Apple to Announce Q3 2017 Earnings on August 1

Apple today updated its investor relations page to announce that the company will share its earnings for the third fiscal quarter (second calendar quarter) of 2017 on Tuesday, August 1.

The earnings release will provide a look at ongoing iPhone 7 and 7 Plus sales ahead of the iPhone 8, as well as early sales of the new iPad Pro and Mac models that were introduced at the Worldwide Developers Conference.

Apple’s guidance for the third quarter of fiscal 2017 includes expected revenue of $43.5 to $45.5 billion and gross margin between 37.5 and 38.5 percent. At that range, Apple’s Q3 2017 revenue will exceed Q3 2016 revenue, which was $42.4 billion, but gross margin may fall slightly.

The quarterly earnings statement will be released at 1:30 PM Pacific/4:30 PM Eastern, with a conference call to discuss the report taking place at 2:00 PM Pacific/5:00 PM Eastern. MacRumors will provide coverage of both the earnings release and conference call on August 1.

Tag: earnings
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Gear Up: Scosche MagicMount line keeps phones safe and secure in the car

Scoshe is well-known in the mount industry, and is highly-preferred among its users.  Today, we’re going to take a look at a couple of their mounts.  If you’re not familiar with Scoshce’s range of products, the specialize in mounts for your tech, and although they do have cradles, most of them just use magnets.

Its website gives you a diagram on where you can place the magnet:

When I first opened the box, I was reluctant to attach a magnet to the back of my phone, because I’m hoping that my mount will still work long after I replace my phone. So, I went with the alternative option: I put the magnet in-between the phone and the case.  I didn’t remove the adhesive sticker, though. I just left the magnet hanging out behind my phone, and yes, it worked like a charm.

Let’s check out a couple products that Scoshe offers with no cradles to mess with, and no permanent stickers to place on the back of your phone.

MagicMount CD

The MagicMount CD conveniently inserts into your car’s CD player, with a “screw” on top to tighten it.  It does not damage the CD player in the car, and depending on how your car is set up, it can be the perfect place for hands-free usage. The mount itself moves around so you can angle it to the view is ideal for you, regardless of whether that’s portrait or landscape mode.

In my car, I stream all my music and podcasts from my phone, so this mount taking up the CD player is a non-issue. Moreover, I don’t want to mess with the suction cups on the dash, because I sit too far back for it to be convenient.  To me, this seems like the perfect place to put a mount.  Personally, I love this thing, and it works great.  My phone sits in place and doesn’t fall off, and it attaches instantly with the magnet (even if I didn’t attach it directly to my phone or case).

The only potentially negative thing I would say is to pay attention the the placement of your car’s CD slot. Since this mount is inserted into the CD slot, it will inevitably cover up something in your car.  For me, it’s my “auto” button for climate control, but I typically leave that on, anyway.  If I take the phone off the mount, I still have access to the button, but while it is mounted, the button is covered up.  Again, to me, no big deal, but give the layout of your dash a quick once-over before you buy.

You can purchase the mount from Scosche’s website or Amazon; pricing is about $20, on average. Scosche | Amazon

MagicMount PRO home/office

The MagicMount Pro home/office is designed to be stationary at home, or  in your office. Conveniently, it also comes with a free attachment to charge your Apple Watch at the same time.

I propped this up on the table beside my bed with the suction cup, so I can charge both my phone and watch at night. The suction cup is strong, and it doesn’t make it top-heavy.

Scosche’s website states, “This new mount in Scosche’s MagicMount Pro line-up creates an elegant look to any home or office… a perfect solution for keeping your device safe and your area clutter-free…” and it isn’t lying.  This mount looks really nice, if you are using it in your office, it easily matches the aesthetic of the 21st century office.

This is definitely a quality accessory, and one that I cannot recommend highly enough.  If you do not have an Apple Watch, you do not have to attach the included accessory, so it won’t look awkward. Either way, it looks professional and clean.

Like the CD mount, I highly recommend this.  I love how it props up both the watch and the phone, so in the middle of the night, I can just glance over to see incoming messages, and don’t have to physically pick up my phone. You can pick one up for about $40 from Scosche or Amazon. Scosche | Amazon

Lyft reaches one million rides per day but is still well behind Uber

Today, Lyft announced that it’s now providing over one million rides per day. The company announced the milestone in a blog post, which highlighted some of its other achievements as well. Lyft noted that for the last four years, it has shown 100 percent year over year growth and it has launched in 160 new cities so far this year. That brings the company’s reach to 360 communities and 80 percent of the US population.

While the continued growth shows Lyft is holding its own, it still has a long way to go before it catches up with Uber. Founded three years before Lyft, Uber reached the one million rides per day mark in 2014 and as of a year ago was giving an average of 5.5 million rides a day. Uber just recently surpassed its five billionth ride. But Uber has taken a hit recently. Business Insider reported last month that Uber’s market share fell from 84 percent earlier this year to 77 percent by the end of May and Lyft saw a substantial jump in activations in the week after the #DeleteUber campaign.

Lyft has continued to adjust its service in order to make its ride-sharing more convenient for customers. And like its rival, Lyft is also working on self-driving cars. The company said in a post, “Since day one, we’ve worked to embed hospitality in everything we do. As more and more people choose Lyft and we continue to grow, we’ll remain focused on providing the best experience to our passengers and drivers.”

Source: Lyft

Obama Foundation taps social media to fight online echo chambers

Participating in social media these days, especially around contentious political issues, can be an exercise in frustration. Facebook fights its own echo chamber with features like Topics to Follow as much as it can, but it’s going to take much more than smart algorithms to learn how to listen to each other. President Obama, our most tech-savvy president, is stepping into the fray, using his post-presidential foundation to encourage us to become better digital citizens.

As reported by TechCrunch, the Obama Foundation’s chief digital officer, Glenn Brown, took to Medium to “identify the problems and talk about them — openly, together, via the very same channels that, when used without intention and awareness, help create the dysfunction in the first place.” In other words, we use Twitter and Facebook to attack the echo chamber problem in the very spots it came into being. Brown hearkens back to Obama’s words from earlier this year at the University of Chicago, where the former president said, “”[We] now have a situation in which everybody’s listening to people who already agree with them.” According to Obama, people “reinforce their own realities, to the neglect of a common reality that allows us to have a healthy debate and then try to find common ground and actually move solutions forward.”

Brown finishes his call for participation with some suggestions. You can respond via the foundation site itself, tag your thoughts on social media with the hashtag #DigitalCitizen,” and even answer some questions he poses to get things started, like “Who’s a model of digital citizenship in your world?” and “What people or organizations do you think exemplify digital citizenship when it comes to questions of embracing difference — of thought, identity, or any other variable that you value?” While the wording may seem a little bit like an essay prompt from high school, perhaps the push will help us all start a much-needed conversation.

Via: TechCrunch

Source: Obama Foundation/Medium

Gaming on the go: The best game controllers for the iPhone

The iPhone is the gamer-on-the-go’s dream. With thousands of games released every month via the App Store, you’re bound to run across a terrific iPhone game at some point or another. However, sometimes that perfect game requires better controls than those afforded by a touchscreen display. Thankfully, the best game controllers for the iPhone can provide you with a more tactile experience, one that falls more line with a traditional peripheral. As more and more mobile games start to look and play like current console titles, people have started to outfit their iPhones with controllers that make playing these games on a phone more akin to playing them on the recently-launched Nintendo Switch. Below, we’ve rounded up some of the better offerings for the iPhone 7, some of which also work for older iPhone models.

Mad Catz C.T.R.L.i ($46+)

The pitfalls that come with gaming on your iPhone are nearly all resolved with Mad Catz’s C.T.R.L.i. The gloss-black offering has Bluetooth, and if three of your friends have a C.T.R.L.i controller, you can all connect to the same iPhone and play local multiplayer in a variety of games (FIFA Mobile, Real Racing 3, Tales From Deep Space).  You also don’t have to worry about balancing your phone on your lap or table while playing, thanks to the the adjustable phone clip located at the top of the controller. The AAA-reliant device even comes with an HDMI cable and HDMI adapter, which allows you to play games on your TV. Now, if only the D-pad wasn’t so stiff…

Buy one now from:

Amazon

Mad Catz Micro C.T.R.L.i ($49+)

The Micro C.T.R.L.i is exactly the same controller as the original C.T.R.L.i, except it’s about an inch smaller overall. That might not sound like a big deal, but that inch can make a big difference for those who travel a lot and want to bring their gaming with them. It uses AAA batteries, but those batteries can give you up to 40 hours of gameplay, which isn’t a bad trade-off. Built-in Bluetooth, an adjustable travel clip, multiplayer support, and a compatible mobile app all come standard.

Buy one now from:

Amazon

SteelSeries Nimbus ($44+)

The Nimbus was built with the console gamer in mind. The device’s button layout and analog placement is a mix between traditional Playstation and Xbox controllers, and its pressure-sensitive buttons make for a gaming experience that not even some AAA console games can provide. The sleek peripheral comes equipped with a lithium-ion battery that can last for 40 hours, though, it lacks the adjustable phone clip found on the aforementioned Mad Catz models. The Nimbus does come with a helpful companion app, which lists the top free and paid games that are currently compatible with the controller. This controller is also the best option for anyone looking to take their iPhone gaming to their iPad or Apple TV.

Buy one now from:

Amazon

Gamevice Controller ($99+)

The Gamevice Controller is ideal for any gamer that plans to shuffle between their iPhone and Nintendo Switch. The controller wraps horizontally around your iPhone, ultimately giving it the look and feel of the Switch, but on a much smaller scale. It also plugs directly into your iPhone’s Lightning port and comes outfitted with its own Lightning connector, which allows you to charge your phone while you’re gaming. Its price point is a bit higher than our other recommendations, but few offerings can match the Gamevice Controller when it comes to sheer portability, thanks to the device’s pliable, folding design.

Buy one now from:

Amazon

PowerLead PL184CN Controller (22+)

If you want one of the best game controllers available for the iPhone, but you don’t want to pay the price tag for one, then the PowerLead is what you’re looking for. It has Bluetooth and a decent telescopic clip, but it doesn’t have any of the other fancy features found on the top-of-the-line controllers peppering our list. The battery can only last 20 hours on a single charge, and it’s difficult to use with your Apple TV. Still, it’s a relatively cheap offering, one that comes with five multimedia buttons that allow you to control both volume and playback.

Buy one now from:

Amazon

Live forever? Scientists say human bodies have no detectable maximum life span

Why it matters to you

Planning to live longer than 125 years? New research suggests that it may be possible, after all.

There’s an old Henny Youngman joke about a doctor who gave a man six months to live, only to find the man couldn’t pay his bill, so gave him another six months. That joke more or less summarizes a recent squabble in the academic world concerning the publishing of a new paper, arguing that what we thought we knew about maximum human lifespan may in fact be wrong.

Late last year, a scientific paper published in Nature by researchers at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine argued that the maximum lifespan of humans is fixed, that there is a plateau at 115, and the “odds of anybody in the world surviving to 125 in any given year is less than one in 10,000.”

Provided your health holds out, living to the grand old age of anywhere between 115 and 125 may sound pretty good, but the study has now been subject to a rebuttal from biologists at Canada’s McGill University — also published in Nature. They argue that there is no evidence for such a limit and that, while one may conceivably exist, it’s not been found yet.

“We examined how old were the oldest people to die, since reliable reports could be obtained until modern times,” Dr. Siegfried Hekimi, one of the lead authors of the study, told Digital Trends. “In contrast to others who thought they could distinguish a plateau around the age of 115, we showed that no such plateau can be observed. Meaning that as far as anyone can tell the age of the oldest individuals to die might keep going up, just as the average lifespan is going up — at least in countries like Canada.”

Hekimi points out the way that average lifespans have increased over the years, from 1920 when an average Canadian would live for 60 years, to one born in 1980 who will live 76 years, to one born today who will live 82 years. We haven’t reached the plateau yet though.

“[Our work] tells us that when living conditions get better — extraordinarily better — then both average and maximum lifespan are likely to go up,” Hekimi said. “What do I mean by extraordinarily good living conditions? Think: enough food, warm shelter in the winter, cool shelter in the summer, vaccination, sewers, fresh uncontaminated food all year round, much lighter workloads.”

Ultimately, of course, it’s going to be average lifespans rather than maximum lifespans that are more significant. Still, if you ever thought you weren’t going to be able to pay your bills in the 115-125 years allotted by last year’s Nature study, never fear: things don’t have to end there!

Dutch students set to debut the world’s first bus running on formic acid

Why it matters to you

Forget electric-powered buses. The real way of the future could be vehicles fueled by sustainable formic acid.

Renewable energy is all the rage on the road these days, with an increasing number of companies turning to electric or hybrid vehicles as their ticket to the future. But even the most advanced of these automakers ought to be impressed by a new innovation from a student team at Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands. It’s being heralded as “the world’s first system that allows a bus to drive on formic acid.” The system, built entirely by Team FAST at the university, comprises an electric bus attached to a small trailer that converts formic acid into electricity.

So why use formic acid? As per researchers at Eindhoven, the compound is sustainable, carbon neutral, safe, and liquid. The acid occurs naturally in stinging nettles and in some ants, but is also easily manufactured at the industrial level, where it is most often used to preserve livestock feed. The students at Eindhoven have employed a blend of 99 percent formic acid and a performance enhancing agent to create a fuel called Hydrozine, which purports to have four times the energy density as a battery. And it is this fuel that ultimately powers the bus.

After initially presenting a model of the bus at the beginning of last year, Team FAST has now created a system that is a whopping 42,000 stronger than originally planned, and able to produce 25kW of power. The key to the bus’ power actually lies in the trailer, which splits Hydrozine into hydrogen and carbon dioxide. The trailer behaves as a sort of range extender (which is why it’s been dubbed REX for short), allowing the bus to travel greater distances than it would be able to on its own. Currently, the team is completing final tests, and the formic acid-powered bus is expected to be operational by the end of 2017.

The bus is slated to be unveiled on Thursday, July 6, at which time the team is also expected to “look ahead to what these results will mean for the future.” Also anticipated in the grand debut is the first Hydrozine filling station.

“The mission of Team FAST is both admirable and ambitious,” said Eindhoven University. “Together with partners from the whole production chain, Team FAST is making Hydrozine a safe, sustainable and standard energy carrier for the future.”

$99 3D printer hopes to succeed where other Kickstarter-funded machines have failed

Why it matters to you

This could finally be the sub-$100 3D printer that succeeds where so many others have failed. We hope.

When you picture the way that products will be created in the future, you possibly imagine them being designed in virtual reality by designers wearing form-fitting Star Trek-style jumpsuits, and printed using beautifully-designed 3D printers. That’s a vision that a company called Kodama is trying to make a modern day reality with its new $99 3D printer Kickstarter campaign. Well, except for the Star Trek-style jumpsuits, that is!

In an accompanying Kickstarter campaign video, the company depicts the story of designer Jenny Wu, who creates her unique jewelry in stainless steel using a VR headset (not included), then exporting the file, and printing it using the Obsidian 3D printer.

“We’ve built a high quality, affordable 3D printer that focuses on the user experience and making 3D printing easy and accessible to everyone, from students to design professionals, in a package that’s pleasing to look at,” Michael Husmann, founder and CEO of Kodama, told Digital Trends.

Aside from its promise of VR-integrated design and attractive appearance, the other big selling points of the Obsidian 3D printer are its out-of-the-box, assembly-free ease of use and its low price. Starting at just $99 for your choice of either a black or white model, it aims to spit out products that are a comparable quality to printers with a considerably higher price tag. A higher tier $249 “Obsidian Deluxe” model comes with additional features such as a Smart LCD screen, heated bed, built-in camera, and more.

There have, of course, been a slew of sub-$200 3D Kickstarter printers which have failed to materialize, however. From Peachy Printer to Tiko, investing your money in the promise of a cheap 3D printer that actually materializes isn’t exactly a no-risk proposition.

When we asked Husmann what guarantees he could offer that this printer would be different, he answered simply: “We’ve done it before. We launched [our previous Kickstarter] Trinus in 2016, and went on to deliver it to 3,100+ backers in 80+ countries.”

If you’re interested in getting hold of an Obsidian unit for yourself, you can currently join the 2,900+ backers who have so far helped it earn more than 7x its $100,000 fundraising target. Shipping is set to take place this December. That’s just in time to quickly 3D print your Christmas gifts… provided it turns out as promised.

Explore from above in these incredible Dronestagram photography contest shots

Why it matters to you

Find aerial inspiration from this gallery of Dronestagram photography contest winners.

Camera drones offer perspectives that cannot be shot from the ground and the latest photography contest dedicated just to the genre shows just how the increasing availability of quadcopters is helping creativity soar. Dronsetagram, a social media platform dedicated entirely to sharing aerial content, today announced the winners of the fourth annual Dronestagram photography contest, held in partnership with National Geographic.

The contest collected around 8,000 photos — enough to prompt the judges to add a fourth category just for creativity. The top three photographers in the Nature, Urban, People and Creativity categories will receive prizes from the contest’s sponsors, which includes Europ Assistance, Kodak Pixpro, StudioSport, Lowepro, Zeinberg, and Homido, along with publication in National Geographic.

“I was blown away by the creativity of the photos in this contest. The photographers used drones to capture the world from new and unique perspectives,” said Jeff Heimsath, contest judge and photo editor at National Geographic Traveler. “The selection process was far from easy, this contest has certainly surfaced the best drone images from around the world.”

In the nature category, Dronestagram user Jcourtial earned the first place prize for his shot of a lavender field harvest. The machinery makes one green streak through the purple-filled image from the aerial perspective. The photograph was also among Dronestagram’s best photos of 2016.  “I went to Valensole hoping to get an original picture rather than the classic view with the sunset in the background. I knew this was the beginning of the harvest season so I hunted down tractors and waited patiently until some started to harvest in a pattern that would create a pleasing composition from above,” he said.

The second place winner went to Calin Stan for an aerial image of the road to Transylvania, Romania, while third went to Dronestagram user Florian for a look at an ice formation.

In the urban category, the top title went to user Bachirm for a look at an area in Dubai that, just 10 years ago, was only desert. Second place went to Alexeygo for a shot of workers on Mercury City Tower at dawn. An aerial shot over Madrid, Spain, took third place for user Luckydron.

Martin Sanchez took first place in the people category for a shot that takes advantage of the aerial perspective to create an optical illusion of a what, at first glance, appears to be a man falling off a building.

In the new Creativity category, Luke Maximo Bell took first for an aerial shot that took advantage of a low sun to catch striking shadows of two cows. The second place shot was actually a pregnancy announcement by user Macareuxprod, creating a vintage video game-inspired pattern in the sand and shooting from above. A drawing in sand also took third place for user Rga.

The Dronestagram photography contest is held every year.

DRAM prices likely to rise due to Inotera fabrication plant contamination

Why it matters to you

If you’re looking to build or buy a new PC, then you might want to get a move on before prices rise even further.

Building or buying a new PC has been a bit more expensive over the last several months due to a number of complicated factors. The production of solid-state disks (SSDs) has struggled to keep up with demand, the GPU market has been slammed by cryptocurrency miners buying up all of the available stock of midrange and high-end cards, and now DRAM pricing has become a sore spot, with a number of manufacturers scaling back on production for a number of different reasons. Now, a bit of bad luck promises to drive up prices even further, as DRAM maker Inotera (aka Micron Technology Taiwan) has shut down operations at its Fab-2 plant in Taiwan, as Evertiq reports.

The shutdown was prompted by contamination of equipment caused by a faulty nitrogen gas dispensing system in the facility, which led to contamination of the DRAM wafers themselves. Each wafer produces a number of individual DRAM chips, and the Fab-2 plant makes a total of about 60,000 wafer starts a month. That’s almost half of Inotera’s 125,000 monthly wafer starts and leaves the company’s other fabrication plant as its only source of DRAM fabrication capacity.

The impact on the DRAM market will be significant, as Inotera’s Fab-2 plant is responsible for roughly 5.5 percent of the industry’s total output of just over a million wafer starts for the third quarter. Until the company can clean things up and get the plant back into operation, which is likely to require some significant time to accomplish, DRAM prices can be expected to rise at least a bit. In addition, Inotera is an important producer of the LPDDR4 memory used in Apple’s iPhone, meaning that the shutdown could have a significant impact on the much-anticipated 10th anniversary iPhone that’s expected later in the year.

Overall, whether you’re building or buying a PC, a server, or a mobile device, it’s likely that you’re going to pay more. It’s unclear how long the outage will last and what the overall impact will be on DRAM pricing and availability, but anyone hoping that DRAM prices would stabilize and maybe even drop is likely to be disappointed.