Chris Foresman at Ars is hopeful for its future:

As the standard begins to mature, will the technology begin to break out of its niche?

It's hard to say with absolute certainty, but it appears that the groundwork laid in 2012 may slowly start to pay off in 2013.

It’d be a nice change for Apple to be a successful early adopter in the field of fast I/O: FireWire never really made it mainstream. Thunderbolt is already beginning to appear on some PCs — perhaps Apple’s 2011 bet is starting to reap rewards.

It’s sort of presumed without much evidence that serif typefaces are easier on the eyes and more readable than sans-serifs. Turns out, that’s not necessarily the case. Kas Thomas explains:

It turns out that, as with so many of the things we "know" are right, the idea that serif typefaces are more readable than non-serif typefaces simply isn't supported by the evidence.

Fascinating.

This shocked me: I didn’t realise Symbian devices were still being sold. I used to own a Nokia N95 before my first iPhone (the 3GS) and I thought it was one of the last Symbian devices. Obviously not.

Even though these fourth quarter numbers might pale in comparison to Apple’s predicted 65 million iPhone sales, they were enough to make Nokia’s stock jump 16%.

I think Nokia’s biggest problem is the 70 million extremely low-end Series 40 phones they sold. They should produce smartphones so enticing that their low-end phones become undesirable.

So, soon it’ll come with its own black box. Need to get myself one of these for some filming. Flying one of these babies through a nearby forest would be a beautiful thing.

Not sure why I haven’t linked to this before now, but Horace Dediu (who is still biting his nails, for those keeping track) has written a fascinating article explaining how the Surface fits into Microsoft’s plan for the future.

In short, tablets are where the growth is happening in larger-than-phone computing — and Microsoft has little presence there. In traditional PC sales, Microsoft receives around $50 for a license of Windows, and $67 for a license of Office.

The surface, with its Apple-esque 30%+ margins, is a way for Microsoft to keep revenue and profit high, without manufacturers like Asus and Dell paying $50 a pop for a Windows license… Manufacturers who could easily switch to making hardware for Android — which lacks this hefty fee. Sometimes, Google will even pay manufacturers to use Android.

It seems that Android is doing more harm to Microsoft than I originally realised — Google might be going after third party device manufacturers. Smart.

Not looking good.

RT reports some sad news for toy companies like Mattel and Hasbro:

Toymakers will most likely see their Christmas sales lower this year, as children prefer gadgets as holiday presents, according to analysts reported in the Financial Times on Monday. A source told the paper that its top selling product this Christmas was a mobile phone case.

One of the more thought-provoking lines from later in the piece:

“Everyone I know who has a kid under 10 has a tablet in the house. And that tablet is the babysitter,” Dylan Collins, an investor in Fight My Monster, an online gaming company, told the paper.

Whilst looking back on 2012 is fun to do in early January, it’s just as valuable later on, too. MailChimp have just released some astonishingly large numbers in a beautifully crafted website which feels more like an immersive infographic than a collection of HTML. If you sent or received a MailChimp newsletter in 2012, you’re a part of these numbers.

Jessica Moon writes a solid and interesting piece for The Industry, in which she reveals some ways to create emotional design elements — parts of websites or apps which make us feel something. Number three is my favourite.

Ever wondered how every retail store seems to have the same prices for Apple products? Marco Tabini writes a great piece for Macworld explaining how it works, and why Apple operates that way.

My favourite line from a fascinating and thought-provoking episode of The Crossover, featuring Dan Benjamin, Christina Warren and Brett Terpstra, discussing creativity, software, writing, tech and more.

Now, by linking this, I’m not implying anyone actually cares about BlackBerry — I think it’s interesting to point out just how similar certain aspects of BB10’s design are to iOS and Android. And, interestingly enough, the aspects which aren’t similar all appear pretty ugly to my eyes. Just look at that Siri rip-off.

(How did they manage to make something which so closely resembles both an Apple and a Samsung feature so much uglier? We’ll never know.)

Still, just 16 days until we see the real deal. I can’t wait.