Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Welcome To The Google Glass Freak Show

Welcome To The Google Glass Freak Show

"In the land of tech, we bloggers rarely if ever have to step in front of the camera. But now that Google has launched Google Glass into the world, the camera has turned on us in a fit of rage. Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the freak show that is Google Glass."

GOOG (Google) Unveils Big Plans For Hardware: Will They Make IT?

GOOG (Google) Unveils Big Plans For Hardware: Will They Make IT?

Apple’s iPhone’s Next 5 Years TOUGHER, Says Strategy Analytics

Apple’s iPhone’s Next 5 Years TOUGHER, Says Strategy Analytics

"For those of you keeping count at home of all things Apple (AAPL) research firm Strategy Analytics this morning issued a report saying Apple has made $150 billion in cumulative revenue from the iPhone in the last five years, selling 250 million units since the device’s debut in the summer of 2007.
The firm doesn’t break out what exactly is its estimate for iPhone sales for the current quarter ending this month.
However, although Apple is “at the top of its game,” according to Strategy Analytics analyst Neil Mawston, nevertheless “there are emerging signs that the iPhone’s next five years could get tougher,” he writes."

ARNA (Arena Pharma) Becomes Most Traded Options Past Apple Today!

"Arena Pharmaceuticals stock holders aren’t the only ones jumping for joy today — option traders are too.
Option trading in the drug maker reached unprecedented levels, surpassing the previous record by more than 35%. With more than 332,000 contracts traded, Arena was able to unseat Apple as the top traded equity option — one of the first companies to do so in at least three months, accord to Henry Schwartz, president of option data firm TradeAlert.
Apple has been leading in options trading since the stock first approached $600 in March. At that point, Apple options had various days in which more than one million contracts traded per day."

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Immigrants file most patents at top schools

Immigrants file most patents at top schools

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- A new study shows immigrants file 76% of patents at the nation's top schools. Now, the question is how to keep those bright minds in the country.

What is REALLY, Truly Going on with Facebook?

What is REALLY, Truly Going on with Facebook?

19 Patents Invented by Ingenious Celebrities (Plus One by Paula Abdul)

19 Patents Invented by Ingenious Celebrities (Plus One by Paula Abdul)

Why is the Apple Demographic So Important to Orbitz and Retailers?

Why is the Apple Demographic So Important to Orbitz and Retailers?

Many products attract certain personality types. Apple is practically creating its own demographic – one companies like Orbitz are starting to target.
Orbitz found that Apple Mac computer users spend more money than their PC counterparts on hotels per night, and stay in higher-ranked hotels. So it has begun showing Mac users costlier hotels in some search results. (Orbitz notes that it doesn’t show higher prices for the same hotel that a PC user sees, and all users can sort search results by lowest price.)
A variety of researchers have taken a crack at defining the characteristics and behavior of the Apple demographic. The average household income for adult owners of Mac computers is $98,560, compared with $74,452 for a PC owner, according to technology market data firm Forrester.

Apple wants to build cloud data center near Reno

Apple wants to build cloud data center near Reno

 

Apple is looking to set up shop in the Biggest Little City in the World, with local and state government footing the bill for a possible $89 million in tax breaks, according to the Reno Gazette-Journal.

Saturday, June 23, 2012

Apple’s Retail Army, Long on Loyalty but Short on Pay

Apple’s Retail Army, Long on Loyalty but Short on Pay

"
Worldwide, its stores sold $16 billion in merchandise.
But most of Apple’s employees enjoyed little of that wealth. While consumers tend to think of Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino, Calif., as the company’s heart and soul, a majority of its workers in the United States are not engineers or executives with hefty salaries and bonuses but rather hourly wage earners selling iPhones and MacBooks.
About 30,000 of the 43,000 Apple employees in this country work in Apple Stores, as members of the service economy, and many of them earn about $25,000 a year. They work inside the world’s fastest growing industry, for the most valuable company, run by one of the country’s most richly compensated chief executives, Tim Cook. Last year, he received stock grants, which vest over a 10-year period, that at today’s share price would be worth more than $570 million.
And though Apple is unparalleled as a retailer, when it comes to its lowliest workers, the company is a reflection of the technology industry as a whole.
The Internet and advances in computing have created untold millionaires, but most of the jobs created by technology giants are service sector positions — sales employees and customer service representatives, repairmen and delivery drivers — that offer little of Silicon Valley’s riches or glamour.
Much of the debate about American unemployment has focused on why companies have moved factories overseas, but only 8 percent of the American work force is in manufacturing, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Job growth has for decades been led by service-related work, and any recovery with real legs, labor experts say, will be powered and sustained by this segment of the economy.
And as the service sector has grown, the definition of a career has been reframed for millions of American workers.
“In the service sector, companies provide a little bit of training and hope their employees leave after a few years,” says Arne L. Kalleberg, a professor of sociology at the University of North Carolina. “Especially now, given the number of college kids willing to work for low wages.”

Friday, June 22, 2012

Steve Wozniak Meets With Kim Dotcom, MegaUpload Founder

Steve Wozniak Meets With Kim Dotcom, MegaUpload Founder

"Megaupload founder and alleged Internet evil-doer Kim Dotcom is back online. As restrictions on his access to the Internet were dropped while Dotcom's extradition hearing in New Zealand drags forward, Dotcom set up a new Twitter account (@kimdotcom) and started sending out thanks to his supporters. They include Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, who Dotcom apparently met with while still under house arrest. He also has teased the launch of yet another Mega-business—MegaBox, a music cloud storage application Dotcom's company was working on before his arrest.
In a post to his new Twitter account on June 20, Dotcom thanked Wozniak for his involvement with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which has partnered with Megaupload's hosting company Carpathia to help Mega-customers retrieve their data."

LinkedIn faces class action suit over password leak

LinkedIn faces class action suit over password leak

Sunday, June 17, 2012

How To Be Perfect: Part of Upcoming Book

Get some sleep.

Eat an orange every morning.

Be friendly. It will help make you happy.

Hope for everything. Expect nothing.

Take care of things close to home first. Straighten up your room
before you save the world. Then save the world.
Be nice to people before they have a chance to behave badly.

Don't stay angry about anything for more than a week, but don't
forget what made you angry. Hold your anger out at arm's length
and look at it, as if it were a glass ball. Then add it to your glass 
ball collection.

Wear comfortable shoes.

Do not spend too much time with large groups of people.

Plan your day so you never have to rush.

Show your appreciation to people who do things for you, even if
you have paid them, even if they do favors you don't want.

After dinner, wash the dishes.

Calm down.

Don't expect your children to love you, so they can, if they want 
to.

Don't be too self-critical or too self-congratulatory.

Don't think that progress exists. It doesn't.

Imagine what you would like to see happen, and then don't do
anything to make it impossible.

Forgive your country every once in a while. If that is not 
possible, go to another one.

If you feel tired, rest.

Don't be depressed about growing older. It will make you feel 
even older. Which is depressing.

Do one thing at a time.

If you burn your finger, put ice on it immediately. If you bang
your finger with a hammer, hold your hand in the air for 20
minutes. you will be surprised by the curative powers of ice and
gravity.

Do not inhale smoke.

Take a deep breath.

Do not smart off to a policeman.

Be good.

Be honest with yourself, diplomatic with others.

Do not go crazy a lot. It's a waste of time. 

Drink plenty of water. When asked what you would like to 
drink, say, "Water, please."

Take out the trash.

Love life.

Use exact change.

When there's shooting in the street, don't go near the window.
Excerpts from "How to be Perfect" by Ron Padgett, from How to be Perfect. © Coffee House Press, 2007. Reprinted with permission.