Bigger isn’t better, smartphone makers are learning at a Berlin trade show of new devices going up against Apple’s iPhone. After striking out with pricing and features, competitors are now turning to larger screens as a way to set themselves apart. One minor problem: consumers hate them.

Okay, my iPhone hasn’t really got wood, but it could have, thanks to JackBacks. JackBacks create real wooden backs for your iPhone 4 made from natural bamboo that are completely customizable, allowing you to choose a design that really sets your iPhone 4 apart.

Smelling the whiff of success wafting from ThinkGeek’s iCade gaming cabinet, gaming giant turned moribund brand Atari is apparently looking to release their own joystick controller for the iPad called the Atari Arcade Duo Powered Joystick.

You don’t hear all that much about Apple’s third founder, Ronald Wayne, and for good reason: he sold his stake in Apple just twelve days after the company was founded. It’d be worth $35 billion today. You might wonder how was apple founded. Wayne would like to tell you in his new autobiography, and… surprise… he doesn’t think he made a mistake at all!

An Australian judge suggests Apple pony up some iPad sales figures to bolster its argument for barring sales of Samsung’s Galaxy 10.1 tablet. Although it is was only a suggestion, the tech giant may have to disclose sales in the UK and U.S. – something Samsung attorneys have demanded.

As the number of gamers turning to Apple’s handhelds continues to increase, America’s largest game retailer is going to try to pander to them. GameStop is reportedly set to begin selling Apple’s iOS devices in a bid to stay relevant in the modern gaming market. You might think that’s a surprising move, but it’s really a desperate one.

Unsure of how Intel’s “Ultrabook” laptops will compete with the iPad and MacBook Air, manufacturers are “testing the water” by ordering less than 50,000 units for later this month. Acer, Lenovo, Toshiba and Asustek are reportedly uncertain how the revamped laptops will be greeted by consumers shifting to tablets and cloud computing. That sounds to us like they’re giving up and conceding victory to the MacBook Air before they even got started competing with it.

Bean is one of OS X’s little treasures. It’s a lightweight rich text editor that’s nimble, fast and offers just a teeny tiny bit more than Apple’s own TextEdit. And does all this for free.

Mac OS X Lion now allows you to add personalized text to your Mac lock screen. In earlier versions of Mac OS X this feature was only available through third-party apps or hacks. You can use this feature to add your contact information to the lock screen which might help you get your Mac back if you lose it.

Apple has already overtaken Nokia as the smartphone leader when it comes to the number of units manufactured, but according to a forecast from DigiTimes, the Cupertino company could also overtake the once unbeatable Finnish phone vendor in shipments by the end of this year.

Minimalist email client Sparrow continues to grow apace, thanks to some updates over the summer. We last looked at it back in March, but there’s a lot of new stuff since then.

Apple has finally been granted certification to sell its 3G iPad 2 in mainland China, according to The Wall Street Journal. Up until now, the Cupertino company has only been able to offer its Wi-Fi only tablet, but it now has the ‘network access license’ needed to sell the 3G-capable device.

I’ve worked at a few desks that used Cisco VoIP phones (one in the Wired.com offices among them); but something like the new Invoxia NVX 610 iPhone-controlled conference phone may eventually turn conventional handsets — even VoIP ones — into relics.

Every now and then you hear something that makes your heart bounce with pride, and recently we at Cult of Mac heard one of those things.

It turns out that a prototype iPhone case design we featured here back in March has become a real commercial product, thanks to its investors seeing it mentioned on our site.

We’re delighted that we were able to play our part in turning this business idea into reality. But we’ll let the guy who came up with it, Joey Chun, tell the whole story.

Those of you wishing for an 8-megapixel camera in the upcoming iPhone 5 might just be in luck. According to a report from Taiwan Economic News, Apple has secured deals with two manufacturers who will supply 8-megapixel cameras for Apple’s fifth-generation iPhone.

Apple’s online AppleCare Agreement Support system has been down for maintenance over the weekend. It isn’t clear whether there will be any updates or changes to the system like the recent addition of social media linking in the online Apple Store. The system isn’t available for AppleCare Support employees either.

Apple has now completed the roll-out for social network integration across its online store, allowing shoppers to share every single one of the store’s products on Facebook and Twitter — including third-party items.

We are receiving reports from readers that invitations to join Apple’s AppleSeed Software Customer Seeding Program are hitting people’s in boxes today. This comes as rumors are ramping up about the imminent release of iCloud, Mac OS X 10.7.2, iTunes 10.5, ATV updates and the iPhone 4S/5.

I like the full screen mode that apps can run in on Mac OS X Lion, but if you are just now experimenting with this new feature you may feel a little lost. The reason you might feel lost is because while apps run in full screen mode a lot of navigations elements are missing. Today you’ll find out that they aren’t missing just hiding.

Happy Labor Day! If you’re stuck for something to do while you’re off work today, why not treat yourself to a new iOS game? Developers have been slashing their prices to celebrate the holiday, and there really are too many games to choose from. Here’s the huge list of reductions from just EA, Gameloft, Namco Bandai, Sega and Capcom.

In typical Apple fashion, the company is keeping the release date for iOS 5 and the accompanying iCloud service a big secret, but the launch of these products could be right around the corner. According to screenshots taken from its internal RetailMe application, Apple has now begun training retail store staff for the upcoming release of its new services.

Best Buy is expecting pre-sales of the iPhone 5 to begin in the first week of October, a leaked internal document from the retail giant reveals. In addition, the document says Apple’s eagerly-awaited handset is coming to the Sprint network.

This caught my attention over coffee and the Sunday paper (I know! Weekend luddite, is what an affectionate — I think — friend calls me) a book entirely devoted to fonts called “Just My Type” by Simon Garfield.