…aaaanhhddd on Mac-A-Doodle we start a new year of Macfanboyism by paying tribute to the Man.

Steve Jobs has been named Face of Business 2007 by CNBC in a poll conducted Christmas week. CNBC Vice President for Business News Jonathan Wald said

This was a year of great business triumphs and headlines, and all of those nominated had significant impact on the world of business and, therefore, were worthy of consideration, but Steve Jobs is driving Apple to new heights, including a record stock price.”

Among the closest runners-up in a large, illustrious selection were CitiGroup CEO Chuck Prince (6.9%), the “Google Guys” (3%) and Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg (1%).

Steve-O got 78% of the votes.

The Financial Times reports that a deal has been struck between Apple and 20th Century Fox that will let iTunes users rent the latest Fox DVD releases for a limited time, ready for viewing on an iPod or iPhone, or their computers, and likely on Apple TV.

This marks the first time FairPlay, which is Apple’s version of Digital Rights Management currently used on iTunes-bought tracks, to be used on non-Apple products. Apple is also currently in talks with Sony, Paramount and Warner Bros for a similar deal.

The agreement between Apple and 20th Century Fox is expected to be announced at Macworld on January 14, but it isn’t yet known if the deals with Sony, Paramount and Warner will be closed in time to be announced on the same date.

The US Army is the latest recruit in Apple’s creeping invasion of territories that used to be exclusive to other platforms.

The American military is integrating Macintoshes into their computer systems to make their setup harder to hack, according to a report from Forbes.com. Lt. Col. C.J. Wallington, a division chief in the Army’s office of enterprise information systems, says that since Macs haven’t been a common target of attacks, fewer hacks have been designed for them and adding Macs to the mix will make the Army’s systems less prone to destabilization with a single attack.

Apple hardware has already been working out well for the military. Wallington says that X Serve servers from Apple, which have become commonplace equipment in the Army’s systems, have proven themselves in use. Of the X Serves, Wallington says

Those are some of the most attacked computers there are. But the attacks used against them are designed for Windows-based machines, so they shrug them off.”

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.

NSW police arrest armed bank robbers Friday at The Bank of Queensland in Rhodes, NSW, Australia.

[Via ABC]