Apple’s latest quarterly results were astounding! It was the best quarter for any technology company in history. Apple’s profits are doing nothing but rising and they have amassed a huge surplus of cash. So naturally, when you are on top, you become a target. This latest assault places partial blame on Apple for the poor working conditions and poor treatment of the people working in China building their products. However, Apple isn’t the only company using Foxconn and the technology industry is by far not the worst when it comes to worker treatment.

The NYT didn’t take aim at Microsoft, who has the Xbox built at Foxconn, when 300 workers threatened suicide over pay. They failed to point out that Sony has the Playstation built there, that HTC and Motorola both use Foxconn to make their smartphones, and Amazon’s Kindles are all built there as well. Do all of these companies get a pass because they aren’t recording record breaking profits? Why weren’t they targeted?

I’ll tell you. Bullshit headlines. The New York Times is using the oldest trick in the book. We like to call it “link bait”. They have wrapped a real problem in a grim story and made Apple the bad guy. I don’t have to tell you that corporations are amoral. What’s the goal of a company? To make money. Apple is doing just that. The suggestion that Apple should take it’s crazy money they have hoarded away and some how change the labor situation in China is completely irrational. Foxconn and companies like it work in a completely different way than we do here in the United States. We have laws, unions, and government organizations that provide protection and support for workers.

Is Apple a company or a political lobbyist? It’s not their problem to mess with how the economics work in China. Would they like to have all of their products made in the United States and still have profits close to what they have now? Sure, and I want an flying car and a lightsaber.

If the New York Times wants to write a humanitarian piece, stop pointing the finger at Apple and take a look at diamonds (like they did in 2006), oil, or freaking sneakers for crying out loud. These industries have a far higher “cost” to bringing these products to the United States.

Apple’s billions of dollars isn’t enough to Change China’s economic strategy and the way they do business. When the United States owes China over $1 Trillion, what makes you think one company could have anything to do with the way they make money?

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Finally iOS users can get a native Gmail experience on their device! Google announced today that the Gmail app with push notifications, full inbox search, starring, archiving, and even pull down to refresh is now out for your iPhone, iPod, and iPad. The iPad interface uses the extra screen real estate and gives users a split window view. So what do you say iOS folks? Will this app keep you from the Mail client?

UPDATE: Due to a notification bug, the app has been temporarily removed. Stay tuned as they update and fix it.

via [Gmail Blog]

GarageBand is very popular software that comes installed on all Macs, and has even been available in the iOS App Store for the iPad for a while now. Today, version 1.1 was released, along with some updates it now has support for the iPod Touch and iPhone. Here is the feature list.

Create custom chords for Smart Instruments

Support for 3/4 and 6/8 time signatures

Reset song key without transposing original recordings

Transpose songs in semitones or full octaves

Additional quantization options for recordings including, straight, triplet and swing

New audio export quality settings for AAC and AIFF (Uncompressed)

Arpeggiator available in Smart Keyboard

Adjustable velocity settings for Touch Instruments

Numerous enhancements, including automatic fade out and improved audio import options

If you have already purchased the app on your iPad and you have another recent iPhone or iPod Touch, you can install the universal app on them also. So, go out and play with it, tell us what you think?

(via The Verge)

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Few manufacturers are poised to do what Amazon is about to, dominate both the eReader and the tablet markets. Before you go all “iPad this and that” on me, let me say that currently there is a “tablet market” and an “iPad market”. Amazon will rule the tablet market and it might just give the iPad a run for it’s money over time, but I’m not naive and Apple has a huge head start. What I will say is, all other tablet manufacturers are about to have their lunch eaten by Amazon. Fear not tablet makers, you won’t be alone. All those would be eReader guys will be at the same table with you bitching that Amazon got their sandwiches as well. Read on to see why this Guru believes Amazon has it on lock.

Price
Amazon can do what no other tablet manufacturer can do, subsidize the cost of a device and sell the shit out of content. Apple is in similar position as they take 30% off all app sales and subscriptions, not to mention what they make from movies, TV shows, and books. The difference is Amazon is charging $300 less than an iPad for their tablet device. Sure the iPad “does more”, but that argument holds no water for most people. All of these other Android tablets are over $300 and have little more to offer than the Kindle Fire. Look at the HP Touchpad as an example. No one would touch it with a ten foot pole at $399, but at $99 people lost thier minds trying to buy one. It’s not just the Fire that is priced right; the new Kindle starts at only $79. At the price it has entered impulse buy territory.

Content

This is where Amazon will kill all other tablets. With a kindle Fire you have an entire ecosystem built right in. Movies, TV shows, music, apps, games, books, and magazines all from a single source at your finger tips. Other tablets might be able to “do more” but can they provide more? No? Again Apple comes close, but that circles back to my first point. Other manufacturers have the hardware and to some extent software, but no one does content like Amazon. It’s that single ecosystem that is easy for people to get into and difficult for people to leave that makes an experience great. I know few people who actually “like” iTunes, but they use it with a smile because they almost have to. With Amazon there is no bloated software, it’s all in the cloud. Easier, cleaner, and with similar content, Amazon rivals even Apple when it comes to content.

Brand Recognition and Mind Share

What’s the most successful eReader? Hell if I know, but I would say the Amazon Kindle and no one would argue with me. Why? Mind share, brand recognition. The same reason why people think Apple owns way more of the PC market than what they really do. Amazon and kindle have become a household name and people buy what they are familiar with and what they can relate to. “My cousin’s brother’s best friend’s roommate has a Kindle an he likes it”. Remember when every smart phone with a keyboard was a “Blackberry”? Well every eReader, and soon small tablet, will be known as a “Kindle”.

Retail Presence

The Kindle was originally only available directly through Amazon.com for the longest time. It did reasonably well with only one channel of purchase. Today the Kindle is available in just about every big box retailer and reseller. With Amazon’s huge reach, they put the Kindle in front of millions of people everyday. I am sure that strategy will not change as it has done wonders for the current lineup.

Variety

A lot of attention has been put on the Kindle Fire and for good reason, it is new and shiny. However, it is not the bread and butter of the lineup. Amazon has a plan to offer a Kindle for every wallet and preference. Want a traditional E Ink display? Got it. Want new fancy touch controls? Got it. Want a full blown tablet with plenty of media? Got it. From $79-$199, Amazon has every price point and every user preference covered in their lineup. This gives them a huge advantage over other eReader competitors like Barnes & Noble who offer fewer choices in their lineup.

Will Amazon take down the mighty Apple? I honestly don’t think so. I can see people owning both an iPad and a Kindle (variety remember). Will Amazon take down every other tablet out there, yes and easily. Amazon has right price, huge selection of content, plenty of variety, and the damn thing will be in your face in every retail store you go to. In the words of Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, “In terms of market share, Amazon is Coke and there isn’t yet a Pepsi”. 

In this video review The Gurus take a look at the iRig Mic for iOS.

iRig Mic features:

• Ideal for all vocal applications from singing to speech
• Great for all types of sound recording or processing in music or any other audio application
• Quality condenser-electret unidirectional capsule
• Dual mini-jack connector allows real-time monitoring on headphones, speakers, mixers, PAs
• Rugged, durable metal housing
• Easy to set-up for any sound source
• Can be handheld or placed on a standard mic stand
• Comes with apps for singers and songwriters
• Can be used with a wide variety of other apps

Price $59.99 from IK Multimedia

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This week Nic and Liz dive into a ton of stuff. They finish it off with a long discussion about something or other…you’ll see! Show notes after the break.

Nintendo posts first quarterly operating loss; 3DS now just $169.99

Internet as hard to give up as cigarettes, liquor, study says

Remote unlock and start for cars hacked

China shuts down two fake Apple Stores

Spotify sued by PacketVideo for patent infringement

“Linking is not a crime”: Czech Pirate Party declares war on Big Content

Rogue academic downloader busted by MIT webcam stakeout

Google wants e-mail in Android suit redacted

Facebook to pay hackers for bugs

Petition to revive Oscar the Grouch trash-can utility in OS X Lion

AT&T to throttle smartphone data starting October 1st

Hulu sued for patent infringement

Italian cyber-crime police hacked in AntiSec attack

http://m.lifehacker.com/5825746/what-you-need-to-know-about-the-internet-snooping-bill-and-what-you-can-do-about-it

FBI working from list of top 1,000 protestors in Anonymous raids

Police arrest 19-year old LulzSec hacker ‘Topiary’

Ultimate hack: LulzSec may have duped British authorities into  arresting innocent man

Apple is a tech company that has been know to make a little money these days and today announced, were their third quarter earnings. This quarter they have pulled in revenue of $28.57 billion and that is net profit of 7.31 billion. When you compare this quarter to a year ago, they were at 15.70 billion with a profit of 3.25 billion. That is a dramatic increase when compared to last year, all though 62 percent of the earnings this quarter are due to International sales.

So let’s talk about what they sold the most of. They sold 20.34 million iPhones, which is up 142 percent from a year ago. Then they have the iPad that sold 9.25 million units at a 183 percent increase over last year. They are up 14% on selling Macs at 3.95 million and down 20 percent on iPods at 7.54 million. So that makes us start to think, what is the future of the iPod?

Steve Jobs says that he is thrilled that this has been their best quarter ever and they are very focused on bringing iOS 5 and iCloud to the market this fall. Peter Oppenheimer says “they expect revenue of 25 billion for the fourth fiscal quarter of 2011.” What this all boils down to is, Apple is making money and a lot of it. There is no signs of it slowing down and with an expected release of a new iPhone this fall, we expect those numbers to keep climbing ourselves.