As far as I know, while there are plenty of iPhone 3G problems to talk about, only a few of them are related to the GPS features of Apple's device. Even more - I happen to have a few friends in the military, and I know one thing for sure - they don't need Google Maps or the GPS feature of some smartphone to find their way around, and that's why it seems really strange to find out that the Egyptian government is afraid of the iPhone GPS...

...because I can't see any other reason for Apple to disable the GPS functionality of the iPhone 3G in Egypt, as a recent report published in New York Times says.

While no details on how they managed to disable the GPS feature of the iPhone 3G emerged, but inside sources claim that all started because of the government's fear of anti-military/anti-Egyptian applications using the iPhone. Now, what could they do with the iPhone 3G against the military? Throw it at a tank, maybe? Damn, where is this whole terrorism paranoia leading to!

If you ask me, I find it normal to sell old iPhones without GPS features on the Egyptian market, but hearing that normal iPhones are being crippled because some strange fear of a certain government makes me shiver, and remember those days when 80486 CPUs weren't allowed to get out of the US without knowing exactly where were they sold and for what purpose...

I don't know why, but it seems cloning Macs starts to become a widespread business. Oh, wait - I DO know why is this happening, and - first of all - it was Apple's fault to switch from the PowerPC processors to Intel ones. Obviously, now anyone can build a "Mac OS X-compatible," although this is not something Apple's lawyers leave unpunished, especially when you start selling such clones around and advertise for them on a website...

First, we had some lone eBay seller, then the OpenTech Mac clones, and then we heard about Psystar, over and over again. Now, the time has come for those cloning Macs outside the US to show up in the spotlight, since today's "Mac maker" comes straight from Argentina!

OpeniMac, the first company who's into cloning Macs in South America, has two computers on sale - the OpeniMac, featuring a 2.53GHz Core 2 Duo processor, 2GB of RAM, a 320GB SATA drive, SuperDrive and an ATI Radeon HD PRO video card, and selling for for $990($1,330 with monitor), and the OpeniMac PRO, with a 3.0GHz Core 2 Duo processor, support for 4GB of memory, a 500GB SATAII drive, a SuperDrive, and a Nvidia GeForce GS video card for $1,710US. Even more, both of them come with a 6-in-1 memory card reader built-in and a 20" LCD!

What else can I say but "LOL?!?" I knew this is going to happen the minute I found out about Apple planning to use Intel processors, and now I think the best solution for them would be to allow Mac OS X to run on any computer, and turn into a second Microsoft...but leaving most of the bad parts aside!

"An App Store download a day keeps Microsoft Windows away," don't you think? I am sure that over 2 million apples are being eaten every day(poor fruits...), but if we look at the App Store download rate, two million seems much bigger than in the previous case. After all, Macintosh apps don't grow on trees...

...but seem to become more and more popular, since statistics are looking just great! In a new print ad from Apple, it is said that the Cupertino-based company delivered no less than 300 million downloads through the iTunes App Store, also pointing out that over 10,000 different apps are currently available, 20 times more than the 500 that were ready to be downloaded at the App Store's debut.

When looking at the numbers above, it's also worth considering that, back in October, Apple announced that the App Store was nearing the 200 million downloads mark, so over 100 million downloads were made since then, accounting for about 2.2 million apps downloaded daily!

At last, you should also know that - according to comScore, Apple.com ranked 5th amongst the most visited retail sites on Cyber Monday(the Monday immediately following Black Friday), with 3.68 million hits, after eBay (12.9 million), followed by big-box retailers Amazon.com (9.2 million), Wal-Mart (6.76 million), and Target (4.8 million).

Did you manage to decide what present you want for Christmas, or at least what you're going to buy for your family and friends? You don't have to answer to that question, because I think it's always better to have more choices available, and even if you got all the needed presents already, a good deal for the geek in you won't hurt, I can bet on that!

I guess the image above should make the entire cheap Macintosh software story much clearer, since MacUpdate is probably the largest Apple software store on the Web, and the fact they got a special winter design for its "MuPromo.com" special offers site with the occasion of this Christmas promo shows we're talking about serious things. How serious? Well, that's what we're going to see right away...

Just as a side note, I am tired of seeing so-called "bargains" in December, just after pushing the prices up at least 50-60% in the previous months, but MacUpdate's Holiday Bundle is far from such a trick - just think about being able to buy software worth $447.69 for only $49.99! If that can't be called "a real bargain," then I don't have any idea what could be considered a good deal...

The bundle mentioned contains the following pieces of cheap Macintosh software: KeyCue, MacPilot, WhatSize, iVolume, RapidWeaver, LittleSnitch, MacGourmet Deluxe, VirusBarrier X5, Drive Genius, and Default Folder X, so almost everything is nicely covered. After all, we have a few great system utilities, including a file manager, a "cooking software" for those who like to plan and cook their own meals(hell yeah!), a HTML editor, and even an antivirus!

These being said, I conclude by saying this awesome Holiday Bundle can be purchased for another 10 days, and - if the tiny price offered is not enough - you will get a bundle free for each 3 you purchase! 10,672 bundles have been sold so far, and the counter is still moving...

First of all, I have to tell you I have nothing to do with MacMall - I only spotted some cheap Apple products that you may be interested in, and now I am giving you the news, that's all. After all, it seems everyone is looking for good deals these days, and what could be better than cheap Apple products in the aftermath of the Black Friday?

The deal goes like this - although most "Black Friday specials" were discontinued on Saturday morning, MacMall decided to make their Black Friday last no less than 4 days, so the cheap Apple products they started selling on the 5th of December will be available for those low prices until 11:59PM, on Monday, the 8th. Below, you have the most tempting products, at least from my point of view:

- the 8 GB iPod Touch is available for $199.99, and you can also get free engraving, if you want!

- the Mac mini starts at $543.99, and comes with the following freebies: Parallels Desktop 4.0, Epson Stylus Printer, Toast 9 Basic, and even free shipping!

- the iPod Nano also comes with free engraving, but you'll even get TuneRanger and a Leather or Silicone Case for free, while the pricing starts at $134.94!

- the MacBook Air starts at $1,149.99, and also comes with a bunch of freebies, including the ones available with the Mac mini, as well as a carrying case.

All right, this is ending here for me, since these are the cheap Apple products I would grab, but since there's more to MacMall's time-limited offer, you should go ahead and check them all out for yourselves. Happy shopping! ;)