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Under the radar – 11am GMT October 19

Hello and welcome to the Monday news digest as we start the new week. Over the weekend you may have missed that the latest beta Mac OS X Snow Leopard fixes the recently disclosed data destroying bug, EyeTV for iPhone is there, gone and back again, Verizon makes it personal and new iMac speculation grows.

This morning we’re seeing all eyes on Apple, which reports its Q4 financials today – will iPhone sales be up to scratch? And we’re impressed with MacSupport.ca’s find of a kid’s book about Jobs, Wozniak and “creating the Apple computer – pictured, right.

More on iPhone Rock Band for iPhone has shipped; Twitter co-founder has hatched a plan for iPhone credit card payments; Apple approves another VoIP app. On the Mac, an interesting story on the battle for the cloud; Flip4Mac has been upgraded for Snow Leopard and UK schools continue to embrace mobile learning, with one offerng an iPod touch to every student as part of the plan. All this and our latest hand-picked cut-price toys for our readers. See you after the blip…

Eyes on Apple – will results shine?
Apple will reveal its Q4 results after market close later on today.Recent reports claimed iPhone sales may be depressed as Apple has had a hard time keeping stock in channel, will this impact results? “The driver is if the iPhone keeps selling well," said Hudson Square Research analyst Daniel Ernst.

"Mac is a huge part of the company and I think it’s going to get better next year, so while there may be some risk in the iPhone sales for the quarter, people will take some solace in that the Mac sales are pretty strong."

Apple has beaten consensus Wall Street EPS estimates in every quarter for the past two years.

Read it here. or read the WSJ on this here.

Rock Band for iPhone ships
There’s so much expected of this release, which is at last here and available to download now on the App Store ($9.99).

ROCK BAND features a multi-player mode (via Bluetooth), allowing up to 4 players to rock out on the go. While you can also play via single-player mode, you can use the integrated Facebook Connect to invite your friends to join in.

Read it here

iPhone is a credit card (terminal)
We follow this one with interest. While iPhone technologies haven’t yet advanced toward making the device a secure payment system, developers are chasing after another holy grail, that of transforming the device into a credit card.

Recall reports of testing taking place of iPhones doing this in a shop in New York? Now it turns out the tests were being run on behalf of Twitter co-founder, Jack Dorsey and his Squirrel project, which is in fact the Square iPhone Payment System.

Read it here

VoIP exploding on iPhone
We’ll see speculation Apple plans to lock the carriers out of  voice calls with VoIP over data networks next, probably, but we following AT&T’s detente on VoIP, apps supporting the protocol are arriving at the App Store thick and fast. The latest entrant, Rebtel, is available now.

Rebtel joins a growing rank of Internet telephony applications including Skype, Truphone, Nimbuzz, Fring and Vonage.

Read it here

Battle in the cloud: Apple v. Windows v. Google
“Although Windows still runs 90% of PCs, the fading importance of the PC means that Microsoft is no longer an all-powerful monopolist. Others are also building big clouds, including Google, a giant of the internet, and Apple, renowned as a maker of hardware, with a market capitalisation that now exceeds those of both Google and IBM, its original arch-rival.” The Economis.

An interesting look at Microsoft’s declining importance as competitors innovate their way beyond it in the network-driven cloudy skies…

Read it here

Flip4Mac upgraded for Snow Leopard
Teleetream’s Flip4Mac WMV software for Mac OS X has been updated for Snow Leopard compatibility. It also delivers an optional install of Microsoft’s Silverlight software (Silverlight is installed by default, but it can be omitted by deselecting the Silverlight option after clicking the Customize button in the installer.) Still doesn’t offer full Safari compatibility.

Read it here

1,000 students in Bolton, Lancashire
1,000 pupils at a Bolton school is set to be given an iPod touch as part of a wider technological drive costing £250,000. It’s all part of an initiative to boost learning attainment at the school, as educational researchers become ever more convinced that digital natives need digital tools.

Read it here

Bargains from the Toys Section
We scour the shops each morning to try to find you some kind of useful bargain, here’s today’s deals – more in our Toys Section

US Deal
What’s not to like in a 32GB flash drive? Well, potentially not for everybody, but if you want a non-ipod to shift your data around, then this hugely discounted deal on the Kingston DataTraveler I – 32 GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive DTI/32GB (White/Orange) means you’ll pay just $59.99 for the normally $150 product. And 32GB will let you easily shift a lot of movies, images, music and other data between Macs. Head over and take a look…

UK deal
Two fab UK deals this morning. Good news for UK readers with the Shure Se530 Sound Isolating Earphones now costing just £268.73 down from £499 launch price. In our opinion, these are the very best earbud headphones around, so we’d recommend them to any music lover seeking the best possible audio experience. Now they’re a better deal than ever, so do check them out.

Alternatively, keen photographers may benefit from the Hama 4024 Mini Tripod – especially when we let you know these currently cost you just 40-pence rather than the normal £32 retail price – a saving of £31.60. If you use a camera (equipped with a 1/4” tripod thread) then you surely see something to tempt you in this deal? Go and check it out.

That’s all for now, but do check back later for more in 9to5Mac’s constantly updated selection of news items as they come through the ether.

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