The much talked-about rumor of Apple giving birth to iPhone, quite honestly, is getting old. For two years already, we have been speculating on Apple's attempt in delving into the mobile industry with the help of Motorola. This spread like wildfire over the internet as it is being fueled by press releases and promotional videos. But most (if not all) apparently, however, are fake.

What resurrects once more this fabled rumor? Well, a domain: iPhone.org. On the surface, this looks owned by Apple alright. And a little trip to InterNIC kinds of solidify our speculations, as it says the above mentioned domain is in fact owned by the fruit company from Cupertino, California.

So, what does this mean? Few more speculations are in order. Some argue that iPhone.org is owned by a different entity looking for a big cash settlement should an Apple mobile phone really surface. Or maybe Apple, in fact, bought a domain for its very own future use.

Or probably, just probably, we are soon in for a really big treat from Apple.

Sure, you all know that the iPod is now on its fifth generation and that the Macs are now getting Intel processors. But just how well do you know the Apple products? Just when you think you know enough to make a smart decision on an Apple purchase, something comes along to let you know that there are more to Apple products than meets the eye.

If you're out to make an Apple purchase, you might want to check out Designed in California beta - an Apple reference that documents 24,298 details of 299 Jobs-era Apple products. As stated in its "About" section brags, this Apple library "aims to be more detailed, more comprehensive and more searchable than existing databases".

As Designed in California is "in no way affiliated with Apple Computer", the team admits that there may be some errors and omissions. But you can still enjoy scanning the database for the following:

• All retail Mac models available in the US featuring G3, G4, G5 and Intel processors. Xserves are included; Server versions of Power Macs are not. Certain build-to-order, education and other special models are also included, but several are not.
• All models of display introduced on or after November 10, 1997. There is some confusion about the availability of Colorsync AV models, so currently they are excluded.
• All retail models of AirPort equipment and iPod.
• The introductory price of almost all models, plus many - but by no means all - price changes.
• Events in Apple's history concerning changes to the above models. Information about other events will be added later.

Designed in California will let you compare the five generations of six iPod models and the different Macs now out in the market. Standard and even disappearing features in Apple computers are also in display. News about Apple products can also be searched in this Apple database.

Check out the Designed in California database here.

We've not heard much about Apple's high-profile legal effort to unmask whoever leaked details of Apple's yet-to-be released music accessory - a FireWire audio interface for GarageBand, codenamed "Asteroid". Well, we'll probably hear the last of it as Apple acknowledged in a court filing that the company will not take its fight to the California Supreme Court.

Back in May, Apple's attempt to subpoena records and emails from Jason O'Grady creator of PowerPage.org, and Kasper Jade, publisher and editor-in-chief of AppleInsider, had been rejected by the state appeals court on grounds that web reports are also protected by the California journalist shield law. The case drew national attention as it was one of the first to "set the rules of how the rights of uncredentialed online journalists should be balanced against the rights of trade secret holders".

Apple's decision not to appeal would serve as a legal precedent that would encourage journalist and leakers in the future. Kurt Opsahl, an attorney defending the Web publishers, said that the "issue is likely to come up in other jurisdictions."

Apple could very well be thinking of a more aggressive internal investigation about the issue. Court documents have shown that 29 employees who had access to the confidential document have already been investigated.

After all, they both went through the same "humble beginnings."

Here's an evangelist who's so hell-bent (pardon the pun) on getting Apple computer founder Steve Jobs to "need" Jesus, and eventually accept him. How fixated is this man? Well, he even distributed this evangelical tract to help Jobs realize he should be humble enough to accept Jesus.

The image you see is the tract that has been circulating all over New York's subway system, which is relatively close to Steve Jobs' home in California. The author of this one is Rich Robinson from Jews for Jesus. And yeah, he's really going all-out to convert the iPod guy to a believer.

Let's see how far Robinson gets.

Apple has been facing so many lawsuits nowadays, which could also attest to its growing popularity and power. There are a few who are legit and business related such as their legal showdown with Creative, but most are just so effing absurd and are obviously done for quick bucks or because they have some idle time in their hands. Examples of which is that man who sued Apple over hearing loss danger or that guy threatening to sue Steve Jobs because of his podRage episode.

I could ramble on and on about the lawsuits being thrown at the $14B company and could ask myself where is the world going to...and just when you think it's over, you realize that it's just the tip of the iceberg.

The newest legal battle in the Apple melodrama may just be legit. The company recently announced that they have been informed of derivative lawsuits filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California and the Superior Court for Santa Clara County. The lawsuits went against current and former officers and directors with respect to the company's awarding of stock option grants.

Just a few days back, Apple announced that it had discovered irregularities in the issuance of certain stock option grants and is conducting an independent investigation into the matter. For now, the company is evaluating its response to the newly filed lawsuits.

After months of legal bickering that made their lawyers very happy and rich, Apple Computer and Singapore-based Creative Technology indicated their willingness to "remain open to the possibility'' of putting court battles over handheld music players patent infringement. The trade commission already agreed to investigate Apple's complaint that Creative infringes its patents and Creative's complaint against Apple, as well.

In case you're keeping score, here are the lawsuits filed by the two companies against each other:

• Apple Computer Inc. v. Creative Labs Inc., 06cv263, U.S. District Court, Western District of Wisconsin (Madison). The trade complaint against Creative is In the Matter of Portable Digital Media Players, 337-TA-576, U.S. International Trade Commission.
• Apple Computer Inc. v Creative Technology Ltd., 06cv114, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas (Lufkin Division).
• Creative Technology Ltd. v. Apple Computer Inc., 06cv3218, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California (San Francisco); and In the matter of Portable Digital Media Players, 337-TA-573, U.S. International Trade Commission.

Apple has sold more than 50.8 million iPods in 2001, while Creative has less than a 10 percent share of the U.S. market for digital music players.

As we've already reported, a total of 5 flaws have been discovered in Mac OS X, however according to the security expert who discovered them, there is a total of 7. A security researcher by the name of Tom Ferris, who works for Mission Viejo, California, discovered a total of 7 'Highly Critical' flaws in Mac OS X, namely in Safari browser. The operating system thought to be one of the best when it comes to security, has been probed and a series of flaws which have multiple effects have been discovered. To prove his discovery, on his site he has posted some proof of concept codes. The flaws at the moment could be used to crash applications and even run unauthorized code by taking advantages of bugs in Safari and the Mac OS X operating system.

Apple Computer Inc. has already been made aware of the bugs and plans to fix them in "the next security release," Ferris said, "There [seem] to be some problems with the claimed solid-as-a-rock Unix OS." Since the label of being more secure than Windows OS's, Mac OS X has been tested, probed, and ripped apart by researchers such as Ferris in order to discover and publicise the weaknesses. In February a series of programs with malicious intent were released in targeting Mac's, one named OSX/Leap. The SANS Instituter's Internet Storm Center rated the revealings as "Highly Critical" and that there were no patches to solve most of them. Apple have not yet commented on the bugs.