For the second time in as many quarters, Tim Cook has had to explain away drops in iPad sales. Last quarter, the iPad saw a 16 percent drop from the year-ago quarter, but Cook detailed a credible explanation that channel inventory from the holiday season had overstuffed retailers and that the drop was actually only three percent because of that, which fell within normal ranges. This time, iPad sales were down about 9.2 percent, which Cook largely blamed on anticipation for the next iPad coming this fall.
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In addition to its official announcement, Apple has also posted a detailed breakdown of its fiscal Q3 results. "Greater China" -- including Taiwan and Hong Kong -- continued to lead the charge regionally, with its revenue increasing 28 percent year-over-year to $5.935 billion. Europe and Asia-Pacific each advanced 6 percent, to $8.091 billion and $2.161 billion, respectively. Apple's most important market, the Americas, rose 1 percent to $14.577 billion. Global retail numbers were up 1 percent to $4.104 billion.
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Apple revenues rose 6 percent year-over-year to $37.43 billion in its third fiscal quarter, which ended in June, the company has announced. Profits were up 12.3 percent to $7.75 billion, while earnings per share climbed from $1.07 to $1.28 when adjusted for the recent 7-to-1 stock split. Gross margin increased from 36.9 percent to 39.4 percent.
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Goodwill Industries International, the business entity behind the popular nonprofit second-hand stores, announced this week that it is investigating a potential data breach involving credit card data. The breach was said to occur in selected stores within the United States, but Goodwill has offered no information on which stores were affected.
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Thermal imaging company FLIR will launch pre-orders for its infrared camera-containing case on July 23 at AM. Once mounted, the case for the iPhone 5 and 5s displays a live thermal image of the world right on the phone's screen, giving users the ability to "see" in an array of conditions, including complete darkness.
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6 hours ago | Posted in: industry, iPad
Since April, the shares of North American tablet web traffic from iPads and Kindle Fires has increased by 0.8 and 1.2 points, respectively, according to new data compiled by Chitika Insights. The figures put the iPad at 78 percent of traffic, and the Kindle Fire at 7.3 percent, the latter displacing Samsung tablets (down to 6.3 percent). Google and Microsoft -- also generally considered prominent tablet makers -- managed shares of just 2.1 and 1.4 percent.
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7 hours ago | Posted in: industry
Verizon's claims that the US Federal Communications Commission's new net neutrality rules would hurt the disabled and blind have come under fire by those Verizon claims to be looking out for. In a filing with the FCC, several disability advocacy organizations clearly disagree that Verizon is looking out for the best interests of the disabled, and request that "In no case should accessibility considerations form a basis for permitting paid prioritization more broadly, and the Commission should reject any overture to the contrary."
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Today in the MacNN forums Mac Elite PeterParker was asking fellow forum goers if they thought that Apple would ever create a Mac Pro in the sub 2k price range for people who aren't quite "pros" who want that style of desktop. Today Forum Regular "Nassifer" was trying to determine why their notebook was so slow after doing a complete restore to 10.9.4, and turned to the forums looking for advice.
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Apple's online store this week has a variety of refurbished iMac models on sale starting as low as $1,099 for the 21.5-inch iMac with a 2.7GHz Intel quad-core i5 processor, 8GB of RAM and 1TB hard drive. A $270 discount is offered on the 27-inch iMac with a 3.2GHz Intel quad-core i5 processor, 8GB of RAM and 1TB hard drive, now $1,529.
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This week BestBuy.com is offering sale prices on a variety of Mac models, one being the 11.6-inch MacBook Air which has seen a $150 discount from $1,099 down to $949. That discount makes this the best price currently available on this Mac model by $50. Free shipping is included and sales tax applies for residents of most states. This MBA features a 1.4GHz Intel Core i5 processor, 4GB of RAM and 256GB of solid state storage. A one year warranty on parts and labor is included from Apple.
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Accessory manufacturer PQI is now shipping the Gmobi iStick, an Apple "MFi" USB flash drive. The device, with a Lightning and conventional USB head is designed for Apple's entire series of iOS devices with a Lightning port, and is available in capacities from 8GB to 64GB.
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Feral Interactive today announced the upcoming release of its fairytale platforming game Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse, a reworking of the SEGA Genesis and Mega Drive original. Players navigate the 3D game as Mickey, with the goal of rescuing Minnie Mouse from the evil witch Mizrabel. Players will run, jump, swing and swim through whimsical levels such as a haunted forest, and solve puzzles along the way.
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9 hours ago | Posted in: gadgets, Apple
In a new TV interview, LA Lakers player Kobe Bryant confirms that he did recently meet with Apple design head Jonathan Ive. Talking with Bloomberg, though, Bryant makes no mention of the iWatch or other future Apple products. Instead he says that he has been talking to leaders across industries to learn more about the product creation process, since he is moving into business as he comes to the end of his basketball career.
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11 hours ago | Posted in apps
FinderPop is a preference pane that allows users to extend OS X’s contextual menus with additional controls. In v2.5.6 “Move To…” and “Copy To…” scripts have been added to the FinderPop Extras folder. These only become available when a user has a Finder selection, and give users the option to chose a destination folder for the selection. A minor bug in the finderpop-daemon has been fixed with this release.
Yummy FTP is a multi-connection file transfer engine that allows users to manage an online file storage server. Compatibility with OS X Yosemite is included with the latest release, along with a number of interface improvements. In addition, various minor bugs have also been resolved.
iTube allows users to watch their favorite YouTube videos right on their desktop. Videos are played back in the software Smart Player, which provides controls for changing the size of the video. Version 2.0 contains a number of small updates and fixes.
Dropshare is a menu bar app that files can be dragged to for instant uploads to a personal server. The latest release offers an improved method for automatically uploading screenshots, as well as support for using custom domains for Amazon S3 uploads. Additionally, a rare error where URLs to S3 would not be correctly shortened has been fixed.
Espionage is a data security tool that allows users to encrypt and password protect individual folders. New features in v3.6 include support for creating fake folder sets and fake disk images, an option for setting the default image disk location, and the ability to open a folder when unlocking it by holding Shift. The latest release also now includes support for multiple monitor setups, as well as a better architecture for handling disk images on external drives.
11 hours ago | Posted in: gadgets, Apple
The US Patent and Trademark Office has granted Apple a comprehensive patent titled Wrist-worn electronic device and methods therefor, which describes a number of the ideas the company has since integrated into its upcoming iWatch. The concept watch -- in diagrams referred to as the "iTime" -- would, for instance, be able to connect to devices like iPhones, iPads, and desktops. An unusual suggestion though is that it might be dependent on a special wristband, equipped with technologies such as accelerometers, GPS, haptic feedback, biometric sensors, and/or wireless receivers.
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13 hours ago | Posted in: audio
Logitech's boutique audio line Ultimate Ears is expanding its limited-edition lineup of UE Boom with the announcement of its collaboration with artist Don Pendleton on UE Boom -- Jettison Edition. This limited-edition run of UE Boom is designed with Pendleton's distinct organic cubist graphic style and is the latest in a series of one-of-a-kind acoustic skins for UE Boom.
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Verizon Communications has released its second quarter 2014 financial results. The company reports its sixth consecutive quarter of double-digit percentage growth in operating income and earnings per share, with $31.5 billion in revenue, a 5.7 percent increase from a year ago, with income of $7.7 billion, a 17.2 percent increase from the year-ago quarter.
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