Hasta La Gadget!

Recession, reshmession. Apple defied the economic downturn for the fiscal quarter ending December 27, 2008. The company posted a $10.17 billion revenue and a net quarterly profit of $1.61 billion–both records for Apple. Those numbers are up from $9.6 billion and $1.58 billion respectively from the same quarter a year prior.

Much of stellar numbers can be chalked up to record sales for the quarter. Apple reported the sale of some 22.7 million iPods and 4.36 million iPhones for the time period, marking a three percent and 88 percent unit growth, respectively.

“Even in these economically challenging times, we are incredibly pleased to report our best quarterly revenue and earnings in Apple history–surpassing $10 billion in quarterly revenue for the first time ever,” Steve Jobs said in a statement issued yesterday.

Will Steve Jobs’ on-going health problems get Apple in hot water? According to a source cited by Bloomberg, US regulators at the Security Exchange Commission are investigating whether the company’s failure to disclose the CEO’s condition misled investors.

However, the same source also added that the investigation doesn’t mean that there’s evidence of wrongdoing on Apple’s part. SEC officials have thus far refused to confirm or deny the report.

Jobs, of course, stepped aside from the company last week, making his health a top priority. COO Tim Cook is filling in the company’s top spot until Jobs’ planned-return in June.

That iPhone 3G external speaker not doing it for you? Ten One Design (which, for whatever reason, also felt the need to bring us the iPhone stylus) has created a passive sound enhancer for the handset, which can amplify the speaker by 10 dB.

The SoundClip hooks to the phone’s 30-pin dock. When the iPhone is charging, the device clips to the syncing cable. The SoundClip concentrates sound from the speaker and prevents the user’s hand from blocking it during gameplay (which seems to be a nice way of saying that it gets in the way of your hand).

You can pick one up from Ten One Design’s site for $7.95.

Things may not be looking up for the real Steve Jobs at moment, but at least his fake, online counterpart, Dan Lyons, can breathe a sigh of relief. Reports from Alley Insider regarding a “lifetime ban” from CNBC may have been blown slightly out of proportion.

Lyons was reportedly banned for life from the financial network after confronting the station’s tech reporter, Jim Goldman, for not reporting anything about Job’s health until after he stepped down. Lyons accused Goldman of being “punked” by Apple PR.

We reported the story, citing the blog’s report. Soon after, however, we were contacted by NBC Universal VP, Kevin Goldman, who stated, simply, “Dan Lyons is not banned from CNBC.”

We contacted Lyons, who neither confirmed nor denied the original report. “I can’t really talk about it,” he told Gearlog. “[I] would just like to let it all drop. If they say I’m not banned, that’s great.”

Lyons also expressed regret about the incident. “[For what it’s worth], I wrote an apology to Goldman and others at CNBC after the show for being so rude. And I still feel bad about that.”

Apple today confirmed the news that the company’s longtime head, Steve Jobs, would be taking a medical leave until June, releasing the letter he sent earlier today to employees.

“Unfortunately, the curiosity over my personal health continues to be a distraction not only for me and my family, but everyone else at Apple as well,” Jobs wrote in the letter. “In addition, during the past week I have learned that my health-related issues are more complex than I originally thought.”

Jobs explained that he wanted to take the “limelight” off of himself, in order to focus on his health, stating that he planned to return to the company in June. Jobs also announced that the company’s COO, Tim Cook, would be filling in for him.

Jobs ended the letter on a hopeful note, “I look forward to seeing all of you this summer.”