By Chloe Albanesius

Back in 2007, Facebook was accused of ruining Christmas with its Beacon feature. Is it Google’s turn?

Not exactly, but it appears that the People app within Android 4.2 wants to kick off the New Year a bit early. Those who want to enter in a December birthday or anniversary are out of luck since the app skips right over December and moves from November to January.

As you can see in the attached screen shots, the problem does not affect the Android 4.2 calendar app (below); December is alive and well there. But flip over to the People app (above) and 2013 kicks off in less than two weeks.

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Mellisa Tolentino

In today’s mobile new roundup: iPhone 5s already in the works; Nexus devices are a hit in the UK; and Good Technology teams up with BoxTone.

iPhone 5s already in the works

Just bought the iPhone 5? How would you feel if I told you that Apple is already working on the iPhone 5S, set to be released during the first quarter of next year? You’d say that the rumor is absurd and that Apple doesn’t release phones in the first half of the year, but Apple seems to be full of surprises these days. Remember the iPad mini? It launched way off Apple’s schedule of product releases.

Though the source, Digitimes, is a bit questionable, you can’t deny that Apple may need to release a revamped version of the iPhone 5 to address standing issues like poor mapping software. They did something with the iPhone 4S, so a 5S wouldn’t be difficult to imagine. No news yet as to what features the 5S could have, only that early stages of production would begin in December in order to meet a first quarter launch.
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After testing a British court’s patience with a not so apologetic public statement, the iPhone and iPad maker is finally eating humble pie.

by Zack Whittaker

Apple’s U.K. Web site now includes a prominent, hard to miss apology after a U.K. appeals court found a previously published statement to be “untrue.”
(Credit: Screenshot by Zack Whittaker/CNET)

Apple has reissued and updated its Samsung “apology” statement on its British Web site after a U.K. Court of Appeal found it to be “untrue” and “incorrect.”

It comes of weeks of back and forth from the U.K. courts after Samsung scored a rare legal win over Apple, after the iPhone and iPad maker lost an iPad design patent suit it brought to the British court against rival tablet maker Samsung.

By PETER SVENSSON | Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — The release of Microsoft’s Windows 8 operating system is a week away, and consumers are in for a shock. Windows, used in one form or another for a generation, is getting a completely different look that will force users to learn new ways to get things done.

Microsoft is making a radical break with the past to stay relevant in a world where smartphones and tablets have eroded the three-decade dominance of the personal computer. Windows 8 is supposed to tie together Microsoft’s PC, tablet and phone software with one look. But judging by the reactions of some people who have tried the PC version, it’s a move that risks confusing and alienating customers.

Tony Roos, an American missionary in Paris, installed a free preview version of Windows 8 on his aging laptop to see if Microsoft’s new operating system would make the PC faster and more responsive. It didn’t, he said, and he quickly learned that working with the new software requires tossing out a lot of what he knows about Windows.

Summary: Are you going to buy a Windows 8 tablet or smart phone? It will be interesting to see who bites first on the coming wave, you or your employer.

By Ken Hess for Consumerization: BYOD

Soon, you and users around the world will be able to purchase your very own Windows 8 Tablet computers. Though I haven’t been lucky enough to review one yet, I feel as if they’ll take the market by storm for one single reason alone: Windows 8. Tablets have been around for years. Windows has been around for years. Windows tablets have been around for years. So, what’s so special about Windows tablets now? The answer is simply, Windows 8.

But, that’s only the answer to the first part of the question. The answer to the second part of the question is, support.

Ewan Spence

So now we know the date of Apple’s next launch, Tuesday October 23rd, and everything is pointing towards the announcement of the iPad Mini. Of course many in the Cupertino-watching industry were expecting an announcement last week. Why go for a date later in the month?

First of all, the Occam’s Razor approach is simply that earlier in October wasn’t right for Apple and they needed another week or two to be ready. That could simply be a logistics issue, an area of the software or production that needed a few more days testing to sign off, or perhaps this the plan all along – to gain extra publicity from the earlier date and feed this into the increasing hype around the iPad Mini.