After more than a week's worth of rumors and speculation, Apple has finally released its OS X Lion USB thumb drive, available now at its online store. This little stick offers a physical media alternative to Cupertino's otherwise App Store-centric distribution model, providing access to OS X Lion for $69. One caveat, however, is that users who download the software via thumb drive won't be able to re-install it using the recently released Lion Recovery Disk Assistant, but will have to rely upon the USB stick, instead. T