AAPL no longer disclosing ad costs, may want to hide rise in spending – Wells Fargo

A Wells Fargo analyst has noted that Apple has ceased to disclose its advertising spend in its latest 10-K annual report, instead bundling it into a more general category of ‘selling, general and administrative (SG&A) expenses.’ Apple has in the past always specifically disclosed its ad spend, notes Business Insider.

Apple last year increased its ad spend by a massive 50% to a record $1.8B. While the 10-K suggests that this year’s spend is lower by one measure, Wells Fargo suggests that might not be telling the whole story …

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Filed under: Apple

This is Apple’s special tool to help customers recover data from the new MacBook Pro’s non-removable SSD

When the first teardown of Apple’s new 2016 MacBook Pro was published earlier this month, a couple notable changes were spotted related to the machine’s SSD. Components for the SSD are now soldered onto the logic board, which likely allows for some design and thinness enhancements, but hurts overall repairability. On top of not being upgradeable, some speculated that meant that if the logic board fails, your data is gone with it. Not necessarily… 

Also present is a new mystery connector on the logic board that repair guide site iFixit noted in its teardown wasn’t connected to anything. It turns out that the mystery connector is actually there BECAUSE of the soldered down SSD, giving Apple a way to access data on a dead MacBook Pro. 

Apple stores have a special tool to assist, and they will be offering any 2016 MacBook Pro customers still under warranty attempted data transfer in the event the device doesn’t boot, according to sources familiar with Apple’s repair process. 

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RapidWeaver developer Realmac launches image-compression app Squash w/60% off launch offer

Realmac, the developer behind web design software RapidWeaver, has just launched Squash, an image-compression app for Mac. Normally $20, the company is making it available for a special launch price of just $8 between now and Monday.

While image-compression isn’t exactly the most exciting of fields, it can be very handy to be able to compress photos to more manageable sizes to email to family and friends or to use on the web. You can drag single images, multiple photos and entire folders onto the app, and choose between overwriting the originals or – by default – appending a suffix to the compressed versions …

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Reminder: Complete a 5K run / walk workout today to earn special Thanksgiving Apple Watch achievement and iMessage sticker

Happy Thanksgiving! For readers with an Apple Watch, remember to run or walk 5K today to earn a unique Activity achievement medal and an iMessage sticker. This is the first special Activity Challenge event and is only available for a limited time.

To earn the reward, you must start and complete a running or walking workout using the Apple Watch Workout app by the end of November 24th, Thanksgiving Day. The achievement is technically only available to Apple Watch users in the United States but there is a way to make the award appear if you live elsewhere …

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Another report indicates Apple to launch new 10.5-inch iPad in early 2017

The iPad lineup is getting some sort of a shakeup next year, seemingly with the introduction of a new 10.5-inch model. Apple’s existing lineup of form factors comprises a 7.9-inch iPad mini, 9.7-inch iPad Air and iPad Pro, and a 12.9-inch iPad Pro.

The 10.5-inch would apparently slot in between those tiers targeting enterprise, education and other sectors, according to Digitimes. iPad updates are ‘due’ with all models being more than a year old by next March.

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Filed under: Apple