Apple's iPod touch may be in store for a surprise update in December. An anonymous source claimed that a product refresh is planned before the end of the year, but couldn't offer specific details.

MacUpdate announced Monday the release of MacUpdate Desktop 5.0.1, an update to the company's third party software update application. The new version includes new features and bug fixes.

Apple released Mac OS X 10.6.2 Monday, an update for Snow Leopard that fixes a Guest account issue that was wiping some users' home directories. Other issues addressed include Mail, printing, fonts, displays, MobileMe, networking, and more.

New games hitting the App Store to kick off this week include ANALOGretro’s 3D space shooter Star Rangers, ICS Mobile’s Air Force Supremacy, Coresoft’s World War II game Blood Beach, Connect2Media’s 365 Puzzle Club, and the ball juggling game Juggz.

Shares of RadioShack Corp. jumped more than 14% on Monday following news on Friday that the retail chain would begin selling the iPhone. In early afternoon trading, the stock traded at US$20.31, up $2.57 (+14.49%) on heavy volume of 12.1 million shares, almost twice the firm's daily average.

Electronic Arts on Monday announced its acquisition of Playfish, a social games developer known for Pet Society and Country Story on Facebook, along with other games available on MySpace, Bebo, Android, and Google. The company has one title in the App Store, Who Has the Biggest Brain? a brain training game.

The Deal Brothers found a deal on the Western Digital WD10EADS 1TB Caviar Green SATA Intellipower Hard Drive for $84.99. This drive has a 32mb cache, and it ships for free.

Singapore's StarHub announced on Monday that it will begin selling Apple's iPhone before the end of the year.

Today TMO readers are debating what version of OS X an Apple tablet computer would run and what features it needs to be successful.

Apple rolled out a new credit and financing program ahead of the holiday buying season. The new program includes a Barclaycard Visa card and up to 12 months same-as-cash financing.

Apple launched a new service dubbed Reserve and Pick Up that lets customers shop at the online Apple Store and pick up their order at their local Apple retail store. Shoppers can place their orders now and pick them up between December 15 and December 24.

Owners of jailbroken iPhones in Australia are getting a bit of a surprise thanks to hackers that released a worm that "Rickrolls" them by installing a new wallpaper with Rick Astley's face. Only iPhone owners that hacked their iPhone to install unauthorized third-party apps and also failed to change their default password after installing SSH are affected, according to the security research firm Sophos.

Geeksuit announced the immediate availability of Client Folder Maker 3.5 on Monday. The update for the automated directory building application added support for Mac OS X 10.6, or Snow Leopard.

A special weekend show with tons of great info. Dave shares his initial thoughts on the Magic Mouse, then he and John dig into some more information about MacBook (and MacBook Pro) removable batteries, including what constitutes a "cycle" and dissecting AppleCare's battery replacement policies. Then its on to your questions and tips, and the geeks knock this one out of the park!

Apple released Apple TV 3.0.1 to address a problem with temporarily disappearing content on Saturday. Apple considered the update important enough to warrant sending owners an email on Saturday asking them to manually initiate the update process.

Apple is working on a UTMS/CDMA hybrid iPhone that would allow the company to offer the device through Verizon in the third quarter of 2010. The news comes through an analyst research note from OTR Global reported by AppleInsider, and is based on supposed leaks from Apple's Taiwan manufacturing chain.

Electronics retailer RadioShack announced on Friday that it will be offering Apple's iPhone in several of its stores starting in November.

Apple is scheduled to open up its first Apple Store in Paris, France Saturday, at 10:00 AM local. In typical high-profile fashion, Apple's new store is located in bowels of Le Louvre museum in that institution's Carrousel du Louvre shopping center.

If you are looking for a free dictionary for your iPhone then you're in luck! This week on Free on iTunes, Vern Seward takes a look at three of them: Dictionary!, WordWeb, and Dictionary.Com Dictionary.

In this week's assemblage of technical news debris, John looks at all kinds of failures, easy options for Barnes & Noble, U.S. DOJ, Apple's Time Capsule, iPhone hardware encryption, those who predicted Blu-ray would never catch on, and Microsoft's bad habit of hosing up their OS advertising.

New games now available at the App Store include the puzzle game Gravity Sling, the action title RocketBird, the arcade racer Ground Effect, and the self-explanatory Checkers!.

New Star Games on Friday announced the release of New Star Soccer 2010 for Mac and PC. It's the latest version of its series of games in which gamers create a soccer player and guide him through the ranks, managing every aspect of his career while also taking part in matches. Players decide everything for their character, from relationships with teammates and girlfriends to endorsement contracts and more.

Rosetta is a software technology that allows Intel-based Macs to run most, but not all, of native PowerPC applications. This How-to explains some details of using, enabling, disabling and status checking Rosetta.

iPhone game developer Storm8 has been sued for harvesting iPhone cell numbers on iPhones where its game was downloaded. The incident first came to light in August, when Storm8 acknowledged the issue and blamed it on an error that it said was then corrected. Michael Turner of Washington State, however, is now seeking class action status for a suit accusing the company of having violated the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.

EA studio Mythic Entertainment on Friday announced that players will now have access to an expanded play trial, rather than a 10-day limit, for its MMORPG Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning (WAR). New and returning players will have access to a new streaming client, cutting down time spent downloading the game, and will be able to progress their characters to level 10 while exploring two tier one Empire vs. Chaos zones.

Apple has apparently been testing prototype versions of the next generation iPhone with RFID support built-in. If true, the next iPhone hardware update could lets users interact with other RFID-enabled devices.

Nokia recently filed a lawsuit against Apple for allegedly infringing on patents with its iPhone lineup, but the mobile phone maker could potentially face a counter suit claiming it is infringing on Apple's patents, too

The rumor mill claims an 8GB iPhone 3GS is on the way in time for the holiday buying season. Today TMO readers are offering their take on that rumor.

Apple's own Phil Schiller said that the company's holiday product lineup is set for this year, but that's not stopping the rumor mill from claiming that an 8GB version of the iPhone 3GS is still on the way. No less that two unnamed sources are saying that AT&T will begin selling an 8GB iPhone 3GS for US$99 before Christmas

Apple began alerting customers on Friday morning that Apple TV-compatible versions of the iTunes LP albums they've purchased are available and ready for download.

Syncode announced the immediate availability of iTweetReply 1.2 on Friday. The update for the Twitter push notification app for the iPhone and iPod touch added the ability to automatically send Twitter search results to your iPhone.

Keeping track of everything you want to read online can be a real pain, especially if you're trying to keep track of articles and blog posts on the go. Instapaper solve that problem, and it's easy to use, too.

The smartphone market grew in the September quarter, despite the world-wide recession, with global unit shipments up 4.2% year-over-year to 43.3 million, according to research firm IDC. The company said that Apple saw its highest iPhone unit sales yet, though Research In Motion's BlackBerry also gained share in the global market. The research firm also said that Google's Android platform was reaching "critical mass" with the release of several new Android models and the release of Android OS 2.0.

EA’s studio Maxis on Thursday announced the release of Spore Islands, a new Facebook game based on the Spore franchise originally created by Will Wright, of Sim City and The Sims fame. The free 2D game puts player on their own island, where they can create and evolve their own creatures, as well as invite Facebook friends to live on their island.

Research In Motion (RIM) announced a stock buyback program following the loss of one-third of the company's value in the past six weeks.  The company's board of directors approved a plan that will take up to US$1.2 billion in company resources to repurchase as much as 21 million common shares at today's price.

Chillingo on Thursday released Jules Verne’s Secrets of the Mysterious Island for iPhone, leading a quartet of new App Store games.

Apple has been buying ad space on Google for people looking for help with downloading Windows 7. Google searches for "Download Windows 7" often result in an ad from Apple titled, "Upgrading to Windows 7?" The ad then advises users that, "There's never been a better time to switch to a Mac. Find out why." It links directly to Apple's site.

With BBEdit 9.3, a new terminal command has been added: bbfind. That's in addition to the previous commands: bbedit and bbdiff.  Here's a brief introduction on how to use these commands.

The Deal Brothers found a deal on the Apple MacBook Pro MB991LL/A 13.3-Inch Laptop for $1410.00. This is a brand new system, and shipping is free.

Psystar is asking a Florida Court to say that its unauthorized Mac clone making business is legit and to force Apple to keep quiet about the whole deal. Apple and Psystar have been fighting in court in California, and now in Florida, over whether or not the little PC maker can hack Mac OS X and install it on PCs without Apple's permission.

Kensington's iPhone car mount kit lets you keep your combination iPod and smartphone in view when you are driving. It includes vent and windshield mount attachments, and based on Nancy Gravely's tests it does its job well.

Today TMO readers are talking about applications that can help them protect their kids from online threats and what they can do to monitor their computer activities.

It's OK to call Apple's iPhone the best phone ever, but not in the CNET UK offices. Instead, they dubbed the iPhone the worst phone ever, but also said it's the best mobile Web device and media player.

There's no doubt that Apple CEO Steve Jobs has been instrumental in the success of the company known for the iMac and iPhone, and according to Fortune, he's the CEO of the decade, too.

Quapps Interactive announced the immediate availability of MagiCam 1.0 for the iPhone on Thursday. MagiCam is an app that lets users add effects and other objects to photos they take with their iPhone.

Matrix Knowledge Management introduced V Phone for the iPhone on Thursday. The application lets iPhone users make VoIP phone calls and send SMS messages over IP, too.