https://play.google.com/s .. tube.unplugged

• Date: August 23rd (Wed) 11:00 AM EST (Doors Open at 10:00 AM EST)

• Venue: Park Avenue Armory, New York, USA

Fortune has for the second consecutive year declared Apple the most profitable company in the world, despite coming in 9th overall in the Fortune Global 500. The rankings are based on the most recent financial year for each company.

Fortune is best known for its Fortune 500 ranking of U.S. companies, where Apple this year took the #3 slot. But the company also compiles a global list, and itÂ’s here that Apple came in 9th in the overall rankings but #1 in profitability Â…

The overall rankings are based on revenue, with Walmart taking the top slot.

The worldÂ’s 500 largest companies generated $27.7 trillion in revenues and $1.5 trillion in profits in 2016. Together, this yearÂ’s Fortune Global 500 companies employ 67 million people worldwide and are represented by 34 countries.

WalmartÂ’s revenue was a little over $485B, while Apple earned its 9th place with $215B.

But when it comes to profits, itÂ’s a very different story. There, Walmart is relegated to 17th place, with profits of $13.6B, while Apple took first place with $45.7B.

After more than a decade of solid growth fueled first by the iPod music player and then by the even more popular iPhone, Apple finally appeared to hit a wall, with lackluster sales “relatively speaking” for other products such as the iPad and Apple Watch and a heavy reliance on upgraded phone models. But the most profitable publicly-traded company in the world is investing heavily in software and its efforts in new areas of opportunity, including automobiles, remain in development (and under wraps).

Apple retained its position despite its profits falling 14.4% year-on-year. It also topped FortuneÂ’s list of the worldÂ’s most admired companies.

Apple is the largest company in the world by market cap, and has long been predicted to be the first company to be worth a trillion dollars (though not everyone agrees).
 
https://9to5mac.com/2017/07/20/apple-global-fortune-500/

T-Mobile has been bragging that its network is more suited for unlimited 4G LTE service than its rivals. And some of this has actually been borne out by data mined by Ookla, the creator of the Speedtest app, and analyzed by the carrier itself. T-Mobile has now gone 14 consecutive quarters with the fastest network in the U.S. While a chart posted by T-Mobile shows the latter's data speeds continuing to move higher, T-Mobile Chief Technical Officer Neville Ray pointed out that the chart reveals what happens when "carriers jump into unlimited without doing the hard work to make sure their networks are ready."

As Ray points out, Verizon's network wasn't quite ready for the heavy increase in traffic and Big Red's network speed, which was virtually tied for first with T-Mobile during the second half of last year, has now dropped to third place. It's 22.7 Mbps average download data speed trails the 23 Mbps reading achieved by AT&T and the 26.9 Mbps average tallied by T-Mobile. Sprint's 20Mbps speed didn't meet the cut according to T-Mobile. Ray also points out that T-Mobile has now surpassed Verizon in LTE availability. T-Mobile customers receive an LTE signal 91.5% of the time they need one, compared to 90.2% for Verizon and 83.4% for AT&T. Again, Sprint didn't make the cut since it scored under 84% for the entire year to date (get the joke about Sprint yet?).

T-Mobile's CTO notes that the company has finished rolling out its 700MHz Extended Range LTE and the 600MHz spectrum that it won during the FCC's recent auction. T-Mobile is expediting the process of adding these low frequency airwaves to its network. At low frequencies, these airwaves travel farther and penetrate buildings easier. Last month, T-Mobile ran a test of License Assisted Access (LAA) and hit 741 Mbps download speeds in a field test on the T-Mobile network.

 https://www.phonearena.co .. ow-3rd_id96115

Not that it would come as a huge surprise, but, according to anonymous "industry sources" out of Korea, next year's Galaxy S9 and S9+, are expected to sport the same 5.77" and 6.22" screen diagonals as the current S8 duo. The leak has been intercepted courtesy of an order given to Samsung Display - the company's screen-making subsidiary - outlining the specifics of the upcoming S9 panels.

The S9 and S9+ display are also expected to be curved to the sides, and have minimal top and bottom bezels, resulting in the "infinity" design that Samsung introduced with its flagships this year. The kicker, however, will be that with the S9 Samsung will give a second try to incorporating in-display finger scanner with the the OLED package - something that it didn't have time to do for the S8, and most likely won't have for the Note 8 as well. Thus, Samsung will probably keep most of the new S9 features for under the hood and in the software department, which is pretty explicable, given that it just introduced its flashy new Infinity design this spring.

The report claims that Samsung Display has also received preliminary specifics for a 6.32" Note 9 panel, leading us to the thought that this is actually the same panel that will land in the Note 8 next month. This diagonal is only slightly larger than what the S8+ has, though the edgier corners of some leaked Note 8 images, and the more recessed bezels, indicate a larger screen area may be in store with the new Note indeed, as you can see below.

 https://www.phonearena.co .. Note-8_id96129

The glory days for the TSMC chip foundry may be over soon, if a new report out of Korea is to be believed. TSMC became the sole supplier of Apple's A-series processors in 2013, and never looked back. This year, it has been tasked with producing the 10nm Apple A11 chipsets, and the expected upgrade super cycle brought on by the iPhone 8, has shot the TSMC shares into the stratosphere, making its founder a billionaire in the process.

That sweet deal with Apple may be coming to an end, a Korean publication tips, as Samsung has eventually won back Apple's chip business. The deal reportedly came through when Kwon Oh-hyun, Samsung's VP for the LSI chip and memory division, visited Apple headquarters to talk details back in June. Since then, Samsung has allegedly ordered extreme ultra violet lithography machines, which are the latest and greatest equipment in chipset making, and these are said to be put aside solely for making 7nm processors for the iPhones that will land in 2018 with Apple A12 processors inside.

Since next year's crop is expected to be made entirely with OLED displays, Samsung has reportedly managed to convince Apple that there are synergies and savings to be made if it, as the world's largest OLED panel and chip maker, is tasked with producing both elements for the future iPhones that Apple is envisioning. Samsung already listed the most profitable quarter in its history, buoyed mainly by the display, chip and memory divisions, so we can only imagine what its quarters will look like if it manages to win both Apple's display and processor orders for the next iPhones.

source: The Investor

 https://www.phonearena.co .. in-tow_id96132

HTC users blast company after ads appear on the default keyboard

As far as mobile advertising is concerned, the less intrusive they are the better. While some websites have frustrating ads that forcefully interject themselves into your web browser, users can easily fight back by refusing to visit sites with insufferable ads. But what happens when mobile users canÂ’t escape pestering ads because theyÂ’re inextricably tied to the OS itself?

It may sound like an implausible scenario but, believe it or not, itÂ’s actually an issue currently affecting HTC users. According to a report from Android Police, HTC users are finding that the default TouchPal keyboard now features mobile ads. As far as intrusive and downright oppressive advertising is concerned, this one has to take the cake. ItÂ’s one thing to be bombarded with ads when browsing the web, itÂ’s a completely another matter to see ads when you have your keyboard open and could potentially be in the midst of typing a personal text message or an important email.

The image below showcases what many HTC users have been seeing.


As for the root of the problem, it doesn’t seem to be anything HTC did proactively on its own. Rather, it seems as if the ad-centric update to the keyboard was done by TouchPal without any input or authorization from HTC itself. Nonetheless, Android Authority astutely points out that “HTC shouldn’t let another company control such a vital component of its products.”

Predictably, frustrated HTC users have been lighting up the company on Twitter.



Of course, TouchPal hasnÂ’t escaped the wrath of frustrated users either.


Meanwhile, HTCÂ’s official Twitter account has been instructing users to uninstall updates to the keyboard app. Additionally, impacted users can also opt to use a different keyboard altogether.


All in all, there’s a good chance this was all a mistake — at least from HTC’s perspective — but it’s still quite the PR disaster.

UPDATE: HTC has released a statement claiming that the ads were an error:

Virtual Cards, Generated Instantly
Generate virtual cards that are locked to a single merchant, and can't be used anywhere else. Use one-time use cards when needed, and create recurring cards for things like monthly subscriptions and all your card-on-file relationships.

Frankly, itÂ’s too easy for people to get their hands on your credit card info online. Unless youÂ’re shopping with Final.

ItÂ’s a new virtual (and physical) Visa Signature credit card that gives you control over your financial footprint online. Once youÂ’re approved, use the Final app to generate a unique credit card number for every purchase you make. Then you can lock each number so only one merchant can use it, or lock it for a one-time purchase only. So even if someone does get a hold of your info, they canÂ’t do anything with it.

Plus, you get a notification for every purchase made, so it's easy to keep track of your card. You also get 1% cash back, and thereÂ’s no annual fee.

All that—and no footing the bill for someone else's bow ties. Nice.

 https://signup.getfinal.com/netted

A recent Reuters report states, “more than one-fifth of young adults who stream shows like Game of Thrones or Stranger Things borrow passwords from people who do not live with them.” It has even lead to speculations that password sharing on Netflix may soon be a thing of past; since Thomson Reuters has predicted a Netflix shares slump from 31 percent in the second quarter this year to 19 percent next year.

The survey saw 21 percent of young adults in the age group of 18 to 21 years using the streaming service sharing their passwords. This number is 12 percent for adults. QuartzÂ’ Quartz Index showed that Netflix, a streaming service co founded by Marc randolph and Reed Hastings, saw a gradual revenue growth from 2007 to 2015 which is now at $9 billion. However, with 50 million subscribers to its name, there is a fear that the rate of increase in subscriptions might stagnate, lowering the growth rate.

Netflix, popular for bringing the culture of online streaming into the mainstream, may have to give have to crackdown on this password sharing aspect once the quarterly earnings are released on Monday, as per analysts from The Wall Street Journal. Investor pressure to focus on increasing the revenue may lead to this crackdown.

As per ReutersÂ’ survey, the password sharing, a misnomer for password borrowing, is used to spend less on video subscription.

Conducted online in English in the US from 8 June to 26 June, the Reuters/Ipsos poll gathered responses from 4,453 adults.

Publish date: July 15, 2017 5:57 pm| Modified date: July 15, 2017 5:58 pm

Tags: Game of Thrones, HBO Now, Internet video streaming, Netflix, Netflix Password Sharing, Reed Hastings, Thomson Reuters



 http://tech.firstpost.com .. th-389473.html

"on a scale of 1 - 10, this phone is a major, major, MAJOR, GO!"

This dude just spent 13.7B on whole foods - go ahead and walk around like terminator brah.

 https://www.forbes.com/si .. /#5dedfddf7c18

Snap (SNAP), the parent company of Snapchat, closed below its $17 IPO price on Monday for the first time since its shares went public in early March.

The stock had previously flirted with that psychologically-important level last month, closing at exactly $17 on June 15. It fell to as low as $16.95 on Monday.
Snap faces concerns about its disappointing user growth, mounting losses and the upcoming end of a stock lock-up period, which will open the door for insiders to sell their shares.

The young company posted a staggering $2.2 billion loss in its first earnings report in May, and added just 8 million new daily active users during the quarter. Its stock fell as much as 25% overnight following that report.
Snap is now trading 42% below its peak of $29 in March.

In an investor note last month, Nomura Instinet analyst Anthony DiClemente sounded an alarm that third-party app download data suggests Snapchat's daily active user growth will continue to slow down this quarter.

Instagram, on the other hand, continues to grow. "Instagram's strategy of replicating key aspects of Snap's use case is bearing fruit, limiting Snap's ability to attract new users," DiClemente wrote.

Facebook (FB, Tech30) has aggressively competed with Snapchat in recent months by launching copycat features in Messenger, WhatsApp, Instagram and its flagship app.

Once the lockup period expires later this month, Snap's employees and early investors will be able sell their stock, potentially flooding the market with more Snap shares.

That, according to DiClemente, may only push the stock lower.

 http://money.cnn.com/2017 .. ice/index.html

Watch - patiently - and wait for it!