Ford made a trucker hat that might save drivers’ lives

Truck driving is an exhausting job that requires constant attention to the road. Falling asleep during long stretches is an occasional — and sometimes lethal — concern. That’s why Ford helped develop the SafeCap, a hat that senses head movements associated with sleepiness and wakes the driver up with sound, light and vibration.

To help celebrate 60 years of producing trucks in Brazil, Ford partnered with the Sao Paulo-based creative agency GTB to make the cap. They researched and mapped head motions, differentiating those made while driving (checking the instrument panel, looking in mirrors) from those made while getting drowsy. The hat has an inboard accelerometer and gyroscope that measure head movements throughout the drive along with components that vibrate, make sound light up. Agency employees explain the design in the video below (in Portuguese):

Obviously, the SafeCap is a nice brand promotion to show Ford as company that cares (well, enough to make a prototype). But as Fast Company points out, the automaker introduced a baby-rocking car seat concept earlier this year in Spain which got enough hype that Ford made it an option for car buyers. There’s no word on when (or if) the SafeCap would be mass-produced, but Ford’s head of sales in Brazil said their “goal is to share with other countries” after tests.

Source: Fast Company

Transcript of Everything Apple Said About Its Record-Breaking Fourth Quarter Earnings Results

Apple today reported revenue of $52.6 billion and net quarterly profit of $10.7 billion, or $2.07 per diluted share, in the fourth quarter of its 2017 fiscal year.

Apple’s CEO Tim Cook and CFO Luca Maestri discussed the results on a conference call today. MacRumors has prepared a complete transcript of the call ahead.

Tim Cook

Good afternoon and thanks to everyone for joining us. As we close the books on a very successful fiscal 2017, I have to say I couldn’t be more excited about Apple’s future.

This was our biggest year ever in most parts of the world, with all-time record revenue in the United States, Western Europe, Japan, Korea, the Middle East, Africa, Central and Eastern Europe, and Asia. We had particularly strong finish this year, generating our highest September quarter revenue ever, as year-over-year growth accelerated for the fourth consecutive quarter.

Revenue was $52.6 billion, above the high end of our guidance range, and up 12 percent over last year. We generated revenue growth across all of our product categories, and showed all-time record results for our services business. As we expected, we returned to growth in Greater China, with unit growth and market share gains for iPhone, iPad, and Mac. In fact, it was an all-time record quarter for Mac sales in mainland China, as well as an all-time high for services revenue. And revenue from emerging markets outside Greater China was up 40 percent, with great momentum in India, where revenue doubled year over year. We also had great results in enterprise and education, with double digit growth in worldwide customer purchases of iPad and Mac in both markets. Gross margin for the September quarter was at the high end of our guidance range, and thanks to exceptional work by our teams, we generated record fourth quarter earnings per share of $2.07, up 24 percent from a year ago.

iPhone sales exceeded our expectations. In the last week and a half of September, we began shipping iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus to customers in more than 50 countries. They instantly became our two most popular iPhone models, and have been every week since then. As we speak, the launch of iPhone X is now underway, as stores open across Australia and Asia. iPhone X is packed with innovative, new technologies that chart our path for the next decade. Technologies like the TrueDepth camera system, Super Retina Display, and A11 Bionic chip with neural engine, which has been in development for years with a focus on deep machine learning. iPhone X enables totally new experiences, like unlocking your iPhone with Face ID, taking photos with studio-quality lighting effects, or playing immersive augmented reality games. We can’t wait for people to experience our vision of the future. Orders have already been very strong, and we’re working to get iPhone X into customers hands as quickly as possible.

Turning to services, revenue reached an all-time quarterly record of $8.5 billion in the September quarter. A few quarters ago, we established a goal of doubling our fiscal 2016 services revenue of $24 billion by the year 2020, and we are well on our way to meeting that goal. In fiscal 2017, we reached $30 billion, making our services business already the size of a Fortune 100 company.

We’re also delighted to report our second consecutive quarter of double-digit unit growth for iPad. Customers have responded very positively to the new iPad lineup, and with the launch of iOS 11, the iPad experience has become more powerful than ever, with great new features for getting things done, like the new Dock, Files app, Drag and Drop, multitasking, and more power than most PC notebooks.

The launch of iOS 11 also made iOS the world’s largest platform for augmented reality. There are already over a 1,000 apps with powerful AR features in our App Store today, with developers creating amazing news experiences in virtually every category of apps, aimed at consumers, students, and business users alike. Simply, we believe AR is going to change the way we use technology forever. We’re already seeing things that will transform the way you work, play, connect, and learn. For example, there are AR apps that let you interact with virtual models of everything you can imagine, from the human body to the solar system. And of course, you experience them like they’re really there. Instantly, education becomes much more powerful, when every subject comes to life in 3D. And imagine shopping, when you can place an object in your living room before you make a purchase. Or attending live sporting events, when you can see the stats on the field. AR is going to change everything. iOS 11 is also allowing developers to integrate machine learning models into their apps with CoreML. Pinterest is already using CoreML to deliver fast and powerful visual search. PadMapper uses CoreML to provide intelligent features that make it easy to find or rent your apartment. These are just a few examples. There’s so much more to come.

Next I’d like to talk about the Mac, which had its best year ever, with the highest annual Mac revenue in Apple’s history. It was also the best September quarter ever with Mac revenue growth of 25 percent, driven by the notebook refreshes and a strong back to school season. The Mac experience has become even better since the September launch of macOS High Sierra, with new technologies to make Mac more reliable, capable, and responsive, and lay the foundation for future innovation.

Moving on now to Apple Watch, with unit growth of over 50 percent for the third consecutive quarter, it continues to be the best selling and most loved smartwatch in the world. We began shipping Apple Watch Series 3 just six weeks ago, and customers love the new freedom of cellular. The ability to go for a run with just your Apple Watch, or go for a quick errand without your phone, while staying connected, is a game changer. Now more than ever, Apple Watch is the ultimate device for healthy life, and is already making a big difference in our customers’ lives. We’re very excited about the upcoming launch of the Apple Watch heart study, which will use data from Apple Watch to identify irregular heart rhythms and notify users when unusual patterns are detected. Earlier this week, we introduced watchOS 4.1, bringing 40 million songs to your wrist through Apple Music. The combination of music streaming on Apple Music and AirPods is truly a magical experience for people on the go. We’re thrilled with the momentum of these products. In fact, our entire wearables business was up 75 percent year over year in the fourth quarter, and in fiscal 2017, already generated the annual revenue of a Fortune 400 company.

Late in the September quarter, we also launched Apple TV 4K, delivering a stunning cinematic experience at home. So now users around the world can watch movies and shows in 4K HDR quality and stream live sports and news on the Apple TV app. There’s already a great selection of 4K HDR titles available through iTunes, and other popular video services, with many more movies and shows on the way.

We’re also very excited about the opening of Apple Michigan Avenue two weeks ago on Chicago’s riverfront. This is the first store that brings together our complete vision for the future of Apple retail, providing a welcoming place for everyone to experience our products, services, and inspiring educational programs right in the heart of their city. In addition to our very popular Today at Apple programming, which is available in all Apple Stores around the world, offering daily sessions in photography, music creation, art and design, coding, and entrepreneurship, Apple Michigan Avenue is partnering with local non-profits and creative organizations to make an ongoing, positive impact in that community.

Also this quarter, we expanded our free App Development with Swift curriculum to more than 40 community colleges across the country. We’re very excited about this initiative, and we’re thrilled by the momentum we’re seeing. The schools we launched with this summer are just the beginning. Community colleges have a powerful reach into communities where education is the great equalizer, and the colleges adopting our curriculum this academic year are providing opportunity to millions of students to build apps that will prepare them for careers in software development, information technology, and much more.

We’re incredibly enthusiastic about what our teams have accomplished this year, and about all of the amazing products in our lineup. As we approach the holiday season, we expect it to be our biggest quarter ever. I’d like to thank all of our teams, our partners, and our customers for their passion, commitment, and loyalty. You’ve helped us make 2017 a sensational year.

Luca Maestri

Revenue for the September was a record $52.6 billion, up 12 percent over last year. It has been great to see our growth rate accelerate in every quarter of fiscal 2017. Our terrific performance this quarter was very broad based, with revenue growth in all of our product categories for the second quarter in a row, and new September quarter revenue records in the Americas, in Europe, and in the rest of Asia-Pacific segments. We grew double digits in the U.S., Canada, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Korea, and several other developed markets. We were especially happy to return to growth in Greater China, where revenue was up 12 percent from a year ago, and with our momentum in India, where revenue doubled year over year. We grew more than 30 percent in Mexico, the Middle East, Turkey, and Central and Eastern Europe. These results helped fuel overall growth of over 20 percent from emerging markets.

Gross margin was 37.9 percent, at the high end of our guidance range. Operating margin was 25 percent of revenue, and net income was $10.7 billion. Diluted EPS were $2.07, up 24 percent over last year, to a new September quarter record, and cash flow operations was strong, at $15.7 billion.

During the quarter we sold 46.7 million iPhones, up 3 percent over last year. We were very pleased to see double digit iPhone growth in many emerging markets, including mainland China, the Middle East, Central and Eastern Europe, India, and Mexico. We gained share not only in those markets, but also in Canada, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Sweden, and Singapore, based on the latest estimates from IDC. iPhone channel inventory increased by 1.3 million units sequentially to support the launch of iPhone 8 and 8 Plus, significantly less than the increase in the September quarter a year ago. Customer interest and satisfaction with iPhone are very strong, with both consumers and business users. In the U.S., the latest data from 451 Research on consumers indicates a customer satisfaction rate of 97 percent or higher across all iPhone models. Among consumers planning to buy a smartphone in the next 90 days, purchase intention for iPhone was 69 percent—more than five times the rate of the closest competitor—with a loyalty rate for current iPhone owners of 95 percent, compared to 53 percent for the next highest brand. For corporate smartphone buyers, iOS customer satisfaction was 95 percent, and of those planning to purchase smartphones in the December quarter, 80 percent plan to purchase iPhones. That is the highest score for iPhone in the history of the survey.

Turning to services, we set an all-time quarterly record of $8.5 billion, up 34 percent year over year. Our results included a favorable, one-time revenue adjustment of $640 million. On a run-rate basis, excluding this adjustment, services growth of 24 percent was terrific and the highest that we have experienced this year. The App Store set a new all-time record, and according to App Annie’s latest report, it continues to the be the preferred destination for customer purchases, by a wide and growing margin, generating nearly twice the revenue of Google Play. We’re getting great response to the App Store’s new design in iOS 11 from both customers and developers. We’re seeing increases in the frequency of customer visits, the amount of time they spend in the store, and the number of apps they download. The success of Apple Music also continues to build, and we’re seeing our highest conversion rates from customers trying the service. Revenue grew strongly once again in the September quarter, and the number of paid subscribers was up over 75 percent year over year. We also saw great performance from our iCloud business, with very strong double-digit growth in both monthly average users and revenue. Across all of our services offerings, the number of paid subscriptions reached over 210 million at the end of the September quarter, an increase of 25 million in the last 90 days. Apple Pay expanded to Denmark, Finland, Sweden, and the UAE last month, and continues to grow rapidly. Over the past year, active users have more than doubled, and annual transactions are up 330 percent. In the U.S., 70 percent of leading grocery chains are now accepting Apple Pay, with the recent launch of Safeway. And over 5 million U.S. merchant locations will be Apple Pay enabled by the end of this year.

Next, I’d like to talk about the Mac, which for fiscal 2017 set a new all-time revenue record of $25.8 billion. We sold 5.4 million Macs during the September quarter, up 10 percent over last year, and gained significant market share as the global market contracted by one percent, according to IDC’s latest estimate. This performance was fueled primarily by great demand for MacBook Pro, and Mac revenue grew 25 percent to a new September quarter record. We had outstanding results all around the world in each of our geographic segments, growing Mac revenue by 20 percent or more. We were also very happy with the success of Mac in the education market, where customer purchases grew double digits year over year.

It was also another great quarter for iPad—we sold 10.3 million units—up 11 percent over last year, with strong demand for both iPad and iPad Pro, and revenue grew 14 percent. It was great to see iPad unit and revenue growth in all of our geographic segments, and particularly strong results in emerging markets, including Greater China, where iPad unit sales were up 25 percent year over year, and India, which grew 39 percent. NPD indicates that iPad had 54 percent share of the U.S. tablet market in the September quarter, including seven of the best 10 selling tablets. That’s up from 47 percent share a year ago. Also, the most recent surveys from 451 Research measured customer satisfaction rates of 97 percent across iPad models. And among people planning to buy tablets, purchase intent for iPad was over 70 percent for both consumers and businesses.

[…] The September quarter was very strong for our retail and online stores, which welcomed 418 million visitors. Traffic was particularly heavy during the week of our new product announcements, up 19 percent over last year. Retail ran a very successful Back to School promotion in the Americas, Europe, China, and Singapore. We see Mac and iPad Pro up strong double digits compared to last year’s program. Around the world, our stores conducted over 200,000 Today at Apple sessions during the quarter.

Let me now turn to our cash position. We entered the quarter with $268.9 billion in cash plus marketable securities, a sequential increase of $7.4 billion. $252.3 billion of this cash—94 percent of the total—was outside the United States. We issued $7 billion in new Canadian and U.S. dollar denominate debts in the quarter, bringing us to $104 billion in term debt and $12 billion in commercial paper outstanding. We also returned $11 billion to investors during the quarter. We paid $3.3 billion in dividends and equivalents, and spent $4.5 billion on repurchases of 29.1 million Apple shares through open market transactions. We also launched a new $3 billion ASR program, resulting in initial delivery and retirement of 15.1 million shares, and we retired 4.5 million shares upon the completion of our 11th ASR during the quarter. We have now completed almost $234 billion of our $300 billion capital return program, including $166 billion in share repurchases.

As we move ahead into the December quarter, I’d like to review our outlook which includes forward-looking information. As a reminder, the December quarter in fiscal 2017 spanned 14 weeks, whereas the December quarter this year will include the usual 13 weeks. We expect revenue to be between $84 billion and $87 billion. We expect gross margin to be between 38 percent and 38.5 percent. We expect operating expense to be between $7.65 billion and $7.75 billion. We expect other income/expense to be about $600 million, and we expect the tax rate to be about 25.5 percent. Also today, our board of directors has declared an upcoming dividend payment of $0.63 per share of common stock, payable on November 16, 2017 to shareholders of record as of November 13, 2017.

Questions and Answers

Katy Huberty, Morgan Stanley: When do you expect to catch up with iPhone X demand? Given it’s likely not to be in December quarter, do we think of March as a better-than-seasonal revenue quarter?

Tim Cook: The ramp for iPhone X is going well, especially considering that iPhone X is the most advanced iPhone we’ve ever created, and it has lots of technologies in it. So, we’re really happy that we’re able to increase week by week what we’re outputting, and we’re going to get as many as them as possible to the customers as soon as possible. I can’t predict at this point at this point when that balance will happen. And in terms of March, we don’t give guidance beyond the current quarter.

Huberty: In China, growth returned to strong double digits–12 percent up. You’ve talked historically about that region being more sensitive to others to form factor changes. The new iPhone X form factor was not available in September. Should we believe that growth in that region only accelerates from here as that product gets pushed into the market?

Tim Cook: Let me talk a little about Q4 in China to give you a little bit of color on the results. We increased market share for iPhone, Mac, and iPad during the quarter. We hit all-time revenue records for services, and for Mac in the People’s Republic of China during the quarter. We had very strong iPad revenue growth. We had double-digit unit growth in iPhone, and both the upgraders and Android switchers were up on a year-over-year basis in the quarter. The results were broad based. They were pretty much across the board, as I indicated. Another thing that happened is the decline we’ve been experiencing in Hong Kong moderated. It’s still down year over year, but less so than what it was. Part of that is the compare is—easier compare. And, finally, in terms of another headwind that is a little less than it was, currency has been affecting us more significantly. Last quarter, in China, it affected us one percentage point. The sum of all of that, I feel great about the results. We don’t obviously provide geographic-specific guidance, but you can see from our overall guidance, we think we’re going to have a really strong quarter.

Michael Olson, Piper Jaffray: Is there any information you can provide on how iPhone X pre-orders compare to what you saw with iPhone 8 pre-orders?

Tim Cook: We never go through mix, but I can share with you that iPhone X orders are very strong for both direct customers and for our channel partners, which as you know, are lots of carriers throughout the world. We couldn’t be more excited to get underway. I think as of a few minutes ago, the first sales started in Australia. I’m told we had several hundred waiting at the store in Sydney, and I’m getting similar reports from across that region.

Olson: We’re excited about augmented reality. From your perspective, and maybe from our perspective on the outside looking in, how do we gauge the success of AR, and what are some of the applications of the technology that you’re most excited about today?

Tim Cook: The reason I’m so excited about AR is I view that it amplifies human performance instead of isolates it. As you know, it’s the mix of the virtual and the physical world. It should be a help for humanity—not an isolation kind of thing for humanity. As I go through different countries I’ve been traveling lately, and looking at things, some things in the market, other things that are coming, the very cool thing is they’re all over the place. I see things that the consumer is going to love because it’s going to change shopping. I see things that consumers will love on the gaming side, the entertainment side. I see business-related AR, apps as well, that are going to be great for productivity between large and small business. I see apps that make me want to go back to K-12 again and repeat my schooling because I think it changes the game in the classroom a lot. The real beauty here is that it’s mainstream. Of course, Apple is the only company that could have brought this because it requires both hardware and software integration, and it requires making—or giving—the operating system update to many people at once. The software team worked really hard to make it go back several versions of iPhone so that we sort of have hundreds of millions of enabled enabled overnight. There’s a 1000+ apps in the App Store right now. I think this is very much like in 2008 when we fired the gun in the overall App Store. And so that’s what it feels like to me. I think it will just get bigger from here.

Shannon Cross, Cross Research: Can you talk a bit about how you’re thinking about the lineup—this is for iPhone—you go from $349 to above $1,000. It appears you probably sold a fair amount at the lower end… but how are you sort of thinking about what went into the guidance for the December quarter? Are you seeing really strong demand at the low end, and obviously an expected benefit from the iPhone X at the high end?

Tim Cook: In terms of what we saw in Q4, you can probably tell from the ASP we had good success I would say through the different iPhones. We’ve tried hard to have an iPhone that is as affordable as possible for people that really want an iPhone that may have a more limited budget. We’ve got some iPhones that are really great for that market, and then we’ve got three new iPhones and people will look at these and decide which one they want. This is the first time we’ve ever been in the position that we’ve had three new iPhones at once like this, at the top end of the line, and it’s the first time we’ve had a staggered launch. So, we’re going to see what happens. We’ve put our absolute best thinking into the guidance that Luca presented. You can tell from that, that we’re bullish.

Cross: Can you talk about what areas of the Services category outperformed? […] What were the drivers?

As I mentioned, in the prepared remarks, there was a $640 million adjustment—there was a one-off change, and it’s important to call it out, because of course it’s a one off—so the underlying growth rate for services in the quarter was fantastic—24 percent—it was the highest growth rate we’ve had in fiscal 2017. App Store set a new all-time record. It’s going incredibly well. The number of paying accounts continues to grow very strongly, and that’s very, very important to us for the App Store business. Apple Music subscriptions were up 75 percent year over year. We’re getting the highest conversion rates we’ve had since the launch of the service. We’ve turned the corner in the music industry. You might remember that a few years ago we were actually declining in the music industry. Now, with the streaming service in addition to the download business, the business is growing again. That really helps the growth rate for the entire services business. iCloud is a service that continues to grow—very strong double digits—that’s also helping. We’ve already become the size of a Fortune 100 company. We already set a goal for ourselves to double what we did in fiscal 2016, and the trajectory is actually quite positive.

Steven Milunovich, UBS: I wanted to push a little bit more on the mix, could you comment on whether the 8 Plus outsold the 8 during the quarter? There seems to be some data that suggests that. The 451 Research survey that you’re alluding to also finds that, over the 90 next days, 43 percent are planning to buy the iPhone X. Can you comment on your expectations of the mix going forward, and if you won’t do that, perhaps you could comment a bit about your thinking in terms of pushing pricing elasticity. I think a year ago, nobody would have imagined selling a phone for this price, and you’re pretty confident that you could do it.

Tim Cook: Obviously, I’m not going to talk about mix. It’s not something we’ve done in the past. If you look at the 8 and 8 Plus, when we launched them they instantly became our top two selling products. If you look at 8 Plus in particular to provide a little color there, 8 Plus for the period of time that we can measure to date, has gotten off to the fastest start of any Plus model. That for us was a bit of a surprise—a positive surprise obviously—and so we’ll see what happens next. As I mentioned before, we’ve never had three products, and it’s only today that customers can sort of look at all three of those, and I’m sure there’s been some people that wanted to do that before even deciding which one. We’ll see what happens there. In terms of price elasticity, I think it’s important to remember that a large number of people pay for the phone by month, and so if you were to go out on the just the U.S., that tends to be more the focus of this call, you would look at the U.S. carriers and I think you would find you could buy an iPhone X for $33/month. So, if you think about that, that’s a few coffees a week—it’s less than a coffee a day at one of these nice coffee places. The other thing to keep in mind is that many people are now trading in their current iPhone on the next iPhone, and the residual value for iPhone tends to be the highest in the industry, and many people pick up $300 to $350 or so for their iPhone. So, that even reduces the monthly payment less, and then obviously, some carriers also have promotional things going on. So, I do think it’s important to try to place it in that context. In terms of the way we price, we price to the value that we’re providing. We’re not trying to charge the highest price we could get or anything like that. We’re just trying to price it for what we’re delivering. iPhone X has a lot of great new technologies in there that are leading the industry and it a fabulous product. We can’t wait for people to start getting it in their hands.

Milunovich: The street historically has been a little skeptical about continued innovation. You suggested there is more to go. Historically, you weren’t first to large screens. You weren’t first to OLED. Now though, you are leading in AR, you are leading with Face ID, which the all-in a year ago has suggested is kind of reminiscent of the aggressive Apple. Is it possible going forward that you could accelerate share gains from Android since you’re now in a stronger competitive position?

Tim Cook: I think we’ve been in a competitive position. I probably, maybe have a different view than you do, or the folks that you’re quoting. There’s always doubting Thomases out there. I’ve been hearing those for the 20 years I’ve been here, and I expect I’ll hear about them until my retirement. I don’t really listen to that too much. There’s lots of fantastic people here, and they’re doing unbelievable things, and yes, I view AR as profound. Not today, not the app you’ll see on the App Store, but what it will be, what it can be, I think it’s profound. I think Apple is in a really unique position to lead in this area.

Toni Sacconaghi, Bernstein: You talked a bit about providing a lot of value and that Apple sets its pricing according to value. I think given the uniqueness of the product you have—the iPhone X in particular—that makes a lot of sense. I guess the question is, given the uniqueness of the value that you have in the marketplace, why shouldn’t we expect gross margins to improve this cycle versus previous ones, and perhaps you can talk a little bit about how you think about pricing in the context of gross margin.

Luca Maestri: We price our products for the value that we deliver. We also said that every time we launch new products, the cost structures of the new products tend to be higher than the products that they replace. It’s enviable. We’re adding new technologies, new features, and therefore the cost structures go up. We have a very good track record of taking those cost structures, and over the lifecycle of the product, we are able to bring them down. There are a lot of elements in the gross margin line that we have good control over, and there are also elements that we don’t control. Take, for example, foreign exchange, which has been a significant headwind for the company for the last three years. Also, the mix of products that we sell into the market tends to change over time, and that also has an impact on the overall gross margin for the company. There are situations where the commodity markets are in good shape, there are situations where commodity markets can be a bit out of balance. We have a case right now around memory pricing, which is a headwind for the time being. So, there’s many puts and takes. The fact that our services business is growing should be a positive because our services margin tend to be accretive to company margins. There are many puts and takes. We tend to think about maximizing gross margin dollars, because we think that’s the most important thing for investors at the end of the day. When we look at our track record over years, I think we’ve found a good balance between unit growth and gross margins and revenue, and we will continue to do that as we go forward.

Sacconaghi: I wanted to revisit this notion of supply and demand. I know it’s early and you can’t make predictions. I think a common investor question is that the iPhone X was made for available for sale. It quickly had pushed out availability levels to unprecedented levels versus history. I think the significant question is that initial push-out a function of uniquely strong demand versus history or is that push-out in availability really a function of much weaker supply versus history?

Tim Cook: The truth is we don’t know. We put our best estimate into the guidance. As you can see from the guidance, we’re very bullish. We feel really great about the product lineup. We just sold the first units minutes ago, and so we’ll see how things go. Until you get all of them out there, where customers have the ability to demo and so forth, I think any kind of mix discussion is very much estimating. So, we put our best estimates in—granted, we’ve never done this before, neither three iPhones or a staggered launch.

Jim Suva, Citi Group: What would it take to be even more successful in India? Is it a manufacturing plant there with your partners? Is it more physical stores? Is it more price points? Is it that bandwidth has now caught to up to many other countries? On the AR/VR side, where will it really show up in your income? Hardware sales? Services? Where will it be monetized?

Tim Cook: In terms of India, many of the things you mentioned are correct. Growing a market like India is a result of all of those things, and doing all of them well. It’s analogous to the many years we put into China—it’s building stores, it’s building channels, it’s building markets, it’s building the developer ecosystem… it’s having the right product lineup for the market. I feel like we’re making good progress there and are gaining understanding of the market. But we still have a long way to go, which I sort of see as an opportunity, instead of a problem. I do feel great about the growth rate. We started manufacturing the iPhone SE there six to nine months ago, and the majority of iPhone SEs that we’ve sold in the domestic market last quarter were manufactured there. We’re hoping that winds up saving some amount of money over time and avoiding some of the compounding of taxes et cetera. The bandwidth issue… between the large carriers there… investing the way they are, the service in India is materially better than it was just 12 months ago. There’s been a sea change there in a short period of time. I feel good about all of that, but we have a long way to go. In terms of the monetization question on AR/VR, we tend to focus first and foremost on customer experience. And so, we’re all about making sure the experience is great. We think if we get the experience right, that revenue and profits will be a result of getting that right. We’re very much focused on the experience right now.

Brian White, Drexel Hamilton: If we take a look at mainland China, and we think about iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus, they’ve been on sale for a while now, what has been the general response to those two new iPhones, and also, pre-orders around the iPhone X in mainland China?

Tim Cook: I hate to repeat this, but we don’t really disclose mix. We view it as competitive information that we want to hold tightly ourselves. Int terms of the way that the pre-order process works in China in the channel—so, not in our direct channel, but in the broader carrier channel—they generally take indications of interest versus something that I would label a pre-order. So, I would hesitate to even quote a number for fear it could be misconstrued. We’ll find out demand and where the supply and demand meet some time in the future. I don’t know when yet. We’re really excited to get going to find out.

White: It’s interesting that sales grew 16 percent sequentially. If you look at the last five years, sales were up seven percent in the September quarter, so that’s an average. Yet, you didn’t have all your iPhones in the market. So, if you had to, what would you attribute that to? It’s a pretty big disconnect—16 percent versus an average of seven percent.

Tim Cook: Our emerging market performance during the quarter was very strong. You take China out—it’s even stronger—but you can see that China rebounded. As I indicated before, the China rebound was broad based across the products. And so, we just had a phenomenal quarter on iPad, on the Mac, on services, on Apple Watch, on iPhone. I mean, we’re literally firing on all cylinders. And so that, and our new products, give us great confidence headed into this holiday season that this is going to be the best holiday season yet.

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Thieves Snatch 300+ iPhone X Models From San Francisco Apple Store

Just hours ahead of when the iPhone X is set to be available in the United States, thieves made off with more than 300 iPhone X models that were snatched yesterday afternoon from the Stonestown Apple Store in San Francisco, California.

Three men in hoodies driving a white Dodge van broke into a UPS truck outside of the Stonestown location on Wednesday morning between 11:15 and 11:30 a.m. Pacific Time, according to police report details shared by CNET. The truck was filled with iPhone X devices that were being shipped to the store.

As for the theft, the UPS driver had locked the cargo area after parking outside the Stonestown Galleria mall in the southwest Lakeside neighborhood of San Francisco, according to the police report. A janitor spotted the suspects unloading boxes from the UPS truck and into a Dodge van and snapped a photo.

“It’s suspicious they were able to get that large a haul on that day,” he said.

The iPhone X models stolen are worth an estimated $370,000, and the suspects have thus far not yet been caught. According to a person who spoke with CNET, customers who were planning on picking up pre-ordered devices at the Stonestown Apple Store will still get their orders. It is not clear, however, how this will impact walk-in sales at Stonestown.

Every iPhone stolen was catalogued and serial numbers have been provided to the police.

Related Roundup: iPhone XBuyer’s Guide: iPhone X (Buy Now)
Discuss this article in our forums

Equifax reopens salary search site, security expert says it’s still vulnerable

Why it matters to you

Millions of Americans were compromised in the Equifax breach, so it’s more important than ever to keep on top of your information security.

A salary lookup service provided by recently compromised credit bureau Equifax came back online after it was taken down for “security enhancements” on October 8. The service allows anyone to look up your salary and employment history going back at least 10 years by providing a few pieces of personal information: Your Social Security number and your date of birth.

It’s designed to provide income verification to employers, banks, and other “credentialed verifiers” but after the Equifax hack, the sensitive information you need to access someone’s even more sensitive information was out there, ripe for the taking. When security expert Brian Krebs brought attention to the issue in a post on his blog, Equifax took the site down.

Now, however, the website is back up and despite Equifax’s claims to the contrary, the security enhancements the company made to the Work Number, haven’t exactly enhanced security all that much.

“The only ‘security enhancements’ I saw that my source encountered was a prompt to enter his full name, date of birth, Social Security number, address, phone number and email, followed by the usual retinue of four multiple-guess ‘knowledge-based authentication’ (KBA) questions. I’ve long been a critic of these KBA questions, because the answers usually are available using sites like Zillow and Spokeo, to say nothing of social networking profiles,” Krebs wrote.

So, in short, you can still access someone’s income and employment history with readily available information — and a handful of less readily available information, illicitly procured from the dark corners of the internet. Krebs goes on to describe how even a credit freeze — the recommended course of action after your information has been compromised — won’t protect you entirely.

Those knowledge-based authentication questions, generated from your credit and income history, will still pop up when attempting to access your income history through the Work Number, but the questions won’t use financial information — they will be generated from other bits of information Equifax has about you, like your address history, and the names of lenders you’ve used in the past.

“What’s interesting is that these types of questions tend to be easier to answer than, say, ‘What was the amount of your most recent car loan payment?’” Krebs continues, describing how a credit freeze just might make it easier for identity thieves to access the sensitive personal information contained on the Work Number.

The best defense, Krebs says, is to sign into the Work Number yourself, set up a secure PIN, and add at least a half dozen security questions and answers to your account. The questions, he advises, should have answers only you would know that cannot be found via social media.

Editor’s Recommendations

• Security firm says Equifax made it far too easy to access salary and job data
• A High Sierra bug in the MacOS update could make it easy to steal passwords
• USB stick found in street contains Heathrow Airport security information
• Lenovo beefs up security on select laptops with Intel Online Connect protection
• Best parental control apps for your kid’s smartphone

Birds eating your blueberries? $10k laser turrets will solve that problem

Why it matters to you

For farmers whose crops are being munched by hungry birds, laser turrets may be the most effective way to scare them off.

Back in the day, farmers used straw-stuffed scarecrows to frighten off hungry birds. Here in 2017 — at least if you’re one particular tech-savvy blueberry farm in Oregon — there’s a cutting edge alternative: lasers.

Having last year lost more blueberries to birds than it had in any previous year, this summer the 168-acre farm installed six automated mounted laser guns, called Agrilaser Autonomics, manufactured by the Netherlands-based company Bird Control Group. The $10,000 Autonomic laser is described by its creators as a “fully automated bird repelling system that provides continuous bird repelling capability after a one-time configuration.” The idea behind it is relatively simple: The lasers sweep the bushes from side to side, tricking the bird into thinking they represent some physical danger, and causing them to disperse to seek safety.

Not only is the AC power or solar energy-powered solution able to cover more ground than a simple scarecrow, but Bird Control Group says that it has a longer-lasting effect and birds will not become accustomed to it. The laser is colored green, since this is supposedly perceived as being the most intense color by the birds, roughly 8 times more so than the color red. The laser has filters which reduce potentially harmful radiation. The resulting laser turret therefore should pose no actual physical threat to the birds — although not enough research has been carried out to prove this 100 percent.

Nonetheless, they prove extraordinarily effective. After installing six of the lasers, the Oregon blueberry farm says that it reduced the number of birds in the vicinity by 99 percent, saving an estimated 578,713 pounds of blueberries, with a value of $99,733.

Future iterations of the laser will reportedly be even smarter. Bird Control Group CEO Steinar Henskes told the website IEEE Spectrum that the company plans to add detection capabilities so the lasers can turn on specifically in response to the arrival of birds, triggered either by camera or radar. The next generation of laser deterrents may also allow farmers to remotely control the laser pattern and pulse, possibly adapting the devices for different uses cases.

Hey, between laser-firing scarecrows and self-driving tractors, the farms of tomorrow are certainly going to look like very different places!

Editor’s Recommendations

• Most Innovative Gear: 2017 Digital Trends Outdoor Awards
• Daimler to test automated truck ‘platooning’ tech in Oregon
• Self-driving forklift takes the human factor out of warehouse work
• Intel and Mobileye plan fleet of 100 Level 4 self-driving cars
• Drones can help when disaster strikes, but only when they’re allowed to

The monstrous ROG G703 Asus laptop could easily chew through your PC games

Why it matters to you

If you’re looking for a powerful, new laptop for your big on-the-go PC gaming craving, this monster will take a big bite out of your wallet.

Just days before BlizzCon 2017, the Republic of Gamers arm at Asus introduced a new, powerful laptop for the PC gaming crowd: The ROG G703. Not to be confused with the ROG GL703 models launched on October 24, this “beast” packs seventh-generation Intel Core i7 processors (the specific chip depends on the laptop model), a 17.3-inch screen with a maximum resolution of 3,840 x 2,160, up to 64GB of DDR4 system memory, and Nvidia’s non-Max-Q GTX 1080 discrete graphics chip.

Right now, Asus is only listing one model under the ROG G703 umbrella costing$3,499 right here. This version consists of an overclocked Intel Core i7-7820HK processor, and an overclocked GTX 1080 graphics chip. The display even has a high refresh rate of 144Hz so all that overclocking and high framerate goodness doesn’t go to waste.

Here are the specifications:

Model:
G703VI-XH74K
Display size:
17.3 inches
Display type:
In-Plane Switching with G-Sync
Display resolution:
1,920 x 1,080 at 144Hz
Processor:
Intel Core i7-7820HK (unlocked)
Graphics:
Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 (8GB GDDR5X)
Memory:
32GB DDR4 at 2,400MHz (4x 8GB)
Storage 1:
256GB NVMe SSD (PCI Express Gen3 x4)
Storage 2:
256GB NVMe SSD (PCI Express Gen3 x4)
Storage 3:
1TB SSHD (8GB SSD cache)
Audio:
Asus Sonic Studio
2x three-watt speakers
Array microphone
Connectivity:
Wireless AC (up to 867Mbps)
Bluetooth 4.2
Ports:
1x Microphone jack
1x Headphone/microphone combo jack
1x Gigabit Ethernet port
1x HDMI 2.0
1x Mini DisplayPort 1.4
1x Thunderbolt 3 (Type-C)
4x USB 3.1 Gen1 Type-A
1x Card reader
Camera:
HD webcam
Battery:
71WHr 8-cell Li-ion
Dimensions:
16.7 x 12.6 (D) x 1.9 to 2.0 (H) inches
Weight:
10.4 pounds
Operating system:
Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
Price:
$3,499

As the specifications show, you likely won’t see a model sold by Asus with the full 64GB memory complement. There are four memory slots supporting up to 64GB of system memory clocked at 2,800MHz although the sticks crammed into this specific model sport a lower frequency (speed). This model also ships with an FHD resolution despite the GTX 1080 being capable of pushing higher.

To keep the heat-producing chips cool inside is the company’s patented Anti-Dust Cooling (ADC) system that pulls air in through the bottom, and out through vents located on the sides and rear. This system supposedly filters out harmful dust particles and other junk, and then kicks the trash out through dedicated tunnels.

According to Asus, it’s this ADC layout that makes overclocking possible in its new laptop. Both chips are already overclocked out of the box, but owners can push the unlocked processor to a maximum speed of 4.3GHz, and the graphics chip to 1,974MHz. That said, the maximum overclocking of both can create a monster laptop that can easily chew through your favorite PC games.

Other notable G703 mentions include a chiclet keyboard with per-key RGB backlighting. This backlighting supports the Aura RGB platform that synchronizes colors and lighting effects across all supporting hardware. The laptop also includes a built-in Xbox Wireless Controller module so you can connect an Xbox One controller without the need for a wireless dongle or Bluetooth connection.

The new Asus ROG G703VI-XH74K is available for $3,499. The company did not say when additional models will be made available, so stay tuned.

Editor’s Recommendations

• It’s no coincidence HP’s Omen X gaming laptop arrives after the eclipse
• EVGA’s latest SC17 laptop for mobile PC gamers packs loads of overclocking fun
• EVGA SC17 1080 review
• New Dell Inspiron PCs pack 8th Gen Intel CPUs, optional UHD screen, Geforce GPU
• Desktops are dead? Lenovo says no as it shoves new gaming PCs into the spotlight

Audiobooks, in-app notifications, and more coming to Google Play Store

There’s no ETA for when/if these features will go live, but here’s what you might see in the near future.

We’ve seen the Google Play Store go through a lot of changes over the years, including ones both big and small. Version 8.4 of the Play Store is rolling out to users now, and while there’s not a lot to see on the surface, there are quite a few features hidden under the hood that give us a glimpse of some exciting things that we could see in the near future.

The folks at Android Police recently conducted a full teardown of the v8.4 update for the Play Store, and the biggest thing discovered was the mention of audiobooks. It’s assumed that Google will sell audiobooks alongside their text counterparts within Play Books, but the way through which these will be distributed is currently unknown. We might be able to play them through Play Music, Play Books, or an entirely different app we haven’t seen yet.

Paid and free audiobooks will be available, but you’ll have to pay for most of them.

Most audiobooks will have a price tag associated with them, but just like titles already available with Play Books, you’ll be able to get your hands on a few free options as well.

Also new are notifications within the Play Store. You’ll be able to access your notifications from the left-hand menu in the app, and the notifications you get will likely have to do with new app releases, sales, updates, etc. The notifications will work for both apps and games, but don’t worry – none of these will actually get pushed as full system notifications.

Lastly, the teardown for v8.4 also revealed the ability to automatically update only system apps and not third-party ones, the removal of the option to pause apps for download until you’re connected to Wi-Fi, and a new “deal of the day” section that’ll more than likely showcase daily deals on apps, games, movies, etc. throughout the store.

Again, while none of the above features will be available for you to access right away in the v8.4 update, you can grab the latest APK here.

Google now lets you try out apps before downloading them in the Play Store

‘Octodad: Dadliest Catch’ hits the Nintendo Switch November 9th

If you haven’t played the ultra-charming (and maybe a little disturbing) game Octodad: Dadliest Catch, yet, now’s maybe the time. Developer Young Horses just tweeted that it has ported the bizarrely compelling (and super successful) title to the Nintendo Switch. The game will be available for download on the Nintendo eShop on November 9th for $15.

Octodad: Dadliest Catch arrives Nov. 9th on Nintendo Switch! RT+Follow for a chance to win a FREE #SNESClassic bundle! Ends 10AM EDT 11/9/17 pic.twitter.com/A4OZplSvz8

— Young Horses Games (@YoungHorses) November 2, 2017

If you have played the game before, perhaps being able to replay it on the go will make it worth your money. The game, itself a sequel to the freeware title Octodad, is on pretty much every current platform, including Android, iOS, Linux, Windows, OS X, PlayStation 4 and Vita, tvOS, Wii U and Xbox One. As one reply to the original tweet notes, “Do I have to buy this game for a 6th time? Calm down, boys.”

Interestingly, one of the developers at the company also tweeted that it was an easy port from the Android version of the game. This makes sense, considering that Nintendo originally planned for the hybrid console to run Android.

So, the Switch was probably our easiest port we’ve done for Octodad. We hardly had to change much code from Android version.

— Kevin Geisler 🍔 (@luthyr) November 2, 2017

Source: Young Horses / Twitter

New Kevin Spacey accusations come from ‘House of Cards’ crew

Earlier this week, Netflix announced that the next (sixth) season of its show House of Cards would be its last — and then suspended production — when allegations emerged of sexual harassment by lead actor Kevin Spacey. Today, eight people who worked on the show told CNN that Spacey repeatedly sexually harassed people on set, and one said that the actor sexually assaulted him.

All eight, who had worked or currently work on House of Cards, spoke to CNN on the condition of anonymity for fear of repercussions. According to them, Spacey’s sexual harassment created a ‘toxic’ work environment across the show’s run for young male crew members, which included non-consensual touching and sexually-charged comments.

Media Rights Council released a statement in response to CNN’s story, claiming it was made aware of an incident in 2012 and “Immediate action was taken following our review of the situation and we are confident the issue was resolved promptly to the satisfaction of all involved. Mr. Spacey willingly participated in a training process and since that time MRC has not been made aware of any other complaints involving Mr. Spacey.”

MRC said that it had installed an anonymous complaint hotline and brought on crisis counselors and sexual harassment legal advisors for the crew, and that it will continue to investigate. Netflix also released a statement today in response to the CNN story that confirmed it was made aware of a “one incident, five years ago” that they were informed was resolved swiftly. But the streaming company said that they were “not aware of any other incidents involving Kevin Spacey on-set.”

Earlier this week, Netflix and MRC first took action after Star Trek Discovery’s Anthony Rapp accused Kevin Spacey of sexually assaulting him when Rapp was 14. Spacey released a statement apologizing for the incident and using the opportunity to publicly come out as gay, a move that angered many including GLAAD’s president. After more men came forward with allegations against Spacey Wednesday morning, his lawyer announced that the actor will seek treatment.

MRC’s full statement responding to today’s CNN story reads:

“We are deeply troubled to learn about these new allegations that are being made to the press concerning Kevin Spacey’s interaction with members of the crew of House of Cards. As the producer of the show, creating and maintaining a safe working environment for our cast and crew has always been our top priority. We have consistently reinforced the importance of employees reporting any incident without fear of retaliation and we have investigated and taken appropriate actions following any complaints. For example, during our first year of production in 2012, someone on the crew shared a complaint about a specific remark and gesture made by Kevin Spacey. Immediate action was taken following our review of the situation and we are confident the issue was resolved promptly to the satisfaction of all involved. Mr. Spacey willingly participated in a training process and since that time MRC has not been made aware of any other complaints involving Mr. Spacey.

In response to the current situation, on Tuesday of this week, MRC installed an anonymous complaint hotline, crisis counselors, and sexual harassment legal advisors for the crew. MRC will continue to thoroughly investigate all current claims and any new claims that are formally brought to our attention, and will continue to monitor our own production and practices to ensure that our cast and crew feel safe and supported.”

Netflix’s full statement reads:

“When the allegations broke about Kevin Spacey on Sunday night, in conjunction with MRC, we sent a representative to set on Monday morning. Netflix was just made aware of one incident, five years ago, that we were informed was resolved swiftly. On Tuesday, in collaboration with MRC, we suspended production, knowing that Kevin Spacey wasn’t scheduled to work until Wednesday. Netflix is not aware of any other incidents involving Kevin Spacey on-set. We continue to collaborate with MRC and other production partners to maintain a safe and respectful working environment. We will continue to work with MRC during this hiatus time to evaluate our path forward as it relates to the production, and have nothing further to share at this time.”

Source: CNN

Twitter: ‘Human error’ took down @realdonaldtrump temporarily

No, you weren’t hallucinating — the President’s personal Twitter account was unplugged earlier this evening. It disappeared, and then reappeared without warning or reason, however now Twitter is offering an explanation. The account was “inadvertently deactivated due to human error by a Twitter employee” for about 11 minutes before it was restored, so those hoping the company would turn it off for good are still left waiting.

Earlier today @realdonaldtrump’s account was inadvertently deactivated due to human error by a Twitter employee. The account was down for 11 minutes, and has since been restored. We are continuing to investigate and are taking steps to prevent this from happening again.

— Twitter Government (@TwitterGov) November 3, 2017

Source: Twitter Government (Twitter)