First up is a number of refurbished MacBook Pro units from the Apple Store, starting with a 2.26GHz 13″ model for $929. Next up is a Superleggera iPhone 4 case bundled with two screen protectors. We wrap up today’s featured deals with a 23-inch aluminum widescreen Cinema Display LCD monitor for $380.

Along the way, we check out a 16GB iPhone 4, an iPod touch with GPS and an 802.11g Airport Extreme. As always, details on these and many other items can be found at CoM’s “Daily Deals” page right after the jump.

Apple’s put down webOS before in the smartphone wars, but you can’t keep a solid operating system down for the count: six months after HP acquired Palm, they have just announced webOS 2.0 and the Pre 2 smartphone.

Over the weekend, Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg met for some dinner, and smart money would rest on the bet that they were trying to work out some sort of deal where Facebook and Ping come together at last.

But could Apple’s interest be far more bold than merely ironing out some differences? Peter Kafka over at All Things D certainly thinks so: he speculates that Apple may want to buy Facebook outright with its $51 billion in cash reserves.

Here’s Kafka’s reasoning. Asked by Jobs what Apple intends to do with all of its cash, Jobs responded: “We firmly believe that one or more unique strategic opportunities will present itself to us, and we’ll be in a position to take advantage of it.” As Kafka sees it, Facebook’s a good bet for such an acquisition.

Deep down in their guts, iOS and OS X are basically the same beast, distinguished largely by their user interface shells… so could tomorrow’s reveal of OS X 10.7, “Lion,” make OS X’s UI more like iOS than ever before? An unconfirmed report says yes.

According to the report, the upcoming update to Lion will be heavily based on iOS in many of its trappings. It’ll still be Aqua, but “the iOS influence is [more] visible in the new OS user interface.”

Yojimbo users, here’s the news you’ve been waiting for.

Yojimbo 3.0 is out today, and with it comes a companion iPad application that lets you take your Yojimbo database to go.

We see sexy, elegant and manly iPad satchels all the time, but what about the sandalwood-scented fashionista who wants to sling his MacBook Pro around town with the same proud strut as a GQ model? The Shoulder MacBook Sleeve by Hard Graft might fit the bill.

Made of 100% wool woven into asphalt grey felt, the Shoulder MacBook Sleeve features a tuck-in closure, a dark black removable leather strap held in place by tanned hazelnut leather, as well as a removable extras case for cables and power adapter. Very sexy indeed, and the price isn’t actually bad: just €139.00.

Who is leading in mobile advertising – Apple or Google? A new report seems to offer conflicting views. One graph (shown above) appears to indicate mobile ads served to Android devices grew at a faster pace in the third-quarter – 37 percent versus 10 percent for Apple. However, a second set of numbers illustrates a 156 percent increase in ad impressions and 316 percent revenue jump for the iPad between July and September.

Millenial Media, a mobile advertising network, Tuesday also announced while Apple accounts for 30 percent of the devices connected to its system, ad requests sent to Android devices grew 1,283 percent since January. The iPod touch and iPad accounted for two of the top four devices connected to the company’s network.

This chart tracks the dizzying rise of new products in Apple’s sales mix. Currently about 60% of Apple’s sales come from products that the Cupertino company launched in the last three years.

“This last quarter is not a holiday quarter. Now imagine what next quarter will look like on this chart,” writes Horace Dediu, who charted Apple’s sales in the graph for Asymco. “Think back to 2001 before the iPod. The orange band was all that Apple had.”

Source: Asymco

You’ve always wanted to paint your face up like a singer at the Beijing opera, right?

No? You sure?

Although investors voiced some disappointment that Apple’s quarterly financial picture didn’t match some expectations, analysts Tuesday weighed in with a more optimism. The key phrase: the best is yet to come.

“We believe [the] iPad supply chain will expand substantially into the calendar fourth quarter,” Sterne Agee analyst Vijay Rakesh told investors this morning. Although Apple’s sales of 4.2 million iPads this quarter was below the 5 million Wall Street expected, the analyst views the lower number as a “strategic decision to allocate capacity to [the] iPhone 4 and the best is yet to come.”

This is the RM Slate, an 11.6 inch multitouch tablet running Windows 7, priced at £399 (about $630).

Exposé is an OS X feature designed to help you move around many documents and applications quickly and easily.

All you have to do is push a button (or move your mouse in a particular way, or drag your fingers on the trackpad), and all your open windows, from all your open applications, will be displayed on screen at once, shrunk down so that you can see them all.

During his anti-Google diatribe this afternoon, Steve Jobs said the Google-versus-Apple, open-versus-closed debate is a smokescreen. It makes no sense to say Apple is closed while Google is open when the real issue is fragmentation versus integration.

Jobs said Google’s Android platform is fragmented. There are too many different versions of the operating system and too many devices, making it a headache for consumers and developers. Apple’s iOS devices on the other hand aren’t fragmented, because they are “vertically integrated.” Apple closely integrates the software with the hardware, and they “just work.”

But what does he mean exactly by “vertical integration?” And why is it so important?

I wrote about this at length in my book, Inside Steve’s Brain. In fact, I think it’s critical to understanding why Jobs and Apple are killing it in consumer electronics right now.

So here’s Chapter Eight — “Total Control: The Whole Widget,” — in its entirety.

Here’s a juicy excerpt, already up on YouTube, from Apple’s conference call today where Steve Jobs dropped by and  bashed Google repeatedly with an Apple-shaped hammer.

Steve Jobs is no stranger to hyperbole, but sometimes he says things that make the hair on your neck stand up. Here he is on the future of the iPad:

Well, the iPad is clearly going to affect notebook computers. And I think the iPad proves it’s not a question of if, it’s a question of when. There’s a lot of development and progress that will occur over the next few years, but we’re already seeing tremendous interest in iPad from education and, much to my surprise, from business.

We haven’t pushed it real hard in business and it’s being grabbed out of our hands. I talk to people every day in all kinds of businesses that are using iPads… The more time that passes, the more I am convinced that we’ve got a tiger by the tail here and this is a new model of computing — you know we’ve already got tens of millions of people trained on with the iPhone — and that lends itself to lots of different aspects of life, personal, educational, and business. I see it as very general purpose and very big… One could argue about the timing endlessly, but I don’t think you can argue it’s going to happen.

Steve Jobs made an unusual visit to Apple’s quarterly conference call today, sounding ebullient about Apple’s record sales figures for the fourth quarter of 2010, and boasted of Apple’s dominance over RIM, bashed Google and praised both the homogeny of iOS and the careful thinking that went into the design of the iPad compared to the “avalanche of tablets. Here’re the highlights, and some juicy quotes:

Apple announced a record $20.4 billion in revenue during the fiscal 2010 fourth quarter, and a profit of $4.31 billion, in a press release ahead of their quarterly financial conference call.

Sales of Macs increased a sizable 27 percent from the same quarter last year; 14.1 million ipPhones were sold, a whopping 91 percent increase from last year’s Q4.

“We are blown away to report over $20 billion in revenue and over $4 billion in after-tax earnings—both all-time records for Apple,” Steve Jobs said in Apple’s press release.

iPad sales topped out at just over four million, and iPod sales declined by 11 percent.

For new iPhoners, the idea of gulping down unlimited swathes of data is just a magical thing of the past, spoken of with hushed tones, in the days before fear of data overages gripped the iPhone universe.

Fear not though, new iPhoner — the tools exist to keep from accidentally punching through the monthly 3G data allotment. Readers who’ve been following our Essential App series (and who live in the States) have no doubt already equipped their iPhones with AT&T’s free myWireless app, which counts and bar graphs data usage; but there’s an even more precise and powerful weapon available: DataMan

Australian airliner, Qantas Airlines, is to begin offering the iPad for in-flight entertainment to travellers on its Jetstar flights.

Qantas have been testing the tablet device on its planes since back in June, and passengers had the opportunity to rent the tablet device for $10 (AUS). Following its success, the airliner is now ready to deploy the iPad across its Jetstar flights.

A spokesman for Jetstar told Dow Jones Newswires on Monday of their plan:

“We’re in the final stages of putting in place what would be a broader roll out across the network. We’re in ongoing discussion with the manufacturer around a more integrated network proposition.”

We’re unsure what an “integrated network” could mean at this point, but it seems that it might be a streaming service for music, movies, TV shows, and games, so that passengers can choose entertainment to suit them, rather than have to pick from what’s available on the device.

Check out the great graphic below from designer Spencer Caldwell. It shows the screen sizes of Apple’s full lineup of machines — and where the rumored 11-inch MacBook Air will slot in.

Look how neatly it slots into the lineup. It’s pretty stunning. It’s almost like there was a hole just begging to be filled with a 11.6-inch machine.

We start off with a deal for your iPhone or iPod touch which we admit might be a little fishy. “The Little Carp That Jumped Over the Dragon Gate” is an e-book from the iTunes App Store. The story is in English, with Japanese and traditional Chinese and Chinese translations. You won’t need translation for the price, however: it’s free – $2 off the regular cost. Also in the deal spotlight is the Acase Aegis Power External Battery Case for the iPhone 4. It includes a 1700mAh battery, LED power indicator, micro USB charging cord, and more. Finally, you may go hook, line and sinker for the fishbone mesh hardback iPhone 4 case – it’s just $2.51 with product code.

Along the way, we’ll also check out a skin for your iPad, as well as software for your Mac. As usual, details on these and many other bargains can be found at CoM’s “Daily Deals” page after the jump.

Remember Kuato, the stomach-dwelling mutant from Total Recall? Of course you do.

For some time, many have seen the iPad as only a threat to the PC industry. However, Apple’s tablet could actually breathe life into that market, providing new blood for an anemic industry. If the iPad is classified a PC, third-quarter sales growth in the U.S. would climb to 24 percent, up from a measly 4 percent, according to an analyst.

“The iPad is driving a rapid, unprecedented shift in the structure of the computing industry,” Deutsche Bank analyst Chris Whitmore told investors Monday. For Apple, if the iPad were classified alongside the iMac, MacBook and Mac Pro, computer sales for the Cupertino, Calif. company would go through the roof – climbing from 24 percent year-over-year growth to 250 percent, Whitmore said. This when PC leader HP saw sales increase just three percent and Dell watched demand fall five percent.

If you’ve ever participated in any kind of canvassing for a political party or for pet causes, you know what an excruciating experience it can be on every level.

From having to put on a cheesy smile as you approach busy strangers in the street to having to put all the information together back in the office, it’s just one of the most tedious tasks around, apart from, say, taking out the garbage.

The Democratic National Committee and Organizing for America have gone a long way to address all of that with their thoughtfully-designed iPhone/iPAD/iPOD Touch canvassing and organizing application, which was launched earlier this month. It’s one of the best tools I’ve seen.

Apple is expected to announce its earnings for the fourth quarter of 2010 later today. Many professional analysts are predicting blow-out revenue for the Cupertino, Calif. company, particularly for iPhone sales. However, will this be another case where unofficial estimates are closer to reality?

Although a poll of professional analysts affiliated with a financial research firm largely agree that Apple will report $18.86 billion in quarterly revenue, the consensus of unaffiliated analysts forecast $20.37 billion. The numbers are somewhat more in agreement on product sales. Wall Street expects sales of 11.38 million iPhones (versus 12 million for the blogger-analysts), 9.54 million iPods (versus 9.74 million for the unofficial analysts), 3.78 million Macs (compared to 4.01 million by bloggers) and 4.73 million iPads (compared to 5.52 million for the bloggers).