Today in Tech: HP-Palm tablet sneak peek, white iPhone 4

“It’s a ‘scaled-up smartphone‘ — that’s a bizarre product in our view.” — Apple COO Tim Cook on current Android tablets (TechCrunch)

• Apple announced a record first quarter with sales of $26.7 billion, up 70.5% compared with last year, profits of $6 billion, up 77.7%, iPhone sales of 16.2 million units, up 85.8%, iPad sales of 7.33 million significantly more than the Street’s prediction of 6.15 million, and Mac sales of 4.13 sales, up 23%. “We had a phenomenal holiday quarter with record Mac,iPhone and iPad sales,” Steve Jobs said in a statement. “We are firing on all cylinders, and we’ve got some exciting things in the pipeline for this year.” (Fortune and New York Times)
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  Engadget supposedly got its mitts on company renders (see right) of HP and Palm’s webOS-based “Topaz” tablet, one of two tablets rumored to be in development. Joining the 9-inch Topaz will be the 7-inch “Opal,” which will be positioned more as an e-reader. The image supports the rumors of a button-less design, front-facing camera, micro-USB port , and three speaker arrangement for stereo audio in both landscape and portrait modes — two speakers along the left side and a third on the right. WiFi-only, AT&T 3G, and Verizon LTE versions of the Opal may arrive this September with an AT&T LTE version due July of next year. Both will feature unspecified 1.2 GHz processors. More to come on February 9 at HP’s enigmatic event which was advertised with the tagline, “Something big, Something small, Something beyond.” (Engadget)

• U.S. prosecutors charged two men, Daniel Spitler and Andrew Auerheimer, with using an “account slurper” to steal and distribute user information like email addresses for roughly 120,000 iPad 3G users, including New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, ABC News anchor Diane Sawyer, movie mogul Harvery Weinstein and White House chief of staff-turned-Chicago mayoral candidate Rahm Emanuel. Spitler and Auernheimer were associated with Goatse Security, self-proclaimed “Internet ‘trolls'” who try to disrupt online services. (Reuters)
• The FCC approved Comcast’s acquisition of NBC Universal, marking the first time a cable provider has control of a major broadcast network. The move means an additional 1,000 hours of TV programming and affordable broadband for low-income households. Comcast itself promises equal and open access to NBC content. (Gizmodo)
• If leaked images of Best Buy’s inventory database are to be believed, the elusive white iPhone 4 could arrive in 16 and 32 GB varieties on February 27. Of course, now, some 10 months after the iPhone 4 first launched and months before the iPhone 5 hits, the question remains: does anyone care?
• Starbucks expanded its “pay by phone” program, which it’s tested since September 2009, to 7,800 of its stores and outlets in Target stores. To use the system, Starbucks cardholders load the app onto their iPhone or BlackBerry smartphones, which displays a barcode that’s scanned at the register and pays for drinks. (Seattle Times)

• Google Chinese search advertising revenue at the end of 2010 inched up 1.5 % to 23.1 percent in the fourth quarter of 2010 after a long period of decline. (PCWorld)
• Microsoft released an iPhone version of its OneNote note-taking app, which will be free for a limited time. Notes taken on the app will be backed up online via Windows Live SkyDrive. (AllThingsD)
• Microsoft Kinect developer Johnny Chung Lee left the company to be a “Rapid Evaluator” — whatever that is — over at Google. While no one seems to know yet what the position will involve exactly, chances are pretty good it’ll involve gaming given Kinect’s runaway success. (To date, the motion controller has sold 8 million units.) (TechCrunch)
• Document sharing hub Scribd raised $13 million from investors like MLC Investments, SVB Capital, and Redpoint Ventures. (TechCrunch)