Perhaps you cool kids have noticed that ABC’s World News anchor Diane Sawyer now keeps her iPad on the anchor desk during the evening news. And maybe you saw her using her iPad during that news bonanza interview she did with Janet Napolitano (“24/7, 364″) and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper (Um, London, you say?)

Are you a busy, on-the-go professional who wishes there was a way to access top-secret government documents and diplomatic cables from your smartphone? As of last Friday, there was an app for that. But last night, Apple decided to pull the WikiLeaks App from its AppStore, joining Amazon, MasterCard, Visa, and PayPal as companies that have distanced themselves from the Julian Assange-led organization.

For so many Americans, the holiday season is the time of year to sit by the Firefox browser and shop for iPods for the family (or, for the nephews and nieces you don’t love as much, an iTunes gift card). But those who are especially Apple-savvy have a different product on their wishlists: the Steve Jobs action figure, complete with a customizable speech bubble, an iPhone 4 and a really big head.

Well now, here is a sensational and surely reputable news report: According to Japan’s SPA! magazine, Steve Jobs was stopped by Japanese airport security for attempting to bring shuriken, or ninja throwing stars, onboard his private plane in July. Jobs was reportedly so upset by this routine stop that he vowed never to return to Japan again.

Who: Emma Thompson, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Susanna White, interviewed by Donna Freydkin What: “Meet the Filmmakers“ for “Nanny McPhee Returns” Where: Apple SoHo When: August 16, 2010 Thumbs: At our sides The three women being interviewed – Emma Thompson, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Susanna White – suggested that “Nanny McPhee Returns” (the sequel to the 2005 [...]

News Corp CEO Rupert Murdoch stopped by the Fox Business Network today for an extensive interview on business, Wall Street, and the future of media, with Brian Sullivan, and he had effusive praise for Apple CEO Steve Jobs. Calling the iPad a “really beautiful device” and predicting that Apple will sell “at least 10 million” iPads within the year, Murdoch hinted that he would like to see the News Corp-owned Wall Street Journal make its way to the improve it’s iPad app and supported Jobs’ statement yesterday that he backs the established media.

He is the head of a computer company that’s in conflict with Google and Adobe, has come out against porn, and now expressed fears that America will become a “nation of bloggers” at an All Things Digital conference yesterday. Does Apple CEO Steve Jobs understand the Internet?

Bill Maher‘s public disillusion with President Barack Obama continued on last night’s Real Time, where Maher expressed confusion at the fact that the President was now denouncing technology, a reference to his commencement speech last week asking graduates to give up the “iPads” and “XBoxes.” “What’s with the fuddy-duddy act?” asked Maher, concluding that his newfound confusion was an appeal to the fact that “America conflates out of touch with adorable.”

This should be fun. In a commencement address at Virginia’s Hampton University yesterday, President Obama fed meme-hungry media types the kind of quote they can really sink their teeth several millimeters into. The NY Post already has the President “declaring war on technology,” and Fox News says he “Warns Grads of iPad Peril.” The combination of über-pop-buzzword “iPad” and lightning-rod POTUS is almost irresistible, with even the Huffington Post missing the point of what Obama was really saying.

Brian J. Hogan, welcome to the national spotlight! Wired magazine’s blog “Threat Level” has now identified the individual who found/stole the next generation iPhone and sold it to Gizmodo, sparking a rather large dust-up between Gawker Media and Apple.

The spat between Gizmodo and Apple over Gizmodo’s mysterious acquisition of an iPhone 4G months before its release has proven to be an endlessly engrossing spectacle for the techies out there. Well, last night, Gizmodo got a very high-profile and consumer friendly supporter: Jon Stewart

Wow. If we are to believe this story to be true (and, honestly, why wouldn’t we?) a prototype for the new Apple iPhone was found lost in a bar in Redwood City. Engadget had the first pictures this weekend, but now Gizmodo has a lovely video walk-through that will get any iPhone user excited about an upgrade. One can only wonder, hope pray that somehow the new iPhone will also come with less dropped calls?

No doubt, plenty of people are spending this Easter weekend acquainting themselves with the joys of life with the iPad. Sooner or later, however, a little tech frustration will no doubt fall. It apparently happened sooner to this guy (actually, teenager…I know, shocking), who lived out every computer owner’s fantasy (okay, maybe just mine) and actually took a baseball bat to his iPad.

On Wednesday night, the ABC breakout hit Modern Family featured a storyline where geeky dad Phil Dunphy wants nothing more for his birthday than an Apple iPad. The entire episode featured the rest of the family trying to get it for him, with scenes set in Apple Store lines and numerous characters waxing rhapsodic about the new product. Fans were furious at the shameless product placement. All the angry viewers, however, will be shocked to read this LA Times article, and learn that there was not product placement. The storyline was completely created by the writers of the show and Apple paid them nothing.

Alas, Glenn Beck is on vacation this week or he could jump all over this “evidence” that Apple is run by evil, Mao loving, progressives. The company’s approval a Che Guevara app to the iPhone is all of the sudden making media waves. Especially since there’s no Glenn Beck app. Conspiracy?

Craig Ferguson of CBS’ Late Late Show isn’t shy about experimenting with the late-night format, but the show he did last night was a radical departure even for him. Inspired by Tom Snyder, the first Late Late Show host, Ferguson did a show with no audience, instead talking to Stephen Fry, a terrific guest, for the full hour – and in the process cemented his status as one of TV’s most versatile talents.

Leave it to Malcolm Gladwell to come up with a reason why journalism – particularly magazine writing – will survive. Gladwell believes that even if a tiny percentage of people in the world value and subscribe to publications like the New Yorker then that actually translates into a large enough number to sustain the industry. But Gladwell also warned in his chat with his friend, colleague, and debating partner Adam Gopnik that it’s not often that his theories get substantiated by subsequent events.

I saw the Sport Illustrated demo video long before the iPad was released. It was everything the iPad should have been on Day One. A mind-blowing demonstration of what the future of the magazine could be. The problem is, the iPad cannot do what the demo shows and it should have. Flash is the only current technology that would make that possible.

As dialogue continues to swirl about the iTampon’s big iLetdown, David Carr’s recent article in the New York Times touches on a point that has often gone unsaid: this is a media consumption device, not a gadget, and its larger size is precisely what makes it special.

Sometime Friday, Amazon stopped directly selling all books put out by the publisher Macmillan, due to a disagreement over future pricing of e-books. Let’s be clear, it’s not just that Amazon wasn’t selling Macmillan books on the Kindle. Amazon was no longer directly selling any books from this publisher, though one can still buy them new and used on the website through third-party vendors. This is a dispute with massive consequences for publishers — and it’s not great for Amazon, either. So why did both companies find themselves in this mutually destructive game of chicken?

Since introducing its iPad e-reader on Wednesday, Apple has been absorbing heavy criticism for muffing the naming of the new product. You don’t have to be a Mensa member to have seen that this was just a bad idea, period. Even more damning, though, is that Mad TV actually ran a parody of the iPod called the “iPad”… in 2007! Zennie Abraham mentioned the sketch in his column, and AdFreak dug it up.

Yesterday, the Wall Street Journal reported that HarperCollins is in talks with Apple to bring e-books to its much-hyped Tablet, set to be revealed (fingers crossed) on January 27th. But even more interesting? The ebooks “would have added features.” This implies video. And color. And pictures. And social media. In books!

A big day for Brooklyn’s own Boxee: in addition to revealing more details about the previously announced Boxee Box, the company’s existing software transitioned into a public beta. Therefore, we should probably answer this question: the f*ck is Boxee?

The “Hulu for magazines” joint venture spearheaded by John Squires officially has a name: Next Issue Media. According to Folio, the partnership has some real heavyweights behind it: Time Inc., Meredith, Hearst, Condé Nast and News Corporation. All of which represent some serious old media muscle, but will they be able to compete in the digital marketplace?

That was quick: in mid-September, Twitter founder Jack Dorsey told the St. Louis Riverfront Times that he was launching a new startup. Flash forward to two-and-a-half months later: Square, a service that allows users to make credit card payments using their iPhones, was rolled out today. And its creators plan to develop it for more phones in the future.