BlackBerry confirms deep loss and revenue drop
BlackBerry has reported a quarterly loss of nearly $1 billion, confirming the warning it gave last week, just days after the smartphone maker accepted its largest shareholder’s tentative $4.7 billion bid to take it private.
The report showed Blackberry turned in a particularly poor performance in Latin America, a region it recently heralded as an enthusiastic supporter of its devices.
The company, which warned on September 20 that the poor results were coming, said its net loss for the second quarter, ended on August 31, was $965 million, or $1.84 a share.
Revenue fell 45 percent from a year earlier to $1.6 billion, and BlackBerry’s cash pile, made up of cash and equivalents, short and long-term investments, fell by more than $500 million to $2.57 billion.
iOS7 is making users sick
Apple’s new mobile operating system for the iPhone and iPad, iOS 7, is a move to the minimal and dynamic for the company. It makes frequent use of zoom and slide animations; the home screen boasts parallax, with icons apparently floating above animating wallpaper. However, some users have claimed it’s making them very sick.
Triggers and symptoms vary, but TidePool mobile app developer Jenni Leder’s experience is not uncommon. A self-professed power-user, she frequently switches apps; but on iOS 7, this has caused headaches and feelings associated with motion sickness.
"I now have to close my eyes or cover the screen during transitions, which is ridiculous," she told The Guardian newspaper.
"It’s not apps that affect me, but accessing them. Tap a folder and the view zooms in. Tap an app and it’s like flying through the icon and landing in that app’s micro world — and I’m getting dizzy on the journey there."
Facebook to show users less unwanted ads in newsfeed
Facebook newsfeeds will contain fewer ads for products or services that users are not interested in, Facebook said on Friday, announcing changes in advertising policy.
It was the company’s latest effort to refine the newsfeed ads that have become more important to its business.
"When deciding which ad to show to which groups of people, we are placing more emphasis on feedback we receive from people about ads, including how often people report or hide an ad," Facebook said.
"If someone always hides ads for electronics, we will reduce the number of those types of ads that we show to them," the company said.
Facebook has been trying to make ads more prominent without triggering a backlash among its 1.15 billion users.
The world’s No.1 online social network, which generates roughly 85 percent of its revenue from advertising, now injects one paid ad into every 20 "stories" users see in their newsfeeds, the company said in July.
While big brands such as Toyota and AT&T advertise on Facebook, the company also makes money from marketers of weight-loss and teeth-whitening products. Analysts say some users may not welcome these less-glamorous pitches in their newsfeed.
