Briefly: AAPL surges 9%, iPhones given

In brief: Shares of Apple surge on earnings news, Apple employees getting their free iPhones, Motion Graphics and Effects in Final Cut Studio 2 training, a new eBook dubbed "Take Control: The Mac OS X Lexicon" debuts, and Drew Carey has gotten an iPhone as a perk ... Shares of Apple Computer are over $150 per share in after-hours trading (as of 9 PM PST), gaining nearly $13 or 9.41% over the closing price of $137.26. The share price is being bolstered by just-reported record earnings for the third quarter, and news that 270,000 iPhones were sold in the device's first two days of availability, allaying fears generated by AT&T's report that 146,000 devices were activated on opening weekend. That news sent Apple's stock sliding on Tuesday.

Apple employees getting their free iPhones

Friends at Apple have let us know that they've received their free iPhones, which Apple CEO Steve Jobs promised at a town-hall meeting in late June. All full-time Apple employees and part-time employees of more than one year are being outfitted with 8GB iPhones.


Motion Graphics and Effects in Final Cut Studio 2 training

Peachpit has announced the release of Apple Pro Training Series: Motion Graphics and Effects in Final Cut Studio 2. This new book in the Apple Pro Training Series focuses on "just the parts of Final Cut Studio you need to create motion graphics in your daily work." The series uses footage from the BBC archives to teach Motion, Final Cut Pro, and Live Type (all included in Final Cut Studio 2), creation of build broadcast-quality titles, motion menus, show bumpers, and news opens. The authors begin with the basics of creating a title sequence with Final Cut Pro and animating text and objects with behaviors and keyframes. From there, readers move on to build composite images with graphics, video, text, shapes, and particle systems.

Take Control: The Mac OS X Lexicon

"Take Control: The Mac OS X Lexicon" is a new eBook that defines over 500 Macintosh- and Internet-related terms. Written by Andy Baird and Sharon Zardetto, the publisher says the title is "loaded with useful tips, humor, and empathy, the ebook takes on topics like the difference between composite and component cables, how to figure out which optical drive you need for a DVD+RW-DL disc, and what's special about the numbers 404 and 501." The 191-page ebook
is now available for $15.

Drew Carey gets an iPhone too

As part of the courting process for the Price is Right hosting job, Drew Carey received a free iPhone from president of CBS Entertainment Nina Tassler called him to ask if he got her gift of an iPhone. CBS News reports "They talked for about a half hour and when he went home he found a package that contained the iPhone, and a T-shirt and mug from 'The Price Is Right.'"

Filed under: Apple