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Tech news:
Apple posts profit of $1 billion, sells 21 million iPods. Apple said Wednesday that results for its fiscal 2007 first quarter ended December 30, 2006 included record revenue of $7.1 billion. “We are incredibly pleased to report record quarterly revenue of over $7 billion and record earnings of $1 billion,” said Steve Jobs. “We’ve just kicked off what is going to be a very strong new product year for Apple by launching Apple TV and the revolutionary iPhone.” During the quarter, Apple shipped 1,606,000 Macintosh computers and 21,066,000 iPods, representing 28 percent growth in Macs and 50 percent growth in iPods over the year-ago quarter.
Apple to air ‘special’ Super Bowl ad on Feb. 4. A deal between Apple Inc. and Apple Corps to bring the legendary music catalog of The Beatles to iTunes could see an announcement in the form of a Super Bowl commercial, according to a report published Wednesday. Citing “sources with knowledge of the project,” the Toronto Sun said remastered tracks from the Fab Four’s catalog are slated to be made available for downloading from Apple’s iTunes Store as soon as next month. The Sun also reported that the arrangement between the two Apples is for an exclusive three-month restricted distribution deal through iTunes that would likely prolong the release the actual remastered CDs.
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Test a geek: This segment will return on a future episode of The Geekcast.
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How To: Save money on college textbooks
The idea: sell cheaper books to students, bypass the textbook monopolies—and make money
Anyone who’s bought textbooks from their college bookstore knows the frustration of how much the books cost. Even more frustrating is the ridiculous buyback policy the stores have. The phrase “a new edition is out” is the worst thing to hear when selling back to the store. Nothing is more useless than an outdated Calculous book.
Now a group of small Web sites is trying to provide students with a cheaper alternative. One of the up and coming sites is called Chegg.com. Chegg allows students to buy and sell used textbooks and other school-related goods and services for free. It’s a huge market, generating $11 billion in revenue and $3 billion in profit a year.
Chegg provides goods at lower prices than traditional campus outlets. While the margins on used textbooks are often as high as 40%, a $100 textbook that might be resold at the campus bookstore for $70 would go for about $50 on Chegg. This is a deal for the buyer and more money in the pocket of the seller. Users of Chegg say they can cut their expenses by a few hundred dollars.
To use Chegg, you simply register for an account and list your books. The listings are campus-specific so that you aren’t mailing heavy books through expensive shipping services. Once your books are listed, people on your campus can search for books and find what you’re offering. If you list your book for less than the store but more than the buyback, it is a win-win situation. Once someone locates your books, they send a payment via the site and you deliver the books in person.
Chegg is a simple concept that can save lots of money for all involved. It’s a free site and can make the life of a student much easier. Check it out at www.chegg.com
Parts from businessweek.com
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Ask A Geek: This segment will return on a future episode of The Geekcast.
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Hack: This segment will return on a future episode of The Geekcast.
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The geek’s view: Snap
Snap is a small program that runs in your Windows system tray. To keep all your windows organized, Snap takes all windows and causes them to snap to each other and the desktop while moving/sizing. You can hold down ALT while sizing/moving to toggle off snapping. The program is small, works extremely well and is one of those utilities that just does its thing and leaves you alone. It’s a fantastic little program and of course is free.
Check it out at: http://www.cs.toronto.edu/~iheckman/allsnap
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