We spend less time on Facebook, but it still makes loads of money

The past few weeks haven’t been easy for Facebook. After announcing an overhaul to its News Feed earlier this month, one that places emphasis on people’s interactions over content from brands, the company has been taking heat for its new approach. Not only because Facebook is leaving publishers who relied on its platform behind, but it also isn’t offering the best solution to fix its fake news problem. A blunt two-question “trusted” news survey simply won’t cut it. CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg said that, with these changes, he expects users’ time on the site to go down, but he believes keeping people happy will be better for Facebook’s bottom line in the long run.

And well, today during its Q4 2017 earnings report, Facebook revealed that even though users are indeed spending less time on its site, it is making more money than ever. The company raked in a record revenue total of $12.97 billion last quarter, a 47 percent year-over-year increase. It’s also a notable jump compared to the $10.3 billion from Q3 2017. In a statement about the latest results, Zuckerberg said “2017 was a strong year for Facebook, but it was also a hard one.” He added that, in 2018, the focus won’t just be to ensure Facebook is fun to use, but also “good for people’s well-being and for society.”

Zuckerberg said Facebook is already doing that by “encouraging meaningful connections between people rather than passive consumption of content,” referring to the recent News Feed tweaks. “Already last quarter, we made changes to show fewer viral videos to make sure people’s time is well spent,” he said. “In total, we made changes that reduced time spent on Facebook by roughly 50 million hours every day.” That’s a huge chunk of user engagement down the drain, which will likely be a cause for concern for investors.

Still, Zuckerberg doesn’t seem to be too worried about the drop in numbers, noting that by “focusing on meaningful connections, our community and business will be stronger over the long term.” That’s something he keeps emphasizing as Facebook seems to be dealing with an identity crisis, which may have come as a result of the Russian debacle from 2016 and 2017.

Last year, Facebook pledged to sacrifice profit for better security, as a result of growing concerns of how Russian-sponsored trolls and bots used its platform to interfere in American politics. Zuckerberg said back then that, even though Facebook’s community was continuing to grow (with more than 2 billion users), none of that matter if it couldn’t protect them. “We’re serious about preventing abuse on our platforms,” he said. “We’re investing so much in security that it will impact our profitability. Protecting our community is more important than maximizing our profits.”

Developing…

Trump reportedly seeks massive budget cuts to clean energy research

The Trump administration has made it very clear that it is pro fossil fuels and has little interest in pushing programs the promote renewable energy. Now, the Washington Post reports that the president’s proposed 2019 budget slashes funds for Energy Department programs focused on energy efficiency. While the proposal is just a jumping off point, the fact that it seeks to cut such funding by 72 percent underscores where the administration’s interests lie and in which direction its policies will continue to go.

The draft budget documents viewed by Washington Post staff showed that the president is looking to cut the Energy Department’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) budget to $575.5 million, down from the current $2.04 billion level. Included in the budget cuts are funds for programs researching fuel efficient vehicles, bioenergy technologies, solar energy technology and electric car technologies. Additionally, the draft budget proposal seeks to cut jobs, dropping staff levels from 680 down to 450. One EERE employee told the Washington Post, “It shows that we’ve made no inroads in terms of convincing the administration of our value, and if anything, our value based on these numbers has dropped.”

Since taking office, Donald Trump has rolled back Obama-era climate policies, withdrawn the US from the Paris climate change agreement, removed climate change from the US national security strategy and instituted tariffs on imported solar panels. He has also continuously referred to mythical “clean coal” saying earlier this year that he would “end the war on coal and have clean coal, really clean coal.” All of this is done despite overwhelming evidence and widespread agreement among the scientific community that climate change is happening and is almost certainly caused by humans.

According to the Washington Post’s sources, the Energy Department had requested less extreme spending cuts, but the Office of Management and Budget pushed for the more substantial ones found in the draft proposal. However, the proposal could still be changed before being released in February and Congress could restore some or all of the slashed funding later on.

In a statement sent to the Washington Post, the White House said, “We don’t comment on any leaked or pre-decisional documents prior to the release of the official budget.”

Via: Washington Post

Microsoft’s cloud business just keeps growing

If there’s one major takeaway from Microsoft’s earnings reports over the last few years, it’s this: The cloud is everything for Microsoft. And, based on the company’s financials for the second quarter of 2018, its success in the cloud doesn’t appear to be slowing down anytime soon. Microsoft reported a 12 percent revenue jump for the period, reaching $28.9 billion up from $25.8 billion a year ago. And mostly, that growth was driven by the company’s investments in cloud services.

The “Productivity and Business Processes” group, which includes Office 365 and its cloud apps, saw its revenues increase by 25 percent. Azure revenue jumped by 98 percent, leading to a 15 percent increase for Microsoft’s “Intelligent Cloud” group. That more than makes up for the relative stagnant 2 percent growth in the “Personal Computing” segment, which includes Windows, Xbox, Bing and Surface. It’s particularly surprising that Surface revenues only increased by 1 percent, given the 12 percent increase we saw last quarter. I’d expect more of a jump for the holidays, especially now that the Surface Laptop and Pro are on the market.

The quarter wasn’t entirely rosey for Microsoft, though. The company posted a $6.3 billion loss, which it attributes to a $13.8 billion charge for the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA). That figure also doesn’t reflect the full accounting for that bill, which Microsoft is still in the process of calculating. Without the TCJA charge, Microsoft would have seen a profit of $7.5 billion for the quarter.

Apple Selling New ‘UNDEFEATED’ Beats Pill+ and BeatsX Earphones

Apple’s Beats By Dre brand has teamed up with UNDEFEATED for a new series of products featuring a tiger camouflage design in shades of green, white, and black.

The collaboration includes a new set of UNDEFEATED BeatsX Earphones and a new Beats Pill+ speaker, both of which come in a unique colorway and are available to purchase from Apple’s online store.

The BeatsX Earphones, available for $179.95, are black and green with a matching tiger camo carrying case.

The Beats Pill+ Speaker, available for $199, uses the same camo pattern for the speaker mesh, with a black middle section for the control buttons that features prominent UNDEFEATED branding. It ships with an olive green carrying case, an accessory not normally included with a Beats Pill+ speaker.

Apple’s Beats by Dre website says the collaboration between the two companies is designed for “the ones dedicated to staying ahead of the game.”

Back the underdog. Push boundaries. Take a stand. That’s what Beats and UNDEFEATED both believe in, which is why we joined forces for a third time with this must-have collection. Designed for the ones dedicated to staying ahead of the game, this latest collaboration is inspired by UNDEFEATED’s unmistakable tiger camouflage and fearless attitude.

Beats by Dre and UNDEFEATED previously teamed up in 2013 to offer limited edition Beats By Dre headphones in the olive green shade UNDEFEATED is known for.

Apple’s Beats brand regularly teams up with designers, celebrities, and other companies to create special edition products. Back in July, for example, Apple collaborated with French fashion label Balmain to create special edition Powerbeats and Beats Studio Wireless Headphones in a safari color with metallic gold accents.

Tag: Beats by Dre
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Exclusive Deals: $328 Off Sound Forge Pro Mac 3 and Extended RAVPower 4-Day Sale

A new MacRumors exclusive Sound Forge Pro Mac 3 offer is launching today, allowing our readers to get Magix’s advanced audio waveform editing software for $229, a $328 discount on the traditional price of $557. The exclusive sale lasts from today, January 31 through February 28, 2018.

Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with these vendors. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.

Sound Forge Pro Mac 3 is an advanced audio waveform editing suite that has been optimized and designed for macOS, offering users multi-channel recording and editing, mastering for music and dialogue clips, and support for high-resolution audio recording at 24 bits with sampling rates as high as 192kHz. The suite’s full features are extensive — also including customizable window layouts, file conversion automation, and the iZotope’s RX Elements and Ozone Elements tools — so make sure to head over to Magix’s website for more details if you’re interested.

Another exclusive deal for MacRumors readers is debuting tomorrow, February 1, for a collection of RAVPower portable and desktop chargers. Today, most of the accessories are available at a discount of up to 30 percent off in Amazon’s Gold Box Deal of the Day, but MacRumors readers will be able to gain access to these sale prices for an extended period of time thanks to a series of promo codes.

This means that beginning Thursday, February 1 and running through Saturday, February 3 you’ll be able to enter the below promo codes on Amazon and nab the same RAVPower accessories at today’s discount prices. So if you are interested in purchasing one of the sale items today, remember that you won’t need a promo code. Also note that a few of the accessories have an on-page coupon you can click to get an extra 10 percent off your purchase.

Check out all of the chargers on sale below (the first two are not discounted as part of the Gold Box deal today):

• RAVPower 20000 mAh Portable Charger (Black) – $25.89 with promo code 4CA29JTI, down from $36.99

• RAVPower 20000 mAh Portable Charger (White) – $27.29 with promo code 39NWGPJW, down from $38.99

• RAVPower 40W 4-Port Desktop Charger (Black) – $15.39 with promo code QCHAR40W, down from $21.99

• RAVPower 40W 4-Port Desktop Charger (White) – $15.39 with promo code QCHAR40W, down from $21.99

• RAVPower 15000 mAh solar power bank – $21.99 with promo code 796DPW9M, down from $29.99

There are a few other notable sales happening today only, including B&H Photo’s $1,200 discount on the late 2016 15-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar (2.9 GHz, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD) in Silver for $2,299.00, down from $3,499.00. At Best Buy, you can purchase the 64GB Apple TV (fourth generation) for $169.99, down from $199.99 (also at Walmart). JBL is offering a notable limited-time sale as well on its Charge 2+ speakers in recertified/factory refurbished condition for $59.95, down from $149.95.

Head over to our full Deals Roundup for even more of the latest discounts and sales going on this week.

Related Roundup: Apple Deals
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AppleCare+ for Mac Now Available in Australia and New Zealand

AppleCare+ for Mac, previously limited to the United States and Japan, is available to purchase in Australia and New Zealand starting today.

AppleCare+ extends a Mac’s in-warranty hardware coverage to up to three years from its original purchase date, and adds up to two incidents of accidental damage coverage, each subject to a service fee of AU$149 or NZ$169 for screen or external enclosure damage, or AU$429 or NZ$499 for any other damage.

AppleCare+ for Mac also includes 24/7 priority access to software support by chat or phone. It replaces the AppleCare Protection Plan for Mac, which was essentially the same as AppleCare+, but didn’t include accidental damage coverage like Apple has long offered for devices such as the iPhone and iPad.

The plan itself also has an upfront cost, which varies based on the type of Mac:

Australia

• Mac mini: $119
• iMac and iMac Pro: $199
• 12-inch MacBook: $299
• MacBook Air: $299
• Mac Pro: $299
• 13-inch MacBook Pro: $329
• 15-inch MacBook Pro: $449

New Zealand

• Mac mini: $149
• iMac and iMac Pro: $249
• 12-inch MacBook: $349
• MacBook Air: $349
• Mac Pro: $349
• 13-inch MacBook Pro: $379
• 15-inch MacBook Pro: $539

AppleCare+ for Mac benefits are in addition to any legal rights provided by consumer law in Australia and New Zealand.

Apple offers warranty coverage on most Mac parts for up to 24 months after its limited one-year warranty period, under consumer law in each country, according to an internal document distributed to Apple Stores and Apple Authorized Service Providers and obtained by MacRumors last month.

AppleCare+ can be purchased alongside a new Mac on Apple’s website in Australia and New Zealand, at Apple retail stores in Australia, and at select Apple Authorized Resellers or Service Providers. It can also be added within 60 days of a Mac’s purchase date, pending an inspection or diagnostic test.

Customers with a Mac purchased between December 1, 2017 and January 30, 2018 must contact Apple Support to purchase AppleCare+ for Mac, according to an internal memo distributed by Apple today and obtained by MacRumors.

Tags: Australia, New Zealand, AppleCare
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Developers Demo Augmented Reality Improvements Coming in iOS 11.3

The iOS 11.3 update, seeded to developers and public beta testers last week, introduces ARKit 1.5, an upgraded version of the set of tools developers can use to create augmented reality apps for the iPhone and the iPad.

As it turns out, ARKit 1.5 can do a lot of neat things. It can map irregularly shaped surfaces for better detection of your surroundings, and it can also recognize and map vertical surfaces like walls and doors, so you can use AR to place and detect items on walls.

Over the course of the last week, developers have been testing out ARKit 1.5 and sharing short demo videos on Twitter, providing a look at just what will be possible with augmented reality apps when iOS 11.3 is available.

Vertical surface detection, for example, is shown off in the video below. A realistic-looking tunnel is projected on a wall, and while this doesn’t have any immediate usage implications, it’s a useful demo of how ARKit sees walls in iOS 11.3.

So I’ve been playing with the new ARKit wall detection today…what do you think?#arkit #madewitharkit #augmentedreality #iOS113 #arkit15 #ar #AugmentedReality pic.twitter.com/J9tj6sJf9S

— Ubicolor™ (@ubicolorapps) January 25, 2018

An example of how vertical plane detection can be used in augmented reality games is demonstrated in the video below, where creatures projected into open space take advantage of the area around them.

Made a weird #GGJ18 game Creature-z this weekend with @tristan_damron, @marknerys and @ericklind using #ARkit verticalPlane detection. Big up to @PIGSquad for hosting pic.twitter.com/BKRdhVKHvq

— lauri (＾ｰ^)ノ (@lingoded) January 29, 2018

Another demo adds virtual artwork to a blank wall, a concept that could potentially be used in an art gallery or museum where art is invisible without a smartphone.

Vertical plane detection is used in the video below to show a realistic-looking virtual cockatoo coming through a window and landing on a windowsill.

Look what flew in through my window today… #ARKit pic.twitter.com/MFYYQlBjP4

— Abhishek Singh (@shekitup) January 31, 2018

In addition to mapping oddly shaped spaces and recognizing vertical surfaces, ARKit 1.5 also includes image detection features that work on everything from movie posters to barcodes, as demoed below. In the future, you might be able to scan a barcode with ARKit to get a virtual popup of nutritional information, calories, and more.

In ARKit 1.5 reference images can be any image. Including barcodes!!!! #ARKit #AugmentedReality pic.twitter.com/8fwJTcSoRo

— azamsharp (@azamsharp) January 31, 2018

Image detection could be useful in settings like art galleries and museums, where visitors could use it to scan paintings and exhibits to receive more information, as shown off in the video below.

#arkit image detection 1st try: success! As @Apple said, great feature for museums. Now I need content for 2300 paintings @NationalGallery pic.twitter.com/1m3LZVVCfJ

— Romain Derrien (@LondonRom) January 28, 2018

Though not visible in the demo videos shared by developers, ARKit 1.5 also introduces a higher camera resolution, so passthrough video is 1080p rather than 720p, and there’s also support for autofocus capabilities, another feature that will improve the augmented reality experience on iOS devices.

Recent data has suggested that the ARKit framework has seen only modest adoption from developers and stagnating growth since its debut in iOS 11, but improvements like ARKit 1.5 may change that in the future. Augmented reality on iOS devices is still in its infancy and it will take time for developers and users to discover the best real-world use cases for the technology.

Apps using ARKit 1.5 will be available starting this spring when iOS 11.3 is released to the public.

Related Roundup: iOS 11Tag: ARKit
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