One of the better Yuletide traditions is the venerable holiday Advent Calendar, in which each day of December leading up to Christmas is marked off on a special calendar by opening its corresponding door to find a small gift, toy or chocolate squirreled away inside.

This year, we here at Cult of Mac decided we wanted to give our readers their very own Apple-themed advent calendar, filled with the year’s best apps, gadgets, stories and other curios. So each day in December, we’re going to lovingly peel back the door on the Cult of Mac 2012 Advent Calendar to reveal another delicious morsel, something really special that came out this year that we think every one of you should enjoy.

So what’s behind the door on Friday the 7th? Tweetbot for Mac, the best (and most expensive) Twitter client on the Mac App Store!

Catcha Catcha Aliens calls itself “a mission-based catching game”, which in English means it’s an infinite runner in the style of Temple Run. With a bit of a twist, some great music, and celebrity voiceovers. What’s not to like?

Believe it or not, Black Friday has already come and gone. Pretty soon the Christmas season will begin, and we’ll mark this midwinter festival by getting together with friends and family and continuing to drink and eat far too much.
Meanwhile, we also buy gifts for those same friends and family members, whether they want them or not. Luckily, we’re here to help, and if you follow our festive advice, your gifts just might make it into the “wanted” category.

From now until Christmas, Cult of Mac will be putting together holiday gift guys full of ideas for the special ones in your life, no matter what their interests or your budget. Today, we’re looking at gifts for the whining kids in your life.

As I shrieked in jubilation on Twitter, it’s here, it’s here, it’s finally here! Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition — the modernized port of one of the best RPGs of all time — has finally landed on the iPad!

And if you, like me, ever spent six months in 1999 slowly turning your skin translucent under the X-Ray glow of an old CRT monitor massacring half the Sword Coast with a chaotic evil gnome, well, say good bye to your social life, boys.

A TSA agent caught stealing iPads and numerous other electronic devices was arrested this week following a sting operation at New York City’s John F. Kennedy Airport. Sean Henry, 32, joins the growing list of TSA workers who have been accused of stealing from passengers as they pass through airport checkpoints across the United States.

We already posted the transcript to Tim Cook’s full interview with Brian Williams on last night’s NBC Rock Center, but here’s the video, covering everything from his CEO role at Apple, the failure of iOS 6’s Maps, the future of the Apple TV, and more.

Part one is above, and part two is below the jump. Sorry, NBC insists on posting their videos in Flash, so you’ll need to watch this on a Mac or PC.

KitCam has quickly become one of my favorite photography apps for the iPhone — featuring in last week’s must-have apps roundup — and it has just been updated to add a number of handy features. In addition to photo importing from the camera roll, KitCam now has a time lapse timer, and better zoom functionality.

NBC Rock Center just aired its exclusive interview with Brian Williams and Apple CEO Tim Cook. In his first real TV interview, Cook was candid about his CEO role at Apple, the failure of iOS 6’s Maps, the future of the Apple TV, and more.

Here’s the full transcript of tonight’s Rock Center segment with Tim Cook:

Last night The Iconfactory released Twitterrific 5, a completely new iOS version of the grandaddy of Twitter apps. I reviewed the new app in detail when it came out, and the releases seems to have been met with a lot of positive feedback.

One of the developers behind Twitterrific, Craig Hockenberry, has lifted the curtain to give a behind the scenes look at the making of Twitterrific 5. A lot of work goes into making a great app.

NBC has sent us a teaser clip from the show’s upcoming interview with Apple CEO Tim Cook. The exclusive segment with Brian Williams and Cook will air tonight at 10 P.M. Eastern/ 9 P.M Central on Rock Center.

In the one minute clip, Cook praises the iOS virtual keyboard and admits that he has “ditched physical keyboards” in favor of his iPhone and iPad.