Apple

Apple stock hit new territory today as the share price closed at an all-time high of $636.34. This news comes as Apple was scheduled to pay a dividend of $2.65 per share to AAPL shareholders today. The dividend is Apple's first since December 1995.

The graph above from Yahoo Finance shows an over 6,200 percent increase in price since 1995. Apple stock is up almost 60 percent this year. Trading action on AAPL today hit an intraday high of $644 before coming back down before the close. At the peak, total market capitalization topped $600 billion.

It may seem like the App Store is everywhere, but Apple is still rolling out the service to various countries around the globe. The latest batch of 32 countries received App Store access last Thursday. Apple followed through on its WWDC announcement to add the countries, putting the total at 155.

Last time we counted, there were 196 countries in the world. For those who don't feel like doing the math, this means Apple still has work to do to bring the iOS App Store to the remaining 41 countries on the planet. In the meantime, the App Store now offers 650,000 individual pieces of mobile software.

Apple has announced the 2012 Design Award Winners. The award recognizes the best in iOS and Mac app design. This year's winners were announced one day after Apple's WWDC keynote on the Apple developer page. It reads:

"Every year, Apple Design Award winners set new standards that inspire us all.
See how this year's winners stood out from the rest."

iPhone winners: Jetpack Joyride by Halfbrick Studios, Where's My Water by Disney and National Parks by National Geographic Society.

iPad winners: Bobo Explores Light by Game Collage, DM1 - The Drum Machine by Fingerlab and Paper by FiftyThree.

Mac winners: Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Ultimate Edition by Feral Interactive Ltd, Limbo by Playdead ApS, and Sketch by Bohemian Coding.

Student design winners: daWindci by Reality Twist GmbH, Mimimi Productions and Little Star by BiBoBox Studio.

The SIM card in your iPhone is about to get smaller. The nano-SIM standard was just approved by the European Telecommunications Institute (ETSI), shaving 40 percent off the size of current micro-SIM cards. The new standard will increase the amount of space available in mobile devices for other components.

Apple's proposed nano-SIM card is pictured above from The Verge, inside the outline of a standard SIM card. The nano-SIM that was approved has the same dimensions as Apple's proposed card, coming in at just 12.3 x 8.8 x 0.67mm. The function of the SIM card will remain unchanged, and the new design can be packaged for backwards compatibility in older devices.

Apple is working on powering its massive data centers from 100% renewable energy sources. A 20-megawatt solar photovoltaic electric generating facility has just been approved for the Maiden, NC facility. 60 percent of the facility's electricity consumption will be generated on site by solar and fuel cells, with the remaining 40 percent coming from external renewable energy providers.

A new data center in Prineville, OR will come online with 100 percent renewable energy from the start. Apple also plans to renovate its Newark, CA data center starting in 2013, and will move that location to clean energy as well. The announcements come on the heels of several Greenpeace actions to bring attention to data center power consumption.