Apple earns record $51.5B revenue on sales of 48M iPhones, 5.7M Macs

Apple earns record $51.5B revenue on sales of 48M iPhones, 5.7M Macs Overall revenue was up 22 percent year over year, compared to $42.1 billion in revenue and $8.5 billion net profit during the same period a year ago. Apple was also propelled by record sales of 5.7 million Macs, up 3 percent year over year.

Yay Mac! Seriously I could care less about iOS but love that good Mac news.

Bing profitable, but Microsoft revenue down 12 percent as shift to cloud continues | Ars Technica

Bing profitable, but Microsoft revenue down 12 percent as shift to cloud continues | Ars Technica Microsoft posted revenue of $20.4 billion in the first quarter of its 2016 financial year, down 12 percent from the same quarter a year ago. Operating income was $5.8 billion, down 1 percent, and net income was $4.6 billion, up 2 percent. Earnings per share were $0.57, a six percent increase.

Nothing's better than a cloud word processor when you have an important document to finish and some problems with internet connectivity. I like Google Docs, I do, for small and simple tasks.

Tim Cook posing at the Great Wall this week highlights Apple's growing need for China | VentureBeat | Business | by Michael de Waal-Montgomery

Tim Cook posing at the Great Wall this week highlights Apple's growing need for China | VentureBeat | Business | by Michael de Waal-Montgomery Apple chief executive Tim Cook shared a snap of his visit to the Great Wall of China Wednesday — on Chinese microblogging site Weibo, where he maintains an active account.

And Canada says Chimo.

Ballmer: Saving Apple in 1997 was 'craziest thing' Microsoft ever did | Cult of Mac

Ballmer: Saving Apple in 1997 was 'craziest thing' Microsoft ever did | Cult of Mac After saying Amazon is not a great place to work, the conversation drifted to Apple and Ballmer actually admitted that "they’ve done a great job."

Coming from the guy who laughed off the iPhone because he thought the Zune was killer, that’s a hell of a compliment.

Always exciting to read Zune in the same article as Apple.

Steve Ballmer: People don't want to work at Amazon, the only real competition for Apple is Microsoft | VentureBeat | Marketing | by Emil Protalinski

Steve Ballmer: People don't want to work at Amazon, the only real competition for Apple is Microsoft | VentureBeat | Marketing | by Emil Protalinski Steve Ballmer may no longer be CEO at Microsoft, but his love for the company he led for 14 years lives on. Indeed, after being in the news just last week for revealing he owns 4 percent of Twitter, Ballmer is now making headlines for his comments regarding Amazon and Apple.

Reading user comments (could they be the report from the field?) sounds like Google is winning the talent war, which is probably the only war that will matter in 10 years.

How Japanese tea culture influenced Steve Jobs and Apple

How Japanese tea culture influenced Steve Jobs and Apple A recent post on asia-centric blog Matcha Tea investigates the sway Japanese culture had over Apple cofounder Steve Jobs, and how that country's meditations on aesthetic beauty, mindfulness and life influenced what has become one of the world's largest companies.

And raking sand into patterns of insight.

Launch this sleek, stealthy drone from the palm of your hand [Deals] | Cult of Mac

Launch this sleek, stealthy drone from the palm of your hand [Deals] | Cult of Mac We’ve all got a jones for drones, but not all of us have the space or cash to hang up a 5-foot-wide quad-copter in our garage. The SKEYE Nano, now available in a Batwing-worthy shade of black, solves both problems, small enough to fit in the palm of your hand, and at $39.99 it’s cheap enough to keep cash in your pocket.

So many college students are going to be busted on campus by the new eye in the sky.

Dyson acquires Sakti3 for $90M to help commercialize 'breakthrough' solid-state battery tech | VentureBeat | Business | by Paul Sawers

Dyson acquires Sakti3 for $90M to help commercialize 'breakthrough' solid-state battery tech | VentureBeat | Business | by Paul Sawers Sakti3’s solid-state batteries are still based on lithium, similar to the batteries you find in your phone, except they contain solid lithium electrodes rather than flammable liquid. This means they have a higher energy density — more power in less space.

Tiiiight!

Meet the radical who wants the iPad banned! | Cult of Mac

Meet the radical who wants the iPad banned! | Cult of Mac Kyle Wiens thinks the iPad should be banned. It’s a "highly immoral" product, he says, because it can’t be opened and repaired when the battery dies. It’s a throwaway device, and he wants governments to prohibit it.

"It’s not designed to be long-lasting," said Wiens, who is the co-founder and CEO of iFixit. "It’s like selling a car that has to be replaced when the tires wear out."

Wiens is the Bernie Sanders of the electronics industry. He doesn’t just want reform — he wants revolution!

Love this guy's web site: I've used it for many, many self-repairs of older Macs.

The rise and fall of AMD: A company on the ropes | Ars Technica

The rise and fall of AMD: A company on the ropes | Ars Technica It also didn't help that, just as Intel was churning out its best products in years, AMD was trying to swallow another company whole.

A terrific read. One just never knows what's going on from the marketing facade.

Very first Apple computer hits auction block at mind-blowing price | Cult of Mac

Very first Apple computer hits auction block at mind-blowing price | Cult of Mac Some of the most important scientific instruments of the past 700 years are hitting the auction block later this month, but one of the newest creations in the lot — one of the very first computers created by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak — is expect to fetch the highest bid.

Yes, but the question is, can I use it to play LODERUNNER?

Apple loses patent lawsuit to University of Wisconsin, faces $862M in damages | VentureBeat | Business | by Reuters

Apple loses patent lawsuit to University of Wisconsin, faces $862M in damages | VentureBeat | Business | by Reuters NEW YORK (By Andrew Chung, Reuters) – Apple Inc could be facing up to $862 million in damages after a U.S. jury on Tuesday found the iPhone maker used technology owned by the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s licensing arm without permission in chips found in many of its most popular devices.

Well, I hope Apple just pays up. It's the least they could do for the campus that gave the world The Onion.

Facebook Confirms 'Reactions' Feature For Expressing Emotions Beyond 'Like' | Redmond Pie

Facebook Confirms 'Reactions' Feature For Expressing Emotions Beyond 'Like' | Redmond Pie The world’s largest social network Facebook has confirmed that a new feature called “Reactions” is officially being put through test in order to see how users interact with it. Users of Facebook have long wanted a “Dislike” button to be made available on the social network.

We are ready to expand our collective one word vocabulary.

Lumia 950 / 950 XL Vs iPhone 6s / 6s Plus [Specs Comparison] | Redmond Pie

Lumia 950 / 950 XL Vs iPhone 6s / 6s Plus [Specs Comparison] | Redmond Pie The last few weeks may seem like they have been all iPhone and Nexus announcements or releases, but Microsoft got in on the act earlier this week by announcing two flagship smartphones of its very own. The much-rumored Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL are now very real.

Possibly a little disconcerting.

Amazon launches AWS Mobile Hub for testing, running, and monitoring iOS and Android apps | VentureBeat | Cloud | by Jordan Novet

Amazon launches AWS Mobile Hub for testing, running, and monitoring iOS and Android apps | VentureBeat | Cloud | by Jordan Novet Amazon Web Services (AWS) today announced the introduction of the AWS Mobile Hub, a service for building, testing, deploying, and then monitoring iOS and Android apps. The tool is live now in beta, and it’s free in the sense that you only pay for the services that the Mobile Hub uses, including AWS compute and storage services.

Amazon may be kind of nuts, but at least they envision useful new services and not weirdly random dot com hype factories that do nothing useful. Believe me, this is very useful.

DJI launches Osmo, an iPhone-connected 4K steadicam for $650

DJI launches Osmo, an iPhone-connected 4K steadicam for $650 The DJI Osmo uses the company's three-axis gimbal stabilization technology found on other devices, like its Phantom drones, to eliminate the shake found on traditional handheld cameras, like a GoPro. DJI says its new product, priced at $649, makes it easier than ever to get super-smooth cinematic shots on the go.

This is really cool.

iPhone 6s Camera Vs Nikon D750 DSLR Video Quality Test | Redmond Pie

iPhone 6s Camera Vs Nikon D750 DSLR Video Quality Test | Redmond Pie The iPhone’s current standing in the mobile photography ladder aside, owing to the ever-improving quality of the device’s camera, critics and photography enthusiasts have also taken it upon themselves to compare its relatively recent iterations of the product line to professional photography and videography equipment. However, most who own a DSLR camera and understand its modular nature would likely scoff at the very idea of comparing one to an iPhone camera, even if it is that which comes packed with the latest generation – most, but not all.

I think this is kind of exciting except that the features that the DSLR has that the iPhone doesn't might get very expensive in the long run. But what do I know?

'Steve Jobs' review: Finally, a great film about Apple's fiery genius | VentureBeat | Media | by Fletcher Babb

'Steve Jobs' review: Finally, a great film about Apple's fiery genius | VentureBeat | Media | by Fletcher Babb It’s not easy to make a good movie about Steve Jobs. (Sorry, Ashton Kutcher. You tried.) But, finally, director Danny Boyle and screenwriter Aaron Sorkin have given us Steve Jobs, a movie that distills Steve’s huge, complicated persona into a tightly wound backstage thriller.

I like how it looks like the Windows Logo reflected in his glasses.

Steve Jobs’ co-workers share fondest memories of Apple co-founder | Cult of Mac

Steve Jobs’ co-workers share fondest memories of Apple co-founder | Cult of Mac It turned out to be an incredibly good lesson and it set the tone for the Mac group. The electric light had been invented and Thomas Edison wanted to have not just a burning bulb, but a beautiful thing. He convinced Tiffany, and artist, to make lamps. Tiffany used glass and chemistry and metallurgy to build art that was very useful to control light.

Bud Tribble is the man!

Windows 10 adoption passes Windows 8.1 on Steam | GamesBeat | Games | by Emil Protalinski

Windows 10 adoption passes Windows 8.1 on Steam | GamesBeat | Games | by Emil Protalinski Valve updated its Hardware & Software Survey today for September 2015, and there’s more good news for Microsoft. Windows’ overall share slipped slightly on Steam, but Windows 10 adoption has managed to pass Windows 8.1 in just two months.

STEAM's the thing, for sure. Personally, I think Windows 10 is great!

Jobs' widow tried to block the release of Steve Jobs movie

Jobs' widow tried to block the release of Steve Jobs movie niversal Pictures chairman Donna Langley is standing by the finished movie and says the studio is, “enormously proud of it.” Apparently, Laurene Powell Jobs was offered an advance screening of Steve Jobs so long as she didn’t publicly discuss it, but she turned it down.

It is a little soon, don't you think?

Amazon gives Apple TV and Google Chromecast the finger | Cult of Mac

Amazon gives Apple TV and Google Chromecast the finger | Cult of Mac The most popular online retailer in the world, Amazon, is using its e-commerce powers to put the hurt on Apple and Google’s streaming devices in order to prop-up the Amazon Fire TV and Fire TV stick.

Amazon Prime streaming TV works better than any of the other services I've tried. I don't think it needs propping up at all. In fact, some of the other services should think about using Amazon's content delivery network because it's clearly in a class all it's own. Without the network, H.264 is basically useless for streaming. Unless you like that buffering screen.

I'm using mine on a Google Nexus 7 tablet.