.

Demand for yesterday’s iOS 5 release combined with all the associated updates for OS X and other apps caused “unprecedented levels” of traffic over one UK broadband network.

Writing on their own network status alerts site, engineers at UK ISP AAISP reported that “something was up” at 8.48pm UK time last night.

I went to bed last night and my Apple TV stated that the update was gong to take a whopping nine hours. I get up this morning only to find out that it wasn’t even close to being done or that it had even moved along any. It looked stuck. So I started over and guess what?!?!?! The time went from nine hours to an extra galactic 41 hours – I guess the download was coming from the Andromeda galaxy.

Here’s how to work around all this update drama and get the update done in under 15 minutes.

Apple fans the world over are coming together to pay tribute to Steve Jobs this Friday, October 14, with a day dedicated in his honor. Steve Jobs Day encourages fans to admire Steve’s work and say thank you to one of the world’s greatest innovators.

To celebrate Steve Jobs Day this Friday, Erica Montelongo and Gunter Zieber are getting married at their local Apple Store.

 “Gunter admired Steve Jobs and this is how he wanted to celebrate Steve Jobs Day,” said Montelongo, 34. “And when you add in Tiffany and Co., how could a girl say no?” To learn more about the steve jobs wedding, check out this detailed article.

Boy, those blue-shirted Apple employees must be going nuts just trying to keep up with all the different in-ear headphones out there. Still, can’t hurt to have a few more at the party — especially if they’re from a manufactrer with a rep for awesome bang-for-buck.

The ATH-BT03 (pictured above) is going to grab all the attention. It’s an $80 wireless Bluetooth headset that does the whole phone and music thing and looks wicked small.

Audio Technica’s other anouncement yesterday, the less flashy ATH-CK400i (jeez, their marketers must have attended the same fun product-naming class the marketing peeps at Sony did) is simply an in-ear set with an inline controls and a mic — but it’s priced at a measly $60.

Apple’s development tools for Mac OS X and iOS are joining the iOS 5 launch party today with the release of Xcode 4.2. The new version of Xcode is now available as a free download in the Mac App Store or through the regular Apple developer website.

Last week was just a little more sweet than bitter for Apple devotees who also happen to be fitness junkies. That’s because Abvio’s trio of fitness apps — Runmeter, Walkmeter and Cyclemeter (which we’ve raved about) — have been granted two big upgrades, namely iOS 5-style notifications, and something we’ve been waiting a long time for: the ability to gather data from ANT+ dongles like Wahoo’s Fisica.

Just a quick heads-up: there’s only a few hours left to take advantage of our Disk Drill Pro promotion at Cult of Mac Deals. Disk Drill Pro is a great file-recovery utility — your go-to app when it comes to protecting and restoring files that may have been “permanently” deleted or otherwise damaged.

If you’ve ever cussed at your computer for corrupting a file or accidentally deleting something you needed later… read on.

The updates just don’t stop! Apple also updated its iMove, Remote, and Find My iPhone apps today with iOS 5 support and new features.

Remote 2.2 brings iOS 5 compatibility and “additional stability and performance improvements.” iMove 1.2.2 offers iOS 5 compatibility and added support for video imported from external cameras. Find My iPhone 1.3 lets you find a Mac via GPS and receive an email when a registered device comes back online after being lost, all thanks to the magical powers of iCloud.

You didn’t think you could possibility update so much software in one day, did you?

Apple basically updated every piece of software it makes today, in case you haven’t noticed. Following the release of OS X Lion 10.7.2 with iCloud integration, Aperture and iPhoto for the Mac have also been updated.

Aperture 9.2 and iPhoto 9.2 both bring iCloud integration and iOS 5 compatibility to Apple’s two photography apps.

Apple guidelines prohibit third-party giveaways with iPhones and iPads as prizes — but that hasn’t stopped enterprising companies from using Apple’s latest hot product, the iPhone 4S, as a contest giveaway.

In the past, the Cupertino company has cracked down on a few iPad giveaways – in one case not approving a company’s app until it pulled the contest – but it has been hit and miss.

Among many other software releases, Apple issued an update to the Apple TV 2 today.

While the release can be included in the iOS 5-related slew of updates, this latest version actually brings the Apple TV to iOS 4.4. The update includes AirPlay mirroring for the iPad 2 and iPhone 4S, Photo Stream support, iTunes Move Trailers, NHL GameCenter, and Wall Street Journal Live.

Users are reporting problems when they try to update their iPhone, iPad or iPod touch to iOs 5 today. A plethora of reports are popping up about the problem this afternoon as many users complain about the problem they are encountering.

Apple released Cards for the iPhone and iPod touch in the App Store today. Scott Forstall introduced Cards at Apple’s “Let’s Talk iPhone” event last week.

Cards lets you create and send beautiful greeting cards to friends from your iPhone on iOS 5. Once you design your card in-app, you can pay to have Apple ship it anywhere in the world.

One of the neatest features of iOS 5 and iTunes 10.5 is Wi-Fi Sync, which allows you to finally leave the Apple Connector Cable in your computer desk drawer where it belongs, at least most of the time. It can be a little hard to figure out at first how to make Wi-Fi Sync work for you. Here’s our handy guide to getting Wi-Fi Sync working.

Today Apple released the iTunes Movie Trailers app for the iPhone and iPad. The app lets users watch HD trailers from the iTunes store.

Apple’s new app actually does much more than just show you upcoming movie trailers. You can also find movie showtimes at local theaters, purchase tickets, see a calendar view of upcoming movie releases, and view favorites.

We’re crazy about iOS 5’s Reminders, but unless you know how to tap into their power, Reminders just seem like a simple to-do list. Take it from us… Reminders is much, much more. Here’s how to use Reminders in iOS 5, the right way.

Got iOS 5 installed and puzzled about how to use this newfangled Twitter integration? Cult of Mac has you covered. Here’s a guide to using Twitter in iOS 5.

Are you getting antsy to get your shiny new toy but Apple is still showing your iPhone 4S as “Preparing for Shipment”? I’m not sure why the Apple system is not showing actual tracking for many, but trust me, your iPhone is likely already on the move. Follow the simple steps below to get your actual tracking information in realtime.

Friend. It’s Mac I’d like to friend. Oh well, no matter… here’s the important part: We’re getting low on these Mac-inspired beauties, and once we sell out, we’ll be out for good.

Like it? You can scoop one up now for just $18. And I bet you need one. After all, to qualify for fanboy/girl status you need at least 5 Apple related tees in your rotation and I bet you have less than 3. Would also make a fun gift for the Apple fan in your life.

Unisex tees are 100% made in the beautiful USA, are sold by Seattle indie brand Might Tees, and are available to ship anywhere in the world.

Get one now and you’ll like the way you look. We guarantee it.

My god, will the updates ever stop? Along with the iOS 5 firmware and OS X Lion 10.7.2, Apple has also just updated iPhoto to version 9.2, bringing along with it compatibility with iCloud and its Photo Stream feature along with the usual gaggle of fixes.

It’s a 367MB download that requires OS X Lion. You can grab it now through Software Update, or the Mac App Store. Here are the release notes.

Apple’s iWork suite of apps for iOS have been updated along with seemingly every other in-house piece of software in Cupertino today, bringing iCloud support to each of Apple’s productivity apps: Numbers, Pages and Keynote. Here’s a complete list of what’s new.