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Apple has pulled the Third Intifada app at the request of an Israeli minister.

In what may be the quickest removal in iTunes history, Apple yanked the app just a day after Israeli Public Diplomacy Minister Yuli-Yoel Edelstein wrote to Steve Jobs saying the app “passed on information about protests, some violent, planned against Israel.”

We don’t know exactly when, but when we checked for it about an hour ago it was still there, racking up negative “ratings.”

Apple has not responded to our requests for comment or issued a press release on its website.

More to come.

UPDATE: CEO Joe Scott retracted the statements made in the press release quoted below. That story is available here.

When Apple sidelined new apps that were tipping off tipsy drivers about DUI checkpoints, we wondered what would happen to the apps that were already in the iTunes store.

Some of them — like Trapster — pulled the DUI alerts while continuing to offer info on speed traps.

But PhantomALERT just issued a press release boasting about how it stayed in iTunes “defying” the senators who pressured Apple to ban apps with DUI checkpoint info.

Remember that Chinese teen who sold his kidney for an iPad 2? That was bad enough, but now another Chinese teen is following his lead and offering something even more irreplaceable in exchange for an iPhone 4. She’s selling her virginity.

So you’re a cutting edge, Post-PC consumer. You’ve bought into the Cloud, have all the latest apps on your iPad, and you work on the go. Just tweet this, email that, and print out an electronic boarding pass before you head to the airport.

Not so fast on that last step. There’s a tantalizing Print button in many iOS apps these days, but very few printers are usable without some extra work first. Unlike printing on the Mac or PC, AirPrint (the iOS-based printing system) is still not yet a fully realized solution. Fortunately, workarounds are available.

Apple COO Tim Cook happened to pop on by China Mobile’s headquarters earlier today. You know, just happened to be in the neighborhood, thought he’d see what was going on. No biggie.

Except China Mobile isn’t currently partnered with Apple. Oh, and they just happen to be the world’s largest mobile phone carrier, providing for over six hundred million customers. Biggie indeed.

Jailbreak artist Comex has been hinting at plans to dust off Jailbreakme.com for a while now, allowing users on compatible iOS devices to jailbreak their systems just by loading the page in Mobile Safari. But what devices will be supported?

All of them running iOS 4.2.1 to iOS 4.3.3, for one. The iPad 2 for another. Hoorah!

Four years after it set the smartphone world on fire, Apple has won a patent for the original iPhone.

This isn’t just old news: it’s a huge win for Apple that will not only help Cupertino out in their case against Samsung, but according to some patent specialists could even allow Apple to go to war against other smartphone makers.

The race to the cloud just heated up today: Cloud Engines, most known for their white, instant-server-in-a-brick Pogoplug network-attached storage device, launches two software-only versions that turn your Mac into a home-based server.

Following yesterday’s rumors that Apple’s fifth-generation iPhone is scheduled to launch later this year, Bloomberg cites two sources “familiar with Apple’s plans” who have confirmed the iPhone 5 will be available this September. The report also offers some juicy details on the iPad 3, and that “iPhone nano” that we keep hearing about.

Review by Kelly Keltner

Despite the word “Droid” plastered everywhere, the new Motorola CommandOne Bluetooth headset ($100) has already become my friend. True, it’ll never learn to pronounce my name correctly, is misunderstood by some of my other friends and has questionable fashion sense. We remain friends, however, because it’s easy to understand and comfortably fits in my ear. It’s unlike most relationships, but it works for us.

With Lion’s release in July, Apple will switch over to a digital distribution of OS X through the Mac App Store. What if you’re one of the many Americans still on a modem, though? Or what if your broadband connection is slow? What if you are one of the increasing number of broadband users with a download cap? How will you install the 4GB OS X update?

Apple’s got a suggestion: bring your Mac on into the Apple Store and piggy back our free WiFi. Something tells me they might regret that.

Despite recent speculation that Apple’s fifth-generation iPhone will be merely a faster iPhone 4 dubbed the “iPhone 4S,” one source claims the device will be much more significant than we were initially led to believe — and it will launch this August.

A newly published FCC filing prematurely confirms the release of Apple’s new AirPort Extreme wireless base station, indicating the launch of the device could be just hours away.

Apple has decreased its order of the iPhone 4 in anticipation of the fifth-generation device, strengthening those rumors that claim a new iPhone will launch before the end of this year.

While yesterday’s reports of a black MacBook Air left many mouths watering, the device could remain all but a dream for the foreseeable future, after one anonymous Apple employee has confirmed that the company has tried, but failed, to create a black model of its ultraportable notebook.

Although BlueAnt focuses exclusively on Bluetooth communication gadgets (and now earphones), they aren’t as well recognized as some of the other names coming up in our review, and they don’t proffer up a ton of offerings. In fact, they currently only offer five; with the BlueAnt Q2 Headset ($100) positioned as their marquis headset.

After having his iPhone 4 literally stolen from his hand in a snatch-and-grab in San Francisco, Cabel Sasser was delighted to have it phone home two weeks later through Find My iPhone.

There was just one problem. The iPhone 4 was now 7,830 miles away. Here are the pictures, along with Cabel’s priceless reaction.

Although Apple still sells a white model, the piano black plastic MacBook is much missed. It might be Back to Black time for the MacBook line, though, as several anonymous sources are now reporting that the Thunderbolt and Sandy Bridge equipped MacBook Air could get a black anodized aluminum finish when it lands in July.

While you can hardly blame Microsoft entirely for this one, you’d think they’d at least notice that the featured Dictionary application on their official Windows Phone page had stolen its icon wholesale from the competition. Could we get a slow clap, please?

[via Craig Hockenberry’s Twitter]

When can you expect iOS 5 to drop on your iPhone? September’s a given, but the latest rumor gives an exact date that all the ripples of the iCloud will come to your device… along with the iPhone 5.

Adobe just released an update to its Flash Builder and Flex development tools, and for the first time developers can use the programs to create apps for distribution through the App Store for iOS devices. But are cross-platform Flash apps on the iPhone and the iPad really a good idea?

Noterize, the popular note-taking app for the iPad mysteriously vanished from the App Store recently, with no indication of the reason for its disappearance. However, news that a takeover by voice technology company Nuance may be to blame, and could spell exciting things to come for voice recognition in iOS 5.

In an effort to compete with Apple’s latest Back to School promotion, Best Buy has launched a more attractive promo of its own that will see the retailer throw in a free $100 Best Buy gift card when customers purchase a qualifying Mac.

You’ve no doubt seen this post suggesting that Apple could use its $70 billion in cash to buy the entire mobile phone industry. The idea is worth a chuckle, but buying the phone handset industry is neither desirable nor possible. Apple doesn’t want to sell Nokia phones, and regulators wouldn’t let the company buy, then close, all its competition.

No, instead Apple should use its billions to take over Hollywood.

Apple might not have more money than God (yet), but come the end of this quarter, they are likely to have so much cash flowing from their coffers that, if they had a mind to, they could buy the entire mobile phone industry.