Inside the Battle of Hoth: The Empire Strikes Out: Pretty fantastic analysis of the opening battle from "The Empire Strikes Back".

Nothing Is Coming Up Milhouse In This Simpsons and Spider-Man Mashup: I'm a sucker for Simpsons mashups.

How Valve's Steam Box will reinvent the game console as you know it: I'm pretty excited for video gaming this year. While I don't know if the Steam console is going to be a hit, I am damn curious about it, and will be checking it out.

HP to Cut 1,100 Jobs in German Enterprise Services Unit: I actually visited this EDS site in 2005. It's a shame to hear of it's closing.

The Future According To Google's Eric Schmidt: Some interesting prognostication, although I'm not sure that I agree with his crack on Twitter.

Apple Is Said to Be Developing a Curved-Glass Smart Watch: While I'm not really keen on a watch, this paragraph jumped out at me:

"In a meeting in his office before he died, Steven P. Jobs, Apple’s co-founder and former chief executive, told John Markoff of The New York Times that if he had more energy, he would have liked to take on Detroit with an Apple car."

Ferris Bueller's Bedroom: Pretty thorough breakdown of Ferris Bueller's bedroom. (via John Siracusa on Twitter)

Path promises fix for grabbing geolocation data from photos: Path seems to be showing really poor judgement, but I agree with Ars — Apple needs to do better here.

Peak Mac?: Over the last few years, I don't think that Apple has been as aggressive at updating Mac hardware as it has with the iPhone and iPad. So, the real question is Apple going to get more aggressive, to try and goose Mac sales, or are they content with the slow decline of the Mac (ala the iPod).

Apple’s Town Hall meeting: Tim Cook talks Android, China, earnings, retail, more: While this is mostly rah-rah stuff from Tim Cook to try to improve morale, I liked this bit:

"Notably, Cook reportedly said that if Apple’s iPhone division was stripped out of the company, it would be a top corporation that is more successful than Microsoft in its entirety."

SILVER & LIGHT: Interesting, 9 minute video on one man's drive to forge his own path. In photography. (via Tim Trueman)

Nexus 7 ousts iPad for top spot in Japanese holiday sales: I wonder if this survey counts sales at Apple stores? If not, then the data is really suspect.

iphone prototype - a set on Flickr: Some nifty photos of an early iPhone prototype. (Via John Siracusa)

WSJ: Less Expensive iPhone Could Come as Soon as This Year: This isn't rocket science: all Apple has to do is take the guts of an iPhone 5, and slap it in a plastic case, and use the non-retina screen from the iPhone 3GS, and sell it unlocked for $250. Think of it as a "3GS++", that is a huge hit in the pre-paid market.

Hands on with Sharp’s unreal 32-inch 4K IGZO ‘Retina display’ as well as 8K and bendable displays: Want. (too bad about the high cost, though)

When I first heard the name “Safari”: Don Melton with a wonderful story on the naming of Apple's browser. One thing that has been consistently great about Apple over the last 15 years is naming. I can't imagine Safari being called anything else.

Fortune Exclusive: Larry Page on Google: I liked this long, wide-ranging interview with Larry Page. I think that Google is largely in good hans with Larry as CEO.

Why you're right to be obsessed with Apple stock - Term Sheet: Love this story of people sticking with Apple's stock, even in the face of overwhelming advice that they shouldn't. (via Michael Tsai)

Tim Cook's Freshman Year: The Apple CEO Speaks: Love this interview with Tim Cook, particularily his viewpoint on supplier responsibility:

"Our transparency in supplier responsibility is an example of recognizing that the more transparent we are, the bigger difference we would make. We want to be as innovative with supply responsibility as we are with our products. That’s a high bar. The more transparent we are, the more it’s in the public space. The more it’s in the public space, the more other companies will decide to do something similar. And the more everybody does it, the better everything gets."

Apple Could Power the Web: Kevin Lawler has some interesting ideas about Apple's Objective C language spreading beyond client software, but I think there are a number of obstacles. There are currently a shortage of Objective C programmers, and if isn't possible to learn Objective C on a complete free and open stack (having to buy a Mac doesn't count), then the programmer shortage is going to persist for awhile.

Is there some secret iMac assembly plant in the U.S.?: Some good reporting from 9to5mac. I don't think that Mac assembly every completely left the US (my 2010 Mac Pro has an "assembled in the USA label on it"), but I'm excited for even more assembly and manufacturing to come to the US.

How Amazon Followed Google Into the World of Secret Servers: Great article from Wired, giving some insights into Google and Amazon's server operations. Google buys so many CPUs from Intel that they are in a group of 8 that is consuming 75% of Intel's server CPUs. That's amazing.

Behold, Some of the First Apple Computer Photos Ever: Amazing early photos of Apple's first computer.

Mickey no more: Love this subversive take on the Disney corporation's latest expansion.

Hypercritical Ends: David Galletly drew something nice for John Siracusa as he wraps up his awesome podcast.

The Patent Problem: Steven Levy with a great look at one specific case of patent abuse, which highlights the greater issues with the entire system. Long, but a must-read if you care about the future of innovation in the U.S.

Surveillance and Security Lessons From the Petraeus Scandal: I did not know this:

"The guest lists from hotels, IP login records, as well as the creative request to email providers for “information about other accounts that have logged in from this IP address” are all forms of data that the government can obtain with a subpoena. There is no independent review, no check against abuse, and further, the target of the subpoena will often never learn that the government obtained data (unless charges are filed, or, as in this particular case, government officials eagerly leak details of the investigation to the press). Unfortunately, our existing surveillance laws really only protect the “what” being communicated; the government’s powers to determine “who” communicated remain largely unchecked."

Steven Sinofsky to Leave Microsoft: It's not a good time to be a senior executive in tech.

‘Firefly’: Jewel Staite calls Whedon show ‘the one that got away’: Nice interview with Jewel Staite, including this bit:

"I met the cast for the first time during a read-through of the pilot. Something we’ve always all agreed on is how fast we clicked. It’s rare you get nine actors together and have everyone bond as strongly and as quickly as we all did. They’re honestly like a second family to me."

Flip All The Pronouns: What a great story. If only all video games were coded this way in the first place.

Charles Tillman, Brian Urlacher, Cory Wootton help lead Bears' rout of Titans: This game was crazy, but this:

"Chicago became the first team in NFL history to record a passing TD, rushing TD, interception return for TD and blocked-punt TD in the same quarter in NFL history."

The Surface Of Mars: My Date With A Microsoft Kiosk: I made the same trek last week, and had a roughly similar experience (except that I didn't buy a Surface).

Great design from Apple on this interaction…: That's pretty cool.

Valve Officially Passes On Windows 8, Confirms Half-Life 3 is Linux Exclusive: If this really comes to pass, I'm going to need a Linux box.

Hurricane Sandy: After Landfall: Some amazing photos. (via Shawn Blanc)

How the US Rendered, Tortured and Discarded One Innocent Man: Despicable behavior on the part of the United States. If you want to be mad at Obama for something, at least pick some real Bush policy that he should have reversed.

Slow lane: why Google's new Nexus 4 doesn't have LTE: Google has alternated between fighting the carriers and being their best buddy. It seems like being friendly hasn't worked out super-well for them, though.

Joss Whedon is for Mitt Romney (YouTube): A fun YouTube video from Joss.

What are the best stories about people randomly meeting Steve Jobs?: The first story here is truly great.

Why I'm Returning My Microsoft Surface RT: A contrary view of Microsoft's iPad competitor (be sure to watch the videos — they are damning). Windows RT is clearly a 1.0 release for Microsoft. If they keep with it, I'm sure that they'll iron out a lot of these performance bugs. Unfortunately, they are marketing the Surface and Windows RT as something that is fully battle-tested and ready to go. I sense that there will be a lot of disappointment if people believe the hype and dive in on the Surface.

The New Yorker's Endorsement of Barack Obama: Not only does the New Yorker give a ringing endorsement for Obama, but their takedown of Romney is brutal. I can't remember the last time the difference between the two presidential candidates was this obvious. Which is why it's depressing to me that the race is so close at this point.

A Space Shuttle on the Streets of Los Angeles: Some nifty photos of the Shuttle making it's way though L.A. (via The Verge)

Yield Thought, iPad + Linode, 1 Year Later: This is a pretty interesting use-case for the iPad, that for certain types of workloads, could be compelling.

Best Tweets From Nathan Fillion and Felicia Day for Dr. Horrible: I hadn't seen "Dr. Horrible" in awhile, so I really enjoyed re-watching it this week on TV. And of course, I also enjoyed a bunch of the tweets that ended up in my stream, as well.

Nest Co-founder talks about secret click wheel iPhone on eve of new Nest Launch: This is a pretty cool interview with Matt Rogers, that not only covers Nest, but gives some inside info on how Apple makes it's products.

Apple Maps and OpenStreetMaps: Agreed.

Secrets Revealed in Joss Whedon’s Avengers DVD Commentary: While I haven't gone through the commentary myself yet, a bunch of cool tidbits have made it online.

Verizon iPhone 5 Unlocked Thanks to FCC?: This is really cool. It looks like the "open access" rules that Google got added to the 700Mhz spectrum auction are finally paying off.

Design of iPhone 4(S) > 5?: My brand new iPhone 5 already has a nick on the chamfered edge. I'm not anal enough where this is going to cause me problems (the glass on my iPhone 4 was scratched), but this might be something to be aware of if you're super-protective of the appearance of your devices.

Jay Kogen IAmA on Reddit: Love this AMA with Jay Kogen (early Simpsons writer) — lots of great behind-the-scenes trivia.

iPhone 5 Benchmarked: The Fastest Smartphone in the Land: Apple loves getting headlines like this, and it's why they're investing in building their own CPUs from scratch.

James Rivington on Apple’s New EarPods: While I agree that the new EarPods aren't the best headphones ever, I think they sound way better than the old headphones. And it's pretty great that Apple even invested in revamping their headphones — their customers use them a ton, but it's not like they were losing sales over poor pack-in headphones. Apple has a ton of pride in the products that they produce, and I think that is really evident here.

Poll: Are you worried that iOS 6 Maps ‘update’ won’t have important data that Google’s maps did?: This will be something to watch once iOS 6 comes out and people start upgrading to it. Apple rarely has regressions in functionality.

Movie Streaming Subscriptions: Netflix, Amazon Prime & Hulu Plus Compared: I've been idly toying with dropping Netflix in favor of Amazon Prime streaming, so I appreciate this analysis. It seems like Netflix still has a much wider selection, for now.

Intel researchers put WiFi inside—the processor, that is: This is huge. If it's possible to merge wireless radios into the same package as the CPU, then thinner, power-efficient, and cheaper phones become possible.

iPhone 5 Benchmarks Appear in Geekbench Showing a Dual Core, 1GHz A6 CPU: If these numbers prove to be accurate, the A6 is looking pretty good.

Google and Alibaba Continue Warring Over Acer Phone: This is whole dust-up between Google and Alibaba has been fairly confusing. As far as I can tell, Acer is a member of the "Open Handset Alliance" (OHA). And apparently, Google has the ability to kill products that OHA members intend to release.

iPhone 5 Panel at TechCrunch Disrupt: Normally I find panel discussions to be boring, but I thought this panel had some good questions, answered by smart, thoughtful people.

The iPhone 5's A6 SoC: Not A15 or A9, a Custom Apple Core Instead: AnandTech is the first with some details of Apple's new A6 chip:

"The A6 is the first Apple SoC to use its own ARMv7 based processor design. The CPU core(s) aren't based on a vanilla A9 or A15 design from ARM IP, but instead are something of Apple's own creation."

"This is a huge deal for Apple. It puts the company in another league when it comes to vertical integration. The risks are higher (ARM's own designs are tested and proven across tons of different devices/platforms) but the payoff is potentially much greater. As Qualcomm discovered, it's far easier to differentiate (and dominate?) if you're shipping IP that's truly unique from what everyone else has."

Punctuated Gradualism and iPhone 5: I like this — some smart writing from Aaron Brethorst.

Why No Sprint HD Voice on the iPhone 5?: Ug, welcome to standards hell. But if you want better voice quality today, I recommend trying something like Skype or FaceTime. Every FaceTime call that I make sounds way better that a voice call, on the same hardware.

Which iPhone 5 Lets You Roam Where You Want?: Buying an iPhone 5 is even more complicated if you want to travel outside of your home country.

How the Carriers Will Pitch iPhone 5 Buyers: Apple likes buying decisions to be simple and uncomplicated. Buying an iPhone 5 in the US is not simple.

What do we know about Apple’s new A6 processor?: I've been a bit skeptical of Apple's ability to make their own CPUs and maintain parity with the rest of the industry. But if the new A6 CPU is really based on the ARM A15 core, the color me impressed. As far as I know, nobody else has that advanced of an ARM core on the market.