There is a Chill in the Valley. Apple (AAPL) on Oct. 21 reported strong sales of iPhones and iPods in its recently ended quarter but warned the financial meltdown has made it difficult to predict results over the next few months. It expects profits to fall this quarter on nearly flat revenue. That conservative forecast came after other industry titans, including Yahoo! (YHOO) and Texas Instruments (TXN), posted poor results. Yahoo said it would lay off 10% of its workforce, about 1,500 employees, by yearend as part of a $400 million cost-cutting plan after a lousy third quarter, while TI said it was looking to sell part of its wireless business.