GE Printing Engine Fuel Nozzles Propels $6 Billion 3D-Printing Market

GE Printing Engine Fuel Nozzles Propels $6 Billion Market

General Electric Co. (GE) is on the hunt for ways to build more than 85,000 fuel nozzles for its newest jet engine. Instead of assembling them from 20 different parts, it plans to create the units in one piece — with 3-D printers. Constructing the components with lasers one layer at a time will producer stronger, lighter nozzles than with conventional machining, according to GE. That means ensuring the printers evolve into equipment sturdy enough for assembly-line production, not just tools to fashion plastic prototypes. Read more of this post

From Netscape to eHarmony: The High Risks and Big Rewards of Platform Markets; Companies that link complementary partners, like dating sites or online auctions, can dominate for years or be swept away in an instant

November 12, 2013 / Winter 2013 / Issue 73

From Netscape to eHarmony: The High Risks and Big Rewards of Platform Markets

Companies that link complementary partners, like dating sites or online auctions, can dominate for years or be swept away in an instant.

by Dylan Minor

Platforms are market structures that bring together complementary partners. Think eBay, which pairs buyers and sellers online, or credit cards, which similarly connect consumers and the companies with which they want to do business. Platforms enable all sorts of relationships: Apple’s iOS joins mobile software programmers and iPhone users; myriad online dating services couple potential life partners. In short, any company that matches two sides of a market is a platform. Read more of this post

For $99, Eliminating the Mystery of Pandora’s Genetic Box; 23andMe, a Silicon Valley start-up that offers a $99 DNA test, as easy as spitting into a tube, that provides detailed genetic information from disease risk to family lineage

NOVEMBER 11, 2013, 1:25 PM

For $99, Eliminating the Mystery of Pandora’s Genetic Box

By CLAIRE CAIN MILLER

IF DNA is destiny, then Anne Wojcicki is in the right business. She is the co-founder and chief executive of 23andMe, a Silicon Valley start-up that offers a $99 DNA test, as easy as spitting into a tube, that provides detailed genetic information from disease risk to family lineage. In a recent interview at 23andMe’s office in Mountain View, Calif., Ms. Wojcicki (pronounced wo-JIT-skee) discussed the Silicon Valley girls’ club, the ties connecting her marriage and her business and why she is convinced that personal genetics will change health care. What follows are excerpts from that interview, edited for length and clarity. Read more of this post

Etsy Tops $1 Billion in 2013 Product Sales on Mobile Lift

Etsy Tops $1 Billion in 2013 Product Sales on Mobile Lift

Etsy Inc., a website for handmade and vintage goods, has already sold more than $1 billion in merchandise this year as customers increasingly view products on mobile devices. The New York startup, which had $895 million in gross merchandise sales for all of last year, passed the $1 billion milestone in October, setting the company up for another year of growth, Chief Executive Officer Chad Dickerson said in an interview. Read more of this post

Cisco Tries to Shake the Sand From its Gear

Cisco Tries to Shake the Sand From its Gear

DAN GALLAGHER

Updated Nov. 12, 2013 8:35 p.m. ET

Cisco Systems Inc. CSCO +1.22% is staring down a long track with plenty of hurdles. Fortunately, the first bar is pretty low. Wall Street expects Cisco on Wednesday to report adjusted earnings of 51 cents a share for its fiscal first quarter and revenue of $12.35 billion. That would compare with adjusted earnings of 48 cents a share a year earlier on revenue of $11.9 billion. Read more of this post

Cisco rival Arista Networks picks banks for IPO – sources

Cisco rival Arista Networks picks banks for IPO – sources

6:01pm EST

By Nicola Leske and Soyoung Kim

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Arista Networks, a maker of network switches that competes with much bigger rival Cisco Systems Inc, has selected banks to lead a proposed initial public offering for next year, according to people familiar with the matter. Morgan Stanley, Citigroup Inc and Credit Suisse Group will lead the offering that is at an early stage of planning, the people said on Tuesday, asking not to be named because the matter is not public. Read more of this post

At E-Commerce Firms, Russia Rises; Emerging Web-Sales Sector Lures Global Marketplaces and Retailers

At E-Commerce Firms, Russia Rises

Emerging Web-Sales Sector Lures Global Marketplaces and Retailers

JAMES MARSON

Nov. 12, 2013 5:31 p.m. ET

MOSCOW—Russia has become the next big frontier for global e-commerce companies that for years ignored the country because of payment and delivery issues. EBay Inc., China’s Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and U.K. fashion retailer ASOS PLC are among those moving in to take advantage of Russia’s increasingly wealthy and Internet-savvy population of some 143 million. Read more of this post

84% Of US Adults Don’t Use Twitter, Only 4% Of Americans Over 30 Get Their News From Twitter, Pew Study Finds

84% Of US Adults Don’t Use Twitter, Only 4% Of Americans Over 30 Get Their News From Twitter, Pew Study Finds

Tyler Durden on 11/12/2013 09:39 -0500

When it comes to Twitter, there seems to be a discrepancy in the publicly available user data. Recall that according to the company’s S-1 filing, Twitter’s US monthly user base has risen from 10 million in 2010 to just shy of 50 million. And yet, according to a just released Pew Research poll, a whopping 84% of the US adults were not Twitter users, and perhaps more importantly, of the 16% of adult users, half admitted to using Twitter for news.

Read more of this post

3-D Firm Shifts Focus From Movies

3-D Firm Shifts Focus From Movies

ERICH SCHWARTZEL

Nov. 12, 2013 7:09 p.m. ET

RealD Inc. RLD 0.00% told investors it will bring to market 2-D and 3-D consumer electronics in 2014 as it tries to mitigate continued losses due to falling 3-D ticket sales and market saturation in North America. Speaking Tuesday on an earnings conference call, RealD executives withheld most details of the electronics, saying only that they would most likely be with mobile and tablet applications. Some of the electronics will be announced in 2014, while others are expected to come to market within the calendar year. Read more of this post

Pegatron Finds iPhone Is No Money-Spinner

Nov 11, 2013

Pegatron Finds iPhone Is No Money-Spinner

EVA DOU

Thin is in for smartphones these days, including the newest iPhone. Unfortunately forApple Inc.AAPL -0.29% assembler Pegatron Corp.4938.TW -3.35%, that also describes the state of its margins. Pegatron – named after the flying horse Pegasus – soared out of obscurity as an increasingly important manufacturer of Apple’s mobile products. It’s the main assembler of the iPhone 5C, and it also makes iPad Minis. Read more of this post

Chinese banks move online to cut out the middleman

Chinese banks move online to cut out the middleman

Staff Reporter

2013-11-12

To cope with the rise of online financial businesses, China’s commercial banks have introduced online platforms one after another, the Beijing-based China Securities Journal reports. Banks have felt the pressure of financial disintermediation brought about by the ocean of data available in the internet era, but at the same time they have been striving to be more competitive by digging deep into mounds of data. Financial disintermediation offers bank customers a means of directly engaging in financial activities without the guidance and support of bank personnel. Read more of this post

Why Internet Stocks Are Getting Too Pricey, in Three Charts

Nov 11, 2013

Why Internet Stocks Are Getting Too Pricey, in Three Charts

STEVEN RUSSOLILLO

Internet stocks have gotten too pricey for Morgan Stanley‘sMS +2.21% liking. The investment firm on Monday lowered its view on Internet stocks to “in-line” from “attractive” amid valuation concerns. Morgan Stanley also eliminated GoogleGOOG -0.54% from its “Best Idea” list, although the firm kept its buy rating on the search giant. The call comes as Internet stocks have rallied sharply this year. Google topped $1,000 a share last month, Facebook Inc.FB -2.80% rebounded over the summer and currently trades well above its $38-a-share IPO price and Netflix Inc.NFLX +0.90% is up 262% this year, the second-best performing stock in the S&P 500. Read more of this post

Target Fills Its Cart With Some of Amazon’s Tricks

Target Fills Its Cart With Some of Amazon’s Tricks

PAUL ZIOBRO

Updated Nov. 11, 2013 6:40 p.m. ET

MINNEAPOLIS— Target Corp. TGT +0.89% has come up with an answer to Amazon.comInc. AMZN +1.16% Copy it. The discount chain’s latest online offerings have a distinct Amazon feel—from recurring deliveries for diapers to on-demand streaming video and free shipping and discounts for its members. All emulate similar offers from the e-commerce company. Read more of this post

Rescuers Sift Through Social-Media Noise to Direct Typhoon Response: Software provides teams with data-driven map of what they should be doing and where

Rescuers Sift Through Social-Media Noise to Direct Typhoon Response

Software provides teams with data-driven map of what they should be doing and where

JAMES HOOKWAY 

Updated Nov. 10, 2013 10:45 a.m. ET

A new approach called social mapping provides rescue teams with a detailed, data-driven map of what they should be doing, and where. Patrick Meier, a veteran of crisis-mapping efforts and the director of social innovation at the Qatar Computing Research Institute, joins digits. Photo: Getty Images.

In disasters like the typhoon that slammed into the Philippines, sifting through a barrage of confusing and conflicting on-the-ground reports is one of the first problems facing rescue teams. Social-media sites such as Twitter and Facebook can make matters worse. All too often, users recycle what others have posted or retweeted without adding any fresh information. Read more of this post

Online Courses to Turn MBA Programs Into Dinosaurs, Panel Says

Online Courses to Turn MBA Programs Into Dinosaurs, Panel Says

Business schools may be forced to close or overhaul their offerings because of the rapid growth in cheaper online alternatives for management training, according to professors and deans. “Half of U.S. business schools will be out of business in five to seven years because of online disruption,” Roger Martin, a professor and former dean of the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto, told a forum on education in London hosted by management ranking organization Thinkers 50. Read more of this post

Is the stylus making a comeback in mobile gadgets?

Is the stylus making a comeback in mobile gadgets?

November 9, 2013

Jenneth Orantia

Once destined to become a relic of the ’90s, could the stylus be making a comeback? Using your fingers may be the most natural way to interact with a mobile device – a fact that Steve Jobs built the first iPhone’s success around – but when it comes to jotting things down, most people still prefer the trusty pen and paper. Could the latest generation of pen-enabled smartphones and tablets change that? As mobile devices evolve from being content consumption to content creation devices, Samsung is in a prime position to lead the charge. Its Galaxy Note range of smartphones and tablets, while not the first such devices to integrate pen functionality, are consistently pushing the envelope by introducing new ways to use pen-based computing. Read more of this post

IRobot Co-Founder Has Startup for Flying Robots

IRobot Co-Founder Has Startup for Flying Robots

Nov. 11, 2013 10:21 p.m. ET

CYPHY WORKS

IRobot Corp. IRBT +1.33% co-founder Helen Greiner, who helped introduce the world to the Roomba robot for home vacuum cleaning and the PackBot for battlefield bomb disposal, has another company—this time for flying robots. CyPhy Works Inc. makes drones that launch, hover and land automatically, to help people with tasks performed from the air. The drones are powered through a thin wire that lets them stay up in the air for hours or weeks. The wire also enables the robots to send real-time high-definition video and other data back to the base with less risk of it being intercepted or jammed, the company says. The drones also are equipped with batteries that enable them to fly for shorter periods without being tethered. One is small enough to fly through a door or window. Read more of this post

IPhone App Wipes Out Population to Show Contagion Risks

IPhone App Wipes Out Population to Show Contagion Risks

The plague started in Indonesia. A viral infection, it spread quietly at first, making its way from person to person with coughing and sneezing its only symptoms. Then someone infected with the virus got on a plane. As the disease spread around the globe, fever gave way to sweating, nausea, vomiting. Hundreds infected turned to thousands. The virus developed drug resistance. Thousands became millions. It was all part of Ian Lipkin’s plan. Read more of this post

For about two years, Google refused to let Nielsen place measurement tags on ads running on YouTube, a stance that media buyers say stopped some advertisers buying time on the online video site. Google’s reversal could fuel the shift of TV ad dollars to online video

Google Relents on YouTube Ad Measurement

Nielsen to Begin Tracking Viewership of Videos

SUZANNE VRANICA

Nov. 11, 2013 4:26 p.m. ET

For about two years, Google Inc. GOOG -0.54% refused to let Nielsen HoldingsNLSN -0.28% place measurement tags on ads running on YouTube, a stance that media buyers say stopped some advertisers buying time on the online video site. Last week, Google reversed its position in a decision that analysts say could fuel the shift of TV ad dollars to online video. Read more of this post

Etsy’s Industrial Revolution

November 11, 2013

Etsy’s Industrial Revolution

By ELIZABETH WAYLAND BARBER

PASADENA, Calif. — HAND-KNIT sweaters? Hand-thrown pots? How about quilts stitched on a sewing machine? In an age when artisanal items can be sold at a premium, what products should qualify as “handmade”? This is the problem confronting executives at Etsy, the online marketplace for all things vintage and handmade, which has not allowed factory-made products to be sold on its site since it was founded in 2005. Read more of this post

EBay Evolves Into a Global Commerce Hub

EBay Evolves Into a Global Commerce Hub

By R.J. Hottovy, CFA | 11-11-13 | 06:00 AM | Email Article

Our positive long-term outlook for  eBay (EBAY) is intact following strong third-quarter results, highlighted by double-digit growth in PayPal and Marketplaces active users, impressive mobile commerce adoption rates, and modest margin expansion despite user engagement and other investments across all business segments. We believe the company remains on track to achieve its 2015 targets of $300 billion in enabled commerce volume, revenue of $21.5 billion-$23.5 billion, operating margins around 27%, and adjusted earnings per share near $4.00. Read more of this post

“If Google Analytics gives a map of who visited where, ClickTale tells you what they did”; ClickTale, whose software enables website owners to see how people behave on their sites

Website analytics firm ClickTale sees 50 percent annual sales growth

5:53am EST

By Tova Cohen

TEL AVIV (Reuters) – ClickTale, whose software enables website owners to see how people behave on their sites, expects to maintain an annual sales growth rate of over 50 percent in the next few years as companies seek to improve their customers’ experience. “Sales have grown by thousands of percent over the last six years to tens of millions of dollars a year,” co-founder and Chief Executive Tal Schwartz told Reuters. “The growth rate is over 50 percent year over year.” Read more of this post

Gree, DeNA Earnings: Profits Fall at Japanese Mobile-Game Sites

Gree, DeNA Earnings: Profits Fall at Japanese Mobile-Game Sites

Companies Face Increased Competition from Apps

MAYUMI NEGISHI

Nov. 11, 2013 11:56 a.m. ET

TOKYO—Just a few years ago, mobile-game sites DeNA Co. 2432.TO +1.46% Ltd. andGree Inc. 3632.TO +0.24% were the kings of Japan’s lucrative cellphone-game industry. But now their profits are falling as users turn to stand-alone applications on phones and tablets. Hurt by a dearth of hit games just as app downloads have exploded in Japan, Gree last month encouraged employees to take voluntary retirement and on Wednesday is expected to announce a steep drop in quarterly profit. Read more of this post

Google Has Designed A Throat Tattoo That Is Also A Lie Detector

Google Has Designed A Throat Tattoo That Is Also A Lie Detector

JIM EDWARDS 58 MINUTES AGO 994 1

Google has filed a patent for an electronic skin tattoo that connects to a mobile device, and can be used as a lie detector. The tattoo isn’t permanent — it’s applied to a sticky substance on the skin. The intent of the device is to allow someone to wear a communications device on their throat, keeping a mobile phone or similar device in their pocket. The tattoo communicates with the device, transmitting conversation. Such a device might make things easier for someone who wants to transmit a conversation but cannot use their hands. Google’s application suggests it might be used by security personnel, perhaps working undercover in noisy environments like sports stadiums or at political demonstrations: Mobile communication devices are often operated in noisy environments. For example, large stadiums, busy streets, restaurants, and emergency situations can be extremely loud and include varying frequencies of acoustic noise. Communication can reasonably be improved and even enhanced with a method and system for reducing the acoustic noise in such environments and contexts. The tattoo has a darker side too, according to the application. It can be hooked up to a lie detector: Optionally, the electronic skin tattoo 200 can further include a galvanic skin response detector to detect skin resistance of a user. It is contemplated that a user that may be nervous or engaging in speaking falsehoods may exhibit different galvanic skin response than a more confident, truth telling individual. It’s not clear from the application why someone might want to operate a lie detector at a remote distance from the person they were testing. But again, undercover operations — in which authorities send in stooges to deal with bad guys — spring to mind. Or perhaps Google envisions a situation in which the person wearing the tattoo doesn’t know they have one? We first saw this on The Register. Here’s a closeup of the Google neck tattoo:

South Koreans Are Stuck With Internet Explorer Thanks To An Outdated Security Law

South Koreans Are Stuck With Internet Explorer Thanks To An Outdated Security Law

PAUL SZOLDRA NOV. 9, 2013, 4:51 PM 5,723 4

South Korea is a technology powerhouse with nationwide broadband and electronics companies pumping out tons of cool products, but some lawmakers are trying to change a 14-year-old law that has them hanging on to Internet Explorer as the web browser of choice, The Washington Post reported earlier this week. In the name of security, a law was passed in 1999 requiring citizens to use IE exclusively for shopping and banking. The government created “digital certificates” for citizens with their personal information shared with stores using ActiveX — a plugin created by Microsoft. If they can make the change in the law, users may finally be able to use Firefox or Chrome more frequently. Read more of this post

China’s Online Shopping Marathon Zooms Off the Blocks

November 11, 2013

Online Shopping Marathon Zooms Off the Blocks

By SHANSHAN WANG and ERIC PFANNER

HANGZHOU, China — After moving into a new apartment in this city near Shanghai in August, Yuan Keru, a postgraduate student, and her boyfriend waited several months to buy furnishings for their new home. Finally, on Monday, they splurged. At midnight, Ms. Yuan logged on to her laptop, clicked on the website of Tmall, an e-commerce site, and began shopping. She selected a floor lamp, a carpet and some wallpaper. Her boyfriend picked out a set of earphones. Finally, they added a cozy touch: his and hers cotton slippers for the winter. Read more of this post

With Catalogs, Flipboard Dips Its Toe Into E-Commerce

With Catalogs, Flipboard Dips Its Toe Into E-Commerce

NOVEMBER 11, 2013 AT 6:27 AM PT

Mike Isaac

Just in time for the holidays, Flipboard is beginning to look more shopper-friendly. The startup, which has offered mobile magazines populated with news and editorial content from your various social streams, announced on Monday its new “catalogs” product, a way for users to browse and purchase items directly from Flipboard, much like the paper gift guides that flood mailboxes year-round. Read more of this post

Self-healing computers will change the world: Jeff Hawkins

Self-healing computers will change the world: Jeff Hawkins

November 11, 2013 – 10:45AM

Matthew Hall

In one man’s vision of the future, helpdesks and IT departments will be redundant because computers mimicking the human brain will self-heal. That’s if Jeff Hawkins has his way. A neuroscientist who previously founded mobile computing companies Palm and Handspring, Hawkins is developing software that mimics the human brain and can currently correct computer glitches without human intervention. Read more of this post

Same Time, Same Channel? TV Woos Kids Who Can’t Wait; In their efforts to attract children, television networks are starting to show programs online before they appear on old-fashioned TV

November 10, 2013

Same Time, Same Channel? TV Woos Kids Who Can’t Wait

By BRIAN STELTER

When Eric Nelson’s 6-year-old daughter, Charlotte, and 10-year-old son, Asa, discover that they cannot rewind or fast-forward a TV show, they are perplexed — and their father is, too. It is hard to explain the limitations of live television to children who have grown up in an on-demand world. “They say ‘live TV’ the way I say ‘doing my taxes’ — with resignation,” said Mr. Nelson, a literary agent in Manhattan. Read more of this post

Postal Service to Make Sunday Deliveries for Amazon

November 11, 2013

Postal Service to Make Sunday Deliveries for Amazon

By RON NIXON

WASHINGTON — The cash-short United States Postal Service, which has failed to win congressional approval to stop delivering mail on Saturdays to save money, has struck a deal with the online retailer Amazon.com to deliver the company’s packages on Sundays — a first for both, with obvious advantages for each. For the Postal Service, which lost nearly $16 billion last year, first-class mail delivery, particularly on Saturdays, is often a money loser, whereas package delivery is profitable. Read more of this post