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If the rumor mill has any truth to it, 2013 is going to be an uncharacteristically weird year for Apple. We’ve heard the reports of  several new iPhones hitting shelves, but a new bit of gossip suggests that the Company That Steve Built also plans to expand the iPad line in a new direction in the coming eleven months. Is this the company staying ahead of the competition or playing a reactionary game in a field they’ve always led? We shall see.

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When the iPad was revealed in 2010, it was treated as a revelation. However, the truth is a little murkier than that. Tablets have been around, in one form or another, for decades, but until Apple made them hip, they were essentially the redheaded stepchildren of the computing world. But the iPad was not Apple’s first brush with the tablet. Let’s jump in a time machine and journey back to 1984, shall we?

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When it was released in February of 2011, The Daily was poised to become the next big step in how read news. A daily newspaper in app form, the publication cost subscribers a mere 99 cents a week (or a yearly $40 payment), making it the first serious attempt to recreate the newspaper experience on an iPad. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out. On December 15, The Daily will be shutting down.

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When you hear the phrase “$20 tablet,” you’re probably imagining a shady encounter with a criminal selling fake iPads in a gas station parking lot. But that may be the case much longer, not if the Android-powered Aakash 2 tablet has any say in the matter. As the name implies, the Aakash 2 is a second generation tablet, created to be cheap and readily available for students in India. To normal folks, this tablet will cost the equivalent of $64, but various government subsidies will allow students to purchase one for $21. That makes it the least expensive non-bootleg tablet in the world.

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There is a hard and fast rule about life in this modern world: unless it’s fuel for your automobile or a sealed product from a familiar company, don’t buy anything at gas stations. Like, ever. This applies doubly so to the gas station parking lot. Don’t buy anything in a gas station parking lot. Once again: like, ever. When a stranger approaches you in a gas station parking lot offering to sell you an iPad for $200, don’t say yes. And if you do say yes, ask to see the product before you hand over the money…because there’s a strong chance that you just bought a mirror with a picture of an iPad screen taped to it. Cringe your way through the video below.

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The Good:

A few days ago, the iPad Mini went on sale and earned all kinds of rave reviews from all kinds of outlets. You’d think that people would have Apple fatigue so soon after the release of the iPhone 5, but nope: the iPad Mini and the fourth generation iPad sold a combined three million over the weekend…and that’s despite the east coast being hit with a hurricane. Some have already pointed out that this less than normal for Apple (the iPad 3 sold three million on its own upon release), but it would be foolish to call this anything but a victory. That’s significantly more than much of the competition, the two products split the sales numbers and, um, hurricane.

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Last night, Jimmy Kimmel shows his enthusiasm or lack therof for the iPad Mini in his latest Parody Ad. In a nutshell …” first came the iPod. Then a thinner iPod. Then an iPod you can touch. Then lots of other iPods — ones that allow you to shuffle your songs, ones you can talk on, a gigantic one you can’t talk on…” You’ll have to watch it to see the various upgrades that apple has made to it’s iPod.

But honestly, regardless of what Jimmy Kimmel says,  our team can’t wait to get ours! Sorry Jimmy!

Want more news about the iPad Mini? Read about the crash test here

We don’t have an iPad Mini yet, but we’re remedying that soon. Our Team at Rocksauce Studios is excited to get our hands on Apple’s latest technology. The reviews are coming in today from all sources and we’re enjoying reading about them from multiple sources. Since it’s announcement weeks ago we’ve been anxious to hear reviews from the first reciepients of the iPad Mini.

Aside from the golden raving reviews we’ve heard we were interested to see the drop test conducted by Android Authority. They put the iPad Mini to the test against a Nexus 7 in a chest drop test. How do these devices fare? Watch the video below to found out. More after the JUMP…

(Anden is six years old and growing up in a world where mobile apps are omnipresent. In this column, his mother explores apps that are up his alley.)

Halloween is like Christmas at our house. We have a lot of fun decorating and getting ready for Halloween a whole month early!  So, without further ado, here are Anden’s favorite Halloween apps! Under each link, there’s a reason why Anden loves each app! (Mom loves these apps too!)

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Today, Apple held its latest press conference and announced a whole bunch of new stuff, including the anticipated iPad Mini, a brand new iMac and a few new MacBooks. For the first time in awhile, the even was streamed, letting the common folk watch along with those bourgeois blogger types. Here are my (slightly cleaned up) notes from watching the event, presented without additional comment…

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