It’s not like news like this would still surprise us.

Apple has released their sales report for the first quarter of 2012 and as expected the company has exceeded its own projections and has broken sales records. Apple is reporting its largest revenue period yet – a whopping $46.3 billion.

According to the Apple report, the Cupertino, Ca. company has posted a revenue of $37.04 million in iPhone sales, an increase of a whopping 128 percent from the same period in 2010.The company also reported on its other products:

iPad – Sales of $15.43 million or a 111 percent year on year increase

Macs – 5.3 million, or a year on year increase of 26 percent

Only the iPod failed to post an increase in sales. In fact, sales went down 15.4 million, which means a 2.1 percent decrease, year on year.

Apple’s take is considered the largest quarterly revenue posted by any company in history. And not just that, the fourth quarter earnings was a 73 percent increase from third quarter earnings.

Apple has attributed the company’s success to a convergence of factors that ultimately helped its bottom line – the release of the new iPhone 4s, the increase in iPad sales over the holiday season and more traction among consumers in choosing iPads and iPhones over other products have all contributed to the record sales. Apple has even said that the release of the iPhone 4S last year (which drew criticisms because it was just an incremental upgrade from the iPhone 4) was the right move all along.

Apple CEO Tim Cook has expressed confidence about Apple’s market leading positions in the smartphone and tablet markets, saying that the “ecosystem of the iPad is in a class by itself.” Cook further shared that the success the company is enjoying will only spur them to innovate “like crazy.”

Minimalism is a very strict design aesthetic where things are stripped down to the fundamentals. It eschews any kind of feature or element that is seen as a distraction or a complication to a basic design. Steve Jobs firmly believed in this kind of design philosophy and it is something that he not only applied to all his decisions while working at Apple, but also to his life as well.

Take a look at the iPod. It is a marvel of simplicity. A rectangular device with a screen and a circular controller.  You don’t see any kind of overt printing on the face and yet the controls are still intuitive that a child will easily learn how to operate it. There’s practically no learning curve. The iPod is a testament to Jobs’ desire for neatness and simplicity. The iPod perfectly reflects Jobs’ view on industrial design. To him industrial design should be viewed less as a science but more of an art.

Artistic eye certainly plays a big part in designing Apple’s products. Just look at the iMac and how simply stunning it looks. It is almost sculptural in its aesthetic, with hardly a button visible when you view it straight on. Jobs knew that a wonderfully designed product will make people desire to get it even without knowing if they have any use for it. That’s why whenever we see a new Apple product being unveiled the reaction is immediate – “I want one.”

Jobs is notoriously minimalist even in his personal life. In an interview, former Apple CEO John Sculley recalled a visit he made to Jobs’ house.

“I remember going into Steve’s house and he had almost no furniture in it. He just had a picture of Einstein, whom he admired greatly, and he had a Tiffany lamp and a chair and a bed. He just didn’t believe in having lots of things around but he was incredibly careful in what he selected.”

Only a few people would take minimalism to that extreme, but Jobs made it look so elegant and civilized. He deliberately went against the blatant consumerism that most of us have fallen victim to. It’s ironic that his own beliefs in minimalism and how he applied it at Apple have made us covet his products more.

That’s a genius at work.

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It’ll probably surprise you to learn just how much crazy cool stuff is available in iTunes U (that “educational” arm of the iTunes Store that nobody ever talks about and you’ve probably never looked at). I mean, isn’t that stuff supposed to be just for college students? I offer a resounding no! I also bet it will surprise you to learn that everything in iTunes U is free.

Whether you’re addicted to learning, or hate thought, I guarantee there’s something in iTunes U that will pique your interest, whatever your hobbies and interests. Here are 10 amazingly cool downloads from iTunes U — video college lectures, professionally made documentaries, ebooks — representing just a cross-sectional taste of the riches available there.

Developing Apps for iOS

Format: Video
Provided by: Stanford
Ever wanted to create your own app for iPhone or iPad? This course from Stanford professor Paul Hegarty takes you through 25 lectures that explain how iOS code works, down to even the smallest of details. For a 25-hour investment, you could be the next great app developer. Lectures include plenty of visuals and even HD video. Ready to innovate?

Download It Here

Fun With Physics

Format: Video
Provided by: Virginia Department of Education
These five videos were produced as teaching tools to interest kids in the world of physics, but kids of all ages will get a kick out of them. They’re very brief, each one showing a high-speed recording of some common action (like lighting a match or popping a balloon), so that it plays ultra slow.

Download It Here

Hasbro Toys & Games

Format: Video
Provided by: Duke University
Every child of the 70s and 80s will go nuts with nostalgia over this collection of almost 200 classic Hasbro toy commercials. You’ll find old ads for G.I. Joe, Mr. Potato Head, Hungry Hungry Hippos, and tons more. I dare you to watch and not smile.

Download It Here

Human Spaceflight

Format: Video
Provided by: NASA
A treat for any fan of NASA or the human exploration of space, this video is filled with personal stories as told by individuals involved with every American space program from Mercury to the International Space Station, and incredible imagery.

Download It Here

Masters of Photography

Format: Video
Provided by: National Geographic Live
Renowned photographers and photojournalists share their tricks of the trade in this 13-part video series. Amateurs and professionals alike will be utterly enthralled.

Download It Here

National Book Festival 2010

Format: Video
Provided by: Library of Congress
D.C.’s annual National Book Festival is catalogued by the Library of Congress each year, and LoC has started making videos of the various events available online. On iTunes U, this translates as prominent authors conducting personal readings of their own work before an audience, captured on film. I’ve already found several of my favorite authors here, and I’m sure you will too. Be sure to look through the LoC archives on iTunes U for the 2008 and 2009 festivals, for more author readings.

Download It Here

Social Marketing

Format: eBook
Provided by: The Open University
Got a product or a brand (or maybe even yourself) to market? Learn why social marketing online is one of the most important marketing tools you can use, and how to use it well.

Download It Here

Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy

Format: Video
Provided by: MoMA (Metropolitan Museum of Art)
This seven-part video series explores the art of the superhero costume by looking at movie costumes, avant-garde fashion, and even modern sportswear. Latter episodes feature panels of popular comic book writers and artists.

Download It Here

The Tolkien Professor

Format: Audio
Provided by: Washington College
For fans of Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, these 27 recordings are like milk sent down from Heaven, exploring numerous aspects of Tolkien’s life and works. And they’re great fun, too.

Download It Here

Working In the Theatre

Format: Video
Provided by: American Theater Wing
Whether you’re interested in becoming an actor, producer, director, or stage hand, or you’re simply fascinated by Broadway culture, you won’t find a better guide than this terrific series. It’s comprised of more than 200 hour-long (or longer) panels featuring professionals working in modern theatre, including lots of actors you’ve actually heard of. It’s like Inside the Actor’s Studio for the theatre set.

Download It Here

The images below were obtained by Mac Rumors and sent elsewhere by an anonymous source. The DVT-1 marking means this iPod Touch is an early prototype which isn’t surprising as it runs iOS 4.2.1. However, there is no way of verifying the authenticity of these images.

The shots are blurry but assuming this Touch is real, it shows Apple’s growing interest in killing off the Home Button. Rumors cropped up the iPhone 5 would do away with the Home Button in favor or a capacitive solution, possibly a button icon on a larger, taller screen. This could be Apple experimenting with the practicality of a touch only Home Button.

Images Below

A picture of the purported 7th generation iPod Nano’s shell was revealed on Apple.pro an Apple rumor site that has been consistent in predicting new products such as the current generation iPod Nano, iPad 2 details and Verizon iPhone schematics. The case shows a cutout for the camera that would be covered by a clip thanks to the current design of the iPod Nano.

It’s unknown which camera Apple will use but don’t expect anything fancy. The 5th generation Nano packed a measly 0.3 Megapixel camera meant for video recording. Video recording and playback was stripped out the current iPod Nano in favor of a smaller form factor and an iOS like interface.

For Apple to add back the camera and recording Software seems like an evolutionary move of the Nano. I’m sure some people are annoyed that Apple opted to remove the Hardware in the first place but that’s the price paid by a smaller form factor. My question is how does Apple expect to fit a camera sensors in the already tiny Nano? A teardown from iFixit reveals its packed to the brim

Please click on the image for a larger version.

News about Jailbreaking the iPod Nano have ramped up as a developer named James Whelton found a way to modify the device’s springboard to remove an App. The latest advancement in hacking the iPod Nano comes to us from Steven Troughton-Smith.

Smith has published a tutorial on how to put the Nano in to DFU mode and install a custom Firmware. He’s even modified iRecovery, a popular Jailbreaking tool, to work with the iPod Nano.

I’m excited to see the progress being made on Jailbreaking the iPod Nano. Significant progress is behind made and it’s only a matter of time before we see a one-click solution.

The sixth generation iPod Nano is the first in its line to run iOS over the traditional iPod Operating system that’s been reliant on a click wheel instead of a touch screen. One man, James Whelton, has already taken the first step to hacking the iPod Nano.

Whelton, an Irish developer has gain access to the Springboard on his iPod Nano which houses the Apps under iOS. By uploading a custom .plsit, Whelton was able to remove an App from the springboard and replace it with a blank space.While removing an App isn’t exactly thrilling, the potential it has is what the jail breaking community has thrived on.

The most notable aspect of Whelton’s .plist hack — revealing the loose ends Apple forgot to tie up — points to a potential Jailbreak for the iPod Nano:

Next is the discovery in some of the device’s plists of reference to support of Movies, TV Shows, Apps, Games, vCards, Calender events and so on, with a few other cool things like a passcode lock. With the bypass I figured out, I hope to enable these pretty soon. It seems like the OS is a rehashed version of the previous nano’s OS.

More details will be emerging in the next few days according to Whelton. It will be interesting to see what the Jailbreaking community and the iPhone Dev Team bring to the iPod Nano and if any third party Apps will flourish on the Nano. The constraints of a 1.5″ 240 x 240 pixel screen could pose a problem from a usability standpoint but I’m confident we’ll see some very cool things with the iPod Nano once it’s Jailbroken.

Introduced in iOS 4.0 was an API that could determine if an iOS device was compromised and if any system files were modified. This API, part of the Mobile Device Management bundle allowed third party developers to check on the status of an iOS device to ensure their Apps were not hacked making user data readily accessible.

However, Apple dropped this API in iOS 4.2.1 without any explanation. A plausible theory on Apple’s decision to drop support for the API is that making it hack proof would have been impossible

“It’s an interesting concept – asking the OS to tell you if it has been compromised,” Owen says. “Because a smart attacker might first change that very part of the OS. Jailbreaks often get better and better at disguising the fact that anything has been compromised.”

Apple has been stuck in a cat and mouse game since the iPhone’s release as hackers find exploits that grant them root access to the device. Apple may be conceding to Jailbreakers temporarily to work on new methods of preventing exploits.

While Apple just released iOS 4.2 for the iPad, it’s already working on version 4.3 which will include an iPad exclusive newspaper which will be formatted for a tablet reading environment and will be called “The Daily.” A source tells Mac Stories that Rupert Murdoch is working closely with Apple to create “The Daily” which will not be available in web or print versions.

John Murdoch also revealed information on “The Daily” and Newscorp’s strategy for its move to an iPad only newspaper.

“News Corp. has spent the last three months assembling a newsroom that will soon be about 100 staffers strong. The Daily will launch in beta mode sometime around Christmas, and will be introduced to the public on the iPad and other tablet devices in early 2011. It is expected to cost 99 cents a week, or about $4.25 a month. It will come out — as the name suggests — seven days a week. The operation is currently working out of the 26th floor of the News Corp. Building on Sixth Avenue in a space that looks like a veritable construction zone. The staff’s permanent home will be on the ninth floor, and they’ll move down once it’s ready.”

The App, which should be released in conjunction with iOS 4.3 sometime this September will bring in-App subscriptions. Subscriptions would allow users to subscribe to content from within an App and be automatically billed. Its unknown whether this would be specific to “The Daily” or would be open to all content publishers.

iOS 4.2 was believed to arrive last week but a WiFi bug in the Gold Master release delayed its public release. Since then, Apple has fixed the issue and released a second GM build to developers. The newest build, technically 4.2.1, will arrive today according to a snippet from Apple’s press release that was sourced from Everything iCafe

“iOS 4.2 makes the iPad a completely new product, just in time for the holiday season. Once again, the iPad with iOS 4.2 will define the target that other tablets will aspire to, but very few, if any, will ever be able to hit.”

iOS 4.2 brings many highly anticipated features to the iPad such as multitasking so you can run more than one App at a time and switch between running Apps easily; folder support which allows for easier App organization; AirPlay and AirPrint which streams content to any supported device and prints documents respectively.

Apple didnt give an exact time for 4.2′s release, but keep checking iTunes periodically for an update. These are just a few of the many features in iOS 4.2 for iPad and e’ll be playing with the final version in the next few days. Expect to see a review shortly.

Update:

According to Macworld iOS 4.2 will arrive at 10 AM today.

The Beatle’s 13 studio albums are available for download from the iTunes Store at 99¢ to $1.29 per song. The band’s complete box set is available for download at $149.

The addition of The Beatles’ catalog to the iTunes store has been the center of much rumor and speculation as litigation delayed the quartet’s music from being released digitally by Apple. EMI, The Beatle’s label was scrutinized by Paul McCartney for their absence from the iTunes Store.

After a long and storied process, The Beatles are now on iTunes. While Apple’s big reveal isn’t iTunes in the cloud or the public release of iOS 4.2, The Beatles on iTunes is big enough.

Now three times quickly please. HEX iPod Nano watch band, HEX iPod Nano watch band, HEX iPod Nano watch band.

Let me break you the great news now: that isn’t the complete name of those and actually they are called : HEX watch band for iPod Nano Gen. 6. In all honesty though, these watch bands don’t look too bad at all. While they immediately might make one think of our painfully beloved Hasselhoff and K.I.T.T, until you plug in your earphones the HEX watch band for …. yes those, look nice and come at the reasonable price of only $24.95.

While the ‘Patent pending’ statement ambitions seems, especially considered how many cases and arm bands already have been created for iPods and iPhones, I do like the concept of these iPod Nano watch bands for those among us who use their iPod Nano as… errr… watch.

As can be seen in above image, sadly the magic and slick look immediately disappears as soon as you plug in your earphones. Other than that they are nice and I think many a jogger or fitness freak could now have the perfect excuse to get a new Gen. 6 iPod Nano.

Get yours from HEX and get 10% off if you order today. These are way cool as the HEX site states itself.

Needz moar lightsaber we say.

[image via Unplggd]

I’m not a huge fan of the new iPod lineup. The iPod Touch is nice, but it doesn’t have enough capacity for me. Granted, there aren’t any iPods that can hold my 230GB iTunes library, but if we’re talking about just music, I’m only at 36GB or so, which my ancient iPod Photo 40GB can handle just fine. I also seem to have an emotional attachment to the old music player, and frankly, it’s so old at this point that no one wants to steal the thing.

But I know that someday it’s going to fail, because all hard drives will eventually fail in one way or another. That’s why when I found this post on Unplggd, my interest perked up. Here’s the gist: Your older iPod’s hard drive fails, and you want to keep it around. Just pop open the iPod, take out the old drive and replace it with a compact flash card. Being that compact flash cards are cheap and plentiful (at least in my house), this is an affordable way to keep your old iPod in use.

It’s recycling at its finest.

For people like me, CopyTrans is something that might be useful. It is software that makes it easy to transfer music from iPods/iPhones to the computer. I am sure that, at one point or another, you’ve found yourself looking for a program that will allow you to transfer the contents of your iPod to your computer. CopyTrans does just that – with a single click.

It actually has two modes – Smart Backup and Manual Backup. The former mode is that one that beginners will find helpful. One click and your iTunes library will contain whatever it is that is in your iPod. This will work perfectly if iTunes is empty or has missing tracks (that are in your iPod). And yes, you can say that this option is perfect for us who cannot afford to spend too much time figuring out which tracks to transfer. The Manual Backup mode, on the other hand, gives a lot more control to the user. In this mode, you can pick out tracks to transfer. You can even decide which details (of a track) to include in the transfer. If you’re in a finicky mood, then this mode will match that perfectly.

Even if your iTunes library is more organized than an accountant’s balance sheet, you might still find some use for this software. In the unfortunate event that you lose all your music in your hard drive, CopyTrans should come in handy.

You can check the software out for yourself at the CopyTrans web site. Oh, and yes, the latest version is compatible with iTunes 9 and iOS 4, but the suite doesn’t run on Mac.

*Edit: Updated the year of iPod date from 2004 to 2001, and added the S to 3G. Thanks for the heads up, Alexis and Jack Straw!

I haven’t been a fan of the latest version of the iPod Shuffle. Sure, it’s neat that there are no controls on the thing, but it does get confusing when you need to remember how many clicks you need to do to fast forward, rewind, etc. Anyways, turns out the headphones that come with the 3rd-gen Shuffle are having problems, and Apple’s going to cover the fix. So how do you know yours are screwed up? Here are the symptoms according to Apple:

• Controls are non-responsive or work intermittently
• Unexpected volume increase or decrease
• Unexpected playing of voice feedback

There’s also a note on the support site about the problem:

Note: Apple In-Ear Headphones with Remote and Mic and Apple Earphones with Remote and Mic which exhibit the symptoms noted above are also covered under this program.

Meaning, if you have an iPhone with this problem, it’s covered as well.

If you’ve got this problem and you take it in to Apple for replacement, let us know how it goes in the comments.

Music, music, everywhere. It’s how I like my life, which is why we have music in every room in our home- from our bedroom to our kitchen to our bathroom (because there’s nothing quite like showering to Yo-Yo Ma after a long, tiring day).

To accomplish this, we’ve always had various stereo system and boom boxes set up- in our kitchen, we have an old CD walkman(!) hooked up to a pair of waterproof speakers. Last weekend, we decided that it was time to take the plunge and “modernize” our kitchen system.

Because I love our speakers, the first thing we looked at was an iPod Shuffle. It seemed like the perfect choice: small, unobtrusive, and available in a color that would go wonderfully with my kitchen walls. Best of all, at just $79 for the 4GB version, the price was perfect.

Just when we were about the make the purchase, however, we discovered something:

“Because of the extra tier on the 3.5mm jack/hub that connects the 3rd Gen. iPod Shuffle to other appliances, to connect the iPod to anything but the specific headphones that come with or similar compatible headphones you need an adapter.” (source)

That stopped us in our tracks. We needed a $19.95 adapter to be able to connect the Shuffle to our speakers? And to control the Shuffle as well?

So we looked at the Nano. For an additional $50, we could get double the GB, a built-in video camera, an FM radio, and be able to watch videos as well. And that’s what we did.

Which brings me to this question: why buy an iPod Shuffle at all? Is it really much better for working out at the gym? Is it the novelty of owning a music player smaller than a stick of gum?

I’d love to hear from iPod Shuffle owners out there- especially those who own the third generation Shuffles. What is it best for?

A few weeks ago, we were contacted by Pelican about their new i1015 water resistant case. Always down to review a new product, we asked for a review copy and they sent us out one for free for evaluation.

At first glance, this is just a generic case. It’s not designed specifically for iPods or iPhones, or really any electronic device. Instead, it’s built as a do-it-all container that’s water resistant, dust proof and crush proof.

You can’t tell me something is crush proof and not expect a test.

More after the jump.

I am not a petite gentleman. At 6’1, 275, I’m what we in the biz call “husky.” I decided that one of the best ways to try out the Pelican’s crush proof abilities was to give it a good weight test. So, I stood on it.

I gingerly got one foot on the case, and I heard it groan a bit. Then I got the other foot on, and even though I could feel the case budging, it wouldn’t break or crack. That’s impressive, but still, let’s keep going.

On to water resistant. My wife was taking a bath , so I went on in and dunked the case in with her. She wasn’t thrilled with that, but she’s not going to be thrilled with anything until that baby comes out of her. Anyways, after a thorough thrashing and rubber ducky simulation in the tub, I opened up the case again to reveal … not a drop of water. Nothing. Now I have been told that this case isn’t designed to be submerged, but the fact that it worked as well as it did was good enough for me.

As for dust proof, well that’s not a very exciting test. But I will say that the device has been on my desk for a few weeks and there isn’t any dust on the inside. So, I guess that works too.

But what baffled me the most about this case was the usage. Who really would use a water-resistant case like this? It’s not sleek, form fitting or even practical, so when would it come in handy?

The only situation that I could come up with was tubing down the river. In my town, we have a river nearby that people like to drift down in the summer, hanging onto an inner tube. I picture clipping the lanyard on the case to my raft, and listening to tunes while whittling the afternoon away. I suppose technically you could do the same thing in a pool, but that’s just not as exciting.

And in the looks department, this case was really hit with the ugly stick. It’s not pretty in any way, and it’s fairly bulky too. But in fairness, this seems to be a purpose-driven case instead of one you’d use daily, so I suppose that’s OK.

If this seems like a case that would work for your lifestyle, then give it a peek. But for most people, I don’t see this being the best fit. That is, unless you really enjoy floating boxes.

Pelican i1015

If the “Time Out New York” user is a bona fide tourist decked out in a four-foot squared map, two digital cameras with wide angle lenses and round eyes (that look as though they had spotted a bright ghost alongside the awesome skyscrapers), then this App is essential to finding friends, restaurants, museums, bars, clubs and, most importantly, unique events that are ongoing, like music concerts at Radio City, Madison Square Garden and dozens of others.

Look over a Google Maps-like picture of the city, and put pins on every potential pizza place that serves up steaming hot extra cheese pies for twelve bucks!

Even the NYC native cannot deny that the “Time Out New York” application is a city dweller’s best friend. This free iPhone program becomes invaluable to anyone and everyone in New York as it not only locates all of the arts, sports and hot dog vendors (well maybe not the vendors), but it gives critics’ reviews of whatever you desire to do, providing pertinent information such as what is free for students, what is costly to urbanites and what is somewhere worth going into for any fee.

This App works offline; so do not worry about losing service and guiltily stranding friends that you were supposed to meet at the MOMA, because the user-friendly map will still be there to guide you.

Grade: A+

In order to fight off the ruthless hugging armies Oliver uses his rifle and crossbow to blast off the horrid pink heads, spilling their rainbow blood. The player fortifies himself behind sandbags and resumes a position taking down the enemy as they make their approach over the surrounding hills.

This game is a must have! The sound, visuals and gameplay offer a “Call of Duty”-like experience. The command center even radios in orders to stay put and vanquish the Huggable Bears, before an extract point can be made to get Oliver out of enemy territory. Before he can leave, the colossal bears, varying in size and numbers, must all be destroyed; this feat then unlocks new weapons, like bazookas and chainsaws.

When the music blares and the onslaught of dozens of humorous pink bears get close, Oliver can tap the screen to aim with one thumb and tap the screen again with the player’s other thumb to easily send piles of bodies flying through the air in the nick of time.

Grade: A

[Visit to Download "Battle Bears" On Sale]