Right after Samsung announced the wireless charger for the Galaxy S III, Apple today has filed a patent application for a Wireless Power Utilization. It's a wireless charging system that uses near-field magnetic resonance NFMR.

It is obviously an improvement over the current wireless charging technology which requires you to put your handset on a pad. We really haven't come that far since Palm introduced the Touchstone wireless charging system when it announced the Palm Pre back at CES 2009, so this would seem like a great idea on its face. But there is a catch and it is a big one.

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Today, after a serious delay, the iTunes 11 is finally ready to download. This New iTunes was suppose to be launched with the iOS 6.0.1 and the iPhone 5. Apple has a pretty long list of what's new in this version. There's even a promo video.

iTunes 11 is quicker and smoother, it's got a simpler user interface with the navigation bar on the left gone. The iTunes store (accessible via the application itself) looks a lot nicer and generally, accessing it seems faster. In the past it has always been so darn slow.

An Apple freak Guy, that uses his iPad with the Crestron home automation app, and the respective paraphernalia of sensors, motors and remote-controlled thermostats, to the tune of $80,000 spent, to automate his house, and prove that even backend X-Factor staff seems overpaid.

The possibilities are endless from feeding your cat while on vacation, to broadcasting video stream if you take care of a child or an elderly parent, to warming up your driveaway in the expectation of a snowfall, not to mention the usual light and air temperature controls.

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Apple has informed Cupertino officials that it might take longer to finish what is expected to become one of the largest buildings on Earth.

According to a new construction timetable submitted by Apple, the employees' new home is more likely to be ready sometime in 2016, because the environmental impact report might be not be completed until June 2013. This means that, according to city manager David Brandt, the company could eventually start work on the project in 2013, but that's in case everything goes smoothly.

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This past week, the USPTO awarded the Apple Inc. tech firm the patent for "Display screen or portion thereof with animated graphical user interface" which is also known as patent D670,713. The patent was filed last December.

While the patent is not clear on exactly what is being protected, Apple says that its patented page turn is unique because of the special-type of animation used to create the illusion, which the competition does not have.

As New York Times points out, why should the granting of this patent application be surprising considering Apple's patents for its music icon, the glass staircase in some Apple Stores, and for the packaging of the Apple iPhone.

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Apple's latest LTE iPad mini and the 4th generation iPad are now in stock at Verizon, AT&T and Sprint. While Apple has remained tight-lipped about the exact release date of the iPad mini with cellular data, now there is no need to guess anymore.

Prices also vary depending on how you buy the device. If you pick the option to pay on a month-to-month basis for say the LTE iPad mini, prices start from $459, while AT&T offers 2-year contracts with a subsidy bringing down the starting price to $359.99.

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When the Swiss Federal Railway (SBB) got a look at the clock design on the world time application in iOS 6, it looked quite familiar. To borrow a phrase from Apple, the clock had the "look and feel" of the SBB's train station clocks. The clock was designed by SBB employee Hans Hilfiker in 1944 and has been recognized as an "iconic example of 20th century design" by the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the London Design Museum.

When iOS 6 launched in September, SBB says it did not demand any payment from Apple and in fact, was honored that the Cupertino based company would decide to copy its clock design. SBB spokeswoman Patricia Claivaz said back in September that, "We're rather proud that a brand as important as Apple is using our design." Despite being so honored, Claivaz said in September that SBB would meet with Apple to discuss why the tech giant had used the clock design without authorization.

In the middle of last month, both sides agreed on a deal that would allow Apple to license the design of SBB's train station clock for its mobile OS. While the amount of money Apple paid to the railway was not disclosed at the time, on Friday global news agency AFB cited a Swiss newspaper in saying that Apple paid $21 million for the right to use the design! We don't know if this story is true or not, but it sounds hard to believe 

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Apple and HTC have settled their patent disputes. The two companies have reached a "global settlement" with confidential terms, which dismisses all their current lawsuits. The agreement includes all current and future patents held by the two giants and will extend over the next ten years.

Peter Chou, CEO of HTC issued this Statement :

In Other Hands Apple CEO, Tim Cook, issued this Statement :

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Well FaceTime is not Apple's idea after all. Today, Apple has lost a patent related case to VirnetX in the US, for infringing on four of patents related to to the video chat technology FaceTime.

Apple argued that it did not infringe upon any patents, that FaceTime was a free service with no revenue and that VirnetX does not have any products that use those patents but apparently it was not enough to please the judge and now Apple has been ordered to pay $368 million fine.

Apple doesn't have to pay the amount just yet. The company has now filed a motion asking whether VirnetX has sufficient evidence to support its case and to reexamine each of the four patents in question with the US Patent Office.

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The Apple iPad mini might just have landed in stores, but Apple's manufacturers are already gearing up for a Retina-display second generation of the iPad mini 2, according to sources from China.

AU Optronics in particular is said to expect to kick off mass production of 2048 x 1536 resolution 7.9-inch screens by the 2nd half of 2013. While on the 9.7-inch iPad that meant a high pixel density of 264 ppi, on the iPad mini, this would work out to be a mind-blowing display, a candy for your eyes with a pixel density of 324 ppi.

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