Apple wants PA Semi's technology, minds...

Apple's recent acquisition of PA Semiconductor appears to revolve around the latter company's intellectual properties and expertise, not its current products as was initially believed. AppleInsider reveals that Apple is more concerned with PA's technologies and engineers, since the semiconductor manufacturer has in the past created a dual-core 64-bit chip which only uses 15 watts of power to operate. This could allow for integration of low-consumption processors like the Intel Atom.

Apple's music and retail revenue grow...

Music products and services made up 36-percent of Apple's second quarter, while revenue in the company’s retail stores grew dramatically, with over 33.7 million visitors to its 208 stores over the quarter. Apple reports that it sold 10.6 million iPods, up 1-percent from the year ago quarter, which reflects the same seasonal rate of decline which it observed from last year's December quarter. Overall iPod market share grew worldwide in almost every global market, while the US share was 73-percent of all MP3 players sold.

Education grows 35%, Macs generate 59% revenue...

Apple today posted its best second quarter in company history, with good news from its education, computer, and iPhone segments. Educational revenue growth was revealed to be 35-percent, which Apple says is the highest growth rate it has seen

Deliver2Mac releases Blitzkrieg...

Download store Deliver2Mac is now publishing RuneSoft's Blitzkrieg, a real-time strategy game set during World War II. Players command German, Soviet, or British and American forces, in campaigns amounting to a total of 80 missions. Over 40 infantry types and 200 vehicles are simulated, and all objects in the isometric terrain are destructible; theaters of war include Africa, Russia and Europe.

Apple reports best second quarter ever...

Apple has announced financial results for its fiscal 2008 second quarter, ended March 29, 2008, posting revenue of $7.51 billion and net quarterly profit of $1.05 billion, or $1.16 per diluted share. These results compare to revenue of $5.26 billion and net quarterly profit of $770 million, or $0.87 per diluted share, in the same quarter a year ago. Apple shipped 2,289,000 Macs in the most recent quarter, representing a 51 percent unit growth and 54 percent revenue growth over the year-ago quarter. The company also sold 10,644,000 iPods during the recent period, representing 1 percent unit growth and 8 percent revenue growth over the year-ago quarter. iPhone sales amounted to 1,703,000.

nova media ships Air-compatible HSUPA modem...

nova media has launched the GlobeSurfer ICON HSUPA, a USB cellular modem for notebooks. As its name implies, the modem is compatible with both HSUPA and HSDPA networks; it has a maximum download speed of 7.2Mbps, and can upload at 1.4Mbps. It also supports generic 3G UMTS networks, and can fall back to EDGE or GPRS as necessary, which caps speeds at 200Kbps down and 80Kbps up.

PlayFirst releases Dairy Dash...

PlayFirst has released Dairy Dash, a sequel to an earlier game it released, Diner Dash. Described as "time management" title, players assume the role of the Smiths, a family running a dairy farm for the first time. As the game progresses players must learn to deal with an increasing number of animals and crops, including cows, goats, pumpkins and corn. Helping the Smiths is Flo, who provides encouragement and buys some of their produce.

Visual Ajax Studio adds Leopard, Safari support...

WaveMaker has released the v3.2 update to Visual Ajax Studio, its development tool for both Ajax- and Java-based web applications. As with many visual tools, the software allows users to avoid entering custom code, forms or frameworks; VAS, though, is a free and open-source program, with a drag-and-drop interface. It is nevertheless intended for enterprises, and when combined with the Rapid Deployment Framework can quickly deploy apps to IT architectures such as Apache Tomcat and J2EE.

Belgium to receive unlocked iPhones?...

Belgium has joined the ranks of countries that will soon receive the iPhone, according to regional site Astel.be. The site makes the crucial claim that the phone will be available unlocked, in a scheme similar to the one suggested for Italy by La Repubblica; while this could be a part of Apple's rumored new pricing plans, under which phones would be more expensive but unlocked by default, this may be a necessity, as Belgian law is said to prevent carrier exclusivity. A similar law resulted in the creation of an unlocked iPhone for France.

Apple buys chipmaker PA Semi...

In an unusual deal, Apple has announced a decision to buy PA Semi, a microprocessor design company. An Apple spokesman, Steve Dowling, has declined to elaborate on the reasons or terms of the deal, except to say that Apple "buys smaller technology companies from time to time," and it does not comment on "purposes and plans." It is atypical however for the company to buy hardware firms, particularly as it has come to rely on ready-made components from a variety of manufacturers such as Intel, Samsung and Infineon. A source cited by Forbes claims the deal cost $278 million in cash.

OWC drops prices on Mercury Elite-AL Pro...

Other World Computing today announced lower pricing for its Mercury Elite-AL Pro quad interface drive line, offering sizes up to 1TB, which the company claims are among the best values on the market. The drives feature Firewire 400 and 800, as well as USB 2.0 and eSATA, allowing the drives to be connected to almost any computer system. Pricing for the drive line starts at $160, and offers up to 150MB per second over eSATA.