Hasta La Gadget!

The American Can Company used to be the single largest producer of tin cans in the country, but the glory days are long gone. The building, in San Francisco’s Dogpatch, is part of a neighborhood where sprawling shipyards and industrial complexes have closed up shop, replaced by the likes of the AT&T Ballpark and the UCSF Mission Bay medical research center. More »

Viper is one of the better-know automotive accessory companies out there when it comes to keyless entry systems, remote starting systems, and car alarms. One of the coolest products the company offers is its Viper SmartStart system that uses your smartphone as the controller.

The system supports the iPhone and various Android devices. Viper has announced a new update specifically for iPhone users that adds compatibility with Siri.

The update only works for users that are using an iPhone 4S or an iPhone 5 running iOS 6. If you’re running a supported iPhone and the latest version of the operating system, you get Siri interaction that allows you to start your car using your voice. The update allows the user to launch the app using the phrase “SmartStart” and the app can be set to execute specific commands such as start the car when it opens. The updated app is available now.

Not only did Mayor Mike Bloomberg cut the ribbon today at the new Shapeways 3D printing factory in New York, he did it using 3D-printed scissors. And they came out of the printer fully assembled. More »

In what very well may be the worst move Google’s printing company PR Donnelley has ever made, they’ve filed the company’s draft 8K earnings statement without authorization – because of this situation, Google’s stock fell several points and they were forced to end trading for the day to avoid catastrophe. Releasing an earnings report, even a favorable one, is never something a company wants to do during the middle of a day in which stocks are able to be traded. Google’s PR company here doing such a thing means that they’re in for a world of hurt, to put it lightly.

Google’s earnings report for Q3 ended up showing a third-quarter profit of $2.18 billion, this down from $2.73 billion one year ago. That’s $6.53 a share down from $8.33 a share one year ago – profit fell from $9.72 a share down to $9.03 a share exluding all stock-based compensation and other items. Revenue improved, on the other hand, to $11.33 billion. Total costs had a lot to do with this situation as they jumped 71% according to Google.

The folks at Google released a statement on the situation that makes it clear that they never intended for their earnings to be released before the end of the trading day. It should be clear that the $10.65 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters were expecting compared to Google’s Q3 earnings of $9.03 were not going to be great to hear in any case, but that a release like this was not intended.

“Earlier this morning RR Donnelley, the financial printer, informed us that they had filed our draft 8K earnings statement without authorization. We have ceased trading on NASDAQ while we work to finalize the document. Once it’s finalized we will release our earnings, resume trading on NASDAQ and hold our earnings call as normal at 1:30 PM PT.” – Google

This earnings report also noted that Motorola’s MSI -0.39% had a negative effect on Googles profit, with Google having an adjusted operating loss of $151 million, or 6% of the unit’s revenue for the quarter. Earnings for Google’s overall business compared to a year ago fell 20% while ad revenue increased 16% – paid ad clicks jumped by one third year-over-year and by 6% compared to Q2.

[via Wall Street Journal]

Google Q3 2012 earnings outed early in massive printing blunder is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

The app and ecosystem known as Color has recently been the topic of several incongruent rumors that have now ended up in one tipped timeline that adds up: Apple appears to be hiring the company’s engineering team. With this update and a set of other news bits from sources close to the situation speaking with AllThingsD, we’re to understand that it’s the entirety of Color’s engineering team that’s being picked up for what’s called a “normal” price of between $2 and $5 million. Both sides of the situation have been vocal, it’s said, on the deal specifically on how there’s been no “double-digit” millions of dollars involved as previously rumored.

Instead of Color being torn apart entirely with no future, this update has it being rolled down and out with its best bits picked up by Apple. This situation makes a whole lot more sense than the tech giant purchasing intellectual property, liabilities, and the whole mess from a company that just 24 hours ago was tipped to be breaking down. What’s left of Color then is right around $25 million which will indeed be “wound down.”

This set of tips also includes some “bad blood” between the CEO of Color, Bill Nguyen, and employees as well as former Color employees, Color investors, and Apple. Nguyen has had business with Apple in the past, having sold the group Lala to them – but it’s said now that his “short attention span inside and outside the company.” The atmosphere at Color does not appear to be positive, no matter your angle.

The same set of sources here has made it clear that the Color team headed to Apple will likely be working on cloud technology primarily. There will be no Apple-branded color app, that’s for certain, and those of you using Color at the moment should probably plan on “winding down” your usage in the coming weeks and months. It might not be around for long.

Color deal tipped as Apple talent buy only is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.