Semana 15

Analyst: Investors 'Less Optimistic' About Apple's Q3 2008 Earnings
By Brian X. Chen July 21, 2008 2:22:42 PMCategories: Apple, iPhone, Steve Jobs

From an outsider's perspective, one would think Apple investors would find solace in the soaring success of iPhone 3G, but they're sitting on the edge of their seats over Apple's Q3 2008 earnings call to be held Monday afternoon. That's particularly because sales of the new handset aren't included in this quarterly report -- and also because of widespread concern over the CEO's seemingly diminishing health.
Investors will have to cross their fingers in hope of gaining from Apple's success selling computers, first-generation iPhones and AppleTVs between April 1 and June 30. Andy Hargreaves, consumer electronics analyst at Pacific Crest Securities, said investors are less optimistic about Apple's Q3 report than any other quarter in the past few years.
Hargreaves explained that Apple sold out of first-generation iPhones a month before the quarter ended. He said that in addition to discussion about Mac and iPhone sales, analysts will likely bring up the topic of Steve Jobs' health in light of the CEO's noticeably gaunt appearance at WWDC 2008. Shareholders are concerned that Jobs' health issues could spell out trouble for the company as a whole -- especially since Apple has no succession plan in place.
"There's a lot of concern," Hargreaves said in a phone interview. "Whether it's Steve Jobs' health, Mac, iPod, or iPhone, it's spread around."

Me parecio interesante porque es visible que no esta todo bien en apple, a pesar del nuevo iphone, y todo lo que eso incluye.

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Glassdoor: What Your Employees Think of You
July 21st, 2008 Category: Social Media

Glassdoor, a social website that lets employees rate and rank previous and current jobs, approval rating of your CEO (much like the presidential approval ratings) as well as share salaries, is slowly getting traction. I login every few weeks to see slow steady growth. If you’re in a management position or are in HR, I highly recommend you read the reviews and ratings that your employees are saying.
If you notice decision, and see a trend of similar complaints, there’s two things to realize: 1) Your internal feedback loop is probably not working, therefore employees are letting grievances air in public to customers, investors, and the board. 2) There are probably some issues that you may want to resolve and fix.
There are a few weaknesses with Glassdoor that we should take into account: 1) There’s still very little data, most companies just have a smattering of reviews, 2) All data is anonymous so it’s very difficult to track –or prove –that someone actually worked at the company. It would be interesting if they were able to anonymously approve accounts in LinkedIn thereby secretly verifying identities. 3) Unhappy employees and happy employees will reflect their attitude –and service– to customers, so be sure to acknowledge one of your most important assets.
Also, if a company is just getting smeared by it’s employees, a company should address these problems, as although you could block the site from work, people will access it at home.
For what it’s worth, I’m making it a rule not to publicly rate my current employer on these types of sites, although I’m likely to rate them after I move on. Instead, I’m more likely to be forth coming in internal discussions, in an effort to improve things, rather that say it in public.
As we move to new jobs, we’ll be looking at the reviews of future companies on Glassdoor (just as we review financials) before I accept a position, but will appropriately weight it depending on age of comments, number of total reviewers, and patterns for trends.
Although Glassdoor shows some data in public, if you’re curious to see what employees think of your company (or how much people make in other companies) you’ll have to register, and complete part of the submission process in order to see details.
Have you peered into the glassdoor? Were you surprised or did you get confirmation?

Me gusto mucho porque habla de una pagina en la cual podes dejar opiniones sobre directivos, u otras posiciones de tu empresa, y asi ellos se enteran de lo que piensan sus empleados.

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'Tongue Drive System' Controls Wheelchair, Computer
By Alexis Madrigal July 21, 2008 11:36:18 AM

Quadriplegics may gain a new degree of freedom via their tongues, if a new control system becomes widely available.
The new system uses that famously strong, agile and sensitive muscle, the tongue, to provide computer accessibility and wheelchair control to severely disabled people.
Designed by researchers for people with debilitating spinal cord injuries and diseases, the tongue-drive tech takes advantage of the nearly direct connection between the tongue and the brain via cranial nerves, which makes it particularly likely to remain functional, even after severe accidents.
The system has two parts: a small magnet, attached to the tip of the tongue via adhesive, piercing or implantation, and a headset with two three-dimensional magnetic sensors mounted on it. The headset picks up the location of the tongue via the magnet and transmits that information to a smartphone.
Maysam Ghovanloo, the lead Georgia Tech researcher, designed software that converts the position of the tongue into joystick or mouse movements, allowing the severely disabled to control a wheelchair or computer. The setup could provide an unprecedentedly simple and powerful means of locomotion for the disabled.
"This device could revolutionize the field of assistive technologies," Ghovanloo said in a release.

Me parecio un articulo interesante ya que habla de una nueva forma de comunicarse con una computadora, muy util para personas con discapacidades mostrices por ejemplo.

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