Author: Derek Kessler

Apple has set the date for their next fiscal earnings statement as October 20th. The statements will cover the months of July, August, and September (known in Apple corporate parlance as “Q4”), as well as the year-end statement for the 2014 fiscal year. As the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus launched on the 19th of September, the first 12 days of sales (up to today) will be included in Apple’s results — with 10 million iPhones 6 sold in the first 3 of those days, there are sure to be some big numbers following a bunch of dollar signs in Apple’s results.

Here’s what Apple’s guidance was for this quarter:

• Revenue: $37 billion to $40 billion
• Gross Margin: 37{813a954d5e225a1509f22204ece89c855080ce25555f20805f61bed63cbfde3b} to 38{813a954d5e225a1509f22204ece89c855080ce25555f20805f61bed63cbfde3b}
• Operating Expenses: $4.75 billion to $4.85 billion

Apple under CEO Tim Cook has pivoted towards more realistic guidance as compared to the conservative guidance the company used to offer that led to actual results consistently smashing expectations. We’ll expect to hear from both Cook and Apple CFO Luca Maestri throughout the call.

If you’re a MacBook user with a desktop set-up, Belkin’s new Thunderbolt 2 Express Dock HD might be just the salvation you’ve been looking for. Instead of sitting down and hooking up your MagSafe power adapter, an HDMI or Mini DisplayPort to your monitor, 3.5mm cable to your speakers, and filling up your two USB ports with more gadgets, you can scale back to just power and a single Thunderbolt cable. This isn’t Belkin’s first Thunderbolt dock, but it’s their first with blazing-fast Thunderbolt 2 built-in.

Here’s everything that the Belking Thunderbolt 2 Express Dock HD offers:

• Two Thunderbolt 2 Ports
• One HDMI Port
• Three USB 3.0 Ports + charging support
• One Audio Out Port
• One Audio Out Port with mic support
• One Gigabit Ethernet Port
• One AC/DC Power Input

And because it’s even-speedier Thunderbolt 2, the dock is capable of support an attached 4K display, and can daisy-chain four more Thunderbolt devices past that. Additionally, you can still hook up another display to that HDMI port.

So you can hook up two monitors, speakers, headphones, hard line internet, and multiple USB devices — all with one cable. Though that comes at a price — $299.99. You can buy the Belkin Thunderbolt 2 Express Dock HD now direct from Belkin, with availability from third-party retailers expected later in October.

Thunderbolt is awesome, wouldn’t you say?

Source: Belkin

The vast majority of physical keyboards sold for iOS devices these days are of the Bluetooth variety, but not the newest keyboards by Griffin. They’re wired. The two new keyboards, one with a Lightning Connector, the other the old-school 30-pin dock connector, are meant primarily for educational use, as there’s no need to bother with pairing — just plug it in and go.

Bluetooth keyboards understandably present a few problems for schools. They’re yet another device to be charged or have fresh batteries put in, they have to be paired with an individual device, and our mercy on the poor teacher that has to deal with a set of iPads and keyboards dumped on his/her lap and not matched with their paired keyboards.

A wired keyboard, as Griffin notes, solves that quite simply. There’s no pairing, there’s no charging, there’s no wondering about which keyboard is paired with which tablet. You just plug it in and start typing. Additionally, the keyboards help maintain compliance with SBAC and PARCC testing requirements, which prohibit external wireless connections during the test administration process.

The Griffin Wired Keyboard is available now from Griffin.com for $59.99.

Source: Griffin