uninteresting :: rich

gas tanker crashes, explodes, melts the freeway overpass . glad that’s not part of my commute!

google maps - alternate routes

Apple Reports Second Quarter Results

Comparisons from a year ago:

• Earnings: up 88%
• Gross margin: from 29.8% to 35.1%
• Mac shipments: up 36% (more than 3x the PC industry growth rate)
• iPod shipments: up 24%

“We are very pleased to report the most profitable March quarter in Apple’s history,” said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s CFO.

well, there goes my chance to buy more AAPL. i was going to use my tax return to pick up some shares, but it’s up $7.40 right now in after hours trading (closed at $95.35).

this is encouraging performance, considering that the only new product to ship in this quarter was Apple TV (and it shipped towards the end of the qtr). looking ahead there’s iPhone, Leopard, and new Macs and iPods. hmm, maybe it’s still worth picking up after all…

i’ve always been a fan of turbotax.com, filing online for about as long as it’s been possible. this year my tax situation was more complicated, so i decided to use H&R Block’s online return service where one of their tax pro’s does your return electronically…and they stand by their work. if they make an error, you’re covered up to a $5k mistake. and for $30 more they’ll even represent you in the event of an audit.

you sign up, they assign a tax pro, and you communicate via email - sending in pdfs of your tax documents. he does the work, sends the return for review, and that’s it! we spoke briefly on the phone maybe twice. he took care of all the work: federal return, 2 state returns, 3 employers, relocation expenses, investment property & rental income, capital gains, etc…and voila - i’m gettin a big fat return about twice what i was expecting!

iTunes Store a greater cash crop than Apple implies?

By Katie Marsal
Apr-23-2007
04:00 PM
Although Apple has repeatedly said that its iTunes Store operates at “just above break even,” a thorough analysis of the service’s economics suggests it turns a profit roughly in line with the company average, with recent events paving the way for even greater gains.

Based on per-song cost estimates, the ubiquitous iTunes service generates an operating profit of at least 10 percent, and possibly as much as 15 percent, according to PacificCrest’s Andy Hargreaves. The analyst on Monday released a detailed report on the subject, in which he informed Apple investors that the economics of iTunes could soon serve as a boon for the company’s bottom line.
(more…)

back by popular demand, Dell is once again offering Windows XP pre-installed on their computers (they had switched entirely to offering Windows Vista). not exactly a great sign for Vista sales.

Dell Brings XP Back from the Dead