Microsoft Posts $492 Million Loss

Microsoft has just announced its financial results for the fiscal quarter ending June 30th, 2012, and the company has posted a net loss of $492 million. Despite record revenue of $18.06 billion, the company was weighed down by what it’s calling a “goodwill impairment charge” of $6.2 billion…

…the quarter’s revenue figure represents an increase of 7 percent from the same time last year, with its quarterly operating income of $6.93 billion representing a twelve-percent increase.

Wow. Although Microsoft seems to be turning things around, it is still strange to think that this is their first operating loss since they went public in 1986. Oddly, the company also reported record-setting revenue. I hope things turn around for the company, but it is interesting to think that one day we can look back at this as the beginning of the end for Microsoft.

Making Yahoo! Relevant Again

The play here is simple: buy 500px and rebrand it as “the new Flickr”. Migrate the entire existing Flickr user base and instantly make them all happy.

Yahoo buys DuckDuckGo and starts serving ads on it, and make it the default Yahoo search engine. Yahoo is already an option on most browsers and devices (like iOS) so the potential user base is there. Putting the Yahoo brand behind the DuckDuckGo power, might be a win-win for both.

This is an excellent, viable plan to revive Yahoo!.

Yahoo appoints Marissa Mayer as new CEO

The only way I interact with Yahoo now is through the Weather and Stocks apps on my iPhone. I honestly can’t decide if Yahoo has any place in Silicon Valley anymore, it excels at nothing. Congratulations, Marissa Mayer, you have the dead-end job no one wanted (start at 3:50).

On Twitter’s API Crackdown

tumblr_m7633uHGFd1qbdoblTwitter follows Facebook down the walled garden path

“The early adopters who have tasted the fruits of polished third party clients are also the key influencers in media, print, television and digital, and the backlash would be swift and lengthy,” said Andrew Stone, Twittelator’s founder. “All of the good will people associate with Twitter could be tossed overboard if you piss off the trend makers and rock stars. And I bet the guys at Google+ are just rubbing their hands together in expectant anticipation of just such a mistake!”

I see the same potential scenario, although I don’t see people moving to Google+ soon. I understand that Twitter wants to take control of its ecosystem and I think the best way to accomplish this would be to grandfather third-party clients, e.g. letting existing clients continue to use its API, but ceasing to allow any more third-party clients to continue to do so.

This would mean people using existing third-party clients could keep using those apps, and developers could keep improving their apps. Now, if Twitter still wants everyone using its app, it would have to improve rapidly on its existing app or purchase apps like Tweetbot so power users don’t react too harshly. This way, the only people that would have to dramatically alter their plans would be developers looking to make a third-party Twitter client, which no sane person should be doing at this point.

By doing this, Twitter could let users move to their first-party client at will this way, user dissatisfaction could be minimized and Twitter can take all of its users under its own wing.

Decisions, decisions

This iPad Mini stuff has me thinking the same thoughts. Me, I’m an 11-inch MacBook Air man. But I’ll admit it feels a bit silly to pack a bag with both an 11-inch Air and an iPad. Two devices of nearly the same size. But, when traveling, I really do wind up using both of them. (Insert the argument for the Microsoft Surface here.) And I never go anywhere without my iPhone.

So if I’m going to pack an 11-inch Air and an iPhone, and one more device, I can definitely see the case that a smaller tablet makes more sense as the device in the middle. But, an 11-inch Air and a 9.7-inch iPad (3) combined still weigh only 3.82 pounds. The new MacBook Pro with Retina Display — by the far the lightest 15-inch notebook Apple has ever made — weighs 4.46 pounds. So maybe it’s the people who carry a big notebook who’ll be most tempted to get a smaller iPad, since they’re already carrying more weight. Decisions, decisions.

John Gruber

“Decisions, decisions.”

This is why I have a hard time believing Apple will make a 7.85 inch iPad. Not because of scaling apps, or the pain it could cause developers, but because it may simply confuse people who don’t know what the difference between the two is. If Apple releases an iPad mini, their biggest hurdle will be telling people which one is the right iPad for them.

(Note: Some blogs call this iPad a 7 inch iPad. They would be incorrect and apparently did not learn how to round numbers in first grade.)

Still Holding on to the Past

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Why channels still designate that they are in high definition? Heck, why do we still have standard definition channels? It is really time for cable and satellite companies to grow up. High definition is the standard now, and in light of Apple’s Retina Display products, 1080p resolution on a screen above 20 inches really isn’t high definition anymore. Seriously, move on.

The Tesla Model S

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Today Tesla Motors shipped the ground-breaking Model S. I call this car is ground-breaking because it is the first reasonably priced electric car that doesn’t totally suck. Consider its precursors, the Nissan Leaf, the Chevy Volt, and the Smart don’t-even-call-it-a-car. Forbes released an article titled, “Tesla Model S: ‘If Apple Made A Car, This Would Be It’” I couldn’t agree more. Similar the MacBook Pro, Air, iPad, iPhone, and all of the other game changers Apple has released, the Tesla Model S goes back to the drawing board and removes legacy stuff that isn’t needed anymore. In the Model S, this would most obviously be the internal combustion engine, a staple of automobiles since they were invented. In short, the Model S is great and Tesla is now my favorite car company.

The next generation MacBook Pro

tumblr_m5j6mml9m91qbdoblThe next generation MacBook Pro was announced at WWDC, notable features were top of the line specs, a slim and light design, and a stunningly gorgeous Retina Display.

My biggest takeaway from the new MacBook Pro was similar to my takeaway when the MacBook Air was introduced, Apple is breaking new ground. While that ground may be expensive, (similar to the original MacBook Air) it will get cheaper and above all, it will set the bar for its competitors.

Interestingly, Phil Schiller announced that this was the best computer that Apple had ever made. While this is undoubtedly the case, it is interesting that Schiller essentially put down the computers he had announced updates for not thirty minutes before.

Anyway, I want one, lots of people do.

Video shows new iPhone backplate

9to5mac reports on a video hands-on that supposedly shows a new unibody backplate for the 2012 iPhone. Take this with a grain of salt, Apple could be producing fake prototypes to throw people off and people commonly fake this sort of thing, but that said the video looks legitimate.

The video shows a backplate for the new iPhone that incorporates the stainless steel band and backplate found in previous iPhones into one part. The video also displays what appears to be a partially metal back, which seems dubious at best.