Ever since the launch of the original iPhone and subsequently the iPad, it's been patently obvious that the fruit company feels the touch interface is manageable without the involvement of any kind of stylus. A prominent feature of the PDA, the stylus has been rejuvenated by Samsung (S Pen) along with others, and now it looks as though Apple is also considering an adaptation of the digital wand. Naturally, Apple has tweaked a few things around in order to secure a deal of uniqueness, but published patent filing number 166726 shows Apple is more than willing to break the mold in line with the changing face of the market.
If big stories in tech are your forté, 2012 will have been a real treat. This year has had it all - buyouts, lawsuits, great releases, and of course, great fails. Here, we round up these past twelve months with a quick look back at the revelations that had us all fixated.
Cydia tweaks like Zeppelin have allowed jailbroken users to show any custom logo or a string of unique text as carrier logo for years. But now thanks to the new CarrierEditor software, that has now been extended to all cellular based iOS devices and a simple carrier settings restore through iTunes. Follow the simple steps below to find out how.
Apple's vast product line may have helped it to reach the dizzy heights of world's most expensive company, but as long-time followers of the Cupertino company will know, it hasn't always been iPhones, iPads and MacBook Airs. This is no more apparent than if we take a look back a few decades to some of the earlier designs, and one particular German designer has unveiled some never-before-seen treasures from the Apple archives. Hartmut Esslinger, assigned by Steve Jobs on a $2 million a year contract to come up with a signature look for a new Macintosh line back in the 1980s, has showcased a number of his eventually-scrapped computer and tablet designs in a new book, called "Design Forward".
With the holiday season over, the Apple rumor mill is clearly back at work. According to a new report, Apple is getting ready to revamp its notebook line yet again, introducing more models with high-resolution Retina displays, or maybe even phase out the older displays completely.
Patent filings are usually a solid indicator of which avenue a company intends to take with future products, and since Apple is the world's most valuable company, it USPTO entries are scrutinized more so than any other. A filing published today by the Patent and Trademark Office offers details of a gesture-based computer peripheral which takes into consideration actions such as tapping and tilting in order to interact with an interface.
The previous-gen iPod nano certainly whet the appetites of those dreaming an iWatch. For some reason, the idea of the wearable iOS device is something people seem to really yearn for, and although said nano was little more than a trumped-up, iOS-ified iPod nano with a separately-sold wrist strap, it gave us a glimpse, perhaps, into the future. Today, the iWatch rumors have been reignited once more, and as well as the possibility of a release in the first half of 2013, the speculators are touting a possible 1.5-inch OLED display, Bluetooth 4.0, and - get this - the involvement of chip-making extraordinaire Intel.
First Tweets From Newly Purchased Tablets Reveal iPad At Top Of The 2012 Holiday Gift Charts [IMAGE]
We probably all expected that a lot of individuals would be receiving some type of 7 or 10-inch tablet as their main festive gift this year, but there has been a lot of talk about whether or not the iPad would continue to reign as the most popular tablet or whether the competition would gather traction in the market as part of the Christmas shopping rush. It may not go down in history as one of the most scientific polls ever, but a collection of 'first tweets' gathered from Twitter show that the iPad remains the most popular tablet out there - at least for those who have a Twitter account and took the time to send out a tweet announcing their device.
Like so many other companies, Apple relies on the festive season to be one of their most lucrative financial periods during the year, and the chances are high that people all over the world will be waking up to an iPad, iPhone, Apple TV or some other fantastic Apple gift. If the magic of the present isn't enough, iSimon - the digital sleight-of-hand magician - is back to bring some festive trickery into our lives.
As part of the plan to bring the full-sized 9.7-inch iPad in line with the recently released iPad mini, Apple is reportedly planning to announce and release the fifth-generation of their popular tablet in March of 2013. The speculated release date is notable due to the fact that it would come only five months after the current model iPad was introduced, and would effectively mean that the Cupertino based company will have launched the third, fourth and fifth-generation models in one twelve month cycle.

