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 up with door number 6? It’s a handy little charging solution called the PlugBug that puts a spare 10 watt USB charger in your MacBook power brick.

The short form: Zagg’s Pro Plus has got to be the best compact iPad keyboard I have used (and I have used a lot). It is also backlit, incredibly light and doubles as an iPad case.

But it has one fatal flaw – your iPad 3 or later will probably fall out.

Earlier today, Apple CEO Tim Cook announced that, starting in 2013, Apple would start investing over $100 million in local business to build Macs in the United States.

Even more intriguing, he said one model of Mac would be made exclusively in the U.S. But which one?

Tim Cook wouldn’t say, but when you think about it, there’s one obvious contender: the Mac Pro. Here’s why.

Google has been busy rolling out updates to its mobile apps this week, making big improvements to the Gmail and YouTube app for iOS. But it seems the company hasn’t quite finished yet. It just rolled out some major changes to Google Shopper for Android and iOS — including a new look and new features — which are sure to make Christmas shopping on your smartphone a great deal easier.

Tim Cook announced that Apple is ready to invest $100 million into bringing some of its Mac production back to the U.S. in 2013. Foxconn, the major supplier to Apple, said that they’re ready to expand in the U.S. too, as more of their clients have requested their products be made in the U.S.A.

As Foxconn’s biggest client and the largest technology company in the world, Apple’s move to bring manufacturing jobs back to the U.S. could trigger more companies to follow suit, and Foxconn wants to meet the challenge.

We’ve already posted all of the best quotes from Apple CEO Tim Cook’s major new interview with Bloomberg Businessweek, but this deserves highlighting: in the interview, Tim Cook explained why he fired iOS chief Scott Forstall, strongly indicating that Forstall was a divisive, political figure in Apple who flew in the face of the spirit of collaboration the company strives for.

6Wunderkinder has announced a brand new version of Wunderlist that’s coming to Android, iOS, Mac, and PC just in time for Christmas. Wunderlist 2 has been “reengineered, rebuilt and redesigned, from start to finish,” its creators tease. Check out what’s new and get a glimpse of the new app in the preview video below.

The season is fast approaching for tradeshows, and with it the need for desperate booth-builders to find newer and more gimmicky ways to hawk their wares. I predict that the iPad mini will be the hot ticket this year (or rather, early next year), and New PC Gadgets seems to agree, for it has just launched an acrylic security stand for the little tablet.

Modern Combat 4: Zero Hour, the latest addition to Gameloft’s awesome first-person shooter series, has arrived on iOS in a bid to push the boundaries of mobile gaming even further. It promises to be “the most memorable action thriller ever,” boasting an intense solo campaign and a completely redesigned multiplayer mode. What’s more, its console-quality graphics look incredible on Retina display devices.

Tim Cook sat down with Bloomberg Businessweek for a massive 11-page interview. It’s incredible reading, well worth going through in total, but here are the best bits and quotes, ranging everywhere from Apple’s patriotism, to why Scott Forstall was fired, the future of the Mac, how Apple plans on fixing iOS 6 Maps, and much, much, much more.