This is the first installment of “My Close Encounters with Steve Jobs,” a fantastic series of stories about the early days of the Mac written by the founder of Macworld magazine, David Bunnell.

Bunnell meets Jobs for the first time. He’s nervous because Jobs is in “an extremely foul mood” says the receptionist, maybe because he had an unsuccessful date with Joan Baez the night before.

Also, Bill Gates tells Bunnell he’s going to buy a Mac for his mother. Gates and his cohorts are so excited about the Mac, they’re all buying up Apple stock (possibly in violation of SEC insider-trading rules).

We start out another week with more deals on Apple items. A number of iPod touch models are on the block, starting at $169 for an 8GB model. Deals on Intel-based Mac mini desktops are also on tap, starting at $499 for a 2GHz Core 2 Duo unit. We wrap up our top trio with the latest batch of App Store freebies, including WalkJogRunning, which lists running route recommendations. (I hope it includes routes marked by the slowest-running dogs.)

We’ll also check out other Mac-related hardware and software, such as MacGourmet and a Clock Radio for the iPod and iPhone from Sony. As always, details on these and many other items can be found on CoM’s “Daily Deals” page right after the jump.

The 3G version of Apple’s iPad tablet device will ship “By May 7th,” the Cupertino, Calif. company is telling online buyers Monday morning. Apple, however, appears to be sticking by last week’s statement pre-ordered 3G iPads would be shipped in late April.

In a statement e-mailed to customers who took advantage of the early pre-order opportunity, Apple said the 3G iPads would ship in late April “as communicated at the time you placed your order.”

My esteemed colleague John Brownlee wrote earlier today about the excellent article at Ars Technica which explains in detail why the new 13″ MacBook Pro doesn’t have a speedy i5 or i7 chip, while its bigger brothers and sisters do.

What interests me more, though, is the discussion that follows the Ars article.

Despite common consensus and Apple’s own “Get a Mac” ad campaign propaganda,, Macs certainly aren’t immune to the threats of viruses and malware: they’re just less likely to be infected by them, thanks to OS X’s excellent security measures and the operating system’s relative low market share compared to Windows.

As OS X rapidly gains in market share, though, Apple computers will continue to plumpen in the eyes of malware programmers as a juicy, ever more low-hanging plum. Now comes word from computer anti-malware firm Integro that a new variant of malware, dubbed HellRTS.D, could soon hit the wild.

Congratulations, yankees! Apple has just updated its online store, listing the shipping date for the iPad 3G.

When will you be able to hold one in your greedy little hands? If you ordered an iPad 3G, prepare for it to be delivered on May 7th… hopefully hand-delivered by UPS as opposed to being smashed through your mail slot.

For Europeans like me, this is something of a bitter pill: it means you damn cowboys will be browsing the mobile web on the iPad a full three days before Apple even announces the European pricing and release dates. The only solace? This hopefully indicates that the WiFi and 3G models will be available simultaneously in Europe.

Update: Apple is assuring existing pre-order customers that their existing iPad 3G orders are still coming in late April. The May 7th date only applies to new orders.

Thank you for your recent order of the magical and revolutionary iPad 3G.

We would like to confirm that your order will be shipped in late April as communicated at the time you placed your order. You will receive a confirmation notice when your order has shipped.

[via Engadget]

Mid-way through what turned out to be be a pretty weak episode, the third in the latest series of Doctor Who broadcast by the BBC this evening, we were treated to something unexpected: new Daleks.

And not just any old Daleks, oh no. These ones sport sleek curves, unibody enclosures, and come in a range of fashionable bright colors. They are, unmistakably, iDaleks, designed by Apple in California, built in a BBC warehouse on the outskirts of Cardiff.

It wasn’t just me that thought so. Within moments of their appearance on screen, Twitter was buzzing with iDalek comments. This gallery of concept art has more iDalek pics; and this PDF of an old-school Dalek in full Second World War attire is worth downloading. Weak story aside, the episode was worth watching for the best line – a wartime-green Dalek yelling: “WOULD YOU CARE FOR SOME TEA?”

After one of the longest waits in the Intel era, the MacBook Pros were updated Tuesday complete with a migration to the new Intel i5 and i7 architecture. In addition to the CPU update these new top-end notebooks feature better battery life, and the ability to switch from integrated to high performance graphics on the fly. We here at the Cult managed to get our hands on one of the top-dog 17 inch i7 models on Wednesday have have been putting it though it’s paces.

Follow us after the jump for out first impressions and a detailed rundown of the King of the Hill’s real world performance.

Although a few small, private colleges have rushed to adopt the iPad — pledging them to incoming students before they were even in stores — several big universities have delayed adopting them for at least a few semesters.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Princeton, Cornell and George Washington universities have deferred admission of the iPad for students.

Princeton and George Washington decided to wait over security issues; Cornell is concerned over connectivity and bandwidth.

We wrap up another week with three MacBook offers as our top daily deals. First up is a MacBook Pro sporting the new Core i& processor, running at 2.66GHz and with a 15-inch screen. Three years of AppleCare is bundled with the hardware for $2,499. Next is a Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro running at 2.4GHz and with a 13.3-inch screen for $1,049. Our finally top deal is a series of MacBook Pros, starting at $1,699 for a 2.5GHz machine with a 15.4-inch screen.

Along the way, we check out some Mac Pro Xeon workstations starting at $2,549 for a quad-core 2.93GHz machine. Various hardware and software bargains are also on tap. As always, details on these and many more items are available on CoM’s “Daily Deals” page right after the jump.