TTL - The Tech Link Blog

Fortune

Apple is the #1 most admired company according to more than 3,700 industry experts.

The experts were surveyed by Fortune and the Hay Group and asked to select 10 companies they admire the most and rate them in eight key areas: innovation, people management, use of corporate assets, social responsibility, quality of management, financial soundness, long-term investment, quality of products/services.

Here is the list:

1. Apple
2. Berkshire Hathaway
3. General Electric
4. Google
5. Toyota Motor
6. Starbucks
7. FedEx
8. Procter & Gamble
9. Johnson & Johnson
10. Goldman Sachs
11. Target
12. Southwest Airlines
13. American Express
14. BMW
15. Costco
16. Microsoft
17. UPS
18. Cisco Systems
19. 3M
20. Nordstrom

Fortune via MacDailyNews

P!nk: Funhouse

P!nk, along with LaFace/Zomba Label Group and Sony BMG, has entered yet another new kind of marketing with a free application available on the iPhone and iPod Touch.

The application is available on the Apple App Store. Once installed, users will be able to listen to 30-second samples of all tracks available on P!nk’s newest album, Funhouse, which is available today. The application also allows access to restricted fan material such as pictures, videos, biography, etc.

It will only be a matter of time before we see all kinds of applications like this for other artists and let’s bet that the future only holds even more original marketing ideas for the public.

PR-CANADA.net

Truphone

Truphone is a VoIP application that you install on your cell phone and allows you to make cheap (very cheap) international and overseas calls, and it is now available for BlackBerry devices.

Truphone will also be available for other devices (LG, Samsung, HTC, etc.) in the future.

If you own a compatible phone, you can download the software for free on the Truphone website (link bellow), and start saving money now!

Truphone
GigaOM

Apple & Yahoo! Financial Results

This week saw 3rd quarter results announcements from many companies including Apple and Yahoo!.

While Yahoo! were announcing a 10% workforce reduction, a 64% drop in profits, and an overall goal to cut expenses, Apple were showing optimistic results for the 3rd quarter that ended in September 2008.

Apple, along with its iPhone, is now considered to the be 3rd largest phone distributor behind Nokia and Samsung. Additionnally, iPod and Mac sales were still going strong, and as a result, Apple posted net quarterly profit of $1.14 billion, or $1.26 per diluted share.

washingtonpost.com

Apple iMac

After the notebook event of October 14th, one might be wondering what’s next for Apple.

Consumers thinking of buying an iMac should reconsider and wait as speculations of a new iMac lineup are surfacing around the web. This should happen before the end of the year and most probably before Christmas season.

The iMac is a great product and should not see many asthetic changes but will surely benefit from new and more performant Intel chips along with better graphics processors.

AppleInsider

iTunes

Apple has done it again! The iTunes Store has been offering TV shows/series download for only 36 months and they have already hit 200 million downloads.

The iTunes Store offers TV shows and series downloads from NBC, CBS, MTV, HBO, etc. at $1.99 for standard definition and $2.99 for high definition.

FierceMobileContent

Apple

Many users have been complaining to Apple after finding out that the firewire port on the new MacBooks has been removed.

Apple has kept Firewire only on the new MacBook Pros but not on the entry-level MacBooks. The previous plastic MacBook had a Firewire port and Apple justified it’s removal by saying that most peripherals are now using USB 2.0 and there should be less and less demand for Firewire as months go by.

This much is true but how about the people that have and want to keep their Firewire devices? I guess they’ll have to go for the more expansive MacBook Pro…

MacDailyNews

Google Android

The Android platform is following in Apple’s footsteps as Google has specified in their terms and conditions that it could remotely “remove those applications from your device at its sole discretion”.

This means that they control what you can and cannot use on your own device.

Of course, Google will probably only use this in case certain applications are messing up with the internal components of the software to a point were it could make the device operate outside of their established norms.

Only time will tell.

Neowin

Apple MacBook

Well the Apple event is over, the Apple online store is now re-opened and we know exactly what’s going on.

New MacBook and MacBook Pro models. Both will feature new graphics chips by nVidia. The MacBook will come with the GeForce 9400M processor and the MacBook Pro will come with the same integrated chip but will also add a second graphics chip for when more performance is needed. The second chip on the MacBook Pro is the GeForce 9600M GT.

Battery live on the MacBook and MacBook Pro is rated at 5hrs, but when using the GeForce 9600M GT processor on the MacBook Pro, you get 4hrs instead. The battery and the hard drive are now removable by the user via a lid under the notebook. Read it all..

EeeTOP PC

Asus is finally offering their new touchscreen EeePC to the world!

You might have thought that it would be another netbook but this time, Asus is surprising us once again with this new all-in-one, mini-iMac clone that also reminds me of a really small version of the HP TouchSmart PC. This computer comes with Windows XP Home edition.

Here are the main specs from Play.com:

• Intel ATOM (1.6GHz/533MHz FSB/512K Cache)
• 1GB RAM (DDR2 667)
• 160GB HD (SATAII 5400rpm)
• Shared Graphics (128MB)
• 15.6″ (16:10 Wide Panel) TouchScreen Display

The Boy Genius Report

Apple Event Teaser

Apple has revealed to journalists that notebooks will be the main focus of the October 14th keynote.

The special event will be held in Apple’s Town Hall on the company’s Cupertino campus on Tuesday, October 14th at 10am PDT/ 1pm EDT. Read more on speculations on the TG Daily web site.

TG Daily

iTunes

Marketing, ads, publicity, call it whatever you like, these are around to stay.

As focus drives away from standard media (TV, newspaper, magazines, radio) and converges towards the Internet, streaming content, online magazines, video games, movies, etc., ad agencies and marketing firms are looking for ways to integrate the new media age.

The Apple App Store is a real gold mine for ad agencies. Don’t be surprised to see more and more free “sponsored” games and applications available for download very shortly.

What’s next? Free songs including a 10-second ad break at the beginning? Why not?

MacDailyNews

Apple

How much rumors can you handle? Well, with Apple, there will never be anything sure until they announce it themselves.

According to The Inquisitr, some Apple retailers have received new price lists for a new laptop line that could sell as low as $800. These new laptops could be in the ultra-portable range (or not) and could possibly use the new “Brick” manufacturing process we’ve been hearing about.

All of this is speculation of course…

The Inquisitr

Sony Vaio JS

Sony’s new all-in-one PC, the Vaio JS, now has a price (or two in fact).

In direct competition with the iMac 20″, the new Sony PC will retail for $1099.99 for the basic version and $1499.99 for the more powerful version.

The basic version (model JS130) features a 2.5GHz Intel Core 2 Duo CPU and the more advanced version (model JS190) features a 3.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo CPU, a Blue-Ray Disc Reader, and integrated stereo A2DP Bluetooth® Technology.

The rest of the specs are the same:

• 20.1″ Screen
• 4GB Ram
• 500GB Hard Drive
• 1.3MP built-in camera
• Mobile Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X4500HD
• Windows Vista Home Premium

Model JS130 is available in black, silver and pink. Model JS190 is only available in black.

The Boy Genius Report

Apple iPhone

One thing that the G1 and Android community could say they had that the iPhone didn’t was Google StreetView.

Bad news for them, Apple will be releasing a new update for the iPhone (2.2) and it should feature Google StreetView within the maps application. This update will also fix a few bugs, add an option to disable auto-correction in SMS messages, and support for emoji icons (email smilies and such).

No release date has been set for this update.

TG Daily