They say actions speak louder than words, and a couple of Apple's recent app updates say quite a lot about what could be in store for iOS this year, and what's in store could turn out to be great for the company's customers.

The unannounced smartwatch market is getting pretty crowded, as Google and LG both shouldered their way in with rumors of their own projects. Online reports say that Google's Android team is working on a smartwatch, and LG is working on something that may or may not run Android. Bryan Chaffin examines the issues.

Google chairman Eric Schmidt and Apple have been tweaking each other over Google Now for iOS. In an interview, Mr. Schmidt suggested—but did not actually say—that Apple was in way keeping Google Now from being released on iOS, but Apple made the rare move of denying in public that Google had even submitted the app for App Store approval.

Google just unveiled its Evernote-like Google Keep online note and information organizer, and Evernote has nothing to worry about. Keep may be handy, but it isn't a core service for Google, which means it most likely will eventually see an untimely demise, just like Google Reader.

Apple just hired away Adobe CTO Kevin Lynch to serve as its new Vice President for Technology. Mr. Lynch is the man that openly defended Flash as a must-have platform, saying that the iPhone was doomed to failure because it didn't support the system, which will probably make for some interesting water cooler conversations in Cupertino.

The world's atwitter with the latest news from Samsung—Lee Young Hee, executive vice president of Samsung’s mobile business, told Bloomberg on Monday that his company is making a smartwatch. As I've read over the reports and opinions on the subject I found myself coming back to a simple question: how will Samsung know what to do before Apple shows them?

The purpose of advertising is to create demand and then sales. If a company that's behind in market and mind share spends enough, it not only influences the customers, it influences the tech community. Is this what's behind the Apple malaise?

Andrew Auernheimer, one of the men behind a 2010 incident where account information for 114,000 iPad owners on AT&T's network was stolen, has been sentenced to 41 months in prison and must pay US$73,000 in restitution. Mr. Auernheimer's co-defendant, Daniel Spitler, will be paying part of the restitution, as well.

There are two new, next generation technologies being discussed these days: smart glasses, being pursued by Google and wearable computing devices which Apple may be considering with its rumored iWatch.  Are they equivalent ways of achieving the same thing? Perhaps not.

Renewed talk of a dividend increase pumped some life into shares of Apple Inc., pushing the stock above US$455 for the first time in weeks. After talking to six analysts on the topic, Bloomberg reported that Apple was likely to boost its quarterly dividend to $4.14 per share, a 56 percent increase. Bryan Chaffin explains how this works.