Ken Case gives some insight into what will be happening with Omni’s product line in 2013.

Benj Edwards for Macworld:

Fifteen years ago, Apple released its first and only touchscreen laptop (so far), the often forgotten eMate 300. This translucent clamshell portable, which ran Apple’s Newton PDA operating system, represented a bold experiment in educational computing and a drastic departure from Apple’s traditional hardware design.

I picked one of these up on eBay some years ago and still plug in from time to time to remind myself what a cool little machine it was (and is).

The first time I saw the eMate 300 was at Apple’s tent outside Boston’s World Trade Center expo hall, during a Macworld Expo. Apple had pitched a tent in a parking lot across the street from the venue for its show presence (the venue inside was far too small to accommodate everyone), and the Apple presenters were dropping the eMate onto the asphalt pavement of the parking lot to demonstrate its reliability and suitability for the rough conditions Apple expected it to receive in the hands of schoolkids.

It’s a shame the eMate didn’t have a bigger impact in its day. But in those days, Apple was a hot mess and truly a “beleaguered” company.

Mashable:

For 62 years, the North American Aerospace Defense Command has been tracking Santa Claus on Christmas Eve, as he makes his way around the world delivering gifts to all the good boys and girls.

This year, the tradition will continue, and now there are even more ways that you and your little ones can follow Father Christmas’ progress. A stunning 25 million people from around the globe are predicted to follow Santa in real-time online, on mobile phones and tablets, by email and phone.

Apparently, NORAD has dropped Google Maps and is now working with Microsoft Bing to follow Santa’s worldwide progress. Insert your own Apple Maps joke here.

I’d like to thank iExplorer for sponsoring this week’s RSS feed on The Loop. From texts, to music, playlists, photos, and everything else — iExplorer lets you access, transfer, and copy everything from any iPhone or iPad. If you’re getting a new computer, iPhone, or iPad this holiday season, iExplorer is a must-have app to help you get everything backed up off the old device so you can get going with your new one.

Flickr is offering all users a free 3 month Pro account upgrade. Just go to the site and sign-in and the offer will be waiting for you. I haven’t used my Flickr account in years, but I decided to give it another try. My username is jdalrymple if you’re interested.

Good article by Hayley Tsukayama after RIM’s stock went on a bit of a roller coaster ride yesterday.

What Apple understands and its critics did not (and still do not) is that many people, from all walks of life, simply appreciate nice things. They accuse Apple of pretension and elitism, but it’s they, the critics, who hold that the mass market for phones and tablets is overwhelmingly comprised of tasteless, fickle shoppers who neither discern nor care about product quality.

I think Apple and the buying public have proven Gruber right. People do want nice things and they are willing to pay for quality.

The issue appears to be related to the NAND becoming corrupted and killing off the Galaxy S III’s mainboard, which causes the phone to essentially “brick” itself.

Well, there’s a feature the iPhone doesn’t have. Merry Christmas Samsung users.

Broadcasting & Cable:

The NFL announced the league, along with broadcast partner CBS, will livestream Super Bowl XLVII on Feb. 3.

The game will be available on both CBSSports.com and NFL.com. Tthe stream will have extra features, including additional camera angles, in-game highlights, live statistics and other interactive elements.

Last year’s game was most-streamed single game with over 2 million unique visitors…representing 6.2% of total downstream Internet traffic at 9 p.m. ET for NBCSports.com.

The Super Bowl is one of the few “Event TV” broadcasts left even if many tune in just for the commercials. It will be interesting to see how CBS leverages the internet to enhance the game on your “second screen”.

The European Commission confirmed on Thursday that it will be formally charging Samsung in its antitrust investigation related to the company abusing its market position by filing for Apple product sales injunctions over patent infringement claims. Samsung withdrew it injunction request earlier this week, but the EU is still moving forward with its case.

Merry Christmas Samsung.

Janko Roettgers:

Now that’s a coincidence, if there ever was any: Earlier this month, Amazon filed for two trademarks for extended warranty and servicing under the Kindle brand. Turns out that the description of these services was lifted verbatim from Apple’s AppleCare trademarks.

Surely they could have come up with their own wording.

The latest smartphone sales data from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech shows Apple has achieved its highest ever share in the US (53.3%) in the latest 12 weeks*, with the iPhone 5 helping to boost sales.

This is for the US market, but what must be scary for the competition is that Kantar expects Apple’s growth to continue through December.

I’m glad I’m not the only one. I’ve written about my similar feelings on The Loop and my personal site in an article called “Sometimes too much is just too much.”

National Geographic has posted an image on its photo feed saying it was “suspending new posts to Instagram. We are very concerned with the direction of the proposed new terms of service.”

It’s one thing when individual users stop posting to Instagram, but when an organization like National Geographic stops, you’ve got problems.

This is an older article, but still very cool.

New version just released in time for Christmas.

Don Melton:

I don’t recall all the names, but one that stands out is “Freedom.” Steve spent some time trying that one out on all of us. He may have liked it because it invoked positive imagery of people being set free. And, just as possible and positive, it spoke to our own freedom from Microsoft and Internet Explorer, the company and browser we depended on at the time.

I just love these types of stories.

[Via 9to5 Mac]

I use the alarm on my iPhone a lot when I travel, but I have never seen any alarm look this cool. You just move your finger up and down to change the time and swipe right to turn it on. This is the epitome of doing one thing and doing one thing right.

Sports has always played a big part in the life of many of us and Sports Illustrated captured some amazing moments in the history of sport. Here are there “Top 100”. I’ve included my favorite shot here but I bet The Loop’s Publisher would choose number 21.

Sometimes it’s just as fascinating to see what wasn’t released.

I love autocorrect.