december

Mayan apocalypse fails, according to Australia

The reports are rolling in on Reddit. Australia and New Zealand have successfully crossed over into December 21 without the world ending. This news should make NASA happy.

Redditor sasquatch92 posted an image of a clock hitting 12:00 while flames licked around the casing. This is especially strange since we all know that Sasquatches are afraid of fire. Still, it does offer some slight bit of photographic evidence that the world hasn't abruptly ended as so many Mayan calendar fans have predicted.… Read more

NASA: There will be a year 2013, so plan accordingly

I'm planning to have an awesome holiday season this year, if only by virtue of the fact that myself and leading astrobiologist David Morrison are confident we'll be around to celebrate them.

Normally I don't seek out the professional opinion of NASA scientists to validate my Christmas and New Year's plans, but in the case of 2012 I'm playing it safe.

You've probably heard, if you've spent any time on the Internet in the past decade, that lots of people believe some sort of doomsday is in store for us around the time … Read more

Some find problems with Wii U update

You don't have to wait long for Monday's CNET Update:

Sales of the Nintendo Wii U system began Sunday, following a midnight launch event at the Nintendo World store in New York. But anyone getting a Wii U will need some patience before getting started. A required 5GB firmware update can take an hour or two to download, but be sure to not turn it off once the update has begun! Some users that turned off the console before the download was complete have "bricked" the machine and need to exchange it for a new one. … Read more

iPhone 5 coming this fall, says analyst

A research note from an investment bank today sees an iPhone 5 coming this fall and sees strong growth for Apple's popular phone in the coming quarter.

The iPhone will comprise roughly 50 percent of Apple's total revenue in the next reported quarter, wrote Tavis McCourt of Morgan Keegan.

"We expect iPhone revenues to represent 47.5% of Apple's total revenues in [the December quarter], up from 38.8% in the Sep. quarter, and up from 39.1% in the year ago period," he wrote.

And he is upping his iPhone shipment estimate for the … Read more

Rumor: iOS 4.3 to hit in mid-December

Just as I updated my iPhone 4 to iOS 4.2.1 this morning, MacStories reported that a "reliable source" claims iOS 4.3 will be available in mid-December, adding support for the Apple/News Corp. joint, iPad-only app, The Daily.

This source tells MacStories: "Apple was already planning to release a new build of iOS 4.x in mid-December. Most specifically, they were planning for an iOS 4.3 release on December 13th, which is a Monday."

The source claims that Apple had to push back the initial iOS 4.2 release because of Wi-Fi … Read more

Even with iPhone added, iPod growth is slowing

As CNET News.com reporter Tom Krazit reports, Apple shipped 22.1 million iPods in its October-to-December quarter, up a mere 5 percent from same quarter last year.

But as I've argued before, you must count iPhone unit sales for a fair year-to-year comparison because each iPhone takes the place of a potential iPod sale. It's essentially the highest-end, most expensive iPod.

But even with the 2.32 million iPhones it sold, that makes a total of 24.42 million, for a total of 15 percent unit growth over the previous year's quarter. That's respectable and … Read more

Microsoft to have seven patches next Tuesday

On Thursday, Microsoft announced that it will have seven patches available on Patch Tuesday, December 11. Three of these will be ranked by Microsoft as critical. One critical patch concerns DirectX versions 7.0 through 10.0. Another affects Microsoft Media Format. The third appears to be a cumulative update for Internet Explorer.

The important patches include two for Windows Vista, one for Windows 2000 and Windows XP, and one for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003.