Quanta Computer has reportedly started production on Apple’s ultra-thin 12-inch MacBook Air notebooks — although production challenges may mean that it doesn’t hit shelves under after Christmas.

Citing sources in Taiwan’s supply chain, the Digitimes report states that the new MacBook Air is slimmer than both the existing 11.6- and 13.3-inch models, and may well sport Retina displays.

This ambitiously slim form factor is pushing component makers to the limit, however, and currently yield rate is not satisfactory, which has resulted in low output. It is hoped that this will increase from November onwards, although this may not be enough to see the notebooks arrive for the holiday season.

We all know that Apple’s advertising is a cut above the competition, but sometimes Cupertino’s competitors stoop so low that all you can do is just shake your head in embarrassment.

That’s certainly the way I feel about Toshiba’s racist new ads. Released in Croatia, they feature a couple of slanted tablets that have been placed to look like squinty eyes, just like the way Asians have been stereotypically portrayed in Western media for centuries. Face palm!

Ready for your next nerdy dose of Star Wars awesomeness? Lucasfilm Animation and Disney have put together an all-new animated adventure that takes place 14 years after the Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith (the third and final prequel in the Star Wars saga) and five years before Star Wars: A New Hope (the original movie that came out in 1977).

If you have an Apple ID, you can check out the first regular episode of the series right now on iTunes for free. How’s that for a deal?

Check out the extended trailer for the Star Wars: Rebels series below.

Apple has seeded a second Gold Master candidate of OS X Yosemite to developers this afternoon, following the release of iOS 8.1 beta 2 earlier this morning.

OS X 10.10 Yosemite GM Candidate 2 is now available in the Mac Dev Center and the Mac App Store to members of Apple’s developer program. Xcode 6.1 GM seed 2 was also released this morning, along with an Apple TV Software beta update.

It’s official: kids love the iPad more than they do Oreo cookies. According to the “2014 Young Love” study — an annual survey carried out by leading youth and family research firm Smarty Pants — the iPad beat out 255 other brands (including Disney, Nickelodeon, Toys”R”Us, McDonald’s and YouTube) to be named the #1 brand among children aged 6-12.

The survey was conducted among a representative sample of U.S. households, with a total of 256 consumer brands evaluated as part of a three-month study of 6,661 children and their parents. Scores were based on a composite scale of 0-1,000 based on brand awareness, love, and popularity.

The top ten brands can be seen below:

Things are looking far from rosy in Samsung-land. According to a Re/code report on Tuesday, the company’s third-quarter earnings are set to fall below market expectations — thanks to falling TV prices, decreased display shipments, and more competition than ever in the smartphone sector.

Although Samsung smartphones actually increased in number in terms of shipments, the operating margin was lower as the result of higher marketing costs, less demand for high-end phones, and a lower average selling price for handsets.

Apple loves to tout how quickly people update to its newest software, but with iOS 8, many are choosing to hold back. The company’s own numbers show that only 1% of the iOS user base has upgraded to iOS 8 in the last two weeks.

Only 47% of users are on iOS 8 vs. 46% the week of September 21st. Adoption rates usually slow down as time wears on, but these unusually low numbers indicate that many are choosing to not upgrade to iOS 8. Unfortunately, Apple has given a few reasons why that’s the case.

1Password has been hovering near the top of the App Store’s charts since it went freemium alongside the launch of iOS 8. Developed by Canadian company AgileBits, the popular password manager has been on the forefront of app development for Apple’s latest OS since WWDC in June.

After releasing an iOS 8-compatible version with iCloud Drive sync, Touch ID integration, and an adaptive layout, 1Password 5.1 is out today with more refinements.

The iPhone 6 and 6 Plus were unleashed on the world just two weeks ago, but Apple is already getting prepared to announce a handful of new products, including an updated iPad Air that will be the thinnest tablet Apple’s ever created.

As next week’s iPad Air event looms on the horizon, the Michael Report claims to have received pictures and illustrations of the new iPads, and have released a full report of the upcoming changes that may include an A8 processor with 2GB of RAM, thinner body, and some small design tweaks.

Android Wear’s complete customization features give it an advantage Apple Watch can’t match once it launches next year. Everything on Android Wear and you could even make it look just like Apple Watch’s UI if you want, or if you’re a nostalgic 16-year old with too much time on your hands, you can hack Windows 95 onto the 1.63-inch display of the Samsung Gear Live.

Corbin Davenport posted a video of this smartwatch running the 20-year old operating system. His hack utilizes aDosBox, which emulates an x86 processor and DOS-like operating system so you can do silly stuff like install Microsoft’s oldest operating system, or old apps like Doom (which Corbin’s also done).

Watch the full video below: