The ongoing Apple - Think Secret legal wrangle is over, with the end result bringing about the demise of the notorious and sometimes uncannily accurate Think Secret rumor site perenially engaged in a running gun battle with the secretive Apple.

This agreement ends a two-year legal action by Apple to try to flush out Think Secret’s source of a leaked story about a Firewire-based input device for musical instruments that was never actually made. The confidential settlement resulted in Apple dropping the lawsuit and not pursuing the identity of the source, in exchange for the shutting down of the site.

Nick Ciarelli, publisher of Think Secret, said of the decision

I’m pleased to have reached this amicable settlement, and will now be able to move forward with my college studies and broader journalistic pursuits.”

Ciarelli also told Engadget

I’ll just say that I’m very satisfied with the settlement, and that I’d like to thank the Electronic Frontier Foundation and my attorney, Terry Gross of Gross & Belsky, for their support.”

That’s how the beachball bounces.

Apple’s just reversed themselves and have increased the number of iPhones an individual can buy, from their previously mandated two units, to five iPhones in the US and the UK, according to Macsimum News.

Nice. Which means the third-party unlocked resellers are getting a break and can get more stock now. Which begs the question, why give them bad boys the opportunity to restock, and then clamp down on them at the same time (see previous MAD post)?

Go figure.

Ooh. Apple seems to have finally gotten off its butt and is starting to throw its weight around.

Wireless distributors in Singapore who are selling unlocked iPhones have been told to stop under threat of legal action, and Sim Lim Square shops have started pulling the units off their shelves. Reuters reports that Apple is intending to charge these distributors a penalty of US$700 per unit sold “illegally.”

Danish wireless distributor Telekæden, which is selling unlocked iPhones for US$1200 online, was also threatened by Apple to cease and desist. Canadian website iPhonenow.ca is running ads to sell iPhones online during the holiday season, and is expected to be targeted by Apple any time now.

At the moment, the only entity allowed to sell unlocked iPhones is France Telecom’s Orange, which is doing so legally at about US$1100 per unit. Everyone else watch out.

This news bodes ill for itinerant iPhone enterpreneurs worldwide making a killing selling them openly, now that Apple seems bristling for a fight. Things have gotten interesting again all of a sudden.

Just a heads-up.

This post may not be too much use to our overseas readers, but here in the Philippines, Mac users here who have Metrobank accounts who have been chomping at the bit to do online banking will find this good news.

The Metrobank system has been uncooperative with Macs ever since, forcing Mac users to turn to the dark side for their online banking needs. Well, as of yesterday, all seems to be fine with Macs and MetrobankDirect. I have it on good authority that the bank has been working hard all this time and they’ve finally licked it.

For Metrobank money matters via Macs go here.

Knew it would be soon, but am still caught by surprise.

Apple’s released iTunes 7.5 and Quicktime 7.3, which are mainly for minor fixes, and addresses security issues, as well as introduces better iPhone support, and is good for Mac and Windows. (Although only the specific Tiger version of the new Quicktime has been available so far, according to some reports.)

The new iTunes has a new game for specific iPod models. Version 7.5

features the ability to activate iPhone wherever service is offered and support for Phase, a new interactive music game designed exclusively for iPod nano (third generation), iPod classic, and iPod (fifth generation). This release also includes bug fixes to improve stability and performance.”

Get iTunes here and Quicktime here, or alternately, just use Software Update. On Windows, just manually update the apps.

(No word yet if the new iTunes will mess up jailbroken and unlocked iPhones - anyone who tries, please chime in so we all know?)