Apple’s new iTunes Match functionality is an incredible boon to music lovers, effortlessly matching your local music to Apple’s cloud servers, but it doesn’t happen by magic. Instead, iTunes Match is the product of numerous inked deals between Cupertino and music publishers: no deal, and iTunes Match can’t mirror tracks from that label.

So bad news, soul and R&B fans. Numero Group has just vocally drawn a line in the sand: iTunes Match legitimizes piracy, and they won’t be part of it.

Google would seemingly be the big winner in the recent announcement that search and maps will bring $3.3 billion in revenue in 2011. Don’t count Apple out, though: the type of video and audio ads iAd excels in is slated to be the fastest-growing area for mobile advertising.

Here’s a bit of sweet timing. Just as the PC Era collapses and everyone moves to the cloud, what is Apple selling? Why, the MacBook Air, a light mobile device that seems perfect for the iCloud generation. Oh, yeah, it’s also a “quasi-tablet.” No wonder analysts predict Apple will make billions off the device.

Apple users are embracing the App Economy with abandon. Indeed, by 2015, income from apps will exceed that of iTunes music downloads, one analyst projects.

Here’s the handsome new login screen in the update to OS X Lion Developer Preview 4, that Apple released on Wednesday afternoon.

It’s a dark linen motif, and it’s used in several places in the Lion and iOS 5. We got  sneak peek of this color scheme during Steve Jobs’ presentation at WWDC. Now it has been rolled out to developers, and soon to the public. Who’s excited?

Here’s screenshots of some other new stuff in the update (Build number 11A494A). Lion is shaping up nicely:

Our friends at Adafruit Industries in New York have just released glowing Mac-inspired cufflinks in time for Father’s Day this weekend.

The $128 iCufflinks pulse with the same “breathing” pattern on Apple’s Macs, MacBooks and iMacs. In fact, Adafruit’s Philip Torrone and his crew reverse engineered Apple’s LED pulse pattern.

Here’s some video:

Remember the three Foxconn employees arrested back in December for leaking the design of the iPad 2 to third-party case makers? They’ve been found guilty, and they’re going to prison.

Set to be published in August 2011 by Bluewater Comics, Steve Jobs: the Co-Founder of Apple is a comic book bio by writer C.W. Cooke and artist Chris Schmidt that aims to tell the story of Apple’s inimitable founder in a less wordy and more visual format than Steve Jobs’ official biography.

Although the comic has not been colored or lettered yet, Bluewater Productions was kind enough to give Cult of Mac an exclusive preview of a few of the pages of the still unfinished comic, covering everything from Steve Jobs’ birth and adoption to his time as a tripped-out, LSD-popping Buddhist working for Atari. Check them out!

We start off the day with the spotlight focused on deals for the iMac, the iPad 2 and the 3rd-Gen iPod nano. First up is an iMac bundle that includes a Core i3 Dual processor running at 3.2GHz, with a 27-inch screen, 8GB of RAM and three years of AppleCare for just $1,629. Next is a leather case for the iPad 2 which also acts as a built-in stand. Finally, for owners of the 3rd-generation iPod nano is the action jacket clip case from DLO. This case features a clip, armband and more.

Along the way, we look at other hardware, including cases for the iPhone 4 and iPod, as well as sound system and software. As always, details on these and many other items can be found at CoM’s “Daily Deals” page right after the jump.

We went bonkers last week and gave out more free hardware in seven days than we ever have before. To mix things up this week we’re going to be giving out some beautiful software to enhance your Apple experience. Today we’re teaming up with the great people behind StackSocial who have given us three promo codes for their latest Mac Essentials Bundle. With eleven Mac apps worth $333 that we’re giving away for free, this is one of the best software giveaways we’ve ever had. You’ve got to play to win though, so here are the details on what you’ll win and how to qualify for the giveaway: