Linked List: October 18, 2012

Thursday, 18 October 2012

Newsweek Going Digital-Only 

Must be a fun day to work at Time.

Inadvertently Leaked Results Show Google Profits Dropping 

John Herrman, writing for Buzzfeed:

In a bizarre and unprecedented leak on Thursday, Google’s quarterly earnings were posted on the SEC’s website. The report is both worrying and incomplete — it starts with the phrase “PENDING LARRY [Page] QUOTE” — and it has sent the company’s stock into a tailspin.

This might seem odd considering that the report says Google made $2.74 billion in income last quarter. But that’s lower than expected, and lower than the same quarter last year. Google’s overall revenues, on the other hand, are up 45% from the same time last year, which means that its income is far less in proportion to how big it is: 19% of revenues last quarter, vs 37% in 2011. Google is growing, but its profits are shrinking.

Per-click ad rates are dropping, and wholly-owned subsidiary Motorola lost another $500 million.

Meantime, next week, Google is expected to unveil and promote new devices made by Motorola competitors LG and Sony. Makes total sense.

Nokia Posts Another Big Loss 

Kevin J. O’Brien, reporting for the NYT:

Nokia on Thursday posted a loss of €969 million in the third quarter, citing sharply declining sales of its smartphones as customers await the introduction of a generation of handsets running a newer version of the Windows operating system.

This tweet from Stefan Constantine encapsulates the deep hole Nokia is in:

Verizon sold more iPhones to Americans than Nokia sold Windows Phones to the world.

Paul Thurrott Reviews the iPod Nano 

Effusive review, and I concur with his assessment about the future:

And while I understand that the pretty little nano is not actually an iOS device, maybe it should be. If you could access the iTunes Store and iTunes Match from this device, it would literally be perfect.

Google Unveils New $249 Chromebook by Samsung 

“You know what I’d like? An ARM-based computer that doesn’t run anything other than a web browser and gets only 6.5 hours of battery life.” —No One

Dave Winer: ‘Let’s Call Them Users’ 

Dave Winer:

So rather than run away from the U-word (toward what exactly?) I decided to embrace it, fully — and name the company UserLand. The idea caught on even if the company ultimately didn’t make it.

The bottom line is how you treat them, how much respect you have for them — not what word you use to describe the people who use your product or service.

Update: Zachery Bir has a good point too.

Apple to Acquire Color Engineering Staff 

Ken Yeung and the usually reliable Matthew Panzarino, in an eyebrow-raising report last night for The Next Web:

Color Labs, the photo-and-video-sharing social network that received much criticism over its pre-launch $41 million funding round, is about to be acquired by Apple. We’ve heard through trusted sources that the startup was nabbed for a price that is in the “high double digits”, as in millions, and that the deal is “done”, though papers have yet to be signed.

Liz Gannes and John Paczkowski, reporting today for AllThingsD:

What’s really happening is that Color’s engineering team — about 20 people, comprising almost the entire company — is being “acqhired” by Apple at what’s being called a “nominal” price of something like $2 million to $5 million, according to multiple sources familiar with both sides of the situation. To repeat, there are no “double-digit” millions involved, according to many people familiar with the deal.

Apple is not buying Color’s technology, intellectual property, domain names or liabilities.

Looks like Panzarino and Yeung were taken to the cleaners by their “trusted sources”.

Tweetbot for Mac 

When a great iPhone app comes out, it’s easy to ask the developer to expand it to the iPad too, and then bring it to the Mac. You know what’s hard? Actually doing it. But Tapbots has done it with Tweetbot. $20 for a Twitter client? Damn straight. Screw the race to the bottom. I’m happy to pay for quality work.

For more, see Rene Ritchie’s iMore interview with Tapbots developer Todd Thomas and designer Mark Jardine.