Taylor Swift Is Taking Over | ||
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It seems like everyone in America has been talking about Taylor Swift since her new album "1989" dropped two weeks ago, and now she's landed on two prominent covers. Both TIME and Bloomberg Businessweek have written about the power of Swift this week. TIME has published a Q&A with Swift on its site that non-subscribers have access to, and Businessweek has put its full cover story online. In the TIME interview, Swift says that being a role model to young girls excites her rather than stresses her out. Swift declined to comment for the Businessweek cover story, but there she is anyway. Here are the covers:
These covers, coupled with all the news coverage Swift saw when she pulled her entire catalogue of music from Spotify, are more evidence of her immense power in the music industry. She's trying to change the game and go against the grain when it comes to streaming, something that many other artists haven't been willing to do. Read the TIME interview here >Read the Businessweek cover story here >SEE ALSO: Here's How Much Taylor Swift Made In One Year From Streaming On Spotify Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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WHERE ARE THEY NOW? Here's What The 'Can You Hear Me Now?' Guy Is Doing Today | ||
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Although you've probably never heard the name, Paul Marcarelli is one of the most recognizable commercial actors of our time. Often referred to as "The Verizon Guy" or "Test Man," Marcarelli has appeared in hundreds of ads and promotions for Verizon, and is best known for his "Can you hear me now?" catchphrase. The actor, who's been under contract with Verizon since 2001, still works with the telecom giant from time to time. He tells us about his time as "The Verizon Guy," how he got the job, and what he's up to now. Produced by Will Wei. Additional camera by Devan Joseph. Follow BI Video: On Facebook Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Check Out These Breathtaking ‘Living Photos’ Of Iceland Captured By An Adventure Photographer | ||
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Chris Burkard is an adventure photographer made famous for his photoshoots in Iceland, where he's captured icy surf sessions, weddings, and even a Super Bowl commercial. During his most recent trip to Iceland, Burkard used one of Lytro's magical Illum cameras, which are known for their so-called "living pictures" that let you explore the photo by clicking on different areas to bring the tiniest details into focus. From towering glaciers to hammocks strung up between two icebergs, Burkard's interactive photos are both beautiful and fun to explore. Luckily, you can experience Burkard's living photos yourself, just remember to click around different areas to bring new details into focus. This photo was taken in front of the Seljalandsfoss waterfall.For this photo, Burkard and his team brought a surfboard to the cold beach at Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon.On the laval field outside Iceland's capital, Reykjavík, green moss covers the rocky ground.See the rest of the story at Business Insider  | ||
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Why Investor Should Stop Freaking Out Over Marissa Mayer's Yahoo (YHOO) | ||
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Yahoo investors are done with Marissa Mayer. After a little over two years with Mayer on the job, two of Yahoo's top ten shareholders have approached AOL CEO Tim Armstrong about running Yahoo, Nadia Damouni and Jennifer Saba at Reuters report. How Armstrong would end up running Yahoo is a bit unclear. Investors wants Yahoo and AOL to merge, and then Armstrong would ascend to be CEO. What happens to Mayer in this transaction? Who knows. Presumably, she's tossed. This is just the latest slap in the face to Mayer by a restless investment community. Earlier this year, Eric Jackson, a fund manager with a small stake in Yahoo began bashing Mayer in blog posts at Forbes, and on TV. Jackson was a fan of Mayer for years, but he flipped his opinion rather suddenly. Then, Starboard, an activist fund that had a stake in Yahoo started a war on Mayer with an open letter questioning her various decisions. And now, this. What has Marissa Mayer done to these investors to earn their scorn? Well, as Reuters points out, since she took over as CEO, Yahoo's stock price has tripled. Hm. Ok. But what has Tim Armstrong done to earn investor's love? Well, he's doubled AOL's valuation since taking over. I'm not a math scientist, so I could be missing something here, but I'm almost certain that tripling is better than doubling.
For two years, there was no way for public investors to get exposure to Alibaba other than to buy Yahoo stock. This is what drove Yahoo's stock price to near-record highs. Alibaba most certainly was the primary driver of Yahoo's share gains. But Mayer could have very easily destroyed Yahoo's share gains with stupid management decisions.
She has made managerial mistakes, but none are catastrophic. Her biggest mistake was hiring Henrique De Castro to run ad sales. He was not the right person for that job. She fired him after a little over a year on the job. After firing De Castro, Mayer got more involved in learning the ad sales side of the business. She just hired Amazon's head of global ad sales, and she's been building up more and more ad sales people. This is important since Yahoo's ad business is flat, which is the main complaint from investors. Mayer and her new hires need to get the ad business turned around. But that doesn't happen instantly, just ask Tim Armstrong. Armstrong is being deified by investors because he has AOL's ad business growing. This is an impressive feat, but it took years. Look at this chart of AOL's ad revenues and quarterly revenue growth.
What happened between the time Armstrong was named CEO, and the company's revenue started taking off? A lot of stuff! Armstrong churned through executives. He bought Patch, and burned hundreds of millions of dollars on it. He was accused of overpaying for Huffington Post when he paid $315 million for it. He fired people. He struggled to nail his vision for AOL. And, importantly, he was attacked by the activist shareholders at Starboard who thought he was mismanaging AOL. Eventually, Armstrong got past all of that. He zeroed in on AOL's strengths and managed the company to growth. He deserves all the accolades he's receiving for getting AOL pointed in the right direction.
Mayer is learning on the job, just like Armstrong. She's bounced from vision to vision. Initially it was mobile, mobile, mobile, then it was content, content, content. There's nothing wrong with changing your mind. As Jeff Bezos says, people who are right a lot of the time are people who often change their minds. Could she be doing a better job? Of course! Many of the criticisms of Mayer are justified. She has failed to grow Yahoo's top line. She hasn't cut headcount to increase Yahoo's profitability. She hasn't grown ad revenue. She hasn't latched onto a viable, working business plan to vault Yahoo to the upper echelon of technology companies in the next 10 years. But it's still early. And these criticisms would have applied to many executives in their early days trying to turn a company around, including Armstrong. Is Mayer the right person to lead Yahoo? If investors just want to tear Yahoo apart and turn it into a holding company for Alibaba shares, then she's the wrong person for the job. Someone else should do that.
Mayer is not dumb. She can be strong headed, and strong willed. But she can see that revenue is flat. She can hear loud, powerful critics preparing to storm the castle. She knows that it's time to start proving that Yahoo can grow. On Yahoo's last earnings call, Mayer laid out a strong defense of her tenure as CEO. On a point-by-point basis she addressed complaints from Starboard. Here, in case you missed it, is her defense:
So, is her run as CEO perfect? No. But, the share price has tripled. She's returned money to shareholders, she's invested in native advertising, and she's starting to monetize Tumblr, a big platform with big potential. She's forming a coherent media strategy, and she's improving Yahoo on mobile devices. Fixing Yahoo wasn't going to happen overnight. Any new CEO that stepped in was going to need at least a year to understand the nuts and bolts of the place, and then another year or two at least to set a turnaround plan in motion. Tossing Mayer for a new CEO would just start that process all over and leave Yahoo right back where it was before Mayer got there. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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But, lots of people will say that Mayer doesn't deserve credit for Yahoo's share price tripling. They say that the only reason it tripled is because of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba. Yahoo has a massive stake in Alibaba. When Mayer took over, Alibaba was a private company worth ~$30 billion. Two years later, Alibaba is a public company worth close to ~$300 billion.
In fact, Mayer deserves credit for nurturing the relationship with Alibaba. Previous Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz was disrespectful to Alibaba CEO Jack Ma, hurting Yahoo. Mayer became friendly with Ma, and her efforts allowed Yahoo to hold onto more Alibaba shares, which have appreciated in value, thus benefiting Yahoo. 
However, it seems like people are forgetting that it took him years to get it right. And investors are unfairly crushing Mayer after just over two years in the job. 
But if shareholders want to aim a little higher, and hope that Yahoo can be a holding company and a viable technology company, she seems like a good fit. She's made a completely irrelevant company at least somewhat relevant in the technology industry. She's infused some life into Yahoo. These Mysterious Craigslist Missed Connections Posts Are Actually Ads For Luxury Jewelry Brand Swarovski | ||
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Earlier this week, two very similar “Missed Connections” personals ads appeared on Craigslist, seeking people out in two different cities. “Black tshirt ordering latte at La Colombe - m4w (Center City),” reads the title of one of the ads, whilst another states “East Village Milk Bar Blonde with Bday Truffles - m4w (East Village).”
But the posts share one striking similarity: They both mention a new Swarovski Stardust bracelet, and that it may be within wrist’s-reach of their lucky missed connection. The posts are either from a very generous lonely heart, or Swarovski itself. Here's the bracelet, it's priced at $80 on the Swarovski website.
It turns out, in quite an unusually low-key move for a luxury brand — they usually prefer big budget glossy magazine and TV ads — Swarovski was behind the listings. And it’s feeling generous. Some lucky Philly and NYC ladies that respond to the post may well be looking a little more “sparkly” this week, Business Insider understands. Steve Red, CCO at Swarovski’s ad agency Red Tettemer O’Connell + Partners, explained the thinking behind the push to Business Insider: “[This activity is] all designed to help dispel the notion that Swarovski is only for red carpet moments and special occasions. We hope we’ll pleasantly surprise some curiously intrigued women on Missed Connections, and that they’ll sparkle a little bit more the next time they catch someone’s eye.” SEE ALSO: Here's Proof Every Startup Idea You've Ever Had Craigslist Already Does Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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On the surface, both look like regular posts within the hugely popular “Missed Connections” section of the site, where people look to reconnect with those they shared a brief glance with over a coffee or chatted to whilst they were waiting for the subway.
Taylor Swift Is Taking Over | ||
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It seems like everyone in America has been talking about Taylor Swift since her new album "1989" dropped two weeks ago, and now she's landed on two prominent covers. Both TIME and Bloomberg Businessweek have written about the power of Swift this week. TIME has published a Q&A with Swift on its site that non-subscribers have access to, and Businessweek has put its full cover story online. In the TIME interview, Swift says that being a role model to young girls excites her rather than stresses her out. Swift declined to comment for the Businessweek cover story, but there she is anyway. Here are the covers:
These covers, coupled with all the news coverage Swift saw when she pulled her entire catalogue of music from Spotify, are more evidence of her immense power in the music industry. She's trying to change the game and go against the grain when it comes to streaming, something that many other artists haven't been willing to do. Read the TIME interview here >Read the Businessweek cover story here >SEE ALSO: Here's How Much Taylor Swift Made In One Year From Streaming On Spotify Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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WHERE ARE THEY NOW? Here's What The 'Can You Hear Me Now?' Guy Is Doing Today | ||
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Although you've probably never heard the name, Paul Marcarelli is one of the most recognizable commercial actors of our time. Often referred to as "The Verizon Guy" or "Test Man," Marcarelli has appeared in hundreds of ads and promotions for Verizon, and is best known for his "Can you hear me now?" catchphrase. The actor, who's been under contract with Verizon since 2001, still works with the telecom giant from time to time. He tells us about his time as "The Verizon Guy," how he got the job, and what he's up to now. Produced by Will Wei. Additional camera by Devan Joseph. Follow BI Video: On Facebook Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Warren Buffett's 23 Most Brilliant Insights About Investing | ||
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Warren Buffett, the billionaire "Oracle of Omaha" continues to be involved in some of the biggest investment plays in the world. Buffett is undoubtedly the most successful investor in history. His investment philosophy is no secret, and he has repeatedly shared bits and pieces of it through a lifetime of quips and memorable quotes. His brilliance is timeless, and we find ourselves referring back to them over and over again. We compiled a few of Buffett's best quotes from his TV appearances, newspaper op-eds, magazine interviews, and of course his annual letters. Buying a stock is about more than just the price. "It's far better to buy a wonderful company at a fair price than a fair company at a wonderful price." Source: Letter to shareholders, 1989 You don't have to be a genius to invest well. "You don't need to be a rocket scientist. Investing is not a game where the guy with the 160 IQ beats the guy with 130 IQ." Source: Warren Buffett Speaks, via msnbc.msn But, master the basics. "To invest successfully, you need not understand beta, efficient markets, modern portfolio theory, option pricing or emerging markets. You may, in fact, be better off knowing nothing of these. That, of course, is not the prevailing view at most business schools, whose finance curriculum tends to be dominated by such subjects. In our view, though, investment students need only two well-taught courses - How to Value a Business, and How to Think About Market Prices." Source: Chairman's Letter, 1996 See the rest of the story at Business Insider  | ||
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Here Comes Initial Jobless Claims... (DIA, SPY, QQQ, TLT, IWM) | ||
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The latest report on weekly jobless claims is set for release at the bottom of the hour. Expectations are for the report to show claims rose slightly, to 280,000 from 278,000 a week ago. Last week's report also showed the four-week moving average of initial claims fell to 279,000, its lowest level since April 2000. In a note to clients ahead of the report, Ian Shepherdson at Pantheon Macro said that favorable seasonal adjustments in last week's report should temporarily push claims higher this week, with Shepherdson expecting claims to come in at 295,000. We'll be back with the live numbers when they hit. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Check Out These Breathtaking ‘Living Photos’ Of Iceland Captured By An Adventure Photographer | ||
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Chris Burkard is an adventure photographer made famous for his photoshoots in Iceland, where he's captured icy surf sessions, weddings, and even a Super Bowl commercial. During his most recent trip to Iceland, Burkard used one of Lytro's magical Illum cameras, which are known for their so-called "living pictures" that let you explore the photo by clicking on different areas to bring the tiniest details into focus. From towering glaciers to hammocks strung up between two icebergs, Burkard's interactive photos are both beautiful and fun to explore. Luckily, you can experience Burkard's living photos yourself, just remember to click around different areas to bring new details into focus. This photo was taken in front of the Seljalandsfoss waterfall.For this photo, Burkard and his team brought a surfboard to the cold beach at Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon.On the laval field outside Iceland's capital, Reykjavík, green moss covers the rocky ground.See the rest of the story at Business Insider  | ||
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Britain's Druids Want To Build A £1 Billion Tunnel Below Stonehenge | ||
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The druids of Great Britain are ready to support a massive new addition to the UK's road freight infrastructure: A tunnel that would take traffic around and below Stonehenge, improving links between London and the South West. Of course, there are strings attached. Last week, John Cridland, the director-general of the Confederation of British Industries, asked for a new tunnel to be built under the World Heritage Site, as a move to improve traffic on the traffic-jammed road that skirts it. Surprisingly, the druids are on board with the plan — they just want it to be more ambitious. The A303 is one of the UK's busiest road freight routes; it links London with the South West. But it's just a few hundred metres from Stonehenge, the mysterious megalithic site that is more than 5,000 years old.
Vibrations from the intense traffic are slowly damaging the stones. At the same time, the road gets even more clogged around Stonehenge because of many drivers slow down to take a picture of the monument from their car windows. Plans for an alternative route and a tunnel date back 20 years, but in 2007, the last time the issue was brought up, the plans were scrapped for budgetary reasons.
The druidic cult at Stonehenge is massive: in June, 37,000 people gathered there for the summer solstice, the main festivity in the druidic calendar. "We are ready to support it," says Rollo Maughfling, leader of the Glastonbury Order of Druids and a warden at Stonehenge. "Of course it has to be done properly: the Government always tries to come up with a cheap solution that destroys the landscape. We cannot accept that, it has to be made properly." What the druids want is for the tunnel to be as far as possible from the site, as he explained in an open letter to The Guardian. A deeper, farther tunnel would save the stones from dangerous vibration, as well as safeguarding the landscape around the site. This would increase the cost of the operation: a simple tunnel on the same track of the A303 would cost about £200 million, while the state-of-the art infrastructure requested by the druids would be closer to £1 billion.
According to Maughfling, the druidic community would support a safer [and more expensive] solution, and in fact a campaign was launched on the 38 Degrees website a couple of weeks ago to ask the Government to make a deeper tunnel. But for some of the Druid there is an even more pressing issue: The dead. Stonehenge was used as a burial site for thousands of years, and any digging in the ground is likely to expose some ancient bodies. It has already happened in the past, and the corpses were put on display in the visitor centre nearby. Many of them are older than the Roman conquest of Britain. Historians regard the skeletons as archaeological relics rather than corpses, like the mummies of Egypt.
"They must put replicas on exhibition, and leave the dead in peace. Otherwise it will be the greatest protest in Europe and I will personally lead it. It will be non-violent direct action and we will block their trucks. Leave the dead in peace." Asked if he thought whether the Government would respect the dead, the druid replied: "I hope so. At the end, common sense will prevail." The County Council of Wiltshire, which Stonehenge is part of, has yet to take a position on the issue. But "any improvement in the infrastructure is more than supported," a spokesman from the Council said. The National Trust, which manages the site, has also endorsed the improvement: it is up to the Government, now, to approve the investment. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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The recent call from Cridland has brought turmoil to the druidic community, for whom Stonehenge is not only a historical landmark, but their primary religious site.
For the Druids, this is outrageous: "They need to guarantee us that the dead will be treated with respect," Qatar, Russia cleared as FIFA rules out World Cup re-votes | ||
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Paris (AFP) - Football's world governing body FIFA has cleared Qatar and Russia of corruption and ruled out a re-vote for the 2018 and 2022 World Cup tournaments despite widespread allegations of wrongdoing. An exhaustive report by the FIFA ethics committee admitted that even though there had been a series of worrying episodes in the bidding for the 2022 tournament, as well as the 2018 World Cup in Russia, there was not enough evidence to justify reopening the process. "The report identified certain occurrences that were suited to impair the integrity of the 2018/2022 World Cups bidding process," said the 42-page report released by Hans Joachim Eckert, the chairman of the committee's adjudicatory chamber. ".. the occurrences at issue were, in the chairman’s assessment, only of very limited scope. "In particular, the effects of these occurrences on the bidding process as a whole were far from reaching any threshold that would require returning to the bidding process, let alone reopening it. "The assessment of the 2018/2022 FIFA World Cups bidding process is therefore closed for the FIFA ethics committee." Qatar welcomed the decision saying they had been "confident" they won the bid with a "clean" record ahead of rivals Australia, Japan, South Korea and the United States. The report also said that in Australia's bid for 2022 "there are certain indications of potentially problematic conduct of specific individuals in the light of relevant FIFA Ethics rules." Hassan al-Thawadi, secretary-general of the Qatar 2022 organising committee, told AFP: "We were confident that any impartial investigation was to show that our record was clean and contains no irregularities."
- England bid criticised -
The report also found no evidence of misconduct related to the Russian bid for 2018, but added that not all records had been available to the investigation. The computers used at the time by the Russia Bid Committee had been leased and then returned to their owner and destroyed, meaning access to emails was not available. The head of Russia's organising committee, Alexei Sorokin, said they had cooperated fully with the investigation but that some information had been "forgotten". "We handed over to the investigation everything that we could. You have to understand that four years had passed and some information is simply forgotten." Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko, who is a member of FIFA's powerful Executive Committee, told TASS news agency: "I was sure that this is what would happen -- our bidding campaign was absolutely honest." However, the English Football Association (FA) was accused of "violating bidding rules" in its attempt to win the right to stage the 2018 event which also included joint bids from Belgium/Netherlands and Portugal/Spain. It alleges that in an attempt to "curry favour" with Trinidad and Tobago official Jack Warner, who was believed to control a block of FIFA executive votes, the England bid team contravened bidding rules. England 2018 is accused of helping "a person of interest to (Warner) find a part-time job in the UK" and sponsoring a gala dinner for the Caribbean Football Union at a cost of $55,000 (44,100 euros). The FA rejected the criticisms, in a statement on their website. "We do not accept any criticism regarding the integrity of England's bid or any of the individuals involved."
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The FIFA report recommended a series of reforms to future bidding processes in an effort to protect the integrity of the sport's most lucrative showpiece event. These include four-year limits on FIFA executive committee posts, the FIFA Congress, rather than the executive committee, to decide on future venues, a more transparent rotation system and a ban on committee members visiting bidding nations. In a break with FIFA tradition, the 2018 and 2022 tournaments were awarded at the same time, in 2010, leading to claims of horsetrading in the bidding process. As concerns grew, FIFA appointed Michael Garcia, a former US federal prosecutor, to head up the inquiry into the 2018 and 2022 tournaments. His 350-page report was handed to FIFA on September 5. It summed up a year-long investigation that involved interviewing more than 75 witnesses and compiling a dossier with more than 200,000 pages and audio interviews. The main controversy revolved around Qatar and how the gas-rich emirate was awarded the 2022 competition which was initially to be played in the summer when temperatures reach the upper-40s Celsius. It also considered claims by international labour organisations that working conditions for migrant workers employed in the construction of the stadia were less than satisfactory. Despite Qatar escaping a re-vote, Thursday's ethics committee report still raised serious concerns over its campaign. The report again probed the role of Qatari Mohammed bin Hammam, a former member of the FIFA executive committee who was banned from all football activity in 2012. In June, Britain's Sunday Times alleged that bin Hammam paid more than $5 million to officials around the world before the 2010 vote to drum up support for the tiny Gulf state. However, the report states that payments were designed to bolster his bid for the FIFA presidency in 2011 rather than to manipulate Qatar's 2022 World Cup hopes. Qatar's decision to sponsor the 2010 Confederation of African Football (CAF) Congress in Angola to the tune of $1.8 million was also brought into question.
Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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These Mysterious Craigslist Missed Connections Posts Are Actually Ads For Luxury Jewelry Brand Swarovski | ||
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Earlier this week, two very similar “Missed Connections” personals ads appeared on Craigslist, seeking people out in two different cities. “Black tshirt ordering latte at La Colombe - m4w (Center City),” reads the title of one of the ads, whilst another states “East Village Milk Bar Blonde with Bday Truffles - m4w (East Village).”
But the posts share one striking similarity: They both mention a new Swarovski Stardust bracelet, and that it may be within wrist’s-reach of their lucky missed connection. The posts are either from a very generous lonely heart, or Swarovski itself. Here's the bracelet, it's priced at $80 on the Swarovski website.
It turns out, in quite an unusually low-key move for a luxury brand — they usually prefer big budget glossy magazine and TV ads — Swarovski was behind the listings. And it’s feeling generous. Some lucky Philly and NYC ladies that respond to the post may well be looking a little more “sparkly” this week, Business Insider understands. Steve Red, CCO at Swarovski’s ad agency Red Tettemer O’Connell + Partners, explained the thinking behind the push to Business Insider: “[This activity is] all designed to help dispel the notion that Swarovski is only for red carpet moments and special occasions. We hope we’ll pleasantly surprise some curiously intrigued women on Missed Connections, and that they’ll sparkle a little bit more the next time they catch someone’s eye.” SEE ALSO: Here's Proof Every Startup Idea You've Ever Had Craigslist Already Does Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Warren Buffett Is Buying Duracell (BRK, A, BRK, B, PG, DIA, SPY, SPX) | ||
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Berkshire Hathaway just announced it would acquire the Duracell brand of batteries from Proctor & Gamble. According to the announcement, the deal will include approximately $1.7 billion in cash. P&G will also be receiving $4.7 billion worth of P&G shares currently owned by Berkshire Hathaway. That values the Durcell business at $6.4 billion. “I have always been impressed by Duracell, as a consumer and as a long-term investor in P&G and Gillette,” Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett said. “Duracell is a leading global brand with top quality products, and it will fit well within Berkshire Hathaway.” The deal is expected to close in the second half of 2015. "We thank the Duracell employees for their many contributions to the business," P&G CEO A.G. Lafley said. "They’ve made Duracell the global market leader in the battery category. I’m confident this new ownership structure will provide strong support for Duracell’s future growth plans.”Berkshire Hathaway." SEE ALSO: Warren Buffett's 23 Most Brilliant Insights About Investing Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Some Economists Think Brent Crude Will Drop To $70 And 'The World Will Soon Be Awash With Oil' | ||
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That's according to the guys over at Capital Economics: they'd been expecting a drop in the oil price but they didn't think it would fall to $80 per barrel (as it did yesterday and today) until 2016. So they're accelerating their forecasts, and suggesting the world will "soon be awash with oil," cutting the per-barrel Brent Crude price to just $70 (£44.4) by the end of 2016, four years earlier than they previously thought. Here's the basis of their bullish case:
Though they're forecasting $75 per barrel by the end of 2015 and $70 by the end of 2016, they add: "Given the current negative sentiment in the market, it is clearly possible that $70 could be hit much sooner... we believe that lower oil prices are here to stay." Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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10 Things You Need To Know Before The Opening Bell | ||
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Good morning! Here are some of the major news stories moving markets. The Saudi Oil Minister Seems Comfortable With Lower Prices. Minister Ali Al-Naimi denied that the OPEC cartel nations were engaged in a price war, saying that the market set prices, according to the Financial Times. Oil Prices Slide Again. Brent crude dropped to as low as $79.35 a barrel, the lowest level since September 2010. Stock Markets Are Up. US futures are in the green with Dow futures up 45 points and S&P futures up 6 points. In Europe, Britain's FTSE 100 is up 0.3%, France's CAC 40 is up 0.4%, and Germany's DAX is up 0.7%. Japan's Nikkei closed up 1.1% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng closed up 0.3%. Walmart Beats And Then Warns. Walmart earned $1.15 per share in Q3, beating expectations for $1.12. Q3 comparable store sales climbed 0.5% at Walmart's US stores. However, Q4 earnings will be a bit light. "Our earnings per share guidance assumes several important factors, including the economic conditions in several of our largest markets, and a highly promotional holiday season," CFO Charles Holley said. "As a reminder, our full year EPS guidance includes the four factors we discussed last quarter, which were higher U.S. health-care costs, incremental investments in e-commerce, ongoing investments in Sam's Club, and our effective tax rate." Cisco CFO Quits. Cisco Systems reported Q3 revenue and earnings that beat expectations. Shares rallied after the report. In its announcement, Cisco said CFO Frank Calderoni would be leaving at the end of the year. Hasbro Is Reportedly In Talks About Buying Dreamworks Animation. Deadline reports that DreamWorks and Hasbro are in talks to create a combined family entertainment company that would be called DreamWorks-Hasbro, and says the deal is at least 60 days away from being finalised. A Senior Japanese Lawmaker Says Prime Minister Shinzo Abe Has Decided To Call An Election. "It looks like Shinzo Abe has finally made up his mind and it's fair to consider that he decided to go to the people," said Tadamori Oshima, a former deputy chief of Abe's party. German Inflation Came In As Expected. Prices rose by 0.8% in the year to October, with more European inflation data out later this morning. China Is Set To Lift Its Aid to Pacific Nations. Chinese President Xi Jinping will offer a broad aid package to Pacific island nations at a summit in Fiji next week, a foreign ministry official said on Thursday, adding that there was also room to work with six island states not invited because of ties to Taiwan. Keystone Pipeline May Finally Pass US Congress Next Week. The US Congress will vote in coming days on approving construction of the much-delayed Keystone XL oil pipeline, a project Republicans claim is step one in their plan for enhanced US energy production. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Comet lander 'working well', but may be on slope | ||
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Paris (AFP) - Europe's robot lab Philae was "working well" on the surface of its host comet, though likely perched on a steep slope, ground controllers said a day after the probe made its historic landing. Some data suggested the washing machine-sized probe may have touched down three times on the low-gravity comet, which is zipping towards the Sun at 18 kilometres per second (11 miles per second), according to updates from ground control. Philae's anchoring harpoons failed to deploy, but it still managed to send back scientific data for the European Space Agency (ESA) flagship mission as well as the first-ever picture taken from the surface of a comet. "Philae is working well. Its battery is working well and is providing power," mission head Philippe Gaudon of France's CNES space agency told AFP by phone from ground control in Toulouse on Thursday. But photos the robot lab had sent suggested "it is likely on a steep slope". A tweet in the name of Philae's MUPUS onboard instrument said: Magnetic analysis reveals 3 landings at 15:33, 17:26 & 17:33 UTC (GMT)." "Short status update: we believe that Philae bounced (possibly 3 times) but sits safely on the comet now," said another at 0800 GMT. The ESA was to brief the press at 1300 GMT. Equipped with 10 instruments, Philae is designed to carry out an array of experiments on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. It is the highlight of a massively complicated 1.3-billion-euro ($1.6-billion) project more than two decades in the making. The mission aims to test theories that comets -- primordial clusters of ice and dust -- hold secrets about how the Solar System was constructed 4.6 billion years ago, and maybe also seeded Earth with some of the ingredients for life. Rosetta, carrying Philae, was hoisted into space in 2004, and took more than a decade to reach its target in August this year, having used the gravitational pull of Earth and Mars as slingshots to build up speed. The pair covered 6.5 billion kilometres (four billion miles) together before Wednesday's separation and Philae's 20-kilometre descent. The first signal confirming touchdown was met with jubilation at ground control in Darmstadt, Germany. But this was soon replaced by worry when fluctuations in the radio signal indicated the 100-kilogramme (220-pound) lander may have lifted off again.
- 'Good news' -
Jean-Yves Le Gall, head of France's CNES space agency, on Thursday reported "three pieces of good news" about Philae while a check-up was under way. "Philae spent the night on the comet and we have three pieces of good news: the first is that Philae has landed on the comet," he said on Europe 1 radio. "Secondly, Philae is receiving energy, its solar panels are activated and this allows it to envisage a future. Thirdly, we are in permanent contact with Philae, via Rosetta." Philae was designed to touch down at a gentle 3.5 km per hour, then fire two harpoons into a surface engineers hoped would provide sufficient grip while the robot conducts its experiments. The harpoons, though, failed to deploy. Envisaged tests include drilling through the comet surface and analysing the samples for chemical signatures. Philae was designed to operate for about 60 hours on a stored battery charge, but several months more with a sunlight boost. The lander complements 11 instruments aboard Rosetta, a three-tonne orbiter responsible for four-fifths of the expected scientific haul from its vantage point in orbit. Whatever happens to Philae, Rosetta will continue to escort the comet as it loops around the Sun. On August 13, 2015, "67P" will come within 186 million kilometres of the star. The mission is scheduled to end in December 2015, when the comet heads out of the inner Solar System.
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This New App Can Alert You If An Earthquake Is Coming | ||
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Earthquakes are harder to detect than hurricanes or volcanoes and often strike without warning. This is particularly troublesome in developing countries that can't afford any kind of early earthquake detection system. But a new smartphone app is being developed at the University of California that could revolutionise the way people respond to earthquakes and save lives, the Cal Alumni Association reports. The MyShake app is the work of Richard Allen, director of the Berkeley Seismological Laboratory, which focuses on sensors and communication devices for train operators, nuclear power plants, and other crucial sectors. The technology was unveiled at the World Science Forum in 2013. In particular, the team behind the project notes how it could benefit those in countries that can't afford earthquake detection systems as well as those living in risky areas like California who simply want to be better equipped. The app works using something called the accelerometer, says SciDev, which is a sensor that measures the speed of smartphone movement, alongside GPS to identify tremors. According to Allen smartphones can currently detect earthquakes of magnitude 5 at up to 10 kilometres from a quake’s epicentre. With improvement in the quality of accelerometers, they will be able to detect magnitude 3 quakes at 100 kilometres in the not too distant future. At the moment, earthquake apps, such as the Red Cross', simply transfer alerts to smartphones after they've been picked up by the authorities. Allen told the forum the system has "enormous potential" and believes that with one billion smartphones worldwide, it will grant improved safety to the masses. Testing is underway and MyShake will be free once released in full. The Berkeley Science Review reports students on the university campus are trialling it and Qingkai Kong, who's working on the development, says it could “open up a whole new world in seismology.” Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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