Linked List: February 13, 2014

Thursday, 13 February 2014

Excluding Cash, Google Is Now More Valuable Than Apple ★

Ashraf Eassa:

To put this in perspective, Apple trades at 7.7× EV/FCF while Google trades at 30.3× EV/FCF. Now, Google and Apple aren’t exactly operating in the same businesses, and frankly, Google’s business is “safer” than Apple’s, but this valuation gap is pretty ridiculous and indicative of one thing: the market expects Google’s free cash flow to grow “to da moon” and Apple’s to, at some point, crater as a result of competitive pressures of secular headwinds.

I don’t know that anyone’s business is ever “safe” in technology. And Google isn’t making nearly as much from mobile advertising as they do from desktop browsers. I think the market has this wrong.

‘Hemingway’ on Hemingway ★

Mark Liberman, writing at Language Log:

Several people have written to me about the so-called “Hemingway” app, which offers to give you detailed stylistic advice about your writing. One useful way to evaluate programs of this kind is to see what they do with good writing — and given this effort’s name, it makes sense to check out its opinion about the prose of Ernest Hemingway.

‘Highly Secretive’ ★

Ron Amadeo, writing for Ars Technica:

The least understood area of the Android ecosystem has always been the highly secretive Google Play Apps licensing process. While Android is open source, the Google applications, like the Play Store, Gmail, Google Maps, Google Play Services, and others must be licensed. This licensing agreement is called the “Mobile Application Distribution Agreement” (MADA) and comes with tons of restrictions. Previously, MADA details have come out of the Skyhook case, but those agreements were from 2009, a time when Android was only at version 1.1. Thanks to the still ongoing Oracle v. Google trial, a “new” version of the Google App licensing agreement has been made public.

Don’t forget the patent licensing fees Android handset makers pay to Microsoft.

After 15 Months, Windows 8 Has Sold 100 Million Fewer Copies Than Windows 7 ★

Almost bad enough for the CEO to lose his job. Oh, wait.

(Interesting how the first six months track identically — OEM contracts guaranteed in advance?)

Comcast Wants to Buy Time Warner Cable for $44 Billion ★

Like two dinosaurs screwing in the hopes of making an even bigger dinosaur.

Apple Passes Microsoft ★

Ben Evans:

A symbolic moment, this: in Q4 2013 the number of computers sold by Apple was larger than the number of Windows PC sold globally. If you add Windows Phone to the mix they’re more or less exactly equal.