Shares of Apple are up US$8.59, or 2.5%, at $351 Friday morning following excellent second quarter 2011 fiscal results announced on Wednesday. The highest price target comes from Brian White of Ticonderoga, who previously had the highest as well. His new target is $612, up from $550, reports "Barron's" (http://macte.ch/nyFAg). White raised his third quarter estimate for revenue to $25.1 billion from $24.4 billion, and raised his EPS [earnings per share] estimate to $5.63 from $5.43. For fiscal 2011, his revenue estimate goes to $106 billion from $102 billion, and his EPS estimate goes to $25.22 from $23.36. “With the stock now trading at 10x our CY11 EPS estimate (ex-cash), we believe there is plenty of upside left in the stock price as we look forward to continued momentum from the iPad 2, a new iPhone 5 in September, growing adoption of Mac products and a bigger push in the TV market as the year progresses," White wrote in a note to clients.

Stellar Technologies (http://www.stellar-technologies.com) says that support for its Flock social web browser will be discontinued as of April 26. "Since no further security updates will be provided to keep you safe on the web, we encourage all Flock users to upgrade to either Chrome or Firefox. Both are based on the same reliable technologies as Flock, and both are being actively maintained and improved," says The Flock Team. "Also, each of these browsers has a broad selection of add-ons and extensions to customize and extend their capabilities." Since Chrome and Firefox both have very different rendering engines, I wonder what technologies the Flock group is speaking about? They also talk about the extensibility of those browsers, but they make no mention of Safari (WebKit like Chrome) and the fact that it is extensible with plug-ins. -- Dennis Sellers

Combat Mission is returning to the Mac. Combat Mission: Battle for Normandy, the first release, is now fully compatible with Mac OS X 10.6 and higher. It's available for pre-order immediately (http://www.battlefront.com/). You can pre-order CM:BN in a special SteelBook Limited Collector Edition for US$55 (plus shipping and handling). It sports a retail-style package, fitting up to four discs inside (the game disc as well as up to three future modules that can be purchased separately at a later time) as well as the full, printed 200-page manual. Combat Mission: Battle for Normandy is scheduled for release within the next 14-21 days. The game recreates the experience of tactical land warfare in Western France during World War Two.

"Men's Fitness," a men's lifestyle magazine, has released its first, free, single-topic, custom publication digital magazine app for the iPad. The "Complete Sports Training Guide" is the first Digi-Mag from "Men's Fitness" that will be released on the iPad, presenting users with interactive content on fitness and nutrition. The Digi-Mag, sponsored by PowerAde Zero will include features that will coach users on methods to increase their level of athleticism.  Jay Cardiello, celebrity fitness trainer and Powerade partner, is showcased in the Digi-Mag -- presenting users with videos, statistics, and text-based content to improve their physique. The Digi-Mag consists of fresh editorial content specially developed for a specific consumer interest by creating a user experience in a one-of-a-kind format that is different from full length digital magazines, says Men's Fitness Publisher Larry Menkes. Not only is the app cost-free, but it downloads quickly and is easy to navigate, he says. The...

GarageBand is the digital music-making and recording application of choice for many Mac users, but up-to-date, real-world documentation is hard to find. To fill this gap, TidBITS Publishing (http://www.tidbits.com) has released a pair of ebooks--Take Control of Making Music with GarageBand '11 and Take Control of Recording with GarageBand '11. Written by Seattle-based composer and musician Jeff Tolbert, the ebooks are designed to help readers understand how to work creatively and effectively within GarageBand. The books -- priced at US$15 each -- include links to audio examples and the actual GarageBand projects that created them, and hundreds of tips for making the most out of GarageBand's tools.

Verizon activated 2.2 million iPhones during its first fiscal 2011 quarter. It was the first quarter in which the company carried the Apple smartphone. Verizon reported 51 cents in EPS in first-quarter 2011, compared with first-quarter 2010 earnings of 16 cents per share.  There are no adjustments to first-quarter 2011 earnings results.  Adjusted first-quarter 2010 earnings, excluding the impact of divestitures and non-operational charges (non-GAAP), were 48 cents per share. And in a slip of the lip that won't make Apple happy, the next Verizon iPhone model will work on overseas networks, Verizon Communications Chief Financial Officer Fran Shammo told analysts during a conference call on the company's latest financial results. According to "Reuters" (http://macte.ch/5QrmX), he said the new phone would be a "global" version, implying that it will be able to roam on the "GSM" wireless networks that are common in other countries. AT&T's version of the iPhone already works on GSM...

According to the latest research from Strategy Analytics (http://www.strategyanalytics.com), Apple overtook Nokia to become the world’s largest handset vendor in revenue terms during the first quarter of 2011. In revenue terms, Apple is now the world’s largest handset vendor, smartphone vendor and tablet vendor. “We estimate Apple’s wholesale revenues for its iPhone handset division stood at US$11.9 billion in the first quarter of 2011," says Alex Spektor, Senior Analyst at Strategy Analytics. "Apple overtook Nokia for the first time, which recorded a lower US$9.4 billion of wholesale handset revenues. With strong volumes and high wholesale prices, the PC vendor has successfully captured revenue leadership of the total handset market in less than four years.” Neil Mawston, director at Strategy Analytics, adds: “In revenue terms, Apple is now the world’s largest handset vendor, smartphone vendor and tablet vendor. Apple’s proprietary ecosystem of hardware, software and services has...

Chimp Studios (http://glp.chimpstudios.com/) has introduced Guest List Planner 1.0 for Mac OS X (10.5 and higher). It's available for US$14.99 at the Mac App Store. Guest List Planner is an event planner app featuring one-click import of complete lists of names and addresses stored in the user's Address Book, Gmail and Facebook accounts. With all contacts imported, you can drag selected names onto the Guest List. Once a tentative Guest List has been created the app allows the creation of categories, such as Groom's Side and Bride's Side, etc. The app also imports and exports .csv files to and from spreadsheet applications. The app allows the event planner to import large contact lists without searching all the different places on their computer their contacts may be stored. From a single small toolbar, the user just clicks on the icon for Address Book, Google Mail, or Facebook, and hundreds of names appear in the People Column, located on the far left of the screen.

WriteIt! Studios has updated CookieStumbler (http://www.writeitstudios.com), an application to keep your Mac's privacy safe, to version 1.1.3. It's a maintenance update. Cookie Stumbler -- which requires Mac OS X 10.5 or higher -- includes tools to detect ad/tracking cookies. It features schedules, on-click filter and automator actions to make the process customizable. With Cookie Stumbler you can scan and track cookies, then remove them with a single click. It supports Google Chrome, Firefox, OmniWeb, Chromium, Safari and Flash cookies. Cookie Stumbler comes with a one-year subscription to WriteIt's update service, which includes software and definition updates. Subscription extensions will be available for $10 for one year and $17 for two years for both, single and family licenses. In celebration of the release and in order to support our advertising activities WriteIt! Studios is offering the product at prices starting from $18.95 for a single user license (it's normally $24.95)...

Old Jewel Software has released LazyMouse 2.5 (http://www.old-jewel.com), a revision to its Mac OS X (10.5 and higher) utility for saving time dealing with dialog boxes and alerts. LazyMouse is a Preference Pane that moves the cursor to the default button whenever a dialog box appears on the screen. Version 2.5 adds the ability to show an animation when the cursor is moved. The animation shows a ghosted cursor moving from the original mouse position to the new mouse position. LazyMouse is Universal Binary so runs natively on both PowerPC and Intel Macs. It costs US$9.95, though version 2.5 is a free update for registered users of version 2.x. A demo is available for download.

Tension Software has released URL Extractor 3.2.3 (http://pomola.com/products_urlextractor/urlextractor.html). URLs can be now launched from the URL extracted list double clicking them. URL Extractor is a Mac OS X app for extracting emails address and generic URLs from files on the HD or directly from the web using a list of "starting" web addresses and working unattended after the startup. You can retrieve and start search from web pages using keywords from various international Google sites. URL Extractor can extract thousands of URLs from the web starting from a single web page and using "cross navigation" and extraction. It requires Mac OS X 10.4 or higher and costs US$50. It's Universal Binary so runs natively on both PowerPC and Intel Macs. Version 3.2.3 is a free update for registered users of version 3.x.

Cristallight and Don Kurt have released iBarcoder 3.3.4 (http://www.cristallight.com/iBarcoder/), the latest Mac barcode software for Mac OS X 10.4 or later. In the new version, a SMN barcode has been added, Code 128 sequential printing has been fixed and interface changes have been made. Now you have ability to make more then 25 barcode symbologies. iBarcoder (US$39.95) supports multiple symbologies including the Japanpost customer Mac barcode, three types of FIM codes, Postnet, Several UPC, EAN and IBSN codes, QR code, and more. With the app you can individualize the coding to identify location sold, style, and other tracking information. A Counter Mode automatically creates the next barcode in a sequence from the defined parameters you have specified. You can use starting numbers and postix parts using the increment value established.

Apple sold 3.76 million Macs in its fiscal 2011 second quarter, which is 28% growth from the year-ago quarter. That's particularly impressive considering that the overall computer market contracted 3% in that time period, according to the IDC research group. The growth was fueled mainly by the continued popularity of the MacBook Air and the MacBook Pro revamp introduced in February, says Apple Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer. Desktop units shipped numbered 1.009 million units; laptop units shipped numbered 2.751 million. Of course, there have been no substantial desktop updates recently, so if a revamped iMac -- with Sandy Bridge processors and Thunderbolt technology -- debuts soon, as is expected, that will jump start desktop sales. This is the 20th consecutive quarter that the Mac has outgrown the PC market overall. The most notable growth was in Asia Pacific, increasing 76% year-over-year. Apple Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook notes Japan, and the US had a surprisingly...

For its fiscal 2011 second quarter Apple sold nine million iPods, which is down 10.9 million from the year-ago quarter. That's down but still ahead of Apple's expectations, according to Apple Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer. Of course, with the continuing phenomenal success of the iPhone and the iPad, it would be astounding if iPod sales continued to grow. However, that doesn't mean the products are on the way out. They'll be around for a looooong time. The iPod touch accounted over half of the iPod models sold. The iPod is still the top-selling MP3 player in most countries tracked and still accounts for over 70% in the US, says Oppenheimer. The CFO noted that the iTunes Store had its best quarter ever with $1.1 billion in revenue. He made sure to point out that the store now offered a full catalog of Random House e-books. Oppenheimer says that that the iTunes Store now boasts more than 2,500 iBook publishers and that customers have now downloaded more than 100 million books...

Apple has announced financial results for its fiscal 2011 second quarter ended March 26, 2011. The company posted record second quarter revenue of US$24.67 billion and record second quarter net profit of $5.99 billion, or $6.40 per diluted share. These results compare to revenue of $13.50 billion and net quarterly profit of $3.07 billion, or $3.33 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 41.4% compared to 41.7 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 59% of the quarter’s revenue. Apple sold 3.76 million Macs during the quarter, a 28% unit increase over the year-ago quarter. The company sold 18.65 million iPhones in the quarter, representing 113% unit growth over the year-ago quarter. Apple sold 9.02 million iPods during the quarter, representing a 17% unit decline from the year-ago quarter. The company also sold 4.69 million iPads during the quarter. “With quarterly revenue growth of 83% and profit growth of 95%, we’re firing on all...

Concord Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo tells clients -- as reported by "AppleInsider" (http://www.appleinsider.com) -- that shipments of the second-generation Apple TV remain strong, reaching more than two million estimated units since the device launched in late 2010. Basing his numbers on a survey of Apple suppliers, he says his numbers show that sales of the Apple TV have held relatively steady since the device first went on sale last October. Sales of the Apple TV topped one million before Christmas 2010, averaging 250,000 units in its first six weeks. Kuo estimates that Apple sold 820,000 units of the Apple TV in its second quarter of fiscal 2011, which ran from January through March.

Apple’s iPad commanded 85% of the market for media tablets in 2010, according to full-year figures reported by ABI Research (http://www.abiresearch.com). The tablet market surged in the second half of the year, but it wasn’t just tablets: according to senior practice director Jeff Orr, “Device categories including netbooks and mobile broadband-enabled eBook Readers showed gains in year-over-year shipment numbers in 2010," he says. "The hype that media tablets were displacing portable computers and dedicated CE device purchases simply didn’t become a reality. With increasing choices for consumers and greater opportunities for businesses to consider ultra-mobile devices, we expect multiple device categories to benefit in the near-term." Samsung’s Galaxy Tab ranked a distant second to the iPad in market share, with about 8%, while Archos’s Internet Tablet range just barely moved the needle at 2%. These top three vendors accounted for 95% of the media tablet market between them. However...

AT&T (http://www.att.com) has reported first-quarter results, highlighted by continued robust mobile broadband growth with record first-quarter smartphone sales and a two-fold year-over-year increase in branded computing subscribers.   AT&T had another strong quarter of smartphone sales. More than 5.5 million smartphones were sold in the first quarter, the third-highest quarter ever and an increase of more than 60% year-over-year. During the quarter, 3.6 million iPhones were activated. Approximately 65% of postpaid sales were smartphones. Also, AT&T had a strong quarter with branded computing subscribers, a new growth area for the company that includes tablets (including the iPad), aircards, MiFi devices, tethering plans and other data-only devices. AT&T added 421,000 of these devices to reach 3.4 million, twice as many as a year ago. Most of those new subscribers were tablets with 322,000 added in the quarter. More than 80% of those tablets were booked to the prepaid...

The iPhone 5 will have a faster processor and will begin shipping in September, reports "Reuters" (http://macte.ch/qyOan), quoting "three people with direct knowledge of the company's supply chain." The production of the new iPhone will start in July or August and the smartphone will look largely similar to the iPhone, the article adds. The current iPhone 4 was launched by Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs in June last year and began shipping the same month in 2010.

Noteboom Productions (http://www.noteboomproductions.com) has introduced Tutor for Keynote 1.0, their latest video tutorial, now available on the Mac App Store. With it you can watch videos to learn how to use Keynote, the presentation component of Apple's US$79 iWork suite. The video tutorial consists of 27 video chapters on various subjects. These include using transitions, using builds, adding images and movies, masking images, creating actions, and securing your presentation. Tutor for Keynote 1.0 costs US$4.99. It's available exclusively through the Mac App Store in the Productivity category.

Anawiki Games has released Avalon Legends Solitaire, a solitaire game set in the mysterious land of Avalon. It's the second game in Anawiki's Avalon series, and also their second solitaire game, following last year's release of Soccer Cup Solitaire. Here's how the game is described: "The game casts the player in the shoes of one of Avalon's mighty Druids, on a quest to restore the Deck of Nature. Just like the runes in the first Avalon game, the power of the Druids' cards is only unlocked when they are placed in the correct sequence. "As the players progress through the game, traveling the wilderness of Avalon, they seek to find and collect magic cards, scattered among the regular cards in each level. As these magic cards are collected, they gradually replace the original cards of the player's deck, increasing its power (and the points the player earns). Once the deck is completely restored, the player is ready to save Avalon." Avalon Legends Solitaire features 20 stages, each with...

Verdiem (http://www.verdiem.com) says the latest version of its flagship product, Surveyor 5.5, a solution for helping enterprises centrally control and reduce the energy used by computers on their network, is now Mac OS X compatible.   Surveyor 5.5 also includes improved integration with Windows 7 power management capabilities and expanded security support. At present, Macs represent approximately 3.5%vof worldwide computer sales, and are steadily increasing within the enterprise, says John Scumniotales, president and CEO of Verdiem. Surveyor 5.5 now allows IT professionals to strengthen and ensure consistency in cross-platform management and security, and helps them manage power across platforms in order to capture additional savings, he adds. Contact Verdiem for pricing option

Before Dawn Solutions says Better Link Tester Express 1.0.5 (http://www.beforedawnsolutions.com/blt ) is now available in the Mac App Store. It requires Mac OS X 10.5, costs US$9.99 and can be found in the Developer Tools category. Better Link Tester will verify all of the links and content on your site, and deliver a report when it has completed. BLT will find all of those broken links and display the results in a flat view or a tree view. Once you're satisfied with the results, you can generate a report in a CSV/text format, HTML, or even export it to OmniGraffle. BLT honors the robots.txt file on the server that you're checking, so that it doesn't get overwhelmed with the additional traffic. You can even change the User Agent so you can check browser specific settings on the server, the code or the HTML.

Moth Software has announced Mail Archiver X 2.6 for Mac OS X, an update to their app designed as a companion to the user's email application, allowing consolidation, archiving, cleaning, formatting, and permanent storage of emails. With Mail Archiver, emails may be saved in its native, Filemaker, or PDF database format. Archiving emails from a variety of email applications into a single database, the app is designed to prevent accidental deletions, facilitates quick searches, and eliminates storage size limits. Following the archiving process, users may browse or search from the Mail Archiver X Browser. In the far left column is a list of all their mailboxes, plus their Inbox and Sent Messages. The center of the window contains a list of all archived emails, with column headings including: From, To, Subject, Date, and Mailbox. Finally, the right window displays the full, scrollable contents of any archived email selected from the list. Tabs permit selection of any email attachments...