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In the world of boring corporate earnings calls, Apple's investor Q&A sessions are about as exciting as it gets--the equivalent hardcore pornography for most tech geeks. Offering a rare peek inside the famously secretive company, Apple's earnings are watched by every industry analyst and news outlet--and even live blogged in some instances, like a worldwide sporting event. With such attention paid to the spectacle, Apple has used the forum to go after competitors--Steve Jobs once passionately used his bully pulpit to aggressively knock Android--and it appears current CEO Tim Cook plans to use his megaphone in the same fashion.

2012 is thought to be the year of the Ultrabook, but though these slim machines may prove successful they can't disguise one odd fact: The laptop is a dead design.

It's here, Apple's iPhone 5, or rather the iPhone 4S--ending a ton of speculation about its name, and spurring hundreds of "what, no iPhone 5?" comments from webizens who'd been hoping for that exciting-sounding re-design to surface. The thing is, though, the iPhone for 2011 is very similar in external design to the iPhone for 2010, but its real selling power is what's inside

Knowing how much all of you enjoy car-computer analogies (not!), let me offer another. When a person buys a Honda Civic, they don't expect it to drive like a BMW. They do expect it to run, however, especially on the first day of ownership

Microsoft is slinging some mud to stick up for its Office franchise. Tom Rizzo, senior director of Microsoft Online Services, wrote in a blog post that Google apps come with an expensive hidden tax , like the bulk of an iceberg hidden beneath a serene ocean surface, and Windows netbooks are better than MacBook Airs. He even posted this handy, pithy infographic.

In December, rumors started floating that serial entrepreneur Bill Nguyen, who last sold online music company Lala to Apple in 2009, had purchased the domain Color.com for $350,000. Many wondered: Could this mark Nguyen's next (and eighth) business venture? "I did buy it, and I also bought the English spelling, Colour.com," Nguyen tells Fast Company with a smile.