Apple has more cash in the bank than IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Intel and Google. “Apple’s $15.4 billion stash is indeed the biggest of the group, putting the iPod maker in the elite ranks of well-heeled Fortune 500 tech companies.”, writes Fortune’s Jon Fortt. While the company’s coffers can’t quite match those of Microsoft and Cisco, unlike the latter two, Apple doesn’t pay a dividend to its stockholders, nor does the company buy back much stock or make major acquisitions.

Fortt then goes on to ask the billion dollar question: “So what does CEO Steve Jobs have in mind for all those greenbacks?” A number of options are suggested, including sharing some of the fruits of Apple’s labor with shareholders or making strategic purchases.

How would you spend Apple’s dosh? Take our poll or leave a comment below.

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The TV execs might as well and go ahead an implant chips in our heads so they can track every instant we watch television, when we watch, how we watch, and whether or not we skip the ads.

Don’t laugh. In recent months, NBC and a company called Innerscope tested a vest that monitored a viewer’s heartbeat, sweat, and movement to show that consumers react to sped-up ads.

The latest attempt to gain an understanding of our TV viewing habits comes from NBC Universal, which became the first major broadcaster to use a digital video recording company’s advertising services to — you guessed it — better understand every moment we watch (or don’t watch) TV.

NBC-U will tap into TiVo’s StopWatch commercial-ratings service to gain second-by-second information on how TiVo’s viewers are watching TV. Additionally, NBC-U’s 14 TV and 10 NBC-owned-and-operated TV stations will sell TiVo’s interactive “tags”, or onscreen icons, that viewers click to see longer commercials in combination with other NBC products.

Naturally, TiVo and NBC Universal will work together to develop additional advertising products.

You got to give Vudu credit. These guys are trying hard to win us over.

The latest promotional move involves Vudu and Universal Studios Home Entertainment looking past the current HD-DVD/Blu-ray format wars in favor of what some industry observers say is inevitable — download-only distribution.

Beginning November 23, Vudu will give every new buyer copies of both “The Bourne Identity” and “The Bourne Supremacy” pre-loaded on their set-top boxes in HD. They also will have the opportunity to download the third movie in the trilogy, “The Bourne Ultimatum”, to own for $25 when it becomes available in mid December.