Gadgets, Ipad | featured news

The next major update of iOS, Apple's phone and tablet operating system, is likely to showcase a massive design overhaul led by Apple design guru Jony Ive.

The Department of Defense is expected in coming weeks to grant two separate, security approvals for Samsung's Galaxy smartphones, along with iPhones and iPads running Apple's latest operating system.

Shares of Apple Inc. hit their lowest levels in a year and half on Wednesday, after a supplier hinted at a slowdown in iPhone and iPad production. The stock was down $20.37, or 4.8 percent, at $405.87. Apple's shares hit $403.67 earlier, the lowest level since Dec. 2011. The decline means Apple has _for now_ lost its position as the world's most valuable publicly traded company to Exxon Mobil Corp.

Fortune reporter Philip Elmer-Dewitt compiles sell-side and independent analysts forecasts on Apple.  He has gathered 56 projections that have an average of 18.4 million iPads sold from the Street analysts and 17.7 million from the independent analysts.  The median for all of them is 18 million, which would be 53% growth from last year’s 11.8 million and down 21% from December’s quarter.

... Yes, the words are the same, whether perceived on paper or on a small, illuminated screen. But the experience is not. One can read “One Hundred Years of Solitude” on a Kindle or an iPad, but one cannot see, hear, feel and smell the story in the same way. I’m unlikely to race to the sofa, there to nuzzle an electronic gizmo, with the same anticipation as with a book. Or to the hammock with the same relish I would with a new magazine. Somehow, napping with a gadget blinking notice of its dwindling power doesn’t hold the same appeal as falling asleep in the hammock with your paperback opened to where you dozed off.

A lot of good things happened in tech this year, including the debuts of the iPhone 5 and the Samsung Galaxy S III. But where there’s good, there’s bad. There were plenty of major tech fails this year.

As you may have seen if you've visited Apple's (AAPL) online store today, the company is offering some modest discounts for Black Friday here and there, nothing huge. Macrumors's Arnold Kim has the lowdown on which things are cheaper.

When the iPhone 5 was released, Samsung added it to the ever-growing list of devices that infringe on its patents. Now Samsung is making the list even longer. In a new court filing, the company has asked for a few more of Apple’s devices to be included in its patent lawsuit against Apple. These devices include the new iPad, the iPad mini, and new iPod touch.

AT&T, Verizon and Sprint announced Friday the arrival of the 4G LTE models of Apple's iPad mini and fourth generation iPad. Apple's iPad mini is a smaller, cheaper version of the iPad. The mini tablet features at 7.9-inch screen with 1,024 x 768 display resolution, front- and rear-facing cameras and 1080p HD video recording.

Shortly before midnight on Monday two criminals accessed a cargo building in John F. Kennedy airport and managed to steal $1.5 million worth of iPad minis. According to The New York Post, the pair used the airport’s own forklift to load two pallets containing the Apple (AAPL) tablets into their vehicle.