If the Mac App Store is open and there are updates available, you’ll notice a red badge appear on the icon in the Mac OS X Dock. You can then right-click on the Dock icon and scroll up to “Available Updates” to quickly check what apps need updating.

Selecting one of these apps through the Dock icon then pulls up the apps page on the App Store, although it would probably make more sense to have this launch the update for that app instead.

If you’re new to all of this, you can learn how to update apps through the Mac App Store, it’s extremely easy.

Is this what a liquid metal MacBook Pro might look like? This mockup is based on the recent MacBook Pro-ish Intel ad that sparked a wave of speculation that Intel may have accidentally leaked the nextgen MacBook Pro redesign.

The mockup compared to the current MacBook Pro shows that it would be quite a bit slimmer:
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Has the CDMA iPhone 4 been unlocked? The Wall Street Journal is reporting that employees of China Telecom have “cracked” the Verizon iPhone 4 to work on the China Telecom CDMA network. The article seems a little confused as to the differences between a jailbreak or unlock, but here’s the important line:

A post signed the “Apple Lab Team” on the Sina Weibo account identified as belonging to the Guangdong branch of China Telecom said Tuesday the “CDMA iPhone 4 has made its first call in China” without a hitch.

The only way for a CDMA iPhone 4 to make a call on another network would be if the device had been unlocked, freeing the iPhone from its carrier shackles. WSJ then references a picture of the CDMA iPhone 4 with a Cydia app on the homescreen, but that’s not much evidence considering the Verizon iPhone can be jailbroken using either GreenPois0n RC or PwnageTool 4.2.

Those familiar with developing iPhone unlocks have long stated that the CDMA iPhone presents a unique challenge because moving a CDMA device to another network typically requires that new networks assistance in order to activate the phone. This simple fact is also what makes this news from China Telecom most compelling, as it suggests the unlock is being developed directly by the carrier themselves, which would ensure carrier compatibility from the get-go. If China Telecom manages to pull this off, it could represent a blueprint for other CDMA carriers to follow that would allow them to unofficially offer the iPhone 4 on their networks too.

An unlocked CDMA iPhone 4 would undoubtedly be popular both in the USA and abroad, we’ll keep you posted to any news.

You’ve probably noticed we’re fans of some retro tech stuff around here, whether it’s flip clock screensavers, retro Cathode terminals, or the ridiculous 80′s block iPhone case, there’s just something fun about bringing back the old to interact with the new.

Apparently popular iOS Developer Neven Morgan of The Incident fame agrees. So enthralled with the world of 8-bit, he has decided to make a hack that renders Safari in 8-bit.

Dubbed Pixelfari (you can download it for free), the app turns the web into a hyper-pixelated beast right out of a Nintendor emulator.
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If you’ve been itching to get a solid state drive for your MacBook Pro, here’s a couple good deals from Buy.com on two such drives. The first is a Kingston 128GB SSD for $125, and the other is an OCZ 80GB SSD for $130, both are 2.5″ so they’ll fit into any MacBook or MacBook Pro.

• Kingston 128GB SSDNow V Series SATA II SSD for $124.95 – includes free shipping from Buy.com – (Mail-in rebate PDF)

• OCZ Technology Vertex 2 80GB 2.5 in. SATA II SSD for $129.95 – includes free shipping from Buy.com – (Mail-in rebate PDF)

Both of these drives come highly rated, so other than the price and storage capacity you’re probably wondering what the difference is between the two. From what I’ve read, the OCZ Vertex drive comes in a bit faster than the Kingston drive.

The deals are valid through 02-20-2011, remember that to get the final price you’ll need to send in the simple mail-in rebate form.

Could this be the new MacBook Pro? This mysterious Mac-like thin and dark laptop appeared in a recent Intel ad for their new processors. Fueling the speculative fire is that Intel has previously leaked MacBook Pro releases through their advertising efforts. That’s not all though, there’s a few other hints in the advertisement that suggest we just might be looking at a redesigned MacBook Pro, so let’s review them:
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We showed you that AT&T’s iPhone data transfer speeds are faster than Verizons network in a speed test by a significant margin, but if you aren’t a heavy 3G data user do you care about those benchmarks? What if you’re always on WiFi anyway and you’re more concerned about standard call features like holding and conference calling?
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MenuWeather Lite is a great little free app that shows your current locations weather in the Mac OS X menu bar. As you can see in the screenshot, the menu bar item is just a discrete little icon representing conditions along with the current temperature.

That’s pretty neat in and of itself, but if you click on the MenuWeather icon, you’ll get an expanded version of the current weather conditions as well as a forecast for the week ahead, shown below:
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Popular jailbreak and unlock utility PwnageTool 4.2 has been released and includes the untethered iOS 4.2.1 jailbreak in addition to resolving the iBooks DRM problem and some WiFi connectivity issues with the Apple TV 2.

PwnageTool 4.2 supports jailbreaking nearly all iOS devices including iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, Verizon iPhone 4, iPod touch 3g, iPod touch 4G, iPad, and Apple TV 2. The only device that PwnageTool will not work on is the iPod touch 2G.

PwnageTool 4.2 is particularly important to those who rely on an iPhone unlock, since PwnageTool allows users to preserve existing unlocked baseband while allowing users to upgrade their device to iOS 4.2.1.

Download PwnageTool 4.2 Untethered for iOS 4.2.1

Currently for Mac OS X only:

• Download Torrent (Mac)
• Download Now (Mirror 2)

We will update download link as they become available.

Hot off the heals of iPhone Mini and MacBook Air 3G rumors, there’s even more iPhone 5 rumors circulating. The latest is a claim that, like the supposed iPhone Mini, the iPhone 5 will include an edge-to-edge 4″ screen. With so many rumors flying around it can be hard to keep track of them all, so here’s a quick list.
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