Yes, that's right, SOPA might have been set back for now, but the vested interests from the big media corporations (music/movies/news etc) that want it implemented unsurprisingly aren't sitting idle and are pushing for ever more draconian measures aka 'SOPA Plus'. A digital music report (PDF) asks for everything that was in the original SOPA and then some, with a wishlist of seven 'fixes':

Apple has become the biggest buyer of semiconductors in 2011, according to the latest data by market researcher Gartner. It pushed ahead of Samsung Electronics and HP. In 2012, Apple spent a total of US $17.3 billion in sourcing semiconductors as raw material in making its products. Gartner attributes Apples growth to solid sales of its iPhone and iPad brands, and the success of Macbook Air, which became a path-breaking product as it pretty-much defined the requisites of what go into making performance ultra-portable notebooks such as Intel's Ultrabook specification. Apple's semiconductor purchases grew from US $12.8 billion in 2010 to $17.3 billion in 2011, a 35 percent growth. At the second place is Samsung, with $16.7 billion in semiconductor purchases, a 9.2% growth.

Some time in June 2010, Apple filed a patent application for a unique new facial-recognition technology that's light on the resources. It was discovered by AppleInsider. Entitled "Low Threshold Face Recognition," the application defines a method of recognizing a person using a front-facing camera of a device (could be anything from an iPhone, iPad, to even a Mac or Macbook), that consumes very little system resources, and is hence light on the device's power source.

It could very well be an evolution of the "Slide to Unlock" mechanism found on iOS devices, and conventional password entry to wake Macs up. If granted, this technology comes to being at a particularly important time, when a similar technology evolving out of Android Face Unlock, and when facial-recognition will be a key feature of Microsoft's Windows 8 operating system, to log into systems and wake devices up from their e-slumbers. Apple's proposed technology relies on analyzing a "high information portion" portion of the human face, rather than using the conventional resource-heavy method of recognition. Apple claims its technology will be just as reliable.

Welcome to the TechPowerUp 2011 PC technology Christmas special. We hope that you will enjoy reading it while tucking into your turkey, Christmas presents and a little too much wine... In this article, we go through the technology of 2011 that has had the most significance, the most impact and was generally the most talked about. It's not necessarily the best tech of 2011 which is the most significant though, since lemons can be just as significant as the ground-breakers in how they fail to deliver - and the backlash that goes with it.

January: Intel Sandy Bridge i5 & i7

Released on January 9th, the new Intel Core i5 & i7 processors were based on Intel's second generation Core architecture built on a 32 nm production process (HEXUS review). They included an IGP (Integrated Graphics Processor) physically on the same piece of silicon along with HyperThreading. These new dual and quad core processors soundly beat all previous generations of Intel processors in terms of processing performance, heat, power use, features and left AMD in the dust. Therefore, Intel badly needed some competition from AMD and unless you have been living under a rock, you will know how that turned out in October with the launch of Bulldozer. Sandy Bridge was a sound win and is generally considered to be the only architecture worth considering at this point. The i5-2500K is currently at the sweet spot of price/performance. It comes at a stock speed of 3.3 GHz, but typically overclocks to an amazing 4.5 - 5 GHz with a decent air cooler and without too much difficulty in getting there. Models in the budget i3 range were released at various times later. See this Wikipedia article for details.

VMware, Inc., the global leader in virtualization and cloud infrastructure, today announced the availability of new VMware View Clients for Kindle Fire, Mac and Linux, along with updates to its popular VMware View Clients for Android and iPad. Available today as technology previews, the new VMware View Clients for Mac and Linux allow IT organizations to empower more agile, productive and connected workforce or school communities by enabling an easy to access, high fidelity desktop virtualization experience optimized for the device of their choice.

"More and more people want the freedom to choose the device that best fits their computing needs in school and into the workplace," said Pat Lee, director, end user clients, VMware. "With the new VMware View Clients, both IT and end users win with a complete, secure and easily-accessible virtual desktop on the devices that best meet their needs."

Issues of labour-welfare and ethical-sourcing are back to haunt Apple, as one of its key foundry partners, Pegatron, reported an explosion at its facilities of Riteng Computer Accessory Company, Shanghai. The explosion injured 57 workers in all, hospitalising 23, while leaving 34 more with minor injuries. No deaths are reported so far. This facility manufactures the aluminum bodies of iPad 2, the incident is similar in nature to a previous one earlier this year, caused by improper exhaustion of combustible bi-products.

Pegatron CFO Charles Lin confirmed to the press, the number of people injured, the extant of their injuries, and what is being done. He went on to detail the current state of the facility. "The factory has not started operations yet. Part of the facility is still under pre-operation inspection and part is running trial production." Meanwhile, Apple expressed its condolences. In a statement, it said "Our hearts go out to the people who were hurt in Songjiang. We are working closely with Pegatron to understand the cause of this accident." This incident could affect supply of iPad 2.

Apple sure knows how to surprise us when it comes to display advancements, be it its retina display on iPhone products, 2560 x 1440 pixels in 27-inch monitors (Apple was first to market with that density), or talk of 2048 x 1536 pixels native resolution with the next generation iPad. This latest news is bound to shock and awe. Apparently, Apple is working with upstream suppliers to develop a retina display for its Macbook Pro products. As early as in Q2 2012, Apple will launch a new Macbook Pro with 2880 x 1800 pixels (that's more pixels than even the costliest of today's 30-inch displays can manage). More importantly, it's a return to the 16:10 aspect ratio. It will achieve this without upscaling display dimensions. Meanwhile, Apple's PC competitors ASUS and Acer plan 1920 x 1080 display notebooks around that time.

These are some lively times at Apple's legal department. The company is locked in intellectual property disputes with multiple companies, in multiple countries. Some of these are familiar foes such as Motorola Mobility and Samsung, others regional and lesser-known. The one thing patent disputes do, to all parties involved in them, is dent PR. Every legal dispute attracts or at lease leaves scope for bad press, and more often shapes public opinion against the disputing parties.

Apple learned a new trick in the trade which at least two recent events with very different outcomes, may have helped shape. First, it recently thwarted display IP infringement claims by S3 Graphics thanks to timely help by GPU supplier AMD, and second, it suffered a setback with regards to some brand names claimed by Chinese company ProView. You see, the ups and downs of IP disputes can have some very varied effects on the company's image. Apple's new trick is simple: make a different company, with a much different brand name, to handle those IP disputes on behalf of Apple, so brand Apple isn't directly dragged into the mess. Enter your friendly neighbourhood patent-troll, Digitude.

In a development that threatens to prevent Apple's European sales arm from selling 3G-enabled iPad and iPhone products, Motorola Mobility won an injunction against it in Germany. On the table was a key Motorola patent related to cellular data transmission, which is part of wireless data transmission standards that are obstructed by an agreement to license it on "fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory" (FRAND) terms.

Motorola claimed that Apple was infringing this patent, to which, Apple responded by putting up a FRAND defense (counter-accusing the patent-holder of not being fair/reasonable/non-discriminatory with licensing a patent that makes up an industry standard. The court ruling in Germany stated that raising a FRAND defense against standards-essential patent infringement claims could be a difficult proposition, and may force Apple to accept Motorola's licensing terms-FRAND or not-for "past infringement." Apple won similar FRAND defenses against Samsung, in the past, in other European countries such as The Netherlands and France.

Barring the Mac, Apple's rather generic-sounding brand names have often invited trademark disputes. Be it Apple's now resolved dispute of the name "iPhone" with VoIP major Cisco, or its rather bizarre claim to the word "App" that was stonewalled by a variety of industry majors such as Amazon.com, which it is likely to lose. A relatively unheard of brand name dispute has been over the name "iPad", which Chinese company Proview Technology claims to have been holding since before the release of the popular tablet device.

The Shenzhen-based company got an immediate respite when the Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court rejected Apple's claims to the iPad moniker. Apple had almost brokered a deal with the Taiwan branch of Proview, which the Shenzhen HQ rejected, sending the two in a legal tussle over the brand name. Proview claims to be holding the iPad brand name since the year 2000. Proview plans to take this minor yet significant legal victory forward in seeking an immediate halt of sales of iPad (at least in China), and about US $1.5 billion in damages from Apple, which it can appeal against the verdict in a higher court.

Verbatim, the global leader in data storage technology, has just announced its new Ultra-Slim Bluetooth Keyboard is now shipping to retailers nationwide. Designed to work with iPads, iPhones and other Bluetooth-enabled tablets with HID keyboard support, this thin, portable keyboard delivers a more familiar typing method to touchscreen users. By offering a quick and easy way to compose e-mails and other important documents on-the-go, the Ultra-Slim Bluetooth Keyboard enhances productivity and efficiency anywhere.

"The Ultra-Slim Bluetooth Keyboard is all about giving our customers the freedom to be mobile," said Ron Hanafin, Verbatim Product Manager, Accessories & Peripherals. "For on-the-go business professionals, for students working on a late-night term paper at the local coffee shop or for the everyday lifestyle blogger, this portable accessory is the perfect travel companion."

Love 'em or hate 'em, Apple has a habit of trend setting. When Apple released their original iPad, it had a meager low resolution 1024 x 768 resolution display which was scoffed at by many, yet it didn't stop it from being a runaway success. And the iPad 2 didn't improve on it, either - perhaps surprisingly, since the original formula worked so well. However, in early 2012 Apple plans to introduce its new Retina display equipped next generation iPads, offering a very high 2048 x 1536 resolution. On the 9.7" screen of an iPad, this would make the pixels all but invisible to anyone, except for those with the sharpest of 20-20 vision, giving the screen superb clarity and wow factor. These will be incorporated into its next generation iPads, which is expected to push the PC notebook market to use higher resolution displays too in order to remain competitive.

Leading international mainboard and graphics card manufacturer MSI today announces the official release of its X79A-GD65 (8D), X79A-GD65, X79A-GD45, and X79MA-GD45 mainboards. The new mainboards are based on Intel's latest X79 chipset and uses the LGA 2011 socket supporting the 2nd generation Core i7 processors. The X79A-GD65 (8D) features with 8 memory DIMMs, supports 16GB DDR3 memory modules, bringing maximum capacity up to a staggering 128GB! For superior quality and stability, MSI X79 series mainboards adopts Military Class III components. With DrMOS II - the next generation of DrMOS with improved double thermal protection - the lifetime of components is maximized, even in warmer environments or when the machine is heavily overclocked.

MSI X79 series mainboards also feature the latest PCI Express Gen 3 bus and MSI's proprietary Click BIOS II for maximum performance and user convenience. When taking into account all of the other advanced technologies supported such as 3-Way NVIDIA SLI and 4-way AMD CrossFireX multi-GPU processing technology, THX TruStudio PRO sound, Multi-BIOS II, Control Center II, and Super Charger, MSI X79-series mainboards are simply the best choice for enthusiasts!

In late September, S3 Graphics, still a subsidiary of VIA Technology and soon to be transferred to HTC, dragged Apple Inc. to court over charges of patent infringement related to graphics component IP of nearly all Apple products, including iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and iMac. Last month, AMD, now a main supplier of graphics processors for Apple's Mac products, intervened with a counter lawsuit claiming it owned the patents that S3 has asserted against Apple, and sought an immediate halt to S3's patent case against Apple.

In an October 28 filing with the ITC, S3 says that a federal judge struck down a request for an immediate halt into S3's case, but the Commission is scheduled to release its final decision on November 15. The case struck down is (rather was) Advanced Micro Devices Inc. v. S3 Graphics Co., 11cv965, U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware (Wilmington).

Apple today announced financial results for its fiscal 2011 fourth quarter ended September 24, 2011. The Company posted quarterly revenue of $28.27 billion and quarterly net profit of $6.62 billion, or $7.05 per diluted share. These results compare to revenue of $20.34 billion and net quarterly profit of $4.31 billion, or $4.64 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 40.3 percent compared to 36.9 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 63 percent of the quarter's revenue.

The Company sold 17.07 million iPhones in the quarter, representing 21 percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter. Apple sold 11.12 million iPads during the quarter, a 166 percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter. The Company sold 4.89 million Macs during the quarter, a 26 percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter. Apple sold 6.62 million iPods, a 27 percent unit decline from the year-ago quarter.

Soon to be subsidiary of HTC, currently held by VIA Technologies, S3 Graphics, fired off two more patent infringement charges against Apple Inc. Last week, VIA Technologies had sued Apple for alleged infringement of two of its CPU-related patents. These fresh charges by S3 Graphics, like those by VIA, seek sales ban on iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, as well as Mac in the United States. The complaints were filed with the US ITC (United States International Trade Commission), and a district court in Delaware.

S3 Graphics patents that the company claims Apple infringed are: #5945997 "block- and band-oriented traversal in three-dimensional triangle rendering," and #5581279 "VGA controller circuitry". If S3 Graphics pulls it off, it could inflict significant damage on Apple's sales, as the company heads towards the winter shopping season.

Taiwan-based low-power computing technology company VIA sought a sales ban of Apple's iPhone and iPad, for what it alleges to be patent infringements of its microprocessor intellectual property. VIA sought a jury trial along with a sales ban on Apple products containing the inventions in the U.S., according to a complaint filed yesterday in federal court in Wilmington, Delaware.

In its complaint VIA says "The products at issue generally concern microprocessors included in a variety of electronic products such as certain smartphones, tablet computers, portable media players and other computing devices." This specifically impinges upon Apple's cash-cow products, the iPhone and iPad, and it isn't coming at a good time because Apple, according to market analyst Gartner Inc., will dominate tablet sales this holiday season. The case is Via Technologies v. Apple Inc. (AAPL), U.S. District Court, District of Delaware (Wilmington).

Thermaltake continually revolutionizes the market by creating, innovating and implementing the most efficient solution on the products which designed to provide maximum performance to gamers of all levels. With the "deliver the perfect user experience" as the determinative mission, Thermaltake this September is globally introducing the new Massive 23 GT Notebook Cooler which continues the illustrious features of Thermaltake "Massive23 LX" and "Massive23 CS", and excitingly takes it into future. The design idiom accentuates its lively, stylish and passionate presence. The same applies to the functionality.

The new Massive 23 GT Notebook Cooler blends flip-up valve design with five different angles adjustment with ergonomic typing angle, high airflow 200mm red LED fan decreases temperature, multiple applications for notebook and tablet PC, such as iPad, its fan speed control from 500 to 800 RPM, dual USB and one mini USB ports for expandable usage for everyday uses, top performance with exemplary for keeping notebook components running at optimal temperatures and creating the perfect atmosphere for the users! This summer, the easy carrying Massive 23 GT Notebook Cooler will put out the fire in games and cool the battling gears for gamers to achieve best effectiveness in FPS, RPG, MMORPG and RTS gaming competition.

Known for delivering premium external storage solutions engineered to meet the needs of the Apple Mac community, G-Technology by Hitachi today introduced its G-CONNECT wireless storage solution, the first in a family of products providing instant, wireless storage and 802.11n WiFi Internet access for your Apple iPad, iPhone and many other mobile devices. The G-CONNECT solution provides on-the-go wireless access to content that's not already loaded on your iOS devices, including your favorite movies, music, books, photos and documents. No Internet connection is required. G-CONNECT provides access to five+ simultaneous devices, depending on the workload, and supports up to five SD or three HD video streams at once.

When connected via Ethernet to a network, the G-CONNECT drive becomes your own personal cloud or WiFi Internet access point, allowing you to surf and stream content, wirelessly, at the same time. Access and view content on the G-CONNECT solution with a mobile iOS app, which will be available in the App Store, or through your browser. Android devices are also supported with access through a web browser, with native apps available this fall.

Apple introduced iCloud, a breakthrough set of free new cloud services that work seamlessly with applications on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac or PC to automatically and wirelessly store your content in iCloud and automatically and wirelessly push it to all your devices. When anything changes on one of your devices, all of your devices are wirelessly updated almost instantly.

"Today it is a real hassle and very frustrating to keep all your information and content up-to-date across all your devices," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "iCloud keeps your important information and content up to date across all your devices. All of this happens automatically and wirelessly, and because it's integrated into our apps you don't even need to think about it-it all just works."

Seagate, today announced GoFlex Satellite mobile wireless storage, the first battery-powered external hard drive to wirelessly extend the storage capacity of any Wi-Fi enabled mobile device. With 500GB and Wi-Fi access over 802.11 b/g/n and a rechargeable battery, this latest member of the GoFlex family provides the ability to carry an entire library of video, music, pictures and documents with you. Devices are wirelessly connected directly to the GoFlex Satellite drive by use of the free GoFlex Media app-available now on iTunes and the Apple App Store-or a web browser. GoFlex Satellite is available immediately for preorder from Seagate.com, Amazon and BestBuy.com for a manufacturer's suggested retail price of $199.99, and is scheduled to arrive in Best Buy stores in July 2011. Global availability is planned for later this summer.

"With the growth of the tablet and iPad markets and the larger volumes of high-quality media now being consumed, there is a clear need for access to content that is not plagued with the challenges of streamed video over the Internet," said Patrick Connolly, vice president and general manager of Seagate's retail group. "The unfortunate fact is that these popular new mobile devices are hampered by their limited storage capacity while one of their primary functions is that of media consumption.

Tablet PCs came and went, but "tablets" as a category began with the Apple iPad. Merely weeks after its launch, the rattled PC OEM industry announced plans for their tablets, some being ARM-based and driven by Google's touch-phone optimized Android OS, and some using x86 processors and Windows 7. Unfortunately, Windows 7 based tablets aren't cutting it in the market, and the problem is with the user-interface (UI) itself. While Windows 7 has a touchscreen/pen software framework, its UI is more PC-like. Menu items, buttons with applications, are not very optimized for a comfortable touch-only input device.

Hence, Microsoft seems to be expediting the release of Windows 8 for Tablets, and the software giant plans to do that as early as by CES 2012. Only the tablet version of Windows 8 will be released then, not the PC version.

Verbatim, the information storage pioneer and computer peripherals leader, helps consumers nationwide get "plugged in" like never before with the brand-new MediaShare Mini, an easy-to-use home networking solution that makes any USB drive and its files network accessible. The new unit also allows for seamless content sharing with friends and family as well as multimedia streaming.

"With more than 18 million external hard drives expected to be shipped this year, coupled with the increasing need for users to be able to access and share their content whenever and wherever they are, the MediaShare Mini is the perfect solution for helping people manage their digital life in the most efficient possible way," said Verbatim Product Manager, Ron Hanafin. "Whether it's retrieving files remotely, streaming iTunes music or uploading photos directly onto Facebook, the MediaShare Mini is the must-have tool for today's connected consumer."

QNAP Systems, Inc., a leading manufacturer of world class NAS servers, NVR Video Surveillance Systems, and Network-based Media Players today announced the TS-x19P+ lineup of affordable Turbo NAS servers targeted primarily for home and SOHO users. The new models utilize Marvell's new 1.6GHz embedded processor and include 512MB of DDRIII memory and Gigabit LAN ports, mustering up transfer rates exceeding 100MB/sec and offering a unique blend of performance and features at very affordable price points. The new models include the 1-drive TS-119P+, 2-drive TS-219P+ and 4-drive TS-419P+. With up to 8TB of networked storage, the TS-x19P+ series NAS servers combine an attractive industrial design, outstanding performance, consumer-friendly features, and above all, legendary QNAP quality and reliability.

NAS servers are becoming a popular addition to home and SOHO networks as they solve the problem of how to share digital pictures, music, and videos among computers in the home without resorting to a USB keychain drive. QNAP's new TS-x19P+ models are easy to attach to an existing home network and provide easy file sharing between PCs, Macs, Linux, and UNIX-based computers. QNAP's TS-x19P+ NAS servers can also provide automatic backup of all computers on the network, host websites, record home security surveillance video from IP cameras on the network, be a UPnP-compliant media server, and act as a stand-alone file server for BT/FTP/HTTP and eMule downloads.

Despite reservations about the iPad's lack of flash and multitasking capability from many in the tech community it appears the iPad is and will be immensely popular. Apple reports sales numbers of 300,000 units for Saturday alone, but has not released sales numbers for Sunday. Gene Munster, an Apple analyst for Piper Jaffray, believes sales did not slow significantly for Sunday and possibly 600,000 units were sold over the entire weekend. If this is true it would make sales numbers for the iPad launch significantly higher than the figures for the launch of the iPhone. While there were some reports of stores not having enough iPads most stores had plenty. Apple seems to have provided enough stock to feed the thronging hordes of Apple fans.