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Google Q1 2013 by the numbers: $13.97B revenue, $9.94 EPS

Publié: avril 18, 2013, 10:16pm CEST par Joe Wilcox
Google may be a company of many personalities -- browser and operating system developer, connected-device manufacturer, fiber-optic Internet servicer, search giant and social network, among many others. But the core business is still about one thing: Advertising, as calendar first quarter results, delivered today after the closing bell, show.

Revenue rose 31 percent to $$13.97 billion, year over year; operating income, excluding Traffic Acquisition Costs, was $3.48 billion, up from $3.39 billion. Net income climbed to 3.35 billion up from $2.89 billion. That's $9.94 earnings per share, including costs associated with discontinued operations.

Average analyst consensus was $14.04 billion revenue and $10.69 earnings per share, for the quarter. Revenue estimates ranged from $9.81 billion to $15.12 billion, with estimated year-over-year growth of 72.5 percent.

"We had a really strong start to 2013, with Q1 revenue up 31 per cent year-on-year to $14 billion", CEO Larry Page says. The statement, like the others below, came during Google's conference call today.

Turn the Page

First quarter marks just a few days short Larry Page's second anniversary returning as CEO (April 4). Google's master had a busy quarter. The company:
That's just a short, short list of the many strategic actions or adjustments made in just one quarter.

There is clear consolidation underway as the CEO brings trusted executives -- those with whom he resonates or who share his vision -- closer to the inner circle. Meanwhile, a different Google emerges as Page's vision, and that of his lieutenants, propagates -- one that: cross-integrates more products and services, releases updates at faster pace and is much, much, much more aggressive in the market place. The Google you thought you knew is something else.

Page hints at that:

As CEO it’s also super important to keep focused on the future. Companies tend to get comfortable doing what they have always done, with a few minor tweaks. It's only natural to want to work on things you know. But incremental improvement is guaranteed to be obsolete over time -- especially in technology, where history has shown that there’s a lot of revolutionary change. So a big part of my job is to get people focused on things that are not just incremental.

He also tips off some things coming from the Motorola division by observing device battery life needs to greatly improve; "if your kid spills their drink on your tablet, the screen shouldn’t die"; and dropping a phone shouldn't shatter the glass.

"Having seen Motorola’s upcoming products myself, I am really excited about the potential there", he says. "In just under a year they’ve accomplished a lot and have impressive velocity and execution".

Financial Highlights

TAC. Google's financials include Traffic Acquisition Costs -- that's revenue shared with partners. For Q1: $2.96 billion, compared to $2.51 billion a year earlier. TAC was one-quarter of revenue in both quarters.

Paid Clicks increased 20 percent year over year and 3 percent sequentially.

Cost-Per-Click rose 4 percent yearly and quarterly.

International: $7.5 billion outside the United States, accounting for 55 percent of revenues -- that's up 1 percent by year and quarter.

Motorola Mobile revenues reached $1.02 billion, or 7 percent for consolidated Google results.

Google revenue (excluding Motorola) was $12.95 billion -- that's up from 22 percent from $10.65 billion a year earlier.

Google-owned sites: $8.64 billion, up 18 percent from $7.31 billion.

Google Network (e.g., partner sites): $3.26 billion, up 12 percent from $2.91 billion.

Other: $1.05 billion, up 150 percent from $420 million.

Photo Credit: meneame comunicacions, sl
Microsoft Q3 2013 by the numbers: $20.49B revenue, 72 cents EPS

Publié: avril 18, 2013, 10:06pm CEST par Joe Wilcox

Today, after the closing bell, Microsoft revealed what might be the closest-watched quarterly results in 11 years. Fiscal third quarter, like the one in 2002, marks a time of record-low PC shipments, with blame falling on the newest operating system. In recent weeks, every idiot arm-chair pundit imaginable has taken to the web to proclaim Windows 8 a failure and prophesying Microsoft's doom. Not so fast. This company is still a money machine.

For fiscal Q3, ended March 31, Microsoft revenue reached $20.49 billion. Operating income: $7.61 billion and net income was $6.06 billion, or 72 cents a share.

Average analyst consensus was $20.56 billion revenue and 68 cents earnings per share, for the quarter. Revenue estimates ranged from $19.57 billion to $21.65 billion, with estimated year-over-year growth of 18.1 percent. Microsoft missed revenue consensus but exceed EPS forecast.

Several factors mitigated results: Office and Windows pre-sale and upgrade offers and European Commission fine. Windows revenue rose 23 percent year over year, lifted by deferrals, but was flat otherwise -- and, as such, showed stronger growth than the overall PC market.

"The bold bets we made on cloud services are paying off as people increasingly choose Microsoft services including Office 365, Windows Azure, Xbox Live, and Skype" CEO Steve Ballmer, says. "While there is still work to do, we are optimistic that the bets we’ve made on Windows devices position us well for the long-term".

Today, Microsoft announced that CFO Peter Klein will leave at the end of the fiscal year, which closes June 30. A successor is yet to be named.

"It has been a pleasure to work with Peter as CFO", Ballmer says. "He’s been a key member of my leadership team and a strategic advisor to me, and I wish him the very best". Klein is an 11-year Microsoft employee, four years as CFO.

At 5:37 pm EDT, during Microsoft's earnings conference call, shares were up 2.29 percent, to $29.45, in after-hours trading. As the call closed, shares were still up, nearly 3 percent.

Windows 8 Dog and Pony Show

Microsoft's big problem is declining PC shipments -- during calendar first quarter (same as fiscal Q3) bad enough to rank as weakest since IDC started tabulating numbers in 1994. Many analysts and computer market watchers anticipated that Windows 8 would lift sagging shipments, which five months later are worse.

"At this point, unfortunately, it seems clear that the Windows 8 launch not only failed to provide a positive boost to the PC market, but appears to have slowed the market", Bob O'Donnell, IDC vice president, claims. O'Donnell joins a chorus of Windows 8 blamers, offering a simply unfair and inaccurate assessment. Like today, PC shipments collapsed ahead of Windows XP's release in 2001 and stayed slow for at least another year. As I explained three days ago, the market similarities are surprisingly close, including global economic malaise.

Many pundits look at smartphones and tablets as the PC's demise, and Windows with it. Consumers shift spending away from personal computers to these devices, which is the evidence. In 2001-02, the phenomenon was similar, but the devices different -- big-screen TVs and MP3 players. I wouldn't write off the PC just yet.

Something else: Apple, which had been immune to Windows PC sales ills, is afflicted, too. According to IDC, U.S. Mac shipments fell 7.5 percent in calendar first quarter. If Windows 8 is to blame, why is Apple down, too? The point: The market dynamics are complex. The economy. Sales shifting to smartphones and tablets. PC saturation. Suffice to say that Windows 8 didn't revive PC shipments, which according to IDC fell for 10 consecutive quarters but one -- calendar Q3 2011. That's quite different from being the cause.

Microsoft bet big on touch to compete with these other devices. Demand for traditional PCs is weak, which makes sense given it's a mature product category. Touchscreen models, whether true tablet or hybrids, offer something different, but not necessarily more enough. They compete with media tablets like Apple's iPad that offer similar top-line functionality for hundreds of dollars less. For many consumers, iPad, or even smaller tablets, is good enough. So on a touchscreen-to-touchscreen comparison, media slates win, and that phenomenon has little to do with Windows 8.

"The majority of consumers remain unwilling to pay the price premium for touchscreen capabilities on PCs at this stage", Isabelle Durand, Gartner principal research analyst, says. "But, even so, touchscreens and Windows 8 will represent key opportunities for PC manufacturers in the second half of 2013". The personal computer will be radically different, and even unrecognizable, in three years, I predict.

Looking at the global numbers, IDC puts calendar first quarter shipments down 13.9 percent, while Gartner is a bit more optimistic (-11.2 percent). IDC and Gartner estimate U.S. PC shipment declines of 12.7 percent and 9.6 percent, respectively.

Something else lost in all the punditry: Microsoft actually encouraged existing Windows customers not to buy new PCs. Promotional pricing make the new version lower than any of its predecessors, as I explained answering in January question "Why are Windows 8 sales so good when PC shipments are so bad?" So the real measure of Windows 8's success or failure is actual license sales, not PC shipments.

Division Highlights

Microsoft reports revenue and earnings results for five divisions: Windows & Windows Live, Server & Tools, Business, Online Services and Entertainment & Devices.

Windows & Windows Live. Revenue rose 23 percent year over year, mainly because of a $1.1 billion referral related to upgrade offers. Growth was flat, otherwise, which when looked at in context of collapsed PC shipments is remarkably good. That's perspective for the 40 percent increase in non-OEM revenue, mainly from Surface and commercial sales of Windows.

Two-thirds of enterprises now use Windows 7. Other signs of strong business uptake: Three-quarters of Enterprise Agreements include Windows licenses, while overall volume-licensing revenue grew in the double-digits. However, large businesses often buy licenses to exercise downgrade rights. So the rise in uptake could easily reflect resistance to Windows 8 rather than demand for it.

Looking ahead to fiscal fourth quarter, Microsoft expects Surface and commercial sales to drive revenue, while sluggish PC shipments hold it back.

Server & Tools. The division is insulated against economic maladies, because about 50 percent of revenues come from contractual volume-licensing agreements. Microsoft hopes to achieve similar level for Windows, for similar reasons. Multi-year licenses grew by 20 percent year over year.

Product revenue rose by 11 percent, or $396 million, fueled by SQL Server, System Center, and Windows Server. System Center revenue grew by 22 percent and SQL Server by 16 percent. Enterprise Services revenue also grew by 11 percent, or $112 million.

Products account for 80 percent of division revenue, and services the rest. Looking ahead to fiscal Q4, Microsoft anticipates double-digit growth for both.

Business. Revenue for the Office division grew by 10 percent, or $477 million, to $6.32 billion. Annuity licensing continued to lift sales, an ongoing trend, up 16 percent. About 60 percent of the division's revenues come from volume-licensing contracts. Lync revenue rose by 30 percent and Dynamics by 13 percent.

Looking ahead to fiscal fourth quarter, the division will recognize $780 million in deferred revenue. Microsoft expects annuity license growth in the double digits.

Online Services. Revenue rose by 18 percent, while the operating loss decreased by 45 percent. Search and display ads drove up online advertising revenue by 22 percent, or $145 million, to $784 million.

For fiscal Q4, Microsoft anticipates double-digit revenue growth.

Entertainment & Devices. Xbox 360 platform revenue rose 55 percent, or $641 million, lifted a $380 million video game deferral.

Microsoft shipped 1.3 million Xboxes during the quarter, down 9 percent year over year. Xbox Live memberships rose 18 percent, or by 46 million. There were 161 billion minutes of Skype calls -- up 55 percent year over year.

Microsoft expects growth in the mid-teens for fiscal Q4.
Yahoo forecasts weather app for iOS

Publié: avril 18, 2013, 7:21pm CEST par Alan Buckingham

Marissa Meyer is bringing big changes to Yahoo and one of them is apparently getting the old search site back into the public focus with new mobile apps. That process begins today in the world of both Apple and meteorology -- fitting since tornado and thunderstorm season is getting underway and hurricanes are on the horizon.

Today the company announces a sleek new weather app that is compatible with iPhone, iPad and iPod touch -- uninspiringly named "Yahoo! Weather App". Marco Wirasinghe claims the new app will "bring together beautiful images from our Flickr community to show you current local conditions, with all the details you want to know about the forecast".

While this is a weather app at heart, it really is about the photos. You can simply tilt your device to scroll through images of weather in locations that you choose. However, you can still get details of current conditions and a forecast to let you know how to dress today and if you should bring along an umbrella.

Wirasinghe elaborates on the photos: "Our goal is to have amazing photos for every weather condition that cover the globe -- morning, afternoon, and night -- across every city in the world, and we want your help. Whether you’re simply a daydreamer or an avid photographer, submit photos of your favorite places to our Flickr Group and your image can be seen by tens of millions in Yahoo! Weather for iPhone".

Yahoo! Weather is now in the iTunes App Store. The app is free and available in English, Bokmål, Norwegian, Chinese, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Korean, Malay, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Spanish, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, and Vietnames languages.
My next-gen Xbox wishlist

Publié: avril 18, 2013, 7:12pm CEST par Robert Johnson

Xbox is due for a refresh this year and it's a good time to write my wishlist. I’ve been accused of being a Windows fanboy, which I’m not. I’ve also been accused of being a Windows Phone fanboy. No again. But I’ve never been accused of being an Xbox fanboy, which I absolutely am.

With the Xbox, Microsoft has a stellar platform on its hands. The console has gone from a third place alsoran to a major player in the console wars: a strategy Microsoft desperately needs to adapt to Windows Phone, but that’s a different article. As the world of computing shifts to mobile, so is gaming, allowing companies like Apple to get into the business. What do vendors that build consoles need to do to adjust their strategy? I can’t say much for Sony or Nintendo because I don’t use those platforms anymore. For Microsoft, here’s my wish list for the next Xbox platform update that I think will allow it to remain a major gaming industry player despite the shift to mobile computing.

Fix Xbox Music/Video

This has to be my single biggest disappointment from the Xbox team. As a fan, I have never felt more let down then when this turd released. Zune worked very well, despite some key features like cloud music, or playlist syncing between devices. Xbox Music as it stands right now is almost useless and for those of whom were former Zune users, Microsoft owes an apology. Music match barely works. Playlist syncing issues/complaints/support requests go unanswered by Microsoft.

Xbox Music should be the service that takes down all the other players in this space. My wish is for a social component that lets me see what my friends are listening to and be able to share playlists with them. But here’s the problem with that. There aren’t that many people out there who actually use Xbox for music. None of my friends do. Almost all of them are on Spotify. So how do they get around this? Perhaps, hook into the Spotify service (assuming the API is open and will allow this) and expose what my friends are listening to or perhaps do it through Facebook for those friends who publicize their listening habits through that service.

Also, I wish for Microsoft to release a cloud music locker that allows me to stream my music to whatever device I am using. Fix playlist syncing because right now it doesn’t work. If I create a playlist on my PC it should automatically sync to my phone, Xbox or tablet.

For Xbox video, please release a service that allows videos I purchase on one device to be playable on others. Enable more SmartGlass capable content and make them easily discoverable, and if you need to charge a dollar more for it, that’s fine, but please add more content.

Can we get a subscription service for video? I realize Hollywood content producers are the major barrier here so I understand if this is a pipe dream that will never happen. But something has to be done to differentiate Xbox Video from all the other services out there.

Microsoft has officially announced that it is moving into producing their own content for Xbox. Hopefully this means the console will gain more TV-like services such as the ability to record live TV like a DVR. I would wholeheartedly welcome this. Netflix nailed it with House of Cards and producing content is the future for platforms that want to be taken seriously in the video space.

Make Skype Available

I don’t understand why there is no Skype app on the current console. Hopefully this is coming in 2013. But I don’t just want to be able to call my friends on their consoles, phones and other devices. I want you to take it up a notch and call another Xbox/PC/tablet in my own home. This would be awesome for a parent who needs to get in touch with a kid in another room to come eat dinner.

Let Xbox "See" More

Here’s what I mean. The console currently works very nicely as a PlayTo and SmartGlass enabled device. But for the content that I don’t necessarily have uploaded to SkyDrive, Xbox should be able to see and play all my content in the My Music and My Videos and My Pictures folders on all my PCs/Devices. I know I can currently on Windows 8 use PlayTo and shoot this content to my Xbox. But I don’t think the PlayTo interface in the desktop is the easiest interface to use.

Release a Smarter Xbox

The natural user interface in the current Xbox platform enabled by Kinect is a great feature that I actually use on a regular basis. Do I use it every day? No. There’s no way I would sit in front of my TV gesturing to it. As much as I use my Xbox, this would get really tiring. However, when I need it, the feature is there and ready to work. And it works quite well for me. This is what makes technologies like Kinect so "natural". When I lose my remote, as I often do, I usually just end up talking to the console.

However, I understand this is not exactly ideal when you find yourself in a situation where you can’t find your remote but your room is so loud, there’s no way Xbox will accurately hear you. While gesturing is available, if you need to get to an app or a TV, the arms can tire quickly. A smarter Xbox will allow me to use my phone or other mobile device as a microphone to talk to my Xbox. This would reduce interference from other sources and allow the Xbox to clearly understand my commands.

A smarter Xbox will also allow me to control other wifi enabled devices in my home. Perhaps devs can write apps that hook into such devices.

Wouldn’t it be great if the console understood my usage behavior and adjusted the interface accordingly? Let me explain. Let’s say every day after I get home around 4:30pm the first thing I do is turn on my Xbox and open the HBO GO app, because I’m watching Game of Thrones Season 2. A smarter Xbox would observe this pattern and ask if I wanted this automatically done for me, so that when I get home it’s already cued up to the next episode or the spot where I left off. But what if for some reason, I’m working late one day. I wouldn’t want the console turned on and sucking up unnecessary electricity. To get around this, the console could enable the ability to log into my Xbox account online and turn off or reprogram it for another time.

Expand Kinect

Kinect should pushed to other platforms like Windows (Bill Gates has said this is coming) but my point in this article is about the console. If the Xbox team decides to release other devices (more on that next) these devices should include Kinect capabilities whether they be in gaming related scenarios or navigating the interface or both.

Not only should Kinect expand to other platforms, it should be improved for natural language scenarios. It’s time for Microsoft to put all that speech data it’s been collecting since the release of Kinect to work. It’s 2013 and computing devices like Xbox (or any other Xbox-enabled device) should be able to understand natural language. This capability should be made available to app developers as well.

Bring out More Devices

A 7-inch gaming/media consumption device should come from the Xbox team. It should be the ultimate smart device and should allow me to control my console and vice versa. This device should permit me to play games with others who are on the console (more on this later). It should have access to all the Xbox media apps, including apps from the Windows Phone and Windows stores. This device should cost no more than $200 and could potentially be sold in a bundle with the new Xbox.

Besides a 7-inch tablet device, the console needs a small TV streaming media only device with integrated Kinect. I love my console, and I have one in every room, but $300 is a lot to spend for a media device. Release a $99 (or less) media device that has access to all the media apps available on the console and also includes Skype and the ability to push/pull content from all Windows devices (phones, pc’s, tablets).

Open the App Platform

Apple is a serious threat. I know many people don’t think so but here’s why guys like Gabe Newell are correct about Apple in the living room. Apple already has a massive platform in iOS and the app catalog as far as gaming goes is tremendous. If all the company did in 2013 was open up Apple TV to developers and their app gaming catalog, that’s enough to do some serious damage to Microsoft’s living room strategy.

Xbox should get out ahead of this and open the app platform up to all developers for a nominal registration fee. This should not just be for gaming but for media apps as well. Xbox should be able to run on a new apps platform that gets as close to write-once-run-anywhere as humanly possible. A company like HBO should be able to write one app and have it be able to run on any sized screen from a phone all the way up to a TV screen.

This would require the Xbox having the same core as other Windows devices (phones/PC/tablet) but the rumor is that this is most likely going to happen (or why else would you move the NT guy to the Xbox team?) and I cannot help but think that one of the benefits of this is a more unified app development platform.

Create a Real-time Multi-player Multi-device Gaming Platform

I saved this for last because even if Microsoft does not come through on any of my other wishes, this is the one that I think will set the Xbox platform apart from any platform available today. Microsoft has already demoed the ability of a Windows Phone to interact with the console. Remember the YouTube video of the person sitting on the couch with a Windows Phone interacting with the Kinect dodge ball game while a guy in the same room played the game from the console?

What we have so far is pause/resume across devices. Skull of the Shogun is the best example of this. This game can be purchased on Windows Phone, Windows 8 (PC/tablet) and the XBOX. Users can play on one device, pause and continue play on another. While this is great, what is really needed is a way for users in games like Halo or Call of Duty can play multiplayer in real-time regardless of device. There are definitely challenges to this when you are on a screen the size of a phone, but that doesn’t mean those players have to be left out of the game. Perhaps players on the phone can operate in support roles.

There are other games that are great for this scenario: racing games. We already play them on phones and they would be perfect for a new platform like this. Can you imagine Forza on Windows Phone? Microsoft already is seriously lacking in its attempts to push the Xbox platform to Windows Phone. I think it’s absolutely embarrassing that they have not successfully turned Windows Phone into a stellar gaming platform. You have the most successful game platform in the United States and you cannot leverage that onto your struggling mobile platform? Unacceptable.

Conclusion

So there you have it. My Xbox wish list for this year. I intentionally left off this list is specific games and media apps (like Spotify and Amazon Music) as I am sure Microsoft will come up with some pretty amazing solutions in this area. I’m sure there’s something you can add to this to make it even better. What do you think should be added to this list?

Update: As I was writing this article, GameLoft released a racing game for Windows Phone 8 called Asphalt 7. This game includes real-time multiplayer with other phone devices. This is a great start! Hopefully Microsoft plans more releases like this that are expanded to other devices as well.

Photo Credit: Joe Wilcox
Can Microsoft admit its Windows 8 mistake?

Publié: avril 18, 2013, 5:57pm CEST par J Marra
What were they thinking?

It made sense when Microsoft decided to update Windows to be an operating system not just for PCs, but for tablets. In fact, it was a rather clever strategy: Declare tablets to be PCs, and then show that Windows tablets do more than Android or iOS, including running all those existing Windows programs. So far, makes sense.

Then Microsoft went further, too far: Not only did the company create the touch-oriented Windows Modern UI, formerly known as Metro, but forced users to use it, even on conventional desktop PCs and notebooks with no touch. And then the the company went even further by making the Desktop Mode less usable.

The idea must have been to force quick growth of the Modern UI ecosystem, but we don't have to wait any longer to know that this was a mistake. Microsoft didn't need to disadvantage desktop users in order to promote the Modern UI. No wonder large institutional buyers are turned off to Windows 8. Maybe they're buying lots of tablets for tablet tasks, but they still buy PCs for PC tasks.

The good news for Microsoft is that this problem is easily remedied. At least the technical part is easy. It does, however, require an act of profound public contrition: Microsoft admits miscalculation with the initial design of Windows 8. Here's what the fixed version needs, and all of these things are fairly easy to do, whether in Windows Blue or some other update:
- Windows 7-like mode of operation, called the Old-Fashioned Mode if you want. Let users or administrators set the system to boot into this mode.
- Antique Mode should be able to launch Modern UI apps just like desktop apps. Running apps should appear in the taskbar.
- Modern UI home screen needs an obvious, fixed thing to click on to go to desktop mode.
- Modern UI also needs a fixed date/time display.
There are more-sophisticated, less urgent ideas related to these that would work well. I can see it preferring the Modern UI in some ways if the system is operating purely as a tablet, but desktop mode when a keyboard and mouse are connected.

Yes, the Modern UI has its own issues. Lots of people don't like it, but that's another matter and a less important one in the short term. The important thing for right now for Microsoft is to stop undermining the message that Windows 8 is a PC operating system.

The message that Windows 8 works with both tablets and PCs, and that tablets are just another kind of PC, is a good one and can still succeed. Personally, I think there is nobody as credible as he who freely admits his mistakes.

Photo Credit: JStaley401/Shutterstock
TomTom announces smartwatch for athletes

Publié: avril 18, 2013, 4:01pm CEST par Alan Buckingham

I have previously gone on record as wanting a smartwatch. Yes, I still wear a watch because I am a runner and we are fastidious about time and distance and having a timepiece that prevents the need for driving a route to get the measurement is a major time and gas saver. Previously I looked at Pebble, with its built-in RunKeeper, but today TomTom changes that.

The company announces the TomTom GPS Sport Watches, built specifically for the athlete -- a new range of GPS watches designed to deliver "at-a-glance" performance information for runners, cyclists and swimmers.

"We know that most GPS watches on the market are too bulky and complicated to use while training", Corinne Vigreux, managing director for TomTom Consumer, says.

There is a lot here to like for those on the go -- an extra-large, high-resolution and high-contrast display, a graphical training partner, one button control, indoor tracker, waterproof design and Bluetooth connectivity. You can sync, analyze and share your data via TomTom’s new MySports (not yet available) website, as well as MapMyFitness, RunKeeper, TrainingPeaks and MyFitnessPal platforms.

The training partner is especially interesting, as it includes the ability to race against both your PR (personal record) or last run, set a distance, time or calorie goal and see progress toward that goal with full-screen graphics and alerts, even set a target for pace or heart-rate.

The watch will not be available until sometime this summer and no pricing has been announced, but if you would like a preview, then it is on display already. Finally, someone has made a smartwatch with real-world functionality. I do not need to see my email on my wrist, but I do want data on my workout.
Twitter #music arrives first on iOS, then the web

Publié: avril 18, 2013, 3:56pm CEST par Wayne Williams

There’s been a lot of talk and rumors flying about Twitter’s new music discovery service, but today the social network revealed the details and launched the first app for it.

Based partly on the social site’s recent acquisition of the music startup We Are Hunted, Twitter #music is described as a "new service that will change the way people find music".

It uses activity on Twitter (such as tweets and general engagement) to identify the most popular tracks and emerging artists and lets you listen to previews from iTunes. If you have a Rdio or Spotify account, you can log in to those and enjoy the full tracks.

Twitter says it plans to add additional music sources in due course.

The Twitter #music app, which is available for iOS now, offers four main tabs -- Popular (new music trending on Twitter), Emerging (hidden talent found in tweets), Suggested (artists you might like), and #NowPlaying (music that’s been tweeted by artists and people you follow). You can join in on the recommendations by using the #nowplaying" hashtag to tell people what you’re listening to.

When you discover new music you want to share with others, you just tap the spinning disc in the lower left corner to open the player and access the Compose button.

The service is initially available in the US, UK and Ireland, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, with more countries being added over time. Although the app is only for iOS right now, Twitter says it will be bringing its service to Android. No word on any plans to introduce it to Windows Phone or BlackBerry, however.

The web application will be open for everyone later today and can be accessed at music.twitter.com.

According to Twitter's official announcement, "Twitter and music go great together. People share and discover new songs and albums every day. Many of the most-followed accounts on Twitter are musicians, and half of all users follow at least one musician. This is why artists turn to Twitter first to connect with their fans -- and why we wanted to find a way to surface songs people are tweeting about. We offered music artists an early look at the service. You can see some of their reactions below. We hope you like it, too".
Disqus is down

Publié: avril 18, 2013, 3:30pm CEST par Joe Wilcox

If you are unable to comment on BetaNews stories, our apologies, comment service Disqus suffers service problems this morning. A reader alerted me about 30 minutes ago. When I couldn't comment on any story, I had headed over to Disqus only to get an "unavailable" message.

"Disqus has been intermittently unavailable for the past few minutes, and we are working on a solution. We apologize for the disruption and appreciate your patience", according to the Status site, which I got to from a Tweet. BetaNews is one of many sites that relies on the service for comments.

Coming sideways to the main site, I see this message:

Hello! Disqus is currently in maintenance mode. You can still navigate the website and access your content, however many actions such as moderation and settings are temporarily disabled. This shouldn't take too long, and we're sorry for the inconvenience. In the meantime, there will be some quirkiness as we make some improvements.

We'll keep you updated.

Disqus is back after a 29-minute outage: "Disqus is now running normally again. We again apologize for the hassle and are monitoring the situation closely to ensure there are no further issues".

No reason is given for the outage.

Photo Credit: Ollyy/Shutterstock
Give your Android smartphone a new lease of life with these free apps

Publié: avril 18, 2013, 2:32pm CEST par Wayne Williams

If you don’t look after your computer, it will start to slow down and misbehave. Smartphones too can get clogged up and begin to lag as the amount of storage space and available memory starts to diminish with use.

There are lots of good, free apps available that you can use to make sure your Android (or iOS) device is running at peak performance. Here are some of the more recent.

IObit, which is best known for its excellent Advanced SystemCare suite for Windows, has a useful all-in-one Android security and performance optimization app called Advanced Mobile Care.

This performs real-time virus scans and offers a range of handy tools including Anti-theft, Battery Saver, Game Speeder, App Manager, Task Killer, Privacy Locker, Privacy Advisor and Cloud Backup. It works with most devices running Android 2.2 and up.

I generally have to charge my smartphone pretty much every day, which can get annoying. Battery Doctor, available for both Android 2.2+ and iOS 4.3 and later, can help prolong battery life. There’s a one-tap power saving option which will automatically optimize battery usage, and the app can tell you exactly how many more minutes of battery life you have left. You can also use it to turn off power draining features to give you an extra boost.

Iolo, the developer responsible for System Mechanic, has an Android app called Auto Memory Manager. As you can guess from the name, this lets you customize the out-of-memory manager settings on Android phones and tablets so you don’t have to do it yourself with task killers. The new release shows how much memory has been freed, and how many times it has killed off troublesome apps. It should work on any device running Android 1.6 onwards.

Clean Master, which I covered previously, does a good job of freeing up space and resources on your Android device. It can clean the cache, remove unused files, clear the search history, uninstall unused apps and free up RAM by killing running tasks. It requires Android 2.1 and up.

Piriform also has an Android version of CCleaner in development which should be available soon.

Those of course are just some of the many system cleaning apps available for Android. Do you have any favorites that you use? Share your recommendations in the comments below.

Photo Credit: Kirill__M/Shutterstock
Is Windows tracking every folder you open?

Publié: avril 18, 2013, 2:28pm CEST par Mike Williams

Every time you create, modify or access a folder on your PC, Windows records these details in the Registry. There’s nothing shady about this -- the action is a key part of recording your folder view settings, and maintaining a list of your favorite folders -- but it does introduce a privacy risk, as snoopers can use the data to track some of your PC activities.

Exactly how much information is exposed here will vary, but if you’re not already familiar with the issue then it makes sense to check your PC with the free ShellBag AnalyZer & Cleaner. There’s no adware, no installation required, just download and launch the program and in a few seconds you’ll have the full picture.

The initial report presents you with a simple table, listing each opened folder, its name, path, and last visit date. You can click any column header to sort by that field, too, so for instance clicking "Last visit" will show you the folders you’ve browsed in time order.

It’s surprising how much data can be available here. On one test PC, ShellBag AnalyZer & Cleaner found traces of over 5,000 folders opened, stretching back for years (although you can filter the report in various ways if you’d like to make it more manageable).

What’s more, this list also includes deleted folders. And so while you might think you’ve removed any trace of something sensitive by deleting the folder where it was stored, that’s not necessarily the case: dates and times when you opened that folder may still be visible here.

If you’re worried about any of this, though, clicking Clean will provide some possible solutions. The program can delete references to particular folder types, scramble dates and times, even securely overwriting this information so there’s no way it can be recovered later. (Which seems like overkill to us, but it’s good to have the option.)

It’s important to be careful about the options you select, however. If you delete the references to folders which still exist then you’ll lose their Explorer view settings, for instance -- perhaps not what you want. And ShellBag AnalyZer & Cleaner can also delete references to system folders, but says that’s "not recommended".

Neither of these options is selected by default, so don’t let that put you off using the program -- just be sure to pay attention when you’re exploring what it can do.

Photo Credit: Brian A Jackson