Weekly News Roundup – 30 November 2012

Once again the week is coming to an end and that means it’s time for a roundup of the past weeks news!

One Easter Egg To Rule Them All: Apple Hides Lord Of The Rings Timeline In OS X – Typing a simple comment into Terminal reveals a Lord of the Rings timeline that Apple has hidden in OS X. Here’s how to access it.

Apple’s New 21.5-Inch iMac Is Now Available To Order With Shipping In 1-3 Days – Apple promised us its new 21.5-inch iMac would go on sale in November, and it has just about met that deadline. You can now order the Cupertino company’s sexy new all-in-one via its online store, with shipping in 1-3 business days.

Redeem iTunes gift cards with iTunes 11 and your Mac’s camera – One of the coolest iTunes 11 features has got to be the new redemption system. It allows you to scan gift codes using your Mac’s camera system. As the screen shot above shows, all you have to do is hold up your iTunes barcode and let your camera do the work.

Griffin Launching Official Lightning Connector Cables Next Week – Griffin today announced the upcoming release of Apple-certified Lightning charge and sync cables for the iPhone 5, 5th generation iPod touch, fourth generation iPad and iPad mini.

Apple Veteran Exec Bob Mansfield Cashes $20 Million In Stock – Longtime Apple executive Bob Mansfield just had a big pay day, according to a new filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Mansfield just cashed in 35,000 shares of Apple stock valued at $582.21 per share, earning him $20.37 million.

New iMac Unboxing Video and Teardown Photos – The new iMac is going on sale around the world on Friday, November 30th. In Australia,Ben Pasternak was able to walk into his local Apple Store and buy one and has posted the first unboxing video of the new machine.

Apple Now Officially Selling iPhone 5 Unlocked In The U.S. – The iPhone 5 is now available for purchase unlocked at an unsubsidized price on Apple’s U.S. online store. Customers should also be able to pick up an unlocked iPhone 5 in U.S. Apple Retail stores as well. Pricing starts at $649 for the 16GB model.

Apple Expands Again With New Construction In Santa Clara, CA – Is Apple running out of room in Cupertino proper? Perhaps, as new details have emerged that show Apple planning to occupy a new site that could contain 1,200 workers or more in Santa Clara, CA.

Microsoft Details Surface Pro Pricing Amidst Reports of Poor Sales of RT Version – Microsoft announced pricing information on its Surface Pro tablet this morning. The tablet will cost $899 for the 64GB version and $999 for the 128GB version.

Apple and Starbucks Partner for (Product) Red Gift Cards – Just in time for the holidays, Apple and Starbucks have partnered up for a (Product) Red gift card combo. When you buy the $15 iTunes + $15 Starbucks gift card both companies together will contribute 5% to the Global Fund to help fund AIDS research.

Apple Updates Apple TV With iTunes 11 Support And Bug Fixes – Apple unleashed a slew of software updates this afternoon, including an iOS update for the second and third-gen Apple TV. Today’s  5.1.1 update brings full support for iTunes 11 and a number of stability improvements.

Apple Updates iOS Remote App To Version 3.0 – Alongside the release of iTunes 11, Apple has also updated the iOS Remote app that can be use on an iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad to control iTunes.