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Remember when we told you about Evi, a Siri clone in the App Store? While the iPhone app mimicked much of the features found in Apple’s digital assistant, there seemed to be enough differences to keep it safe from the watchdogs in Cupertino. For instance, you can ask “Where’s a good place to eat Mexican?” and Evi will use Yelp’s API to provide you results in-app.

According to new reports, Apple has threatened to yank Evi from the App Store. The app has been downloaded over 200,000 times and costs $0.99 in the App Store. 

One of the new features of OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion has been the addition of Gatekeeper. By only allowing apps to be installed from the Mac App Store, Mountain Lion’s Gatekeeper feature gives users a new level of security from malicious software.

Some users feel Gatekeeper is a sign that Apple is moving toward a completely closed desktop operating system that will only allow apps from the Mac App Store to be installed. Easing concerns of this draconian controversy, this afternoon Apple announced the Developer ID program that will help third-party developers distribute their apps safely outside of the Mac App Store.

Mobile World Congress is undoubtebly one of the premiere places to see smartphones, but how about 3,500 smartphones fashioned to metal rods to create a 19-foot tall mythical winged horse? Well, that’s exactly what you’ll find guarding this year’s MWC thanks to Huawei and London’s Machine Shop.

The iPhone is ranked as the top smartphone in the United States, and with sales on the upward trend worldwide, one would think that there’s no stopping Apple’s magical handset. As it turns out, the iPhone has a “crutch” that’s key to its success: carrier subsidies.

It’s common practice for U.S. carriers to subsidize a phone to make it more affordable for the average consumer. The trick is that customers get locked into a two-year contract. While Apple profits and carriers take an initial hit off the subsidized model in countries like the U.S. and U.K., less expensive Android devices are dominating markets where consumers pay full price for their new phones.

I’m so hungry for a new Mac that I’m starting to get tech scurvy. I need some new delicious Mac goodness all up in my desk area, and I’ve been impatiently waiting over 300 days for Apple to announce a new iMac so I can hand them my money in exchange for a new computer. Unfortunately, it looks like I’ll have to starve a bit longer, because new information is showing that Intel’s next-generation Ivy Bridge processors expected to appear in the Mac lineup will be available 8-10 weeks later than originally planned, according to one company official.

BARCELONA, MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS 2012 — Although Cupertino currently uses their own custom-baked ARM chips inside the iPhone and iPad, Intel’s gunning for their business. Caught with their pants down in the mobile market, Intel thinks they have finally gotten their silicon caught up to ARM when it comes to power management.

Their new mobile platform is called Medfield, and while it’s only for Android now, you should take Intel’s entry into the mobile market seriously: this could very well be the first-generation of the chip that won’t just power future iPhones and iPads, but run OS X on them as well. We got a hands-on.

With the announcement of the iPad 3 lurking in the shadows, the web has been buzzing with rumors and leaked parts as everyone tries to solve the puzzle of what the next iPad 3 will look like, and what new hardware it might have. Some have claimed the iPad 3 will sport a new quad-core A6 processor, while others claim it will merely get an improved A5 dual-core chip. It appears the confusion over which processor will actually be included in the iPad 3 stems from the fact that Apple is working on BOTH processors at the same time.

Following an accidental and brief appearance in the App Store on Saturday, Adobe has officially unveiled its new photo editing app for the iPad 2. Photoshop Touch is available now in the App Store for $9.99.

The app was recently introduced for Android, and Adobe has now brought image editing tools to the iPad 2 that users of Photoshop on the desktop will recognize. The interface looks a whole lot like an Android app, but Adobe has packed some great features that make a compelling product.

BARCELONA, MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS 2012 — Forget a bigger screen or LTE. Ask anybody who has ever dropped their iPhone in a sink, puddle or toilet what they want from the iPhone 5 and waterproofing is number one on the list.

The good news is that there are now a number of companies who are bringing to market superhydrophobic technologies that will help make the soggy iPhone or iPad a thing of the past. Don’t expect a waterproof iPad 3, but an iPhone 5 by the end of the year isn’t just possible, it’s probable.

Apple announced this week the acquisition of Chomp, an app-search startup.

Chomp CEO Ben Keighran is reportedly working already in Apple’s marketing department, and CTO Cathy Edwards is already employed as a senior iTunes engineer.

Chomp crawls the data associated with all the apps in an app store and uses a sophisticated algorithm-based search function to enable people to search and actually find the apps they really want. Less appreciated by the public (but not Apple) is what appear to be incredible analytics tools, enabling a deep understanding of what people are searching for, how successful they are at finding it and detecting meaningful trends in app demand.

Sound familiar? Search algorithms and analytics are Google’s core competency.

Spectacular and a little spooky; Ban.jo, an iOS/Android app that launched last summer, is startling in what it’s able to give the user: the realtime whereabouts of any friends who have location services active for any of (now five) different social media platforms.

Have you ever wished you could use Siri to control Spotify instead of Apple’s Music app on your iPhone? How about using Siri to get directions with your favorite GPS app?

A really cool jailbreak tweak called AssistantLove was released today in Cydia that lets you do those things and more.

The fantastic Letters of Note blog has posted an amazing letter that a 30-year old Bill Gates sent to John Sculley and Jean Louis Gassée back in June of 1985.

In the letter, Gates argues that Apple should license their hardware and operating system out to other companies, making Macintosh a “standard.” If that pitch sounds familiar, it should: after being ignored by Apple for six months, Microsoft took the idea and ran with it, bringing Windows to the world.

The rumors are true. Cult of Mac has been working hard on a podcast and it’s finally here for your listening pleasure. Episode one of Cult of Mac’s frosty new podcast, The CultCast, is ready for your listening pleasure. And if you subscribe right now, we’ll throw in our “Welcome to The CultCast!” episode absolutely FREE!

But wait, what is this CultCast, you ask? Why, it’s the best 30 minute conversation about Apple you’re going to hear all week long. Join Leander Kahney, Buster Heine, and me, Erfon Elijah, as we banter about all our favorite Apple news, gossip, products, and Cult of Mac stories. Get caught up on all the best things from the world of Apple in just 30 fun-filled minutes.

Sound good? Well, alright! We’ll be premiering new 30minute episodes every Thursday night. You can subscribe to The CultCast in iTunes and listen to our first full-length episode right now. After you’ve given it a listen we’d love to hear your thoughts. What did you like? What could we do better? Let us hear about it in the comments.

The year’s biggest phone expo is about to kick off in Barcelona, Spain. The Mobile World Congress always seems to have an unofficial theme. Last year it was non-Apple tablets and bad 3-D. In 2010 it was Windows Phone 7.

This year? This year looks set to be all about the Phablets. And Cult of Mac is going to be there first-hand to laugh at report on them.

Fifty-seven years ago today, Steve Jobs was born in San Francisco, California.

If he hadn’t been, none of us would be here. There’d be no Cult of Mac. It wasn’t just Steve Jobs who was born that day, but the iPod. The iPhone. The iPad. The Mac. Apple itself.

While the majority of mobile devices now ship with micro USB connectors, Apple has remained dedicated to its 30-pin dock connector. But that could be about to change, with sources claiming future iOS devices will employ a “micro dock” that will be significantly than the existing connector.

After a German court ruling earlier this month that deemed Apple’s push email services for iCloud (and MobileMe) infringe upon a Motorola patent, the Cupertino company has been forced to disable the service in Germany.

Apple wears its love for microblogging social network Twitter on its sleeves. With iOS 5, Twitter became deeply integrated into every iPhone and iPad; with Mountain Lion, Twitter will be a native feature of every Mac.

Given the above, it would be easy to conclude that Apple doesn’t think much of Facebook. However, as Tim Cook made clear to investors at the annual Apple Shareholder’s Meeting today, the truth is more complicated.

Following the exclusive video tour of Foxconn by ABC Nightline anchor Bill Weir, the involved companies have responded with some minor clarifications and corrections. Apple, Foxconn and The Fair Labor Association (FLA) have all given statements to ABC News that clarify some specific aspects of Nightline’s report.

We all love a good fight around here and we even have a recurring Friday Night Fights where we pit features of iOS vs Android, but this latest video by Samsung is just so asinine that not even us Android fans will defend it. To further promote their Galaxy Note, Samsung has decided to embarrass themselves by “going to the streets” to try and convince people how awesome the S-pen functionality is by challenging an obviously clueless iPhone user to perform the same mundane tasks as a seasoned (trained & scripted) Note user.

Apple updated its hugely popular MacBook Air last year to introduce Intel’s Core i5 and Core i7 processors. But the Cupertino company very nearly shipped the ultraportable with an AMD chip instead. An employee for AMD has confirmed that it was very close to striking a deal with Apple, but AMD’s poor production yields meant that Intel was a better option.

Sources for Cult of Mac have discovered yet another security flaw in Apple’s iOS 5 operating system that provides unauthorized access to your iPhone’s camera roll without the need to enter your passcode. It has been tested on the iPhone 4, but could also affect other iOS devices.

We first heard about Apple’s plans to open a retail store within London’s world-famous Harrods department store back in January, but we had little information on the store’s launch date. Sources “inside Harrods” are now reporting that it will open its doors in time for the iPad 3 launch in mid-March.

Remember that super cool iOS theme we showed you a couple of weeks ago, which made an iPhone’s user interface look like it was right out of the 80s? It was just a dream ten days ago, but it’s now real and it’s available to download from Cydia.