The Journal reads the supply-chain tea leaves, iPod touch sales hit a new milestone, and iCloud is, well, pretty much exactly as secure as you think it is. The remainders for Thursday, May 30, 2013 are the one for you, New England.

Apple Shifts Supply Chain Away From Foxconn to Pegatron (Wall Street Journal)

A bummer, as he was always my least favorite of the Transformers.

Apple sells 100 million iPod touch units (The Loop)

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If the 32GB iPod touch had too much capacity for you, or just too many cameras, Apple’s got a solution: the new 16GB iPod touch, now available at the Apple Store for just $229.

Largely identical to its fifth-generation 32GB and 64GB counterparts, the 16GB iPod touch features the same svelte design, with a 4-inch Retina display and dual-core A5 chip. However, it lacks a few of its siblings’ features: For one thing, you’ll find no rear-facing camera on the model. Apple’s dropped the fancy 5-megapixel iSight camera that the 32GB and 64GB models sport, leaving only the front-facing FaceTime HD camera, with its 1.2MP photo and 720p video capabilities.

For another, the package doesn’t include the iPod touch loop introduced with the most recent generation, or the pop-out hitch for attaching it. And the 16GB model also comes in just one color: silver.

Of course, those changes mean a commensurate reduction in price, too. The 16GB iPod touch will run you $229, $70 cheaper than the 32GB model.

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Apple has sold its 25 billionth song through the iTunes Music Store, the company announced Wednesday.

The record-setting track, “Monkey Drums” (Goksel Vancin Remix) by Chase Buch, was bought by Germany’s Phillip Lüpke—a display of Apple’s dominance in the worldwide music download market: The iTunes music store is available in 119 countries, while rival companies Google, Microsoft, and Amazon make tunes available in a fraction of those markets.

Lüpke will receive a €10,000 iTunes gift card. At current exchange rates, the price works out to roughly $13,525—enough to keep him in music downloads for a very long time.

The iTunes Store originally opened in April 2003, meaning the company is on pace to sell more than 2.5 billion tracks per year during the service’s first year in existence. But that once-disruptive service increasingly faces challenges from streaming services like Spotify and Pandora, and a music industry still struggling to deal with the changes that Apple wrought may find itself in further turmoil as a result.

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If you asked someone to name Apple’s computer platforms, you’d probably get three answers: Apple II, Mac, and iOS. But the true history of Apple’s computing platform heritage is much more rich and varied than most people realize.

Over the past 36 years, Apple has created at least 13 distinct platforms, each hosting its own unique variety of software. Some of these surprisingly forgotten ecosystems met quick deaths at the hands of an unforgiving market, while others persist under our noses in the consumer electronics sector.

Technically, a computer platform is defined by the combination of operating system and underlying hardware architecture. You could say, then, that, in a sense, each platform represents its own species of machine, capable of running its own applications natively but not those of other platforms.

Although that definition of platform seems simple, it’s easy to group or regroup Apple technology families depending on which characteristics you emphasize, so there is no one right way to do it. In this particular list, you’ll see Apple’s platforms primarily grouped by product family, which, with only a few exceptions, are generally centered around a single hardware architecture or software paradigm.

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Rumors abound of Apple updating every single product line at next week’s media event, even as the company apparently winds down its relationship with Samsung. Elsewhere, the iPod nano is dissected … for science! The remainders for Tuesday, October 16, 2012 are a tale told by idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display confirmed for Apple event (9to5Mac)

With an Apple event officially confirmed for next week, the rumor mill is working overtime. If everything we’ve read is true, the 13-inch MacBook Pro, iMac, and Mac mini may all make an appearance on October 23, at which point Tim Cook will pound them all into dust with a hammer to prove a point about how product leaks ruin things for everybody.

Moving from love-hate to hate-hate (The Korea Times)

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Instead of working on a TV, Apple may be up to something handier. Elsewhere, the iPhone is totally rad (that’s what the kids say, right?) and the newest iPod touch is stripped for parts. The remainders for Thursday, October 11, 2012 are out of control.

Before the Apple Television, a TV Remote Control? (AllThingsD)

Instead of all the madness over Apple building an HDTV, what if it turned out they were just building a remote control? Hey, it would totally let the company check that “IR sensor box” on its spec sheet.

Survey: 40% of U.S. teens own an Apple iPhone. 62% want one (Fortune)

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iPod touch benchmarks are nothing to sneeze at, nobody coughs up enough money for a vintage Apple computer, and Taiwan and Apple hit a hiccup over map imagery. The remainders for Tuesday, October 9, 2012 are a sight for sore eyes.

Fifth-gen iPod touch benchmarks surface as devices begin shipping (Ars Technica)

The revised iPod touch has begun shipping, and benchmarks of the device have already begun leaking out, suggesting that its performance is on par with an iPhone 4S. Even in making phone calls. Zing.

Apple 1 Fails to Sell at Christie’s Auction! (The Classic Computing Blog)

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The iPhone 5 offers many improvements over its predecessor, including a larger screen, better performance, LTE, and an improved camera. But for those upgrading from an older iPhone, there’s another change that might prove to be more significant, at least when it comes to compatibility: a new dock connector. Apple has done away with its proprietary—and nine-year-old—30-pin connector in favor of a new, smaller alternative. Why did Apple make the change? And what does it mean for you—and for your existing accessories? Here’s a look at this new connector, dubbed Lightning.

30 pins, nine years

Apple’s 30-pin dock-connector port has been a staple of iPods, iPhones, and iPads since the third-generation iPod hit store shelves back in 2003. While most media players offered simple USB connectivity for data and charging, Apple’s single port offered a slew of functionality: power, audio-out, playback control, and speedy data syncing were among the initial features.

Over the years, the 30-pin port has gained some features (HD-video output, photo importing, and USB input, for example) while losing others (FireWire charging and data transfer), but it’s served us—and Apple—well: Along with Apple’s Universal dock-cradle design, the 30-pin port ensured that if we bought an accessory with a dock connector—speakers, docks, car chargers and mounts, you name it—that product would work with any recent i-device.

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As expected, the iPhone 5 led a busy Wednesday of product announcements for Apple. But it wasn’t the only unveiling at the company’s San Francisco press event, which also featured new iPod models for the holiday season, a revamped version of iTunes, and a shipping date for iOS 6.

But the latest iPhone was clearly the star of the show during the two-hour long press briefing hosted by CEO Tim Cook and featuring a multitude of Apple executives. The new iPhone features a taller screen, new dock connector port, LTE support, and camera improvements.

You’ll be able to pre-order the iPhone 5 on September 14, with the phone arriving in stores a week later in the U.S. and eight other countries. Pricing remains unchanged from the iPhone 4S: A 16GB iPhone 5 costs $199, a 32GB iPhone 5 costs $299, and the 64GB model costs $399.

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iPhones and iPads may get the attention these days, but Apple isn't ready to abandon its iconic music players just yet. The company announced two new iPods at its Wednesday media event—updated versions of the iPod touch and the iPod nano.

iPod touch

The new fifth-generation iPod touch is thinner than its predecessor (6.1mm vs. 7.2mm) and lighter (88 grams vs. 101). For the first time, the touch’s case comes in colors (silver black, blue, yellow, and red). There’s a new iPod touch loop: Push it and it pops up, and you can then attach a wrist strap. The new touch’s screen is not only bigger—4 inches diagonally vs. 3.5 before—but it’s also a sharper Retina display; it is, in fact, the same screen as on the iPhone 5.

Inside, the fifth-gen iPod touch has a dual-core A5 processor that Apple claims is up to twice as powerful as the previous model’s CPU; the graphics guts have been updated as well.

The new touch has a much improved camera. It comes with a 5-megapixel sensor and supports 1080p HD video recording. It has autofocus and LED flash for the first time; Apple also claims that the camera’s autoexposure is much improved. Like the iPhone 5, the touch has a sapphire crystal lens cover, and like the iPhone 5, the touch supports a new automated panorama feature, for taking wide shots.

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The latest spy pictures apparently show a much thinner iPhone, the plot thickens with a possible iPod update, and Apple may thin out competition in the dock-connector adapter market. Fortunately, the remainders for Wednesday, September 5, 2012 have a thick skin.

Closeup Photos Show Clear Difference in Thickness Between iPhone 5 and 4S (MacRumors)

Well, we’re in the tall rumor weeds. Purported photos of the forthcoming iPhone have surfaced on a variety sites, thanks to companies that deal in repair parts. The images show a taller iPhone, but also a thinner one. If Apple keeps going along these lines, it’s eventually going to have to release a two-dimensional model.

iPods likely to share the stage with iPhone 5 at next week’s Apple event (9to5Mac)

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The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration is taking a new look at the use of portable electronics on airplanes, seeking public comments starting this week and forming a government-industry group to study when smartphones, tablets and other devices can be used safely.

In the U.S., airlines have to determine that interference from portable electronic devices (PEDs) doesn’t put flight safety at risk before they authorize passengers to use them. As a result, passengers are asked to power down their laptops, tablets, phones, e-readers, game consoles and other devices during take-off and landing and while the plane is reaching its cruising altitude. The rules are designed to prevent interference with navigation and other systems from the devices themselves, whether communicating with a network or not. The use of cellular networks is banned throughout flights.

The group that the FAA is forming will include representatives from airlines, mobile companies and aviation manufacturers, as well as pilot, flight attendant and passenger groups, the FAA said on Monday. It’s scheduled to be formed in the fall of this year and meet for six months. The group will look at the testing methods airlines use to determine safety and consider setting technology standards for in-flight device use, then report back to the FAA.

One thing the study group won’t look at is allowing voice calls on cellphones during flight, the FAA said. Airlines once commonly offered pay phones in seatbacks, but since passengers started getting online in the air using Wi-Fi, the carriers have taken a firm line against calls using VoIP (voice over Internet Protocol).

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Apple supplier Foxconn has been steadily improving the working conditions at three of its Chinese factories following a February audit, including by reducing employee overtime work and updating maintenance policies and safety procedures, a labor group said on Tuesday.

The Fair Labor Association (FLA) released its new report, months after completing its initial audit of three Foxconn factories that found employees worked beyond 60 hours a week, were not always fairly compensated for overtime, along with inconsistencies in healthy and safety procedures. Together, the three factories employ close to 180,000 workers.

The FLA, which revisited the factories from June 25 to July 6, noted that since the February audit, Foxconn has reduced employee working hours to 60 hours a week including overtime. This meets the labor group’s code, but still exceeds the Chinese legal limit of 49 hours a week including overtime. Foxconn has however pledged to bring its work hours to the Chinese legal limit by July 2013.

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The digital breadcrumbs left behind when people use Internet-connected gadgets are what led California investigators to recover iMacs, iPads and other items stolen from the home of the late Apple CEO Steve Jobs.

Based on the police report, obtained by the IDG News Service, here’s how they did it.

The burglary took place while the Jobs family home, in a leafy and quiet area of Palo Alto, was being renovated and was unoccupied. Sometime between the construction crew leaving the site at 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday, July 17, and arriving just before 8:00 a.m. the next morning, someone entered the house and stole several personal effects and Apple gadgets.

Within several days, the Palo Alto Police Department had enlisted the help of the Rapid Enforcement Allied Computer Team, a San Jose-based organization formed by local, state and federal law enforcement agencies that specializes in computer-related crimes. Local police wanted assistance tracking down the Apple computers and iPads that were reported stolen from the house.

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Apple may be putting all of its eggs in one special event basket, while Microsoft announces a product release date with help from the federal government. And Jonathan Ive explains that money doesn’t make Apple go ‘round. The remainders for Monday, July 30, 2012 are digging in the wrong place.

Apple iPhone 5 and iPad mini event planned for September 12, iPhone 5 release date for September 21 (iMore)

Is the next iPhone due to be announced on September 12? So supposedly reliable sources tell iMore, adding that the day will also see the release of a new iPod nano and the fabled iPad mini. Sources tell this reporter that Tim Cook is scheduled to make a dramatic entrance with Apple’s newest device. From his headquarters up north, The Loop’s Jim Dalrymple pokes his head out of the window and nods. He’s like an iOS version of Punxsutawney Phil, if the groundhog lived in Canada and not Pennsylvania and weighed in on iPhone rumors instead of weather conditions.

Microsoft Form 10-K (SEC)

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[Editor’s Note: As he usually does, Tim Cook took part in Apple’s Tuesday conference call with Wall Street analysts to discuss Apple’s quarterly earnings. And as we usually do, we lifted some of the choice things Apple’s CEO had to say about his company’s fortunes.]

On growth in China

The growth in Asia-Pacific was 25 percent, and that majority of the difference in our sequential growth rate was a result of Greater China, which represents about two-thirds of our revenue for the region. As we reported for [the second quarter], our Greater China revenue was $7.9 billion, and in Q3, our revenue was $5.7 billion. Now, that $5.7 billion is 48 percent year-over-year increase, so it still is growing at incredible rates. Virtually all of the $2.2 billion sequential revenue decline was due to iPhone sales in Greater China. About half of that [$2.2 billion] is attributable to changes in channel inventory, not the underlying sell-through with the iPhone.

As a reminder, in the previous quarter, in the fiscal Q2, we launched the iPhone 4S in China in January. We added China Telecom as a second carrier in March, and, as we proceeded across the quarter, we increased channel inventory to accommodate the sales and to reach our target inventory of four-to-six weeks. The remainder of the sequential revenue decline is mainly attributable to normal seasonality after the very successful iPhone 4S launch. We did not see an obvious impact in Q3 that we would associate with the economy in Mainland China. We look at the economic reports as all of you do and see the troughs, but again, we did not see anything that we would attribute to the economy in China.

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New iPod touches and nanos may spring to life this fall, the latest Mac Trojan horse is making its debut, and one director has a new favorite P.A. The remainders for Tuesday, July 24, 2012 are going to be a star.

Apple Planning ‘All-New’ iPod Touch and iPod Nano for September Launch? (MacRumors)

The iPod’s clearly tired of all the attention its phone sibling is getting. That would explain why Apple is reportedly prepping iPod touch and iPod nano refreshes for this fall. The info on the “all-new” products stems from an analyst, who doesn’t offer much in the way of details. But sources tell this reporter that the new iPod nano is a featureless black slab that plays only deafening high-pitched radio waves.

Dianping Releases First Mobile Lifestyle Report, Showing Mobile Apps Exceed PC Apps in Terms of Daily Views (Dianping)

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Sales of the new iPad helped Apple’s bottom line during its fiscal third quarter, as the company tallied record revenue for its June quarter.

Apple’s sales hit $35 billion for the third quarter of 2012, up 22 percent from $28.6 billion last year while profits rose 20.5 to $8.8 billion from $7.3 billion. Earnings for the quarter were $9.32 a share, up 20 percent from last year. Reported earnings topped Apple’s forecast, but fell short of Wall Street expectations of $10.35 per share on projected revenue of $37 billion.

Apple sold 17 million iPads during the quarter, the most the company has ever sold during a quarter. The company tallied June quarter records for both Mac and iPhone sales—the latter figure coming even as customers have held off on purchasing a new iPhone in anticipation of a new model coming out later this year.

Despite the sales records, the third quarter saw the slowest growth rate for profit since 2009. Still, Apple finds itself better positioned than most tech companies. Sales of Macs, for example, rose during the quarter while the rest of the PC market saw a 1 percent decline, according to figures from market-research firm IDC.

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Apple CEO Tim Cook will kick off this year’s D Conference in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif. Follow Macworld’s live coverage of the event below.

Apple is greener than Kermit the Frog, Robbie Bach is cuddlier than Mr. Snuffleupagus, but John Boehner just reminds me of Bert. The remainders for Thursday, May 17, 2012 have always seen themselves as more Statler and Waldorf.

Data Centers and Renewable Energy (Apple)

Apple updated its environmental page to detail how it will power its Maiden, North Carolina data center solely with renewable energy sources. A whopping 60 percent of the power will be generated on-site, using a combination of the nation’s largest private solar array and largest non-utility fuel cell installation. Many of the company’s other facilities also use all-renewable power, or—like the forthcoming Prineville, Oregon data center—soon will. Translation: Eat it, Greenpeace.

“Nanny Computing” and the future of OS X (TUAW)

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Apple supplier Foxconn plans to set up headquarters in China, as part of the company’s growing expansion in manufacturing and commercial operations.

The building in Shanghai, which will be completed in early 2015, will house research and development and sales, and also act as a center for Foxconn’s e-commerce business in China. The company is scheduled to hold a groundbreaking ceremony for the new headquarters on Thursday, according to a company invite sent to journalists.

Foxconn, based in Taiwan, already employs about 1.2 million workers in China in various factories across the country. Besides making products for Apple, the company also manufactures products for HP, Microsoft, Sony and others.

It has recently come under criticism for poor working conditions at its Chinese factories. Earlier this year Foxconn raised wages for its assembly line workers, and later said it would restrict workers’ overtime, according to an audit released by the Fair Labor Association.

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In March, Apple was defeated in Italian courts for violating a European law that states that companies should offer a free two-year warranty for faulty products. Apple was fined €900,000 ($1.2 million) for only offering a one-year warranty and selling a two-to-three year warranty to customers. Consumer groups in Germany, The Netherlands, and Spain also asked regulators to get Apple to change its warranty offering.

Before the ruling, Apple offered a one-year warranty for free, but customers were invited to pay for AppleCare for protection in the second and third year. The company attracted criticism for making customers pay for AppleCare when the two-year warranty required by law in Europe should have covered them. In fact, it did cover them, if they chose to pursue it. Apple was found guilty of misleading customers by suggesting selling a three-year protection plan on a product that is technically for two years.

Apple has now posted an explanation in the legal section of its website. The company says: “When you purchase Apple products, European Union consumer law provides statutory warranty rights in addition to the coverage you receive from the Apple One-Year Limited Warranty and the optional AppleCare Protection Plan. Non-Apple-branded products purchased from Apple are also eligible for coverage under EU consumer law.”

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Apple CEO Tim Cook met with a top Chinese official on Tuesday, who called on foreign companies to pay more attention to the care of their workers in the country, according to state-run media.

The maker of the iconic iPad and iPhone devices is already facing criticism for alleged poor working conditions at the Chinese factories of its supplier Foxconn.

Cook met with vice premier Li Keqiang, a day after he visited Beijing’s mayor. Experts have said the meetings are meant to bolster ties with the Chinese government as the nation has become critical to Apple’s manufacturing and product sales.

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A January story on Apple and its manufacturing processes that aired on the This American Life radio program contained “significant fabrications,” according to host Ira Glass. The admission game in a Friday blog post from Glass that retracted the original piece.

The radio story, “Mr. Daisey and the Apple Factory,” was created by playwright Mike Daisey—it was an excerpt of a one-man show he had been staging at theaters around the country—and purported to tell the tale of his trip to China, where he visited the Foxconn factories that make Apple’s iPhones and iPads among other electronic gadgets and supposedly documented poor working conditions there.

Daisey’s piece, along with a series of similar stories in the New York Times, helped create a growing storm of criticism against Apple and Foxconn. Apple CEO Tim Cook said he was outraged by the reports in an email to Apple employees but has said the company will lead the way in improving working conditions at its suppliers’ factories.

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Despite a couple dozen protestors sporting “Make Ethical iPhones” signs, the mood at Apple’s annual shareholders meeting, held Thursday morning at the company’s Cupertino campus, was celebratory—both for shareholders in general and for some shareholder activists.

The standing-room-only meeting attracted hundreds of shareholders, as both Apple’s campus auditorium and the first video-feed overflow room were full before the meeting’s 10 a.m. start time. The company used shuttles to take shareholders who didn’t fit in the first two rooms to an additional viewing area.

New director-election rules

As is customary, the first part of the meeting focused on official business—namely, the reelection of members of the company’s board of directors, and voting on a slate of other proposals, two from management and four from shareholders. But even before that began, Bruce Sewell, Apple’s senior vice president and general counsel, announced a significant change in how the company’s board of directors will be elected.

For a number of years, there have been shareholder proposals to require candidates for the board of directors to receive approval from over 50 percent of shareholders. (The current company bylaws allow a candidate running unopposed to be elected based on even a single vote in favor.) As is common in corporations, Apple’s board has routinely recommended against the approval of these proposals. However, Sewell announced that, based on preliminary voting results, Apple shareholders overwhelmingly want majority voting, and so the company is going to change its bylaws to honor that preference.

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Apple supplier Foxconn Technology said on Saturday it had raised wages for its assembly line workers in China by 16 to 25 percent, as the company faces public scrutiny for its working conditions at its factories.

A prominent activist group however said the wages at Foxconn are still too low.

For workers in Shenzhen, a major manufacturing base for Foxconn, the increase raises monthly salaries to between 2200 yuan (US$350) and 2500 yuan. Previously, monthly salaries for Foxconn’s Shenzhen workers were at 1800 yuan.

Foxconn, which implemented the wage hike on Feb. 1, noted that its worker salaries had already exceeded the Shenzhen government’s mandated minimum monthly wage requirement of 1500 yuan. 75 percent of Foxconn’s assembly line workforce in Shenzhen are currently receiving wages of more than 2200 yuan, the company added.

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[On Tuesday, Apple CEO Tim Cook spoke at the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference, where he was interviewed on stage by Bill Shope, Goldman Sachs’s IT hardware analyst. Here’s an edited transcript of what Cook had to say on a variety of topics, ranging from working conditions at Apple’s Chinese suppliers to Apple’s culture and ethos.]

On working conditions in China

The first thing that I would want everyone to know is that Apple takes working conditions very, very seriously, and we have for a very long time. Whether workers are in Europe or in Asia or in the United States, we care about every worker. I spent a lot of time in factories, personally, and not just as an executive. I worked in a paper mill in Alabama and an aluminum plant in Virginia. Many of our top managers and executives visit factories on a regular basis and we have hundreds of employees that are based there full-time. So we are very closely connected to the production process and we understand worker conditions at a very granular level.

Now, I realize that the supply chain is complex and I’m sure that you realize this. And the issues surrounding it can be complex, but our commitment is very, very simple: We believe that every worker has the right to a fair and safe work environment, free of discrimination, where they can earn competitive wages and they can voice their concerns freely. And Apple suppliers must live up to this to do business with Apple.

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Apple on Monday announced that, at its request, the Fair Labor Association (FLA) will begin special, voluntary inspections of Apple’s final assembly suppliers—among them Foxconn factories in Shenzhen and Chengdu, China.

The FLA describes itself as “a collaborative effort of socially responsible companies, colleges and universities, and civil society organizations to improve working conditions in factories around the world.”

Apple said that a team of labor rights experts, under the leadership of FLA president Auret van Heerden, began inspections on Monday in Shenzen at Foxconn City. Apple says that FLA will interview thousands of employees about both working and living conditions, touching on topics like health and safety, compensation, working hours, and management communication. Apple says further that FLA will inspect not just manufacturing areas, but also dormitories and other facilities. FLA will also review documentation for procedures at all stages of the employment process.

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Sony’s new CEO says the company needs to move on from its hardware roots.

From its inception, the company has defined itself through its brightly named gadget lines—Walkman, Vaio, Cyber-shot, PlayStation—but incoming CEO Kazuo Hirai says Sony must now focus more on the software and platforms they access. Hirai, who will officially lead the company from April, spoke to reporters Thursday at Sony headquarters in central Tokyo.

“Everybody talks about ‘Sony-like, Sony-esque’ products, which is fine, and that’s very important, but more important than that is for me to evolve the company,” he said. “We can turn this company, that traditionally was a purveyor of hardware, into something bigger than that.”

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