In the 50s, some futurists predicted food pills instead of meals. It never happened.

The biggest reason futurists fail is that too many predictions are based on the possible, rather than the desirable.

It’s now possible for anyone to take all their nutrition from pills. But people enjoy eating food. That’s why we don’t take pills instead.

If you want to predict the future, you need to deconstruct human nature. You also need to know what will be possible. Where these two things intersect is where accurate predictions can be made.

And that’s why I can already tell you what your iMac will be like in a few years.

In the spirit of the holiday, most of here at Cult of Mac have decided to spend the day with our friends and families, but like last year, we thought we’d observe the holiday by writing about why we’re thankful for Apple and its products this year. We hope you’ll join in in the comments

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We stumbled across this rare video of Steve Jobs at the CAUSE 1998 Conference in Seattle. In the short clip, Steve Jobs gives a particularly comedic and lighthearted talk about the PC and TV.

The video quality is pretty awful, but what’s said in the talk is very interesting. In the video, Jobs says, “TV turns your brain off, PCs turn your brain on.” What most don’t know is that Jobs was quoting a failed campaign for the original iMac.

It’s time once more to prepare for the onslaught of sales targeting Black Friday shoppers, those courageous souls able to lift themselves out of post Thanksgiving induced sleep to grab the most outrageous bargains. As a public service, we present a running account of Apple-related deals offered by retailers nationwide. We’ll be updating it through the week, so if you know of any deals we’ve missed, please let us know in the comments or better yet, email us!

Nick Bilton of The New York Times recently sat down with Steve Jobs biographer Walter Isaacson. In the interview, Isaacson shared his opinions of Jobs and other details surrounding the book.

Steve Jobs “didn’t go into details” about Apple’s future products during his discussions with Isaacson, but Jobs did reveal three things he wanted to reinvent: the television, textbooks, and photography.

Fanhattan is absolutely the required guide for TV/Movie junkies who frequently view titles on the iPhone. Just like on the iPad version, the app acts as a gateway to entertainment — it gathers a heap of information about shows or movies that can be watched on the iPhone, then serves up that information in a super-cool, easy-to-navigate interface (that looks absolutely stunning on the iPhone 4).

Sony CEO Howard Stringer recently revealed the company’s intentions to launch a revolutionary new television before Apple, and according to The Wall Street Journal, it will be a web-based alternative to the traditional set that will allow users to avoid the cable companies.

One of the biggest missing features from Apple’s Siri technology is integration with third-party apps. Apple launched Siri on the iPhone 4S with Wolfram Alpha and Yelp integration, but other developers have been unable to fully integrate their apps with Siri to create a compelling, voice-controlled experience.

Apple hasn’t given a confirmation that it will eventually open up Siri to third-party apps, but that hasn’t kept several apps from offering workarounds for Siri integration. What about the apps that were meant for Siri? We’ve collected 10 apps that we want to see integrated with Siri in the near future.

Apple has sent out an email to developers saying that yet another iTunes Match reset is scheduled to take place tomorrow at 10 AM PST. Developers that are currently testing iTunes Match will have their libraries erased as Apple readies its servers for the public launch of its music streaming service.

Steve Jobs told his biographer Walter Isaacson he had “finally cracked” the television set, sparking more rumors his team in Cupertino are on the cusp of launching a revolutionary new television that will change home entertainment forever.

Apple won’t be the first to attempt this, however. Sony’s CEO Sir Howard Stringer says he is competing against Steve Jobs to change the traditional television set.