This one’s nuts. Remember how there were no police reports about the missing iPhone 5 prototype, even though CNet reported that police offices had actually searched a man’s house looking for it? The guy whose home was searched in search of that lost iPhone 5 prototype says the officials weren’t actually police officers… they were Apple employees impersonating them.

The implication is that the officials, who appear to be members of Apple’s security team, were impersonating police, a crime punishable by up to a year in jail in California.

Did Apple really lose an iPhone 5 prototype in a San Francisco tequila joint? It’s starting to look doubtful.

Either way, though, Apple wants to be better safe than sorry. That’s why they are looking for managers for their unreleased products security team.

Apple Stores are no stranger to London City,with the Covent Garden and Regent Street stores already serving the area, but no town can have too many Apple Stores, which is why the proposed Apple Store development at 100 Cheapside would be such a boon for the area.

The only problem? It might not happen, and the reason might surprise you: neighbors claim it would block out too much sun.

Earlier this week, CNet surprised everyone by reporting that Apple had lost yet another iPhone prototype at a San Francisco bar. We were so intrigued that we stopped by to talk to the manager but he didn’t know jack about it.

You know who else has never heard anything about a lost iPhone 5 prototype? The San Francisco Police. Which is weird, because according to CNet’s story, they were called out to investigate.

AT&T expected it would have more time to argue its case for the $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile USA. However, just one hour after CEO Randall Stephenson expressed confidence the buyout would be approved in early 2012, Justice Department lawyers announced an antitrust lawsuit blocking the deal.

Back in October of last year, Steve Jobs wrote someone asking him why USB 3.0 wasn’t in Macs and said: “We don’t see USB 3 taking off at this time. No support from Intel, for example.”

It’s pretty clear that Steve Jobs was saying this in light of his work with the Thunderbolt standard, which leaves USB 3.0 in the dust. But now that Intel is planning on supporting USB 3.0 come 2012 as part of their Ivy Bridge CPU refresh, will USB 3.0 ports come to Macs to complement Thunderbolt?

If its Friday, it must mean another headline-grabbing patent lawsuit against Apple. Wi-LAN, which has a penchant for patent dustups with high-profile tech companies, is suing Apple over Wi-Fi and other wireless transmission technology.

Think Steve Jobs hasn’t done enough with his fortune for charity? U2’s Bono would like to disagree with you. The lead singer of Dublin’s most famous band has written a wonderful letter to the New York Times, praising Apple’s CEO for his work fighting AIDS in Africa.

Never heard of that work before? Sure you have: it’s in every (Product)RED Apple product you buy.

We’ve all heard that the iPhone 5 will have a thinner design than the current model, but how much thinner are we talking about? If any of these Chinese iPhone 5 cases leaking out of Hong Kong are anything to go by, about half as thick, but quite a bit larger.

Check out this full gallery on Macitynet.it, as they plug an iPhone 4 and fourth gen iPod Touch into an iPhone 5 case to contrast sizes. It’s illuminating.

[via 9to5Mac]

People can spend a lot of time surfing the web in Safari and sometimes we get to a page that we cannot read. The reasons you cannot read the page might include having misplaced your reading glasses or perhaps you just want a better look at some fine print before buying something online then this tip is for you.

They’re running through the entire playbook over at Pogoplug for a touchdown (yeah, guess I’m jonesing for the football season to start). Their latest move is the Pogoplug Mobile ($80), out today.

Final Cut users rejoice! Apple has resurrected Final Cut Studio!

After receiving tons of criticism from industry professionals, Apple has decided to offer Final Cut Studio once again to customers. 

Your mom or tween daughter might not recognize them, but Tim Cook and Jonathan Ive are both more influential than Lady Gaga, according to Vanity Fair.

The iconic Conde Nast mag just released its 2011 New Establishment list, and this year it is dominated by people who can still probably go to the mall without being asked for autographs.

Each iDevice has a unique device identifier number. You can need your UDID for multiple reasons, including the beta testing of apps and other diagnostic processes.

We’ll show you how to quickly find your UDID.

While Ashton Kutcher’s high-end Ooma gets all the sexy VoIP publicity and some people remain intrigued by the incomprehensible magicJack, for those looking to seriously leverage telephone calls using voice over IP, the OBi110 and OBi100 adapters from Obihai Technology continue to impress with their feature range and flexibility.

Have you ever wanted a quick and easy way to search iTunes and the App Store from your Mac? Tunesque allows you to do just that, by giving you access to all of iTunes from your Mac’s menubar.

The studio behind the famous Halo game series, Bungie, has released a new game for the iPad. Crimson: Steam Pirates is a free game in the App Store that takes you on a pirate’s adventure of sinking ships while defending your own. Ahoy!

Apple has opened up support to developers for integrating with the new Twitter API in iOS 5, reports MacNN. Registered Apple developers should now be able to access the native Twitter integration in the iOS 5 beta for access with third party apps.

iOS 5 Beta 7 was released to developers yesterday, and Apple is assumedly putting the finishing touches on iOS 5 for its public launch in either September or October.

We’ve added part of a message from Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey to third party Twitter devs:

“Very soon, anywhere there’s an iPhone or an iPad, you’ll always find Twitter. If you’re an iOS developer, you can add Twitter to your application to personalize the experience for your users, giving them easier and better ways to login, enrich their experience, share thoughts and content and help boost your distribution.

I believe that our relationships with consumers and developers are a primary measure of our success. Thank you for helping millions of people around the world get more from Twitter.”

Silicon Valley marketing guru Regis McKenna is an old friend and colleague of Steve Jobs. Their history goes back to when McKenna’s firm designed the famous Apple logo back in 1977.

You know, then, that when McKenna talks about Jobs, the Apple founder gets his love and respect. Even so, McKenna says that Steve Jobs is just part of Apple’s recent success… and Apple’s new CEO, Tim Cook, just hasn’t gotten his fair share of credit for Apple’s massive growth.

McKenna says Jobs is undoubtedly a genius, but Tim Cook hasn’t gotten his fair share of the credit for Apple’s massive growth.

“He is as responsible for Apple’s success as Steve is,” he said. But why?

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xfXIPJBUY8

It looks as if just about every expat in Asia with a black turtleneck and some specs is working as a Steve Jobs impersonator.

Being an incurable germaphobe, the Chef Sleeve ($20) is a prescription for sanity when using my iPad in the kitchen. Yes, the plastic sleeves are meant to protect your tablet from culinary messes; but for me, it’s more about protecting the food from the tablet.

httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H98hphuyeW8&feature=player_embedded

A TUAW tipster who just happened to be passing the 5th Avenue Apple Store in the wee hours of the morning managed to capture this short video of workmen unloading the Cube’s new simplified, seamless glass panes. According to Mac Rumors, these new, massive panes are about thirty two feet high by ten feet wide. Let’s hope none of those workmen have butterfingers.

After news broke yesterday that Apple had, for the second time in two years, lost an iPhone prototype at a San Francisco bar, the general reaction was one of incredulity. How could Cupertino carelessly misplace their prized corporate secrets twice in a row?

It happens more than you might think. In fact, we’ve got the exclusive scoop on how one guy walked out of his local Apple Store recently with something unique… a complete Time Machine backup of the Apple Store’s internal file server, filed with top secret and confidential Apple Store documents.

Even weirder? Apple just gave it to him.

If this iPod Touch component is what it purports to be, Apple will release a white iPod Touch for the first time when they refresh the line-up in the next month, while also keeping a similar shape to the current Touch. I’d personally prefer to see the iPod nano’s line-up of colors come to the Touch, but I guess white’s a start.

Eddie Cue, who helped create iTunes and the App Store, now will lead Apple’s push into online ads and iCloud, the tech giant announced Thursday. As senior vice president of Internet Software & Services, Cue reports directly to Tim Cook, who assumed the CEO post following Steve Jobs’ exit.