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Shares of New York-based Voltari (VLTC), which gets paid by advertisers to serve ads to mobile devices, are up 10 cents, or almost 10%, at $1.11, in late trading, after activist investor Carl Icahn this afternoon disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission that he had acquired 4.06 million shares at a price of $1.36, following a rights offering by the company.
This is not Icahn's first foray; he's been pouring money into the company since mid-2007, when it was known as "Motricity." Founded in 2004, the company had run value-added-services, or "VAS," as they're known in the telco biz, under brands such as "MobileCast," helping phone companies offer ring tones, music downloads and other services for carriers.
Those services were marketed to customers like Virgin Media. Along the way, Motricity picked up various assets, including those of former Internet search darling InfoSpace.
Here's how Anne Krishnan described Icahn's involvement in an article for The News & Observer in 2007:
Billionaire financier Carl Icahn has invested $50 million in Motricity in a deal that gives the Durham technology company both cash and cachet.
The funding, which boosts total investments in Motricity to a Triangle record of $216 million, will allow the company to pursue acquisitions that broaden its technology base and its share of a rapidly consolidating industry.
It also puts a heavyweight investor on the company's side as it prepares to court Wall Street. Icahn, a self-described shareholder activist, is notorious for buying large stakes in companies, then building value by agitating for strategic change.
In Motricity's case, Icahn says he's betting on a company poised to lead in an exploding industry.
"Motricity has an excellent management team and leading technology," he said in a statement. "They are well positioned for dominance in mobile content, a sector for which we forecast strong growth in the coming years."
Icahn's deep pockets and financial savvy will help Motricity compete on an equal footing with larger, publicly held rivals such as VeriSign and Qualcomm, especially when it comes to acquisitions, said Motricity CEO Ryan Wuerch. Icahn has a reputation for consolidating industries.
"His stature enables us to be very aggressive in our pursuit of any company or opportunity that's in front of us," he said.
Motricity is evaluating several targets, Wuerch said.
But the stock went on to be a dog following its Nasdaq debut in 2010, when it raised $50 million in a scaled-down IPO, as chronicled at the time by Scott Austin of the Journal's Venture Capital Dispatch.
After a plan of reorganization commenced in 2013, along with the name change, the former Motricity has been shedding assets in order to focus on the advertising business. It exited the business of hosting services for telecom operators that year.
Voltari now has a market cap of $4.8 million.
Voltari's revenue in the nine months through last September was $8.32 million, versus total operating expenses of $23.3 million, leading to a net loss for the period of $15.35 million.
Icahn had previously, as of November 3rd, had a 29.8% stake in the company, and controlled almost all of the company's preferred shares, according to its most recent 10-Q filing, back in mid-November.
The shares had already surged earlier in the day, rising 16 cents, or almost 19%, to close at $1.01.
Online retailer and "maker" movement hub Etsy (ETSY) this afternoon filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission a revised form S-1 for a public offering on Nasdaq.
The company intends to sell 13.33 million shares at a price of $14 to $16, with an over-allotment of 2.5 million shares, plus an additional 3.33 million being sold by selling shareholders, for a total aggregate dollar amount of $307 million, of which the company expects to net out $181.8 million in proceeds.
Etsy, founded in New York City's borough of Brooklyn in 2005, is a "marketplace where people around the world connect, both online and offline, to make, sell and buy unique goods," it says, with the original focus on hand-made goods.
Most of the financial details in the filing appear to be unchanged from what was first put forth in the March 1st filing.
The company had revenue of $195.6 million in 2014, up from $125 million a year earlier, on which it enjoyed a 62% gross profit margin. The company had operating expenses of $128.2 million, leading to a net loss of $15 million, up from a $796,000 loss the year prior.
Adjusted Ebitda for the year was $23 million, up from $17 million the year before.
Etsy had an accumulated deficit of $32.4 million at the end of 2014.
With expected shares outstanding following the offering of 110.96 million, the company would be worth $1.78 billion using the upper end of the filing range.
Etsy has the backing of fairly experienced venture capitalists, such as Accel Partners's Jim Breyer, who is on the company's board, as well as Index Ventures and Union Square Ventures's Fred Wilson.
Breyer and Accel entities will own 25% of the stock after the offering, the prospectus says, the largest single holding among the executive officers and directors listed, who will make up a collective 39.7% of the stock outstanding.
From the company's prospectus, describing its "Opportunity":
We operate at the center of several converging macroeconomic trends in online and mobile commerce, employment, consumption and manufacturing. We believe that in combination these trends will benefit millions of people in our ecosystem around the world: Etsy sellers engaging in their creative passion, working for themselves and defining success on their own terms; Etsy buyers accessing a diverse, global marketplace of goods that have historically been found in highly fragmented markets; and, increasingly, responsible manufacturers using modern tools to craft goods in partnership with Etsy sellers.
Etsy notes that it focuses helping people connect for the purposes of "small-batch" manufacturing. Without alluding to 3-D printers specifically, such as 3-D Systems (DDD) and Stratasys (SSYS) and ExOne (XONE), the company notes the rise of 3-D printing as one of the many factors leading to the spread of small-scale manufacturing and the democratization of the entire manufacturing process:
Just as the power of computing, once reserved for government and large businesses, is now available to individuals on their personal computers and mobile devices, individuals and small businesses now have the ability to manufacture goods in their homes and studios using tools such as computer-assisted design, 3D printers, computer-controlled routers and other machines at a fraction of the historical cost. We believe the decrease in the size and the cost of these tools will make it easier for creative entrepreneurs to start new businesses. We also believe that small-batch manufacturers will be able to use these new technologies to provide high-quality manufacturing services to creative entrepreneurs. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2011, approximately 65% of manufacturing establishments had 19 or fewer employees. Manufacturing plants that produce items such as apparel, leather, ornamental metal, furniture, printing materials, cutlery and jewelry tended to have even smaller workforces, as 80% had 19 or fewer employees. We believe that to scale their own businesses, creative entrepreneurs can access this growing number of small-batch manufacturers.
Two weeks ago, I wrote about a curious and fascinating presentation on the history of accounting as it pertains to BitCoin, the virtual currency. The talk was given at the South by Southwest conference by Jake Benson, founder of a startup called LibraTax.
Benson's contention is that BitCoin is just a "system of accounting, nothing more."
In response to reader interest, I requested a copy of Benson's slides, and he graciously agreed. Below is the full slide set. The deck is also available in a slide-show format on the LibraTax Web site.
I asked Benson for a description of LibraTax, and he offered the following: "LibraTax is a web service that links to bitcoin wallets and blockchain itself for the purpose of tracking capital gains and losses and compliant tax reporting." The company last week unveiled two offerings, "Libra Business" and "Libra Pro."
Maynard Um of Wells Fargo, who follows Apple (AAPL) and EMC (EMC), offers a brief housekeeping note this morning, writing that the sale of some patents will help them.
Apple and EMC are participants in the so-called Rockstart Consortium, along with Microsoft (MSFT) and others, which formed in 2011 and bought patents of the former Nortel. San Francisco-based RPX (RPXC) completed a purchase of the Consortium's assets in early February from Apple and the others.
RPX acts as a patent clearing house, acquiring patents and then making money by licensing them, which is what it intends to do with the Rockstar patents. As detailed by RPX in a federal filing, the Rockstar assets were bought for $900 million, the vast majority paid for by a syndicate of 30 companies.
Now, the original Rockstar backers, including Apple, stand to be paid back for their original investment.
Hence, Um reviews what Apple and the various parties paid in 2011 to gauge what they might be paid back going forward. He takes as one of his clues the $115 million that BlackBerry (BBRY) reported Friday as its payment from the consortium in its most recent quarter for cashing out.
The consortium paid $4.5 billion ($2.6 billion by Apple [58%], $770 million by Blackberry [17%], $340 million by Ericsson [8%]; contribution from Microsoft, EMC and Sony was not disclosed) for the patents. On February 3, RPX completed the purchase of Rockstar for $900 million. In its latest reported quarter, Blackberry reported a gain of $115 million as result of the Rockstar sale. While there could be many factors influencing the amount recognized by each member of the Rockstar consortium, if we assume the same percentages as at the time when the patents were first bought, we calculate Apple could recognize a gain of about $392 million, which equates to roughly $0.05 in EPS, in the March quarter. Since EMC's original contribution is unknown, it is difficult to calculate the potential gain it could recognize. However, assuming EMC's original stake was 5%, it would equate to a gain of roughly $34 million or $0.02 in EPS in the March quarter.
Adds Um, "Broadly speaking, we see the Rockstar sale as an indication of a less litigious posture within the industry, which we see as positive."
Facebook (FB) has the world of telecom at least a little worried about its future.
The startup messaging entity WhatsApp, which Facebook bought for $19 billion in cash and stock last year, is allowing people to send billions of messages without paying the traditional telcos anything.
All evidence is that it has already measurably eaten into traditional telecom messaging revenue, and it holds the promise of further commoditizing the "dumb" networks of the carriers.
Enter David Walsh. From the 39th floor of the Chrysler Building in New York City, Walsh, 53, a former investment banker, muses on the ways that telecom can strike back.
From 2001 till mid-2013 he was a managing director with J.P. Morgan's One Equity Partners, where he participated in funding of privately held software maker Genband, funding that ultimately totaled $275 million with the help of other investors. (Genband's own branding is usually all-caps, "GENBAND," though that is not the Barron's style and so is not used here.)
From the Chrysler perch, Walsh oversees a 1,600-person company with offices in numerous cities, though headquartered in Frisco, Texas.
Genband, founded in 1999 as General Bandwidth, is a provider of communications technology for Internet telephony, such as "SIP trunking" and "PBX" replacement software. It has evolved over the last sixteen years by rolling up telecom assets, including things such as Tekelec's IP switching business, in 2007; Nokia's (NOK) "media gateway" business in 2009; and Nortel's Internet telephony assets in 2010. (More on the company is available on its Web page.)
But all that is not as interesting as the present.
In the spare Chrysler offices, following up on a chat at the Mobile World Congress show in Barcelona earlier this month, Walsh and I discussed the future, a cloud computing effort known as Kandy.
Kandy, introduced last September, is software run by Genband for a fee that allows anyone to embed real-time communications, including messaging, into their software.
Among early adopters, SAP AG (SAP), the German software giant, is building the Kandy services into multiple products, as an in-app communications system
At our first meeting, Walsh gave me the standard run-down of how the Internet works, and how Internet calling works, noting Genband is running at over half a billion in sales annually of what is essentially Internet plumbing to make telephony reliable. AT&T (T) and Verizon Communications (VZ) are both regular customers of Genband's, along with many others.
But Walsh, who dresses in stylish three-piece suits and sharp-looking Prada glasses, is not the typical tech CEO, and the way the plumbing works is clearly not where his heart is. Probably, both of us had our eyes glaze over a little bit during that recounting of SIP and trunking functions.
Walsh's eyes light up, however, and his pace quickens, when he describes how he helped the brokerage world to change the system through consortia in his former life as chairman from 2003 to 2005 of MoneyLine Telerate.
France's MoneyLine, a financial information provider, bought the Telerate quote service in 2001, which had been owned first by Dow Jones & Co., publisher of this blog, and then by Bridge Information Systems. (Telerate was acquired by Thomson Reuters in 2006.)
Walsh's fascination stems from a series of transactions in which Telerate had a hand bringing together parties that didn't have heft on their own. Telerate helped the small fry gain collective strength in things such as bond trading and corporate fixed income trading.
As Walsh recalls
Cantor Fitzgerald was dominant in U.S. Treasuries, and other brokers were a very distant second place. The primary dealers, of which there were about 36, would use Cantor's system and they wanted an alternative. None emerged, and so they built Brokertech. They formed this business that they owned and they put their liquidity into this platform so the trade wouldn't all go through Cantor. Brokertech became the place to trade, and that became the benchmark for treasuries. Once the dealers had two horses, they sold to it [Brokertech] to ICAP Plc, the largest dealer-broker today. They really just wanted to drive down prices and fees to trade even more than the return on investment. Telerate were Brokertech's partner, we took their content and put it out on all the benchmark Treasury pages that all brokers looked at, and pushed out all the Cantor quotes. That led to a complete change.
We were involved in Tradeweb as well, where it was a Treasury system sitting between the dealers and the buy side. Then with MarketAxess, at Telerate we built the technology for corporate bond quotes.
With all of these consortia, there is a common enemy that the various parties can't beat on their own, but they can join forces, and as a consortium they can be very effective. Each party individually doesn't have enough power.
Walsh now draws a lesson for telcos from those financial consortia: With telcos, each individual carrier doesn't have the power to withstand WhatsApp, he observes.
But by using the Kandy infrastructure, there is a possibility for the carriers to build a consortium that pipes messages and other real-time interactions over the Internet as an alaternative.
One part of that is a mobile app called Fring. Genband bought the Israeli startup company of that name in September of 2013. Walsh declines to say how much was spent, though media reports say $50 million.
Walsh shows me on his smartphone how an app from Bharti Airtel that allows one to send messages just like with WhatsApp. The software runs on top of Kandy.
The second piece, he says, is to get carriers to pool together their customer base in a consortium, just like Brokertech and the other consortia pooled their respective resources and clientele.
He is calling this the Fring Alliance, and it is being put together now, with expectations for a formal "launch" of the organization later this year.
On the technology side, a pooled address book could unify the efforts of individual carriers. "The address book can make all these walled gardens function together," says Walsh. "We can create a federation for their address book, and together they can get the biggest over-the-top community in the world."
Airtel has gone live with the Fring-based service. Another early adopter is Snail, a Chinese outfit that runs online gambling and that has now become the largest "mobile valued-added network operator," or MVNO, in China. They are "growing like a rocket," observes Walsh, tell me that Kandy and Fring will "enable their gaming community for social interactions."
Similar to Brokertech, the Fring alliance is designed to have equity interest by the telcos: They will collectively own 49% of the value of the alliance, which will be made up of the membership fee that carriers like Airtel pay, which covers up-front costs to provide Fring, and a per-user fee for every active user on the system.
Walsh says it's not yet decided if at some point there might be a spin-out of Fring, though he's not ruling out anything.
That's all fine, but with Snail and Airtel just ramping up on the Fring/Kandy system, the actual apps and services they will create for consumers are still being birthed, so it's hard to gauge if the resultant offerings will be as compelling as WhatsApp has proven.
None of the consortia talk will matter if Walsh and Genband can't help stodgy telcos somehow acquire imagination and daring.
I point out to Walsh that services from carriers have utterly lacked the kind of pizzazz and style and buzz and everything else that make something like WhatsApp come out of nowhere and become huge overnight. Carrier software and service offerings seem always to be conceived and executed poorly, and to be mainly about gouging consumers for a fee.
Walsh smiles and nods his ascent. Nothing is certain, and he understands this sorry history of the telcos.
But Walsh contends the way they are talking to him about the things they can do with Fring suggests perhaps they are ready finally to think outside the box, as it were.
WhatsApp is having their day in the sun, but if the carriers get together, they stand a better chance of challenging it. The carriers think in geographical ways, which tends to make them very narrow. What this alliance will do for them is to make them take a more innovative look at things. We're going to see if they'll take advantage of that. The control of your phone number brings all kinds of cool things. They're actually getting really clever, and are talking about launching some really cool apps.
Analysts today continue to ponder the implications of yesterday's annuoncement by Amazon.com (AMZN) that it is establishing a marketplace for home services offerings such as home appliance installation to house cleaning.
One focus is local listings service Angie's List (ANGI), which has received scrutiny because it is perhaps the most immediate comparable offering compared to Amazon.
Yesterday was Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster, who follows Amazon stock, who wrote that Angie and Amazon's offering are "apples and oranges":
Amazon claims if "the work is not completed to your satisfaction… let us know and we'll work with you and your pro to ensure the job gets done right." This can include a full refund up to $2,500. As a point of reference, Angie's List does not offer a money-back guarantee, but does offer a similar mediation process. Angie's List had 1.3m reviewed service providers and 52k paid service providers at the end of 2014. Amazon services claims 2m offerings, which we believe equates to 10k-20k service providers. Comparing Angie's to Amazon is apples to oranges in many ways, as Angie's List is advertising based (91% of 2014 revenue was advertising).
Today comes a note from Wunderlich Securities's Blake Harper, who reiterates a Hold rating on Angie shares, and cuts his price target to $6 from $8, writing of Amazon's entry "we view it as likely to succeed given the help it has with partners, synergy from 85mm customers who bought a product on Amazon in the past year that required a service afterward, as well as its merchandising and deep focus on customer service."
That could have an immediate impact, he writes, as "We believe ANGI stock will have difficulty attracting long buyers given the worsening sentiment due to competition from Amazon even if Angie's List is able to post modestly better than expected results over the next several quarters, although it could become a more attractive takeout candidate."
Angie's List has the advantage of having many customer reviews, he notes, but Amazon may close the gap:
Angie's List still has an advantage with its large number of reviews of local service providers but we would expect Amazon to begin to build its own base of user-generated reviews, just as it has built a large number of reviews for its e- commerce platform. We could also see the company integrating Home Services into its Prime membership in some way in the future, broadening the appeal and user base; right now the service has 700 categories in 41 U.S. markets.
Harper sees Yelp (YELP) and Groupon (GRPN) as somewhat less affected:
Yelp had 6% of its reviews and 26% of its revenues from Home Services in 4Q14, although it has a more defensible position given its large user base (135 million monthly uniques, up an estimated 8% Q/Q in Q1), Platform market, and its position in Restaurants, Beauty & Fitness, Health and Shopping categories. Groupon's exposure to the home services market would presumably be small and it also has a solid presence in multiple other categories.
Angie shares are down 21 cents, or 3.5%, at $5.99 today, after declining 2% yesterday.
Can the cable industry have a wireless offering?
That's the question pondered this morning by Nomura Equity Research's Adam Ilkowitz, who writes that a wireless offering has been part of the "quest" by Comcast (CMCSA), Charter Communications (CHTR), Time Warner Cable (TWC), and Cablevision (CVC), since the very beginning of their industry.
Although WiFi networks and so-called small cell networks have gotten a lot of attention, Ilkowitz thinks cable could go the route of the mobile virtual network operator, or MVNO, given it doesn't require a lot of up-front capital.
As video services revenue growth slows, AT&T (T) and others' wireless services market presents an attractive market to invade:
In 2014, the four national wireless carriers generated revenue of $224.0bn, of which retail service revenue was $177.2bn and Adj. EBITDA was $72.5bn. Simple free cash flow was $41.1bn after $31.4bn in capital spending, with all four carriers positive on this metric.
Comcast and others have tried three times to enter wireless, and failed, he notes:
Comcast, Cox, and TCI were joint venture partners in the original Sprint wireless business by contributing their PCS licenses, selling their interests in 1998. Several cable companies were also pre-IPO investors in Clearwire to explore mobile broadband opportunities, though they saw large losses in their equity positions by the time Sprint acquired the business. Most recently, cable companies participated in the 2006 AWS-1 spectrum auction, with Cox even launching operations, before selling the licenses to Verizon Wireless in 2012.
But Comcast and others have succeeded in scooping up voice customers, setting a precedent for making new market entrance work:
We have also seen this story play out again and again: cable offered consumer voice while telecom entered the pay-TV market as both compete on triple-play bundles. More recently, cable has entered the enterprise and wholesale telephony marketplace.
The cable operators have potential for upside, given the overlap of cable and wireless services in the customer base:
At year-end, the four cable companies in our universe counted on 50.5mn households as customers. Assuming an average of three customers per household, this is 150mn potential wireless subscribers available for cross-selling immediately, representing half of the total wireless market. Looking solely at triple-play customers, there are 54mn potential wireless subscribers. At the wireless industry average ARPU, these triple-play subscribers generate $33bn in annual revenue while the four cable operators have residential annual revenue of $67.2bn. Even at reduced ARPU levels, this is clearly attractive.
Comcast and the rest have already covered many of the fixed costs, writes Ilkowitz, with investment in voice and data carriage in their broadband networks.
They also have some of the variable spending that would be necessary for a wireless offering:
Costs that may be seen as variable, but are actually recurring, can also be leveraged. Cable companies already spend significant amounts on advertising, such as ~$700mn annually by Time Warner Cable and ~$400mn by Charter per their regulatory filings. While this is below the $1.4bn spent by Sprint and T-Mobile, it is across a smaller territory. Billing and customer care can be handled by using and supplementing existing systems and call centers.
After doing some math to determine the whole cost of running an MVNO — which is not publicly disclosed — Ilkowitz determines that a cable wireless plan could be cost competitive with AT&T or Verizon Communications (VZ) or the other cariers:
Given our cost estimates, our analysis shows that cable MVNOs could present attractive prices while still being accretive to EBITDA and free cash flow. To pay for shared and incremental overhead and infrastructure, we assume a cable operator would incur $10/month. TracFone reports that customers average 500 minutes of use, equal to $10/month in cost, to which we add $2/month for texts. Last, average usage is 3GB, which would incur $7.50/month. Assuming a 30% required margin, this would drive a $42 monthly ARPU, a discount to all carriers' retail prices. As data allowances increase, we find that an MVNO may find it difficult to be the cheapest in the market and instead may be satisfied with being cheaper than the triple-play competition [...] Cable companies could become even more price competitive using IP-only packages such as VoIP and IP messaging. As an MVNO offering data services only, cable companies could lower required ARPU to reach a margin even further. Increasing data usage to 5GB satisfies voice usage over VoLTE and messaging while saving the $12/month needed for them specifically otherwise. Overall, required ARPU to reach a margin drops at each data bucket.
Here's Ilkowitz's table of how a cable MVNO might undercut the wireless operators:
Ilkowitz goes on to make the case for each of the four major operators. For Comcast, for example,
If we assumed that Comcast wanted to maintain its 41.0% EBITDA margin and reach 25% penetration of all customers, the additional EBITDA opportunity could be approximately $5.0bn as a full MVNO. This would increase cable EBITDA by 28% once fully achieved, creating significant upside. The Simple FCF opportunity of $5.1bn at the same penetration and margin level would be 43% above the $12.0bn Comcast generated in 2014. This assumes that costs of overhead and wireless capacity are included and that the average subscriber consumes 3GB of data per month. If Comcast were to offer data-only wireless, the additional EBITDA opportunity at the same margin and penetration rate would be $3.8bn, 21% upside over 2014 EBITDA. The total opportunity is lower due to the lower required ARPU to reach the same profitability levels. On Simple FCF, the similarly placed opportunity is worth $3.9bn and 33% upside to reported results.
As to who might be hurt, Sprint (S) and T-Mobile US (TMUS) have the most to lose if it works, he writes:
If it proves successful, we think Sprint and T-Mobile have the most risk. We don't believe that subscribers willing to pay for high-value plans will be early converters, if they ever choose to switch at all. Rather, we believe that subscribers looking for the best deal or the most competitive plan will be the target demographic, as these consumers typically have looser ties to any one company. Consumers who are already subscribed to one of the cable companies may see an advantage to bundling their wireless services, either as an effort to streamline billing or gain a bigger discount.
On a related note, Comcast this morning announced its CFO, Michael Angelakis, would move to a new role as CEO of a new company that will make investments in the core business of cable but also "adjacent" businesses.
Said Comcast CEO Brian Roberts,
This is a time of tremendous change and opportunity in our core technology and media industries, as well as in adjacent business areas. We believe the ability to establish entrepreneurial ventures that partner with and participate in the growth of innovative companies can be an important driver of strategic and financial value creation for our company.
Shares of online travel giant Priceline Group (PCLN) are up $19.03, or 1.7%, at $1,168.80, after Stifel Nicolaus's Scott Devitt this morning raised his ratlin to Buy from Hold, assigning a $1,400 price target, writing that conditions for the company in Europe are set to improve, and that the company has "favorable shareholder policies" as evinced by significantly lower stock-based compensation relative to market cap versus peers.
The stock has underperformed — it is down 2% in the past year, and 6% in the past month — because of concerns about the macroeconomic situation in Europe, writes Devitt.
However, he sees that as fully priced into the stock at this point:
We believe the recent underperformance in shares and conservative company guidance have reset expectations and priced much of the European macro risk into the stock. At this point we view the potential upside from positive surprises in the region as a key driver for share appreciation to new highs. Recently, the European Commission released positive Economic Sentiment Indicator (ESI) data for March, continuing an upward trend established early this year. We estimate that over 70% of 2015 bookings are exposed to European currencies. Despite the uncertain outlook for Europe as a whole, we do see positive momentum from strong U.S. outbound travel to Europe, healthy intra-Europe travel, and FX-adj. ADR growth which could support high teens FX adj. growth y/y in total bookings and gross profit during 2015. We believe an alleviation in the key European macro risk presents a compelling risk to reward scenario at current price levels.
Compared to other large-cap Internet names, such as Amazon.com (AMZN) and Google (GOOGL), the stock has a favorable cash flow profile, given "Priceline's 5.0% 2015E FCF yield vs. Amazon's 2.2% and Google's 4.1%." There's also the $3 billion share repurchase program in place, and a more favorable return on invested capital: "Priceline stands out even more with 24% vs. 9% and 10% for Amazon and Google."
Apple (AAPL) is headed for rising gross profit margin, writes Amit Daryanani of RBC Capital Markets this morning, reiterating an Outperform rating, and increasing his price target to $142 from $140.
Daryanani thinks Apple's gross profit margin will hit 39.5% in its fiscal Q2 ended this month, the high end of the range of 38.5% to 39.% offered back on January 27th in the company's forecast.
Daryanani sees the company using some leverage in the supply chain, but also getting a benefit from things such as greater preference for the larger (more expensive) iPhone 6-Plus:
In addition, we believe the margin profile should improve going forward, particularly as the Company looks for ways to mitigate current FX headwinds (likely through supply chain contract changes) by trading allocations for profits with their component providers. In addition, other margin levers include – A) yield improvements, B) improved mix and pricing, and C) Apple Watch ramps starting in June-qtr [...] Going forward, we think that gross margins should act as the main lever for positive surprises and believe that the iPhone 6s cycle could lead to upside relative to our current Sept-qtr estimates. Finally, if the Apple Watch sells above expectations, it could act a tailwind for the Company over the NTM period.
Daryanani raised his estimates slightly for the current quarter, to $55.4 billion and $2.14 per share, from a prior $54.2 billion and $2.03 per share. That compares to consensus for $55.4 billion and $2.12 per share.
For the full year, he raises his estimates to $227.1 billion and $8.70 per share from a prior $225.3 billion and $8.50 per share. That is a little higher than consensus for $225.8 billion and $8.62 per share.
Michael Stonebraker is a living legend in the database world.
Not a year goes by I don't hear this or that tech startup or industry executive refer with awe and admiration to his work of the past 40 years.
Stonebraker refined the relational techniques that today form the heart of billions of dollars in annual software sales by Oracle (ORCL), International Business Machines (IBM), and Microsoft (MSFT).
Friday afternoon, I had the honor of speaking with Stonebraker by telephone, to congratulate him for being this year's recipient of the Association for Computing Machinery's "Turing Award" for his groundbreaking contributions to computer science. More on the award can be found on the ACM Web site.
Stonebraker, a professor at MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab, said he was honored, remarking that "This is the Nobel Prize of computer science."
(Stonebraker's full bio can be found on the CSAIL Web site.)
Stonebraker not only continues to do fundamental research into database theory, but also has deep and informed views on the state of the industry that are of value to any tech investor.
Among the provocative views he shared with me is that current database technology from Oracle and others is "obsolete," and that Facebook (FB) is grappling with "the biggest database problem in the world."
Stonebraker's chief claim to fame is having pushed forward the relational technology first conceptualized by E.F. 'Ted' Codd in a seminal paper in 1970.
Stonebraker's companies, Ingres, then Postgres, and many more after that, such as Vertica (acquired by Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) ) helped bring Codd's academic notions to fruition in the commercial marketplace.
When asked what he contributed, Stonebraker is remarkably humble: he deftly switched the conversation to a glowing summation of Codd, whom he refers to as "Ted."
"What Ted proposed at the time was radical," he said. "It was a complete change from how things were being done in database."
Ted saw two important things. At the time, there were databases such as IBM's IMS, whuch was structured as a hierarchy, and the CODASYL database, which was structured as a network of connections between objects. Ted realized that what people inherently understand are relations, and so he turned the problem of data management into one of relations. That dramatically simplified things. He saw that things must be kept simple. Ted really followed the KISS principle [Keep it Simple, Stupid].
The other big breakthrough by Codd, says Stonebraker, was moving the actual manipulation of data away from assembly language programming of the time to higher levels of abstraction that would later become structured query language, or SQL.
The conventional wisdom at the time was that you should build for the particulars of how the data is stored. He saw that made no sense. He brought principles of encapsulation and abstraction to programming databases, like with a high-level-language in programming. The problem with the assembly approach was, your data lives a very long time. Today, your business might be in plumbing supplies. But then you merge your company with another company, and now you're in plumbing supplies and beauty supplies. Inevitably, your data structures will change as a result. If you write these assembly language programs, you have to throw them away and recode when things change, whereas if you write at a high level, with data independence, your data will not be dependent on the structure of the data.
As for his own contribution, Stonebraker is equally humble. In conversation, he uses "We" instead of "I," and he notes that the Ingres database "was the contribution of quite a number of people."
Among them, Jerry Held and Gene Wong joined Stonebraker in receiving the ACM's "System Software Award" in 1988 for Ingres.
Stonbraker notes that he and his fellow pioneers brought Codd's lofty relational ideas into the realm of ordinary individuals:
Ted was a mathematician, and he wrote his things in mathematical terms that no mere mortal could handle. We turned it into constructs that could be manipulated by ordinary people. Second, it was argued at the time that RDBMS couldn't perform, but we showed it could be efficient.
Oracle, Microsoft, IBM have a problem
Turning to the present, Stonebraker tells me Oracle's database, IBM's DB2, and Microsoft's SQL Server are all obsolete, facing a couple major challenges.
One is that at the time, they were designed for "business data processing."
"But now there is also scientific data and social media, and web logs, and you name it! The number of people with database problems is now of a much broader scope."
Second, "We were writing Ingres and System R for machines with a small main memory, so they were disk-based — they were what we call 'row stores'."
"You stored data on disk record by record by record. All major database systems of the last 30 years all looked like that – Postgres, Ingres, DB2, Oracle DB, SQL Server — they're all disk-row stores."
But, with the fall in the cost of memory chips, "main memory is now cheap enough that OLTP [online transaction processing] is going to be main-memory databases, increasingly, and they don't look like disk-based row stores at all," contends Stonebraker. He cites as examples the newer "in-memory" database Hana from SAP (SAP), and also his own new initiative, VoltDB.
The third of the database market that's legacy Oracle and SQL Server and DB2 will be replaced by things such as VoltDB, and whether Oracle can adapt or die remains to be seen:
Oracle or SQL Server or DB2 are legacy code at this point. There's that great book by Clayton Christensen, The Innovator's Dilemma. All the system software vendors are up against the innovator's dilemma. They are selling the old technology, and the question is how will they morph without losing their customer base? There's no question that with Oracle, the customers are dug in pretty deep in the traditional systems, but my point of view is there is two orders of magnitude performance difference to be had with other technology approaches, and sooner or later that will be significant. It may take a decade or longer for the legacy stuff to actually die away — there's still a lot of IMS data in production in the real world! — but sooner or later it will get replaced. My point of view is that if you want to do 50 transactions per second, it doesn't matter what technology you use, you can use whatever you want. But if you want to run 50,000 transactions per second, your current implementation is simply not going to do it. Sooner or later, you are going to be up against a technology wall that will force you to move to new technology, and it will be completely based on return on investment.
Where NoSQL and Hadoop are going
Another third of the market, focused on "data warehousing," is moving from row-stores to "column stores," which can be far more efficient, he says. "All the data warehouse vendors have converted to the column stores or are in the process."
The last third is "everything else," says Stonebraker.
That includes "NoSQL" databases such as MarkLogic, which I profiled recently; and Hadoop, the open-source database widely used by Google and others, and now commercialized by startup Cloudera and by Hortonworks (HDP).
There are 100 or more of these NoSQL companies, and Stonebraker thinks they will all eventually end up looking like SQL databases. "It started out, NoSQL meant, 'Not SQL,' then it became 'Not only SQL,' and now I think it means "Not-yet-SQL'," he quips.
"NoSQL proposes low-level languages, and they are betting against the compiler, and that's an incredibly dangerous thing to do," he says, just like the assembly-language programming back in the day. He thinks VoltDB and other approaches can fix the problems brought about by legacy RDBMs, and "NoSQL guys will drift toward looking at SQL," he contends. "They will move to higher-level languages, and the only game in town is SQL."
As for Hadoop, it will take on SQL aspects and merge with data warehousing:
If you look at the major vendors there, Cloudera, Facebook and Hortonworks, if you look at what Cloudera is doing, they released the Impala system a little while ago. If you take a careful look at it, it is a SQL engine. MapReduce is nowhere to be found. The historical Hadooop stack was Hive on top of MapReduce, on top of HDFS. Look at Impala and you see MapReduceis nowhere to be found. I think everyone pretty much agrees the MapReduce interface is not very interesting. None of the data warehouse guys have anything that looks like that. So I think MapReduce will atrophy and be replaced by SQL. Impala is a column-store, so it looks like Vertica or Red Shift, or any other data warehouse model. So data warehouse and Hadoop are going to completely merge eventually.
And so, "Hadoop will look like the data warehouse market, and NoSQL will look like the SQL market."
Arrays, graphs and data science take over
More interesting to Stonebraker are areas such as the "social graph" of Facebook, and the emerging area of data science.
He predicts a lot of business analysts who run data warehouses will be replaced in years to come by data scientists, who are trained to work with arrays rather than tables, and with techniques such as regression analysis, Bayesian analysis, and other approaches represented by programs such as the statistical package R:
Another incredibly dominant trend right now is that the data warehouse market is about business intelligence, it's about business analysts using Business Objects, and Cognos, and products like that as a GUI [user interface] in front of a SQL system. They are running SQL analytics. But what I think is guaranteed to happen is that business analysts will be replaced by data scientists. It will take a while, because we don't have enough trained data scientists, but the market will get much more sophisticated. Suppose you are the Wal-Mart guy who has to figure out how to provision Wal-Mart products around major snow storms. The query you want to run is in the week before the storm, and the week after, What sold by department in the North East, and compare that with, say, Maryland — that's standard business intelligence work. And what comes out is a big table of numbers. An alternatives is to get data scientists to build a predictive model to predict sales by department in the winter. You run that model and out comes a bunch of predictions, which is what the business guy actually wants. Sooner or later, the business intelligence world will move to the data science world, using things like regression analysis, Bayesian analysis — these are lots of big words, but all of these techniques, if you look at them, it's an array-based, not a table-based calculation. People who do data science now often code in MatLab or R. So, as we transition to data science we are going to transition to array-based calculations. The question is, Are those going to be done on an RDBMS, or is there room for a new class of array-based data management? I think the jury is completely out, but it's going to be a sizable market over time and it's going to happen, maybe not this year, but over time. It's a possible opportunity for array-based data management. We just built something to do that, SciDB. It is a commercial product that is array-based. There are certain kinds of data science applications that are getting a lot of traction. The genomics market is one that will be huge as all of us get [genetically] sequenced. The things those guys want to do is completely array-based. SciDB is focused on genomics for the short term, but will eventually move into other areas.
Facebook has the biggest problem of anyone
His other point is that Facebook has a big problem: Its problem is a graph problem, figuring the combinations of "vertices" and "edges," in the language of graph theory, but Facebook is entirely based on the database technology "MySQL," which means that its underlying infrastructure doesn't fit the task at hand:
Look at Facebook, it is one giant social graph, with the problem of how to find the average distance from anyone to anyone. You can simulate a graph as an edge matrix, and a connectivity matrix in an array-based system, and you model graphs in a table system, or you build a special-purpose engine to implement the graph directly. All three are being prototyped and commercialized, and the jury is out whether there is room for a new graph engine or if one of the other technologies would be good enough. I think the answer to graph problems is it will be done by either an array or a table DBMS. Facebook has a big transaction processing problem: You "friend" me, and that is an update to the social graph. That's currently implemented on MySQL, and as of three years ago, they had over 4,000 MySQL instances. It's probably 10,000 now or more. They would love to get rid of MySQL. They are prototyping everything in sight to explore new approaches. The infrastructure is at odds with the nature of their problem, and at such an extreme scale. I would say they have the hardest database problem on the planet. For Facebook, the question is make versus buy, and like Google and Amazon, they are running at such scale that it tilts them toward make rather than buy.
The upshot of all that is, "Off in the future, there will be a fair number of graph and array problems, and it will be interesting to see how those will be solved over time — that's the equivalent of saying, the database world is alive and well, and will continue to flourish for a while."
GPUs and non-volatile RAM may again change databases
In closing, I asked Stonebraker what hardware innovations, like faster DRAM, would eventually impact databases.
He said "Two things are very significant," one being GPUs, or graphical processing units, the kind of chips in which Nvidia (NVDA) specializes, the other being non-volatile RAM.
Regarding GPUs and other "co-processors,"
There will be various co-processor approaches. No one will build one [a co-processor] just for the databases market, because it's not big enough, so we will have to piggy back on someone else's technology, and GPUs are here, and we ask, What can we use them for? That is a very active area of investigation. Take a look at Intel's "Xeon PHI." At the Intel Science and Tech Center at MIT, one of the things they are having us look at is what to do with PHI, which has very fast floating point performance. Another thing is what to do with FPGAs, among things that hardware guys developed for some other reason.
Regarding NVRAM,
The thing I think will be way more important is non-volatile RAM, NVRAM. The various vendors are betting on various things, and it is probably coming this decade, and it's going to be way faster than flash. Flash is too slow to be really interesting — some people are using it [flash] now, but it's not mainstream. It is going to be very significant. Hewlett-Packard's MEMRISTOR is one of the technologies; Intel is betting on something, though they won't tell us what it is.
Correction: a prior version of this post attributed the CODASYL database system to IBM, when in fact it was not from IBM. My apologies for any confusion caused by the error.
Tech Trader Daily is a blog on technology investing written by Barron's veteran Tiernan Ray. The blog provides news, analysis and original reporting on events important to investors in software, hardware, the Internet, telecommunications and related fields. Comments and tips can be sent to: firstname.lastname@example.com.


text:
Samsung Gear VR price, date seen in leaked training doc
Samsung might be talking our ears off with Galaxy Note 4 ads and exaltations, but the rest of its IFA 2014 team isn't getting the same treatment. This is especially true for the Gear VR, Samsung's surprising foray into a niche sector of the gaming market. But thanks to this alleged internal document, we might now have an idea when and for how much Samsung will be selling the headset-slash-accessory.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Stars' Smith named top rookie for December
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. ... The American Hockey League announced today that Texas Stars left wing Reilly Smith has been selected as the CCM/AHL Rookie of the Month for December.
Smith tallied eight goals and six assists for 14 points in 14 games for the Stars last month.
After a slow start to his rookie season, Smith averaged a point per game during December. On Dec. 2, Smith had a goal and an assist in a 4-3 shootout win at Peoria, the first of his five multiple-point efforts on the month. He came back with his first career two-goal game in a 4-1 win over Peoria on Dec. 8, and had a goal and an assist to help Texas to a 3-1 victory at Abbotsford on Dec. 14. Smith put together a six-game scoring streak from Dec. 19-29 that included consecutive game-winning goals on Dec. 19 vs. San Antonio and Dec. 21 at Oklahoma City, and scoring the Stars' only two goals in a loss to the Barons on Dec. 22.
The 21-year-old Smith was a third-round draft choice by Dallas in 2009, and made his professional debut appearing in three National Hockey League games with the parent Stars at the end of the 2011-12 season. In 32 games with Texas this year, Smith has 10 goals and 10 assists for 20 points, including 10-7-17 in his last 17 outings. The Toronto native played three seasons at Miami University (Ohio) and was a Hobey Baker Award finalist last season.
In recognition of his achievement, Smith will be presented with an etched crystal award prior to an upcoming Stars home game.
Also see: Past winners, AHL Rookie of the Month
- Playoff Primer: March 31
- AHL announces suspensions
- Accountability plays a big role in Penguins' success
- Wolves' Rattie named AHL Player of the Week
- A resilient nature keeps paying off for Froese
- Hershey heads back to the playoffs
- Milano takes next step in Springfield
- Monarchs first to clinch playoff berth


text:
This is the final major version of Beats 1.x. No new major features will be added apart from periodic bugfixes.
If you wish to try out any older version, you can download them at http://beatsportable.com/static/releases/
Future development will continue with the open source Beats2 project. See https://github.com/Keripo/Beats2 for more details.
"Beats, Advanced Rhythm Game" is a music-based rhythm game for Google Android phones/devices. Press arrows to the beat of songs StepMania/Dance Dance Revolution (DDR) style or tap circles osu!/Ouendan/Elite Beat Agent (EBA) style!
Beats comes with 10 sample songs, but there are hundreds of free stepfiles available for download via the "DOWNLOAD SONGS" menu item. Beats currently does NOT generate stepfiles for the music on your phone; this will be added in the future.
Beats currently supports user-generated stepfiles in StepMania 3.9 ".sm" format, Dance With Intensity v2.50.00 ".dwi" format, and experimental osu! v5 ".osu" format. More formats and gameplay modes will be added in the future - see Beats2 at https://github.com/Keripo/Beats2
Beats2 game modes will include Pump It Up, Taiko no Tatsujin, DJ Max / Beatmania IIDX, Tap Tap Revolution (TTR), Guitar Hero, Project DIVA and other rhythm game gameplay styles!
Website: http://beatsportable.com
Code: https://github.com/Keripo/Beats
Donate: http://beatsportable.com/donate/
Translate: http://crowdin.net/project/beats
What's New
Finger Dance (ad free)
The full version enables you to play ad-free!
Choose a song. Once the game begins, tap the arrows at the bottom of the screen to the beat, as would in tap tap revenge, stepmania, or guitar hero.
Update: New graphics!
Please email us about any features you'd like to see or bugs that need to be squashed.
Beat Hazard Ultra
Experience YOUR music collection as never before with this intense music driven arcade shooter. (Note: Music must be on SD card - Google cloud music is not possible at the moment)
Blast away to your favorite tracks. Watch your firepower pulse to the energy of the music.
★ 100% - 'Must own for action gamers' - AppSpy
★ 100% - 'Must Have' - Slide To Play
★ 90% - 'Feel the beat!' - 148 Apps
★ 90% - 'It'll blow up your screen' - Touch Arcade
★ Levels created from YOUR music collection (On SD card)
★ Play to internet radio stations
★ Simple 1 stick mode for beginners
★ Twin stick mode for the pros
★ Boss Rush, Survival & Chill Out game modes
★ Rank up and unlock 23 perks
I'd appreciate if you'd report any issues you're having with the game to email@example.com, please include your device make and model.
See FAQ for help on detecting music:
Selected for the PAX Prime, PAX East & PAX Australia Indie Showcases
Mobile Game of the Year 2013 - Kotaku
Best Games of 2013 - The New Yorker
4.5/5 - Touch Arcade
4.5/5 - 148 Apps
4.5/5 - App Smile
4/5 - App Spy
"...few other games are as fun when you succeed." -- The New Yorker
"It feels as designed as a raindrop, and just as perfect." -- Ben Kuchera, Polygon
"Duet does what the best video games do." -- Kotaku
"Highly Recommended." -- Penny Arcade Report
"Duet looks hard as nails. And I love it." -- Touch Arcade
"Duet is a must-have." -- 148 Apps
"Shiel's soundtrack ... is as innovative as the game it scores." -- Jake Cleland, The Vine
"Your eyes, ears, and thumbs were built to perform this Duet together." -- Indie Games
"...Duet's plaintive and melancholic aesthetic imbues it with a sense of the profound." -- CVG
"But while the aesthetic of Duet is familiar, the gameplay is all new." -- Pocket Gamer
"It is fantastic." -- Tim Rogers
"Instant love. Instant." -- Mark Serrels
"It looks positively mind bending, and also, a really good time." -- App Spy
Your survival is dependent on protecting two vessels - they are devices in sync, a dance and song between two entities tethered together in symbiosis. Feel edge of your seat terror where the world around you becomes quiet and numb as all that matters is the game living between your palms -- that is Duet.
Experience eight chapters of deceptive narrative and nerve-twisting gameplay. Replay any stage to perfect your movements and unlock over 25 achievements. This is a game that will test you. Unlock the Survival mode, Daily Challenges and four additional chapters of bonus challenges.
With air tight controls and gameplay that's tuned to perfection Duet provides the perfect balance between challenge and pure gaming satisfaction. Touch either side of the screen to twist your vessels and avoid everything in your path. Remember: even that which begins simple can end complex.
An outstanding handcrafted soundtrack by Melbourne composer and Gotye multi-instrumentalist Tim Shiel. Nine unique and mesmerizingly beautiful compositions ensure an immersive experience for you at every step of your journey.
- Full Google Play Game Services sync support - sync your progress across all your devices.
- Phones and Tablet support - play everywhere.
- Compete with Google Play Game Services across the Survival mode and Daily Challenges leaderboards.
Duet is free to download and play with some advertisements between gameplay. However, you may pay a once-off in-app purchase to unlock "Duet Premium". This will remove all advertisements from the game, unlock Survival mode for endless score chasing delight, the Daily Challenges feature and four bonus challenge chapters. You will also help support more independent development of video games.
Selected for the Indie Showcase at PAX Aus and a finalist in both Game Design and Audio for the Freeplay Festival. This is another award-winning title from the team behind Time Surfer & Bean's Quest. We call Duet a "Hex-like" in honour of Terry Cavanagh's contribution to the medium of games and exploration of genres.
Tim Shiel is a composer/producer based in Melbourne. Tim is known to some as Faux Pas, the moniker under which he released a steady stream of constantly shifting electronic music for many years. He is also known for his work as a broadcaster at Melbourne independent radio station 3RRR FM, and for his recent role as multi-instrumentalist in Gotye's live band.
Say firstname.lastname@example.com we'd love to hear from you! And follow us on Twitter: @kumobius
Gentlemen! (multiplayer!)
A Victorian era head-to-head arcade battle for 2 players sharing a single tablet!
Requires a tablet, 7inch+
Take on your friends in this frantically paced duel game. Knives, bombs, homing pigeons - choose your weapon wisely, and master the art of the gravity flip. An honorable duel, a dapper delight - GENTLEMEN!
**8/10 on Edge!** **4.5/5 on Touch Arcade!** **4.5/5 on 148 Apps!** **9/10 on PocketGamer!**
You'll need to hone a delicate balance of technique, knowledge, cunning, and blind panic (just like a real duel!). You'll also need a friend - two players, one screen. If you don't have a friend, go and get one.
Seriously, this is a game for tablets. Don't play it on your phone.
The Impossible Game
With just one control, tapping the screen to jump, guide your orange square over spikes and jump onto blocks to get to the end of the level. Any mistake will result in instant death and a respawn at the beginning of the level. With an awesome soundtrack synced to the game you'll quickly become addicted!
Also included is a Practice Mode, allowing you to lay checkpoints along the way. Try and unlock medals throughout the game, including beating the game with no flags. Check out the Stats page, where you can see how far you got through the level!
Praise for The Impossible Game:
"Insanely addictive"
- Destructoid
"Words can't describe how 'right' this feels."
- DIYgamer
"Fun and addictive as hell. What more could one want for one dollar?" 4.5/5
- Hot Blooded Gaming
More Info: http://flukedude.com/theimpossiblegame
Contact: firstname.lastname@example.com
Ant Smasher, Best Free Game
Smash ants with your finger in this great game!
Ant Smasher is more social now - you can smash your friends' pictures!!!
Highly entertaining for kids, boys and girls. Special virtual goods that make the game easier for young players can be acquired! It's so addicting! Experience this killer bug invasion!
+ Several Ants to Smash
+ Dangerous Bee - Don't Touch the Bee!
+ Global high-score rankings
+ Different Addictive Game Modes
+ Game for all ages, man and woman!
+ A funny app to pass the time.
All... for FREE!
Ant Smasher is brought to you by:
Best, Cool & Fun Games - Free Game App Creation Desenvolvimento de Aplicativos S.A., 2013
We will keep bringing you the top best games and popular apps! Stay tuned for our other games and visit us at:
Download Ant Smasher while it's FREE!
Note: Location/Bluetooth-data may be used for providing you more relevant ads
Inspired by the practice and principles of Parkour, Vector's intuitive controls please players of all levels, and sophisticated level designs challenge the most demanding players with fast-paced timing puzzles as the traceur "flows" over the dystopian rooftops.
Game Features:
- Arcade gameplay from the makers of the hit Facebook game
- Astoundingly lifelike Parkour-inspired moves made possible by Cascadeur animation tools
- 20 challenging levels (40 in the "Deluxe Version")
- Quick to learn, challenging to master
The best parkour-inspired action game! Vector lets you break free and run! Don't get caught!
The Press Loves Vector:
"The way Vector mimics the movements of real-life parkour practitioners is quite impressive... I can't wait to be entrapped in Vector's promising mix of direction and magnitude." (appadvice.com)
"Vector is thrilling, rich in variety and it reminds us of Stick Run, but offers much more elaborate animations." (fbgamer.de)
"The only cool way to run from all your problems." (Gamezebo.com)
"The game looks smashing … " (idroidplay.com)
Check out what players are saying about Vector:
"Awesome!", "Wow! Perfect Game, Man", "Greatest game I ever 'ran'!!!", "Woohoo! 5 stars!"
Smash Hit
* Smash your way through a beautiful futuristic dimension, smashing obstacles and targets in your path and experiencing the best destruction physics on mobile devices.
* Musically synchronized gameplay: music and audio effects change to suit each stage, obstacles move to each new tune.
* Over 50 different rooms with 11 different graphic styles, and realistic glass-breaking mechanics in every stage.
Smash Hit is playable at no cost and free from ads. An optional premium upgrade is available through a one-time in-app purchase that will enable new game modes, cloud save across multiple devices, detailed statistics and the ability to continue from checkpoints.
Muffin Knight
"This is a leaping, blasting, clawing slice of fun" - PocketGamer, Silver Award
"Much like muffins, Muffin Knight is sweet, simple, and dangerously addicting, and you can never go wrong with rainbow-shitting unicorns" - Kotaku
Fertilize the forest with the unicorn, cover the sky with black holes, flood the world with candy, but just get the muffins back!
Muffin Knight is an arena based action-packed platformer with stunning visuals and a myriad of fairytale characters, each with their own unique abilities, which gain strength as you advance.
Brought to you by the creators of Guerrilla Bob, Predators and AVP: Evolution!
This is the story of a little boy, on his journey to return the old fairy's magical muffins. A strange curse was set on him: with each muffin he touches, he turns into a different creature. The old fairy promises to turn him back into a boy when he gets all the muffins back.
Stunning 2.5D graphics, taking full advantage of the latest features in the Unity engine.
Discover a colorful and enthralling world, with magical hand drawn artwork
Play as 18 different characters, each with their unique special attacks
Make your way through swathes of dragons, turtles, werewolves, ghosts, bats, goblins and other cute fluffy creatures
Level up, unlock new characters and upgrade their abilities
6 perks will bring you extra abilities during your quests for the muffins
In the end, you'll have to prove your skills by defeating the evil lava king
Challenge a friend playing on an iPhone, iPod touch, iPad or Android device, in intense head-to-head multiplayer matches
You can also play Muffin Knight with a Bluetooth keyboard or controller:
Left/Right Arrows – Move
Z – Shoot
X or Up Arrow – Jump
Space – Use Perk
Supports the MOGA Pocket and MOGA Pro controllers.
FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @angrymobgames
LIKE US: facebook.com/MuffinKnight
Fun Run - Multiplayer Race
Race against your friends or random people in real-time!
All the cutest, furriest creatures of the forest are out running. For you to remain a cool critter, it is essential that you finish the race before your furry friends.
No amount of force is excessive.
Fun Run is an online real-time multiplayer game for smart phones and tablets, both Android and iOS. You can be anywhere in the world and play with up to four players simultaneously. Play with your friends or get matched with random players from around the world!
Glow Hockey
Glow Hockey delivers a new style of hockey game. Easy to play, hard to master. Challenge yourself with the computer opponents!
+ 2-player mode (on the same device).
+ Colorful glow graphics.
+ Smooth and responsive game play.
+ Realistic physics.
+ Quick play mode (single player), challenge yourself with 4 difficulty levels (easy to insane).
+ 4 selectable paddles and pucks.
+ Vibrate when goal.
+ Support almost all Android devices for mips, x86, armeabi, and armeabi-v7a.
See game play video: http://www.natenai.com/iphone/glow_hockey
Glow Hockey 2
+ 2-player mode - Multiplayer (on the same device).
+ 2 table themes.
+ Colorful glow graphics.
+ Smooth and responsive game play.
+ Realistic physics.
+ Quick play mode (single player), challenge yourself with 4 difficulty levels (easy to insane).
+ 4 selectable paddles and pucks.
+ Vibrate when goal.
+ Support almost all Android devices for mips, x86, armeabi, and armeabi-v7a.
Flappy Bros Online/Multiplayer
Features :
* Split-screen multiplayer for 2 players with 3 gamemodes
* Online multiplayer with 3 gamemodes
* Bird customisation
* Single-player
* Two gamemodes
* Achievements
* Leaderboards
2015 Augustas Novapolskas
Fun Run 2 - Multiplayer Race
All the cutest, furriest creatures of the forest are out running. For you to remain a cool critter, it is essential that you finish the race before your furry friends.
No amount of force is excessive.
Fun Run 2 is an online real-time multiplayer game for smart phones and tablets. You can be anywhere in the world and play with up to four players simultaneously. Play with your friends or get matched with random players from around the world!
Splitter (Multiplayer)
Splitter contains lots of fun and thrilling mini games for hours of multiplayer play.
Compete against your friends in split screen action on your smartphone and tablet!
Fast reaction and evaluation skills are required to be competitive in Splitter's multiplayer action.
Warning: due to it's addictive gameplay, even the best friendships are in danger!
- Split screen multiplayer
- Lots of fun mini games
- Multiple difficulties and player options to unlock
Don't Tap The White Tile
This is a super fun and highly addictive game suited for everyone.
No special skills needed, all this game asks of you is an attentive mind and fast fingers!
How To Play:
The rules are clear: play your piano but don't ever touch the white tiles.
Sound easy? Give it a try, and see how well you stack up against your friends.
◈ Many awesome game modes so you never get bored
◈ Friend leader boards (Facebook/Twitter)
◈ Customizable classical piano soundtrack
◈ Multicolored themes & dozens of color options
◈ Smooth gameplay
◈ Optimized for high resolution screens
◈ Community support
◈◈◈ Over 160,000,000 downloads worldwide. ◈◈◈
◈◈◈ Over 1,200,000 five-star ratings on the Google Play Store ◈◈◈
◈◈◈ You don't need clones, have fun with the original! ◈◈◈
Follow Us
We'd love to hear your suggestions and comments! We've got loads of improvements and new features planned, so stay tuned!
Contact Us
Cheetah Mobile is the exclusive agent of Don't Tap The White Tile and Just Get 10. We recommend the best games for Cheetah's 800 million users! Contact us:
More from developer
Beats2 Prototypes
This is a demo app created as part of an academic research project focus on developing various touch-based user interfaces for rhythm games. This app features numerous prototype interface designs with the intention of being tested by users and compared in their effectiveness.
This app collects usage data that will be used in the future for designing better touch-based UIs for rhythm games, specifically Beats2. Please try to test out all the different game "modes" and submit feedback via the built-in tracker. Keep in mind that these demos are only prototypes made for testing purposes and are not final products (hence the lack of fancy graphics and only one test song).
For more info, see the Beats Portable website at http://beatsportable.com


text: Fred Astaire had announced his retirement before the cameras began to roll on Easter Parade, but he decided to accept the film's leading role when its original star Gene Kelly became incapacitated. The thinnish plot, which finds Astaire trying to turn chorus girl Judy Garland into a star in order to show up his former partner Ann Miller, is hardly what keeps the audience's eyes riveted to the screen. All that truly matters are the 17 musical numbers, all written by Irving Berlin (ten were standards, while seven were new to this film). Among the many highlights are Astaire's slow-motion version of "Steppin' Out," the Astaire/Garland duet "We're a Couple of Swells," the opening rendition of "Happy Easter," and the closing performance of the title number.


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BBVA Banco Continental, the Peruvian unit of Spanish bank BBVA, is the country's second largest bank in terms of assets. Although principally focused on corporate lending and top consumer segments, the bank also operates as a universal bank offering a wide range of financial products and services, including saving and checking accounts, fixed-term deposits, consumer and commercial loans, mortgages, debit and credit cards, letters of credit, electronic collection services, foreign currency transactions, custody of securities, investment banking, portfolio management, and other banking services to businesses and individuals. The bank is part of Grupo Continental, controlled equally by Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria and Inversiones Breca S.A.
BBVA Perú Data & Contacts
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Award-winning and trusted the world over, Business News Americas is the only English and Spanish business intelligence resource for project , news , analysis and business contacts focused on and produced in Latin America. This company profile is one of thousands of companies included in the BNamericas directory of active and up-and-coming companies, including Grupo Financiero Banamex , Itaú Unibanco and Bancolombia Contact us today! Phone:+56 (2) 2941-0300


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Potential conflict of interest: Nothing to report.
Brief Report
PINK1 mutations in a Brazilian cohort of early-onset Parkinson's disease patients†
Article first published online: 26 JUN 2009
DOI: 10.1002/mds.22685
Copyright © 2009 Movement Disorder Society
Movement Disorders
Volume 24, Issue 11, pages 1693–1696, 15 August 2009
Additional Information
How to Cite
Godeiro-Junior, C., de Carvalho-Aguiar, P. M., Felício, A. C., Barsottini, O. G.P., Silva, S. M.A., Borges, V., Andrade, L. A. F. and Ferraz, H. B. (2009), PINK1 mutations in a Brazilian cohort of early-onset Parkinson's disease patients. Mov. Disord., 24: 1693–1696. doi: 10.1002/mds.22685
- †
Publication History
- Issue published online: 26 AUG 2009
- Article first published online: 26 JUN 2009
- Manuscript Accepted: 27 MAY 2009
- Manuscript Revised: 28 FEB 2009
- Manuscript Received: 12 NOV 2008
Funded by
- Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)
- Fondation Philanthropique Edmond J. Safra
- Abstract
- Article
- References
- Cited By
- Parkinson's disease;
- early-onset;
Data on the frequency of PINK1 mutations in Brazilian patients with early-onset Parkinson's disease (EOPD) are lacking. The aim of this report was to investigate mutations of the PINK1 gene in a cohort of Brazilian patients with EOPD. Sixty consecutive familial or sporadic EOPD patients were included. All eight PINK1 exons and exon-intron boundaries were analyzed. We did not find any pathogenic mutation of PINK1 in our cohort. Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNP) were identified in 46.7% of the patients and in 45.9% of controls (P = 0.9). The SNPs identified in our patients had already been described in previous reports. The results of our study support the hypothesis that mutations in PINK1 may not be a relevant cause of EOPD. In Brazil, if we consider only EOPD patients, it seems that parkin and LRRK2 mutations are more common. © 2009 Movement Disorder Society


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Positions Available
Assistant/Associate Curator - Department of Photography
Curatorial Assistant - Moving Image Department
Chief Object Preparator - Conservation/Object Preparation Department
Assistant Collection Manager - Department of Photography
Assistant/Associate Curator - Department of Photography
Job Title: Assistant/Associate Curator
Department: Photography
Reports To: Lisa Hostetler, Curator-in-Charge Dept. of Photography
Status: Full time
Start Date: Immediately
Posting Dates: January 15, 2015
Work with the curator-in-charge and other Department of Photography (DOP) staff on the presentation, interpretation and maintenance of the Photography Collection at George Eastman House. Develop and execute exhibitions and programs for the public. Evaluate, identify, and propose acquisitions to the collection, concentrating on nineteenth-century materials.
- Curate temporary exhibitions that combine a b curatorial concept with compelling visual interest and b scholarly merit. Organize occasional rotations from the collection for the History of Photography Gallery.
- Conduct research and publish scholarship in areas of interest and/or expertise.
- Collaborate with GEH staff on exhibition- and collection-related public programming, including docent training, gallery talks, online content, and related activities.
- Evaluate and refine the museum's substantial and internationally renowned collection of nineteenth-century photographs. Identify, evaluate, propose, and present new acquisitions (gifts and purchases) for the photography collection.
- Create and maintain object, exhibition and constituent records in The Museum System (TMS) database.
- Work with Development office on DOP grant proposals and other fundraising activities.
- Provide access and information about the collection to internal and external colleagues and members of the public.
- Contribute to the organization and maintenance of the photography collection and related materials.
- Work closely with the Conservation Department to ensure that collection objects are properly identified and preserved.
- Instruct and advise students in the Photographic Preservation and Collections Management program as needed.
- Attend external conferences and events to promote the collection and foster alliances/collaboration in the field.
- Serve on internal GEH committees as requested by the curator-in-charge. Such committees include but are not limited to the TMS Committee, DOP submissions review committee, Loan Committee, and Disaster Preparedness Committee.
- Perform other duties/tasks as assigned by supervisor.
Minimum Qualifications:
- Requires a PhD or Master's Degree in History of Art/Photography or related field.
- Requires 5 years' experience working with museum/photographic collections.
- Must have knowledge of standard museum practices, protocols and ethics.
The duties of this position may require standing, walking, sitting, lifting/carrying (40lbs), pushing/pulling (75lbs), balancing, stooping, kneeling, crouching crawling, reaching, speaking, hearing, seeing, depth perception, color vision, repetitive motion and ability to travel.
Please submit your cover letter and resume for consideration to Will Green, at email@example.com
Chief Object Preparator
Conservation/Object Preparation Department
Job Title: Chief Object Preparator
Department: Conservation/Object Preparation Department
Reports To: Taina Meller, Conservator-in-Charge
Status: Full time (one year, renewable)
Start Date: Immediately
Posting Date: March 26, 2015
Coordinate, handle and prepare all collection and non-collection materials for George Eastman House exhibitions, traveling exhibitions and loans. Supervise Object Preparation staff. Collaborate with Manager of Exhibitions to schedule gallery preparation and installation support by the Object Preparation staff. Assist with exhibitions as possible and needed.
Collaborate with Curators and Conservators to prepare collection and non-collection materials for exhibition, travel and storage.
Condition report collection and non-collection materials for George Eastman House exhibitions, traveling exhibitions and loans.
Supervise other preparators, technicians, students, interns and volunteers in all aspects of their duties in the Object Preparation Department.
Schedule and assign work for Object Preparation staff.
Collaborate with Manager of Exhibitions to schedule gallery preparation and installation support by the Object Preparation staff.
Collaborate with exhibitions team in the plan, design and implementation of exhibitions. Collaborate with exhibitions team on aesthetic choices (matting, framing, etc.) for exhibitions as requested.
With Conservation Manager, record, track and report on Object Preparation related expenses.
With Manager of Exhibitions, record, track and report on exhibition related expenses.
With Registrar's Office, record, track and report on loan related expenses.
Inspect and maintain department facilities and equipment.
Maintain an inventory of framing and installation supplies, ordering as needed.
Maintain a clean and organized work area.
Arrange for temporary storage of collection materials.
Instruct Preservation Housing and Framing classes for the students of the Photographic Preservation and Collections Management Program.
Participate in loan committee, program committee, department and all staff meetings. Other duties/projects assigned as by the Conservator-in-Charge.
Directly manages and schedules the work of 2-10 employees, students, interns and volunteers. Regularly and customarily directs their work, ensures that work meets the standards and makes recommendations regarding personal actions such as hiring, disciplinary action, overtime, changes in pay and terminations.
Framing/matting tools
Basic carpentry
Position regularly requires standing, walking, sitting, lifting/carrying, pushing/pulling, climbing, balancing, reaching, handling, seeing and repetitive motions.
Work takes place in all collection care areas, museum galleries and an office.
Education Requirements
Bachelor's degree in Fine Arts, Art History or related field or equivalent experience.
Experience Requirements
2-3 years of experience working with museum collections and exhibitions.
5 years of experience handling photographs and other objects.
Thorough knowledge of preparing, matting and framing exhibition materials.
Demonstrated ability to fabricate various housings for exhibition and storage.
Thorough knowledge of conservation quality materials.
Knowledge of standard Museum practices, protocols and ethics.
Experience with frame-making is preferred.
Experience with condition reporting is preferred.
Skills and Competencies Requirements
Project management
Good organizational skills
Attention to detail
Decision making
Ability to effectively supervise and manage staff members
Good communication skills
Teamwork capability
Familiarity of various types of photographic materials
Use of proper body techniques to prevent injury
Safe/correct use of tools and equipment
Possess a good command of the English language both written and verbal
Please submit your cover letter and resume for consideration to Taina Meller, at firstname.lastname@example.com
Assistant Collection Manager - Department of Photography
Job Title: Assistant Collection Manager
Department: Photography
Reports To: Collection Manager
Status: Full time
Start Date: Immediately
Posting Dates: March 27, 2015 - April 7, 2015
Support the Collection Manager in the care, organization, preservation, cataloging and access to the Photography Collection of George Eastman House. Facilitate access to and provide information about the collection to GEH staff and visitors.
- Organize, catalog according to museum standards, house appropriately, and track the movements of all works in the care of the Department of Photography (DOP), including acquisitions, temporary loans, long-term loans, and related materials.
- Assist Collection Manager in monitoring and making recommendations for proper environmental conditions for the storage of materials in DOP�s care. Compile data using hygrothermographs, dataloggers (PEM2) and eCimateNotebook and provide to appropriate staff. Make recommendations to other DOP staff.
- Assist Collection Manager in maintaining Integrated Pest Management (IPM) system in Department of Photography, including compiling data and providing information and recommendations to appropriate staff.
- Maintain stock of and order supplies. Maintain list of common supplies used and vendors.
- Create and maintain records in TMS for all works in DOP�s care.
- Respond to internal and external requests for information about and access to the collection.
- Schedule and supervise visits to the Gannett Foundation Photography Study Center. Visitors include classes from school and university students, academic researchers, and members of the public, as well as GEH staff, interns, students, and volunteers.
- Assist Collection Manager in presenting lectures and demonstrations about collection materials and their care. These may occasionally fall outside of regular business hours.
- Assist Collection Manager and DOP curators in evaluating, refining, and enhancing the GEH Photography Collection.
- Work with the Museum Photographer to photograph works in the GEH Photography Collection. Manage the resulting digital images in the Digital Asset Management System (DAMS) and attach them to TMS.
- Collaborate with Conservation Department on the maintenance and preservation of the collection.
- Assist Collection Manager in overseeing and implementing the care, organization, and maintenance of the DOP storage areas.
- Offer assistance and training in the handling of collection materials to staff, interns, students and volunteers as needed.
- Perform additional responsibilities/projects as assigned by Collection Manager and Curator-in-Charge, Department of Photography.
Minimum Qualifications:
- Requires an Advanced degree in the history of photography, collections management, museum studies, or a related field.
- Requires 1 - 2 years� of related experience.
- Must have knowledge of preservation protocols, history of photographs and proper handling of collection items.
- Must also have knowledge of standard Museum practices, protocols and ethics.
The duties of this position may require standing, walking, sitting, lifting/carrying (40lbs), pushing/pulling (40lbs), balancing, stooping, kneeling, crouching crawling, reaching, speaking, hearing, seeing, depth perception, color vision, repetitive motion.
Please submit your cover letter and resume for consideration to Ross Knapper, at email@example.com
George Eastman House is an Equal Opportunity Employer.


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1400 West Osage St.
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Phone: (636) 257-8400
Fax: (636) 257-3112
Centenary United Methodist Church
Founded in 1839, Centenary United Methodist Church with its 200-foot steeple, is a historic landmark and attraction. The book Centenary Church of St. Louis: The First Hundred Years, which depicts events, photos and memorabilia from 1839-1939, is available in local bookstores and libraries in St. Louis. Today, the church serves as an attraction, a refuge and a place for some to call home regardless of age, race or community status.
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Is That Skunk?Series Website »
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It's a familiar but mysterious creature in woods and neighborhoods all across America. Its infamous weapon is one of the most awful scents in all of nature. Now, intrepid researchers and cameramen track skunks day and night across California, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Ohio, even Martha's Vineyard, uncovering how they hunt, forage, mate and raise amazingly cute baby skunks - all the things they're up to when they're not spraying the local dog. And yes, the remarkable secrets of that stink will be revealed!
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