Apple hit a home run with its wireless Bluetooth keyboard. The keyboard is compact, good-looking and functional. It even works great in conjunction with devices like the iPad, thanks to its easy setup over Bluetooth.

Being only 12.5mm thick, the Levitatr Bluetooth keyboard features a design that Apple would be proud of. With a LED backlit set of keys that magically lifts off of a flat slab when you’re ready to type, this Kickstarter project has us already wanting to buy.

Epson’s latest line of projectors seems like overkill for most of us. Called the Megaplex line, these light weight, portable projectors are specially designed for iOS devices. Yet if you’ve already got a projector you like, hooking it up to an Apple TV and using AirPlay seems like a better bet.

There might be a relative dearth of Thunderbolt peripherals and accessories right now, but just wait until 2012. That’s when Thunderbolt will explode on Windows machines, which should open the floodgates on every sort of Thunderbolt accessory you can think of.

iMessage looks like a fantastic and free way for owners of iOS devices to keep in touch with each other, but what if you don’t have an iPhone, an iPod Touch or an iPad?

Never fear… the latest code snips peeking out of the corners of the current version of iChat for OS X Lion pretty strongly suggests that iMessage for OS X will be integrated into Lion’s existing IM client.

Sphero was unveiled months ago at CES, and remote-controlled spherical object fans everywhere have been eagerly awaiting its official release ever since. Today, the company announced that final production models have just arrived.

Samsung’s bragged for awhile that the Samsung Galaxy II is the thinnest smartphone around, but as the Korean gadget maker so often is, they’re full of it… and now the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority is talking smack, saying that the world’s thinnest smartphone isn’t an Android device… it’s the iPhone 4.

Apple and carrier Sprint have finished preparations for offering the iPad ‘before the holidays,’ according to a report citing unnamed sources. The iPad will follow an Oct. 7 launch of the iPhone 5, according to the Wednesday report.

For the last thirty five years, time after time, Apple has revolutionized the way we look at technology and dragged the rest of the industry kicking and screaming into the future. If we listed all the ways in which Apple has changed the way we interact with technology, we could fill a book, so here are some of our favorite examples of how Apple has led the tech industry every step of the way.

As rumored yesterday, Verizon has just announced that they are going to go head-to-head with the likes of Virgin Mobile for the contract-free, prepaid market… just a month before Apple is widely rumored to release a low cost iPhone of their own in the so-called iPhone 4S.

The bigger surprise? AT&T’s joined them and will be offering prepaid plans too.

VMware has launched a brand new version of its popular virtualization software for the Mac. VMware Fusion 4 boasts more than 100 new features — such as 2.5 times faster graphics — and is now fully compatible with OS X Lion.

Rival app stores should cooperate to improve the security of their downloads, an EU security agency advised. The security of apps should be as important as its functionality, the group argued Tuesday.

Apple has been pressured into changing its iPhone returns policy in South Korea following complaints from regulators. The South Korea Fair Trade Commission insisted the Cupertino company changes the way in which it handles defective iPhones that are returned within one month, and after a 12-month wait Apple has complied.

We knew Apple’s iPad dwarfed RIM’s PlayBook, but now the image seems even more lopsided, thanks to shipping numbers from a group of analysts. The Cupertino, Calif. company shipped 19 iPads each time the BlackBerry maker shipped one of its rival devices. Little wonder RIM, facing financial scrutiny Thursday, is back concentrating on its smartphones.

It seems that no matter where I go or who I run into one of the biggest complaints about Mac OS X Lion that I hear about is, “Where the #!@#!@# did Apple put those scroll bars?!?!?” This not so subtle change in Mac OS X Lion is driving people crazy.

So if you want your scroll bars and your sanity back pull up a chair, lean in close and I’ll tell you how to bring ’em back.

Whatever you do, don’t blink. Otherwise you might miss the superbness of this Who-tastic iPad case, and instructions for making your own.

For just two dollars, you can buy the pattern for this smart multi-dimensional iPad sleeve, and make it yourself with some yarn, some needles, and a sonic screwdriver.

Just like the real TARDIS, this one’s bigger on the inside than it is on the outside. On the outside, you have a 7.5inch by 9.5inch crocheted sleeve, but on the inside you have more hours of entertainment than most of us can handle in 11 (count ’em) lifetimes. Having a time machine would actually be quite a good way of keeping up with it all, wouldn’t it?

(Hands up who else is really enjoying the current series of Who?)

Apple’s iPad will soon be spawning in Brazil, according to the country’s Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Aloizio Mercadante. Until now, the device has been produced solely by Foxconn in China, but by December Brazilian iPads will be hitting the market.

If you purchased one of Apple’s latest Mac minis to find you have a massive hatred for the new OS X Lion operating system, then you’ll be disappointed to find that you cannot downgrade to Snow Leopard. However, that may not be the case…

While Apple is still yet to announce its highly-anticipated iPhone 5, that hasn’t stopped a number of carriers from advertising the device and taking pre-orders. China Telecom is the latest to begin preparations for Apple’s fifth-generation device, reportedly taking orders from the end of this month.

Here’s something cool from the team at the Institute for Machine Tools and Manufacturing in Berlin, Germany: an iPhone that’s been turned into a remote control for industrial-size robots.

Airfoil is just one of a list of fantastic audio apps from indie developers Rogue Amoeba.

Here’s the new Blue Screen of Death in Windows 8, which Microsoft is previewing this week at its Build conference.

It’s been transformed into a sad face emoticon.

Reminds me of the old Happy Mac but, well, sadder.

Bigger version after the jump.

Via Arnold Kim’s Twitter stream.

Thanks to the success of the Starbucks App Store ‘Pick of the Week’ promotion, Starbucks has announced that it will also be offering free eBook Picks of the Week in a partnership with iTunes and the iBookstore.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Verizon Wireless is launching an unlimited voice and data prepaid plan. The plan will compete directly against Sprint and T-Mobile’s prepaid options. AT&T already offers a prepaid plan for $50 called GoPhone.

Verizon’s new $50 plan will include unlimited talk, text and web usage. Starting this Thursday, the plan will be available to eligible Verizon Wireless customers. It looks like iPhone users have one more reason to switch to Verizon.

Earlier today Microsoft released updates for the Mac versions of Office 2008 and 2011 that address some issues with security, stability, and reliability. Users of these versions of Microsoft Office should immediately update their software.

Life in plastic isn’t so fantastic for a pair of iPad thieves named Barbie and Ken.

The crimes took place in Denver, where a woman named Barbie Alvarado is accused of answering ads on Craigslist for iPads then stealing them with the help of an accomplice named Ken.