Today, one of our favorite companies (Apple, if you couldn’t guess) sent out invites to an event next week on January 27th at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco. In the invitation, the company cryptically says, “Come see our latest creation.” Cool. We hope its the long-rumored tablet, but you never know. Based on the look of the invite it might just be a great new paint application.

It’s going to be a crazy day since so much anticipation and hype has been building for an Apple tablet and the room will probably explode if Apple doesn’t announce one. Still, with all the things going on in the world, it’s nice to see a company that’s able to suprise people now and then.

Although the company’s near-obsession with security may annoy some, it’s sometimes okay not to know everything that’s going on all the time. Surprises are actually nice sometimes.

The event starts at 10 AM Pacific so be sure to check in right here at The Flickcast for all the scoop.

As we’ve debated on The Flickcast, digital distribution of comics and other content is here to stay and is the way things will be done in the future. To illustrate this point, comic book publisher Top Cow Productions has announced they are partnering with several companies to offer their comics and other content on mobile, portable and desktop readers.

Want to know more? For that, let’s check out the official press release from Top Cow.

TOP COW COMICS ANNOUNCES DIGITAL DISTRIBUTION PLANS

LOS ANGELES, Calif., December 9, 2009 – Top Cow Productions, Inc. proudly announced today that the publisher has partnered with comiXology, iVerse Media, WOWIO, Amazon.com and Longbox Digital to distribute their digital comics on mobile, portable and desktop readers. The move is in direct response to requests from fans and in an effort to tap into a new growth market.

The publisher plans to focus on primarily archival material and sold out issues of recent series. The first of Top Cow’s digital comics will be available beginning tomorrow, December 10th, 2009.

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Apple rarely, if every, discounts its products so this latest “leaked” brochure, which seems to showcase the consumer electronics giant doing just that should be taken with one of those ginormous grains of salt. Still, if true, these deals do look pretty sweet and seem far more reasonable than other reported “deals’ being shown around the Internets.

If its a little difficult to see the fine print, we’ll give you a hand and highlight some of the deals. They are available only at Apple’s online store, and include iMacs starting at $1098, iPod nanos starting at $138, iPod touch starting at $178, MacBook Pros starting at $1098, Apple TVs starting at $208, Airport Express starting at $88, Magic Mouse and Wireless Keyboard going for $64 each, and a whole lot more.

We realize that the deals are pretty hard to read over there on the right, so be sure and click through to see a much larger version. Good luck on Friday and be safe out there.

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At a special “Its only Rock & Roll” press event this morning given at its Cupertino campus by CEO Steve Jobs, Apple announced brand new versions of its iPod Classic, iPod Shuffle, iPod Nano and iPod Touch lines, an update to its iTunes software to version 9.0 and an update to the iPhone/iPod Touch software to version 3.1.

Here’s a summary of the updates to the iPod line:

• iPod Classic – Capacity upgraded to 160 GB, price stays the same at $249.00.

• iPod Shuffle – Now starting at $59 for a 2GB model and $79 for a 4GB. Now available in pink, green, silver or black and all stainless steel 4GB Special Edition for $99, which is an Apple Store exclusive.

• iPod Nano – Now with a camera supposedly with 640 x 480 resolution H.264 for stills and video. Available today, the 8GB model is $149 and the 16GB is 179. In addition, now has a built-in FM tuner with Live Pause and iTunes Tagging, a pedometer, VoiceOver, support for voice memos and a larger 2.2-inch display (up from 2.0-inches) with 376 x 240 resolution.

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Technically, the “official” one year birthday of Apple’s App Store isn’t until Sunday, but that hasn’t stopped the company from rolling out a new page to celebrate. A new dedicated page with the banner seen above appeared in iTunes today, proudly announcing to the world that the App Store’s first birthday has arrived.

Now that this event has arrived (or will in a few days), how is Apple celebrating? By trying to get you to buy more apps, of course. Besides the colorful banner, the birthday page is replete with Apple’s “favorite apps and games” picks, all sitting right next to links to buy those particular items so you can’t help but see just how to do it. But you can’t really blame them for trying, can you?

Even with Apple’s rather blatant attempts to boost sales, there’s no denying the impact the App Store has had on the world of technology. With its over 56,000 applications, over a billion downloads and with everyone else seemingly trying to find a way to imitate its success, the effects and repercussions of the App Store have had, and will continue to have, far reaching effects on the industry for years to come.

Its a momentous event worth a bit of celebration so you can’t expect Apple not to engage in a bit of self-congratulations and promotion. Now go forth and celebrate by buying a few apps and help out Apple’s bottom line.