Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Google Now Has $50 Billion in Cash for Acquisitions and Investments

Goog-q1-earningsSeth Fiegerman2013-04-18 20:54:25 UTC

Next time you wonder how Google can afford to buy dozens of startups every year, consider just how much money it has on hand.

The search giant's cash pile grew to just more than $50 billion in the March quarter, up from $48.1 billion at the end of 2012, the company revealed in its first quarter earnings report on Thursday. That's still less than half as much cash as Apple has, but it will likely serve as a powerful resource for Google to continue buying up technology and top talent from companies, as well as investing in so-called "moonshot" projects.

As Google's chairman Eric Schmidt pointed out during a Q&A session at AllThingsD's Dive Into Mobile conference earlier this week, he is not a fan of companies holding onto an excess amount of cash. "What I really think about tech companies and cash is that there is a point where you have enough cash that you need to either start investing that stuff or lowering your prices," he said. Simply letting the cash pile grow, he says, would be a "missed opportunity for investment."

Google has never been shy about using its money to invest in infrastructure and acquisitions. In 2011, the company spent $12.5 billion to acquire Motorola Mobility and its portfolio of patents. Earlier this year, Google's CFO suggested that the cash pile gives the company the "strategic ability to pounce" and, in the case of Motorola, "move on a dime" to make the acquisition.

While Google may have significantly less cash than Apple, its willingness to bet some of it on potentially risky companies and projects may be what sets it apart from Apple going forward. While Apple's stock price has collapsed below $400, Google's has climbed above $750 driven in part by the perception that it, unlike Apple, has more breakthrough products in the pipeline.

Even apart from the cash pile, Google's profits and revenue continue to grow as well. Google reported a profit of $11.58 per share in the first quarter on revenue of $13.97 billion, beating Wall Street's earnings estimates of $10.69, though falling short of revenue estimates of $14.04 billion.

The company still has some problems to fix in the short-term, most notably the decline in cost-per-clicks, which declined 4% in the first quarter from the year before, but the rate of decline has slowed, suggesting that it is stabilizing.

Image via Getty, Chris Hondros

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Never Seen Star Wars? Find the Force at This Special Screening

Mt4_yoda1Chris Taylor2013-04-19 03:25:52 UTC

There's at least one in every family, every workplace, every social circle. They may be your best friends. You may know their secret, or they may be firmly in the closet.

We're talking, of course, about people who have never seen the original Star Wars. (Let's not confuse matters by calling it Episode IV or A New Hope just yet.) Yes, as surprising as it may be to the average geek, there are still people who fall into this camp. And as fans of a franchise that teaches tolerance, it's important that we treat them with respect, not ribbing.

Well, Star Wars newbies, the perfect opportunity to address this problem is coming up in a few short weeks — May the 4th, also known as Star Wars day.

Change.org, the global online petition nonprofit, is hosting a special screening in San Francisco on May 4, with an assist from Lucasfilm and Mashable. The peerless Pablo Hidalgo will be on hand to introduce the film and answer your most embarrassing newbie questions about the franchise afterwards. (Hidalgo is brand communications manager at Lucasfilm, and possibly the biggest Star Wars brain at the company — which is saying something.)

In the spirit of last year's Star Wars anniversary event at Mashable HQ, which saw features writer and #StarWarsVirgin Christine Erickson initiated into the ways of the Force, the event will be live-tweeted with newbie reactions. Free cocktails and food will be provided to smooth your journey to a galaxy far, far away. (The presence of Aunt Beru's blue milk cannot be confirmed at press time.)

If you know of a newbie who needs to see Star Wars and will be in the Bay Area on May 4th, here's how you and they can get in on the action: send an email to starwars@change.org introducing the newbie in question. Midichlorian count not required.

Winners will be notified by April 26th. In the meantime, here's a short video by Lucasfilm alumnus Bonnie Burton explaining the meaning of May the 4th — featuring one couple whose relationship was solidified by a similar emergency Star Wars screening.

Image courtesy Lucasfilm

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Gatorade Bath Hits Reporter, After Player's Ninja-Like Dodge

Sam Laird2013-04-18 21:18:34 UTC

Carlos Gomez got some big hits to help his Milwaukee Brewers to a dramatic win over the San Francisco Giants Wednesday night. As is often customary in the sports world, teammate Ryan Braun was eager to give him a Gatorade bath after the big win.

The only problem? Gomez's ninja-like reflexes. He saw Braun coming and ducked out of the way at the last possible second. The only problem with that? The bucket of icy liquid sailed over his head and onto a nearby TV reporter trying to do an interview.

Two disclaimers: It looks to be water, not actual Gatorade, in the bucket, and the reporter doesn't get that soaked. But it still makes for an awesome video, which you should check out above.

Homepage image courtesy FOX Sports

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Cat and Sloth: A Story of Forbidden Love

NowThis News 2013-04-19 00:19:45 UTC

This cat and sloth are best friends. In related news, the Internet's head exploded today.

Mashable composite, images courtesy of Flickr, Nikita and Carol Schaffer

This article originally published at NowThis News here

Topics: animals, cats, cute animals, funny videos, Videos, Watercooler NowThis News is video news for the mobile and social generation. It’s news, but fun. Download the free app: nowth.is/downloadforiOS

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New 'Get This' App Opens Up Social Purchases

Social-shopping-onlineAdam Popescu2013-04-18 22:11:33 UTC

In our multitask-heavy culture, chatting on social media networks while watching television has become the order of the day. We love sharing our thoughts in real time about the shows we're watching. And as social media becomes more of a platform for like minded audiences to gather, it's also becoming a vehicle for driving e-commerce. Brands are starting to wake up to this untapped resource and are trying to turn loyal audiences into loyal customers.

Nearly 88% of U.S. homes own at least one device that can be used as a second screen; 87% of consumers says they use at least one device while watching television, according to the consumer market research firm NPD.

With global Twitter ad sales reaching $288 million in fiscal 2012, up from about $140 million in 2011, it's a market ripe for companies willing to innovate and experiment.  Last year, Chirpify was one of the first companies to turn tweets into transactions, allowing users to buy, sell and donate money with Twitter.

SEE ALSO: Startup Lets You Buy and Sell Stuff on Twitter

Now a new, more aggressive app has debuted that creates a second-screen experience linking purchasable content to the television shows viewers are watching. It's called Get This [iTunes link], and the free app shows viewers purchasable items on their iPad; items synced up with what you're watching. Shows include the ABC hit Scandal with Kerry Washington, and the Carrie Diaries.

Get This works with each show's production staff (producers and stylists), who tell them in advance which items will be featured on each episode. Then when viewers see those items, they pop up on their screens in the app. The idea being that if you see Washington wear a cute dress on Scandal, it pops up on your screen so you can buy it. An audio-sync button matches to the show and highlights items as they appear on screen. Get This makes money through an affiliate program with the 85 brands and vendors they work with.

You can shop by show and by episode, with about 80 purchasable items on Thursday's episode of Scandal.

The app features a handful of shows right now, but is poised to add several more by July, says Lisa Farris, Get This' chief executive. Farris is the former head of market development at Universal Music Group's eLabs, and worked on creating digital initiatives enabling audiences to view on-demand music at home; then revolutionary. The company's advisory board includes high level former executives of Warner Bros Online, Fox Television Entertainment Group, and HBO.

Farris won't say just what's coming, but hinted that  "three brand new summer series and specials will launch in July."

Viewers using the app have three buying categories: original items from the shows, stylist picks at similar price points inspired by the real McCoy, and much more affordable third options. Her company began building the app two years ago after heavily researching viewing trends.

“For many audiences, shopping is entertainment,” Farris says. “Get This is about discovery and the convergence of content and commerce. We connects audiences with entertainment and brands they love."

Image courtesy of Get This; Homepage image courtesy of iStockphoto, FernandoAH

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Knotch Lets You Express Your Opinion in Full Color

Knotch2Emily Price2013-04-18 23:03:13 UTC

Chances are you've given something you've enjoyed online a thumbs-up before, or rated your latest purchase or Netflix movie a 3 out of 5 stars, but have you ever expressed your opinion in color?

Knotch is an app that offers a different take on expressing your opinion. It allows users to express their opinions with colors, labeling everything from the latest smartphone to a television show in various hues that correspond to their feelings about that product or service. The app launched late last year, and updated to version 1.2 on Thursday.

“The idea initially was just to find a way to quantify opinions,” Knotch co-founder Anda Gansca told Mashable. “We were super-fascinated by how ads are targeted toward us.”

Knotch created a focus group to determine how people like to express their opinions, and in the end, they most liked the idea of expressing opinions in color form, taking a virtual temperature of how they feel about a particular topic.

With the app, you can type in a topic — or select from what’s currently being discussed on the platform — and weigh in on whether you feel hot or cold about it, selecting from a sliding scale of colors. Bright red indicates that a topic is something you enjoy, and dark blue means you feel "cold" about something, or don't like it.

More than just a color rating, you can also add a short comment to your posting to explain why you may have rated something the way you did.

“We wanted to find a way to bring the end user into the process of data collection and analysis in a way that’s incredibly public and empowering for the user,” says Gansca.

While the app lets you post your opinions — called knotches — on Facebook, most users choose to keep that information private in Knotch. Gansca says 80% of Knotch users never post to Facebook, instead building relationships with people in the app based on their similar opinions. 82% of users have opted to follow someone on the service outside of the social graph, forming a relationship based on their opinions.

Knotches biggest group of users — males between 24 and 35 — actually use the service like they would Reddit, spending more than 30 minutes a day in the app each day, knotching on different topics and commenting on others' posts.

With version 1.2, Knotch added Twitter integration for sharing knotches in tweets, and the ability to share your favorite knotches on Facebook. Discovery capabilities are also improved in the app, with a new Search routine for finding knotches on particular topics. You can also browse other knotches by topic — so you can find someone who loves your favorite band as much as you do — and a new Stream function lets you take a quick look at what’s currently going on globally on Knotch.

Knotch has also started rewarding its most active users. Giving them “glory” in topics they're passionate about, ultimately pulling out thought leaders on particular topics.

The Knotch team graduated from StartX, the Stanford incubator.

Knotch is available now from the Apple App Store.

What do you think about Knotch? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

Thumbnail Image by Mashable, Emily Price; Screenshots courtesy of Knotch

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Hack Your iPhone With These 3 Tricks

Bob Al-Greene2013-04-18 18:48:18 UTC

Have you ever needed to charge your phone in a hurry before heading out the door? Or do you want to discover the little-known tricks you can pull to personalize and further protect your device?

Our smartphones are incredibly complex little machines, and though we know them intimately, there's probably something you haven't discovered yet. There's always something you can do to make your phone feel more complete — more yours.

As always, HackCollege can help you out, with the first installment in its new series: Hack Tricks. Here, you'll find three more ways to get the most out of your mobile phone.

Got any tricks up your sleeve? Share them in the comments section.

Image courtesy of Flickr, twicepix

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