Apple CEO Tim Cook was asked during Apple’s Q2 2012 conference call how he felt about ongoing patent litigation, and whether he might be more open to a settlement or resolution than his predecessor, Steve Jobs might have been. Cooks answer was pretty much the same now as it was before he became CEO — he doesn’t like litigation, but he also doesn’t like other companies using what he feels are Apple innovations to sell competing products. Cook also took it a step further, saying Apple cannot become the developer for the world. Although he didn’t elaborate, it seemed to be along the same theme as previous statements — he believes Apple competitors should invent their own stuff rather than copying Apple.

Apple is currently engaged in lawsuits with Android manufacturers including Samsung, Motorola, and HTC. The late Steve Jobs seems to have taken particular, personal offense at Android using what he felt were Apple innovations and giving them away “promiscuously“. According to Jobs’ biographer, Walter Isaacson:

[The Microsoft Windows situation was] almost copied verbatim by Android. And then they licence it around promiscuously. And then Android starts surpassing Apple in market share, and this totally infuriated him. It wasn't a matter of money. He said: 'You can't pay me off, I'm here to destroy you'.

This followed Jobs’ famous scorched-earth vow:

I will spend my last dying breath if I need to, and I will spend every penny of Apple's $40 billion in the bank, to right this wrong. I'm going to destroy Android, because it's a stolen product. I'm willing to go thermonuclear war on this. [...] I don't want your money. If you offer me $5 billion, I won't want it. I've got plenty of money. I want you to stop using our ideas in Android, that's all I want.

Some have hoped that Tim Cook might bring a different temperament to the situation, and indeed he will be meeting with the head(s) of Samsung to discuss points of resolution in their case.

However, based on his statements today, it doesn’t sound like he’s making any drastic policy changes at this point.

(Nor is he addressing examples of Apple using Google and Palm-style elements, like Notifications, in iOS.)

During the Q2 2012 Apple conference call, CEO Tim Cook was asked if, like Microsoft is doing with Windows 8, the iPad and the MacBook Air would inevitable converge into a single product line. Cook thinks not.

Forcing a tablet and an PC together, in Cook’s view, is a forced convergence and something that creates a compromised experience for users. He likened it to making a combined toaster and refrigerator, and said it results in tradeoffs that don’t please anyone.

Cook’s use of the word “compromise” is interesting because Microsoft has been using that word extensively in their pre-Windows 8 hype. Microsoft has been claiming that Windows 8, because it can run desktop apps on a tablet, and run across tablets and desktop environments, is a “no-compromises” solution. To their thinking, an iPad can’t do what a PC can do, so it’s a compromised device.

It’s the classic contention. Apple compromises on what each platform can do so that each device is best at what it does. Microsoft is compromising on what the platform can do so each device can do more.

There really is no such thing as “no-compromises”. One of the first lessons you learn in life is that can’t have everything. There’s opportunity cost to every decision. Microsoft’s “no compromises” is and will always be utter BS, they’ve simply chosen different compromises and hoped it’s a better choice.

Microsoft is doing a lot of interesting things with Windows 8 and you can never discount them from any market, even tablets, regardless of how far behind they may seem to be.

Some users will prefer a refrigerator that also makes toast, be it a Windows 8 device that can run full-on Office, or a MacBook Air with a detachable screen that can run iOS as a tablet.

But if Tim Cook is to be believed, Apple isn’t going to be making that product now, or for the foreseeable future.

• New iPad vs MacBook Air: Which should you buy?

Apple is holding their Q2 2012 financial results call, and we’re here to break down anything interesting they might say. Apple made a ridiculous amount of money again, with 35.1 million iPhones, 11.8 million iPads, 7.7 million iPods, $11.6 billion in profit.

Live updates, after the break!

Source: www.apple.com/quicktime/qtv/earningsq212

• Peter Oppenheimer (PO): Record quarter again. Strong growth in iPhone and iPad. 15.4 billion in operating margin. 11.6 billion in net revenue.
• New record for desktop and portable Macs. 4 million. 3 or 4 weeks of inventory. Below target range.
• Mountain Lion, 9th major release of OS X. Brings popular iOS features to OS X.
• Mountain Lion will be in Mac App Store later this summer.
• 7.7 iPods sold. Down. iPod touch still over half. iPod share still over 70%. Still top selling in most countries.
• 4-6 weeks of iPod inventory.
• iTunes all time record. 1.9 billion in revenue. 35% up. Music, video, apps strong.
• 35.1 million iPhones sold. 88% year over year growth. More than twice smartphone market. Very strong growth in all segments. AsiaPac, Japan doubled year over year. China was 5x level year ago quarter. iPhone 4S launch, China telecom. Over 100 countries. 8.6 million in inventory. In target range of 4-6 weeks inventory. $22 billion in revenue. 85% increase.
• iPhone in enterprise. Opportunity to leverage devices to improve efficiencies through in-house iOS apps. Actively deploying in-house apps to their base.
• iPad 11.8 billion. 151% increase.
• New iPad now available in 40 countries. Strong growth. More than doubling in each segment. $6.6 billion in revenue. Up 132%. Below target range for inventory.
• Education interest in Education grows. 2x sold compared to Macs. San Diego school purchased 2K, will purchase 15k more. Hopeful iPad will be popular in school buying quarter.
• Air Force deploying thousands of iPads. Thousands deployed as mobile sales tools
• 365 million cumulative iOS device sales. App Store in 120 countries. 200,000 apps just for iPad. 25 billion apps downloaded in less than 4 years.
• 125 million iCloud customers.
• (Apple Stores still doing well)
• 47.4% gross margin. Lower than expected commodity cost, stronger revenue and product mix including iPhone.
• Cash 110.2 billion at end of March quarter. 12.6 billion up. 74 billion off shore.
• 2.65 per share dividend in Q3. Will provide info at that time.
• Q3 projection of 34 billion in revenue, gross margin 41.5%.
• Extremely pleased with March results, revenue almost doubling. Fastest iPad rollout ever. iPhone 4S now in over 100 countries including China.

Q&A

• Q: Explain Q3 predictions?
• PO: iPad and iPhone ramp up was extremely successful. Able to fulfill demand in March rather than June. Unlike last year, they expect decline in revenue. 1) iPhone channel inventory changes, increase by 2.6 million units. Exited in target range. Last year was still increasing channels. That will impact sequential comparison. 2) Fabulous iPhone 4S execution. December backlog led to huge January. China launched in January. 3) New iPad exection was also fabulous. Launched with significant supply. Fastest country rollout ever. Able to satisfy demand faster. Shift of volume into March. Will effect sequential comparison. 4) Decreased entry price of iPad to $399. 5) U.S. dollar strength.
• PO: Most amazing March quarter ever, feel good about business and pipeline.
• Q: Decline in iPad price. What is the right way to read it? Tell you about price point over time?
• PO: Learning about elasticity of demand. Doing well. New iPad is on fire. Selling as fast as they can make them. Education buying season looks terrific.
• Q: Outgrew market in Macs again. Slow down in year over year growth, what factors? Product transition?
• Tim Cook (TC): We did outgrow the market. Mac 7% where market grew 2%. 24th straight quarter of growth. Compare to last year effected by change to bulk of portable line in Q2 2011. Portables up 53% last year. Look at it sequentially, had 14 weeks in December quarter. Was some cannibalization from iPad, market is slow, but much large factor is compare to a year ago.
• Q: What are you learning about lower price points on iPhone and iPad?
• TC: With iPad 2 change in entry price, thrilled with results but it’s only been a few weeks. Too early to come to clear conclusion. Unlocked some education demand, more price sensitive customer. Several other countries, marked change in demand at that price point. Early going, feel great about it. New iPad is what’s constrained. Still constrained. Mix of new iPad to iPad 2, not certain of what that is yet. Absolute sales of iPad 2 is very exciting.
• TC: On iPhone still very happy with pricing moves. iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4. Both contribute to ability to archive 35 million in sales. Second highest of all time.
• Q: Tablet and PC market in the future? Windows 8? Why won’t the ultrabook/MacBook Air and tablet markets converge?
• TC: Anything can be forced to converge, problem is products are about tradeoffs. You make tradeoffs to the point where what you have left doesn’t please anyone. Toaster and a refrigerator won’t be please to a consumer. tablet market is huge. Said that since day one. Using at Apple, already clear there was so much you could do, reasons so broad. Precisely what they’ve seen. Consumer, education, enterprise. Application meaningful and abundant. As ecosystem gets better, Apple doubles down on making great products, limit is nowhere in sight.
• TC: Just 2 years after launching iPad, sold 64 million. Took 3 years for iPhone, 5 years for iPod, 20+ years for Mac. Profound product. breadth is incredible. Appeal universal.
• TC: IDC, Gartner, Forrester have numbers. Gartner says 325 by 2015, 375. More than PC today. More formal predictors see lines cross. Also believes there’s a good market for MacBook Air. Continue to innovate in that product. Appeals to someone with different requirements. But together, compromise most. Some people will prefer to own both. That’s great too. Compromise of convergence, not going to that market. Others might from a defensive point. Apple won’t. Q: Carrier subsidies? Any concerns? Think about risks?
• TC: Focus is on making very best smartphone in the world. Phone that delivers an off-the-charts user experience customers want to use every day of their lives. All carriers want to provide what their customers want to buy. That’s motivation. Apple needs to continue making great products customers want. Innovating at rate and pace that’s unbelievable.
• TC: Carrier subsidy isn’t large relative to sum of payments over 24 month contract period. Delta between iPhone and other phone is smaller difference. iPhone has distinct advantages over other phones. Churn from iPhone customers is lowest of any phone they carry. Significant, direct financial benefit.
• TC: Engineers work very hard to be efficient with data. Different than others. Better than other app phones. iPhone is best smartphone on the plant to entice a customer from traditional mobile phone to upgrade to smartphone. Largest opportunity for Apple, carrier partners, customers. Win. Win. Win.
• Q: How are consumers using iCloud? iTunes Match? Paid storage?
• PO: Customers are using all iCloud features. Respond terrific. Feedback terrific. Storage pickup is growing. 125 million users. Building up. Storage growth will come more over time. Real desire wasn’t about selling more storage. Recommend Match but paid for service. Just wanted to increase customer delight. Why they did it.
• Q: China?
• TC: Incredible quarter in China. Revenue was record. 7.9 billion in greater China. Up 3x. Mind-boggling. Part of this was pent-up demand for iPhone 4S. Launched in Mainland China in January, 2012. Also have strong demand for iPad 2. Haven’t shipped new iPad yet but have in HK. Halo for Mac is also incredible. 60% up year-over-year. Expanded point-of-sales. Lot more opportunity.
• Q: Was iPhone mix in China different?
• TC: Wasn’t material different.
• Q: Better content on iTunes?
• PO: Thrilled with rate they’re adding content. Have to do it country by country, takes time. Largest catalog of songs and movies. 28 million songs. 1.2 billion in revenue in Q2. Up 35% year over year.
• Q: Shortages? Qualcomm? Constraints? Bottlenecks?
• TC: Tough question to answer. Aware of 28nm issue. Currently don’t use them. Don’t comment on future products. Generally, work closely with supplier partners, do everything they can do to get supply. Sometimes successful, sometimes not. Trying to push every button to work on it.
• Q: Walmart? Arkansas moving to 25 stores. Very pleased. When in 10,000.
• TC: No plan to be in 10,000. Trying some things. Doesn’t include Mac. Seeing how it goes. Walmart very good partner on iPod. Increasingly substantial in iPad, evolving in iPhone. Enjoy working with them. Hope to continue expanding.
• Q: iPhone inventory? China balance?
• TC: Desire was to increase channel inventory across the quarter. Extremely back logged. Addition of 2.6 million allowed them to get into supply/demand balance. Op team execution so good, vast majority of supply/demand was reached in January. Mother of all Januaries.
• TC: World wide still constrained on new iPad. Demand incredibly robust. Selling as fast as they can make them. In China, on macro basis, has enormous number of people moving into middle class. Creating demand for goods, not just Apple’s. Tremendous opportunity for companies who understand China. Apple doing everything to understand China.
• Q: Changes in Spain, Vodaphone changes. Seen any changes in Spainish market?
• TC: Spain has been weak for Apple, probably many countries. Revenue grew in Spain but materially less than EU or ROTW. Wasn’t cause and effect, however. Is in terrible economic situation. Unusual case.
• TC: To be clear, what carriers did was, they still have subsidies for existing customers, pulled subsidies on new customers. All carriers didn’t do that, only a couple. Wouldn’t use that as proxy for the world.
• Q: Patents?
• TC: Hates litigation. Just wants people to invent their own stuff. If they can get a fair settlement, he’d highly prefer to settle. Key thing is, it’s very important that Apple not become the developer for the world. Need people to invent their own stuff.
• Q: iCloud data? Multiple devices?
• PO: Have it but don’t want to help competitors.
• Q: R&D up, why?
• PO: View this as a good thing. Investing in engineering. Investing in hardware and software teams. Fabulous new products in the pipeline. Don’t have percentages in front of him.
• Q: China Telecom, when did that launch?
• TC: Early March, supply/demand balance prior to end of quarter.
• Q: OpEx leverage? Components?
• PO: Investing in R&D, spending on marketing, advertising, retail channels, infrastructure, stock based comp. Confident. Thinking long term.
• TC: Component costs were better than planned. Displays and NAND Flash drove benefits. June quarter NAND, mobile DRAM exceed demand. LCDs to stabilize, HD market has moved to balance. Most other components should fall in line.
• Q: Margins?
• TC: 2/3rds driven by higher mix of iPads and Macs. Full quarter of selling current iPad market. Loss of leverage on sequential higher revenue.
• Q: Enterprise, what resources are Apple dedicating to it?
• TC: Initial focus was on working with Fortune, Global 500 to get iPad certified. 94% of Furtune 500, 75% of Glbal 500 testing or deploying iPad. Off the charts for 24 month old product. Now focusing on penetration in those accounts. Incredible things about wins is that they span across many verticals, across government, education. Most broad-based product he’s ever seen.
• Q: iPhone down next quarter, conservative or seen change?
• PO: Incredibly confident in business, strategy. Give guidance they have confidence in achieving. Do expect decline. Now in target range. March quarter had backlog. Able to fulfill that and launch 20 countries. Immense confidence.
• Q: iPad constraints a component issue?
• TC: Confident they can supply significant number this quarter, tough to know if it will balance.

And that’s it!

Apple has once again reported record profits for Q2 2012, earning $39.2 billion for a quarterly net profit of $11.6 billion. iPhone sales held strong with 35.1 million iPhones sold and 11.8 million iPads, and iPod limping along with 7.7 million iPods. 4 million Macs rounded out the major product lines.

"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."

In other words, Apple continues to rake in almost all the money. Here’s the full release.

Apple Reports Second Quarter Results

Record March Quarter Sales of iPhones, iPads and Macs

Net Profit Increases 94% Year-over-Year

CUPERTINO, California—April 24, 2012—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."

Apple will provide live streaming of its Q2 2012 financial results conference call beginning at 2:00 p.m. PDT on April 24, 2012 at www.apple.com/quicktime/qtv/earningsq212. This webcast will also be available for replay for approximately two weeks thereafter.

The Mobile Nations podcast is a GO! Come chat with the editors from Android Central, CrackBerry.com, iMore, webOS Nation, and WPCentral. It’s a cross-platform podcastapalooza, and we want to hear from you! Chat now!

If you can’t seem to obtain a signal on your Verizon or Sprint iPhone 4, it may mean that you have a faulty cellular antenna. DIY replacing it is a relatively straight-forward repair that isn’t too difficult. If you’re out of warranty, it’s also a much cheaper option than purchasing a new iPhone or paying for a replacement.

Disclaimer: As with any repair, neither iMore nor PXLFIX can be held responsible for any damage you may do to your device. It's also worth considering that opening up your device to perform any repair or modification can and will void your Apple warranty. If you don't feel comfortable opening your device, don't. Use extreme care and caution when performing a repair on any device.

What you need for a DIY CDMA (Verizon or Sprint) iPhone 4 cellular replacement

PXLFIX recommends using only quality and genuine parts from a reputable supplier like eTech Parts. They have quality parts, tools, and much more for all your repair needs. We’ve linked to the part you need below but feel free to order parts from another source as well. Just verify they have high quality parts and not knock-offs.

• CDMA iPhone 4 (please note there ARE internal differences between the GSM and CDMA models – this guide strictly deals with the CDMA model – in the US, that means Verizon or Sprint)
• Replacement cellular antenna – CDMA cellular antenna
• #00 Phillips screwdriver
• Pry tool or spudger
• Security screwdriver (to remove the 2 screws in your dock connector, all CDMA models will come with security screws)

Power off your iPhone 4

Before performing any repair, always power off your device before removing any screws or parts.

Remove the back

1. First remove the bottom 2 dock connector screws in your iPhone 4. Use your five point security screwdriver for this as all versions of the CDMA iPhone 4 have security screws in the dock connector.

2. To remove the back simply slide the back upwards and lift it off gently.
3. Set the back and 2 dock connector screws aside.

Organize your screws

It’s very important to make sure you remember where you are pulling screws from, so place them in an arrangement that you’ll understand and remember. I normally lay them out the same way every time I disassemble a device so I remember where they came from and how they go back in. They’re all different sizes so trying to figure out where they go if you get them mixed up probably won’t be fun.

Remove the battery

1. To remove the battery you'll need to remove the #00 screw holding the battery clip in place. Remove this screw located to the bottom left of the battery.

2. The metal clip on the battery is what clips the battery to the logic board. You'll need to pop this clip up with your plastic pry tool. Simply stick the end of your pry tool underneath the clip and gently pull upwards until it unfastens from the logic board.

3. To remove the battery, I do not recommend using the plastic pull tab. There is quite a bit of adhesive underneath the battery and the tab will normally just rip off or you can bend the battery. Instead, run your pry tool along the right side of the battery and break the adhesive that way. Once the battery is free from the adhesive, you can pull the battery out of the phone. There are no other connectors holding it in.

4. I typically fold the plastic tab over while working on the iPhone 4 to keep it out of the way while I’m disassembling parts. It’s not necessary but convenient.

Remove the grounding clip

To the left of where you disconnected the battery you’ll see another screw holding in a grounding clip over the end of the cellular antenna. We’ll need to remove it.

1. Unscrew the one screw holding the grounding clip in place with your #00 Phillips screwdriver.

2. Gently lift the grounding clip out of the device. It’s very tiny as you can see above. Take care not to misplace it or lose it.

Remove the dock connector shield and disconnect the cable

1. There is a shield held on with two screws covering the dock connector cable. Remove the two screws holding it in place and set the shield and screws aside, remembering where they came from. (They are labeled as screw 1 & 2 in the photo above.)

2. Next, use your pry tool to pry up the actual dock connector cable. Be careful as there is adhesive holding the cable in place as well. Peel back the adhesive gently to free the cable.

Unclip the antenna from the logic board

Underneath where you removed the grounding clip, you’ll see a tiny circular cable. This is your antenna cable. You’ll need to unclip it from the logic board.

1. Take the edge of your pry tool or spudger and gently pry up the circular head to detach it from the logic board.

2. You’ll notice the cable is wound around some metal brackets. Just gently guide it out of the brackets with your pry tool and finger. It’s attached to the speaker assembly. Once you’ve finished unwinding it from the brackets, you can leave it where it is for now.

Remove the speaker assembly

The cellular antenna is held down to the speaker assembly with 2 screws and some adhesive. We’ll need to remove the speaker assembly to remove the antenna from the iPhone.

1. To remove the speaker assembly you have two #00 screws to remove. They sit to the right and the left of the speaker assembly. The left screw will have a tiny triangular shaped plastic spacer under the screw. Set it aside with the screw as well for re-assembly. If you lose this, your speaker assembly will not sit correctly.

2. Gently lift the speaker assembly out of your device and set it aside.

Remove the old cellular antenna and install the new one

Remove the 2 screws holding the cellular antenna down and peel it off the speaker assembly. You can see by comparing the new cellular antenna and the one on the speaker assembly how the adhesive peels off and how it is held in.

Reassemble your iPhone 4

To re-assemble your CDMA iPhone 4, you can either follow these directions in reverse order or watch the video above, which includes reassembly instructions.

And… done!

Reboot your iPhone 4 and hopefully you should now have signal bars. Now it’s time to let us know how it went! Want to know how to perform another type of iPhone repair or modification? Send me suggestions to ally.kazmucha@imore.com or leave them in our Mod & DIY forums via the link below.

For questions or to inquire about mail-in repairs through PXLFIX, please follow us on Twitter, like us on Facebook or e-mail us directly! Of course, you can like us and follow us just because you think we’re cool too!

Additional Resources:

• How to replace an iPhone 4 battery
• Even more DIY repair guides
• Mod & DIY forums

To celebrate the introduction of Google’s new cloud storage service, Google Drive, they’re simultaneously bumping free Gmail storage to 10GB. That’s right, Gmail already had one-and-a-half as much free storage as Google Drive, and now it has twice as much!

However, if you also pay for Google Drive, that gets bumped again to 25GB.

Today, we’re happy to announce that we’re increasing everyone’s free storage in Gmail from 7.5 GB to 10 GB (and counting) to celebrate today’s launch of Google Drive. The increase will take effect over the next 24 hours. We hope you all enjoy the little bump!

The disparity between free Gmail and free Google Drive is a bit perplexing. Is Google encouraging us to inefficiently store most of our content in harder to access, impossible to collaborate in Gmail rather than Google Drive, which was purpose-built for sharing and searching? Have they simply not thought this through? Or is there some plan at work that will one day make one giant pool for all our Googlestuffs?

Who knows. It’s free. It’s embiggened. And that’s all there is to it.

Now excuse me while I go mail bomb Phil Nickinson a couple million more 10MB blobs…

Source: Gmail blog

Google Drive is big, cheap, and aims to compete with the likes of Dropbox, SkyDrive, and maybe even iCloud

Rumor it and it shall become real — Google Drive, the long awaited, long anticipated cloud storage service from Google is finally here and it’s as big and as cheap as we hoped for. Every Google user gets 5GB for free, and you can buy literally tons more — up to 16TB (?!) if you have the cash.

Today, we're introducing Google Drive—a place where you can create, share, collaborate, and keep all of your stuff. Whether you're working with a friend on a joint research project, planning a wedding with your fiancé or tracking a budget with roommates, you can do it in Drive. You can upload and access all of your files, including videos, photos, Google Docs, PDFs and beyond.

The focus is on sharing, storing, and searching. Everything. Google Docs is built in so you can start creating stuff. You can install the desktop client on Windows or Mac to get a folder going.

You can get started with 5GB of storage for free—that's enough to store the high-res photos of your trip to the Mt. Everest, scanned copies of your grandparents' love letters or a career's worth of business proposals, and still have space for the novel you're working on. You can choose to upgrade to 25GB for $2.49/month, 100GB for $4.99/month or even 1TB for $49.99/month. When you upgrade to a paid account, your Gmail account storage will also expand to 25GB.

Google has updated their Android Google Docs app, turning it into an official Google Drive app. They’re also “working hard” on an iPhone or iPad version but for now, if you want to access Google Drive, the web is your friend. You can find things by keyword and filter, and Drive will even OCR scanned docs to make your life easier. There’s even beta image recognition baked in.

Check out more via the links below, and the watch the video for the overview.

Source: drive.google.com, Google Blog, via Android Central

For today only, the iMore iPad Accessory Store has the Qmadix Portfolio with Removable Bluetooth Keyboard for The new iPad on sale for only $84.95! That’s a whopping 35% off! Get one before they’re gone!

• Shop Qmadix Portfolio with Removable Bluetooth Keyboard for The new iPad now!

The Qmadix Portfolio with Removable Bluetooth Keyboard is the ultimate companion for the new iPad or iPad 2. The portfolio features a removable Bluetooth keyboard that seamlessly connects for quicker, more comfortable typing.

The Portfolio offers a unique design element that allows you to position the new iPad or iPad 2 in an ideal viewing position while using the Bluetooth keyboard. Designed for the professional on the go, the Qmadix Portfolio offers stylish protection as well as an increased level of functionality that other carry solutions simply don’t provide.

Features:

• Removable Bluetooth 2.0 Keyboard
• Polycarbonate Composite Keyboard
• Integrated Stand for comfortable viewing
• Access to cameras, buttons, controls, and ports
• Professional look and feel
• Rechargeable lithium-ion polymer battery
• MicroUSB port for charging

Includes:

• Portfolio Case custom fit for The new iPad
• Removable Bluetooth 2.0 Keyboard
• 4 ft MicroUSB to Standard USB charging/sync cable
• User Manual

After an initial release on iPad last summer, Sid Meier’s classic swashbuckling game, Pirates!, has found its way to the iPhone. Just like the version built for the bigger screen, you build up a crew, customize your ship, stick a sword into anyone who tries to take it, fire cannons at competing pirates, pillage whatever’s in sight, and rest up at the port once the gunpowder has settled.

Just like the iPad version, the Classic Sid Meier adventure has been optimized for multitouch on the iPhone. You can parry, counter, an dual all the scurvy dogs you come across into submission, while boarding their ships, attacking their taverns, and even raiding the Governor’s mansion for bounty.

You get 27 ships that you can customize with ammo, cannons, and otherwise upgrade, and you get to go after the greatest pirate villains in history, including Blackbeard, Captain Kidd and Henry Morgan.

Pirates is a well-loved franchise, and one that has weathered the test of time nicely. It originally came out way back in 1987, made by MicroProse, who also kicked off the Civilization franchise. Remakes of Pirates on the PC and consoles have done really well, and it looks like 2K has properly optimized for mobile with fresh touch controls. I’ve never spent too much time playing the series myself, but I’ve got more than one friend who goes “ZOMG PIRATES!11!!” any time it comes up. Maybe now is the time to give it a shot.

Any swashbucklers in the house that have already pumped a lot of time into this game?

$2.99 – Download now

After years of anticipation, Google could finally be set to launch their Dropbox competitor as early as this week

Google Drive is one of those mythical monsters of geekdom, something that’s been speculated about and anticipated for years — a full, Dropbox-style online storage solution from Google. And Reuters says it might just be announced as soon as today.

Consumers will get 5 Gigabytes of storage for free with Google Drive, while various versions with incrementally more storage capacity, topping out at about 100 Gibabytes, will be available for monthly fees, the source said.

No word on pricing yet, but Google Drive sounds like it will be typically Google — massive and search-centric.

Google Drive will also be entering an increasingly competitive field, squaring off not only against the aforementioned Dropbox, but against established players like Box and Evernote, and major platform rivals like Microsoft’s SkyDrive as well. While Apple’s iCloud no longer offers iDisk functionality, it does offer a baseline level of service and convenience that’s enough that mainstream users don’t go looking for true online storage solutions.

Google has one huge advantage, however — it’s massive, services-centric user base. Demand for a Google-powered online repository has been so high all sorts of McGyver-like solutions have been shoehorned into Gmail and Google Docs just to make it sort-of-work.

If every Gmail and Google accounts users simply “gets” Google Drive, that’s one heck of a jumpstart for Google, and something casual users might just turn to.

For power users, displacing Dropbox or Box might be out of the question unless it does the same things so much better it creates a compelling reason to switch. Given how much 3rd party support Dropbox already enjoys, especially in iOS, that could be tough.

Getting used in addition to Dropbox or Box, the way iCloud has, however, would probably be enough for Google Drive at this point.

We should find out shortly.

Source: Reuters via Android Central

This morning AT&T issued their Q1 2012 financial results, where they casually mentioned that of the 5.5 million smartphones sold, 4.3 million were iPhones (and 21% were new to AT&T). Though they didn’t mention exactly how many Android phones were sold by comparison, it would be under 1.2 million, assuming they sold a negligible number of BlackBerry and Windows Phone handsets. Even among other carriers, AT&T is doing pretty well.

>”We continue to capitalize on our terrific momentum in mobile Internet,” said Randall Stephenson, AT&T chairman and chief executive officer. “Smartphone and branded computing device sales continue to set a record pace, mobile data revenues were up nearly 20 percent, and we achieved this growth with expanding margins. These results add confidence in our outlook for the year.”

>- $0.60 diluted EPS compared to $0.57 diluted EPS in the first quarter of 2011 >- Consolidated revenues of $31.8 billion, up $575 million, or 1.8 percent, versus the year-earlier period >- Wireless operating income margin up to 27.2 percent; wireless EBITDA service margin up significantly to 41.6 percent even with strong smartphone sales >- More than $2 billion in stock buybacks; 67.7 million shares repurchased >- AT&T’s growth engines — wireless, wireline data and managed services — represented 78 percent of total revenues and grew 6.2 percent versus the same quarter a year ago, led by: >- 19.9 percent growth in wireless data revenues, up more than $1 billion versus the year-earlier quarter >- 19.0 percent growth in strategic business services revenues >- 38.2 percent growth in consumer U-verse revenues >- Smartphone sales of 5.5 million, exceeding the previous first-quarter record, with about 30 percent of all postpaid smartphone subscribers on 4G-capable devices >- 726,000 total wireless net adds, with gains in every customer category >- Postpaid wireless churn of 1.1 percent, lowest level in seven quarters >- Record first-quarter branded computing (tablets, tethering plans, etc.) net adds of 460,000 to reach a total of 5.8 million, up almost 70 percent versus a year ago >- Postpaid wireless subscriber ARPU (average monthly revenues per subscriber), up 1.7 percent to $64.46

AT&T also managed to outsell rival Verizon, who pushed 3.2 million iPhones, and 21% of iPhone buyers were new AT&T subscribers. Despite being a 43% drop compared to Q4, when the iPhone 4S launched, this was a record first quarter for AT&T’s smartphone sales, and it’s thanks in no small part to the iPhone.

It’s not surprising see the iPhone 4S still selling so well, despite being at mid-point in its product cycle. The iPhone has traditionally sold stronger, longer than any other handset on the market.

When asked which carrier shoppers would be interested in siding with should an LTE iPhone be launched this fall, the line was pretty evenly split between AT&T and Verizon among our forum-goers. Of course, that’s a ways off, and might give AT&T enough time to catch up to Verizon’s LTE coverage.

Source: AT&T, pic

An elderly Chinese lady was stopped at customs trying to import more than 200 iPhones hidden inside used beer bottles. The iPhones which are available for a lot less in Hong Kong were being imported into Shenzhen China.

Collecting beer bottles is not that suspicious of a pastime for some as they can be given to recycling centers in exchange for a small payment. This time however customs officers were highly suspicious due to the weight of the bottles. On further investigation, officers discovered that the bottles had been tampered with. Each bottle had been professionally cut in half and each one loaded with three iPhones; they had then been taped back together.

The bottles contained a total of 216 iPhones, a mixture of iPhone 4S and iPhone 4 models. It makes you wonder about the lengths these smugglers will go just to get the iPhones back into China; where they are actually made. This seems like a highly complicated procedure and a very clever one too!

Source: MIC gadget

One of my favorite iPad photo editing apps, Photogene, has finally been updated with support for the new iPad’s retina display. Photogene is a full featured photo editor that allows you to make a lot of common adjustments, add special effects, and make collages.

Presets

If you’re looking for a way to quickly add an artistic look to your photo, Photogene has the following presets:

• Colors: cool, warm, crimson sunrise, improve dark photo, day into night, landscape
• B&W: simple, high contrast, extreme, light, dark, dramatic, infrared
• Vintage: noir, 20′s vintage, 40′s vintage, 70′s vintage, lomo, cross processed, morning glory, redscale, retro, golden, old pink
• Frames: classic, classic 2, gloss, gloss 2, glow, glow 2, glow 3, drop shadow, fade-in, thin line
• Fun: oil painting, cinema, stamp, psychedelic, pencil sketch, reflection, dream, mars, icon, foggy, sunset, and purple haze.

You can also create your own presets.

Crop

Photogene comes with 6 different common crop ratios, but the really neat feature is the one that lets you create your own crop ratio. The ratio choice with a star will let you choose between 1-20 for your width and height. So if you want to crop your photo with a 5:11 ratio, you can!

Rotate

The Rotate tool is pretty self-explanatory. You can rotate in incriments of 90 degrees, flip horizontally or vertically, and straighten (or tilt) your image. Personally, I think the straightening tool would be better placed in the cropping section since using it results in a cropped image. In fact, the crop and rotate tools could actually be grouped together in the same section.

Adjustments

The Adjustment section of Photogene for iPad is where you’ll find tools for clarity, brightness, colors, sharpen\denoise, histogram, RGB, and curves.

The clarity tool has a single slider.

The brightness tool has sliders for exposure, contrast, shadows, and highlights, and an auto option.

The colors tool has sliders for saturation, vibrance, color temperature, and tint.

The sharpen tool lets you adjust the sharpen amount, sharpen radius, luminance denoise, and chroma denoise.

The histogram lets you adjust the ends and middle of the histogram and also has an auto option.

In the RGB section, you can adjust the red, green, and blue offset levels.

Lastly, the curves tool will overlay the curves grid over the photo and let you adjust it how you wish.

Retouches

The Retouches section of Photogene is very extensive. It includes healing and red eye tools, masks for dodge, burn, clone, blur, grayscale (selective coloring), and effects. The included effects are dream, painting, comics, posterize, sepia, smooth, pixelate, dynamic curve, light up, cross process, redscale, and extreme B&W. When applying a mask, you can adjust the brush’s size and opacity and choose to see your brush strokes by tapping contour. You can also choose to invert your mask.

Text

Photogene for iPad allows you to add various text bubbles and annotations to your photo in the Text section. The text boxes and bubbles are fully customizable with the ability to edit the color of the outline, fill, and text, add shadowing, choose fonts, and adjust the justification. You can also adjust the size and rotation of the shape.

For annotations, you can add arrow, circles, rectangles, and other shapes and adjust the color and width of the outline.

Enhance

The last section of Photogene is called Enhance. It is here that you’ll be able to add vignette, tilt-shift effects, gradients, frames, filters, and more. The available filters are the same as the effects that can be painted in the Adjustments tab. The difference is that adding a filter applies the effect to the entire photo instead of just the area that you paint.

Collages

Photogene also includes a few templates for turning your photos into collages. Just select which photos you want to build into a collage and Photogene will do it automatically. It will then show you a list of other available templates. There is only 3 templates of each size (meaning 3 templates for 3 photos, 3 templates for 4 photos, etc), but you can purchase 61 new templates for $1.99.

With each collage, you can editing the outline width and color, add an inner shadow, and choose between 6 ratios. You can also add text bubbles and annotations just like you can in the Text Section of Photogene.

Go-PRO features

Everything mentioned so far in this review comes included in the $2.99 version of Photogene for iPad. It’s quite a steal if you ask me. But if you’re looking for even more professional tools, there is a Go-PRO version available as an in-app purchase for $7.99. This brings the following addition features: star-ratings, watermarking, FTP history, RGB curves, JPEG quality, white-balance color picker, custom localized effect, and IPTC sets and batch paste.

Star rating

When browsing through photos in your albums, holding down your finger on an image will pop up a menu that lets you rename the photo, view metadata, or export. In the metadata screen, you;ll find the general information of the photo and the Exif, IPTC, and GPS info. You can also assign 0 to 5 stars to the photo. Then you can choose to arrange your photos by star rating.

Watermarking, FTP history, JPEG quality, and IPTC sets and batches

If you have a watermark for your business, Photogene Go-PRO lets you easily add your watermark automatically when exporting. You can adjust the opacity, padding, relative size, and choose between 9 different positions. Unfortunately, this process must be done automatically and Photogene doesn’t offer a large preview of what you can expect the watermark to look like on your image. If you have a light, transparent watermark (like iMore), then it’s very hard to see the watermark in the tiny preview thumbnail.

I hope to see a more advanced watermarking system implemented in the future.

In addition to adding a watermark upon export, you can also setup Photogene to save FTP configurations that you’ve exported images to.

Photogene GO-PRO also allows you to adjust the quality of exported JPEG files.

If you store IPTC info into your photos, you’ll be happy to know that with Photogene for iPad Go-PRO, you can create IPTC data sets and copy them into any photo that you wish. It’s a great time saver.

RGB curves

The extra RGB curves feature of the Go-PRO Photogene package adds the options of adjusting the curves for red, green, and blue separately from the general curves.

White-balance color picker

The white-balace color picker feature of the Go-PRO add-on in Photogene for iPad is a great way to adjust the color balance of your photo. There are also sliders for color temperature and tint, but the color picker at least gets you in the correct neighborhood. To you use it, you simply hold your finger down on a neutral-colored area of the photograph.

The Good

• Packed with robust editing tools
• Includes easy to use presets and filters
• Works directly with iPad’s photo library so you don’t need to import photos
• Collages
• Non destructive editing
• Go-PRO in-app purchase adds even more features
• Supports the new iPad’s Retina display

The Bad

• Waiting for adjustments to take place can sometimes take a long time because actions happen in real time
• Straightening tool would be more appropriately placed in the cropping section

The Conclusion

Photogene for iPad is one of the best photo editing apps on the iPad. It is full-featured with loads of editing tools ranging from basic, one-touch filters and effects, to more advanced tools like curves, histograms, and healing. And I’m not one to often discus the price of an app, but considering you can pick up Photogene for iPad for less than the cost of a fancy drink at Starbucks, I’d say it’s quite a steal. Add on the Go-PRO in-app purchase, and you’ve got yourself an excellent photo editor.

$2.99 – Download Now

Marc, Seth, and Rene iterate through Google’s Project Glass, upgrade pricing, and Instagram’s sale to Facebook, and interrogate Justin Marcucci and Tammy Coron of Nickelfish. This is Iterate!

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• Google’s Project Glass
• Microsoft Design case study: iPad to Windows 8 Metro style app
• The Mac App Store Needs Paid Upgrades
• Why Facebook bought Instagram

• Justin Marcucci of Nickelfish
• Tammy Coron of Nickelfish

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• Marc Edwards (@marcedwards) of Bjango
• Seth Clifford (@sethclifford) of Nickelfish
• Rene Ritchie (@reneritchie) of iMore.com

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