Why Matt Barrie’s Freelancer.com will have to work hard to convince conservative Australian investors

James Thomson Editor

Why Matt Barrie’s Freelancer.com will have to work hard to convince conservative Australian investors

Published 15 October 2013 09:05, Updated 16 October 2013 07:47

Matt Barrie has a global business, but he’ll need to convince local investors of its valuation.Photo: Tim Bauer

463. That’s the number that sums up the prospectus of Matt Barrie’s Freelancer, which is likely to face an uphill battle to convince conservative Australian investors to take a punt on its unique model. It’s great to see that Barrie has decided to list his company on the ASX – he understands he will be something of a pioneer in terms of listed technology companies and he is willing to embrace that role. But it won’t be an easy path. Read more of this post

Freelancers Spur Gig Economy by Tapping Online Exchanges

Freelancers Spur Gig Economy by Tapping Online Exchanges

By Ben Schenkel – Oct 15, 2013

Two years into his new career writing code for phone apps, Leo Landau works for companies as far away as Australia while never leaving his apartment in Eugene, Oregon. By year’s end he expects to earn $10,000 more than inspecting buildings for asbestos, a job he lost in 2008. “I’m working from home, setting my own schedule and making decent money,” Landau said. He doesn’t plan on moving to California’s Silicon Valley even if he could land higher-paying work there. For now, the self-taught programmer, 31, says he enjoys cobbling together an income via Elance, a website where companies and short-term contractors pair up. Read more of this post

Amazon plans entry into smartphone market with HTC

October 15, 2013 5:15 pm

Amazon plans entry into smartphone market with HTC

By Tim Bradshaw in San Francisco, Sarah Mishkin in Taipei and Barney Jopson in New York

Amazon is working with HTC to develop a range of smartphones as the e-commerce company steps up efforts to compete with Apple and Google, according to people familiar with the project. One of the three devices discussed by the two companies is at an advanced stage of development, according to one person, but another warned that the timeline for launch has been changed before and Amazon may yet decide not to release the device. Read more of this post

Supercell: Zero to $3 Billion in Three Years; Enter the New Videogame Boss: SoftBank’s Son

Supercell: Zero to $3 Billion in Three Years

Deal Brings Second Free-to-Play Firm Into SoftBank’s Stable

JUHANA ROSSI, SVEN GRUNDBERG and JOHN D. STOLL

Updated Oct. 15, 2013 7:47 p.m. ET

HELSINKI— Petteri Koponen visited a dingy office on the outskirts of Finland’s capital in 2010 to meet with a group of developers launching a mobile-games company called Supercell. “Basically it was just one room with very small windows,” recalls Mr. Koponen, an early investor in startups. “At that point, they didn’t have chairs for everyone.” The company’s co-founder, Ilkka Paananen, was hunched over a cardboard box he used as a desk as he discussed the company’s plans. Read more of this post

How Alibaba Could Underprice Amazon, and Other Things You Should Know; Alibaba Earnings More Than Double on Surging E-Commerce; Alibaba Becomes Most Profitable Internet Company in China, Surpassing Tencent

How Alibaba Could Underprice Amazon, and Other Things You Should Know

By Danielle Kucera – Oct 14, 2013

Here’s an SAT analogy test for you: Alibaba is to China as [blank] is to the U.S. 

Possible answers: Amazon, EBay or Rackspace.

The correct one? Amazon, EBay and Rackspace. And PayPal. And Yahoo. If you’re not yet familiar with Alibaba, get ready. China’s largest e-commerce company will likely go public in 2014. Investment banks have given the company a valuation of as much as $120 billion, a market cap that would make it the third-biggest Internet company behind Google and Amazon. That position may eventually put it in a spot hordes of companies pine for: a significant competitor to Amazon in the U.S. In addition, Alibaba recently led a $206 million investment in retail website ShopRunner, widening its presence in the country, and is moving toward a U.S. stock sale after talks with Hong Kong’s exchange broke down, a person familiar with the matter said last month. Even so, few U.S. consumers are well-acquainted with Alibaba. Here are a few things you should know about the company. Read more of this post

Yandex, the company that runs Russia’s most-popular search engine, has bought the country’s most-visited movie- and television-information website in a deal that expands its reach in Europe’s most populous Internet market

Yandex Buys Russia’s Answer to IMDb

Deal Expands Company’s Reach in Europe’s Most Populous Internet Market

OLGA RAZUMOVSKAYA

Updated Oct. 15, 2013 5:37 p.m. ET

MOSCOW— Yandex YNDX +0.60% NV, the company that runs Russia’s most-popular search engine, has bought the country’s most-visited movie- and television-information website in a deal that expands its reach in Europe’s most populous Internet market. Announcing the deal Tuesday, Yandex gave no financial details of the deal to buy KinoPoisk, or MovieSearch. Analysts and industry insiders said it could be valued at as much as $95 million. Read more of this post

Apple Taps Fashion CEO as Retail Magic Fades; Burberry’s Angela Ahrendts Brings Flair for Minimalist Style, Love of Tech

Apple Taps Fashion CEO as Retail Magic Fades

Burberry’s Angela Ahrendts Brings Flair for Minimalist Style, Love of Tech

KATHY GORDON, IAN SHERR and JOANN S. LUBLIN

Updated Oct. 15, 2013 8:15 p.m. ET

Apple Inc. AAPL +0.53% reached into the world of fashion to fill its long-vacant position of retail chief—a job made all the more important as the tech giant’s sales soften. The company said Tuesday it was hiring Angela Ahrendts, the chief executive behind a seven-year growth spurt at British luxury-goods company Burberry GroupBRBY.LN -7.63% PLC. The 53-year-old Ms. Ahrendts, who was chosen after a yearlong search, is known for having refreshed Burberry’s image with more-subtle designs and understated offerings, after the brand’s famous beige, black and red plaid had become a bit frayed due to overexposure. Read more of this post

The Money Is in the Email: Square Cash Lets Users Email Funds to Friends

The Money Is in the Email: Square Cash Lets Users Email Funds to Friends

WALTER S. MOSSBERG

Oct. 15, 2013 9:00 p.m. ET

Square now has a service that makes transferring money to a friend as easy as sending them an e-mail, because it works by sending an e-mail. But, as Walt Mossberg tells us, you have to put a lot of trust into Square with your money. (Photo: Square Inc.)

While you can buy a $500 iPad at Amazon.com AMZN -1.38% with a single click, sending even small amounts of cash to a friend or relative is still often a tedious and slow task. In most cases, you wind up doing exactly what you would have in 1957—writing a check and mailing it. The recipient then has to cash it or deposit it in her bank account. But starting Tuesday, you can just email cash, free of charge, directly from your debit card to anyone else’s, regardless of what bank each party uses. There’s no login or password to remember and no special software or hardware required—you just use email. It works on both ends using any email service or program on any email-capable device, whether a computer, a smartphone or a tablet. Read more of this post

SoftBank Buys 51% in Finnish developer Supercell Oy for $1.53 billion to add games including “Clash of Clans” and “Hay Day.”

SoftBank Buys ‘Clash of Clans’ Developer Majority Stake

SoftBank Corp. (9984), Japan’s third-largest wireless carrier, bought a 51 percent stake in the Finnish developer Supercell Oy for $1.53 billion to add games including “Clash of Clans” and “Hay Day.” The deal values all of the game developer at $3 billion and will help accelerate global growth, Supercell Chief Executive Officer Ilkka Paananen said by phone today. SoftBank, led by billionaire President Masayoshi Son, is making deals in Europe and North America to tap growth amid a declining population at home. The company paid $21.6 billion for control of Sprint Corp. and invested $150 million in 2010 to acquire a minority stake in Zynga Game Network Inc. Read more of this post

Freelancers Spur Gig Economy by Tapping Online Exchanges

Freelancers Spur Gig Economy by Tapping Online Exchanges

Two years into his new career writing code for phone apps, Leo Landau works for companies as far away as Australia while never leaving his apartment in Eugene, Oregon. By year’s end he expects to earn $10,000 more than inspecting buildings for asbestos, a job he lost in 2008. “I’m working from home, setting my own schedule and making decent money,” Landau said. He doesn’t plan on moving to California’s Silicon Valley even if he could land higher-paying work there. For now, the self-taught programmer, 31, says he enjoys cobbling together an income via Elance, a website where companies and short-term contractors pair up. Read more of this post

Auction.com Aims Bigger Than Holyfield’s 109-Room Mansion

Auction.com Aims Bigger Than Holyfield’s 109-Room Mansion

Jeff Frieden, chief executive officer of Auction.com LLC, learned to sell real estate by managing a room full of bidders with rapid-fire patter. “Gimme 100 here, 150 in the back, 175, 200,” Frieden said during an interview at his firm’s Irvine, California, headquarters, pointing to imaginary bidders while pretending to hold an auctioneer’s microphone and push product with his mouth. “I’ve been on the auction block for nine hours and sold 500 houses in a day. That was in the old days.” Read more of this post

The Rapid Advance of Artificial Intelligence

October 14, 2013

The Rapid Advance of Artificial Intelligence

By JOHN MARKOFF

Baxter, made by Rethink Robotics, doesn’t rely on programming alone: It can sense what needs to be done and adapt itself to the task.

A gaggle of Harry Potter fans descended for several days this summer on the Oregon Convention Center in Portland for the Leaky Con gathering, an annual haunt of a group of predominantly young women who immerse themselves in a fantasy world of magic, spells and images. The jubilant and occasionally squealing attendees appeared to have no idea that next door a group of real-world wizards was demonstrating technology that only a few years ago might have seemed as magical. Read more of this post

Apple Hires Burberry C.E.O.

October 15, 2013

Apple Hires Burberry C.E.O.

By BRIAN X. CHEN

SAN FRANCISCO — Apple announced Tuesday that it hired Angela Ahrendts, the chief executive of Burberry, the British luxury fashion company, as a member of its executive team. The company said Ms. Ahrendts would serve in a newly created role as senior vice president overseeing the strategy and operation of its retail and online stores. She will start working for Apple in the spring. Read more of this post

As Microsoft Updates Mobile Software, a Cautionary Tale

OCTOBER 14, 2013, 8:00 AM

As Microsoft Updates Mobile Software, a Cautionary Tale

By NICK WINGFIELD

REDMOND, Wash. — If Microsoft has learned anything while competing against Google in the Internet search business, it’s that Google clings to a dominant position like a squatter does a house. The lesson is a relevant one for Microsoft’s mobile phone business. Microsoft is discovering that gains in market share for its phones are incremental, slowly acquired and ultimately dwarfed by Google’s position. Just as in search, Microsoft steadily rolls out nice improvements to its mobile products, the latest batch of which are being announced Monday. At least in the past, though, these refinements have not created a swell of people who find them compelling enough to choose Microsoft over Google’s Android system. Read more of this post

Premise taps into hunger for real-time data

October 15, 2013 5:22 am

Premise taps into hunger for real-time data

By Richard Waters in San Francisco

The rise in US food prices accelerated in September and has continued into October, according to a detailed study of retail prices – though the US federal government shutdown has robbed financial markets of any official measures of the state of the economy. These unofficial inflation figures, from a US start-up called Premise, highlight the growing use of massive data collection and analysis – known as “big data” – to supplement and in some cases replace official economic statistics. Read more of this post

Online work marketplace Freelancer.com has released its prospectus for its proposed float on the Australian Securities Exchange, giving the public the first real insight into the business

Caitlin Fitzsimmons Online editor

Under the hood of Freelancer.com: a cheat sheet to the prospectus

Published 15 October 2013 11:50, Updated 15 October 2013 14:51

Matt Barrie will retain plenty of skin in the game when Freelancer lists. Photo: Sasha Woolley

Online work marketplace Freelancer.com has released its prospectus for its proposed float on the Australian Securities Exchange, giving the public the first real insight into the business. Here are the five most interesting things in the prospectus.

1. Finances

This is the first time Freelancer has disclosed its revenue: $8.46 million for the half year ended June 30, 2013 and a forecast of $18.3 million for the full year. It is growing fast, considering revenue was $10.63 million for the entire 2012 calendar year. However, it is a lot less than the $1.2 billion figure that has regularly been mentioned in connection with company in recent years. That figure represented the value of projects listed on the site. While the company never claimed it represented revenue it did sound impressive. Profit after tax is expected to be $471,000 for the full-year 2013 and earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation is forecast at $736,000.

2. Valuation

The company is offering shares at 50¢ each, implying a market capitalisation of $218 million. Read more of this post

In IPO filings, Twitter restated revenue policy; Twitter uses estimates to determine some of its revenue

In IPO filings, Twitter restated revenue policy

By Stephen Gandel, senior editor October 14, 2013: 9:16 AM ET

The social media company uses estimates to determine some of its revenue.

FORTUNE — Twitter changed and expanded the description of how it tallies sales from some of its advertising deals in its IPO filings. The first version of its IPO filing, or S-1, which it confidentially filed to the SEC in July but did not initially release to the public, implied Twitter did not have a consistent policy to determine how much it stated on its financial statements it got from some deals. The company said its method was still evolving. In the deals involved, it wasn’t yet clear how much Twitter would be paid from advertisers. In these cases, Twitter said it would use its “best estimate of sales price,” when tallying up figures to compute its quarterly statements. And the way it calculates those estimates could change over time. Read more of this post

Media bosses hope mobile devices will help, rather than hurt, television

Media bosses hope mobile devices will help, rather than hurt, television

Oct 12th 2013 | CANNES AND SAN FRANCISCO |From the print edition

IN THE television business, as at buffets, people crave seconds. A series is deemed a success if it is renewed for another season. The industry is currently obsessed with the “second screen”—mobile phones and tablets that people play with while they watch TV. Around three-quarters of American internet users regularly fiddle with a mobile device while watching the gogglebox. Media executives are abuzz working out how to turn this distraction into profitable transactions. Read more of this post

Need a book? Call a drone. Australia may soon be the first country in the world to see commercial courier deliveries by drone, if a launch by a textbook rental service and an Australian tech start-up goes according to plan.

Push for lift-off on drone deliveries in Australia

October 15, 2013 – 12:01AM

Ben Grubb

Couriers in the sky: The Flirtey drone will be used by textbook delivery service Zookal. Zookal textbook rental service founder Ahmed Haider, 27, and founder of drone service Flirtey Matthew Sweeny, 26. The app for the Flirtey drone service is seen in this screenshot. Photo: Supplied

Need a book? Call a drone

The world’s first unmanned aerial drone controlled by GPS for deliveries is set to launch next year and will reduce costs by flying rental textbooks directly to users. Australia may soon be the first country in the world to see commercial courier deliveries by drone, if a launch by a textbook rental service and an Australian tech start-up goes according to plan. From March next year and pending regulatory approval, students will be able to order books from Zookal via an Android smartphone app and have one of six Flirtey drones deliver them to their door in Sydney. As the drone arrives, students will be able to track it in real-time on a Google map. Read more of this post

NuOrder, an e-commerce platform for the wholesale fashion industry to sell to shops and for retailers to buy from suppliers around the world

A NuOrder for the global fashion industry

October 15, 2013 – 3:00AM

Matthew Hall

On the surface, everything should have been against them: Aussies Olivia Skuza and husband Heath Wells, founders of US-based technology disrupter NuOrder. Photo: Supplied

An Australian company that turned start-up rules upside down is poised to turn the fashion industry inside out. That, at least, is the plan for Heath Wells and wife Olivia Skuza and their technology disrupter, NuOrder. Wells and Skuza’s idea is simple – an e-commerce platform for the wholesale fashion industry to sell to shops and for retailers to buy from suppliers around the world. Though cutting edge on the runway, fashion’s business methods are often stuck in the 1980s. Read more of this post

New app being tested to spot California whales so ships can avoid them

New app being tested to spot California whales so ships can avoid them

Tue, Oct 1 2013

By Ronnie Cohen

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Marine biologists have begun testing a smartphone application that would allow boaters and conservationists to identify whales outside San Francisco Bay so ships can avoid striking the endangered mammals. Whale Spotter, the app developed by Conserve.IO, will be used to map the feeding grounds of the enormous creatures, which large ships too frequently strike as they migrate along the California coast. Read more of this post

HTC Turns to China in Turnaround Push

HTC Turns to China in Turnaround Push

Taiwan Maker to Launch Flagship Smartphone in China Before U.S.

EVA DOU

Updated Oct. 14, 2013 2:47 p.m. ET

TAIPEI—After falling out of favor among U.S. consumers, struggling handset maker HTCCorp. 2498.TW +1.19% is pinning its hopes for survival on China’s gigantic but fiercely competitive smartphone market. For the first time, the Taiwanese company has chosen China, rather than the U.S., as the first market to launch its new flagship model, an indication of its changing priorities. The HTC One Max, which comes with a 5.9-inch screen and a fingerprint sensor, will make its debut in Beijing on Tuesday, three days ahead of its U.S. launch. Read more of this post

Chinese scientist may have discovered the future of batteries

Chinese scientist may have discovered the future of batteries

Tuesday, October 15, 2013 – 10:17

Chris Davis

China Daily/Asia News Network

Ford Motor Co and the University of Michigan just announced they would open a new $88 million battery research and manufacturing lab that they hope will accelerate a much-needed breakthrough for the stalling electric auto non-boom (electric cars accounted for less than 1 per cent of US auto sales last year; hybrids 3 per cent, according to the AP). And batteries are getting the blame. Read more of this post

A Truce in the Videogame Wars; Sony, Microsoft Court Developers of Free-to-Play Titles for Its Consoles

A Truce in the Videogame Wars

Sony, Microsoft Court Developers of Free-to-Play Titles for Its Consoles

MAYUMI NEGISHI

Oct. 14, 2013 7:12 p.m. ET

Once seen as warring factions within the $66 billion videogame industry, advocates of the traditional console and free-to-play games are striking an unlikely alliance to reach out to new players in each other’s camps. Both sides see opportunities to bridge the divide with a new generation of videogame machines from Sony Corp.6758.TO +2.14% and Microsoft Corp.MSFT +0.94% launching next month. Read more of this post

Soap Opera: Amazon Moves in With P&G; E-Commerce Giant Sets Up Shop Inside Warehouses of Suppliers

Soap Opera: Amazon Moves in With P&G

E-Commerce Giant Sets Up Shop Inside Warehouses of Suppliers

SERENA NG

Oct. 14, 2013 7:36 p.m. ET

TUNKHANNOCK, Pa.—Atop a hill at the end of a road called P&G Warehouse Way sits a warehouse stocked with Pampers diapers, Bounty paper towels and other items made byProcter & Gamble Co. PG +0.33% It also houses an ambitious experiment byAmazon.com Inc. AMZN -0.06% Each day, P&G loads products onto pallets and passes them over to Amazon inside a small, fenced-off area. Amazon employees then package, label and ship the items directly to the people who ordered them. Read more of this post

Sony Pictures Television will become the first big Hollywood studio to produce a new TV show for Netflix, underscoring how the TV industry’s elite are starting to view the streaming video service as a launch pad for original series

Sony Strikes Production Deal With Netflix

Streaming-Video Service Is Becoming a Launch Pad for Original Series

AMOL SHARMA

Updated Oct. 14, 2013 5:36 p.m. ET

Sony SNE -0.15% Pictures Television will become the first big Hollywood studio to produce a new TV show for Netflix Inc., NFLX +7.82% underscoring how the TV industry’s elite are starting to view the streaming-video service as a launch pad for original series. Sony Corp.’s TV studio, maker of hit shows such as AMC’s “Breaking Bad” and this year’s new NBC drama “The Blacklist,” said Monday it will begin production early next year on a psychological thriller for Netflix from the creators of the FX legal drama “Damages.” Read more of this post

Netflix Ages Gracefully; Getting on Cable Set-Top Boxes Brings the Company Closer to the TV Mainstream—and Could Shake Up the Landscape

October 14, 2013, 5:31 p.m. ET

Netflix Ages Gracefully

Getting on Cable Set-Top Boxes Brings the Company Closer to the TV Mainstream—and Could Shake Up the Landscape

MIRIAM GOTTFRIED

Netflix NFLX +7.82% wants to be a cable channel when it grows up. And it may be moving one step closer to its coming of age. The online video company is in talks with several U.S. pay-TV providers to put a Netflix app on their set-top boxes. Netflix, often viewed as an alternative to pay-TV, is already available on many devices. But the fact that cable companies are considering inviting it in suggests they no longer view it as a threat. Read more of this post

Electric Car Rentals Stalled in U.S. by Range Anxiety; “Until you get people comfortable with this technology it won’t really take off”

Electric Car Rentals Stalled in U.S. by Range Anxiety

Rental car drivers just aren’t plugging into electric vehicles, largely because of fears the batteries will die. In fact, people who drive off in electric vehicles from Enterprise Holdings Inc., the biggest U.S. auto renter, often bring them back to trade for a car that runs on gasoline. “People are very keen to try it, but they will switch out of the contract part way through,” Lee Broughton, head of sustainability at Enterprise, said in an interview. “Range anxiety makes them think they can’t get to a charging station.” Read more of this post