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25% of iPad purchases are from first-time Apple buyers

The NPD, a consumer market research firm, is out with a new report today regarding its recent Apple Ecosystem Study. The firm asked more than 3,000 consumers, of balanced demographics, on whether or not they owned Apple products. And if so, which ones.

As usual, the results are pretty interesting. The study found that one-in-five Apple owner households owns at least one iPad. But current Apple owners aren't the only people that are being drawn to the new tablet: one-in-four iPad buyers are first-time Apple buyers...

The 2012 Apple Design Awards nominations now open, get your apps ready

As Apple announced this morning that it will hold its annual WWDC conference from June 11-15 at San Francisco's Moscone Center, they also revealed details about this year's Apple Design Awards. The prestigious award recognizes the best of the best in iOS and Mac app design, innovation and technology adoption.

Developers who intend to have their work included for this year's Apple Design Awards consideration are required to submit their apps by May 1 through Apple’s developer portal. However, even if you don’t submit your app, Apple could still award your work in one of the categories...

Turn your iPad into a laptop with the NoteBookCase

9to5Mac spotlights an interesting iPad accessory that appears to turn the popular tablet into a miniature MacBook Pro. The NoteBookCase houses your iPad in a clamshell-like case with an Apple-style keyboard.

Of course, there is no shortage of keyboard-packing iPad cases on the market — both Zagg and Kensington make some pretty popular models. But none of them pack near the amount of features as the NoteBookCase...

Following the iOS debacle, Mountain Lion now asks permission to access contacts too

It seems that Apple's learnings from the Path Contacts debacle have extended to the Mac, too, with the latest Developer Preview of OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion also seeing a Contacts-based new security addition.

Those with reasonable memories will remember that Path, the social networking app that was all the rage not long ago, got itself into some hot water for taking all the details from the iOS Contacts app – names, numbers, email addresses and more – and uploading them to its own servers. This led to all kinds of scaremongering and ultimately, Apple decided to add a warning message to iOS that tells users when an app is requesting access to contact details. Users then have to option of allowing or blocking that access.

Now it appears that Apple has pulled this security feature across from iOS to the Mac, or at least it will in the next version of OS X when it arrives later this year...

We’re giving away 5 copies of ‘Reflection’ – the Mac AirPlay Mirroring app

Yep, you heard right. The fine folks behind the Mac's Reflection app were generous enough to provide five of our readers with registration certificates for a full copy of their app.

For those of you who haven't already seen our coverage, Reflection is a Mac app that allows you to mirror your iPad 2 or iPhone 4S to your Mac, just as if it were an Apple TV.

From our hands-on testing we can confidently report that it works really well. Now you have the chance to experience the goodness for yourself.

It's easy to win, just step right in...

How to get the iOS ’86 theme on your iPhone now

Remember that awesome iOS '86 theme concept we showed you last week? The one that looked like it came straight off an old Mac Plus computer? Well it's now available in Cydia for your downloading pleasure.

Conceptualized by designer Anton Repponen, and created by an author named AR7, iOS '86 gives your new school device, an old school feel. And here's how you can install it on your jailbroken iPhone or iPod touch...

Apple sold more iOS devices last year than it ever sold Macs

We don't really need more proof that the iPhone and iPad are a success, but every now and then we still like to be reminded of it. This time, it's Horace Dediu from Asymco that shares some incredible stats about the success of iOS.

To put things into perspective, Dediu created a graph that shows the cumulative sales of Apple computing products over the years since their launch. The conclusion is just breathtaking. More iOS devices were sold in 2011 than all the Macs ever sold...

Check out this awesome concept of a retro Mac iPhone theme

Thanks to jailbreaking, you can make your iOS device look pretty much anyway you want. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of themes in Cydia that can alter the appearance of Apple's mobile operating system.

But we've never seen anything like this before. Designer Anton Repponen has posted several images to his blog of what he imagines a Mac Plus-inspired iPhone theme would look like. Introducing iOS 86...

Forget iPhoto, save all of your Photo Stream photos to a folder on OS X

One of my favorite components of iCloud is Photo Stream. I love having instant access to all of my photos on both my iPhone and iPad. Having instant access to my photos on my laptop is awesome too, but there is one major caveat.

You see, to access your Photo Stream photos on your Mac computer, you have to go through iPhoto — which I hate. It takes forever to load and the UI is terrible. Luckily, I've just come across a software-free way to access my Photo Stream photos on my computer...

Why Apple Must Not Rest on its Laurels

It seems right now that Apple just can do no wrong. With record sales of its devices and huge amounts of money sat in the bank, it's all very rosy over in Cupertino. But other companies have had successful periods before, only for things to go a little awry in future years.

Despite great results from Apple ever since Steve Jobs returned to the company back in 1997, it wasn't really until the iPhone's introduction in 2007 that the world really took notice of what was going in at 1 Infinite Loop.

Now it's a worldwide phenomenon, with people owning iPhones who would never have contemplated picking up a Mac.

Throw in the beginnings of a tablet market that is still being dominated by the iPad, and Apple have every right to feel smug. But it may not last forever...

Apple to Launch Major Employee Discount Program

A few days ago we told you that Tim Cook had sent out an email to Apple employees regarding a special Town Hall meeting yesterday. The CEO wanted to congratulate his team on its recent success, and discuss some "exciting new things going on at Apple."

As it turns out, 9to5Mac — who originally broke the story — has gotten word of at least one of the topics of the meeting. No, it's not a new iPad or an Apple TV set. Apparently Apple is planning to launch a major employee discount program later this year...

Absinthe Updated to v0.3, Includes Linux Version

Version 0.3 of the Absinthe iPhone 4S and iPad 2 untethered jailbreak utility was released a moment ago by the Chronic Dev Team, and with it comes support for Linux.

If you're already jailbroken with v0.2, there is no need to attempt to reapply the jailbreak with the latest version, because there's nothing really new besides a few cosmetic changes and a fix for a rare bug that most won't encounter.