Apple reported this morning the results of its first quarter for 2009. The company, which has been make headlines for several years with its line of iPod and iPhone devices, is still making money — and lots of it.

Making money for Apple is not a surprise. But considering the dire straits of the economy in the last quarters, the fact that Apple is beating estimates for growth is a very glad occurrence.

According to the official report, Apple was able to grow about 25% compared to previous year, which is a fantastic rate of growth — even on normal economic times. If we consider the effects of the recession on consumers, the increase in demand for Apple’s products demonstrate the strengh of their business.

The strengh is apparent, also, from the public image of the company in media. The Apple-gui commercials are still a great success, and have largely changed the view of personal computers, especially for the younger generation.

And with new products being announced practically every semester, Apple has showed that there is much more growth where this was created. If we see an improvement in the economy by the end of the year, Apple will be positioned to benefit greatly of such economic recovery.

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Apple versus PC: a comparison

If you are a Mac fan you already know how better the Macs are compared to similar PCs. What many people think, however, is that this is just an exaggeration by Apple users.

In the past it was difficult to do any direct comparisons between Macs and PC, mainly because the processors used were so different. People always complained about comparisons that would show processors with the same speed, and not accounting for the differences in architecture between PCs and Macs.

Now that Apple has moved to use Intel processors on its whole line, it has become much easier to draw more meaningful comparisons. And they are starting to appear. For example, see this one from popular mechanics:
http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/reviews/4258725.html?page=1

After matching two pairs of Macs and PCs, they reached the not-so-difficul-to-draw conclusion that Macs are much faster to start up and shut down, and perform much better in a set of stardard tasks.

Moreover, their tests show that Apple machines run Windows faster then similar PCs.

Still, this is not the ultimate test that is going to convince the hard-core PC followers. However, it shows that is becomming easier to make this kind of comparison, and the reality will eventually become clearer for everyone.

Making you old mac run a little faster

Macs are fantastic machines, but sometimes they also have their performance problems. I have my Mac running well for years, day and night, and it has been pretty capable to handle the load.

There are times, however, when you want to improve the performance of you system. If that is the case, it is interesting to check possible areas where you could get extra performance of your old Mac box.

I have a handy list of things to look for in my Mac from time to time. I run through this list to make sure that I get the best performance of my machine, and that Mac OS X keeps running fine. Here are some of my tips:

• Take notice of the programs you are installing in the background. Mac OS X is highly reliable, but there are some programs that keep running in the background, and therefore take resources that should be made available to other programs. For example, I used to have small Java-based utilities installed. They can be very nice, but also take their toll from you processor. Nowadays, I prefer to remove any background program that is not doing anything used in my system.
• Install latest updates. This is hard not to do, but am lazy enough to dismiss the Mac OS X update screen when it pops up. Of course, it will be there the next day, so it is better to do updates the first time they come.
• Avoid multiple programs to do the same thing: I used to have multiple IM programs (now I mostly use Adium. Also, I used to have multiple browsers opened at the same time (Firefox, Safari, and Opera are my preferred). Now, I decided to use only Safari as my main browser. This both simplifies my life and uses less resources of my machine.

In summary, I am pretty happy with the speed and great performance of my Mac. However, I learned with time to make better use of the system resources, so I don't have to wait more than I really want to. This way, I can also spend more time with the programs that I like, such as iTunes, iDVD...

Buying a new Mac on eBay

Having a Mac is a dream for a lot of people, but at the same time it can be expensive. New Macs are always loaded with the best technology, and great technologies, such as automator, time machine, the new aqua interface. However, at the same time, the price tag for new macs can be prohibitive, especially if you are used to PCs from HP or Dell, selling nowadays by close to $300.

A solution for you may be at hand: look for used Macs on sell at eBay. EBay is by far the most famous place to sell used technical equipment. It allows users to contact sellers directly, and this makes life easier for everyone.

Here are some advantages of using eBay to locate your new Mac, fully loaded with Mac OS X:

• It is much easier to get information from sellers. With direct connection to the current owners, you can get the information you need about each equipment on sale.
• Large selection: In a traditional store, you have only a limited number of options. Even at the Apple store you will have only access to the latest models, although some of the older models could work just as well for your application.
• Better prices: since there is a large variety of Mac computers on sell at eBay, you can also find bargain prices, from people that want to sell fast. It is much easier to get bargains from owner than from stores, anyway.

So, if you desperately want that Mac but don't feel you have enough money to afford, you should always take a look at eBay. It can very possibly make your shopping experience much better and cheaper.

Do you have any experience buying Macs on eBay? If yes, leave a comment describing it...

Google cooperates with Apple on more than the iPhone

Apple and Google plan to collaborate even more - that is the message from Google's CEO, Eric Schmidt, to the crowed that came to preview some of the Google's innovations during a French event.
According to Google's CEO, the cooperation just started with the integration of Youtube into Apple's products, such as AppleTV and the iPhone. Scchmidt, who was demoing a very exclusive Apple iPhone, told the crowd that other collaborations where on the way, and that the Google-Apple combination would deliver notable technologies in the near future.
It will be very interesting to watch what these collaborative features would be. In fact, joining the network power of Google with the hardware and software excellence of Apple would result in pretty impressive products. Let us hope that this collaboration really works in the long run and that users can benefit from it.

New details on the iPhone appear on Apple webpage

Amid the large excitement about the launch of the iPhone next week, Apple is delievering a few more pieces of information on its web site.
The new information shows additional images of the cell phone, along with improved videos showing its functionality.
As was publicized yesterday, the iPhone will have direct access to iTube videos, which will make it even more attractive for web surfers that are used to view the newest videos on their computers.
There are still very few confirmed facts about the launch of the iPhone, except the release date. The media is busy trying to get additional information from Apple, and it will be interesting to watch what is gonna happen in the next few days.

Youtube and iPhone: a great combination

The Youtube success has generated a lot of press in the last months. Nowadays, Youtube is a force in several areas of online collaboration, going from marketing campaigns to even politics.
Apple also wants to take part of the Youtube scene. First, they decided to integrate Youtube with the AppleTV, in a new try to conquer the living room.
The latest news on the attempt of integration with Youtube has been released this morning. Apple is saying that they will integrate Youtube with the iPhone.
This shows at least two things
Apple is in great relationship with Google. And this looks great for both companies, since they have offers that complement each other (despite the small areas in which they have overlapping strategies)
The Youtube phenomenon can probably move to the mobile phone, where it can get even more viral. The iPhone can well be the platform that will allow even more widespread distribution of small videos created by the Youtube users.
So this seems great for everyone involved, and probably users and investors will take notice.