live

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2i7Wr5xwDk]

As previously announced, today Apple is reporting its Q1 2013 earnings results. There is much uncertainty going into today’s call with Apple shares down significantly in recent months to roughly $500 since hitting a high of over $700 per share in September. With the iPhone 5 landing in a total of 100 countries last month, as well as iPad mini making its way to new markets, Wall Street estimates Apple will report between 47.5 million and 53 million iPhones sold and iPad sales between 23 million and 25 million. Compare that with Apple’s Q1 numbers last year: 37 million iPhones and 15.43 million iPads sold. Earlier this week Verizon reported 6.2M iPhone activations for the quarter, around half of which were iPhone 5 sales.

We’ll be providing blow-by-blow coverage of the earnings call in our live blog below at 2 PM Pacific/5 PM Eastern time. Stay tuned to 9to5Mac.com’s homepage for additional coverage:

Head below for updates…
Expand
Expanding
Close

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQO0hzKFHiw&context=C47a510dADvjVQa1PpcFMSCsaAUS5ozxlAxBOlWOizoy3tZSlgrKg=]

We told you in May 2011 that a new company called “Taposé” aimed to bring functionality from Microsoft’s dual-screen Courier tablet concept to the iPad. The iPad app was still early in development then, but has since reached its funding goal on Kickstarter. It also received backing from Microsoft’s J Allard who headed the Courier project at Microsoft, and now Apple finally approved it for the App Store:

(Update: It is live now!)

Expand
Expanding
Close

Apple’s Chief Executive Office Tim Cook is speaking at the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference where he was just asked about working conditions within the company’s supply chain. While Apple’s presentations at past Goldman Sachs conferences, where Cook was often involved as Chief Operating Officer, were typically limited to numbers and trends, Cook was asked today about supply chain conditions in China:

“The first thing I would want everyone to know… Apple takes working conditions very, very seriously….we care about every worker… i spent a lot of time in factories personally… we are understand working conditions at a very granular level. I realize that… the supply chain is complex… but my commitment is very, very simple. We believe that every worker has the right to a fair and safe work environment, free of discrimination, where they can earn competitive wages, and voice their concerns freely… We believe that education is the great equalizer”

Cook talked about how aggressively Apple has sought to fix the issues. In January, the company polled over half a million employees weekly and reported over 84 percent compliance. Following yesterday’s announcement that the Fair Labor Association has begun audits of the company’s supply chain starting with Foxconn City in Shenzhen, Cook noted Apple will begin an unprecedented move to report its findings monthly. As an example of how detail oriented the company’s review processes are, Cook noted if there were “no fire extinguisher in kitchen,” the supplier would not pass.

Cook also noted that Apple partnered with local schools to provide classes to more than 60,000 employees, many going on to earn associates degrees, with a campus population larger than Arizona State.

In September, leaked documents emerged revealing Comcast was working on a live TV streaming service for iPad called “AnyPlay“ and now the company announced the service will roll out today. To start out, AnyPlay will only be available to Xfinity HD Triple Play subscribers located in Denver and Nashville, but the company plans to roll out to additional markets “in the coming months”.

The service will be accessible through the current Xfinity TV app. Comcast revealed exactly how it works:

the AnyPlay device works the same as any other set top box in the home, but instead of delivering the incoming channel lineup to a television, AnyPlay delivers the lineup to the Wi-Fi router on the home network. The router then distributes the secure video signal to the iPad or Xoom over your home’s wireless network. So as long as your tablet is within range of the home wireless router, you can turn it into another television screen.

In related iPad video streaming news, Showtime announced the Showtime Anytime iPad app today that brings Showtime Anytime subscribers over 400 hours of content. The app appears to only be available to AT&T U-Verse and Verizon FiOS customers, but the press release does mention Comcast support “will be launched soon” and others will be added in the future.

Some of the content accessible form the app includes TV shows “Dexter,” “The Big C,” “House of Lies,” and movies “The King’s Speech,” “The Hurt Locker,” and “Inglorious Basterds.”  The company plans to launch an iPhone app for Showtime Anytime sometime early this year.

Expand
Expanding
Close

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdT3eKdto4w&feature=player_embedded]

Historypin, a user-generated map displaying historical data of nearby locations, is now available as an iOS app for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. Created in partnership with Google by not-for-profit We Are What We Do, the app allows users to add their own historical photos by pinning them to a map, capturing historic moments as they happen, and creating replicas of historical images. The images are then shared with users requesting data for a specific location….

Historypin uses Google Maps and Street View technology to reveal the user-generated photos and data related to historical events that happened close to your current location. It does this by “overlaying them onto the live camera view”…essentially aiming to give you a live snapshot of what your surroundings looked like in the past.

Simply holding your phone up in the street will provide you with relevant nearby images. Selecting one of the images allows it to be overlaid onto the iPhone’s camera view. You can then fade between the image and your live shot for comparison, as well as pull up stories and data related to the image and your current location.

Full list of features and some shots of the app in action after the break…

Expand
Expanding
Close