We love picking apart the stupid things analysts say, but Michael Gartenberg is a rare example of a veteran analyst who doesn’t make wild, ridiculous predictions about Apple. He has worked for the Gartner research group, and Apple has even used Gartner’s market share figures multiple times in its keynotes.

After spending most of his career covering Apple and other tech companies, Gartenberg is now batting for the other team. He has reportedly accepted a job on Apple’s own marketing team, and he now reports to Phil Schiller.

“Intel Inside.” It’s been called one of the best campaigns to ever come out of Silicon Valley’s Mad Men, and it turned a relatively unknown maker of microprocessors into a $100 billion dollar company, and a household name. All this, thanks to a blue sticker slapped on every Intel PC or laptop.

Every Intel PC or laptop except Apple’s, that is. Even when Cupertino transitioned to Intel processors in 2006, Apple refused to put ‘Intel Inside’ stickers on their new Macs and MacBooks. And with characteristic bluntness, Steve Jobs had no problem explaining why when asked about it back in August 2007, right after the first aluminum iMac was introduced. For the latest updates and insights, check out Intel news today.

Apple and Samsung aren’t on the best of terms. Since Apple won a $1 billion patent lawsuit against Samsung in U.S. court last year, the two have been at each other’s throats in the media. Samsung’s Galaxy TV ads depict Apple customers as mindless sheep. Apple’s Phil Schiller recently went on the offensive against Samsung on the eve of the S4 announcement. The two are clearly at odds.

Would Samsung result to bashing Apple in online article comments? It appears so. In fact, the Korean company may have its own army dedicated to trolling the comments sections of blog posts.

Apple’s hard-to-meet high standards and its low price expectations have earned it the nickname “Poison Apple” with Asian suppliers, who say they are feeling the affects of decreasing demand of the iPhone. Several have told Reuters that they are trying to reduce their reliance on Apple amid increasing competition from companies like Samsung.

Apple and Samsung are both looking to bring wireless charging to their smartphones this year, following in the footsteps of rivals like Nokia, LG, and HTC. The feature will come to flagship devices, such as the upcoming Galaxy S IV, according to industry sources who have been speaking to DigiTimes.

Many analysts believe Apple needs to think of new ways to improve its chances of beating Samsung in the ongoing battle for smartphone market share, and according to new research from King Saud University, Saudi Arabia, one approach could be to make the iPhone “more user friendly” to international users who don’t speak English.

With Tuesday’s’s announcement of a 128GB iPad 4, Apple is clearly signaling that the iPad is not only suitable for serious work, but that it can be the primary machine for many users. Most commenters have fixated on fitting extra movies and other consumables into the extra 64GB of space, but they’re forgetting about work.

In fact, I’d say that the iPad With Retina Display, as Apple now insists on calling it, is the new desktop machine, and the iPad mini is the new laptop. Why? Let me explain:

Macworld/iWorld 2013 is coming in just two days, and Cult of Mac will be there, reporting live from the showfloor.

Macworld has an amazing history of being the launching pad for some world changing products.  The iPhone debuted at Macworld. So did the MacBook Air. And iTunes. Again and again, products announced at Macworld have shifted the very pillars of technology.

Macworld is more than just a celebration on everything that is wonderful about iPhones, iPads, Macs, Apps, and the people who use them. It’s a summit that measures the very pulse of Cupertino’s incredible impact upon the world around us. With Apple at the top of it’s game, it’s more important than ever.

Not convinced? Here’s a ten minute history of the last 15 years of Macworld.

Everything is amazing and nobody is happy.

When comedian Louis C.K. famously expressed that notion on Conan, he was making a commentary on the public’s instantly acquired sense of entitlement when confronted with new technology.

His observations are also applicable to the assumptions underlying nearly all the stuff you read about consumer electronics by bloggers, journalists and financial analysts.

The gnashing of teeth and ripping of hair over with everything Apple these days is a perfect example. 

Samsung has surpassed Apple as the world’s biggest buyer of semiconductors, according to Gartner. The Korean company’s hugely popular smartphones, such as the Galaxy S III and the Galaxy Note II, led to a 29% surge in chip purchases in 2012, taking its semiconductor spending past that of any other company.