Apple

Re "High stakes after Apple verdict," Aug. 26 The article closes with a quote from Santa Clara University assistant law professor Brian Love, who said that technology companies should "take all the money they are spending on lawyers and experts and instead invest that money in research and design. " Great in theory, but once you spend all that money and effort and produce a revolutionary product such as Apple's iPhone, and then the guy down the street copies all your best ideas, what are you supposed to do?

Here's one aspect of Steve Jobs' legacy that Tim Cook, his successor at the helm of Apple, must be hating Wednesday: the company's reputation for lowballing its sales and profit estimates. The company found itself in the odd position of reporting better results than it had projected -- and, more objectively, higher quarterly sales and profits than the year before -- yet having its stock hammered in after-hours trading. Why? Because analysts had predicted much higher sales and profits, and thus were surprised and disappointed.

Apple has some explaining to do -- to Congress. On Wednesday, Democratic Reps. Henry A. Waxman of Beverly Hills and G.K. Butterfield of North Carolina penned a letter to Apple Inc. Chief Executive Tim Cook, requesting information on Apple's iOS app developer policies and suggesting that perhaps Apple could be doing more to secure iPhone users' private information -- specifically the email addresses and phone numbers they keep in...

Spiced apple cobbler crumble Total time: 1 hour, 15 minutes Servings: 8 Note: Adapted from Susan Dumeyer and David Sundeen of Windrose Farm. Regarding the apples, Dumeyer recommends "Granny Smith or Sierra Beauty for their firm, tart flavor. Calville Blanc d'Hiver would be another good apple. " 1 1/4 cups sugar, divided 3 cups (12.75 ounces) plus 2 tablespoons flour, divided 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/4 teaspoon fresh nutmeg 6 cups peeled, cored and cubed apple (about 2¼ pounds, or 6 apples)

Apple has addressed the purple flares and streaks that show up on some iPhone 5 pictures, but its solution for the problem is quite disappointing. On a support page on the Apple website, the Cupertino tech company said this is an issue that affects most small cameras, including past iPhones. "This can happen when a light source is positioned at an angle (usually just outside the field of view) so that it causes a reflection off the surfaces inside the camera module and onto the camera sensor," Apple said .  The purple streaks are not something that users have complained about on past iPhones and when The Times tested the iPhone 5 compared with an iPhone 4 camera, the issue only seemed to occur with the newer model.

Re "Apple's profit nearly doubles," Business, April 25 The article describing the profits of Apple is but one of several such announcements of record profits in many industries that appear in newspapers regularly. This at a time when most of our citizenry is struggling to keep their heads above water. The discrepancy is so apparent that one wonders at the bewildering confusion of voters during this electoral season. Russell Blinick Encino

For those of us not directly invested in Apple, the stock's trajectory over the last six months has been a thrill ride to rival anything you'll find at Magic Mountain. Since hitting an all-time peak of $705 in mid-September, the shares have been on a long slide, reaching $419 before recovering a bit to almost $462 last week. At the peak, learned Wall Street analysts were speculating about how high Apple could go and whether the sky really was the limit; at the current trough, they're all but proclaiming the end of the Apple era. Here are the questions on everyone's lips: Who's right?

SAN JOSE -- The iPad mini, the long-rumored smaller tablet from Apple, has made its debut. Apple launched the 7.9-inch tablet computer at an invitation-only media event Tuesday morning, telling a crowd of reporters that the device is as thin as a pencil and weighs .68 pounds. Price for the iPad mini starts at $329. "It's as light as a pad of paper," said Apple's marketing chief Phil Schiller. PHOTOS: Apple unveils iPad mini The iPad mini will be available for pre-order on Friday.

Apple has launched a new program to assist its first-year employees on their career paths within the company. Apple revealed the program, called Pathways, to its employees Sunday night at its stores' quarterly meetings. The program is built around creating an Apple career path for new hires and extends the amount of time employees are in training during their first year at the company. Pathways comes after a major report by the New York Times , published over the weekend, that highlighted how Apple treats its 30,000 retail employees in the U.S. PHOTOS: Rumor roundup on iPhone 5 The article shed light on the fact that Apple does not pay commission to its employees, works them in high-stress environments and doesn't offer many opportunities for them to ever move up the ranks.