The tree’s lit, the presents are waiting to be unwrapped and the relatives are en route for brunch later in the day. With that in mind, happy holidays from the crew here at O’Grady’s PowerPage, who will be taking the day off to savor the egg nog and cookies and we’ll be back on December 28th to bring you the latest in mobile news coverage for the Mac.

Finally, since it wouldn’t be Christmas without presents, I present something which has simultaneously been the best and most mind-destroying link I’ve come across in a long time.

Ladies and gentlemen, Mac OS X, Windows and Linux users, I present to you, the “Twilight: New Moon” review with LOLcats.

Ok, this could be really interesting.

Recently, Apple filed for a patent on a touch-surface keyboard with tactile feedback. Per AppleInsider, a problem with typing on touchscreens is that users must typically look at the keys to know what is being pressed; by contrast, most physical keyboards allow people to gauge where their fingers are through bumps and ridges. Apple’s solution would pop up an “articulating frame” whenever typing is engaged, and move it out of the way when it is not.

Such a frame could be based around ridges or concave depressions, much as on a normal keyboard, or alternately on dedicated feedback mechanisms. Another proposed option is a non-articulating frame, which would provide more resistance the further a finger moves away from a key center. Activation of the frame could be triggered by placing fingers in the right place, or simply engaging in typing-like activity. A frame could be lowered when taps or slides are detected.

The technology could conceivably be used in Apple’s long-awaited tablet and a former Apple employee has suggested will surprise people in how they can interact with it. The patent filing is also not the first of its kind from the company, as a similar one was submitted as far back as 2007.

It’s almost Christmas and since speculation makes life interesting, here you go:

Apple has reportedly scheduled a media event at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco on Tuesday January 26th, 2010, for a major product announcement. Per the Financial Times, Apple has reportedly rented the stage for “several days” at the end of January. Officials with Apple and the center declined to comment.

Although it’s currently unknown what the media event will center around, reports have emerged from the Times stated that Apple’s long-awaited tablet device was due for a January, 2010 unveiling and would go into mass production soon after. Additional reports have surfaced that Apple is in negotiation with TV networks to hash out subscription plans and content for video on the iTunes Store.

Another report stated that a tablet with a 7″ screen was due to be announced in January. This differs from long-standing reports of a device with a 10″ touchscreen, albeit Apple could be manufacturing two differently sized units.

Web blog Silicon Alley Insider was reportedly told by a source that Apple asked developers to prepare full screen versions of their apps for a January demo. Apple has apparently requested that the software in question scale beyond the 320 x 480 pixel size of the current iPhone and iPod touch screen, but said that applications that can accommodate the larger screen size will run “just fine” on the new device.

Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.

If you’re hankering for a better camera on the iPhone, you may not have too much longer to wait.

Per a report on DigiTimes, Apple’s next-generation iPhone is expected to ship with an improved 5-megapixel camera.

According to the report, OmniVision Technologies is expected to see CMOS image sensor orders for Apple’s iPhone devices grow to 40-45 million units in 2010 from 20-21 million estimated this year, according to sources close to the story. These figures include 5-megapixel CIS orders for the next-generation iPhone model according to those sources.

The company currently supplies the 3.2-megapixel CIS found in the iPhone 3GS.

A next generation iPhone is predicted to be available possibly by June next year with other rumors pointing towards iPhone OS 4.0 testing evidence emerging on the web logs of various larger web sites.

Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.

If you wondered where the iPhone might be going as far as a gaming platform, you might be surprised.

Per AnandTech, Mark Rein, vice president of Epic Games, creators of the Unreal Engine, demonstrated a working proof of concept to the web site with a playable demo of Unreal Tournament. The game ran a modified level from the popular first-person shooter and employs dual-touch controls.

The game has a virtual thumbstick on the left side of the touch screen to control character movement. Using their right thumb, users can aim and shoot at enemies on screen.

The demo employs Open GL ES 2.0, which is only available on the iPhone 3GS and new iPod touch. The PowerVR SGX GPU has been found to make the hardware, in some cases, to be twice as fast as its predecessors.

The report noted that the game ran with a smooth framerate and the controls worked well. It added, however, that the demo clearly needs polishing, but that it is “just a starting point.”

“Epic isn’t announcing any sort of iPhone engine licenses nor are they entering the iPhone game market,” the report said. “Porting UE3 to the iPhone is simply one of many projects being worked on inside a newer, more svelte and innovative Epic Games (wait till you see what’s next…).”

As Epic Games does on the PC side, the company apparently intends to license its Unreal Engine to third-party companies for use on the iPhone and iPod touch. This will allow an advanced framework for companies to build original games around. Epic, at the moment, has no plans to release any games for the platform.

Rein also told AnandTech that Unreal Engine 3 will be demoed on another mobile platform at CES 2010 in early January. The company reportedly intends to take its plans beyond the iPhone and iPod touch.

“This isn’t a platform specific thing,” the report said, “it’s about bringing Unreal Engine 3 to the entire portable market.”

Recently, Apple exhibited signs that the company may be looking to get more directly involved in game development, the company posting a job opening for a game and media software engineer for its iPhone and iPod touch team. Apple has traditionally backed off from first-hand game development, so some degree of change may be in the air.

Parallels Desktop, the popular virtualization application that allows users to run the Windows and Linux operating systems simultaneously alongside Mac OS X, reached version 5.0.9308 this week. The new version, a 222 megabyte download, sports the following fixes and changes:

Virtualization:
- Improved USB mass storage performance.
- SMP Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 virtual machines migrated from Parallels Desktop 4 may crash on startup – fixed.
- Black screen on startup in Windows 2000 virtual machines that support the Intel EPT technology – fixed.

Windows guest operating systems:
- Improved resume from suspend in virtual machines with multiple monitors assigned.
- Accidental keyboard problems when switching between applications if several virtual machines are running in Coherence or Crystal – fixed.
- Switching to the default space when clicking Windows Start Menu in the Crystal mode – fixed.
- Improved performance of file access via Shared Folders.
- Problems with switching to Coherence or Crystal in a multi-monitor configuration with a USB-to-DVI/VGA adapter driver installed in the virtual machine – fixed.
- Problems with switching to Coherence or Crystal when Parallels Desktop is on the display attached to a different graphic card – fixed.
- Time zone synchronization in the Windows 7 guest OS – fixed.
- The Visual Studio debugger hitting breakpoint on applications launched in the debug mode when running in Coherence or Crystal view modes – fixed.
- Overlapping of menus appearing on right-click and left-click in Crystal mode – fixed.

Linux guest operating systems:
- Parallels Tools support Xorg 1.7 in Fedora 12 virtual machines (experimental) – new!
- Parallels Tools support Mandriva 2010 (experimental) – new!
- OpenSUSE 11.1 installation media auto detection – new!
- A non-writable Desktop folder created during the Express installation in some distributions – fixed.
- Problems with the Ubuntu 8.04 x64 guest OS booting after the Express installation – fixed.
- Blinking when working in the Topogun 1.05 application – fixed.
- Problems with right mouse click in some versions of GNOME – fixed.
- Parallels Tools reinstallation may stall – fixed.

Mac OS X Server guest operating system:
- The ability to pass kernel options to the Mac OS X Server guest OS – added. To do so, enable the “Select boot device on startup” option in the virtual machine configuration: it will enable you to specify the necessary kernel options in the 5-seconds timeout before booting the kernel.

User Interface:
- Very slow Parallels Desktop 5 startup on some computers – fixed.
- Artifacts in Quartz animation after applying changes to Undo Disks and some other actions – fixed.
- Visual artifacts when switching to Full Screen in some machines – fixed.
- Possible application crashes when switching to the Crystal mode with VoiceOver turned on – fixed.
- Problem with quitting Parallels Desktop via Dock icon > Quit when Virtual Machines List is not closed – fixed.
- Problem with some dialogs staying in background when accessed in the Crystal view mode – fixed.

Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger host operating system:
- Parallels Desktop may crash on startup in Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger host OS – fixed.
- Possible problems with connecting USB devices in Mac OSX 10.4 Tiger host OS – fixed.

3D & Video:
- Improved video playback performance in Windows Vista and Windows 7.
- Windows Aero is now available by default for computers with Intel GMAX3100 and GMA950 graphic adapters (some MacBook and Mac mini models).
- Vertical synchronization is now configurable. You can configure these settings using the corresponding option in the virtual machine video configuration page.
- Black screen blincking in Windows Aero in SMP systems – fixed.
- Visual problems with the Battlestation Pacific game running on NVidia adapters – fixed.
- Improved 3D performance for the Mirror’s Edge game.
- Possible texture corruption in Autodesk AutoCAD – fixed.
- Possible Windows XP guest OS crashes when Autodesk Inventor is running in the virtual machine – fixed.
- Possible crashes of the Torchlight game – fixed.
- Visual artifacts in Quicktime 7 on ATI video adapters running in the WDDM mode – fixed.
- Possible crashes in the Microsoft Train Simulator game – fixed.
- The Mass Effect game crashes on startup – fixed.
- Visual artifacts on “water” in the Spore game – fixed.
- Accidental crashes in the Portal game on the GMA950 graphics adapter – fixed.
- Accidental crashes in the Unreal Tournament 3 game -fixed.
- Problems with OpenGL applications startup in Full Screen in multi-monitor configurations – fixed.
-The Final Fantasy XI game compatibility issues – fixed.
- Problems with the Counter Strike 1.6 game in DirectX rendering mode – fixed.
- Corrupted images in Anatomage InVivo – fixed.
- Video quality problems in some video players on Windows 7 – fixed.

Parallels Transporter:
- Improved performance of virtual machines migrated from VMware Fusion to Parallels Desktop.
- Disabled Aero in the Windows 7 virtual machines converted from VMware Fusion 3 to Parallels Desktop – fixed.
- Migration via the Parallels USB cable when the source computer’s USB port is a USB 1.1 port – fixed.

Parallels Desktop 5 for Mac retails for US$79.99, requires Mac OS X 10.4 later to install and run.

Following up on Apple’s intention to create a subscription-based service, both CBS and Walt Disney hae expressed interest in the idea, which is slated to roll out sometime in 2010.

Per the Wall Street Journal, Walt Disney Co. and CBS Corp. are considering participating in Apple’s future plan to offer subscriptions for television shows through iTunes. CBS would offer programs from its parent network as well as CW, while Disney would offer programs from its ABC, Disney Channel, and ABC Family networks.

Apple would pay the content providers US$2 to US$4 a month per subscriber for a broadcast network like CBS or ABC, and about US$1 to US$2 a month per subscriber for a basic-cable network.

The report also stated that Apple has briefed companies on its long-anticipated tablet device, which it calls a “multimedia gadget.” The touchscreen device, which is stated to be larger than an iPhone but smaller than a laptop, is reportedly expected to arrive by the end of March 2010.

Back in November Apple reportedly pitched a US$30-a-month iTunes TV subscription plan to major networks in hope of gaining support for an “all-you-can-eat” subscription plan. At that point it was suggested that Disney would be the first to opt in. Disney was the first company to provide its programs over iTunes in 2005, and the company has close ties with Apple – CEO Steve Jobs is the company’s largest single shareholder.

It is possible that Apple has altered its strategy due to push-back from some of the larger media companies. Many of the companies in question also have cable TV interests, meaning a potential deal with Apple could result in a decrease in traditional cable revenues. With Comcast’s purchase of NBC Universal earlier this month, it would be unlikely that the company would be willing to participate in a deal, and would therefore weaken a potential “all-you-can-eat” subscription plan.

Let’s face it, as convenient as notebook computers are, if you use them in the wrong position, you’re in for a fair amount of repetitive stress injury pain. The guys over at the Core77 blog highlighted ten common usage positions and marked the pain points you’re asking for down the road with each.

Take a gander and let us know if you have a best or worst computing position:

Following up on reports of graphical errors with its best-selling 27″ iMac model, Apple recently released a firmware update to help resolve the issue. The update, a 683 kilobyte download, updates the graphics firmware on ATI Radeon HD 4670 and 4850 graphics cards to address issues that may cause image corruption or display flickering.

The update requires Mac OS X 10.5 or later to install and run.

If you’ve tried the firmware update and noticed any changes, please let us know.

There is no good way to explain this, except for the fact that software developer mono has recently written and released Youngicorn, an iPhone application that can turn any image into a unicorn.

Based on the principle that everyone looks better as a unicorn, users can import a photo, then add sparkles, rainbows, and an array of space-themed scenes. Once complete, simply add a glowing horn and you’re done.

The application retails for 99 cents and requires iPhone OS 3.1 or later to install and run.

And since a picture’s worth a thousand words, here are the developers enacting a real life version of their app: