FaceTime

Santa does FaceTime

A video Christmas card from the elves in Cupertino

For those of us who missed it because we spend more time on the Internet than we do watching advertising-supported television -- which will soon be most Americans, according to Forrester Research -- here's the iPhone ad Apple (AAPL) started airing Monday.

Also available as a QuickTime download at apple.com.

[Follow Philip Elmer-DeWitt on Twitter @philiped]

Our iPad 2 wishlist

What the rumors about Apple's next tablet are saying, and what we think it has to have to stay competitive with Android and Microsoft Slate.

Ask people what they think of the iPad, and answers will vary. The word "magical" may be thrown around by some starry-eyed owners. "I don't get it," others will say with a shrug, while still others -- call them cynics, disbelievers, or just plain pragmatists -- MORE

Sorry, Windows Phone 7 app makers: the camera's off-limits

As developers decide whether and how to support Microsoft's nascent mobile OS, some have found that creating augmented reality and video chat apps isn't possible, at least for now.

For Microsoft (MSFT), Windows Phone 7 represents an attempt at righting its serious fumbles in the mobile space. In recent years, as Apple (AAPL) and Google (GOOG) introduced and aggressively updated iOS and Android, Microsoft's mobile OS fell further and further behind, MORE

FaceTime's network effects

Apple's video calling app, now on the Mac, is poised for exponential growth, says an analyst

"We believe Apple is acutely aware of the power of networks (Metcalf's Law), and is applying this concept to accelerate adoption of its platform."

So writes Deutsche Bank's Chris Whitmore in a note issued Thursday, the day after Apple's (AAPL) Back to the Mac event.

Whitmore is talking about FaceTime, the video calling feature that first appeared MORE

Today in Tech: News around the Web

Every day, the Fortune staff spends hours poring over tech stories, posts, and reviews from all over the Web to keep tabs on the companies that matter. We've assembled the weekend's most newsworthy bits below.

In yet another situation of cable negotiations gone awry, News Corp. yanked Fox programming from Cablevision. "This is an unfortunate attempt to extort unreasonable and unfair fee increases from Cablevision and our customers," stated a Cablevision email MORE

Cisco's new Umi: The answer to a question nobody asked

The company says its new video chatting device is just what people want. But a look at the competition -- and $600 price point -- doesn't seem to bode well for its chances.

There had better be an elite group of videochatters out there with cash to burn. Otherwise, Cisco Systems will be in trouble with its video-calling system, Umi. Cisco (CSCO) says it has done the market research to back MORE

Apple buys some face technology

Its acquisition of a tiny Swedish company is typical for Apple.

The $45.8 billion in cash and marketable securities that Apple (AAPL) reported in June is  not burning a hole in its corporate pocket. On Monday, our colleague Seth Weintraub spotted a Norwegian media report that Apple had gobbled up a small Swedish company called Polar Rose.

Polar Rose has some nifty face recognition algorithms -- demonstrated below the fold on a MORE

How Apple could ship 48 million FaceTime devices this calendar year

Critics scoffed when Steve Jobs said he would ship "tens of millions" by Dec. 31

This was a busy week for rumors about FaceTime -- the Wi-Fi-based video conferencing protocol that Apple (AAPL) introduced on the iPhone 4 in June and added to the iPod touch two weeks ago.

The one that got the most attention was AppleInsider's report that the company is speeding up development of a camera-equipped iPad that could MORE

Apple to live-stream Wednesday's event

Is this Steve Jobs' revenge on the bloggers who nearly ruined his Facetime demo in June?

Apple (AAPL) announced Wednesday that it will, for the first time in recent memory, broadcast its Sept. 1 special event over the Internet as it happens.

In the past, Apple has provided streaming videos of keynotes and other events a few hours after the fact.

Tuesday's announcement came as a surprise to the dozens of reporters who MORE

Apple's heart-breaking ad campaign

Eight months after it wrapped up the "Get a Mac" series, Apple rolls out a worthy successor

Here's one thing Apple (AAPL) does better than any of its competitors: advertise on television.

Microsoft (MSFT) never quite recovered from the three-and-a-half-year drubbing it took at the hands of Justin Long and John Hodgman. Google (GOOG) is still playing catch-up to "There's an App for That."

And how is anybody going to answer Apple's latest MORE