It may only seem like yesterday that Apple launched the iPhone 4S, but the next version of the iPhone is already gearing up for the assembly line.

Apple news site 9to5Mac is citing sources at the Foxxconn manufacturing facility as reporting that the iPhone 5 will soon begin production.

Apple's top manufacturing partner is said to be readying its factories for the first stages of assembly.

If true, the report would put the next version of the iPhone on pace for arrival in most markets by the summer.

A June or July release would be in line with Apple's pattern of unveiling its new iPhone models early in the summer and then releasing the handsets to consumers several weeks later.

Of course, Apple could also decide to push the release back by a month or so in order to unload a bit more of its iPhone 4S stock.

After being delayed by several months, the 4S is still selling extremely well for Apple and the company might want to extend its run a bit longer, especially after the firm announced bumper financials for the previous quarter.

This included the sale of a staggering 132 million iPhone devices.

Ever since the Foxconn crisis, Apple has committed itself to keeping close tabs on its supply chain partners.

The company has issued its second audit of its partners, helping to shed light on how some of your favourite Apple products are put together. The audit looked at around 229 facilities associated with its products and some of the results are eye-opening.

For starters, the company found that five of the firms it audited were in violation of child labour laws. Additionally, 15 firms had been linked to foreign worker programmes, which had charged employees excessive fees to secure jobs. In one case, violations were repeatedly made to the point that Apple terminated its contract with the company.

Safety also continues to be a problem. Apple reported that just 65 per cent of the companies it surveyed met with its occupational injury prevention standards. Just 86 per cent met with standards for preventing chemical exposure.

The numbers were better for ethical standards. For areas such as whistleblower protection, intellectual property security and business integrity, more than 93 per cent of partners met Apple's standards. Still, violations of Apple's ethical standards forced the company to terminate its associations with at least one partner.

Discrimination also remains an issue. Apple said that 24 facilities were performing pregnancy tests to screen employees, while an additional 56 audits found that companies lacked policies to prevent discrimination based on pregnancy. Up to 52 companies had further discrimination issues related to medical tests on employees.

While the report isn't pretty in parts, Apple should be commended for making the information available to the public. Most of these factories contract with multiple companies and produce a range of products far beyond those with the Apple logo.

When Apple released its iPhone 4S last summer, the most talked-about feature was the Siri voice recognition software.

The tool allows users to give verbal commands and receive information ranging from weather to nearby restaurants and appointments. The platform was the one bright spot in what was otherwise a lukewarm critical reception for the 4S.

Where critics scoffed, however, consumers lunged for their wallets. The iPhone 4S was a retail hit and now it seems Siri is proving extremely popular as well.

Network research firm Arieso said that a recent study it conducted on iOS users shows that the 4S is by far the most data-hungry of Apple's devices. On average, the Siri-equipped handset consumes twice as much data as the iPhone 4 and three times more than the iPhone 3G.

Siri even got the better of the iPad 2 when it came to overall wireless broadband data consumption.

The report is good news for Apple and gives a bright outlook for Siri, but it could also spell trouble for wireless carriers. With many network providers already worrying about wireless bandwidth use, the expansion of the Siri platform with future iOS devices could put a strain on their infrastructure and accelerate the move to 4G services.

It seems the Big Apple will be the choice venue for the next big news from Apple.

AllThingsD reports that the company is planning to hold an unveiling in New York some time around the end of January.

Those of you holding out hope for the unveiling of the next iPad model might be disappointed by the news, however. Early reports suggest that the main focus of the event will be digital publishing.

Among the items rumoured to be on the agenda will be an effort to improve the availability of digitised textbooks. Apple is said to be working on a platform which would allow students to purchase their textbooks for use on an iPad.

Such a campaign could help to remedy one of the biggest complaints amongst university students. Extravagently-priced textbooks can cost students hundreds of dollars apiece and publishers frequently release new editions of books to stymie the trade in used copies.

If any company can break up the textbook rackett, however, it's Apple. The company has long been a mainstay in the education market and the appeal of the iPod and iPhone brands amongst young people could mean that Apple already has a critical mass in place to make a textbook service work.

Everyone knows there's no end to the fervour that surrounds Apple and its mystique, but even we were shocked with the news that the company's founding papers sold at auction for over £1m.

The documents eventually went for $1,594,500, which was 10 times auction house Sotheby's prediction, as five bidders drove the price skywards, each seeking to own a little piece of Apple's history.

The eventual winner, according to the BBC, was Eduardo Cisneros, chief executive of a firm called Cisneros Corporation, which owns stakes in a range of businesses covering real estate, TV production and telecoms. He'll probably frame them and hope they appreciate in value.

The documents belonged to the third (forgotten) Apple founder, Ronald Wayne, who originally took a 10 per cent stake in the company before backing out over worries that Apple would go nowhere and he'd lose his outlay. Ouch.

Even this story is a tragic one for Wayne as he sold the documents in 1994 for a few thousand dollars, according to the BBC, and had to watch as they went for over £1m. Some people appear destined never to catch a break.

Google has posted an update for the iPad version of its Search App.

The free App has been updated to include a number of additional features from the Google Search platform as well as a few unique features for the iPad.

Among the features offered by the update is Google Instant. The search tool allows users to see possible results as they type, the time-saving feature has proven popular since it was first introduced for Google online search in September of last year.

Additionally, the update will bring a new iPad navigation system which will sport result preview panels and allow users to view images on a carousel presentation screen which can be navigated through tap gestures.

Google has posted a video demonstration of the new App along with more information on its Mobile blog.

While iPad-optimised applications have existed since Apple first introduced the tablet, the practice seems to be picking up steam as both developers and iOS grow even more sophisticated and familiar with the iPad. We're anxious to see what features can to the iPad version of recently-ported applications such as Minecraft. 

Google has launched a music store and streaming service to rival Apple's iTunes, allowing customers to buy tracks directly from the Android Market.

Google Music lists more than 13 million tracks from labels such as Universal, Sony and EMI, and allows the saving of playlists online and the sharing of tracks with contacts through Google+.

The service also offers exclusive tracks from the Rolling Stones, Pearl Jam and Dave Matthews Band. Google has promised to court independent artists and smaller labels through the Artist Hub site.

"Google Music helps you spend more time listening to your collection and less time managing it," said a blog post by Andy Rubin, senior vice president of mobile at Google.

"We automatically sync your entire music library, purchases and uploads, across all your devices so you don't have to worry about cables, file transfers or running out of storage space."

Google Music could present the biggest challenge yet to iTunes. Apple has defeated all challengers to date, but Google has a huge brand and the resources to go head to head with the market leader.

It could also wean some people away from the Apple brand and convince them to move to Android.

Google Music is currently available in the US, and will be expanded to other territories soon.

Consumer Reports has issued a recommendation for the Apple iPhone for the first time in two years.

The influential reviews company said in a review of the iPhone 4S that Apple has finally addressed the antenna problems which had throttled reception and prevented Consumer Reports from issuing its 'recommended' status on the handset.

"In special reception tests of the iPhone 4S that duplicated those we did on the iPhone 4, the newer phone did not display the same reception flaw, which involves a loss of signal strength when you touch a spot on the phone's lower left side while you're in an area with a weak signal," the company said.

Consumer Reports also overlooked the reports of battery draining software bugs, and noted the improved camera and Siri voice control system. As a result, the iPhone 4S has received the recommendation which eluded the iPhone 4.

The site did note, however, that the iPhone 4S failed to match up with the top-rated Android handsets from Samsung and Motorola.

While the review will be a nice feather in Apple's cap, it is not likely to have much of an impact on sales. The iPhone 4 racked up record sales despite the snub from Consumer Reports, and thus far the iPhone 4S has set records of its own even without the 'recommended' label.