How To Set Up Unique Alerts for VIP Emails on Your Mac

Learn how to set up unique alerts when your emails are received from your VIP contacts on your Mac.

Currently, you receive new message notifications from VIPs in the native Mail application in macOS by going into your Mail's Preferences and selecting VIPs in the New message notifications dropdown list. This process works, but prevents you from receiving notifications for all other messages coming into your inbox. Another way to do this is to set up a rule in Mail that will play a specific sound or will bounce the Dock icon when you receive a message and the sender is in your VIP list. Let’s take a look how to do this.

Launch the Mail app on your Mac.
Select Preferences from the Mail menu bar.
Select the Rules tab.
Click Add Rule.
Give your rule a name in the Description field.
For ‘If’, select Any.
For the first condition, select Sender is VIP from the first dropdown list.
Under Perform the following actions, select Play Sound from the first dropdown list. (You can alternatively choose Bounce Icon in Dock also.)
Under Perform the following actions, choose a sound to play from the second dropdown list.
Click OK.
Click Apply.

You are done! With this new rule set up, you will now receive a unique alert for every VIP mail you receive that you'll be able to distinguish from regular new message notifications as they come through.

Apple Has Record-Breaking September Quarter with $62.9 Billion in Revenue

Apple reported $62.9 billion earlier this month, with $37.2 billion in revenue from the sales of 46.9 million iPhones

Image via Apple

“We’re thrilled to report another record-breaking quarter that caps a tremendous fiscal 2018, the year in which we shipped our 2 billionth iOS device, celebrated the 10th anniversary of the App Store and achieved the strongest revenue and earnings in Apple’s history,”

— Tim Cook, Apple CEO

Apple’s sales results beat records and forecasts for the past three-month period for the last quarter of 2018, the highest growth rate in three years with earnings-per-share of $2.91 growing per year. All-time quarterly records were made with $62.9 billion is a year-on-year increase from $52.6 billion last year. Apple shipped out 46.9 million iPhones during the September quarter, with revenue up to $37.2 billion, increasing year after year.

The average selling price or ASP of the iPhone is $793, going up from the $617.99 ASP from just one year ago in 2017. Premium pricing for the Phone X, iPhone XS, and iPhone XS Max has been driving the ASP increase. Analysts estimate that Apple would sell 47.5 million iPhones in the fourth quarter within the range of 46.7-48.1 million.

Apple provided live streaming for its Q4 2018 financial results conference call on November 1, 2018. The webcast is available for replay for up to two weeks after.

“We concluded a record year with our best September quarter ever, growing double digits in every geographic segment. We set September quarter revenue records for iPhone and Wearables and all-time quarterly records for Services and Mac.”

— Luca Maestri, Apple’s CFO

iPad, Mac and Services Revenue

The iPad raked in $4.1 billion in revenue with 9.7 million units sold, lower than analyst expectations of 10.5 million for the quarter. Mac revenue was $7.4 billion, higher than a year ago. Apple services has grown to $10 billion, up from $8.5 billion in 2017 for the same quarter. The Services arm keeps growing fast with analysts expecting ongoing growth in the future.

Consolidated Financial Statements

Data Summary

Changes in Reporting for 2019

Apple surprised many when the company also announced that they would no longer be reporting iPhone, iPad and Mac unit sales in earnings reports. This surprised many analysts given that this data was used as an indicator of growth and ASP calculations. However, the decision makes sense when iPhone sales are slowing down, while ASPs keep going up.

Apple will report revenue, sales growth, and guidance as before. However, given that a unit of sale is very different today than it was eleven years ago, sales of Apple products do not represent completely the product’s business health.

“A unit of sale is less relevant today than it was in our past.”

— Luca Maestri, Apple CFO

Pricing varies by a larger range today such as the iPhone ranging from $449 (iPhone 7) to $1,449 (iPhone XS). Maestri also pointed out that segment competitors do not provide unit sales.

For First Quarter of 2019

Analysts expect the first quarter of 2019 to also best records, with Apple predicting revenues of $89-$93 billion with gross margin between 38-38.5 percent. Operating expenses are expected at $8.7-$8.8 billion, while a tax rate of approximately 16.5 percent is expected.

Apple Announces Special Oct 30th Event in Brooklyn

Each Media Guest Received a Unique Apple Logo Invitation with the words “There’s More in the Making,” Hinting at New Product Launches and Software Updates For 2018

What You Can Expect

Apple surprised media outlets with a new product event launch scheduled for Oct 30th in Brooklyn, NY instead of its HQ at Apple Park in Cupertino, CA. The event is expected to showcase products other than the iPhone, which was heavily featured back in September. It is rumored that a new iPad Pro model will be announced with slimmer bezels and introducing Face ID into the first product beyond the iPhone. The iPad Pro is also expected to switch over from Lightning to USB-C and be available in 11- and 12.9-inch display sizes.

An updated version of the MacBook Air is also expected with a a high-resolution Retina display and slimmer bezels than prior models, while still being the most cost-effective of Apple’s laptop series. Additional updates include a new Mac Mini and new desktop model as well as updated software release for iOS 12.1 and watchOS to power the EKG functionality in the new Apple Watch Series 4.

Fun Invitations Hint at Art Theme

The special invitations, unique to each media outlet, hint at possibly an art theme to the event. Here is a look at some of the invitations below.