Apple reports 2013 Q1 earnings: $13.1b profit, $54.5b revenue, Macs up 1%, iPhones up 58%, iPads up 26%, iPods down 19%

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On Wednesday Apple reported its first quarter financial results and the company broke more records, naturally. Apple posted a $13.1 billion profit on $54.5 billion in revenue. Compare this to one year ago, that’s up from a profit of $13.06 billion on $46.33 billion in revenue. Says CEO Tim Cook: “We’re thrilled with record revenue of over $54 billion and sales of over 75 million iOS devices in a single quarter. We’re very confident in our product pipeline as we continue to focus on innovation and making the best products in the world.”

Now let’s break it down by product category. Apple sold 47.8 million iPhones in the quarter (compared to 37 million in the year-ago quarter); 22.9 million iPads (compared to 15.4 million); 4.1 million Macs (compared to 5.2 million); and 12.7 million iPods (compared to 15.4 million). The company’s “hobby” Apple TV sold 2 million units representing a 60 percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter.

Looking ahead to the second fiscal quarter of 2013, Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer expects revenue between $41-$43 billion.

Leading up to and following Apple’s quarterly financial results, its stock (AAPL) took a nosedive below the $500 threshold. Today, January 24, it dropped 63.51 points (12.35%) to $450.50 when the market closed. After hours it dropped another 2.13 points to $448.37. If there was a time to announce an exciting new product that promises to revolutionize the way we watch and consume TV content, that time would be now.

[Via Apple]

Microsoft announces Surface for Windows 8 Pro release date, new Surface accessories

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Microsoft’s more powerful version of its Surface tablet finally has a release date. Surface with Windows 8 Pro comes to market February 9. It comes packed with Intel’s Core i5 processor and it supports apps available in the Windows Store as well as legacy programs that run on Windows 7 and other previous OS’. More Pro advantages: this slate sports a 1920 x 1080 full HD display, 4GB of RAM, a fast USB 3.0 port, a Mini DisplayPort, and a pen with Palm Block technology. The Pro starts at $899 for the 64GB model; alongside it is a 128GB model that will sell for $999. Unlike the RT version, the Pro doesn’t come bundled with a keyboard cover. The Touch Cover and Type Cover sell separately for $119.99 and $129.99, respectively.

In addition to fully fleshing out the Pro’s future release, Microsoft announced a new pricing option for the Surface for Windows RT. This is the 64GB model but it ditches the keyboard cover to sell for $599. It joins the standalone 32GB model ($499), the 32GB model with Black Touch Cover ($599), and 64GB model with Black Touch Cover ($699).

And there’s more. Microsoft is adding more to its Surface accessory lineup. Three new limited edition Touch Covers featuring funky designs in red, magenta, and cyan are coming soon; they’re priced at $129.99. Also on deck is a wireless Wedge mouse whose design is inspired by the modern look of the Surface; it’s priced at $69.95.

Take a look at the Surface with Windows 8 Pro, along with the new accessories, in the gallery below.

[Via Microsoft]

Microsoft Research imagines an immersive future for gameplay with IllumiRoom

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At this year’s Consumer Electronics Show, Microsoft Research unveiled one of their latest projects called IllumiRoom. Like most of their ongoing technological marvels of the future this one is quite fascinating so perk up. Imagine you’re playing a video game–let’s say Halo 4–and all of a sudden the on-screen action extends beyond the confines of your TV set. In an instant the mysterious jungles of planet Requiem surround you and you feel as if you’re truly immersed inside the captivating game developed with precision by 343 Industries. Microsoft’s IllumiRoom attempts “to blur the lines between on-screen content and the environment we live in allowing us to combine our virtual and physical worlds.”

So how does it all work? A peek behind the curtain reveals two devices: the pairing of a Kinect for Windows camera and a projector. “Our system uses the appearance and the geometry of the room (captured by Kinect’s sensors) to adapt projected visuals in real-time without any need to custom pre-process the graphics.” Sounds simple now, doesn’t it? Unfortunately like most Microsoft Research projects IllumiRoom is only proof-of-concept, but with engineers working hard to make Kinect even more powerful and projectors keeping pace with high definition resolutions, the technology is there for this prototype to enter the marketplace. Let’s place IllumiRoom in the pile labeled “not if, but when.”

Watch Illumiroom perform its magic in the video embedded above; Microsoft ensures the action was “captured live and is not the result of any special effects added in post production.”

[Via MicrosoftResearch]

Facebook introduces Graph Search, a new intuitive way to search across your social network

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On Tuesday Mark Zuckerberg hosted a Facebook event to announce an exciting new feature for his prolific and widespread social network. It’s a new way to search inside Facebook and it’s called Graph Search. Essentially Graph Search gives Facebook users the ability to make specific searches across their network of friends. For example, enter the query “my friends in New York who like Jay-Z” and a list of your friends with those specific qualifications will be provided to you. Initially Graph Search will focus on four main areas: people, photos, place, and interests. Here are a few more examples of queries you could use: “software engineers who live in San Francisco and like skiing,” “photos of my friends before 1999,” “Indian restaurants liked by my friends from India,” “movies liked by people who like movies I like.” As you can see some of these queries are a mouthful and can be very specific and Facebook is working hard to crunch all the data and develop advanced natural language recognition.

How will the new search be integrated into the site? “Graph Search will appear as a bigger search bar at the top of each page. When you search for something, that search not only determines the set of results you get, but also serves as a title for the page. You can edit the title – and in doing so create your own custom view of the content you and your friends have shared on Facebook.”

According to the social network this new feature is guiding the company back to its roots. “When Facebook first launched, the main way most people used the site was to browse around, learn about people and make new connections. Graph Search takes us back to our roots and allows people to use the graph to make new connections.” How is Graph Search different from a typical web search? Facebook explains: “Web search is designed to take a set of keywords (for example: “hip hop”) and provide the best possible results that match those keywords. With Graph Search you combine phrases (for example: “my friends in New York who like Jay-Z”) to get that set of people, places, photos or other content that’s been shared on Facebook.” Additionally, Graph Search was built “with privacy in mind;” in other words, your privacy choices determine what’s searchable.

Currently Graph Search is in beta and initially it’s rolling out slowly to users who use Facebook in English. If you want to be one of the first to try it out, you can join a wait list. Facebook sees Graph Search as an ongoing project that will continue to develop and grow and get smarter as more people use it and provide feedback. Also rolling out to Facebook users soon is integrated Bing search. For now, check out some screenshots in the gallery below and click to Facebook to watch Zuckerberg and company discuss the bold new initiative.

This new search functionality aims to tap into the goldmine of personal information people share on Facebook and take social discovery to a new level. Visiting friends and family back east and want to plan a movie marathon? With Graph Search you can quickly find out which of your friends live nearby and figure out their movie preferences in one fell swoop. Finally, an intuitive way to take all of your Likes and interests and places and photos and put it to good use.

[Via Facebook 1, 2]

The ‘FRINGE’ finale airs this Friday, get the tissues ready (EPIC trailer inside)

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In three days the final episode of Fringe will come and go. What better way to anticipate and celebrate the final installment of the FOX cult sci-fi series than with a brand new promotional poster and one last epic trailer. Similar in design to the one that came before it, this poster features an Observer with a bad nose bleed but that’s the least of his worries. With Walter and Donald’s plan set in motion, it’s only a matter of time before the baldies go down. Last week anomaly Michael gave himself up to the Observers to ensure the safety of Olivia, Peter, and Walter, so now we’re stuck asking ourselves how will the plan proceed without its most important piece? After the break you’ll discover the final Fringe trailer that sheds some light on what we can expect this Friday. The most intriguing bit? Cortexiphan is back and Olivia is going to harness it to travel back to the other side! The incomparable John Noble narrates.

Exec producer J.J. Abrams describes “An Enemy of Fate,” episode number 100, written and directed by showrunner Joel Wyman, as “highly unexpected, incredibly emotional and a fitting conclusion to the series.” He added, “I mean, the script is unbelievable. [The episode is] beautifully done by Joel and the writers. “If it’s not satisfying, I don’t know what satisfying is.”

John Noble, who plays fan favorite Walter Bishop (and who better not bite the dust), also shared his admiration for the last hurrah. “I can honestly say that it was everything I had hoped it could possibly be,” he told TVLine. “It tied up our character lines, it tied up the great story arc… I was extremely elated. It’s certainly going [out] with a bang. I hope history will judge it as one of the great finales of all time. I really believe they will.” On his character’s fate he continued, “If you had asked me in Season 1 where I thought Walter should finish up, it would have been exactly where he does. That’s the remarkable thing — it’s the perfect arc for Walter.”

Fringe airs two back-to-back episodes (“Liberty” and then “An Enemy of Fate”) this Friday, January 18 starting at 8PM. Continue reading The ‘FRINGE’ finale airs this Friday, get the tissues ready (EPIC trailer inside) →

TV reminder: ‘Workaholics’ resumes Wednesday at 10PM on Comedy Central

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Adam, Blake, Ders, and the rest of the raunchy, laugh-out-loud cast of Workaholics returns for the second half of the series’ third season this Wednesday, January 16 at 10PM on Comedy Central. The first of ten new installments is called “Booger Nights” and in it the guys are determined to be the funniest bunch at the office roast. Preview the episode in a clip inserted after the break; watch as the guys try their hardest to convince Alice that they’re funny enough to play in the roast. And no, they haven’t lost their spark.

In related news, Comedy Central renewed Workaholics for two more seasons each consisting of 13 episodes. “When I realized Workaholics is not a reality show, it made me appreciate the guys’ talent that much more,” said the network’s head of original programming and production Kent Alterman. “It only seems right that we would renew for two seasons.”

You know you want to say it… LET’S GET WEIRD!

*The image above, don’t forget, comes from the show’s very first episode when Blake asks Anders “Who can make the smallest face?” Clearly Adam was the victor. Continue reading TV reminder: ‘Workaholics’ resumes Wednesday at 10PM on Comedy Central →

‘Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance’ is almost here, watch the brutal new trailer

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It feels like eons ago when video game developer Hideo Kojima debuted his Metal Gear spinoff game Metal Gear Rising at the 2009 Electronic Entertainment Expo. The slice-and-dice action game starring cyborg ninja Raiden is been in development for awhile and even saw a name change to Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. Kojima Productions failed to get the ball rolling, a deal was struck to have Platinum Games (Bayonetta) take over the reins and develop the game. Kojima’s team still remained heavily involved with the making of the title, however, as the game’s producer. Revengeance, which takes place four years after the events that occurred in MGS 4: Guns of the Patriots, retains Metal Gear DNA even though it plans to tell self-contained plot. Gamers can get a sense of the gameplay when a demo releases in one week on January 22. Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance finally ships for Xbox 360 and PS3 in the U.S. on February 19. Preorder today.

Now sit back, relax, and hit play to watch the latest trailer for Revengeance, edited by Hideo Kojima himself. Like all of Kojima’s efforts this trailer is stunningly cinematic with gorgeous cutscenes and equally engaging gameplay.

‘Toy Story’ gets a live-action, shot-for-shot treatment that was made to impress

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You know that saying? If you put your mind to it you can accomplish anything. Well, here’s proof. Jesse Perrotta, 21, and Jonason Pauley, 19, created a live-action, shot-for-shot remake of the original Toy Story. After two years of hard work with real toys, marionette strings and wires and stop-motion skill, the boys uploaded to YouTube an 80 minute recreation of the classic Pixar animated film. To add authenticity they incorporated Randy Newman’s unforgettable soundtrack and they edited in the characters’ real voices from the movie.

If you don’t have an hour and twenty minutes to take it all in, you can still appreciate their inspired effort by scrubbing around the clip that has amassed over 3.6 million views since hitting the ‘Net just three days ago. The Toy Story junkies brought a DVD copy of their movie to Pixar and although the company hasn’t offered any official comments, Toy Story 3 director Lee Unkrich tweeted a link to the video and called the creators “VERY dedicated guys.”

Take a trip down memory lane and watch in awe as Toy Story comes to (real) life.

Kid Cudi explores dark depths and paves a positive future in latest Complex spread

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Scott Mescudi, better known by his stage name Kid Cudi, graces the cover of Complex Magazine for the sixth time in the zine’s February/March issue. His cover story conducted by Complex’s Director of Content Strategy Joe La Puma is available to read online, as are the stills from his photoshoot. Cudder is known to open himself up and provide candid responses in his Complex interviews and this most recent conversation doesn’t deviate from the norm. He’s all over the spectrum here; he discusses the depression that took place after he broke up with his girlfriend, popping prescription pills which didn’t take the pain away and only made it worse, seeing a therapist and realizing he had to cut the meds out of the picture entirely and get his mind right. He also went into how he’s dealing with the loss of his father at a young age and he talked about the controversy that came out of his public child custody case. He explained his definition of what it means to be “cool” and his take on the current state of hip-hop, he shared his disappointment on his lack of more contribution to Kanye’s Curel Summer record, and he expressed his general excitement over producing his own beats now. His fourth studio album Indicud is on track to drop this year, and Kid Cudi couldn’t be in a better place. Watch a peaceful Scott Mescudi introduce his next phase in music in a video embedded at the end of the interview.

Read the interview in full at Complex. Update: The zine has released more quotes that didn’t make it into the cover story interview. Cudder opens up about quitting weed, having creative control over his content, and he addresses head-on the Illuminati symbols he threw into his latest music video.

New music: Destiny’s Child, David Bowie & Justin Timberlake [Update: JT’s “Suit & Tie” featuring Jay-Z out now]

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There’s new music to hear from artists you might have thought you’d never hear from again. First up is the musical trio Beyoncé Knowles, Kelly Rowland, and Michelle Williams, better known together as Destiny’s Child. Before Beyoncé became her own star, she led a group that pumped out hit after hit in the late ’90s and early 2000s. Remember “Independent Woman,” “Survivor,” and “Bootylicious?” Well, apparently there’s more where that came from. Last Friday, Destiny’s Child released their first single since 2004 called “Nuclear.” It’s produced by Pharrell and rather than bouncing back with a thumping beat they’ve invigorated their new image with a soft R&B tune that makes you remember just how well these ladies can harmonize together. “Nuclear” is a track off a brand new compilation album from Destiny’s Child Love Songs. The 14-track album contains romantic-themed songs they recorded between 1997-2004. As you can see in the tracklisting posted after the break, “Nuclear” remains the only new material to be included. Listen to it, it’s embedded above. Beyoncé will reunite Destiny’s Child on-stage when she hosts this year’s Super Bowl half-time show.

To hear David Bowie’s new single and learn about JT’s comeback, jump after the break. Continue reading New music: Destiny’s Child, David Bowie & Justin Timberlake [Update: JT’s “Suit & Tie” featuring Jay-Z out now] →

2013 Golden Globe Awards: ‘Argo’, ‘Django’, ‘Les Mis’, ‘Game Change’, ‘Homeland’ & ‘Girls’ big winners

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Tina Fey and Amy Poehler proved to be phenomenal hosts of the 70th Annual Golden Globe awards. If you missed it, you can watch their laugh-out-loud opening monologue at YouTube. The only disappoint was that they weren’t on stage doing their schtick long enough. The most entertaining presenters (by a long shot) had to be Will Ferrell and Kristen Wiig; you can tell they are both from the same SNL family. Watch their banter at YouTube, too.

Now let’s get to what you came here for: the night’s big winners. Let’s switch things up and look at the movie categories first. Argo, which took home two statues, won Best Motion Picture Drama and Ben Affleck was named Best Director. (Surprisingly he was not nominated for an Oscar so it’s nice to see him being recognized here.) Django Unchained also collected two trophies; Christoph Waltz won Best Supporting Actor (beating castmate Leonardo DiCaprio who also wasn’t nominated for an Oscar) and Quentin Tarantino nabbed a Globe for Best Screenplay. Les Misérables was the winningest film of the bunch taking home three Globes for Best Motion Picture Comedy/Musical, Best Actor (Hugh Jackman), and Best Supporting Actress (Anne Hathaway). As expected Daniel Day-Lewis and Jessica Chastain won Best Actor and Actress for the roles in Lincoln and Zero Dark Thirty, respectively. And to round things out Jennifer Lawrence (Silver Linings Playbook) won Best Actress Comedy/Musical, Michael Danna won for Best Original Score for his in work in Life of Pi, Adele’s “Skyfall” was named Best Original Song, and, Brave was crowned Best Animated Film.

Moving on to the television categories next. HBO movie Game Change and Showtime’s Homeland swept gathering three Globes each. Game Change took home Best Miniseries/Motion Picture for TV, Best Actress (Julianne Moore), and Best Supporting Actor (Ed Harris). Homeland beat Breaking Bad to be named Best Drama and stars Damian Lewis and Claire Danes were recognized for their lead acting roles. Another HBO program Girls fared well winning two Globes for Best Comedy/Musical and star Lena Dunham won Best Actress. Elsewhere Kevin Costnerwon Best Actor in a Miniseries for his turn in Hatfields and McCoys, Maggie Smith (Downton Abbey) won Best Supporting Actress, and Don Cheadle (House of Lies) surprised almost everyone and beat Louis C.K. and Jim Parsons to nab the Globe for Best Actor in a TV Series Comedy/Musical.

Jump after the break to view a more digestible list of all the night’s winners. Continue reading 2013 Golden Globe Awards: ‘Argo’, ‘Django’, ‘Les Mis’, ‘Game Change’, ‘Homeland’ & ‘Girls’ big winners →

‘Hawaii Five-0’ lets viewers determine the ending in this week’s episode

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This Monday CBS is airing a very unique episode of crime procedural Hawaii Five-0. Viewers will have the opportunity to choose the ending of the episode in real time. Check it: The mystery begins when the team must investigate the death of an O’ahu State University professor. His Boss, his Teaching Assistant, and a Student who he busted for cheating are all viable suspects. After each of the suspect’s motives is revealed, the network will advise viewers to vote who they think should get charged for the crime. There are two ways you can vote: go to CBS.com or hop on Twitter and use the hashtags #theBoss, #theTA, or #theStudent to voice your opinion. The votes will be tallied immediately and the most popular ending will become part of the broadcast, says CBS. And get this: separate voting will occur for East/Central and Pacific Time zone broadcasts, meaning each side of the nation may see different endings. All three endings have been shot, obviously, and CBS promises to make them all available to view on CBS.com after the broadcasts have aired.

“I’ve always felt the most fun aspect of watching a mystery is trying to figure out whodunit,” says exec producer Peter Lenkov. “Now the Hawaii Five-0 viewers will actually get the chance to tell us who they think committed the crime and we will listen. I love that our dedicated and attentive fans will actually play a part in resolving our story.”

Sounds fun, huh? The special episode titled “Kapu” (translation: “Forbidden”) airs this Monday night (1/14) at 10PM. Watch a trailer after the break. Continue reading ‘Hawaii Five-0’ lets viewers determine the ending in this week’s episode →