MacHELP

I opened my door this evening to find that UPS had dropped off a large cardboard box; inside was a nicely configured PowerMac G4 450Mhz DP system. There’s no note or anything in the box, just the system unit and lots of packing peanuts.

Update: Since originally posting this, the mystery has been solved. Thanks to B.D. for the PowerMac G4!

This now makes two machines that people have donated in order to help me support people still running OSX 10.1 through 10.4. J.G. in Sunnyvale sent me a “Blue & White” G3 system, and the UPS label indicates that the G4 came from Chicago.

Apple today announced their financial results for the fiscal second quarter of 2008.

The Company posted revenue of $7.51 billion and net quarterly profit of $1.05 billion, or $1.16 per diluted share. These results compare to revenue of $5.26 billion and net quarterly profit of $770 million, or $.87 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 32.9 percent, down from 35.1 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 44 percent of the quarter’s revenue.

Apple shipped 2,289,000 Macintosh® computers during the quarter, representing 51 percent unit growth and 54 percent revenue growth over the year-ago quarter. The Company sold 10,644,000 iPods during the quarter, representing one percent unit growth and eight percent revenue growth over the year-ago quarter. Quarterly iPhone™ sales were 1,703,000.

These are the best second quarter results in Apple’s history.

I’m in need of a G4 or G5 system so that I can dual-boot Mac OS X 10.3 and 10.4 in order to troubleshoot and help people running those older versions of the operating system (both of my personal systems are Intel-based and run 10.5). If someone has an older system available and would like to donate it to the cause, please email and let me know.

I run MacHELP as a non-profit hobby; it makes no income. I usually answer between five and ten questions a day and have helped more than 1200 people with their Macintosh and Mac OS X problems since April of 2007.

Apple posted their 2008 first quarter results today, with the best earnings and quarterly revenue in the company’s history.

The Company posted revenue of $9.6 billion and net quarterly profit of $1.58 billion, or $1.76 per diluted share. These results compare to revenue of $7.1 billion and net quarterly profit of $1 billion, or $1.14 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 34.7 percent, up from 31.2 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 45 percent of the quarter’s revenue.

Apple shipped 2,319,000 Macintosh® computers, representing 44 percent unit growth and 47 percent revenue growth over the year-ago quarter. The Company sold 22,121,000 iPods during the quarter, representing five percent unit growth and 17 percent revenue growth over the year-ago quarter. Quarterly iPhone™ sales were 2,315,000.

Apple has announced that it has sold two million copies of Mac OS X 10.5 “Leopard” since its release on Friday the 26th at 6pm.

Apple today announced financial results for its fiscal 2007 fourth quarter ended September 29, 2007.

The Company posted revenue of $6.22 billion and net quarterly profit of $904 million, or $1.01 per diluted share. These results compare to revenue of $4.84 billion and net quarterly profit of $542 million, or $.62 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 33.6 percent, up from 29.2 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 40 percent of the quarter’s revenue.

Apple shipped 2,164,000 Macintosh® computers, representing 34 percent growth over the year-ago quarter and exceeding the previous quarterly record for Mac® shipments by 400,000. The Company sold 10,200,000 iPods during the quarter, representing 17 percent growth over the year-ago quarter. Quarterly iPhone™ sales were 1,119,000, bringing cumulative fiscal 2007 sales to 1,389,000.

“Apple ended the fiscal year with $15.4 billion in cash and no debt,” said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s CFO. “Looking ahead to the first quarter of fiscal 2008, we expect revenue of about $9.2 billion and earnings per diluted share of about $1.42.”

Over on ITToolbox, Security Monkey has a great article about Why Security Pros Use Macs.

My Dream App has posted a Cookbook update.
Snerdware has released GroupCal 3
DEVONtechnologies has released DEVONagent 2.1 and DEVONthink Personal 1.9.9
TrueDisc has released TrueDisk For Mac OS X
Equinux has released TubeStick, a USB digital TV receiver for the DVB-T standard.
Embraceware Software has released Awaken v3.1
Madebysofa has released Checkout version 1.1
Disco CD burning software has finally reached version 1.0.

Apple Inc. (formerly Apple Computer, Inc.) and the Beatles’ Apple Corps released a joint statement today detailing a new agreement concerning the use of the name “Apple” and apple logos; this replaces the previous agreement made in 1991.

Under this new agreement, Apple Inc. will own all of the trademarks related to “Apple” and will license certain of those trademarks back to Apple Corps for their continued use. In addition, the ongoing trademark lawsuit between the companies will end, with each party bearing its own legal costs, and Apple Inc. will continue using its name and logos on iTunes®.