Apple Austin facility. Image from webpronews.com.

The Austin Statesman reports on a 4-1 vote by Travis County Commissioners in favor of providing significant tax rebates for Apple to being a new technology campus to North Austin.

The deal provides a total of approximately $36 million dollars in rebates for Apple over the next 13 years. As part of the amended agreement, an average salary of $35,000 per year must be maintained for the bottom 10 percent of workers employed by Apple as well as a minimum wage of $11 per hour for contractors, but there must be a total hiring increase of 3,665 by the end of 2025.

Apple initiated a Mastered for iTunes Program to provide guidelines and utilities for music producers and content creators to ensure that the best audio is presented to Apple for iTunes encoding, with the goal of providing uncompressed quality sound in the AAC file format that iTunes distributes.

Although it’s possible to remaster from a previously mastered CD source with positive results, in order to qualify as Mastered for iTunes remastered content must begin with a high resolution digitization of the original analog source and must sound noticeably superior to the previously released version. Songs and albums submitted to the iTunes Store as remastered content will be reviewed to ensure that the sound quality shows discernible improvement.

Ars Technica asked Chicago Mastering Service engineers Jason Ward and Bob Weston to see if they could tell the difference between audio labeled as “Mastered for iTunes” and traditional music.

Apple now uses an improved compression chain to retain as much sonic “detail” as possible when converting from submitted masters to iTunes Plus tracks. The initial 24/96 file is converted to a 32-bit floating point intermediary, which is then directly downsampled during the AAC encoding process. According to Apple, this results in a superior compressed file with less noise.

To test this, Ward downloaded a track from a recently mastered album available on iTunes. He then loaded the original 24/96 master file and used Apple’s supplied iTunes mastering tools to compress the file to iTunes Plus format. He then played both tracks back in iTunes, using the studio’s equipment to switch back and forth between the two versions. The version created directly from the 24/96 master did indeed have a slightly brighter, crisper sound, according to our observations.

Apple’s Gatekeeper feature, expected to be launched this summer as part of OSX Mountain Lion, is an extra layer of security designed to prevent Malware from entering the system. Apps with a registered Developer ID allows Gatekeeper to verify against a database of known apps that are not malware.

The Mac App Store is the safest place for users to get software for their Mac, but we also want to protect users when they get applications from other places. Gatekeeper is a new feature in OS X Mountain Lion that helps protect users from downloading and installing malicious software. Signing your applications, plug-ins, and installer packages with a Developer ID certificate lets Gatekeeper verify that they are not known malware and have not been tampered with.

Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion is widely expected to be a major topic at Apple’s WWDC, schedule for early June.

The New York Times reports on how Apple “sidesteps” paying millions in corporate taxes by setting up offices in states and countries with low or no corporate tax rates.

Apple’s subsidiary company, Braeburn Capital, is located in Reno, Nevada, a state with a zero corporate tax rate. Also, Apple maintains subsidiaries in Ireland, the Netherlands, and in the Caribbean.

Apple, for instance, was among the first tech companies to designate overseas salespeople in high-tax countries in a manner that allowed them to sell on behalf of low-tax subsidiaries on other continents, sidestepping income taxes, according to former executives. Apple was a pioneer of an accounting technique known as the “Double Irish With a Dutch Sandwich,” which reduces taxes by routing profits through Irish subsidiaries and the Netherlands and then to the Caribbean. Today, that tactic is used by hundreds of other corporations — some of which directly imitated Apple’s methods, say accountants at those companies.

Apple has not disclosed its corporate taxes paid on a federal or state level, but its last annual report shows that it paid $3.3 billion in taxes worldwide on profits of $34.2 billion, making an effective tax rate of 9.8 percent. U.S. based company Wal-Mart paid $5.9 billion in corporate taxes worldwide on booked profits of $24.4 billion, for a tax rate of 24.4 percent.

Corporate Taxes Vs. Profits. Source: The New York Times

Apple has since issued a response to the New York Times, highlighting its role in job creation in the U.S. and its generation of federal and state income taxes.

Apple has conducted all of its business with the highest of ethical standards, complying with applicable laws and accounting rules. We are incredibly proud of all of Apple’s contributions.

One of the sources told Reuters that any discussions would apply to its set-top box and also to upcoming devices that stream content. Apple is widely expected to unveil a full-fledged TV product later this year or in early 2013 to drive its next phase of growth and potentially revolutionize the industry.

Such an agreement would be complicated by EPIX’s already existing agreement with Netflix, whom EPIX pays to stream content to its subscribers. Apple has declined to comment on “speculation,” and EPIX and Netflix declined comment as well.

Missed tickets for this year’s WWDC? How about attending IndieDevLab, which, by sheer coincidence, is happening at the same time as the WWDC.

Indie Developer Lab brings together the iOS and OS X developer community by bringing the heart of the big San Francisco conference to everybody –the labs. Here you can meet up with other professionals in the industry and get a second pair of eyes.

A place to focus.

The hackerspace has workstations with power, high speed wifi, air conditioning, and a good neighbor. Being only a couple of blocks from Moscone, this is your sanctuary.

A chance to connect.

Sit down, say hi. Grab a free snack and meet someone. Help the community by helping grow the community. Meet up with your friends and peers in the industry.

Tickets are available at a significantly lower price than WWDC, $100 per day, at IndieDevLab.

Source: Indie Dev Lab via iMore.

Apple Austin facility. Image from webpronews.com.

Austin’s statesman.com reports that Apple’s plan to bring 3,600 new jobs to a new Austin facility are “in peril” as Apple is becoming “frustrated” with delays in the local government’s approvals of an incentives deal.

Dave Porter, the senior vice president for economic development at the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce, said “This deal is not done. It remains in peril. And Apple is frustrated,” and mentioned that Travis County Commissioners want to add new conditions to the incentives deal.

“We were disappointed (the deal) wasn’t finalized this past Tuesday, but we were hopeful this next Tuesday that Apple and the county can complete the negotiation process and have that behind us,” he said. “We remain hopeful that will take place and there will be a positive vote on Tuesday.”

Bill Aleshire, an attorney and former Travis County judge, and Ed Wendler, an Austin-area developer, examined the draft final contract with Apple, pointing to parts of the contract they said will allow Apple to fall short of the requirements by the Commissioners Court.

Responding to Porter’s comments that Apple is frustrated by the county’s most recent action, Aleshire said: “I’m not sorry that Apple is frustrated. … That’s a sorry contract.”

Apple “had it rigged so they could not comply with the contract yet end up with county staff basically renegotiating the terms that they would have to comply with,” Aleshire said. “I just thought that was a major flaw. It showed up in several ways in several places.”

Via AppleInsider.

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The Top Mac News App Kiosk is now available at apps.topmacnews.com.

The Top Mac News App Kiosk uses a platform from appstores.com.

Absent from that list continues to be China. Speculation has Apple’s trademark dispute with Proview over the “iPad” name as a possible reason for the delay, although Apple has traditionally placed China near the end of previous launch rollout cycles.

“On the one hand, we are trying to process this case, and on the other, we are working on encouraging both sides to settle,” Zhao Le, an official at the foreign affairs office of the Higher People’s Court of Guangdong, told Businessweek.

Another reason for the delays could be related to LTE. Apple’s new iPads use LTE for high speed cellular data, and China’s cellular networks have not adopted the technology, and are not expected to do so for at least two years.

Also, the new iPad has not yet received full approval for the LTE/3G versions, which is necessary for access to China’s cellular networks.

In a press release issued today, JCPenney reports the hiring of Benjamin Fay to join JCPenney’s retail team as Executive Vice President, real estate, store design and development. Fay was formerly Apple’s senior director of retail estate. Fay joins JCPenney CEO Ron Johnson, who was formerly Apple’s senior vice president of retail operations.

“Ben is an incredibly creative professional with extraordinary leadership skills. Having worked with him over the last 12 years, I am delighted to see Ben step into this new role at jcp,” said Johnson. “His design influence has made the Apple stores highly regarded retail destinations around the world, and I am excited to have Ben place his own mark on jcp as we re-imagine the jcpenney store of the future.”

Netgear today announced the introduction of the R6300 dual band gigabit Wi-Fi router, capable of speeds approaching 1300Mbps when connecting to other 802.11ac Wi-Fi devices.

The NETGEAR R6300 WiFi Router, powered by Broadcom’s 5G WiFi IEEE 802.11ac chips, is up to three times faster than today’s 802.11n routers. With an elegant new design that fits perfectly in consumers’ living spaces, the router increases the coverage area for HD streaming in the home. The NETGEAR R6300 WiFi Router has speeds of up to 1300 Mbps on 5GHz and 450 Mbps on 2.4GHz enabling consumers to download web content from any device in the home in a fraction of the time it would take on a similar 802.11n device.

The R6300 is expected to be available starting next month at a price of $199.99. Currently Wi-Fi equipped Apple products have 802.11n chipsets, and would need an upgrade to the 802.11ac standard to achieve the benefits of higher speeds.

Via MacRumors.

According to a survey entitled an “Apple Ecosystem Study” released Thursday by the NPD group, 25% of buyers in the U.S. who purchased an iPad are first time Apple owners.

“iPad sales are growing much faster than any other Apple product has this soon after launch,” said Ben Arnold, director of industry analysis at NPD. “In fact, one-in-five Apple owner households has one— nearly equivalent to the number that own an Apple computer. This demonstrates the appeal of both the new form factor and Apple’s app ecosystem.”

Of the U.S. households that own an Apple product, 67% own an iPod, and of those 82% of iPod owners said they were introduced to Apple products with the media player.

“While over 70 percent of long-standing Apple owners began their relationship with the brand by way of the iPod, this number declines to just 57 percent among those entering the Apple franchise in the past two years. Newcomers to the brand increasingly turn to the iPhone or iPad as their first Apple device, which combined account for one-third of first-time Apple purchases since 2010.”

Via AppleInsider.

Ken Segall is an advertising executive who worked at several firms including TBWA/Chiat/Day, the firm responsible for Apple’s famous “1984″ Super Bowl commercial. Segall was responsible for starting the “i-frenzy,” coming up with the name for Apple’s new iMac.

To Steve Jobs, Simplicity was a religion. He built a company based on its principles, in which the complexities of traditional business were simply not tolerated. Simplicity was also his most powerful weapon—a means of humbling category leaders once thought to be invincible.

Insanely Simple is a fascinating read for anyone curious about life in Steve Jobs’s world. It’s a must-read for anyone who wishes to leverage the power of Simplicity to propel their own organization — or their own career.

Insanely Simple is available in print and electronic editions at amazon.com,the iTunes Bookstore, and other major retailers.

In an SEC filing, Browett will over the next 5 years receive grants of 100,000 shares of Apple “restricted stock,” worth approximately $56 million dollars at today’s values.

After Sprint announced today that they sold 1.4 million iPhones in Q1 2012 with 44% of those being new customers, CNET’s Roger Cheng reports on Sprint CEO Roger Hesse’s plans on sticking with unlimited data plans for iPhone users on the Sprint LTE networks.

If the next iteration of the iPhone arrives with LTE, Sprint will continue to offer a no-strings unlimited plan, CEO Dan Hesse told CNET. The company is already sticking with unlimited for its first batch of LTE phones, but it was unclear whether the offer would apply to next iPhone.

“I’m not anticipating the unlimited plan would change by that point,” he said. “That’s our distinctive differentiator.”

Currently AT&T offers unlimited LTE data only for grandfathered purchasers of unlimited data for the iPad.

Following up on Apple’s announcement of the 2012 WWDC Conference, Apple is now Accepting Nominations for its annual Apple Design Awards.

The 2012 Apple Design Awards recognize state of the art iOS and OS X apps that reflect the very best in design, innovation, and technology adoption.
Join us as we celebrate developers and their outstanding work.

Keep the following characteristics in mind and submit your nominations.

Well-Designed
Apps that are inviting, engaging, easy to use, intuitive, and compelling.

State of the Art
Apps that take advantage of the latest hardware, OS releases, and technologies to offer rich functionality, high performance, and extensive system integration.

Innovative
Apps that are revolutionary, inspiring, and do things in new and creative ways.

2011 award winners included Infinity Blade, Cut The Rope, Osmos for iPad for iOS, and Capo, Pixelmator, and Anomaly – Warzone Earth for Mac OS.

Apple today announced dates for its annual World Wide Developer conference. The 2012 edition will again be in San Francisco and will run from June 11-15.

We have a great WWDC planned this year and can’t wait to share the latest news about iOS and OS X Mountain Lion with developers,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “The iOS platform has created an entirely new industry with fantastic opportunities for developers across the country and around the world.

Activities at Apple’s WWDC 2012 include:
more than 100 technical sessions presented by Apple engineers on a wide range of technology-specific topics for developing, deploying and integrating the latest iOS and OS X technologies;100 hands-on labs staffed by more than 1,000 Apple engineers providing developers with code-level assistance, insight into optimal development techniques and guidance on how they can make the most of iOS and OS X technologies in their apps;the opportunity to connect with thousands of fellow iOS and OS X developers from around the world—last year more than 60 countries were represented;engaging and inspirational lunchtime sessions with leading minds and influencers from the worlds of technology, science and entertainment; andApple Design Awards which recognize iPhone®, iPad® and Mac® apps that demonstrate technical excellence, innovation and outstanding design.

Update:

The $1600 tickets sold out in about 2 hours, according to Apple.

Apple today announced financial results for its fiscal 2012 second quarter ended March 31, 2012. The Company posted quarterly revenue of $39.2 billion and quarterly net profit of $11.6 billion, or $12.30 per diluted share. These results compare to revenue of $24.7 billion and net profit of $6.0 billion, or $6.40 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 47.4 percent compared to 41.4 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 64 percent of the quarter’s revenue.

The Company sold 35.1 million iPhones in the quarter, representing 88 percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter. Apple sold 11.8 million iPads during the quarter, a 151 percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter. The Company sold 4 million Macs during the quarter, a 7 percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter. Apple sold 7.7 million iPods, a 15 percent unit decline from the year-ago quarter.

“We’re thrilled with sales of over 35 million iPhones and almost 12 million iPads in the March quarter,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “The new iPad is off to a great start, and across the year you’re going to see a lot more of the kind of innovation that only Apple can deliver.”

“Our record March quarter results drove $14 billion in cash flow from operations,” said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s CFO. “Looking ahead to the third fiscal quarter, we expect revenue of about $34 billion and diluted earnings per share of about $8.68.”

Google today officially launched Google Drive, the company’s cloud based file storage solution for desktop and mobile devices.

With Google Drive, you can:
Create and collaborate. Google Docs is built right into Google Drive, so you can work with others in real time on documents, spreadsheets and presentations. Once you choose to share content with others, you can add and reply to comments on anything (PDF, image, video file, etc.) and receive notifications when other people comment on shared items.

Store everything safely and access it anywhere (especially while on the go). All your stuff is just… there. You can access your stuff from anywhere—on the web, in your home, at the office, while running errands and from all of your devices. You can install Drive on your Mac or PC and can download the Drive app to your Android phone or tablet. We’re also working hard on a Drive app for your iOS devices. And regardless of platform, blind users can access Drive with a screen reader.

Search everything. Search by keyword and filter by file type, owner and more. Drive can even recognize text in scanned documents using Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology. Let’s say you upload a scanned image of an old newspaper clipping. You can search for a word from the text of the actual article. We also use image recognition so that if you drag and drop photos from your Grand Canyon trip into Drive, you can later search for [grand canyon] and photos of its gorges should pop up. This technology is still in its early stages, and we expect it to get better over time.

Drive is built to work seamlessly with your overall Google experience. You can attach photos from Drive to posts in Google+, and soon you’ll be able to attach stuff from Drive directly to emails in Gmail. Drive is also an open platform, so we’re working with many third-party developers so you can do things like send faxes, edit videos and create website mockups directly from Drive. To install these apps, visit the Chrome Web Store—and look out for even more useful apps in the future.

Users can receive 5GB of online storage for free, with packages of additional storage up to 1TB of online storage for $49.95. Users who purchase a paid plan receive upgraded Gmail storage to 25GB. Users can get started by going to the start page at Google.

Update:

Reviews for Google Drive:

The Wall Street Journal- Walt Mossberg

I can recommend Google Drive to consumers looking for cloud-based storage, with the added bonus of integrated editing, at lower prices. But the new Microsoft SkyDrive also seems worth a try.

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While earnings from each analyst tend to be from bullish to average, Elmer-Dewitt advises readers to pay special attention to  China iPhone sales.

Analyst summaries. Source: cnnmoney.com