MacRumors

According to a new DigiTimes report, Apple is evaluating the feasibility of using IGZO displays across their iPad, iPad mini and iPhone products in 2013.

The sources said Apple is in further discussions with Sharp over IGZO panel production capacity estimates for 2013 and is also inquiring about whether AU Optronics' (AUO) L5C line could be used to produce the technology.

We've heard rumors about Sharp's IGZO displays over the past year, but no Apple products yet seem to use the new technology. There had been talk of production delays that may have prevented Apple from pursuing the technology.

Qualcomm recently invested in Sharp to push forward the technology. Sharp is reportedly betting on IGZO to save the company, which is in dire financial straits.

IGZO has been touted as having many benefits over existing technology. PCWorld notes lower power consumption, improved touch sensitivity and increased pixel density among these benefits.

This difference in current flow inside the screen also means that transistors don't have to be continually refreshed when a still image is on the screen. That leads to lower power consumption and, for touch panels, much less interference from the screen's electronics so the touch panel becomes more accurate and sensitive, said Nobuhiro Okan, a manager with Sharp's display device group.

The glass edge of each display can also be made slimmer, allowing for smaller devices.

Obviously, those improvements would be highly desired for Apple to advance their products. The iPad, in particular, actually found itself both thicker and heavier in the 3rd Generation model in order to accommodate the battery for the power-hungry Retina display. Display power consumption and thickness were also likely factors that prevented the iPad mini from adopting a Retina display in its first generation. Rumors have already suggested that the 2013 5th Generation iPad could be slightly thinner and smaller than the current models.

DigiTimes reports that contrary to the early speculation, it will be the Mac mini, not the Mac Pro, that will be shifted to U.S. production.

Apple is reportedly set to move its Mac mini production lines back to the US with Foxconn Electronics (Hon Hai Precision Industry) to be responsible of handling establishment, according to sources from the upstream supply chain.

According to the report, Foxconn already has "about 15 operating bases" in the U.S. and the company plans on recruiting workers for 2013 for new automated production lines. The Mac mini is expected to reach 1.8 million sales units in 2013, up from 1.4 million units in 2012.

During a recent interview with NBC's Brian Williams, Apple CEO Tim Cook revealed that one of the existing Mac lines will be manufactured exclusively in the United States next year. Early speculation had suggested the Mac Pro might be that Mac model due to its relatively low volume of sales.

During the new year in Japan, retailers often offer a Fukubukuro, or "mystery bag," which is a grab bag that is filled with a random assortment of products sold at a steep discount.

Apple has participated in this tradition for several years, and will once again be offering its "Lucky Bag" in seven different Japanese Apple stores on January 2.

Lucky Bags, which Apple sells for 33,000 yen or $390, traditionally contain items like iPods, headphones, and t-shirts. A few fortunate folks, however, have received big ticket items in previous years, like MacBook Airs or iPads, which have made Lucky Bags ultra popular in Japan.

Apple's grab bags are sold as is, and returns are not accepted unless a product is defective. Still, the bags have been quick sellers in previous years.

According to Tech in Asia, people begin to line up the night before in order to get their hands on a bag, as the sale is similar to Black Friday.

Unfortunately, you'll have to get in line very early if want one of these Lucky Bags. People typically begin lining up at the Apple store on the night before, so if you show up in the morning, and still manage to secure a bag — well, consider yourself lucky. I tried a couple of years ago, but walked away disappointed.

Like Apple's 12 Days of Christmas, this promotion is regionally limited to Japanese customers, though other countries, like China, may see the same traditional Apple Store sales during the new year.

Last Friday, we noted that the Jobs family's new yacht had been impounded by Dutch authorities as a result of a dispute over the design fee to be paid to famed French designer Philippe Starck. Starck had claimed that he was due to be paid €9 million for designing the yacht, while the Jobs family said that the agreed rate was 6% of the €105 million construction cost for the yacht, or roughly €3 million less than Starck claimed he was owed.

AFP now reports that the yacht has been freed after the Jobs family posted a security deposit to a bank account.

"The Venus is no longer impounded, we have found a solution," Gerard Moussault, a Hague-based lawyer for the Jobs estate, told AFP.

"A security deposit was paid into a bank account, but I cannot say for how much," Moussault said after French designer Starck last week asked Amsterdam bailiffs to seize the sleek 70-metre (230-foot) yacht.

The yacht remains in harbor in Amsterdam due to bad weather, and the report notes that the yacht is scheduled to be transported by ship to the United States to be turned over to the Jobs family at an unspecified date.

Japanese blog Mac Otakara is reporting that a redesigned fifth-generation iPad could arrive in March 2013.

However Chinese news ZOL (CBS Interactive) reported next iPad mini in AppleInsider's article, according to my inside source, iPad(5th) may be released in March, 2013.

Source told that, design of this new iPad will be like iPad mini in detail, and be thinner and lightweight.

Apple just released the fourth-generation iPad about two months ago, which could make this fifth-generation iPad, if the report is true, the second in five months. The design is said to have taken inspiration from the iPad mini and will be thinner and more lightweight. According to the site, the new iPad will 4mm, 17mm and 2mm smaller in height, width, and depth than the current models.

Previously, Digitimes also reported that a new iPad could appear in the "Middle of 2013". Except for the fourth-generation iPad and iPad mini, new iPads are have traditionally released in the first couple months of the year.

Mac Otakara has been a source of accurate information in the past, predicting the design of this year's iPod Nano and iPod Touch.

Apple has spent little focus updating its iOS app switcher since it was introduced with iOS 4, so designer @Sentry_NC decided to try his hand at a new concept for app switching.

In October, he created a mockup on The Verge forums of an iOS app switcher that takes advantage of the iPhone 5's elongated screen, providing easy access to settings and additional app management tools.

Though it was originally designed as just a concept, the Auxo iOS app switcher has now become a reality as a jailbreak tweak after Sentry teamed up with two app developers.

Auxo's design allows users to control apps with intuitive touch gestures. For example, sliding down on an app closes it, while swiping left reveals both music controls and toggle controls for adjusting brightness and turning Wi-Fi on and off. The video below, from iDownloadBlog, demonstrates how Auxo works.

The Auxo tweak may be limited to jailbroken devices, but it serves as an impressive example of the improvements that could be made to future versions of iOS if Apple takes notice. Auxo is not currently available, but it is coming soon to Cydia for jailbroken iOS 6 devices.

Microsoft has released a game tonight called Wordament for the iPhone. The game has been a popular Windows Phone game, but is now also available on iOS. Wordament was originally a side-project for two Windows Live employees that was later acquired and published by Microsoft Game Studios.

Wordament is notably the first Microsoft game to come to iOS with Xbox Achievements.

When you sign in with your free Microsoft account, you can earn up to 50 Gamerscore from our 10 achievements and you’ll have access to all of your Xbox Friends and Wordament Frenemies. If you’ve played on Windows Phone or Window 8 and jump to the iOS version, all of your player stats and friends will follow your account automatically.

Wordament is a word game that takes two minutes and allows you to compete, real-time, with everyone else playing at the same time. A 4x4 Grid of letters is presented and words can be created by dragging your finger across adjacent letters. Everyone plays on the same board at the same time.

Microsoft has been making slight movements into the iOS gaming space. They had previously released an Xbox Live App that allows you to manage your Xbox Live account, and a few iOS games including Kinectimals. Wordament is available for free on the App Store. [Direct Link]

Apple has released a new television ad showcasing the iPad and the iPad mini with a young girl singing Bing Crosby's "I'll Be Home for Christmas" to her grandfather over FaceTime.

I'll be home for Christmas. You can count on me. I'll be home for Christmas, if only in my dreams.

Last year, Apple released a holiday ad featuring Santa talking to the then-new Siri to get directions and weather.

Google, via its newly acquired Motorola Mobility unit, is developing a "stand apart" phone to compete with the iPhone, reports the Wall Street Journal. The phone, which the company aims to release next year, is designed to compete more strongly with the iPhone, and Samsung's Galaxy line, than Motorola's current lineup.

This new "X Phone" project is being led by former Google product manager Lior Ron. Possible features seemed to be ambitious with exploration of bendable screens, ceramics, image and gesture-recognition software.

The company is running into development issues, however. Google is having problems with supply-chain management, a speciality of Apple CEO Tim Cook.

But while Google is known for swift execution on the Web, its new hardware unit has run into obstacles associated with manufacturing and supply-chain management that have caused the company to rethink some initial plans for the X phone, these people added. Meanwhile, Google must manage complex relationships with smartphone makers that use its Android mobile-device software—particularly with Samsung Electronics Co., a Motorola rival that has become the No. 1 smartphone maker with Google's help.

Google does have ample amounts of cash to invest in the phone project, which the WSJ says the company will follow up with a tablet based on the same platform.

Google's acquisition of Motorola was controversial as it puts Google in direct competition with their Android licensees. Apple and Samsung, however, have captured the lion's share of smartphone profits, and Google is reportedly concerned that Samsung could "fork" Android and preventing Google's applications from being installed by default. This could have a large impact on Google's mobile reach if it doesn't develop its own handset.

Italy fined Apple $1.2 million in late 2011, after its Competition and Market Authority found that Apple was not providing customers with sufficient information about the two years of free product warranty that is required under Italian law.

Instead, Apple was pushing the sale of AppleCare, which overlaps with the inherent Italian product warranty. After being fined and losing an appeal, Apple added disclosures to its Italian online store, but authorities were not satisfied and considered additional fines and even a potential ban on Apple products in the country.

Apple today was fined another $264,000 by Italian regulators (via setteB.IT) after not fully complying with the Consumer Code set place in 2012, from March 28 to November 10.

Authorities have released a statement detailing Apple's exact violations.

From March 2012 onward, the above measures continued to trigger additional requests for intervention that reported the repetition of the unfair commercial practices. In specific, consumers complained that they were meeting with difficulties when seeking to apply the legal guarantee and were encountering incorrect procedures in the promotion of the App.

Though Italy levied another fine against Apple, regulators have since determined that after sufficient modification, Apple's website is no longer confusing for Italian customers. The changes went into full effect on November 10, and Apple also ceased selling its AppleCare products in Italian stores.

Apple may have settled its differences with Italian regulators, but it is still facing potential fines from other European countries, which also have a two-year warranty rule. In October, European Union officials called on member states to scrutinize Apple's warranty advertising practices, stating that the Cupertino-based company may not be adequately informing EU customers of the extra warranty.

Last month, research firm Kantar Worldpanel reported that Apple had retaken the lead in U.S. smartphone sales from Android over the August-October timeframe, topping Android by a 48.1%-46.7% margin on the strength of the iPhone 5 launch.

At the time, the firm suggested that Apple's share would continue to rise as the 12-week window of sales data shifted to include the iPhone 5 for its entirety, predicting that Apple would set a record high for market share within the following two periods.

Kantar Worldpanel has now released its data for the September-November period, and Apple has indeed set a record high with 53.3% of the market. Apple's share is up dramatically from 35.8% in the same period last year, although the iPhone 4S did not launch until later in the corresponding timeframe.

Dominic Sunnebo, global consumer insight director at Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, comments: “Apple has reached a major milestone in the US by passing the 50% share mark for the first time, with further gains expected to be made during December.”

Apple continues to fare less well in Europe, where even with growth of 2.5 percentage points year-over-year to reach 25.3% of the market, Android has surged farther ahead with a 9.2 percentage point gain and now holds 61% of the market.

Among the markets tracked by Kantar Worldpanel, Apple's best performance was in the United States, while its worst performances were in Brazil, Australia, Spain, and Italy, all countries where it lost share over 2011.