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Now, thanks to Fortune reader Merckel, Apple supporters and investors have some illuminating charts they can point to while venting their frustrations. As shared by Fortune’s Philip Elmer-Dewitt, the financial comparisons during the past four quarters for Apple, Amazon, and Google are illustrated in nine handy charts. While there are of course more factors that…

The culprit, according to music industry executives, is the continued rise in music streaming services like Pandora, Rdio, and Spotify. Yearly numbers for the digital streaming portion of the music industry have yet to be released, but executives anticipate strong growth in that category that will offset most or all of the losses in individual…

Snapchat flaw exposes 4.6 million users Security flaws in the Snapchat APIs let hackers collect the long list of names, which was then posted on the Internet for all to see on January 1. Gibson Sec warned Snapchat of the threat several months ago, but apparently it hasn't been patched. The Gibson Sec team says…

Like many people this time of year, I’ve been giving a lot of consideration to New Year’s Resolutions. And, like many people this time of year, two things are at the top of my list: Getting better organized and losing weight. Believe it or not, Fujitsu’s ScanSnap iX500 helped me do both. With it, I…

Goodbye Bump, you've been Googled. In the bad way. When Google bought Bump in September 2013, it said the company would continue to operate as it had. Bump CEO David Leib said he was excited about the buyout, which doesn't come as a surprise considering that's part and parcel when Google snaps up a smaller…

Secure Email With a tip of the hat to both the NSA and Edward Snowden, it made great sense to re-explore a geeky interest in secure email during 2013 and, indeed, I began using S/MIME and GPGMail again on nearly every email I send out (and if you reply to me, you can then use…

Taiwan to Apple: You can't set iPhone prices The commission said Chunghwa Telecom, Far Eastone Telecommunication, and Taiwan Mobile were all submitting iPhone price plans to Apple for approval, according to the Wall Street Journal. Based on Taiwan trade laws, carriers are free to set their own pricing since they paid Apple for the rights…

I have made it known that Apple's Retina iPad mini was the tablet I've always wanted, and I've been extremely pleased since I got mine. But I don't live in a vacuum, and I know that there are more than a few companies out there who want a piece of this very lucrative market. I bought Amazon's…

Apple CEO Tim Cook While the full text of the letter, as posted by 9to5Mac, is below, it's the last paragraph that is being swooped on by Apple watchers everywhere. There he promised big things for 2014. These kinds of comments are not idly made, and Mr. Cook is the most deliberate speaker in Silicon…

Yes, the group does have a website: HeartOfTheCity.org. Many of these companies provide private busses that bring employees from San Francisco to Silicon Valley offices in San Jose, Cupertino, Palo Alto, Mountain View, and other cities south of the city. The Apple bus was the second such shuttle targeted by protesters, as a Google bus…

This seriously awesome story starts with redditgift's Secret Santa program where people sign themselves up in the world's largest Secret Santa gift exchange. Tens of thousands of people agree to draw names and get that name a gift (there are wish lists involed), while some other person will draw your name and get you a…

The Information reported [via AppleInsider] that Samsung hired one Tim Cudgel, a former director at Apple who spent five years and nine months with the company. As of this writing, his LinkedIn profile make no mention of Samsung, but it does show that he left Apple in November of 2013. Samsung's known retail plans include…

The top iPad app was Disney Animated, which gives behind the scenes information on how the studio makes its animated features. Apple put together several lists that show just how popular some apps, games, and music happened to be in 2013. Top Five Paid iPhone Apps Minecraft Pocket – $6.99 Heads Up! – $0.99 Temple…

“The 64-bit Apple chip hit us in the gut,” says the Qualcomm employee. “Not just us, but everyone, really. We were slack-jawed, and stunned, and unprepared. It’s not that big a performance difference right now, since most current software won’t benefit. But in Spinal Tap terms it’s like, 32 more, and now everyone wants it.”…

EU copyright law protects recordings for 50 years, according to the BBC, unless they're officially released and then the copyright extends to 70 years. The copyright on unreleased Beatles recordings from 1963 ends this year, so by offering the tracks for sale, Apple Corps — the management company for Beatles recordings — can extend that…

While Beyoncé—the wife of entertainment mogul Jay-Z—is an international success, almost 3/4 of those sales came from the U.S. Apple said 617,213 units were sold through the U.S. store, but that the album was still number one in 104 countries, a staggering achievement for any music act. BEYONCÉ has been heavily promoted by Apple, which…

The Wild West I want to focus on this part first: SealsWithClubs (that's a great name) is the Wild West of online poker. The company says so in its own description. The online poker world was thrown into turmoil by Black Friday, and SealsWithClubs is a small company using an unregulated virtual cryptocurrency (Bitcoin) offering…

______________________________ In the days of the PC wars, in the early 1990s, Apple struggled mightily against Windows with a superior OS. But then Microsoft made a giant leap forward with Windows NT in the early-mid 1990s, leaving the technically inferior Mac OS in the dust. To make a long story short, that we know well,…

iTunes 11 in its everyday normal state Now, hold down the Option Key on your Mac (it might work with the Alt key in Windows, but I didn't have a Windows box handy to test it), and it looks like this: Insta-Genius Shuffle! Click that Genius Shuffle button, and you get an on-the-fly playlist that…

Qualcomm follows Apple's iBeacon with Gimbal Gimbal, like iBeacons, can be used to show contextual information such as special offers and new products, location-specific data, and more when smartphones with compatible apps are within range — from about a foot up to 50 meters, depending on the device's settings. Right now, Gimbal offers iOS support,…

Think Microsoft and Apple will merge? Think again. Mr. Fitz-Gerald said Apple and Microsoft will start by collaborating to ward off the threat of Google and Facebook before merging into a single company. He called his theory an “unthinkable but absolutely possible deal,” according to Times of India. Micrapple Fighting Off Google The notion that…

Constable Neil Gillespie with His iPad Source: New Zealand Police The New Zealand Police force is a national police force that handles all local law enforcement duties, including duties covered by local police in the U.S. The stated purpose of Policing Excellence is, “to free up Police from time-consuming processes and paperwork so they can…

The iFrogz Audio Coda Headphones with Mic has finally fit the bill for an inexpensive set of over-the-ear headphones that also includes a microphone. The headphones, made by Zagg under their iFrogz label, offer excellent sound at a most excellent price, and everything about the headset works just the way you'd expect it to. The…

The data shows that the smartphone race in the U.S. remains a two horse race in the U.S. between Android and iPhone, with Android maintaining its lead in wireless subscribers. comScore's data: Top Smartphone Platforms 3 Month Avg. Ending Oct. 2013 vs. 3 Month Avg. Ending Jul. 2013 Total U.S. Smartphone Subscribers Age 13+ Source:…