After months of rumors, Apple debuted the company's newest smartphone in San Francisco Wednesday afternoon. As many expected, the iPhone 5 features a taller screen, improved processor and supports 4G LTE connectivity. It is also purportedly the world's thinnest smartphone and weighs 20 percent lighter than the iPhone 4S.

For Apple, debut weekends of new products are kind of like movie premiere weekends – a strong start sets the tone for future sales. There's a lot of buzz, hype, marketing and media coverage. But Richfield-based Best Buy, which is one of the largest sellers of iPhones, misses out because Apple only debuts its products at its own retail stores, the Star Tribune's Thomas Lee says.

The mayors of Minneapolis and Atlanta have laid down the gauntlet when it comes to the WNBA Finals. Representing the Minnesota Lynx, R.T. Rybak is wagering a year's supply of SweeTango apples. Atlanta mayor Kasim Reed counters with a year's supply of Georgia peaches.

J.W. Hulme, the St. Paul maker of fine leather goods, wanted to make a case for the new iPhone 5, but notoriously secretive Apple doesn't release info before its much-anticipated product unveilings. So staffers scoured the Internet for rumors to create prototypes of a new case by the time Apple actually announced the product on Wednesday, the Pioneer Press reports.

A trio of University of Minnesota students started a side business to tap into peoples' drive to personalize their iPhones. They spent $10,000 of their own money to launch a line of cases for Apple products made out of wood.

Below-freezing temperatures are threatening Minnesota apple crops this week. The Star Tribune reports the owner of Pine Tree Apple Orchard in White Bear Lake is spending more $600 an hour for a helicopter to circulate air through the trees overnight.

Warranty provider SquareTrade company has named North Dakota residents the fourth-clumsiest in the country when it comes to handling Apple iPhones. Forum Communications writes more than 25 percent of North Dakota warranty holders reported damaging their iPhones over two years. Minnesotans were among the least-clumsy iPhone users.

For the past 32 years, University of Minnesota apple breeder David Bedford has been keeping the doctor away ... in a big way. He's tasted 500 to 600 apples a day during the apple harvest, the U's Minnesota Daily reports. The university’s 124-year-old fruit breeding program is one of three left in the country. “I don’t eat many apples,” Bedford said. “I taste many apples.”