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Web usage of Apple's iPad fell more than 7 percent in North America after Christmas, while competing tablets from Amazon, Google, and Samsung all registered gains, according to a new study released today.

While the iPad dominates the market with 78.8 percent Web usage, its usage after Christmas dropped 7.14 percent, according to Chitika Insights, which sampled hundreds of millions of smartphone and tablet ad impressions in the U.S. and Canada between December 1 and December 27. The Kindle Fire -- the distant second-place player in the market -- gained 3 percent to account for 7.… Read more

Apple said today that it will announce its fiscal first-quarter financial results on January 23.

The quarter is typically Apple's strongest, fueled by strong sales of the company's products during the lucrative holiday shopping season.

When announcing its fourth-quarter results last October, Apple said it expected revenue of $52 billion and projected earnings of $11.75 per share for its first quarter of 2013. Wall Street's expecting Apple to beat that with $54.5 billion in revenue, on earnings of $13.32 per share.

Much of that tally is expected to be buoyed by sales of the … Read more

Downloading almost every promotional app or game you come across in the App Store is a good idea, but it's also one that will result in your purchase history being littered with random apps. Some of them you'll need to use one day; others you'll never look at again. Anyone who has tried viewing their purchased history on an iOS device knows how long it takes for the list to appear -- it's ridiculous.

To clear up your purchased history, you'll need access to a computer with iTunes installed and a few minutes of your … Read more

But after finally clinching a (literally) last-minute deal to break a weeks-long deadlock over the so-called fiscal cliff, tech investors had a field day on the first day of trading for 2013.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index closed up more than 3 percent on the day, led by the usual roster of big names with Google finishing at $723.25, up 2.24 percent and Apple gaining almost 3 percent to close at $548.07. Facebook, which for much of the spring and summer had been a neglected stock, continued its recent climb, finishing up … Read more

Apple's next round of upgrades to its Mac computers are rumored to include a new, faster version of the ubiquitous 802.11 Wi-Fi spec.

Citing sources, The Next Web says Apple is working with Broadcom to include 802.11ac Wi-Fi technology in its Mac lineup, a move that would increase wireless networking speed when used with 802.11ac routers.

The 802.11ac Wi-Fi standard, which Broadcom has called "5G Wi-Fi," supports up to three streams and speeds of up to 1.3Gbps on the 5GHz band. That speed is dropped down to 450Mbps over a three-stream version … Read more

You might have been one of those who noticed over the New Year that your iPhone 5 wasn't disturbing you.

This was quite some time after it was supposed to disturb you.

And quite some time, even, after Apple had released an ad that celebrated this fine feature.

I would like to disturb you with some news.

Apple support has posted a notice that admits there might be a little problem.

Somehow, the Do Not Disturb function is staying on, even when people thought they had programmed it only for a certain period of time. (For those who don'… Read more

U.S. District Court Judge Lucy Koh is not big on rule breakers, and today slapped both Apple and Samsung over filing paperwork that did not follow her guidelines.

In an order this morning, Koh said that some or all of 10 pieces of evidence pertaining to Apple's bid for a sales ban against a number of Samsung devices would be stricken as evidence for excessive length, something that's been an issue during the spat between the two tech giants.

During the trial last August, Koh complained that both companies were filing too much paperwork, leaving her and … Read more

The United States Patent and Trademark Office has granted Apple a patent for a new way to supply power to a home through the use of an "intelligent power-enabled communications port."

The inventor was Tony Fadell, a key executive who worked for Apple on the iPod and iPhone, until leaving to found Nest, a company that makes a 'smart thermostat,' the idea being that it will be able to plug in to "the Internet of things."

You can read details of the patent filing here. Patently Apple also offers a write-up.

A California judge today sided with Amazon and its attempt to toss out claims by Apple about false advertising in a lawsuit involving the use of "app store" in marketing materials.

In an order today, U.S. District Court Judge Phyllis Hamilton granted Amazon's motion for a summary judgment to remove a part of the complaint that involved false advertising claims against it.

Apple sued Amazon in April 2011, accusing the online retail giant of misappropriating the "App Store" moniker, a name it attempted to trademark in 2008 following the launch of the App Store … Read more