If you think back to the iPhone launch in 2007, one of the things Steve Jobs was most proud of was the fact that the phone didn’t feature any kind of fixed, built-in keyboard in the manner of the BlackBerry or the Palm Treo.

Well, leap forward six years and the Typo Keyboard (largely bankrolled by American Idol host Ryan Seacrest) has either set things back or forwards by introducing a BlackBerry-inspired physical iPhone 5 keyboard, designed for those who spend large amounts of time typing messages and emails on the device.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Apple touts its new iBeacon technology as a boon for retailers, but my first experience with the sensor system left me asking, “Is that it?”

The company activated its iBeacon tech, which uses Bluetooth low-energy, to track users’ iPhones as they roam an indoor space, at 254 U.S. Apple Stores this morning. I visited the Scottsdale Quarter store to see what Apple can do with the technology on its home turf. While you would think Apple would pull out all the stops for a truly spectacular iBeacon debut, I left unimpressed.

Upgraded to the iPhone 5S or 5C but still have a speaker dock with a 30-pin connector? The folks at Auris feel your pain. That’s why they’ve designed a way for you to enjoy your music without ever worrying about dock compatibility again.

The Auris freeDa is a small Bluetooth® receiver that connects to any speaker system via 30-pin connection (old-gen Apple devices) or auxiliary input – providing an elegant, compact way to wirelessly play and control your music from any Bluetooth-enabled device. And Cult of Mac Deals has it for only $44.99 during this limited time offer.

Good news, my friends! If you want to get someone in your life an iPhone 5s in time for Christmas, or just splurge on a new iPhone yourself, good news: in the United States, Canada, and several other countries, you can now get an iPhone 5s shipped to you in just 1-3 business days. Even in gold!

I’ve tested lots of leather wallet cases for the iPhone, but the Wall St from id America is a lot different to the rest.

It’s not a folding case like Twelve South’s iconic BookBook, but rather a sleeve that your iPhone slips into that has a large hole in its front for your display, and a little pocket in its back for your credit cards.

It’s an ideal alternative for those who like to keep things simple and don’t want to have to deal with flappy front covers when using their smartphone. It makes everything easy to get to, and it doesn’t cover up any buttons, ports, or speakers.

The Wall St fits both iPhone 5 and iPhone 5s (there’s another version for iPhone 5c, too), and it’s available in a number of pretty colors, including brown, blue, orange, and red. It costs $34.95, so let’s find out whether it’s worth it.

Although not a new technology by any means, fingerprint scanners have historically been hamstrung by issues that have caused their sensors to degrade relatively rapidly, no longer being able to correctly read a fingerprint after only a few months.

When Apple introduced Touch ID with the iPhone 5s, they claimed to have solved that problem. Protected by nigh-indestructible Sapphire Glass, the Touch ID sensor is supposed to be able to read the curves and contours of your fingerprints at a resolution of up to 500 pixels per inch. But could Touch ID be just as susceptible to degradation issues over time as previous biometrics solutions?

This goldie-lookin Lightning cable seems absurd at first, a piece of shiny nonsense that surely costs a fortune, aimed squarely at the kind of fools that pay real money for Swarovski crystal and Vertu phones. But in fact it’s a pretty great gadget. Why?

You know anamorphic, right? It’s a way of getting super widescreen film onto the relatively squarish frame of 35mm film. It’s done by using a special lens on the camera that squeezes the image sideways, and then a reverse lens on the projector that stretches it back out again when you watch it. This is why, in the bad old days of non-letterboxed video, you’d sometimes see the end movie credits squished up to fit them onto your TV screen, all while the rest of the move had just been shown with it’s sides chopped off.

Which brings us to the Anamorphic Adapter Lens for the iPhone 5/S, from Moondog Labs.

After years of negotiations, Apple and China Mobile have finally closed a deal for the carrier to sell the iPhone. Rumors of the two companies working together started gaining momentum a few months ago with a report from the The Wall Street Journal, and now the same publication is reporting that the deal has been finalized.

We’re still waiting on an official confirmation from Apple and China Mobile, but now is probably a good time to buy Apple stock. Why? There are 700 million reasons.

For a fun experiment in data visualization, the good folks over at MobileUnlocked have put together a world map showing how the cost of an iPhone 5s varies around the world.