Tesla Motors Model S Options and Pricing

post from Daring Fireball on 31 January 2012 06:04:26 PM. © Daring Fireball

Looks great, and less expensive than I expected. I like my friend Nat Irons’s quip that the $50,000 40kWh model is “the white plastic MacBook of the product line”.

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http://www.teslamotors.com/models/options

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Apple Hires Dixons CEO John Browett to Lead
Retail

post from Daring Fireball on 31 January 2012 06:04:26 PM. © Daring Fireball

James Davey and Poornima Gupta, reporting for Reuters:

Apple chief Tim Cook, making his first high-profile hire sincetaking the helm of the world’s largest technology company, luredthe well-regarded industry executive to fill a critical post onceheld by Ron Johnson, another outsider who left Target Corp to joinApple in 2000. [?]
Browett, Dixons’ CEO since 2007, was previously chief executive ofTesco Plc’s successful online shopping site. He will overseeApple’s retail strategy and the expansion of its stores around theworld, from the current total of around 300.

You don’t see many executives trading up from CEO of one company to senior vice president of another. That Browett is from Europe is a pretty good signal that international expansion is a top priority for Apple retail.

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Read The Full Article:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/31/us-apple-idUSTRE80U0X720120131?irpc=932

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Visualizing Apples Quarterly Results

post from Daring Fireball on 31 January 2012 05:04:00 PM. © Daring Fireball

Fantastic tool by Francesco Schwarz for visualizing Apple unit sale and revenue growth over the past decade.

I stumbled across this earlier today when I asserted that the iPhone is now far more popular and profitable then the iPod ever was. Figured I should double check that, just to make sure. Not only is it true, but after last quarter it’s not even close. iPod unit sales followed a fairly regular pattern: about 10 million units sold per quarter for the first nine months of each calendar year, then a little over 20 million units sold each holiday quarter. Apple sold just under 23 million iPads in Q1 09 (the 2008 holiday quarter) — until this last quarter, that was the highest quarterly unit sales number for an Apple product segment. Not only did the iPhone break the 30-million mark last quarter, but with a grand total of 37 million it came damn close to breaking the 40-million mark. Think about that: Apple had never sold 30 million of anything in a quarter and almost sold 40 million iPhones.

Now think about what happens if iPad sales continue to grow at their current trajectory.

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Read The Full Article:
http://frncs.co/apple/

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An iPhone case with a little something extra:
insurance

post from Apple on 31 January 2012 04:03:43 PM. © Apple

Being the resident ?extreme? iPhone case enthusiast (and also the klutz who drops his phone most often), I was intrigued by the new cellhelmet Kickstarter project. This $44.99 case combines svelte design with protection against drops, but bundles it with an actual insurance policy that replaces your iPhone if damaged while in the case.

The case in and of itself isn?t magical, and according to David Artuso of cellhelmet creator cellpig.com, the case isn?t ?superman.? The design has angled edges to protect against drops, and a choice of 6 different colored backplate shields to protect the glass, providing great protection without the bloat of other solutions.

What sets the cellhelmet apart is the bundled insurance policy, administered by Global Warranty Group. Should the iPhone break while in the case, a $50 handling fee covers any repairs required, or complete replacement if necessary. I?ve written about iPhone insurance before, but the fact that this case includes the insurance for the $44.99 purchase price is what makes it interesting.

The plan does not cover water damage, nor does the case protect the water sensors, but according to gadget insurance provider SquareTrade, glass breakage accounts for 82% of its claims. The cellhelmet is competitive with SquareTrade?s own insurance program, but is slightly less expensive, applies even to used iPhones, and of course, comes with a case. Your iPhone has to be in the cellhelmet for its policy to apply, however.

Coverage lasts for one year from the time you purchase your cellhelmet, and should you every have to claim a total device replacement, you?ll have to buy another cellhelmet, but that?s consistent with other third-party insurance programs. If all your device requires is a screen replacement after an accident, you get unlimited repairs.

For slightly more money than a stylish iPhone case, and slightly less than a third-party insurance program, you can get both by backing the Pittsburgh-based company’s project on Kickstarter. Not a bad deal, especially if you can’t seem to keep a firm grip on Apple’s beautiful but somewhat slippery smartphone designs.

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http://gigaom.com/apple/an-iphone-case-with-a-little-something-extra-insurance/

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RIM Creates Four Cartoon Characters to Spread Be
Bold Message

post from Daring Fireball on 31 January 2012 03:04:36 PM. © Daring Fireball

Someone at RIM is even nuttier than those two guys who got drunk on that airplane and chewed their way out of their restraints.

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Read The Full Article:
http://mobilesyrup.com/2012/01/30/rim-creates-4-cartoon-characters-to-spread-the-
be-bold-message/

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Sony, Too

post from Daring Fireball on 31 January 2012 01:05:46 PM. © Daring Fireball

Athima Chansanchai, reporting for Gadgetbox:

Sony’s Kate Dugan admitted that despite the natural disasters inJapan that affected production and shipment of its digitalcameras, “true decline” has set in for digital cameras, in whichsales are down 20 percent, the first time losses have hit in thedouble digits. The exodus is most pronounced amongst entry levelusers, who have turned to their phones as their all-in-onemust-have gadget.
Dugan said that meant Sony has to focus on things phones can’tachieve, such as “high optical zoom, low light shooting, full HDvideo.” The way the company sees it, phones are fine to shoot foodon the fly, but for “important moments should go to cameras.”

Compare and contrast Sony’s approach to dealing with the decline in point-and-shoot camera sales with Apple’s approach to the decline in iPod sales. Apple is skating to where the puck is heading; Sony is skating to where the puck is at the moment. Apple executives have long been on the record that the company is OK with iPod sales being cannibalized by smartphones — so long as they are Apple’s own smartphones. That’s worked out well for Apple, because the iPhone is now far more popular and profitable than the iPod ever was. They didn’t hesitate in 2007 to make the first iPhone, in Steve Jobs’s own words, “the best iPod ever” too.

Sony makes camera phones, too. But their phones are not as popular as their cameras were. (Could be worse. Consider, say, Canon and Nikon, whose point-and-shoot camera sales are in decline but neither of which even make smartphones.) Sony should no more abandon the point-and-shoot camera market than Apple should abandon the music-playing iPod market, but Sony has to recognize that it’s a business in decline and that the future is in putting better cameras into phones.

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Read The Full Article:
http://gadgetbox.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/30/10267566-sony-debuts-3-new-cyber-
shot-cameras

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Peppered Software releases Scribe 1.1 - Now with
audio synced to text

post from prMac on 31 January 2012 12:23:00 PM. © prMac

Peppered Software has released version 1.1 of Scribe, their outlining application for the Mac. This latest version allows users to capture live audio and sync it to text in their outlines. Audio recording is accessible through a newly designed audio toolbar. Keeping in line with Scribe's minimalist philosophy, the interface doesn't add clutter or distract you from outlining. With audio recorded into the application, Scribe lets you jump to any place in the audio from the text associated with it.

Read The Full Article:
http://prmac.com/release-id-37664.htm

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Bruce Springsteen Games Gives Bruce Fans
Something to Think About

Bruce Springsteen Games designed by-fans for fans, is hands-down the largest collection of Bruce trivia and information on the App Store. This interactive quiz offers Boss Buffs a treasure trove of questions about Bruce, the E-Street Band, their music, the members and their lives both on and off the stage. Start with 250 questions included and then upgrade to double the size of the question-bank if you like.

Read The Full Article:
http://prmac.com/release-id-37777.htm

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File and Folder Best Practices at the DAM
Learning Center

[...]

Read The Full Article:
http://blog.extensis.com/portfolio-server/file-and-folder-best-practices-at-the-d
am-learning-center.php

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China Telecom could offer the iPhone as early as
February

China Telecom is getting very near to launching Apple’s iPhone 4S on its network, the carrier said in a press release Tuesday obtained by China Daily. China Telecom subsidiary Beijing Telecom said a CDMA version of the iPhone 4S will likely be available to its customers by the end of February or the beginning of March.

Apple has been taking preparatory steps in advance of a launch with China Telecom, China’s third largest mobile network operator. Earlier in January, Apple secured regulatory approval to sell a device in China that operates using the CDMA2000 network standard, which is the technology China Telecom uses for its 3G network. At the time, the only step remaining for Apple was to get a license from China’s Telecommunications Equipment and Certification Center to begin selling the device, which it gained on Monday this week.

Earlier this week, Morgan Stanley’s Katy Huberty predicted that Apple could grow its iPhone sales by as many as 57 million units in China over the next two years if it succeeds in securing partnerships with China Telecom and China Mobile. China Telecom will offer Apple a potential subscriber pool of roughly 15 million high-end subscribers according to Morgan Stanley’s numbers, approximately doubling its current reach through official partner China Unicom.

The deal hasn’t yet been confirmed by Beijing Telecom’s parent company beyond the report from China Daily, and no pricing details have been released, but the pieces are in place, and there’s little reason to suspect Apple wouldn’t want to expand its presence in China as quickly as possible. No doubt a partnership with China Mobile, which reaches 650 million subscribers and has around a 70 percent share of the Chinese mobile market, is also a priority, but technological factors likely precludes official iPhone support until Apple creates a version specifically for China Mobile’s network.

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http://gigaom.com/apple/china-telecom-could-offer-the-iphone-as-early-as-february
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