latest gadgets and technology

Friday, August 2, 2013

Viacom 3Q net income rises 20 pct

FILE - In this Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2011, file photo, women leave Viacom headquarters,in New York. Viacom reports quarterly earnings on Friday, Aug. 2, 2013. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)

NEW YORK (AP) ? Viacom Inc. said Friday that its fiscal third-quarter net income rose 20 percent, boosted by higher affiliate fees at its cable TV channels and an increase in advertising revenue.

The New York company, which owns MTV, Comedy Central and Paramount Pictures, posted an adjusted profit that fell a penny short of Wall Street expectations, but its revenue came in higher than expected.

Viacom also announced that its board boosted the company's stock buyback program to $20 billion in shares from $10 billion, adding that the company plans to buy back $2 billion in shares under the expanded program over the next several months.

Its shares rose more than 4 percent in premarket trading.

For the quarter ended June 30, Viacom earned $643 million, or $1.31 per share. That's up from $534 million, or $1.01 per share, in the same quarter of 2012.

Excluding discontinued operations and one-time items, Viacom earned an adjusted $1.29 per share for the latest quarter. Analysts polled by FactSet expected $1.30 per share.

Revenue increased 14 percent to $3.69 billion from $3.24 billion. That topped analysts' expectations for $3.57 billion.

Viacom said revenue at its media networks business increased 13 percent to $2.57 billion, boosted by a 26 percent jump in global affiliate revenue that stemmed from both digital distribution agreements and rate increases.

Traditionally, Viacom's pay TV channels generate about two-thirds of its revenue and nearly all of its profits. But an increasing amount of the company's revenue is coming from licensing content to video streaming services.

In early June, the company struck a licensing agreement with Amazon.com Inc., giving it exclusive online rights to key Viacom programming, including episodes of Nickelodeon's "Dora the Explorer," after Viacom couldn't come to terms on a larger, omnibus deal with Netflix Inc.

Excluding digital distribution agreements, which are affected by the timing of available programing, domestic affiliate revenue rose in the "high-single digits," Viacom said.

Domestic advertising revenue increased 6 percent, helped by higher ratings, while worldwide advertising revenue rose 5 percent. Viacom has been struggling with a ratings decline at Nickelodeon, but the company third-quarter results lapped a weak year-ago performance, so the increase in advertising revenue was expected.

Revenue at the company's filmed entertainment business, increased 15 percent to $1.16 billion, as global theatrical revenue jumped 64 percent to $464 million, helped by the releases of the movies "Star Trek Into Darkness," ''World War Z" and "Pain and Gain," along with continued strong ticket sales of other movies released in the second quarter.

The jump in film revenue also was largely expected. "Star Trek Into Darkness" has already brought in about $450 million globally, while one of the year-ago quarter's major releases was "The Dictator," which grossed $177 million globally.

But operating income at the business dropped 63 percent to $17 million, pulled down by higher film distribution costs.

Viacom shares rose $3.32, or 4.4 percent, to $78.21 in premarket trading. That would top its 52-week high of $75.09 set July 19 if it were to hold up in regular market trading.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/495d344a0d10421e9baa8ee77029cfbd/Article_2013-08-02-US-Earns-Viacom/id-d8657e12d91b4615bb05010a5ebf6118

morosini death lionel richie jacoby ellsbury jacoby ellsbury kenny rogers avatar the last airbender david wright

Proposed DoJ terms could force Apple to allow Amazon links in apps

Would undo one of the stricter App Store rules

The Department of Justice has published proposed settlement terms that could force Apple to allow apps to link to outside e-book stores. Last month, the DoJ emerged victorious against Apple in a trial over e-book price fixing. Apple was accused of conspiring with publishers to artificially inflate e-book prices, in particular with the aim of undermining Amazon's once-standard $10 pricetag for Kindle titles. Modern, high-profile e-books are usually priced closer to $13 or $14.

The DoJ's terms would require Apple to allow links to stores like Amazon and Barnes & Noble for two years. That would give people the chance to "easily compare Apple's prices with those of its competitors," the Department says, and help "reset competition to the conditions that existed before the conspiracy." Other proposed steps include cancelling e-book agreements with the five publishers involved in the conspiracy -- Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Penguin, and Simon & Schuster -- and a ban on entering new contracts for another five years. Apple would moreover be prohibited from agreements with providers of music, movies, TV shows and other content "that are likely to increase the prices at which Apple's competitor retailers may sell that content."

App Store rules currently prohibit developers from inserting links to web stores selling digital content. Apps must either use the native in-app purchase system, which gives Apple a 30 percent cut of revenue, or create a login system that downloads content automatically if people have paid for it elsewhere. The Kindle iOS app, for instance, is only useful if people have already separately bought or uploaded books.

By Electronista Staff

Source: http://electronista.feedsportal.com/c/34342/f/625515/s/2f7c1f16/sc/21/l/0L0Smacnn0N0Carticles0C130C0A80C0A20Cwould0Bundo0Bone0Bof0Bthe0Bstricter0Bapp0Bstore0Brules0C/story01.htm

weather channel Kaepernick Eddie Vanderdoes puppy bowl national pancake day bar refaeli Paul Harvey

How the Xbox One Is Designed To Be Left Switched on for 10 Years

There?s a reason Xbox One comes in that whopping great 1980s VCR style case, and it?s not because some one in authority at Microsoft went mad. It?s for cooling, to help keep it quiet and reliable?and so you can leave it switched on constantly for the next ten years.

Thursday, August 1, 2013

As climate, disease links become clearer, study highlights need to forecast future shifts

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Climate change is affecting the spread of infectious diseases worldwide, according to an international team of leading disease ecologists, with serious impacts to human health and biodiversity conservation.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/LVu3L1iudvA/130801142329.htm

donald payne elizabeth berkley lenny dykstra mlb 12 the show sabu franchise tag lesotho

AP Interview: USPS eyes alcohol deliveries

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Allowing the Postal Service to deliver beer, wine and spirits is high on his wish list for raising cash for his financially ailing agency, Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe said Thursday.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Donahoe also endorsed ending most door-to-door and Saturday mail deliveries as cost-saving measures for his agency, which lost $16 billion last year.

Donahoe said delivering alcohol has the potential to raise as much as $50 million a year. He mentioned how customers might want to, for example, mail bottles of wine home when they tour vineyards. Donahoe said his agency has looked at the possibility of using special boxes that would hold two, four or six bottles and ship for a flat-rate to anywhere in the country.

"There's a lot of money to be made in beer, wine and spirits," Donahoe said. "We'd like to be in that business."

The Postal Service says mailing alcoholic beverages is currently restricted by law. Customers are even told to cover any logos or labels if they use alcoholic beverage boxes for shipments.

The agency is also urging changes in how it delivers the mail. A House committee has passed legislation to stabilize the Postal Service's ailing finances that would cut letter deliveries to five days and phase out door-to-door deliveries over 10 years. The bill does not include a provision to allow the agency to deliver alcohol.

The Senate passed a postal reform bill last year that included a provision allowing the agency to deliver alcohol. The bill required that such shipments would have to comply with any state laws from where the shipment was originated and delivered. The measure also said the recipient had to be at least 21 years old and would need to provide a valid government-issued photo identification upon delivery.

The agency lost $16 billion last year and is working toward restructuring its retail, delivery and mail processing operations.

The service's losses are largely due to a decline in mail volume and a congressional requirement that it make advance payments to cover expected health care costs for future retirees. About $11.1 billion of last year's losses were due to payments it must make for future retiree health costs.

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee recently approved a plan for the service to gradually shift from door delivery to cluster box and curbside delivery, which includes mailboxes at the end of driveways. The agency has been moving toward curbside and cluster box delivery in new residential developments since the 1970s.

About 1 in 3 mail customers has door-to-door delivery. Some lawmakers have complained that ending door delivery in many densely developed urban areas would be difficult.

"We'd work with the communities," Donahoe said, adding there would be special hardship exemptions for those physically unable to get their mail at centralized locations. "We want to figure out how to do it so people don't get mad."

Some 30 million residential addresses receive delivery to boxes at the door or a mail slot. Another 87 million residential addresses receive curbside or cluster box delivery.

Door-to-door delivery costs the agency about $350 per year, on average. Curbside delivery costs average $224 per year for each address, while cluster box delivery averages $160.

The service earlier this year backpedaled on its plan to end Saturday mail delivery after running into opposition in Congress. It has tried repeatedly and unsuccessfully over the past several years to persuade Congress to approve ending Saturday mail delivery.

The National Association of Letter Carriers has said ending Saturday delivery would in particular hurt rural residents and the elderly who depend more heavily on the mail for prescription drugs and other goods.

The Senate last year passed a bill that would have stopped the Postal Service from eliminating Saturday service for at least two years and required it to try two years of cost-cutting instead. The House didn't pass a bill.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ap-interview-usps-eyes-alcohol-deliveries-172601094.html

ted nugent westminster dog show Pope Resigns Christopher Dorner Manifesto mardi gras Christopher Dorner whitney houston

North Pole not flooded -- but lots of melting in the Arctic

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Widespread media reports of a lake at the North Pole don't hold water -- but scientists who deployed the monitoring buoys are watching closely as Arctic sea ice approaches its yearly minimum.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_environment/~3/MeyKE2ijyVc/130730163142.htm

courtney mercury retrograde bath salts heart shaped box lucid 2012 ncaa tournament bracket matterhorn

Pentagon to bear brunt of upcoming budget cuts

Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel chats with Air Force personnel Wednesday, July 17, 2013, at Joint Base Charleston near Charleston, S.C. Hagel was on the third day of a three-day trip to visit bases in the Carolinas and Florida. He told civilian Department of Defense workers that, if the department has to absorb another $52 billion in cuts next year because of the federal sequester, there will likely be layoffs instead of furloughs. (AP Photo/Bruce Smith)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? A second, deeper round of automatic federal budget cuts is on its way, and it's going to hit the Pentagon hard.

Already reeling from a $34 billion budget blow this year due to deficit-driven spending reductions known as sequestration, the Defense Department would feel an additional $20 billion punch in 2014. All told, the Pentagon's budget for next year would be cut by about 10 percent below levels approved just six months ago.

Domestic programs are spared further automatic budget cuts, a little-known wrinkle that could give Democrats some advantage in upcoming negotiations over repealing sequestration ? or at least easing its effects.

That reality is beginning to dawn in the federal government, which allowed this year's $72 billion round of cuts to take effect. Officials have a few months to try to replace an even deeper round of cuts expected to take effect in January.

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel was expected to address the issue at an afternoon news conference on the military's strategic choices.

The situation is a product of the fallout of a budget law enacted two years ago that set up a deficit "supercommittee" with orders to come up with $1.2 trillion in deficit cuts over a decade. The law included the threat of the automatic cuts as a backstop intended to force a deal.

Sequestration was designed to be so painful that lawmakers would feel they had no choice but to act to prevent the automatic cuts. Instead, Congress managed to find only $24 billion in deficit cuts, leaving in place $72 billion in automatic spending reductions for 2013. About $17 billion of the automatic cuts came out of benefit programs ? mostly from payments to Medicare providers. The other $55 billion was from the $1.043 trillion budget that Congress put together for day-to-day government operations. More than half of that goes to the Pentagon.

Democrats and President Barack Obama were the most anxious to reverse sequestration. Sensing that, GOP leaders were content to allow it to take effect.

The two sides have settled into a budget stalemate that shows no signs of easing ? though talks between the White House and a handful of Senate Republicans have intensified in recent weeks.

Sen. John McCain, a leading Republican voice on national security issues, said he continues to work toward a budget deal that would end sequestration. But he's clearly frustrated over the lack of progress and says he couldn't predict success.

"The talks continue and continue and continue," the Arizona Republican said.

Some lawmakers and staff aides say the new, deeper reductions in the Pentagon's budget to could be the jolt that prompts lawmakers to step back from the automatic cuts.

"This is the primary motivator for undoing sequestration," said Jennifer Hing, spokeswoman for House Appropriations Committee Chairman Harold Rogers, R-Ky. "Defense will take an enormous hit and it will not be something they can absorb overnight."

The cuts are indeed daunting to the Pentagon, which has traditionally enjoyed sweeping bipartisan support from Congress and has seen its budget requests go mostly unchallenged during more than a decade of war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Come January, however, the Pentagon faces a cut of $54 billion from current spending if Congress fails to reverse the automatic cuts, according to calculations by Capitol Hill budget aides. The base budget must be trimmed to $498 billion, with cuts of about 4 percent hitting already reduced spending on defense, nuclear weapons and military construction.

Senior military officials have repeatedly warned about the devastating effects of the automatic cuts. Yet the Pentagon also appears resigned to the possibility that it will get no relief from sequestration and that defense hawks in Congress ? outnumbered by GOP deficit hawks ? will be unable to save the military budget.

The cuts would disproportionately hit modernization of aircraft, ships and weapons; operations and maintenance; training of the all-volunteer force; and health care. This is due in part because Obama exempted military personnel from the automatic cuts.

Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter told Congress last August that the Pentagon would try to protect the accounts for the war in Afghanistan as much as possible, although the money is not legally exempt from the cuts.

Gen. Ray Odierno, the Army chief of staff, strongly suggested that the sequester could be deadly for U.S. military forces.

"What keeps me up at night is if I'm asked to deploy 20,000 soldiers somewhere, I'm not sure I can guarantee you that they're trained to the level that I think they should be over the next two or three years because of the way sequestration is being enacted," Odierno said in remarks Monday at the American Enterprise Institute. "We'll still send soldiers ... but they will not have been able to train collectively the way we would like. ... That means operations would take longer but, most importantly, it probably equals more casualties."

Congress has shown little inclination to undo the sequester, and many lawmakers seem content with cuts in defense spending as the United States cleans up after the war in Iraq and winds down another in Afghanistan.

The warnings from the military have largely gone unheeded.

"Frankly, I'm surprised because really bad things are happening to the military and it's doesn't seem to be having an effect here," McCain said.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-07-31-Budget%20Battle-Defense/id-b587e57455f942e7a7276870d939f301

there will be blood there will be blood nigel barker secret service fenway park philadelphia flyers student loan forgiveness