Good story here and here on the man who designed the Apple Fifth Avenue store in New York City- the 28th most-photographed building in the world.

According to 9to5Mac, Apple Stores are now selling iPhones at “list” without proof of an AT&T contract. As they theorize, is this a reaction to the news that AT&T would be carrying the Palm Pres and Dell Android products?  In any case, Engadget reports that the unlocked reports are wrong. Heck, all I know for sure is..I don’t own one, and I wish I did.  At least my iPod works after I rebooted it.

Apple has decided to ban any form of protective film accessory from being sold in their online and retail Apple Stores, says iLounge.

Apple Store, Santa Clara.  It was positively packed today- so many people lined up to give El Jobso their money.  It was quite touching. And you’ll notice those chairs in the bottom left of the photo.  Those were the very chairs used by Woz when he allegedly cut to the front of the line when the iPhone 3G went on sale.  I sat in one…didn’t feel any different.  But they did make me want to go out and buy a Prius.

What a crack crock. A broken stair from the Manhattan Apple Store ended up on eBay. The bidding just ended and was fast, furious and phony- 10K for a piece of broken glass? Here’s the whole sordid affair, c/o The Giz.

That was a CNET headline, and I couldn’t top that one, so there you go. (And notice the ‘minister’ wearing a..black turtleneck. Ahem.)

From today’s “Daily Dose of Imagery.” You can sign up to have the daily shot emailed to you- well worth it.  Great photography.

And wouldn’t you know it, the helpful folks at the Apple Store stayed up all night to create an email and then sent it out to remind me. You can order lots of stuff here, like engraved iPods. (Hint to whoever created the email- your hyperlinks embedded in the text go here, which have to do with “Apple Store For Education.”)

Great article here on Gizmodo about some of the things the The Geniuses have to endure behind The Bar. This Genius quote is beyond belief.

I open up the computer and immediately see the entire inside of the computer filled with orange hairballs the size of my fist. Upon seeing this the customer exclaims loudly and happily, “Oh Tiger, you left parts of yourself in there before you died!” I immediately say, “Excuse me,” and run to the back of house and sit stunned in the AppleCare room, begging someone else to take over the case for me.

Oh, there’s more. Here’s a quote from a frigtarded customer.

It’s your responsibility for the damage because you should have known that somebody’s dog would eventually pee in the computer and should have done something to protect it, like make it waterproof.

And of course, the photo below shows an Apple Store employee being punched by some total jerk.  Does this happen at the Microsoft Store? Of course not.  Apple fans are passionate.

The new Apple Store will be located at 340 University Avenue in Palo Alto, just a block away from the present location.  This one’s going to have a transparent glass front, and trees in it which will grow with natural light from vast skylights above.  This report here says that “the plans call for moving a bicycle rack, newspaper rack and trash bin (from the) front of the building to avoid distracting from the visual effect.”  You think?
Here’s the City of Palo Alto Architectural Review Board staff report for 340 University Avenue (PDF.) Meanwhile, let’s check in at the Microsoft Store.  Ah, still dancing and shut up.  (Ack.  Reading too much Mosspuppet.  Sorry.)

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