A year ago, I took a month’s vacation and enjoyed the coral, sugar cane and sunshine of the small island nation of Mauritius. My days were spent drinking rum cocktails out of a dodo’s skull, my serendipity only occasionally interrupted by a small, translucent lizard darting across my ankle. On the other hand, the evenings were more dire, and largely spent waking fearfully every fifteen minutes only to discover several dozen small centipedes slowly skittering towards my bed, thirsty for eye jelly. No matter what time it was, the Internet sucked: although 3G was ubiquitous, the island’s internet was supplied by a single, badly oversaturated cable strung from Madagascar.

In other words, even in tropical paradise, there’s some horrors lurking unseen beneath the surface. The Mauritian iPhone sit rep is more proof for that supposition: while telecom Orange is indeed selling the iPhone in Mauritius, there’s no Mauritian App Store, leaving all local iPhone customers in the lurch.

Could Apple unveil a touch-enabled iMac this year? While many have viewed the touch-based iPhone and highly-expected tablet as two discrete products, the Cupertino, Calif. company may produce a “22-inch touch-enabled all-in-one PC” in 2010, according to a Chinese report.

Digitimes, citing the Commercial Times, report, suggests the 22-inch desktop computer would fill a gap between Apple’s current 21.5-inch and 27-inch non-touch iMacs. HP and others already produce touch-based PCs.

According to the report, Apple has already outsourced the touch-screen panels to a Taiwan-based company, Sintek Photronic. The reported move by Apple is seen as part of the company’s evolving line of devices, embedding touchscreen technology in all of its products.

Apple is expected to announce a new product next week, possibly its highly-rumored tablet. For weeks, speculation has surrounded Jan. 27 as a date when the company will roll-out a tablet, new iPhone or iPhone OS 4.0 software. Two days prior, on Jan. 25, Apple is expected to release its financial performance for the first quarter of 2010.

[Via Business Insider, Digitimes]

Nowadays, you can’t launch a mobile device without an accompanying app store. Right after the iPhone, Apple launched its App Store – the same for Nokia, RIM, Android and others. In a sort of Marshall McLuhanesqe moment, the app – not the device – will soon become all important.

“Application stores will be a core focus throughout 2010 for the mobile industry and applications themselves will help determine the winner among device platforms,” said Carolina Milanesi, research director for Gartner. Indeed, consumers will spend $6.2 billion in mobile application stores this year, racking up 4.5 billion downloads in 2010.

Google’s Chrome Operating System is a Google’s answer to Mac OS X or Windows 7  — a lightweight operating system designed for netbooks and other portable devices. It’s also designed for an always-on connection. The Net is as much a part of the system as the software installed on the computer.

It’s also lightweight, fast, and easy to use. Boot up in just a matter of few seconds, log in and get onto the internet instantly. No distractions at all. Moreover, everything remains in  the cloud so you never have to worry about running out of the disk space.

It’s also fun to play with. Here’s how to install it on a Mac using Parallels Desktop 5 virtualization software. Be aware that Chrome OS is currently in pre-alpha developmental stage. Install at your own risk!

CoM reader Paul sent us these pics of his office where the IT department shoots hoops on a backboard with an Apple logo.

After the cardboard backboard from the Nerf caved in under one too many slam dunks, Paul had a brainwave:

“As we were scrapping an old PowerMac G5 for parts, I realized that we could recycle the door to become our new heavy  backboard.  Two short screws were used to attach the plastic bracket to the door and another two longer ones to go into the concrete pillar in the office wall.”

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Users of Mac OS X are spoilt for choice when it comes to notepad apps. We have dozens of text editors and word processors to choose from. There are more browsers than we can shake a collective stick at.

But email clients? Well, there’s not so many of those. And one developer, Brent Simmons of NetNewsWire fame, says he’d like to see at least one more.

People think Texans own the whole “bigger-is-better” thing. But just look at the size of Canada — yeah, Canadians know a thing or two about big. No surprise then, that it’s a gang from Canada who are trying to squeeze billboard-sized images from the iPhone’s wee 3mp sensor.

Yelp is kinda like that know-it-all friend who collects all those old Macs and watches Dr. Who obsessively: full of obnoxious, sarcastic comments, but more precious than gold when information is needed.

Those who don’t yet have Yelp on their iPhones, go get the free app now. It’s ok — we’ll wait.

Sometimes, you can just punch and punch and punch a guy until he’s squirting gray matter out of his tear ducts and he just won’t stay down. Psystar’s that guy. Though meatily pounded into a puddle of pulsating goo by Apple’s lawyers, the Florida-based Hackintosh makers have officially filed a notice of appeal in order to revoke the injunction made against them, prohibiting them from selling hardware with Apple’s operating system pre-installed.

Lower the pitchforks, everyone. A mere day after everyone’s favorite hirsute, technosexual bear became widely vilified on Mac blogs for claiming that the HTC Nexus One was his new favorite gadget, the Woz has clarified matters to Gizmodo:

Actually, everyone got it wrong. My favorite phones are my iPhones. When asked what my favorite gadgets were I took it to mean new gadgets I was playing with (that I considered good). I am not a switcher but I’m not going to tell people that the Nexus One is not a good gadget. Same for the Droid. I continually buy and play with new hot gadgets because I gets asked about them all the time. I have had prior Android phones that I didn’t consider good. I usually have between 2 and 6 different cell phones on me, more when there are interesting product introductions.

I try mainly to make good comments but I’m honest about flaws too. I don’t get into arguments trying to claim that there are objective reasons that make one person’s phone better than another’s. It’s subjective. You can’t win such arguments, only have a stressful life doing so. I have no problem praising and learning from non-Apple products as well as Apple products, when they are good.

Okay, Woz, we’re placated for now. Just don’t let it happen again.

Makers of quirky, charming and Mac game makers nonpareil Popcap Games are having a fantastic deal: buy a game (or, for that matter, twelve) from them and all the money will go to Haitian earthquake relief.

The deal’s good for today only, but there’s no shortage of great Popcap games to choose from, including Bejeweled 2, Bookworm, Peggle, Plants vs. Zombies and Zuma’s Revenge.

What a wonderful gesture on behalf of Popcap. Let’s hope they can translate the money from my purchase of Plants vs. Zombies into enough medical supplies to prevent some poor Haitian for becoming the latter.

Opening tonight in Brooklyn — an art exhibit based on obsolete Apple technology that examines the “fetishizing” of products that are soon discarded.

The installations include a mechanical interpretation of Steve Jobs’ famous Stanford commencement speech, and a doormat with Bill Gates’ face on it.

See the video and several pix after the jump.

Is this the best MacBook vinyl sticker mod yet?

“I made this the other day for an Apple fan, a BIG Apple fan,” says its creator, JiroBot, otherwise known as New Yorker Jiro Baskin.

Compare to the clever Snow White mod and the equally witty Carmen Miranda mod (hit the jump).

Still, Steve gets my vote. Anyone seen its rival?

Thanks Seth J.

We wrap up the week with more deals on iMacs, including $999 for a 22-inch 3.06GHz desktop computer from the Apple Store. Apple is offering four iMacs in all. PC Connection is selling another 21.5-inch 3.06GHz iMac for $1,099. Lastly, if you received a video camera over the holidays, you may be burning to share your masterpieces. A deal on Apple’s Final Cut Express HD could be just the ticket.

We’ll also take a look at storage options, video devices and wireless routers. As always, details on these and many more items can be found on CoM’s “Daily Deals” page after the jump.

Aside from “where’s the tablet?” the most-often heard question in Apple circles is “what’s happening with iPhone 4.0?” Now a developer weighs in, claiming programmers already have a version of the new OS.

“We’ve submitted an updated app for the new iPhone 4.0 software,” according to an e-mail CNET received from what they term a “prominent app developer.” The note seems to contradict yesterday’s report that Apple was delaying releasing OS 4.0 due to concern it could provide clues to its long-awaited tablet device. The tablet is said to share much iPhone technology.

It’s time for our weekly digest of tiny iPhone reviews, courtesy of iPhoneTiny.com, with some extra commentary exclusive to Cult of Mac.

This time, we review ToyPlanes, GOALS! Pro, Bejeweled 2, Jungle Crash Land and Boulder Dash Vol 1.

With $23 billion in the bank, Apple is on a spending spree, a habit some expect will only increase in 2010. The Cupertino, Calif. company has acquired three companies within the past five months, a tactic many tech giants are using to stay abreast of rivals.

Apple, once known only for its Macs, must now compete with Google and Nokia for cell phone market share. “As mobile computing takes shape, Apple, Google, Nokia and other traditional tech titans have become more active in searching for startups that can help them with the new terrain,” BusinessWeek writes.

Mac fans searching for the latest tidbit about Apple’s highly-expected tablet may have gained an unlikely (and probably inadvertent) ally: the Cupertino, Calif. company’s own lawyers. Thursday Apple’s legal team tried to shut down a public ‘bounty’ for clues to a tablet, but opened a whole new avenue for tablet trivia.

In a cease & desist letter to Valleywag, a silicon valley gossip site, Apple’s law firm made mention of “an unannounced and highly confidential Apple product.” The site, which was offering $10,000 for a photo, $20,000 for a video, $50,000 for pictures of Steve Jobs holding the tablet – even $100,000 to play with the rumored device for an hour, seemed non-plussed by the threats.

The dev channel version of Google Chrome for Mac has been updated with a long-awaited new feature: a bookmark manager.

Short of sexting and posting Facebook status updates illiterately quoting homonymously mangled Lady Gaga lyrics, few teen activities seem as ubiquitous as descending upon the local Apple store in one lolzoring, bubble-gum-smacking biomass and stupiding it up for everyone. Usually that stupid is pretty much confined to Photo Booth, but one New York teenager set a new record in Apple Store idiocy when he walked into the Apple Store at the Staten Island mall and typed up a terrorist threat.

According to 1010Wins, 17-year old Jason Barry walked into the store and wrote this note on one of the display Macs, signing it as a friend’s father.

I have threatened your store and all its employees with a bloody death … whoever the crew maybe working, or the innocent citizens that walk in … will be eliminated with the force of a… bomb loaded with C4, strapped to my chest.

Outside of the sheer moronism of gangly pubescent youth, Barry doesn’t seem to have had a reason for the threat. His typical toe-shuffling excuse of “thinking it was funny” is pretty weak, but as a stupid teenager up until the age of 29, I at least understand: imbecilically doing something “for laughs” and having it blow up to involve the police is practically a rite of passage for teenage males.

It’s sad in a way. I have no doubt Barry was kidding around, but he’s looking at a seven-year conviction and being on watch lists for the rest of his life. Not a great pay-off for such a lame joke: he’d have gotten a better pay-off with a simple pantsing.

[via Macworld]

TotalFinder is starting to cause a buzz in the Mac community. The app aims to bring something to Finder long-rumored to be coming from Apple itself: tabs. We spoke to developer Antonin Hildebrand about his project, the reasons behind it, and his plans for its future.

Please note: TotalFinder is alpha software that integrates with Finder. Run it at your own risk and ensure you back up your system before installing it.

At 4:53pm on Tuesday, Haiti’s capital of Port-au-Prince was struck by a catastrophic magnitude 7.0 M_w earthquake that essentially vaporized the entire city. Casualty estimates are still unknown, but with the earliest guesses ranging anywhere from 30,000 to 100,000 dead, it is clear that only international effort is going to be able to cope with the aftermath’s sheer scope of human suffering.

To that end, Apple has figured out a smart way to leverage their existing iTunes infrastructure to easily allow users to donate money to the American Red Cross for Haitian Earthquake Relief. Just decide how much you can afford to give — denominations of $5, $10, $25, $50, $100, and $200 are supported — and click the donate button. The money will automatically be deducted from your credit card and sent on to the Red Cross, with no margin to Apple.

It’s a nice gesture on Apple’s part, but you may want to donate directly to the Red Cross, since Apple warns that since iTunes does not share personal information with external companies. From a purely practical perspective, that means the Red Cross can’t acknowledge the donation… and you can’t deduct it.

However you decided to donate, give what you can. Haiti’s going to get a lot worse before it gets better.

For all of its problem, $60 for a MobileMe account is still a great deal if you need to store a lot of photos or movies online… the only problem is there hasn’t yet really been a good way to take your photos or movies with you on the road.

Apple’s latest MobileMe app, MobileMe Gallery, plugs that hole. It’s a companion to the other recently released MobileMe, app, iDisk, allowing you to browse and share the photos store on MobileMe from your iPhone and iPod Touch.

It works great, with snappy performance and local cashing which allows users to view photos even when offline. All of the usual multitouch functions are supported, including pinch zooming and landscape orientation.

If you have a MobileMe account, there’s no reason not to pick MobileMe Gallery up: it’s a free download on the iTunes App Store.

Cheese, ladies and gentlemen: cheese.

Beloved foodstuff of Wallace and Gromit, primary geological building block of the moon, and cause of a surprising number of international disputes. And frequently, the main ingredient in my lunchtime sandwiches.

Anyway, if you can’t let a day pass without thinking about cheese, without wishing for a nice firm chunk of cheese to chew on, or without wondering what cheese would best accompany the cheesy dish you’re planning to eat when you get home tonight, you might wish to shell out a couple of dollars for the Fromage app for iPhone or iPod touch.

Fromage lists hundreds of cheeses from Europe and the United States. For each cheese, there’s a photo, a description, and some tasting notes.

Version 3 of the app added personalization: you can add star ratings to all the cheeses you’ve tried, and write your own notes into a built-in database of cheese history goodness.

Cheese. Cheese, cheese, cheese. Cheese.

If the forthcoming Apple Tablet does indeed run on the iPhone operating system, which seems likely, it stands to reason that it’ll be a major evolution of the OS, with new multitouch gestures and features that will selectively trickle down to the smaller handsets, even as the app format is expanded to a sort-of “universal binary” system to allow one executable to run on two significantly different hardware conditions.

If that’s all true, then it’s no wonder that Apple is sitting on the release of the next update to the iPhone OS until after the Tablet is officially announced. A source speaking to iPodNN has now confirmed that that is indeed the case: while the iPhone 4.0 firmware is in deep internal testing, it hasn’t been released to developers because there are too many references in current builds to functionality of Apple’s upcoming tablet.

Other than that, iPodNN’s source is tight lipped, but goes on to describe the tablet as an “iPhone on steroids” with multi-touch gestures that are “out of control.” He also claims the internal model number of the Apple tablet is K48AP, running an extremely fast ARM CPU, designed by PA Semi.