Techmate: HP thin laptops, legal gambling, and Android [video]

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Video: The last time Steve Jobs came back to Apple

To celebrate Steve Jobs' official return to Apple (AAPL) this week, Kobi Shely has posted a YouTube clip from MacHEADS, his 54-minute "fanboy documentary" on the cult surrounding the company and its charismatic CEO.

Shely wrote, directed, co-produced and edited the film. The 2-minute 22-second segment he selected is centered around the return of Jobs to Apple in Dec. 1996 after he was ousted in a boardroom coup nearly a dozen MORE

Nielsen: Apple is tops for hardware buzz

Here's an interesting measure of how effectively Apple (AAPL) can whip the tech world into a frenzy -- even without Steve Jobs there to stir things up.

According to a report issued Monday by Nielsen Online, "anticipatory buzz" in May drew more than 55.7 million unique visitors to Apple's website -- more than double that of Hewlett Packard (HPQ) and 25 times the site for Microsoft's (MSFT) Xbox.

The buzz got even MORE

Apple: 'Steve Jobs is back to work'

Technology's most closely watched chief executive is officially back on the job, according to an Apple (AAPL) spokesman.

"Steve Jobs is back to work," chief spokesperson Steve Dowling told CNN.com. "He is at Apple a few days a week and working from home the other days. We're glad to have him back."

Jobs, who is recovering from two major surgeries -- one to remove a tumor from his pancreas nearly five years MORE

MacBook back on top at Amazon

In a sign that should bode well for Apple's (AAPL) earnings in its third fiscal quarter -- which ended Saturday -- the MacBook has clawed its way back to the top of Amazon's (AMZN) bestseller lists.

The Mac, which once led the pack in the online retailer's Computers & PC Hardware Bestsellers category despite its $1,000 to $2,000 sticker prices, had fallen behind the blistering sales pace set by netbooks like MORE

Apple runs short of iPhones

The iPhone availability widget is back -- new and improved -- and it's showing spot shortages of selected iPhones at Apple (AAPL) stores across the United States.

The availability tool, which appears on Apple's website in times of scarcity, was last seen in the summer of 2008, when demand for the iPhone 3G was heavy and supplies short.

When it reappeared on Friday, only 29 of Apple's 257 stores were displaying shortages of MORE

Michael Jackson, Steve Jobs and Apple's share price

As I see it, Apple's crack public relations team stage-managed the news last week of Steve Jobs' liver transplant pretty well on its own, somehow making it appear in the Wall Street Journal after the markets had closed for the weekend and in the middle of what was probably the company's biggest product release of the year.

By the time Monday rolled around and traders could react to the fact that what Jobs MORE

The rise and fall of the iPhone peep show

"Sex is everywhere these days," we wrote in an article that nearly ended our career 14 years ago. "There's something about the combination of sex and computers, however, that seems to make otherwise worldly-wise adults a little crazy."

How else to explain the fuss that got made this week over an application called Hottest Girls that enjoyed a brief moment of notoriety -- and an even briefer run as one of MORE

iPhone share of U.S. smartphone traffic hits 69%

See the blue slice in the pie chart at right? It represents the iPhone's share of U.S. smartphone traffic on the network maintained by AdMob, one of the companies that run those little ads that appear on the screen of your mobile phone.

We've been watching that slice grow over the past few months. In February it covered 51% of the pie. By April it had grown to 59%. And by MORE

Analyst: Palm has sold 150,000 Pres

With Palm's (PALM) quarterly earnings due Thursday -- along with Jon Rubinstein's debut performance as CEO -- analysts have started to place their bets on what the quarter will show.

First out of the box -- or at least, first in our inbox -- is RBC Capital's Mike Abramsky, who expects investors to look past soft fourth-quarter results and focus on the potential for growth in the next fiscal year.

Specifically, his MORE