88: The Analysts Are Stupid

Jim and Dan talk about profiling amps, Apple's first quarter results, Samsung and patent settlements, Bitcoin, and 30 years of Mac.

Links for this episode:

• Profiler | Kemper Profiling Amplifier | FAQ
  
• Apollo Twin with Realtime UAD Processing and Thunderbolt
  Apollo Twin is the first desktop interface to combine superior audio resolution with Realtime UAD Processing – letting you record through vintage EQs, compressors, reverbs, and guitar amp plug-ins, with breathtaking professional results.
• Universal Audio Apollo Twin SOLO | Sweetwater.com
  
• Amazon.com: Zoom H4N Handy Portable Digital Recorder: Musical Instruments
  
• Exclusive: Google to Buy Artificial Intelligence Startup DeepMind for $400M | Re/code
  Google is shelling out $400 million to buy a secretive artificial intelligence company called DeepMind.
• Logos Made Simple — The Official Squarespace Blog
  
• Apple - Press Info - Apple Reports First Quarter Results
  Apple® today announced financial results for its fiscal 2014 first quarter ended December 28, 2013. The Company posted record quarterly revenue of $57.6 billion and quarterly net profit of $13.1 billion, or $14.50 per diluted share. These results compare to revenue of $54.5 billion and net profit of $13.1 billion, or $13.81 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 37.9 percent compared to 38.6 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 63 percent of the quarter’s revenue.
• Tim Cook admits iPhone 5c share lower than expected, says demand was 'different than we thought'
  "I think the 5s, people are really intrigued with Touch ID," Cook said. "It's a major feature that has excited people. And I think that associated with the other things that are unique to the 5s, got the 5s to have a significant amount more attention and a higher mix of sales."
• Apple Had Trouble Keeping Up with Demand for iPhone 5S, CFO Says - Digits - WSJ
  In an interview ahead of Apple’s conference call, Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer said Apple couldn’t meet demand for the 5S until near the end of the quarter.
• Spreadsheet of the day: Final estimates for Apple's fiscal Q1 2014 - Apple 2.0 -Fortune Tech
  The consensus estimates among the 47 Apple analysts we've heard from so far -- 29 Wall Street professionals and 18 Internet amateurs -- are for earnings of $14.36 per share on sales of $58.1 billion.
• The best and worst Apple analysts: Q1 2014 edition - Apple 2.0 -Fortune Tech
  
• Samsung to Pay Hundreds of Millions of Dollars to Settle Patent Dispute With Ericsson | Re/code
  In the second patent deal announced by Samsung in the last 24 hours, the Korean electronics giant and Ericsson announced they have settled a dispute with a cross-licensing deal that will see some big checks being written to the Swedish networking firm.While full details weren’t disclosed, Ericsson said the settlement will boost its fourth-quarter sales by 4.2 billion Swedish Kronor ($652.3 million) and its net income by 3.3 billion kronor ($512.5 million). In addition to the initial payment, Samsung will also make ongoing payments to Ericsson, the companies said.The deal will end all of the global patent disputes between the two firms, including complaints before the U.S. International Trade Commission and lawsuits in U.S. District Court in Texas.
• Google and Samsung reach global patent license deal — Tech News and Analysis
  A major new cross-licensing agreement between Google and Samsung involves thousands of patents, and could move the ongoing patent wars over mobile devices in a new direction.
• Samsung, Google Strike Wide-Ranging Patent Cross-License Deal | Re/code
  The agreement, announced on Sunday, covers the two companies’ existing patents as well as those to be filed over the next 10 years. Samsung and Google didn’t say whether the deal covers all of their respective patents. But they did say it extends beyond mobile, and covers multiple product categories.
• App.net Launches Backer, A Bitcoin-Friendly Crowdfunding Engine For Individual Software Features | TechCrunch
  As the popularity of crowdfunding grows ever larger, an interesting new trend has started popping up: developers, curious if a new feature is worth adding to their products, are asking interested customers to chip in to cover the costs of development. In other words: if you really want a feature, put your money where your mouth is.Balanced, a payment service, recently used crowdfunding to support adding a new money sending feature. App.net, a subscription-based/ad-free Twitter alternative which as a whole was born out of a $803,000 crowdfunding campaign, is currently using it to determine if they’ll accept Bitcoin payments on their site.
• Vox is our next | The Verge
  Early last year, Melissa Bell, Matt Yglesias and I began wrestling with a question that had bugged all of us for a long time: why hadn't the Internet made the news better at delivering crucial context alongside new information?This year, we're founding a new publication at Vox Media in order to do something about it.
• The Podcasting Handbook
  
• How To Get Apple’s Custom Font Celebrating 30 Years Of Mac | TechCrunch
  The font uses special private characters so once installed, you won’t be able to just type to use it as you would a normal font, but you can copy and paste the different models from the OS X Font Book application and paste them into other applications. It’s a beautifully designed collection of Macs throughout the years reduced to simple, elegant line drawings, and there’s no telling how long it’ll remain available for download, so if you’re interested in having the collection for private use, it’s probably best to grab it now.

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