finance
Latest
Big banks want to adopt Bitcoin tech for the financial sector
Whenever you make a Bitcoin transaction, it's recorded on a public ledger called "blockchain." Now, a handful of big banks have partnered (PDF) with New York firm R3 to adopt the cryptocurrency's database system for use in finance. These nine banks, including Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Barclays, will help the firm develop standards and agree on the underlying architecture that the sector will use. After that, they will decide where the software can be applied and then test it out to be sure. Due to the way blockchain works, it has many potential applications: for instance, it could speed up the process of tracking ownerships or the transfer of assets between two people.
Israel, US arrest four over a string of big bank hacks
After months of investigation, law enforcement has nabbed suspects believed to be behind hacks at JPMorgan Chase and other big banks... and they're not quite the master criminals you might expect. Both the FBI and Israeli police have arrested four people for what now appears to be a classic "pump and dump" stock fraud scheme. The group (which includes one still at large) artificially drove up share prices and volumes for 'quiet' companies through a mix of email campaigns and pre-arranged trades, and sold to reap the windfall. In certain situations, they even pushed for private companies to go public solely to turn them into targets.
Google eyes the bigger picture while missing Wall Street's expectations
It's earnings time once more, and Google's gone and done it again. Despite taking in $17.3 billion in revenue over the past three months (that's a 12 percent lift over how much it made this time last year), the search giant still managed to whiff slightly when it came to pleasing Wall Street's persnickety analysts. If you've been paying attention the these earnings releases (dry though they may be), none of this will be news to you. Google's track record over the past few years is filled with more Wall Street misses than hits, and this'll be the company's sixth consecutive whiff. But does Google care? Yeah, no.
You could receive and pay bills in your Gmail by year's end
Google will remind you of some upcoming bills (if you're down with the contextual beauty that is Google Now at least), but that's not all the search giant is doing with that knowledge. According to a document obtained by Re/code, Google's working on a way for you to receive bills from your service providers in your Gmail account, and pay for them without having to leave the confines of your inbox. The service, currently code-named "Pony Express," is apparently being prepped for a launch in late (think fourth quarter) 2015.
US tech companies have stashed over $420 billion overseas
It's no secret that the US government wants companies to bring more of their offshore profits back home for the sake of taxes, and it's now exceptionally clear as to why. Bloomberg has sifted through financial filings and discovered that the top eight American tech firms, including Apple, Google and Microsoft, are keeping more than $420 billion overseas -- $69 billion of it added in just the past year. That's over a fifth of the $2.1 trillion held abroad by American companies, and would easily cover a lot of government expenses. A tax on Microsoft's recent profits alone ($29.6 billion) would cover NASA and the Commerce Department for a year; Apple ($23.3 billion) could take care of the Transportation Department and Social Security, and Oracle could foot the bill for the Labor Department.
Venmo halfheartedly responds to its mobile payment security woes
eBay's Venmo mobile payment service can be extra-helpful when you need to repay a debt to a friend, but it's grappling with some significant security problems -- and it's not clear that a proper fix is in sight. Slate notes that Venmo not only lacks a few basic security measures, such as notifying you when login details change, but encourages risky steps like linking your bank routing info. If someone gets in under that circumstance, your bank account could be permanently compromised. There's also little support outside of a slow-to-respond email system, so you may be left high and dry if you need urgent help.
RBS and NatWest add Touch ID login to their banking apps
If you manage your personal finances from a smartphone, you'll be familiar with the tiresome verification procedures that banks use to double-check your identity. To make everything a little simpler, RBS and NatWest are introducing Touch ID support to their iOS banking apps tomorrow. So rather than punching in a long-winded passcode, you'll just need a fingerprint to log in to your account. The feature is entirely optional though, so if you're worried that Touch ID isn't quite secure enough to protect your lifelong savings, it can easily be disabled on your iPhone 5S, 6 or 6 Plus. More importantly, the BBC reports that some in-app features will still require additional verification and, similar to contactless credit and debit cards, there will be an upper limit for new payments. So even if a crafty crook copies your fingerprint, most of the app should remain under lock and key.
Subtle malware lets hackers swipe over $300 million from banks
It's no secret that hackers see banks as prime targets, but one band of digital thieves is conducting heists on a truly grand scale. Security researchers at Kaspersky have published details of malware attacks that have stolen at least $300 million from financial institutions in 30 countries. The crooks not only trick bank employees into installing a virus (Carbanak) through spoofed email, but spy on staff in order to mimic their behavior and prevent any telltale signs that money is falling into the wrong hands. Many of the attacks focus on shuffling money to outside accounts, although some will send paper cash to ATMs monitored by criminals.
Twitter's upgrades can't hide its problem nabbing new users
For a company that's embedded itself so thoroughly in the fabric of modern communication, Twitter sure is having trouble getting more people to use it. The company just released its latest batch of quarterly financials, and while it handily generated more revenue and earnings per share than Wall Street analysts expected (think $479 million in revenue over the past three months), it's still not picking up new users as fast as everyone wants it to. This past quarter saw total user numbers surge to 288 million -- that's a 20 percent leap over this time last year, but only an increase of about 4 million users since Twitter's last quarterly info dump. Curiously, it looks like nearly all of those new users came from outside US borders, making this quarter the first with negligible US growth since Twitter's IPO. Dick Costolo must be thrilled. People already have it out for him as it is.
Apple destroys earnings estimates: Revenue of $74.6 billion on the back of 74.5 million in iPhone sales
Apple a short while ago posted its earnings results from its 2014 holiday quarter, and per expectations, the company handily destroyed analyst estimates across the board, delivering a quarterly profit of $18.0 billion and revenue of $74.6 billion On Wall St., analysts were anticipating revenue to come in at $66.5 billion on the high end. Per usual, the bulk of Apple's revenue came from incredibly strong iPhone sales, boosted by immense demand for the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. During the last three months of 2014, Apple sold an incredible 74.5 million iPhones, an incredible 46% increase from the same quarter a year-ago when the company sold 51 million iPhones. Apple's other big revenue generating products - the iPad and the Mac - also did respectable numbers. For the quarter gone by, Apple sold 21.4 million iPads and 5.5 million Macs. Apple's press release reads in part: "We'd like to thank our customers for an incredible quarter, which saw demand for Apple products soar to an all-time high," said Tim Cook, Apple's CEO. "Our revenue grew 30 percent over last year to $74.6 billion, and the execution by our teams to achieve these results was simply phenomenal." Earnings per share checked in at an impressive $3.06, a marked increase from $2.07 in the same quarter a year-ago. Apple's earnings, in addition to being boosted by outstanding Mac and iPhone sales, were also buoyed by Apple's ongoing stock buyback program.
FFXIV, FFXI, and Dragon Quest 10 subscribers total(ed) 'nearly' 1M
Square-Enix has released its summary of 2014's finances with the start of the new year, and the good news is that it looks pretty rosy. According to the summary of the financial year that ended in March of 2014, the company's fortunes had improved immensely. Of more specific interest to the MMO market, of course, is the fact that the report gives some idea of the subscribers for Final Fantasy XIV, Final Fantasy XI, and the currently Japan-only title Dragon Quest X. According to the report, all three titles together boasted "nearly" one million subscribers, with the lion's share likely belonging to Final Fantasy XIV. Specifics are not discussed, nor does the report clarify whether these subscriber numbers are from the end of the financial year in March or the end of the calendar year in December (we assume the former). The most recent official word from Square-Enix was 2.5 million registered accounts for FFXIV in December 2014.
Scutify puts the bells and whistles on Wall Street
Scutify is a combination of many things, but it's mainly a social network built around the stock market. Monitor your important stocks and their current prices, get into trading and investing and chat about them with other members of Scutify. Post questions or status updates called "scuttles" to get the conversation going, which look like long, intelligent tweets. The app also integrates with Tradier Brokerage for investors to do what they do best and Twitter. Scutify is free for iPhone and iPad and requires iOS 7.0 or later. If you stare at Scutify for too long on your iPhone, your brain actually starts to hurt. Trending company logos at the top, a scrolling stock ticker underneath, investors' current opinions of the market, latest scuttles, plus a cluster of navigation options - it's a lot to take in. It feels like a software representation of all the chaos happening on CNBC during just about any program. The app is never void of content because right off the bat, Scutify appears to follow popular accounts at random. It feels weird at first but makes sense rather than just having a blank feed until you follow people. Above these latest scuttles from people are statistics about the market. Companies that are trending, an interactive stock ticker, and what's called the Scutify Sentiment giving a general consensus on whether stocks and the community surrounding them are bullish or bearish. If you tap a stock, the app brings up detailed information about its current price and pulls in relevant tweets and news articles. Use the search tool at the top to search for any stock in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada or India. You also get your own profile by tapping what appears to be a Dashboard icon at the top to view your own scuttles, track your follower account, see tweets relevant to the stocks you follow and more. To post a new scuttle, tap the New Post icon and type up to 500 characters with or without an image. The slide-in menu does absolutely nothing to consolidate an already disorderly app. Menu options here are Latest Scuttles, Premium Scuttles, Companies, Commodities, All-Star Users, Latest Articles, Trending 20 Index, Scutify's separate Sentiment app and that's not even the entire list. I'm drowning in everything Scutify is trying to pile into this app. To make matters worse, the navigation is just as confusing as it is cluttered. "My Dashboard," something that normally refers to a home screen is actually your profile while "Home" is for your Home screen. Also, Latest Scuttles displays a list of posts from other users, "My Scuttle List" is a list of stocks you're following. Are scuttles stocks or posts? The breadth of features Scutify offers investors and business enthusiasts in its app is extraordinary. In fact, I haven't even scratched the surface of what it's capable of. Unfortunately, I don't think anyone would ever be able to efficiently or effectively browse through the entirety of Scutify without yearning for some fresh outside air or a glass of wine by the time they close the app. Far too much is going on to the point that it's just plain difficult to use. At least on the iPad app, Scutify has more room to work with and does take great advantage of the larger display to showcase all of its features. Ultimately though if you're looking for a stock trading app, keep browsing until you find one that doesn't give you a headache.
Samsung reportedly mulls leadership change amidst disappointing Galaxy S5 sales
Samsung's mobile division is in trouble. Consumer interest in the company's newest smartphones is falling hard and fast, and with it, profits are declining precipitously. This past October, Samsung divulged that profits from their mobile division plummeted by 74% year over year. Company-wide, profits fell by 60%. With that backdrop, it's perhaps not surprising that to read new reports relaying that there are calls for a leadership shakeup within Samsung's mobile division. According to a recent report in the Wall Street Journal, current Samsung Mobile chief J.K. Shin may be shuffled out and replaced with B.K. Yoon, who currently oversees Samsung's appliance and TV unit. If Mr. Yoon, 61, is given the nod to take over the mobile division, he could be well-positioned to help Samsung compete in the so-called connected home-a hot corner of tech that aims to link home appliances to the Internet. Mr. Yoon has been one of the main proponents of the company's push in this direction, and signed off on Samsung's acquisition earlier this year of U.S. connected-home startup SmartThings. The decision isn't final, these people say, and Mr. Yoon's takeover of the mobile division, while expected by many within the company, isn't a done deal. Samsung currently finds itself in a precarious position. They're getting crushed at the high-end by Apple and on the low-end by more affordable handsets. Additionally, despite their best efforts, the company has failed to come out with a killer feature to effectively lure in iPhone owners. What's more, with Apple's new iPhone models both sporting giant screens, Samsung, in one fell swoop, lost its more important longstanding differentiating feature. Adding to Samsung's woes, the Journal writes that the company manufactured 20% more Galaxy S5 units than they did S4 units. But with demand for the S5 failing to meet expectations, inventory began to pile up quickly. This, in turn, prompted Samsung to spend even more money on advertising in order to boost demand. So far, that solution doesn't appear to be working. In all, Samsung sold about 40% fewer Galaxy S5 smartphones than expected, with about 12 million units sold to consumers in the first three months since April compared with about 16 million units for the preceding flagship phone, the Galaxy S4, according to people familiar with the matter. Only in one major market did Samsung sell more Galaxy S5 smartphones than it did the S4: the U.S., Samsung's biggest market, one of these people said.
BSkyB is dead, long live Sky
Following the merger of Sky Television and British Satellite Broadcasting in 1990, BSkyB grew to become the biggest pay-TV broadcaster in the UK. Domestic success was fine, but in July, the company decided it was time to cast its net wider, so it agreed a deal with 21st Century Fox to snap up Sky Italia and buy a 57-percent majority share of Sky Deutschland. That transaction has now been approved, creating what Sky says is now "Europe's leading entertainment company." While much will stay the same, some things inevitably must change. You see, now Sky has divisions in Italy and Germany (and 20 million total customers), the British Sky Broadcasting Group name befit a company embarking on an expansion across Europe. As a result, it's changing its name to Sky and listing itself on the London Stock Exchange under the symbol SKY. Shareholders will need to approve the name change first, but we're sure that's just a formality.
SEC investigating suspicious trading activity of GT Advanced shares
The fallout from GT Advanced Technologies' (GTAT) failed partnership with Apple continues to pile up. The SEC is now actively investigating stock sales made by GTAT executives in the weeks and months leading up to the unveiling of the iPhone 6. The partnership between Apple and GTAT reportedly centered on manufacturing sapphire displays for the iPhone 6. Manufacturing and quality control problems, however, caused GTAT to miss a number of operational and technical benchmarks imposed by Apple. Notably, recently filed court documents have indicated that these problems may have started all the way back in February. Curiously, GTAT COO Daniel Squiller sold 33% of his GTAT shares in the months preceding the iPhone 6 unveiling. Meanwhile, GTAT CEO Thomas Guiterrez sold $160,000 worth of GTAT shares just one day before the iPhone 6 unveiling. With shares of GTAT dropping by over 90% in the wake of the company filing for bankruptcy, it's only natural that questions of impropriety have been raised. A recently filed Form 8-K from GT Advanced reads in part: On October 15, 2014, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") sent a letter to the Company noting that it was conducting an inquiry into matters involving the Company (the "SEC Inquiry"). The SEC is seeking certain information regarding trading activity in the Company's securities, as well as the Company's sapphire business and securities offering going back to January 1, 2013, and requesting the preservation and production of documents. The Company is fully cooperating with the SEC.
LG sells a record-breaking 16.8 million smartphones, doubles profit in the process
As Samsung struggles and Apple starts to encroach on the Android mainstay of giant screens, LG's smartphones are doing alright. In fact they're doing pretty darn well. Announcing a record number of smartphones sold and the best quarter in five years, LG's sales totaled 16.8 million devices and the company announced an operating profit of $450 million, roughly double from the same period last year. Shipments of the mobile arm leapt 39 percent, although the good news was tempered (if only a little), by lower operating profits in the same quarter from its Home Appliance and a $2.44 million operating loss from its Air Conditioning arm, although LG reckons weather conditions were the cause for lower sales in its native Korea. TV and Home Entertainment profits increased five percent, with demand for LCD TVs increasing across the world. LG expects its high-end 4K displays will be responsible for some more impressive financial results later this year -- and probably hopes you're already saving up for the holiday season.
Roku wants to grow its media hub empire with a public stock filing
Roku frequently comes across as the little media player company that could: its streaming box business is growing in spite of much larger competition. As healthy as it is, though, this upstart now appears eager to join the big leagues. Tipsters for both the Wall Street Journal and New York Times claim that Roku is planning to file an initial public stock offering (IPO) that could net as much as $150 million, roughly doubling what it raised through private investments. The details of just how and when this would happen are still murky, but the company said earlier this month that it's near turning a profit. It may wait until it's in the black and can put its best foot forward. If the IPO does happen, though, you should expect Roku to grow quickly. It's already striking deals with TV makers and has the support of major broadcasters -- the extra cash could both put more big-name services on your existing Roku box and improve the range of devices you can buy at the store.
Apple posts blockbuster earnings with $8.5 billion in profit and sales of 39.27 million iPhones
Apple today posted earnings results for its recent September quarter and blew past analyst estimates with profits of $8.5 billion on the back of $42.1 billion in revenue. For the quarter, Apple's EPS came in at $1.42, an impressive 20% increase year over year. Analysts on Wall Street were anticipating EPS of $1.29 and revenue of $39.86 billion. By way of contrast, Apple during the same quarter a year-ago posted revenue of $37.5 billion and a quarterly profit of $7.5 billion. Apple's stellar quarter was, not surprisingly, the result of extremely strong iPhone sales. For the quarter gone by, iPhone sales checked in at 39.27 million units, a marked increase from the 33.8 million units Apple sold during the same quarter a year-ago. Unit sales for the iPhone increased by 16% while revenue increased by 21%. Meanwhile, iPad and Mac sales checked in at 12.3 million and 5.5 million units, respectively. iPad sales last quarter came in at 14.1 million units while Mac sales checked in at 4.6 million units. In a press release on the matter, Apple CEO Tim Cook said: Our fiscal 2014 was one for the record books, including the biggest iPhone launch ever with iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. With amazing innovations in our new iPhones, iPads and Macs, as well as iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite, we are heading into the holidays with Apple's strongest product lineup ever. We are also incredibly excited about Apple Watch and other great products and services in the pipeline for 2015. Make sure to tune in and check out our liveblog of Apple's earnings conference call slated to kick off at 5PM Eastern Time.
Make sense of expenses and spending habits with MonSense
If you want a money management app that's a step above basic, but not overly complicated, Monsense is a great choice. Available on all iOS devices, Monsense gives you a lot of room for customization, but also lays the groundwork for tracking expenses. You have the option to create multiple accounts, though you probably won't need that many. The term "accounts" can be a bit misleading, because Monsense does not connect directly with your bank account. Instead, these accounts refer to how you categorize your funds. You can have accounts for work, home, travel or anything else you'd like. Within each account, there are preexisting categories such as beverage, bills, food, fuel, groceries, home, etc... Click on a category and then add the corresponding transaction. This keeps things organized and helps you to track where you spend your money. To add an expense, tap the plus sign at the top of the home screen. Choose your account, your category, enter a name for your expense, the amount and you're done. Y For recurring expenses, select the weekly, monthly or yearly option and then key in the due date. Future expenses show up in the red pending bar at the top of the screen. Click on the bar to view all of your pending expenses. Swipe left to edit, delete or mark the expense as paid. To make sure that you don't forget to pay a bill, Monsense syncs with your calendar and notifies you when an item is due. The only comment I have regarding recurring expenses is that it would be nice if there was a daily option – especially for those of us with a predictable coffee habit. The best part about Monsense is how it tracks your spending habits. Click on "patterns" in the menu bar and you'll see a weekly, monthly or yearly pie chart showing you where you spend your money. View all of your transactions in one chart, or scroll through each category to see its specific percentage. Here's where things don't make a lot of sense: Monsense lets you export beautifully detailed charts and graphs to a pdf file (there is an Excel option, as well). However, you need to flip over to the export screen to view them. Only the pie chart is available in the patterns section. Really, all of the charts and graphs should be available in one place from which you can easily export the information. Another thing, unless you are using an iPad, you can't read anything but the pie chart. All of the other graphs are too small to decipher. There really should be a way to view these in-app without having to export them. Monsense is more of an expense app than a budget app, but you can enter your income, the same way that you would an expense, and then easily determine how much money you have left to spend. I like Monsense, but it does need a few improvements. Still, for US$0.99, it's simple approach to money management might be just what you need.
The science of language, community, and MMORPGs
Back in August, Massively wrote a little post about Swedish research on MMOs and language learning. That article provoked me, a gamer and teacher of English for speakers of other languages (ESOL), to hunt down the original research and talk directly to the researchers, Dr. Liss Kerstin Sylvén from the University of Gothenburg and Dr. Pia Sundqvist from Karlstad University, to better understand their research and findings. Note that we'll be talking here about games and language learning specifically, not other forms of game-related education. Also, Sylvén and Sundqvist don't consider themselves "gamers." Sundqvist remembers Pac-Man as her first game, both admit to playing Angry Birds on their cell phones, and Sundqvist is "allowed" to sometimes watch her 17-year-old son play League of Legends. I find this interesting because they are non-gamers who seriously consider games capable of being educational without specifically being developed to do so. This isn't a simple merger of a hobby with work; this is work in a field of interest that's still being explored.
