Thanks to Chad for putting this together.

Technology Round-Up

Poll

Apple's Tim Cook has made headlines by claiming that he uses an iPad or iPhone 80% of the time instead of a full Mac desktop/laptop.

How much of your time is split between using a mobile device and a full computer for browsing/communicating?

Apple

Apple and Google have reportedly teamed up for a $500 million offer for Kodak's patents.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has changed its mind and invalidated 20 of Apple's multi-touch patents.

T-Mobile has announced that the iPhone 5 will make its official debut on the carrier in 2013. Apple anticipates that this could result in five million T-Mobile iPhones within the first year.

A prototype of what may be the iPhone 5S has leaked.

The Australian government has warned the public not to use iOS 6 Maps.

The controversial Foxconn plants may be coming to America to make Macs here. Let's hope the worker suicides don't follow...

Apple has hired a former Microsoft security hacker to protect its OS from a growing number of attacks. Speaking of Mac security, a new trojan that uses a Java exploit is in the wild.

Apple's CEO has called TVs an "area of immense interest."

If you're looking for an iPad mini before Christmas, order soon. Apple now claims that they can ship within a week.

Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator have been updated to support retina displays.

Apple has released updated versions of its iWork for iOS software (including Pages).

An iTunes 11 update will restore the ability to find duplicate songs.

Apple proves that it still has at least a moderate interest in the server market by releasing OS X Server 2.2 for Mountain Lion.

Internet

Here's a tip: if you manage to rob a bank and steal a car successfully, don't brag about it on YouTube and be surprised when you're arrested.

Instagram and Twitter are officially no longer friends. Not surprisingly, Twitter has started rolling out its own image filters.

Twitter has started copying Facebook in pushing out profile updates that people may or may not want.

Twitter accounts could be vulnerable to SMS hacks.

Amazon now offers a $3/mo. subscription for children's content.

Google

Google Chrome will add support for Google Now.

Gmail for iOS has a new design.

Three popular Gmail labs have become integrated features.

The latest YouTube update for iOS adds Airplay support.

Google no longer offers free Google Apps accounts.

Electronics

If you could afford it, would you go to the moon for $750 million?

Valve, the company behind Steam, suggests that a Steam gaming system might be on the way.

Every high schooler with a TI-83 or TI-84 should download this Portal clone immediately. Seriously awesome.

Handheld tape recorders will officially become a thing of the past next year.

Diehard Super Nintendo fans can purchase every game every produced for a mere $25k.

If you have a lot of Legos that need sorting, check out this Lego sorting machine.

Mathematicians have determined that 20 seconds is the time threshold for people getting annoyed at waiting on an elevator. Your round-up author estimates his own patience at about 10 seconds.

Mobile

Following the big announcement about the iPhone 5 coming to T-Mobile (see Apple section above), the mobile carrier has announced that they will stop subsidizing phones and instead lower the price of the plan. Yes, the is T-Mobile, not Metro PCS or Cricket.

The Federal Communications Commission chairman has written a letter to the Federal Aviation Administration encouraging them to permit use of cell phones during takeoff and landing. What do you think?

Dish Network is turning Blockbusters into mobile phone stores.

Check out the enhancements for the HTC One X+ for AT&T.

A budget phone from the Windows-8-powered Nokia Lumia line, the Lumia 620, will be released next year.

Get a 4G LTE, touchscreen, WiFi hotspot for $50 with two-year contract from AT&T.

If you have a Blackberry 10, you will not be able to set "Password" as your password.

Check out a list of the most important phones of 2012.

Apps

The state of California is suing Delta for not including an EULA on their iOS app.

Final Fantasy IV will be available December 20 on iOS and next year for Android.

SwiftKey has released a beta of its Swype-like keyboard (which includes the ability to swipe entire sentences without lifting a finger). Your round-up author is a big fan of the company's predictive keyboard, and he is very intrigued by this new offering.

Utter is a Siri-like assistant on Android

Get free, live flight tracking with FlightBoard.

Extend your iOS dock with Infiniapps (jailbreak app).

Wirelessly sync your Android device with MediaMonkey.

Find out if you can see colors with the Color Blindness Test (free) for iOS and Android.

Edit photos from your phone with Snapseed.

Computer/Tablet

Amazon has temporarily dropped the price of the 8.9-inch Kindle Fire HD by $50.

The Amazon Kindle bookstore is now available in Canada.

Toshiba is planning to release a 10-inch, quad-core tablet for $350.

Gizmodo has compiled a list of the 12 most important tablets of 2012. In addition, check out the 10 most important cameras of 2012.

Check out this list of the 5 best monitors.

No password is safe from this password-cracking computing beast.

Next year may bring us 480 GB solid state drives. Not that most people will want to drop $500 on half a terabyte of space...

Tips/Tricks

The art of being lazy: control your computer with your smartphone.

Use Bluetooth internet tethering on your phone to save battery over WiFi tethering.

Chat on Facebook without keeping the tab open using the official Facebook Chat Firefox addon.

Fix common social network irritations.

Add the free "Windows XP Mode" to Windows 8 installs.

Avoid these common grammar faux pas in your digital correspondence.

Your camera is not an NES game; don't use your breath to clean it off.

Here is the answer to every question you ever had about batteries.

Since Google Apps is no longer free, integrate the well-reviewed, free Outlook.com with your email domain.

Miscellaneous

A variation of HIV has helped save the life of a girl with Leukemia.

"John McAfee has finally been arrested."

NASA has spoken: the world will not end on December 21st.

Google and many other companies are requesting that the U.S. government rescind some of the vague patents that have been granted over the years.

Contributor

CyberInferno

Quote

Apple's Tim Cook has made headlines by claiming that he uses an iPad or iPhone 80% of the time instead of a full Mac desktop/laptop.

-I need an iPad

Quote

Apple's CEO has called TVs an "area of immense interest."

-I would totally be interested in an Apple brand TV

Quote

Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator have been updated to support retina displays.

-Wait so retina display is so different that they had to make new versions to support it? Interesting

Originally Posted by Ryan Gardner

Quote

Apple's Tim Cook has made headlines by claiming that he uses an iPad or iPhone 80% of the time instead of a full Mac desktop/laptop.

-I need an iPad

Quote

Apple's CEO has called TVs an "area of immense interest."

-I would totally be interested in an Apple brand TV

Quote

Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator have been updated to support retina displays.

-Wait so retina display is so different that they had to make new versions to support it? Interesting

It's a much higher resolution. The applications can scale, but they won't really take advantage of it.

The resolution issue is one of the reasons analysts are recommending iPad Minis over lower-priced, higher-res Android tablets. Since the iPad mini uses the same resolution as the iPad 2, a ton of apps have been built to support it. Since Android apps are a mixed resolution bag, you get a lot of apps that aren't designed for larger screens/resolutions. They'll stretch to fit, but they won't look nearly as good as if they were natively designed for them.

Originally Posted by CyberInferno

It's a much higher resolution. The applications can scale, but they won't really take advantage of it.

The resolution issue is one of the reasons analysts are recommending iPad Minis over lower-priced, higher-res Android tablets. Since the iPad mini uses the same resolution as the iPad 2, a ton of apps have been built to support it. Since Android apps are a mixed resolution bag, you get a lot of apps that aren't designed for larger screens/resolutions. They'll stretch to fit, but they won't look nearly as good as if they were natively designed for them.

Interesting. I'd probably get an iPad over an iPad mini

Originally Posted by Ryan Gardner

Quote

Apple's Tim Cook has made headlines by claiming that he uses an iPad or iPhone 80% of the time instead of a full Mac desktop/laptop.

-I need an iPad

Quote

Apple's CEO has called TVs an "area of immense interest."

-I would totally be interested in an Apple brand TV

Quote

Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator have been updated to support retina displays.

-Wait so retina display is so different that they had to make new versions to support it? Interesting

I want an apple television so bad. I just know its going to be insanely awesome when that day comes

Originally Posted by Ryan Gardner

Interesting. I'd probably get an iPad over an iPad mini

Yeah the new iPads with retina displays are really nice. You can take a magnifying glass to them and you still can't see the pixels around text.

My fiance really wants a mini so she can put it in her purse and read during breaks when she does 12 hour nursing shifts. The big ones definitely won't fit the bill for that. Not sure if that's in the Christmas budget though.

I think I could make my own rocket for $750 Million...when I get it built, anyone who wants can come with me for free.

Originally Posted by CyberInferno

Yeah the new iPads with retina displays are really nice. You can take a magnifying glass to them and you still can't see the pixels around text.

My fiance really wants a mini so she can put it in her purse and read during breaks when she does 12 hour nursing shifts. The big ones definitely won't fit the bill for that. Not sure if that's in the Christmas budget though.

Hm I'd be interested in chatting about iPads with you if you want. Feel free to email me.

Yeah, I was thinking the mini would be nice for women in their purses, for sure.

Originally Posted by iAMhollyood315

I want an apple television so bad. I just know its going to be insanely awesome when that day comes

I can add that to the list of technology I want and can't afford

Originally Posted by jhotmann21

I think I could make my own rocket for $750 Million...when I get it built, anyone who wants can come with me for free.

I laughed really hard

this instagram/twitter thing is lame.

snapseed rules.

i would totally go to the moon.