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News

Apple releases Q3 results sees profit of $7.7 billion with continued iPhone sales growth

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With Apple recently releasing their Q3 results, we as consumers get to sit back and gaze at their new staggering financial numbers, including a record $37.4 billion in total revenue. Gaining $7.7 billion in profit over the quarter, one can see why they have stock piles of cash on reserve, estimated to be somewhere around $150 billion. What can we tell from the numbers and see through the blanket marketing statements from the company? In a nut shell, iPhone sales are booming and iPad sales are dragging.

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Apple 2014 Q3 Results

The good thing about Tim Cook and Apple in general is that they quickly, although at first quietly, address issues. Evaluating the iPad’s future can be difficult after all technology changes so fast. We know this much, that the iPad has more upside then downside. Look at the business market, dominated by Microsoft for decades, Apple is ready to bounce where they see opportunity. Recently announcing a landmark deal with IBM to bring corporate data and mobile devices together better than ever before, Apple is showing a willingness to explore partnerships that make sense. To be honest with that kind of cash reserve who can blame them. They are a lot better off then some of their closest competitors. With Microsoft laying off 18,000 workers it’s clear to see Apple is dominating, staying fiscally lean and technologically innovative.

With OS X Yosemite and iOS 8 coming out in the fall, Apple is looking to integrate both operating systems into a seamless experience for their users. Every product launch Apple checks another item off our wish list. Add rumors of the iPhone 6 and iWatch into the mix and consumers are always hungry for the latest from Apple. Of course there is always room for debate, enter the standard who’s copying who topics that spring up during new releases. In the end they deliver.

Who benefits from Apple’s robust business and financial tactics? Well the easy answer are the Apple fanatics around the world who rejoice when using their great products. But the real answer are the Apple shareholders who gained a cool $1.28 per share stemming from the billions in quarterly profit. Throw in a cash dividend of $.47 per share this August and a stock yield of just under 2% you are looking at some happy investors. Their recent stock split has others asking if now is the time to buy.

If you missed Apples’s fiscal results conference call you can catch it here, though it’s usually taken down in 2 weeks. Tim Cook provides some additional insights to next quarter and answers some tough questions.

How-To

How to delete duplicate songs in iTunes

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Over time, we as fastidious music collectors, obtain album after album of songs from our favorite artists, just to discover that we already had that song in our iTunes library. If that sounds familiar, here’s how you can go about deleting duplicate songs in iTunes for Mac.

Note: In order for this process to work, you must be in “Song” view. It will not work in Album or Artist view.

  1. Open iTunes.
  2. In the file menu, Click View.
  3. Next, click Show Duplicate Items.
  4. iTunes will now do a ton of work for you, and will display just the songs that are named exactly the same.

Now here comes the tedious part. Instead of showing only one copy of each song, it shows both (or however many copies you have) copies. So you’ll have to go through each one and select the copy you want to delete from your library.

  1. Hold down the Command key, and select each title that you want to delete.
  2. Once you’ve selected everything you want to delete, simply drag it to the trash in the Dock.
  3. Empty the Trash by right clicking on the Trash icon and selecting Empty.

You’ll want to be careful. A few artist are fond of releasing songs that are named the same title as other songs, but have a different beat or mix. iTunes won’t be able to tell the difference. So you could delete a song even if it isn’t the same. So, to fix this problem, iTunes has a function that lets you find and delete only exact copies of particular songs. Here’s how to do that:

  1. Open iTunes
  2. In the file menu, Click View.
  3. Hold down the Option key. You’ll see the item that used to say “Show Duplicate Items” change to Show Exact Duplicate Items. Click it.
  4. Now instead of showing you every song that is named the same, it’ll show you ones that are exactly the same, down to the file size, and beat.
  5. Like in the other process, hold down the Command key, and select the songs you no longer want to keep.
  6. Drag them to the Trash container in the Dock.
  7. Empty the Trash by right clicking on the Trash icon and selecting Empty.

And that’s it! It’s a very simple way of discovering duplicate tracks in your music library. There are tons of apps out there that do similar things, and offer fine-grained control over what is considered a duplicate. So if you don’t have success with this built in method, simply search the Mac App Store for “Duplicates” and you should be able to find an app to suit your needs.

Mac

Top 3 accessories for a new MacBook owner

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New to the Mac? Did you just go out and buy a new Mac Pro? Well it’s time to look for some great accessories that almost every Mac owner should have. That Mac is great, but it does have its limitations. With some of these accessories, you can work better without adding a ton to your budget.

Anker USB 3.0 9 Port Hub With Smart Charging Port

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9 Port USB Hub

Unless you have a Mac Pro (old or new), you probably have run out of USB ports. The iMac only has a couple, and every Apple laptop only has two or three. So it doesn’t take long to run out in this world where everything connects via USB.

The Anker USB Hub, has 9 ports, will charge everything up to an iPad without being plugged into your laptop/desktop, and is USB 3.0. The only thing that would make it better is if they threw in a couple extra Thunderbolt ports, but you can’t get everything you want.

The downside is that it’s pricey. But you’ll be hard pressed to find one that looks great next to your beautiful Mac, and has 9 ports ($60).

Apple Magic Mouse

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Apple Magic Mouse

We’ve looked and looked for the perfect mouse for the Mac, and there are just not very many that fit the Mac aesthetic. Logitech makes some really great mice, but they tend not to last very long unless you spend more than $100.

So we’ve settled on the Apple Magic Mouse. Now if you’ve purchased an iMac, you probably already have one of these. If not, you’ll need to buy it separate. The great part is that because it is made by Apple, it has gesture support built in, so you won’t lose functionality if you’ve decided to leave your track pad behind.

Sometimes a track pad just isn’t precise enough, the Magic Mouse takes care of that ($73).

Specialty Screen Cleaner Kit

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Belkin Cleaning Kit

All Macs have screens of some sort, even if you’ve had to buy it separately. Even if you use a desktop, your screen will get dusty and smudged over time. We’ve linked to a nice cleaner kit for LCDs and LED screens, but you can find something else if $15 is too pricey.

Basically it just comes with spray that is safe for a screen and a microfiber rag. Wipe your screen down once a month and it’ll continue to look awesome ($15).

Bottom Line

Obviously we could have listed several more, and if we had gotten specific to certain computers, we could have listed even more. If you have a MacBook for instance, an Ethernet to USB connector is almost a must have. We also failed to include a great external optical drive, so there’s that as well.

Many Mac users will start accumulating accessories from the time they buy their first Mac until they die. New things come out, and as tech people we love to look at shiny new things. It’s just human nature.

iPhone

Apple provides fix for degrading Touch ID Sensors on iPhone 5S

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Apple’s Touch ID, which arrived on last year’s iPhone 5s, has been greeted with mixed reviews. In some cases users claim that it has changed their lives, and made the iPhone so much easier to use. Some users claim that it isn’t used broadly enough, and should have third party app support; others claim that it doesn’t work. Something that a lot of people have claimed is that it seems to degrade over time. For those users, Apple has a fix coming.

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Apple 5S Sensor

Apple is prepping an update that will improve the overall performance of Touch ID, and will attempt to eliminate the so called Touch ID “fade” which makes the Touch ID sensor fail over time. The good news is that they think that this is a software problem, instead of a hardware problem. It is much easier to fix a software problem than a hardware problem.

From AppleInsider:

After launching iPhone 5s last fall, Apple has continued to work with the original AuthenTec team to improve its recognition software and will release an update relatively soon, the source confidently reported. However, AppleInsider could not verify whether the update will ship as part of iOS 7.1, which is expected to drop in mid-March.

This fade problem has been the focus of many Apple Support Forum posts since the iPhone 5S launched in late 2013. Owners of the 5s complain that they receive an increasing number of failed fingerprint scans as time goes on. It seems that deleting the fingerprint in iOS 7, would temporarily fix the problem.

Many iPhone 5S users have come up with clever workarounds, including overtraining the fingerprint sensor and scanning the same finger more than once. These seem to be only stopgaps that work for some users.

There’s not any timeline for when this fix might get out to the public, or if it will be part of the iOS 7.1 update that we expect will be posted later this month.

Touch ID on the iPad

Most likely Apple will get this fixed sometime before WWDC or the fall announcement. They are rumored to be bringing Touch ID to the iPad line. If that’s the case, they will want to have the bugs worked out before they roll it out to millions more people.

They will also want to make sure people can rely on the sensor. That will especially be the case if they plan on expanding the places where Touch ID can be used in the operating system. Bringing an uneven technology to a bunch of app developers could cause many not to adopt it. So it’s almost certain they’ll get this fixed before they roll out the Touch ID feature further.

Let’s hope they do expand this technology. It’d be great to see what app developers can do with it, especially developers of banking and password management apps.

News

Apple to begin charging for online support chat

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Apple is a company known for its support. They win awards for it every year, and will continue to do so. Most of Apple’s support services come at a cost, but only when you want to take advantage of them when your device is outside of its original warranty. One of the things that that hasn’t been true for is first time chat support. That’s about to change.

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Screen capture of Apple support charge

According to several reports, Apple is about to charge a $19.00 fee when you want to chat with an Apple Representative when your machine is out of warranty. As has always been the case, they may ask you to pay for the full support after the chat if they can’t help you with the problem without looking at or working on the device.

If the problem turns out to be something the Apple knows about, and has a support program for, they will refund the money you paid for the chat.

Cases for Free Support

Apple hasn’t rolled this system out yet. They are expected to do so within the next few weeks. If you have a problem that you’ve been waiting to get assistance with, you should take advantage of the free chat now. The sources of this report say that Apple will continue to provide free support until the new system is in place.

Apple will also continue to offer free support to people who need help with iCloud, or with setting up a repair or replacement. And of course, Apple will continue to help Apple Care customers out without charging them anything extra.

Paid Support

In many ways, this change gives Apple customers an even bigger incentive to by Apple Care when they have the chance. While it is definitely more then $20, it could keep you in warranty longer, and could not only save you that $20, but any additional money it would have cost you to get the device fixed beyond the chat session.

$20 seems like a small price to pay, if they can help you with your problem during the chat, and in many cases they can. In the new system, Apple will offer users the ability to apply for an exception, should they think that their problem is going to be a covered hardware defect. They will also continue to support customers who have accidentally damaged their device, and just want to get their machine replaced or repaired. Normally those chats just end up with an Apple Store appointment, or a box to mail the damaged product into Apple.

Final Thoughts

Apple has never been a company where things come cheaply. They charge extravagant prices for their products, which enables them to provide the support they get awarded for year in and year out. Without the good support, their prices might not be warranted any more than Hewlett Packard, who’s support is less than desirable.