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Rumors surrounding Apple’s new lineup of MacBook Pros have been picking up steam over the last couple weeks, with several reports over the last several days revealing more and more details surrounding the next-gen notebooks.

According to a new report from Bloomberg, Apple will announce its new MacBook Pros at its Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) on June 11th. The new MacBook Pros will feature super hi-res ‘Retina’ displays, Intel’s Ivy Bridge processors, and solid-state drives. We can also expect more announcements at WWDC regarding OS X Mountain Lion, iCloud, and iOS 6.

Everybody has heard of how crappy Apple supplier Foxconn treats their workers. Long hours. Low pay. Shoddy conditions. Working at a Foxconn factory is in no way glamorous and wonderful, and it looks like even Foxconn is ready to admit as much. In an effort to reshape their image, Foxconn’s Shenzhen factory is looking to hire a Saftey and Security Officer and a Lifestyle Services Manager to make life a little bit more fabulous for their workforce.

If you’re a carrier scrambling for ways to make up dwindling voice and texting profits, Apple’s iPhone 4S is not just a product, but a dreamy pin-up, a new report on smartphone data usage finds. What’s more, Siri — the iPhone 4S’s hallmark feature — is a down-right wet dream.

For the widow of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, the saying about death and taxes being life’s only certainty probably rings true — particularly taxes. Laurene Powell Jobs learned she must pay $867 million in capital gains taxes and is being advised to unload millions of Disney and Apple shares worth nearly $7 billion.

This week, Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal and TechCrunch all published rumors that Apple plans to compete in the mid-ranged smartphone sector, with the launch of a smaller, more affordable iPhone, to be sold alongside the iPhone 4. At Cult of Mac, we predicted as much six weeks ago.

Of course, rumors of a smaller, cheaper iPhone are nothing new. They’ve been around for almost as long as the iPhone itself. And with good reason. Any seasoned Apple watcher will recognize this as Steve Jobs’ standard MO. Launch an iconic, up-market product, allow the market for it to grow and mature, and when the underlying technology becomes cheap enough, introduce a smaller, more affordable mass market version.

According to Verizon Wireless CFO Francis Shammo, it’s not just the iPhone 4 that’s going CDMA and joining Verizon. In an interview with Bloomberg, Shammo declared that a CDMA iPad, which connects directly to the Verizon network without the need for the carrier’s MiFi device, will be available in the future.

Shammo did not give any details on when the device might be available, how much it might cost, or whether it would use the network’s 4G service over LTE, however.

Although the iPad has been sold through the Verizon website for some time, it’s the Wi-Fi only model bundled with the carrier’s MiFi hotspot device, which is required to connect to the Verizon network. Some may argue that the benefit of having the MiFi device is that you can connect multiple devices and share the data connection, however, it’s possible the CDMA iPhone’s new ‘Personal Hotspot’ feature in iOS 4.2.5 could also be introduced to the CDMA iPad.

The announcement delivers another blow to AT&T, who currently have iPhone exclusivity until the device is also made available through Verizon in February.

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Alright, couch potatoes… set your TiVos to start recording on Thursday, October 14th at 9:00PM ET. That’s the time you can expect the second episode of Bloomberg Game Changers to air, focusing on Apple CEO Steve Jobs.