Google has just updated its Google Drive app for iOS with a couple new features and performance enhancements. After adding support for opening links in native Google apps from the Chrome iOS app last week, it has now updated the Drive app with an option to open links within files in Chrome and Safari.

Also new in version 1.5.0 of Google Drive for iOS is support for inserting rows and columns via the “+” button within Google Sheets, as well as stabilization and other bug fixes:

What’s New in Version 1.5....

Comments about the fourth quarter during Apple's Q3 results call suggest a September 27 launch of a new iPhone, says Wells Fargo Securities analyst Maynard Um. He notes that Apple indicated a new product launch in "the fall," which runs from September 22 through December 21 in the northern hemisphere. If Apple is not using the term "fall" colloquially and holds to its preference for Friday launches, September 27 would be the earliest opportunity. The iPhone 5, for instance, shipped on Friday, September 21, 2012.... ...

As noted by VentureBeat, EA revealed today during its earnings call with investors that for the first time, Apple has become “EA’s biggest retail partner as measured by sales” as a result of the App Store. It’s a big announcement for the publisher that previously sold the majority of its content through retail channels for console games, and it could be a sign that EA will be investing more in iOS and other mobile titles in the months to come. In its earnings release, the company noted that it was “the #1 global publisher in the iOS game market in the June quarter,” and also highlighted a few of its more successful iOS titles, including:...

There wasn’t massive growth, but the numbers were still good.

Per Macworld, Apple reported sales of US$35.3 billion, with net profit at US$6.9 billion for its third fiscal quarter. That translated to earnings of US$7.47 per diluted share. Apple’s revenue marked a record for the June quarter, ticking up 1 percent from the $35 billion Apple posted in last year’s third quarter. Still, profits fell 22 percent year-over-year, down from US$8.88 billion in 2012. Apple also reported a drop in profit during its fiscal second quarter of 2013.

With a tiny increase in revenue but a drop in profit, you’d rightly conclude that Apple’s gross margin dropped: For the quarter, it was 36.9 percent, versus 42.8 percent on the year-ago quarter. That’s because Apple’s most popular...

The loneliness of the long-distance runner may have been reduced by the latest update to the Nike+ Runner app. Version 4.3 allows you to challenge friends at other locations to virtual races, set a distance and duration, and then the app keeps track of how you are doing against your mates.

A group chat function allows you to encourage them or mock them as the mood strikes.

The free app uses your iPhone’s GPS and accelerometer to record your progress – no additional hardware is required.

Apple CEO Tim Cook is one of Nike’s best-known fans, sitting on the Nike board and sporting a Nike FuelBand.

...

Caffeinated was a polished Google Reader RSS client with a great layout; but the demise of Google Reader forced developer Curtis Hard to rewrite the core components of the app and liberate it from its Google roots. Now in version 2.0.1, Caffeinated is a very capable standalone RSS reader for OS X.

Caffeinated looks likes most RSS readers with a three column layout that includes your RSS feeds on the left, a feed preview in the middle and a full article view on the right. Now that Caffeinated is no longer tied into Google Reader, you'll have to manually add your RSS feeds or import them if you have an OPML file that you exported from another service. I was able to import my Google Reader backup without an issue and was up and running with Caffeinated in just a few minutes. Manually entering feeds is equally as easy -- just enter the URL of the website or...

I think we’ve all suspected this happens at some stores, but not doubling the price. At least I didn’t think they went that far.

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Market watchers were impressed by the results for Apple's June quarter, as iPhone sales came in higher than expectations and guidance for the September quarter was positive. But investors are still pinning their hopes on Apple's anticipated next-generation iPhones and iPads to be blockbuster hits.  ...

Image: wallsfeed.com

An analysis of Apple’s Q4 guidance by BTIG’s Walter Piecyk suggests that the company will launch new products in Q4, which ends on 28 September.

We don’t think that Apple can hit its newly issued revenue guidance for the September quarter unless it launches new products. After delivering $35 billion in revenue in the June quarter, management guided to $34-$37 billion next quarter. Revenue would more typically drop multiple billions if the company had no new products planned.

Piecyk says that the guidance on margins suggests that the product will be an iPhone … 

The margin...

Sprint has announced a new partnership with Raketu to bring their Wireless CapTel service to iOS devices on the network. The app allows users to read conversations in real time with word-for-word captions that appear on their wireless phone. For people who live with hearing loss the move will open up new options for using mobile phones.

Calls are placed the same way they always are, but when the number is dialed the app connects the device to CapTel's service. They can then listen along with the phone or read the captions of their conversation on their iOS screen. More information about the service, including rules and regulations, can be found at www.SprintCapTel.com. Sprint subscribers will need a Everything Data plan for the service to work.

Sprint to offer Caption Calling for iOS devices originally appeared on...

Art from JoyBits’ Doodle God 2, slated for release in summer 2014.

It hasn’t (yet) reached the scale of mobile-first sensations like Angry Birds or Temple Run, but JoyBits, the creator of the puzzle games in the Doodle God series, says keeping a loose focus on platforms has served it well.

Today, JoyBits is announcing that its series has crossed “100 million downloads worldwide,” but that number means something slightly different than it does for app franchises like Infinity Blade, with close to 50 million app downloads; Temple Run, with at least 340 million; and Angry Birds, with well over a billion. For starters, JoyBits’ announced milestone includes 20 million iOS downloads, 10 million Google Play downloads, and 1.5 million Windows 8 downloads.

But how did they get to 100 million? In addition to nearly 10 other,...

If the lucrative high-end of the smartphone market is nearing saturation as some observers have recently argued, Apple isn’t seeing it.

Reporting third quarter earnings Tuesday after market close, Apple said it shipped 31.2 million iPhones during the period. And while that number was down from the 37.4 million the company shipped in the second quarter of this year, it was up significantly from the
26 million it shipped in the year-ago quarter.

Indeed, according to CFO Peter Oppenheimer that 20 percent increase in iPhone sales from a year earlier beat Apple’s own internal expectations. And that’s a metric that belies — to some extent — concerns about just how much room for growth...

It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world.

You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here.

No Flash? Click here to listen.

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Daily Update for July 23, 2013 originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 24 Jul 2013 01:50:00 EST. Please see our...

Most new cars have an in-dash computer that displays all sorts of pertinent information about your car's location, speed and other similar parameters. For those who have an older car and an iPad, you can duplicate this dashboard display with the new Drive Assist app from Woo.do.

Drive Assist is a multi-function app that lets you map your trip, monitor your speed, watch the weather and listen to music while you drive. The biggest part of the app is the navigation and Google mapping feature that updates your location and provides driving directions as you travel along your route. You need a wireless connection to pull down the map data as you drive, but you can shut off the mapping function and replace it with a music player if you have a WiFi-only iPad.

Besides navigation, Drive Assist also monitors your speed and lets you know how long you have driven and how long you have been idle during a trip. The app can save your route...

Quark has let loose QuarkXPress 10, a massive overhaul of its cross-media publishing package for both Mac and Windows. QuarkXPress has been revamped from top to bottom, starting with an under-the-hood conversion from the Carbon to the Cocoa programming environment and ending with a new cutting-edge graphics engine and a refreshed user interface. More than 50 feature enhancements promise to streamline the design process and improve the user experience.

QuarkXPress 10 interface overview.

Several years in the making, this new version has updated a half million lines of code, added 350,000 new lines of code, added more than 500 new dialog boxes and palettes, and added 1300 new icons designed for Retina display resolution....

Apple released its Q3 2013 earnings report today, and yet Bryan Chaffin still has a new Apple Death Knell for you, #63. Writing for CBS News, one Dave Logan penned a piece titled, "Why Apple is a dead company walking." It should have been tited, "Why I don't understand Apple."

iTravelGo is a US$0.99 app that is limited in cities, but very deep in the information it provides about them. The app has been released today in the App Store.

The 36 cities include U.S. destinations Los Angeles, New York, Chicago and San Francisco, plus other popular places like Vienna, Madrid, Hong Kong, Rome, Beijing and many more. Information includes maps with driving directions, the best attractions, restaurants and hotels. Hotel rooms can be booked through Booking.com directly from the app.

I found the app quite complete. Almost all of the information you want is built into the app, except for map details and web links to hotels, and other ancillary web-based information. That's a handy feature if you are out of the country and don't want to rack up data costs.

I liked the handy phrases and a brief history of the cities, and detailed...

Today, Apple was awarded a patent for a dual-sensor imaging system that could find its way into new iterations of the iPhone, iPod, or even Macbook sometime down the road. As AppleInsider reports, the patent, titled "Dual image sensor image processing system and method," details a system consisting of two separate image sensors which capture and then compare two different versions of a photo.

The images are then scrubbed for flaws on a pixel-by-pixel basis. If an unacceptable level of corruption is found in an area of one of the sensor's images, it will be replaced by content captured by the second sensor. The patent notes that this technology would also apply to video capture.

Of course, the patent goes into a great amount of detail regarding the logic behind the replacement of each corrupt pixel, but the bottom line is your photos will...

In the last decade content sharing has become a major part of modern life. Our daily interactions are largely built upon recommending articles, pictures, songs, videos, and other digital artifacts. But what device do people do most of their sharing? Thanks to a study by ShareThis we know. iPhone users are the most active when it comes to social sharing of links across both mobile and desktop devices.

ShareThis should know. The company is a publisher platform that provides social sharing buttons for websites. According to their findings users are twice as likely to share content on a social network when they are using their mobile devices. Of those using mobile devices 12.4% of iPhone users, 7.4% of Android, and 6.3% of Blackberry users are more likely to share on their devices.

...

Apple's chief financial officer Peter Oppenheimer detailed Apple's leading position in the enterprise and among government agencies, noting custom corporate app development, mass device deployments and a recent new security clearance.  ...

Apple has pushed out a small update to its Apple Store app, which lets users shop Apple's online store comfortably on their iPhone's screen.

There had been rumors that the Apple Store app update was going to see free giveaways via the app in order to entice people to buy more through the app, but as yet no free giveaways have surfaced in the app.

All the release notes say for the latest update is that there are "Various performance enhancements, including improved product search capabilities" that have been added.

Apple Store is a free download.

Apple Store iOS app updated originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 23 Jul 2013 18:35:00 EST. Please see our...

Ibrahim Balic’s Twitter image

Is Ibrahim Balic behind the hack that drove Apple to take its Developer Center offline for a few days and completely overhaul the security measures protecting it?

Balic, an independent security researcher, believes he is. And the timing and some of the data he has offered up in support of that claim does line up with the narrative so far.

But is he really the “intruder” that Apple says attempted...

During Apple's Q3, 2013 earnings report, the company's CFO, Peter Oppenheimer, provided additional details of  its Apple TV movie and TV episode sales. The numbers are, these days, in the billions of dollars, and are nothing to sneeze at. They have to be taken seriously even as rumors swirl regarding a new Apple HDTV initiative.

Apple has posted a detailed breakdown (PDF) of its third-quarter financial results, released earlier today. Segment data shows that while revenue from the Americas was up 12 percent year-over-year to $14.405 billion, the company saw drops in other regions -- for instance an eight percent decline in Europe to $7.614 billion. Greater China, in theory a market that should be growing for Apple, instead fell 14 percent to $4.641 billion....  ...

In somewhat of a surprise from Tuesday's quarterly conference call, it was announced that iTunes Software and Services generated $3.9 billion, which represents a whopping 25 percent increase compared to the year-ago period.   ...

Apple has formally released the results of its fiscal third quarter, which ended in late June. Although revenues rose slightly year-over-year to $35.3 billion, net income fell from $8.8 billion to $6.9 billion. In terms of EPS, Apple slid from $9.32 per share to $7.47. Gross profit margins likewise sank, shifting from 42.8 percent to 36.9 percent. To the surprise of analysts, iPhone sales were up significantly -- from about 26 million to 31.2 million, but Macs and the iPad fared less well. Mac sales declined from 4 million to 3.8 million, while the iPad dipped from 17 million units to 14.6 mil... ...

Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer started the company’s third-quarter 2013 financial results conference call by discussing Apple’s June quarter record for 31.2 million iPhones sold. Total revenue for Apple is up one percent from Q3 2012. The iPhone has experienced 66 percent growth in Japan. Oppenheimer called the drop in iPad…

AT&T, the second largest U.S. carrier by subscribership, posted its earnings for the second quarter of 2013 on Tuesday, meeting Wall Street expectations while selling a record 6.8 million smartphones.  ...

Apple has reported its financial results for its fiscal 2013 third quarter. The company sold 31.2 million iPhones, a June quarter record, up from 26 million iPhones in last year’s third quarter, and 37.4 million iPhones last quarter. Apple sold 14.6 million iPads in the third quarter, down from…

Apple today announced financial results for its fiscal 2013 third quarter ended June 29, 2013. The Company posted quarterly revenue of $35.3 billion and quarterly net profit of $6.9 billion, or $7.47 per diluted share. Apple sold 31.2 million iPhones, which set a June quarter record. Apple also sold 14.6 million iPads and 3.8 million Macs during the quarter. “We are especially proud of our record June quarter iPhone sales of over 31 million and the strong growth in revenue from iTunes, Software and Services,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook. “We are really excited about the upcoming releases of iOS 7 and OS X Mavericks, and we are laser-focused and working hard on some amazing new products that we will introduce in the fall and across 2014.”

Today, Apple announced its quarterly earnings for Q3 2013. In this latest quarter, Apple recorded revenue of $35.3 billion and quarterly net profit of $6.9 billion. International sales accounted for more than half (57 percent) of the quarter's revenue.

In all, Apple sold 31.2 million iPhones, up 20% year over year. The company also sold 14.6 million iPads and 3.8 million Macs in the quarter. These two numbers are down from the same quarter last year when Apple sold 17 million iPads and 4 million Macs.

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Apple Reports Third Quarter Results

Sales of 31 Million iPhones Set New June Quarter Record

CUPERTINO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Apple(R) today announced financial results for its fiscal 2013...

Senior vice president and Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer is on first today for Apple’s Q3 2013 earnings report and just provided some updates on the company’s iTunes sales, retail stores and much, much more. Not only did the App Store have its best week and best month last quarter, Apple added a ton of content to the iTunes store thanks to new additions to the Apple TV with HBO and WatchESPN. It also confirmed that it’s now at 320 million iCloud accounts, up around 20 million since WWDC in June.

Head below for a roundup of the updated numbers:

• Best month and best week ever for App Store billings. 2.4B for App Store.. total quarterly revenue of 4B from iTunes software and services.
• 60K movies, 230k tv episodes available
• customers downloaded more than 1B TV episodes, 390 million movies (800k tv episodes, 300k movies per day)
• 11 billion paid to developers, half in the last four quarters
• 320 million iCloud accounts...

With continued iPhone growth and a particularly strong performance from its iTunes and services businesses, Apple posted a slight increase in revenues in the June quarter, though lower margins led to a 20 percent slide in profit. Following the company's earnings release, Apple executives took part in a conference call to discuss the quarter, and notes of interest follow.  ...

Apple’s profits fell for a second consecutive quarter, even as the company enjoyed record iPhone sales for the April-to-June time period.

For its fiscal third quarter ended June 29, Apple reported sales of $35.3 billion, with net profit at $6.9 billion. That translated to earnings of $7.47 per diluted share. Apple’s revenue marked a record for the June quarter, ticking up 1 percent from the $35 billion Apple posted in last year’s third quarter. Still, profits fell 22 percent year-over-year, down from $8.88 billion in 2012. Apple also reported a drop in profit during its fiscal second quarter of 2013.

Apple’s performance for the third quarter topped analyst expectations. Analysts were looking for the company to earn $7.32 a share on $35 billion...

Rovio’s Bad Piggies ($1) — both the standard and iPad HD versions — have been updated to version 1.4. Bad Piggies now features 30 new Rise & Swine levels for players. Also included in the update are new power-ups including super glue, magnets, and turbo charges, plus the new…

Apple announced earnings for the June quarter (Apple's fiscal Q3) of US$6.9 billion on revenue of $35.3 billion. Apple's earnings per share (EPS) of $7.47 beat consensus estimates of $7.30 per share, while revenue beat estimates of $35 billion.

Apple investors steeling themselves for a disappointing quarter received a nice surprise instead — a slight beat.

Posting its fiscal third-quarter financials after market close Tuesday, Apple reported earnings per share of $7.47 on revenue of $35.3 billion. Both numbers beat Wall Street estimates. Analysts had been expecting Apple to post earnings per share of $7.34 on revenue of $35.18 billion.

Apple said it shipped 31 million iPhones for the quarter. That’s less than the 37.4 million is shipped in the quarter prior, but significantly more than the 26 million it shipped in the year-ago quarter, and well above the street’s expectations for 26 million. But it shipped only 14.6 million iPads. That’s down from the 17 million it sold in the year prior, and well below the 18 million analysts had been predicting. Mac sales also came in a bit low; Apple shipped 3.8 million units, slightly less...

Sprint has ported its Wireless CapTel service to iOS devices, according to an announcement. The service is built for the hearing impaired, adding captions to otherwise voice-only calls. Previously the option was limited to a handful of Android devices, such as the Samsung Galaxy SIII and HTC Evo 4G....   ...

Apple on Tuesday reported a profit of $6.9 billion for its fiscal third quarter. Revenue for the quarter was $35.3 billion, according to Apple. These results compare to revenue of $35 billion and net profit of $8.8 billion in the year-ago quarter.

AT&T said on Tuesday that it sold a record number of Android smartphones last quarter, helping fuel adjusted earnings of 67 cents per share on revenue of just more than $32 billion.

This was a solid quarter for revenue and customer additions across our key growth platforms,” CEO Randall Stephenson said in a statement, adding that the company’s LTE network deployment is ahead of schedule.

Among other data points offered up by AT&T:

- The company added 551,000 postpaid subscribers and 632,000 total subscribers for the quarter. That included nearly 400,000 wireless-enabled tablets.

- Total wireless revenues, including device sales totaled $17.3 billion, up 5.7 percent. Service revenue accounted for $15.4 billion of that, with data service totaling $5.4 billion, up nearly 20 percent from a year earlier.

- More than a third of customers are on LTE...

Apple and Motorola are set to appear in the U.S. Court of Appeals on September 11 to jointly attempt to get their patent infringement cases against each other reinstated after they were dismissed by Judge Richard Posner. The companies have been fighting over mobile device patent infringement claims, and other companies have an interest in outcome of this case since it could set a precedent for future SEP and FRAND patent cases.

This is really sad.

∞ Read this on The Loop

VoIP/messaging service Viber has been hacked by a group called the Syrian Electronic Army, known to support Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, reports say. During the attack, the SEA managed to obtain tracking information stored in Viber's database, namely the UDIDs and IPs associated with calls. Since-removed vandalism of the Viber support page suggests that Viber was targeted because it's an Israeli company allegedly spying on the public....  ...

This week at Apple's online store find reduced prices on refurbished MacBook Pro models. The 15.4-inch MBP with a 2.4GHz Intel quad-core i7 processor, 4GB of RAM and a 750GB hard drive has seen a $500 discount to $1,499. For $1,449 is the 15.4-inch Refurbished MacBook Pro with a 2.3GHz Intel quad-core i7 processor, 4GB of RAM and a 500GB hard drive....   ...

This week eCost.com has the 13.3-inch Retina MacBook Pro for the reduced price of $1,699. That's $599 off the list price of $2,299, and $200 less than the lowest price we have seen on this configuration anywhere else. Free shipping is included and sales tax applies for residents of California, Texas and Tennessee. This MBP features a 2.5GHz Intel dual-core i5 processor, 8GB of RAM and 512GB of flash storage with Intel HD Graphics 4000 and Mountain Lion pre-installed. Also included is a one year warranty on parts and labor from Apple....  ...

Increased competition in the tablet segment apparently hasn't stopped Apple's iPad from continuing to dominate, as a new study finds that the iPad accounts for nearly seven out of eight tablets active on the Internet in North America.  ...

Great news for the Internet. An appeals court this week upheld a lower court ruling that invalidated a pair of controversial patents held by Eolas Technologies. Those patents, which covered some of the technologies underpinning the Web, were asserted against Apple, Google, Amazon and a host of other companies back in 2009 by Eolas, sparking outcry from open Web advocates. Among them: Tim Berners-Lee, widely considered one of the fathers of the Internet, who argued that Eolas’ patent claims, if upheld, would “substantially impair the usability of the Web.” Good riddance to another patent troll looking for a big IP pay day.