iTunes Now Home to 850,000 iOS Apps, 350,000 iPad Apps

Apple just announced its fiscal second quarter 2013 earnings and, on the earnings call, revealed some information on its iTunes App Store. Apple said it now offers more than 850,000 iOS applications and that 350,000 of those applications are specifically designed for the iPad. The company also recognized $2.4 billion in revenue from iTunes, up 28 percent from the same quarter last year.

The growth is not necessarily a surprise considering Apple’s iTunes range. Apple offers 35 million songs in 119 countries, 50,000 movies in 109 countries and 1.7 million iBooks. The app store is also available in 155 countries, which Apple says covers more than 90 percent of the world’s population.

[Source: TechnoBuffalo]

Tumblr for Windows Phone Now Available

Tumblr released an official Windows Phone application on Tuesday, which is great news for those of us who have been trying to find a decent alternative. The application allows you to “post anything from anywhere,” including quotes, links, photos, text, chats and videos. You can also use the app to browse other Tumblr sites that you follow.

The company said that you’ll be able to find new content, share your own, switch between dashboard mode and Explore mode with a swipe across the screen, view GIFs right in your news feed and more. New images from your dashboard will show up on a live tile and can be set to appear on your lockscreen as well.

Tumblr for Windows Phone is free and is available now.

[Source: TechnoBuffalo]

Apple increases dividend by 15%, poised to embark on large stock-repurchasing plan

In conjunction with its earnings report for Q2 2013, Apple issued a press release announcing some major plans for its ever-growingstockpile of cash.

In March 2012, Apple announced that the company would be instituting a $2.65/share dividend on a quarterly basis with Apple's first dividend payment to investors going out in August of last year.

Now, about one year later, Apple announced its plan to increase its quarterly dividend to $3.05 per share. The next dividend payout to investors is scheduled for May 16, 2013.

What's more, Apple also announced a massive increase to its stock-repurchasing plan.

As part of this program, the Board has increased its share repurchase authorization to $60 billion from the $10 billion level announced last year. This is the largest single share repurchase authorization in history and is expected to be executed by the end of calendar 2015. Apple also expects to utilize about $1 billion annually to net-share-settle vesting restricted stock units.

When Apple first announced its dividend and stock repurchasing plan last year, it revealed that both initiatives would eat up about $45 billion from Apple's cash reserves. Under Apple's more aggressive dividend and stock repurchasing plan, Apple notes that the company will now be using $100 billion of its cash reserves to return money to shareholders and repurchase outstanding shares.

The company expects to utilize a total of $100 billion of cash under the expanded program by the end of calendar 2015. This represents a $55 billion increase to the program announced last year and translates to an average rate of $30 billion per year from the time of the first dividend payment in August 2012 through December 2015.

For a company that was long content to sit on its growing cash hoard under the helm of Steve Jobs, today's announcement represents a monumental shift in Apple's use of cash.

Regarding Apple's new use of cash, Apple CEO Tim Cook explained in a press release, "We are very fortunate to be in a position to more than double the size of the capital return program we announced last year. We believe so strongly that repurchasing our shares represents an attractive use of our capital that we have dedicated the vast majority of the increase in our capital return program to share repurchases."

Thus far, Wall Street seems to be pleased both with Apple's earnings report and news of its expanded cash program. In after hours trading, shares of Apple are up nearly 5 percent, trading up nearly 20 points.

[Source: TUAW]

Nokia teases new phone with Lumia colour, Qwerty keys

Time to put the 'key' in 'Nokia'. The Finnish company has revealed a glimpse of a new phone with a Qwerty keyboard, but it's unlikely to be a Lumia smart phone.

In a mysterious teaser image, Nokia shows what appears to be a phone with bright Lumia-style colours but Asha-style keys.

The teaser reveals rounded corners for the prospective device, showing a Z key and contoured Shift key.

The phone is apparently decked out in the vibrant primary colours that are the signature of Nokia's Windows Phone-powered Lumia smart phone range. But a Qwerty Lumia is unlikely, and with Nokia's mobile devices making the announcement it appears this will be a feature phone, perhaps an Asha phone.

Asha phones are Nokia's wallet-friendly feature phones, which now feature basic apps but lack the power and features of a smart phone. They're aimed largely at developing markets low-cost pay as you go customers.

Qwerty keyboards have disappeared from smart phones as touchscreens become ubiquitous in a post-iPhone world. Even BlackBerry is drifting away from its signature clicky keyboard, promoting the all-touchshcreen BlackBerry Z10 ahead of the forthcoming, keyboard-packingBlackBerry Q10.

Nokia's latest Lumia lineup includes the Nokia Lumia 520 and Lumia 720. Rumoured future devices for the struggling company include a new hero phone, a possible oversized rival to the Galaxy Note 2, and a 'new season' of new devices.

Nokia's announcement is scheduled for 7am on Wednesday. That's a bit early for a UK launch, but we'll set our alarms anyway and bring you the news.

[Source: CNET]

LG Confirms May 1 Event is Optimus G Pro Focused

LG recently asked us to save the date on May 1 for an event, although we weren’t entirely sure what to expect. Now we know.

The company issued invites on Monday to an event in New York City that will be entirely focused around its new LG Optimus G Pro smartphone. We imagine that LG will name U.S.carrier partners and pricing either at the event, or before it, so we’ll be sure to keep you in the loop as that news unfolds.

Right now we’re just being told that we’re going to “share in the genius” of the Optimus G Pro with the band Altlas Genius.

[Source: TechnoBuffalo]

iPad 5 Rear Shell Leaks, Shows Off iPad Mini-Like Design

Apple has been unusually silent over the past several months—we haven’t seen any big announcements since the iPhone 5, which was back in September of last year. We’re quickly skipping over the company’s annual iPad announcement, and that vow of silence may tell us a lot about what to expect when a reveal does finally come. We’ve heard a lot about the likelihood of a redesigned full-size iPad—we’ve seen pictures as proof—and today’s leak further backs up rumors we’ll see a bigger iPad mini-esque for form factor.

Just last week reports suggested Apple would introduce an iPad that’s “25 percent lighter and 15 percent thinner than the fourth generation iPad.” That’s all hearsay based on an analyst note. But there was also a case leak based around the rumored thinner design, while another report said the iPad 5 would slim down because of a more efficient LEDs. There’s plenty of talk right now, but obviously we have no way of verifying anything until Apple decides to address the world about its next generation iPad.

We’re expecting Apple to send out event invites any day now, but the more likely scenario will be to wait until WWDC. If that’s the case, will Apple use the conference to announce multiple hardware devices in addition to new software? Will it now just hold one big event mid-way through the year instead of several events throughout the year? We’ll have to wait and see. It’s not typical Apple form, but nothing has been quite typical for awhile now.

MacRumors highlights another possible leak in the same iPad 5 report having to do with the iPhone 5S’s SIM try. They look identical, which is no surprise given the fact that many expect the 5S to keep the iPhone 5’s same form factor.

[Source: TechnoBuffalo]

Believe It Or Not, Research Reveals That Most Facebook Users “Self-Censor”

Is there anything about social media that researchers haven’t yet zoomed in on? This time, the study (.pdf) comes from a Carnegie Mellon Ph.D. student and a Facebook staffer, who reveal that most Facebook users tend to self-censor their comments at the last minute before posting.

Carnegie Mellon’s Sauvik Das and Facebook Data Scientist Adam Kramer co-authored a study that put millions of people’s Facebook habits under a microscope during a 17-day period. When the duo examined the massive sample size of 3.9 million users, they found that 71 percent edited themselves right before posting.

The study identifies “self-censorship” as “the act of preventing oneself from speaking” — though personally, I think a more accurate definition might be “the act of preventing oneself from looking like an imbecile to everybody one knows.” (You say potato, I say potahto.) The report hones in on the fact that today’s social media enables people to write and then review their thoughts before sharing them. This, Das and Kramer believe, is what gives users the room to second guess what they wrote.

I’m both surprised by these research results and not. On the one hand, it’s human nature for a person to evaluate how he or she comes off to others. But on the other hand, it certainly doesn’t seem like a whopping 71 percent are actually considering what they put out on Facebook. The network’s rife with offensive status updates, questionable pics and other regrettable messages.

I suppose all those gross updates and “potty” shares must come from the other 29 percent.

[Source: TechnoBuffalo]

4G Nexus 4 with 32GB and Key Lime Pie to launch next month?

It's rumour time, so pinch of salt at the ready. Google was previously rumoured to be launching the Nexus 5 handset at its I/O conference next month, but now come whispers it'll announce a revamped Nexus 4 instead, SidhTech reports.

On the cards: 4G for a superfast Internet connection, 32GB of storage, and the debut of theAndroid Key Lime Pie operating system.

Nexus 5 rumours have been ramping up of late. But then the Nexus 4 only launched just before Christmas, so if Google announced its successor mere months later it would annoy all those who snapped up the original (especially if they had to wait weeks for it to be in stock.) Instead, it might bring out a slightly spruced-up version of the Nexus 4 to entice new customers without leaving existing ones royally peeved. That's the thinking behind the rumour, anyway.

[Source: CNET - Click here to read the full story]

RIP Mike Culbert, iOS and Newton pioneer

We've received direct word andnoted on Twitter that that Mike Culbert, a longtime Apple hardware engineer, has passed away after battling cancer. According to his friends, he was a "brilliant engineer, a wonderful human being." He will be missed.

Culbert began working at Apple over 25 years ago, ending up as VP of Architecture. His contributions include numerous patents for many iPhone and iPad innovations, we now take for granted. These include iOS video screen rotation, power saving patents, the ambient light sensor, digital content escrow for iTunes purchases, and more. He was also a key player on the Newton development team.

We at TUAW send our condolences to his family and friends.

[Source: TUAW]

SimCity update 2.0 hits April 22, offers bug fixes, enhancements -- still no offline mode

Although SimCity has become relatively stable following its problematic launch, there are naturally still ongoing bugs that the folks at EA Maxis have been working to fix. Thankfully, that version 2.0 update that was teased just over a week ago now has an arrival date of April 22 at 4PM ET. Included in the update are 26 bug fixes, along with data map color filters, a color-correct HUD for the colorblind setting and the action of mayors traveling from their mansions to their jobs. Sadly, an offline mode is still no more than wishful thinking, but at least that OS X version should still be on track for a June 11th release. You'll find all the details about your virtual city's soon-to-arrive enhancements at the source link -- expect some server downtime, by the way, when the update itself hits.

[Source: Engadget]

Samsung Galaxy S4 on 4GEE from EE

The Samsung Galaxy S4 on superfast 4GEE http://ee.co.uk/s4, featuring the world's first Full HD Super AMOLED display, Smart Pause, Group Play, Story Album, S Health, and Air Gesture. 

We're EE and we've brought you the UK's first superfast 4G mobile network, together with Fibre Broadband. Whether you're streaming HD TV, live multiplayer gaming, or watching a film, it'll be superfast, at home or on the go. Check out full details here.

iPhone 5S Front-Facing Camera Leaks Again

Just last week we published a story that included photos of several alleged parts of the iPhone 5S. Now, NoWhereElse has published a new image that reportedly shows us a glimpse of the front-facing camera module. The photos apparently first surfaced on a Japanese retailer’s website, and NoWhereElse says the part design “differs greatly from that of theiPhone 5.”

That could suggest that we’ll see a different industrial design with the iPhone 5S, although history tells us that it will maintain the same exact body as the iPhone 5. It’s possible that Apple’s just tweaking how it lays out the innards of the phone, perhaps to make room for other hardware changes.

[Source: TechnoBuffalo]