Families Finding Ways to Spend Less on College

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Apple Updates MacBook Air and Current Generation MacBook Pro

Get answers before you buy. Call 1-800-MY-APPLE to talk with a knowledgeable Specialist.

*Up to 60 percent faster compared with previous-generation MacBook Air.Apps are available on the Mac App Store.Shop the Apple Online Store (1-800-MY-APPLE), visit an Apple Retail Store, or find a reseller.

Copyright © 2012 Apple Inc. All rights reserved.

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No More American-made Mazdas

NBC News reports Mazda is no longer making vehicles in the United States…

Sometime [on Aug. 24], the very last Mazda6 sedan will roll off the AutoAlliance International assembly line in Flat Rock, Michigan. Mazda has been building cars at the facility in suburban Detroit for the last quarter century, having set up AAI as a joint venture with long-time partner Ford Motor Co.

Ford was done with the partnership, according to the report. The company will keep operating the plant for its own vehicles, but Mazda will now use a factory in Japan for the Mazda6 and open a new factory in Mexico for Mazda2 and Mazda3 vehicles.

Meanwhile, Toyota, Nissan and Honda “have announced significant expansion plans for North America in recent months.” Like this article? Sign up for our email updates and we’ll send you a regular digest of our newest stories, full of money saving tips and advice, free! We’ll also email you a PDF of Stacy Johnson’s ’205 Ways to Save Money’ as soon as you’ve subscribed. It’s full of great tips that’ll help you save a ton of extra cash. It doesn’t cost a dime, so why wait? Click here to sign up now.

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Lowe’s Uses iPhone to Put Power In Hands of Employees and Customers

Since its early days as a small hardware store, Lowe’s has been in the business of helping homeowners achieve their dreams through do-it-yourself projects. Even though it currently operates in more than 1,725 locations throughout North America, the company has retained its neighborhood store feel, thanks to its hundreds of thousands of knowledgeable employees.

Every day, those employees are approached by customers who want to know “anything from how to start a project to how to think about it and what products to buy,” says Dennis Knowles, Senior Vice-President of Specialty Sales and Store Operations. With hundreds of thousands of products in-store and online, Lowe’s employees use iPhone to help customers find the right inspiration, materials, and tools so they can start and finish their dream projects.

Lowe’s developed three custom iPhone apps—two for employees, one for customers. The Lowe’s Employee app gives store staff access to key product information, while the Store Manager app allows managers to handle administrative tasks. And every iPhone for employees is encased in a custom solution that includes a bar code scanner, a credit card reader, and an additional battery.

Lowe’s free consumer app gives customers a wealth of home improvement information at their fingertips, including how-to videos, product prices and reviews, store locations, and gift card balances.

In the past, a Lowe’s employee needing to look up product availability or inventory had to walk to a fixed terminal in the store and possibly wait in line to use it. Now store staff can scan a product and immediately access vital information right on iPhone, including product pricing, inventory, and location in the store, without having to leave the customer’s side.

If a product is out of stock, the Employee app indicates when more will arrive and whether any nearby Lowe’s stores have it in their inventory. And employees will also soon be able to place an order for a product and use the credit card reader to process payment.

Lowe’s Executive Vice President and CIO Mike Brown relates a story about a customer who needed a large quantity of an out-of-stock product: “A store manager was able to look where the inventory was, order the product in 10 seconds, and solve the customer’s problem. The customer was absolutely blown away at the simplicity and how fast that could happen in a Lowe’s store.”

Before iPhone, Lowe’s managers used to find themselves trapped in the back office for hours at a time, pulling up reports on a terminal and printing out reams of data. Now they can access that information anywhere with the Store Manager app on iPhone, allowing them to spend more time with customers and employees. They can double-check the accuracy of price changes, view sales reports, see when new products are due to arrive, arrange product transfers between stores, view employee schedules, and also access corporate email and calendars. “With iPhone, our managers are able to keep their fingers on the pulse of the store because they’re out in the aisles,” says Knowles.

“The iOS platform allows us to build simple but meaningful solutions for our customers,” says Kris Douglas, member of the Lowe’s IT Innovation Team. She notes that the iOS Software Development Kit “helped us create a seamless design experience,” with the iPhone Simulator enabling the design team to get immediate feedback from users.

“The iOS platform is a robust ecosystem where we can have a consistent development, deployment, and management process across multiple devices,” Douglas adds. Lowe’s currently has more than 42,000 iPhones for use by store employees, and managing the fleet at an enterprise level or device-by-device is no problem. “Using our mobile device management tool, we are able to push updates to the devices in our stores,” says Douglas.

“We look at deploying iPhone as the first step of hopefully many more to come,” she says. Brown adds, “iPhone, iPad, and the iOS platform are enterprise solutions that we can build on for the future. We’re very excited about what else we can do.”

Lowe’s has seen many advances in technology during its several decades of existence, but iPhone rises above them in its ability to offer mobile access to key business and product information. The retailer understands that a nimble, well-informed workforce is crucial to top-notch customer service, which will drive future business success.

“In all of my 27 years at Lowe’s,” Brown says, “iPhone will go down in history as being the most impactful device we have ever put in our employees’ hands.”

Established in 1946Based in North Carolina234,000 employeesTwo custom iPhone apps for employees to access product and store information.One custom iPhone app for customers to find the right inspiration, materials, and tools for home improvement projects.http://www.lowes.com/

“iPhone will go down in history as being the most impactful device we have ever put in our employees’ hands.”

Mike Brown, Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer,
Lowe’s

“Our managers are able to keep their fingers on the pulse of the store because they’re out in the aisles.”

Dennis Knowles, Senior Vice President of Specialty Sales and Store Operations,
Lowe’s

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MacBook Pro with Retina Display Named Editors’ Choice

Pros Brilliant Retina display. Thin profile. Good port selection. Discrete graphics. Speedy storage. Has 8GB of memory. Ready for Mac OS X Mountain Lion. Cons Ethernet use requires adapter. Not all apps currently work well with Retina display. Bottom Line With a higher-resolution display, thin chassis, and up-to-date components, the Apple MacBook Pro 15-inch with Retina Display is the new king of high-end desktop replacement laptops. By Joel Santo Domingo

The Apple MacBook Pro 15-inch (Retina Display) is the laptop you want if you care about performance, thinness, and the screen. It's not the vaunted "15-inch MacBook Air" that was rumored prior to 2012's WWDC—it's better, thanks to an up-to-date components, super-thin chassis, and impressive battery life. This "next-generation" MacBook Pro hasn't just caught up to the thin and powerful Windows laptops and ultrabooks on the market; it has surpassed them to become the high-end choice for media professionals, enthusiasts, and general Mac fans alike. As such, the MacBook Pro is our new Editors' Choice for high-end desktop replacement laptop PCs.

Design and Features
The MacBook Pro 15-inch (Retina Display) carries the same Jony Ive–design DNA as previous systems—it's all aluminum unibody chassis, glass, and black plastic for the keyboard. In fact, it still looks like a MacBook Pro, which is good news, because the cachet of the Apple ID is part of the reason people go nuts for the company's products. It even feels similar to previous models in your hand, though it's noticeably thinner and lighter (4.46 pounds versus 5.6 pounds); if you've held a 13-inch MacBook Air, you're not too far off.

The 15.4-inch screen now looks more seamless, if that's possible. The bezel around it is black, but unlike on the MacBook Air it's of a piece with the screen glass. The screen electronics are built into the glass, which helps the laptop's thin profile. Apple mentioned that the screen is less prone to glare than was the case with previous MacBooks, but the glare is still visible when you're viewing a black background and if you're really picky. If you want a matte-finish screen, for now you'll have to go with the updated MacBook Pro with Ivy Bridge.

The Retina display itself is glorious. The resolution is 2,880 by 1,800, which sounds like a lot, but text is scaled so it doesn't look too small. Instead of making the letters smaller like on the iPhone 4 or 4S (to see this effect, use one to visit a non-mobile-optomized Website), Apple kept the font sizes consistent with what you'd expect in the real world and just made them smoother. In contrast, text on a MacBook Air looks smooth from your seat, but the individual letters are still jaggy close up. Text on the new MacBook Pro looks smooth from both far away and close up, as if it were laser printed on paper.

The real magic is when you view photos (and high-res video). You can view images straight from your camera and they will look more like printed images than electronic ones. Look at a geometric form, like a picket fence in front of a yellow wall, and the lines look smooth, not jaggy. Likewise, a 1,920-by-1,080 HD video takes up a relatively small portion of the screen at full resolution, leaving the video editor with lots of space for timelines, toolbars, and other interface items. It's almost like having a dual 20-inch-screen setup in a 15-inch diagonal space. When playing back 1080p video full screen, the improved IPS display exhibits rich colors, deep blacks, and a generally pleasant viewing experience. It really is like having a large-screen HDTV you can rest on your lap.

If there's any drawback to the Retina display, it's that all of your existing Mac applications will have to be updated for it (kind of like what happened with the iPhone 4/4S and latest iPad). Apple-sourced apps like Safari, Final Cut Pro, and Aperture look terrific, but non-optimized apps like Google Chrome will show upscaled and jaggy fonts. It's a problem that's likely to go away as more developers update their programs, but it's an annoyance right now.

The power button has moved to the upper right of the keyboard proper, like it is on the MacBook Air. The island-style keyboard has the same feel as the MacBook Air; key travel feels shallower than the previous MacBook Pro. The function keys match those of the MacBook Air, which may be a hang-up for people with older-generation MacBook Pros, particularly ones made before the advent of Mission Control and the Launchpad in Mac OS X Lion. The backlighting is everything we expect from a MacBook, clearly visible in a darkened room. After several straight hours of playing back video during our battery rundown test the bottom of the system was still cool to the touch, demonstrating the new chassis' cooling capabilties.

There is a full-size HDMI port on the side of the laptop. The new MagSafe 2 port is wider yet shorter than the previous style, so you'll need an adapter for existing LED Cinema and Apple Thunderbolt Displays, as well as older power adapters. (Newly purchased Thunderbolt Displays will come with the MagSafe 2 adapter.) The USB 3.0 ports aren't colored blue like they are on some Windows PCs, but because there aren't any USB 2.0 ports on this MacBook Pro, you won't need color coding to tell the difference.

Copying a 1.22GB test folder from a USB 3.0 drive took 21 seconds, which is half the time we needed to copy the same folder using a USB 2.0 drive on the previous MacBook Pro. Speedier drives using the Thunderbolt interface are likely to be even faster. Two Thunderbolt ports are a boon for the video editor: You can connect up to 14 devices, seven devices per port. The system can also support at least two Thunderbolt Displays for more screen real estate. An SDXC slot and a headphone audio jack with headset support round out the ports.

One thing you won't find on the new MacBook Pro is a DVD SuperDrive: The optical drive has been eliminated to benefit the new profile, which is 0.71 inch (18mm) at the thickest point (meeting the spec for 13.3-inch or smaller ultrabooks, and slimmer than the 21mm requirement for 14-inch or larger ultrabooks). The MacBook Pro is the same height as both (11- and 13-inch) MacBook Air models at their thickest points, an impressive feat. The slim profile prevents Apple from using Ethernet and FireWire 800 ports (they simply won't fit); if you need either, you'll need to buy adapter cables (at $29 each). Using a Thunderbolt Display is also an option, as it has built-in FireWire 800 and Ethernet. On the plus side, the MacBook Pro includes 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi with 2.4GHz and 5GHz support, as well as Bluetooth 4.0, so you'll be able to connect to almost any hotspot or wireless audio device.

The system comes with Mac OS X Lion 10.7.4, so you'll get all the same iLife apps and familiar Mac OS interface. Systems purchased now will be eligible for a free upgrade to Mac OS X Mountain Lion (Mac OS X 10.8 in all but name) when it is released in a month or so. Mountain Lion will introduce iMessage, Notification Center, Power Nap, AirPlay, and lots of other iOS-like features to the MacBook Pro and other Macs.

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6 Simple Ways to Avoid West Nile Virus

This summer’s West Nile virus outbreak is on track to be the biggest since the disease first reached the United States in 1999.

So far this year, 1,118 people have been infected – and 41 of them have died, according to the latest numbers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The agency has never before seen that many infections in people as of this time of year.

So what does this mean for you?

The good news is that most people who get West Nile virus have no symptoms, although the disease can be serious if it reaches your brain. Certain populations, like people over 50 and those with weakened immune systems, are at a greater risk.

Preventing the disease won’t cost you much time or money. More on that later, but first let’s take a closer look…

WNV is a relatively new infectious disease, which just means it can be transmitted from one person or animal to another, and it’s caused by an infection.

The microbe, or micro-organism, that causes this particular infection belongs to a group of disease-causing viruses called flaviviruses, which usually spread by tics or mosquitoes, say the National Institutes of Health. West Nile virus in particular is usually spread by mosquitoes that feed on the blood of infected people or birds. (So don’t worry, you can’t catch it by, say, touching or kissing someone.)

Other diseases caused by flaviviruses include yellow fever and dengue fever.

According to the Mayo Clinic, most people with West Nile virus have no symptoms, and about 20 percent experience only mild symptoms (like a fever, headache, body ache, and fatigue) that go away on their own. But for about 1 percent of people, the virus crosses the blood-brain barrier, causing a serious neurological infection that affects the brain and spinal cord. Serious symptoms (like severe headaches, a stiff neck, and an altered mental state) merit urgent medical attention.

WNV was discovered in 1937 in Uganda, which Africa’s Nile River flows through. According to the NIH, it’s most common in Africa, West Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. But it surfaced in the New York City area in 1999 and has since been found in every continental state.

Most of this year’s cases are in Texas, with Mississippi, Louisiana, South Dakota, and Oklahoma coming in second place. Check out the CDC’s infection map and table to find out if any of this year’s cases or deaths occurred in your state.

There is no vaccine to prevent WNV, but it’s easy to protect yourself…

Flush out mosquitoes. They usually lay their eggs on standing water, so walk around the outside of your entire home looking for any places where water has collected or could collect: planters, saucers, buckets, garbage cans, gutters, tire swings, kiddie pools. Empty them out and, if possible, drill a hole in the bottom of them so they automatically drain before water can accumulate. (For kiddie pools, store them standing up on their side when they’re not in use.) Then repeat this process weekly.Screen your home. Make sure all your windows have a screen and that the screen doesn’t have any gaps or holes that a mosquito could fit through.Suit up. Wear pants and long-sleeve shirts outside when possible.Protect your skin. Spray exposed skin – and clothing (to stop mosquitoes from biting through clothing) – with a bug repellant that contains an active ingredient that’s registered with the EPA, which basically means it’s safe and effective when applied according to the directions. Check out the EPA’s bug repellant search tool for more help.Avoid twilight. Mosquitoes are most active at dusk and dawn, so consider staying indoors during those times or be extra careful if you go outside.Report dead birds to authorities. Informing your local health department helps the experts who monitor the spread of West Nile virus, which has been seen in more than 130 bird species. Just don’t handle the dead birds.

Karla Bowsher runs our deals page and covers consumer, retail, and health issues. If you have a comment, suggestion, or question, leave a comment or contact her at karla@moneytalksnews.com. Like this article? Sign up for our email updates and we’ll send you a regular digest of our newest stories, full of money saving tips and advice, free! We’ll also email you a PDF of Stacy Johnson’s ’205 Ways to Save Money’ as soon as you’ve subscribed. It’s full of great tips that’ll help you save a ton of extra cash. It doesn’t cost a dime, so why wait? Click here to sign up now.

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Mountain Lion Available Today From the Mac App Store

Shop the Apple Online Store (1-800-MY-APPLE), visit an Apple Retail Store, or find a reseller.

Copyright © 2012 Apple Inc. All rights reserved.

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Ask Stacy: When Should You File Bankruptcy?

Here’s a recent email from a reader that offers the opportunity to talk about when enough is enough.

Dear Stacy,
I know you deal with a LOT of debt collection questions, but I couldn’t find the answer to mine in a search of your website–maybe I don’t have the right terminology.

Isn’t there any way to get debt collectors, including credit card companies, to pause the debt collection process or the payments for a period of time? I am disabled and awaiting SSDI determination (it may drag on another year) and completely out of money now, living with family just to survive.

Citibank refused to work with me on a payment low enough for me to continue paying them, which would have at least given them assurance that I had not abandoned the debt. I suggested the same $5 a month I pay a on a medical debt, as I can usually make a very little each month holding yard sales of my last few possessions. Citi wouldn’t accept anything less than $200+/month. So this account has now gone to a debt collector who has offered to settle for less than the full amount, but it’s still way more than I can currently pay. And in the meantime Citi continues to charge me $35/month in late fees and 29% interest rate on the overdue amount.

When I spoke to Chase about my overdue account with them, they transferred me to a debt management company, that also could not help me since debt management plans require INCOME! Given that I can’t afford a lawyer, is there some action that can get these agencies to at least stop charging penalties each month when I’ve already appraised them of my situation? What about a means of temporarily halting the collections process until I can get SSDI? I have already sold my furniture trying to pay these guys, and don’t have the money to pay for the medical treatment I need to stay alive now! The stress of constant calls and letters from collectors is adversely affecting my health. If I drop dead before Social Security Administration admits I’m disabled from illness I can’t pay Citi or Chase at all–they’ll just be beating a dead horse. And I’m not withholding any money from them–you just can’t squeeze water from a stone!

Why aren’t there protections for people who are the worst off of all? I have tried repeatedly to help myself out of this situation, but nothing works. Any suggestions? Or am I just sunk?
- Jane (not her real name)

Jane, there is protection for people who are the worst off of all. It’s called bankruptcy, and you need to think about it.

I wish Jane had contacted me earlier. Like many others in her situation, a strong sense of pride combined with a lack of knowledge is keeping her from acknowledging the inevitable. As a result, she’s needlessly enduring monster stress and pouring what money she does have down the drain. It breaks my heart when I see words like “I have already sold my furniture trying to pay these guys, and don’t have the money to pay for the medical treatment I need to stay alive now!”

This is exactly why we have bankruptcy laws. (And why I’m for guaranteed health care for all Americans – but that’s another story.)

You don’t often read articles by personal finance writers suggesting bankruptcy. Instead, we prattle on about building budgets, targeting debts, and squeezing additional savings by using coupons and buying generics.

That kind of advice is fine for many people…even most. But it’s useless for people like Jane.

The magic word when it comes to debt problems is “income.” If you have it, debt problems are often solvable. If you don’t, they’re not, especially when you’re in Jane’s situation: no savings and no prospects for significant future income.

In a story I did a few years back called “Dealing With Debt: Bankruptcy,” the lawyer I interviewed gave me some simple advice: If you don’t have enough income left after eating and putting a roof over your head to make even minimum payments on your debts, it’s time to talk to a lawyer.

If you’ve read much of my stuff, you know that I’m a believer in paying back what you borrow. (See Website Says It’s OK to Walk Away – No It Isn’t.) But Jane’s situation is a textbook example of why we have bankruptcy laws. Sometimes bad things happen to good people, and the last thing those people need is to be verbally abused by collection agencies or made to feel guilty.

When a credit card or other company loans you money, they understand the risk they’re taking. The interest rate they collect compensates them for it – often handsomely.

In How Much Tax Do the Most Profitable Companies Pay?, we point to a study from NerdWallet that reveals the profitability of many of America’s biggest companies. If you think companies like Walmart are monstrously profitable, you’re right: Walmart made $24 billion last year – $2 billion a month. But guess what company also made $24 billion? Wells Fargo Bank. JP Morgan Chase, one of the companies Jane owes, made even more: $26 billion.

You owe your creditors your best effort to meet your obligations. But you don’t owe them your health, your life, your sanity, or your self-respect. If you’ve done your best, put your head up, shoulders back, and deal with it.

Jamie Dimon, JP Morgan Chase CEO, took home $23,105,415 last year – he’s going to be fine.

Just because bankruptcy is the correct course for people like Jane, however, doesn’t make it easy. In the ultimate Catch-22, many Americans don’t have enough money to become bankrupt. In an article called Too broke to go bankrupt, CNN/Money says hundreds of thousands of Americans can’t afford the $1,500 to file bankruptcy. Result?

“It ends up being the relatively better off, or middle-class consumers who can actually afford to file, and the people with lower incomes can’t afford to file.”

Have you ever read stupider words? Only people who by definition aren’t broke can afford to go broke. Sometimes life is truly stranger than fiction.

What Jane should do is find a local bankruptcy attorney and get a free consultation to explore her options, like perhaps creating a payment plan or finding a pro bono (free) lawyer. But she shouldn’t be surprised if that attorney ends up saying something like…

In her email, Jane says “you just can’t squeeze water from a stone!” She’s right.

Bankruptcy is a good option for those who can’t pay their debts, and that’s especially true for those with assets to protect, like a house, expensive possessions, or a decent income.

Without the protection afforded by bankruptcy, your creditors can file a lawsuit for unpaid debts that could result in a monetary judgment against you. With that judgment in hand, they’ll go on an asset search to see if you have anything valuable they can force you to sell to satisfy the judgment. They could also potentially garnish your future wages to collect it.

But if you have few possessions and meager income, creditors or collection agencies may not bother suing, because it’s expensive and likely to be a waste of effort. You’re essentially “judgment-proof.” Given what we know about Jane’s case, that’s probably exactly what she is. She should still, however, turn to an attorney for a free consultation and an expert, empathetic ear.

Stop paying your debts. You’re not going to be able to repay your creditors with $5 a month anyway, and that money means more to you than them. Stop throwing it away.Stop selling your stuff. No matter what you do, nobody will ever have the legal right to strip you of simple personal possessions.Don’t worry about the late fees. You’re not going to pay them.Don’t worry about your credit history. It’s already trashed, and you don’t have the resources at this point to defend it. Water under the bridge.Stop the collection calls. There’s no law requiring you to talk to any creditor or collection agency. There is a law, however, that says you can stop their calls simply by telling them to quit contacting you. These people don’t care about you – don’t talk to them. Read this page of the FTC website for more about your rights.Talk to a lawyer. It’s not going to cost you a dime, and it’s going to make you feel much, much better. I guarantee it.Stop beating yourself up. You didn’t get drunk and run over someone’s child. You became disabled and are unable to pay a couple of bills. It happens every day. You have nothing to feel guilty about. If you ultimately regain your financial footing, fine – you can always pay them back then.Like this article? Sign up for our email updates and we’ll send you a regular digest of our newest stories, full of money saving tips and advice, free! We’ll also email you a PDF of Stacy Johnson’s ’205 Ways to Save Money’ as soon as you’ve subscribed. It’s full of great tips that’ll help you save a ton of extra cash. It doesn’t cost a dime, so why wait? Click here to sign up now.

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Unconventional Learning with iPad, Mac, and iPod touch

Students at the UK public school Flitch Green Academy use iPad, Mac, and iPod touch to create unique learning experiences.

Flitch Green is a public elementary/middle school located just outside of London. This modern eco-friendly version of a village school was designed to be the hub of the community — where the teachers support the kids so they feel safe to explore, to ask questions, and even to make mistakes. The school was built on the principle that there needs to be a purpose to learning, and that children learn best from an innovative curriculum that teaches through first-hand experience and discovery.

The founders of Flitch Green designed a creative curriculum that allows children to develop skills for the 21st century. The school’s philosophy is that learning is not just about gaining knowledge and acquiring facts — it’s that you need to be able to do something with those facts. This purposeful learning needs a strong investment in technology, That’s where Mac, iPad, and iPod touch come in.

When designing this curriculum, Apple products were a natural fit. Their ease of use allows students to master the tools, and focus on their projects. The work they’re able to produce is greatly enhanced by the creative opportunities the products give the students. Flitch Green’s creative curriculum couldn’t exist without the Apple products.

We wanted a curriculum that was meaningful, purposeful, and creative. And with Apple technology we have the whole package. It’s ignited everybody’s learning progress.”

— Tracey Bratley, teacher at Flitch Green Academy

The staff first purchased MacBooks, and as the curriculum evolved, they quickly added iPad and iPod touch devices. Apple products have become an essential piece of how students learn at Flitch Green.

Flitch Green’s unique approach is taught through open-ended “experiences” where students use the Mac, iPod touch, and iPad, alongside more traditional media, to work towards an end product. “This allows children to use all the resources they have available to them to represent what we’ve asked them to do,” says Principal Helen Johnson. “And normally they come back with things that we won’t have even dreamt of.”

Giving all students access to all of the Apple products was also a goal for the school. The 11 year-olds as well as the 4 year-olds are using the Mac, iPad, and iPod touch to explore and create. “Originally we thought the iPod touch would be great for the older children and the iPad being bigger would be for the younger children. But actually our 4-year olds are more than capable of picking up the iPod touch, recording their voices, taking a photograph, or writing on it for phonic work,” says Helen Johnson. The Flitch Green vision — right from the beginning —was to equip the children with the technological know-how so they would be well prepared once they got to the outside world.

Creating their own learning experiences with Apple products allow the students focus on their end-product. The Mac, iPad, and iPod touch lend themselves seamlessly to these cross-curricular experiences and give the students the choice of technology tools that best suits their individual project.

Since first opening its doors in 2008, Flitch Green’s academic scores have been in the 90th percentile, granting the school Academy status. Students are not only learning basic academic skills such as English, Mathematics, and Science, but they also learn and practice key life skills such as resilience, reflection, and risk taking. With the Mac, iPad and iPod touch, lessons are fun, interesting and packed with activity.

“Students can find all the objects inside and outside the school that start with a certain letter and record it with their iPod touch. They get excitement out of that which keeps them engaged, and keeps them learning longer than they would have if they’ve been sat down with a pencil they can’t hold very well.” says Helen Johnson.

Everything has a similar feel and a similar look — there’s synergy. So it’s easy for kids to pick up an Apple product and just start working.”

— Emma Nichols, Flitch Green Academy parent

Using technology has helped both the children’s speaking and listening skills — particularly for many of Flitch Green’s shy children. “Put them in front of a Mac, put them in front of a camera and they lose all their inhibitions, they’re really confident. “ Says teacher Tracey Bratley. “We’ve been able to gain lots of evidence from children just from watching what they recorded on iMovie or PhotoBooth. Apple products have given children the tools for them to develop their confidence. And it’s been a great assessment tool for us as well.”

Besides academic achievement, Flitch Green Academy can also lay claim to having students that are excited about their learning. It has students excited to come to school each morning. And their enthusiasm and love of learning is carried home with them. They are confident, creative students that have had their curiosity fostered with the help of the Mac, iPad, and iPod touch.

MacBook Air

This notebook computer is great for learning both inside and outside the classroom. Learn more about MacBook Air

iPad

This revolutionary mobile device introduces a whole new way of teaching and learning. Learn more about iPad

iPod touch

This device — and the apps made for it — are perfect for on-the-go learning. Learn more about iPod touch

iLife

Create photo books, movies, podcasts, music, and more with the latest versions of iPhoto, iMovie, GarageBand, iWeb, and iDVD. Learn more about iLife

iWork

The easiest way to create great-looking documents, spreadsheets, and presentations on the Mac. Learn more about iWork

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Apple Introduces All-New MacBook Pro with Retina Display

Get answers before you buy. Call 1-800-MY-APPLE to talk with a knowledgeable Specialist.

Shop the Apple Online Store (1-800-MY-APPLE), visit an Apple Retail Store, or find a reseller.

Copyright © 2012 Apple Inc. All rights reserved.

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8 Ways to Earn More on Your Savings

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OS X Mountain Lion “Most Polished” Version Yet

MG Siegler is a general partner at CrunchFund and a columnist for TechCrunch, where he has been writing since 2009. His focus is on Apple. Prior to TechCrunch, MG covered various technology beats for VentureBeat. Originally from Ohio, MG attended the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, MI. He’s previously lived in Los Angeles where he worked in Hollywood and in... ? Learn More

Trying to write a review of OS X Mountain Lion is tricky. First of all, I had already written a review back in February, when Apple legitimately surprised the world with the revelation that the ninth iteration of OS X was just about ready to go. Granted, back then I only had a few days to play with an early build. But it was already pretty solid at that point. Now, months later, I’ve had a lot of time to play with Mountain Lion, and I’m happy to report that it’s even more solid.

But ending my review there wouldn’t do Mountain Lion the justice it deserves. It’s definitely the most polished and robust version of OS X yet. If you liked Lion, you’ll love Mountain Lion. If you didn’t like Lion, you’ll probably love Mountain Lion even more because it seems to fix a lot of the performance/quirkiness issues that some folks were having with the last version of OS X.

I didn’t have any of those issues with Lion, so as someone who had started using an iOS device far more than a Mac, I liked Lion right from the start because it borrowed a lot of little ideas from iOS. And Mountain Lion expands upon that practice. So, unsurprisingly, I like it even more.

It must be said that Mountain Lion isn’t really all that different from Lion — hence, the variation of the name (even though mountain lions are technically cougars — insert joke here). But unlike the jump from Leopard to Snow Leopard, which focused on performance and tightening code rather than features, the jump from Lion to Mountain Lion does pack some new goodies.

Apple has already highlighted what they view to be the 10 key features of Mountain Lion, both in the original previews and at WWDC last month. I won’t spend time giving an overview of each of them again — if you’d like that, go here.

Instead, I thought I’d talk a bit about my experience using Mountain Lion over these past several months. And point out the things I like the best, and a few things that I don’t like.

Initially, I just had Mountain Lion installed on the review machine that Apple loaned me back in February. But as Mountain Lion quickly became more stable, I decided to install a developer build on one of my personal Macs as well. On a mid-2011 MacBook Air, there were no noticeable performance gains (nor is Apple touting any), but the machine did seem to wake up much quicker from sleep. More recently, when I installed Mountain Lion on my 2009 iMac, I did notice that my machine started up (and shut down) significantly faster, which was nice. Overall, that older machine has had no issues with Mountain Lion (though there are limits as to just how old a machine can be and still run the new OS).

App compatibility has been surprisingly good. I actually haven’t found any with major problems due to the upgrade from Lion to Mountain Lion. I’m sure there are some out there, but even apps that pushed out Mountain Lion-ready updates a little early seemed to work fine without the updates (the updates just added things such as Notification Center capabilities).

Notifications are the most in-your-face and probably best new feature of Mountain Lion. We’re all used to dozens of apps on our machines alerting us to something. Now the process is streamlined in a very iOS-like manner. While there aren’t too many third-party apps out there that support these new notifications yet, Apple’s built-in apps alone make this a most-welcome addition.

Those built-in apps now include Twitter in Mountain Lion. If you sign in (from the settings) with your Twitter account, you can now get notifications every time someone @replies you or DMs you. It’s fantastic. And while there is a button that enables you to tweet right from the notification area on the right side of the screen, when you reply to Twitter notifications, unfortunately you’re dumped into the web app (who knows what Twitter is doing with Twitter for Mac, which still has the old Twitter logo and non-Retina graphics).

Also built-in will be Facebook. Oddly though, this feature won’t go live until the fall (with an update to Mountain Lion). Apple gave me a build with Facebook enabled, and it seems to work well. You can post with the click of a button just as you can with Twitter — and it works with Facebook’s more granular sharing settings (share with just your family group, for example). I assume Apple wants to give developers a little more time to work with this Facebook integration, as many of them will want to use it for things like Single Sign On for apps, and sharing.

The fact that Chrome and Safari work with Notification Center is great news for web apps. I’ve been able to get alerts when I have a new Gmail message, for example. Chrome has had a similar banner system for some time, but the native OS X notification experience easily blows it away.

Another feature that users are likely to notice pretty quickly is Gatekeeper. That’s a bit odd since it’s not really meant to be a forward-facing feature, but rather it’s meant to be more of a protection layer. But since the default setting is to block unsigned apps from the web, people are likely to hit it right away (since most developers won’t be properly signed at the launch of the OS). Don’t panic. This doesn’t mean you can’t install all of your favorite apps via the web with Mountain Lion, it just means that you’ll have to go into settings and hit a button to allow for unsigned app installs.

I suspect we’ll see a little backlash against this early on simply because there won’t be a lot of developers signed up just yet. (And I can’t wait to watch parents try to figure out how to change the default settings.) I’m told some bigger ones, like Adobe, are already on board. But there are thousands upon thousands of developers out there that will want to get the certification (which only requires a $99/year developer account — there’s no vetting at first, it’s an honor system until you do something wrong). It may take a little time.

Another new feature that I’ve run into time and time again in Mountain Lion is Documents in the Cloud. Because iCloud is now fully baked into the OS, you’ll find this feature as a part of everything from TextEdit to Preview. This also may be a bit jarring at first because it’s really blowing up the traditional notion of a file system, at least from a conceptual perspective. Rather than files residing in folders on some drive that you access through Finder, files are now simply documents within the apps themselves.

That probably sounds more confusing that it is. It actually makes a lot more sense to do things this way — and again, it’s something borrowed from iOS. When you open a document-based app in Mountain Lion, you’ll be asked to pick which document you wish to open from a list of documents specifically tied to that app. If you want to open an outside document, you still can, but it’s a step away now into the folder system.

Then there are the apps that have been ported over from iOS: Reminders, Notes, and Messages. Each is great provided you’re also an iOS (and by extension, iCloud) user, otherwise they may seem weak. Messages was released in beta form late last year as a replacement for iChat. It’s probably good that Apple did this because it was very wonky at first. In Mountain Lion, it seems much more stable. More importantly, messages delivery seems to actually work all the time now no matter which device you’re using.

But for people who were used to iChat, with its more traditional IM ways, Messages will probably seem a bit odd. Even now, the iMessage/IM duality is sort of strange — am I supposed to close/delete messages after I’m done with “chat session”?

Another killer new feature of Mountain Lion that I find myself using quite a bit is AirPlay. iOS users will know this well, and they should be thrilled to have this for the Mac now. A couple weeks ago, there was a sporting event that was being streamed live on the web, but wasn’t available on the iPhone/iPad. With Mountain Lion, I simply opened a browser window, hit one button, and my entire desktop was sent to my TV via my Apple TV. I put the video fullscreen and you couldn’t even tell we were routing this, wirelessly, through a computer. Magic.

One feature I’m still not completely sold on yet is Safari. Apple’s web browser has been around for years now, and each year, Apple seems to claim it’s the fastest out there. The problem is that there are so many tests now tailored to different things, that it’s hard to know what matters. All I know is that in daily usage, Chrome still feels faster to me, so that’s what I use.

But Apple has once again overhauled Safari to make it competitive with Mountain Lion. A couple key features rely on iCloud: iCloud Tabs and Reading List. It’s definitely nice to see what tabs you have open on other Apple devices, but Reading List feels less compelling in a world of Instapaper and Pocket.

The biggest change you’ll find in Safari is the addition of a “Smart Search” bar — or an “omnibar”, to use Google’s parlance. That is, a unified top text bar that smartly handles both URLs and searches. Chrome has had this feature for a while, and it’s a welcome addition to Safari (though, oddly, it’s not a part of Mobile Safari).

Also new is the Safari Tab View. This allows you to zoom out of any page and get a quick look at the tabs you currently have open. It’s a nice effect, but it’s simply not that practical. I’d much rather see Safari add something like pinned tabs, to make the tab situation more manageable.

While I said that performance gains weren’t a concentrated focus for Mountain Lion, one area the OS X team did work on is smooth scrolling and hardware acceleration within Safari. The work shows.

Overall, Mountain Lion feels like the most natural step yet towards the convergence of iOS and OS X. While Apple says there are now over 66 million OS X users, Apple sold nearly 50 million iOS devices just last quarter. It’s clear that OS X has to continue to creep closer to iOS simply because that’s what far more people know now.

It’s hard to imagine how Apple will further refine OS X from here. Maybe they don’t — maybe OS XI (OS 11?) is next. Or maybe Apple has one more big cat left in the bag (in terms of nicknames, there really only are a couple left). For now, Mountain Lion will stand atop the mountain. It’s solid, polished, and perhaps most importantly, cheap.

For $19.99 in the Mac App Store, you’ll be able to upgrade all your machines to Mountain Lion. You can upgrade both Lion machines and Snow Leopard machines, and they both cost the same price, which is great. If your machine is compatible, the upgrade is an absolute no-brainer.

In a time when Microsoft is just about to upend their entire OS with their biggest change (and bet) yet in Windows 8, Apple has taken a much more refined approach. Perhaps they take some criticism for this, or perhaps they’re just being savvy. OS X remains a great OS. And sprinkled with some of the best elements of iOS, it still feels pretty fresh. Not bad for an eleven-year-old big cat.

You can find OS X Mountain Lion in the Mac App Store here.

Started by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne, Apple has expanded from computers to consumer electronics over the last 30 years, officially changing their name from Apple Computer, Inc. to Apple, Inc. in January 2007. Among the key offerings from Apple’s product line are: Pro line laptops (MacBook Pro) and desktops (Mac Pro), consumer line laptops (MacBook Air) and desktops (iMac), servers (Xserve), Apple TV, the Mac OS X and Mac OS X Server operating systems, the iPod, the...

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Amtrak Enlists iPhone as a Service Tool

Amtrak, the government-owned corporation that oversees the nation’s railroad train services, has been training conductors since November to use the Apple handset as an electronic ticket scanner on a few routes, including from Boston to Portland, Me., and San Jose, Calif., to Sacramento.

By late summer, 1,700 conductors will be using the devices on Amtrak trains across the country, the company said.

With the new system, passengers will be able to print tickets or load a special bar code on their smartphone screens for conductors to scan, and conductors will be able to keep track of passengers on board, Amtrak said.

“You don’t even need to print the document and bring it with you,” said Matt Hardison, chief of sales distribution at Amtrak, who helped plan the iPhone program. “We’ve made a number of important improvements for both our customers and Amtrak, all in one fell swoop.”

Amtrak joins a growing number of businesses that are using mobile devices to improve operations. Some pilots are using iPads to replace flight manuals in the cockpit, a few police departments are experimenting with using iPhones to identify suspects, and doctors are using iPads to access patient records and X-ray charts.

A digitized check-in process for trains seems long overdue in a world of online concert tickets and flight reservations. But the industry faces a particular challenge in that passengers hop on and off at different platforms at different times, unlike at an airport, where people check in at one gateway to board a flight, and then stay there until the flight arrives.

The old manual ticketing process — punching a hole in the ticket, putting it in a pouch and then sending it to a central location, where it is eventually scanned and entered into a database — was not very good at tracking passengers on board because of the delay between when the ticket was checked and when it was processed.

With the new iPhone-powered system, conductors can monitor passenger check-ins in real time. That will help them manage seating: if there are passengers who don’t show up, for example, it will be easier to fill empty seats with other passengers.

“When it was all a manual system there was a lot of guesswork involved,” said Patricia Quinn, executive director of the Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority, which contracts with Amtrak to operate the train service from Boston to Portland.

Each conductor’s iPhone is equipped with a case containing an extra battery and a bar-code scanner, and has a special app to scan tickets but also to do much more.

For example, with the app, conductors can indicate to the engineer if a disabled person is getting on at a particular stop so that the train staff can be prepared to coordinate the track and the wheelchair lift.

The app also allows conductors to report equipment failures, like broken toilet fixtures, to mechanics.

For passengers, the new system means it will be easier to book or modify reservations. For example, if a rider discovered at the last minute that she had to take a train at a different time, she could make the change online or in Amtrak’s iPhone app, whereas previously she would have had to refund a ticket and buy a new one at a machine or through an agent.

The iPhone system cost Amtrak $7.5 million — $5.5 million for the software development and $2 million for the hardware, the company said.

Amtrak’s smartphone app for passengers is currently available only for iPhones, but the corporation said it was working on a version for Android devices, due for release by early fall. Users of other types of smartphones can still load their tickets through Amtrak’s mobile Web site.

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New FileMaker 12 Software Line Released Today

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6 Money-Saving Mistakes That Can Cost Big Bucks

The following post comes from Naomi Mannino at partner site dealnews.com.

Thrifty shoppers are always looking for ways to save money when possible, whether by cutting weekly or monthly spending or by stretching your dollar through sales and coupons. But take heed, because some common efforts to save actually result in wasting money. Changing the way you shop, switching to a different financial service, and more – all under the guise of saving – can often be more harmful than you might think. Instead, think twice and avoid these common pitfalls.

Why you think it saves money: “Why am I paying all these bank account fees? I’m going to switch banks for a free checking account and more ATMs.”

How you can overspend: Despite last year’s fervor for Bank Transfer Day, switching banks can be costly. You can easily incur overdraft fees from unposted or prewritten checks and from transitioning automatic bill payments and direct deposits. New deposit requirements or availability policies can result in low-balance fees while you learn how to maintain “free” checking accounts.

Smarter saving: Find a bank that offers free checking with no requirements and a ready-made bank “switch kit.” Keep your old checking account open for several months until you’re certain all automatic payments and checks have cleared.

Why you think it saves money: ”I get cash back for things I buy anyway, so put it on the credit card.”

How you can overspend: According to a recent Nilson Report, average monthly spending on a non-rewards credit card totaled $465. With rewards, it reached $890. Clearly, it’s easy to feel compelled to spend more when you think you’re earning rewards. But be careful: Balances carried over can quickly eclipse rewards if you pay interest. Personal finance experts also warn that mental accounting weakens with credit card spending. You’ll likely have a harder time keeping track of what you’re charging than if you were paying for everything in cash.

Smarter saving: Stick to your shopping budget and always pay off credit card balances before their due date. For rotating rewards categories, spend only in those higher-paying categories (for example, 5 percent on groceries vs. 1 percent on gas). Search for a reward credit card with no rewards expiration dates and no annual fees.

Why you think it saves money: ”The sales rep will stick to my monthly payment budget if I tell him what it is.”

How you can overspend: Rather than offering you the best price for an item (paid for in installments, like a car or loan), salesmen often try to bloat the package cost so that it reaches (or goes slightly over) your max budget. If they know you’re willing to spend a certain amount each month, you can bet they won’t opt to undersell you.

Smarter saving: Stay focused on cutting the overall price of your purchase so that you’ll end up with a lower monthly payment. Don’t let salespeople pack any extras into your plan.

Why you think it saves money: ”Everybody knows that buying bulk results in a lower cost per unit.”

How you can overspend: Not every item at a warehouse club like Sam’s or BJ’s Wholesale is a great deal – many are bundled and packaged specifically for the warehouse clubs. So even though you’re buying a cellophane-wrapped cartload of regular-size items that appears cheaper overall, you may not be saving much per unit in the end. Instead, you’ve succumbed to an expensive impulse buy that you might not actually use completely.

Smarter saving: Know your grocery store’s regular and sale prices, as well as the package sizes of items you buy in bulk at warehouse clubs. Then, do the math to compare the unit price to confirm savings. Make a list of only those warehouse items that save you money and stick to it.

Why you think it saves money: ”They sell last season’s brand names at a lower price.”

How you can overspend: Not everything at the outlets is of the same quality you’d find at a full-price department store. In fact, manufacturers often produce cheaper goods specifically for outlet stores. Moreover, there are plenty of outlet stores online, and many of them offer additional promotions that beat the savings of shopping at the traditional brick-and-mortar outlets.

Smarter saving: Be sure to compare outlet prices with department store prices, and learn the differences between designer or brand-name items. When considering an item, look at the fit, stitching, fabrication, and embellishments, as this is where manufacturers tend to cut costs on producing outlet goods. At department stores, you’d do well to shop end-of-season clearance sales and can save a bundle with stacking store coupons.

Why you think it saves money: ”My paycheck gets deposited directly onto the card so I can automatically use it and avoid bank fees!”

How you can overspend: The ads makes prepaid debit cards sound easy, but don’t fall prey to their marketing without understanding the swipe/usage or reload fees. These can end up costing more than a free checking account with a debit card.

Smarter saving: Read the fine print on these offers and be sure to read through the fee chart. You should consider a free checking account with no requirements – it will help you learn to budget your money and track spending better.

The trick is to not act impulsively when employing new ways to save money. Think carefully about the actual costs of your purchases and savings attempts, especially if “saving” costs you up front. Like this article? Sign up for our email updates and we’ll send you a regular digest of our newest stories, full of money saving tips and advice, free! We’ll also email you a PDF of Stacy Johnson’s ’205 Ways to Save Money’ as soon as you’ve subscribed. It’s full of great tips that’ll help you save a ton of extra cash. It doesn’t cost a dime, so why wait? Click here to sign up now.

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It Costs Just $1.36 a Year to Charge an iPad

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Climbing Everest with iPad and iPhone

Photograph courtesy SCARPA

1953: Hillary's expedition used at least two types of boots, including a custom high-altitude model made by The British Boot, Shoe & Allied Trade Research Association of Kettering, England. They were lightweight for their day and had insulating material sandwiched inside a waterproof "envelope" to preserve insulation loft.

2012: Tough, breathable Cordura outers, heat-reflective aluminum, closed-cell foam insulation, and a waterproof zipper make Scarpa's Phantom 8000 boots (above) popular on high peaks. They are light, totally weatherproof, and have a custom fit. The double-boot system will allow O'Neill to remove the bulky outers after each day's ascent to chill out in camp wearing just the lightweight inner booties.

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Final Cut Pro X In Action

Shop the Apple Online Store (1-800-MY-APPLE), visit an Apple Retail Store, or find a reseller.

Copyright © 2012 Apple Inc. All rights reserved.

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Apple Reports Record March Quarter Sales of iPhone, iPad, and Mac

CUPERTINO, California—April 24, 2012—Apple® today announced financial results for its fiscal 2012 second quarter ended March 31, 2012. The Company posted quarterly revenue of $39.2 billion and quarterly net profit of $11.6 billion, or $12.30 per diluted share. These results compare to revenue of $24.7 billion and net profit of $6.0 billion, or $6.40 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 47.4 percent compared to 41.4 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 64 percent of the quarter’s revenue.

The Company sold 35.1 million iPhones in the quarter, representing 88 percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter. Apple sold 11.8 million iPads during the quarter, a 151 percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter. The Company sold 4 million Macs during the quarter, a 7 percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter. Apple sold 7.7 million iPods, a 15 percent unit decline from the year-ago quarter.

“We’re thrilled with sales of over 35 million iPhones and almost 12 million iPads in the March quarter,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “The new iPad is off to a great start, and across the year you’re going to see a lot more of the kind of innovation that only Apple can deliver.”

“Our record March quarter results drove $14 billion in cash flow from operations,” said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s CFO. “Looking ahead to the third fiscal quarter, we expect revenue of about $34 billion and diluted earnings per share of about $8.68.”

Apple will provide live streaming of its Q2 2012 financial results conference call beginning at 2:00 p.m. PDT on April 24, 2012 at www.apple.com/quicktime/qtv/earningsq212. This webcast will also be available for replay for approximately two weeks thereafter.

This press release contains forward-looking statements including without limitation those about the Company’s estimated revenue and diluted earnings per share. These statements involve risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ. Risks and uncertainties include without limitation the effect of competitive and economic factors, and the Company’s reaction to those factors, on consumer and business buying decisions with respect to the Company’s products; continued competitive pressures in the marketplace; the ability of the Company to deliver to the marketplace and stimulate customer demand for new programs, products, and technological innovations on a timely basis; the effect that product introductions and transitions, changes in product pricing or mix, and/or increases in component costs could have on the Company’s gross margin; the inventory risk associated with the Company’s need to order or commit to order product components in advance of customer orders; the continued availability on acceptable terms, or at all, of certain components and services essential to the Company’s business currently obtained by the Company from sole or limited sources; the effect that the Company’s dependency on manufacturing and logistics services provided by third parties may have on the quality, quantity or cost of products manufactured or services rendered; risks associated with the Company’s international operations; the Company’s reliance on third-party intellectual property and digital content; the potential impact of a finding that the Company has infringed on the intellectual property rights of others; the Company’s dependency on the performance of distributors, carriers and other resellers of the Company’s products; the effect that product and service quality problems could have on the Company’s sales and operating profits; the continued service and availability of key executives and employees; war, terrorism, public health issues, natural disasters, and other circumstances that could disrupt supply, delivery, or demand of products; and unfavorable results of other legal proceedings. More information on potential factors that could affect the Company’s financial results is included from time to time in the “Risk Factors” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” sections of the Company’s public reports filed with the SEC, including the Company’s Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 24, 2011, its Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended December 31, 2011, and its Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended March 31, 2012 to be filed with the SEC. The Company assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements or information, which speak as of their respective dates.

Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices with iPad.

Press Contact:
Steve Dowling
Apple
dowling@apple.com
(408) 974-1896

Investor Relations Contacts:
Nancy Paxton
Apple
paxton1@apple.com
(408) 974-5420

Joan Hoover
Apple
hoover1@apple.com
(408) 974-4570

Apple, the Apple logo, Mac, Mac OS and Macintosh are trademarks of Apple. Other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

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Apps Now Key to Small-Business Savings

Stay ahead of the competition with smartphones and tablets powered by the lightning-fast 4G LTE network.

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Mountain Lion Downloads Top Three Million

CUPERTINO, California—July 30, 2012—Apple® today announced that downloads of OS X® Mountain Lion have exceeded three million in four days, making it the most successful OS X release in Apple’s history. With more than 200 innovative new features, Mountain Lion is the ninth major release of the world’s most advanced desktop operating system and is available through the Mac® App Store™ as an upgrade to Lion or Snow Leopard users for $19.99 (US).

“Just a year after the incredibly successful introduction of Lion, customers have downloaded Mountain Lion over three million times in just four days, making it our most successful release ever,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing.

Mountain Lion features include the all new Messages app, Notification Center, system-wide Sharing, Facebook integration*, Dictation, AirPlay® Mirroring and Game Center. iCloud® integration makes it easy to set up your Mail, Contacts, Calendar, Messages, Reminders and Notes, and keep everything, including iWork® documents, up to date across all your devices. For more information or to download Mountain Lion visit apple.com/osx/specs.

In addition to Mountain Lion, the Mac App Store offers thousands of apps in Education, Games, Graphics & Design, Lifestyle, Productivity, Utilities and other categories, and is the largest, fastest growing PC software store in the world. Users can browse new and noteworthy apps, including apps that take advantage of new features in Mountain Lion, as well as check out staff favorites, top charts for free and paid apps, and user ratings and reviews. For more information visit apple.com/mac/app-store.

*Facebook integration will be available in an upcoming software update to Mountain Lion.

Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices with iPad.

Press Contacts:
Lacey Haines
Apple
lhaines@apple.com
(408) 862-0985

Monica Sarkar
Apple
monica_sarkar@apple.com
(408) 862-3204

Apple, the Apple logo, Mac, Mac OS, Macintosh, OS X, App Store, AirPlay, iCloud and iWork are trademarks of Apple. Other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

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