Has your Mac’s MagSafe adapter been worn down to the wires? Apparently, many people have experienced problems with MagSafe power adapters damaging where the cord and connector meet. So much so, in fact, that Apple had to redesign the MagSafe adapters to the L-shaped ones we know and love today just to try to resolve the problem, but to no avail.

No worries, though. Apple has launched an official Adapter Replacement Program for customers with damaged cables and broken hearts. There are now steps in place for getting your MagSafe adapter replaced and your money refunded.

Apple has hidden a field test app in iOS, which will allow you to quickly check the quality of your cellular signal by simply dialing a special code on your iPhone.

The iPhone 4S’s mysterious battery drain issues under iOS 5 are notorious, and now Apple is seeding a beta version of iOS 5.0.1 to customers who have complained about battery life as part of its AppleSeed program.

In addition, Apple has also told its Genius Bar employees that any customers who come in reporting battery life issues should be told to wait patiently until iOS 5.0.1 is released in a “few weeks” if no hardware issues are found.

“A few weeks” sounds like an official iOS 5.0.1 release time table to me, but “suck it up and wait” is still pretty hard guidance to hear for the many people with new iPhones that bleed out their full charge every few hours.

If you’re still rocking the red panda as your default browser, great news. Following the new rapid release cycle that saw Firefox leap from version 4 to version 7 in just six months, Firefox has made another evolutionary leap today with the official release of Firefox 8.

An Australian retailer is playing a bit of ‘cat-and-mouse’ with Apple and a recent court ruling blocking sales of Samasung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1. Any hope of staying off Apple’s radar, however, vanished with a taunting online note and offshore servers melting under the crush of demand.

Apple co-founder Steve Jobs could get a little ticked-off when speaking about Android. At one point, Jobs told biographer Walter Isaacson: “I’m going to destroy Android, because it’s a stolen product. I’m willing to go thermonuclear war on this.” Well, Google certainly knows how to push Steve’s buttons. The latest example: Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of the Mountain View, Calif. company, says Android was way out ahead of the iPhone – sort of. Kind of. Well, pretty close, okay?

Infrared light. We can’t see it, but it surrounds us, permeating everything… especially our digital camera sensors, leading to images filled with off, unnatural colors.

With the iPhone 4S, Apple introduced an infrared filter to improve color quality in the images. But what are the practical effects of this filter? Much more accurate color and the elimination of the reddish tint that plagues so many iPhone photos.

If you’ve ever wanted to use Siri on your Mac, we’ve got the next best thing: how about using Siri on your iPhone 4S to pass along commands to your OS X desktop, launching apps just by giving your command out loud? Now you can, thanks to the latest update to the popular iTeleport VNC app.

A good report by Horace Dediu over at Asymco shows that about every quarter, about 56% of all new iPhones are replacing old models that have been discarded.

That’s interesting, but it doesn’t necessarily paint a good picture for AT&T, which seems to be growing new iPhone customers at a much slower rate than they once did.

Cue up the Norma Rae theme music. Apple is about to go up against the unions. Well, not quite. The tech giant is starting mandatory training for retail store managers that includes the “legal do’s and don’t of dealing with unions.” The training comes as Apple marks the 10th anniversary of its retail stores, now numbering 357 worldwide.

The new Doctor Who Encyclopedia for iOS claims to offer everything a Who fan might need to know about the three most recent incarnations of TV’s best-known time traveller. But this is one app that could do with a zap from a sonic screwdriver: although it’s stuffed full of facts, the presentation could be improved.

Noticing that people really liked to wrap the new iPod nanos around a wrist band and turn them into watches, Apple decided to embrace the Nanowatch movement with their latest update, specifically by rolling out a number of fun new watch faces. The most iconic of the new options, though, is the one that mimics the classic Mickey Mouse watch face, famous with Mouseketeers all around the world since the 1950s.

If you don’t have an iPod nano, there’s a cool, easy way to get yourself the nano’s Mickey Mouse watch face on your Dashboard. Here’s how.

You can quickly add items to the Finder Dock or Sidebar with this easy keyboard trick. Although Apple probably meant for it to be primarily used for folders, it actually works on a variety of different file types.

After making headlines in 2010 by yanking its recommendation of the iPhone 4, the advocacy group Consumer Reports is now picking Android smartphones as a better buy than the iconic Apple handset. A review pointing to larger screens and faster 4G networks seems to run counter to record-breaking sales of the iPhone 4S.

There’s an easter egg in iOS 5: a new panorama mode that lets you stitch together multiple shots you take with your iPhone’s camera into a gorgeous 180+ degree image. Unfortunately, while Apple clearly spent some time putting this together, there’s no way to access it as a consumer unless you jailbreak your iPhone. Here’s how to get Apple’s panorama mode working on your iPhone 4, iPhone 4S or iPad 2.

Remember that new cheekily-christened “EasyTheft” system Apple was planning on rolling out to its official Apple Store app? The official update is here, and anyone can now try it out!

Remember those days when you didn’t want to go to school? Mondays. Rainy days. Exam time.

What if they’d told you it was “iPad Day?” You’d be up and atom with your lunchbox, pronto.

Teachers at three elementary schools in South Carolina say that thanks to the iPad, keeping kids focused on formerly “boring” subjects isn’t a problem.

We told you a couple of hours ago about security guru Charlie Miller’s new iOS vulnerability that allows an approved App Store app to run unsigned code remotely. Miller has been hacking Apple’s products for years, and this most recent bug is a particularly nefarious exploit that could be used for all kinds of evil purposes.

Charlie Miller is one of the good guys, however, and he is planning to show his cards at the SysCan conference in Taiwan next week. The ends don’t always justify the means in this case, as Apple has now kicked Miller out of the App Store and iOS Developer Program.

Disabled voters in Oregon will nominate their next Representative in Congress with the tap of a finger.

The state is launching the first iPad voting scheme in the U.S. as it goes to the polls tomorrow to replace ex-Representative David Wu, who left amid allegations of sex with a minor.

Election workers will take the iPads to disabled voters who might otherwise have difficulties marking their ballots, the AP wrote.

The iPhone 4S continues to break sales records left and right. Pre-orders for the iPhone 4S started in Hong Kong last Friday, and it’s been reported that pre-orders sold out after the first 10 minutes of availability.

Apple will launch the 4S in 14 more countries this Friday, and the smartphone is expected to reach mainland China by December.

Earlier today Google announced the addition of Google+ Pages, which allows businesses to create pages and interact with fans, just like on those other social networks. We’re really excited about Google+ (Hangouts are pretty freaking awesome), so we’re not wasting time to get started. We created our shiny new Google+ Page for Cult of Mac that will be getting all latest Cult of Mac news and love. Now you can add us to your circle and enjoy Cult of Mac’s news in Google+.

You can get to our Google+ Page by clicking here. And if you haven’t added us yet to your Facebook and Twitter parties, we’d love to be your friend there, too.

We recently told you about Apple’s acquisition of geo mapping company C3 Technologies. By utilizing state of the art satellite technology, C3 Technologies specialized in enhanced 3D maps that put Google’s map images to shame.

C3 Technologies was apparently working on more than just beautiful 3D mapping. The company was also focusing on making interior mapping a reality.

When it comes to Mac hacking, there are few security experts more dangerous than Charlie Miller, who can hack a Mac in mere seconds. Luckily, Miller only uses his hacking powers for the forces of good, so his hacks often lead to more secure systems for you and me.

Let’s hope that’s the case for the latest vulnerability Miller identified for the iOS platform. He has discovered a huge bug in iOS that allows malicious devs to write innocuous looking apps that slip by the App Store review process, only to phone home to a remote computer and repurpose all of iOS’s normal functions for malicious ends.

Smule’s been racking up the hits with apps like Ocarina and I Am T-Pain. Their latest is called MadPad, and like the others, it’s well-polished, cooler than an arctic popsicle and impossible to put down. And today, it’s free.

httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgFKdyh68jo

Famed jailbreak developer Ryan Petrich has released a video of Siri running on the iPhone 3GS. Petrich is most known in the jailbreak community for his Activator extension that brings customized gestures for specific apps and tweaks in iOS.

In the above video, Petrich is demonstrating Siri on an iPhone 3GS. He has also mentioned that he is working on Activator integration with Siri.