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The BeagleBone Black Is A New Single-Board Computer That Can Brew Beer
Apr 23, 11:18PM
While the Raspberry Pi is great for educating kids about computing, can it brew a mean beer? The BeagleBone Black can. Trevor Hubbard, an engineer at Texas Instruments, uses the new, next-gen board to control heat exchangers and monitors to handle beer temperature remotely.Apple Q2 '13 Intl Sales Were 56% Of Total Revenues; China Had "Best Quarter Ever" At $8.8B
Apr 23, 10:13PM
Apple today posted Q2 earnings that beat estimates at $43.6 billion in sales that showed that while the Americas, led by the U.S., remains the company's single biggest market, Asia, led by sales in China, continues to show the strongest growth amidst weakened demand at home and in Europe. Overall, international revenues outside of the Americas were $24.3 billion, or 56% of the total for the quarter.Pathmapp Launches An A/B Testing Platform For Native iOS Apps To Let Developers Optimize, Configure In Real Time
Apr 23, 9:58PM
A/B testing has long been a fundamental part of developing applications and products for the web, and, with the explosion of smartphones, developers are naturally eager to use the process to test new designs and updates for mobile apps. The problem is that, traditionally, this has been tricky to manage, especially on iOS given Apple's approval process, requiring app developers to wait weeks to push new iterations.Apple CEO Tim Cook Hypes The Fall, Downplays The Summer On New Hardware
Apr 23, 9:56PM
Apple CEO Tim Cook doesn't generally talk too specifically about upcoming product plans, but he went out of his way to put an unusually fine point on when to expect new products than he usually does. Cook kicked off today's Apple earnings call talking about how Apple is looking forward to exciting product news in the fall, and throughout 2014, and then reiterated the exact same thing during the Q&A period.TC Cribs: Inside LinkedIn, The Professional Social Network With A Surprisingly Casual HQ
Apr 23, 9:52PM
It's time for a brand spankin' new edition of Cribs, the TechCrunch TV series where we snoop around inside the parts of hot tech companies that are typically for employees only. Just like Walt Whitman, the tech industry contains multitudes, and we try to represent it all in Cribs. That means that in addition to touring smaller startups, we also like to go inside established tech giants -- and it was pretty amazing to have the chance to take an in-depth tour of LinkedIn, the professional social network that's grown from its 2002 inception in Reid Hoffman's apartment to a staff of thousands, a user base of hundreds of millions, a hugely successful initial public offering, and continued stock market success.Apple Passes 45B Total Unique App Downloads At A Rate Of 800 Per Second With Over $9B Paid To Devs
Apr 23, 9:32PM
Apple took time to update investors on the status of its ecosystem on today's call, revealing that it has crossed the 45 billion total app download mark, just over four months after it crossed the 40 billion download mark back in January. Apps are being downloaded at a rate of 800 per second, from a total pool of 850,000 iOS apps in total, with 350,000 apps designed for iPad alone.Apple's Q2 2013 In Charts
Apr 23, 9:26PM
Apple just released its fiscal Q2 2013 earnings, and as always there's plenty to dig into. In case you're more of a visual learner (or just don't have the time to read through multiple posts), take a peek at these charts to get a feel for how the folks in Cupertino did for themselves this time around. If you feel like learning a little more, clicking each of the charts will take you to a full post on the matter.Apple's iCloud Grew 20 Percent In Q2, To 300M Users
Apr 23, 9:25PM
Apple announced today that it now has 300 million users for iCloud, up 20 percent from the 250 million that it announced in January. iCloud, which allows users to sync their content and data across devices, was launched 18 months ago to replace the MobileMe service. Company executives said today that they will "continue to invest in the ecosystem" with new features and capabilities coming soon.Jive Software's New Take On Corporate Blogging And A Handy Web Anywhere Tool
Apr 23, 9:25PM
Last week, Jive Software‘s Oudi Antebi came by the house to show off the company’s new platform. I don’t usually have people stop by for briefings but he was insistent, so I agreed. I had to meet this guy willing to come out to my house even if I was taking double shots of Nyquil. Oudi joined Jive when the company bought his startup, OffiSync, in 2011. In his words, all was going well in the post-startup life. More time with the kids, a job with nowhere near the pressures that come with a startup. Then CEO Tony Zingale called and said he wanted Oudi to take over product management for the company. And so here arrived Oudi at my front door, back in it, deep in the product, wanting to show me how Jive had returned to its roots. What Oudi showed me has its roots as a blog platform with the immediate feedback that comes with social networks. Here’s a look at what it offers and why it has value, but also some sticking issues that give room for alternative services such as Moxie Software. The new Jive has enough in-line features to make it a service that is a viable alternative to email. Its microblogging platform shows all the impact metrics such as viewers and sentiment analysis. Send an update and you get immediate feedback. An update can include images, tables, bullet points and the rich-text features found in a standard email service. But as it is an activity stream, it looks a lot richer, cascading down the page in a river of news style. Questions that get answered can be marked and tasks can be assigned. I’d like to see it offer the social knowledge engine that Moxie now offers to make the collaboration deeper and more contextual. Outside the discussion is a new context engine that connects anyone using the Jive platform to the web page or third-party service you may be using. Pull up a profile on LinkedIn, click the tab and it extracts all the conversations that are associated with the profile. The tab reveals a window that shows the conversations that people are having about that particular blog post or whatever it might be. Jive added 25 templates to provide a deeper purpose to groups. They allow users to create groups, such as a deal room, campaign planning, vendor collaboration, etc. The group can beApple Will Initiate Share Repurchases To Increase Dividends (And Boost Apple Shares)
Apr 23, 9:22PM
Apple now has $145 billion in cash and it needs to do something about it. That’s why Apple CEO Tim Cook just announced during the earnings call that the company will initiate a stock buyback. It means that Apple will use part of its cash to repurchase existing shares, taking them out of the market, increasing existing stockholders’ shares. That investment will go directly to existing investors in the form of a dividend. Tim Cook announced this program just after reiterating that Apple’s culture is what sets the company apart. “We have a tremendous culture of innovation,” Cook said. “It’s the same culture that bought the iPhone and the iPad,” he continued. Last year, Apple announced that it would spend $45 billion over multiple years to hand out as dividends. It is more than doubling this program to $100 billion by the end of 2015. The $55 billion that were set aside today will be used for the share repurchases as well as dividends. The advantage of a share buyback program is that Apple shows that it is a confident company because it is decreasing the number of shares outstanding. Those programs usually boost the stock. A few days ago, Apple shares dropped below $400 after trading at $700 in September 2012. It represents a stark downturn and something that should slightly worry Apple. The board has increased the share buyback authorization to $60 billion compared to $10 billion last year. It is the largest share buyback authorization of a public company. The quarterly dividend will be increased as wellfrom $2.65 to $3.05. Apple will pay around $11 billion in dividend every year. Overall, Apple will hand out $30 billion every year. But what is even more impressive is that the company still expects its cash on hand to grow.Apple CEO Tim Cook: "We Acknowledge That Our Growth Rate Has Slowed"
Apr 23, 9:13PM
Apple CEO Tim Cook made a very candid introduction remark during the earnings call. “We acknowledge that our growth rate has slowed,” Cook said. He then said that Apple has experienced “tremendous successes” over the past few years and that may be the reason why growth is slowing. “Decline in stock price has been very frustrating to all of us,” he said. Apple’s stock dipped below $400 a share just a few days ago. “The key to Apple’s strength is creating innovative products, and that is always in Apple’s control,” he continued. Some numbers in Apple’s earnings release stood out. In the outlook section, Apple said that it expects flat revenue for Q3 2013 and a decrease in gross margins to 36-37 percent. It would mean that Apple could experience a profit decrease — a downturn was unimaginable just a couple of years ago. Apple’s estimates are generally very conservative but the company was spot on for gross margins this time around. Tim Cook hinted at “great new products” launching in the fall. Profit could certainly make a come back for Q4 2013.Apple Sells 37.4M iPhones And 19.5M iPads In Q2, Tablet Business Shows 65% YOY Growth
Apr 23, 8:39PM
Apple has just released its Q2 2013 earnings report, announcing sales of 37.4 million iPhones in the quarter ending March. Apple also reported 19.5 million iPad units sold, which shows incredibly strong growth for Apple's tablet business. This is a slight decrease from last quarter, which included a holiday sales spike and being the first full quarter in which the iPhone 5 was available.Smartphones Are Dominating At AT&T
Apr 23, 8:38PM
AT&T just released its first-quarter financial statement. Things are looking good at Ma Bell where profits are up although revenue missed expectations. The company managed to get more consumers to sign long-term wireless contracts, and best of all, wireless margins increased on the back of smartphone sales where they accounted for 88% of the company’s sales in the quarter. In short, smartphones are ringing in the money for AT&T. AT&T has long sought after the best smartphones. From the iPhone to the original Lumia 900, and most recently, to the HTC First, AT&T seemingly strives to have the latest and greatest smartphones. I’ve often criticized this strategy, pointing to these exclusives when devices fail to capture a large market share. While the limited release might hurt the device’s sales, AT&T clearly isn’t suffering. With this quarter’s numbers in the ledger, 72 percent, or 48.3 million, of AT&T’s postpaid phone subscribers owned smartphones, up from 61 percent, or 41.2 million, a year earlier. AT&T sold 6 million smartphones during the first quarter, which is a record and even more impressive considering there wasn’t a major smartphone release during that time. As AT&T continues to hone its game, wireless margins grew driven by improved operating efficiencies and further revenue gains from the company’s lucrative smartphone subscribers. Its first-quarter wireless operating income margin was 28.0 percent versus 27.8 percent in the year-earlier quarter.Apple Sells 3.95M Macs In Q2 2013, Nearly Flat From Q2 2012 And Down 1.25% Sequentially
Apr 23, 8:34PM
Apple's Mac sales continued to slide this quarter, as Apple sold only 3.95 million computers running OS X, down just over 1 percent from the 4.1 million they sold in Q1 2013, and pretty much flat compared to the 4 million they sold in the same quarter last year. That's no surprise: PC sales are sluggish in general, and while Macs aren't running wild, flat growth is better than a dip.Apple's Pile Of Cash Is Still Growing, Up 6% To $145 Billion
Apr 23, 8:33PM
Apple now has $145 billion in cash on hand — a 5.8 percent increase over the past three months. The company last reported that they had $137.1 billion in cash back on December 30. To put this into perspective, with $140 million, you can produce the movie Spider-Man. Apple has enough money to produce a thousand blockbusters. Apple could use its cash to acquire some companies. But with more than $145,000,000,000, you can acquire a lot of companies. For example, Facebook’s market capitalization is only $61.89 billion. If Apple would use all of its cash to acquire Facebook, it would still pay a nice premium. With $9.5 billion in profit and little operating expenses, Apple’s cash will likely grow over the next three months. Yet, Apple doesn’t seem to be ready to use its cash on hand (short-term investments). Now that Apple is handing out dividends, its cash is one of the remaining issues with investors. Shareholders wants Apple to actually use this cash for something — acquisitions, big investments dividends or other financial activities (such as a share buyback). The company likes to tap into its deep pockets to secure deals with its production line in order to make sure its supply chain is efficient. But that still leaves a lot of cash. Apple is still sitting on over $145 billion without any plan in sight.Apple Beats In Q2 2013, Posts First YOY Earnings Decline Since 2003: $43.6B In Revenue, $9.5B In Profit, EPS Of $10.09
Apr 23, 8:32PM
Apple has been the subject of plenty of financial scrutiny (perhaps even more so than usual) recently, and now all that speculation has come to a head. The Cupertino company has just released its fiscal Q2 2013 earnings -- it reported $43.6 billion in revenue (up from $39.2 billion in the year-ago quarter) along with $9.5 billion in quarterly net profit, which works out to earnings of $10.09 per share.Facebook Acqhires Team From HTML5 Game Platform Spaceport.io, Which Will Keep Running
Apr 23, 8:09PM
Spaceport.io has just announced that part of its team, but not its technology, is moving to Facebook, and the social network has confirmed the talent deal to me. But instead of shutting down, Spaceport.io will continue to operate its Adobe Air alternative under the direction of co-founder Peter Relan and the team from his incubator YouWeb that backed Spaceport.After Helping Launch Facebook Home, Charles Jolley Leaves To Join Battery Ventures As EIR To Work On His Next Mobile Startup
Apr 23, 8:05PM
Charles Jolley, head of product for Facebook’s mobile platform and a key member of the Facebook Home team, who joined Facebook when it acquired his startup Strobe in November 2011, has left the company to work on his own startup, which he will do as entrepreneur-in-residence at Battery Ventures. The news was announced by Jolley himself in a post on Facebook last week. And today it was formally followed up by an announcement from Battery Ventures. In an interview with TechCrunch, Jolley said that he had been wanting to work on a new startup for a while already — he is a serial entrepreneur and his departure post on FB (included below) says it’s been something on his mind for more than two years. Jolley told us wanted to stay on with Facebook until Home was launched — working on the new lock screen and Chat Heads were his last projects there. Other notable recent departures include ad man Antonio Garcia-Martinez, director of product Blake Ross and designer Nicholas Felton. Jolley says he is still working out the new idea for the startup. For now, he says that he knows he wants it to focus on tablets and the “sweet spot” for tablet usage. “We did some primary research for Strobe for demand curves for tablets,” he said. “We found that that when you have a tablet 7 inches in size, and of good quality, when it falls to around $200 there will be an increase in demand.” He believes that a critical mass in that kind of tablet will “hit in the next year.” Already — he notes, citing data from Gartner — more than 25% of mobile users do not own a PC, and the rise of inexpensive but powerful tablets will continue driving that push (something analysts are also tracking). “People will buy them for their family and will carry them everywhere,” Jolley predicts. “Also usage changes dramatically when you don't just have a tiny screen but a big one. It has impact on how you work and shop. My startup will be somewhere in that space.” Indeed, you can also see some of that always-on usage also played a role in how Facebook Home was conceived. “Chat Heads changes how you relate to your phone. You can be doing anything else but you can see get a message,” Jolley notes. “I think this could be aTrulia Launches Redesigned iPad App With Improved Navigation, Listing Pages And Maps
Apr 23, 7:45PM
The U.S. real estate market is seeing a bit of a rebound right now and, with it, real estate-related online services like Zillow, Redfin and Trulia and newcomers like Houzz are also getting back in the groove of launching regular updates. Trulia today launched its redesigned iPad app, which now features new listing pages with large photos, a new navigation menu and an improved map view. The Trulia redesign comes a week after Zillow launched its revamped iPhone app. Previously, Trulia’s property pages looked a bit cluttered compared to some of the competing services, but in this redesign, they are being overhauled. Images are now significantly larger, and the sidebar now features a map view, as well as pricing history and additional information, without trying to cramp all of the details about the home into it. The sidebar now also features a bit more local info, including the median home price in the neighborhood and school ratings. Trulia previously only showed this information in its property results map. Users can also use the usual iOS gestures to zoom in and out of the new images. The rest of the app now follows the same design style as the property pages, including the new navigation menu, which has also been streamlined and simplified compared to the previous version. Just like before, though, the app still puts a map at the center of the search experience. In this new version, however, the company has added colored markers to make it easier to see which houses you’ve already looked at and which ones have just come on the market. Trulia has been slowly ramping up its development over the last few months, recently launching its Trulia Suggests feature, which learns from your browsing habits on the site and provides users with personalized recommendations. As we reported last month, Trulia is also currently looking to raise about $150 million in follow-on funding to strengthen its cash reserves and for potential acquisitions and mergers.TechCrunch Giveaway: Last Two Free Tickets To Disrupt NY
Apr 23, 7:33PM
TechCrunch Disrupt NY is right around the corner. Everything kicks off this weekend in New York with the Hackathon starting on Saturday and going through the night until Sunday afternoon. The main event kicks off next Monday, where expert speakers and guests will come together to talk with us about the latest in technology. The full agenda is here. Every week we have been giving away a chance to win a free ticket to Disrupt NY. We only have two free tickets left. These tickets will get the two winners into the conference, plus all of the after parties that follow including the screening of Shawn Fanning’s documentary on Napster, DOWNLOADED. To win a ticket all you have to do is follow the steps below. The giveaway will start now and end tomorrow at 12pm PT. Yes, that’s only one day, so be sure to act fast. 1) Become a fan of our TechCrunch Facebook Page: 2) Then do one of the following: - Retweet this post (making sure to include the #TCDisrupt hashtag) - Or leave us a comment below telling us why you want to come Please only tweet the message once or you will be disqualified. We will make sure you follow the steps above and choose our winners tomorrow. Anyone in the world is eligible. Please note each ticket is for one person only and does not include airfare or hotel. Our sponsors help make Disrupt happen. If you are interested in learning more about sponsorship opportunities, please contact our sponsorship team here sponsors@techcrunch.com. We’ll see you soon, New York!If at any time you'd like to stop receiving these messages, just send an email to feeds_feedburner_com_techcrunch+unsubscribe-hmdtechnology=gmail.com@mail.feed2email.net.
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