MacRumors

NBC reports that Apple CEO Tim Cook will announce during an interview airing on Rock Center tonight that the company is bringing some Mac production back to the United States.

In an exclusive interview with Brian Williams airing tonight at 10pm/9c on NBC’s “Rock Center,” Apple CEO Tim Cook announced one of the existing Mac lines will be manufactured exclusively in the United States next year. Mac fans will have to wait to see which Mac line it will be because Apple, widely known for its secrecy, left it vague. Cook's announcement may or may not confirm recent rumors in the blogosphere sparked by iMacs inscribed in the back with “Assembled in USA.”

“We’ve been working for years on doing more and more in the United States,” Cook told Williams.

It’s not known well that the engine for the iPhone and iPad is made in the U.S., and many of these are also exported—the engine, the processor. The glass is made in Kentucky. And next year we are going to bring some production to the U.S. on the Mac. We’ve been working on this for a long time, and we were getting closer to it. It will happen in 2013. We’re really proud of it. We could have quickly maybe done just assembly, but it’s broader because we wanted to do something more substantial. So we’ll literally invest over $100 million. This doesn’t mean that Apple will do it ourselves, but we’ll be working with people, and we’ll be investing our money.

Cook also addresses several of the challenges Apple faces in bringing production back to the United States, pointing out once again that the educational system is not producing the expertise needed for major manufacturing in consumer electronics, but he hopes that Apple's effort can help spur progress in that area.

CNET reports on comments from AT&T Mobility CEO Ralph de la Vega today revealing that the carrier has experienced record-breaking smartphone sales through the first two months of the fourth quarter of 2012.

The wireless carrier is selling smartphones at a record pace -- 6.4 million already in the first two months of the quarter, according to Ralph de la Vega, CEO of AT&T's mobility arm. De la Vega, speaking at an investor conference today, said he now expects to sell 26 million smartphones this year, 1 million more than previously expected.

The current record for the carrier was set in the fourth quarter of 2011 with 9.4 million smartphone activations on the strength of the iPhone 4S launch.

Given that the iPhone typically represents 70-80% of AT&T's smartphones, the carrier's record numbers for the quarter so far bode well for Apple. Apple will likely also see a boost from its rapid rollout of the iPhone 5, which is already offered in nearly 50 countries and will be available in more than 50 additional countries by the end of the month.

Apple is clearly expecting a blockbuster quarter, having issued guidance for a record $52 billion in revenue on the strength of not only the iPhone 5 but also the new iPad mini and the just-updated full-size iPad, as well as recent updates to most of the company's Mac and iPod lines.

Casio has officially announced the Bluetooth G-Shock, a $180 Bluetooth v4-enabled smart watch. Though the watch will ostensibly be competing with the Pebble e-paper wristwatch, the G-Shock is in a bit of a different category.

It's a much more traditional watch, looking nearly identical to other G-Shock watches, water resistant to 200m, and with significantly fewer features resulting from its Bluetooth v4 connectivity than the Pebble. When paired with an iPhone, the Casio smart watch can automatically set its own time, alert you to incoming calls and email, and locate your iPhone from the watch.

The watch only works with the iPhone 4S and the iPhone 5 at the moment. They are the only iPhones that support the new Bluetooth Low Energy specification which we've covered previously. Casio isn't the only company to adopt Bluetooth Low Energy; the Pebble watch and other watches like the Strata are both using the same technology.

The G-Shock uses an ordinary watch battery and the company says it should last 2 years when connected to Bluetooth for 12 hours per day. The watch lists for $180 and has limited availability at select retailers.

Back in early September, news broke in several publications about Apple's plans for a Pandora-like custom radio service, with the company reportedly seeking to arrange deals with music labels to allow more flexibility than permitted under the mandatory licensing used by Pandora. At the time, a launch was said to be "months away".

By late October, reports were indicating that talks remained in limbo with Apple and the major music labels remaining far apart in their licensing offers, although Apple was reportedly still hoping for an early 2013 launch.

As part of a report noting that Pandora's stock plunged yesterday after issuing weak guidance for the upcoming quarter, CNET says that Apple still has not made any significant progress with the major music labels.

The rumors continue to swirl but multiple music industry sources have told CNET in recent weeks that the deal that Apple has offered for iRadio has left the major record companies -- Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group and Universal Music Group -- cold.

My sources say that, at a minimum, a deal with all the majors is nowhere near to being completed. Even if Apple sweetens its offer or the big labels change their mind tomorrow, these deals take a while to put to bed. Even in the best case scenario, it will still be a while before we see iRadio.

Eddy Cue has long been Apple's "master negotiator" for content deals, a role that he has reportedly filled with a calm yet firm demeanor that has made him very well respected in the business. As Apple's content empire has grown, Cue's role has expanded to the point where it now encompasses the iTunes Store, App Store, iCloud, iBookstore, iAd, Siri, and Maps.

In his review of iTunes 11, AllThingsD's Walt Mossberg notes that Apple is preparing a minor update to address several issues with the initial release of the software. Among the changes included in the update will be the return of a feature that allows users to find duplicate songs in their libraries.

A feature that finds duplicate entries is missing. Apple says it will soon be restored in a minor update of the program.

In my tests, some album covers were missing in album view. Apple says this is a rare bug, but one it has solved and will fix in a minor update soon. Another bug the company says will be remedied prevents owners of Apple TVs from wirelessly streaming cloud-based movies to their TVs.

Mossberg also reports that Apple has no intention of bringing back the Cover Flow view of album art, with the company finding that few users were interested in it and the new Expanded View offering a fresh take on integrating large album art into library browsing.

Parts firm ETrade Supply has posted several photos of what it believes may be the rear shell for next-generation iPhone, which we are referring to as the iPhone 5S in accordance with Apple's recent pattern of naming the devices.

The part is extremely similar to that from the iPhone 5, in line with Apple's pattern of maintaining a given body style for two generations before making more significant modifications. This iPhone 5S part is, however, distinctly different from its iPhone 5 counterpart in several ways, most obviously in the arrangement of the screw holes for attaching the logic board.

Comparison of iPhone 5S and iPhone 5 rear shells with logic board screw holes boxed in red

The exterior of the shell contains the same text as seen on the iPhone 5, with placeholders being used for the various model, IMEI, and regulatory identifiers.

Given that the origin of the photos is unknown, it is certainly possible that this part is an old iPhone 5 prototype design that was discarded in favor of the design that was ultimately used. Alternatively, the part could also be a fake or a knockoff, although at a glance the part seems to show similar levels of quality to that seen on the genuine iPhone 5 part and a knockoff part intended to be used for replacement on iPhone 5 devices would be certain to retain the arrangement of logic board screw holes.

A pair of reports from DigiTimes last month indicated that trial production on the iPhone 5S is already underway with Apple targeting the "middle of 2013" for a launch.

Google Executive Chairman and former CEO Eric Schmidt recently sat down for a wide-ranging interview (subscription required) with The Wall Street Journal and in addressing his company's relationship with Apple noted that the two companies would resolve their issues like adults. He said that while explaining Apple and Google's relationship over the past year, which has included Apple taking Google Maps and YouTube out of iOS.

It's always been on and off. Obviously, we would have preferred them to use our maps. They threw YouTube off the home screen [of iPhones and iPads]. I'm not quite sure why they did that.

The press would like to write the sort of teenage model of competition, which is, 'I have a gun, you have a gun, who shoots first?'

The adult way to run a business is to run it more like a country. They have disputes, yet they've actually been able to have huge trade with each other. They're not sending bombs at each other.

I think both Tim [Cook, Apple's CEO] and Larry [Page, Google's CEO], the sort of successors to Steve [Jobs] and me if you will, have an understanding of this state model. When they and their teams meet, they have just a long list of things to talk about.

Schmidt went on to note that Apple and Google talk about patent litigation and how Apple is currently embroiled in legal drama with Google's Android partners rather than Google itself. He also noted that the litigation would continue for "a while" and that the big loser is not Apple or Google, but a smaller company trying to get an operating system off the ground as they wouldn't have the necessary patent coverage.

Recently, Google updated its Search app to include its Siri competitor. Schmidt tells The Wall Street Journal that Google does, in fact, list Siri as an example of the future "non-conforming to the Web" competition. Google also has Safari-competitor Chrome available in the App Store and is reportedly moving closer to submitting Google Maps for iOS.

Google has updated the YouTube for iOS app, adding native support for the iPad and the iPhone 5, as well as full support for streaming videos via AirPlay, reports The Next Web.

Google’s Horia Ciurdar says that more than 25 percent of all YouTube watching happens on mobile. Since the launch of the YouTube app back in September, Ciurdar says Google has “been hard at work to improve the app based on your feedback.”

Now the YouTube app will get ‘enhanced’ AirPlay support, letting you shoot your videos over to your Apple TV. Videos are also said to start faster and play more smoothly. Google has also improved VoiceOver support for those with visual impairments.

During the iOS 6 Beta, Apple removed the native YouTube app that had been included on every iOS device since the platform was introduced. Once iOS 6 was publicly announced, Google released a native YouTube app for the iPhone.

YouTube for iOS is available as a free download from the App Store. [Direct Link]