January 26 - 11:15pm EST   The iPhone is being used as a "real-life" therapy tool for stuttering. The Hollins Communications Research Institute says it has developed special software for the device that monitors and evaluates speech patterns to help patients overcome the speech impediment which affects an estimated 66 million people worldwide. The software provides training and feedback for patients in their everyday lives, outside of a speech clinic. [full story]

July 16 - 5:10pm EDT   Research firm IDC reports that worldwide PC shipments grew at 15 percent in the second quarter of 2008. The quarter also saw Apple roughly tie Acer in the US market, assuming fourth place and missing third place by only a few thousand units. Demand in the United States suffered from the ongoing economic pressure, with rowth in the low single-digits. Dell continued its recovery with another quarter of double-digit growth, while HP saw year on year growth rise from the first quarter. Portable adoption continues to be a key driver, even though consumer share is generally at its lowest during the second quarter. [full story]

June 6 - 11:55pm EDT   Apple has a window of opportunity to make a significant impact on the mobile TV market with it's imminent launch of the 3G iPhone around the world, according to the latest report from Analysys Mason. Market research shows that many iPhone owners have accessed TV and video content, with greater frequency than subscribers using other types of mobile handsets. If a new iPhone based on AT&T faster "3G" network is announced during next week's Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) it could mean big things for the mobile TV market. [full story]

June 6 - 12:25am EDT   A private New York-based research and consulting firm, Reputation Institute, recently compiled a list of the 600 largest companies with the best reputations, with Apple taking the 63rd spot, ahead of Microsoft at 137th place. Forbes reports that the electronics manufacturer went up 1.71 points from 73.71 a year ago, to 75.42 in the 2008 "Pulse" score, more than 11 points ahead of the global average. Clinching the top three spots were Japanese care manufacturer Toyota, search giant Google, and Swedish home furnishing company IKEA. [full story]

May 7 - 1:25pm EDT   Third Street Software has released Sente 5.5 with enhanced PDF management. Sente is an academic reference manager that helps users find, organize, review and cite the academic literature. Version 5.5 offers the ability to create references directly from the PDF files they already have, as well as new PDFs that they receive from colleagues. It also adds the ability to create complete references by entering only an ISBN, DOI or other common identifier using Google Scholar, the Library of Congress and PubMed to create complete references when importing a new PDF. [full story]

May 5 - 1:40pm EDT   American Technology Research analyst Shaw Wu has reversed a prior downgrade on share's of Apple Inc, changing his rating on the stock to from Neutral to Buy. Wu's downgrade came right before Apple's blowout March quarter, in which the company announced record revenues on surging Mac sales. Barrons quotes Wu: "We overestimated the potential negative reaction on the quarter and in hindsight should have moderated our near-term posture rather than downgrading. While AAPL shares will likely remain volatile and may offer a better entry point, we need to align our rating with our longer term view on fundamentals." Wu has set a $210 price target on Apple's stock. Barrons also ... [full story]

April 18 - 5:40pm EDT   Mactracker 5.0.2 (donationware) database of Mac models. The latest Apple hardware has been added along with numerous improvements to the "My Models" category in the main window. New specification entries include "Brightness" and "DPI" information (where available) for the built-in display on MacBook, MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro models. The maximum supported resolution for an external display is now detailed for Mac mini, MacBook, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and PowerBook G3/G4 models. This release also fixes an issue with creating new Smart Categories. [Download - 20.8MB] Graph Paper Maker 1.9 ($20) lets you create your own custom sheets of graph paper. It is ideal for students, ... [full story]

April 18 - 3:10pm EDT  Shares of Apple Computer Inc. are up $6.51 to $161 near the end of trading on friday, representing a gain of 4.21 percent. The uptick could be due, at least in part, to strong market share gains posted by the company in recent surveys from various research firms. Apple saw the biggest gain among the top 5 vendors in the U.S. market according to Gartner, enjoying strong retail sales coupled with "decent growth" in the professional market. According to IDC, Apple is expected to come in at fourth place and ship 950,000 Macs to Americans during the first quarter of 2008, earning itself an increase from 5.7 percent in the prior quarter to 6 percent. The increase is a 25.1 percent jump over sales in ... [full story]

April 14 - 7:35pm EDT   Michael Gartenberg of Jupiter Research has published an article addressing the suitability of Apple products -- the Mac and iPhone in particular -- for business purposes. Noting that Most IT departments are not deploying Macintosh systems in large numbers and those that are are deploying are usually in niche spaces such as graphic arts, Gartenberg says that the Mac OS has changed significantly in the last few years and says that Apple's systems now offer a reasonable alternative for Windows systems used in businesses. [full story]

April 1 - 7:30pm EDT   Wolfram Research has announced the release of Mathematica Player Pro, the new delivery system for Mathematica applications and interactive documents. Player Pro gives access to any Mathematica-6-based notebook files to users who do not have the full version of the software, allowing performance of adaptive visualization, controlling interface elements, connecting to real-time data, and more. Developers can build applications in Mathematica and then use Player Pro to deploy them to anyone. [full story]

March 26 - 2:25pm EDT   Although the U.S. economic slowdown has led to a pullback in PC spending by both consumers and corporations, planned purchases of Apple computers remain relatively strong, even in the slower buying environment according to a new study by ChangeWave research. Apple is the leader among consumers who plan to buy a laptop (31 percent) over the next 90 day. Similarly, Apple planned desktop computer purchases (28 percent; down 1 point) are close to record levels. The study also finds that Apple continues to set the standard for customer satisfaction among corporate respondents who use the Leopard operating system – with 53 percent saying they are Very Satisfied with the software. ... [full story]

March 20 - 10:30am EDT   Apple ownership is up among students at the University of Virginia, with 25-percent of freshmen owning a Mac, up from 20-percent in the year prior, according to a computer ownership study performed last fall. These figures show a steep acceptance curve, as ownership was around 4-percent only five years ago, according to The Chronicle. The research indicates that, out of all students polled, 99-percent said they own a laptop, and 0.1-percent admit to not owning a computer at all. [full story]

February 25 - 7:30pm EST   Analysis of the first month of March quarter iPod NPD data points to iPod sales of between 9.5-10.3 million, according to research firm Piper Jaffray, which would signal a 6 percent year-over-year decline. "While it is way too early to make a definitive call on March quarter iPod units, we have analyzed the first month of NPD data (Jan.) for the quarter and found that it suggests iPod units of 9.5m-10.3m," said Piper Jaffray senior analyst Gene Munster. Wall Street consensus on iPod sales for Apple's March quarter currently stand at 10.8 million units, representing a 2 percent year-over-year increase. [full story]

February 7 - 1:45pm EST   Apple's iPhone is the top pick among consumers who said they plan to purchase a new cellular phone in the next six months, according to ChangeWave Research. Of 4,182 consumers surveyed, 17 percent said Apple's iPhone remains their top choice. Research in Motion's BlackBerry came in a close second with 15 percent of respondents expressing interest, while Motorola declined to 11 percent as part of a continuing slide after Apple unveiled the iPhone in June of 2007. [full story]

January 14 - 12:45pm EST   Apple is due to report its December quarter results after the market closes on January 22nd, and research firm Piper Jaffray expects an upside to Wall Street expectations based primarily on Mac sales. Piper Jaffray senior analyst Gene Munster says Mac sales could reach 2.3 million -- beating out average estimates of 2.2 million -- with iPod sales of 24-26 million over Wall Street predictions of 24.7 million. Munster also says Apple may well report 2.2 million iPhone sales, just shy of average investor expectations of 2.26 million. [full story]