Archive for the 'Personal Finance' Category
November 14th, 2011 -- Posted in Personal Finance |
Apple Inc.’s retail stores closed for a few hours Wednesday so its employees could pay a collective tribute to their visionary leader Steve Jobs.
Store windows were draped with white sheets during the service. Hundreds of workers flocked to the outdoor amphitheater on the Infinite Loop campus at Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino to watch a live webcast of the event. Apple has updated the web page titled “Remembering Steve” where the company has posted submissions by Apple fans from across the world of stories, memories and well wishes for Jobs’ family.
According to employees leaving the service, Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook, chief designer Jony Ive and former Vice President Al Gore took center stage to share their memories, thoughts and experiences about working with Jobs.
Singer Norah Jones and the British rock band Coldplay performed live. The event was open only to Apple employees. Jobs ushered a line of successful gadgets including the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad, and the iconic iTunes music store.
An Apple customer Carol Badger said, “I was just a little bit disappointed that it was not simulcast around the world so people could gather in cities and take part, much in the same way England did when Lady Diana passed away.”
In addition, Apple has updated the web page titled “Remembering Steve” where the company has posted submissions by Apple fans from across the world of stories, memories and well wishes for Jobs’ family.
Tributes pouring in:- Steve Jobs died of respiratory arrest Oct. 5 in his Palo Alto home surrounded by wife and immediate family. He had been battling metastatic pancreas neuroendocrine tumor for over seven years.
The elite from the worlds of business, politics and entertainment had gathered at Stanford University for a small private service to memorialize the Apple co-founder on Sunday, Oct. 16. Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook, chief designer Jony Ive and former Vice President Al Gore took center stage to share their memories, thoughts and experiences about working with Jobs.
The service at Memorial Church, organized by Job’s widow Laurene Powell, was attended by influential figures including Oracle chief Larry Ellison and Microsoft’s Bill Gates, as well as former president Bill Clinton. U2 frontman Bono and Joan Baez reportedly performed on the occasion.
In addition, Apple has updated the web page titled “Remembering Steve” where the company has posted submissions by Apple fans from across the world of stories, memories and well wishes for Jobs’ family. Therefore, Norah Jones and the British rock band Coldplay performed live. The event was open only to Apple employees. Jobs ushered a line of successful gadgets including the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad, and the iconic iTunes music store.
A visionary and creative genius:- Jobs ushered a line of successful gadgets including the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad, and the iconic iTunes music store.
With his creative genius he brought back Apple from the brink of bankruptcy in 1996 and turned it into the world’s most highly-valued technology company.
November 13th, 2011 -- Posted in Personal Finance |
The wonders of modern science. It is quite amazing how the developments in medical technology have made it easy to find solutions to relatively complex problems.
Trevor Prideaux, catering manager from Somerset, England, born without his left forearm has become the first man with a built-in smartphone dock in his prosthetic limb.
Hampered by his disability, Prideaux found it difficult to text or call, so he worked with medical experts and technicians to modify his prosthetic forearm to embed his device in it.
Prideaux stated, “I think this is the first time this has ever been done in the world and it is brilliant.
“I can now take calls and make texts just by using my one hand, while the phone sits inside my arm. The phone slots smoothly and securely within my limb and is easily removable, when required.”
Struggled with texting and calling:- Prideaux used to struggle with his Nokia C7 trying to balance it on his prosthetic arm or a flat surface when the need arose. He started thinking of an implanted device in his prosthetic arm, so that it would be easier to hold his arm up to his ear when taking calls.
Prideaux said, “I wondered whether it was possible to have a mobile phone built into my limb, to aid usage.
“I was born without my arm so I am used to adapting to things but I thought that others must be struggling too.”
“I can now take calls and make texts just by using my one hand, while the phone sits inside my arm. The phone slots smoothly and securely within my limb and is easily removable, when required.” Trevor Prideaux. Nokia provided a sample handset casing and then a university student Sarah Bennett, technician Les Street and prosthethist Steve Gallichan at the Exeter Mobility Centre (EMC) in Devon built a special fibre-glass prosthetic arm with a phone shaped hollow to hold his C7 device.
A special fibre-glass prosthetic arm:- Once the idea took shape, Prideaux got in touch with Apple for an empty casing, but the company was uncooperative. He then broached the subject with the Nokia crew when he went to his local O2 carrier to upgrade existing device. Luckily, Nokia agreed to create a new prosthetic limb.
Noika provided a sample handset casing and then a university student Sarah Bennett, technician Les Street and prosthethist Steve Gallichan at the Exeter Mobility Centre (EMC) in Devon built a special fibre-glass prosthetic arm with a phone shaped hollow to hold his C7 device.
Prideaux’s phone is a little narrower than an iPhone and supports a qwerty and alphanumeric board which makes it easier for him to use the device. Prideaux stated, “My Nokia C7 sits within my forearm, between my stump socket and the single knob rotary that holds my limb attachments in place. Texting is also much easier and a lot safer.
“I am hugely grateful to the people EMC. This is a leap forward which has helped me out a lot and can also aid others.”
November 12th, 2011 -- Posted in Personal Finance |
Netflix Inc. shares dove 27 percent Monday as the company reported it lost more customers in the United States in the third quarter than it had earlier predicted, and that the defections have continued into the fourth quarter.
The video rental company also forecast lower-than-expected earnings for the fourth quarter, and said it expects a loss for the first quarter of 2012 as it enters the U.K. and Ireland markets. Netflix reported a total of 23.8 million subscribers in the United States for the third quarter, down 800,000 from the second quarter’s 24.6 million. The Los Gatos, California-based company had earlier projected a loss of 600,000 users for the quarter.
The company’s missteps:- Users have been abandoning the company after it raised its price for combined video streaming and DVD plan by as much as 60 percent this summer. Netflix also tried to split up the streaming and DVD services into two, but rolled back the plan after subscribers protested the move.
“We are going to work on improving the user interface, expanding to more platforms and delivering more content. There’s no grand gestures, there’s just a lot of steady and intense efforts.” Reed Hastings. In a letter to the company’s investors, Netflix Chief Executive Reed Hastings admitted that the missteps have “hurt our hard-earned reputation and stalled our domestic growth.” Even then, Netflix reported a profit of $62 million for the quarter, which is a jump of 63 percent over the third quarter of 2010, on revenue of $822 million, a gain of 49 percent.
However, it was not enough to soothe spooked investors. Shares of Netflix fell 27 percent to $86.70 in trading after market close. The shares had hit a high of $298.73 in July.
What lies ahead:- Netflix said streaming subscriptions in the nation are expected to keep falling in October, level off in November and rise back to 20 million to 21.5 million in December. DVD subscriptions are expected to plunge to 10.3 million to 11.3 million by year-end.
The company forecast profit for the fourth quarter between the range of $19 million and $37 million, or 36 cents and 70 cents a share, and revenue between $841 million and $875 million.
According to Bloomberg, analysts were projecting profit of $1.10 a share on sales of $919 million. For the fourth quarter of 2010, the company reported a profit of $47 million, or 87 cents per share, on revenue of $596 million.
Netflix’ costs have been rising as it spends more and more on expanding its online streaming content catalog. The company said it expects to spend double in 2012 on content than what it did this year.
Pausing global expansion:- Costs of entering the U.K. and Ireland markets will push the company into a loss on global basis, Hastings said. So Netflix will be pausing expanding into any more foreign markets after United Kingdom and Ireland until it returns to global profitability, he added. For the way back to profitability, Hastings said, “We are going to work on improving the user interface, expanding to more platforms and delivering more content. There’s no grand gestures, there’s just a lot of steady and intense efforts.”
Speaking to the Los Angeles Times, Dan Rayburn, a principal analyst at consulting firm Frost & Sullivan, said, “If they stop making mistakes, this is fixable. The saving grace is that unlike a lot of other companies that get into this kind of situation, there isn’t a competitor eating Netflix’s lunch.”
November 11th, 2011 -- Posted in Personal Finance |
The recent past has seen a surge in the number of personal bankruptcy filings and it shouldn’t be that surprising a development for anyone that has been following the personal finance scene over in this side of the world. As well, there has been a surge in the number of credit card consolidation and mortgage loans and this has been perpetuated solely by the fact that credit lines are just too open. What makes it worse is that this credit once obtained balloons to a level that makes it virtually impossible to pay off. You know that there is something fundamentally wrong when a student graduates from college with hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of debt on his or her head. Little wonder America struggles to pay its bills.
There are those that run into personal bankruptcy problems because they choose to abuse their credit cards, but there are also those that max it out or run into trouble simply because they have spent money on food, medicines or just everyday bills. It’s a terrible state of affairs, and it’s why America is in such bad shape now. Everyone that has a credit card has some kind of debt and many are considering credit card debt consolidation very seriously. But it doesn’t matter whether you take out mortgage loans or any other kind of loans, the creditors will keep on calling you and it’s not because they want to wish you a Merry Christmas.
More often than not, these debt collection agencies will run you down and embarrass, even humiliate you as they seek to extract their pound of flesh. Only when you are in way over your head and you have absolutely no other option should you look consider personal bankruptcy as a solution for your needs. That’s because opting to go down that route will trash your credit and make getting a loan in the future almost impossible, so god forbid you will need one. If you are behind on the bills, are avoiding creditors calls and are thousands of dollars in debt, consider credit card consolidation first before you file for Chapter 7.
Credit card consolidation means that you will be able to get the debts from all your credit card under one head. By doing so, you will have to pay one uniform rate on interest on all of your debts and you won’t be able to forget the payment date for it since it is just the one date after all. And very often, you will find that some credit card company will offer you a zero interest balance transfer just because you wish to consolidate your debt under their credit card. You can then take advantage of this zero interest period to aggressively pay off your debt before the interest kicks in.
Paying off tens of thousands of dollars of credit card debt at 19% interest per annum will take you years, so try to go for a settlement payment or credit card consolidation. They are good ideas and a perfect alternative before you file for personal bankruptcy, which isn’t really all that appealing an option.
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