Intel’s integrated graphic solutions are pretty lame even on Windows machines, but that makes them doubly so when running an operating system as GPU-intensive as Snow Leopard, which is exactly why Apple has embraced NVIDIA’s superior mobile chipsets.

Unfortunately, a lawsuit between Intel and NVIDIA complicated matters from Apple, and ultimately ended up resigning Apple’s current-gen laptops CPU obsolescence, but it was recently suggested that Intel and NVIDIA were soon to settle their differences, allowing Apple to update their MacBook line to more advanced Intel CPUs without having to sacrifice the integrated NVIDIA graphics architecture that helps keep even entry-level Macs running speedily along.

A new rumor, however, suggests the smaller MacBook line (13-inches) might be advanced through a different method: by ditching NVIDIA entirely.

A Danish tabloid is threatening to take Apple to court, and over what? The exposed breasts of the nubile and flax pin-up girls who have graced Ekstra Bladet‘s ninth page for the last thirty five years.

If you are one of the many Apple rumor mongers who expects the Mac App Store to flutter cherubically out of the fertile womb of Software Update later this week, The Loop’s Jim Dalrymple suggests you put your celebratory cigars back in the humidor: it ain’t coming this week, or even this month. Dang.

Are you proud to call yourself a skinflint throwback to the antiquated ideals of Neo-Chaucerian 2009? Best Buy’s got a deal for you: a totally free iPhone 3GS.

A mere half a minute just not enough time to figure out if you actually want to pluck down that hard earned buck on The Pipkins’ classic sonnet, “Gimme Dat Ding”? You now have thrice the time to sample, courtesy of iTunes.

Apple has released another software update for the new 11 and 13-inch MacBook Air models. This update, which is an EFI firmware upgrade, follows the previous update released shortly after the new MacBook Air went on sale and other alleged fixes in Mac OS X 10.6.5.

According to Apple, “This update resolves a rare issue where MacBook Air boots or wakes to a black screen or becomes unresponsive. This update is recommended for all 11-inch and 13-inch MacBook Air (late 2010) models. ”

It has emerged today that when the Mac App Store launches for Snow Leopard in the coming months, developers will not be given the opportunity to generate promo codes for their applications like iOS developers can.

In the iTunes Connect Developer Guide, Apple states that promo codes are for iOS apps only, and are not available to apps made for Mac OS X.

Until today, App Store promo codes were only redeemable in the U.S. iTunes Store, meaning those of us in other countries and without a U.S. iTunes account were unable to take advantage of promo code distributions and giveaways.

Apple has now made developers aware that promo codes are no longer limited to U.S. customers, and that they can now be redeemed in any App Store.

Your promo code distribution is no longer limited to U.S. customers. Promo codes in iTunes Connect can now be redeemed by all App Store customers worldwide. Your Team Agent can request 50 codes per version of your app in iTunes Connect and your customers can redeem these codes in any App Store. To learn more about requesting promo codes in iTunes Connect, see the iTunes Connect Developer Guide.

We start the day with a deal on a Core i3 22-inch iMac running at 3.06GHz for $1,080. Next is a new batch of price cuts from the iPhone App Store, including the autotuner “I am T-Pain.” We wrap up the featured deals with the Occarina app which turns your iPhone or iPod touch into a flute-like instrument.

Along the way, we check out hardware deals (like a $30 2GB Shuffle), applications (like “Rayman 2”) and miscellaneous bargains for your iPhone, iPod, iPad or Mac. As always, details on these and many more items can be found at CoM’s Daily Deals page right after the jump.

Forget drug mules: Chinese officials recently busted a ring of housewives acting as iPad mules.

Customs officials in Shenzhen caught 14 women, described as fashionably-dressed housewives, trying to carry 88 iPads and 340 mobile phones across the border from Hong Kong. The goods were worth an estimated 950,000 yuan, or about $143,000.

The methods sound similar to drug runners: one of them strapped 65 mobile phones around her waist and another 20 stuffed into a handbag, according to newspaper Guangzhou Daily.

Why the smuggle trouble? Even though the iPad is made in China, only the wi-fi version is available currently on the mainland.

Instead of trying to ban iPods and cell phones, one school district is telling kids to bring their own tech to school.

In the Green Bay area of Wisconsin, officials tired of trying to regulate the use of iDevices. Now at the Pulaski School District, for example, kids are encouraged to bring their cell phones, iPods and computers to class.

“Teachers can post questions, and kids can respond using their phones or their own computers,” said Amy Uelmen, instructional technology coordinator for the Pulaski district. “In the old days, we would take students to a computer lab; now you can bring it all into the classroom.”

We’re pretty big on Dropbox here at the Cult, and it’s handiness as a transfer/storage utility for Macs and iDevices alike hasn’t really been challenged. That is, till now.

Spot Documents works with the same basic idea: Its free OS X or iOS apps can be used to upload a user’s e-junk to Spot Document’s cloud — in this case, hosted on Amazon’s S3 servers — where it’ll be stored and made available for download/viewing. The difference is that where Dropbox is pretty slim on options, Spot Documents seems to be substantially more powerful: Spotlight-like search, full previews even on iDevices, and the ability to play around with access options for multiple users. And more.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs is ‘CEO of the Decade’, according to MarketWatch, which likens the iPhone, iPod and iPad guru to Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell for his impact on society. The announcement comes just a year after Fortune named Jobs as CEO of the Year.

Jobs held the reigns on what the financial publication termed “a virtual orgy of technological wonderment.”

Earlier this year, analysts suggested if Verizon gained the iPhone, it would hurt the growth of Android as a competitor to Apple’s popular handset. Now comes word from one of the top Apple analysts appearing to confirm that strategy. All talk points to Verizon getting the iPhone in early 2011, a move that will ‘test’ the Google-created operating system in the United States.

“The greatest factor in the success of Android has been Verizon,” Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster told investors Tuesday. “Customers are loyal to their carrier, and once Verizon gets the iPhone, we believe Android’s success in the U.S. will be tested.”

Chrome started life as a browser, now it’s an OS. Well, sort of an OS. If you’re only running one application, you don’t need much OS.

The Chrome Notebook is Google’s very early foray into the world of hardware – backed, of course, by its extensive existing online software products. Here’s an overview video:

The Chrome Notebook has a full size keyboard, 8 hour battery life, a built-in webcam, and both wifi and 3G connectivity. You log in with your Google Account. The Chrome browser treats webapps the way the iTunes Store treats iOS apps: you can browse them, and “install” them. Each app runs in a separate tab.

Want one? You’ll have to apply like everyone else. Good luck.

Skitch, the screenshot and image editor that’s been in beta since the day your parents were born (OK, since 2007), has finally reached 1.0.

If you’ve not tried Skitch before, now’s a good time to give it a spin. The emphasis is definitely on screenshots – taking them, and adding text, arrows, annotations and other fun stuff. It’s an app much beloved by writers of Mac blogs, who’ve made much use of it over the years for making quick-and-easy illustrations for their posts. Guilty as charged, Your Honour.

The deal with Skitch 1.0 is simple: you can still use the app for free if you like (“YAY!” cry the Mac bloggers), but if you shell out about $15 a year, you can get all sorts of sexy extras like no ads, more image formats, SSL encryption and more more more.

(Via delicious Brett at TUAW, oh yeah.)

In an email to a frustrated user, Apple CEO Steve Jobs has confirmed that the company’s MobileMe subscription service will improve in 2011. Jobs’ reply was a signature short response, but it promises a better service for the many disgruntled users who sign up to Apple’s email, hosting, and syncing service each year.

One MacRumors reader became so dissatisfied with the MobileMe service, that he emailed Jobs to let him know.

I love my iPad and iPhone4 and am a huge fan of yours and all that Apple does. I desperately want to stay inside of Apple’e ecosystem as much as possible.

However, MobileMe is making it very difficult for me to do so. Unreliable/unpredictable syncing, creating duplicate entries (sometimes scores of them), etc. It’s almost unusable.

And I know from forums (including Apple’s own support boards) that I am not the only one experiencing these very real and frustrating problems.

Please tell me it will get better, and soon?

Jobs’ reply was simply, “Yes, it will get a lot better in 2011.”

Unsurprisingly, Steve’s response doesn’t give away much for us to get excited about, other than the reassurance of a significantly enhanced MobileMe service next year. Whether that means improvements to existing MobileMe services, or the introduction of new features is unclear at this time.

The $99 yearly subscription service from Apple providers users with email, file/photo hosting, and syncing across all of their devices, including Macs, PCs, iPhones, iPads, and iPod Touches.

If you have your hands on Apple’s latest must-have gadget the iPad, you’ve probably wondered how to keep other people’s hands off it.

Sure, you can password protect the screen. But that’s not going to do much if someone decides to pick up the handy tablet and run with it.

Enter the iPad lock. Well, it’s actually a $40 case with room for a standard computer lock (sold separately.) The hard clear plastic case has a prominent slot on the side, then you attach a lock which you need to secure to a table or other stationary too-big-to-walk-off-with item.

We start out with a frosted screen protector for the Apple tablet, a way to protect your iPad’s screen from those gooey jelly doughnut fingers, spilled coffee and assorted mishaps that seem to be magnetically-drawn to that perfectly-clean screen. Also we take a look at the latest batch of freebies for your iPhone, including the “Infinity Project.” Finally, what’s a daily roundup of Mac deals without a bargain on The Daily Show?

Along the way, we check out several price cuts on iPad, iPod, and iPhone accessories, iTunes gift cards, and a deal on a 27-inch iMac with a Core i5 quad 2.66GHz processor. As usual, details on all of these items can be found at CoM’s “Daily Deals” page right after the jump.

Google’s Android operating system, which seemed to be a popular alternative to Apple’s iPhone and a way for wireless carriers to combat the lure of Cupertino’s handset, appears to be slowing. Android activations have held steady at about 200,000 activations per day since August, according to a report.

When the Mountain View, Calif. company Monday introduced a new version of its operating system codenamed “Gingerbread,” the firm said they were activating 1.5 million phones per wee, or 214, 200 per day. In early August, Google CEO Eric Schmidt told reporters the company had topped 200,000 activations per day.

We’ve presumed for some time that Apple would follow its blockbuster hit iPad tablet with another version sometime in early 2011. Now comes word Apple’s main supplier will start shipping the iPad 2 at the end of February, according to a Taiwan-based industry publication Tuesday.

Initial shipments by Foxconn will number 400,000 to 600,000 and follow reduced production of the original iPad to between 1.6 and 1.8 million tablets, the publication reports. Apple preferred to begin shipping the new iPad in January, but continued tests of the tablet’s firmware delayed the schedule.

Taking the windmill concept to a personal level, Dutch designer Tjeerd Veenhoven has created a custom wind-powered charger for his iPhone.  Made from a computer cooling fan and a soft rubber bumper case with integrated dock connector, the iFan recharges the phone as you walk around town:

By using a modified computer fan it took me 6 hours to charge my phone, rather long I think… but it works. I can shave off many charging hours by redesigning the fan blades, making it more efficient in catching the wind while sun bathing at the beach, doing walking trips in the mountains or just holding it outside your car window while driving along…

Perhaps not a practical solution for everybody, but it does show creativity and ingenuity in an environmentally friendly package.  Keep a good grip on that iPhone while it’s poking out the car window!

[via TUAW]

Did you know Apple is currently embroiled in 42 patent litigation actions against two major Android phone manufacturers, Motorola and HTC? As these things tend to do, resolution of the disputes will take years — and the legal battles surrounding Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android will enrich dozens of attorneys and their families in the process.

Outside of those attorneys there may be no one on earth who has followed the litigation more closely than Florian Mueller of FOSS Patents. Mueller published an exhaustive summary of the current state of affairs last week, and updated it on Monday with the handy graphic pictured above.

Click on the image for a larger view and read Mueller’s updated summary if you dare: it’s a document synthesized from thousands of court filings, organized into 13 “moves” — and fills 25 PDF pages.

[Fortune]

We start the week with a deal on the MacBook Air. The offer includes a MacBook Air with an Intel Core 2 Duo running at 2.13GHz. The machine also features a 13.3-inch screen – all for $1,125. There is another iPad stand under the deal spotlights. This one from Keydex also offers a screen protector two-pack along with free shipping. We wrap up the today’s featured deals with the latest crop of freebies from the iPhone App Store, including “Assault Squadron.”

Along the way, we’ll take a look at more hardware deals, such as iMacs and iPod nanos. We’ll also look at accessories for your iPhone and software for your Mac. As always, details on these and many other deals can be found at CoM’s “Daily Deals” page right after the jump.

A crazy gadget called the Looxcie LX1 sits on your ear like a Bluetooth headset. A built-in video camera records constantly, capturing everything you see.

The video recording and uploading takes place via a phone — until now an Android phone. But now, just in time for Christmas, the company has optimized their product for the iPhone.

The idea behind the $199 Looxcie LX1 is to capture every moment in order to capture any moment. What that means is that the device is constantly recording video, but dumps it continuously unless you choose to save it. In other words, unlike with a convention video camera where you choose to record video before you record it, the Looxie lets you choose to save video after an event occurs.

With the recorder going all the time, you won’t miss that alien abduction, sasquatch sighting or even being run over on the sidewalk by Steve Wozniak’s Segway – or any other sudden event.

To permanently retain footage, you have several options. The easiest is to simply press a button on the Looxcie, which grabs the previous 30 seconds and saves it on your iPhone. You use the app on your iPhone to upload a clip to YouTube, Facebook or send via e-mail. You can also connect to Mac or PC via USB.

The Looxcie LX1 talks to your iPhone via Bluetooth. It weighs 1 ounce, and records video at 480×320 resolution and 15 frames per second. You can get it at BestBuy.