Apple News, Analysis and Podcasts

This photo of Tim Cook with Speaker Boehner was released a day or so ago and there has been much discussion around it. Many are talking about the Chinese dog on the table, the "mystery" man in the chair next to Tim Cook or even about what the discussion was between these powerhouses.

We are unclear as to exactly what Newt's team is charging up on his campaign bus, but it's a wall-mount power supply for something other an an iOS device. Clearly seen, it appears to be a newer version power supply (shipped with the MacBook air). No offense to Mr. Gingrich's weight, but perhaps he's hoping to start slimming down with a sleek MacBook air by his side.

Note: This list is inspired by two great forces: David Letterman and Napoleon Dynamite

10. All of your product names all begin with "Microsoft".
9. Your company also builds fantastic refrigerators.
8. Napoleon Dynamite thinks your products have skills.

Steve Jobs was an amazing visionary... or was he? If you think about it, the senior managers at Infinity Loop may just have been great fans of Star Trek. For example, we all thought the touch interface used on the iPhone and iPad was revolutionary. But you don't have to look far to see this was really just a copy-cat of something envisioned in the 80's...

In the 60's, after President Kennedy's assassination, Simon & Garfunkel brought us the Sound of Silence. That tone can be sensed again this week in for the form of Fire, that has all but gone out. Amazon's gushing moment came from their new line of Kindle's launched this past Wednesday. But since Friday, the absence of any enthusiasm and chatter about the devices, specifically the Kindle Fire, has been deafening. 

We T-GAAP-ers really appreciated your open letter of advertisement yesterday, showcasing the Samsung Galaxy S II and HTC Amaze. Errrrrt! We really appreciated your open letter, explaining why T-Mobile is having difficulties in obtaining the iPhone and what you are doing to ensure T-Mobile customers can order one as soon as possible, as it is clearly the smartphone of choice.

To believe anything Eric "creepy line" Schmidt says must mean you're a Google employee, or a big proponent of Kool-Aid drinking. Schmidt was at it again, revising his unprovable feelings while on Apple's board, stating "I was on the Apple board until I couldn’t stand it anymore.”

A recent video posted by 9to5mac.com reveals Apple's Grand Central store in mid-construction mode. The footage is a wee bit shaky, so we question whether the person shooting the video uses a Mac and iMovie (or FCP for that matter), but he appears to have held the camera steady enough to incriminate himself during the filming of the facility. At 2:11 into the video a mirror is caught on the tape, revealing the man holding the camera. From the looks of it, he's a security guard of some sort.

Early reports (and videos) are pouring in, in what appears to be a Foxconn manufacturing facility which exploded a few hours ago. The initial reports are claiming the explosion occurred in an iPad 2 production building, and that the explosion has effected several floors.

Initial speculation as to what caused the explosion was thought to be a fine dust (think grain elevators), which ignited and caused the explosion. At this point it is not known as to how many people, if any, have been injured, and we certainly wish everyone the best and are hoping no one has been injured.

Scott Moritz of The Street, believes the next generation iPhone is delayed, which may result in sales losses to Android-based 4G LTE smartphones. Moritz builds his thinking upon an analyst who is claims to have inside information on the forthcoming iPhone.

How a product can be "delayed" when a company has never given a launch date it could be delayed from is logically impossible, but we all understand how this works, right? First, the rumor mill builds some mythical launch date for an Apple product, then rumors and analysts claim a different date, thus the launch of the product is late. Brilliantly ridiculous.

Microsoft recently launched their latest PC Shopper commercial with Julie having a PC Store built in her home. Surprisingly “Hildegard” had something similar happen as well...

Microsoft's latest pursuit is yet another sign that Apple is tearing them up. The company from Redmond is rumored to be in pursuit of buying out (or heavily investing in) Skype. If you are a user of Skype you may have noticed their latest updates are pretty much deplorable with regard to user interface, and their video quality typically stinks when compared to Tango or Apple's Facetime.

Based on Microsoft's track record, I can only assume they will purchase Skype, repurpose it for "Windows Phone 7 Extreme Plus Home Edition" and market it as: Windows PeopleTime – The Windows you love, now with video chat... Please.

No, this isn't a new column that will come out every Tuesday. It's just that the last few days has seen a heavy does of rumors, so to aid in keeping you up-to-speed with the things that are – or are not – going to happen.

Check it out:

I'm a big fan of the original Star Wars films, so without delay, Steve Jobs in Carbonite.

It appears Han Solo has given up his Carbonite casing for Steve Jobs. If you are a Star Wars fan you might find this a great collectible, but not exactly sure how well your iPhone 4 will lay flat on any type of hard surface... Ah, but functionality isn't the real point here is it? Better get this case while you can, as I envision a cease and desist letter coming from Apple very quickly. This case simply makes for a great gift or item to put display on that cubical shelf. You can find it here from the artistic minds at Society6.

Apple's OS X 10.7, AKA OS X Lion, is coming to Apple's WWDC (world-wide developers conference) this June. From the sneak peak Apple gave us a few months back, it looks as if many people are going to love it. But dare we say, some people might not understand Apple's name Lion is only the program name. Apple's talking about system software, not real lions. Evidently not everyone is catching onto this and full-on embracing, well, lions...

Whatever you do, don't try this at home, the Zoo, or local savannah...

If you're like us, your inbox yesterday was busy with April Fool's jokes.

Here are some of the best ones that made it our way. If you have your own, let us know.

Not only is Nokia using iMovie and Apple's music loops to create their quick-turn marketing videos, but within the video itself, it seems Steve Ballmer has pulled a fast on on Nokia. Evidently Ballmer used Nokia to launch Windows Phone 7 with a new upstart called Nahkia.

HP's OS Bowl 2011 is quite a work of creative fantasy. I must admit, I really didn't see Kramer, errrrr, Jon Rubinstein having the imagination to put together such a work of fiction, but there it is (based on Jon's bracket, I certainly hope he doesn't put good money down on any March Madness basketball tournament, because the way he think's he'll be in big trouble).

Now every good piece of fictional writing has some truth sprinkled in, and this is the case when Jon outlined the battle between Windows Phone 7 and RIM's Blackberry.

Sometimes a video is worth 10,000 words.

Watching Microsoft open their latest store (luck number seven to be exact) in Bellevue, WA on Thursday was quite a display. It reminded me of Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney's Say, Say, Say video. If you're too young to know what I speak of, Michael and Paul pull into an unsuspecting town in the 30's or 40's, and excite the crowd with a new magic elixir that will make the weakest man strong or heal an aching back, you know, infomercial stuff.

Watching Microsoft's "customers" consist mostly of teen girls for Miley Cyrus tickets, mixed with a few Microsoft loyalists really started to make me queazy, and it brought me to realize exactly what this store is:

At T-GAAP.com we like to have fun. And so we were bantering about what if Lion were the last of the CAT names for OS X?? And then if Apple were to roll to an OS XI (eleven) moniker, what if they used Pop Celebrity code names??? 

Here's who made our list:

Yes, you've probably seen this circling around the internet: Steve Jobs’ new house plans.

Yup. Time to start blogging. So here it goes. Wish us luck, cause Guy 1 and Guy 2 are really going to need it.