Disruptions: Where Apple and Dick Tracy May Converge
By NICK BILTON

Dick Tracy had one. As did Inspector Gadget and James Bond. A watch that doubled as a computer, two-way radio, mapping device or television.

Though such a device has been lost to science fiction comics and spy movies of the era before smartphones, the smart watch might soon become a reality, in the form of a curved glass device made by Apple.

In its headquarters in Cupertino, Calif., Apple is experimenting with wristwatch-like devices made of curved glass, according to people familiar with the company’s explorations, who spoke on the condition that they not be named because they are not allowed to publicly discuss unreleased products.

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Connie Guglielmo

A buyout of Dell Inc., deemed by some financial analysts as unlikely because it would be the largest such buyout since the beginning of the financial crisis and hinder CEO Michael Dell’s ability to do acquisitions, may be closer to completion – assuming Microsoft gets a say in the company.

The deal, which would value the world’s third-largest personal computer maker at $22 billion or more, would “include the nearly 16% Dell stake owned by founder and Chief Executive Michael Dell, contributions from private-equity firm Silver Lake Partners and Microsoft, in addition to about $15 billion in debt financing arranged by banks,” according to the Wall Street Journal.

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2013 International CES Las Vegas, NV and Fountain Valley, CA — January 7, 2013 — Kingston Digital, Inc., the Flash memory affiliate of Kingston Technology Company, Inc., the independent world leader in memory products, today announced the DataTraveler® HyperX® Predator 3.0 USB Flash drive. DataTraveler HyperX Predator 3.0 is the world’s largest-capacity USB 3.0 Flash drive as it will be available in a 1TB capacity later in Q1. It is shipping now in 512GB capacity. DT HyperX Predator 3.0 is the fastest USB 3.0 Flash drive in the Kingston® family, with speeds of up to 240MB/s read and 160MB/s write. It has also achieved SuperSpeed USB 3.0 certification.

For more information visit www.kingston.com.

Rebecca Greenfield

Apple has lost its number one position with the world’s most popular phone, ceding the title to rival Samsung and its Galaxy S3, but we don’t imagine it will stay that way for too long. Last quarter, Samsung sold 18 million S3s, compared to the 16.2 million iPhone 4S phones Apple sold worldwide, according to research from Strategy Analytics. With two weeks left in that quarter, however, Apple announced its iPhone 5, which presumably ate into the sales of its 4S. The anticipation for the phone hurt 4S sales the quarter before that, said Apple. Presumably the same thing happened the next quarter, which saw fewer phone sales again. The 5 didn’t come out until the final nine days of that period. Once it was released, Apple sold 5 million iPhones in its first weekend out—a record. And that was with supply issues out of China, according to Foxconn. The supplier said it was shipping “far fewer” new iPhones than it needed to meet demand, said Chairman Terry Gou. “Market demand is very strong, but we just can’t really fulfill Apple’s requests,” he told reporters, notes The Wall Street Journal’s Aries Poon. If these supply issues don’t get in the way for the holiday season, we imagine after one quarter of 5 sales, Apple will have its world title back.

By LOU WILIN

The traditional holiday shopping trip is getting cutthroat, thanks to shoppers’ use of the Internet and Smartphones.

Smartphone users scan store merchandise bar codes and compare them with Amazon.com’s prices with help of an Amazon application.

Even those without the Amazon application can photograph books, microwaves, toasters or tools, for example, and compare them with online prices, said Louis Hyman, assistant professor at Cornell University’s Industrial & Labor Relations School.
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