t’s time for yet another Monday iPhone App Giveaway brought to you by Appular! We’ll be dropping A LOT of app codes like they’re hot on the Cult of Mac Facebook page, and it’s up to you to grab them first. We’ll be dropping codes at a secret time tonight.  If you were in Reykjavik, Iceland at 2am on Tuesday morning and you checked our page, you’d be seeing the codes posted. So, do your research on time zones to figure out what time that is in your time zone.  It’s best to Like us on Facebook so that the codes are immediately delivered to your desktop.

Special Thanks to Appular for helping us put together these app code giveaways! If you’ve got a mobile app that you’d like marketed effectively, contact the good folks at Appular!

Here’s a look at the apps we’re giving away:

I need hardly explain this one. Love it or loathe it, Skype is found pretty much everywhere else, and millions of people are happy users of it on a wide range of computer platforms and mobile devices. Even if you don’t particularly like using it, it’s a good bet that some of your loved ones to – so it’s worth keeping around, just for those occasional video chats.

There are other benefits, too. Skype works on older Macs (even G4s) running older versions of OS X (right down to 10.3.9 with Skype 2.8), and will support a variety of external webcams, mics and headsets. If your hardware is modest, Skype’s still an option for effective videocalls (bandwidth permitting, of course).

Get yer normal Skype here; if you’re feeling brave, try the (rather different) Skype beta – here’s Lonnie’s review from last November.

(You’re reading the 25th post in our series, 50 Essential Mac Applications: a list of the great Mac apps the team at Cult of Mac value most. Read more.)

Apple COO Tim Cook is a bit of a cypher. Despite being the number two guy at Apple for a good dozen years, his public appearances have been few and brief.

To get better acquainted, check out this video of a commencement speech he gave at Auburn University, his alma mater.

In it, Cook thanks Steve Jobs for changing his life and how joining Apple in 1998, when the company was on the ropes, turned out to be the “best decision of my life.”

Thanks Les!

Did you promise yourself that 2011 would be the year that you would quit smoking? Are you having trouble sticking to your new year’s resolution? Well maybe there’s an iOS app that will make it a little easier for you. Here’s our list of the best iOS apps that may help you succeed in your quest to quit this year.

The apps we’ve selected will help you find the motivation you need to stamp out those nicotine cravings. Quickly calculate how much money you spend on cigarettes each week and see how much you could save as a non-smoker; create personalized plans that are tailored to help you quit in a way that suits you; and even estimate how much of your life you might be saving by saying no to cigarettes. If that’s not enough motivation, we don’t know what is!

Check them out after the break and get help to kick the habit in 2011.

Apple Insider has a juicy scoop from the same source who revealed the negotiations between Apple, Imagination Technologies and Samsung back in 2008 that ultimately led to the creation of the A4 CPU: Apple is reportedly building a new version of their A4 chip that will bring faster dual graphic cores to the iPhone 5 and iPad 2.

I hate to say it, but I have a bad feeling about Steve Jobs’ latest leave of absence. I’m not optimistic he will return to Apple. He’s been gravely ill and has cheated death, but there are some hard numbers about cancer and transplant survival rates that even someone as charmed as Jobs can’t escape.

I sincerely hope I’m wrong, but I get a feeling this is the start of Steve Jobs moving on from Apple. There will be a slow phasing out this year as he hands the reigns to Tim Cook. I expect it will be drawn out, a gradual transition of power. But I don’t think Jobs is returning to Apple.

The big question, of course, is how Apple will do without him.

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With the announcement of his leave from day-to-day operations at Apple, Steve Jobs set off a flurry of speculation and sent some stock prices skittering.

Jobs once again asked for privacy and respect — some believe he should have it, others believe Apple will be under too much pressure from shareholders to maintain much reserve.

Do you think Steve jobs will get the privacy he has asked for? And how much does he deserve?

The news of Steve Jobs’ latest medical leave is the top story on the New York Times‘ website right now. The Times‘ top slot is usually reserved for big international news stories, indicting the importance of Apple’s news to the business and technology world. It has pushed out news about Tunisia’s new government and a fresh Wikileaks scandal about offshore banks and alleged tax cheats.

Day Lyons, aka Fake Steve Jobs, has retired his online satirical column on news of Steve Jobs’ medical leave of absence. Lyons did this last time Jobs took medical leave, saying it was in bad taste to impersonate the CEO while he was sick.

This time around, Lyons has some harsh words for reporters who will inevitably pry into Jobs’ health:

We start another week of deals with some bargains for your iPhone, your Mac and your iPod. First up is the latest batch of price cuts on select applications from the iTunes App Store, including “SpinArt.” Next is a number of unibody MacBook Pro laptops from the Apple Store, starting at $1,019 for a 2.4GHz model. We wrap up the deal spotlight with a heavy discount on some iPod touch cases.

Along the way, we’ll also check out some cases for your iPad, a charger for your iPhone and a 27-inch LED Cinema Display 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.

Everyone here is shocked and saddened by the news that Steve Jobs is taking another leave of absence.

Whatever ails him, we hope he is treated successfully and makes a speedy recovery. Our sincerest best wishes go out to him and his family.

However, subtle differences in his two leave-of-abscence letters make us wonder whether things aren’t a little more serious this time around.

Apple Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook is becoming accustom to the role of understudy for CEO Steve Jobs. First in 2004, while Jobs recovered from pancreatic cancer surgery, then in 2009 for six months while Jobs had a liver transplant, and now while his boss takes a medical leave for unspecified reasons.

Little wonder Cook is seen as the top choice to lead Apple, should Jobs’ temporary leave become permanent. “I have great confidence that Tim and the rest of the executive management team will do a terrific job executing the plans we have in place for 2011,” Jobs said earlier today. But will the transition be as smooth as Jobs’ hopes – or will Cook be snapped up by GM, HP, or others?

Over the weekend, some iPad-specific and resolution-doubled icons found in iBooks Version 1.1 made everyone speculate that the iPad 2 would have a 2048 x 1536 display. Not quite Retina, but close enough.

Unfortunately, the speculation breaks down upon closer examination. Not only are the pixel-quadrupled iBook icons old news, but there’s a conflicting mention of a 1536×800 pixel resolution in the same build.

In fact, Apple’s been suggesting that developers provide a double resolution icon for each iPad app since June. This is just Apple thinking forward: yes, they’d like to have the same pixel density in the iPad as in the iPhone and iPod Touch, but that doesn’t make a 10.1-inch Retina Display economically feasible this generation.

In other words, this resolution-doubled iPad icon business? Much ado about nothing. The iPad 2 might have a Retina Display, but not because of a couple of higher res icons.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs’ Monday morning announcement he is taking a medical leave of absence couldn’t come at a worse time. As in 2009, when Jobs underwent a liver transplant just prior to CES, this episode comes just days before the tech giant announces what many presume will be another gangbuster financial report Wednesday.

As a result of both Jobs’ cryptic announcement and Apple’s legendary tight-lipped PR, investors and observers are left parsing this morning’s short statement. “I love Apple so much and hope to be back as soon as I can,” Jobs said. However, some take the words as possibly the Apple leader’s swan song.

Late next month, Nintendo is set to release the 3DS, the successor to their popular Nintendo DS handheld console. Besides a few bumped specs, the main selling point of the 3DS is its glasses-free 3D display, which Nintendo hopes will give their latest handheld a leg up on the competition… most importantly by giving them a clear point of differentiation from the DS’s number one competitor, the iPod Touch.

How long will Nintendo have 3D superiority over the Touch, though? Perhaps not as long as Nintendo thinks. A new rumor coming out of Japan suggests that the next iPod Touch will have the same glasses-free 3D display found in the Nintendo 3DS, based upon Cupertino’s multiple patents for 3D related technologies.

A little more than two years after the controversy started, graphics chip maker NVIDIA has agreed to a settlement of Apple, Dell and HP owners who bought laptops with faulty GPUs.

For Apple owners, the settlement covers anyone who purchased a MacBook Pro from May 2007 to September 2008.

You might remember that this generation of MacBook Pro was prone to graphics failure due to faulty NVIDIA chips.

On Apple’s part, they have been extremely good about servicing laptops for free that were affected by the bad NVIDIA chips, covering those laptops even out of warranty for up to three years and issuing refunds to those who paid for repairs.

Now NVIDIA’s doing the same. If you paid for a repair on an Apple notebook computer related to the NVIDIA GPU, you can submit a claim by filling out this form. For a replacement, send in this form.

Steve Jobs is taking a medical leave of absence and handing day-to-day control of Apple over to Tim Cook.

Jobs sent the following message to staff this morning:

Team,

At my request, the board of directors has granted me a medical leave of absence so I can focus on my health. I will continue as CEO and be involved in major strategic decisions for the company.

I have asked Tim Cook to be responsible for all of Apple’s day to day operations. I have great confidence that Tim and the rest of the executive management team will do a terrific job executing the exciting plans we have in place for 2011.

I love Apple so much and hope to be back as soon as I can. In the meantime, my family and I would deeply appreciate respect for our privacy.

(Sources: Reuters and Business Insider.)

Three new iPad SKUs have been added to the Best Buy store database, leading to questions about what the unreleased products may be. All three are described as “Apple iPad SKU WiFi,” and two are listed at $599, with the third at $699.

The products show up as “unreleased products” on the Best Buy database for both the online and internal store databases, according to 9to5 Mac, who suggests these new listings could be the Verizon iPad + MiFi bundle, new Verizon CDMA iPads, or even the iPad 2.

This week’s must-have iOS apps features Bills – On Your Table HD – a fantastic finance application that helps you manage your money on your iOS device. Bills makes it simple to store and track various types of outgoing payments with specific due dates. The application has been available on the iPhone for some time, but now it’s available in HD for the iPad.

iDarkroom is the latest top photography application for personalizing your snaps. With a wide variety of effects and frames to choose from, it’s easy to make your photos that little bit more priceless.

“The internet, rethought, reinvented, and handcrafted for the iPad,” with Browser+ HD – a feature-packed web browser that claims to be the slickest way to browse the internet on the planet.

Find out more about the applications above and check out the rest of this week’s must-have iOS apps, including Timeli and OMGuitar, after the break!

When will Apple sell its 10 billionth app? Next Friday morning (PST), according to my calculations.

Here’s how I worked it out. We took a screenshot of Apple’s app counter at about 8am on Jan 14th for our first report about the sweepstakes. It showed ~9,775,350,000.

At 8am this morning (Jan 16), it showed ~9,830,422,000. That’s a difference of about 55,072,000 apps in 48 hours, which means apps are being sold at a rate of ~1,147,333 apps an hour. (CNet says Apple is selling 1,000 apps every second, or 1,200,000 apps an hour).

The counter is approximately 170,000,000 apps short of 10 billion. At a rate of ~1,147,333 apps an hour, it would take 148 hours — or 6 days — to hit the 10 billion mark. Hence, early Friday morning.

Now, I’ve flunked math all through my life, and I am in no doubt I’m totally wrong (plus I’ve done a ton of rounding). So please help me out. When will the 10 billionth app be sold?

UPDATE: Reader Allan in the comments reckons it will be Saturday evening PST. Here’s his reasoning: “The counter is running at about four seconds per 1,000 apps (watching the counter), or 15,000 per minute. That’s 900,000 per hour, or 21,600,000 a day. When the counter hits 9.862 billion, there will be 138 million to go. At 21.6 million a day, it will take 551,232 seconds to go another 138 million, or 6.38 days, which is six days and a bit over nine hours. Set your alarms.”

This week’s must-have iOS games features a motocross game that turns a fan-favorite genre on its head and delivers a side-scrolling racer that claims to be like no other game you’ll find in the App Store. Discover what players of the desktop version of Mad Skills Motocross have enjoyed for years.

Sheeple Chase is a loveable little racing game in which your aim is to guide a cute little sheep to victory against his farmyard friends. Enjoy a multi-colored visual feast as you race through the various worlds in a bid to obtain all of the winners cups, while picking up as many juicy apples as you can on the way.

Fans of run-as-far-as-you-can games will love Run Like Hell, the frantically-paced platform game that will have you running, jumping, sliding, climbing and crawling your way to safety as you try to outrun the spear-throwing tribesman.

Find out more about the applications above and check out the rest of this week’s must-have iOS games, including Road Blaster and The Blocks Cometh after the break!

Macworld is coming up fast and what better way to get attention than wearing our brand new, limited-edition MILF shirt?

The CultofMac team wore these shirts at CES last week and got a ton of compliments. We’re not exaggerating — everyone noticed this shirt. It’s perfect attire for a tech conference: smart, funny, stylish. And best of all — distinctive.

Available in slimming black and just $22.99, the limited-edition CultofMac MILF t-shirt is printed by Seattle-based MightTees. It’s 100% sweatshop-free. Designed, made, and printed in the USA.

Here are some more pictures:

Chris Chang of MICGadget blog has uncovered a new iPad 2 case with a pair of mysterious new holes.

The new openings are a rectangular slot on the upper right side (when viewing the iPad from the front), opposite the volume rocker and lock; and a smaller, squarer opening on the top of the iPad in the middle.

The makers of the case say it fits the iPad 2 “perfectly,” which means the new device may have capabilities.

Chang guesses that the top opening is for HMDI or mini-HDMI, and the side opening for a SD Card. Engadget on Friday claimed the iPad 2 will have an SD Card slot, although it places the opening on the bottom right of the new iPad, not the side.

Check out more pictures below.

The Multitasker Large bag from Hadaki is an adorable messenger bag suitable for any girl — teen and up.

The bag seems especially  popular with parents who buy them for teenage daughters to take to school. Indeed, my  fourteen-year-old daughter, Nadine, has been using the Multitasker bag at her high school for several weeks.

Weighed down by algebra and biology books this sturdy and stylish bag has held up remarkably well, unlike her poor back!

VoIP service VoxOx thought its rebranding at CES — which includes a massive effort to unify almost every method of communication known to man, and new features like being able to pick your own phone number for free — was such a big deal, they had an army of extras with duct-taped mouths following around an alien who gave away “dozens” (according to VoxOx) of iPhones at the show.

In fact, the PR stunt attracted so much attention it detracted from VoxOx’s actual message about all the neat stuff they’ve bundled into their reworked desktop app, and that they’re well on the way to having an iPhone app out, pending Apple’s approval (and as should be expected, VoxOx says they’ve focused on putting out an iPhone app ahead of any possible Android app).

Here’s the big picture about some of the new features; everything — apart from some outgoing calls — is free: