Forget for a moment all the talk about Apple’s recent quarter financials disappointing Wall Street analysts — and instead focus on two “nuggets” from Apple’s recently released 88-page Form 10-K, as picked up by ISI’s Brian Marshall.

In a note to clients sent Thursday, Marshall notes that not only is Apple’s $11 billion in projected capital expenditures for fiscal 2014 a double-digit increase for a company already “the single largest CapEx spender” in his “Big 7 Hyperscale group”, but also that Apple generates “off-the-charts” revenue-per-head metric compared to the other IT and networking companies he covers — which includes Google (GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT), Amazon (AMZN), eBay (EBAY), Facebook (FB) and Yahoo (YHOO).

North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un might be an Apple user, but that doesn’t mean that North Korea’s state-run computer agency doesn’t see the value of launching a tablet of its own.

Costing around $250, the Korea Computer Center’s Samjiyon SA-70 has a 7-inch screen with a resolution of 800 x 480 pixels, 1 GHz CPU, 1 GB RAM, 4 GB internal memory, and a card slot equipped with an 8 GB micro SD memory card. There is also a 2 mega pixel camera, microphone, gyro sensor. Currently there’s no way to connect to the Internet, although there is an extendable antenna for receiving state television signals.

Apple had added its name to an open letter from the tech industry — also signed by Google, Microsoft, Facebook, AOL and Yahoo! — demanding “oversight and accountability” of NSA surveillance.

The letter, sent Thursday, was addressed to the sponsors of the USA Freedom Act, a legislation designed to end bulk data collection by the National Security Agency. It claims that the tech industry (including Apple) welcome debate about the best way to further national security, while also protecting individual user privacy interests.

For the first time in the country’s history, Turkey has an Apple online store. Apple’s full lineup of newest products is available except for the iPad Air and Retina mini—both should be available as the international rollout continues in the coming months.

Apple is expected to open its first retail store in Istanbul, Turkey next year. Apple executives recently flew to Turkey to discuss the country’s multi-billion dollar tablet initiative for schools.

Thanks: Sihirli

Keeping tabs on your brood this Halloween? Sure, you could use Apple’s Find My Friends. But it doesn’t have as many cool features as these two new apps, and it also can’t track Android phones — while these two apps can.

Apple was bested by Samsung in the results of J.D. Power’s latest tablet customer satisfaction survey, marking the first time that Apple hasn’t come out ontop in the rankings in over two years.

Samsung was the only tablet manufacturer to improve its score since the last survey was released in April by jumping from a 822 to a score of 835, even though it finished third behind Apple and Amazon in the last survey. Apple ranked second in the latest survey with a score of 833 with strong scores in both performance and ease of use.

In what little advertising attention the iPhone 5s has received from Apple, the device’s new gold color option has been the main focal point. There are both TV and print ads in circulation that tout the gold, and the gold 5s is still the hardest to buy.

While Apple capitalizes on gold fever, the company has required that third-party developers not use the color in any of their marketing materials.

I like some notifications. I try to keep it down to a dull roar, of course, but I enjoy knowing when I get a phone call, text message, and email from specific clients or friends.

It’s just that when I see all these notifications in my lockscreen, I mentally dismiss them, only to have them appear again the next time I check my iPhone for the time.

I messed around with it a bit yesterday, and came up with this solution, thanks to iOS 7.

So Apple won’t let you pre-order the iPad Air and the very thought of waiting in front of an Apple Store for eight hours send spasms of dread from your eye sockets all the way down to nether regions you don’t even want to think about. Standing in a line, any line, for hours, sucks.

Yes, it’s a huge time investment, and no one really wants to sit outside an Apple Store for a couple of hours before the break of dawn, but we’re here to help you come prepared and make the most of your iPad Air launch line waiting experience. In fact, this could even be a lot of fun. Just follow this guide and you’ll be in and out of the store and cradling your skinny new iPad Air.

Worldwide smartphones shipments reached a whopping 251.4 million units during the third quarter of 2013, up 45% from the 172.8 million units sold during the same quarter last year, and 81.3% of them were running Android. The iPhone’s share fell to 13.4%, while Microsoft’s Windows Phone platform reached 4.1% — an improvement over last year’s 2.1% share.

iPad Day is  less that 12 hours away if you live on the East Coast – or already here if you live in Japan. Either way, Apple fans across the globe are already lining up in front of the nearest Apple Store, waiting anxiously to fork over their cash for the new iPad Air.

We don’t expect to see quite as long lines as at the iPhone 5s and 5c launch last month, but early indications show that Apple’s new lightweight tablet will be in high demand over the weekend. One reader in Hong Kong told us their reservation system filled up in 15 minutes.

If you’re planning to brave the night in front of the Apple Store, tweet us a pic @CultofMac. If not, check out all these people crazy enough waiting for their iPad Airs.

Who doesn’t love bugs? Kids of all ages love them, of course, and in new educational app, Grandma Loves Bugs, they’ll get a chance to explore the wonderful world of the many legged creatures with ten super fun mini games and eight instructional bug videos for young kids.

The mini games include Spot the Difference, Magic Coloring, Letter Match, bug Spelling, Counting Fireflies, and more. The live action nature videos are fully narrated and teach kids all about the wonderful world of bugs, too. The artwork and pedagogy are spot-on, as well, so parents can feel comfortable releasing their tiny bundles of joy onto their iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch.

Check out this adorable video to see what we mean:

Boo Halloween — Entertainment — Free

Alright, so today’s app isn’t the most practical one you’ve ever seen. It’s not even the most clever. But it’s fun and easy to use, and it’s Halloween, damn it. Boo Halloween is a quickie photo app that lets you put a variety of spooky faces on pictures of you and your friends using reasonably accurate facial recognition. It comes with six masks — four of which are pumpkins — and you can buy nine more for a dollar if you think your buddy would look better as Batman, a zombie, or Billy, the puppet from Saw. Not much to it, but it’s silly, and it made me chuckle.

Boo Halloween

While malware isn’t as widespread or as common on Macs as it is on PCs, you’re kidding yourself if you still believe OS X is immune to it. It’s a very real threat, and if you’re not careful about what you download and install, you could end up with a serious problem. But there are ways in which you can avoid it.

There are anti-malware programs that will detect threats, of course, and OS X now has some nifty tools built-in that prevent software from running on your machine if it’s not from a trusted source. And if you’re a Google Chrome user, you’ll soon find that malicious downloads are blocked automatically.

Yesterday, I reviewed the first part of The Hunting, an interactive zombie film for iOS devices. I had some issues with its actual interactivity, which mostly amounted to swiping to put on pants and a meaningless choice between leaving a house through a window or a door.

Part 2 is out now, and unlike the first installment, it costs money. But it’s longer, has more interesting decision points, and is scary as hell.

So basically, remember the problems I had with the first one? Forget them.

The FAA has today announced that it will finally allow the use of certain electronic devices during all phases of flight — including takeoff and landing. We’ve long been able to use devices while the plane is in the air, but you’ll no longer be forced to turn them off and put them away at certain times.

We know clothing isn’t our niche but geeks still need to look good…right?

If your goal is to become the biggest rock star the galaxy has ever seen, then pay homage to the original guitar “Solo”-ist with this galactic t-shirt courtesy of Cult of Mac Deals at a price that also rocks: $15.99.

Following on from the news that Samsung shipped 2.6x the number of smartphones that Apple did last quarter, new figures released by research firm IDC show that Samsung tablet shipments grew by 123% to 9.7 million tablets over the same period. While Apple still leads the way with 29.6% of the tablet market, this is down considerably from the 40.2% share the company captured during this same quarter last year. Samsung meanwhile holds a company record 20.4% of the market, while Asus holds 7.4% (representing a 53% year on year increase). The two biggest growth companies for tablets are Acer and Lenovo — with their shipments increasing 346% and 420% respectively to represent 0.9% and 1.1% of the overall market.

If you’re trying to download the free OS X Mavericks upgrade via the Mac App Store and it’s getting stuck, you’re not alone. As you can see int he image above, some folks are seeing a paused download when trying to upgrade to Apple’s latest and greatest Mac operating system.

Roberto Baldwin over at the Wired GadgetLab has a fairly easy solution, and I figured I’d share it with you.

Unofficial iDevice chargers have taken the form of everything from the hand crank to to the camp stove, and now it seems that Apple is getting in on the act too by taking out a patent for portable solar panel chargers. The patent application — filed with the US Patents & Trademark Office — details a power management system incorporating a solar panel accessory, compatible with both Macs and iDevices, and potentially attached by way of a USB connection. By turning solar energy into electricity, this could then be used to charge future iPhones or MacBooks without the need for a mains power charger.

What are the most popular colors of the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c? According to new data, it’s the space gray iPhone 5s and blue iPhone 5c. But availability may have more to do with that than anything else, at least for the iPhone 5s.

If you love Epic’s trilogy-concluding game of immortal swordsmanship, Infinity Blade III, things are getting better. As is their wont, Epic has opted to release a massive 1.1 Infinity Blade III update that adds a huge number of improvements, as well as new content including a new location and an enemy, the fearful Deathless Bloodmage.

The iPad Air is the first 9.7-inch Retina iPad to ship without an A-X series chip. Put more simply, it’s the first such iPad to forego bolting more graphic cores onto the core chip to drive the massive 2048 x 1536 display.

But if you think that means the iPad Air will have weaker graphic performance than the fourth-gen iPad, you don’t know Apple very well. In fact, graphic performance is as much as 70% better than the last 9.7-inch iPad.

When is the iPad mini with Retina Display coming out? Apple would only commit to November, but Cupertino’s third-party retail partners might have more information. In fact, they seem to think that the Retina mini will debut on November 21st.

Cloud computing giant Marc Benioff has praised hailed Angela Ahrendts, Apple’s new head of retail and online sales, as the “future Apple CEO.” Referring to her in a Tuesday tweet as “the most important hire Tim Cook has ever made”, Benioff’s toasting of Ahrendts has left analysts asking whether it is simply a show of support for Burberry’s outgoing CEO — or evidence that Benioff knows more than he is letting on, following disappointing fourth quarter numbers for Apple.