Of course, now that all the pre-launch fuss surrounding the new iPad is over, if you listen carefully you can hear the sound of something else; something cranking ever so slowly into action. You got it — it’s the iPhone 5 rumor mill, which from now until launch date, whenever that may be, will be presenting Apple smartphone fans with a dazzling variety of will-it-won’t-it possibilities, in the process whipping up a frenzy of expectation so head-spinningly crazy that when the device does finally hit the shelves with its spanking new this or spiffing new that you’ll be first in line, eyes bulging, mouth drooling, sweat pouring, ready to hand over your hard-earned dollars in order to have that darn handset in your possession. Or something like that.

So here goes. The new iPhone will have an enormous 4.6-inch Retina display, a Reuters report claimed on Wednesday. It also said the device would be launched “around the second quarter” and that the Cupertino company had already placed orders with its display suppliers, LG Display and Samsung.

Reuters obtained its story from South Korean newspaper Maeil Business, which received its information from an “unnamed industry source.” All a bit vague then.

It’s widely expected that the next iteration of Apple’s big-selling handset will come with a larger screen, but exactly how big is the question. A 4.6-inch screen, as the report suggests, would be a significant jump from the current 3.5-inch display. Apple enthusiast site MacRumors is skeptical.

“There have been persistent rumors that the next generation iPhone would carry a larger 4-inch screen,” it says. “We are convinced that Apple had exactly such designs in late prototype stages in China. The proliferation of iPhone cases with measurements of at least a 4-inch screen seemed to suggest that a number of suppliers were also convinced of that fact.”

The suggested second quarter introduction date would fit with the launch dates of earlier versions of the phone, except the iPhone 4S, which was unveiled just last October. Would Apple really launch another handset so soon after the 4S hit the market? Or might they give it a year and wait till October before showing it off?

Of course, it might be that Apple’s next handset isn’t even called the iPhone 5. It might well follow the iPad’s path and be launched as simply the new iPhone. No doubt there’ll be a rumor circulating about that shortly.

Several members of the House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce have asked the International Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to delay the planned rollout of new top-level domain policies scheduled for January 12, 2012 (PDF). Although the letter doesn’t spell out specific reasons, the representatives asking for a “short delay” to work out “significant uncertainty” about the new top-level domains process for consumers and non-profits, as well as businesses.

Adopted last summer, ICANN’s adopted a new policy for top-level domains, or gTLDS, for Generic Top Level Domains. Currently, there are only a couple dozen gTLDs—things like .com, .org—alongside a few hundred country codes like .jp that aren’t “generic.” In theory, the new wide-open gTLD application process enables virtually any term or name to be registered as a top-level domain, subject to three criteria: applicants have to establish a legitimate claim to the term to be used as a gTLD, they must be an “established public or private organization,” and most groups would have to fork over $185,000 to get the top-level domain approved. The application process is scheduled to launch next month.

Although the new gTLD plan will no doubt do a great deal to increase competition amongst registrars and site operators, the plan has also drawn criticism from major businesses and non-profits concerned about protecting their established brands—after all, it could be a marketing disaster if an organization besides The Coca-Cola Company were to be the first to register.coke—and for companies and organizations that have hundreds (or thousands) of brands and trademarks, protecting their online identities under the new system could be prohibitively expensive—especially once the inevitable lawsuits get started. Business, schools, and non-profits have already had to register their names and trademarks in other top-level domains (like .xxx)—even if they have no intention of using them—just to prevent abuse, scams, and fraud from being carried out using their name.

ICANN is implementing a rapid review process that including taking down infringing gTLDs, enables trademark holders to protect their marks without buying the corresponding gTLDs themselves, along with new dispute resolution procedures and applicant checks that ICANN hopes will weed out fraudstars and cybersquatters. ICANN also plans to prohibit registration of new gTLDs using provocative social or religious terms.

However, the lawmakers signing the letter to ICANN cite organizations like Goodwill Industries, the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund, and the Council of Better Business Bureaus support a delay, and have “suggested changes” that could alleviate their concerns.

More rumors are surfacing suggesting the iPad 3 will hit the shelves two months from now, in March.

Such a release date would pretty much fit with previous iPad releases—the original iPad model appeared early April 2010, while the iPad 2 came out last March.

According to a Bloomberg report, the next iteration of the popular tablet computer will incorporate a high-definition screen “with pixels small enough to make the images look like printed material.”

It’ll also be fitted with a quad-core chip offering much faster performance and offer 4G LTE support.

“Apple is bringing LTE to the iPad before the iPhone because the tablet has a bigger battery and can better support the power requirements of the newer technology,” the report stated.

Bloomberg said it obtained the information from “three people familiar with the product.”

The report also says that production of the new device has already started at Apple’s manufacturing partners in Asia, with Foxconn factories in China “running 24 hours.”

The iPad has been a massive hit with consumers since its launch nearly two years ago, with more than 40 million units sold to date, generating more than $25 billion in sales.

Other companies have tried but failed to come up with an iPad killer, and the Cupertino will be hoping that the latest version of its device will further cement its position as the tablet of choice for consumers.

Whereas last year’s rumors concerning the iPhone 4S and iPhone 5 failed in many cases to hit the target, rumors about the iPad 3 have been fairly consistent up to now—meaning they might actually be right this time.

Google is taking another step in integrated personalized content into its market leading Web search offering, announcing three new features—Personal Results, Profiles in Search, and People and Pages—as part of a new search configuration called Search plus Your World. Expanding on search personalization features the company originally introduced back in 2009, the idea behind Search plus Your World is to pull information from users Google+ profiles, circles, posts, photos, and more and present them alongside general Web search results when appropriate, as deemed by Google’s sophisticated matching algorithms. What’s more, Google says users will have full control over what information is and is not available for others to search, as well as control over how their search results are personalized.

“Search is still limited to a universe of Web pages created publicly, mostly by people you’ve never met,” wrote Google Fellow Amit Singhal. “Today, we’re changing that by bringing your world, rich with people and information, into search.”

Personal Results can be viewed as combining the capabilities of Google’s traditional Web search with Google+ search, and rolls in content from Google+ posts (whether shared publicly or privately with you) along with photos from friends fetched via Google+ and Picassa. Users can isolate the search down to just info from their personal contacts with a link at the top of the results page.

Profiles in Search essentially brings a user’s Google+ friends’ profiles available in Google’s predictive search: start typing a name in Google’s search box and friends’ names will appear alongside other predictive queries where appropriate, providing fast access to friends profiles—and, just as with other predictive searches, Google Instant starts populating search results as users type. Google is also throwing other “prominent people” and “high-quality authors” from Google+ into the predictive search results, some via their recently-launched “authorship program.”

Finally, Google’s People and Pages feature aims to surface “prominent people” who talk about particular topics on Google+ when users search for information on general topics: the listings will appear on the right-hand side of the results page, and are aimed to bring search users directly into Google+ to talk about their interests.

Google promises the new services are secure, and that users have full control of how their information is (and is not) shared via search. Last year Google enabled SSL encryption for all searches conducted by signed-in users, and that SSL encryption also protects these personalized search services—because, obviously, users need to be signed in to Google to tap into personalized services. Similarly, Google indicates whether personalized search result items are public, group-only, or private, and people in search results are clearly marked as to whether they are in a circle or merely suggested connections. The entire search results page also features a toggle that enables users to quickly shift between personalized and non-personalized results—perhaps a quick way to get personalized results off your screen if you’re in a public space or someone looks over your shoulder.

Microsoft has announced that a beta of its app store, named the Windows Store, will launch in February 2012, the same time Windows 8 Beta is released. Speaking at an event in San Francisco, Microsoft’s VP of Windows Web Services Antoine Leblond introduced the company’s desktop application store to developers, calling it “the most significant developer opportunity, ever.”

As expected, the Windows Store will be based on the same touch-friendly Metro UI that’s familiar to Windows Phone 7 users, except it will be full screen and available on your computer. When it opens its doors in February, it will be as a beta version with only free apps available at first.

During the presentation, Leblond emphasized the potential reach of the Windows Store, pointing out that Gartner, a research and forecasting company, expects 400 million X86-based PCs to ship over the next 12 months. He added that even if you combine all of the Android and iOS devices sold in the last two years, it still doesn’t match the total Windows sales during the same period.

Once Windows 8 is publicly released and the Windows Store exits beta, Microsoft intends to offer the store to users in 231 markets and in 100 different languages, with apps starting at $1.49.  Other features include in-app purchases, free trial versions and support for as yet unspecified advertising networks.

Developers will have to pay a $49 one-time registration fee, and can expect to make 70 percent revenue on app sales up to $25,000. At that point, developer share raises to 80 percent, making Microsoft’s store more lucrative than the Android Market or iTunes App Store, which charge a 30 percent commission indefinitely.  Like Apple, Microsoft will vet applications before they’re released. To encourage developers to get working, Microsoft will be running a competition to win the chance to be one of the very first featured apps available inside the store.

If you were excited to try out Google Wallet on the Galaxy Nexus, you’ll have to look elsewhere. Verizon has decided to block Google’s mobile payments solution from the phone. Google representatives have confirmed with multiple sources that it was Verizon’s decision to block the product.

“Verizon asked us not to include this functionality in the product,” a Google representative toldCNET.

No official reason has been given, but it’s known that Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile are working with ISIS to concoct another mobile payment system. The three carriers have invested at least $100 million in the company this year. It’s likely that AT&T and T-Mobile will block the app as well. You may wonder why there can’t be two or more competing systems, since the US is a country built on the idea of competition, but wireless carriers have been known to repeatedly restrict functionality on phones and devices for their own gain. Mobile hotspots and tethering are two recent examples, but even running app stores used to be a carrier-led function. Luckily, smartphones have changed that. It’s likely that whatever system ISIS develops will give carriers some form of monetary return. Google’s service does not give a kickback to carriers, as far as we know.

Sprint is currently the only US carrier that supports Google Wallet. Community hacks to allow NFC-enabled phones to run Google Wallet will likely pour out, though with data as sensitive as our credit card numbers, we really wish a hack wouldn’t be necessary to try out Google’s service. For now, the Galaxy Nexus

Launching the Galaxy Nexus–which is supposed to be an open Google phone–on Verizon continues to be a challenge for Google and Samsung. Though its Droid brand helped catapult Android into the mainstream, Verizon is used to highly restricting and modifying the phones on its network. Earlier this year, Verizon went so far as to remove vital Google apps like Maps and put Bing on the LG Revolution, almost entirely removing the main reasons people buy an Android handset. The carrier, like others, also controls the entire launch process for devices. Just yesterday, Samsung employees at a showcase shop in New York were forced to pull the Galaxy Nexus from shelves. We cataloged that whole debacle here.

We have heard rumors that the Galaxy Nexus may finally hit shelves on Friday, but Verizon has yet to give an actual release date.

Update: Bloomberg has obtained a quote from a Verizon representative, claiming that the app has been removed due to security concerns. Jeffrey Nelson, a Verizon spokesperson said that Verizon wants to have “the best security and user experience” and that it will unblock Google Wallet “when those goals are achieved.” What, exactly, that means is unclear. Will Google have to somehow integrate ISIS’s system to be approved?

Mobile users, beware: you’re being watched — constantly. An Android developer claims to have discovered an app that comes pre-installed on millions of Android, BlackBerry and Nokia handsets, that records all activity on the device. That includes calls, location, and every key pressed on the device.

The app, created by California-based software company Carrier IQ, is shown in a video posted to YouTube (see below) by developer Trevor Eckhard logging every key he pressed, in real time. The software even recorded Eckhard’s geographic location, when connected to Google via Wi-Fi — not 3G — even though he denied permission for Google to track his whereabouts. Calls aren’t safe, either.

“Every button you press in the dialer before you call,” Eckhard says on the video, “it already gets sent off to the IQ application.”

According to Carrier IQ, the software is simply used to assess quality control, telling Wired that the app is for “gathering information off the handset to understand the mobile-user experience, where phone calls are dropped, where signal quality is poor, why applications crash and battery life.”

The company also denied that the software transmits user data in real time.

“Our technology is not real time,” said Andrew Coward, Carrier IQ’s VP of marketing, in an interview last week. “It’s not constantly reporting back. It’s gathering information up and is usually transmitted in small doses.”

So when Eckhard dubbed the software a “rootkit” — a term typically associated with trojans and other malware — Carrier IQ threatened to wage a legal battle against Eckhard. The company quickly pulled off its dogs, however, after the Electronic Frontier Foundation came out in support of Eckhard’s claims. Carrier IQ also denies that its software records keystrokes — a claim obviously refuted by Eckhard’s video.

The only way to rid your device of Carrier IQ’s invasive monitoring software is to completely wipe your device, and reinstall it with a new operating system.

This is, of course, not the first time we’ve learned about our mobile devices betraying our private data. But it doesn’t make it any less troublesome, this time around.

With the holiday season fast approaching, Google has announced a price cut for some of its Chromebook computers, with the cheapest models receiving a $50 discount – but will that really be enough to tempt consumers?

The news came in a blog post by Google’s senior product manager Venkat Rapaka. “We’re excited to share that beginning this week Acer and Samsung Chromebooks will be available starting at $299,” he wrote.

Wi-Fi-only Acer and Samsung Chromebooks will now sell for $299 down from $349, while the Wi-Fi and 3G Samsung Series-5 will drop to $349 down from $429.

The Chromebook was introduced by Google in June of this year and is supposed to make computing faster and simpler for users. Boot-up, for example, only takes eight seconds, and updates to its web-based Chrome OS take place automatically when you turn the machine on. All computing is done on the web, so application updates are also not an issue.

Of course, the drawback is that in order to do anything meaningful on a Chromebook, you need to be connected to the Internet. If the connection goes down, or if Google suffers an outage, you’ll be left twiddling your thumbs till things get sorted out.

Up to now, the Chromebook has failed to capture the public’s imagination, so Google will be hoping the price changes will cause consumers to take another look in the run up to Christmas. But with competitively priced laptops and a number of new tablets also vying for attention, the Chromebook will certainly have its work cut out.

The machine can only be bought online from Google’s retail partners – Amazon, Best Buy and TigerDirect.com.

Rapaka’s blog post also announced changes to the Chrome operating system, unveiling a simpler, more streamlined user interface.

With the iPhone 4S out of the way, it doesn’t take a brilliant mind to deduce that Apple‘s tech tinkerers have shifted their focus to the iPhone 5. Could reports of the company receiving shipments of 4-inch LCD screens from Hitachi and Sony be connected to that?

The news comes from macotakara.jp (via AppleInsider), which cites sources in Apple’s “Far Eastern supply chain.” The alleged shipments are coming from Hitachi Displays, Ltd. and Sony Mobile Display Corportaion for an unnamed iOS device being released in 2012. Hitachi and Sony are also expected to be linking up with Toshiba Mobile Display Co. in the spring of 2012 to form Japan Display.

Given the timing and the previous talk of the iPhone 5 sporting a 4-inch display, Apple’s next-gen cellphone seems a very likely recipient for these 4-inch LCDs.