Siri understand my ‘gazpacho on ice’ perfectly

Former Apple employee claims Steve Jobs would have ‘lost his mind’ over Siri
[Via AppleInsider]

A new report quotes a former Apple employee as saying that people at the company are “embarrassed by Siri” and late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs would have “lost his mind” over the feature’s performance.

[More]

I just tested Siri with the comment from the commercial. “Remind me to put the gazpacho on ice in one hour”.

Siri got it just fine. No problem. I wonder if Apple fiddled with the server responses to deal with this? Or whether this is another instance of Apple-haters getting headlines?

“It was the largest financial transaction in the history of the world,” says Apfel. “And we couldn’t have done it without the iPad.”

How 100 iPads saved Greece $140 billion
[Via Brainstorm Tech: Technology blogs, news and analysis from Fortune Magazine » Apple 2.0]

Apple’s tablet plays a key role in the largest debt restructuring in history

FORTUNE — I got a London call last week from a Bob Apfel, a Brooklyn neighbor (and fellow Oberlin College graduate).

“Two weeks ago,” he began. “I completed the debt restructuring of Greece.”

It was pretty bold statement, but not entirely out of character. After all, Apfel runs a company called Bondholder Communications Group that does this kind of thing.

But that wasn’t the real reason for his call. He wanted to talk about the computer network his team had created to get the job done.

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The right iPad app allows people to do things more efficiently and faster then ever before. Here is provided the right financing.

UPDATE: Potentially as important as the Apollo missions

I cried at about 9:30 when the Falcon 9 achieved orbit. And listen to the cheers when both solar areas deploy at about 10:45.

We are into a new era of our exploration of space. For the first time a private organization – not a government – has launched a rocket into space, with a cargo that not only achieved orbit but is on course to set further milestones.

No private group has ever put into orbit a capsule capable of resupplying the International Space Station. On Friday, if all goes well, they will become the first such group to actually resupply the ISS.

The capsule will be able to carry men in a few more years. The era of relatively inexpensive travel to low Earth orbit has begun.

The exploration of space is now in a new stage, one where NASA can continue to do exploratory work and push the envelope but corporations can provide the development to make it realistic.

UPDATE: And supposedly James Doohan’s (Star Trek’s Scotty) ashes were on this rocket to be scattered into space. Gordon Cooper was also included in the remains of 307 people.

Improving working conditions now seen as a plus

Foxconn and Apple will share costs to improve Chinese factories
[Via AppleInsider]

Apple and Foxconn will share the costs associated with improving labor conditions at factories in China where devices like the iPhone and iPad are built.

[More]

Making the working conditions better for CHinese workers is seen as a competitive advantage by Apple and Fozconn. They will be able to hire a better employee than others.

Actually increasing worker’s pay is now a good thing. I wonder when this innovation will make it to the US?

Because Wall Street is neither rational nor efficient viz-a-viz Apple

How is AMZN worth 13 AAPLs?
[Via Brainstorm Tech: Technology blogs, news and analysis from Fortune Magazine » Apple 2.0]

There seems to be a growing disconnect in Wall Street’s valuations

Click to enlarge. Source: Jeffrey Forsberg

FORTUNE — I know that comparisons, as Shakespeare’s Dogberry put it, are supposed to be odorous, but this one is beginning to stink.

How can Apple (AAPL), with $110 billion in the bank, annual sales of $140 billion and earnings that nearly double every year, be valued so much lower than Amazon (AMZN), which has $6 billion in the bank, sales of $50 billion and earnings that fell 35% last quarter?

This is a question that reader Jeff Forsberg has been asking for nearly a year. On Friday he sent the chart above, an updated version of the coiled spring visual metaphor he introduced last June, when Amazon’s price-to-earnings ratio was 81 and Apple’s was 16.

[More]

After a year, Apple, with great and increasing profits, is worth even less than Amazon, which has falling earnings. There is no good fundamental reasons for this.

Amazon is viewed as some sort of growth stock , even though it is not really growing, while Apple is viewed like a utility, even though it is growing substantially. And has been for many quarters.

The stock market is betting that Apple’s earnings will only grow roughly 12% next year. Apple earned $26 billion last year. So Wall Street is valuing  Apple to make an extra $3 billion in 2012.

Yet in the first quarter of 2012, it increases just its cash hoard by over $16 billion. In one quarter, it made 5 times more just in cash than Wall Street is now predicting it will make for the next year. It is very likely that the simple interest on its cash from 2012 will be larger than Wall Street thinks its entire earning will be.

There is no sane or fundamental reason for Apple to be where it is right now. At least in a rational and efficient market.

The stock market does not understand Apple

Back to the balance sheet
[Via asymco]

I first noted a correlation between Apple’s share price and its balance sheet a year ago. In February, when I last checked, Apple’s share price was priced nearly at 4.6 times its cash value. The stock has had a brief rally but has returned to the trend line it’s had since late 2008.

[More]

Warren Buffett this weekend explained that Wall Street just doe not understand Apple or other 21st century companies.

• “I would not be at all surprised to see them be worth a lot more money 10 years from now but I would not buy either one of them.”
• “I sure as hell wouldn’t short them either.”
• “We couldn’t predict what would happen to Apple 10 years ago and we can’t predict what will happen to it 10 years from now.”
• “The chances of being way wrong in IBM (IBM) are probably less, at least for us, than the chances of being way wrong in Google or Apple.”
• “I just don’t know how to value them.”

The inability of the stock market to fairly value Apple on any fundamental sense is an easy proof of the inefficiency of the market. It is not perfect, especially with disruptive companies such as Apple.

The figure above shows the price of Apple correlates with the amount of  cash it has on hand. The important aspect of this is that there is no fundamental reason for why this should be. None. An efficient stock market should not value a company based on this measure.

Then we have this, from the same article. It looks at fundamentals and shows just how far off from expected they are for Apple:

 

The P/E ratio is supposed to be a measure of the future value of the company. Amazon has a P/E ratio of about 190. The market expects its stock price to increase a lot. Apple’s P/E ratio is about the same as a utility. The stock market does not expect Apple’s earnings in the future to grow much.

The PEG ratio is a somewhat crude measure of how efficient the market values a company. The P/E ratio should be a measure of growth. If we divide that by growth, we get the PEG ratio. A value of 1 indicates a close approximation of future growth with real growth.

Apple over the last 5 years has never been close to a ratio of 1. The market has substantially undervalued Apple and not properly predicted growth. Apple is almost ridiculously undervalued right now with a PEG ratio less than 0.2

Kindle saturated its market?

Kindle Fire shipments drop sharply as Apple’s iPad takes 68% tablet share
[Via AppleInsider]

Shipments of Android-based tablets including Amazon’s Kindle Fire saw a “steep drop” in the first quarter of 2012, allowing Apple’s iPad to grow to 68 percent of tablets shipped worldwide.

[More]

It seems likely that all those who want a Kindle Fire already bought them and thus the sales plummeted.

Of course they will have to offer a cheaper price. But it will also be a noticeably cheaper device.

And, I think, Apple can reduce the price of its entry level iPad if it ever needs to.

One cent for NASA

We need to dream again.

[yputube=http://youtu.be/Fl07UfRkPas]

“How much would you pay for the Universe?”

The current budget for NASA – estimated to be $17 billion in 2012 – is 0.48% of the total US budget. This is a lower percentage for NASA since 1959!

NASA has not had 1% since 1993, when its budget peaked at $19.6 billion. Both Democrats and Republicans bear the blame for this.

But they could shoulder the benefits by simply raising NASA’s budget to what it was in 1993. No need to dream of  60s era levels of funding at 4% or higher. Just 1%.

It would be great to live in a country where we could all dream about the future, instead of grub around for the leavings allowed us.

An event I am hosting in Seattle on May 22

The Science of Sustainability

From the Anthropocene to Nicaraguan coffee farmers.

It’s free.

Tuesday, May 22 at 6PM in Seattle at the Intiman Studio

In collaboration with The Next 50, SpreadingScience is happy to host the Science of Sustainability, an open discussion of an emerging body of knowledge.

Sustainability Science has been described ‘as a field defined by the problems it addresses rather than by the disciplines it employs.’ With the ability to impact virtually every aspect of our lives, it holds the promise of helping us survive many of the complex problems facing us.

Join us for an evening’s conversaton with Dr. Susan Jackels, professor at Seattle University and Dr. Lisa Graumlich, Dean, College of the Environment at the University of Washington.

It will feature short presentations by our invited guests and a facilitated discussion with the audience providing tremendous opportunity to hear first hand how our world can be transformed by this research.

Dr. Graumlich has entitled her presentation “Living in the Anthropocene: Global Change and Human Well-being.” The evidence for the pervasive human impact on the Earth system has prompted geologists to revise the geological time scale and recognize the current era as the Anthropocene (“the age of humans”). This represents a paradigm shift: humans are not just an inextricable piece of the planetary system, we are driving it. Scientists are now seeking to quantify planetary boundaries, that is tipping points where there is a risk of irreversible and abrupt environmental change. There is strong evidence that three such boundaries have been transgressed. Why does this insight matter in the context of human well-being in the Pacific Northwest?

Dr. Jackels will discuss “Coffee for Justice: International Collaborations in Nicaragua for Chemistry in Service to Small-holder Coffee Producers.“ The Coffee for Justice Project goal is to put chemistry in service to coffee producers of developing countries through research and appropriate technology methods to assist in production of specialty market quality coffee. This presentation will include a brief overview of the coffee production process, a scientific investigation that led to the design of a kit for optimization of coffee fermentation, experiences implementing the kit and method with over one hundred Nicaraguan coffee farmers, and building a coffee processing mill with waste water treatment designed by engineering students. The Coffee for Justice Project is possible through the support of the National Science Foundation, the Seattle University Endowed Mission Fund, the SU International Development Internship Program, the University of Central America Managua, Catholic Relief Services Nicaragua, Winds of Peace Foundation, Engineers Without Borders, and most importantly, the collaboration of the coffee producers of CECOSEMAC Nicaragua.

In collaboration with:

 

What is the female equivalent of Brogrammer?

Brogrammers “rage at gym to attract chicks, scare dicks!” and work “while receiving oral sex”
[Via Boing Boing]

In Mother Jones, an article exploring some of the sexist excesses of Silicon Valley’s male-dominant programmer culture. None of this is news to those of us (and by us, I mean women) who’ve worked there—but the article contains some hilarious/horrible anecdotes and examples. (via @clarajeffery)

[More]

A lot of this is what happens when an industry made of of mostly men, many of whom are not skilled socially, talk out loud while in mixed company.

And they seem to fail to realize that their industry is becoming more and more mixed all the time. Acting like a bunch of fratboys may have been endearing in private with a mix of 9-1 male -female. now it is 4-1 and people are noticing.

And, apparently some men think the female equivalent of Brogrammer is  …. Hogrammer!

Wow. That is certainly not appropriate. I imagine not many women find that appealing. And this was something someone thought could be discussed openly.

I wonder what sorts of things are going on that do not make it out into the open. And it is stupid. Creating an environment that is hostile to any group simply reduces the pool of people to draw innovative creations from.

Best evidence developers on on board with Apple

WWDC 2012: June 11-15
[Via Daring Fireball]

Three years ago it sold out in a month. Two years ago it took a week. Last year it took 12 hours. So, if you want to go, I wouldn’t fuck around.

Update: Sold out in two hours, before the U.S. west coast even woke up.

[More]

If you slept late on the West Coast, you missed it. It’s like a rock concert.

Lots of Apple shorts meeting margin calls?

Apple profits surge 94% on sales of 35.1M iPhones, 11.8M iPads
[Via AppleInsider]

Apple on Tuesday announced its best-ever second fiscal quarter, as the company saw its earnings rise 94 percent to $11.6 billion, or $12.30 per diluted share, on quarterly revenue of $39.19 billion.

[More]

So the stock was way down throughout the day, closing down over 11 points at 560.28.

Then the reports shwoing they crushed what the market had decided was a bad quarter. In after hours trading the stock is up over $40.

I imagine a big pop tomorrow morning.

Isn’t this old stuff about Apple and its cash hoarde?

by Images_of_Money

Apple’s secret plan for its mountain of cash: Buying up its own supply chain
[Via MacDailyNews]

“Apple has $100 billion of cash and a lot of ways to spend it. Add more retail stores? Check. Set up more server farms to support its iCloud service? Check. Build a second campus in Cupertino, Calif. to house its burgeoning staff? Check. Acquire companies and expand R&D? Check. Pay dividends and do stock repurchases? Check, check,” Connie Guglielmo reports for Forbes.

“How about buying up its own supply chain?” Guglielmo asks. “A lot of high-tech manufacturers on The Global 2000 dream about controlling what they pay for components and gaining the assurance that crucial parts will flow as needed. Apple is one of very few firms with the financial wherewithal to make that come true, specifically by buying production equipment to outfit new and existing factories in Asia that other people will run.”

[More]

Businessweek talked about this kind of stuff last year – Apple bought up all the necessary lasers to allow the green light on laptops to be seen. It has its own term to describe – monopsony.

Here is another example:

To manufacture the iPad 2, Apple bought so many high-end drills to make the device’s internal casing that other companies’ wait time for the machines stretched from six weeks to six months, according to a manager at the drillmaker.

Earlier last year, Fortune magazine mentioned this.

When new component technologies (touchscreens, chips, LED displays) first come out, they are very expensive to produce, and building a factory that can produce them in mass quantities is even more expensive. Oftentimes, the upfront capital expenditure can be so huge and the margins are small enough (and shrink over time as the component is rapidly commoditized) that the companies who would build these factories cannot raise sufficient investment capital to cover the costs.What Apple does is use its cash hoard to pay for the construction cost (or a significant fraction of it) of the factory in exchange for exclusive rights to the output production of the factory for a set period of time (maybe 6 – 36 months), and then for a discounted rate afterwards.

I discussed this. Tim Cook discussed this a year ago:

One thing he talked about was the $3.9 billion dollars worth of agreements Apple signed over the summer and fall with three unnamed companies in its supply chain. The money came in the form of prepayments and capital expenditures for process equipment and tooling — for building factories, in other words — for components he declined to specify but which most observers suspect are touchscreens like those used in the iPad.

So buying up the supply chanin is something it has been doing and discussing for at least a year if not longer yet Forbes just now discovered this.

Am I missing something or is Fortune kicking Forbes’ butt on this topic?

Apple makes a big company mistake – spending tens of thousands on a case that could have been settled for a few thousand while hurintg its brand

Seattle Rex vs. Apple: The Verdict Is In
[Via Seattle Rex]

A few years ago, Apple sold me a $4,000 computer with a defective graphics chip/logic board. The defective part was the Nvidia 8600M GT GPU, and when it was discovered that the machine was defective, Apple refused to take it back and issue me a refund. Instead, they promised to replace the 8600M GT boards when they failed, up to 4 years from the date of purchase. Three years later, the board failed, and predictably, Apple refused to replace it. Instead, they used the fact that the machine wouldn’t boot (due to the failed logic board) to deny the repair. Not only that, but in addition, they tried to charge me a hefty sum of money to have it replaced, knowing full well that Nvidia pays for the full repair cost.

[More]

Interesting case. A defective graphics card causes a Mac laptop to completely fail. Instead of replacing the graphics card, Apple lets it go to court. Then supplies TWO lawyers along with legal help via cell phone and text.

The plaintiff actually tries arbitration but Apple doe snot accept any of his offers.

Then the two lawyers look like idiots in court and seem surprised that the plaintiff actually knows what he is talking about.  They try to argue by press release and the plaintiff shuts them down.

Then there is this:

At one point, the judge asked Apple how much it would have cost them to have simply replaced my logic board when I had taken it in, and one of the Apple guys said “Oh, it wouldn’t have cost us anything, Nvidia foots the bill for each board we replace.”

The judge’s face almost hit the floor as he shot me a quizzical look, to which I just shrugged. I knew that he, and everyone else in the courtroom was thinking the same thing:

If Apple could have replaced my logic board at no cost to themselves, then why in the hell did they drag this out for so long, and why did they send two people to court to try and make sure that I got absolutely nothing? Friends, this is a question I have been asking myself for three months, and it is a question that I do not have the answer to.

The costs to Apple to prevent fixing the computer seem so way out of proportion to the cost of the fix – a fix that would have cost them little or nothing.

Is it simply a case of a large company following some procedure without any real insight into balancing the costs? Is there something even deeper going on here?

All I can think of is that they had a problem that should have resulted in the recall of all such laptops but did not want to pay the expense as it was Nvidia’s fault.

Their number crunchers said it would be cheaper to lose a few penny ante cases like this than to pay for a full recall.

It certainly seems strange, especially given Apple’s reputation for high-powered lawyers.

And losing cases like this does not do Apple’s brand any good at all.

Padcaster / Lenscaster lets you mount SLR lenses on iPad, we go hands-on at NAB (video)

Padcaster / Lenscaster lets you mount SLR lenses on iPad, we go hands-on at NAB (video)
[Via Engadget]

Think people look ridiculous shooting stills or video with an iPad? Try throwing an SLR lens into the equation as well. Manhattan Edit Workshop founder Josh Apter developed the Padcaster as an inexpensive solution for mounting an Apple iPad on a tripod. And why would you want to do such a thing? With 1080p video capture, built-in LTE and a on-board editing suite, such a device makes for an excellent on-the-go all-in-one, letting you shoot, cut and transmit video with a single package. One major aspect of visual storytelling that the tablet doesn’t excel at, however, is emphasizing details with blurred backgrounds, along with magnifying your subject with optical zoom. Enter the Lenscaster. This universal lens mount lets you use a standard 35mm adapter to attach any SLR optic to the iPad camera, enabling a small variety of hardware-driven optical effects, including shallow depth of field, manual focus and a zoom option that doesn’t result in detail loss.

[More]

Now add the boom mike and all the budding Spielberg’s can do really amazing things with their studio in an iPad.

I wonder when the first films will appear done with this setup.