In a shootout to determine which tablet has the best display over at DisplayMate, the iPad 2 came out ahead of the Eee Transformer and the Motorola Xoom. No surprises there.

What might be a bigger surprise is that the display experts over at DisplayMate have seriously approached the idea of whether or not the iPad 3 will get a Retina Display and have concluded that it would be nothing more than a marketing stunt… and would actually lower the quality of the iPad’s display while slowing down the hardware.

So you’re a cutting edge, Post-PC consumer. You’ve bought into the Cloud, have all the latest apps on your iPad, and you work on the go. Just tweet this, email that, and print out an electronic boarding pass before you head to the airport.

Not so fast on that last step. There’s a tantalizing Print button in many iOS apps these days, but very few printers are usable without some extra work first. Unlike printing on the Mac or PC, AirPrint (the iOS-based printing system) is still not yet a fully realized solution. Fortunately, workarounds are available.

Apple COO Tim Cook happened to pop on by China Mobile’s headquarters earlier today. You know, just happened to be in the neighborhood, thought he’d see what was going on. No biggie.

Except China Mobile isn’t currently partnered with Apple. Oh, and they just happen to be the world’s largest mobile phone carrier, providing for over six hundred million customers. Biggie indeed.

Final Cut Pro X might now finally be available for purchase on the Mac App Store for a lower price than ever, but for some video professionals, it has not been worth the wait: a pretty update that sadly jettisons many of the features that they depend on. There may be hope on the horizon, though: Apple has reportedly claimed that Final Cut Pro X will be getting some of these missing features in future updates.

Jailbreak artist Comex has been hinting at plans to dust off Jailbreakme.com for a while now, allowing users on compatible iOS devices to jailbreak their systems just by loading the page in Mobile Safari. But what devices will be supported?

All of them running iOS 4.2.1 to iOS 4.3.3, for one. The iPad 2 for another. Hoorah!

We start off with a deal on a Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro, running at 2.4GHz for just $899. Next are some discounted iPad 2s, including a 16GB Wi-Fi model for only $489. Finally, there is the Office for Mac 2011 software suite for only $89.97.

Along the way, we also check out some cases for the iPod, a discount on some iPad accessories, as well as a Bluetooth keyboard and music-tagging software. As usual, details on these and other items can be found at CoM’s “Daily Deals” page right after the jump.

Next month, AT&T will start rolling out its LTE network in the United States, prepping the ground for the launch of an LTE-equipped iPhone in 2012. Even though Ma Bell doesn’t actually have a 4G network in place right now, though, that’s not stopping them from selling 4G phones and bragging about their 4G speeds. New legislation working its way through the house wouldn’t stop that, but would make them append a caveat: their minimum data speeds.

This post has been updated with a note from the author at the end.

Apple released the first beta of iOS 5 after WWDC two weeks ago, and I’ve been using it on my iPhone 4 and iPad 2 ever since.

Is iOS 5 Beta 1 stable enough to use full-time? A lot of people have asked us this, and after trying for a few weeks, I can respond pretty authoritatively: not by half. Here’s our list of at least nine things that Apple needs to fix before iOS 5 beta is usable full time.

Cloud Engines announced their new, software-only personal streaming service today for PogoPlug. While the free version of PogoPlug is pretty nice, their Premium service adds a few extra features, like being able to stream music and movies to your iOS device. Running out of room for new movies and music on your iPhone or iPad is always a downer, but PogoPlug ensures that will no longer happen. Lucky for our readers, PogoPlug graciously gave us a whopping 200 Promo codes for free Premium PogoPlug accounts.

We already gave out a couple codes to our loyal Twitter followers this morning, but we’re now opening the floodgates to all of our readers so that the first 195 people to come will get a free PogoPlug Premium account. Here’s how to get your promo code:

Nuked by both Apple and Android, RIM now finds itself too radioactive to even be bought. It’s a Hiroshima-like shadow of Wall Street, not capable of being touched.

Four years after it set the smartphone world on fire, Apple has won a patent for the original iPhone.

This isn’t just old news: it’s a huge win for Apple that will not only help Cupertino out in their case against Samsung, but according to some patent specialists could even allow Apple to go to war against other smartphone makers.

We’ve written how Amazon plans to challenge Apple’s iPad with its own Android-based tablet. New details indicate the devices will appear as soon as September, in time for the important U.S. holiday buying period.

The Mac has gone from that hippy-dippy device artists use to the button-down world of business with more than one-in-ten corporate computers sporting the Apple logo.

The race to the cloud just heated up today: Cloud Engines, most known for their white, instant-server-in-a-brick Pogoplug network-attached storage device, launches two software-only versions that turn your Mac into a home-based server.

Audyssey, the high-end audio technology specialists, have just introduced their latest consumer product, the Lower East Side Media Speakers. We raved over the SOM audio dock that the company released earlier this year and it will be interesting to see if they can achieve the levels of quality we now come to expect from Audyssey.

Just as we expected, Apple updated its AirPort Extreme wireless base station yesterday — not long after the new Time Capsules entered the online store. But other than a different model number, what’s new?

Following yesterday’s rumors that Apple’s fifth-generation iPhone is scheduled to launch later this year, Bloomberg cites two sources “familiar with Apple’s plans” who have confirmed the iPhone 5 will be available this September. The report also offers some juicy details on the iPad 3, and that “iPhone nano” that we keep hearing about.

Apple has just released an update to its flagship video editing application, Final Cut Pro. The new version, now known as Final Cut Pro X, has some of the audio editing features of Soundtrack Pro and a simplified the user experience, but will potentially alienate pro film makers and audio engineers.

On the Mac App Store page for Final Cut Pro X, Apple has coined the phrase, “Everything just changed in post.” Unfortunately, it seems not for the better.

An Israeli minister has requested that Apple pull an Arabic-language app for iTunes that calls for a Palestinian uprising.

In a letter to Apple CEO Steve Jobs, Reuters reports that Israeli Public Diplomacy Minister Yuli-Yoel Edelstein said the app called ThirdIntifada “passed on information about protests, some violent, planned against Israel.”

John Herbold, whose last post at Apple was Senior Product Manager of iCloud, has left the company to work in an education startup.

Herbold’s departure, spotted by the eagle eyes over at 9to5Mac, first showed up on his Linkedin Profile.

I’m willing to bet that more than a few of our readers already saunter around in Apple-logo t-shirts in their homes, sit down on barstools by sprawling, stark pine desks and work on setups almost identical to those neatly arranged stations at the local Apple Store.  Which is, y’know, cool. But do they have one of these?

Apple is rumored to be teaming up with a major TV maker to sell Apple-branded TVs in the fall.

According to DailyTech, citing a former Apple executive, Apple’s TVs will be sold through Apple’s retail stores and will “blow Netflix and all those other guys away.”

We’ve heard this one before. So often, in fact, I’m inclined to roll my eyes. The TV business is hyper-competitive and hard.

But Apple has a big new technology that might make all the difference:

If you didn’t win yesterday’s Twitter giveaway, have no fear. Truepower Inc decided they’d like to giveaway a few more ThinSkins to Cult of Mac’s amazing readers. Switching things up, we’ll be doing a Twitter Trivia Giveaway today and handing out 5 new ThinSkins to the winners. If you want to join our five winners from yesterday and win a free ThinSkin we’d be happy to have one sent to you as long as you play by the rules.

Review by Kelly Keltner

Despite the word “Droid” plastered everywhere, the new Motorola CommandOne Bluetooth headset ($100) has already become my friend. True, it’ll never learn to pronounce my name correctly, is misunderstood by some of my other friends and has questionable fashion sense. We remain friends, however, because it’s easy to understand and comfortably fits in my ear. It’s unlike most relationships, but it works for us.

If you’ve got a small child with a sticky fingered fascination for your “magical” iPad, why not give him or her this adorable analog tablet instead?