How can you tell when a company is in trouble? When the CEO bashes a rising competitor’s strategy while copying it at the same time. Such is the unfortunate predicament with our friends to the north, Research in Motion, makers of the BlackBerry.

Earlier this week, RIM CEO Jim Balsillie proclaimed that “We believe that you can bring the mobile to the Web but you don’t need to go through some kind of control point of an SDK, and that’s the core part of our message”, effectively declaring that Apple is an enemy of freedom or whatever is regarded to be bad at the moment while making the case for its vaporous PlayBook tablet. At the same time, the company unveiled an ad campaign for BlackBerry as the platform of choice for “Super Apps,” which are, wait for it, applications that bring mobile to the Web through an SDK. Basically, they’re like iPhone apps, but of far lower quality.

There’s a lot to criticize here, but I’d like to focus on the core contradiction at hand. RIM is trying to argue that Apple is bad, because its most exciting functionality isn’t vanilla web pages, while at the same time arguing that the BlackBerry platform is exciting because it has applications that are tightly integrated with the OS. You literally cannot have it both ways. Either Apple has cracked the formula on making mobile computing as capable as desktop computing, or mobile is irrelevant as a platform and a good web browser is all we need.

It seems clear to me that the establishment players in mobile are still in a state of shock at the success of both the App Store and the Android ecosystem. When a platform developer is advertising Flash and Adobe Air compatibility as a point of differentiation (also known as the “Hey! We’re like a Netbook without a keyboard!” argument), they have seriously lost the plot of what makes them competitive. It would be nice to see the iPad get some credible competitors. That won’t happen until someone recognizes that tablets are their own category of computer for which application exclusivity matters. If you don’t believe that, read Robert Scoble’s “data points” post and weep.

Neuhaus Laboratories recognizes that many people’s music collections are on their computers, not racks of CDs.

And so unlike other amplifier manufacturers, Neuhaus’ tube amps are designed first and foremost to be hooked to a computer as their main music source, not a CD player or turntable.

Now Neuhaus has taken the next logical step. It’s the first company to add Bluetooth to an audiophile-quality tube amp. Now you can enjoy super high quality music streaming from an iPhone or iPad.

Trust me, it’s the best thing you’ll ever hear from your iPhone, ever.

Black Friday is this week and it will mark the beginning of the 2010 holiday shopping season in the U.S. Cyber Monday is the first Monday after Black Friday.

I’m not exactly excited about braving the crowds for holiday bargains. So I’ll be using my iPhone or iPad and any of the free apps below to help me shop from wherever I happen to be.

I’ve read a lot of Steve Jobs interviews but until now I’d not seen this 1985 interview from Playboy.

It catches Steve Jobs at age 29, one year after the Macintosh was launched. He is by far the youngest person on Forbes’s list of richest Americans and one of only seven who made their fortunes on their own.

He’s portrayed by Playboy as the Mark Zuckerberg of his era: a Valley wunderkind with a magical gift for foreseeing the future. Of course, it’s interesting to look back and see how the future actually panned out.

Jobs comes across as a confident and knowledgeable, but not brash and arrogant. Here’s a few of the highlights:

At the top of our must-have iOS apps list this week is the official Google Voice application that has finally made it in to the App Store. It’s a free download, and it’s claimed to be faster than the Google Voice HTML5 web app.

Also on our list this week is ComicStrip – an application that allows you to create your own comic book using the photos in your device’s camera roll. It’s a universal app so you can use it on your iPhone and your iPad, and it features a great collection of fun and unique layouts and caption bubbles to help you tell your story.

Other applications this week include AVPlayer – a great new media player that supports multiple file formats, and Notica – a beautiful visual memory companion that lets you add notes, photos and videos to beautiful postcards. Check them out after the break!

Our must-have games list this week is packed with some huge releases that are guaranteed to be a massive hit in the App Store.

At the top of our list is Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4, a brand new game from Warner Bros. that lets you experience Harry’s first four years at Hogwarts in a wonderful world made of Lego. Based on the Harry Potter books and movies, you can play as Harry, Ron, and Hermione as you explore Hogwarts and engage in countless hours of enchanting gameplay.

Also among our favorites this week is the graphically impressive first-person rail shooter, Rage HD. This much-anticipated game casts you in the staring role of a post-apocalyptic game show in which you’ll be stalked by hungry mutants as you attempt to survive each level.

UFC Undisputed 2010 is the only mixed martial arts video game that delivers the action, intensity, and prestige of the Ultimate Fighting Championship to your iPhone and iPad. Step in to the virtual Octagon and see if you have what it takes to be the ultimate UFC fighter.

Other games in our must-have list this week include Need for Speed Hot Pursuit, Astronut, and Star Battalion HD – check them out after the break!

Over the last few weeks we’ve covered Apple-centric gift ideas for men and women.  Now teens take center stage (like they don’t always anyway), as we lay down a humungous stack of sick, phat, gnarly, rad, neato, cool and completely sweater-free holiday gift ideas just for them.

Artsy Teens have no time for academics — they’re too busy creating. Art is their passion and they need the latest gadgets to keep up with them. Here are some gifts the Artsy Teen will treasure.

The Trendy Teen is all about the latest and greatest. Never mind how much it costs, if their friends have it, they want it. Here are some gifts the Trendy Teen will definitely want.

Brainy Teens take pride in their work, and they get great satisfaction from receiving all A’s on their report cards. Here are some gifts worthy of the Brainy Teen.