Mac

Apple has just announced their Q3 2011 results and the iOS platform continues to impress with 20.34 million iPhones sold (up 142% from last year), 9.25 million iPads (up 183%), 3.95 million Macs (up 14%) and 7.54 million iPods (down 20%). All that added up to $28.57 billion in revenue and record quarterly net profit of $7.31 billion.

“We’re thrilled to deliver our best quarter ever, with revenue up 82 percent and profits up 125 percent,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “Right now, we’re very focused and excited about bringing iOS 5 and iCloud to our users this fall.”

“We are extremely pleased with our performance which drove quarterly cash flow from operations of $11.1 billion, an increase of 131 percent year-over-year,” said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s CFO. “Looking ahead to the fourth fiscal quarter of 2011, we expect revenue of about $25 billion and we expect diluted earnings per share of about $5.50.”

Their quarterly conference call is coming up soon and we'll add highlights as we hear them, after the break.

Every week a few of us from team TiPb will bring you our current favorite, most fun and useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they’re iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch related, they’re fair game.

To see what we picked, and to tell us your pick, follow on after the break!

Since Apple recently released iOS 5 beta 3, you may be wondering whether or not you can jailbreak as you could with beta 1 and beta 2. Fortunately, beta 3 is also jailbreakable.

But again, we'll warn you that beta software has its own qualms to begin with so if you're not comfortable with a few more bugs, we urge you to stay away. Also keep in mind a lot of jailbreak tweaks and apps have not yet been updated to support iOS 5. If you absolutely need to get your beta jailbreak on, follow along for another walk-through.

Apple has sent out a note to developers advising them that iTunes Connect, the back end interface for managing App Store apps, will be down for maintenance on Wednesday, July 13 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. PDT. They also warn that some countries will lose App Store access, and price changes might cause apps to temporarily become unavailable.

Apple has just seeded the Gold Master (GM) candidate for OS X 10.7 Lion to developers. That's the desktop jab, scheduled to land this month, that Apple is using to set up the overhand right of iOS 5, which will finish the combo this fall.

Wondering why Google+ looks, well, uncharacteristically good for a Google product? Turn out Andy Hertzfeld, an former Apple design guru going back to the days of the original Mac, has been given the freedom to exercise his creative genius on the new Google+ project. No wonder it has such a simple, useful -- dare we say elegant -- look and feel to it.

Hertzfeld credits some of his work done on the project to Apple, saying that Apple's reign on the mobile industry may have had "A little bit to do" with his creative design into the project of Google+.

Does knowing that a famous former Apple designer had a big hand in how Google+ looks and works make you any more likely to try it out?

We've known for a while now that iPhone 5 won't be coming out this month, as it has for the last four years, but this fall, when iOS 5 is also scheduled to ship. Whether one delayed the other, or factors such as Verizon contracts, component shortages, engineering hours, or some combination of factors we may never know, but now rumors suggest new Macs are similarly on hold, this time waiting on OS X Lion before they ship.

If you were one of our many readers waiting for Apple's Back to School promotion to kick off so you could grab a new MacBook or iMac and get a free iPod touch along with it, you're in for some disappointment. Instead of a free iPod touch like last year](http://www.imore.com/2010/05/27/apple-education-promo-free-ipod-touch/), this year Apple is offering a $100 iTunes gift certificate to cap off your educational purchase.

There's some debate as to whether or not Apple will keep the MobileMe web apps, like Mail, Contacts, and Calendars around after the transition to iCloud. Some have heard no, that Apple will trash them and go 100% apps. Others have heard yes, that Apple will keep them around.

It sounds like the latest developer preview for Mac OS X Lion will allow you to reboot into a Safari only mode (similar to how a Google ChromeBook is perpetually in Chrome-only mode), as part of the upcoming Find my Mac feature. Should iPad have that option? iPhone and iPod touch?

It would be handy if you wanted to give someone easy access to the web but didn't want them nosing around in your pictures, iMessages, email, and other personal information. It might also be good for educational, business, or even kiosk settings where web access is enough and apps might be too much.