Saturday, December 24, 2011

Apple iPhone market share slips in Europe: research firm (Reuters)

(Reuters) ? The long-awaited launch of the iPhone 4S has helped Apple win market share in the United States and Britain, although it is losing ground in the rest of Europe, data from research firm Kantar Worldpanel ComTech showed on Thursday.

"In Great Britain, the U.S. and Australia, Apple's new iPhone continues to fly off the shelf in the run-up to Christmas. However, this trend is far from universal," said Dominic Sunnebo, global consumer insight director.

The smartphone market is currently dominated by Google, which has stormed the market with its free Android platform.

Apple's market share in the 12 weeks to end-November rose to 36 percent in the United States from 25 percent a year earlier and in Britain to 31 percent from 21 percent, Kantar said.

Its share slipped in France to 20 percent from 29 percent a year earlier, in Germany to 22 percent from 27 percent, with similar drops also seen in Italy and Spain.

"The French market is showing increasing signs of price sensitivity," Sunnebo said.

In part, the European sales of the expensive Apple model were hit by weakening economies across the continent.

Google had market shares of between 46 and 61 percent in all markets. Cellphone makers like Samsung Electronics, Sony Ericsson, LG Ericsson and Motorola Mobility all use its Android platform in their phones.

"In Germany, Android achieved a dominant 61 percent share of smartphone sales in the latest 12 weeks, with the Samsung Galaxy S II the top selling handset," Sunnebo said.

(Reporting By Tarmo Virki; Editing by Jodie Ginsberg)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/applecomputer/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111222/tc_nm/us_smartphones_europe

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AntLion Audio ModMic Detachable Boom Microphone Review

Can’t find a headset/mic combination you like?? Do you have a favorite pair of headphones but no mic?? Wouldn’t it be great to just add a microphone to your own headphones anytime you like?? You may remember my own attempts at using a hot glue gun to attach a microphone to my own comfy headphones… [...]

Source: http://the-gadgeteer.com/2011/12/23/antlion-audio-modmic-detachable-boom-microphone-review/

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Friday, December 23, 2011

Engadget Podcast 269 - 12.23.2011

It may be Christmas Eve Eve and the fourth day of Hannukah, but so far, this has felt like just another week in the consumer electronics biz. Another loco crazy, pre-CES, sink-or-swim, walk-a-dozen-miles-to-charge-your-cell kind of week. But that doesn't mean we don't have a couple of nice presents for you...including, of course, your very own Engadget Podcast.

Host: Brian Heater, Tim Stevens
Producer: Trent Wolbe
Music: Just a Dream

01:37 - Engadget Distro now available on Android Market and iOS Newsstand!
04:46 - AT&T abandons T-Mobile merger plans (updated)
11:02 - Sony PlayStation Vita review (Japanese edition)
24:38 - Microsoft's CES 2012 keynote won't deliver 'significant news,' more of 'a wrap-up'
32:09 - SOPA hearing delayed until the new year as petition signatures top 25k
35:47 - T-Mobile, Motorola respond to Senator Franken's Carrier IQ questions
37:20 - Two days in the desert with Apple's lost founder, Ron Wayne
41:55 - Fusion Garage's website goes dark -- has it bitten the dust? (update: it's back?)
45:00 - The Engadget Interview: Fusion Garage's Chandra Rathakrishnan... post-fallout
50:02 - Indian villagers walk a dozen miles to charge cellphones
53:14 - Listener questions












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Engadget Podcast 269 - 12.23.2011 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 23 Dec 2011 11:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/23/engadget-podcast-269-12-23-2011/

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Open Thread (Balloon Juice)

Share With Friends: Share on FacebookTweet ThisPost to Google-BuzzSend on GmailPost to Linked-InSubscribe to This Feed | Rss To Twitter | Politics - Top Stories Stories, News Feeds and News via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/177773587?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Monday, December 19, 2011

Gunman opens fire at Southern Calif. utility office

Ringo H.W. Chiu / AP

Police officers walk through the office complex that houses offices of Southern California Edison on Friday after a man armed with a rifle shot two people dead, wounded others and then killed himself in Irwindale, Calif., police say.

By msnbc.com staff

Updated at 12:34 a.m., ET:

NBC News reported the two men who died after a?co-worker opened fire at a Southern California Edison facility in Irwindale?have been identified as Henry Serrano,?56,?of Walnut, and Robert Lindsay, 53, of Chino,?the Los?Angeles County Coroner's office confirmed Saturday.

The?gunman has also been identified as 48-year-old Andre?Turner of Norco.

In a press release, the Edison company promised to set up?a fund for victims and survivors, and said it would provide grief counseling and other services for employees and families.?The utility also confirmed that Turner?was an employee.?

Updated at 9 p.m. ET:?The Associated Press reports that three people were killed and two more injured Friday in a California office complex shooting, police said.

The suspected gunman was among the dead and is believed to have self-inflicted wounds, Baldwin Park police Capt. Michael Taylor said.

"As far as we know there was one shooting suspect, period," Taylor said.

The shooting occurred around 1:30 p.m. Friday at Southern California Edison offices inside a larger office complex in Irwindale.

There was no immediate word on what prompted the gunfire. Authorities were not saying whether the gunman worked at SoCal Edison or might have been a former employee.

Multiple media reports said the gunman was an Edison employee and?two of the?victims were believed to be company managers. Police said they could not confirm those reports.

One of the dead was discovered inside the building during a sweep, and police were continuing their search for more victims, said Taylor.

Another victim died en route to a hospital. The two wounded have unspecified injuries and their conditions are not known.

Taylor said police have not accounted for everyone in the building yet and were doing a sweep.

No gunfire was exchanged after officers arrived.

The building was quickly locked down and dozens of people were seen streaming out with their hands raised.

Gil Alexander, a spokesman for Southern California Edison, said the company has about 200 employees at the facility.??

Updated at 7:00 p.m. ET: Authorities issued conflicting reports about the number of dead at the hands of a gunman Friday afternoon at an office of?Southern California Edison utility.

The Los Angeles County Fire Department said three people were dead and three others were in critical condition.

The unidentified gunman shot and killed himself after shooting a man and woman, said Irwindale Police Chief Dennis Smith.

Reports varied as police continued evacuating the building and searching offices.

The Los Angeles Times reported that the gunman shot four people, killing one, before shooting himself. The Times cited Capt. Michael Taylor of the Baldwin Park Police Department, which is helping with the investigation.

A?source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told the Times?that the gunman worked as a systems analyst.

Updated at 6:40 p.m. ET: A gunman stormed into an office of the Southern California Edison utility Friday and shot a man and woman before killing himself, police said.

The building was quickly locked down and dozens of people were seen streaming out with their hands raised. Two nearby schools also were locked down but no one on the campuses was hurt. The lockdowns at Walnut Elementary School and Olive Junior High School were later lifted and children were dismissed.

"One male gunman shot one female, one male and then apparently took his own life," Police Chief Dennis Smith told reporters.

The conditions of the two people he wounded were not immediately known. There was also no immediate word on what prompted the gunfire.

The utility's office is in a complex of buildings that also includes a business called California Lighting Sales.

Cindy Gutierrez, the controller for that company, said employees there didn't hear any shots fired and didn't realize anything was amiss until building management announced over the intercom that everyone should stay indoors.

"At that point we knew something was wrong, then 5 to 10 minutes later that's when we hear the police," she said, adding that she and her 20 colleagues have been locked in their office ever since.

Irwindale is a small industrial city of about 1,400 residents in the San Gabriel Valley, 22 miles east of downtown Los Angeles.

It is home to the popular Irwindale Speedway auto racetrack. It is also home to the annual Southern California Renaissance Pleasure Faire as well as sprawling rock and gravel quarries.

Southern California Edison is one of its largest companies, employing 2,100 people.

Updated at 6:05 p.m. ET:?Baldwin Park police Capt. Michael Taylor said at a press briefing that there are no confirmed deaths at the?Southern California Edison office in Irwindale.

There are "under six victims, and none of the wounds are life-threatening," Baldwin said.

The gunman was shot, but it isn't yet known whether his wound was self-inflicted, Baldwin said. It was not immediately clear whether the gunman was included among those with "non-life-threatening injuries."


Updated at 5:59 p.m. ET: Authorities now say only one person, the gunman, has been killed at the Southern California Edison office in Irwindale. Two other people are reported to have been injured.

Updated at 5:57 p.m. ET: Southern California Edison says it will hold a news conference shortly.

Updated at 5:48 p.m. ET: KTLA-TV quotes police as saying the gunman shot a man and a woman, killing one of them, before killing himself. Fire officials confirm that one person is being treated for injuries.

Original post: IRWINDALE, Calif. ? A building housing offices of Southern California Edison was evacuated Friday as police searched for possible victims of a gunman who shot and killed himself and a second person, local reports said.

SoCal Edison officials confirmed that there was a shooting at their office building in Irwindale, northeast of Los Angeles,?but were unable to provide further details.?

KTLA-TV of Los Angeles reported that the gunman and one other person were dead. Two schools near the building were locked down, but authorities said they did not believe there was a second gunman.

This is a developing story. Check back for further details. The Associated Press and NBC News contributed to this report.

More content from msnbc.com and NBC News:

Source: http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/12/16/9501831-shooting-reported-at-southern-california-utility-offices

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Sunday, December 18, 2011

Video: 5 amazing homes, priced to sell

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3041440/vp/45697056#45697056

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Zynga prices IPO at top end of range (Reuters)

(Reuters) ? Online games maker Zynga Inc is expected to make a strong debut on the Nasdaq stock exchange on Friday after it priced its initial public offering at the top end of a preliminary range but did not increase the size of the $1 billion deal.

Analysts and investors had expected Zynga to raise the price or boost the number of shares it was selling, since demand had seemed strong in recent weeks. The IPO, from the maker of "CityVille" and "FarmVille" games, has been highly anticipated because it is seen as a way for investors to get a slice of Facebook's growth before the social network goes public itself.

Zynga sold 100 million shares of Class A common stock at $10 per share in the IPO, the top end of the $8.50 to $10 indicative range.

In addition, certain of Zynga's stockholders have granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 15 million shares to cover over-allotments, Zynga said in a statement late on Thursday. Zynga will not receive any proceeds from the sale of shares by the selling stockholders.

Zynga publishes four of the top five games played on Facebook and has more than 200 million monthly users. Facebook, which takes a 30 percent cut of the revenue Zynga makes on its platform, is expected to go public next year.

"They could have easily raised the size and the price. I expect it to trade strongly when it opens," Scott Sweet, an analyst at IPO Boutique, said of Zynga.

The IPO, equivalent to about 11 percent of diluted shares, values Zynga at $8.9 billion. The company had been valued at roughly $14 billion in November, according to an internal estimate in a regulatory filing.

At $1 billion in proceeds, Zynga's IPO would still be the largest from a U.S. Internet company since Google Inc raised $1.9 billion in 2004.

Zynga and the lead underwriters on the deal, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, declined to comment.

Zynga, which is profitable, generates revenue from less than 3 percent of its players, who buy virtual items like trucks and poker chips in its free games.

Others said Zynga wanted to play it safe with the IPO given the volatile financial markets and what happened to another online game company, Nexon, whose shares fell on their first day of trade in Japan this week.

"The market's been pretty tough this past week, so they probably took a more conservative approach," said Dan Niles, chief investment officer of AlphaOne Capital Partners.

Groupon Inc, another closely watched Internet IPO this year, jumped on its first day of trading in November, but slumped below its $20 issue price about three weeks later.

But unlike Groupon, Zynga is profitable. It posted net income of $12 million during the third quarter and is on track to make $1 billion in revenue this year. But profit growth has been lumpy as the company invested in new games.

Greencrest Capital analyst Max Wolff said Zynga's shares on Friday "could easily go to $12 and change," before stabilizing.

CHALLENGES AHEAD

Zynga's near $9 billion valuation is less than videogame maker Activision Blizzard Inc's $13.6 billion market capitalization and higher than Electronic Arts Inc's $6.9 billion, even though they earn much more in revenue.

Zynga is valued at nine times its sales for the last 12 months, while Activision's multiple is three times its 12-month sales, reflecting the growth potential investors see in online social games.

While Zynga's exposure to Facebook could be enticing to some investors, it also poses a major risk. In the future, Zynga will have to show Wall Street that it can diversify and make money from mobile and other new ventures.

Zynga now generates 95 percent of its revenue from Mark Zuckerberg's social network. If Facebook's user growth slows, Zynga's growth is likely to lose momentum as well. Zynga's growth rate of bookings, which is the money it makes upfront when its users buy items, is also slowing, raising concerns among investors.

"It's not a trend that seems to be stabilizing yet. We believe investors will likely question Zynga's premium valuation," said Sterne Agee analyst Arvind Bhatia in a research note.

Another concern analysts have cited is Zynga CEO Mark Pincus' influence over the company. He owns a special class of C shares that carry 70 times more voting power than regular A shares. This is high compared to many other companies. LinkedIn Corp, for example, has a 10-1 voting ratio.

Still, Greencrest Capital's Wolff said investors may look past Pincus' controlling stake because of the company's dominance on Facebook.

"While there are a lot of reasons to be skeptical about the company, including Mr. Pincus' 70 (times) share class voting rights, the bottom line is they have five of the top six games (on Facebook)," he said.

(Reporting By Liana B. Baker in New York and Alistair Barr in San Francisco, Additional reporting by Sinead Carew in New York, Alexei Oreskovic in San Francisco and Sakthi Prasad in Bangalore; Editing by Bernard Orr)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/business/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111216/bs_nm/us_zynga

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