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Friday, April 27, 2012
18+ Million Users And 17+ Million Tracks Later, Leaked Spotify Recruitment Deck Offers Peek At First Sketch Of UI
Spotify has been busy as of late, launching brand apps, adding more social functionality through a partnership with Turntable.fm competitor Soundrop, overhauling its Android app, adding a Play button, and more.katie couric barista university of kentucky ncaa oakland news alec baldwin alec baldwin
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Monday, April 23, 2012
Apple's squeeze hits phone companies, competitors
NEW YORK (AP) ? Apple is set to report another record quarterly profit on Tuesday, continuing the relentless string of results that's made it the world's most valuable company. Those profits don't come out of thin air: A range of businesses ?from the company's wireless carrier friends to its PC-making foes? are seeing their profits melt away and flow to Apple's bottom line.
Apple's success is good for the U.S. economy, and some businesses, like software developers and memory-chip makers, have benefited from the disruption Apple is causing. But its enormous gains have resulted in others' pains, sometimes in unexpected places.
?AT&T Inc., for instance, took a chance on Apple's unproven phone in 2007, but the company might be regretting that decision. Since it became the first U.S. phone company to carry the iPhone, its stock is down 25 percent. Apple's is up 415 percent.
?Best Buy has sold Apple products off and on since the late 1990s, but analysts now see Apple as a major threat to the U.S.'s only remaining national big-box electronics chain.
?Worst off, of course, are rival phone makers. Apple has just 8 percent of the global phone market, but makes about 80 percent of the industry's operating profits.
Wall Street analysts expect Apple Inc. to post a profit of $9.2 billion for the January to March quarter when it reports on Tuesday. That's roughly in line with the profit expected from the world's largest oil company, Exxon Mobil Corp.
The majority of the profit will come from iPhone sales, especially now that three of the four national U.S. wireless carriers ?AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon? sell the phone.
But, for a phone company, selling an iPhone is a bit of a gamble. The company pays Apple an average of $659 for iPhones and then sells them to consumers for between $50 and $200.
The phone companies count on making their money back, and more, in monthly service fees over the life of a two-year contract. Each iPhone comes with a data plan that adds at least $30 to a consumer's monthly bill. At AT&T, the average iPhone user pays more than $100 per month.
It turns out, however, that some of the added income wireless carriers get from data plans is just compensating for a drop in what they're able to charge for calling minutes. The money is also eaten up by the cost of network upgrades to support all the data traffic ? the emails, photos and YouTube videos iPhone users consume.
"The primary beneficiary of the growth in wireless data has been one company ? Apple," says William Power, an analyst with R.W. Baird & Co.
Despite the smartphone boom created by Apple's iPhone, "free cash flow," or the cash left over every quarter after expenses and capital spending, hasn't grown at the major U.S. wireless companies since 2007, according to Power's calculations.
In the same period, Apple's free cash flow has grown more than sixfold, to over $40 billion last year.
There are signs that U.S. phone companies are starting to take countermeasures. Apple's stock has fallen 11 percent from its all-time high, in part because investors think the phone companies might start demanding lower prices from Apple or making it harder for consumers to buy iPhones at heavily discounted prices.
Already, the phone companies have tightened their phone upgrade policies, meaning existing subscribers have to wait longer before they're eligible for a new $200 iPhone, and raised or introduced phone upgrade fees, which now range from $18 to $36. They promote cheaper phones running Google Inc.'s Android software and more recently, Windows phones.
However, the phone companies may have limited leverage to change the economics of the iPhone.
AT&T, Sprint and Verizon are in a hotly competitive race. Each one is afraid to tighten policies or raise prices too much, lest subscribers jump to a competitor.
When Verizon started selling the iPhone last year, AT&T's CEO vowed to push Android phones because they're not as expensive to subsidize. But the company ended up selling more iPhones than ever.
Sprint Nextel Corp., the last of the big carriers to get the iPhone, is in a precarious financial position after many years of losses. Sanford Bernstein analyst Craig Moffett thinks there's a risk that the cost of selling the iPhone could push Sprint into bankruptcy.
Another partner struggling to deal with Apple's success is Best Buy Inc., the largest consumer electronics retailer in the U.S.
"While Best Buy has enjoyed strong sales with Apple products, Apple has benefited more," Daniel Binder, an analyst with Jefferies & Co., wrote last month.
Apple's own stores compete with Best Buy, and as Apple products win out over others, consumers become more likely to shop at Apple stores. Binder downgraded Best Buy a year and a half ago, saying the iPad would cut into PC sales. That trend has been even stronger than he expected, he says.
Best Buy stores sell less than $1,000 in merchandise per square foot per year, according to research firm RetailSales. Apple stores sell more than six times as much, a record for the U.S. retail sector.
If Apple does release a TV set this year, as has been rumored, that would be even worse news for Best Buy, Binder says.
Although Apple is only the world's third largest phone maker, behind Nokia and Samsung, it is pummeling rival phone makers, as well. Apple doesn't make inexpensive phones at all, which should leave plenty of room for other phone makers.
But that's somewhat of an illusion. Cheap phones have become commodity products, with fierce competition and low margins, so most phone makers are looking to smartphones for profits. But that's exactly where Apple dominates. As the world's largest buyer of chips, the company has a massive advantage in procuring components at the best prices, and consumers seem to favor the iPhone regardless of the features others use to jazz up their handsets.
High-end smartphones cost about $200 to make. Apple sells the iPhone for an average of $659. Other manufacturers sell competing phones for between $300 and $400.
Canaccord Genuity analyst Michael Walkely estimates that if you add up the operating profits made by the world's eight largest phone makers in the last three months of last year, you'll find that the iPhone accounts for 80 percent of the money.
Walkley believes Apple is set to take an even larger share of those earnings this year.
Most of the profits left over are going to Samsung Electronics Co., the Korean company that makes the popular Galaxy S line of smartphones. For now, Samsung looks like the one competitor that's able to thrive in an industry dominated by Apple.
Nokia Corp., the world's largest maker of phones, has taken the drastic step of ditching its whole smartphone family and betting instead on phones that run on Microsoft's new Windows software. Nokia shares have lost nearly 90 percent of their value since the 2007 debut of the iPhone. Its sales fell 23 percent, and it posted a large loss last year.
The consumer electronics industry is suffering at the hands of Apple, too. As consumers use iPhones and iPads to do things that once required camcorders, cameras and GPS devices, sales of these devices are shrinking. Smartphones and tablets are sucking up the consumer dollars, says Steve Bambridge, research director at U.K.-based GfK.
In the U.S., Apple's computers and other devices accounted for 19 percent of all the spending on consumer electronics in the holiday season, according to NPD Group. That's a tripling in two years.
The trend is particularly rough on the Japanese companies that once ruled consumer electronics.
Last month, Japanese financial newspaper Nikkei ranked Apple the top consumer brand in the country, up from 64th place three years ago.
The top Japanese electronics brand, Panasonic, moved down from a No. 3 spot last year to No. 7. Sony and Nintendo didn't even make the top ten in their home country.
Sony has taken a particularly hard beating, since it competes with Apple on many fronts: music players, digital music sales, phones, portable gaming devices and PCs. It doesn't compete with Apple in TVs, but that's a terrible business in its own right, and a big money-loser.
Sony is projecting a massive loss for the fiscal year that ended three weeks ago. It's been in the red the last three years as well. Last week, it said it would cut 10,000 jobs, or 6 percent of its workforce.
U.S. PC makers like Hewlett-Packard Co. and Dell Inc. aren't doing as badly as Sony, but Apple's success is coming out of their pockets too.
Sales of Windows PC are holding up well globally, as households and businesses in the developing world are getting their first computers. But they're shrinking in the U.S., as customers turn to Macs and, to a lesser extent, iPads instead.
HP, the world's largest maker of PCs, said last year that it would get rid of its PC division, but later backtracked. In its most recent report, it said sales were down 15 percent from a year ago.
PC makers have been trying to replicate Apple's success with the iPad, but have so far failed. They're now waiting for a new version of Microsoft's Windows to give them another shot. Windows 8, due this fall, is geared toward touch-sensitive screens.
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Peter Svensson can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/petersvenssson
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Gwen Stefani: More Harajuku Mini for Target Collections to Come
The singer and mom of two dishes on her new designs for kids at the Milk + Bookies event on April 15.
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Estonian Accelerator Startup Wise Guys Announces First Startups
The new Estonian accelerator program Startup Wise Guys, backed by the Estonian government-owned Estonian Development Fund and some former engineers from Skype, has just announced the seven teams it will be working with. Two of them from Estonia and one from Croatia, Ukraine, Germany, The Netherlands and UK. Wise Guys received over 200 applications, and will provide the shortlisted projects with an extensive startup developing program. The projects will be supported by a squad of international mentors. The program starts on April 23 and includes three steps: shaping (3 weeks), building (4 weeks) and selling (3 weeks), supported by Wise Guys mentors. There will be an Investor Day in Tallinn on June 30th, followed by one in London on July 6th. Startup Wise Guys, launched few months ago, is a joint effort of the players in Estonian startup ecosystem to bring international mentors to Estonia and attract talent across Eastern Europe and CIS countries. The first members of the new Startup Wise Guys family are:david archuleta david archuleta hobbit trailer greenhill nj plane crash plane crash new jersey beef o bradys bowl
Late-night poll: What will Samsung call its new flagship phone?
There's been no shortage of news and speculation this week surrounding the Galaxy S III -- or whatever Samsung ends up calling it. Mostly folks have been discussing whether this or that rumored spec will turn out to be accurate, but just as intriguing is Samsung's choice of branding for its new flagship smartphone.
Samsung Galaxy S III is the obvious choice, as it indicates a clear successor to last year's Galaxy S II. But it's just as likely Samsung may drop the roman numerals, or follow in Apple's footsteps by eliminating numbers altogether with a "new Galaxy" or "new Galaxy S". We've seen leaked images in the past week showing a "Samsung Galaxy S i9300" splash screen, so that's certainly a possibility.
There's been at least one rumor this week that suggests Samsung may be having second thoughts about calling this thing the Galaxy S III, so anything's possible at this stage. Be sure to let us know what you think in tonight's Android Central late-night poll, and keep following all our coverage in the lead up to the May 3 announcement!
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Did Caravaggio meet a grisly end - with the Vatican's complicity?
Citing documents from the Vatican Secret Archives, an Italian historian argues that 17th-century documents reveal Renaissance artist Caravaggio was assassinated by the Knights of Malta.
In one of his most graphic paintings, the rabble-rousing Renaissance artist Caravaggio?depicted his tortured face on the head of Goliath, slain and decapitated by the boy warrior David.
Skip to next paragraphAn Italian historian thinks that Caravaggio may have met just such a grisly end ? at the hands of the Knights of St. John of Malta, the chivalric order founded during the Crusades.
Vincenzo Pacelli, a Caravaggio expert from the University of Naples, has unearthed documents from the Vatican Secret Archives and state archives in Rome that suggest the Knights ordered the artist to be assassinated in revenge for him attacking and wounding on one of their members during a brawl.
They then dumped his body in the sea at Palo, north of Rome, which would explain why there are no documents recording his death.
Until now, conventional wisdom said Caravaggio died either from an illness or lead poisoning from the oil paints he used.
The murder was ?commissioned and organized? by the Knights of Malta and carried out with the complicity of the Vatican, Mr. Pacelli says in his forthcoming book, "Caravaggio ? Between Art and Science."
The historian found strange discrepancies in correspondence between Cardinal Scipione Borghese, a powerful Vatican secretary of state, and Deodato Gentile, a papal ambassador, in which the painter?s place of death was cited as the island of Procida near Naples, ?a place that Caravaggio had nothing to do with,? according to Pacelli.
A document written by Caravaggio?s doctor and first biographer claimed that the painter died at the age of 38 north of Rome, but the place name was later scrubbed out and replaced by the name of a town in Tuscany.?Pacelli also found an account written 20 years after Caravaggio?s death in which an Italian archivist wrote that the artist had been ?assassinated.?
He believes it all adds up to evidence of an assassination plot by the Knights of Malta which was then covered up.
Not all experts are convinced by the new theory.?John T. Spike, a Caravaggio expert at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va., is skeptical of the idea that the painter was murdered on the Knights' orders.
?The problem with the theory is that the Knights had ample opportunities to kill him sooner ? either when he was living in Malta, or when he then went to Sicily, which is very close,? says Mr. Spike. ?Why did they wait so long??
The academic sparring will continue, but more than four centuries after his death in 1610, the true fate of Caravaggio remains an enigma.
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What Kind of Draw Something Player Are You? [Video]
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Saturday, April 21, 2012
Soccer player defects from Cuba, requests asylum in US
Soccer player defects: A Cuban national soccer player disappeared while his team was playing in an Olympic soccer tournament in Tennessee.
Yosmel De Armas is a Cuban soccer player who has defected in order to seek asylum in the United States. While in Nashville, Tennessee last month for an Olympic qualifying soccer tournament, the Cuban midfielder was absent from his national team's final game against Canada, although he played on Saturday?s 4-0 loss to El Salvador.?
Skip to next paragraphWhen asked why the player skipped the game, the Cuban national coach said De Armas was sick and remained at the team's hotel. However, when the team left Nashville, the promising soccer player did not accompany his teammates on their return trip to the island nation.
Although US officials refused to comment about the player?s whereabouts, it was reported that De Armas was last seen in Miami.?
"We're preparing an asylum application to file with the Department of Homeland Security," attorney Alex Solomiany said, according to Reuters.?
The Miami-based lawyer, who?described his client as "nervous," said De Armas is "alone here"?and that he was on his way to Miami at the time of the game, contrary to the coach's allegations.
A rising number of Cuban athlete defections are explained by several factors: the continuous financial hardship the populace faces in Cuba, the plethora of defection precedents that make the process look easy, and the luring prospects of a better life, all coalesce to urge young athletes to follow this path.?
"This is another case of a Cuban sportsman trying to get a decent life, to try to take control of his own career," Omar Lopez told Reuters.? Lopez is general director of the Cuban American National Foundation, a Miami-based organization of Cuban exiles who seek political change on the island.
Four years ago, seven members of the Cuban under-23 national soccer team also sought political asylum after competing against its US counterpart in Tampa, Florida.?
"Of course, my heart will be in Cuba with my family, but I want to have the freedom to better my life, to play professional soccer, to be the best I can be, and for that we had to make this sacrifice," Yenier Bermudez told the Miami Herald, according to ESPN.
Since the 2002 CONCACAF (Confederation of North, Central America, and Caribbean Association Football) tournament in Los Angeles, a total of 15 Cuban soccer players abandoned their teams and requested political asylum in the United States.
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Friday, April 20, 2012
Hardest working man on the internet passes one million Wikipedia edits
Justin Knapp is probably the hardest working man on the internet after becoming the first person to pass the million-edit-mark on Wikipedia. Since 2005, he's made around 385 amendments per day, each one taking him around four minutes [Citation Needed]. Founder Jimmy Wales congratulated the 30-year-old on his personal feed and Mr. Knapp's been awarded the site's Special Barnstar medal and Golden Wiki award for his achievement. He took the news with a good dose of self-deprecating humor, saying that "being suddenly and involuntarily unemployed will do that to you." Hopefully there's a certificate wining its way in the post from the Guinness people.
Hardest working man on the internet passes one million Wikipedia edits originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 20 Apr 2012 08:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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