It's
time for a pair of tech heavyweights to report quarterly earnings after
the markets close Thursday. Let's look at the technology stocks to
watch. Google shares up slightly. With its stock price slowly marching toward the $1,000 mark, the tech titan reports second-quarter earnings after the bell.
Analysts expect Google to report an earnings per share of $10.78 with revenue of just over $14 billion.
Shares
of Google have surged in the past 12 months, adding more than $300 in
value since hitting a 52-week low of $580.76 on this day a year ago. Microsoft to report earnings.
Shares of the Redmond, Wash., company are barely up in pre-market
trading as the company reports quarterly earnings after unveiling a
massive restructuring.
Last week, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer announced a major reorganization of the company he says will help them become more efficient.
The
company has also made news related to its product line. Last week, the
company slashed prices on its Surface RT tablets by $150. In May, the
company revealed the Xbox One, its video game console that will succeed
the Xbox 360. However, reception to the console has been mixed,
primarily due to restrictions to software that have since been removed.
Electronic
Arts says they will continue to publish college football video games
after the NCAA revealed it would not renew its contract for theNCAA Footballfranchise.
In a statement published Wednesday, EA Sports chief Andrew Wilson says the publisher will press forward without the NCAA brand.
"Our relationship with the Collegiate Licensing Company is strong and we are already working on a new game," says Wilson.
The statement follows comments from the NCAA that it would not renew its license for NCAA Football in the wake of a lawsuit over the use of college athletes' names and likenesses.
The
contract with the NCAA allowed EA to use their branding on the video
game, such as the name. According to the CLC website, they represent
"nearly 200 of the nation's top colleges, universities, bowl games,
athletic conferences, (and) the Heisman Trophy."
Wilson says the
game will appear on next-generation consoles starting next season. No
details were provided on the franchise's new name. Before EA first used
the NCAA brand in 1997, the series was called College Football USA.
How you can save your soul: In 140 characters or less
Following
Pope Francis's Twitter feed may be good for your soul - both in this
life and the next. He plans to grant plenary indulgences by Twitter
during the World Youth Day 2013 event, to be held July 23-28 in Brazil.
Bob Smietana, USA TODAY
11:55 p.m. EDT July 17, 2013
Following Pope Francis's Twitter feed may be good for your soul — both in this life and the next.
The
spiritual leader of the Roman Catholic Church plans to grant plenary
indulgences by Twitter during the World Youth Day 2013 event, which will
be held July 23-28 in Brazil. STORY: Pope Francis takes to Twitter right away
The
indulgences, which Catholics believe can reduce the time a soul spends
in purgatory, will be available to Francis' nearly 7.5 million Twitter
followers in all languages — if they tune in to World Youth Day
broadcasts or take other spiritual actions. To get an indulgence,
Catholics must have already had their sins absolved by a priest.
Pope
Francis issued a decree about indulgences and social media on July 9,
according to the Rome-based Zenit news organization, which covers the
Vatican.
"The faithful who on account of a legitimate impediment
cannot attend the aforementioned celebrations may obtain Plenary
Indulgence under the usual spiritual, sacramental and prayer conditions,
in a spirit of filial submission to the Roman Pontiff, by participation
in the sacred functions on the days indicated, following the same rites
and spiritual exercises as they occur via television or radio or, with
due devotion, via the new means of social communication," the decree
states.
Patricia Maldonado, director of digital media for the
Archdiocese of Detroit, approves of the idea. She said it will help the
Catholic church better connect with young people who are already on
Twitter and other social media.
"By using Twitter in new ways to
reach out to people spiritually, Pope Francis is setting the example and
laying the foundation for the rest of the church to follow in his
footsteps," said Maldonado, who oversees the dioceses Twitter feed
@DetroitCatholic.
Giving indulgences by social media means the
faithful get the spiritual benefits of World Youth Day even if they
can't be there, said Bob O'Gorman, a retired religion professor and
author of The Complete Idiot's Guide to Understanding Catholicism.
O'Gorman
said that major Catholic events such as World Youth Day have been seen
in the past as opportunities for forgiveness and renewal.
Even
people who can't travel to a major church event or pilgrimage can still
experience that forgiveness, O'Gorman said, if they take some kind of
spiritual action.
The idea comes from the Bible, O'Gorman said.
Jesus
told his disciples in the Gospel of Matthew that where two or more of
them are gathered in his name, he would be present in their midst. Being
in Jesus' presence is a way to be forgiven, O'Gorman said.
"This is a way to reconnect with God," he said. "A lot of this is about the sense of separation we feel from God."
In medieval times, that spiritual action often involved making a donation, which led to corruption, he said.
Today, that can mean tuning in to broadcasts from World Youth Day or following it on Twitter.
"I
think it's a great idea," said Eileen Daily, assistant professor of
pastoral studies at Loyola University in Chicago. Daily, who has studied
how Catholics use social media, said Twitter can help Catholics make
faith part of their everyday life.
It's a bit like keeping count
of the time spent on a treadmills or other exercise equipment as part of
maintaining physical health.
"In order to pay attention to the
pope's Twitter feed, they have to be integrating that into their daily
life," she said. "It is about people making the effort to bring faith
into their daily life."
Following Twitter or interacting through other social media will make World Youth Day interactive, Daily said.
Instead of just sitting and passively watching the telecasts from World Youth Day, Catholics will actually be taking part.
"It gives people a chance to apply it to their lives," she said.
Daily
said that as a Jesuit, Pope Francis is used to seeing God in every part
of life. So combining Twitter and with the ancient practice of
indulgences makes sense.
But the pope's new decree doesn't make
it easy to get an indulgence, said Scot Landry, cabinet secretary for
Catholic Media in the Archdiocese of Boston. He worries that some people
may misunderstand how the church views indulgences.
"Receiving an
indulgence by the church is a high bar," he said. "What you need to be
able to do is to go to confession, receive communion… A lot of the
headlines are making it seem like this is an easy step."
Grant Gallicho, the associate editor of Commonweal magazine and a prolific blogger @gallicho, also believes the pope's Twitter indulgences are a good idea.
"In
2001, Pope John Paul II granted indulgences to Catholics who walked
through the bronze door of St. Peter's Basilica," he said. "A door is
just another kind of technology. For most young people today, their
doorway to the marketplace of ideas is social media. Why shouldn't
Twitter serve as a way into the church?"
Brooke Happ, 21, a
student at Illinois State University, said she will be following World
Youth Day events using Facebook and other websites. She said it is
important that followers understand the meaning of an indulgence.
"Just
because they read something on Twitter, or just because the pope says
he will offer indulgence on Twitter, it doesn't mean that the person
automatically receives indulgence," Happ said. "There is a
responsibility on the person that he has to fulfill."
USA
TODAY's Jefferson Graham previews SoundCloud, the popular "YouTube of
Audio," website, used by everyone from President Obama and Beyonce to
NPR, CBS and comedian Jeff Garlin.
Jefferson Graham, USA TODAY
10:46 p.m. EDT July 17, 2013
SAN
FRANCISCO — President Obama and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg have
signed on to SoundCloud to share their speeches. Comedian Adam Carolla,
broadcaster Ryan Seacrest and musicians Kelly Rowland and Beyoncé also
post their work on SoundCloud.
Its co-founder and CEO,
Berlin-based Alexander Ljung, describes SoundCloud as "YouTube for
audio," a place where folks can listen to homegrown bands, spoken-word
podcasts and comedy. Thanks to the explosion in smartphones and tablets,
and interest in all things audio, his site is on a roll.
SoundCloud
now has 40 million registered users, up from 10 million in 2011, but
most users don't bother registering. The website reaches 200 million
unique listeners around the globe on the Web, mobile devices and on
social-media sites. "That's 8% of the current online population, or 20
times the size of Sweden," said Ljung on a recent visit here. "As large
as that is, with 8%, that means there's 92% missing. We have a lot of
work to do." POSTING IS EASY AND FREE — UP TO A POINT
The
idea behind SoundCloud is exactly like YouTube: Anyone can post their
audio and share it really easily on the Web, on their blogs and
websites, Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr and other social media. If the audio
isn't produced, SoundCloud has a record button on its upload page for
anyone to produce audio directly from their built-in webcam microphone
found on most laptops and desktops.
There is a big difference
between the two sites. YouTube doesn't charge to post videos, while
SoundCloud only allows for two hours of audio for free. After that, the
cost is $38 yearly for up to four hours, or $130 yearly for unlimited.
Some 12 hours of audio are uploaded to SoundCloud every minute.
The company is not yet profitable. SoundCloud won't reveal how many pay to subscribe, but Forbes estimates it at 5% of the registered users.
Some
$45 million in funding has been raised for the company by a variety of
venture capital firms, including heavy hitter Kleiner Perkins Caufield
& Byers, the company behind Twitter and Flipboard, among others.
SoundCloud
was launched in 2008 by Sweden natives Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, but it
wasn't until a re-design in 2012 that the site started seeing its
massive growth. That re-design made it much easier to share audio clips
across the Web and on social-media platforms. A SHARING MACHINE
Remember
the early days of audio online — when you had to download the Real
Player or Windows Media Player to listen? The days of downloading before
listening are over.
Larry Magid, who files daily tech reports
for CBS News that then get played on CBS radio stations as well, has his
work shared by CBS on SoundCloud. He likes that from there, it can go
on Facebook, Twitter, his website — all over the Web. "That's the way in
which media people can get the kind of exposure we need in today's
environment."
Online audio has seen a huge boost in the last two
years. "A lot of people thought podcasting had died," says Tim Akimoff,
the digital content editor for Chicago public radio station WBEZ, which
produces the popular This American Life show for National Public Radio.
"But
then ... people started to realize — I can't always watch a video. But
you can always listen." WBEZ began putting its shows on SoundCloud in
2013, and has seen large audience spikes.
The station's Worldview,
a daily global affairs talk show, has been on the air for 19 years in
Chicago, attracting average numbers. "Suddenly, the back catalog goes on
SoundCloud, and the show is averaging 50,000 plays a day on
SoundCloud," says Akimoff. "Last month the show had 1.2 million plays.
We've been astounded by that."
I began posting audio of USA
TODAY-produced interviews on SoundCloud in the preparation of this
article and have seen enormous feedback from the worldwide community,
picking up thousands of followers in less than a month.
Podcast
production company Earwolf, which distributes shows from comedian Jeff
Garlin and Kevin Pollak, switched to SoundCloud in April as a way to get
a larger Web audience for its 19 shows. Via SoundCloud, the shows get
distributed as well to Apple's iTunes, where "80% of all podcast
listening still happens," says Lauren Tyree, Earwolf's studio manager.
"It's a great vehicle for us."
Book publisher Simon &
Schuster posts audio previews of its spoken books on SoundCloud,
primarily because the embeddable player is so easy to work with that
most of the authors can easily post chapters and share them through
social media, says director of marketing Sarah Lieberman.
"We want to give authors content to share in a real easy way," she says. MUSIC IS A SOUNDCLOUD STAPLE
But
it's not just spoken word. SoundCloud was created by musicians (Ljung
is a former studio engineer and Wahlforss is a former electronic
musician) and a good 50% of the content on the site is both homegrown
music by musicians and professional content posted by the likes of
Beyoncé and Rowland.
Musician Melissa B says SoundCloud has done
wonders for her fledgling career. She uses Twitter to interact with
fans, and directs them to SoundCloud to hear her latest work. "People
start spreading the news from there," she says. "It gives you the
freedom to communicate with fans. It's been the best platform for me."
Fred
Wilson, a partner with Union Square Investors, one of SoundCloud's
backers, says that even with the huge online audience that has flocked
to the site, these are early days. "It's only getting started," he says.
SoundCloud will become "as big as the Internet itself."
HELSINKI
(AP) — Nokia Corp. says its net loss narrowed in the second quarter to
227 million euros ($298. million) compared to a net loss of 1.41 billion
euros a year earlier.
The struggling Finnish cellphone maker said
sales fell by 24% to 5.7 billion euros from 7.5 billion in the second
quarter last year.
Sales of the company's flagship Lumia phones increased by 32% compared to the first quarter to 7.4 million handsets.
The
results, however, were weaker than analysts had expected. The company's
share price fell 3 percent to 2.99 euros at the Helsinki Stock
Exchange.
On the Nasdaq, shares of Nokia were down 3.47% in pre-market trading. Copyright
2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not
be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Reuters
news service reported about 8:45 a.m. ET, Thursday that Dell did not
have the votes it needs to get shareholder approval of a buyout offer
led by founder Michael Dell.
If true, a shareholder vote scheduled
for Thursday would be delayed on a sale of the company to an investment
group, including founder and CEO Michael Dell.
CEO Dell and
Silver Lake Partners investing partners are offering to take the company
private for $13.65 per share, or $24.4 billion. But so far,
billionaire investor Carl Icahn, a vocal critic of the offer, has
refused to drop his counteroffer.
In pre-market trading, the
shares briefly jumped 2.5% after the Reuters report was published and
were about 1.5% higher within 10 minutes of the news service report.
The
outcome is far from certain, experts say. On Monday, brokerage and
shareholder T. Rowe Price voiced its opposition to Michael Dell's offer.
At the urging of Icahn, some shareholders are grousing that the offer
undervalues Dell, hinting that they might balk at the vote in hopes of
getting CEO Dell and his group to sweeten the bid.
Icahn and
Southeastern Asset Management partners have offered $14 a share in cash
plus one warrant for every four shares tendered. The warrant would give
shareholders the right to buy one Dell share for $20 in the next seven
years. In a letter to shareholders, Icahn valued his counteroffer at
about $15.50 to $18 a share. Both offers would add substantial debt to
Dell's balance sheet and require loans from private-equity firms or
major customers.
On Tuesday, a special committee of Dell's board
tasked with evaluating the offers declined to endorse Icahn's latest
proposal as superior. The committee does not accept Icahn's financing
terms, which are conditioned on replacing Dell's board with Icahn and 11
others who work for Icahn and Southeastern.
"We wish to note
that it is unfortunate Mr. Icahn continues to conduct his campaign by
trying to discredit the special committee and accuse it of frightening
Dell stockholders," the committee said Tuesday in a statement.
Icahn
and his partners own a 13% stake in Dell. Under the terms of the Dell
offer, the founder cannot use his shares — a 16% stake — in the
shareholder vote. That means he and his partners need 42% of
shareholders to approve their offer.
Since shareholders don't need
to commit until the voting begins, Dell might delay Thursday's meeting,
some Dell watchers said, and offer to sweeten their bid to ensure
getting enough votes for approval.
Struggling PC maker Dell,
based in Round Rock, Texas, has fallen victim to shrinking PC sales
globally and failed to ride the mobile computing wave of the past few
years. The founder says his proposal to take the company private would
give it time away from meeting investor demands for short-term profit
and allow for a dramatic overhaul aimed at developing data centers,
services and software in a bid for higher margins.
However, "there
hasn't been a compelling case that the current business strategy is
wrong and an alternative is superior," said Jay Ritter, a professor of
finance at the University of Florida, of the contentious proposals.
Last
week, proxy advice firm Institutional Shareholder Services and two
other major firms in that industry endorsed the buyout offer from Dell,
who founded the company in 1984, and Silver Lake. Ritter says "a bidding
war would result in a much higher price," if shareholders don't approve
the offer on the table Thursday.
Shares of Dell fell 1% Wednesday
to close at $12.88. Founder and CEO Dell owns about 16% of the
company's shares. Under the deal, he would relinquish his publicly
traded shares and throw in $750 million in cash (of his $16 billion
fortune) to contribute about $4.5 billion to the offer.
The US intelligence whistleblower, Edward Snowden, has applied for temporary asylum in Russia, according to his lawyer.
The former National Security Agency worker has been holed up at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport since June 23 after leaking details of US surveillance programmes.
Russian lawyer Anatoly Kucherena said he had met Snowden on Tuesday and
"the application has been filed with the Russian authorities".
Wikileaks, the whistleblowing website, has been supporting Snowden and
confirmed in a post on Twitter: "Edward Snowden today has filed for a
temporary protection visa with Russia's ministry of immigration." Snowden speaks to human rights activists last week
Washington has urged Moscow to return the 30-year-old to the US, where
he is wanted on espionage charges after revealing details of secret
surveillance programmes.
Speaking to human rights activists last week, after three weeks of
silence, Snowden said he planned to apply for temporary asylum in Russia
until he had won "safe passage" to Latin America, where three countries
have offered him political asylum.
Snowden has been able to remain at the airport transit lounge for so
long after fleeing Hong Kong, because technically it is not Russian
territory.
However, Russian President Vladimir Putin has made clear that Snowden
can only stay in Russia if he "stops damaging our US partners".
Sky's Moscow Correspondent Katie Stallard said that Snowden's application for asylum was a "PR coup for Russia".
"It makes Russia look like the only country strong enough to stand up
to the US and protect this young man but also that he (Putin) is doing
the US a favour," she said. There have been protests across the world in support of Snowden
"Yes he might be going to take this man in but he will do so by
shutting him up by stopping him from passing on any more of America's
secrets so it's a bit of a win: win for the Russian President."
However, a Kremlin spokesman said shortly after the asylum bid that the
final decision on the matter did not rest with the president.
On Monday, Mr Putin accused the US of "trapping" Snowden in Russia,
saying no other country wanted to take him because of pressure exerted
by America.
Snowden has consistently made it clear that he does not intent to stay
in Russia but eventually wants to move to a Latin American country.
However, the prospects of him successfully travelling there appear limited.
