New year revellers begin welcoming 2013

Sydney in Australia celebrated with a spectacular 12-minute display

Celebrations are being held around the world to mark the new year, with the city of Auckland in New Zealand holding the first major event of 2013.

More than 1.5 million people gathered around Sydney harbour to watch the city's famous firework display.
Big shows are also planned in many other cities globally.

Celebrations will also be held for the first time in Burma, where large public gatherings were banned by its previous military rulers.
Subdued celebrations
In Auckland, the largest city closest to the International Date Line, fireworks exploded over the city's 328m (1,076ft) Sky Tower as midnight struck (11:00 GMT).
Two hours later, the huge crowds around the harbour in the Australian city of Sydney were treated to a typically extravagant fireworks display.

Seven tonnes of fireworks lit up the famous landmarks of the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House to a soundtrack co-written by Australian singer Kylie Minogue.
The display is expected to pump $160m (£98.5m) into the local economy, the BBC's Phil Mercer in Sydney said.

Fireworks lit up the skyline in the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, while South Korea ushered in the new year with the traditional ringing 33 times of the 15th century Bosingak bell in the capital Seoul.

As many as 100,000 people were expected around Hong Kong's harbour for the city's biggest ever fireworks display, costing $1.6m (£980,000), the Associated Press reports.
Meanwhile, in Burma, tens of thousands were expected to attend the celebrations in the former capital Rangoon, which will feature a fireworks display and performances by the country's entertainers.

Reports say the festivities will be broadcast live on Burmese television.
The celebration is seen as the latest sign of the country's liberalisation under its military-backed civilian government.

The Burmese city of Rangoon is gearing up for its first new year's festivities

However, there is a subdued atmosphere in the Indian capital Delhi, following the death last week of a 23-year-old victim of a brutal gang rape.

The army has cancelled its celebrations across the country, as have the governments in the states of Punjab and Haryana.
Thousands of residents and clubs have also called off new year celebrations. protests over the case continued on Monday.

Later on, festivities will be held in European cities including Moscow, Paris and London.
More than two million people are expected to be on Rio de Janeiro's Copacabana beach.
New York will mark the new year with the traditional New Year's Eve countdown and ball drop over Times Square.

Game over for Sony PlayStation 2

By Robert Workman

Published December 31, 2012

• 
  Sony Entertainment
• 
  "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas," was the best-selling PlayStation 2 game with over 17 million copies sold. (Rockstar Games)
  

It looks like "game over" for the PlayStation 2.
After selling more than 153.6 million units over 12 years, Sony Computer Entertainment of Japan has announced that it is discontinuing the console, with no new shipments slated for retailers. (This is only for Japan at the moment, though it's likely the European and American markets will follow suit.)
With PlayStation 3 development in full swing, and several new games on the way for 2013 (including "Sly Cooper: Thieves In Time" and "The Last of Us" from Naughty Dog Studios,), the decision makes sense. But the PlayStation 2 had a long shelf life and introducing a number of game franchises and sequels that have enthralled millions of casual and hardcore players alike.

The PlayStation 2 debuted in 2000 and spent several years competing against Microsoft's Xbox system, Sega's Dreamcast console and Nintendo's GameCube. The system launched in the U.S. with 29 games, including landmark titles like the snowboarding game "SSX" and the arcade driving game "Ridge Racer V." Eventually it would see even bigger and better games through both long-awaited sequels and original titles.

Naughty Dog, moving beyond the "Crash Bandicoot" series it had established on the PS One system, created "Jak and Daxter," a gorgeous platforming adventure series featuring an unlikely duo — an adventurous hero and his wisecracking animal partner. Not to be outdone, Sucker Punch Productions introduced its own cartoon-like action series under the name "Sly Cooper," focusing on a likable raccoon thief and his "crew" (consisting of a genius turtle and a bumbling hippo getaway driver).
The PlayStation 2 was also the place to find several big-name sequels. Polyphony Digital's "Gran Turismo" racing series became more life-like than ever before, with exquisite visuals and realistic gameplay that made you feel like you were really behind the wheel. (It would become the go-to simulation for car drivers all over the world, working in collaboration with Logitech's state-of-the-art Driving Force GT Wheel.)

Square Enix expanded its "Final Fantasy" franchise in a number of ways, as well as its Disney crossover role-playing series "Kingdom Hearts." And Rockstar Games managed to make its "Grand Theft Auto" games better than ever before, between such best-selling hits as "Grand Theft Auto III," the 80's based "Grand Theft Auto: Vice City" and the urban-based "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas," all of which sold well into the millions.

When the PlayStation 3 came out in 2006, Sony shifted its focus to that new hardware, but kept the PlayStation 2 on the market, lowering it to a $100 price with various pack-ins. (Depending on where you bought it – you could get "Lego Batman" and "Toy Story 3"included). It continued to sell well throughout the years, and some developers continued to make games for it, like EA Sports with its "Madden" franchise. But by the time 2012 rolled around, no new games were slated for it, and the writing was on the wall.

The PlayStation 2 will never be forgotten as far as gaming is concerned – not to mention the fact that most of its popular games are coming to the PlayStation 3, either as part of an HD re-release ("Ratchet and Clank Collection," "Ico/Shadow of the Colossus HD Collection") or a digital download on PlayStation Network ("Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas" just came out last week for $14.99).

2013 Stargazing Events: Comets, Eclipses, & Meteor Showers Not To Miss In New Year

Posted: 12/31/2012 8:26 am 

As 2012 comes to a close, some might wonder what is looming sky-wise for 2013.What celestial events might we look forward to seeing?
I’ve selected what I consider the top 13"skylights" (get it?) for the coming year, and have listed them in chronological order. Not all these night sky events will be visible from any one locality (you may have to travel to catch all the eclipses), but you can observe many of them from the comfort of your backyard, weather permitting.

The next year also promises two potentially bright comets: PANSTARRS and ISON. As any astronomer can tell you, comets are notoriously capricious; we can only guess at how bright they will get and how long their respective tails will be. We’ll just have to wait and see.
In general, 2013 promises an action-packed 12 months for stargazers. Hopefully, your local weather will cooperate on most, if not all of these dates. The following list below includes some of the most promising night sky events of the upcoming year! [100 Best Space Photos of 2012]
 
Jan. 21: Very Close Moon/Jupiter Conjunction
For North Americans, this is a real head-turner, one easily visible even from brightly lit cities. A waxing gibbous moon, 78-percent illuminated, will pass within less than a degree to the south of Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system. (For reference, your closed fist held out at arm's length covers 10 degrees of the sky.)
These two bright luminaries will make their closest approach high in the evening sky for all to see. What’s even more interesting is that this will be the closest moon-Jupiter conjunction until the year 2026! [Amazing Photos: Jupiter and the Moon]
 
Feb. 2 to 23: Best Evening View of Mercury
Mercury, the "elusive" innermost planet, will travel far enough from the glare of the sun to be readily visible in the western sky, soon after sunset. On the evening of Feb. 8, Mercury will skim within less than 0.4 degrees of the much-fainter planet, Mars.
Mercury will arrive at its greatest elongation from the sun on Feb.16. It will be quite bright (-1.2 to -0.6 magnitude) before this date and will fade rapidly to +1.2 magnitude thereafter.(Astronomers measure the brightness of sky objects using magnitude, a reverse scale in which lower numbers correspond to brighter objects. Negative magnitudes denote exceptional brightness.)
 
March 10 to 24: Comet PANSTARRS at Its Best! 
Comet PANSTARRS, discovered in June 2011 using the Pan-STARRS 1 Telescope at Haleakala, Hawaii, is expected to put on its best show during this two-week period. During this time, the comet will also be near its closest approaches to the sun (28 million miles, or 45 million kilometers) and Earth (102 million miles, or 164 million km).

Discovery image of the newfound comet C/2011 L4 (PANSTARRS), taken by Hawaii's Pan-STARRS 1 telescope.

While Comet PANSTARRS was a very dim and distant object at the time of its discovery, it has brightened steadily since then. It still appears on target to reach at least first magnitude and should be visible low in the west-northwest sky shortly after sunset. On the evening of March 12, the comet will be situated 4 degrees to the right of an exceedingly thin crescent moon.
 
April 25: Partial Lunar Eclipse
This will be a very minor partial lunar eclipse, with the moon's uppermost limb merely grazing the Earth's dark, umbral shadow. At mid-eclipse, less than 2 percent of the moon's diameter will be inside the dark shadow. The Eastern Hemisphere (Europe, Africa, Australia and most of Asia) will have the best view.
This lunar eclipse will not be visible from North America.

 
May 9: Annular Eclipse of the Sun
During annular solar eclipse (also known as a "Ring of Fire" eclipse), the long, umbral shadow cone of the moon is too short to reach the Earth. In angular size, the moon's disk appears about 4.5 percent smaller than the disk of the sun. So, the effect is like placing a penny atop a nickel: a ring of sunlight remains visible surrounding the moon.
The shadow path from where the ring can be seen runs for thousands of miles, but will get no wider than 107 miles (172 km) at the point of greatest eclipse. Much of the path falls over the Pacific Ocean, but at or soon after local sunrise, it will slice across a part of northern Australia (where it will be the morning of May 10) and the extreme eastern tip of Papua New Guinea, along with some of the nearby Solomon Islands.
At the point of greatest eclipse, the ring phase will last 6 minutes, 4 seconds. Hawaiians will see a partial eclipse when, at 3:48 p.m. Hawaii time, the moon will obscure about 32 percent of the sun's disk.
 
May 24 to 30: Dance of the Planets
Mercury, Venus and Jupiter will provide a fascinating show low in the west-northwest twilight sky soon after sunset. They will seemingly shuffle around each other, changing their positions noticeably from one evening to the next. The two brightest planets, Venus and Jupiter,will be separated by just over 1 degree on May 28, with Venus passing to the northwest (upper right) of Jupiter and shining more than six times brighter than Jupiter.

 
June 23: Biggest Full Moon of 2013
On June 23, the moon turns full at 7:32 a.m. EDT(1132 GMT),and just 32 minutes earlier it will arrive at its closest point to the Earth in 2013 at a distance of 221,824 miles (356,991 km), making it a so-called supermoon.Expect a large range in ocean tides (exceptionally low to exceptionally high) for the next few days.
 
Aug. 12: The Perseid Meteor Shower
The annual Perseid meteor shower is considered among the best of the annual displays thanks to its high rates of up to 90-meteors-per-hour for a single observer, as well as its reliability. The shower is beloved by summer campers and often discovered by city dwellers who might be spending time in the country under dark, starry skies.

Night sky watcher David Kingham took this photo of the Perseid meteor shower from Snowy Range in Wyoming on August 12, 2012.


This past summer, the moon was a fat waning crescent and presented a minor nuisance during the meteor shower. But in 2013, the moon will be a couple of days before first quarter and will set during the evening hours, leaving the rest of the night dark for prospective observers.


Photographer Jeff Rose captured this amazing photo of a Perseid meteor and the bright moon just after 1 a.m. on Aug. 11 during the 2012 from Cave City, Arkansas, during the 2012 Perseid meteor shower peak.

Oct. 18: Penumbral Eclipse of the Moon
The moon slides through the northern part of the Earth's penumbral shadow during this lunar eclipse event.
At mid-eclipse, 76 percent of the moon's diameter will be immersed in the penumbra, probably deep enough to cause a faint, yet discernible darkening of the moon's lower limb. The region of visibility includes much of Asia, Europe and Africa. The central and eastern portion of North America will get a view of the slightly darkened Hunters' Moon during the early evening hours.
 
Nov. 3: Hybrid Eclipse of the Sun
This is a rather unusual solar eclipse in that, along its track, which runs for 8,450 miles (13,600 km) across the Earth's surface, the eclipse quickly morphs from annular to total; it is therefore known to astronomers as a "hybrid eclipse."
Truth be told, along most of the track, the eclipse appears as a total, with a very thin annulus (or ring) of sunlight visible near the very beginning of the track. The track of the central line of this eclipse begins in the Atlantic about 545 miles (875 km)southwest of Bermuda. So, along North America's Atlantic Coast, interested viewers (using proper viewing devices, such as pinhole projection or #14 welders glass) will only see the dark disk of the moon exiting the sun's face at sunrise.
The eclipse track will pass south of the Cape Verde Islands, then curve southeastward parallel to the African coastline. The greatest eclipse, with 100 seconds of totality and the path width reaching a maximum of just 36 miles (58 km), occurs approximately 250 miles (402 km) off the coast of Liberia. The shadow track will then sweep across central Africa, passing over sections of Gabon, Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda and Kenya, before ending at sunset at the Ethiopia-Somalia border. 
 
Mid-November Through December: Comet ISON
On Sep. 21, 2012, two amateur astronomers (Vitali Nevski of Belarus and Artyom Novichonok of Russia)used a telescope owned by the International Scientific Optical Network to discover a new comet that was christened using the acronym of the instrument used to find it: Comet ISON.


This image shows the newfound comet C/2012 (ISON) as seen by the Remanzacco Observatory in Italy.
Orbital calculations indicate that comet ISON will travel closest to the sun, less than 750,000 miles (1.2 million km) above the sun's surface, making it a true "sungrazer," on Nov. 28 (Thanksgiving Day in the United States).
The comet could eventually be bright enough to be visible in broad daylight around the time of its nearest approach to the sun. It will then travel toward Earth, passing within 40 million miles (64 million km) of our planet a month later.
Since comet ISON will become very well placed for viewing in the morning and evening sky from the Northern Hemisphere during the following weeks, it could become one of the most watched comets of all time.
 
December (all month): Dazzling Venus
Venus, the brightest of all the planets, puts on a holiday show all month long, and what a spectacular one it is! Venus is the showiest it will be for all of 2013 and 2014 either in the evening or morning sky. It adorns the southwestern evening sky as much as three hours after sundown at the beginning of the month, and 1.5 hours after sundown by New Year's Eve. A lovely, crescent moon passes well above and to the right of the planeton Dec. 5, and the next night Venus will reach the pinnacle of its brilliance; Venus won’t be as bright an "evening star" again until 2021.

 
Dec. 13 to 14: Geminid Meteor Shower
If there is one meteor display guaranteed to put on a very entertaining show, it is the Geminid meteor shower. Most meteor experts now place it at the top of the list, as it surpasses in brilliance and reliability even August's Perseids.
Unfortunately, in 2013, the moon will be several days before full phase and will light up the sky for much of the night, hiding many of the fainter meteors. But around 4:30 a.m. (your local time), the moon will have finally set, leaving the sky completely dark for about an hour. That will be your chance to make as many as two meteor sightings per minute, or 120 per hour!
So stargazers mark your calendars: 2013 promises to be a great year for skywatching, and if you take an impressive photo of the night sky, let us know!

Samsung aims to upend TV design at CES, clearly

The company hints at "an unprecedented new TV shape" it'll show off at CES 2013, and frames the changes with a transparent image.

Is this a transparent television?

(Credit: Samsung)

Samsung is planning to bring a television to the Consumer Electronics Show that looks, well, see-through.
On its blog yesterday, the technology company posted an image of a television that's sitting vertically instead of horizontally. The set also appears to be sitting on a landscape in which the viewer can look through the display to see what's behind it.
Samsung was slim on details, and only had this to say about the set: "A true innovation of TV design is coming up with an unprecedented new TV shape and timeless design."

The Verge was first to report on the television.
Samsung, which plans to show off the television at the Consumer Electronics Show next week, is sparking major speculation on what it has planned. Will the television buck current design ideas and show programming in portrait rather than landscape mode? Better yet, will the television indeed be transparent, or is Samsung's image simply showing how lifelike its picture can be?
That Samsung might announce a transparent television at CES isn't so outlandish. Last year, the company showed off a transparent LCD panel that was designed for the retail industry's kiosks, store windows, and billboards. Samsung last year showed CNET a 22-inch transparent LCD, and said that a 46-incher was on the way.
CNET has contacted Samsung for comment on the blog post. We will update this story when we have more information.

Lampard brace inspires Chelsea

Lampard brace inspires Chelsea

30 December 2012 Last updated at 16:04 GMT

By Mike Henson BBC Sport

Frank Lampard served a timely reminder of his goal-scoring ability as his double carried Chelsea back to third with a hard-earned win over Everton.

The 34-year-old, who is out of contract in the summer, headed in Ramires' cross and stabbed in from close range after his side had conceded in 62 seconds.
Steven Pienaar gave Everton an early lead, following in after Victor Anichebe nodded against the post.

No contract talks yet - Lampard

Nikica Jelavic hit the bar and missed a late chance as the hosts fell short.
Chelsea's fourth successive league win under interim boss Rafael Benitez, after failing to win in his first three, means the Blues finish 2012 four points off Manchester City and 11 off leaders Manchester United, but with a game in hand on both.

Whether Lampard finishes 2013 with the Stamford Bridge club remains in doubt, with the England midfielder free to agree pre-contract terms with a foreign club in January.

For all the promise of Oscar and Eden Hazard and the undoubted ability of Juan Mata, Chelsea's travelling fans made it clear that they believed that it is to soon to consign Lampard, who joined the club 11 and a half years ago, to Chelsea history.

His goals brought to an end Everton's formidable unbeaten run at Goodison, which stretched back 14 previous games to March's 1-0 defeat by Arsenal.
The home team certainly settled into the match like a team at ease in their surroundings, scoring with their first attack.

In the absence of Seamus Coleman and Phil Neville, Phil Jagielka roamed forward from his unaccustomed right-back spot to deliver a cross that Anichebe nodded against the woodwork. Pienaar gleefully dispatched low past Petr Cech.

With the South African and his midfield partner Leon Osman weaving dangerously in the spaces between David Luiz and Lampard, Everton continued to pen Chelsea back after the opener.
Jelavic smacked the post with a free-kick after he and Pienaar had hustled Gary Cahill out of possession - and Osman's first-time effort demanded a smart save from Cech.

The home fans revelled in their early dominance, taunting Fernando Torres and Rafael Benitez, so long Liverpool figureheads, on their return to Merseyside.
But it was the third of Chelsea's Spanish contingent - Mata - who looked likeliest to silence a boisterous Goodison.

A last-ditch block from Johnny Heitinga denied the former Valencia man, before his probing prised apart Everton again; Ashley Cole inches away from turning in from Cesar Azpilicueta's subsequent cross.

Chelsea's equaliser capped a spell of pressure and ensured Lampard a Premier League haul of five or more goals for the 16th successive season.

Manager David Moyes could not inspire a repeat of Everton's rollicking start to the match as Chelsea, despite the half-time withdrawal of Cech with an ankle injury, started better after the break.
Torres drifted dangerously into space behind Leighton Baines but mis-controlled Luiz's pass, strayed offside to ruin a delicious move, and had a sweetly struck snap-shot from 20 yards saved by Tim Howard.

Everton gave everything - Moyes

Without the presence of Marouane Fellaini, who was serving the final game of a three-match ban, Everton struggled to capitalise on the industry and invention of Pienaar and Baines down the left.
The one time that Jelavic met a Baines delivery, his stooping header beat substitute goalkeeper Ross Turnbull but not the bar.
Three minutes later Chelsea were in front for the first time.
Mata was instrumental, crossing for Hazard to nod down before Lampard instinctively volleyed home after the Spaniard's initial effort had been palmed back into the six-yard box.
Jelavic squandered a fine chance to level in injury-time, swiping thin air as he attempted to smash home a Baines cross, but Chelsea could have already made the game safe when Sylvain Distin stretched to intervene as Torres bore down on Howard in the final minute.
Everton manager David Moyes : "We're not disappointed because we played really well and we've run the European champions really close. but we didn't quite have enough in the end.
"We had played well enough to get a second goal but had been unfortunate, having shots back off the woodwork.
"I thought we were a bit unlucky. We tried to make what we had work the best we could today and for long periods I thought we did

 

Meet Grokr, The First iPhone App You'll Want To Use Every Day

Kevin Smith | Dec. 27, 2012, 12:35 PM

Kevin Smith/Business Insider

There's a new, must-have app for my iPhone that's changed the way I use the device. It's called Grokr, and I've been testing it for a few weeks now.
While some compared it to Google Now, a feature from Google for Android phones that anticipates what you might be searching for and delivers it automatically, Grokr is a bit different.

Grokr pegs itself as a personalized search and discovery app, which anticipates and recommends information. The app learns everything you like and prompts you with breaking news, trends, up-to-date traffic information, weather, sports scores, restaurant information, and pretty much anything else you would need.

When Google Now debuted earlier this year it took the virtual assistant world by storm. The new type of search was able to accurately predict what users wanted and tried to give it to us before we even asked. That's something Apple's Siri has trouble with.

Overall, I like Grokr and felt like it's a solid offering. As time goes on I hope the app adds even more useful features that will help me remember everything.

Sony Stops Shipping PlayStation 2 in Japan

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Pour 'em out if you've got 'em, and be sure to give your little PlayStation 2 – collecting dust in that little-used corner of your entertainment center – a gentle hug today. According to a new report from Famitsu, Sony has officially stopped shipping its aged console to retailers in Japan. And once these legacy gaming consoles are sold out, that's it. No more. Sony, for all intents, has ceased producing the PlayStation 2 in Japan.
Before you start scrambling to put your current console up on eBay, however, know that Sony's plans don't officially mark the death of the PlayStation 2 around the rest of the world. Though it's safe to say that the final days of the PlayStation 2 are likely a bit closer now than they were previously.

What remains unclear is whether Sony will officially axe its 12-year-old console before it officially announces its rumored PlayStation 4, or whether the company will keep production going until its next console officially hits store shelves – or until some time period after.

To keep Sony's in-between console in perspective, the company plans to support the PlayStation 3 for a full 10-year lifecycle – at least through 2015.
"And we're going to continue supporting it not only that long, but as long as there is a development spigot that's running hot. And I can tell you right now, the development spigot for PS3 is very hot. A lot of great games coming. Same thing with PS2… it's kind of stuck around as that old warrior, many years after its launch. But there's still games launching for it," said John Koller, Sony's director of hardware marketing, in a September interview with Gamespot.

Sony announced in February of 2011 that the PlayStation 2 had officially reached 150 million worldwide shipments the month prior, giving it top honors as the world's best-selling home gaming console. Additionally, the company said that more than 1.52 billion games had been sold since the console's official Japan launch in March of 2000.
In total, the PlayStation 2 only saw two hardware iterations – the original "fat" console and a refined "slimline" console that began shipping in late 2004. Current rumors suggest that the Sony's PlayStation 4 could be released around the holiday season of 2013.

The Top 10 Apple Stories Of 2012 Include Some Highs And Many Lows

BY Bryan M. Wolfe on Sun December 30th, 2012 

Although 2012 wasn’t quite Apple’s annus horribilis, it wasn’t the best year for the tech giant. Here are the top 10 stories that made news during the year that was.

The story of the year

The iOS 6 Maps debacle

For Apple, 2012 won’t be remembered for the iPad mini, or the iPhone 5. Instead, Apple’s yearbook begins and ends with the iOS 6 Maps fiasco.

First demoed at WWDC in June, Maps represented a radical departure for Apple. It was the first version of Apple’s native mapping software that didn’t include Google Maps, and this didn’t sit well with consumers.

Soon after Maps debuted with the launch of iOS 6, Apple CEO Tim Cook apologized for it. Soon after that the executive behind it, Scott Forstall, was fired.
It wasn’t that iOS 6 Maps was bad; rather, it wasn’t nearly as good as the product it replaced. Meanwhile, Apple fans waited to see what iOS 7 Maps would look like.

Other stories that made news

Refresh, refresh, refresh

No one can accuse Cook of sitting around and doing nothing.
During September and October, Apple refreshed or added to, the company’s entire line of mobile devices. They also launched new versions of the iMac and Macbook Pro.
While users were thrilled to see Apple’s new lineup of products, some were initially unhappy with the early demise of the so-called new iPad.
Launched in March, Apple’s third generation tablet was officially retired just seven months later when the iPad with Retina display debuted.
This quick turnaround between iOS device wasn’t an anomaly. Rather, it represented Cook’s realization that the days of the one-year product launch cycle were over.
Hey Apple, people do like Google products too

Apple users may continue to discount Google’s Android platform. And yet, they still love the company’s iOS apps, as Apple found out early and often in 2012.
Cupertino killed off native versions of Google Maps and YouTube in iOS 6. However, public outcry convinced Apple to let each of them return as third-party apps.
The result was a reenergized Google, which emerged as the top technology company of the year.
The world of Tim Cook

For better or worse, 2012 turned out to be the year Tim Cook firmly took the reins at Apple. Appointed CEO in August 2011, Cook largely followed Steve Jobs’ script for his first year at the helm. However, as the leaves began to fall, it become clear that Cook was his own man.
Whether it was his quick apology for iOS 6 Maps, the launch of the iPad mini, or his executive shakeup that left many initially scratching their heads, Cook proved to be a much different leader than his predecessor.
Facebook buys Instagram, while everyone else joins in

The social network bought the company behind the camera app sensation for $1 billion. By the end of the year, a mini fury unfolded over something Facebook knows far too much about: privacy issues.
Meanwhile, as the likely result of the Instagram purchase, Google bought Snapseed, while Twitter also got into the photo-taking game.
While Facebook’s long-term plans for Instagram remain largely unclear, one thing is certain: 2013 will see the arrival of Instagram ads.
The iPad mini was real, and popular

Rumored for what seemed like entire decades, the iPad mini finally arrived in October. Apple’s first compact tablet came without a Retina display and with a price higher than what competitors were charging for their own products.
In the end, however, it didn’t matter. The iPad mini flew off the shelves and became one of the most popular gifts of the holiday season.
The iPhone 5

The phone Apple was supposed to deliver in 2011 finally arrived soon after Labor Day.
The iPhone 5 was Apple’s first handset to include a 4-inch screen. It was also the company’s first device to use the new Lightning connector, although others would soon follow.
Production issues may have kept the iPhone 5 out of the hands of many, at least initially. However, it soon became the top-selling smartphone in the U.S.
Jony Ive’s time to shine

Apple’s hardware guru received a promotion when Forstall was shown the door. Now, it will be up to Ive and Craig Federighi to reshape iOS in 2013 and beyond.
I want my iTV

The year was supposed to end with the arrival of an actual Apple television. However, despite the rumors, Cupertino held off releasing the so-called iTV. Alas, a new year is about to begin.
The new iTunes 11

Delayed by nearly two months, iTunes 11 finally arrived in November. Less cumbersome and quicker than previous versions, Apple’s digital hub now looks a lot like its iOS counterpart.
There were certainly other Apple stories that made news this year, including the company’s stock surge and swoon, the arrival of Passbook, and more. However, we hope that we covered the most important ones on our list.

Are there stories you would have added here?

How App Makers Can Earn More Money In A Post-PC World

Getty Images / Justin Sullivan

The sands are shifting under tech industry heavyweights like Facebook and Google. Users are spending more time with their smartphones and tablets and less time on their desktops and laptops.
This transition is happening so fast that the business models which support the industry are struggling to catch up. The evidence can be seen in Google’s Q3 earnings, where lower mobile ad rates deflated overall CPCs by 15 percent.
At the heart of the problem is a fundamental change in how we use our computing devices. The experience most users have when they are at their desk on their laptop is typically far more active than when they are using their tablet on the couch or their smartphone on the bus. Users are far more likely to plan a vacation or do their holiday shopping on their desktop or laptop than on their smartphone or tablet. As a result, advertisers and merchants have been reluctant to expand their marketing budgets to reach these new post-PC users.
In just a few years, a large percentage of consumers may no longer even own a traditional PC or laptop. This simple fact is sounding the general alarm inside ad-driven businesses like Google, Facebook and Twitter. While this is a frightening prospect for many industry heavyweights, it also represents an enormous opportunity for the companies who manage to crack the code on post-PC advertising.

So, what's the solution?

How do we bring the revenue potential for post-PC apps to parity with their cousins on the desktop and laptop? The first step is to understand the nature of the problem. Today, when users want to research products or make a transaction, they are more likely to put down their smartphone or tablet and open their laptop.
The reason for this is simple: performing detailed work on mobile and touch devices can be cumbersome. Not only is the screen real estate limited, but simple tasks like copy and paste, keyboard typing, app switching and web browsing are more laborious on touch devices than on desktops or laptops with a keyboard and mouse. As a result, users are habitually more passive and less interactive when using their post-PC devices.
We need better front-end apps and better back-end software to facilitate streamlined interaction on post-PC devices. The good news is that this is entirely possible, and it can be achieved by combining machine intelligence and predictive analytics with the abundance of contextual data available from post-PC devices.
Imagine you are having a conversation on your smartphone and your friend suggests that you watch the new James Bond movie tonight. Today, if you are on-the-go, you would probably wait until you reached your home or office before you got online and bought tickets. A couple years from now, I suspect that your phone, having understood your conversation and knowing your location, will automatically give you the option to purchase tickets at a local theater in one or two taps as soon as your call ends.
While the engineering required to realize an example like this is not trivial, it is most certainly achievable through clever application of technologies available today.
Specifically, applications will need to continuously analyze and better understand a variety of input data signals such as location, audio, and online activity streams. Second, applications will need better models in order to glean insights and make targeted recommendations based on this abundance of contextual data. Last, applications will need to perform proactive, real-time search and data gathering behind the scenes to intelligently narrow down all the available options to just the few we need.
With capabilities like these, it is not hard to image how the monetization potential of post-PC applications can far surpass the revenue models supporting companies like Google and Facebook today. Given the coming explosion in the number and variety of computing devices in our lives, this represents a huge opportunity for the organizations that can crack the code on this new generation of intelligent applications.

Comet with tail heading toward the sun may outshine the moon

Two amateur astronomers in Russia were said to have found the Comet ISON, named after the International Scientific Optical Network that made the discovery.

A newly discovered comet that is heading toward the sun may prove to be the celestial event of the century. (Ligustri Rolando/NASA/Courtesy)

A newly discovered comet has the potential to outshine the moon says NASA.
Two amateur astronomers in Russia were said to have found the Comet ISON, named after the International Scientific Optical Network that made the discovery.
The comet will be able to be watched from Earth next November through to January 2014,said the Space Reporter.
It is supposedly two miles in length making it one of the largest comets or asteroids ever discovered in the solar system.
NASA said that it will likely fly within 1.2 million miles from the center of the sun in late November 2013, according to Reuters.
The Russian astronomers described their unique discovery on a mailing list hosted by Yahoo.
"The object was slow and had a unique movement. But we could not be certain that it was a comet, because the scale of our images are quite small and the object was very compact," Artyom Novichonok wrote, according to Discovery News.
Reuters reported that as the comet near the sun, the ice on its surface will begin to vaporize.
As the ice melts, the vapor will create an amazing tail that may be visible in the night sky without the use of a telescope.
Even the Curiosity Rover on Mars will take a few pictures from another angle as it sails by.
It is believed that Comet hailed from the Oort Cloud, frozen rocks that get bumped out of their orbit from time to time.

One 'Hobbit' continues to rule them all at theaters

Peter Jackson's 'Lord of the Rings' prequel crosses the $200 million mark over the holidays as 'Django Unchained' and 'Les Miserables' enjoyed strong holiday weekends, as well.

(Photo: Warner Bros. Pictures)

Nothing could separate The Hobbit from its precious perch atop the box office this weekend, though two Oscar hopefuls made valiant attempts.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey topped theaters for the third consecutive weekend with $32.9 million, according to studio estimates from Hollywood.com.
The first in a trilogy of Lord of the Rings prequels, Hobbit has taken in $222.7 million since its release Dec. 14.
The weekend also saw a robust battle of the sexes as the musical Les Misérables opened against Quentin Tarantino's graphic spaghetti Western Django Unchained on Christmas Day.
If estimates hold Monday, the weekend showdown will go to Django, though both movies gained significant momentum in the hunt for Oscar nominations Jan. 10.
Django corralled $30.7 million, which brought its five-day total to $64 million. Les Misérables, which was dominated by female audiences, took in $28 million for the weekend and $67.5 million since Christmas.
The movies are in position for strong runs through the New Year's Day holiday; both have earned strong reviews from critics and fans.
Django scored a thumbs-up from 89% of critics, according to the movie survey site Rottentomatoes.com. Fans were more impressed: 94% said they liked the film, starring Jamie Foxx and Leonardo DiCaprio.
Les Misérables, meanwhile, earned recommendations from 72% of critics, and 85% of moviegoers were singing the praises of the musical, starring Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway.
Despite tough reviews — only 17% of critics liked it — the Billy Crystal comedy Parental Guidance scored above projections. It took in $14.8 million for the weekend and $29.6 million over five days.
The Tom Cruise thriller Jack Reacher rounded out the top five with $14 million and lifted its gross to $44.7 million since its release Dec. 21.
The weekend ended Hollywood's tumultuous year on an up note. Despite months nearly devoid of a hit, the industry saw sales hit a record $10.8 billion in 2012, according to Hollywood.com. The figure represents a 6% increase in revenue and a 5% increase in attendance over 2011, the site says.

Gaza construction convoy crosses from Egypt

 

The trucks passed through the Rafah crossing into Gaza

Egypt has allowed a shipment of construction materials to enter the Gaza Strip from its territory for the first time since 2007.

A convoy of trucks carrying thousands of tonnes of supplies donated by the Gulf state of Qatar entered Gaza via the Rafah border crossing on Saturday.
Egypt had previously followed import restrictions imposed by Israel.
However, Israel has eased its blockade as part of last month's ceasefire deal with the Islamist group Hamas.
Many goods are smuggled from Egypt through a network of underground tunnels into Gaza, which is governed by Hamas.
An Egyptian security official quoted by AP news agency said the shipment had been made in consultation with Israeli officials who were in Cairo on Thursday.
Qatar has pledged more than $400m (£250m) to finance reconstruction in Gaza and improve crumbling housing, schools, a hospital and roads.
A Hamas official said it was a positive step.
"We hope that Egypt will open this crossing permanently for goods so our people can meet their needs," said Ehab al-Ghsain, head of the Hamas government's media office.
Some 170 Palestinians and six Israelis were killed in an eight-day conflict between Hamas and Israel in November.
Earlier this month, Hamas celebrated its 25th anniversary in Gaza with a rally attended by exiled political leader Khaled Meshaal.
Hamas won elections in Gaza in 2006 and came to power a year later after ejecting the rival Fatah faction.

Windows 8 wrestles with PC's legacy

opinion On a traditional PC, Windows 8 Metro is a solution looking for a problem.

December 29, 2012 4:22 PM PST 

I spend precious little time in Metro when using a traditional laptop.

I'm by no means the first one to say this but Windows 8 and older PCs make an odd couple.
But let me back up for a second. Before the release of Windows 8 on October 26, I tested Windows 8 on tablets only, such as the Intel-based Samsung slate that Microsoft sold in its stores. And I was impressed with Metro.
That was then. Windows 8 Pro 64-bit is now installed on my Dell Adamo laptop. And I rarely venture into the Metro UI unless if I'm forced to.
Of course if you're one of the relative few who have a tablet like the Samsung slate or Microsoft's Surface or a touch-screen laptop like Acer's Aspire S7, yeah, then Metro is front and center, as it should be.

But on a traditional laptop it's problematic. That's why Apple, probably the biggest single force behind the rise of the touch interface, hasn't done something similar with its OSes.
Making iOS the launch point and default interface on Macs would not go over well, Steve Job's edict nixing the idea of touch on laptops notwithstanding.
So, Microsoft is going where Apple won't. Intel -- still Microsoft's single most important hardware partner -- is going there too, by the way. The chipmaker said recently that it has chosen Windows 8 "as the standard operating system for Ultrabooks and tablets in our enterprise environment."
But I don't think -- despite Microsoft's upbeat announcement about Windows 8 licenses -- the hundreds of millions of users out there with plain old PCs will warm to the concept of a touch-based launch UI.
Acer's president, Jim Wong, stated this concern rather bluntly to Digitimes this week. The Windows 8 interface could "dramatically delay adoption by consumers," he said.
I'll expand on that by saying that until touch-based laptops and hybrids are both plentiful and cheap, Windows 8 may not gain much traction. And that may take a while.
Let me close on a positive note, though. I like Windows 8. It's faster than Windows 7 on my Dell and more stable. That's good enough for me.
And Microsoft should spend more time pitching these straightforward Windows 8 merits until touch becomes mainstream.

64-bit Windows 8 Pro on my Dell Adamo.

Indonesia : INDONESIAN Largest Port Project to gather speed now [TendersInfo (India)]

Al Bawaba Ltd.

The Pelindo II has been successful to obtain nods on the environmental impact assessment (Amdal) review from the Government on 22nd December for building the biggest Indonesian port in North Jakarta.

The Environmental Ministry s Amdal approval will facilitate the firm to begin construction on Kalibaru Port, which is famous as New Tanjung Priok Port, in 2013. The state-owned port company is also recognized as the Indonesian Port Corporation (IPC).

We had been waiting for the Amdal document for months. After finally obtaining it all the necessary documents are now complete. We are ready to begin the port s infrastructure works, stated IPC President Director - Richard Joost Lino.

According to him, the project s sluggish move was partially due to the Environmental Ministry s delay in issuing the Amdal approval, although the port got a presidential decree in April this year, plus a construction sanction from the Transportation Ministry in June. He added, We could have begun the project when we secured the presidential decree and construction permit. But, the Amdal is a very important entity in any project, particularly a giant project such as this.

The firm hopes the project will be started by the President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in next month.

Richard has stated that the construction of the 7km toll road between Marunda Logistics Park and Kalibaru Port including an elevated 4-kilometer passage over the sea will start in the next year as well.

IPC inked a MoU with state-run highway firm PT Jasa Marga and PT Kawasan Berikat Nusantara (KBN) in this September for the development of the project. Richard has revealed that the toll road is likely to be completed by the last part of 2014, when Kalibaru Port s Terminal 1 will begin operations.

The company s recent tender for managing the 1.5 million 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs) terminal received offers from 3 top global shipping lines, which are Mitsui, APM Terminals and International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI).

Richard has stated that the name of the winner is likely to be revealed by January end to facilitate signing of the memorandum of agreement with the winner in February. He stated, It is very important to work with international lines because we plan to bring in large vessels to the port to cut logistics costs. Richard has added that Kalibaru will be capable to hold vessels with over 10,000 TEUs.

Kalibaru Port will be built in 3 stages and it will have capacity of 13 million TEUs of Rp 23 trillion (US$2.36 billion). The Phase I will see development of 3 container terminals with 4.5 million TEUs capacity and is likely to be finished by the end of 2015 to handle clogging at the present Tanjung Port.

The container traffic in the busiest Indonesian port has touched the figure of 7 million TEUs now, compared to 5.5 million TEUs in last year.

Rick Pitino, Russell Smith head Louisville Cardinals past John Calipari's Kentucky Wildcats

Pitino finally found a way to alleviate some of the stress Saturday after four straight losses to a John Calipari-coached Kentucky team.

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Saturday, December 29, 2012, 11:30 PM

Andy Lyons/Getty Images

Chane Behanan and Louisville have right stuff to beat Kentucky, leaving John Calipari and rivals at a loss for a change.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Rick Pitino has walked both sides of what he calls “the sickest rivalry in college basketball” between Kentucky and Louisville.

He resurrected Kentucky from the shame of near-death NCAA sanctions, transforming the Wildcats back into a national power from 1990 through 1997. Along the way, he beat Louisville six of eight times before leaving to become the head coach of the Boston Celtics.

Since returning to the college game as the head coach at Louisville in 2001, he discovered that beating his old school is more difficult than he had thought.

Pitino finally found a way to alleviate some of the stress Saturday after four straight losses to a John Calipari-coached Kentucky team.

Junior guard Russell Smith, a player Pitino hardly knew about in high school, rebounded from a slow start to score 17 of his 21 points in the second half as the fourth-ranked Cardinals (12-1) held on to defeat the young, rapidly improving Wildcats, 80-77. Smith also contributed seven rebounds, three assists and three steals.

The victory was a big relief for Louisville players, who had to live with the cruel fact they had never beaten Kentucky (8-4) during their careers and lost to the defending national champions in last year’s Final Four in New Orleans.

“This one probably ranks as one of the top five biggest wins of my life,’’ said Smith, whose list includes last season’s NCAA regional final, the Round of 16 and Louisville’s two wins that clinched the Big East tournament last March. “It’s not a conference win but it’s a great non-conference win. It’s a great win for our city. We’re actually more happy for our fans than ourselves. I guess revenge is the word, but it feels good beating the team that knocked us out of the Final Four.’’

Smith attended Archbishop Molloy, where he played for the legendary Jack Curran, but he did not attract any attention from high major programs until the summer after his senior year when former assistant Ralph Willard told Pitino to take a chance and offer the kid a scholarship as a point guard. “Because he’s not a McDonald’s All American, Russ actually lied about the schools that were recruiting him,’’ Pitino said. “He wasn’t being recruited by any Big East programs. Not one of them. But I had great confidence in Ralph.’’

Smith struggled through his freshman year with a broken foot and sore knees and almost transferred when he became frustrated by the loss of his quickness.

“I actually had my bags packed,” he said. “I was frustrated. I felt I didn’t really have a chance to show what I could do. I lost a step and at this level, you really have to be athletic. But my dad and mom convinced me to stick it out.’’

Pitino decided to convert Smith to a two guard and the rest is history. “’We went to the Bahamas that summer and the day I made him a two guard, he became one of the premier players in the country,’’ Pitino said.

Pitino has built a reputation for making average players good and good players great. But until this year, he could never match Calipari in terms of NBA prospects in his program.

Calipari has sent 15 players to the NBA in the past three years alone, becoming a magnet for blue-chip prospects who have been seduced by his success with  one-and-done players. “This is the first year I thought we had as much talent as Kentucky,’’ Pitino said. “Quite frankly, more talent than them because we have more experience. They are going to be a great team come February. I marvel at what John does with young players. Two weeks ago, I didn’t think they were a very good basketball team. Now, they’re a hell of a basketball team.”

Louisville shot 48.4%, unleashing powerful 6-8 sophomore forward Chane Behanan for 20 points and senior point guard Peyton Siva for 19.

But Kentucky made the Cardinals work overtime for this much-needed victory. The  Wildcats, who got 22 points from freshman guard Archie Goodwin, shot 48.3% and made 10 of 21 3-point attempts, cut what had been a 17-point deficit to 77-74 when Goodwin canned a three and added a free throw when he was fouled on the play by Siva with 33 seconds left.

The Cardinals finally closed out the game after Smith made one of two free throws to send the Cards up four and then Behanan intercepted an ill-advised pass from Goodwin, who had gotten trapped, and raced down the floor for a thunderous dunk with 18 seconds remaining.

Calipari took the blame afterward for not calling a timeout at that critical moment.

“I told my team all week, ‘You get close and I’ll help us get over the edge,’ ’’ Calipari said. “Down four with the ball. Believe me, I was standing there thinking timeout and I didn’t do it. That was the end of the game. I told them this one is on me and hopefully I’ll do a better job.’’

Calipari has always had a competitive streak when Pitino is involved. It is part of what fuels him. Pitino has breathed new life into his program, winning 30 games in two of the past four years. Pitino has the best winning percentage in Big East since 2005-2006, when the Cardinals arrived from Conference USA. His record at Louisville in Big East play is 81-41. His overall record of 640-235 in 27 seasons is Hall of Fame-worthy.

But Calipari has dominated this passion play since he arrived in the Blue Grass, beating Pitino four times in three years. The ’Cats embarrassed the Cardinals two years ago with a double-figure victory and defeated them twice last season, once at Rupp Arena and again in the Final Four.

Even though Pitino has attempted to downplay this rivalry, he looked like he needed this victory for his psyche. The fashion-conscious Pitino even went away from his Armani look, taking off his tie to coach the second half. It was that kind of game for bitter rivals seeking bragging rights in the Commonwealth.

Apple agrees to drop patent claims against Samsung Galaxy S III Mini

A court document filed on Friday revealed that Apple is dropping all claims against Samsung's Galaxy S III Mini smartphone after the Korean company said it has no plans to formally import and sell the handset in the U.S.

Samsung's Galaxy S III Mini will be dropped from Apple's assertions. | Source: Samsung

In Apple's filing with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, a reply in support of a November motion to amend its claims against Samsung, the company agreed to drop the Galaxy S III Mini from the suit in response to the Galaxy maker's opposition of adding new products to the upcoming case.

Apple looked to broaden assertions with a proposed Nov. 23 motion which added the Galaxy Note II, Galaxy S III with Android 4.1, Galaxy S III Mini, Rugby Pro, Galaxy Tab 8.9 Wi-Fi and Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 to a suit scheduled to be heard in 2014.

Samsung countered by saying it is not “making, using, selling, offering to sell or importing the Galaxy S III Mini in the United States," and opposed the inclusion of the Galaxy Tab 8.9, Galaxy Tab 2 10.1, and Galaxy Rugby Pro, because “Apple did not serve its claim charts for these products until November 30, after the November 23 date identified by the Court.”

According to Friday's filing, Apple will not contest the partial opposition and claimed it misunderstood a Nov. 15 court order regarding a limitation on assertions, a stipulation Samsung pointed to in its retort. If the Court agrees with Samsung's reading of the order, which concludes that all new contentions made after Nov. 23 are invalid, Apple "will of course voluntarily withdraw any infringement contentions" made after that date.

As for the Galaxy S III Mini, Apple noted that the handset can be purchased at retail outlets like Amazon.com's U.S. storefront, but agreed to withdraw its claims as long as they can be reinstated if the device was to see official sale in America.

The case, which involves the iPhone 5 and Galaxy S III flagship smartphones, is set to start hearings on Mar. 31, 2014.

Wikipedia's most searched articles of the year revealed

 

 An article about Facebook was the most popular page on the English language version of Wikipedia

A study of 2012's most read Wikipedia articles reveals striking differences in what proved popular across the different language versions of the online encyclopaedia.

Facebook topped the English edition while an entry for adult video actresses did best in Japan.
Hua Shan - a Chinese mountain featuring "the world's deadliest hiking trail" - topped the Dutch list.
By contrast, cul-de-sacs were the German site's most clicked entry.
The data was published by a Swedish software engineer Johan Gunnarsson as part of the Wikitrends project. His home land's most viewed article was a page dedicated to Sweden itself.

2012 Year in tech: A timeline 

By Billy Steele, Sarah Silbert and Christopher Trout
Illustration By ILoveDust

While planet Earth has yet to meet its demise, the end of 2012 is nigh. It was a year of lengthy legal battles and shifting power dynamics in the tech industry. It brought with it great advancements and great failures -- and, for some, the promise of the end of days. We've combed our archives to bring you just a few of the stories that made the biggest impact on our reporting this year. Herewith, an abridged look back at the year that was.

Photo: (Getty Images for Extra/Noel Vasquez)

The Year in Tech

JANUARY

January 1st Following a year of production delays for its high-end Karma hybrid, American automaker Fisker officially recalled 239 vehicles. A malfunction with its Li-ion batteries was found to increase the risk of an electrical short circuit and fire. This was far from the end of the company's woes. In August, a Karma owner returned from the grocery store to find the EV engulfed in flames.
January 8th At CES, Acer announced the "world's thinnest Ultrabook," the Aspire S5. The 13.3-inch notebook boasted a thickness of 0.6 inch and a weight just under three pounds. Though other systems like the 0.5-inch Samsung Series 9 would out-svelte the S5 later in the year, Acer's machine showed that the race for the slimmest system was kicking into high gear.
January 9th Also at CES, Nokia unveiled the long-rumored Lumia 900 smartphone as an AT&T exclusive. We liked its 8-megapixel rear camera, strong performance and blazing LTE speeds, but its successor, the Lumia 920, would wow us even more when it debuted in the fall.
January 14th LightSquared's years-long effort to integrate a wholesale 4G LTE network with satellite coverage was quashed by the National Executive Committee for Space-Based Positioning, Navigation and Timing, which found that the technology could interfere with GPS equipment. This came on the heels of Sprint reneging its 15-year resource-sharing agreement with LightSquared, and set the tone for many defeats on the company's eventual road to bankruptcy.
January 19th Federal prosecutors shut down popular file-sharing site Megaupload in the US, indicting founder Kim Dotcom and others for copyright violation, conspiracy to commit racketeering and other alleged illegal activities in the process. The takedown coincided with the high-profile online piracy debates brought about by the PIPA and SOPA bills. Megaupload has yet to rise from the dead.

January 19th Kodak filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in New York, with the goal of emerging with a completely reorganized business by 2013. The company received $950 million in debtor-in-possession financing, which it said would bolster liquidity and working capital. As a sign not only of the company's troubles, but also of the decline of non-digital photography, Kodak even sold the iconic film arm of its business later in the year.
January 20th Following statements of opposition from Google, Facebook, Twitter and just about every other major tech company, the US Senate and House decided to delay votes on PIPA and SOPA, respectively. The controversial anti-piracy bills called for greater government authority for banning websites that infringe copyrighted material. They've remained in limbo ever since.
January 22nd After months of investor backlash -- and the underwhelming launch of the PlayBook -- RIM announced a switch-up at the top. Co-chief executives Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis stepped down from their positions, and COO Thorsten Heins was appointed to take over as CEO. The news was coupled with rumors that Heins would license the BlackBerry 10 operating system to other handset manufacturers.
Photos: Kodak film canister (AP Photo/Mel Evans); PIPA protest (STAN HONDA/AFP/Getty Images)

FEBRUARY

February 2nd The internet got a first look at the Windows Phone 8 operating system, codenamed Apollo, when an internal Microsoft video leaked. In it, Windows Phone manager Joe Belfiore described support for dual-core CPUs, four screen resolutions, NFC and also hinted at Skype integration. When the OS was released at the end of October, all those features were indeed there.
February 13th Apple announced that Foxconn, one of its major manufacturing outlets -- and the subject of media scrutiny due to worker suicides and a factory explosion -- would receive a voluntary audit from the Fair Labor Association at factories in Shenzhen and Chengdu, China. The report was said to cover working and living conditions and would include polling thousands of employees.
February 13th The US Justice Department followed the lead of European regulators and gave the green light to Google's acquisition of Motorola Mobility. The $12.5 billion purchase was subject to close inspection due to concern that it would cause competition issues, though Mountain View made it clear it was just interested in Moto's patent portfolio to bolster the Android ecosystem.
February 20th Following reports that Google bypassed Safari's privacy features by tracking users through web ads, Microsoft found the search giant was also bypassing security settings in Internet Explorer to track users via cookies. Mountain View responded by calling Microsoft out for using a "widely non-operational" P3P protocol for privacy protection.
February 22nd While it was released in Japan in December of 2011, Sony's PS Vita (known previously as the Next Generation Portable) finally made its stateside debut, nearly a year after Nintendo's 3DS hit shelves.
February 26th At Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, HTC launched its new flagship handset, the One X. Along with the One S and One V also announced at the show, the phone represented a step away from brand dilution and toward a more unified line of products for HTC. Our reviewers gave top marks to the phone, applauding its attractive polycarbonate unibody design, Gorilla Glass-coated display and fantastic camera. The addition of AT&T LTE only sweetened the package.
February 27th Nokia had a big MWC announcement of its own: the 808 PureView, a handset running the Symbian Belle OS on a 1.3GHz single-core chip and offering a ho-hum 640 x 360, 4-inch screen. But the 808 really stood out for being the first smartphone with ultra-high-end camera technology: the shooter boasted a full 41 megapixels and a Carl Zeiss lens capable of continuous-focus 1080p.

February 29th The world's cheapest mini-Linux computer, the Raspberry Pi, went on sale with an asking price of $25 for the Model A version with 256MB of RAM and $35 for the Model B iteration with an extra USB port and an Ethernet hookup. Web retailers were overwhelmed with orders, and the Pi even sold out at distributor Premier Farnell.
Photo: Raspberry Pi (www.sotechdesign.com.au)

MARCH

March 5th As part of Deustche Telekom's OSIRIS project, the company's T-Labs team successfully transferred data over a single optical fiber wavelength channel from Berlin to Hanover and back at a blazing 512 Gbps. It was a mighty impressive demonstration, but rest assured the widespread implementation of this tech was (and is) quite a ways off.

March 6th The Android Market that supplied apps, books and movies to handsets running Google's OS was replaced by a one-stop shop for content called Google Play. The Play store incorporated the former Market, Google Music and the Google eBookstore.
March 7th Shedding the numbering convention for its tablet line, Apple announced the aptly named iPad with Retina display. The 9.7-inch panel sported 3.1 million pixels in a 2,048 x 1,536 configuration, and the Retina branding would next show up on the 15-inch MacBook Pro with an even more stunning 2,880 x 1,800 resolution. Just as exciting as all those pixels? The new tablet was Apple's first device to offer LTE connectivity, via AT&T and Verizon.
March 15th Famed Austrian skydiver Felix Baumgartner leapt from an altitude of more than 13 miles above the Earth, reaching a maximum speed of 364.4 MPH. This jump was just one of several lead-ups to Baumgartner's attempt to break the record of 120,000 feet; in October, he raised the bar with a 128,100-foot dive -- reaching a max speed of 833.9 MPH and breaking the sound barrier in the process.
March 19th Responding to travelers' complaints about gadget restrictions on flights, the FAA told The New York Times it would once again look into the rules regarding the use of laptops, tablets and other non-cellular gadgets on airplanes. Perhaps one tiny baby step in the right direction: in September, the FAA cleared American Airlines crews to use iPads in the cockpit at every point during a flight.
March 29th The Fair Labor Association released the findings from its audit of the Foxconn plants in China where Apple products are made. The group found violations of both FLA code and Chinese legal limits on hours worked, and as a result Apple and Foxconn agreed to drastically reform factory conditions by July 2013. The plant also agreed to raise employee wages and improve safety and health conditions.
March 29th In the wake of RIM's Q4 2012 earnings announcement, the company dropped the news that Jim Balsillie, who had already stepped down as co-CEO, was resigning from his position on the board of directors. In light of a dip in revenue, CEO Thorsten Heins admitted that RIM faced significant business challenges and said he would refocus on the company's enterprise business and BB10 -- which has still yet to launch.
Photo: Jim Balsillie (Jin Lee/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

APRIL

April 3rd Nearly two years after launching on iOS, the extremely popular photo-sharing app Instagram finally made its debut on Android. The app included the same filters offered on the iOS version, and supported Android 2.2 and above.

April 4th Google released a video demoing Project Glass, a wearable heads-up display with Android on board. This would be the first of many high-profile public appearances for the device; two months later at Google I/O, Sergey Brin demoed the project with skydivers over San Francisco, and Mountain View put the glasses up for pre-order at $1,500 a pop.
April 9th Less than a week after the release of Instagram's Android app, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that his company was planning to purchase the popular photo-sharing platform. Rumors pinpointed the price tag at a cool $1 billion in cash and shares. Instagram's CEO stepped in to reassure users that "the Instagram app will still be the same one you know and love."
April 11th After allegations of anti-competitive pricing practices lead to an investigation of publishers in Europe, the Department of Justice launched its own charge against Apple, Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Penguin and Simon & Schuster. The DOJ's filing focused on charges that Apple and the publishers conspired to raise the cost of e-books and imposed that model on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

April 11th Allerta, maker of the inPulse Smartwatch, launched a Kickstarter campaign for its new Pebble watch, offering full iOS compatibility and a 1.26-inch, 168 x 144 black and white e-paper display for $99. Within two hours, the smartwatch raised $100,000 in pledges, and it eventually broke Kickstarter's record with a total of $3.3 million raised. Successful though its funding efforts may have been, the project was plagued by delays -- as of mid-December, the watch was slated to debut in early 2013.
April 12th Barnes & Noble unveiled its Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight, an e-reader with an illuminated screen meant to let users enjoy e-books without disrupting their sleeping partners. It went on pre-sale for $139. Amazon would release its own version of the illuminated e-reader, the Kindle Paperwhite, later in the year.
April 23rd Along with introducing Creative Suite 6 -- with 14 applications including Photoshop and InDesign -- Adobe announced its move to the cloud, with a new monthly Creative Cloud plan that would let users access CS6's features over a broadband connection for a monthly fee of $75.
April 28th Two years after Google incurred the wrath of the Justice Department for collecting private data over WiFi while amassing Street View and location information, the DOJ cleared the company of all wiretapping violations. This move came as the DOJ and FCC said they couldn't find evidence that the search giant accessed any of the data it amassed.

MAY

May 3rd At the company's Mobile Unpacked event in London, Samsung announced its latest flagship, the Galaxy S III. The handset touted a new (at the time) 1.4GHz Exynos 4 Quad chip for the heavy lifting alongside 1GB of RAM. Internals were tucked in behind a 4.8-inch, HD Super AMOLED display with TouchWiz-wrapped Android 4.0.
May 14th What became official for LightSquared on May 14th didn't come as much of a surprise. The company formally turned in its paperwork to begin a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in the US Bankruptcy Court of Manhattan. With this, the lofty goal of offering high-speed wireless for more than 260 million mobile users disappeared.
May 16th Verizon's CFO Fran Shammo confirmed what many unlimited data users on the network had long feared. The company announced that with the arrival of VZW's shared data plans, "everyone will be on data share." This meant that eventually, those grandfathered in would be forced into a monthly allowance.

May 17th Facebook gathered up its massive user base and decided to go public. The social network placed 421,233,615 shares of common stock on the table with an initial per-share price of $38. Excitement would be short-lived, though, as investors remained skeptical of ongoing growth and stock prices fell in the following months.
May 22nd After a long courtship and approval from China, Europe and the US of A, Google finalized its acquisition of Motorola Mobility. The folks in Mountain View also announced that Dennis Woodside would steer the ship as CEO of Moto's mobile unit for the foreseeable future.
May 25th Giving promise to the future of commercial space exploration and solidifying 2012 as a really good year for Elon Musk, SpaceX's Dragon became the first commercial spacecraft to successfully dock with the International Space Station.
May 31st Unfortunately, the long, drawn-out legal quarrel between Google and Oracle didn't wrap up when the infringement verdict arrived in May. Copyright proceedings determined that Google had infringed on parts of Java APIs. However, the judge ruled that Oracle's claim was in fact invalid, as it extended the rights of the copyright holder a bit too far.
Photos: Cell Tower (AP Photo/Mel Evans, File); Mark Zuckerberg at NASDAQ (AP Photo/Nasdaq via Facebook, Zef Nikolla)

JUNE

June 5th More than three years after its official announcement, Tesla delivered the first of its more-affordable Model S EVs to a venture capitalist in the Bay Area. The vehicle was let loose two weeks before the expected June 22nd arrival. Later in the year, the Model S would be voted Motor Trend's Car of the Year.
June 11th Apple trotted out its own Maps application after nixing its long-standing use of Google's tech. However, the software arrived to a barrage of criticism for its glaring flaws, despite the inclusion of features like turn-by-turn navigation. The tech also touted full 3D capabilities, much like the upgrades Google announced mere days before.
June 11th In 2012, we watched as Apple pulled the cover off of its Retina display on a number of devices -- one of which was the next-gen MacBook Pro. The laptop was outfitted with a 220-ppi display panel that boasted a resolution of 2,880 x 1,800 on the 15-inch offering. At the time, the base model was priced at $2,199.
June 14th The hits kept coming for Nokia. In June, the company revealed plans to reduce its workforce by 10,000 before 2013 came to a close. Three executives also made their exit and the outfit sold off all but 10 percent of its stake in the luxury brand Vertu.
June 18th At a presser in LA that was announced just hours beforehand, Microsoft confirmed that a Surface-branded Windows RT slate was in the works. The rather unexpected move into tablet manufacturing touted a VaporMg, all-magnesium frame that wielded NVIDIA's ARM chip to power the business end of matters.

June 20th With its second event in less than a week, Microsoft made Windows Phone 8 official. The exhilaration was short-lived for those who had already jumped on the WP bandwagon, as the company announced that current handsets wouldn't see the new OS. This also proved that the early rumblings about upgrades were in fact false.
June 27th Looking to reveal the next version of its OS in grand fashion, Google detailed the software on its brand-new slate, the Nexus 7. The 7-inch tablet was the first and only device at the time to sport Jelly Bean (Android 4.1). The follow-up to the six-month-old Ice Cream Sandwich tacked on Project Butter and Google Now -- the company's answer to Apple's Siri.
June 28th After numerous outages and a shuffle at the helm, matters continued to get worse for RIM. For Q1 of its 2013 fiscal year, the company reported a $518 million net loss and 5,000 additional job cuts. The company also revealed that BlackBerry 10 smartphones wouldn't break cover until sometime in Q1 of the 2013 calendar year.
Photo: Tesla Model S (Will Lipman)

JULY

July 2nd While it was granted a temporary injunction earlier in the year to halt iPad sales, China's Shenzhen Proview Technology sought compensation for its claim to the iPad trademark. The slates would return and a meager (by Apple's standards, anyway) $60 million was sent to Proview to resolve the matter, thus proving that Cupertino wasn't immune to having to pay up.

July 4th Though the cat was let out of the bag the day before, CERN's huge announcement still packed quite the punch. A new boson was observed with a standard deviation of 5 at 99.9 percent confidence. This preliminary result provided evidence of the heaviest discovery to date and the best proof thus far of the Higgs.
July 10th Riding the biggest first day in Kickstarter history, the Android-based Ouya gaming console took less than 12 hours to rocket past its funding mark of $950,000. Designed by Yves Behar, the unit touted a $99 price tag while being extremely accommodating to devs and lobbying for a wealth of free content.
July 15th Richard Branson had claimed for some time that he'd be on board Virgin Galactic's first commercial tourism flight to space, but he confirmed that said trip would happen at some point during the course of 2013. A mere $200,000 per person nabbed a seat for the voyage aboard the company's SpaceShipTwo craft.
July 16th Mountain View's first female engineer, a top executive and one of its first 20 employees departed this summer. Marissa Mayer decided to leave Google to become Yahoo's new CEO, joining the ranks after Scott Thompson's departure amid a résumé scandal.
July 18th A judge in the UK forced Apple to make nice with Samsung in the public forum. Judge Colin Birss made the Cupertino outfit post on its website and in several publications that Samsung didn't copy the design of the iPad. This action was said to counter the "damaging impression the South Korea-based company was copying Apple's product," but it wouldn't be its last forced apology.
July 23rd Before Nikon's foray into the space, rumblings of Canon's own mirrorless offering swirled around the internet. However, Canon's EOS M wasn't the change of pace from its DSLR offerings that the aforementioned competitor ushered in. The $800 shooter touted a spec sheet reminiscent of the Rebel T4i with an initial launch coming in October.

July 23rd After a battle with pancreatic cancer, Sally Ride, the first American woman to travel to space, died at the age of 61. Ride is remembered most for breaking NASA's gender barrier when she took part in an expedition on the Space Shuttle Challenger in June 1983. She also founded the administration's Office of Exploration.
July 26th Google ramped up its Google Fiber efforts in Kansas City, more than a year after the initial announcement. The extra oomph came in the form of Google Fiber TV -- a service that touts a tailored, searchable UI, 1TB of space on Google Drive and a Nexus 7 slate to help out with the channel surfing.
Photos: Particle Diagram (Courtesy CERN); Marrisa Mayer (David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images); Sally Ride (Courtesy NASA)

AUGUST

August 6th With the help of guided entry, a parachute, a powered descent and a sky crane, NASA's Curiosity rover touched down on the surface of Mars. Getting right to work, telemetry and the first images of Gale crater were sent back from the 2,000-pound (900kg) planet-exploring vehicle.
August 12th Another Fisker Karma caught fire this summer in a Woodside, Calif., parking lot. The hybrid EV was powered off and unplugged at the time of the incident, similar to the fire back in the spring. Fisker was quick to point out that its prized electronics weren't the source. An investigation pointed to a cooling fan, causing a recall days later.
August 24th After a three-week trial, a federal court jury presented a verdict in the lengthy patent infringement lawsuit between Samsung and Apple. Samsung was found to have knowingly infringed on Apple patents, with damages totaling more than $1 billion. On the other hand, the jury found Apple not guilty in all five instances cited by Samsung.
August 25th Following complications from heart surgery just a few weeks prior, Neil Armstrong, the first man to take a step on the moon, died at age 82. His pioneering expedition with Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins aboard the Apollo 11 spacecraft changed the face of space exploration forever.
August 29th It wasn't a huge surprise when the latest supersized offering from Samsung was announced with a new stylus in tow. Screen real estate on the Galaxy Note II expanded to 5.5 inches and S Pen improvements nabbed most of the software tweaks this time around. A second-gen model signaled that the phablet was here to stay.
August 29th Mitt Romney, the GOP's presidential candidate, had already taken to Yahoo Answers to respond to voters' questions when the commander in chief decided to tackle internet inquiries himself. The virtual Q&A with Barack Obama took place via an Ask Me Anything session on Reddit, continuing his use of social media throughout a successful re-election campaign.
August 29th A name like Galaxy Camera surely meant placing the Android OS alongside a dose of touch functionality and added connectivity, right? Sure enough, the anticipated shooter was "Unpacked" at IFA with a 4.8-inch (308 ppi) display, onboard Jelly Bean and a standard 1/2.33-inch BSI CMOS sensor capable of 16-megapixel snaps.

August 29th Among the barrage of new gadgets that Sony announced with rapid succession at its IFA presser was the awe-inspiring 84-inch 4K Bravia TV. The 3,840 x 2,160 LCD display is outfitted with an X-Reality Pro Engine and supports greater-than-HD passive 3D upscaling. Thus continued the trend of super-high-res, crazy-expensive TVs.
Photos: Curiosity landing (Courtesy NASA); Neil Armstrong (Courtesy NASA)

SEPTEMBER

September 5th Just nine months after the announcement of its Lumia 900 flagship, Nokia outed its successor, the 920. It may have been just as colorful, but this Windows Phone 8 handset was clearly a cut above, featuring a dual-core Snapdragon S4 CPU, a 4.5-inch (1,280 x 768) screen and an 8-megapixel camera packing the outfit's PureView technology.
September 6th Adding even more light to the fight, Amazon introduced its own illuminated entry into the e-reader field with the Kindle Paperwhite. Nearly five months after Barnes & Noble released its glowing reader, Amazon released its own $120 contender with a front-lit display. The screen also featured 25 percent more contrast and a 62 percent increase in resolution over other Kindles.
September 12th In evidence that doubling down on secrecy is easier said than done, Apple introduced a very familiar iPhone 5. Proving the rumor mill right, the phone was both taller and slimmer, and sported a two-tone exterior. That new screen measured four inches and packed a 1,136 x 640 resolution. It was the first iPhone to offer 4G LTE.
September 19th Continuing the unibody construction and naming scheme introduced with the One X, HTC announced its Windows Phone 8X. The colorful WP8 flagship would come in four distinct shades, with a 4.3-inch, 1,280 x 720 Super LCD 2 display; a dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor; an 8-megapixel camera; and Beats audio on board.
September 23rd Tesla founder Elon Musk teased the unveiling of the company's Superchargers saying it would "feel like alien spaceships landed at highway rest stops." And he was right. At the event, the company revealed its plans to deploy the otherworldly power pumps across the US, Europe and Asia. The stations were said to charge a Model S with 100 kilowatts in about 30 minutes.
September 25th Google's pet project, Glass, made yet another high-profile cameo on the face of Sergey Brin at the signing of a bill that established rules and regulations for allowing driverless cars on California's roads. Gov. Jerry Brown visited Google HQ in Mountain View to set the stage for the signing.

September 25th Its long-awaited touch-friendly OS refresh was no doubt the star of RIM's BlackBerry Jam developer conference, with the company outing details like a new face for BBM and even a new developer handset. However, it was a rather awkward video featuring a rendition of "Keep on Loving You" that stole the show.
September 28th It wasn't all multi-billion dollar earnings and Foo Fighters performances for Apple this year. Following what may be the company's most public failing of late, CEO Tim Cook issued an apology to its customers for delivering a subpar Maps app. The outfit went as far as to post a list of competitors' solutions to its App Store.

OCTOBER

October 3rd Nearly 10 months after AT&T effectively left T-Mobile at the altar, the carrier was officially courted by another suitor. Deutsche Telekom announced that the magenta one would merge with MetroPCS.

October 14th After what seemed like endless delays, Felix Baumgartner's 128,100-foot jump was on. The daredevil broke records (and the sound barrier) for the highest-ever manned balloon flight as well as speed and altitude records for a free fall.
October 23rd With NASA's shuttle program officially shuttered, 2012 saw a number of the spacecrafts journey to their final resting places. It was Endeavour's stroll down the streets of LA, however, that had the world mesmerized.
October 23rd Steve Jobs was famously opposed to a smaller slate, but that didn't stop Apple's new regime from releasing the iPad mini. In an attempt to gain back a portion of its tablet market share from the proliferation of 7-inch tablets, the company introduced its own 7.9-inch offering.
October 26th And the hype beast came to rest. After more than a year of previews, teases and leaks of Windows 8, Microsoft finally made its touch-friendly OS available to the public, ushering in an army of laptop-tablet hybrids and touchscreen PCs.
October 29th Following the very public embarrassment that was Apple's Maps app, the company announced a shake-up at the top: SVP of iOS software Scott Forstall was on his way out. The head of Apple retail, John Browett, would also be parting ways. Meanwhile, Jony Ive, Bob Mansfield, Eddy Cue and Craig Federighi would all take on added responsibility to fill the void.
October 27th Having canceled its own hardware announcement due to Hurricane Sandy just two days prior, Google announced its latest Nexus devices via press release. The Nexus 10 was a 10.5-inch Samsung tablet that appeared to share much of its DNA with the Galaxy Tab 10.1, while the Nexus 4 was a 4.7-inch smartphone with a 1,280 x 768 HD IPS Plus display and Snapdragon S4 Pro CPU. Both were powered by the latest Android build: 4.2 Jelly Bean.

October 30th Setting off a storm of ridiculously cute (or annoying depending on your perspective) Mickey Mouse Star Wars memes, Disney announced plans to buy Lucasfilm Ltd. for $4.05 billion. The company also voiced its intentions to release a new Star Wars film every two to three years, much to the chagrin of some purists.
Photos: Baumgartner (Red Bull Stratos/Red Bull Content Pool); Space Shuttle Endeavour (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill); George Lucas and Disney characters (AP Photo/Disney, Todd Anderson)

NOVEMBER

November 10th In what appeared to be an attempt to avoid the courtroom drama that marked the Apple v. Samsung case, HTC struck an out-of-court settlement with Cupertino in its own patent suit. The original filing, initiated in March 2010, covered 20 patents related to iOS. This particular suit ended in a 10-year licensing agreement.

November 12th It was a big year for Microsoft's Steven Sinofsky. After overseeing the production and release of one of the company's most anticipated software versions ever, Redmond announced that Sinofsky would be leaving the company. Julie Larson-Green and Tami Reller would step in to fill his shoes.
November 13th When HTC announced its Droid DNA, it proved that the Retina display wasn't the only super-high-resolution game in town. Putting the iPhone 5's pixel count to shame with its 5-inch, 1080p Super LCD3 display (that's 440 ppi), the DNA also packed a Snapdragon S4 Pro processor, Android Jelly Bean, an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera and 1080p video capture.
November 18t We first got our hands on the Wii U's tablet-like controller in June of last year but it wasn't until its midnight launch event that it would reach consumers. The release came just in time for the holidays and sparked arguments over whether the second screen was a step forward in gaming or merely an over-hyped gimmick.
November 20th It's no secret that HP has had a tough go of things over the past few years. However, perhaps nothing rivaled the death of webOS in terms of bad news like the $9 billion hit the company reported during its Q4 2012 earnings call. The loss was blamed on accounting "improprieties," stemming from its 2011 software acquisition, Autonomy.
November 22nd First doesn't always mean best -- at least according to Popular Science. The publication named Google's Siri competitor, Now, its 2012 innovation of the year, calling it, "the first virtual assistant that truly anticipates your needs." Siri had this to say: "Sorry, I don't understand."
November 29th In further signs of growing political unrest in Syria, all 84 blocks of IP addresses used by the country were taken offline. It was not the first such blackout and again both President Bashar al-Assad's office and rebel forces blamed the opposing party. The US State Department voiced its own opinion, saying it believed Assad cut communications in an attempt to stifle opposition forces. Reports of a return of service surfaced two days later.
November 30th Two recalls and multiple delays later, Fisker put its Karma hybrid on hold once again. The company announced that it would temporarily halt production due to its battery supplier, A123 Systems, applying for bankruptcy in October. Fisker said it would continue production sometime after the outfit was auctioned off.
Photo: Steven Sinofsky (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

DECEMBER

December 3rd Despite the growing popularity of the tablet and simultaneous decline of print media, Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. announced that it would shutter its tablet-only magazine The Daily on December 15th. The news sparked debates about the viability of the old-school format in a new computing era.
December 4th It looks like Netflix may be the place to see Episode 8 of the Star Wars franchise on TV. The streaming service signed a licensing deal with Disney that will make it "the exclusive US subscription television service for first-run live-action and animated feature films from The Walt Disney Studios" starting in 2016.
December 6th According to a fellow dinner guest, Steve Jobs once said, "Those jobs aren't coming back," in response to an inquiry from President Barack Obama about what it would take to make the iPhone in the US. It may not be the iPhone, but during an interview with Brian Williams, Apple's current CEO, Tim Cook, did commit to producing "one of our existing Mac lines" stateside.
December 7th In what was no doubt upsetting (but, perhaps, unsurprising) news for backers of the Pebble smartwatch, Allerta announced that the Kickstarter darling was hit with further delays and would not be available for the holiday season.
December 18th Following an uproar sparked by an update to its Terms of Service, Instagram attempted to put an end to "Instagate." The company's co-founder Kevin Systrom took to its blog to clarify the changes, saying the company was simply looking "to experiment with innovative advertising" to increase revenue rather than attempting to sell users' photos as some suspected. Two days later, Instagram reverted to its previous terms.
December 21st
Despite predictions to the contrary, the Apocalypse was not upon us.