Forget the Izod alligator or the usual polo pony for Polo shirts. Polo is finally going where no Polo shirt has gone before — straight into the final frontier. They are finally taking Trekkies seriously (okay, as seriously as anyone can), and turning the uniform shirts from the original series into business casual. How long before this fashion statement turns up on the Big Bang Theory? I’m envisioning Sheldon in science blue even as I write.
BlackBerry has just released its fiscal Q1 2014 earnings today (yes, their fiscal calendar is a little kooky), and the company still can’t seem to find its footing. The company reported generating $3.1 billion in revenue this past quarter, up 9% year-over-year, but definitely missed most analyst estimates with an adjusted net loss of $67 million (which works out to -$0.13 per share).
Meanwhile, the consensus estimates according to Bloomberg Businessweek were for the company to report earnings of $0.07 per share on revenue of $3.4 billion. As you might expect, BlackBerry’s poor quarterly performance has left the company’s stock price tumbling in pre-market trading: at time of writing, the price is down over 18%.
UPDATE: And the stock price just keeps dipping. With just a few minutes until the market opens, it’s down nearly 24%.
Now these are undeniably bad numbers, but beyond that, today’s earnings release is a little… odd.
Take hardware for instance. More than a few pundits and analysts ruminated on the importance of the BlackBerry Q10 to the company over the past few weeks — it’s the first BlackBerry 10 device to sport the now traditional physical QWERTY keyboard, but today’s release doesn’t take into account U.S. shipments. Curiously enough though, BlackBerry didn’t break down its hardware shipments by OS like it usually does — according to the release the company shipped 6.8 million smartphones, but there’s no word on how many of them run BB10. Last quarter the company reported moving 1 million BB10 devices, so there’s something very strange (and frankly not very confidence-inspiring) about the fact that BB10 hardware doesn’t seem to get a nod this time around.
UPDATE: BlackBerry representatives noted on the earnings call that some 40% of the smartphones it shipped this past quarter were BB10 devices — that shakes out to about 2.72 million BB10 units moved.
Furthermore, there’s no word on the company’s subscriber base. Last quarter the company reported that it some 76 million subscribers were still loyal to the BlackBerry platform (down from 79 million the quarter before that). Has the number finally dipped to the point where the company would rather not flaunt it despite launching a new operating system and hardware to go with it? It sure seems like it.
If anything though, these next few months will shine even more light on whether or not BlackBerry still has the chops to compete in the crowded smartphone space. We’ll have a clearer understanding of the Q10′s sales impact in the United States, and BlackBerry pulled back the curtain on the entry-level Q5 last month, a device that seems tailor-made to help the company maintain its relatively strong position in emerging markets. It’ll be some time before we get a feel for the impact the Q5 will have on BlackBerry’s bottom line though — CEO Thorsten Heins noted during the Q5′s unveiling that the device won’t be available until sometime this summer, and declined to delve into which markets would get the thing first.
Speaking of the summer, Heins also noted that the BlackBerry Messenger service would go live for Android and iOS sometime over the next few months. BBM has endeared itself to a considerable chunk of fans (the service boasts “over 60 million” users across the globe), but we’ll soon see if it’s enough to keep BlackBerry competitive amidst a sea of messaging apps.
As always, the company will be holding an earnings call in just a little bit. Stay tuned — hopefully Heins explains where all those juicy numbers went.
Microsoft has just announced a major deal that means Time Warner Cable subscribers with an Xbox Live Gold membership will be able to watch more than 300 live TV channels direct from their Xbox 360 this summer.
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BlackBerry saw smartphone sales rise in the most recent quarter, financial year Q1 2014, but failed to make a profit, with losses of $84m ramping up the pressure on CEO Thorsten Heins to turn around the firm. The Canadian company’s latest results show revenues rose – year-on-year – for the three month period, now up
If you live in a small town, or in the middle of nowhere, you probably don’t spend that much time thinking about pollution. After all, it’s usually one of those “out of sight, out of mind” sort of things. And even those that do think about pollution, they don’t tend to worry about it in their home. However, what if you live in a large industrial city where smog is a huge problem? You might want to start keeping an eye on the quality of the air in your home.
A company called Airboxlab also thinks that you should be conscious of the quality of the air you breathe every day. That’s why they have been hard at work on a device that can help with just that thing. Dubbed the AIRBOXLAB (no, they couldn’t be bothered to come up with different names for their product and company), this gadget features 6 sensors that can tell you more about the air in your home than you ever thought possible. You’ll learn things like the temperature and relative humidity, which are no-brainers. However, you’ll also get stats on carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, particulate matter, and more.
So how is all of this information communicated to you? You’ll be able to access the device using the dedicated Android or iOS app, or any standard web browser. The information will be used to tell you not only how clean your air is, but things like where the pollution is coming from, and how you can help eliminate it from your home. You can get in on the current Indiegogo campaing and get your own AIRBOXLAB for around $180. However, if you wait, you’ll be looking at a price of around $220.
Source: Dvice
[ AIRBOXLAB helps keep you on top of air pollution in your home copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]
Clickable hashtags are a major new Facebook feature, and now the social network is bringing them to the next level by rolling out related searches and mobile availability. We’re talking about its mobile site and (unfortunately) not its iOS and Android apps, making the former a better choice for browsing public status updates on the go. The introduction of related searches also makes it easier to discover new conversations, as searching for a particular hashtag brings up similar ones. Facebook analyzes which terms are often posted together, so looking for #equality also brings up posts tagged with #lgbt or #pride. These updates will soon show up on your accounts if they haven’t yet, and unless you despise hashtags, they’re icing on the cake.
Filed under: Internet
Source: TechCrunch
Every quarter is pivotal for BlackBerry right now, but the one covered by today’s earnings report (Q1 2014 in fiscal terms, or March through May 2013 on our calendar) is especially important. It’s the first full period of Z10 availability and also the first quarter to cover significant Q10 shipments to markets like Canada and the UK (although not the US). So far, the news looks mixed, but mostly glum: revenues are up to $3.1 billion, compared to $2.8 billion generated in the same quarter last year, which was when RIM (as it was called back then) announced significant job cuts and an equally major delay to its next-gen BB10 operating system and hardware range. However, none of that cash was retained as profit, despite all the cost-cutting measures. In fact, BlackBerry managed to lose $84 million, reversing the positive shift seen last quarter when the company kept a hold of $94 million as profit. Worryingly, the press release provides no breakdown of the crucial BB10 device shipments, versus older devices. There’s just a quote from Thorsten Heins saying “we are still in the early stages of this launch,” which doesn’t bode well — although an imminent earnings call should provide further information.
Update: Execs on the earnings call refused to break down Z10 and Q10 shipments specifically, but did say that 40 percent of the 6.8 million reported shipments were BB 10 devices — which adds up to a disappointing 2.7 million next-gen units.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Blackberry
Via: Crackberry
The world-famous Gateway Arch, in St. Louis, is one of the featured Road Trip 2013 stops.
(Credit: Gateway Arch)
After seven years and tens of thousands of miles, I’ve had the rare opportunity to explore much of the best of the United States (and some of Europe) during my annual CNET Road Trip.
Since 2006, I’ve explored the most interesting destinations for technology, the military, architecture, aviation, and much more, in the Pacific Northwest, the Southwest, the Southeast, the Rocky Mountain region, the Northeast, Western Europe, and the West Coast. But that means that the U.S. Midwest has (so far) been ignored.
Until now.
Starting Monday, I’ll be on Road Trip 2013, and will be hitting the highways and back roads of Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, Indiana, and Wisconsin in search of great stories and photographs. And you’re invited to come along for the ride.
Related Links:
Road Trip Pic of the Day, 6/27: What is this?
Road Trip Pic of the Day, 6/26: What is this?
Road Trip Pic of the Day, 6/24: What is this?
Road Trip Pic of the Day, 6/25: What is this?
CNET Road Trip 2013: Official Picture of the Day sweepstakes rules
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Terminator is the next sci-fi classic to get a reboot, with news that the 1984 movie will return as part one of a new trilogy in 2015, with rumors that Arnold Schwarzenegger will star. The new three-parter is the handiwork of Paramount Pictures, Skydance, and Annapurna Pictures, and though there’s no indication of who might
While the image of Japan as a nation resolutely faithful to its tradition of tea is a mainstay in most popular perceptions of the country, there is another beverage which occupies a large part of everyday urban life and culture. In addition to being the third largest importer of coffee beans worldwide after the United States and Germany, the consumption of both instant and roasted coffee in Japan is about double that of green tea according to research from the All Japan Coffee Association.
Coffee in Japan is an interesting beast. It comes in all different shapes, sizes and flavours – cold and in a can, embellished with latte art, made with a syphon, packaged and sold in a convenience store – the list goes on. More broadly, the marketing of coffee in all its forms as well as the experience of how it is consumed in Japan is also strikingly varied. The sheer diversity of the coffee experience in Japan can be a little bewildering, but through it all one thing is obvious: coffee is serious business here. We’ve decided to look a little deeper by starting a series centred on coffee in all of its manifestations, and to start off with we have the timeless ‘kissaten‘.
A cursory Google search on what differentiates a ‘kissaten’ (喫茶店）from the multitude of other names that are used to describe establishments that serve coffee (including cafe and coffee house) reveals that there is a bit of confusion over any concrete distinguishing characteristics. Legally the word is used to designate shops that focus on the serving of coffee and drinks, but calling a shop a ‘kissaten’ in general conversation implies a particular kind of establishment.
There is a kind of retro image associated with the kissaten, and this old-fashioned feel is reflected in the interior of a store, which may be furnished with leather seats, sturdy, varnished wood tables, and Bauhaus-style furniture. Lighting is often dim and slightly moody, and there is an old-world feel that is reminiscent of the Showa or Taisho period. A kissaten does not necessarily have to have history or even have to be “old” in age, but they do stir up a sense of nostalgia.
The atmosphere and ambience of a kissaten tends to be more formal than chain store coffee joints and cafes, and unlike these places there is table service. Mood-wise, a kissaten tends to be a little more subdued and calm, a pocket of nostalgia where a typically older set of people go to collect their thoughts or catch up with each other while lingering over a cup of coffee.
The coffee itself is often served strong and black with a small pot of milk and sugar syrup at the side – a far cry from the cups of steamed milk and espresso that dominate the menus of “younger” cafes. This dark blend is presented in vintage looking cups and saucers, whose non-uniformity is a gentle reminder that the kissaten is often a more independent and local enterprise. It is not unusual for a shop to have a daily stream of well-known regular customers who have been patrons for years.
The main focus of a kissaten is generally on the atmosphere and the leisurely style of drinking coffee in these places, and in the past kissaten’s did not typically offer much variety in terms of food apart from sandwiches, pasta, curry rice and other simple items. The morning breakfast set menu is a common feature of a lot of kissaten – a piece of toast or two with coffee and an egg or fruit.
Although the number of kissaten is being overtaken by chain store coffee shops and they aren’t quite as “trendy” as the growing number of cafes, they occupy a very special place in the Japanese coffee scene. They serve a particular kind of coffee, and with it, a particular kind of nostalgic experience that definitely has its aficionados.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
