Amplified, The Talk Show with John Gruber and Before you Buy were named the “Best New Technology” podcasts in Apple’s App Store Best of 2012.

Thanks.

Young Sohn, president and chief strategy officer in the US:

OK, so think about Apple compared to Samsung. I use a Mac, actually, at home. I’ve always used Mac, an iPhone, and an iPad. I also have the Galaxy. So I’m a great example.

If you look at the strengths of Apple, in a way it’s not the product per se. It’s that consumers like their ecosystem such as iCloud. I like that my family 6,000 miles away in Korea is able to see my schedule and see all of my contacts and photos. It is sticky, but it is a proprietary architecture.

I’ve been testing out the new version for the past couple of weeks on my iPhone and it’s great. 1Password has become one of my favorite apps.

You wanted it, here it is.

Gabe Weatherhead runs through all the changes involved in his big computer move. As a side note: It always surprises me how clean people’s desks are. Mine is a disaster.

Jim and Dan interview Jeff Hawley of Yamaha and later discuss Apple TV, Tim Cook’s interview with NBC, and Angus Young.

If my annual tally of plagiarism and fabrication incidents is the depressing part of “Regret the Error”‘s year-end coverage, then this annual collection of the best of the worst in errors and corrections is the highlight.

That’s not to say the mistakes detailed below are minor or purely amusing; many are serious failures.

But it’s important to acknowledge the amusing and outrageous, and to collect them to help journalists avoid making the same mistakes.I also want to celebrate the correction writers who went beyond the call of duty to offer something special.

I’m not a huge fan of year end retrospectives, but being in the media some of these howlers have me laughing, cringing, and wondering what the hell happened.

Until I got to the entry entitled “Best Explanation of Missing Information.”

That’s when I started slow-clapping.

Digging specifically at Android, McNamee said that it is akin to “having a motor scooter at the Indianapolis 500.”

“I watch what they have done with Android and I’m flabbergasted because their market share in units is so high but look at the profit share,” McNamee said. “Apple’s profit share is 75 or 80% because Android has been managed essentially to make it a profitless prosperity. Right now, if Google is not careful, Android will be Samsung or Samsung will be Android.”

I laughed. Hard.

Speaking to V3, the firm’s product management director at Google Apps, Clay Bavor, said that due to what it sees as a lack of interest from its clients on the systems, it is holding back on any work at present.

“We have no plans to build out Windows apps. We are very careful about where we invest and will go where the users are but they are not on Windows Phone or Windows 8,” he said.

And the shots go back and forth.

The firm notes that the number of Android devices infected with malware increased by 41% in the second half of 2012 with individual malware reports increased 75%. In fact, 94.35% of unique malware samples in 2012 were found to be Android trojans.

And it’s going to get worse? Yeah, Android is definitely winning.

Wade at Panic did an experiment and included an Xcode demo project that you can download.

When you are willing to pay this level attention to detail you can be as great as Apple, and not a moment sooner.

Felix Salmon wrote a very smart article on Tablet-native journalism. I don’t agree with everything he said, but it’s worth a read.

Now police in Colac, west of Melbourne, say faults with Google maps are putting people’s lives at risk along the Great Ocean Road and in the southern Otways.

So it’s not just Apple after all.

Matthew Handrahan for Gamesindustry.biz:

Google chairman Eric Schmidt believes Android is now emerging as a clear winner in mobile, racing past Apple’s iOS in a manner similar to Microsoft in the desktop software market in the Nineties.

In related news, Donald Trump thinks that Trump Steaks are the best-tasting steaks in the world and Jim Koch thinks Samuel Adams beer is the best beer.

Squarespace Note helps anyone record their ideas on the fly. Writers, bloggers, and others can use the app to record inspiration and ideas as they happen; notes can be sent via e-mail, or synced with a range of popular services including Squarespace, Evernote, Dropbox, and more.

Until yesterday I thought this app was just another way to interact with the Squarespace Web site, but it’s more than that. It can be used as a notes app. Oh, and if you shake the iPhone when the app is active, it changes from day to night mode.

Dave Caolo has a rundown on how to buy gift cards from Facebook in case that’s on your wish list this year.

“After 126 years of printing ink on paper with weekly, biweekly or monthly frequency, Sporting News will officially become a digital brand as of January 1, 2013. … Having spoken with many of our longtime subscribers, we recognize this is not a popular decision among our most loyal fans.”

Unfortunately, there aren’t enough loyal fans to pay the bills. Time to move on.

Om Malik:

I asked a Twitter spokesperson to describe Twitter’s core design, product and engineering capabilities — stuff they are really good at. What is Twitter’s core competency? So far, no comment.

I don’t expect an answer, but I had to ask. In fact, it is a question that Twitter should ask itself. Because in doing so it will be able to confront the deeper issues that have plagued its relationship with who used to be its customers — people.

Associated Press:

Later this month, Redbox will offer an unlimited streaming-video plan that includes movies from Warner Bros. and pay TV channel Epix, along with four nights of physical DVD rentals, for $8 a month, or $9 a month if customers want Blu-ray discs.

The service will stream video on iOS and Android devices, along with select products from Samsung and LG, according to Redbox’s press release.

The service is designed to augment Redbox’s existing offering; the company provides automated kiosks that allow customers to rent recent top movie releases on Blu-ray and DVD for as low as $1 a day. The service also provides video game rentals, though that isn’t included in the streaming-video service.

SFGate:

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to give pint-size apartments a try, approving legislation that would allow for the construction of hundreds of 220-square-foot residential units.Up to two people will be allowed to live in the micro-apartments that are estimated to go for $1,300 to $1,500 a month.

How much space do you think you really need to live in? Would you give up a lot of space in order to live in a desirable area – say downtown San Francisco or New York City?

Microsoft Corp. today announced plans to make Microsoft Surface available at additional retailers as soon as mid-December. In addition, the company announced the extension of the Microsoft holiday stores, including the transition of several of the stores into permanent Microsoft retail outlets.

So far the only place to buy a Surface has been online or at Microsoft stores, so this means the Surface will be coming to a regular retailer near you soon.

You have to appreciate the honesty.

We’ve all seen the famous “Earth at Night” composite image showing our planet at night and how much light there still is, sometimes in unexpected places.

Now Google has a new global view of Earth’s city lights that is a composite assembled from data acquired by the Suomi NPP satellite.

With this version of the image, you can even zoom in to get a better (if not necessarily higher resolution ) and closer view.