Jan 21, 2009 Jan 23, 2009 Thursday January 22, 2009
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Apple Gets a Lift, But Analysts Show More Pessimism Than Optimism
Better-than-expected first quarter profits gave Apple Inc. (AAPL) shares a lift Thursday, but RBC Capital Markets analyst Mike Abramsky is not buying into the optimism."While outperforming guidance as usual, cracks appear in Apple's resiliency," he said in a note to clients.
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2 Suggestions for Apple's Board of Directors
As an Apple (AAPL) shareholder, the recent handling of disclosures regarding the health of CEO Steve Jobs has me upset like most other investors. For some reason, Apple's board of directors believes that a CEO facing a potentially fatal cancer is not a “material” piece of news.They didn't tell us right away when Jobs was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer several years ago, despite a five year survival rate of less than 50%, and they have refused to update us on his health. Now we have to rely on tech-related blog sources to update us and when finally forced to give more details, the Apple board said he was fine, only to announce his six month leave of absence days later.
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An Event Apart launches new web site
Posted by Dennis SellersAn Event Apart, the educational two-day conference for people who make web sites, has launched a newly designed and developed web site to communicate 2009 speakers and locations.
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Unusual Options Activity Review: Thursday
Unusual Options Volume Movers: Microsoft (MSFT) options volume was running three times the usual on Thursday, with 407,000 contracts traded and call volume representing 51 percent of the activity.
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Humble Daisy announces ProfCast limited time discount
Posted by Dennis SellersHumble Daisy is offering a 75 percent discount on single license purchases of ProfCast through Jan.24. It's a tool for recording lectures including PowerPoint and/or Keynote slides for creating enhanced podcasts.
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Orbiting numbers tell the time while your Mac dreams
Jesson Yip's latest screensaver features a typographic clock which "fuses the immediacy of digital with the visual-spatial quality of analogue into a hybrid format." Does that make any sense to you? It will once you download and install Analogy. [ Via MacScreenSavers ]
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The latest Mac Trojan can be avoided by not pirating software
An Intego Security Alert warns of a new exploit to threaten the tranquility of the Mac universe: OSX.Trojan.iServices.A Trojan Horse. The new Trojan Horse is currently hidden in pirated copies of Apple's iWork '09 available via various BitTorrent tracker sites. While the software is complete and functional, the installer contains a "bonus" called iWorkServices.pkg. This software is installed as a startup item where it has read-write-execute permissions for root: in other words, it has all the powers of a system administrator. This malicious software connects to a remote server over the internet, alerts its maker that it has been installed and gives this person the ability to connect to the affected Mac remotely. Given that this alert came from Intego, it is no surprise that their software, VirusBarrier X4 and X5, will protect you against this Trojan horse as long as your virus definitions are dated January 22, 2009 or later. Meanwhile, over at SecureMac, they have made a free and handy iWorkServices Trojan Removal Tool that will... well... remove the Trojan for you. I should mention that the preferred method of dealing with this Trojan is avoidance: go buy iWork '09 legitimately!!
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MXmeeting solution supports Mac, PC client devices
Posted by Dennis SellersZultys has announced MXmeeting, a next-generation collaboration solution that combines voice, desktop web interaction, instant messaging, virtual meeting rooms, online presentations, training and demos.
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US electronics retailers' performance jumps
Posted by Dennis SellersTech Channel Index reports that after enduring a tough holiday shopping season, US electronics retailers had their first week of marked improvement finishing week of Jan. 3, just two percent below last year's sales of consumer IT and entertainment electronics products. This is a large jump after finishing the holiday...
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AverMedia launches Visual Presenter
Posted by Dennis SellersAverMedia has released the AverVision VP-1 Portable Visual Presenter. It's an US$449.99 document camera solution targeted to first time document camera users, tight budgets, or for those who only need the basics.
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Inside Apple's design studio (photo)
Posted by Dave MertenHave you ever wondered where future Apple products' prototypes are built and tested? Well, below is a photo of Jonathan Ive, Senior Vice President of Industrial Design, showing off an aluminum MacBook inside an Apple design studio. It reminds me of my electronics shop class back in high school. Way...
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Daily Apple: Unethically Transmitted Diseases, App Store Clone, & Time Travel
Don't Pirate That iWork, And Not Just For Morality's Sake - It might be tempting to go around abusing Apple's decision to remove the installation key requirement from their recently updated iWork '09 suite, but it could also get you in more than just ethical trouble. CNET, among others, is reporting the recent discovery of a nasty Trojan in a pirated version of the software making its BitTorrent circles. App Store Recreated for Those Who Hate iTunes - You might want to browse the ol' App Store without firing up iTunes, or maybe you don't own an iPhone and you just want to see what all the fuss is about. No problem, thanks to this fully rendered HTML version of the store, rendered in all its glory. Not sure if Apple's thrilled about this one, but my money's on definitely not. Gizmodo Never-Ever App Photoshop Contest - While we're on the subject of iPhone/iPod touch Apps, I came across this today in my daily travels. It's one of Gizmodo's regularly scheduled Photoshop contests, with the focus this time on creating fictional Apps that will never, never ever, never ever nev make it into the App Store. Larry Magid's Original L.A. Times Macintosh Review - An oldie but a goodie, this review of the first ever Macintosh computer will have you strolling down memory lane or thanking your lucky stars that technology advances at such a breakneck pace. I like where he talks about the Apple II, making reference to “stiff competition from Radio Shack,” which no longer exists here in Canada, having been replaced by soon-to-go Circuit City venture The Source. Concentric Hosted IT Solutions and Web Hosting Click here to save cost on your IT demands
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Apple patents adaptive volume controls based on environment, not quality of your music
Ever walk through a crowd with your headphones on, only to find your music drowned out by the uproar? A recent Apple patent proposes dynamic volume adjustment based on your local surroundings. According to the filing, a sound sensor would be used to detect ambient noise and adapt accordingly. It says user volume controls are accounted for, so passing by a construction site likely won't cause your jams to be pumped up to an ear-shattering 11. Although it sounds more likely than some of the company's other patents, don't get your hopes up for seeing this any time soon. Hit up the read link for more details. [Via Electronista]Filed under: Cellphones, Portable Audio, Portable VideoApple patents adaptive volume controls based on environment, not quality of your music originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 22 Jan 2009 21:07:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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BlackBook announces Version 2.0 of 'The BlackBook Mobile Guides' iPhone app
Posted by Dennis SellersBlackBook Media Corp. has releasedversion 2.0 of “The BlackBook Mobile Guides” iPhone application, a database of restaurants, nightlife, hotels and shopping in 28 international cities. The update includes expanded filtering, keyword search, and interactive maps for instant information and reviews and shopping for New York, Los Angeles, and St. Barts.
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Intel to consolidate manufacturing operations
Posted by Dennis Sellers Things are tough all over. Intel has disclosed plans to restructure some of its manufacturing operations and align its manufacturing capacity to current market conditions. The company will consolidate and streamline some older capacity without, it says, impacting the deployment of new, leading-edge 45-nanometer and 32-nanometer manufacturing capacity.
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HotorNot.com comes to the iPhone
The new app lets you view and rate members, as well as pick up dates based on your location.
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The portable, rollable X-mini II speaker gets a refresh
The kids over at CNET have got their hands on the new X-mini II portable speaker for laptops, PMPs, and the like -- and they've been gracious enough to give us the lowdown. The speaker is an update to the X-mini, incrementally larger than its predecessor and packing a 40mm driver. Powered by a rechargeable battery, this bad boy can be juiced up via mini-USB cable (included) and boasts a pretty impressive eleven hours of run time before it needs to be recharged. And if that weren't enough, several of these guys can be daisy chained together -- so if you should find yourself in your dorm room with nothing to amuse yourself but your iPhone, an acoustic guitar, and some Dave Matthews Band MP3s, you can string up a half dozen or so of these things and have an old fashioned grape jam. Look for the speaker sometime in March, with a probable MSRP of $29. Filed under: PeripheralsThe portable, rollable X-mini II speaker gets a refresh originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 22 Jan 2009 19:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Study: US wireless growth won't be stopped by weak economy
Posted by Dennis SellersA Strategy Analytics report predicts that US cellular subscriber growth will remain strong despite the economic situation, although growth levels will scale back slightly from 2008.
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Steve Jobs health hoax hits Wired
Wired.com disavows a fake news item that purported to be from the technology publication and that alleged Apple's CEO had had a heart attack.
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Photo From Appleās Design Studio: Latest Apple Product Revealed?
In promoting his upcoming film, Objectified, a documentary maker published a photo (above) of Jony Ive from “inside Apple's design facilities.” Naturally, tech bloggers the world over will examine the photo in detail in the hope that Apple slipped up and left something in the photograph that reveals their next “sooper seekrit” product. Rumors and speculation will run rampant. After all, if every Chinese newspaper or two-bit tech pundit or analyst publishing nonsensical information becomes grist for the rumor mill, then certainly an actual photograph of “mad scientist” Ive's lair should give us material for months. I'm getting ahead of the curve to reveal that, after close inspection of the photograph, I can report on Apple's latest cool new device. No doubt they thought it was too far back to appear in the photo. The fools! And now I can scoop all the rumor-mongers and post it myself. Remember, you read it here first… Look closely at the picture above. Do you see anything “unusual”? It's hard to notice, but there it is, hanging on the back wall in the top right corner of the picture. Below is a zoomed view of the photograph. The blurry zoom doesn't tell us much, but I processed the photograph through numerous filters to reveal a clearer picture of the next great Apple thing. Obviously, I cannot publish the processed photos for fear of reprisal from Apple's legal department, but I can “speculate” on what I might have seen with no fear of repercussions. Here's what I've been able to gather about this new device: It's round, with an unusual graphic interface. It looks nothing like Mac OS X or the iPhone. The outer circle appear to be “numbered” in some manner. Who knows what use this is put to, perhaps it's the number of open windows or apps? There does not appear to be any “cursor” or prompt of any kind. Rather, there are two “interface bars” (my name, Apple will no doubt trademark a cool term for these). The “interface bars” differ in that one is longer than the other, but it's unclear the purpose of either. There is a third “interface bar,” but unlike the others it is thin and red. One wonders if it somehow “sweeps” the circular interface, perhaps a real-time monitoring tool? It's hard to gage size, but it appears to have roughly the footprint (in cubic inches) of the existing MacBook. That it's a portable device is obvious not only by its size, but also the fact that it's hanging on a wall and there is no power cable. Any further speculation would go too far. Now all I have to do is sit back and wait for the Chinese press and a couple of analysts to join me.Ā Meanwhile, I stop short of trying to guess what this new device will actually do, or to take a stab at its hardware specifications. When will we know exactly what this device is for? Only time will tell. Concentric Hosted IT Solutions and Web Hosting Click here to save cost on your IT demands
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Jan. 22 'Macsimum Podcast' now available
Posted by Dennis SellersThe Macsimum Podcast for Jan. 22 is now available here and the RSS feed is here.
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The Pleasure of Productivity
As a recent (sort-of) switcher, Iāve been exploring iWork '08 a fair bit, and with the launch of iWork '09 Iāve really thrown myself into Pages, Numbers and Keynote. For someone who has used Microsoft Office almost exclusively for the last twenty-odd years, thatās a huge change! Along the way, Iāve started to notice subtle — but important — differences between them, but theyāre not the nuts-and-bolts workaday differences you might expect. Productivity apps are at the core of most desktop publishing. After all, everyone eventually gets around to writing a letter! Very many of us have the dubious pleasure of living in a spreadsheet every day of our working lives. Some of us even use presentation tools like PowerPoint. (Just donāt get me started on how horribly most people use it.) I was five years old when Word was released. Itās a very dear friend. So, when I started using a Mac in mid 2008, I bought Office 2008 right away. My reasoning was: Office is the best Productivity Suite in the World. I know it inside and out. Itās all Iāll ever need. Fast-forward six months (and one upgrade to iWork '09 later) and that opinion has changed radically. Office is undoubtedly the best productivity suite in the world, if you measure ābestā by the sheer number of features it packs beneath that shiny ribbon. Yet, after pushing myself to use Pages Iām rapidly moving away from Word. Why? Well, itās not because Pages has more features. It doesnāt. Pages, by comparison, is a bare-bones word processor, far less mature than Word. No, the reason I have migrated to Pages is because it offers a far superior experience. I probably get just as much actual work done in Pages as I ever did in Word, but the process seems to be so…different. I enjoy work more when I use Pages because it makes me feel more creative, more empowered. More productive. And while its themes or image formatting tools arenāt as feature-rich as those in Word, the results are definitely superior. Itās Appleās indomitable style and attention to detail that permeates iWork and, I like to think, adds a little of its sparkle to my own documents. In a classic example of quality over quantity, the (relatively) small selection of image effects in Pages produces far more beautiful results than the unimaginative million-billion effects crowbarred in to Word 2007. The same is true for Keynote. And Numbers. Especially Numbers. For thirty years business computing was mired in gun-metal grey spreadsheet-hell. Then Apple wanders up to the bar in all its turtleneck glory and, with a flourish, produces an application that makes spreadsheets a pleasure to produce. Spreadsheets become Art. Incredible! I think thatās the secret of iWork — it encourages us to take something that was always fairly bland and run-of-the-mill (a spreadsheet, an essay, a presentation) and challenges us to press a few buttons and produce something utterly gorgeous. Microsoft Office gives us the same tools (and more) but it doesnāt care if we donāt use them. iWork, on the other hand, gently coaxes us to do something special…and richly rewards us for making that tiny bit of effort. Upgrading to iWork '09 is a no-brainer for me. And if you havenāt tried it yet, you should do yourself a favour and download the trial. I dare you not to produce something extraordinary! Concentric Hosted IT Solutions and Web Hosting Click here to save cost on your IT demands
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'Macsimum Recommended Reading' for Jan. 22
Posted by Dennis Sellers“Wow! Macs Really Are Overpriced: For a long time I have maintained that Macs weren't really that expensive compared to Windows PCs; it's just that Apple refused to make low-end systems. Recently, I've been suspecting that situation was changing. But I was shocked by what I discovered when I actually...
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iWork '09 trojan infects at least 20,000 machines?
Quite a number of no-goodniks who thought they'd save a few bucks by downloading a pirated version of iWork '09 have gotten more than they'd bargained for -- in the form of a Trojan Horse called OSX.Trojan.iServices.A. This guy installs itself in the computer's startup as root, and once in place it can connect to a remote server and broadcast its location, allowing malicious users to take charge of the machine remotely. And since it has root access to the OS, the trojan can not only install additional components but can also modify existing apps, making this thing extremely difficult to remove. According to a white paper released by Intego, at least 20,000 people may have downloaded the infected software -- which they'll get around to installing as soon as they finish those episodes of Celebrity Rehab they grabbed at the same time.[Via Macworld]Filed under: Desktops, LaptopsiWork '09 trojan infects at least 20,000 machines? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 22 Jan 2009 17:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Stanford iPhone class ends, projects and resources posted
Remember that Stanford iPhone programming class that caused all the ruckus last summer? The semester is over and final projects are being shared. There are even class resources to boot.Read More...
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Stanford iPhone class ends, projects and resources posted
Developers were a bit dismayed during the summer of 2008 when they learned of an iPhone programming class being offered by the Stanford University computer science department for the upcoming Fall semester. CS193P, iPhone Application Programming, was announced while Apple's iPhone SDK NDA was still in effect, causing some programmers to wonder why they couldn't talk freely, but students at Stanford could. What made things even more confusing was that a longtime Apple employee and Stanford faculty member was the one teaching it; it was unlikely that Apple didn't know about the class. Well, the class went through as planned and eventually the NDA went the way of the dodo, and most everyone forgot about the incident. Lo and behold, the semester has come to an end, and what do I find in my inbox? An e-mail from one of the students linking to a website that the students of the class put together to show off their final projects.
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The Mac at 25: Great icons
As part of the Macās 25th anniversary, John Siracusa names four of the best Mac icons of all time.
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Feet to the Fire: How Analysts Missed on Apple iPhone Shipments
With Apple having shipped 13.7m iPhones in 2008, this is a timely column on how badly analysts/journalists missed iPhone shipments over last two years. Wish people did more of this sort of thing, holding people's feet to the fire of their own estimates: Lance Davis, writing at the UK Register, heavily discounted the likelihood of the iPhone reaching such stratospheric heights. He was wrong on every count. "It would be surprising if iPhone accounted for one per cent of sales just within the one network which had been announced -- AT&T." That would be half a million smartphones. Apple sold more than 1.1 million phones in Q307, the first full quarter it was available, alone.
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Pirated version of iWork ā09 may contain a Trojan
A pirated version of iWork ‘09 linked on The Pirate Bay allegedly contains a Trojan Horse called “iWorkServices.” Some have claimed that iWorkServices a legitimate part of the software designed to interface to the forthcoming iWork.com online service. I looked at Activity Monitor while running retail copies of Pages ‘09 and Numbers ‘09 and didn’t see [...]
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With iPods selling well, Apple closes with strong gains
Shares of Apple pull back from their high point, but remain up by more than 6% in afternoon trading after the consumer-electronics company defied expectations by reporting upbeat quarterly results fueled by strong sales of iPod media players.
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Trojan found in pirated Apple iWork software
Intego warns about Trojan horse in Apple iWork '09 software found on pirate sites.
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Microsoft Defends Return to DRM
PC Pro on Microsoft’s latest music initiative: While companies such as Apple and Amazon have finally moved to music download services free of copy protection, MSN Mobile locks tracks to the mobile handset they are downloaded to. And: Hugh Griffiths, Head of Mobile at Microsoft UK: “At the moment, to be honest with you, we don’t have the functionality in-house to provide a mechanism for transferring between mobile phones and PC. We don’t have that functionality available.” Methinks whoever is behind this ought to be on the Microsoft layoff list. ā
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Tips and Tricks for Running QuickBooks for Windows In a VM
Running QuickBooks for Windows in a virtual machine (VM) on your Mac is often the best way to get all the advanced features of QuickBooks that are only available in the Windows version and still have fun using your Mac the way nature intended, running OS X Leopard. If you choose to go this route, here are a few tips and tricks to help you run QuickBooks smoothly inside a VM. Clean Installs Are Always Best I know it's tempting to just run VMware Converter or Parallels Transporter and just suck the contents of your current PC into a VM. For many of us, we only really need to run one or two critical Windows applications and everything on our old PC is way more than we really need. In that situation, you'll thank me later for telling you to take the time to set up a clean and lean VM that does exactly what you want it to do, without all the cruft and junk that often creeps into a Windows install. Load Windows, load your anti-virus software, and load QuickBooks. Always Quit the App Suspending your VM is a fantastic way to cut down the time it takes to relaunch later. Suspending a VM is a lot like putting your computer to sleep; the current state is saved and the VM is ready to pick up right where you left off. In order to do this for a VM, the contents of RAM for the guest OS are written to a file and then restored when the VM is opened again. The problem is that sometimes restoring the contents of RAM doesn't work right. In this event, you must restart the VM and whatever you were working on (that hasn't been saved to disk) is lost. While I often suspend a VM when I'm done with it, I always quit my running applications so that they have a chance to write their data files to the VM disk file and close them properly. This is especially important with QuickBooks. You really don't want a problem with restoring a suspended VM to hose your company file. You are always better off to quit QuickBooks so it can close its data file properly and then suspend the VM. If the OS cannot be restored, at least the QuickBooks file in the virtual disk is still good and you have a much better chance of rebooting your VM and finding that all is still perfectly fine with your accounting info. If you want to access your virtual disk from the Mac side when the VM is not running, then you will probably want to shut down the VM too so you can use VMDK Mounter for VMware Fusion or Parallels Explorer to mount the virtual disk to the Mac desktop. Use Shared Folders for Backups Backups of QuickBooks company files are so important that the ability to create them can be automated to run every time you quit the application. I can't stress enough how important it is to enable this feature and make a backup copy every time you use the application. Here's my absolute favorite trick for using this feature in a VM: point the backup location to a shared folder that is visible on the Mac side. I usually recommend that you create a folder called “backup” or “quickbooks” in your Documents folder on the Mac side. Configure your virtualization software to allow the guest OS to have read/write access to this folder. Now you can tell QuickBooks to write its backup file to this shared folder every time you run the app. Don't let Windows have read/write access to your entire Home folder though. A virus may cause Windows to randomly delete or rewrite files and you want to limit the potential damage. Why do this? Well, now you have a backup of your company file that is accessible to the Mac side of your computer. Because the virtual disk itself appears as a huge monolithic file to the Mac, you may want to exclude it from Time Machine so that you don't save copies of this 6-8GB file every hour. If you have a copy of your company file in your Documents folder, your Mac will take a snapshot of this file every hour and make another copy on your Time Machine drive. If you have MobileMe, you can configure the included backup application to routinely make a copy of this company file to your iDisk storage. This is a great way to take advantage of all the ways your Mac protects your files for you and apply that to your critical Windows files as well. Best of Both Worlds The real key here is to use the benefits of virtualization and avoid the pitfalls. These simple tips and tricks will help you enjoy running QuickBooks for Windows on your Mac and really leverage the advantages of the approach. Concentric Hosted IT Solutions and Web Hosting Click here to save cost on your IT demands
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Microsoft job cuts evenly spread
Microsoft spread the 1,400 immediate layoffs broadly across the company's units, according to a source familiar with the cuts. The software maker announced plans early Thursday to cut up to 5,000 jobs over the next 18 months, with the first round coming right away. Hardest hit in ...
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MaBaSoft releases Currency Assistant 3.0 for Mac OS X
Posted by Dennis Sellers MaBaSoft has released version 3.0 of Currency Assistant for Mac OS X (formerly known as Euro Assistant Pro). The new version of the conversion calculator has been completely rewritten as a Universal Cocoa application, sports a fully revised interface and introduces several new features.
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Developer drops app pricing to 99Ā¢, asks for donations
On 12 December 2009 I posted App Cubby developer David Barnardās thoughts on the financial realities of the App Store. In it he posts actual sales numbers from the App Store. Then on 19 December 2009 Barnard expressed his frustration with the artificial market forces that are driving the price of apps down, which in turn [...]
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App Store Lessons: 6 ways to better promote your application
There are a ton of iPhone apps out there. If you're an iPhone dev, you're undoubtedly looking for ways to get some Web coverage of your pride and joy. Ars offers tips on making reviewers want to look at your App Store software.Read More...
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App Store Lessons: 6 ways to better promote your application
You have worked hard on your app. Apple has given it the green light. Soon, you'll be selling it through App Store. What's the best way to get the word out and get some Web coverage? You might be tempted to just throw together a quick message with an App Store URL and a promo code and shoot that off to the major tech sites. Speaking as someone whose inbox is regularly flooded with haphazard announcements, let me suggest a few points about crafting that e-mail. Here are six ways you can better promote your application. Tell us what the product is and what it does. "I have a new game" or "I just published a new utility" doesn't provide enough details for us to know what you're talking about. Jump right in and start with a product description, one that lets us know right off what this software does: "I'm writing today to tell you about Foobar, which is a new iPhone utility that lets you search through your iPhone contacts and rank them by personality. Sure it's mean, sure it's evil, but I bet you'll have as much fun rating Grandma and that hunky guy down the hallway as we do."
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Slotz Racer for iPhone: Fun with little electric cars
SlotZ Racer for iPhone brings your childhood slots racing track onto your favorite portable platform. Zoom. Zoom.Read More...
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Slotz Racer for iPhone: Fun with little electric cars
Freeverse and Strange Flavour, the guys behind Flick Fishing, have re-teamed to bring iPhone users SlotZ Racer. It is, as the name suggests, a slot racing game. You race your little electric car around a slot track, applying the electricity with a light touch so that you remain competitive while not getting yourself thrown off the track at the curves by going too fast. For $2.99 it's a sweet little game with a bunch of advanced features including a somewhat daunting track editor and a marginal multiplayer mode. The best way to play the game, in my opinion, is to choose the standard one-player Quick Race or Single Player challenges. It's you versus the iPhone with a camera angle that moves with the race so you can see the track immediately behind and in front of you.
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Seagate reported potential firmware issue in limited number of hard drives
Posted by Dennis SellersSeagate has isolated a potential firmware issue in limited number of Barracuda 7200.11 hard drives and related SATA drives based on this product platform, manufactured through December 2008. In some unique circumstances, the data on the hard drives may become inaccessible to the user when the host system is powered...
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Apple easing back retail expansion
A decline in average revenue per retail store appears to have moved Apple to slow its rate of expansion amid a troubled economy.
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KavaSoft releases KavaServices 3.0: Text Utilities for the Services Menu
Posted by Dennis SellersKavaSoft hsd released KavaServices 3.0, an update of the utility that adds a collection of menu items to the Services menu. KavaServices can translate, encode for HTML, calculate, convert units, sort, change case, execute commands, and more. Version adds the ability to encode URL links, and to convert accented text...
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Where Has Microsoft's Growth Gone?
Microsoft (MSFT) shares tumbled to $17.30 today after the tech giant reported weaker than expected earnings. Microsoft earned 47 cents per share vs. the 49 cents per share expected by Wall Street. Earned revenue came in at 16.6 billion which missed estimates of 17.1 billion. Microsoft failed to deliver up to analysts' expectations. This begs the question, 'Where has the growth at Microsoft gone?'This week's earnings announcements demonstrate the issues that Microsoft is facing. Microsoft's PC software sales numbers were down sharply for the quarter. Microsoft blamed the lackluster sales on PC market weakness.This conflicts with what is happening at Apple. Apple (AAPL) crushed its earnings expectations and experienced 9% growth in iMac sales. While Windows is still the most popular operating system, the failure of Windows Vista has only helped to bolster Apple. Microsoft seems as if it's becoming more like IBM (IBM) with increasing sales from its business divisions and decreasing sales from PC divisions. Apple is rapidly becoming the new Microsoft.
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In Pursuit of Quality: The Apple āFanboiā
For quite a while (heck, pretty much forever), the knock on Apple has been that it's overpriced, that the same thing can be had for much less elsewhere. A much more recent complaint is that somehow Apple never gets any critical reviews, it's all just shoddy reporting. A couple of big hitters on the other side have jumped on this latest argument.Ā I'll leave it for others to attack the attackers, so to speak, but I believe it gives the topic more credibility than it deserves, and leads down a path that neither side can possibly “win” anyway. What's especially funny is that the dayĀ after Paul Thurrot's screed he published a two-part review of Microsoft's Windows Live Essentials proclaiming it to be “awesome” and “excellent.” These are just the mail, chat, etc. apps recently unbundled from Windows. I've been running them for a few months now. They're OK, but there's nothing particularly special here. If they're “awesome,” then their Mac equivalents must be super duper, fantastic, magical, and other-worldly. It's funny how Paul railed against “bad reporting” and a company having “too many friends in the media,” yet then provided examples of both in a review that gave four stars to what's essentially the old Outlook Express app with aĀ facelift and botox. Bad reporting, indeed.Ā Concern About Being Labeled a “Fanboi”? Getting back to the whole “fanboi” thing, one of the more recent Apple hardware introductions is theirĀ LED 24″ monitor. While I've seen great reviews of it, they're frequently tempered with an almost apologetic tone, as if the author is sorry he's not slamming Apple for an overpriced fashion accessory.Ā I swear, every time I read an article that begins something like “I'm not an Apple fanboi, but…” I want to puke. What's with theĀ disclaimer? What are you afraid of? Being branded? Paul Thurrott writing bad things about you? Dan Lyons yelling at you? Please. Do you like the product or not? For Pete's sakeĀ show some backbone and stop whimpering already.Ā It seems to me such disclaimers try to fend off the “fanboi” label, or to appear as not lacking objectivity (some articles nit-picking Apple masquerade as “proof” of the latter). As if simply by praising an Apple product you must be in the RDF, worship Steve Jobs, be incapable of critical thought, etc.Ā You know, the kind of name-calling we thought we'd left behind on the third-grade playground.Ā Apple Quality The truth is, if you like an Apple product or service or, heaven forbid,Ā buy one, Apple-bashers will label you a “fanboi” regardless of your protestations to the contrary. It's what they do. Trying to be pro-active about it won't help; I think it just makes the writer sound wishy-washy.Ā Apple quality and value are not that hard to find for those who look. Whether they matter to you is another thing altogether. Different people want different things. But to state that, say, Dell, is making the exact same thing at half the price is laughable.Ā For example, some claim a Dell monitor's 8ms response time makes it better than Apple's monitor at 14ms. The problem with such a simplistic comparison is that manufacturers typically don't even specify the standard they used to derive the spec, and where they do it's usually the “easier” grey-to-grey measurement. Comparison of response times are generally meaningless, and there's more to a monitor than a single number anyway. Apple's 24″ LED Display What matters, obviously, is the product itself. Apple's 24″ LED is getting glowing (heh, pun intended) reviews. If you haven't compared such screens side by side, have you been in an electronics store and had the chance to look at LCD TVs? Ever wonder why two screens of the same size and “specs” can look so different? It's the total package, it's engineering, it's sweating the details. Apple does this. You do not have to appreciate it. You don't even have to be willing to pay for it. But you'll forgive me if I'm unmoved by the name-calling. You have your criteria, and I have mine.Ā Apple's monitor also includes:Ā Single-cable for a dock-like connection to the unibody MacsĀ Speakers and “subwoofer” Microphone and web cam USB ports It's LED, with the attendant advantages of “instant on” and energy savings And there's also Apple's great customer support, and support system of the Apple Stores, to consider. The total experience of all this is quite compelling.Ā Another example of Apple's differing approach to quality is to consider the recent move by many manufacturers to the 16:9 screen ratio (cheaper due to being used in TVs) that further reduces the already too-small vertical size of a screen. Dell and others are bringing many of these to market, but I was happy to see that with the new MacBook, MacBook Pro, and LED display Apple resisted that temptation, staying with the 16:10 ratio. Yes, it means Dell is introducing still cheaper monitors, but they display less for the same screen size.Ā Conclusion It would be wrong to see this article as a slam on Dell or others. I'm not saying Dell's hardware is crap. By most accounts they've made hardware representing decent value for years. I couldn't care less if anyone who is primarily price-sensitive went that route. After all, price is a very valid criterion.Ā However, unlike what the Apple-bashers seems to think, this is not all or nothing. There's no reason to believe that in order to praise Apple's value proposition I must denigrate the other guy's. That's the whole point. I'm saying there is value (frequently a lot of it) in Apple's offerings. The idea that those who go that route are just “rich,” or in the RDF, or “fanbois,” or “smug,” or not technical enough to know better, and on and on, is pure BS.Ā Sticks and stones, people. Sticks and stones. I'm well-versed in both sides and have no turf to defend. Buzz off. I'll make no apology for what I like or the criteria I use. Concentric Hosted IT Solutions and Web Hosting Click here to save cost on your IT demands
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Microsoft cutting jobs, but not products
Although Microsoft is cutting jobs, the software maker apparently isn't axing any major products as part of its cost-cutting moves. On a conference call with analysts Thursday, though, CEO Steve Ballmer defended the company's decision to stick by all of its businesses, even as it looks to cut up to 5,000 jobs. ...
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No Worries Over Apple's Health
Buoyed by strong sales of iPods and iPhones, Apple reported solid first-quarter financial results on Wednesday. Apple reported $1.61 billion in earnings for the fiscal quarter ended Dec. 27, 2008, up from $1.58 billion in earnings during the same period in 2007. First-quarter sales came in at $10.1 billion, up from $9.6 billion during the first quarter of 2007. Apple sold nearly 23 million iPod digital music players, up 3 percent over the year-ago quarter, and 4.3 million iPhones.
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'MacVoices TV' has video from Macworld Conference & Expo
Posted by Dennis SellersOn the new MacVoicesTV, there's some more video from the recent Macworld Conference & Expo.
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Mac-savvy Obama staffers frustrated with legacy White House
Filed under: Cult of Mac, Odds and endsAccording to the Washington Post, the incoming U.S. presidential administration has inherited quite the challenging IT environment: The White House. President Obama's staff -- accustomed to Macs, social media, and having the latest equipment -- found Windows PCs with Microsoft Office 2003 in their new offices. Laptops were "scarce," apparently, and the team had trouble finding ways to update the redesigned White House website and add subtitles to web videos. Perhaps they were misled by the prominence of Mac hardware in the fictional-but-familiar West Wing version of the executive mansion. Valleywag's Owen Thomas suggests that Obama's staff are "whiners." "Outside the Manhattan media bubble and Silicon Valley's startup cube farms, this is how most Americans work. Want a Macintosh? Sorry, IT hasn't approved it. Oh, you need to use Facebook to interact with customers? Sorry, that site's blocked -- and management suspects that 'social media' is a buzzword which means 'getting paid to waste time chatting with friends.'" Part of the reason for the White House's legacy systems is related to the need to retain all computer records for the National Archives, and protect all kinds of communication (from emails to IMs to tweets) on the network for national security reasons. This task isn't impossible with a Mac -- some might say it's easier to accomplish with a Mac than with a PC -- but there will be a lot of sleepless nights for the White House's new IT staff while the new system is set up. Meanwhile, the tech-friendly new Commander in Chief appears to have won his first geek battle; he is going to get to keep his Blackberry [or something like it; Engadget clarifies that we don't know the details yet, but press secretary Robert Gibbs said it was indeed a BlackBerry during today's press briefing (his first) -Ed.] subject to a security overhaul by an unnamed federal agency (assumed to be the NSA). With the new administration's focus on change, it seems as though a new tech infrastructure and business rules for the executive office of the President are in the cards. It remains to be seen if our favorite platform, though, makes the cut. Thanks to Michael and Joe for sending this in.TUAWMac-savvy Obama staffers frustrated with legacy White House originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 22 Jan 2009 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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iPhone dev: Building proper mailto: URLs
iPhone developer Bryan Henry gave Ars a few tips about building robust mailto: calls. Read on to find out what he had to say.Read More...
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iPhone dev: Building proper mailto: URLs
I was chatting the other evening with iPhone developer Bryan Henry, who was busy putting the finishing touches on some mailto: code in his latest application. Although you might be tempted to use the standard NSString escape methods for your entire URL, it turns out that working with an HTML-rich body can be a little tricky. Instead of using NSString calls for the entire message, Henry recommends using the more tweakable Core Foundation utilities and escaping your body separately from your mailto URL. Below are the calls he uses. Note the mailto-specific escaping in the CF call, where he converts all instances of ?, =, &, and + within the body. He then uses the standard NSString escaping for the mailto prefix and appends the two portions to create the final URL.
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Windows 7 vs. Snow Leopard: Microsoft's comeback plan
Prince McLean, AppleInsider As the previous segment detailed, Windows 7 and Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard aren’t competing directly; instead, each is part of competitive strategy to either grow the Mac user base at Microsoft’s expense, as Apple has been doing, or in Microsoft’s case, to stop the hemorrhaging market share losses and reclaim leadership [...]
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Reading Between the Lines: Some Takeaways From Appleās Q1 2009 Conference Call
Apple's quarterly earnings call is primarily a retrospective affair. They report their numbers for the previous quarter, discuss strengths and weaknesses (and what made them strengths and weaknesses), and spend a little bit of time talking about how they plan on continuing and repeating success next time out. In the end, the only clear message they present is that they'll keep doing what's working, and improve on what isn't. At the same time, they're dropping hints about the future. Here are some of those hints, and what I think they mean. We Love the $199 Price Point On the subject of iPhone pricing, Cook made clear that their $399 and $199 price points were working well for the company. Quite specifically, he emphasized the company's love for the $199 price point, which is clearly leading to high sales numbers. Interestingly, he didn't talk about storage size, just pricing. We could see a pricing move based on strong sales and a shrinking consumer smartphone market that may result in a $199 price point for the 16GB iPhone to stimulate sales. Whether this also leads to a lower cost 8GB phone or a 32GB model, I can't guess, but we will mostly likely see a pricing change when sales start to dip. We Have Some Ideas, But Right Now We Think Those Products Are Inferior The netbook saga/flirtation/denialĀ continues. They're spot on about the hardware deficiencies when they point out that the keyboards on these devices are still too small, and about the software not being well-tailored to the platform as of yet. Which shows that they're thinking much more deeply about those issues than the offhand remarks would seem to suggest. Make no mistake, Apple is developing a device for this space. And they've targeted the specific issues their competitors have so far failed to address, which means they probably intend to come to the market late but with a superior product. This could be the reason they sought to separate “OS X” from the “Mac” moniker, if they're preparing a version of the OS specifically designed to run on netbook hardware. We Feel Extremely Good About Our Product Pipeline This comment was made in reference to their projections about iPhone seasonality. They also made a followup comment noting that Apple has fear in terms of the danger of the economy affecting smartphone adoption, considering the higher monthly rates that come with them. References to the product pipeline in this context are extremely tantalizing. What does Apple have in its pocket to offset the threat of smartphone contract prices? Two possibilities come to mind. Either they think that upcoming iPhone iterations will be impressive enough to attract consumers anyway, or they're planning on moving away from the smartphone market to take advantage of lower contract costs. In either case, references to product pipelines should not be taken lightly. That's my take on some of the more salient points of the Q1 conference call, the content of which I reviewed thanks to CNNMoney's transcript of their live blog of the event. You may think some of my predictions are reaching or far-fetched, but they all come from an analysis of the context within which the statements were made. Whether you agree with me or not, share you own interpretations below. Concentric Hosted IT Solutions and Web Hosting Click here to save cost on your IT demands
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News: App developer tests hybrid paid/donation revenue model
iPhone developer App Cubby has begun what it calls a pricing “experiment” in which it will sell all its iPhone and iPod touch applications for a flat price of $1 each, letting users who find their utility to be worthy of more money make a donation towards future app development. The company's products, Gas Cubby, Health Cubby, and Trip Cubby previously sold for $5, $5, and $10, respectively. App Cubby founder David Barnard told iLounge,…
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Apple's sales abroad helped offset effect of weak US economy
Despite a weakened US economy, a big increase in sales outside the US helped Apple reach record revenues for Q1 2009.Read More...
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Apple's sales abroad helped offset effect of weak US economy
With a quarter marred by layoffs, bankruptcies, and bailouts, Apple managed to bank record revenue, sell a record number of iPods, and moved the second highest number of Macs per quarter in the company's 32-year history. And Apple pulled it off by getting 46 percent of its revenue from international sales. iPhone sales were down about 37 percent from last quarter's stellar performance, and sales of Macs were down slightly from the record of 2.6 million last quarter. At the same time, iPod sales pulled the company into record revenue levels, as Apple sold 22.7 million in the quarter. It turns out that the growth in iPods sales came from abroad. "US iPod sales contracted, at the unit level, 3 percent year over year," said COO Tim Cook during yesterday's earnings call. "All the growth you see in our numbers, 22.7 percent, was all international." Mac sales also helped, and gained a big push internationally. Sales of Macs were up 8.6 percent year over year for Q1, and that growth continues to be fueled by growth in sales of Apple's notebooks (a 34 percent increase year over year). "International vs the US, international on Mac was much stronger than the US," said Cook. "International growth was 16 percent on Macintosh year over year, 2 percent in US. We saw several countries over 20 percent," he added. The growth in Macs sales abroad is good news for Apple, as worldwide market share significantly lags market share at home in the US. Continued expansion of Apple's retail presence internationally, with about 12 more Apple Stores expected to open in 2009, should continue this trend. This strengthening of Apple's international sales should translate into even stronger numbers when the US economy recovers. Further Reading Ars Technica: Apple's growth takes a hit, but not a dive AppleInsider: International sales rescue Apple from US retail slump Apple: First Quarter Results Summary (PDF)
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First Look: Hellfire for iPhone / iPod touch
Filed under: Gaming, Software, iPhone, App Store, iPod touch, First LookAhhh, there's nothing quite like taking your helicopter gunship out for a spin to wake you up first thing in the morning! Astraware has announced the immediate availability of their newest action game for iPhone and iPod touch, Hellfire (click opens iTunes). This US$4.99 game puts you in the pilot's seat of a helicopter gunship, ready to take on one of 16 missions.Control is provided through both the accelerometer (steering, speed) and touch-screen controls (throttle, weapons) as you fly US and Soviet-era helicopters through the missions. There are various levels of challenges, with missions in locations throughout the world. Some missions provide multiple objectives, such as taking out enemy defenses, then rescuing hostages and returning them to a base. The helicopters are pre-rendered and very realistic, and the gunships fly over 3D terrain that is rendered on-the-fly. The soundtrack and sound effects can be switched off for play during meetings, and your own music can be substituted if you prefer.There's a YouTube video showing Hellfire in action, complete with Alison's camo green nail polish. Click the Read More link to view it.Continue reading First Look: Hellfire for iPhone / iPod touchTUAWFirst Look: Hellfire for iPhone / iPod touch originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 22 Jan 2009 12:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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No Oompa Loompas
Gary Hustwit, director of the upcoming Objectified documentary: We did a follow-up interview with Jony Ive at Apple in California last week, and enjoyed the opportunity of filming inside Appleās design facilities. ā
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Tech Stocks: Big losses follow Microsoft south in afternoon
Negative news from Microsoft, Nokia and Intel drive tech stocks into the red and send the Nasdaq down 4%, leaving the sector unable to rally behind the strong quarterly results of Apple.
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Veoh launches Video Compass
Posted by Dennis SellersVeoh Networks, an Internet Television service, has launched the Veoh Video Compass, a new browser add-on that transforms web video from an entertainment-centric activity into a tool that “enhances everything users do online—whether they're searching, shopping, finding a date or catching up on the latest news,” according to the company.
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Control your TiVo on your iPhone with DVR Remote
DVR Remote is a super-slick looking iPhone App that allows you to control your Series 3 TiVo on your Wi-Fi network. I really like the look of this remote - it's actually what I wish Apple's Remote application looked like. The buttons are clean and polished looking, and it features an easy to use “Now Playing” command as well. When you add in the instantaneous TiVo syncing (no complicated code inputting required) you get the nicest remote available on the iPhone right now. If you have a Series 3 TiVo, you can get it here for only $2.99.
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You Stay Classic, Mac OS
Short piece I wrote for Macworld’s “25th Anniversary of the Mac” issue regarding what Mac OS X could learn from the Classic Mac OS. ā
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'Less Is Less' as Clear Channel Cuts More Jobs
Radio's leaders have lost sight of the big picture. Revenue isn't down because of Sirius XM or iPods or any of the 101 other things that were trumpeted as slayers of terrestrial radio. It's down because new media have empowered marketers to measure and manage the results of their campaigns. And radio has been slow to accept the rules in the new world order of advertising.
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RepairPal launches free iPhone app
Posted by Dennis SellersRepairPal, a destination for auto repair and maintenance information, has released an iPhone app that offers consumers auto repair pricing transparency and roadside assistance on the road or at any repair shop.
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Notes App Doesnāt Train iPhone System-Wide Auto-Correction Dictionary
Interesting find by Erica Sadun: the iPhone’s Notes app doesn’t seem to add new words to the system-wide auto-correction dictionary. Sounds like a bug in Notes to me. ā
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Sony Projects Record $3 Billion Loss
Again, context for Apple’s results. ā
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News: Browser-based App Store clone appears on web
A new website has appeared which offers browser-based access to the App Store, allowing users to browse applications without the need to launch iTunes. Powered by Google App Engine and hosted at app-store.appspot.com, the App Store website lets users access Top 100 lists, every category of application, and even the majority of the iTunes Store for music, TV shows, and movies, although that isn't its primary focus. While other sites exist that…
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PANiQ is new, 'wearable' consumer electronics brand
Posted by Dennis Sellers, QIO Systems, which makes wearable electronics, has launched its iPod-compatible PANiQ wearable electronics system. It allows you to decide which consumer electronics devices you want to control from their interactive clothing.
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Monkeybread releases Backup Monitor 1.0 for Leopard
Posted by Dennis SellersMonkeybread Software has released version 1.0 of Backup Monitor. It can execute an application after the next Time Machine back-up finishes.
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Nokia, Microsoft drop while Apple stock soars
Filed under: Apple FinancialWhile Apple stock is up over seven percent since its positive earnings report and conference call yesterday afternoon, both Nokia and Microsoft have released dourer reports about their financial outlook. Microsoft said that it will lay off up to 5,000 people, about five percent of its workforce, over the next year and a half, according to the Seattle P-I. 1,400 of those jobs would be eliminated today. The news comes as the company announced earnings per share two cents less than their quarterly guidance -- 47 cents versus 49 cents -- on revenues of $16.63 billion. Analysts had expected revenues upwards of $17 billion. Nokia today posted a 69 percent drop in profits for its last quarter. Nokia stock earned 15 euro-cent per share in profit, compared with 47 euro-cent in the same quarter last year. Sales fell 19 percent to €12.66 billion, missing forecasts of €13 billion. What can we take away from this? Perhaps this is understating things, but Apple appears to be doing very well against its competitors. In yesterday's conference call, the company announced that it had grown sales and revenue even in the face of challenging worldwide economic conditions. In both retail and iPod sales, much of the growth was outside the United States. Apple sold 88 percent more iPhones than they did the same time last year, although much of that may be attributed to pent-up demand for the iPhone 3G. At midday, AAPL is $10 higher than its record-low close on Tuesday, trading at around $88 per share. Both NOK and MSFT are trading down about $1.65 each. [Via Daring Fireball.] Update: Sony, too: It's posting a record annual loss of $3 billion, and plans to close factories and lay off workers.TUAWNokia, Microsoft drop while Apple stock soars originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 22 Jan 2009 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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ShiveringKittens: iPhone Game Presents Mild Risk of Frostbite
I like puzzle games on my iPhone, and I like Tetris. With that in mind, I approached ShiveringKittens ($2.99, App Store) fairly optimistically since, since it is a puzzle game which resembles Tetris. Certainly, other apps for the platform have used this recipe to great success, like ngmoco's Topple. Maybe I was making unfair comparisons with outstanding games, but ShiveringKittens left me a little cold. The game from developer GiantCrayon features, appropriately enough, frozen kittens as the core gameplay component. There are also unfrozen kittens, and kitten-free blocks of ice, too. These three different types of blocks appear at the top of the screen in varying configurations (i.e., “L”-shaped, etc.), and proceed to slowly descend to the bottom of the screen. You can move and rotate the block, with the object of creating groups of five or more unfrozen kittens, at which point those blocks will disappear. To rid yourself of the remaining blocks, you'll have to make a solid horizontal row of either type, ie. frozen blocks or frozen kitten blocks. Unlike in Tetris, when a shape hits the bottom of the screen, blocks without any support underneaht do not hang in the air, and instead fall to the lowest level possible. In theory, it sounds like an interesting enough twist on the basic Tetris concept to keep veteran players interested, but in practice, I found otherwise. Starting out on the easiest possible level, I figured the game would be simple enough to get the hang of. That was not the case. Right away, I found the mechanics unnecessarily difficult and poorly thought out. Controls were awkward, especially the down swipe, which doesn't simply accelerate the fall of the piece you're working with, but sends it directly to the bottom. Getting kitten groups together while still trying to arrange ice blocks and frozen kittens in screen-spanning horizontal lines proved immensely complicated, too much so for the first skill level. I did manage to get a grouping of five kittens eventually, but by that time my screen was so cluttered and disorganized that it would've been impossible to dig myself out of the hole I'd created. In the end, ShiveringKittens is too complicated to be a distraction, and not substantial enough to make me want to meet the significant challenge it presents. I'm not opposed to a good, difficult game, but this one just seems poorly designed, not intelligently tricky. If I were you, I'd take a pass on ShiveringKittens, even if you happen to be a cat person. Concentric Hosted IT Solutions and Web Hosting Click here to save cost on your IT demands
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Pirated version of iWork '09 contains a nasty trojan
A new Mac OS X trojan, identified by Intego as OSX.Trojan.iServices.A, is being installed by pirated copies of iWork '09. Really, saving $79 isn't worth it, people.Read More...
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Mac-loving Obama staff confronts Windows White House reality
Older Windows PCs are the reality met by Obama's Mac-using team as it moves into the White House.Read More...
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First Looks: Roxio Toast 10 Titanium Pro
Though we rarely look at software that's made solely for the Mac, Roxio's new media-converting and burning program Toast 10 Titanium Pro ($150) caught our attention when it was announced a couple of weeks ago, and we've been playing with the program for the last couple of days. For a couple of years, Toast has been the only official program for Mac users to convert TiVo videos to iPod and iPhone formats, one of several reasons we've kept it in our…
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Apple: 35,000 'Wicked Smart' People Will Keep Things Humming
Back in 1997, Apple (AAPL) was a company in turmoil. It was losing money. Its stock was at an all-time low. And it had experienced several failed attempts to improve the Mac operating system. Fast-forward to today and Apple is a brand name recognized around the globe for its Mac computers, iPod music players, iTunes online store and most recently, the iPhone. It has a loyal, cult-like following of fans and was ranked by Fortune Magazine in 2007 as one of the Most Admired Companies. On Wednesday, it once again reported a financially-strong quarter, beating Wall Street estimates by a mile and selling millions more iPods than anyone expected for a dismal holiday season across every other industry.
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Rivet 2.0 for Leopard adds PS3 support
Posted by Dennis SellersCynical Peak Software has released Rivet 2.0, an update of the app that enables users to stream video, music, and photos from Mac OS X to an Xbox 360 or PS3 over their home network. The upgrade adds the ability to stream media to a PS3.
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Apple patents reflect widget, Dashboard changes, expansion
Posted by Dennis SellersTwo new Apple patents at the US Patent & Trademark Office could mean some changes in the Mac OS X Dashboards app/features—or perhaps expanding the concept to other devices. Patent number 20090024944 is for user-central widgets and dashboards that are automatically modified to reflect a user's goals and needs.
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Live blog: Microsoft's earnings call
After posting disappointing earnings and disclosing plans to lay off 5,000 workers, Microsoft is holding a call with financial analysts. Reload this page for live coverage. News.... Originally posted at News - Microsoft
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Nokia Profit Drops 69 Percent
Helps put context around Apple’s results. ā
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Apple Q1 2009 earnings recap
In case you missed it, here’s a recap of last night’s earnings conference call with analysts: Record revenue of $10.17 billion (compared to $9.6 billion in the year-ago quarter) Record net quarterly profit of $1.61 billion, or $1.78 per diluted share ($1.58 billion, or $1.76 per diluted share) Gross margin was 34.7 percent, equal to the year-ago quarter. International [...]
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Analysts weigh in on Apple financials
Posted by Dennis Sellers Analysts and pundits are now weighing in on Apple's financial results for the fiscal first quarter of 2009—and, as usual, those results beat the predictions. In fact, our favorite tech company posted a two percent bump in earnings to beat Wall Street's expectations, sending shares up $7.87, or 9.5 percent,...
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Apple patent is for sound sensor to adjust audio output for a device
Posted by Dennis SellersAn Apple patent (number 20099922328) for a sound sensor to adjust the audio output for a device has appeared at the US Patent & Trademark Office. Among other uses, it would add an ambient sound sensor to the iPhone that would allow the handset to adjust its ringtone volume to...
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Interview: iPhone dev gets existential about "crap" apps
An iPhone app developer is both surprised and resentful over the success of his "crap" app that took only 20 minutes to develop. Ars spoke with him about the experience and this growing trend among App Store customers.Read More...
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Pixelglow releases Instavue for Mac OS X
Posted by Dennis SellersPixelglow Software has released Instavue, a free Mac OS X 10.5 (“Leopard”) application that's designed as a companion application to Instaviz, the graph sketching app for the iPhone.
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Create functions in Numbers '09 using the keyboard
As a long-time Excel user, one of the things that annoyed me about Numbers '08 was that you couldn't completely create functions using the keyboard. Sure, you could start typing =MID(, for instance. However, as soon as you needed to enter a cell reference, you had to reach for the mouse, even if the cell you wanted to reference was located right next to the formula you were typing. The arrow keys would only move the cursor within the typed text, not around the worksheet to select cells.When I first started using Numbers '09, I thought this was still the case -- because that's all the arrow keys seem to do in this version, too. But here's the secret solution, which isn't documented in the User Manual nor in the Keyboard Shortcuts list available in Help: Hold down the Option key before pressing the arrow keys (this won't work in Numbers '08). With the Option key down, you can then move around the active table and select cells using just the keyboard. Release ...
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10.5: Keep 'Apple Mail To Do' off IMAP accounts in Mail
Do you dislike the "Apple Mail To Do" entry in your IMAP mail account in Mail? Disabling this 'feature' has been claimed many times in many places, but I finally found a way that actually works: Quit Mail open ~/Library Ā» Preferences Ā» com.apple.mail.plist using Property List Editor. Scroll down to the Mail Accounts entry and open it (click the arrow to the left of it). Click the arrow to the left of Item 1. Make sure the AccountType is LocalAccount (if it's not, one of the other Items is, but it should be Item 1). Copy the string value of the uniqueId field (the string of letters and numbers and dashes). Scroll down to the NewNoteToDoAccount entry, and paste the local account ID string in as its value. Be sure you delete t...
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Avoid Kernel Panics upon waking MacBook
I have a 13" MacBook that I love more than my dog. So far I've had absolutely no problems with it, save for one. When I'm at home, I operate it with its lid closed and connected to an external Dell monitor. This situation works great until I have to take my laptop into the office. I've found that if I put the laptop to sleep with the external monitor connected, and then wake the laptop later without the external monitor, I receive a friendly Kernel Panic a few seconds after opening the lid. The solution to avoiding this situation, for me at least, is to open the lid before putting the laptop to sleep, disconnect the monitor, wait for the laptop to recognize that it needs to switch to the internal display, then shut the lid and head off to wherever it is that I'm going. This kludge helps out a lot in avoiding the problem of spending 10 minutes telling someone how awesome Mac OS X is compared to (insert your operating system here), only to open the lid and w...
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A caution on changing the iPhone's Email Address field
Let's say you have several email addresses, and you'd rather people send mail to only one of those. In a desktop email application, it would be logical to use the Reply-To setting to change the email address your recipients see as your preferred email box. And while the Email Address line in the iPhone settings screen might seem a logical place to use the preferred address, this does not have expected results. Using this approach, Mail can become confused, and may send your corporate email via your personal account. The recipient will see your corporate address, but the message will show up in your personal Sent mailbox. Or it may not send at all, instead reporting that you have some number of unsent messages. On an iPhone, and regardless of your preferred method for people emailing you, you must keep the Email Address line in each account set to that account's actual email address. Duplications will just cause headaches. I haven't come up with an i...
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Options Trader: Thursday Outlook
Of course I was not happy with yesterday's "rally."
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BitTorrent copies of iWork '09 may contain nasty Trojan
Filed under: Software, iWork, SecurityIntego has released a security alert for a Trojan horse circulating in copies of iWork '09 downloaded from BitTorrent trackers and direct download (read: not official, but warez-esque) sites. The Trojan, known as OSX.Trojan.iServices.A is actually pretty clever: it exists as a package within the actual iWork '09 installer (meaning you can't see it unless you view every package in the installer bundle). Then when the installation begins and asks for your administrator password (which is what a non-infected version of iWork '09 would do), the Trojan package will install itself as a startup item in the /System/Library/StartupItems folder, where it has root permissions.Once this service is on your system (and it is called something that sounds innocuous: iWorkSerices), it will connect to a remote server online, making your computer a target for other malicious downloads and remote operations.It is important to note that the iWork '09 files on these downloads are not affected in any way, they are merely a catalyst to get this Trojan on your system.Intego has updated their virus definitions for its VirusBarrier programs. We recommend not downloading software from untrustworthy or unofficial sources. And you know, paying for a legitimate iWork license.TUAWBitTorrent copies of iWork '09 may contain nasty Trojan originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 22 Jan 2009 10:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Microsoft: Beating Apple, not Google, with Palm
The software giant has a much better chance of beating Apple's iPhone than it does Google's advertising, and Palm could help it to do so.
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Newly-discovered Mac exploit to be detailed at Black Hat
A potentially dangerous, difficult-to-trace Mac OS X exploit is to be discussed at next month's Black Hat conference in Washington D.C. With Macs being used more for data forensics as of late, this is sure to turn into an important topic.Read More...
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Apple patents involve digital video encoding, resistive force sensor
Posted by Dennis SellersApple patents involving digital video specs, a resistive force sensor and other items have appeared at the US Patent & Trademark Office. Patent 2009002225 is for a method and apparatus for variable accuracy inter-picture timing specs for digital video encoding with reduced requirements for division operations.
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January MacBUS meeting to feature a Macworld recap
Posted by Dennis Sellers The next meeting of The Macintosh Business Users Society of Greater Philadelphia (MacBUS) will be held on Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2009, at 6:45 pm and will feature a recap of the 2009 Macworld Conference & Expo.
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MacNotables #902: The MacNotables Fill the Macworld PodLoft with Opinions, Observations and Show Picks
Taped live in the PodLoft at Macworld Expo, the panel of Bryan Chaffin, Tonya Engst, Andy Ihnatko and Bob “Dr. Mac” LeVitus join Chuck Joiner to discuss this year's show, what might happen at next year's show and what it has to do with the Great London Fire, deliver some show picks, and comment on the nomination of Andy for NASA Administrator. Bryan Chaffin Tonya Engst Andy Ihnatko Bob LeVitus Chuck Joiner The video version of this session is available as MacVoicesTV #917. Links: Chuck Joiner on Twitter MacVoices at Macworld Expo 2009 Photo Set on Flickr Bryan Chaffin on Twitter Tonya Engst on Twitter Bob LeVitus on Twitter Andy Ihnatko on Twitter The Next NASA Administrator - vote for Andy! Ocarina by Smule iLife '09 including iMovie '09 BoinxTV by Boinx Software IntelliScanner mini Microvision projector Windows Training iFrogz Brenthaven Altec Lansing iM-237 Orbit Ultraportable Speaker Dr. Bott Things by Cultured Code Fluid Mask 3 by Vertus Tech EverNote
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First Look: Mobile Colloquy
Filed under: Software, iPhone, iPod touchI've used the IRC for at least 10 years, if not more, and I've utilized a range of clients starting with the stalwart mIRC for Windows. When I migrated my home system to a Mac, the IRC client of choice quickly became the open-source Colloquy. It was simple to use and easy to integrate scripting via AppleScript. I could easily join chat rooms across multiple serversSo, it should be no surprise that Mobile Colloquy [link opens iTunes] shares many of the same features as its desktop kin. We first saw Mobile Colloquy back in 2007 when it was made available via the Installer.app and it very much the same on the surface as its jailbroken predecessor. It's taken the promise shown back then and has turned into an excellent and stable release that's now available through the App Store.One of the unique features is a built-in browser that will open links transmitted in a chat room or private message. The some of the pages opened through the link are not iPhone-optimized version, but the regular Web sites. I accessed the optimized versions of CNN and Google just fine through the built-in browser, but TUAW came up as the normal site. The button on the bottom right of the browser will take you into Mobile Safari. There is no bookmark tool, you'll go into Safari to take care of that. The "Done" button closes out the built-in browser and returns you back to your chat. It's a very nice feature, but I wish you could bookmark links without having to open the same web page again in Safari - something that could be extremely tedious over the EDGE network. Another drawback is when you do choose to go into Safari, you will be knocked off the servers you were logged into. Give the client a few seconds for the servers to reconnect, then tap the name of the chat room you were in. You will get a prompt asking you if you want to rejoin it.Another very nice feature is completion pop-ups for basic IRC commands, including user names of other people in the chat room. You can also use specialized commands, such as /google query and /wikipedia query, which will bring up results in the built-in browser. All chat rooms and private messages are gathered under one screen. You can set specific words to be highlighted and turn on an optional vibration when the word is used, such as your nickname. Colloquy can be used either in portrait or landscape mode as well.Mobile Colloquy is available in the App Store for $1.99, and it's well worth the money.Gallery: First Look: Mobile ColloquyTUAWFirst Look: Mobile Colloquy originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 22 Jan 2009 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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News: Jays rolls out s-Jays in-ear earphones
Jays has introduced its new s-Jays in-ear earphones. The s-Jays are the company's first earphones to utilize the Siren, a tubeless, round balanced armature that delivers more bass than those used by Jays in the past and a frequency response of 20Hz - 20,000 Hz. Other features include a PVC-coated cord, a gold-plated 3.5mm plug, and sound isolation. Included with the s-Jays are five pairs of silicone rubber sleeves, a pair of foam sleeves, four…
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Backstage: Thanks For The Enthusiastic Response To The CES 2010 Pavilion!
Yesterday's announcement of the dedicated iPod and iPhone pavilion at the 2010 International CES was, as expected, a big hit with the community. How big? Shortly after the announcement, the CEA let us know that vendors were making contact at a rate of more than 1 per minute—a staggering pace. It's overwhelmed with requests and apparently, after only a day, the space is mostly spoken for. In CEA's words, “this is huge!”…
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Meme releases TheSnapper for the iPhone
Posted by Dennis SellersMeme has released TheSnapper 1.0 in the Photography section of the Apple App Store. The new US$0.99 app “listens” for snaps or claps to operate the iPhone camera.
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Today 1.6 task manager brings natural language to iCal
The iCal-integrated event and task manager has gained natural "dinner at 6pm" language features and is a much better Leopard Spaces citizen. Read on to find out what's new in Today 1.6.Read More...
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Intego reports new Trojan horse
Posted by Dennis SellersIntego says it's discovered a new Trojan horse, OSX.Trojan.iServices.A, which copies of Apple's iWork 09 found on BitTorrent trackers and other sites containing links to pirated software. The version of iWork 09, Apple's productivity suite, are complete and functional, but the installer contains an additional package called iWorkServices.pkg.
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Microsoft cutting 5,000 jobs on weak results
Microsoft said Thursday its sales and earnings for the December quarter fell well below expectations and announced a series of cost-cutting moves, including its first-ever companywide layoffs. News....
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NewsWatch: U.S. stock futures mixed after Apple's strong quarter
U.S. stock futures pointed to a mixed start Thursday, with Appleās surprisingly strong profit offset by weaker numbers from other firms like Nokia and Seagate Technology and gloomy data from the housing market.
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EA Announces Spore Galactic Adventures Expansion
Create a range of new content, including mazes. (Click to embiggen.)EA has spilled its Spore plans for 2009, announcing a Mac and PC expansion pack, Spore Galactic Adventures will ship in the Spring. The game will require the original Spore title, adding planet-level missions to the final, space stage. Pricing has not been announced.read more
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News: OtterBox expands Strength line with Defender for iPod nano 4G
OtterBox has expanded its line of Pink Strength cases with a special release of its Defender Series case for the fourth-generation iPod nano. As with past Strength cases, 10% of the purchase price of the Defender nano 4G will be donated to the Avon Breast Cancer Crusade to support access to care and finding a cure for breast cancer. The case features a unique three-layer design consisting of a thin clear membrane to protect the screen and Click Wheel,…
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iPhone developers compete with app-themed cakes
iPhone software site 148Apps has organized an indie developer bake off, wherein developers bake cakes inspired by their applications and the public votes on the best one. Hey, at least there are prizes involved.Read More...
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Before the Bell: Apple, UnitedHealth, Nokia, housing starts in focus
U.S. stock market futures pointed mostly lower Thursday as a strong profit from Apple wasn't enough to offset weaker numbers from the likes of Nokia and Seagate as well as a record low for housing construction numbers.
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boxee mulls production of its own set-top-box
boxee took full advantage of its space at CES this year, and according to a recent post on its blog, it fielded quite a few inquiries from other companies about crafting a boxee-branded set-top-box. Currently, the only way to get boxee running is to install it on your TV-connected PC or inelegantly onto an Apple TV. A number of companies approached boxee asking for its thoughts on embedding the application into "existing or future products," so the cats at boxee are coming right out and soliciting your opinion on the matter. boxee does caution that getting it baked into a device would take "a long time," but it certainly seems like that ball is rolling. So, what say you? Would you snap one up? Or would you balk at the notion of adding yet another STB underneath your television?[Thanks, cros13]Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainmentboxee mulls production of its own set-top-box originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 22 Jan 2009 08:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Data recovery: The option of last resort
Filed under: Hardware, Features, TroubleshootingThere is no shortage of stories here on TUAW (and elsewhere) that extol the benefits of backing up your data. Apple even makes it ridiculously easy to do so -- with Mac OS X 10.5, Time Machine, a blank drive, and some spare time, you're set. Nevertheless, despite your best efforts, there are unforeseen circumstances where you might need to utter those dreaded words: "I need to send this for data recovery." Perhaps your airplane landed in the Hudson river, and your waterlogged laptop was stuck with your luggage. Perhaps an external disk is suffering from a manufacturing defect. Perhaps your backup disk is the disk that failed. Unfortunately, there is no way to sugar-coat this: Data recovery is a painful, patience-trying, and absurdly expensive process. But if it's the only way to recover mission-critical data, it could be your only option. It was for me.Continue reading Data recovery: The option of last resortTUAWData recovery: The option of last resort originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 22 Jan 2009 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Apple Bucks Faltering Retail Trend with Best Revenue Result Yet
Many retailers fell apart this holiday season, their registers ringing up far less of the holiday cheer than they'd have liked. Companies were cutting staff. Cash was being conserved. Spending, especially on premium products, was way down. Apple (AAPL), despite the so called “Apple Tax,” the name sometimes spitefully applied to the higher pricing on Apple's products, bucked the trend. Earnings for the period ended December 27th, while shadowed with some elements of mixed quality, handily beat expectations. For the first quarter of Fiscal 2009, Apple reported its best revenue result of all time. Total sales for the quarter crossed past $10 billion to $10.17b. Year over year, the gain was 5.8% compared to last year's sales of $9.6b.
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Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News
Shareholder sues BoA. A Bank of America (BAC) shareholder has filed a legal suit against the company, seeking class action status on behalf of all shareholders eligible to vote on the acquisition of Merrill Lynch. The suit names Kenneth Lewis and John Thain as defendants and faults the two for failing to disclose the full extent of Merrill's losses; the Dec. 5 vote to approve the merger was based on an Oct. 31 proxy statement that hadn't been revised to reflect Merrill's poor Q4 performance. Sony slips. Sony (SNE) warned it will post a „260B ($2.9B) annual operating loss on falling demand, a strengthening yen and restructuring costs. The forecast is down from an earlier projection of a „200B profit, and far worse than earlier consensus estimates of a „100B loss. It will be Sony's first operating loss in 14 years, and its biggest loss ever, as the company has fallen behind Apple (AAPL) in portable music, Nintendo (NTDOY.PK) in video games and is losing money on its flat screen TVs. As part of the restructuring plan, Sony said it may consolidate TV production in Japan into one plant, but analysts call for more drastic steps to turn the company around. Shares -2.8% in Japan (7:00 ET). Rescue buyout for Satyam? Media reports say Indian firm Larsen & Toubro, which holds around a 4% stake in Satyam (SAY), is considering presenting a rescue plan to Satyam's board. Investment banking and government sources said L&T would put a price on its bid once KPMG and Deloitte, Satyam's new auditors, release updated audit results. L&T denied the reports. Satyam's board will begin a two-day meeting today to discuss how to secure emergency funding. AIG selling prized business. AIG (AIG) has begun the sale of its prized Asian life insurance unit, and hopes to pull in as much as $20B on the unit to help repay its government loans. The unit boasts 20M policyholders across 13 countries, employs 200,000 tied agents and last year made an aggregate operating profit of around $2B. AIG has expressed an interest in selling 49% of the unit, but would consider a complete sale, and could be willing to accept shares as acquisition currency. Potential bidders include HSBC (HBC), Prudential Financial (PRU) and China Life (LFC). Apple regains some shine. Apple (AAPL) posted better-than-expected quarterly earnings yesterday (more details below), giving depressed shares a healthy boost with gains of over 8% after hours. Overseas demand for iPods, Mac computers and iPhones offset a slowdown in U.S. sales, pushing quarterly sales past $10B for the first time vs. consensus estimates of the first profit drop in five years. The company posted a cautious outlook for FQ2, forecasting EPS of $0.90-1.00 vs. $1.13 consensus and revenue of $7.6-8B vs. $8.2B. Germany's 'Bad Bank Light.' The German government is working on a new 'Bad Bank Light' rescue plan that could help the industry get hundreds of billions of euros of bad assets off its books. According to media reports, the government would take on the bad assets of banks and absorb associated losses, and would also get a claim on future gains. A similar model was successfully used with East German banks after reunification in 1990. The government could take as much as €300B-€400B in bad assets, though the banks themselves would choose which assets to divest. BoJ forecasts deflation. Bank of Japan voted unanimously to maintain interest rates at 0.1%, and lowered its assessment of the economy. BoJ now sees a longer contraction until recovery starts to kick in by the second half of fiscal 2010. Japan will slip back into deflation during the contraction. Retail sales. Retail chain store sales rose 1.1% from a week ago, ICSC reported, and fell 1.8% Y/Y. "Being a low volume month with little incentive to spend will continue to make January a tough month for retailers." According to Redbook, national chain store sales fell 2.5% in the first two weeks of January, worse than the expected -2.2%, noting retailers don't tend to read too much into January. Shops are building very cautious inventories for the spring season. Housing index drops. NAHB's Housing Market Index came in at a record low of 8 vs. 9 consensus. However its index of prospective buyers rose to 8 vs. 7 in December, while its index of home sales for the next six months inched up to 17 from 16. "Clearly, conditions in the nation's housing market aren't getting any better," said NAHB chairman Sandy Dunn, "and they aren't going to get any better until the federal government takes substantial action to encourage qualified buyers to get back in the market." Earnings: Thursday Before Open AmerisourceBergen (ABC): FQ1 EPS of $0.73 beats by $0.04. Revenue of $16.9B (+4.6%) vs. $17.2B. (PR) AU Optronics (AUO): Q4 EPS of -$0.95 misses by $0.42. Revenue of $1.80B (-62.5%) vs. $1.81B. (PR) Baxter International (BAX): Q4 EPS of $0.91 beats by $0.02. Revenue of $3.13B (+4.1%) vs. $3.15B. (PR) Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB): Q4 EPS of -$3.82 misses by $3.83. Tier 1 capital ratio of 10.59%. Net loss of $2.2B from goodwill impairment, credit actions, higher credit costs and market valuation adjustments. (PR) KeyCorp (KEY): Q4 EPS of -$1.13 misses by $1.11. Revenue of $1.045B (-15.6%) vs. $1.176B. (PR) Knight Capital Group (NITE): Q4 EPS of $0.56 beats by $0.18. Revenue of $330.2M (+28.2%) vs. $261.8M. (PR) Lockheed Martin (LMT): Q4 EPS of $2.05 beats by $0.13. Revenue of $11.1B (+2.7%) in-line. (PR) Nokia (NOK): Q4 EPS of $0.26 misses by $0.02. Revenue of $12.7B (-19.2%) vs. $13.1B. Shares -10.4% premarket.(PR) Potash (POT): Q4 EPS of $2.56 beats by $0.28. Revenue of $1.87B (+30.7%) vs. $1.85B. (PR) SunTrust Banks (STI): Q4 EPS of -$1.08 misses by $1.15. Revenue of $1.93B (+8.8%) vs. $2.16B. (PR) Taiwan Semi (TSM): Q4 EPS of $0.07 in-line. Revenue of $1.96B (-32.1%) vs. $1.95B. (PR) UnitedHealth (UNH): Q4 EPS of $0.78 in-line. Revenue of $20.45B (+9,4%) vs. $20.35B. (PR) Earnings: Wednesday After Close Amdocs (DOX): FQ1 EPS of $0.55 in-line. Revenue of $754M (+1.6%) vs. $792M. Sees FQ2 EPS of $0.47-0.51 vs. $0.57 and revenue of $700-720M vs. $793M. (PR) Apple (AAPL): FQ1 EPS of $1.78 beats by $0.39. Revenue of $10.17B vs. $9.75B. Gross margins 34.7% vs. 31.9% consensus. Macs 2.52M in line. iPhones 4.36M vs. 4.6M. (8-K) Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNI): Q4 EPS of $1.79 beats by $0.05. Revenue of $4.37B (+3%) in-line. Commits $2.7B in capital expenses for 2009, $150M lower than 2008. (PR) eBay (EBAY): Q4 EPS of $0.41 beats by $0.02. Revenue of $2.04B (-6.5%) vs. $2.12B. Sees Q1 EPS of $0.32-0.34 vs. $0.40, and revenue of $1.8-2.05B vs. $2.1B. Skype growth 26% to $145M. Active users +1% to 86.3M. Gross merchandise volume +1% to $11.47B. (PR) F5 Networks (FFIV): FQ1 EPS of $0.40 in-line. Revenue of $166M (+7.4%) in-line. While some sales are being pushed into later quarters, others are postponed indefinitely. (PR) Kinder Morgan Energy Partners L.P. (KMP): Q4 EPS of $0.24 misses by $0.29. Revenue of $2.29B (-6.4%) vs. $3.41B. (PR) Polycom (PLCM): Q4 EPS of $0.42 beats by $0.02. Revenue of $263M (-0.1%) in-line. (PR) Seagate Technology (STX): FQ2 EPS of -$0.23 misses by $0.18. Revenue of $2.27B (-33.6%) vs. $2.46B. Sees FQ3 revenue of $1.6-2B vs. $2.19B. (PR) Today's Markets Asia markets closed lightly up. Nikkei +1.9% to 8,052. Hang Seng +0.6% to 12,658. Shanghai +1.0% to 2,005. BSE +0.4% to 8,814. In Europe at midday, London +1.2%. Paris +0.8%. Frankfurt +1.0%. U.S. futures: Dow -0.6%. S&P -0.6%. Nasdaq +0.3%. Crude +1.4% to $44.18. Gold +0.01% to $850.20. Thursday's Economic Calendar 7:00 MBA Mortgage Applications 8:30 Housing Starts 8:30 Jobless Claims 4:30 PM Money Supply Notable earnings before Thursday's open: ABC, AUO, AVT, BAX, BBT, BEN, CIT, CMA, CY, EAT, ESI, EXC, FITB, HBAN, IGT, JNS, KEY, LMT, LUV, MTB, NITE, NOC, NOK, ORI, POT, SHW, STI, TCB, TSM, UNH, UNP, UST Notable earnings after Thursday's close: AMD, CBST, CNI, COF, ED, FII, GOOG, ISRG, MSCC, MSFT, PBCT, SNV, SYNA, TPX, WERN, WFR Seeking Alpha editor Eli Hoffmann contributed to this post.
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The Essential Apple: from Smooth Scrolling to shortcut hot keys
Posted by Dennis SellersWe're continuing our look at ways to customize Mac OS X and make it work the way you want it to. Often when we open a web page, we scroll down but the chop-a-block style is very rigid and really not as smooth as the rest of the Mac functions.
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ShapeWriter for iPhone: Do You Want to Relearn How to Type?
There's something that irritates me about software that I've barely met acting like it knows me, knows what I'm thinking, knows what I'm about to do. That's why the first thing I do on any new phone is shut off T9 predictive text, that thing that tries to guess what I'm trying to type based on somebody's idea of commonly used words. Almost as bad is the iPhone's autocorrect feature -- yeah, I typed "mome" and I meant "mome," not "mime," is that OK with you? But with my fat fingers, I've been learning to live with it.
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PC sales slump to bite even Microsoft
With the PC market tanking along with the rest of the economy, Microsoft is seen as unlikely to be able to live up to the financial forecast it issued in October. The company is set to release its quarterly earnings after the markets close on Thursday. In a further sign ...
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Recollections of the Mac's creators
Three members of the team that built the original Macintosh look back on days filled with pirate flags, Nerf balls, and Steve Jobs' Zen interviewing techniques.
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Mac at 25: What's next for Apple's Mac?
It's been 25 years since Apple changed computing with the debut of the Macintosh. The storied product may have been eclipsed by the iPhone in recent years, but will still evolve.
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The Mac at 25
special coverage At the silver anniversary of Apple's Macintosh, we look back at how the revolutionary computer has evolved and where it could go from here.
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Ask TUAW: Boot Camp migration, Photo Booth sans flash, monitoring bandwidth and more
Filed under: Features, Troubleshooting, Ask TUAWThis week in Ask TUAW we've got questions on using Photo Booth without the flash, scheduling emails in Mail.app, monitoring bandwidth usage, migrating a Boot Camp partition and more. As always, your suggestions are most welcome, and questions for next week should be left in the comments. When asking a question please include which machine you're running and which version of Mac OS X, (we'll assume you're running Leopard on an Intel Mac if you don't specify). And now, on to the questions!Continue reading Ask TUAW: Boot Camp migration, Photo Booth sans flash, monitoring bandwidth and moreTUAWAsk TUAW: Boot Camp migration, Photo Booth sans flash, monitoring bandwidth and more originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 22 Jan 2009 07:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Movers & Shakers: Thursday's biggest gaining and declining stocks
Among the companies whose shares are expected to see active trade in Thursday's session are Apple, Burlington Northern, eBay, Interwoven, Nokia, Phillips-Van Heusen, Seagate and Williams-Sonoma.
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Fast Money Recap - Banks: Don't Lend TARP Funds (1/21/09)
Recap of CNBC's Fast Money, Wednesday January 21.Citigroup (C ), Bank of America (BAC), Goldman Sachs (GS), Wells Fargo (WFC), JP Morgan (JPM), Morgan Stanley (MS)
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Preview from Europe: Another Bear Market Bounce, or Bottoming?
Stocks rallied hard yesterday from oversold levels as newbie Treasury Secretary Tim “the enchanter” Geithner talked of the need for a “forceful” fiscal stimulus and action on a “dramatic scale” to strengthen banks. He also hinted that plans for a “bad bank” may be gaining traction. A round of executive bank share purchases from Jamie Dimon (550k shares) at J.P. Morgan (JPM) and embattled Ken Lewis at Bank of America (BAC) (200k shares) also helped to give better tone to financials and instill a bit of much needed confidence. But it may be just another dead bank bounce. Today's Market Moving Stories
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Things I learned during the Apple call regarding its latest financial results
Posted by Dennis SellersThere are three things that came to mind upon pondering Apple's media/analyst conference regarding their (very good) fiscal first quarter financial results. One: Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook sounds as if he would make a good leader for Apple.
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Indications: U.S. stock futures mixed after Apple's strong quarter
U.S. stock futures pointed to a mixed start Thursday, with tech stocks seen higher after Appleās surprisingly strong profit but the broader market steady ahead of what could be gloomy data from the housing market.
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Eric Schmidt Talks Google, Apple, Energy and Obama with Jim Cramer
Google CEO Eric Schmidt was on Jim Cramer's Mad Money Wednesday evening to talk about a wide range of issues, from Obama to Steve Jobs. On Google killing its print ads business: “That particular product didn't work particularly well and we're trying other solutions. Print is a hard one because they have declining ad revenue and higher print costs. And so we're trying other solutions. Ultimately most people will get their information online.”
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The Mac at 25: Ihnatkoās advice for Apple
Sure, Apple has had a good 25-year run with the Mac. But that doesnāt mean there isnāt room for improvement. Andy Ihnatko offers up six items that should be at the head of Appleās to-do list.
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Mac OS Ken: 01.22.2009
Apple Reports Record Revenue for 1Q 2009 / Non-GAAP Numbers Boost Apple Earnings to $2.3 Billion / Q&A from AppleĆ¢s 1Q 2009 Conference Call / Macworld UK: Apple Changes U.S. Specs on White MacBook / Apple Releases QuickTime 7.6 with Security and Reliability Fixes / Apple Releases Mac OS X Security Configuration Guidelines
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Seven Key Points From Apple's FQ109 Conference Call
A look at some of the trends noted on Apple's FQ109 conference call: Apple said overall sales for personal computers contracted in the December quarter, but MacBook sales were the highest ever for the company. Desktops go the way of Betamax?
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Three editing providers now including SmartSound with their products
Posted by Dennis SellersSmartSound Software, a provider of custom music scoring solutions for the video industry, has announced that three video editing providers are now including SmartSound music scoring technology in their software programs.
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Radio Flare
Fire and repeat. That's the Radio Flare anthem.read more
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Apple Earnings Shine, But Mum on Jobs' Health
On Friday, I was sitting around a table with six people. Four of them had iPhones, and the remaining holdouts (myself included) weren't even thinking about upgrading to anything else (not a Blackberry, not a Palm Pre). We obviously weren't alone, as Apple (AAPL) posts another blowout quarter. The highlights:
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Made On A Mac - Artists that Depend on the Power of the Mac
Fascinating...Unconventional...Breaking all preconceptions...Think youāve seen the best of the Macās creative capabilities? You aināt seen nothing yet. From funkified sneakers to landmark video journalism to mind-blowing new musical instruments, amazing people are creating amazing things on their Macs. Behold the edge of creativity and invention.read more
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The Mac Night Owl: 'Apple confounds the skeptics all over again'
Posted by Dennis SellersOn today's commentary, Gene “Mac Night Owl” Steinberg notes that “Apple confounds skeptics all over again.”
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Tim Cook Kills “iPhone Nano” Rumors
Tim Cook was on Apple's Quarterly Results Conference Call yesterday afternoon and he became my new hero. You know why? Because he COMMENTED ON A PRODUCT RUMOR. When asked about the speculation around the “iPhone nano” Cook said, “You know us, we're not going to play in the low-end voice phone business. That's not who we are. That's not why we're here. We'll let somebody do that, our goal is not to be the unit share leader in the phone industry. It is to build the best phone.” So can we PLEASE - OFFICIALLY - call the iPhone nano rumor DEAD. Cook also commented about the idea of a Mac Netbook, saying that the company is watching the space, but “right now from our point of view, the products in there are principally based on hardware that's much less powerful than we think customers want”. Some would argue that the success of those inexpensive machines on sites like Amazon might contradict that research, but its a clear indication that Apple is watching the space - but if they do ever enter it…it will be with substantially different material than the current machines.
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Thursday Outlook: Are We Having Fun Yet?
The casino environment that has become Wall Street and investing in general continues. It leaves mainstream investors scratching their heads, but even more importantly, it's a major turn-off.
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Favoring Neutrality in the Cloud Services Marketplace
Sure, most people instantly get the need for network neutrality, but what about cloud neutrality?Just like we'd be loathe to tolerate any one (often the only available) Internet provider from qualitatively managing our traffic and packets use based on their singular business objectives, we should also be concerned about any cloud provider exerting too much influence or setting de facto standards early on that diminish the cloud services market as a whole.
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Apple to Google, Palm: Do Not Rip Off Our iPhone IP
On the Apple earnings call last night, COO Tim Cook fired a shot across the bow of Google (GOOG) and Palm (PALM) when asked about their handsets' threat to his iPhone. My emphasis added: Mike Abramsky - RBC Capital Markets
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Apple Reports First Quarter Results
Best Quarterly Revenue and Earnings in Apple HistoryiPod Sales Set New Record CUPERTINO, CaliforniaāJanuary 21, 2009āAppleĀ® today announced financial results for its fiscal 2009 first quarter ended December 27, 2008. The Company posted record revenue of $10.17 billion and record net quarterly profit of $1.61 billion, or $1.78 per diluted share. These results compare to revenue of $9.6 billion and net quarterly profit of $1.58 billion, or $1.76 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 34.7 percent, equal to the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 46 percent of the quarterās revenue. In accordance with the subscription accounting treatment required by GAAP, the Company recognizes revenue and cost of goods sold for iPhoneā¢ and Apple TVĀ® over their economic lives. Adjusting GAAP sales and product costs to eliminate the impact of subscription accounting, the corresponding non-GAAP measures* for the quarter are $11.8 billion of āAdjusted Salesā and $2.3 billion of āAdjusted Net Income.ā Apple sold 2,524,000 MacintoshĀ® computers during the quarter, representing nine percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter. The Company sold a record 22,727,000 iPods during the quarter, representing three percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter. Quarterly iPhone units sold were 4,363,000, representing 88 percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter. āEven in these economically challenging times, we are incredibly pleased to report our best quarterly revenue and earnings in Apple historyāsurpassing $10 billion in quarterly revenue for the first time ever,ā said Steve Jobs, Appleās CEO. āOur outstanding results generated over $3.6 billion in cash during the quarter,ā said Peter Oppenheimer, Appleās CFO. āLooking ahead to the second fiscal quarter of 2009, we expect revenue in the range of about $7.6 billion to $8 billion and we expect diluted earnings per share in the range of about $.90 to $1.00.ā
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Apple's Q1 Blowout
Morbidly inclined investors and business media can speculate all they like about Apple CEO Steve Jobs' health and Apple's future with or without him, but in fact, the company has never been healthier. Apple (AAPL) just reported a blowout quarter, notably record revenues of $10.17 billion and record net quarterly profit of $1.61 billion, or $1.78 per diluted share. That's quite a bit better than the estimates of analysts surveyed by FactSet Research, who saw Apple earning $1.29 a share on $10.16 billion in revenue. “Even in these economically challenging times, we are incredibly pleased to report our best quarterly revenue and earnings in Apple history—surpassing $10 billion in quarterly revenue for the first time ever,” said Jobs in a statement. A few quick highlights from the earnings statement and investor call before the official release, appended below.
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Extensis presents 'Digital Asset Management Forum for Higher Education'
Posted by Dennis SellersExtensis, a division of Celartem, has announced its “Digital Asset Management Forum for Higher Education” event to be held at Harvard University on Thursday, Feb. 19. This is a one-day conference hosted by Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University and Extensis focusing on digital asset management strategies and solutions.