Apple earnings preview: Second quarter may test investors' patience

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Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook speaks before a new-product introduction in Cupertino, Calif. (Marcio Jose Sanchez / Associated Press / September 10, 2013)
By Chris O'Brien
April 23, 2014, 6:48 a.m.
Three months ago, when Apple reported its holiday earnings, the company posted record revenues thanks to refreshed lines of iPads and iPhones that had launched in the fall.

But instead of basking in a big win, Apple got pounded by Wall Street because of what the company said would happen in this current quarter. Apple projected a range of revenue expectations that raised the possibility of its first revenue decline in more than a decade.

Apple is scheduled to report second-quarter earnings after the markets close Wednesday, and most analysts think the company will actually squeak out a slight revenue gain. And since the last earnings call, Apple's stock has recovered most of its losses, closing Tuesday at $531.7, up from a dip below $500 a couple months ago.

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Still, investors and analysts are not exactly bubbling with optimism about Apple these days. They seem resigned to the fact that the days of rocket-like growth of iPhone and iPad sales are over. Indeed, more than half the analysts polled by Fortune expected that Apple would report that iPad sales declined in the March quarter.

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The company itself forecast revenue of $42 billion to $44 billion for the quarter, compared with $43.6 billion for the same quarter a year ago. Currently, Wall Street's consensus estimate is around $43.62 billion for the quarter.

On the profits side, Wall Street is expecting earnings of $10.22 per share, compared with $10.09 a year ago. The increase is due in large part to Apple's increasingly aggressive stock buyback program.

Analysts have accepted the fact that Apple is going to continue to focus on the higher-end, premium market for gadgets. Last year, many were hoping and expecting the company to unveil a lower-priced iPhone in order to be more competitive overseas and at least stem its market-share losses to Android.

But with Chief Executive Tim Cook making it clear that Apple would continue to focus on quality over quantity of units sold, most analysts have stopped talking about a cheaper iPhone.

"We see Apple as a provider of premium priced electronics, a lucrative market but one that may not sustain its current market valuation of $473 billion in the years ahead," Colin Gillis, an analyst at BGC Financial, wrote in a note to clients this week.

In the short term, that has some Apple watchers growing more pessimistic. Brian White, a Cantor Fitzgerald analyst, lowered his outlook for the current quarter that ends in June. Instead, like many analysts, he's looking ahead to the second half of the year, when he hopes some much-rumored new products such as a bigger iPhone will materialize.

"In our view, the ramp of the iPhone 6 (4.7-inch and 5.5-inch "iPhad"-like device) and iWatch in the second-half of CY:14 are more important than Apple's 2Q:FY14 performance and potentially soft 3Q:FY14 outlook," he wrote in a note to clients.

Analyst Gene Munster of Piper Jaffray was a bit more optimistic about Apple's earnings for the second quarter, expecting the company to report $44 billion, close to the high end of its range. But he's also expecting Apple to forecast 5% growth for the current quarter, below the 8% Wall Street currently expects.

Of course, there's almost zero chance that Cook will say anything about new products Wednesday. Most likely, Apple watchers will have to wait for its World Wide Developers Conference in June for any talk of updates or new products.

The question for Apple is how long investors will be content to ride out a quiet period until those mythical new products appear.

Original Post at www.news.google.com

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Now You Can Travel Through Time on Google Maps

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MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. April 23, 2014 (AP)
By MICHAEL LIEDTKE AP Technology Writer

Trips down memory lane are now available on Google's digital maps.

The new twist on time travel is debuting Wednesday as part of the "Street View" feature in Google's maps, a navigational tool that attracts more than 1 billion visitors each month.

Street View snapshots will now include an option to see what neighborhoods and landmarks looked like at different periods in the last seven years, as Google Inc. has been dispatching camera-toting cars to take street-level pictures for its maps.

Google Inc. intends to keep adding pictures to the digital time capsules as its photo-taking cars continue to cruise the same streets gathering updates.

"As time goes by, many of these images are going to become vintage," predicted Vinay Shet, a Google product manager who oversaw the company's glimpse into the past. "We want our maps to be comprehensive as we build a digital mirror of the world."

Like everything else on Google's map, the time-tripping option is free. Google makes money off its maps from advertising, so the Mountain View, Calif., company is constantly coming up with new attractions to keep people coming back.

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Even though the photos only date back to 2007, some of them illustrate dramatic changes. Some photos show how neighborhoods in cities like Tohoku, Japan looked before and after a 9.0-magnitude earthquake struck in March 2011. Others show the gradual recovery of New Orleans neighborhoods in the years following the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. Scrolling over to Washington D.C. will provide a look at the restoration of the historic Howard Theatre in the nation's capital.

In New York, the Street View map presents a string of photos illustrating the changing skyline as the Freedom Tower at the World Trade Center was built. Even looking at the evolution of Times Square during the past seven years can evoke nostalgic feelings while gazing at a giant billboard advertising a flip-style cellphone in 2007.

The visual retrospectives aren't available throughout Google's maps, although Shet says there should be at least one look back in time for just about every neighborhood that can be viewed through the Street View format.

Google's new feature is displaying more photos of major city centers over time than suburban streets because the company's camera-bearing cars return to densely populated areas more frequently.

Adding the photos from the past will roughly double the total imagery in Street View once the rollout is completed in the next two days. Google declined to say how many pictures are already in Street View, which spans 55 countries. The look-back feature will be available in all but three of those countries: Germany and Switzerland, where government regulations restrict Google's use of the past images, and South Africa, where technical problems have slowed the feature's rollout.

When a retrospective is available in Street View, a small clock appears in the left corner of the current picture of a location. Clicking on the clock produces a visual portal into different time periods.

The trips can be emotional. For instance, Street View's scenes often include people who happened to be in the frame when Google's cars took the picture. Over time, some of these people will die and Google expects those pictures will have special meaning for survivors and other descendants.

Some Street View pictures posted through the years have also upset people who were captured in activities or visiting places that they wanted to keep private. Google now blurs the images of people who contact the company asking to be shielded from Street View. Masking will be available on the older photos too, Shet said, even if it's just because a person didn't like the way he or she looked a few years ago.

Posted at http://abcnews.go.com/

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MH370 search: 'Object of interest' found on Western Australian coast

(CNN) -- Australian officials say an "object of interest" in the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines plane has been found, but Malaysian authorities said it was too early to tell if it is a real lead.

Australian Transport Safety Bureau Chief Commissioner Martin Dolan described the object as appearing to be sheet metal with rivets and said it was recovered on the coast of Western Australia.

"It's sufficiently interesting for us to take a look at the photographs," he said. "We take all leads seriously."

At a news conference Wednesday, Hishammuddin Hussein, Malaysia's acting transport minister, said that his country has not received any photos from Australia and that so far, all of the objects found in the search have not been related to the missing plane.

Even the Australians expressed caution.

"The more we look at it, the less excited we get," Dolan said.

The object was picked up near Augusta, about 300 kilometers (186 miles) south of Perth, a source with the Australian Defence Force told CNN.

The source also described the object as having rivets on one side with what appears to be a fiberglass coating.

When asked about the shape and scale of the object, the source described it as "kind of rectangular," but torn and misshapen.

The source said it was too difficult to estimate the size because they had only seen one photo with no clear scale.

The object of interest is in the custody of a police agency in Western Australia. Authorities there wouldn't comment further because it's part of a federal investigation.

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A determined effort

The hunt for the Flight 370 is a determined effort, but there have been few headlines so far.

A high-tech underwater drone was completing its 10th mission Wednesday, without finding any sign of the Boeing 777 jetliner.

The Bluefin-21 has scanned about 80% of the intended territory.

With 20% of the search area left to be explored by the drone, the search strategy remains the same, Hishammuddin said Wednesday.

"We will continue with the search operation until we fully cover the search area," he said.

Stormy weather postponed the air search for a second day Wednesday. The ships plying the waters off the coast of Australia kept their vigil.

And despite the search efforts for MH370 repeatedly coming up empty during these 47 days, there's no suggestion the hunt in the southern Indian Ocean is anywhere close to ending.

Quite to the contrary, according to Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott.

"We are not going to abandon ... the families of the 239 people who were on that plane by lightly surrendering while there is reasonable hope of finding something," he said Wednesday. "We may well rethink the search, but we will not rest until we have done everything we can to solve this mystery."

Long-term strategy

Malaysian and Australian authorities are already mapping out a long-term strategy for the search, which could conceivably go on for months or years, if the two-year search for Air France Flight 447 is any guide.

Guidelines drafted by Malaysia raise the possibility of a significantly wider search area should the current underwater search fail to turn up evidence of the plane. The document discusses how best to deploy resources, including new underwater search assets.

Investigators would love to find the flight data recorders from Flight 370, a potential treasure trove of information into what happened to the jetliner and the 239 passengers and crew on board.

If found, the "black boxes" probably would go to the Australian Transport Safety Board's accident investigation lab.

But the investigation is officially Malaysian, so that country's officials would decide where the boxes would go.

Australia is just one of a handful of countries that have the capability and technical know-how to decipher what's inside a black box.

The Malaysian Cabinet approved the appointment of an international investigation team to look into the disappearance of Flight 370, Hishammuddin said.

The names of the members will be announced next week, he added. He also said the team will not be looking at the criminal aspects of the investigation, which remain under the Royal Malaysian Police.

"The main purpose is to evaluate and determine the cause of the accident," Hishammuddin said.

Malaysia has completed a preliminary report on the incident, as required by the International Civil Aviation Organization, but has not released it publicly, he said.

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Getting the data

Sometimes, getting the data is simple.

"A lot of our work is with undamaged recorders, and it's very easy to download them much as you would a USB memory stick," said Neil Campbell, an Australian transport safety investigator with more than two decades of experience.

But the process becomes much more technical if the recorders are damaged.

In the case of water damage, possible after weeks at the bottom of the ocean, Campbell will rinse the board very carefully, then use a water displacement liquid, before drying out the circuit board in an oven. That process can take a couple of days.

After that, it's a process of downloading the raw data and decoding the information, or in the case of the voice recorder, listening to what was said.

It may be the only way the families of those on board the March 8 flight -- that set off from the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur destined for Beijing -- may get answers to the questions they've been asking.

"There's a satisfaction in working out what happened with the accident and the conclusions, and the closure that that brings," Campbell said.

Posted at CNN

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Ukraine crisis: Russia 'to respond if its interests' attacked

The BBC's Natalia Antelava visits Ukrainian soldiers on the border with Russia

Continue reading the main story

Russia will respond if its interests in Ukraine are attacked, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said, drawing a parallel with the 2008 Georgian war.

Speaking to Russian state TV channel RT, Mr Lavrov also accused the US of "running the show" in Ukraine.

And in a statement, Russia's foreign ministry repeated its call for Ukraine to withdraw military units from the country's east.

Ukraine's government faces an armed revolt there by pro-Russia separatists.

Kiev and the West say Moscow commands gunmen in eastern Ukraine - something Russia denies.

In recent weeks, pro-Russian militants have seized administrative buildings in at least a dozen towns in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

They have installed their own officials, in similar tactics to those used to take over the Ukrainian region of Crimea earlier this year.

              

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Pro-Russian gunmen largely control at least nine cities in Donetsk region

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow this week

Joe Biden had talks on Tuesday with Ukrainian leaders including PM Arseniy Yatsenyuk (r)

The US has called on Moscow to ask pro-Russian gunmen to lay down their weapons and leave public buildings. It has also urged Russia to tone down its aggressive rhetoric or face further sanctions.

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'Like in Georgia'

It was "quite telling" that Kiev had re-launched its "anti-terrorist" operation in the region on Tuesday during a visit by US Vice-President Joe Biden, Mr Lavrov told Russia Today.

"If our interests, our legitimate interests, the interests of Russians have been attacked directly, like they were in South Ossetia for example, I do not see any other way but to respond in full accordance with international law," Mr Lavrov said.

Russian fought a brief war with Georgia in the summer of 2008 after Tbilisi sent troops into the breakaway region of South Ossetia to regain control from the Russian-backed rebels.

Thousands of Russian troops have massed along Ukraine's borders in recent weeks.

Mr Lavrov added: "There is no reason not to believe that the Americans are running the show."

He also reiterated accusations that Kiev had failed to fulfil commitments laid out in the 17 April Geneva accord designed to end the crisis.

The EU and US accuse Russia of controlling the gunmen, and of failing to honour the Geneva accord.

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'Torture claims'

Meanwhile, the standoff in towns across Donetsk region appears to be intensifying.

A pro-Kiev local councillor was found dead on Tuesday near the flashpoint city of Sloviansk.

Ukrainian officials said Volodymyr Rybak's body suggested he had suffered "brutal torture".

And the US state department has said it is "deeply concerned" at reports that pro-Russian militants in Sloviansk are holding American journalist Simon Ostrovsky, who works for Vice News.

Unrest began in Ukraine last November over whether the country should look towards Moscow or the West.

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Strict Parenting Linked to Higher Obesity Risk in Kids

Credit: Stephen Coburn | Shutterstock View full size image

Children whose parents are controlling and don't communicate well with their sons and daughters may be more likely to be obese, a new study finds.

Researchers found that children ages 2 to 5 whose parents set strict limits, without allowing much dialogue or showing much affection, were 30 percent more likely to be obese than their peers whose parents were affectionate and had discussions about behavior with their children.

And for kids ages 6 to 11, those with stricter parents had a 37 percent higher chance of being obese than kids whose parents were affectionate and communicated well with their children.

The researchers also found that poverty contributed to an increased child obesity risk. However, regardless of a family's income level, parenting style still seemed to influence the obesity risk in kids. [10 Scientific Tips For Raising Happy Kids]
"Even if you control for the poverty, the parenting style can still make a difference," said study author Lisa Kakinami, an epidemiologist at McGill University in Montreal.
In the study, the researchers used data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth, a survey conducted every two years that examined the BMIs (body mass indexes) of kids ages 11 and under in Canada. The data were gathered from 1994 through 2008.
The research team identified four parenting styles: authoritative, in which parents are demanding but also responsive to their kids' needs; authoritarian, in which parents are demanding but not responsive; permissive, in which parents are responsive to their children but not demanding; and negligent, in which parents are neither demanding nor responsive.
Kids whose parents had an authoritarian style had the greatest risk of being obese. The risk of obesity in kids with permissive parents was also elevated, compared with kids whose parents had an authoritative style.
The findings show the importance of good communication with kids, the researchers said.
"Authoritative parents have rules, and they enforce them — but they also spend time with the child and show affection to the child," Kakinami said. When the child misbehaves, authoritative parents discuss the problem with the child and explain why it was wrong.
On the other hand, authoritarian parents often fail to explain to their kids the rationale behind a punishment or a rule. These parents may have more control over their child, but they don't explain to the child why that control is there, Kakinami said.
This lack of explanation makes it hard for kids to learn to regulate their own behavior, including their choices of what to eat. For instance, if parents allow their children to eat only a specific amount of a certain snack without explaining why, "the child does not learn to stop eating when they are full," she said. However, further research is needed to confirm the relationship between these ideas, Kakinami noted.
But establishing rules is still important, she said. "Children thrive under these boundaries, as long as you can explain to the child and discuss with the child why these boundaries are put in place," Kakinami said.
"The study makes it clear that some parenting styles are better than others in terms of helping their children avoid becoming overweight and obese," Dr. Stephen R. Daniels, a pediatrician, professor at the University of Colorado and spokesman for the American Heart Association, said in a statement.
It is also important that the study recognizes a relationship between poverty and obesity in kids, said Daniels, who was not involved in the study.
The study was conducted in Canada, but the findings are likely to apply to U.S. children, too, he said.

Usain Bolt Could Fly on Saturn Moon Titan: Here's How.

Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt finishes first at 100m men for the IAAF World Athletics Finals main event at Kaftatzoglio Stadium on September 11, 2009 in Thessaloniki, Greece.

Humans would be able to take flight off the surface of Saturn's moon Titan simply by running in a wingsuit — but only if they were as fast as sprinter Usain Bolt, a group of physics students say.

Of all the celestial bodies in our solar system, Titan most closely resembles Earth, with stable liquid on its surface and a dense, nitrogen-rich atmosphere. But its lakes are made of methane, it maintains chilly temperatures of minus 288 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 178 degrees Celsius), and the planet has lower gravity and a stronger surface pressure compared with Earth.

Hannah Lerman, a 21-year-old student at the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom, said in a statement that she had seen a lot of claims online that humans might be able to get aloft above Titan if only they could run across the alien terrain with wings strapped onto their arms. She wanted to put this idea to the test.

Heartbreaking note to dead wife left with bouquet of flowers at bus shelter where they met in 1950.

A HEARTBROKEN widower has returned to the spot where he met his beloved wife 64 years ago.

A bouquet of flowers and an emotional note has been left at a bus shelter near Victoria Gardens in Neath.

The note said they had met at the shelter two to three weeks before Christmas in 1950.

The unknown couple then married two years after — meaning they marked their golden wedding anniversary in 2002, and their 60th wedding anniversary two years ago.

The note also said: “Joan, my beloved, passed away on 09/03/2013 and broke my heart for ever!

“Rest in peace my darling. I’ll see you soon, I'll be 87 soon so I will not be long...God Bless.”

Neath resident Simon Watkins found the flowers and note.

“I went to the bus station and there was a bunch of tulips tied to one of the benches in the shelter with a note attached to it,” he said.

In 2012 to mark St Valentine’s Day, audience development officer at Victoria Gardens, Sarah Maybery-Thomas, invited couples who met in the gardens to return.

Around 50 years ago a match-making walk called a Monkey Parade was held through the town and in Victoria Gardens.

The parade was when young single people used to walk around the gardens in order to meet one another.