End User: Bites from the Apple: All A-Twitter

This week saw the release of Apple's second quarter earnings, which bucked the trend of the current economic recession by posting better than expected results with growth in both the iPhone and iPod spaces but rather understandable decline in the Mac space. Other factoids of interest (culled by World of Apple) include the iPod having a 70 percent market share, 21 million iPhones sold to date, and no CDMA-based iPhone (sorry, Verizon and Sprint). Several blogs reported earlier in the week that Taiwan-based Foxconn was in the running to land orders for the Apple netbook (fanboy rendition to the right), and COO Tim Cook responded to a question about Apple doing a netbook with a pithy response: "When I look at what's being sold in the netbook space today, I see cramped keyboards, terrible software, junky hardware, very small screens, and just not a consumer experience and not something that we would put the Mac brand on, quite frankly." But then he fanned the flames:

(I)f we find a way where we can deliver an innovative product that really makes a contribution, then we'll do that. We have some interesting ideas in this space.

In other Apple-y goodness from the week that was...

Should a new iPhone get released this summer (and signs are definitely pointing that way), it'll run faster on AT&T's 3G network, with the carrier confirming that it will be doubling its 3G speeds to 7.2 megabits per second (Mb/s) this year (via AppleInsider).
Rumor Revue: Treehugger reports that sources at LG in Korea say that Apple will be using OLED screens in its next notebooks (perhaps as early as June, in conjunction with WWDC, but I wouldn't hold your breath). At the very least, we should be seeing some minor bumps in the speeds and feeds for the MacBook and MacBook Pro lines at WWDC. In other rumors, Silicon Alley Insider says that a "badass" Hulu iPhone app is coming soon and Hardmac wonders if Apple might be able to turn on the Bluetooth 3.0 spec early in its iPod Touch and next-generation iPhone
There's been much ado about the long-rumored iTablet notebook that Apple may or may not be working on, but Houston Neal writes that such a device would be the perfect tech partner for a new health care system with electronic medical records (EMRs).
Ars Technica reports that work is continuing at a good pace on both the next version of the Mac OS (10.6 Snow Leopard) as well as the next update to the current 10.5 Leopard OS (which would take us to 10.5.7). AppleInsider reports that Snow Leopard will make it easier for corporate users to securely access email, contact and intranets without having to tunnel through the corporate firewall using VPN.
Looks like Steve Jobs really is resting and recuperating, based on the dearth of private jet expenses that Apple filed with its SEC statement this week.
Rich Rosen over at O'Reilly thinks that the New York Times and Wall Street Journal (as well as other old media newspapers) could learn a thing or two from how USA Today has designed its iPhone app (link requires iTunes), which adds a bit more flash to its navigation and information presentation than the more staid NYT and WSJ.
Apple's billionth iPhone/iPod touch app was downloaded yesterday, and Apple confirms that 13-year-old Connor Mulcahey of Connecticut was the purchaser with his downloading of the free Bump app (which can send contact information to another Bump user). He wins $10,000 iTunes gift certificate, a MacBook Pro, an iPod touch, a Time Capsule and, as my pal Jeff Carlson put it on Twitter, universal envy. At least he didn't download the app that's caused the biggest headache for Apple to date--the now-removed Baby Shaker.
Speaking of Twitter, the popular Tweetie iPhone app has now been ported over as a Mac client in both a paid version and free ad-supported version. MacUser has a good first look at the software (and Jim Dalrymple at Macworld says he's switching from Twitterific), which has some interesting twists such as an iChat-like UI, easy viewing of conversations (which pulls together all the tweets associated with an @ reply chain; see image at right for example), support for multiple accounts and lots of keyboard shortcuts. I've been a Twitterific user/fan for some time now and I've certainly grown accustomed to its rather spare interface. I'm going to play around with Tweetie over the next week or so and see if I'm going to switch, but one thing that I like better in Twitterific is better control over how often the program will appear with updates (Tweetie informs you that new tweets have been posted by changing the color of its menubar icon, whereas you can set Twitterific to appear on top of your desktop at scheduled intervals).
The iPhone allows you to add bookmarks from the Safari web browser to the home screen for one-click access to favorite sites, but it sure would be handy if there were one-click home screen options for other actions like calling or text messaging someone. Enter the Red Monkey app (covered by TUAW), which does just that and more, including sending an email or looking at an address (or current location) on the Map app. Red Monkey is a free app, and it's joined by four additional red-tinged apps from e-Lips (Lizard, Bird, Turtle and Buffalo)--each priced at $0.99--so that you can have a total of five one-click icons on your home screen.
If you're a vegetarian in an unfamiliar locale and looking for a good and veg-friendly place to eat, be sure to check out the VegOut iPhone app, which identifies and categorizes restaurants as vegetarian, vegan or veg-friendly in your proximity and integrates with Google Maps (via Macworld). And because it uses the HappyCow social network as its database, it should be a good global reference (my wife and I relied on comments from HappyCow for a trip to Paris some years back to find some great hidden veggie spots).
Trance DJ Paul Van Dyk has an iPhone app created for DJs coming out soon with tools like a BPM counter, a frequency analyzer, and a seismic reader for your turntable to check how much vibration it's experiencing. That's a little beyond my DJ needs, but it does have a virtual glowstick. Check out the video of Paul introducing the app over at Gizmodo.
Road warrior tip of the week: If you carry your Airport Express with you while traveling for Wi-Fi connectivity, you can use the base station's USB port (designed for connecting a printer) to charge your iPhone or iPod (via Macworld).
Woz Watch: Check out Lifehacker's lengthy interview with Steve Wozniak, which covers such topics as what email program he uses (Eudora. Seriously.) and using jailbroken iPhones.
And finally... the Leon/Voight-Kampff/Holden scene from Blade Runner as performed by the voices of Amazon's Kindle 2 and Apple's new third-generation iPod shuffle.