When it came time to test the CDMA iPhone 4 on Verizon’s networks, Apple had learned a few things about security from the infamous Gizmodo early iPhone 4 leak. They weren’t about to make the same mistakes twice.

This guy brought his MacBook to Mediabistro’s Social Media Optimization conference in San Francisco (btw, good stuff) where it ended up serving as booster chair for his iPad.

As both a bibliophile and an 11-inch MacBook Air owner, there’s only one word to describe the new BookBook case by TwelveSouth: utterly gorgeous:

Apple may be preparing to nuke Mac Defender from orbit in the next Snow Leopard update, but not only is the malware still a very real threat… Mac Defender now mutated into an even bigger danger than it was before.

We start another week of deals with iPod and iPad bargains in the spotlight. First up is a number of iPod touch units, beginning at $149 for an 8GB model. Next is a lattice back protector for the original iPad. Finally is a 70 percent discount on select iPad 2 cases.

Along the way, we also check out deals on the ModBook, leather cases for the iPad 2, ways to take your iPad in the car, 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 OS X 10.7 ships later this summer, one of its least used yet most beloved system applications will be getting a gorgeous new facelift.

Indie sensation Minecraft is coming to smartphones this year… but it won’t be coming to iOS first. Instead, it’ll debut on Android as an exclusive to the so-called PlayStation Phone, the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play. It’s a betrayal that especially hurts given the fact that Minecraft was briefly available on the App Store last year.

Good news for AT&T iPhone owners envious of Verizon’s next-generation LTE network: Apple’s original U.S. carrier Wednesday announced the faster transmission technique will become available this summer, setting the stage for iPhones and iPad’s based on the 150Mbps technology in 2012.

The placement of the cellular and WiFi antennas between the iPhone 4 and iPad 2 couldn’t be more different, but that’s not stopping a small but vocal minority of iPad 2 owners to cry about an Antennagate of their own.

If you are Apple, you can afford to go head-to-head with patent trolls, such as Lodsys. Not so the little guys. That’s why two app makers are now encouraging developers used to competing against one another to join together to fight off common enemies.

A new web app soon to hit the iPhone will allow users to open torrent links in their mobile web browser and stream them directly to their device.

In most of the world, when you buy an iPhone, you pay a small initial fee upfront, but the rest of the handset’s price is baked into your two year contract, which you pay off in monthly installments. In India, though? It’s totally backwards… and totally bizarre.

First, Apple takes Acer to the woodshed over netbooks, now the PC maker takes a bruising for demanding a lady-sized 7-inch tablet. They’ve just figured out what Apple has known all along: the iPad’s the perfect size for a tablet.

2011’s World Wide Developer’s Conference is fast approaching, but for the first time in four years, there is no expectation that Apple will reveal a new iPhone there. That might be a very good thing for investors looking to capitalize on low expectations.

Apple could be about to add an additional supplier to its iPad 2 chain as the company continues to deal with overwhelming demand of the second-generation device and tackle backlight bleeding problems with early models.

Apple has built the majority of its modern day fortunes upon the back of the low-voltage ARM chipset. Ever since the first iPhone, ARM chips have driven Apple’s biggest and best-selling products. Thanks to the success of iOS, which only runs on ARM, the futures of Apple and ARM are so intertwined that Cupertino now designs its own custom specced ARM chips.

Given how forward thinking Apple is, it probably wouldn’t surprise you to hear that the Mac maker once bought a 43% stake in ARM back in the early 1990s. What probably would surprise, you, though, is that Apple sold that stake at a loss… and that sale saved the company from total bankruptcy.

When isn’t San Francisco the place to be?

OK, maybe New Orleans during Jazz Fest, or St. Barts at your wedding; London for your royal whatsit.

But otherwise — right?

The Geek Universe is set to converge on Cupertino’s northern climes next week and lest anyone fear the festivities might be confined to Moscone Center’s sterile hallways, Party List is on hand to direct interested parties to the hippest, happening off-site and after-hours events during WWDC 2011.

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One of the best things about Apple is how focused they are on allowing their users to bring out their own creativity through the use of their devices. One of our talented readers, George, tweeted us a link to his awesome guitar solo video on YouTube. We’re not a music-centric blog, but we think the composition is pretty neat when you consider that he’s made the entire song on his iPad. If you have something remarkable you’ve created on your iPad and would like to share it with us, get on Twitter and send us a link (@cultofmac). We’d love to show your work off for you.

You’ll find a notebook to suit everyone within Apple’s family of notebooks: the entry-level MacBook is perfect for students and casual computer users, the MacBook Air is a blessing to the travelling businessman, and there’s a MacBook Pro fitting for just about everyone. And I’m not the only one who thinks so – Consumer Reports just dealt Apple’s awesome MacBooks a whole lot of love.

When Apple released QuickTime X with Mac OS X Snow Leopard, it seemed like little more than another version of QuickTime with a new User Interface. In reality though, there are quite a few features either new to QuickTime X, or previously only available in the Professional version, that make it much more than just a media player. In this video, you’ll see how you can get more use out of QuickTime X.

In a contentious move, Apple has been telling its official support reps not to remove the Mac Defender malware from users’ machines. Now that policy is starting to make more sense: Apple doesn’t want support reps removing the malware from Macs because they’re releasing a software update that kills Mac Defender automatically.

If anyone was going to ascend naked directly into heaven as beings made entirely out of light, it’s the guys who work for Apple, and while it may not have happened on May 21st as it was supposed to, at least one Apple Store prepared for the Rapture.

Apple’s Smart Cover for iPad 2 is great for protecting your iPad’s display from nicks and scrapes while in your gadget bag, but how good is it actually protecting your iPad 2 when it goes flying from your butterfingers to skitter across the concrete pavement?

The iPhone isn’t likely to get NFC-capabilities allowing it to function as a credit card until 2012, according to most reports, but Apple’s biggest competitor in the smartphone arena has no intention of waiting so long: Google is preparing to unveil their own mobile payment system on May 26th.