Apple's Gigantic Pile of Cash

Apple recently reported its 2Q financial earnings, stating that they had $65.8 billion of cash in the bank.

asymco published an analysis of Apple's report yesterday, breaking down all sorts of nifty things. Chief among them is this tidbit:

If Apple had no revenues, the current cash would sustain operations (SG&A and R&D) for over 7 years or until the middle of 2018.

There is no doubt about it, Apple is one the most financially healthy companies in the world. It is amazing how much they have grown in a down economy, and they are not showing any signs of slowing down.

[h/t Daring Fireball]

The White Whale Arrives

Apple announced via their homepage today that the long-delayed white iPhone 4 is arriving tomorrow. This was supposed to be released alongside the black iPhone 4 back in June 2010. So, after several delays lasting ten months you can finally get a white iPhone 4 if you've been holding out.

This is an extremely rare fumble by Apple, which usually has fantastic control over its QA, supply chain, and release schedules.

Marco Arment's Take on iOS Location Tracking

Marco Arment:

The reason everyone’s up in arms about the iPhone’s location database, I think, isn’t that the data is particularly incriminating or embarrassing for most people. Rather, we’ve simply been reminded quite how much of our lives these convenient pocket computers are privy to.

He goes on to compare this kerfuffle of iOS location tracking to the amount of privacy we shed on various social networks. Be sure to read the whole thing.

Changing Routines

Ben Brooks on changing up routines and habits:

People often ask me how I think of topics to write about, or how I find the motivation to do “so much”. The truth is: much of the ideas I come up with are arrived at while I am driving somewhere — and I can’t help but think that, in some small way, this is because I turned left where I should have turned right.

I can echo that my largest creative ruts happen when all I do is lather, rinse, & repeat.

"Magic"

John Gruber:

The difference between iOS and Android, design-wise, can be summed in a single word: magic. iOS aims for it. Android doesn’t want it.

Twitterrific 4.1 for iOS Shines with Polish

My favorite Twitter app, Twitterrific, has released a major feature update chock full of refinements on iOS, bringing it up to par with the Mac app.

The biggest new feature is username suggestions when composing a tweet. Simply type the @ symbol then start typing either the username or the corresponding listed real name, and a little slide bar with show up showing you users that match. Tap the user and the name is filled. Other apps do this, but Iconfactory's implementation is pretty slick.

Also, Twitterrific's tap gestures have been simplified and overhauled. I'm especially loving the Report Spammer button when long-tapping an avatar. That button has been long overdue.

These are just a couple of the many updates (and a ton of bug fixes) in Twitterrific 4.1. Be sure to check out the release notes and take the app for a spin.

¶ My Theory on Why iOS Logs Your Location

Media coverage is sensationalizing an open source tool, iPhoneTracker, which maps out location data points collected by a 3G-capable iOS device. Be sure to read their FAQ, which isn't so sensational.

Using this app to look at my data, it definitely pings off cell towers, not GPS. With this in mind, I posit that Apple may have the iPhone (and 3G iPad) keep track of cell towers to aid in speeding up its Assisted-GPS, which uses cell towers to triangulate a smaller search area for the GPS satellite. The device would be able to provide location results to the user much more quickly if it had an index of nearby towers.

This would also explain why this data is included in the iPhone backup. It would be inefficient to rebuild the database from scratch if you had to restore your phone.

And to pre-empt the argument of why doesn't Apple include a pre-made database:

• Databases take up drive space. The method of logging towers near you makes the data relevant to you, and excludes a lot data that would be largely useless to you.

  Addendum: Of course this still results in a database that takes up space, but it wouldn't be nearly as large. The point is that you have a database of relevant data.

• Also, Apple doesn't have to maintain updates to carrier databases when new towers are added. Instead, your iPhone just maps a new nearby tower itself.

Lastly, I haven't seen anyone provide any evidence that this data is transmitted back to Apple. So if this data only exists on your device and its backup file, what's the big deal? Especially since it is probably saving you time when you willingly tell the world where you are via geo-tagged tweets, Foursquare check-ins, and Instagram updates. Never mind that the Camera app geo-tags every photo you take in an instant.

¶ Seamless

Nearly ten years ago, Apple introduced the original iPod. In their first ad for the iPod, before the silhouette dancers, we are introduced to a guy jamming out to a song on iTunes, which he then drags onto his iPod in the source list, stuffs headphones in his ears, clicks play on his iPod, and seamlessly continues jamming out to the song.

That was the dream, wasn't it? To seamlessly pick up where you left off. Unfortunately, that dream has never been a reality — until now.

Enter Seamless, a new app for iOS and your Mac. Seamless allows you to transfer what you are currently playing on one device to the other, without skipping a beat. Press one button, and music fades out on one device as it fades in on the other.

The dream has been realized. And I can't believe this isn't a feature found in iOS and iTunes already.

Seamless works completely as advertised. It is pure magic.

Seamless for iOS is a buck in the App Store and the companion Mac app is free in the Mac App Store.

They even have a great video which, like all great app videos these days, is done by Adam Lisagor.

Hat tip to a tweet from my close friend and fellow writer, Samantha.

Square Now Available in Apple Stores

One of my favorite devices I've begun to use in the past year is my Square credit card reader. It allows me to take credit card payments using my iPhone or iPad, without a monthly fee, merchant account, or contract. They simply take 2.75% off each transaction, and the money is usually in my bank account by the next business day. Simple.

I've written about it before.

Today, Square's CEO, Jack Dorsey announced that the Square reader is available today in every Apple Store in the US, and from Apple's online store. Normally, if you get a Square directly by requesting one from their site, it is free. At Apple is costs you $9.95 up front, and then when you create your account you get $10 back. Not bad.

This is a fantastic move for Square, and I hope more folks start using it.

As an added bonus, they just updated the app yesterday, and the iPhone, iPod touch, and Android interfaces now let you factor in sales tax, something that has been available on the iPad for some time. That's a very welcome addition for many small businesses.

If you don't have a Square, get one.

Tweetbot

Tweetbot is a new Twitter client that debuted yesterday in the App Store. Rather than write ad nauseum about it, I suggest you read Shawn Blanc's excellent review.

My brief thoughts are:

• This app is really polished.
• I love the gesture support, especially the slide right and left actions.
• Being able to use a list as a main timeline is a thoughtful feature that hasn't been done this well until now. It makes me want to do a better job at curating my lists. I hope other clients take note.
• I also love Tapbot's solution for the bottom tab bar. Having the last two items be configurable is a great UI and UX solution. I hope Apple takes note on this one, because the "More" tab they use sucks.

Tweetbot is two bucks right now for a limited time. I have no idea when it will go up, or by how much. But for two bucks, this is worth having in your arsenal.

I do have to mention one thing though. As much I like Tweetbot, and I think it is as good, or perhaps better than the official Twitter app, I am still sticking with Twitterrific as my main client. I like Twitterrific's unified timeline, the themes, and the interaction. Maybe it's just what I am used to. Though I do love that Twitterrific has a unified experience across the iPhone (and iPod), iPad, and Mac.

Regardless, when I do feel the need to occassionally reach for a backup client, that will now be Tweetbot, instead of Twitter for iPhone.

Update on 2011-04-14 21:55 by Chris De Jabet

I would be remiss if I didn't point out Tapbots' very well done video for Tweetbot, which you can watch here.