Apple has released its financial results for the second fiscal quarter of 2013. The Cupertino company reported $43.6 billion in revenue and a net profit of $9.5 billion. That translates to earnings of $10.09 per diluted share.

Wall Street has been incredibly pessimistic towards Apple in recent months, but today’s results for revenue managed to surpass even the more bullish claims. Apple’s estimates for the next quarter are even more conservative with $33.5-$35.5 billion in revenue. The main problem with today’s results is that profit shrank compared to a year ago for the first time in ten years.

“Our teams are hard at work on some amazing new hardware, software, and services and we are very excited about the products in our pipeline,” according to Apple.

Press release with more sales figures and details below:

Google has allegedly purchased Wavii, a small natural language parsing startup, according to a report on TechCrunch. Wavii ended up going to Google for “more than $30 million” after a bidding war with Apple.

Wavii’s technology and talent will reportedly be integrated in Google Now and the Knowledge Graph, Google’s experimental division that is working on the future of search.

Google has released a standalone iPad app for its Google Fiber TV service in the App Store. If you haven’t heard of Google Fiber, don’t feel bad: it’s only available in Kansas City at the moment.

Besides lightning-fast, fiber-opic broadband, Google Fiber also offers TV like Comcast. Android devices have been able to control Fiber TV, and now the iPad can be used as a remote for controlling the big screen.

Another accessibility option built right into iOS is Zoom. Like VoiceOver, it was originally created to help those with a visual impairment access their iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. Zoom is made for those who need things magnified on the screen, and it can be pretty darn helpful for those of us who may not have a specific visual disability. If your iPhone is zoomed in on lock screen and you’re unsure how to fix it, there are simple ways to adjust this setting.

Some apps zoom in within the app itself, like Maps, Safari, or Google Earth. That doesn’t help if you need the buttons and iOS controls magnified, or the text in apps like Mail, right?

Here’s how to set things up with Zoom.

Update: Guys, sadly, we’re having server issues that makes this impossible. Stay tuned for the front page for updates on the call as it happens.

In just a few hours, Apple will be hosting its Q2 2013 financial earnings call, and it’s bound to be an interesting call. It’s no secret that Wall Street is expecting a bloodbath, and is calling for Tim Cook’s head amongst fears of stagnating iPhone growth, but can Apple outperform the Street’s expectations?

Check out our summary of what to expect if you want to know more about the expectations going into this thing. Starting at 5PM Eastern/2PM Pacific, we’re going to be live blogging the call, so make sure to check back at this space then. We’ll be covering quotes and questions from the call, as well as posting our own live commentary. Hit the jump for our live blog, and make feel free to listen along if you want.

If extreme outdoorsman Bear Grylls has an iPhone 5, he no doubt needs to protect it from all sorts of dangers, like rain, dirt, mud, and when things get really tough, his own micturitions.

That’s exactly the kind of over-the-top protection Seidio’s Obex case promises—total refuge from water, dust, sand, and grime. Add to that submersion protection in up to three feet of water and an anti-reflective glass camera cover that maintains image quality, and you’ve got the perfect case for taking iPhone photos on the beach.

The Genius Bar is a little sparse, and the flooring never would have been approved by Steve Jobs, but if you find yourself in Kabul with a deep thirst for the latest Apple gadgetry, the unofficial Apple Store of Afghanistan is the place to go.

While Apple has been busy dominating the retail world with its highly profitably shops, poor Afghanistan has been left without an official Apple Store to call its own, so someone decided to open one up.

I like to keep my iPhone’s lockscreen clean and free of distractions. Jailbreak tweaks that add weather, RSS, and more are useful for many, but the lockscreen can easily start to feel cluttered after awhile.

That’s why I’m excited to present “atom,” a new jailbreak tweak for the lockscreen that replaces the unlock slider with a beautifully subtle app launcher.

Apple’s iTunes catalogue revolutionized the way people consume media. Why go to BlockBuster to rent a movie when you can download it from iTunes just as quickly? While most of the market has been trying to catch up, Apple’s lead in online video sales has remained dominant in the U.S.

NPD released a new report that highlights Apple’s strength in electronic video sales and rentals. While everyone else is fighting for second place, Apple still commands over 67% of the market.

Tweetbot — just our favorite Twitter client for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad — has just gotten a sweet update with one killer new feature: a swank new media timeline that allows you to quickly browse through just the images and videos popping up in your Twitter stream.

Although PC makers are feeling the pinch, Intel actually posted a surprisingly decent quarter yesterday. But Intel’s still feeling a big pinch from ARM, which is just showing explosive growth, shipping 35% more ARM-based chips (like, yes, Apple’s A-series SoCs) than it did a year ago.

Apple will announce its second quarter financial results at 5 p.m. EST today, and this could be one of the company’s most interesting earnings calls for some time. Wall Street has been less than optimistic about the Cupertino company’s recent performance, and some believe that Apple will post its first quarter of negative growth income for over a decade.

But some analysts are a little more positive. According to averages put together by Yahoo! Finance, Apple is likely to announce revenue between $41 billion and $43 billion for the second quarter, with margins between 37.5% and 38.5%.

Our last “name your own price bundle” performed so well that we’re bringing a second one to our Cult of Mac readers. And once again we’ve delivered 10 top Mac Apps for a price that only you can name with The Name Your Own Price Bundle 2.0!

That’s right. You pay what you want for 3 different Mac Apps that will make you faster and more efficient on your Mac including: HoudahSpot, Elmedia Player Pro, and PhotoBulk. And, if you pay more than the average price, you’ll also receive Snapz Pro X, CrossOver XI, DiskTools Pro, Gemini, Mac Blu-Ray Player, Musictube, and Paperless.

We’ve chosen three charities, Child’s Play, World Wildlife Fund, and Creative Commons, that we believe make a significant positive impact across the globe. 10% of your entire purchase will go to help one of those charities – whichever one you choose!

I have gotten more mail asking about how I keep my Lightroom mostly in my Dropbox than pretty much anything else recently, after I mentioned it in a recent article. So here goes: an in-depth look at how I have things set up.

It’s not just for Lightroom/Dropbox nerds either: Using this method, you can keep pretty much anything in Dropbox and sync it between computers, even if the folders involved absolutely have to stay in a certain place on your hard drive, like your ~/Library folder.

If you got a $15 in the mail for no apparent reason, well, it’s because way back in 2010, Steve Jobs failed in convincing the world at large to “just avoid holding it that way.”

Yes, that cool $15 bucks you got in the mail? It’s an Antennagate settlement check.

Rogers is the latest Canadian company to broaden its horizons with the introduction of LTE. This week the carrier introduced LTE to 7 new markets, keeping the promise it made a fortnight ago.

You don’t necessarily have to spend $1,200+ on a new MacBook Pro to get a computer with a Retina display. Providing you’re happy to pull apart your iPad and you know what you’re doing with a soldering iron, you can build your a Retina display for your PC.

That’s what Polish hacker Andrzej did.

If you’ve ever impotently raged against the FedEx man for ignoring the note you left on the door and not leaving a package for you behind the toolshed like you asked, great news: FedEx has just updated its Mobile app, allowing for you to sign for packages, reroute a package to another address or provide delivery instructions, all from your iPhone or iPad.

Today at 2PM Pacific/5PM Eastern, Apple will announces its 2013 first quarter earnings. Cult of Mac will, of course, be covering it live, but here’s a very brief primer of what to expect.

Apple’s iCloud services have suffered a number of outages in recent weeks, and this morning the service has gone down again. The downtime appears to be affecting Mail, Find My iPhone, and Find My Friends on Macs and iOS devices, while visitors to iCloud.com cannot access any of Apple’s cloud-based services.

Namco Bandai’s Idolm@ster series has been exclusive to Japan since it first debuted in 2005, so you’ve probably never heard of it, despite their popularity. But Namco has translated three of the titles into English and ported them over to iOS, giving fans all over the world the chance to experience the Japanese sensation for the first time.

The only problem is, they’re priced at $54.99 each!

The Mac App Store is a great way to download apps to your Mac, as it takes care of the download, the install, and the post-install clean up for you. Sometimes, however, things can get a bit wonky, whether by accident or design, and you’ll want to go and download an app you think you’ve deleted.

Sometimes the Mac App Store will think the app you’ve deleted is still on your Mac. Or, you’ll want to re-download an app that’s behaving weirdly. When that happens, there will be a “Downloaded,” or “Installed” button there that won’t let you do anything.

While not all Mac App Store apps will work the same way, here are a few things to try out.

Logitech has today announced a new addition to its growing family of iPad keyboard cases, but this one is unlike anything the company has offered before. It’s called the FabricSkin, and it offers a fabric keyboard much like that that comes with the Microsoft Surface tablet.

The great thing about a fabric keyboard is that its super slim and liquid resistant.

Twitterrific for iOS has received yet another new update that’s packed full with new features and improvements. In addition to app badges for push notifications, you’ll also find Favstar support, Twitter trends, and a long list of tweaks and bug fixes that’ll improve existing features.

GeoTag Photos Pro just hit v3.0, and with the update comes a new, less-ugly UI. It also adds automatic Dropbox uploading, making it just about the easiest (and still most battery-friendly) photo-tagging app for the iPhone.