Did everyone party like it’s 2012 over the weekend? 2011 is done and over with, and while the last batch of “best/worst of” lists continue to trickle out, we’re looking ahead to the New Year and what it may bring, with the Consumer Electronics Show kicking off next week and Mobile World Congress next month. Of course, neither of those events are places where Apple historically rears its head, but stay tuned as we dig up all the latest from Cupertino this year. That includes today, so read on for the first few nuggets from Monday, January 2, 2012.

Crazy Apple rumor season is in full swing, with Taiwan’s DigiTimes proposing that Cupertino will unveil a pair of new iPads at next month’s Macworld/iWorld show in San Francisco. That’s… just… crazy! But hey, we’re happy to be proven wrong, especially if it puts a swanky new iPad in our hands that much earlier in the year. While we’re all waiting to see if this rumor comes to fruition, why not dig into the rest the tech news for this next to last news recap on Thursday, December 29, 2011?

Where tablets are concerned, it’s all about the display, the primary part of the technology we interact with. The new kids on the block are Amazon’s Kindle Fire and its direct competitor, the Barnes & Noble Nook Tablet, which feature smaller seven-inch screens at a more wallet-friendly price. But are they a match for Apple’s market leading iPad 2?

It seems like the lazy part of December is upon us: The frenzy of Black Friday and Cyber Monday is behind us and the last-minute mad rush for holiday gifts is still a week or two away. So what’s a MacLife.com reader to do? Why not take a bite out of some tasty tech news from around the internet while you wait -- here’s the latest and greatest for Tuesday, December 6, 2011.