Apple stock takes a 9% dive due to earnings notice

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

We're quickly seeing the market react to Apple's bombshell announcement of a lower stock earnings guidance. Yesterday, Apple CEO Tim Cook issued a letter to Apple investors revising the company's earnings guidance, a move that hasn't happened since 2002.

Cook implied various macroeconomic factors, including less spending in China, a major market for Apple, for the lower earnings in Q1, usually Apple's strongest quarter. As Cook mentioned in a TV interview, there are various reasons for this lower earnings expectation, many of which were out of Apple's control.

The brewing US trade-war with China and less spending from that country, the staggered iPhone release schedule in 2018 (which saw a month's apart launch for iPhone XS and iPhone XR) slower ramping up of product for iPad Pro. Mac mini and MacBook Air, as well as the $29 battery replacement service that took a bite out of potential earnings.

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Season 5 of ‘Black Mirror’ gets pushed back because of ‘Bandersnatch’

With the amount of work it took to put out the choose-your-own-adventure film Bandersnatch, one of the creators of Black Mirror confirmed this pushed the timeline of season 5 of the show. According to executive producer and co-creator Annabel Jones, the fifth season is out due this year. What specific timeframe? She wouldn’t elaborate. Black Mirror seasons have come out on a yearly basis, and it stuck with the schedule even with Bandersnatch coming out in December 2018. The show doesn’t follow a strict episode number per season. It’s released everything from three episodes per season to six at one point and even has a one-off Christmas special on top of this new movie. So, perhaps the new season might arrive earlier with fewer or more episodes. For now, we’re waiting to hear any updates and we’ll report back when we do find out more.

Source: The Verge

Fuchsia OS is likely Google's unifying operating system of the future

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

Google is in an interesting place with regards to its various operating systems. Google Android, as we all know, is the dominant mobile OS. Google Chrome is the web-based desktop OS that's become the standard in schools and is poised to expand to the consumer and enterprise segment. Chromebooks can now run Android apps as well as Linux applications, but what is the future?

Google sees Fuchsia OS as its future. This OS is not based on Linux but on a new microkernel and is geared or use on various devices (smartphones, tablets, PCs, laptops). Fuchsia OS is still a few years away from release but it is already trying to solve many of Android's pain points (not scaling well for tablets or laptops, security vulnerabilities, etc). Fuschia OS, if successful, can be the one Google OS to rule them all and will be able to run thousands of Android apps from the get-go. More importantly, users will see a familiar interface no matter what device they are on.

Source: Engadget

Reports claim Pixel 3 and 3XL Lite to launch in spring 2019 in the US

OnLeaks render of the rumoured Pixel 3 and 3XL Lite

Rumour has been going around that Google is set to release a “Lite” version of its Pixel 3 flagships. And the latest round of rumours talk about the release date of the phones. According to Android Police, the Pixel 3 and 3XL Lite models are set to come to Verizon in the US in spring 2019. There isn’t a specific date or price yet, but estimates would be around the US$400-500 price range. It’s been four years since Google launched a midrange device—the last one was the Nexus 5X in 2015—so it’ll be interesting to see how these devices will fare.

Leaked specifications claim these will be powered by either a Qualcomm Snapdragon 670 or 710 processor and 4GB of RAM and will have 32GB of storage, 12MP rear and 8MP front cameras, and headphone jacks. The smaller Pixel 3 Lite will reportedly have a 5.5-inch screen, while the Pixel 3XL Lite will have a 6-inch screen. It depends on how Google prices these to see if these phones will be worth their specs.