Buster Hein - page 225

When you just look at the money Apple made in 2012 it’s pretty incredible. But when you provide some context to those earnings and put Apple’s profits next to the competition’s profits, Apple’s performance is absolutely mindboggling.

From October 2011 to September 2012 Apple made more money than Microsoft, Ebay, Google, Yahoo! Facebook and Amazon combined. In that same period, Dell, Asus, Intel, Acer, IBM, Lenovo, and HP (basically the entire PC industry) only made $19.3 billion in profit, which is less than half of Apple’s profit.

Source: Statista

Apple has released their first beta of OS X 10.8.3 to developers today. The download is live and functional, so if you have a developer account and want to see the new changes coming to OS X Mountain Lion you can log in to the developer center and download it right now.

Even though Android leads in terms of marketshare, iPhone and iPad owners use more data than Android users. It also appears that iOS users are also more comfortable with shopping online via their mobile device than Android users.

IBM released their Holiday Benchmark Report and found that among U.S. consumers shopping for Thanksgiving and Black Friday deals from their mobile device, a strong majority were using iPhones or iPads and about 77% of all mobile purchases originated from an iOS device.

It’s pretty much a proven fact that for Christmas this year kids want an iPad or something else made by Apple. Everyone knows it. Even Best Buy. So Best Buy’s newest commercial shows off all the phenomenal cosmic powers of Apple devices as a kid uses all of Apple’s products at the Best Buy Apple Store on his search to find Santa.

Source: Best Buy

Via: TUAW

Mall of America happens to have both an Apple Store and a Microsoft Store under one roof. In fact, they’re right across the hall from each other, so it’s a great place to gauge how enthusiastic people are for both brands.

On Black Friday, Gene Munster and his team of analyst from Piper Jaffray spend eight hours counting heads at the Apple Store. They also spend two hours monitoring the Microsoft Store and found that Microsoft didn’t sell a single Microsoft Surface tablet.

Here are some other facts that Munster observed:

Were you crazy enough to brave the murderous masses of people looking for deals on Black Friday this year? If you stopped by the Apple Store to get a cheaper MacBook or something, you probably noticed that the Apple Stores were even more crowded than usual. But then if you went over to a Microsoft Store it looked like just a normal day.

Here’s a video that compares the amount of people visiting the Microsoft Store and the Apple Store. Surprise, Apple won on Black Friday.

When Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak first decided to make a computer together their first invention was the Apple-1. At first, the Apple-I was just a do-it-yourself computer making kit. Buyers would have to solder the chips onto the circuit board, then find other parts like the power supply, keyboard, and display.

As the owner of the Byte Shop in Mountain View California, Paul Terrell was approached by Jobs and Woz to sell their DIY computer kits. Terrell told them he really needed computers that are fully assembled and that he’d buy 50 Apple-1s if Jobs and Woz put them together. They struck a deal and Byte Shop became the first Apple retailers. Thirty six year later, Terrell recently posted pictures of some of the first Apple-1s ever. Check them out below:

Happy Thanksgiving! This year to observe the holiday we asked each of our writers to tell us a bit about the things they are most thankful for in 2012: specifically, the Apple product, app, service, third-party accessory and person they most relied upon and were grateful for this year. All through the rest of the day, we’ll be posting these thanksgiving observances. Here’s Cult of Mac Social Media Editor Buster Heine’s list of the things he’s most thankful for this year. You can find the rest of our Thanksgiving Smorgasbord entries here.

Apple TV is just a hobby, but it’s still a pretty great product that beats most of the other low-cost entertainment service set-top boxes on the market. It turns out that Microsoft may want in on the action and is building there own Apple TV type of device to compete with Apple.

Sources at Microsoft have confirmed to The Verge that the Redmond company has plans to introduce a low-cost alternative to its Xbox console that will compete more directly with the Apple TV.

When Apple announced iTunes 11, they told us that they would totally get it launched by the end of October. Then, at the end of October, they said they’re gonna need more time, but they pinky-promised they would get it out in November. For real.

Based on the history of Apple’s software releases, we estimated that the most likely date for Apple to release iTunes 11 would be November 16th, but that date has obviously passed. However, it sounds like Apple is finally ready to release iTunes 11 in the next few days, because artists are getting emails telling them to get ready.

If you’re really into investing and the stock market and all that fun, heart-wrenching stuff, then now might be a great time to buy some Apple stock if you believe Disney’s CEO Bob Iger knows what he’s doing.

On Monday, Iger bought $1 million worth of Apple shares, according to documents filed with the SEC. Along with being the CEO of Disney, Iger is also on Apple’s board of Directors. But he’s not just buying Apple stock; he’s ditching his Disney stock while he’s at it.

Apple Stores usually have some pretty neat display art at the front of all their stores, but this year’s holiday display is probably one of their coolest ever. We’re calling it the iWreath (for obvious reasons). It’s a holiday wreath comprised of iPod touches, Smart Covers, and an iPhone.

Okay, so they didn’t use real Apple products to form the iWreath, but it’s still pretty amazing even if it’s just a cardboard printout. If you head over to your local Apple Store sometime between now and Christmas you’ll be able to see the wonder of the iWreath for yourself.

Source: Twitter

I hate shaving. Like seriously, it is the most annoying personal hygiene chore that a proper gentleman is supposed to undertake everyday. Mostly I hate it because it takes up a lot of time and me and razors don’t really get along.

But maybe you’re different. Maybe you love the smooth texture of a fresh shaven face everyday. If so, you might want to get this iPhone wannabe shaver.

Your kid probably wants something from Apple for Christmas this year. It’s a fact. No I’m not being an ultimate fanboy who’s saying that just to make Apple look cool or spread Apple’s evangelical message of peace, love and minimalism.

Kids this year want an iPad more than anything. More than an Xbox, Wii U, computer, or even a smartphone.

The Three Laws of Robotics are supposed to save humankind from an evil robotic uprising. It didn’t really work that way for Will Smith in iRobot, and based on Siri’s answer to the question, “What are the three laws?” we’re probably screwed as well because she doesn’t know them either.

If you ask Siri, “what are the three laws” she’ll respond with the following:

1. Clean up your room
2. Don’t run with scissors
3. Always wait a half hour after eating before going in the water.

Sometimes she’ll even give you a fourth law:

Is it more important that your carrier have impeccible cellular service, or that they have the smartphone you want? In T-Mobile’s case, they don’t have great service or great phones, so they’re kinda screwed until they get the iPhone and expand their 4G network.

T-Mobile is the only major carrier left in the U.S. that doesn’t sell the iPhone, and they’re probably not going to be able to sell it anytime soon because the iPhone’s expensive and according to their COO, they can’t afford it.

When you walk into an Apple Store the only thing Apple wants you to think about are Macs, iPhones, iPads and iPods. Surrounded by a minimalist technology paradise, nothing is supposed to distract customers. There are no cash registers, shopping carts, shopping bags, receipts or pretty much anything.

Well actually, there is a spot for the shopping bags, cash drawers, and receipt printers, they’re just all hidden from customers. Underneath tables in the store are little secret spots (like in the picture above) that hold shopping bags for customers along with a printer and cash drawer. Next time you’re in a store, take a gander under the tables to see what kind of stuff Apple is hiding.

Source: Reddit

Despite posting one of their most profitable quarters ever, Apple’s stock (AAPL) has taken a dive over the last two months. It’s been down nearly 25% from it’s recent highs and some analyst have said that the stock is great buy right now.

This morning, Brian White from Topeka claimed that the sell-off in Apple’s stock over the past weeks has been “insanely insane” given how Apple is poised to have a record breaking holiday quarter. Since making his claim, Apple’s price has jumped up 5% today.

Every year Oprah Winfrey makes a list of her favorite things in life and then she gives everyone in her audience free copies of everything on her list. When you got a few billion to burn you can do that. One year Oprah said she just loooooved the iPad. Like, she said the iPad was the greatest thing ever, and middle-aged women across the country wept with joy. Now, she’s saying she’s totally off that and onto the next cool tablet – The Microsoft Surface.

Yesterday, Oprah tweeted: “Gotta say love that SURFACE! Have bought 12 already for Christmas gifts. #FavoriteThings” Thing is, Oprah tweeted about her love for the Surface from her iPad. So you know, I guess you can love an object that you never use. That’s cool. Well played Oprah.

Source: Twitter

A year after Steve Jobs’ passing, the yacht he had been working on with famed French designer Philippe Starck finally made it out to sea. Venus is a beautiful ship that conforms to all of Steve Jobs’ philosophies on minimalist design, and it reveals a lot about Steve Jobs’ design process. that took five years to build.

The entire project took five yeas to complete as Jobs and Starck perfected the design of the yacht millimeter by millimeter. In a recent interview, Philippe Starck explains what it was like to work on designing the yacht with Steve Jobs and what the design says about Jobs’ design process.

There have been a few rumors over the last week or two claiming that Apple’s new ultra-thin iMacs won’t be available in stores until 2013 due to production issues with the display and other components.

Rumors of the delay are probably false though, as a new report claims production is still on track for 2012, but initial supply will be fairly low.

Priced at only $99, the Apple TV is a pretty awesome deal. But if you thinking streaming movies from you Mac to your LED Plasma 3D Ultra High-Definition TV isn’t worth that much, then maybe you just need a cheaper Chinese knockoff solution.

Xiaomi Box looks pretty similar to an Apple TV, it’s cheaper than an Apple TV, it even comes with the ability to use Apple’s AirPlay protocol like an Apple TV, but it only costs $64.

I haven’t seen an episode of Vampire Diaries before, but it’s great to know that if I ever have a hunkering for more vampire love affairs I will still be able to get my fix after this last Twilight movie comes out.

Warner Bros. released their new iOS app yesterday called “Day After US,” that allows iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad owners in the U.S. to watch all of Warner Bros. popular TV shows the day after they air.

After settling a longstanding trademark earlier this year over the name “iPad,” Apple has seen a big increase in iPad sales in China.

Proview, a Chinese company, had “iPad” registered years before Apple unveiled the iPad back in 2010. For the last few years the two companies have disagreed on settlement terms, but Apple finally resolved the issue by paying Proview $60 million to secure the name. Since the settlement was reached in July, iPad sales have increased 80% in China according to one analyst.

Remember that freakishly realistic Steve Jobs action figure we showed you folks earlier this month? Well Legend Toys decided that Mini Steve was getting a little lonely, so they scheduled a play-date for him and an even bigger Steve Jobs doll.

Madame Tussauds’ Steve Jobs wax figure is finally complete, so the creators of the newest Steve Jobs action figure decided the two fake Jobses needed to meet up. We have no idea what those two smug geniuses talked about but they sure do look cool as hell chillin’ together.

Source: Gizmodo