Last week’s big news item was the arrest of Apple manager Paul Devine’s arrest for taking over $1 million in kickbacks for insider information.

It certainly looked bad for Devine, formerly of Apple’s iPod and accessories procurement operations department, who was busted by the Feds in what appears to be a seemingly iron-clad case for selling company secrets to various suppliers in Asia through various shell accounts. Apple certainly thought so: they’ve sued Devine in civil court.

Nevertheless, Devine pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Now prosecutors are saying, “O RLY.” They’re skeptical, and it seems like they have every right to be: they have just discovered $150,000 placed in shoeboxes under Devine’s bed.

Does that prove anything? No. Maybe Devine just doesn’t believe in banks. But that’s certainly a lot of fast, easy travel cash lying around. My guess is Devine was ready for a speedy departure if Apple or the Feds caught wind of him. Too bad he didn’t catch wind of them before they busted down his door.

Women out for a stroll at a busy farmer’s market found themselves starring in one man’s iPod video upskirt movies.

Erik Alvarado, 35, landed in jail after shooting video at least 15 women at Saturday’s downtown farmer’s market in Salt Lake city’s historic Pioneer Park.

A sharp-eyed shopper told a police officer that a man had “a mirror or something” inside his shoe, according to jail documents.

Police discovered that Alvarado was in fact walking around with an iPod Nano strapped to his shoe. Alvarado captured video with the Apple device by placing his foot under victim’s skirts.

When we posted yesterday about a new Apple patent hinting at future touchscreen Macs, one of the excellent points made in our comments section was that one reason behind Apple’s reluctance to install touchscreen panels in their non-mobile computers is the ergonomics factor: it’s just not comfortable to constantly be leaning forward to poke and prod a screen.

A new patent from Apple shows how future touchscreen Macs might just solve the ergonomic dilemma. The patent describes a touchscreen iMac with a swiveling display that rotates into a more appropriate, horizontal configuration for multitouch. A built-in accelerometer could automatically determine the display’s orientation and trigger the appropriate interface or even operating system: for example, OS X in an upright position, iOS when prone.

At the end of the day, I don’t buy that a swiveling display is how Apple would go about solving desktop touchscreen ergonomic problems. It seems a little too finnicky as a solution. Still, at least Apple’s thinking about the problem, and if Cupertino’s history with multitouch mobile devices is anything to go by… when they finally do an iMac Touch, they’ll do it right.

As temperatures soar to new records here in San Francisco, quench your thirst at tonight’s Ubergizmo’s Digital Summer party, a festival of fashion, photography, tech and fun.

At 8PM, San Francisco’s glamorous people will gather for Digital Summer, an annual fashion show/tech-showcase that attracts throngs of the city’s brightest young things. Last year, there was a line around the block. (Check out the glamorpuss pictures below).

Full disclosure: We’re a media partner.

This year’s event promises a live runway fashion show, studio photo shoots, a future of fashion display from Intel and hands-on demos of Motorola’s Droid X and Verizon’s Wireless MiFi Mobile Hotspot. Verizon is also recycling old cell phones, so bring them along.

Digital Summer is at the Temple nightclub on Howard Street. It’s $5 with a RSVP (get one here), or $10 on the door. Here’s the Facebook event page, and the full itinerary after the pictures:

Even as Apple has blazed trails in forwarding multitouch as a bonafide interface for mobile devices, they have completely abstained from installing touchscreens on their MacBooks and iMac-lines, despite the fact that numerous competitors have jumped with both feet forward into the multitouch PC arena.

According to a recently discovered patent, though, Apple’s at least thinking about bringing multitouch to their desktop and laptop lines, detailing a touchscreen MacBook boasting iPhone-(and iMac)-like IPS display technology.

Since Apple released iMovie for iPhone, the rumor mill’s been chattering about when we can expect other iLife apps to make an appearance. If Apple was considering GarageBand for iOS, it may as well not bother, because NanoStudio‘s not only beaten Apple to it, but it offers functionality and usability that in some ways puts it ahead of the Cupertino giant’s desktop music app.

Like prison cakes, iOS updates tend to have secret files baked into the firmware, each capable of sawing through the bars of Apple’s own internal clampdown to free details on upcoming products. The latest beta of iOS 4.1 is no exception, offering a tantalizing first glimpse of three upcoming iOS devices.

The first two tipped products aren’t particularly surprising: a reference to an iPod 4,1 is clearly pointing towards next month’s updated iPod Touch, which is likely to boast an A4 CPU, FaceTime support and a Retina Display.

Similarly, once you know that iProd 1,1 was the internal Apple coding reference to the first-gen iPad, iProd 2,1 is easy to peg as a second-gen iPad. What’s curious here, though, is the fact that Apple’s officially programming support for a second generation iPad at all into iOS 4.1. If Apple sticks to a yearly product update for the iPad, we’re eight months away from an update to the tablet; does the reference to iProd 2,1 in an iOS update scheduled for next month indicate a surprising hardware refresh for the iPad line later this year, possibly fixing the begrudged lack of FaceTime support?

The final reference, though, is the most intriguing: an unknown device described as “unknownHardware” tagged with a unique Apple product ID of 20547. Smart money is this being an iOS-driven update to the AppleTV, although we’ve all been surprised by Apple before. Only September’s annual iPod event will give us partial answers.

Swiss folk hero William Tell and his apple sharpshooting get a 2.0 update with this game using Apple iPhones.

The brainchild of artist johannes-p-osterhoff, who we last saw adbust an iPad ad with porn, the game is pretty simple.

Each player straps an iDevice on their head (osterhoff, who prefers a creative lowercase, seriously, crafted the sturdy holders) and your opponent tries to hit your Apple device (or logo if you’re wearing a shirt) with a soft ball. Whoever hits the most times, wins.

It just farts. According to Wired, Phillip Shoemaker — the director of applications technology at Apple, and the honcho responsible for maintaining a puritanical standard of quality in the App Store library — has a side job: selling a series of flatulence, evacuation and micturating simulators on the App Store through his company, Gray Noodle.

One such app is called iWiz. “Simulate the experience of urinating for a long time,” the app description reads. “Convince your friends that you’ll never stop.”

The robber who ripped off a man’s pinky to steal an iPad is now accused of trying to organize a hit on the victim from jail. On June 29, Brandon Smith sent a letter from jail to a crony to wipe out victim Bill Jordan. Here’s what the letter said:

“YOU GET THIS DONE! AND I GO ON ANYTHING I’ll rob a bank if you want me too. Just do this for your boy and I got you for sure. You know how we do it.”

“That’s the address, so handle it A.S.A.P.” He concludes the letter by saying: “I really need this otherwise it’s a wrap!! If you do this, case is dropped. NO WITNESS.”

Jordan’s son says that detectives and Witness Protection agents were at Jordan’s house 20 minutes after the threatening missive was intercepted. Jordan has considered changing his name and moving out of state.

Jordan, 59, had part of his finger amputated after Brandon Smith wrested a just-purchased iPad from him in the parking lot outside Denver’s Cherry Creek Mall store in April. The Apple bag was looped around Jordan’s hand and the thief jerked hard several times to get it off — so hard that flesh came of Jordan’s left pinky. A surgeon later had to amputate part of the damaged little finger on his dominant hand.

There are many questions still unanswered about the case. A big one: if Smith was arrested in part due to parking lot surveillance video, how did he think killing Jordan would resolve his case?

Via Denver Post

Paul Devine — the Apple global supply manager who was arrested over the weekend for allegedly accepting over $1 million in kickbacks from Asian iPod and iPhone accessory manufacturers for privileged insider information — has pleaded not guilty to the charges in Federal Court.

The plea comes even as Pegatron (a division of Asustek) has suspended the head of one of their units for doing business with Devine.

Pegatron says they thought the money was a brokerage commission, and paid it to an intermediate trading company between 2005 and 2008, but occurred before Pegatron bought up Kaedar, a company which has supplied iPod boxes to Apple for years.

According to Pegatron, the executive responsible for paying Devine the kickback thought she was paying money for a legitimate commercial purpose and not as a kickback.

Pegatron isn’t the only company to have either conspired or been burned by Devine’s scheme. South Korea’s Cresyn andJin Li Mould Manufacturing have also been named in Apple’s civil lawsuit against Devine. It’s not clear at this point if these companies were actually conspiring with Devine, or if they’ve just been burned by one rogue, criminal mid-level manager.

Apple will build future iPhone and other gadgets from Liquidmetal, says a former top researcher at Liquidmetal Technologies, whose technology Apple is licensing.

“I think they’re going to make the iPhone out of it,” said Dr. Jan Schroers, the former director of research at Liquidmetal Technologies, the first company to commercially develop the space-age technology. “It’s quite obvious from what Liquidmetal has done in the past and what the technology is capable of.”

Apple has signed an exclusive agreement to use the Liquidmetal Technologies’ IP in consumer electronic products. Liquidmetal is a high-strength metal that can be processed like plastic. NASA has says it is “poised to redefine materials science as we know it in the 21st century.”

Dr. Schroers is the second high-level executive from Liquidmetal to say Apple has ambitious plans for the revolutionary material. Last week, the alloy’s co-inventor, Atakan Peker, predicted that Apple may use Liquidmetal for a new antenna to replace the problematic part in the iPhone 4.

Speaking exclusively to CultofMac.com, Schroers said Apple could create very intricate and beautiful gadget cases by blow-molding melted alloy like glass. Schroers has created one-piece perfume jars from Liquidmetal using a blow mold (see the picture below).

The technology could also create permanent holographic logos that are etched right into the metal, or elaborate patterns that generate color effects.

“You can really do some novel things with metal that previously were impossible,” he said. “In two years, you could see something the world has never seen in metal.”

The iPad version of a book featuring photos and recipes favored by Italy’s fascist dictator Benito Mussolini sits at the number two spot of the top paid apps in Italy’s iTunes store.

Titled “A Tavola con Il Duce” (literally: sitting at the table with Il Duce), the €0.79 ($0.99) book is currently available only in the Italian language but can be purchased in the US and other international iTunes stores.

Promising never-before published anecdotes and pictures from Mussolini’s daily life, it is the iPad version of the 2004 book written by Sophia Loren’s sister, Maria Scicolone, who was married to il Duce’s son Romano Mussolini.

As we all know, the iPad has problems charging through some USB ports… specifically if your USB port doesn’t support 10 watts of output. According to XMultiple Technologies, a solution to those beleaguered by iPad charging problems are just a $5 dongle away from serendipitous juicing forever.

Basically, it’s a sort of power-serving bridge device that you slide prophylactically over your existing Apple Dock Connector cable and which will magically allow USB ports that don’t serve 10 watts to juice up an iPad, thanks to some integrated electronics. Hmmm.

XMultiple Technologies says the iXP1-500 is “100% guaranteed to work.” I’m not quite sure how it could work, though. A dongle that isn’t externally powered isn’t going to magically serve up more electricity to an underpowered USB port. I’m guessing that the integrated electronics send a faked message to the iPad that it’s drawing enough power to charge, even when it isn’t.

More to the point, even an iPad that gives a “not charging” message is usually charging, albeit extremely slowly. So what we most likely have here is a placebo: a dongle that probably does nothing but trick the iPad into not serving up the “Not Charging” message. In other words, while the iXP1-500 is “100% guaranteed to work,” it’s still probably something of a scam. For $5, though, you don’t really have a lot to lose to give it a try for yourself.

Genius. In the style of Atom-embedded computer-in-a-keyboard solutions like the Asus EEE Keyboard, a plucky modder gutted a partially dead MacBook Air and crammed its workings into an old, heavily modified Apple Keyboard casing, precisely topped by an Apple Wireless keyboard and Magic Trackpad snuggled together.

The result? The MacBook Air Project, an all-in-one Mac-in-a-keyboard: just plug in a monitor to the MacBook Air keyboard’s DVI port and you’re ready to rip. Hey Apple: this is what the next Mac mini should look like!

There’s a lot of money in iPhone accessories, but one midlevel Apple manager may have taken things too far after he managed to make over $1 million in kickbacks for supplying Asian suppliers and manufacturers insider information about new products and other internal decisions.

According to the San Jose Mercury News, Paul Shin Devine — a global supply chain manager within Apple — used an elaborate network of national and foreign bank accounts as well as a front company to receive payments for his information. He has since been arrested and named in a 23-count federal grand jury indictment for wire fraud and money laundering. The Asian accessory manufacturers with whom Devine did business have not been named.

Needless to say, Apple’s none too happy about this:

“Apple is committed to the highest ethical standards in the way we do business,” Apple spokesman Steve Dowling said in a statement. “We have zero tolerance for dishonest behavior inside or outside the company.”

In fact, Apple has so little tolerance for these sorts of shady ethics that they have filed a separate civil lawsuit against Devine. Even if he escapes prison, Devine is going to be sued into a gelatin slurry by his former employers.

Somehow, I’m guessing Devine didn’t quite think this through all the way.

 Apple may be planning to use Liquidmetal for a new iPhone antenna, says the co-inventor of the sci-fi metal alloy.

Interviewed exclusively by CultofMac.com, Dr. Atakan Peker says Liquidmetal might be a good material for building a next-generation antenna to replace the problematic part in the iPhone 4.

“Let me state that this is very exciting for me,” he said. “I made the first and original alloy formulations… I am a big Mac fan and greatly admire Apple as a company. I have been using Mac exclusively my whole life, both at work and home. It is a pleasant surprise for me to see both get together.” As Apple explores innovative materials, it could also be working towards an apple folding phone with a cutting-edge Liquidmetal hinge. Learn more about it here.

As Apple explores innovative materials, it could also be working towards an apple folding phone with a cutting-edge Liquidmetal hinge. Learn more about it here.

Liquidmetal is already used to build the antenna for the Verizon USB727 wireless modem, which got great reviews for its reception.

Forget liquid metal T-1000 Terminators and morphing iPhones, Apple already uses Liquidmetal in one of its products, and you’ll never guess what it is…

I learned the answer by talking to Liquidmetal’s co-inventor, Dr. Atakan Peker, who granted CultofMac.com an exclusive interview. It’s not confirmed by Apple. Peker bought the product and immediately recognized his alloy: “That’s my metal,” he said. It’s not used in European versions of the product — only U.S. and maybe Asia.

Leave your best guess in the comments. The winner gets a brand new Magic Trackpad. The answer will be revealed on Monday. You have to name the specific component. Saying “iPhone” or “Mac” won’t cut it.

Apple has just signed an agreement with Liquidmetal Technologies for the exclusive use of the space-age material in consumer electronic products. Peker, who used to be VP of Technology at the company, thinks Apple will make extensive use of Liquidmetal alloys, which are super hard but extremely light and flexible. They will likely be used to make seamless, scratch-proof cases, possibly in freaky shapes. First order of business is likely a new antenna for the iPhone, Peker predicts. More here: Liquidmetal May Be Used For New iPhone Antenna Says Inventor [Exclusive]

Dear Steve Jobs:

What happened to quality?

Not long ago, before Apple became big and popular, your company was loved by many of us without hesitation. We still love Apple, but it’s getting harder to feel that way. Apple is clearly loosing a foothold on quality. Perhaps you are taking on too much at one time.

I’m writing this letter after experiencing a ton of problems with my new iPhone 4, including issues with Bluetooth, the proximity sensor, and yellow-tinged photos from the camera. I just took it back to the Apple Store to be replaced. Customer service is still awesome, but quality is slipping.

It’s obvious you’ve noticed quality problems too. That’s why you just appointed Jeff Williams as a Senior Vice President of Operations, and gave him the job of ensuring the highest standards in quality for Apple products. He’s got his work cut out for him. So we hope he’ll hit the ground running.

Steve, please consider the following examples of why Apple’s attempts to do too many things at once are resulting in quality failures in just about everything it does.

The gaping security hole in Mobile Safari has been fixed with updates to Apple’s iOS operating system.

Apple has just updated iOS to 4.0.2 for the iPhone (and iPod touch) and iOS 3.2.2 for the iPad. The updates patch a security vulnerability that allowed Safari to run code embedded in PDF files.

The updates are available through iTunes. Click “Check for Update” to download.

If you are plannign to jailbreak your device, do it before updating. o not get surprised, if the latest firmware includes a baseband update as well. If that happens, it will block the ultrasn0w carrier unlock as well.

Obviously, the new iOS updates break the jailbreak at JailbreakMe.com, which exploited the vulnerability.

The updates may also contain new baseband firmware, which will break carrier unlocking. To jailbreak and unlock your iOS device, see our Jailbreak Superguide.

Here are the details from Apple:

Pictures of a white iPhone 4 in the wild have been leaked out of China.

The white iPhone 4 was apparently sneaked out of the factory inside the box for a black iPhone 4 and taken to Hong Kong.

The white iPhone 4 has suffered several delays, and is due to ship “later this year,” according to a curt statement from Apple. The device was originally supposed to ship in with the black iPhone 4, but has pushed back twice for reasons unknown. There has been speculation that the white iPhone leaks light from its LCD.

The pictures below who a 32GB model and include details like the headphone jack connector and dock connector.

UPDATE: This might be a fake, as noted by our friends over at 9to5Mac. Vendors in Hong Kong, for example, can turn a black iPhone 4 into a white iPhone 4 for about $360. The lack of a silver metal ring around the camera flash is the give-away.

Thanks Chris of MICGadget.

– Part 1. “The Plan”

The new hexacore Mac Pro’s are coming, the screaming performance and egg frying potential of those new machines are making my previously five thousand dollar 2006 model look positively dated.

To be sure, I’m in the midst of a computational mid-life crisis. Follow me after the jump for the cure…

Apple has acquired an exclusive license to use Liquidmetal’s space-age metal alloys in consumer electronic products, a filing with the SEC reveals.

Developed literally in space by NASA, Liquidmetal’s alloys are super-strong, felxible metals that are incredibly light and flexible, and yet can be cast in factories like plastic.

NASA is extremely bullish about the new metals:

In the same way that the inventions of steel in the 1800s and plastic in the 1900s sparked revolutions for industry, a new class of amorphous alloys is poised to redefine materials science as we know it in the 21st century.

Welcome to the 3rd Revolution, otherwise known as the era of Liquidmetal alloys, where metals behave similar to plastics but possess more than twice the strength of high-performance titanium.

Liquidmetals belong to the class of “glassy metals,” and have already been used in golf clubs and tennis rackets, as well as CE products like a USB memory stick from SanDisk and a high-end cell phone from Vertu. The U.S. Department of Defense is looking at a range of uses, including replacing uranium-tipped armor piercing munitions with Liquidmetals.

It’s unclear what Apple might do with the Liquidmetal license, but a good guess is for casings in future iPhones, iPods and iPads.

Because of the alloys’ high strength, iPhone and iPad cases could be super thin and very light. They would be scatch-proof and corrosion-resistant.

Plus, they could be molded into intricate and unusual shapes: a property that is sure to appeal to Jonny Ive.

Here’s a good overview of the material and its applications (PDF): New materials have remarkable properties and can be customised.

And the video below shows how watch-maker Omega used Liquidmetal to create a seamless, scracthproof watch bezel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZcsWVqLC5I

Look, we’ve all been burned by the Verizon iPhone rumor before, but we’re really starting to think that a CDMA iPhone 4 is coming sooner rather than later. Consider these three separate stories surfacing this morning.

First, we have this story from Techcrunch, claiming that a CDMA iPhone is due in January:

Sources with knowledge of this entire situation have assured me that Apple has submitted orders for millions of units of Qualcomm CDMA chipsets for a Verizon iPhone run due in December.

Next up is this AT&T SEC filing which hints very strongly that their iPhone exclusive is nearing an end. The filing contains an entire section dedicated to the risks involved when “exclusivity agreements end,” as well as assurances to shareholders that the loss of the iPhone isn’t a “material negative impact.” This all reads like a company that sees the writing on the wall.

Finally, consider this Digitimes story, claiming that a CDMA iPhone will go into mass production in December by Pegatron, who will supply the resulting handsets to both Verizon Wireless and China Telecom.

Like I said, we’ve all been burned on the Verizon iPhone rumor before… but there’s a lot more scuttlebutt swirling around this time than usual. More importantly, even though all these intel reports have different sources, the details are lining up: AT&T’s exclusive is ending by the end of the year, and a CDMA iPhone will be available in January.

If you are unhappy with AT&T’s service and your contract is coming up, it might behoove you to hold off on renewing it for the time being.

Apple’s annual iPod media event is traditionally held in September, but according to Brazilian Mac site Mac Magazine, they might hold it a bit early this year.

According to MacMagazine’s “reliable source within Apple,” Cupertino plans to refresh their iPod line and unveil the next-generation iPod Touch as soon as mid-August, with a date of August 16th or August 17th being cited as the most likely dates.

Mac Rumors points out that if these rumors are true, this iPod event date also aligns with a claimed August 17th release date for iLife ’11, although it’s not entirely clear how that product’s release would fit in with a strongly-focused iPod announcement.

Given that Apple has yet to send out invites for their iPod event, that date might seem suspiciously near, but it’s plausible: Apple has traditionally given only a week’s lead time to the press when throwing their iPod events. Last year, the invite for their “It’s Only Rock and Roll” iPod Event came with just nine days worth of lead time, and in 2008, Apple sent out the invites just seven days before the event. If this rumor is true, then, expect official press invites to start landing in the next day or two.