Decorations, greeting cards, gift lists…there’s no need all of this has to be confined to the physical world when the digital can be more handy, just as fun, and quite a bit cheaper. Many developers release special Christmas versions of their popular programs, and there are many holiday specific releases, as well. Head inside to see how you can keep your holidays organized and festive.

Apple issued a statement today that more than 100 million app downloads were generated from the Mac App Store since its debut on January 6th, 2011. Mac owners can easily access the Mac App Store via OS X Snow Leopard and OS X Lion, and all that’s required is an iTunes account in order to download or purchase software. Apple’s promise was mainly to make it an easier way to browse, install and maintain apps for OS X, and that seems to have been a success.

Black Friday is over, and if you did things properly, you stayed at home played Mac games instead of shopping. If so, congratulate yourself with some more discounted Mac games! There are plenty more deals to take advantage of, with products ranging from USB drives to web development software to MacBooks and iMacs. Head inside for our roundup of OS X Cyber Monday deals, and check back often for updates.

We’ve seen a few leaks this week on Apple’s annual one-day-only Black Friday sales event. The savings on Apple products were accurately slight, but as in years past, Apple is offering significant savings on compatible third-party products. Save over $100 on Bowers & Wilkins speaker docks and various laptop bags, and you can get fun accessories like the Parrot AR.Drone for under $250.00.

Bento is a must-have app for those looking to manage nearly every aspect of their life in one program. The ability to sync with the iPhone and iPad (apps sold separately) is key, but the growing list of features certainly helps. There may not be enough here in v4 if you’re happy with v3 and don’t need to print labels, but those who aren’t on board at all really should take advantage of the 30-day free trial now.

Effective July 20th, Apple Computer has made some of its software available only through the online Apple Store. In addition, Apple has stopped preinstalled, configured-to-order software from both the Apple Store for Retailers and the online Apple Store. If you want to buy Mac OS X Snow Leopard, Mac OS X Snow Leopard Server, iLife, iWork, Aperture, and Apple Remote Desktop you have to buy them through the online Apple Store.

Apple has just updated Aperture, its own professional photo editing and management software, with some bug fixes and a few new features, including the ability to upload photos, go full screen in OS X Lion with the native full screen button, toggle gestures, and load slideshows in the background. Improved stability and a few enhancements make this quite a worthy update for Apple’s highly-praised professional photo editing app.

Apple has just updated all five of its iLife apps for OS X, mostly with minor bug fixes and changes. Those who have purchased the apps via the Mac App Store can head over there to update, and those who have purchased physical copies can update through Software Update or from Apple’s support web page. Following are the changelogs for GarageBand 6.0.4, iMovie 9.0.4, iPhoto 9.1.5, iWeb 3.0.4, and iDVD 7.1.2 for OS X…

Popular OS X app 1Password has received an update to version 3.6, mostly adding support for OS X Lion and dropping support for OS X Leopard and PowerPC Macs. The main reason for the drop in support for the older OS and PowerPC Macs is that the number of their users running 1Password has dropped dramatically (less than 6% of 1Password users are using Leopard), making it quite pointless for the developers to keep them supported. Also, some new features that developer AgileBits wished to include such as Grand Central Dispatch, which was introduced with Snow Leopard, weren’t possible if they chose to keep supporting Leopard.

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