Apple topped tech headlines on Tuesday, with Cupertino reporting its first-quarter earnings. The tech giant reported net income of $11.6 billion, an increase of 93.3 percent over the prior year, while revenue increased by 59 percent to $39.2 billion.
The quarter was Apple's first opportunity to begin selling its new iPad, which launched on March 16. But Apple's latest tablet is in short supply, and will remain so for at least part of the current quarter, Apple executives said Tuesday.
In other Apple news, chief executive Tim Cook said the company would manufacture MacBooks and iPads for some time, suggesting that the two products will not be merged into one.Meanwhile, Google officially announced its anticipated Google Drive cloud service, although the storage capacity is less than Microsoft added to its SkyDrive service a day earlier. Google Drive works as a typical cloud service, allowing users to store videos, photos, documents, PDFs, and other types of files. Already, a number of third-party applications have touted their compatibility with Google Drive, creating a small ecosystem of sorts around the nascent platform.
And Mozilla released Firefox 12 on Tuesday, which incorporated silent updates, among other enhancements.
Also making headlines on Tuesday:
- Windows 8 Release Preview Coming in Early June: Windows head Stephen Sinofsky made the announcement during Japan's Windows 8 Dev Days.
- Google Selling Phones Again, Adds Galaxy Nexus to Google Play: The Samsung smartphone is on sale via a new Devices section within Google Play, formerly known as the Android Market.
- Planetary Resources Aims to Mine Asteroids for Water, Platinum: The asteroid mining venture backed by director James Cameron and other well-know investors, was officially announced.
- Microsoft Xbox Infringes on Motorola Patents, ITC Says: But don't expect the Xbox to disappear from store shelves.
- Ivy Bridge Leads the Charge in Huge Week for High-Performance Hardware: Intel released its first Ivy Bridge processors, including the fastest, slickest, and most powerful new quad-cores for high performance desktops and laptops in its arsenal.
- HP Unveils Six New Ivy Bridge-Based Desktops: Among the new desktop rigs are several all-in-one PCs that won't arrive until June 24 and just one, the HP Pavilion HPE h9t Phoenix, which will arrive on Ivy Bridge's official availability date of April 29 with a sticker price of $1,149.
- Swiss Scientists Demonstrate Thought-Controlled Robot 'Avatar': Wearing an electrode-fitted cap, a handicapped test subject uses a non-invasive mind-machine interface to project brainwaves that command a robot to move.
- 20 Percent of Macs Infected With Windows Malware: Approximately one in five Macs are infected with some sort of malware, though much of it is intended for Windows-based machines.
- Apple Infringes on Motorola Patent, ITC Finds: Apple was found guilty of patent infringement by importing and selling the iPhone and 3G-enabled iPads in the U.S.
- Samsung Reveals List of Devices Getting Ice Cream Sandwich: The company did not, however, provide details on when exactly those gadgets will see the update.
- Skype Lands on the PlayStation Vita With Video Calls: Gamers now have another use for the PS Vita's camera besides trash talking friends (and enemies).
For more from Angela, follow her on Twitter @amoscaritolo.
