MacRumors

According to the New York Times, Microsoft will once again be pushing their vision of the slate or tablet computer at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2011 in January.

According to people familiar with Microsofts plans, Steve Ballmer, Microsofts chief executive, is expected to announce a number of these devices when he takes the stage at C.E.S., showcasing devices built by Samsung and Dell, among a number of other manufacturing partners.

Microsoft has been long talking up the tablet or slate form factor over the years, but none of their products have reached mainstream success.

In fact, this time last year, rumors were full force about Apple's then-unreleased iPad. Talk of this Apple tablet dominated rumors and generated a lot of interest at 2010's CES even though Apple wasn't even a participant. Microsoft even demoed an HP slate PC which never ultimately came to market. Meanwhile, Apple's iPad has been seen as a huge success.

Microsoft's newest effort is said to be running under the Windows 7 operating system and is being aimed at a more productivity focused device than the iPad:

The company believes there is a huge market for business people who want to enjoy a slate for reading newspapers and magazines and then work on Microsoft Word, Excel or PowerPoint while doing work, explained a person familiar with the companys tablet plans.

This week two Mac software bundles have launched. These bundles combine a number of Mac apps together into a discounted package.

The first comes from MacUpdate which we've partnered with a number of times over the past few years. The bundle includes the following apps for $49.99 ($534 value).

1Password - Password Manager
MacFamilyTree - Geneology app
DEVONthink - Organization software
Flux - XHTML and CSS web design
Default Folder X - Enhances open/save dialogs
Art Text + Fonts - Create high quality logos, headings, banners.
Swift Publisher - Make cards, certificates, letterheads, and more
Chronories - Diary app
Interarchy - FTP/SFTP client
Typinator - Auto-completes text as you type

1Password in particular is a highly recommended app that allows you to secure your online passwords. In light of the recent hacking of Gawker media it seems particularly relevant. The bundle can be purchased at MUPromo.com, and MacRumors is a promotional partner and benefits financially from referred sales.

Meanwhile, several independent developers have banded together to create the Indie Mac Gift Pack. This is a 6-app bundle that is being sold directly by the developers themselves. The apps include the following for $60 ($272 value)

Delicious Library 2 - track your collections
Acorn 2 - Image editor
MarsEdit 3 - Write, preview, publish your blog
Radioshift - Listen and record radio stations
SousChef - Search over 195,000 recipes
Sound Studio 4 - Record, edit and produce audio

The apps can be purchased at IndieMacGiftPack.com, and MacRumors has no financial association with this site.

Reuters reports on an article in Japan's Nikkei newspaper revealing that Toshiba is planning to invest nearly $1.2 billion in a new factory to make small LCD panels, with the plant being targeted primarily to supply Apple with displays for its small iOS devices like the iPhone. Apple is also said to be investing money in the new facility.

The company's wholly owned unit, Toshiba Mobile Display Co, will construct the facility in Ishikawa prefecture and the plant will churn out low-temperature polysilicon LCD panels, which allow for high-resolution images, the paper said.

Work on the plant will start by early next year, with the production due to begin in the second half of 2011, Nikkei said.

The forthcoming facility is said to allow Toshiba to more than double its existing capacity of about 8.5 million units per month.

Toshiba has been reported as one of the suppliers of the LCD panel for the iPhone 3GS, and is thought by some to also be involved with the Retina display of the iPhone 4, although the individual parts carry only Apple branding.

Update: In an updated version of the article, Reuters notes that a Toshiba spokesman has denied that such a commitment has been made.

A Toshiba spokesman said the report was untrue and nothing had been decided regarding a new plant to build LCD panels for Apple.

Update 2: DigiTimes has also weighed in to note that Toshiba has denied that Apple has invested in any such plant.

With 2010 coming to a close in a few weeks, publications and other sources are putting together their "best of" and "top" lists for the year, and it should come as no surprise to Apple followers that the iPad, iPhone and other Apple products have ranked highly in a number of prominent surveys.

- Google has published its Zeitgeist 2010, ranking top topics based on the billions of search queries made by users during the year. On a global basis, the iPad placed second among "fastest rising" topics, only narrowly trailing Chatroulette. When breaking things down into categories, the iPad topped the global consumer electronics category with the iPhone 4 taking second place.

Apple fared even better when looking at the fastest rising trends in just the United States, with the iPad taking the top overall spot over Chatroulette and the iPhone 4 landing in third place. Apple as a company ranked eighth among fastest rising news search terms, while its retail stores ranked eighth among rising search terms for Google Maps. Among image searches, the iPhone and iPad took eighth and tenth place respectivey. Finally, Google's product search category saw the iPad top the list, with iPhone 4 cases checking in in tenth place.

- Twitter is publishing a series of Year in Review features, and its "Trends on Twitter" page shows the iPad topping the technology category for items discussed on Twitter during the year, while also grabbing the sixth spot in overall top trends. iOS ranked third in the technology category, while the iPhone took fourth place and the MacBook Air ranked ninth.

- Time has published its list of Top 10 Gadgets for 2010, and the iPad again took the top spot in the rankings.

It's not the first touchscreen tablet in the history of computing, but it's easily the most successful so far. With 3 million iPads sold in their first month alone and a market for interactive magazines and newspapers created almost overnight, Apple finally managed to make tablet computing cool.

The 11-inch MacBook Air snagged third place, while the iPhone 4 took sixth and the new Apple TV came in seventh.

Time also published a list of top iPhone apps headed by Netflix, while Angry Birds, the hit iOS game that is now also available on Android, took second place among top video games. Apple also scored a mention at the top of the "oddball news stories" category with the $8 million diamond-encrusted iPhone 4.

Back in August, we reported that Interval Licensing, a patent licensing firm run by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, had filed suit against Apple, Google, and a number of other prominent technology companies over alleged infringement of several patents related to e-commerce and Web search technologies.

In an update on the case, The Wall Street Journal reports that Allen's firm has just been dealt a setback, with a federal judge Friday dismissing the complaint over its lack of specificity regarding exactly which products are alleged to have infringed the patents.

Google and Apple filed motions to dismiss the complaint because it doesn't specify which of the defendants' goods or services infringe the Interval patents.

"The allegations in the complaint are spartan," Judge Pechman wrote, siding with the defendants.

Standards for specificity of allegations in civil cases have been tightened in recent years as a result of a Supreme Court ruling, said Alan Fisch, a partner at the law firm Kaye Scholer LLP in Washington.

The setback appears to only be a temporary one, however, as Interval Licensing intends to refile its complaint in the very near future with the required specificity standards met. The judge has given Interval Licensing until December 28th to do so.

The suit is one of many currently being faced by Apple, which has been reported to be the most-sued technology company over the last several years.

Google today officially debuted its Google Latitude application on the App Store, bringing a native iOS app experience to users of the company's location-sharing service for the first time.

With Google Latitude, see where your friends are right now. Latitude lets you stay in touch with your friends and family by making it easy to share where you are and see each other on a map.

With Latitude, you can:
- See your friends on a map - find out who's nearby and meet up.
- Share your location continuously with whomever you choose - help friends and family stay in touch with you, even when you cant take out your phone.
- Control your privacy - share only city-level location, hide your location, or turn off background updating at any time.

The application briefly went live in some countries last week, but was quickly pulled for unknown reasons. That version was labeled 1.0.0, while today's version is labeled 2.0.0.346, so perhaps a significant issue with the initial release was discovered as it was being rolled out.

Google Latitude launched in February 2009, but did not initially offer support for iPhone users. The company rolled out a web app version of Google Latitude for iPhone users in July 2009, noting that Apple had requested that Google utilize a web app rather than a native App Store app over fears that users might confuse a Google Latitude app with the built-in Maps app on iOS.

Back in September, Apple published its App Store review guidelines for the first time, increasing transparency and relaxing some of the earlier restrictions on App Store content.

Last month, we noted that Apple has owned the iTun.es domain since December 2006 and with Apple rolling out Twitter integration for its Ping social networking service speculated that Apple could use the domain as a link shortener.

One month later, Apple has done just that. Users sharing links to iTunes Store content to Twitter will now see iTun.es being used to generate the links for their Tweets. Third-party Twitter applications may, however, continue to display Twitter's default "t.co" shortened version.

Reuters reports that Nortel Networks, which filed for bankruptcy in 2009 and is selling off all of its assets, is soliciting bidders for its extensive patent portfolio, and Apple is rumored to be one of the major players looking to acquire the rights as it seeks to beef up its arsenal in the increasingly-litigious mobile space.

Sources expect the sale to draw wireless telecom newcomers Apple and Google, which want to build up patent war chests as they fight incumbents such as Nokia, which want to protect their patent positions, in the courts.

"There has been one round of bidding on those patents, this has been completed," said one source, who declined to be identified because the process is private. "And what Nortel has done is divide the patents up into different lots covering different kinds of technologies."

According to the report, Nortel owns over 4,000 patents estimated to be worth over $1 billion, although Apple would almost certainly not be interested in acquiring all of Nortel's intellectual property assets and would instead focus on only the "buckets" of patents that most directly apply to its mobile products and technologies.

The patents likely to draw the most attention relate to third- and fourth-generation wireless technology such as Long Term Evolution, with device-makers such as Research In Motion, Motorola, and Apple seen as likely bidders.

"It is certainly a very significant stockpile of potent weaponry, and whoever lays their hands on it is going to gain significant advantage," said Alexander Poltorak, chief executive of General Patent Corp, which advises companies on intellectual property strategy and valuation but is not advising anyone involved in the Nortel patent auction.

One research firm has estimated that there are 105 patent families deemed essential to deployment of LTE (4G) technology, with Nokia controlling 57 of those families. Ericsson is said to control 14 families, while Nortel, Qualcomm, and Sony are each reported to control about seven families.

The mobile space currently involves a convoluted network of patent lawsuits in which companies are seeking to gain the upper hand over their rivals in the competitive market. Apple, which has been the most-sued technology company over the past several years, is currently suing or being sued by a number of companies, including Nokia, Motorola, HTC, and Kodak.

Late last month, Apple CEO Steve Jobs reportedly responded to a customer email regarding the dearth of printer support for the company's new AirPrint wireless printing functionality for iOS devices, noting that there was "lots more coming soon" for the feature.

As HP notes on its AirPrint site, the first expansion of AirPrint functionality since the feature's launch occurred yesterday with the release of firmware updates for six existing HP printers that will allow those printers to support AirPrint.

- Officejet 6500A e-AiO5
- Officejet 6500A Plus e-AiO5
- Officejet 7500A Wide Format e-AiO5
- Officejet Pro 8500A e-AiO5
- Officejet Pro 8500A Plus e-AiO5
- Officejet Pro 8500A Premium e-AiO5

In developer beta versions of iOS 4.2, AirPrint had initially offered support for printing to printers shared via Macs or PCs, but Apple pulled that aspect of the functionality before the public launch, leaving only a small number of HP printers officially supporting the feature via direct printing for the time being.

Apple yesterday announced the publication of an updated version of its iTunes Connect Developer Guide (PDF), offering new information on policies and procedures for developers looking to have their applications featured in Apple's iOS App Store and forthcoming Mac App Store.

A number of details about the features supported (or not supported) for Mac App Store applications have surfaced in recent weeks, including a lack of support for demo and trial versions or promo codes, and as noted by 9 to 5 Mac, the new iTunes Connect Developer Guide further reveals that such iOS features as in app purchases and Game Center are not supported for Mac App Store applications. The guide also notes that customer reviews for Mac App Store apps are not available "at this time", although that distinction may simply be because the store has not yet opened for business.

While Apple could eventually choose to add support for these features in the Mac App Store, they do not appear to be making the cut for the store's debut, which is reportedly still on track for next month. Consequently, it is unknown whether Apple is limiting the features because it has no intention of ever supporting them or if it simply is choosing to prioritize the initial offerings in order to get the Mac App Store up and running as quickly as possible.

Just a few weeks ago, Google announced the launch of Google Docs editing on the iPad and Android platforms via a lightweight mobile interface. Google had previewed the feature a few months earlier, and users had been anticipating the release as another reason to turn to the free web-based productivity platform.

But while the mobile version of Google Docs offered a fair number of tools for editing documents, it didn't offer the full complement of options available through the desktop version of Google Docs. That changed yesterday with Google's announcement that the desktop version of Google Docs is now compatible with the iPad, allowing for additional editing capabilities when needed.

The new mobile editor is fast and lightweight, but sometimes you want to make more style edits like changing a font, or center aligning a paragraph. If you're on an iPad, you can do that by visiting the Desktop version of the document editor.

As noted in the announcement, Google views the mobile version of Google Docs as being the primary vehicle for documenting editing given its optimization for working on lower-powered mobile hardware, but the new iPad compatibility for the desktop version gives users the option for "one-off times" requiring more advanced edits.

Unfortunately, TUAW points out that the desktop Google Docs doesn't function perfectly on the iPad, with some features still being unsupported and some quirky behaviors that may frustrate users.

While Apple has been widely expected to introduce a front-facing camera in the next-generation iPad to support FaceTime video chatting, the addition of a rear-facing camera has been less certain, with some observers skeptical of the functionality of such a feature on a device with a much larger form factor than pocket-sized smartphones.

Evidence for a rear-facing camera in the next-generation iPad has continued to grow, however, amidst supplier claims made in late October and claimed case leaks surfacing just yesterday.

Reuters now adds its voice to the mix, becoming the first mainstream news outlet to report that the updated iPad will include both front- and rear-facing cameras.

Component suppliers for Apple Inc's iPad are gearing up for a new round of production in the first quarter, sources said on Friday, with one saying the product will be a revamp of the popular tablet computer including front- and back-mounted cameras.

The report cites three sources, two of which would only confirm a fresh round of production set to begin early next year for components used in the current iPad, while the third source reported that the ramp-up is in fact for a new version of the iPad featuring two cameras. One of the sources has also indicated that the next-generation iPad will be slimmer and offer a higher-resolution display than the current model.

Update: Reuters has updated its article to report on another source claiming that Apple is developing a smaller version of the iPad.

A separate supply chain source said Apple was preparing a significantly smaller iPad that is almost half the size of the current model. The current iPad has a 9.7-inch screen.

While rumors of a smaller iPad had circulated earlier this year, Apple CEO Steve Jobs derided the 7-inch tablets competitors are bringing to the market, calling the devices too small and "dead on arrival". Jobs has been known to throw competitors off balance by denying interest in certain features (such as video on iPods) even while the company was working to bring them to market, but Jobs' comments about the smaller tablet form factor were particular vehement in their claims that a 7-inch display is simply too small to provide a worthwhile tablet experience.

Earlier today, Apple released its "iTunes Rewind 2010" feature in the iTunes Store, offering a look at what the company has judged to be the best music, TV shows, apps, movies, audiobooks, and podcasts of 2010. An extension of Apple's weekly "Rewind" podcast, the feature offers best-of selections in numerous sub-categories within each type of media. Among the notable winners:

Apps
- iPhone App of the Year: Hipstamatic
- iPhone Game of the Year: Plants vs. Zombies
- iPad App of the Year: Flipboard
- iPad Game of the Year: Osmos for iPad

Music
- Artist of the Year: Eminem
- Album of the Year: "Brothers", The Black Keys
- Best New Artist: B.o.B.