Happy New Year!

Flurry Analytics: 17.4 Million New Portable Devices Activated Worldwide on Christmas Day

Distimo: App Store Downloads Up 87% on Christmas Day; App Store Revenues Up 70%

Buzzfeed: First Tweets from iPads Rule Tablets on Christmas Day

RW Baird Analyst Says Holiday Sales of Surface RT Seemed Weak at Best Buy and Staples

Fortune Runs Pictures of Packed Apple Store and Practically Empty Microsoft and Sony Stores from one Mall on Christmas Eve

Microsoft Announces Six New Retail Locations to Start 2013

Sesame Workshop Publishes “Best Practices Guide for Children’s App Development”

Apple Device Thefts Leas to First Rise in Overall Crime in Two-Decades in NYC

Apple Wins Patent for Creating Curved Glass without the Use of Chemicals

Apple Announces Lucky Bag Promotion for Japan for 2 January

Samsung Suing Apple for Alleged Patent Infringement Related to Notification Center for iOS

Today we talk with Taz Goldstein about his new book Hand Held Hollywood's Filmmaking with the iPad and iPhone

Kantar Worldpanel ComTech: Sales of iPhone Top 50% Market Share in the States Heading Into the Holidays

Distimo: The Real App Money is Still in iOS

The Mac Observer: Change to App Store in China Blocks Government Censors

Apple Sees Second Fine Over AppleCare in Italy; Irons Out AppleCare Issues with Italian Antitrust Authority

Apple Seed 10.8.3 beta Two-Days After Previous 10.8.3 beta

NASA Releases Free iBookstore Title - Hubble Space Telescope: Discoveries

The Wall Street Journal Hits Apple Newsstand

ReadMore about ReadQuick from iMore at http://www.imore.com/speed-your-way-through-your-reading-list-readquick-ipad

Get ReadQuick in the App Store for $3.99 at https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/read-quick/id515138359?mt=8 

CrashPlan: Automatic, offsite, data backup. You're data's protected and accessible by you – anytime, anywhere. Find out more at  http://www.crashplan.com/

Wells Fargo Analyst: Investors Fail to Appreciate the Role and Strength of Apple Customer Service

Munster Sees Notable Siri Improvement from iOS 5 to iOS 6

Apple Puts “Most Favored Nation” Clause with Publishers on 5-Year Hiatus in EU as Part of EC Settlement

The Verge: EC Set to Charge Samsung with Breach of Antitrust Rules

Apple Appealing Judge Koh Ruling Against Samsung Product Injunctions

Motorola Loses Proximity Sensor Patent Case Against iPhone with USITC

Gradiente Owns iPhone Trademark in Brazil; Starts Selling Android-Powered iPhone

CrashPlan: Automatic, offsite, data backup. You're data's protected and accessible by you – anytime, anywhere. Find out more at  http://www.crashplan.com/

USPTO Preliminarily Invalidates Apple 915 Pinch-to-Zoom Patent

Groups Including Apple, RIM, and Samsung Buy Kodak Patents for $525-Million

Focus Taiwan: Secret Source Says Hon Hai Testing Apple Television, Not Likely to Ship in 2013

Piper Jaffray Names Apple Its Top Internet-Sector Pick for 2013; Reiterates Overweight Rating and $900 Target

IDC: Apple the Top Smartphone Supplier for Japan

University of Western Sydney to Deploy 11,000 iPads for Faculty and Students in 2013

FTC: New COPPA Rules Place Policing Kids’ Data Collection on App Developers, Not App Stores

Tim Cook Takes Third-Place on Time Person-of-the-Year List for 2012

CrashPlan: Automatic, offsite, data backup. You're data's protected and accessible by you – anytime, anywhere. Find out more at  http://www.crashplan.com/

Raymond James Analyst Things iPad May Be Bigger in Big Business Than We Realize

Penguin Settles in eBook Price-Fixing Case with US DoJ

Settlement Leads EU to Drop Antitrust Probes Against Apple, Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins, Hachette, and Macmillan Over Alleged eBook Price-Fixing

Samsung Drops Injunction Applications Against Apple in European Courts; Continues Patent Infringement Cases

iSuppli Sees Samsung Widening Smartphone Sales Lead on Apple and Taking Worldwide Cellphone Sales Lead from Nokia

Apple Seeds New betas of iOS 6.1, Xcode 4.6 and Apple TV Software to Developers

Apple Returns Ability to Gift Apps from iOS Devices

Apple Offers Free Next-Day Shipping for U.S. Orders Through Its Online Store

Latest Wifi Plus Cellular iPads Move Closer to Release in China

CrashPlan: Automatic, offsite, data backup. You're data's protected and accessible by you – anytime, anywhere. Find out more at  http://www.crashplan.com/

Former Apple CEO John Sculley Thinks Apple is Taking iThings to Twice-a-Year Updates

Asymco’s Dediu Could See the Sculley Scenario

Canaccord Genuity Lowers Apple Target to $750; Maintains Buy Rating on Apple Shares

Morgan Stanley Analyst Still Incredibly Positive on Apple

Sterne Agee, ISI and Topeka Capital Analysts All Say Apple Investors Should Chill After Strong Start for iPhone 5 in China

Barrons Presents Dueling Thoughts on Apple Future

Judge Koh Denies Apple the Samsung Sales Ban it Sought; Denies Samsung a New Trial

Google Says New Maps App for iOS Downloaded Over 10-Million Times in First 48-Hours of Availability

CrashPlan: Automatic, offsite, data backup. You're data's protected and accessible by you – anytime, anywhere. Find out more at  http://www.crashplan.com/

Lack of Lines for iPhone 5 Launch in China Freaks Peter Misek Out

Citi Cuts Price Target and Rating on Apple Shares Due to Supply Chain Changes

Misek Hears of Supply Chain Changes Too (Though That Does Not Worry Him)

UBS Analyst Lowers Apple Target on Supply Chain Chatter, Concern over iPhone 5 in China

Apple Says It Sold Over 2-Million iPhone 5s in First Three-Days in China

Munster: Reservation System One Reason for Lack of iPhone 5 Lines in China

Fortune: Chinese and Taiwanese iPhone 5 Carriers Had Lines

R.W. Baird Analyst: 2-Million iPhone 5s for China Opening-Weekend Strong Compared to Initial iPhone 5 Opening Weekend

Walmart Selling iPhone 5 for $127 (with 2-Year Verizon, Sprint or AT&T Contract)

All Things D: $127 Walmart iPhone 5 Kind of Hard to Track Down

Walmart Selling 16GB Wi-Fi-Only Third Gen iPad for $399

AT&T Offers $100 Off of Cellular iPad or iPad mini with Two-Year Data Contract

Apple Offers Early Gift Through 12-Days of Christmas App

Munster: Interest in Buying iPhone 5 Sees Significant Rise Post-Launch

Fortune: Survey Shows Interest in Buying Surface RT Sees Significant Decline Post-Launch

NPD DisplaySearch: iPad mini Seems to Be Outselling iPad This Holiday Season

Google Maps App is Back in iOS App Store

Slate: The Google Maps App is a Win for Apple

Apple Returns Duplicate Track Finder in Minor iTunes 11.0.1 Update

Apple Adds New SMS Trojan to Malware Blacklist for OS X

Apple Rolls Out More Detailed System Status Page for Services, Stores and iCloud at http://apple.com/support/systemstatus

Apple Loses Patent Infringement Case to Patent Troll Backed by Nokia and Sony

Apple Offers Free 2-3 Day Shipping Through Its Online Store

Shaw Wu Raises Sales Expectations for iPhone and Lowers Them for iPad

NPD DisplaySearch: Apple Grabs 84% of Mobile PC Market in 2Q 2012 (If We Count iPads as PCs)

Goldman Sachs Analyst Thinks Intel Building A-Series Processors for Apple Would Be a Ba Idea for Intel

Apple Insider: Movies Lighting Up for Majority of Recently Opened iTunes Stores

Business Insider Challenges Google Chairman’s Assertion that Android is “Pretty Clearly” Winning Over iOS

Doctor Web Finds New Trojan Targeting OS X Users

WSJ Hits with Non-Story Story About an Apple Television

Australian Police: Google Maps Might Kill You Too!

Strategy Analytics: Apple Devices Now Account for 27% of LTE Devices Worldwide

iPhone 5 Tops Time List of Best Gadgets of 2012; 15” MBP with Retina Display Lands at Sixth

9 to 5 Mac: Suddenly Every Store Has a $150 iPhone 5 (Kind of)

FTC Displeased with States of Mobile Application Stores and Privacy Safeguards for Children

Morgan Stanley Analyst: Apple Television Set Could Be a $13 Billion Opportunity for Apple (If They Actually Build a TV Set)

Apple Opening Stores in China, Hong Kong, Australia and Sweden This Weekend

Apple Launches 12-Days of Christmas App in UK, Canadian, and European iTunes Stores

Microsoft Expanding Surface RT Availability to Staples and BestBuy.com Today and Best Buy Store This Sunday

Apple Adds Driving Directions to Find My iPhone for iOS 6 Devices

Most Agree That App Tiles on Apple TV Were Technical Glitch, Not Early Leak

Speculative-Fiction Writer Peter Misek Drops Apple Price target to $800

Topeka Capital Analyst Sees Surge in Apple Supply Chain as Good News for Apple

Credit Suisse Thinks TSMC Will Start Producing A-Series Processors for Apple by Mid-2013

Apple Insider: Some Pre-Ordered 27-Inch iMacs Shipping Earlier Than Originally Estimated

China Unicom: Pre-Orders for iPhone 5 Hit 300,000

Fortune: Numbers Making Black Friday Shopping Sales on Kindle Fire Almost Non-Existent Appear to Have Been Heavily Skewed

Goldman Sachs Analysts: Tablets to Drive Smartphone Choices (Which is Good News for Apple)

Wired: Police Urge Motorists to Steer Clear of Apple Maps as Directions Leave Drivers Stranded in the Desert

The Register: Faulty Australian iOS Map Data Came from Australia, Not Apple

In Apple TV: Potential for Appy Holidays

9 to 5 Mac: Bluetooth Keyboard Pairing Coming in Next Apple TV Software Update

Bill Palmer at Beatweek Thinks Apple will Go Full-on Television Rather Than Stick with the Hobby Puck

Maynard Um Thinks Apple will Go Full-on Television Rather Than Stick with the Hobby Puck

iPhone 5 Listed as In-Stock for a Number of Apple Online Stores

Friday: BestBuy Offers $25 Gift Card to People Who Buy an iPhone 5 (with a 2-Year Contract)

Sunday: BestBuy Offers $50 Off the Price of an iPhone 5 (with a 2-Year Contract)

NTT DoCoMo Sees First Monthly Subscriber Drop in Over 5-Years; Blames Lack of iPhone 5

Crowds Small and Riddled with Scalpers at iPad mini Launches in China

New Orders for 27-Inch iMac Slip to Shipping in January

Fortune: Made-in-USA Mac Likely to be the Mac Pro

Bloomberg: Secret Sources Say Apple and Google to File Joint Bid for Eastman Kodak Patents

Apple CEO Calls TV “an Area of Intense Interest” for Apple

The Pros and Cons of Made-in-America Macs

Early Thursday: T-Mobile USA and Apple Enter Deal to Sell an Apple Something in 2013

Later Thursday: T-Mobile Getting iPhone in 2013; Dropping Subsidies for Smartphones in 2013 (Though It May Not Look That Way to iPhone Buyers)

RBC Analyst Sees Apple/T-Mobile iPhone Tie-Up Adding 4-5 Million Additional iPhone Sales in First Year of Deal

Shipping Times for iPad mini Drop to One-Week in the U.S.

IDC Sees Apple Maintaining Over a 50 Percent Share of Tablet Space Until at Least 2016

Detwiler Fenton: Lack of Retail Exposure is Killing Microsoft Surface Sales

China Unicom iPhone 5 Pre-Orders Double in Three-Days to 200k

Target Cuts $20 Off iPhone 5 Price Through December 15

Vista Repair Hacker Kristen Paget Hired by Apple

Judge Koh to Decide Final Points in Apple v. Samsung v. Apple Case in Individual Rulings Over the Next Few Months

Samsung Attorney: Global Peace Talks Are in Apple's Court

China Mobile President Says Technology and Business Have Kept iPhone Off of His Carrier (So Far)

Apple Translates "Start Developing iOS Apps Today" Into Chinese

Canalys: 25 Developers Made Half of Mobile App Revenue in First 20 Days of November

Mossberg Says “Find Duplicates” Feature Returning to iTunes 11 Soon

iPodNN: iTunes, App Store and Mac App Store See Sporadic Access Issues Worldwide on Wednesday

9 to 5 Mac: Russian iTunes Store Accidentally Directs Users to Porn and Escort Sites

Apple Adds App-Enabled Accessories Section to Its Online Store

RadioShack Cuts $20 Off iPhone 5 Price Through December 15

Apple Seeds New Build of OS X 10.8.3 beta to Developers

MacNN: Work Underway on Austin, Texas Expansion for Apple

Apple Looking to Double Maiden, NC Fuel Cell Project

Shaw Wu Ups iPhone Sales Estimates and Lowers Mac Sales Estimates for the Current Quarter

Electronista: Apple Raises iPhone 5 Purchase Cap in the States from 2-Per-Customer to 10-Per-Customer

Barclays Capital Analyst Makes Case (Again) for Low-Cost iPhone for Developing Markets

NPD Says Black Friday Consumer Electronics Sales Off 5.6% (Though They Don’t Count iPads, Kindles, Surfaces, Smartphones or Video Games)

Apple Updates iWork Titles for iOS and OS X

Dockster Trojan Targets Macs Through Site Dedicated to Dalai Lama

Cult of Mac: Home Brewing Your Own Internal Fusion Drive for New 21.5-Inch iMac is Impossible

Coupons.com Adds Passbook Integration to Its iOS App

RE/MAX Signs with Vizibility to Put 4,500 Agents Business Cards in iOS Passbook

Urban Airship Buys iOS Passbook-centric Startup Tello

China Unicom Sees 100,000 Pre-Orders for iPhone 5 on First Day of Availability

Apple Launching iPhone 5 in 50 New Countries Before End of 2012

Wait Times for iPhone 5 Drop to 2-to-4 Business Days on Apple Site

Canaccord Genuity Sees Sales on 47.5 Million iPhones in the December Quarter

Yahoo!: iPhone 5 Second Most Searched Term in U.S. in 2012

Yahoo!: Amazon Kindle Most Searched for Gadget in UK in 2012; Third Overall

Apple Launches iTunes Store in Russia, Turkey, India, South Africa and 52 Other Countries

iMore: Apple Now Sells Music in 118 Countries and Movies in 66 Countries

Some Off-the-Shelf iMacs Sporting “Assembled in USA” Inscription

Apple Seeds iOS 6.1 beta 3 to Developers

Judge Lucy Koh Says All But Financial Details of Settlement Between Apple and HTC Should Be Made Public

News Corp. Pulls the Plug on The Daily

Ashton Kutcher/Steve Jobs Bio-Pic to Premier at 2013 Sundance Film Festival

Apple to Start Sales of New New iPad and iPad mini on 7 December; iPhone 5 on 14 December

Mixed Reaction from Analysts to iPad/iPhone China Announcement

comScore MobileLens: Apple Takes Second in Cellphone Sales in the States for First Time Ever

iFixIt Busts Open a New 21.5-Inch iMac and Finds a 3-Out-of-10 Repairability Rating

Shipping Time for 27-Inch iMac Jumps from 2-3 Weeks to 3-4 Weeks in First 24-Hours of Pre-Orders

9 to 5 Mac: Apple Allowing Third-Party Retailers to Sell $15 to $500 Adjustable Price iTunes Gift Cards

RBC Capital Analyst Considers Possible Processor Partners for Apple Besides Samsung

Other RBC Capital Analyst Says Apple Talking with Intel About Producing Chips for iThings

Apple Says It Did Not Know of Samsung Jury Foreman’s Seagate Lawsuit Until After the Trial 

CNET: BTIG Research Expects an iRadio Service from Apple in First Half of 2013

Tim Cook Interview to Air on NBC’s Rock Center This Thursday 6 December

Babycenter.com Sees a Rise in Apple Related Baby Names in 2012