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These AI-generated fortunes are just as mysterious as the real thing
Fortune cookies are as American as baseball and apple pie. Initially popularized in California at the turn of the 20th century, these after meal treats have long counseled casual diners with sage advice, prophetic phrases and lucky numbers. But why should humans have all the fun in crafting these meditative Mad Libs?
IBM might buy live video service UStream for $130 million
The first name that comes to mind when you hear "live-streaming video" might be Twitch, but even despite how that service has grown, it isn't exactly something you'd use for video conferencing or at work. Regardless of how much you want to drop a few Kappas to spice up a meeting. Which is why the Fortune report stating IBM is looking to buy UStream (which has been targeting business customers of late) doesn't seem too far-fetched. The publication's sources peg the deal in the neighborhood of $130 million cash in addition to "possible earn-outs and employee retention packages." It's a pretty paltry sum when compared against Amazon's $970 million Twitch purchase.
Apple could be delaying HomeKit by a couple months (Update: Nope)
Citing sources close to the project, Fortune reports that Apple plans to delay the release of its much anticipated HomeKit platform. While the company has never actually provided a firm release date, it's been widely speculated that HomeKit would hit sometime mid-summer, around June or July. Now it would appear that users will have to wait until August or September to begin smartening up their homes. Fortune's sources blame rapidly bloating code for the delay. Apparently, the current programming iteration demands far too much memory from smaller IoT devices and Apple figures it will need an extra month or so to trim the code down to more functional specs.
Wall Street analysts make their final Q1 2015 predictions for Apple
(Table from Fortune.com, Philip Elmer-DeWitt) With only a few hours to go until Apple releases its Q1 2015 (October 1, 2014 - December 31, 2014) financial results, Fortune's Philip Elmer-DeWitt has pulled together estimates from a number of Wall Street analysts on exactly how they think the company did. The numbers, from 30 professionals and 15 amateurs, are pretty incredible. First, Apple had provided guidance during the last call expecting revenues in the $63.5-$66.5 billion range. The amateurs think it's going to be about $69.27 billion, while the pros are a bit more pessimistic at "only" $68.28 billion. If one looks at the average of all the analysts, that's a year-over-year revenue gain of 19.3 percent over 2014's figure. Earnings are expected to be about $2.68 per share, which is up almost 30 percent year over year. But the big news? Apple's earnings could be the biggest in US corporate history. The current record is held by Exxon, which had a $15 billion third quarter in 2008. The analysts expect Apple to announce sales of 67.09 million iPhones (up 31.5 percent), 21.29 million iPads (down 18.2 percent), and 5.57 million Macs (up 15.2 percent). We'll be live-blogging the earnings call at 5 PM ET (2 PM PT) and would love it if you stopped by to check our commentary on the proceedings. See you then!
Analysts get their Q4 Apple earnings estimates in line
Apple is scheduled to reveal its Q4 earnings today at 5PM EST, which means analysts far and wide are weighing in on what numbers they expect Tim Cook and company to reveal. The consensus seems to be quite positive, with all of Fortune's long list of professionals an independents agreeing that it's going to be a record-breaking day. Revenue estimates range from $41.80 billion on the high end to a low of $38.43 billion, which is just a technical way of saying that everyone knows Apple made a whole lot of money, and investors should be happy. Of course, Apple has a history of confusing Wall Street, and good news from the company is often met with a paradoxical drop in stock price, so don't be surprised to see AAPL experience a bit of a roller coaster this afternoon.
Runico lets you create personal amulets for good fortune
Runico is a universal app that enables you to create customized amulets to bring good fortune. These can involve anything from love to career success to health. Depending on your beliefs, you might take comfort in knowing you have a personal amulet on your phone that will ensure a better future. The app offers various amulets and design styles, plus the ability to paste it on an image or wallpaper so it's always visible to you. Runico is free with in-app purchases and requires iOS 7.0 or later. To get started creating an amulet to help with your life goals, tap the Plus icon at the bottom and choose a category. Runico comes with amulets for love, success, protection, career and health. Tapping "Your Own Formula" lets you create your very own amulet as well, dragging and dropping runes - each with their own meaning - to form a unified symbol that suits your needs. Pre-made amulets come with a name and description. For instance, I picked out the Inspiration amulet, which according to Runico "stimulates inspiration and a flow of creative ideas" and "will prove helpful to the people whose work requires creativity." Unfortunately, a lot of the amulets available in the app require an in-app purchase. Only a select few in each category are free and the rest have locks on them, selling for US$0.99 to unlock. Additionally, to create an amulet entirely from scratch, it sets you back $2.99 - a tad pricey for a personal symbol likely to only make an appearance on your iOS device's display. When you do find an amulet you like, whether free or paid, you have an option to paste it on a new photo, a photo already in your camera roll, a photo from a social network, or one of the app's unique wallpapers. The latter entails yet another fee: $0.99 to buy the entire wallpaper pack. Runico does provide a number of decent styles for your amulet to overlay onto an image, like metallic, glass and wooden backgrounds - or just plain works, too. Fortunately none of these cost more money. Fill in a description for your amulet if you'd like or elect to set it as for an event so that it only lasts for the duration of that event. When you create the amulet, there's no going back. The Edit button only works to change the description or event. The image and amulet design are permanent. Though the library of different amulets is extensive and the design on photos are adequately elegant, the fact that Runico limits so much content in the app by in-app purchases is frustrating. In-app purchases should be implemented in a way that they enhance the app and enable more possibilities, but here they just feel like walls locking you out from the app's full potential unless you pay up. If you're willing to overlook the large amount of in-app purchases, solely as an amulet creator the app does work very well. The amulets are tasteful, easy to create and there's plenty to choose from. If you want a little spark of good luck in your life, give Runico a try in the App Store.
Apple #88 on Fortune's 100 fastest-growing companies
As big as Apple is -- 98,000 employees worldwide, with 2013 revenues of about US$171 billion -- it's still growing like a much smaller, nimbler company. Fortune's 2014 list of the 100 fastest-growing companies is out, and Apple is in the #88 spot. The ranking is a bit lower than last year's #38, but the company has been on the Fortune list for eight consecutive years, quite an achievement in what many consider to still be a tough economy. What got Apple into the ranking? An earnings per share, three-year annual growth rate of 26 percent, a revenue three-year annual growth rate of 28 percent, and a total return three-year annual rate of 27 percent. The company also beat the Standard & Poor's three-year annual growth rate. With Apple's executives saying that the company has its best product lineup ever in the works for release in the next few months, Apple might make it back into the list next year for a nine-year streak.
Fortune provides upbeat Apple earnings, revenue estimates for Q3 2014
Over the past few days, Philip Elmer-DeWitt at Fortune has been posting his compilations of what Wall Street analysts expect Apple to announce today. This morning, he put the icing on the financial cake with revenue and earnings estimates from amateur and professional analysts alike, and those estimates (seen above) look wonderful. Apple's guidance from last quarter expected revenue in the range of $36 to $38 billion, with gross margins in the 37 to 38 percent range. The average of all estimates from analysts shows earnings topping Apple's guidance at about $38.31 billion, with gross margins at the top of Apple's range -- 38 percent. The analysts also expect earnings per share to be around $1.26. Those estimates are from 34 Apple analysts, and they represent a leap in revenues of 8.5 percent year over year, with earnings up 18 percent for the year ago quarter. Be sure to join our liveblog of the Apple earnings call later at 5 PM ET this afternoon.
More magazines coming to Flipboard: Time, Fortune, InStyle and People
If you work in new media, there's a sure-fire way to know if you've made it: traditional media starts paying attention. Time Inc. is following in some, ahem, illustrious footsteps after announcing that it's bringing InStyle, People, Fortune and Time to Flipboard. The first two will be arriving on the platform this week, with the latter pairing debuting in December. With specially paginated content, readers will see a "unique brand experience" when you delve into each title -- presumably with plenty of space for benevolent advertisers like Gucci to exhibit their wares.
Three times as many Samsung users switch to iPhone than the other way around
Though Samsung's snarky ads like to make jest of iPhone users, while Apple's just show how well various functions -- the camera, the music player and FaceTime -- work, new information from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP) suggests those Samsung ads aren't too effective. As reported by Fortune, the CIRP report reveals that three times more people switch from Samsung handsets to iPhone than the other way around. The CIRP numbers also show that iPhone users tend to skew younger (about 69 percent are younger than 35 years old, compared to about 64 percent for Samsung), have more income (only 32 percent of Apple buyers have less than a US$50,000 income, while almost 45 percent of Samsung buyers are in that range) and are more educated (about 48 percent with a college degree or greater, compared to only about 32 percent for Samsung buyers). The Fortune post by Philip Elmer-DeWitt has some other gems that show just where the two companies get most of their customers. It's some of the best demographic information that we've seen so far detailing the customer base for the two largest smartphone manufacturers. [via 9to5Mac]
Phil Libin shares some insight on Evernote's future
Fortune has had a quick chat with our friend Phil Libin, the CEO of Evernote, a company that has grown by leaps and bounds since we last talked. Evernote was popular back when it simply tracked notes and photos. Today the company has acquired Skitch and a few other companies, and is making inroads with services like Evernote for Business. Evernote claims 66 million users at the moment, and says that over 2 million of them are paying customers.The company is basically a software provider, but Libin says there are lots of other ideas in the works. He's got an idea for an encryption format of some kind, to be announced later this year. He sees possibilities for hardware products, too. Evernote recently released a notebook designed for easy scanning, and it's not hard to imagine other kinds of projects that would make uploading and browsing stored notes even easier. Libin also doesn't deny that going public is an option for Evernote, though the Fortune piece says it won't happen for another few years. Evernote has grown a lot in its short life (the service originally launched in 2008), and it sounds like there's a lot more growing to do.
Apple praised in China for environmental policies
Chinese environmental activist Ma Jun recently said that Apple has made major strides towards becoming more environmentally friendly and transparent with respect to the company's operations in China. While speaking at the Fortune Global Forum in Chengdu, China, Ma explained that Apple has recently transfromed from a company that was completely closed off about its environmental practices in China to one of the more environmentally progressive tech companies in the country. Adam Lashinsky of Fortune reports: Ma is a well-known former journalist who has devoted considerable energy to water issues in China. His group collects pollution data on Chinese companies and shares it with Western companies to help them better understand the ramifications of their supply chain partners. He said Apple not only has begun cooperating with his organization, it has become a positive force on the overall supply chain ecosystem in China. "They have gone the furthest in motivating key suppliers," Jun explained. Since taking over CEO duties at Apple, Tim Cook has been outspoken about Apple's responsibility to uphold high standards with respect to both environmental and labor conditions abroad. For instance, following the series of Pulitzer Prize-winning hit pieces about Apple's operations in China, Cook penned a letter to Apple employees highlighting all that Apple does to create satisfactory working conditions while also promising that Apple will never "stand still or turn a blind eye to problems in our supply chain." Indeed, earlier this week covered how Cook, while speaking at Duke University this past April, explained that he views environmental responsibility as a key part of his framework of ethical leadership. When I think of ethics, I think of leaving things better than you found them, and to me that goes from the environment to how you work with suppliers with labor questions to the carbon footprint of your products to the things you choose to support to the way you treat your employees. Your whole persona fits under that umbrella... Fortune adds: Apple typically maintains that its environmental and labor-rights records have always been good. Yet the Chinese group's report makes clear that if nothing else, Apple's attitude toward discussing its record and opening itself up to criticism have changed. The report notes that there was a noticeable change in Apple's policies in China once Tim Cook assumed control of the company. Lastly, and perhaps an indication of Apple's increased efforts to have a positive impact on the environment, Tim Cook revealed during this year's All Things D conference that Apple had recently hired former EPA chief Lisa Jackson to coordinate Apple's environmental practices.
Apple soars into Fortune 500's top 10
Despite the media's best attempts to make it appear that Apple is in dire financial straits, Fortune today reported that the company has made it into the top 10 of the Fortune 500 list. Apple arrives in the top 10 in the number six spot, replacing HP (now No. 15) as the leading tech company. Here's the amazing thing -- just last year, Apple was listed as No. 17 in the Fortune 500. Two years ago Apple was a distant No. 35, the spot now occupied by Microsoft. The ranking of the Fortune 500 is based on revenues, with Wal-Mart Stores at the top of the list with 2012 revenues of US$469.2 billion. Three US oil companies -- Exxon Mobil, Chevron and Phillips 66 -- made up the second through fourth positions respectively on the list, with Warren Buffett's investment firm Berkshire Hathaway just ahead of Apple in the No. 5 spot. Apple's revenues for 2012 were $156.5 billion with profits of $41.7 billion. That profit figure was exceeded only by Exxon Mobil, which, as of today, has a market capitalization of "only" $406 billion compared to Apple's $433 billion.
Fortune: Apple may see first quarter of negative income growth since 2003
Apple investors may want to brace themselves for an onslaught of negative headlines when Apple reports its Q2 2013 earnings in the coming month. According to Philip Elmer-DeWitt of Fortune's Apple 2.0 blog, Apple is expected to report its first year-over-year decline in income in 10 years. Much of this decline can attributed to lowered gross margins on products. As noted by DeWitt, Apple's gross margin in Q2 2012 sat at an impressive 47.37 percent, while analyst estimates for the 2013 quarter suggest it could fall to as low as 37.5 percent. Though Apple is projected to deliver another quarter of record revenue, this drop in profit margin threatens to drag down Apple's quarterly income. You can read a brief analysis on Fortune's Apple 2.0 blog and then hop over to Posts At Eventide for a detailed analysis of Apple's current quarter from Robert Paul Leitao.
Daily Update for February 28, 2013
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen. Subscribe via RSS
Apple is Fortune 'World's Most Admired Company' for 2013
For the past 30 years, Fortune has compiled a list of the World's Most Admired Companies. This year, as with the previous five years, Apple took the top spot in the ranking. The ranking is compiled from results of an annual poll of business executives asking them to identify the companies they most admire. Fortune Senior Editor-at-Large Adam Lashinsky notes that, "For some, the news will come as a surprise. Headlines of late have tended to portend Apple's demise... Corporate admiration, however, appears to outlast the fickle tastes of investors and consumers alike." Following Apple in the ranking were Google and Amazon.com, followed by beverage providers Coca-Cola and Starbucks. IBM hit the sixth spot as most admired, with Southwest Airlines, Berkshire Hathaway, Walt Disney and FedEx rounding out the list.
Fortune ranks the Apple analysts
After Apple's earnings call yesterday the company's stock took a sizable hit. This, of course, was due in large part to the company underperforming analysts' revenue expectations. But rather than rail on Apple, Fortune argues that Wall Street's Apple analysts performed worse than the company itself, and it's worked up a rather handy chart to prove its point. Ranking a whopping 68 analysts based on how close their predictions came to hitting Apple's true numbers, the chart shows just how dramatically earnings predictions can vary. For example, Apple reported revenue of $54.51 billion, but analyst predictions ranged from $51.70 billion to $65.69 billion. Take a look at some more failed predictions, ranging from insanely optimistic to depressingly dismal, on Fortune.
Fortune: Apple's American-made computer will be 2013 Mac Pro
Do you have money riding on a bet that the line of computers Apple's planning to manufacture in the US next year is the Mac Pro? Well, Fortune believes there's a good chance you're right. According to an article by the business publication, there are a few factors that add up to suggest the new Mac Pro will be the domestically produced product. First off, the publication cites an economist who states that a US$100 million factory should be capable of turning out about 1 million computers per year, a number that lines up with how many Mac Pros were sold by Apple in 2011. Then there's the issue of shipping costs. Fortune contends that it makes much more sense to build the heaviest Mac in the US to save on shipping costs, while its premium sticker price can offset higher manufacturing expenses. Finally, there's the fact that Tim Cook himself has already indicated that a Mac Pro refresh is due in 2013. So, what's your bet? We'd love to hear it in the comments.
Daily Update for December 4, 2012
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen. Subscribe via RSS
Fortune calls new iMac 'best ever'
Fortune has officially said what many of us who have already gotten our hands on Apple's newest computer are thinking: the latest iMac is the "best ever." If you haven't played around with one yet, get down to an Apple store and see one for yourself. The images you've seen dancing around the web don't do it justice. More than ever, this Apple product makes its predecessor look stale and boring. Or, as I've said before, the new iMac makes the old iMac look like it was designed by Dell. Fortune rightly points out that the 21.5" model with 3.1 GHz quad-core i7 Ivy Bridge processor, 16 gigabytes of RAM, a 1 Terabyte "Fusion Drive," and a dedicated Nvidia GeForce GT 650M graphics card is "way more horsepower than most users will ever need." Indeed, even several professional film editors I know don't mind working on the new iMacs given that they can easily run a second Thunderbolt display. The only thing that really bugged Fortune about the new iMac was the lack of Retina display. For users who haven't used one of the Retina MacBook Pros before, this really won't be an issue. If you have, the iMac's display might be off-putting. Then again, it's not like users have a choice right now. Until the cost and size yields are right don't expect to see Retina displays larger than 15 inches.
