If you can believe the latest spate of Apple rumors, genius designer Jonathan Ive has decreed that drop shadows, gradients, shiny icons and other multi-dimensional effects in the iOS must vanish. It is henceforth minimalist, which also means those controversial skeuomorphic effects, such as the stitching effect in Calendar, will be history. Consistency rules!

This is the sort of story that, if it’s not true, will have a short shelf life. Apple will unveil the specifics about iOS 7 and OS 10.9 at the forthcoming WWDC conference in San Francisco, with the keynote set for June 10. But it’s also true that Apple has been known to carefully leak information about new products to some members of the press, for how else would they get things right on occasion?

While it’s possible some Apple employees are passing on this information, such things are done to their peril. If caught, they will be summarily fired by Apple, with a huge blot on their resumes. They might even have to change their identities in order to find employment elsewhere, but don’t take that seriously.

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So a certain liberal talk show host was busy ranting the other day about how Apple was avoiding taxes. Trying to portray himself as a man of the people, he speculated that Apple wasn’t even paying for the trash pickups at One Infinite Loop. Oh the injustice of it all!

Unfortunately, it appears that the radio host in question maybe read the headlines about Apple’s appearance before a Senate committee earlier this week, but ignored the substance of the issues. He came across as assuming Apple paid no taxes, and thus should be taken to task. He avoided the fact that Apple still pays billions in corporate taxes to the U.S. Treasury.

As usual with politically charged issues, the broad gray areas were ignored. So, for example, such companies as Apple, Google and Microsoft, and such wealthy individuals as Mitt Romney, routinely shield huge amounts of income from the tax man because they can. The tax laws in this country, both personal and corporate, comprise a mass of loopholes that can be exploited if you have some smart accountants to guide you through the mud.

Indeed, it does appear that Apple didn’t violate any laws. As with any profit-making company, they simply took advantage of them. But CEO Tim Cook reminded the Senators that Apple doesn’t hold bank accounts in the Caribbean or Cayman Islands, as other companies do.

In the course of his presentation, Cook said that Congress needs to overhaul the tax laws, to simplify them and make them more equitable. To the surprise of some, Cook admitted that if Apple paid more as a result, so be it. However, repatriating all that cash that’s being held abroad wound, under current regulations, cause them to send about a third of it to Uncle Sam. So the answer is no. And, no, I’m not going to get into the issue over whether Apple is gypping the government of Ireland out of millions or billions of dollars of tax revenues. That’s above my pay grade.

Unfortunately, the chances that the tax laws will be changed in our lifetime in any significant way, at least to make them easier to prepare, is probably little to none. At a time when Washington frets over whether some conservative groups were improperly singled out for extended review when applying for tax exempt status, it’s doubtful that the real problems will be dealt with. Sure targeting specific groups, right, left or otherwise, is bad form, but it doesn’t change the crazy quilt of regulations that can confuse and befuddle almost anyone without an accounting degree. And that includes IRS employees.

Now it does seem certain that some Senators hoped to make hay out of interrogating Cook and other Apple executives. But Cook has gotten high marks for staying on point, and cleverly deflecting even the most difficult questions. Attempts at grandstanding fell short, and when such hard-boiled politicians as Senator John McCain almost fawned over Apple when he fretted that his iPhone required too many updates, you can see that Cook did what he had to do. In the wake of that session, Apple’s stock price even trended up slightly. Wall Street was pleased, and even those who continue to call for Cook’s ouster must have been nonplussed at the way it all turned out.

Of course, the bigger argument is not lost tax revenues, but the fact that Apple still assembles all their “iconic” products overseas, mostly in Asia. Sure, they use parts built in the U.S.A., but you can see where the complainants were fired up. In saying that, how many of those Senators would be happy to pay extra for their iPhones and iPads — and we know many of them use Apple gear — in exchange for a “Made in the U.S.A.” label?

Cook did reveal that, as promised, a refreshed Mac will be built in Texas some time this year. He has yet to say which model, although the facts may be revealed during the WWDC keynote on the morning of June 10. I’ve suggested that the Mac Pro would be the best candidate, simply because it is a (for Apple) limited production product with an extremely high average selling price. There’s plenty of room for inefficiencies, and Apple will have a reasonable amount of time to fix production bottlenecks, should they occur, without killing Mac sales for an entire quarter.

Certainly the 2012 iMac experience rankles. Cook has already admitted that it would have been better to introduce a major iMac upgrade after the first of 2013. That way, customers wouldn’t have to wait weeks or months to get delivery. Apple lost hundreds of thousands of potential sales introducing this model prematurely, and it seems certain that’s a mistake they hope to avoid.

So does that mean that more Macs will be built in America beyond a single model? That’s hard to say, but as salaries climb in China, it will become less economical to assemble Apple gear there. Since Foxconn also operates in the U.S.A., it would seem that potential production hangups can be overcome in a reasonable amount of time. Apple’s profit margins are sufficient that, with improved productivity, it might even be possible to recover all or most of the loss from assembling gear in a country where salaries are much higher.

Although the iPhone 5 has received favorable reviews from Consumer Reports, several other models, from HTC, LG, and now Samsung, rate slightly better. While CR is entitled to its conclusions, I wonder if the surfeit of sometimes useless features on the Galaxy S4 has overwhelmed the magazine’s testers and granted the product a higher rating than it might otherwise deserve.

As a point of reference, the iPhone 5 scores a 77, while the Galaxy S4 scores an 81. Both are very good indeed, and the differences are slight enough as to not be significant in the real world. In saying that, the review of the new Samsung smartphone makes it crystal clear that the Galaxy S4’s overwhelming feature set has clearly influenced the magazine’s tech editors, even though it’s clear not all those features really work, or are even useful.

One tact taken by CR is to simply omit some of the Galaxy S4’s failings. My personal experience demonstrates that, for example, the Smart Scroll feature, where a page of text automatically scrolls on a tilt of the head or a tilt of the handset, is barely usable and usually doesn’t work at all. CR doesn’t mention the feature in the review. CR also ignores the fact that the handset’s universal remote app, WatchON, is limited to TVs and your cable or satellite box. You can’t add a Blu-ray, gaming console or even a surround sound audio system.

It’s also true that Samsung’s decision to stuff the device with bloatware means that nearly half of the 16GB storage capacity of the entry-level model is already filled. It doesn’t leave space for much for your stuff, so you are forced to consider the 32GB version, or buy an SD card. Once again, CR’s review doesn’t mention this problem, which may be a significant shortcoming for some potential customers. So much for serving the needs of the public.

One notable problem with the Galaxy S4’s AMOLED display is poor visibility in sunlit surroundings. It’s better than the Galaxy S3 at the maximum brightness level, but still essentially unusable under such circumstances. CR ignores the issue by concluding that the “Display and keypad is easy to see in bright light.” CNET, which had a more realistic take on the Galaxy S4, concluded that, “Its screen is dimmer than competitors’.”

While CR adores Samsung’s keypad, I found it totally inept at predictive text, which is a feature that’s necessary for efficient typing on a touchscreen. My solution was to install the free JellyBean keyboard from the Google Play Store, which is meant to mimic the standard Android keyboard. My typing speed nearly doubled.

Without going into detail, a number of other Galaxy S4 features that CR writes about are little different from most smartphones, such as GPS navigation and spoken turn-by-turn directions. You almost wonder if CR believes the magazine’s readers have amnesia or short-term memory problems.

Another significant quibble is the excellent “Ease of use” rating, which is decidedly not true for Android phones. This is particularly important if you’re upgrading from another Android phone. CR doesn’t address the well-known migration shortcoming, assuming, I guess, that people buying a Galaxy S4 do not own another Android smartphone, or don’t have a lot of stuff to transfer.

But I do not just disagree with the positives. The negatives are also questionable. CR complains the Galaxy G4 “Lacks Flash video,” which evidently means the magazine is unaware that Adobe gave up on the mobile version of Flash, which never even made it past the beta stage, a while back. This negative, therefore, applies to pretty much all current handsets, so it’s a non-issue.

CR also fails to evaluate the accuracy of the turn-by-turn navigation, which has become an important issue in the wake of Apple’s problems with Maps. Since Apple has made improvements to Maps, even while Google still declares their navigation feature a “beta,” why not run an updated comparison between the two.

More to the point, a proper review meant for the non-technical reader should have examined all of the Galaxy S4 features that Samsung made a fuss about and report whether they actually work as advertised. It would be a real eye-opener.

However, I’m not surprised that the Galaxy S4 rated tops in CR’s playbook. Besides, CR has yet to really compare usability with other mobile operating systems. The “Ease of use” conclusions make little or no sense, since you’d assume that all mobile operating systems are basically identical, since they all rate “Excellent.” Is that really true? Not in my experience, or in the experience of any tech journalist I know.

Understand that I do not consider the Galaxy S4 a bad phone. It is clearly better in some respects than the Galaxy S3. Samsung also makes a good argument for putting a larger display on a smartphone. It may not be so easy to navigate with one hand, but there are attractions in having more stuff on a screen. This is a lesson Apple ought to learn, if they haven’t already.

Sure, Tim Cook won’t let you forget about what they regard as shortcomings of those larger screens. However, despite the ongoing problems in sunlit surroundings, Samsung has clearly improved the picture quality on the Galaxy S4. Battery life is also noticeably longer than the previous model. For many, this product may indeed represent the state-of-the-art for smartphones, at least for now. Apple can’t take the competition lightly, and will have to really deliver something spectacular in the next iPhone.

As for Consumer Reports, the shortcomings in their review process do not surprise me in the least, and I remain disappointed.

Based on what Tim Cook said at Apple’s last quarterly conference call with financial analysts, the conventional wisdom has it that the company isn’t going to release a single new product until the fall. That perceived product draught is one reason why the stock price, and media expectations, have been suffering in recent weeks, and why some complain Apple lost it. But what’s really going on?

While it’s not always easy to figure out what Apple is really up to, there are signs that at least some new gear may not be so far away after all. Take a published report from AppleInsider that the inventory of the MacBook Air appears to be dwindling. While it may not be evidence of anything more than a supply shift, you would expect that Apple would be cutting shipments in the weeks ahead of a product refresh. The timing is just too perfect.

Intel’s latest and greatest chips, known as Haswell, are due for release in June. The new processors are predictably faster, more power efficient, and have better integrated graphics. There’s little doubt that Apple will install those chips into Macs as soon as it makes sense, which is when they are shipping in reasonable quantities.

The next WWDC is slated to begin June 10, and assuming there are no delays in shipping those processors, you should expect to hear a brief announcement during the keynote address about refreshed MacBook Airs and MacBook Pros. There are some who suggest Retina displays may take longer to arrive, assuming they are harder to obtain in decent quantities. But if Apple can meet current demand without difficulty, and the displays are essentially the same, it shouldn’t make a difference. The real question is whether Apple will begin to phase out conventional displays, and even introduce a MacBook Air with the higher resolution screens. Regardless, expecting new Mac note-books in June may be a given.

But since it will just be a simple product update, it doesn’t mean Cook was necessarily lying about the new product timeframe. The iPhone and iPad refreshes, expected in the fall, are most likely going to be more significant. The rumors suggest that the iPad mini will inherit a Retina display and the regular iPad will be thinner and lighter. And if there is a new Apple TV, or an Apple smart TV set, you would expect the fall to be ideal times for their introduction, probably at special events in October. The same would hold true if there is an iWatch in our future, or something that the media has yet to predict.

When it comes to that updated Mac that will be built in the good old U.S.A., it might be announced at WWDC, but not ship till maybe September. I still think it will be a Mac Pro, but some suggest that the Mac mini is a more suitable candidate, since it also does not require especially complicated assembly schemes, and may better justify a $100 million investment because of far higher potential sales. But don’t forget that the Mac Pro sells for a whole lot more, even for the entry-level model, with fully-outfitted boxes selling for upwards of $10,000. Yes, it really makes a lot of sense, right?

Besides, Apple is also preparing to unveil OS 10.9 and iOS 7 at the WWDC. But clearly the two OS upgrades won’t ship then. Developers will have a couple of months or so to play with them before the final releases, which may happen by August or September. If they do ship before fall, Apple can simply boast of beating expectations, as if it’ll matter.

Regardless of what Apple does, the media will probably be disappointed. The product refresh won’t be refreshed enough. The OS upgrades won’t be sufficient to keep Apple from being overwhelmed by the competition. The degree of those changes seldom matters. It can’t be enough unless Apple introduces a revolutionary product that totally upends a market. Of course, when that happens, you can be sure that the usual offenders will tell us how Apple cannot possibly succeed entering a market they know absolutely nothing about.

Just think back to the original iPod, the iPhone and the iPad. They were not good enough, or irrelevant to Apple’s perceived focus. Of course, with Tim Cook in charge, maybe Apple has no focus, since some believe that Steve Jobs micromanaged every little element of a new product, including preparing blueprints and specifying the chip layouts, and thus the rest of the staff did nothing but send the plans to Foxconn to build in massive quantities.

I suppose, however, there will be some industry analysts who will actually think about what they are saying, and engage in reasoned evaluation of the prospects for Apple’s upcoming products. They will continue to realize that what the competition usually produces is not really so innovative after all.