Next week, Apple will finally confirm years of rumors of taking iTunes to the cloud and unveil iCloud, their media locker service that will automatically scan and match your existing iTunes library for streaming to any iOS device.

In some ways, though, iCloud’s taken too long to get here. The era of unlimited bandwidth is over. In the last year we’ve seen both mobile carriers and ISP broadband providers impose severe data caps on their users. The vast majority of iPhone and iPad customers only have 2GB of data per month to play with. How much media can you really stream with a 2GB data cap?

Let’s find out!

We start June with two deals on MacBooks and some iPad 2 cases deeply discounted. First up is a MacBook bundle, including a 2.3GHz Core i5 processor with 8GB of RAM for $1,449. Next is a number of MacBook Air machines, starting at $829 for a 1.4GHz machine with an 11.6-inch screen and 64GB of SSD memory. Finally, we wrap up today’s spotlight with 70 percent off on select iPad 2 cases, including a Snap On case in five colors.

Along the way, we also check out iPhone 4 cases, as well as software for your Mac. As always, details on these and many other items can be found at CoM’s “Daily Deals” page right after the jump.

When we talk of cat-and-mouse within the context of Apple, we’re usually talking about Apple vs. jailbreakers, but it seems there’s a new mouse in town: Mac Defender.

Less than a day after Apple released a new security update nuking Mac Defender from orbit, a new variant has appeared that skirts around the protections of the update.

While tablets might be a revolution for everyone else, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings thinks they’re a bore. Where it’s really at? The Apple TV.

Apple updated its iWork applications for iOS yesterday to include support for the iPhone and iPod touch, and I couldn’t wait to get my hands on them. As a regular user of Keynote, Numbers and Pages on the iPad, I have been patiently waiting for their iPhone counterparts for some time – and these are well worth the wait.

Here’s an added incentive to upgrade to Apple’s soon-to-be-released Mac OS X ‘Lion’: free iCloud services.

PC executives have seen their profits and marketshare so decimated by iPad that they now having to make the ultimate sacrifice: slightly smaller bonuses.

PC makers looking to ride the tablet wave and overcome Apple’s lead have had a rude awakening.

Is your two year contract ticking down this month? So desperate to replace that iPhone 3G that you’re having a hard time coming to terms with Apple’s repeated assertions that this year’s WWDC will be software only?

Well, here’s a sliver of hope to cling on to. Or should we say ‘silver’ of hope?

While most of the mystery of Apple’s North Carolina data super center comes from the fact that we’re still not really sure what Cupertino will be using it for, let’s not underestimate another contributing factor to the intrigue: the fact that Apple’s Maiden, North Carolina data center appears as a big, gaping hole in the Earth under Google Maps. But no longer!

At Computex 2011 in Taiwan this week, Asus unveiled its Padfone – a new smartphone that can be placed into the back of a magic dock transforming it into a tablet. But before you stick your iPhone 4 on eBay and start waiting for one of these things, check out this dock from ECS which does exactly the same thing with your iPhone.

Content on the Internet changes daily, or more frequently than that, usually with scant concern for preservation or future studies. For a look back at the past Digital Archaeology, an upcoming exhibit during Internet Week NY June 6-13, will endeavor to bring some of the Internet’s earliest and/or most influential websites back to life.

To celebrate the birthday of Marilyn Monroe today, the magnificent Silent Film Director app for the iPhone has gone free for just 24 hours.

Speculation that Apple may build its own maps application into iOS 5 and ditch its partnership with Google has now been put to bed, after Google’s Executive Chairman confirmed the two companies are still buddies.

When iOS 5 finally hits our devices there may no longer be a need to download third-party Twitter clients from the App Store. In addition to revamped notifications and the introduction of widgets, Twitter integration may be one of the new features built into the new OS.

If you weren’t already excited about Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference – which kicks off on Monday – these images of the Apple logo going up on Moscone West in San Francisco are guaranteed to get you in the mood.

Apple has begun certifying components from several Taiwan-based manufacturers for its upcoming iPad 3, but could the device be launching in 2011?

The Oakland police have just arrested the suspect on the crazy viral “This Guy Has My MacBook” Tumblr blog.

Joshua Kaufman just Tweeted:

ARRESTED! An Oakland police officer just called me to let me know that they arrested the guy in my photos! BOOYA!

Guess how the police got him?

Wrapping up his D9 interview, Google’s Eric Schmidt had one last piece of advice for anyone worried about online security:

iTunes is often called Apple’s worst piece of software. It’s criticized for being a bloated and slow way to manage music and sync iOS devices. This becomes especially apparent if you store a lot of content on your device or have a large iTunes library. iTunes doesn’t have to be so painful to use though. In this video, you’ll see a few ways you can make iTunes speedier and more responsive.

Google’s Eric Schmidt may have just pre-announced the iPhone with NFC.

Windows 7 was rude enough to crash catastrophically Friday, an hour before a column deadline. After 45 minutes of hopeful auto-repair, an error message unceremoniously notified me that, no, nothing will be repaired automatically today. “Would you like to shut down?” Um, no, I wouldn’t.

The only solution was to reformat the disk and rebuild the system — a procedure I’ve done maybe 50 times since first installing Windows 3.1 in the early 90s.

I’m thankful for Carbonite. As of this writing Tuesday, the online backup servive has been restoring my 172 gigabytes of data since Friday. So far it’s 22 percent done. I should be all restored up by July.

Sigh.

The failure took my column with it, of course. I had to re-write it on my iPad.

Which got me thinking about the future of Windows, a future looks bleak from the perspective of turning to an incredibly stable $500 appliance while my $2,000 PC restores itself after yet another crash.

Steve Jobs calls Android a “probe in your pocket” because it spies on users, according to Wall Street Journal reporter Kara Swisher.

Apple’s iCloud music locker will not require users to laboriously upload all the music in their iTunes libraries, but will instead rely on “scan and match.”

If you’re goin’ to San Francisco for WWDC be sure to join us next Thursday, June 9 for the Cult of Mac Meet and Greet at Potrero Hill’s notorious Il Pirata.

We’ll have some goodies to give away. Here are the details: