Feb 7, 2014 | General
What if you saw the overall stock market drop hundreds of points in a week? What if you saw an eight percent decline in the shares of your own company?
What? would you do? Tim Cook, CEO, ordered Apple buy back $14 billion dollars of it’s own shares in the past two weeks. In the past year, they bought back over $40 billion dollars worth. This is a plan to eventually buy back $60 billion of it’s own stock. Mr. Cook says this is a vote of confidence in what Apple can do now and what it expects to do in the future. You see, Apple has lost revenue in the last year and suffered it’s first annual decline in about a decade.
So is this a move of confidence or a move of desperation? Let’s not forget: There was a time when Apple stock was at over $700 a share. Now it’s around $520, but last year it was lower than that. Some have even said Apple’s glory days are about over. You know, the decade of the 2000s, when Apple started a revolution with the iPod, iPhone and iPad and Apple store. I have to disagree with these voices. But I’m still not sure if this is really a vote of confidence or not. It beats the alternative: Not buying them back and letting stocks sink further and further. I don’t know if they will come back to $700 a share or not, but I praise this move. Is this a move of confidence or fear?
Feb 1, 2014 | Computer technology, General, networking, Software
The Super Bowl is perhaps the biggest advertising day in America. But they’re not stopping with TV ads. This year, a more personal brand of advertising will great fans in grater New York City.
That’s because this year, the NFL [National Football League] has put up wireless transmitters so ads can be sent to your own personal phone. Though they’ve been testing this for months, if successful, this kind of advertising could revolutionize the ad and the smartphone industry. The first waves will start out with practical info and some in-store promotions. But privacy and legal advocates are saying not so fast. They’re concerned of tracking, spamming, and even identity theft.
Now don’t go watching the game tomorrow night expecting a text message from Budweiser, Go Daddy, Macy’s, Pepsi-Cola, or any other major corporations.?These ads will only go to those in Times Square and those watching the game live at Met Life?Stadium in East?Rutherford, New Jersey. That may not?be the case next year. I’m sure if they had their way, our phones will be blowing up with ads not only during this big game, but everywhere every day. I hope the advertisers know how annoying and what a nuisance that can be. And the advocates have a right to be concerned. In the wake of the Target and?Neiman Marcus?breaches,?it’s becoming easier?for hackers to steal IDs and ruin lives every day. They don’t need anymore invitations. But if they?keep it safe and keep it sane, these phone ads can be a good thing.?Come next Super Bowl, if you got a phone ad from any advertiser, who would it be?
Jan 26, 2014 | General
Friday marked the 30th anniversary of the Apple Macintosh computer.?? To mark the occasion, ABC News interviewed Apple CEO Tim Cook. But so much more was revealed.
There is a new Mac called the Mac Pro coming out. It’s allegedly the most powerful computer they’ve ever built. And it’s manufactured right here in the USA, Austin, TX to be exact. Mr. Cook talked about investments in Arizona and says he wants to do even more. He talked about secrecy in his corporation and how consumers love the element of surprise. But Mr. Cook also addressed the NSA surveillance controversy. He called for more transparency and will continue to call for more transparency. He was even shown sitting across the table from President Obama and calling for less secrecy in the NSA and saying that Americans need to be made clear of what that program is doing.
I applaud Mr. Cook. It’s about time somebody started bringing jobs back home where they belong. At a time when college graduates are struggling for work, and at a time when more twenty somethings are moving back home than ever before, I hope these American jobs will put a dent in this troubling trend and give Millennials? hope. I’m happy about the stand he takes concerning the NSA. He and many others tech moguls are concerned that our government is running a muck with secrecy. And for him to get in their face like he’s doing, yes, I totally am in agreement. Is it just me, or does this interview make you want to order a Mac Pro?
Jan 24, 2014 | Computer technology, General, Uncategorized
It was January 1984. Madonna introduced herself to the nation on American Bandstand. Dallas and Dynasty were the top shows on TV. Hulk Hogan just won the WWE Championship. And a computer revolution was born.
On January 24 that year, we sat down to watch the Washington Redskins take on the LA Raiders in Super Bowl 18. A commercial came on that spoofed the George Orwell novel (I think a prophetic novel) 1984. We were told the Apple Macintosh would make 1984 not look like 1984. They were onto something. Computers before the Mac seemed unfriendly, robotic and had a scary big brother component to it. Apple Mac changed that. It was portable. It was easy to use. You could do work play games on it (who remembers The Oregon Trail?). If I’m not mistaken, that commercial only ran once, but that’s all it took. Though it cost nearly $2,500 (in 1984 dollars), it was wildly successful. Most home computers cost you $10,000 or more back then.
But look at what it did for the Apple company. The company was in trouble. Steve Jobs and company were just hoping for a profit. What they got was a $10 billion company. What they also got was notoriety to a new generation. Despite this success, Apple did slide into trouble in the 1990s. But then came the iMac. Then came the iPod. Then came the iPhone. Now they’re a trillion dollar company. I mention these gadgets because none of these would be possible without the original Apple Macintosh. So happy birthday Mac, and many more?
By the way, who won that Super Bowl between the Redskins and Raiders?
Jan 18, 2014 | General, internet
Well, most of the numbers are in for the Christmas 2013 shopping season. For most, the numbers are disappointing, and for Target…no comment. But online stores don’t seem to have that problem.
Last week, Best Buy was the latest to report declining numbers. According to Shopper Trak, the number of retail traffic in stores has declined for the third year in a row. Some stores opened on Thanksgiving day, but that did little to help. After the Thanksgiving weekend, sales either held? slightly below average or declined drastically. Shopper Trak shows Americans visited five malls in 2007, in ’13, only three. Meanwhile on the online front, sales increases have more than doubled from just a few years earlier. Even Best Buy says their online shopping sales have increased 24% since last year.
It was thought after the Great Recession of the late 200os, people would return to the malls and stores. But many never did. Instead, people are returning to online stores. And the economy isn’t really fully recovered (I wonder if it ever will), but that’s just part of the problem. One woman testified that with three kids, it’s just too chaotic to go. It’s a lot easier to look for that last toy online for your kids than to be fighting over it at the store. Season after season, there are news stories of people getting trampled, fights breaking out, even people getting killed because of insane store shopping. Hmmm…is that one of the reasons store fronts is losing and online fronts are winning?
Jan 9, 2014 | General, News
The times they are a changing and so is how we consume media. The WWE has also figured this out by launching the WWE network but here is the interesting part, you won’t be calling your local cable company or satellite provider to ask for this channel. Coming on February 24th, this will be the first network to launch with a 24/7 streaming service, live content, and an on-demand section with thousands of hours of wrestling fun.
One of the best things about this network is that it will give them all 12 of the WWE’s pay-per-views for just $9.99 a month. Which if purchased through your cable or satellite provider would cost you $675 for the year.
The best part about this service and why it is featured as an article on a computer site is that it will stream on all of your devices. That’s right, your Amazon Kindle Fire, Android devices including Samsung Galaxy devices, iOS devices such as the Apple iPad and iPhone, your Roku device, PS3 and PS4 gaming machines, Xbox One and a few select smart TV’s coming this summer.
All you have to do to subscribe is sign up for a WWE.com account although you will need to sign up for a six month commitment for the $9.99 a month which is still a great deal and protects the WWE from people just wanting to grab one pay-per-view for $9.99 and then cancel. The WWE Network is set to launch on the 24th of February and will be giving a limited time trial of one week to all who want to see what this channel is all about. The channel is going to be available in the US to start and going to other countries such as the UK and Canada in the late 2014/early 2015.
If you are having issues getting the WWE Network online in your home, give us at Geek Choice a call 800-433-5435 and we can get it done for you, IF YA SMELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL OOOWWWW! What Geek Choice is Cookin….
Below my buddies at IGN break down the WWE fun!
