-What's up?
Brian Tong here and welcome to the Apple Byte for all the good and bad inside the world of Apple.
Now we're doing giveaways and exclusive promos every show for the holidays through December because, you know what, we're the gift that keeps on giving.
So let's get to the show and the latest rumor report from the Commercial Times based in China claims that Apple will begin trial production of the iPhone 5S
as early as December.
Am I the only one that just threw up in my mouth?
Now the paper says the iPhone 5S, if there even is one could enter volume production in the 1st quarter of 2013 and be set to launch earlier than expected.
Take what you want from this, but there's no need to rush on Apple's side.
Look for fall 2013 to be the timeframe, unless they pull an iPad 4 thing on us like they did, but with the iPhone then yes.
I might get a little cray-cray just like that.
Now in more iPhone news, a recently released report says that text messaging in the US dropped for the first time in years, thanks to Apple's iMessage and other database messaging apps.
Text messages for an individual in the 3rd quarter dropped from 696 texts per month to 678.
Now that might seem like a small number, but SMS messaging has seen continuous growth every year up to this point.
Now most of my messaging happens after 11 pm, if you know what I'm saying.
Okay.
Well, Apple was awarded a few times recently for that page-turning animation in iBooks that some of you still can't stop doing over and over and their iPad Smart Case that uses magnetic sensors to turn the screen on and off.
And in great news, the Big A published a joint statement with HTC announcing they have settled their patent dispute and agreed to a broad 10-year licensing agreement between the 2 companies, proving that yes, enemies can end up being friends, but not
all of them.
Samsung's Shin Jong-kyun who heads their mobile and IT division was quoted as saying, it may be true that HTC may have agreed to pay 300 billion won to Apple, but we don't intend to negotiate at all.
Okay, fine, not everyone can be friends.
But hey guys, have you been looking for the next evolution of headphones?
In some really cool future stuff, a patent filing recently revealed Apple has invented the next gen dual-mode headphone design that can be operated in 2 modes.
Now the first mode would be your normal everyday headphone design with sound specifically targeting your ears, but the second mode would allow you to rotate them out 90 degrees, rest them on a table, and put them in true speaker mode with a full amplifier so the music could fill a room in a social setting.
How sweet would that be?
Very sweet.
Let's just hope you don't pick them up to use while they're in full speaker mode.
Now we'll make sure you won't with a sensor, but this is a really cool concept and idea that I love to see.
Alright.
Let's take a quick break for our app of the week with editor extraordinaire, Jason Parker.
-Hey, everybody.
Welcome to Tap That App.
I'm Jason Parker and this is the show where we check out the hottest apps in the mobile space.
Angry Birds Star Wars is finally here.
Just like the other Angry Birds games, you're presented with a level where you'll need to destroy all the pigs, but these Imperial pig troopers have new tricks up their sleeves including blasters you'll need to avoid.
As you progress through the levels, you'll unlock new Star Wars
birds like the Obi Wan Kenobi bird that uses the force push to knock down objects and take out pig troopers.
Your birds level up as you play too so the original Luke bird you get in the beginning will later earn a lightsaber that you can use to take out objects in your way.
Of course, if you fail the finish level, you'll get a glimpse of the pig Darth Vader taunting you to try again.
There are more than 80 levels to explore including hidden levels you can unlock by getting a specific number of stars.
An early bonus level I played let me used C3PO and
R2D2 birds to take out pig troopers in space using the droids' own special abilities.
If you get 30 stars, you'll also unlock the Mighty Falcon which you can use on particularly hard levels to blow away all the pigs at once.
Angry Birds Star Wars is available now at the App Store with an iPhone version that costs 99 cents and an HD iPad version for 1.99.
If you like Angry Birds or Star Wars, I highly recommend you tap this app immediately.
-I
love the game, Jason, but I don't like the way you said Tap This App.
It's almost dirty.
Alright.
Let's get to the quick fights and the second iOS 6.1 beta has been seeded out to developers, and a couple of things people have noticed is the new alarm screen for Passbook with a new look that might already hint to the transition Johnny Ive is handling iOS' look and feel plus the ability to download and delete individual songs in the music app for iTunes Match users has returned.
And also recently,
Nokia announced they will be releasing their new map app for iOS called Here.
That will be free include voice-guided navigation, public transit directions, and feature offline capabilities as well.
Nokia says it will be available in the coming weeks.
Alright.
Let's get to the winners from last week's contest.
The iOS NBA 2K13 winners are Ryan Ritchie who said Bugs Bunny in Space Jam was his favorite player.
[unk] like Nate, Kryptonate Robinson.
[unk] says Vince Carter for
us Canadians, eh.
And a lot of you wrote it with Brian Scalabrine, the White Mamba.
And [unk] said Brian, you're my favorite basketball player of all time because only 2 people in this world could pull off your hairdo, you and Rufio from the movie Hook.
Thanks, Jason.
I also ask you the Apple Byters to send me some Photoshop goodies and you delivered.
[unk] sent me a few and really went to town so he's getting the XBOX version and
[unk] who went the distance with his cover pick for me for NBA 2K14 riding Harrison Barnes, he gets the PS3 Dynasty Edition.
So congrats to all.
And we told you.
We got one more giveaway.
This week it's brand new iPad Mini book jacket cases from Incase.
These are hot right now and they could be yours.
We'll just make it simple.
Send us an email to the Apple Byte at CNET.com.
They could be yours, plus Incase is hooking you all up with a 25 percent code off
everything from their online store at their website, goincase.com with a code Apple Byte 25.
Alright, guys.
That's gonna do it for this week's show.
I'm Brian Tong, thanks for watching, and we'll catch you guys next time for another Byte of the Apple.
