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One of the co-founders of Liberty Reserve, which was abruptly shut down by the government in May, plead guilty "to money laundering and operating an unlicensed money transmitting business" on Thursday.

Vladimir Kats was arrested in May for his involvement in running the Costa Rica-based online currency company. US prosecutors accused the site of setting up a digital currency exchange to launder money, resulting in 55 million transactions that allegedly laundered more than $6 billion in funds for "crimes, including credit card fraud, identity theft, investment fraud, computer hacking, child pornography, and narcotics trafficking." Along with Kats, prosecutors in Spain, Costa Rica, and the US arrested four other people for their role in Liberty Reserve.

Kats plead guilty to several charges, according to the US Department of Justice, including:

One count of conspiring to commit money laundering, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison; one count of conspiring to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison; one count of operating an unlicensed money transmitting business, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison; one count of receiving child pornography, which carries a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison and a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison; and one count of marriage fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.

Apple's MacBook Air.

(Credit: Apple)

With Cyber Monday on the near horizon, Best Buy is already starting in on the shopping deals.

For two days only -- Friday and Saturday -- the big box retailer is offering customers $250 off of Apple's 13.3" MacBook Pro with 8GB memory and $100 off all MacBook Airs. Additionally, people can trade in their old laptops for an average of $75 and can get up to $100 off if the computers are in good condition.

While the trade-in gives users a deal, it's interesting to note that Best Buy is currently offering users $200 trade-in for working third or fourth generation iPads or iPad Mini through November 9.

Best Buy isn't the only retailer to offer such promotions; Target and Walmart have also recently been hawking iPhones for discounted prices.

Best Buy's MacBook Pro and MacBook Air sale starts Friday, November 1 and goes through Saturday, November 2 and is available at Best Buy stores.

The iPad Mini with Retina Display isn't going to be widely available until spring, claims an analyst speaking to Nikkei.

(Credit: James Martin/CNET)

A report out of Japan is painting a bleak supply picture for the iPad Mini with Retina Display, which is causing consternation at one Japanese carrier.

Currently, LG Display and Sharp are both stipulated as display suppliers for the new iPad Mini. Problem is, LGD is the only one having any success at achieving production, according to a DisplaySearch Japan analyst cited in a Nikkei report. But even LGD is not faring that well at the moment. The report characterizes production at LGD as "not close to full production."

As a result, Apple is now turning to Samsung. But that erstwhile supplier to Apple will not be ready to deliver any kind of volume until well into next year, according to the report.

While the Nikkei story echoes earlier reports about new iPad Mini shortages, the degree of severity appears to be more than Apple bargained for.

And that is causing concern for one of Apple's newest -- and largest -- carriers, NTT DoCoMo, which just began selling Apple's iPhone for the first time with the release of the iPhone 5S. DoCoMo also wants to begin selling the new iPad Mini and sees it as an attractive product but supply just isn't there, according to the report.

On Monday, Apple's CEO said "it's unclear whether we'll have enough for the quarter or not at the company's earnings conference call.

The iPad Mini with Retina Display starts at $399 and its 7.9-inch display boasts a stunning 2,048x1,536-pixel resolution, which comes to 326 pixels per inch, one of the highest-resolution tablets out there.

Sharp and LGD Display have yet to reply to a request for comment.

Apple's MacBook Air.

(Credit: Apple)

With Cyber Monday on the near horizon, Best Buy is already starting in on the shopping deals.

For two days only -- Friday and Saturday -- the big box retailer is offering customers $250 off of Apple's 13.3" MacBook Pro with 8GB memory and $100 off all MacBook Airs. Additionally, people can trade in their old laptops for an average of $75 and can get up to $100 off if the computers are in good condition.

While the trade-in gives users a deal, it's interesting to note that Best Buy is currently offering users $200 trade-in for working third or fourth generation iPads or iPad Mini through November 9.

Best Buy isn't the only retailer to offer such promotions; Target and Walmart have also recently been hawking iPhones for discounted prices.

Best Buy's MacBook Pro and MacBook Air sale starts Friday, November 1 and goes through Saturday, November 2 and is available at Best Buy stores.

Several new patent lawsuits surfaced Thursday in which some of tech's top companies have split up into two opposing teams. On one side is Apple, Microsoft, BlackBerry, Ericsson, and Sony -- otherwise known as the Rockstar Consortium; and on the other is Google, Samsung, Huawei, HTC, and others.

The suits are being brought by the Rockstar Consortium against Google and the other companies over a host of patents that allegedly infringe on various technologies, according to Reuters. Google is specifically accused of infringing on seven patents, which use technology that pairs Internet search terms with related advertising. The complaint filed by the Rockstar Consortium claims Google's patent infringement is willful.

The melee stems back to June 2011 when the companies engaged in a tit-for-tat competition to purchase Nortel Network's 6,000 patent portfolio. While Google tried to buy the Nortel patents for as much as $4.4 billion, it eventually lost out in an auction to the Rockstar Consortium, which bought the patent bundle for $4.5 billion.

"Despite losing in its attempt to acquire the patents-in-suit at auction, Google has infringed and continues to infringe," the lawsuit said, according to Reuters.

Nortel's patents and patent applications encompassed technologies such as wireless, wireless 4G, data networking, optical, voice, Internet, and semiconductors.

The need for companies to have a so-called "war chest" of patents has become an increasingly important part of doing business. Mobile devices in particular have become the latest target of patent litigation, due to their combination of features that may have previously been available only in standalone electronics.

The several patent lawsuits brought by the Rockstar Consortium were filed in a US District Court of Eastern Texas on Thursday.

CNET contacted Google and the Rockstar Consortium for comment. We'll update the story when we get more information.

The mysterious Google barge project, seen with both the new and old eastern spans of the San Francisco Bay Bridges in the background

(Credit: Josh Miller/CNET)

Since CNET first broke news about Google's connection to a mystery structure atop a barge in San Francisco bay last week, the Coast Guard has said almost nothing about the project.

Now, information obtained from the Coast Guard by The Day Connecticut through a Freedom of Information Act request suggests that the structures aboard the mystery barges -- one in San Francisco Bay and another in Portland, Maine -- are meant to be moved from city to city.

On Wednesday, the Coast Guard told CNBC that Google is behind the project -- which CNET has also confirmed with the National Park Service, and the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission. But it has had little if anything to say to anyone else.

This afternoon, the Coast Guard has issued a statement explaining its general silence on this closely-watched topic.

The Coast Guard regulates commercial maritime commerce and ensures compliance with applicable safety, security, and environmental protection requirements.

In this capacity, the Coast Guard conducts hundreds of inspections across the region on a wide variety of commercial vessels. During the course of these activities, Coast Guard personnel are often exposed to sensitive proprietary information, new technologies, and other trade secrets. Regardless of the company or entity involved, the Coast Guard has an obligation to protect sensitive proprietary information, as a company's competitive posture and business interests depend on it.

Regarding the barge BAL0010 moored at Treasure Island in San Francisco Bay, Coast Guard personnel have been onboard to conduct routine inspections and ensure compliance with applicable, safety, security, and environmental protection regulations.

Earlier this week, Reuters reported that the Coast Guard had said that some of its representatives signed non-disclosure agreements with Google. But Coast Guard spokesperson Anna Dixon told CNET today that that information had been provided to Reuters in error. In fact, she said, "there were some non-disclosure agreements signed by some members of the Coast Guard. They were signed with the entities overseeing the operations where the vessel's moored. Those weren't signed in conjunction with any Coast Guard regulatory authority. They were signed as a courtesy to the facility."

Dixon was unable to elaborate. But she did add that, "The Coast Guard typically doesn't sign non-disclosure agreements."

Meanwhile, The Day Connecticut also reported that the Portland, Maine structure was constructed using shipping containers built in San Francisco. That work almost certainly took place inside Hangar 3, a huge building on Treasure Island that CNET was first to link to the mysterious Google project.

The publication's assertion that the vessels are meant to operate "in various ports, with the first being New York Harbor," jibes with a tip that CNET received last week that the mystery barge in San Francisco is a secret Google Glass store of some kind that is meant to be floated from city to city. The tipster, who asked to remain anonymous, but who is well-connected in Silicon Valley, said he'd gotten his information from multiple sources at Google.

Regardless of the ultimate purpose of the mystery barges, one thing is clear: work has stopped on the project on Treasure Island, and it has yet to get underway in Maine. Asked if the Coast Guard had ordered the work stoppage, Dixon said "No, the Coast Guard did not stop any work on the barge."

(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)

HTC plans to aggressively push out Android 4.4 KitKat to the HTC One, the company said Thursday.

In an interview with Engadget, HTC America President Jason Mackenzie said the latest version of Android will be available to all HTC One phones in North America, including all carrier variants, in 90 days or less. An HTC spokesperson confirmed this to our sister site CNET UK, adding that an update for the HTC One max and the HTC One mini will follow.

"We're all excited about Google's Halloween treat and plan on breaking off a piece of that Kit Kat bar for the HTC One," said Jeff Gordon, HTC's senior global online communications manager, in a statement to CNET UK. "In North America, we'll deliver Android 4.4 with Sense 5.5 for the HTC One within 90 days, and the HTC One max and the HTC One mini will follow."

Mackenzie also told Engadget that the Google Play edition of the phone will see the update within the next 15 days and that Developer and unlocked versions will get it within 30 days.

Google unveiled the latest version of its mobile operating system along with the long-awaited Nexus 5 on Thursday. Android 4.4 has a lower memory requirement meaning it can run on low- and high-end phones. It's a move by Google to decrease fragmentation and make sure there is a more consistent experience across the wide array of Android smartphones.

Google said Android 4.4 KitKat will come to the Nexus 4, Nexus 7, Nexus 10 tablets, and the Samsung Galaxy S4 in the coming weeks.

Motorola will update the Moto X's camera through and app download.

(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)

Motorola has pulled the Moto X camera out of the smartphone's firmware and moved it to the Google Play Store as a standalone application. In what's becoming somewhat of an industry trend, Motorola has isolated the Moto X camera app and moved it to the Google Play Store.

The move ensures Motorola issues updates with bug fixes and enhancements in a quicker and more direct manner. No longer bottle-necked by carriers, Motorola will be able to make changes and push them out immediately. According to the Google Play listing, the Motorola Camera starts at v3.1.5 and includes the following features:

• Brightened camera viewfinder so it's easier to see


• Enabled Quick Capture for more


• Enterprise users IT policies


• Bug fixes

It's worth noting that the app does not explicitly name the Moto X; we might assume Motorola does something similar for future devices as well.

Motorola has employed this strategy for other apps and features, including Touchless Control and Droid Zap. Both of these apps, incidentally, have been updated in the last few days. Like the camera app, these two would have formerly been integrated into the device firmware.

Inrix shows a comparison map of Los Angeles with its old traffic reporting on the right and XD Traffic coverage on the left.

(Credit: Inrix)

The Inrix XD Traffic service, launched this week, puts the company's digital traffic reporting on twice as many roads as previously. Inrix provides traffic data for in-vehicle navigation systems and through its own smartphone app.

Inrix Director of Product Management Mark Pendergrast told CNET that, along with the increased coverage, XD Traffic increases what it calls resolution of traffic coverage down to 800 foot increments. Previously, Inrix and other companies have used mile-long blocks, reporting the same traffic flow conditions for an entire stretch of road. The new 800 foot resolution makes it more likely the actual traffic conditions will match those shown on a driver's navigation system.

The increased coverage adds more surface streets to Inrix's reporting structure.

Along with the added streets and higher resolution, XD Traffic data is collected independent of existing maps, allowing vendors to overlay the data on a variety of different navigation systems. Pendergrast told CNET that map independence could allow XD Traffic to show traffic flow information on new roads that have not yet been entered into a navigation system's map database.

A comparison of Inrix's XD Traffic and rival Nokia's Here mapping service shows similar traffic coverage for surface streets in downtown San Francisco. The similarity in coverage suggests the new Inrix service was intended to keep it competitive with Nokia's offering.

Inrix supplies traffic information for BMW's navigation system, and Volkswagen will be incorporating it in its Car-Net navigation system. XD Traffic is currently available through the Inrix smarphone app.

A look at the mysterious structure atop a barge in San Francisco Bay. Google won't say what it is, generating intense speculation.

(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET)

Over the last week, there has been intense speculation about just what exactly Google is building on its mystery barges in the San Francisco Bay and in Portland, Maine.

CNET was first to report the connection between Google and the mystery structures, but even we're not certain what the tech giant is building.

Google isn't saying -- the tech giant hasn't responded to multiple requests for comment from CNET. But there's no doubt the company is behind the project. It has been in discussions with two public agencies -- the National Park Service, and the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission -- about towing whatever it is building into San Francisco.

There's also been speculation that the project will be taken from city to city. And while most people believe Google's intentions are good, there's been plenty of commentary that the company is going back on its commitment to never be evil.

But we'd love to know your thoughts on what the mysterious structures are. Please feel free to leave them in the comments section.

A look at the mysterious structure atop a barge in San Francisco Bay. Google won't say what it is, generating intense speculation.

(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET)

Over the last week, there has been intense speculation about just what exactly Google is building on its mystery barges in the San Francisco Bay and in Portland, Maine.

CNET was first to report the connection between Google and the mystery structures, but even we're not certain what the tech giant is building.

Google isn't saying -- the tech giant hasn't responded to multiple requests for comment from CNET. But there's no doubt the company is behind the project. It has been in discussions with two public agencies -- the National Park Service, and the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission -- about towing whatever it is building into San Francisco.

There's also been speculation that the project will be taken from city to city. And while most people believe Google's intentions are good, there's been plenty of commentary that the company is going back on its commitment to never be evil.

But we'd love to know your thoughts on what the mysterious structures are. Please feel free to leave them in the comments section.

Apple's 2011 Smart Cover lineup.

(Credit: Apple)

If you want a colorful cover or case for your older iPad, you'll no longer get it through Apple.

Alongside the launch of its iPad Air tablet, the company quietly shelved all but one color for both its iPad Smart Cover and Smart Case accessories for second- through fourth-generation iPads.

(Credit: Apple)

Apple will continue to sell the polyurethane accessories, which run for $39 and $49 respectively, but only in a dark gray color.

Those who want one of the five other (now discontinued) colors will have to find it from another retailer, or go with another similar accessory, which Apple still sells on its online store.

The change was spotted earlier Wednesday by iLounge.

The older Smart Cover design was introduced alongside the iPad 2 in 2011, and continues with the iPad Air and iPad Mini. Apple later added to it with a Smart Case, which ditches the magnets and fits the entire tablet in a protected compartment.

Apple changed the design of the covers with the new iPad Air, which is narrower than previous models, adopting the same portrait-style design found in last year's iPad Mini. Nonetheless, Apple's still selling the iPad 2 alongside its newer tablets, leaving reason to keep this accessory around.

Google's mystery barge in the San Francisco Bay. The tech giant has been in discussions to tow it to San Francisco's Fort Mason Center.

(Credit: Josh Miller/CNET)

Google has had discussions over the last few months with the National Park Service about bringing its mystery barge into San Francisco and docking it alongside the artsy Fort Mason Center.

According to Golden Gate National Recreation Area director of communications Howard Levitt, Google wanted to bring the barge to Fort Mason, which is operated under the auspices of the National Park Service. "We have had discussion with our partner Fort Mason Center, and with Google," Levitt told CNET, "about the idea of some kind of barge being placed off of one of the piers at lower Fort Mason."

Last week, CNET was first to report the connection between Google and the mysterious four-story structure being built atop a barge off a pier at Treasure Island in the San Francisco Bay. Later, CNET parent CBS' San Francisco affiliate KPIX reported that the mystery project was likely some sort of Google Glass retail store, and that the tech giant had planned to bring it to Fort Mason.

Today, The Verge confirmed the Fort Mason discussions.

But Levitt told CNET that not only has the Park Service not yet authorized the barge to come to Fort Mason, but also that it hasn't received very many details from Google. And those are details that would be required in order for such authorization to be granted. "Certainly, we'd have to be clear on what kinds of activities would take place on the barge," Levitt said, "and how those activities would support whatever kind of land-based activities [take place] at Fort Mason."

However, Levitt said he doubted the theory advanced about a Google Glass store project. "I don't think it's intended to be a retail environment," he said. "The details are still being developed." But he did say that his understanding was that the Google project "was in relation to a product."

A source told CNET last week, separate from the KPIX report, that he had knowledge that the mystery project is a Google store of some kind. The tipster, who has strong Silicon Valley connections but asked to remain anonymous, said he'd heard from multiple Google sources that the company wants to float the Glass stores from city to city, and that the idea for the project came straight from either Larry Page or Sergey Brin, Google's founders.

Larry Goldzpan, executive director of the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission, which has jurisdiction over the San Francisco Bay, told CNET that if the Google project constitutes what he called "fill in the bay," a permit would be required. "You can build a boat anywhere you want and sail it around the bay," Goldzpan said, "and you can park it in an approved slip....But you cannot moor a vessel for an extended period of time in the bay because that constitutes fill in the bay."

Goldzpan said that he had been part of at least two meetings with Google and the company's attorney, and that the BCDC had not learned very much about what was planned. "We're looking forward to learning what the vessel is going to be used for, and what it's going to do."

He also said that the U.S. Coast Guard would have to give the vessel its blessing, something that seems like it has yet to happen. But the Coast Guard -- at least in the San Francisco Bay -- is not saying much. The Coast Guard in Portland, Maine, however, where a second Google mystery barge project is located, said that it has not yet inspected the structure there.

Either way, both the San Francisco Bay and Portland barge projects are sitting idle, with no work being done, and no progress being made toward completion. It's not known why work has stopped on Treasure Island, and the Coast Guard in Maine assumes the plan is for work to begin there only after the San Francisco Bay project is finished.

Neither Google nor the Coast Guard station in the San Francisco Bay have responded to requests for comment from CNET.

A timid guest waits for her turn to enter The Basement. Guests must go through alone or in a pair.

(Credit: CBS)

On a chilly Saturday night in October, Margee Kerr stood outside the exit of The Basement, the latest haunted attraction to enter the Pittsburgh fright scene. The Basement is part of ScareHouse, ranked among the country's top haunted houses by the Travel Channel.

If a normal haunted house is like a scary movie, The Basement is a psychological thriller. Inside, actors dressed as zombies do more than jump out of dark corners. They scream at you. Half naked, they press their bodies up against you and lick your neck. In one terrifying room, they pretend to slit your throat.

Whether guests exit laughing hysterically or looking terrified, Kerr is there to greet them. A sociologist and "scare expert" who helped design The Basement, she peppers them with questions, trying to determine if the experience hits its mark.

"A lot of the customers wanted something more intense and engaging, and there was this desire for a more extreme experience," she tells CBSNews.com.

That desire is apparent across the country. At The Basement, guests pay $35 each. To walk through Blackout, a haunted house that started in Los Angeles and now has locations New York City and Chicago, visitors shell out $65. Both The Basement and Blackout are sold out through the season.

"We wanted it to be a scary experience but one that was not going to trigger any trauma," Kerr says. "Uncertainty is so difficult to deal with. When we can't sense, we can't predict, that is terrifying... that uncertainty just triggers everything."

Given the complexity of our brains, triggering the sensation of fear -- without inflicting lasting trauma -- is more complicated than adding new zombies or heightening the sound effects.

There are two approaches to understanding how fear works in the brain. Joy Hirsch of Yale University investigates using an fMRI scanner. In the scanner, researchers provide study participants with a stimulus -- usually an image of a frightened person or a spider or snake -- that is known to trigger the response.

"No matter how well you know that there is nothing fearful going on at all, there is no real threat, that stimulus of the fearful face is sufficient to activate a whole cascade of circuitry," Hirsch explains. "It's a really important fact in studying fear that there are some stimuli that it's very difficult to override a physiological response."

The current understanding is that a region of the brain called the thalamus picks up on a threat, through visual or auditory clues. The sensory data then travels along two circuits, which Joseph LeDeux at New York University has named the "low road" and the "high road."

Inside The Basement at ScareHouse, guests go through about a dozen scenes. This image shows the security camera's view of each room, as zombies play on common phobias to frighten guests.

(Credit: CBS)

Along the low road, the sensory data travels to the hypothalamus, the region of the brain that sets off the "fight or flight" reaction.

Your heart starts racing, pumping extra blood to your muscles. You might feel a chill as less blood is pumped to your skin. Your pupils dilate to take in more light. This is all happening because the hypothalamus sets off the sympathetic nervous system and the adrenal-cortical system.

The adrenal glands pump out glucose, which provides an energy boost in case you need to run. The adrenal-cortical system also releases a burst of about 30 hormones, including endorphins and dopamine.

As all of this is happening, the original sensory data -- the sound of a door creaking, the sight of a zombie jumping out -- also travels along the second circuit, a longer path known as the high road.

That circuit ends in the hippocampus, the part of the brain where long-term memories are stored. The hippocampus pulls up those memories to put the threat into context. In something like a haunted house, the hippocampus will realize that the zombie is just an actor and that you are not in any true danger.

"The second signal lets us know that everything is OK," Kerr explains. "If the second signal is saying this is for real, this is legit, then it's not fun. A lot of scary material wants to trigger the first signal but also reinforce that no, this is actually not going to eat you."

The startle reaction is distinguished from more long-term fears, which Kerr says are more accurately called anxieties because "we are not going to know the answers to them for years, so we have no way of bringing about certainty. Whereas fear, that's immediate, there's a response and a resolution. Even if bad, it's over and you can move on." When anxiety is triggered, though, it has more lasting effects.

A ScareHouse visitor reacts to a zombie jumping out from the dark.

(Credit: CBS)

"It makes it difficult when designing scares. I want to trigger the fear, I don't want to trigger the anxiety," she adds. "I'm trying to go for something that is going to have a resolution."

Individuals respond differently to her designs. Since The Basement opened last month, at least three dozen people have used the designated safe word -- "Bunny" -- which lets them out immediately.

"One of the really fascinating aspects of the brain and its reaction to fear is the aspect of individual differences," Hirsch says. "Some people panic, another may think it's funny. Some are very frightened and want to run, others may seek the thrill of the chase and go chasing the frightening stimulus."

Scientists aren't sure why. "The same areas in the brain may be connected slightly differently or share information differently" in different people, Hirsch explains.

Kerr says the reason some people love The Basement and some hate it can partially be explained by looking at how our brains receive the flood of hormones during fight or flight. "Some people are going to have a lot of dopamine released," she says, which feels like a natural high.

Being startled is a reflex. The reaction is different from long-term sensations of fear.

(Credit: CBS)

"Once they get a taste of how much fun it can be to be terrified, they want to see how far can I push myself," she adds. "They get a taste and they love it or hate it and if they love it they say, 'OK, let's see what's next.' It sounds like a drug addiction, but it's got some of those similar patterns."

As a sociologist, she believes there's another element at play: the modern world is significantly safer than what our prehistoric ancestors encountered in the wild, at the time when the human brain was developing, but we still want the chemical pay-off of experiencing fear.

Craving that fear response explains the sheer thrill written all over the faces of so many of The Basement's visitors. "My heart's racing," said one enthusiast. "Haunted houses don't do anything for me anymore, and that actually got my adrenaline pumping."

It's music to Kerr's ears, and she can't help but note, "It's really crazy to think something terrifying and gory can bring people such joy."

This story originally appeared on CBSNews.com.

First iPad Air shoppers in Sydney, Australia.

(Credit: Seamus Byrne/CNET Australia)

Apple's newest iPad goes on sale this Friday, which has already arrived in some parts of the world.

In-store sales began in Australia, and are headed to 41 other countries, marking the biggest launch yet for one of Apple's tablets. Last year's iPad Mini and fourth-generation iPad launch initially targeted 27 countries, while the third-generation model launched in just 10. One of those 42 countries is Greater China, which was Apple's third biggest market behind Europe and the Americas this year.

The launch is the first part of a two stage release that also includes a new version of the iPad Mini equipped with a Retina Display. Apple has said it plans to release that device sometime in November. A listing on retailer Target's Web site late Wednesday suggested that Apple's eyeing November 21st -- a little more than a week before the holiday shopping season kicks off.

While the new iPad Mini is expected to be scarce when it arrives, early indications suggest Apple has a healthy supply of its larger Air tablets available. Initial online sales in Australia, China, and other countries began just after midnight local time, though only sold out in Hong Kong. New buyers in other countries face a 24-hour wait for their tablets to ship.

In Apple's store in Sydney, Australia -- where CNET's Seamus Byrne was on location -- the lines were noticably shorter than they were for the iPhone last month, though still several hundred people in a line that stretched around the block. Apple typically puts up barriers for crowd control at that store, but did not do so for this particular product.

The launch comes as Apple's spot on the top tablet market, one it helped create, is slipping. Apple's share of that market dipped to 29.6 percent -- its lowest ever -- in the third quarter of this year, while the market overall increased by 37 percent. That's according to data released yesterday by IDC, which still had Apple in the number one spot among rivals. That includes Samsung, which grew 123 percent from the same quarter last year, and accounted for 20.4 percent of units sold. During the same time last year, Apple accounted for more than 40 percent of tablets.

Apple's Sydney store.

(Credit: Seamus Byrne / CNET Australia )

The new model, which goes on sale at 8 a.m. local time in the US on Friday, is Apple's fifth version of a tablet since it was released about three and a half years ago. Since then, Apple's quadrupled the number of pixels on the display, amped up the processor and other components like RAM, cellular networking and Wi-Fi antennas. The new Mini model, a size that joined the iPad lineup last November, has nearly identical specs as the Air.

It's unclear just how many iPads Apple's expected to sell in its launch weekend. Last November Apple reported initial sales of 3 million iPads in the first three days, which was twice the 1.5 million it sold during the third-generation launch in March. Apple might not report its own official numbers until early next week, though it's in a rather unusual situation of selling only one tablet, with a wait still ahead for the other.

Online sales kick off at midnight in the US, with the company's retail stores opening up at 8 a.m. local time.