Joshua Topolsky at The Verge:

I pressed the companies on whether or not technology manufacturers were simply producing too many gadgets, outpacing real consumer demand with iterative, insubstantial changes. “Are we creating demand where there isn’t any?” I asked.

He makes an interesting point. One of the issues we hear all the time about CES is that there is just “too much”. Too much of everything. As Topolsky says, “For a journalist, it’s daunting — for shoppers, it’s starting to seem impossible.”

AllThingsD:

McGraw-Hill normally sells high school textbooks for $75 a pop. Now it says it will sell electronic versions of the same books, via Apple, for $15 apiece. How can the publisher make that work?“Volume,” says McGraw-Hill CEO Terry McGraw, which is the usual answer for this kind of digital question.

The Toronto Star reports:

Toronto lawyer Michael Deverett bought a MacBook Pro, an iPod Touch, cables and programs for $2,248.53 at the Apple store in the Yorkdale Mall.He didn’t notice anyone following him…to his car. He didn’t notice anyone following him on the drive home or pulling up near him when he stopped at a convenience store to buy a soft drink for his daughter.In the two minutes it took Deverett to buy a drink, thieves smashed a hole in the rear window of his car and made off with his Apple purchases.Deverett sued Apple, claiming that…Apple had a duty of care to warn store customers of the danger.

Deverett eventually settled with Apple for full replacement costs and legal fees. “Apple Canada does not owe a duty of care to customers once they have left its retail store,”’ according to the statement filed by Apple Canada in the Deverett lawsuit.

Thomas Lane for Talking Points Memo, quoting from a statement from Sen. Harry Reid:

“In light of recent events, I have decided to postpone Tuesday’s vote on the PROTECT I.P. Act.

Reid says he’s “optimistic that we can reach a compromise in the coming weeks,” but has taken PIPA off the table for now until that compromise can be reached.

(Hat tip: Techmeme)

David Pierson for the Los Angeles Times:

As websites including Wikipedia shut down and millions of Americans complained to lawmakers about the potential for government censorship, Chinese netizens spoke admiringly of the public rebellion. Such a display in China would be nearly impossible right now, given Beijing’s tight grip on citizens’ online activities.

An important contrast that conscientious American citizens should bear in mind, always. It’s one thing to say your government is censorious. It’s another thing entirely to actually live under such an oppressive regime, and it must make us that much more vigilant to protect our rights.

Nate Anderson for Ars Technica:

“… the government asserts that Megaupload merely wanted the veneer of legitimacy, while its employees knew full well that the site’s main use was to distribute infringing content. Indeed, the government points to numerous internal e-mails and chat logs from employees showing that they were aware of copyrighted material on the site and even shared it with each other.”

Megaupload’s takedown raised eyebrows, coming so soon after SOPA’s supporters beat a hasty retreat following the protests earlier this week. Anderson paints a picture that clearly defines Megaupload as a harbor for pirate activity, but also scratches his head at some of the stranger points of the indictment.

The latest addition to the Symphony I/O module line-up, the 16×16 Analog I/O Module allows you to pack 32 channels of premium Apogee conversion into one Symphony I/O (two module spaces per chassis).

I haven’t seen this one yet, but I’m going to try to stop over this afternoon.

China Daily:

China Unicom, the country’s second-largest telecom operator by subscriber numbers, said it has large stocks of Apple Inc’s iPhone 4S handsets available for purchase.That’s despite Apple’s Chinese stores halting supplies of the device and scalpers charging a markup of as much as 1,000 yuan ($158) for each handset.Apple announced on Friday that the iPhone 4S will not be available in stores in Beijing and Shanghai “for the time being”, after angry shoppers pelted the company’s store in the capital’s upmarket Sanlitun area with eggs and quarrels broke out between scalpers and security guards.

Apollo is the first professional, high-resolution computer audio interface that delivers the sound and feel of analog recording. This FireWire 800 / Thunderbolt ready interface combines genuine UA analog design with class-leading sound quality and onboard Realtime UAD Plug-In Processing — giving music producers classic analog tones from Neve, Studer, Manley, Lexicon and more.

I just got back from the UA and this unit looks really nice. It has 18 in x 24 out and works with all major DAWs. It will be available in March.

Apple just posted the streaming video file of the video from today’s Apple Special Event in New York City. Streaming video requires Safari 4 or 5 on Mac OS X Snow Leopard or Lion, Safari on iOS 3 or later, or QuickTime 7 on Windows.

It’s also available as a download on the iTunes Store.

THR is designed to fit where, when, and how you play when you’re not on stage. With big amp response, incredible effects, and hi-fi stereo sound in a package that’s built to meet all of your off-stage needs, you’re about to begin a new chapter in your playing.

They demoed this for me this morning and it had a great sound. I want one of these.

AmpKit LiNK HD is based on USB digital audio technology, providing high fidelity while eliminating crosstalk and feedback. It’s perfect for AmpKit’s authentic high gain amps.

Some nice features on the LiNK HD. AmpKit is my goto amp software on the iPhone and iPad, so I’ll be interested to see how this interface does. I’m expecting good things though.

AT&T will hike data rates by $5 on all new subscribers:

As the AT&T network gets even faster with 4G LTE deployment – up to 10 times faster than 3G – and devices and applications become even more sophisticated, it’s clear that data usage will surge even more.Taking all of this into account – and our ongoing commitment to deliver value to our customers – we’re launching new smartphone and tablet data plans on Sunday, Jan. 22. The new plans give customers more data for more value. Existing customers will be able to keep their current plans but can also choose from one of the new plans.

AT&T’s previous $15 plan will cost $20 (data allocation goes up to 300MB), the former $25 plan is now $30/3GB and the $45 plan is now $50/5GB.

Gleb Polyakov and Igor Zamlinsky are Kickstarting this project:

We’re making a commercial-quality espresso machine at a consumer-friendly price. There are basically two kinds of home espresso machines on the market today. The affordable models have no good mechanism of temperature or pressure control. These machines can’t pull consistent shots.But we’re engineers, and we knew that we could design a machine that was just as good as the expensive models – for less. And because we’re coffee enthusiasts ourselves, we kept the consumer experience in mind, and included features that we ourselves lusted after in an affordable machine.No other machine at this price point offers high-end quality, PID-controlled customizable temperature and pressure, pre-infusion, or shot-time settings – we do.

Coffee is important – don’t argue. Good coffee is great and great coffee can be sublime. This Kickstarter espresso machine project is already fully funded at over $330,000 and makes me wish I had gotten in on the ground floor and wish I had $300. It’s a coffee machine by geeks for geeks!

Wired quotes Steve Jobs:

I used to think that technology could help education. I’ve probably spearheaded giving away more computer equipment to schools than anybody else on the planet. But I’ve had to come to the inevitable conclusion that the problem is not one that technology can hope to solve. What’s wrong with education cannot be fixed with technology. No amount of technology will make a dent.It’s a political problem. The problems are sociopolitical. The problems are unions. You plot the growth of the NEA [National Education Association] and the dropping of SAT scores, and they’re inversely proportional. The problems are unions in the schools. The problem is bureaucracy.

Granting the quote is from 1996 and many things have changed since then, it still might be interesting to keep in mind in light of tomorrow’s Apple (assumed) education announcement in New York City.

Steve Peterson for Industrygamers:

Market research firm IHS iSuppli is projecting that in-app purchases will account for 64% of total app market revenue by 2015, up from 39% in 2011. These percentages reflect the total from both iOS and Android smartphones. In-app purchases already represent 45% of iOS app revenue and 31% of the highest-earning Android apps.

I often take iSuppli figures with a grain of salt, but there’s no question that iPhone and other smartphone users overwhelmingly prefer free apps when they can get them. It’s a trend that has really taken hold in the game market and it’s spreading to other market segments too.

For the future, the question developers will have to answer is, how do I capitalize on this? How do I produce an app that I can release for free, and entice customers to make in-app purchases to help me make a profit?

Fortune has published an excerpt from senior editor-at-large Adam Lashinsky new book, “Inside Apple: How America’s Most Admired–and Secretive–Company Really Works”:

Apple employees know something big is afoot when the carpenters appear in their office building. New walls are quickly erected. Doors are added and new security protocols put into place. Windows that once were transparent are now frosted. Other rooms have no windows at all. They are called lockdown rooms: No information goes in or out without a reason.The hubbub is disconcerting for employees. Quite likely you have no idea what is going on, and it’s not like you’re going to ask. If it hasn’t been disclosed to you, then it’s literally none of your business.

Nielsen’s December survey of the U.S. mobile phone market:

According to the latest research from Nielsen, the high-profile launch of Apple’s iPhone 4S in the Fall had an enormous impact on the proportion of smartphone owners who chose an Apple iPhone. Among recent acquirers, meaning those who said they got a new device within the past three months, 44.5 percent of those surveyed in December said they chose an iPhone, compared to just 25.1 percent in October.

This should help drive the numbers for next week’s Apple Earnings Announcement through the roof.

Wall Street Journal:

Yahoo Inc. said its co-founder Jerry Yang has resigned from its board of directors, severing all ties with the Internet company he founded about 17 years ago.

It’s worth underscoring that Yang has severed “all ties” with the company, resigning also from the boards of Yahoo Japan Corp. and Alibaba Group Holdings Ltd. as well.

Yahoo is in the midst of a significant transition; two weeks ago they hired a new CEO following Carol Bartz’s unceremonial departure last year. Yang has been criticized in the past for not selling Yahoo to Microsoft for $45 billion. Since then and following Bartz’s hiring in 2009, Yang’s visibility at Yahoo has decreased dramatically. His last position was “Chief Yahoo.”

Mat Honan, for Gizmodo:

But the second issue is arguably more important. It’s the cluelessness. To demean the concerns about booth babes as “cute” and “irrelevant” shows a huge disconnect with, I dunno… this century. The drumbeat against booth babes grows louder every year. It isn’t going away, and will only get bigger. Other trade shows are at least addressing it, and the CEA should do the same before it finds 60 Minutes shoving a camera in Shapiro’s mug.

“Shapiro” is CEA president and CEO Gary Shapiro, whose company puts on the Consumer Electronics Show (CES). He responded to criticism from the BBC about the practice of hiring “booth babes” – scantily-clad young women. Shapiro made the error of being dismissive about the practice, saying, “So your effort to try to get a story based on booth babes, which is decreasing rather rapidly in the industry, and say that it’s somehow sexism imbalancing, it’s cute but it’s frankly irrelevant in my view.”

Look, I admit that I appreciate the female form, but booth babes are a mistake, at least in their current form. They’re very rarely, if ever, briefed about the product they’re helping to pitch, which makes their presence a superfluous distraction. Mat Honan makes some great points and I encourage you to read more.

From the National Motor Museum in the UK:

2012 marks the 50th anniversary of the James Bond film series. What better way to celebrate than with the biggest exhibition of James Bond vehicles ever staged?Alongside the most famous vehicles like the Aston Martin DB5 and the Lotus Esprit S1, there is a host of treasures dating back to From Russia With Love including the elegant Fairey Huntress Speedboat, Goldfinger’s 1937 Rolls-Royce Phantom III, the buzzing autogyro from You Only Live Twice and Octopussy’s screeching Acrostar Jet alongside cars, bikes, trikes, sleds and boats.

Those of “a certain age” will fondly recall lusting after some of these iconic vehicles as kids. Which one was your favorite?

Do the words, “gold-plated, German-engineered, mechanical key switches” mean anything to you? If they do, you’re going to love Das Keyboard’s “Model S Professional for Mac” keyboard. Those of us old enough to remember the wonderfully tactile and ridiculously loud Apple Extended Keyboard II will drool over the “action” of this one.

(As an old school bonus, click on the “Kick Ass” in the upper right of their web site)

David Kravets for Wired:

The Supreme Court declined Tuesday to clarify on what grounds public schools may punish students for their off-campus, online speech.The justices have not squarely addressed the student-speech issue as it applies to the digital world — one filled with online social-networking tools such as Facebook, Twitter, Myspace and others. The issue before the justices tests whether public schools may discipline students who, while off campus, use social-networking sites to mock school officials.

It’s been 43 years since the Supremes took up the issue of student free speech in any substantive, precedent-setting way. Times and technology have changed dramatically. Maybe it’s time.

From CTV News:

Retail giants Future Shop and Best Buy have launched a major fraud investigation involving Apple iPad 2s, after as many as 10 fake models made of modelling clay were sold in Metro Vancouver retail stores.Mark Sandhu thought he bought an iPad 2 for his wife for Christmas, but they received a nasty surprise at the family gift opening on Christmas Eve when they realized there was no computer in the box. Sandhu (added) there was also a clay cube where the charger should be in the box.

Frustrating crime but you’ve got to admire the bad guys’ attention to detail.