Apple wants PA Semi's technology, minds...

Apple's recent acquisition of PA Semiconductor appears to revolve around the latter company's intellectual properties and expertise, not its current products as was initially believed. AppleInsider reveals that Apple is more concerned with PA's technologies and engineers, since the semiconductor manufacturer has in the past created a dual-core 64-bit chip which only uses 15 watts of power to operate. This could allow for integration of low-consumption processors like the Intel Atom.

Apple's music and retail revenue grow...

Music products and services made up 36-percent of Apple's second quarter, while revenue in the company’s retail stores grew dramatically, with over 33.7 million visitors to its 208 stores over the quarter. Apple reports that it sold 10.6 million iPods, up 1-percent from the year ago quarter, which reflects the same seasonal rate of decline which it observed from last year's December quarter. Overall iPod market share grew worldwide in almost every global market, while the US share was 73-percent of all MP3 players sold.

Education grows 35%, Macs generate 59% revenue...

Apple today posted its best second quarter in company history, with good news from its education, computer, and iPhone segments. Educational revenue growth was revealed to be 35-percent, which Apple says is the highest growth rate it has seen

Deliver2Mac releases Blitzkrieg...

Download store Deliver2Mac is now publishing RuneSoft's Blitzkrieg, a real-time strategy game set during World War II. Players command German, Soviet, or British and American forces, in campaigns amounting to a total of 80 missions. Over 40 infantry types and 200 vehicles are simulated, and all objects in the isometric terrain are destructible; theaters of war include Africa, Russia and Europe.

Sony Ericsson growth near-flat in Q1 2008...

Sony Ericsson today posted results for the first quarter of 2008 that suggest a significant downturn for the cellphone producer. The Japanese and Swedish partnership says it shipped 22.3 million cellphones over the period ended in March, or an increase of just two percent over the same quarter in 2007. It also notes that net income dropped by a significant 48 percent year over year to 133 million Euros ($211.4 million). Price margins on its products also dropped slightly to 29.2 percent.

Apple reports best second quarter ever...

Apple has announced financial results for its fiscal 2008 second quarter, ended March 29, 2008, posting revenue of $7.51 billion and net quarterly profit of $1.05 billion, or $1.16 per diluted share. These results compare to revenue of $5.26 billion and net quarterly profit of $770 million, or $0.87 per diluted share, in the same quarter a year ago. Apple shipped 2,289,000 Macs in the most recent quarter, representing a 51 percent unit growth and 54 percent revenue growth over the year-ago quarter. The company also sold 10,644,000 iPods during the recent period, representing 1 percent unit growth and 8 percent revenue growth over the year-ago quarter. iPhone sales amounted to 1,703,000.

Fujitsu debuts iMac-like F/A50 desktop...

Fujitsu has announced a new desktop system, the F/A50. The computer represents part of an increasing trend in the PC world, in which low-cost PCs by the likes of Gateway and Dell have attempted to reproduce the all-in-one design of Apple's famous iMac. Similarities in this case are extremely close, as the A50 features an identically-proportioned case, rear-mounted ports, and glowing indicator lights buried under plastic. The display is smaller however, measuring 16 inches, which limits it to 1366x768 resolution.

Comcast committed to wireless service?...

Cable provider Comcast is devoting significant resources to developing a wireless service of its own, information sent to GigaOM says. The company currently offers a rebranded Sprint service in select areas but is now said to be readying a dedicated division with at least one cellular veteran at the helm: Dave Williams has already jumped to Comcast as its new Chief Technology Officer from Telefonica in Europe and already has experience with Cingular (now AT&T) and the former SBC.

nova media ships Air-compatible HSUPA modem...

nova media has launched the GlobeSurfer ICON HSUPA, a USB cellular modem for notebooks. As its name implies, the modem is compatible with both HSUPA and HSDPA networks; it has a maximum download speed of 7.2Mbps, and can upload at 1.4Mbps. It also supports generic 3G UMTS networks, and can fall back to EDGE or GPRS as necessary, which caps speeds at 200Kbps down and 80Kbps up.

BenQ unveils three new digital cameras...

BenQ on Wednesday unveiled three new digital cameras with the DC C750 and DC C850 from the company's Compact & Classical range along with the DC E800 in the Elegant & Stylish range. The 8-megapixel E800 incorporates a 2.7-inch LCD screen and is able to shoot 640x480-pixel 15fps video or 30fps MJPEG movie format at half the resolution. The 3x optical zoom camera has a maximum low-light sensitivity setting of ISO 1600.

PlayFirst releases Dairy Dash...

PlayFirst has released Dairy Dash, a sequel to an earlier game it released, Diner Dash. Described as "time management" title, players assume the role of the Smiths, a family running a dairy farm for the first time. As the game progresses players must learn to deal with an increasing number of animals and crops, including cows, goats, pumpkins and corn. Helping the Smiths is Flo, who provides encouragement and buys some of their produce.

Toshiba SSDs to reach 512GB, drop in cost...

Toshiba hopes to quadruple the capacity of its solid-state drives in the foreseeable future while cutting their production costs, the company's semiconductor chief Shozo Saito has told an audience at an IDEMA seminar in Japan. The electronics manufacturer isn't set to ship its 128GB drive in computers until June but says process refinements will let it store up to four data bits per memory cell and shrink the chipmaking process to 30 nanometers by the end of 2009, allowing the company to offer a 512GB drive in that timeframe.

Visual Ajax Studio adds Leopard, Safari support...

WaveMaker has released the v3.2 update to Visual Ajax Studio, its development tool for both Ajax- and Java-based web applications. As with many visual tools, the software allows users to avoid entering custom code, forms or frameworks; VAS, though, is a free and open-source program, with a drag-and-drop interface. It is nevertheless intended for enterprises, and when combined with the Rapid Deployment Framework can quickly deploy apps to IT architectures such as Apache Tomcat and J2EE.

MS locks ex-MSN Music users out of purchases...

Microsoft late yesterday stirred controversy by telling former customers of its shuttered MSN Music service that it will shut down its license activation system for the service by the end of August. Although it allows customers to play any purchased songs on existing operating systems and computers, any music transfered to a new PC or OS install after the cutoff date will no longer be authorized to play.

Belgium to receive unlocked iPhones?...

Belgium has joined the ranks of countries that will soon receive the iPhone, according to regional site Astel.be. The site makes the crucial claim that the phone will be available unlocked, in a scheme similar to the one suggested for Italy by La Repubblica; while this could be a part of Apple's rumored new pricing plans, under which phones would be more expensive but unlocked by default, this may be a necessity, as Belgian law is said to prevent carrier exclusivity. A similar law resulted in the creation of an unlocked iPhone for France.

New Samsung LCDs bring 20,000:1 contrast...

Applying the same visual effect to its computer displays that it has to its 6 series HDTVs, Samsung on Wednesday rolled out its Touch of Color LCDs for the desktop. All have the same blown glass effect with red accents at top and bottom but garner the most attention for their unprecedented contrast ratios: dynamic lighting lets every display output up to a 20,000:1 contrast ratio, putting them in competition with better HDTVs and not simply other monitors.

Apple buys chipmaker PA Semi...

In an unusual deal, Apple has announced a decision to buy PA Semi, a microprocessor design company. An Apple spokesman, Steve Dowling, has declined to elaborate on the reasons or terms of the deal, except to say that Apple "buys smaller technology companies from time to time," and it does not comment on "purposes and plans." It is atypical however for the company to buy hardware firms, particularly as it has come to rely on ready-made components from a variety of manufacturers such as Intel, Samsung and Infineon. A source cited by Forbes claims the deal cost $278 million in cash.

MS Live Mesh promises sync with Macs, phones...

Microsoft today unveiled what it says is a solution to keeping information in sync across not just multiple computers, but handhelds as well. Live Mesh is a platform similar to but expanded on Apple's .Mac that creates both a 5GB personal storage space and also tracks all the associated devices. Users can upload files, folders, and sometimes programs to their Mesh either as shared or private content that can be swapped between devices; actions performed in the Mesh are in turn pushed as news items that can be shared with others. As with an RSS feed, users can let friends know when vacation photos are posted or collaborate on projects, including through live chat with others viewing the same folder.

OWC drops prices on Mercury Elite-AL Pro...

Other World Computing today announced lower pricing for its Mercury Elite-AL Pro quad interface drive line, offering sizes up to 1TB, which the company claims are among the best values on the market. The drives feature Firewire 400 and 800, as well as USB 2.0 and eSATA, allowing the drives to be connected to almost any computer system. Pricing for the drive line starts at $160, and offers up to 150MB per second over eSATA.

Sony files Shake-like patent, finalizing Socratto?...

Sony is making movement to finally unveil Socratto, its in-house answer to Apple's Shake software, which it acquired from then-startup Nothing Real. A European patent application indicates that Sony is close to realizing its long-discussed video effects software, after ironically losing control of the Shake project when members of the company who worked on the project were hired by Nothing Real. The move comes after Tim Schaaff, a former senior Apple executive, joined the effort in 2006.