news!!

Last week, we learned that Steve Jobs had "cracked" the solution to television, fueling speculation that Apple was working on its own TV sets; this week, activity surrounding that speculation absolutely exploded. Every analyst, tech writer and blogger is convinced that a real-life Apple TV set is coming, and coming soon.

The biggest story came from The New York Times' Nick Bilton, who claims to have tons of inside information from "Apple employees and people close to the company" on the forthcoming Apple televisions. There are prototypes floating around, he writes, and they will largely be controlled by Siri rather than the traditional remote control, which Jobs always found clunky. The hypiest paragraph:

It's the stuff of science fiction. You sit on your couch and rather than fumble with several remotes or use hand gestures, you simply talk: "Put on the last episode of Gossip Girl." "Play the local news headlines." "Play some Coldplay music videos." Siri does the rest.

Also from the Times: These TVs could be coming in early 2013, with an announcement at the end of 2012. So, start saving.

One other noteworthy bit of Apple television prognostication: The project is apparently being headed by the same man who led the development of the iTunes software, according to a Bloomberg report. (Deposit your love and/or hatred of the iTunes interface in the comments section.)

Aside from a hypothetical Apple television set announcement, you know what else is coming in 2012? No, not the apocalypse: The iPhone 5 (or 6, depending on how you count). And everyone wants to know: Will it have 4G speeds? One source says: BET ON IT...