This week, Chris and Tarun discuss the Apple’s blockbuster earnings (as it was happening during the recording); iBooks author release; more on the iPhone supply chain; RIM’s cleaning of house; Google+ engagement numbers; Patent law uselessness; Storage sites being regulated; Europe’s new privacy laws.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:17 — 67.1MB)
Despite the management shuffle and awkward spin-off disaster earlier last year, Netflix has posted a $50 million profit for Q4.
As for DVD, it looks like their plan to completely kill the service is slowly moving along.
While DVD members declined sharply over the last two quarters, the weekly rate of DVD cancellations has subsided from peak levels in September. Looking out across 2012, we expect continued attrition among our DVD members. Specifically, in Q1, we expect net losses of DVD members of approximately 1.5 million, with the sequential decline moderating in future quarters.
If the trend continues, half of the 11.17 million DVD subscribers will drop off the service of migrate to streaming by next year.
On Apple’s “record” Q4 Earnings:
It was one of the most profitable quarters ever for any U.S. company, trailing only ExxonMobil’s record-setting $14.8 billion quarter from the fall of 2008, when oil prices were at an all-time high.
(via John Gruber)
After the recent shutdown of the popular site Megaupload, it appears that several sites that allowed individuals to upload files to share across the internet are stopping the ability to share the files. Some of the sites include FileSonic, FileServe, and Uploaded.to. Many of these sites have switched have disabled sharing and switched to a model where customers can upload files and then only they can redownload them.
It is not known what is likely to happen in the long term, but there are worries that monitoring of user’s uploads will start to occur.
It is troubling that legitimate digital storage services should feel compelled to monitor their users, says intellectual property director Corynne McSherry of the San Francisco-based Electronic Frontier Foundation. “In terms of privacy, that should be a concern,” she says.
Europe is considering a sweeping new law that would force Internet companies like Amazon.com and Facebook to obtain explicit consent from consumers about the use of their personal data, delete that data forever at the consumer’s request and face fines for failing to comply.
This has been a complaint and concern among many online users for quite some time now. This could be a step in the right direction for individuals worried about privacy.
Apple really cares about its patents. So much so, that it has reportedly spent $100 million on protecting their IP. Except that the mobile landscape hasn’t really changed. People continue to produce property that infringes on Apple’s inventions, as if patent laws don’t matter.
In other news, the sky is blue.
Rocky Agrawal:
Counting registered users instead of daily active users tells us nothing about the popularity of the service. Think of the millions of people who’ve registered for Google+ but never use it. Second, given the huge popularity of Google search, Gmail, and YouTube, it’s actually surprising that so few people who have registered for Google+ are using those more popular services on a daily basis — only 60 percent. After all, remember that a lot of Google+ users accidentally became Google+ users only because they were already attached to another Google service.
It’s always confused me whether or not Google+ is an “opt-in” service. It is, on the one hand, because you must click “join” to start plussing. But it isn’t, on another hand, in that you can +1 things with a Google account.
And what is “active” anyway? Liz Gannes for AllThingsD:
The thing is, Google envisions Google+ as a binding layer between all its products, rather than a discrete entity. While Gmail may have 350 million active users, as Page disclosed today, it’s not so easy to split out Google+.
The blurry numbers do make some sense. For instance, Google+ content will now show up in an increasing amount of search results for signed-in Google users. How do you count that?
So really, we can’t get an exact count of engagement since Google+ is not an island, its a platform on top of Google.
The better question to ask would be, “How many people are making stream updates?” Of the supposed 100 million people, I suspect that 20-30% of Google+ registered users engage in their streams daily (or hangouts, or whathaveyou). But we can’t really know for sure.
Ina Fried for AllThingsD:
RIM confirmed late Sunday that it has instilled former co-chief operating officer Thorsten Heins as its new CEO. Board member Barbara Stymiest will take over the board chair position, with former co-CEO Mike Lazaridis assuming the role of Vice Chairman and his counterpart, Jim Balsillie remaining on the board as a director. Stymiest had been expected to assume the board chair spot.
A fantastic read on the state of electronics manufacturing in the United States, and why the iPhone simply cannot be produced at the scale that China can:
Another critical advantage for Apple was that China provided engineers at a scale the United States could not match. Apple’s executives had estimated that about 8,700 industrial engineers were needed to oversee and guide the 200,000 assembly-line workers eventually involved in manufacturing iPhones. The company’s analysts had forecast it would take as long as nine months to find that many qualified engineers in the United States.
In China, it took 15 days.
Jason Snell:
I look at iBooks Author and wonder if it might be, even now, an alternative for publications that don’t want to build an app—or feel that the app they can afford to build won’t be very good. What if periodical publishers could get access to Newsstand by publishing issues using a tool more like iBooks Author, to a standardized format? What if people could buy subscriptions to magazines and newspapers in the iBookstore? Instead of building an expensive container, we could spend our money on the stuff we put inside that container.
Not quite “Garageband for textbooks,” but still interesting..
We discuss the upcoming Apple event on e-books (possibly textbooks); SOPA and the internet blackouts happening today (1/18); Google+ integration with Google search; Factory Conditions in Foxconn and other companies in China; why moving to the Windows Phone is a good idea. This podcast could be sponsored by you! Check us out on our website, and thanks for listening!
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 24:09 — 55.4MB)
Chris Foresman with the scoop from Ars:
At the same time, however, authoring standards-compliant e-books (despite some promises to the contrary) is not as simple as running a Word document of a manuscript through a filter. The current state of software tools continues to frustrate authors and publishers alike, with several authors telling Ars that they wish Apple or some other vendor would make a simple app that makes the process as easy as creating a song in GarageBand.
Frustration and user needs leads to change.
Update:
Fortune is claiming that the Ars information is “seriously overhyped” and is not likely on the horizon.
Student warning! Do your homework early. Wikipedia protesting bad law on Wednesday! #sopa
Sebastian Anthony, ExtremeTech:
The main thing now, then, is to remain vigilant. The internet has won this round, but it’s guaranteed that Congress will try to pass similar laws in the future. With Senator Harry Reid receiving more than $3.5 million and Representative Eric Cantor receiving $668,000 from industry lobbies that are opposed to piracy, they’re virtually compelled to try again. We mustn’t rest on our laurels. We must be ready to combat doppelganger laws with the exact same ferocity that we leveled upon the now-dead SOPA.
Apple shows no signs of slowing down its retail presence, who will be featured at 25 Target stores soon.
I’ve always loved the podcast “This American Life.” This week’s episode features an excerpt from Mike Daisey, a comedian and writer, who is also an avid apple geek. He decides to investigate the simple question: “How is the iPhone made?” The answers are probably not what you expect. In fact, they may even make you upset.
Apple posts a yearly supplier conditions report, cited in the podcast. But, the caveats of this report are outlined in the episode as well — what factories are specifically being monitored? What are the actual consequences of a factory not following a code of conduct?
Google has begun integrating + information, like profiles, stream updates and more, into search results.
Much of the internet is crying foul because of antitrust claims (the biggest search monopoly propels it’s own property to the foreground), but the move seems inevitable. I don’t see it as a “catch up” strategy because the approach will only work so well — Google+ hasn’t scaled nearly as fast or as large as Twitter and Facebook, so the kind of results one will get are niche at best. In my case, only 1/10 of my friends are on Google+, and their updates are slim to none.
Integrating Facebook shares has it’s own privacy issues that are avoided when Google uses their own technologies that we all “signed up for.” If people saw specific status updates via a Google search, that would look creepier, right?
The only information that Google owns is information you provide to them. With Facebook and other social networks, that information does not belong to Google, so they can’t use it unless the networks sold it to the search giant.
The biggest effect this announcement has is with the +1 feature. As I predicted, Google+ is going to change search rankings with the power of it’s network, supposedly using it to predict the results that would matter to you. It brings them first, but doesn’t censor others. You can still find what you want, just log out of Google.
We’re back! Tarun and Chris talk about the trends and latest from the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) — tablets, mobile phones, and cameras too! Tarun also lays out his predictions for 2012. What do you think? Get in touch with us on Twitter: @WeeklyD. Thanks for listening.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 33:32 — 76.9MB)
Eric Slivka interprets the announcement of Panasonic’s high resolution display as a preview of the technology to arrive on a MacBook Pro. Currently, Samsung and LG are the two makers of displays for the Pro and Air line.
No word on whether Redbox will get the same treatment just yet, though the company released a statement claiming nothing has changed on their own agreement.
Frédéric Filloux:
It now seems Facebook’s usage is undergoing a split. Active Facebookers become increasingly engaged, spend more time doing more stuff, while “reasonable” users (above 25) become more reluctant and careful.
After having spent about a month with the MetroUI update for Xbox 360, I must say, I’m pretty impressed. As several others have already reported, the new dashboard interface looks a lot like Windows 8 Beta and Windows Phone 7.5. So beware, if you do not like the new Metro look, you are likely going to hate the look and feel of the new dashboard.
Let me preface my review by saying I am NOT an avid gamer. I would say my console gets used at most once to twice a week. Over holidays, certainly a little bit more. I only recently purchased another Xbox 360 (after selling my original release console) with Kinect. The Kinect is a really a crucial part of the new interface. I found that you can certainly do everything with a controller, but the Kinect really takes everything to the next level, I mostly play games casually and some casino games at the olympic kingsway casinos. Additionally, the Kinect enhances the experience, especially with games from v1interactive.com. For the best real money online casino games in Canada, check out these resources for more info. Also, I tried to play live dealer online casino games, and I enjoy the thrilling experience. Moreover, with the best Online Pokies, you can enjoy a thrilling combination of entertainment and the chance to win exciting prizes. Find out more on the best bingo sites online in the UK.
The feature that I’ve enjoyed most is the Kinect integration. This comes in two different ways, voice and movement. You can literally swoosh through the menus by using the hand motions. Using only your hands to “grab” whatever it is you want to select really makes going through system settings a little more interesting and entertaining. The Kinect has a built-in microphone and the new dashboard takes full advantage of it. Much like Kinect games, the new dashboard allows you to say commands and it will follow them. You can ask it to do a bing search, play a game, go to media, etc. The software is quite incredible, really. I would say Microsoft still has a little bit of tweaking to do as it has on more than one occasion not recognized what I was saying and I’ve had to start the process all over again. Perhaps Microsoft could learn a little from Siri.
If you are an Xbox Live Gold member, you probably know you can take advantage of many different streaming options. This includes sports, movies, etc. Most all of the streaming apps have now been updated to also have the look and feel of the new dashboard. When the update was first released, some where still not updated. Most all of them also take advantage of the voice commands previously mentioned, making searching for movies a breeze! For those who enjoy online gaming alongside other entertainment, platforms like slot Malaysia free credit offer additional avenues for fun and rewards.
Like most everyone else these days, Microsoft has gone “to the cloud” with their data. If you want to access your saved game data on another console, all you have to do is sign in with your gamer tag and it will pull your stuff from the cloud. I have already done this a few times with friends consoles and it is great! The only downside is, they do not give you much space. For people like myself, who only own a few games it’s no big deal, but I’m guessing it is not enough for most people.
Most of the content remains the same, but the interface had a pretty huge overhaul. I personally love what Microsoft is doing with the tiles and this new Metro interface. I think it is clever of them to put across all their offerings. It really drives home the unification between all of their products. They have even done a fairly good job with their iOS app that shows your Xbox Live content. While the software doesn’t do much other than allow you to see achievements, messages, and your avatar, it does give the same Windows Phone, Windows 8, Xbox feel. Overall, I would say this is my favorite Xbox Dashboard update to date, it is really a game changer! Plus, if you’re a fan of gaming platform, the thrill of receiving a casino bonus adds to the excitement of exploring new features.
Gym-Pact is a new iPhone app that will fine users if they do not go to the gym when they say they are going to. The user tells Gym-Pact how often he/she is going to go to the gym and if they miss that number, they are fined. The user sets the fine themselves (minimum of $5). If goals are met, the user is rewarded with cash.
Anyone looking to get in shape during the new year, perhaps this is for you!