Microsoft posts Q3 2013 earnings, generates $6.06 billion in profit as its CFO steps down

Microsoft Reports Third-Quarter Results

Microsoft delivers record third-quarter revenue and earnings per share; CFO transition announced.

REDMOND, Wash. - Apr. 18, 2013 - Microsoft Corp. today announced quarterly revenue of $20.49 billion for the quarter ended March 31, 2013. Operating income, net income, and diluted earnings per share for the quarter were $7.61 billion, $6.06 billion, and $0.72 per share.

These financial results reflect the net recognition of revenue related to the Windows Upgrade Offer, Office Upgrade Offer and Pre-Sales, and the Entertainment and Devices Division Video Game Deferral, partially offset by the European Commission fine. The following table reconciles these financial results reported in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) to non-GAAP financial results. We have provided this non-GAAP financial information to aid investors in better understanding the company's performance.

"The bold bets we made on cloud services are paying off as people increasingly choose Microsoft services including Office 365, Windows Azure, Xbox LIVE, and Skype," said Steve Ballmer, chief executive officer at Microsoft. "While there is still work to do, we are optimistic that the bets we've made on Windows devices position us well for the long-term."

The Microsoft Business Division posted $6.32 billion of revenue, an 8% increase from the prior year period. Adjusting for the net recognition of revenue related to the Office Upgrade Offer and Pre-Sales, Microsoft Business Division non-GAAP revenue increased 5%. During the quarter, we launched the new Office, enhancing productivity and the user experience through new mobility, social, and cloud features.

The Server & Tools business reported $5.04 billion of revenue, an 11% increase from the prior year period, driven by double-digit percentage revenue growth in SQL Server and System Center.

"Our enterprise business continues to thrive," said Kevin Turner, chief operating officer at Microsoft. "Enterprise customers are increasingly turning to Microsoft for their IT solutions and as a result, we continue to take share from our competitors in key areas including hybrid cloud, data platform, and virtualization."

The Windows Division posted revenue of $5.70 billion, a 23% increase from the prior year period. Adjusting for the recognition of revenue related to the Windows Upgrade Offer, Windows Division non-GAAP revenue was flat. During the quarter, we added to the Surface family of devices with Surface Pro.

The Online Services Division reported revenue of $832 million, an 18% increase from the prior year period. Online advertising revenue grew 22% driven by an increase in revenue per search.

The Entertainment and Devices Division posted revenue of $2.53 billion, an increase of 56% from the prior year period. Adjusting for the recognition of revenue related to the Video Game Deferral, the division's non-GAAP revenue increased 33% for the third quarter. Xbox LIVE now has over 46 million members worldwide, an 18% increase from the prior year period.

"Our diverse business continues to deliver solid financial results, even as we navigate the evolving device market," said Peter Klein, chief financial officer at Microsoft. "Looking ahead, we will continue to invest in long-term growth opportunities to drive our devices and services strategy forward and deliver ongoing value to shareholders."

Business Outlook

Adjusting for the European Commission fine, Microsoft is revising operating expense guidance downward and now offers a range of $30.2 billion to $30.5 billion for the full year ending June 30, 2013. Microsoft also offers preliminary fiscal year 2014 operating expense guidance of $31.6 billion to $32.2 billion, representing 4% to 6% growth from the mid-point of fiscal year 2013 adjusted guidance.

CFO Transition

The company also announced Microsoft CFO Peter Klein will leave the company at the end of the current fiscal year, after nearly four years in role and 11 years at the company. Microsoft will be naming a new CFO from its finance leadership team in the next several weeks.

"It has been a pleasure to work with Peter as CFO," Ballmer said. "He's been a key member of my leadership team and a strategic advisor to me, and I wish him the very best."

"I've had a great experience as CFO and overall in my time at Microsoft," Klein said. "We have an incredibly strong finance organization, and I'm looking forward to working with my successor on the transition through the end of the fiscal year."

Webcast Details

Peter Klein, chief financial officer, Frank Brod, chief accounting officer, and Chris Suh, general manager of Investor Relations, will host a conference call and webcast at 2:30 p.m. PDT (5:30 p.m. EDT) today to discuss details of the company's performance for the quarter and certain forward-looking information. The session may be accessed at http://www.microsoft.com/investor/ . The webcast will be available for replay through the close of business on Apr. 18, 2014.

Adjusted Financial Results and Non-GAAP Measures

For the third quarter fiscal year 2013, GAAP revenue, operating income, and earnings per share included the recognition of revenue for the Windows Upgrade Offer, the Office Upgrade Offer and Pre-Sales, and the Entertainment and Devices Division Video Game Deferral, partially offset by the European Commission fine. These items are defined in our Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended March 31, 2013. In addition to these financial results reported in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), we have provided certain non-GAAP financial information to aid investors in better understanding the company's performance. Presenting these measures without the impact of these items gives additional insight into operational performance and helps clarify trends affecting the company's business. For comparability of reporting, management considers this information in conjunction with GAAP amounts in evaluating business performance. These non-GAAP financial measures should not be considered as a substitute for, or superior to, the measures of financial performance prepared in accordance with GAAP.

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Instagram, Twitter posts begin to flow from North Korean 3G network

This week, tourists (and at least one reporter) visiting North Korea began accessing the web directly from their smartphones, through the country's Koryolink 3G network. Associated Press journalist Jean H. Lee has been tweeting from Pyongyang since Monday, though she didn't get around to detailing the service until yesterday. Her tweet, "Hello world from comms center in #Pyongyang," is believed to be the first to come through the new wireless data service, which can be activated for the princely sum of €75 (about $100). From there, data rates range from €150 for 2GB to €400 for 10 gigs, according to a DailyNK report. (Those tariffs should come as no surprise to DPRK visitors, who often shell out thousands for week-long tours that include meager accommodations and constant monitoring.)

The Koryolink network, which was built in cooperation with Egypt's Orascom Telecom, marks a radical shift in policy for North Korea, which also recently began to allow tourists to enter the country with their own cellphones -- previously, visitors were required to hand over the devices upon landing in Pyongyang. With the exception of approved users (certain government officials, we presume), North Korean residents remain offline, however. For those authorized, access may be pricey, but considering that connectivity can provide peace of mind to travelers and their families at home, a data-enabled SIM seems a worthwhile acquisition for anyone visiting one of 3G's famous final frontiers.

Source: AP, DailyNK, Jean H. Lee (Instagram)

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ASUS posts MWC highlights, relive the weirdest press conference in recent memory

Man, oh man, ASUS certainly didn't disappoint with the verbally confusing back to back launch of the new PadFone Infinity and FonePad, but the real star of this morning's Mobile World Congress was sheer insanity, outdoing even that bizarre Columbus video from last week. What happens when you let the Magicians Guild run your show? A smattering of confused applause from an audience wondering if they hadn't partied a little too hard while out on the town in Barcelona the night before. The video's after the break. Come for the gadgets and stay for the mind-boggling strangeness of it all.

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Microsoft posts Dev Center app for Windows Phone, tops 130,000 total apps

Despite launching the Windows Phone Dev Center months ago, Microsoft hasn't provided an option to run the dashboard on Windows Phone itself. The company is at last introducing some logical consistency (and recursion) by launching a Windows Phone version of its Windows Phone developer console. The app lets registered creators track downloads, crashes and feedback without turning to a computer, and a Live Tile can sometimes save the trouble of launching the app in the first place. Having the Dev Center always on hand may be increasingly necessary, based on Microsoft's own figures -- the Windows Phone Store is up to about 130,000 apps, or 10,000 more than it had in December. That's not quite the breakneck pace of other mobile stores, but it's quick enough to justify hitting the download link.

Via: Windows Phone Developer Blog, TechCrunch

Source: Windows Phone Store

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Rhapsody posts Windows Phone 8 app with offline playback

Just because Rhapsody is an old hand at online music doesn't mean it has to lag behind: the company just posted a new version of its app tailored to Windows Phone 8 listeners. Besides the native OS tie-ins, it adds offline downloads and access to the personalized My Music section. Windows Phone-focused listeners who've stuck to Rhapsody's $10-plus service through thick and thin -- or just aren't wedded to options from Microsoft, Nokia and Spotify -- can hit the source for the new jukebox.

Via: VentureBeat

Source: Windows Phone Store

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EA posts finished Origin for Mac, widens gamers' worlds

EA moves faster than we thought. Origin for Mac was in alpha just two weeks ago, and yet it's already launching to the public. The completed gaming portal gives Mac users their software library, socialization and the online store in an interface that will be mostly familiar to Windows players. While the selection of Mac-native titles is currently narrow -- we hope you really like Batman and Dragon Age 2 -- there's also a Steam Play-like level of cross-platform support, where a game bought for the Mac or Windows will be free to download for the other OS. Origin is currently too small to directly challenge the Mac App Store or Steam, but it's a step forward for computer gamers wanting platform parity -- and when it's free to download, it won't hurt to have a look.

Via: MacNews

Source: Origin

More Coverage: Joystiq

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Sony posts a net loss of $115 million for Q3, stays on track for full-year operating profit

Still-in-turnaround-mode Sony has reported its earnings for the October to December period, and has recorded a net loss of about 10.8 billion yen ($115 million). It did however improve its revenue to $21 billion as the yen weakened, despite slower sales of items like HDTVs and Blu-ray players. Key for Sony is that it managed an operating profit for the quarter of 46.4 billion yen ($496 million) and remains on track to make its business profitable in the next financial year.

Despite Sony's best efforts -- which include initiatives that you've heard about like its Triluminos HDTVs, PlayStation Mobile for tablets and phones, 4K and new software for the Vita -- it's cut sales targets in all of those divisions. Projected sales for TVs and cameras fell by 1 million units each, and portable game players by 3 million, as noted by Bloomberg. It's been a year since Kaz Hirai took the reins, and with his "One Sony" restructuring plan well underway and (what everyone suspects is) a PlayStation 4 event around the corner, 2013 is as important a year as the company has ever had. We'll check in for more info on the earnings call in just a bit, for now you can paw through all the numbers yourself in the slides and reports linked below.

Source: Sony Q3 earnings (PDF), Slides

More Coverage: Reuters, Nikkei, Bloomberg

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Amazon posts $21.27 billion in 2012 Q4 revenues, makes tinier profit of $97 million

Amazon.com Announces Fourth Quarter Sales up 22% to $21.27 Billion
Operating income up 56% year-over-year - above high end of guidance

SEATTLE, Jan 29, 2013 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN +11.16% today announced financial results for its fourth quarter ended December 31, 2012.

Operating cash flow increased 7% to $4.18 billion for the trailing twelve months, compared with $3.90 billion for the trailing twelve months ended December 31, 2011. Free cash flow decreased 81% to $395 million for the trailing twelve months, compared with $2.09 billion for the trailing twelve months ended December 31, 2011. Free cash flow for the trailing twelve months ended December 31, 2012 includes fourth quarter cash outflows for purchases of corporate office space and property in Seattle, Washington, of $1.4 billion.

Common shares outstanding plus shares underlying stock-based awards totaled 470 million on December 31, 2012, compared with 468 million one year ago.

Net sales increased 22% to $21.27 billion in the fourth quarter, compared with $17.43 billion in fourth quarter 2011. Excluding the $178 million unfavorable impact from year-over-year changes in foreign exchange rates throughout the quarter, net sales grew 23% compared with fourth quarter 2011.

Operating income increased 56% to $405 million in the fourth quarter, compared with $260 million in fourth quarter 2011. The favorable impact from year-over-year changes in foreign exchange rates throughout the quarter on operating income was $2 million.

Net income decreased 45% to $97 million in the fourth quarter, or $0.21 per diluted share, compared with $177 million, or $0.38 per diluted share, in fourth quarter 2011.

"We're now seeing the transition we've been expecting," said Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com. "After 5 years, eBooks is a multi-billion dollar category for us and growing fast - up approximately 70% last year. In contrast, our physical book sales experienced the lowest December growth rate in our 17 years as a book seller, up just 5%. We're excited and very grateful to our customers for their response to Kindle and our ever expanding ecosystem and selection."

Full Year 2012

Net sales increased 27% to $61.09 billion, compared with $48.08 billion in 2011. Excluding the $854 million unfavorable impact from year-over-year changes in foreign exchange rates throughout the year, net sales grew 29% compared with 2011.

Operating income decreased 22% to $676 million, compared with $862 million in 2011. The unfavorable impact from year-over-year changes in foreign exchange rates throughout the year on operating income was $14 million.

Net loss was $39 million, or $0.09 per diluted share, compared with net income of $631 million, or $1.37 per diluted share, in 2011.

Highlights

-- For the second year in a row, Amazon's tablet was the most popular item for customers - Kindle Fire HD continued its run as the #1 best-selling, most gifted, and most wished for product across the millions of items available on Amazon worldwide. At year-end, Kindle Fire HD, Kindle Fire, Kindle Paperwhite and Kindle held the top four spots on the Amazon worldwide best seller charts since launch.

-- Amazon announced the launch of AutoRip, a new service that gives customers free MP3 versions of CDs they purchase from Amazon. Additionally, customers who have purchased AutoRip CDs at any time since Amazon first opened its Music Store in 1998 will find MP3 versions of those albums in their Cloud Player libraries - also automatically and for free.

-- Amazon introduced Kindle FreeTime Unlimited, bringing together for the first time all of the types of content kids and parents love - books, games, educational apps, movies and TV shows - into one simple, unlimited, easy-to-use service for kids ages 3-8.

-- Amazon's digital media selection has grown to over 23 million movies, TV shows, songs, magazines, books, audiobooks, and popular apps and games in 2012, an increase from 19 million at year-end 2011.

-- Amazon.com announced new licensing agreements with Turner Broadcasting, Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution, and A+E Networks, for popular television series including Falling Skies, The Closer, Pawn Stars, Storage Wars, and Dance Moms, expanding its catalog of title offerings for Prime Instant Video to more than 36,000 movies and television episodes.

-- Amazon launched Kindle Stores for Brazil, Canada, China, and Japan, with a large selection of the most popular books, including thousands of local-language books.

-- Amazon announced that 23 KDP authors each sold over 250,000 copies of their books in 2012, and that over 500 KDP Select books have reached the top 100 Kindle best seller lists around the world.

-- Amazon announced that for the eighth consecutive year, the company ranks #1 in customer satisfaction during the holiday shopping season according to the ForeSee annual Holiday E-Retail Satisfaction Index. ForeSee surveyed over 24,000 customers between Thanksgiving and Christmas, asking them to rate their satisfaction with the top 100 retailers. For the second year in a row, Amazon's score of 88 is the highest ever attained by any retailer in the study.

-- Amazon Web Services (AWS) announced the launch of its newest Asia Pacific Region in Sydney, Australia, now available for multiple services including Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2), Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3), and Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS). Sydney joins Singapore and Tokyo as the third Region in Asia Pacific and the ninth Region worldwide.

-- AWS announced that SAP Business Suite is now certified to run on the AWS cloud platform. Enterprises running SAP Business Suite can now leverage the on-demand, pay as you go AWS platform to support thousands of concurrent users in production without making costly capital expenditures for their underlying infrastructure. AWS also announced that SAP HANA, SAP's in-memory database and platform, is certified to run on AWS and is available for purchase via AWS Marketplace.

-- AWS continued its rapid pace of innovation by launching 159 new services and features in 2012. This is nearly double the services and features launched in 2011.

-- AWS has lowered prices 24 times since it launched in 2006, including 10 price reductions in 2012.

Financial Guidance

The following forward-looking statements reflect Amazon.com's expectations as of January 29, 2013. Our results are inherently unpredictable and may be materially affected by many factors, such as fluctuations in foreign exchange rates, changes in global economic conditions and consumer spending, world events, the rate of growth of the Internet and online commerce and the various factors detailed below.

First Quarter 2013 Guidance

-- Net sales are expected to be between $15.0 billion and $16.6 billion, or to grow between 14% and 26% compared with first quarter 2012.

-- Operating income (loss) is expected to be between $(285) million and $65 million, compared to $192 million in the prior year period.

-- This guidance includes approximately $285 million for stock-based compensation and amortization of intangible assets, and it assumes, among other things, that no additional business acquisitions or investments are concluded and that there are no further revisions to stock-based compensation estimates.

A conference call will be webcast live today at 2 p.m. PT/5 p.m. ET, and will be available for at least three months at www.amazon.com/ir . This call will contain forward-looking statements and other material information regarding the Company's financial and operating results.

These forward-looking statements are inherently difficult to predict. Actual results could differ materially for a variety of reasons, including, in addition to the factors discussed above, the amount that Amazon.com invests in new business opportunities and the timing of those investments, the mix of products sold to customers, the mix of net sales derived from products as compared with services, the extent to which we owe income taxes, competition, management of growth, potential fluctuations in operating results, international growth and expansion, the outcomes of legal proceedings and claims, fulfillment and data center optimization, risks of inventory management, seasonality, the degree to which the Company enters into, maintains and develops commercial agreements, acquisitions and strategic transactions, and risks of fulfillment throughput and productivity. Other risks and uncertainties include, among others, risks related to new products, services and technologies, system interruptions, government regulation and taxation, payments and fraud. In addition, the current global economic climate amplifies many of these risks. More information about factors that potentially could affect Amazon.com's financial results is included in Amazon.com's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), including its most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and subsequent filings.

Our investor relations website is www.amazon.com/ir and we encourage investors to use it as a way of easily finding information about us. We promptly make available on this website, free of charge, the reports that we file or furnish with the SEC, corporate governance information (including our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics), and select press releases and social media postings.

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Microsoft reports Q2 2013 earnings: posts record revenue of $21.5 billion, $6.38 billion profit (update)

Microsoft Reports Record Revenue of $21.5 Billion in Second Quarter
Strong business demand and key product launches drive record revenue.

REDMOND, Wash. - Jan. 24, 2013 - Microsoft Corp. today announced quarterly revenue of $21.46 billion for the quarter ended December 31, 2012. Operating income, net income, and diluted earnings per share for the quarter were $7.77 billion, $6.38 billion, and $0.76 per share.

These financial results reflect the net deferral of revenue for the Windows Upgrade Offer, Office Upgrade Offer and Pre-sales, and the Entertainment and Devices Division Video Game Deferral, partially offset by the recognition of previously deferred revenue for Windows 8 Pre-sales. The following table reconciles these financial results reported in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) to non-GAAP financial results. We have provided this non-GAAP financial information to aid investors in better understanding the company's performance.

"Our big, bold ambition to reimagine Windows as well as launch Surface and Windows Phone 8 has sparked growing enthusiasm with our customers and unprecedented opportunity and creativity with our partners and developers," said Steve Ballmer, chief executive officer at Microsoft. "With new Windows devices, including Surface Pro, and the new Office on the horizon, we'll continue to drive excitement for the Windows ecosystem and deliver our software through devices and services people love and businesses need."

The Windows Division posted revenue of $5.88 billion, a 24% increase from the prior year period. Adjusting for the net deferral of revenue for the Windows Upgrade Offer and the recognition of the previously deferred revenue from Windows 8 Pre-sales, Windows Division non-GAAP revenue increased 11% for the second quarter. Microsoft has sold over 60 million Windows 8 licenses to date.

"We saw strong growth in our enterprise business driven by multi-year commitments to the Microsoft platform, which positions us well for long-term growth," said Peter Klein, chief financial officer at Microsoft. "Multi-year licensing revenue grew double-digits across Windows, Server & Tools, and the Microsoft Business Division."

The Server & Tools business reported $5.19 billion of revenue, a 9% increase from the prior year period, driven by double-digit percentage revenue growth in SQL Server and System Center.

"We see strong momentum in our enterprise business. With the launch of SQL Server 2012 and Windows Server 2012, we continue to see healthy growth in our data platform and infrastructure businesses and win share from our competitors," said Kevin Turner, chief operating officer at Microsoft. "With the coming launch of the new Office, we will provide a cloud-enabled suite of products that will deliver unparalleled productivity and flexibility."

The Microsoft Business Division posted $5.69 billion of revenue, a 10% decrease from the prior year period. Adjusting for the impact of the Office Upgrade Offer and Pre-sales, Microsoft Business Division non-GAAP revenue increased 3% for the second quarter. Revenue from Microsoft's productivity server offerings – collectively including Lync, SharePoint, and Exchange – continued double-digit percentage growth.

The Online Services Division reported revenue of $869 million, an 11% increase from the prior year period. Online advertising revenue grew 15% driven by an increase in revenue per search.

The Entertainment and Devices Division posted revenue of $3.77 billion, a decrease of 11% from the prior year period. Adjusting for the Video Game Deferral, the division's non-GAAP revenue decreased 2% for the second quarter. Xbox continues to be the top-selling console in the United States. During the quarter, Microsoft launched Windows Phone 8 with a broad array of carriers and devices.

Business Outlook

Microsoft reaffirms fiscal year 2013 operating expense guidance of $30.3 billion to $30.9 billion.

Webcast Details

Peter Klein, chief financial officer, Frank Brod, chief accounting officer, and Chris Suh, general manager of Investor Relations, will host a conference call and webcast at 2:30 p.m. PST (5:30 p.m. EST) today to discuss details of the company's performance for the quarter and certain forward-looking information. The session may be accessed at http://www.microsoft.com/investor. The webcast will be available for replay through the close of business on Jan. 24, 2014.

Adjusted Financial Results and Non-GAAP Measures

For second quarter fiscal year 2013 GAAP revenue, operating income, and earnings per share growth included the net deferral of revenue for the Windows Upgrade Offer, the Office Upgrade Offer and Pre-sales, and the Entertainment and Devices Division Video Game Deferral, and the recognition of previously deferred revenue for Windows 8 Pre-sales. These items are defined in our Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended December 31, 2012. In addition to these financial results reported in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), we have provided certain non-GAAP financial information to aid investors in better understanding the company's performance. Presenting these measures without the impact of these items gives additional insight into operational performance and helps clarify trends affecting the company's business. For comparability of reporting, management considers this information in conjunction with GAAP amounts in evaluating business performance. These non-GAAP financial measures should not be considered as a substitute for, or superior to, the measures of financial performance prepared in accordance with GAAP.

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By: Dilusha On 9:53 AM

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Tumblr web update lets us write posts as we'd see them

Tumblr has no shortage of fans, but its desktop posting interface hasn't exactly embraced the immediacy of the social networking world. A composer redesign pushing out today puts the service squarely in 2013. Its new web interface drops the blog-style editor in favor of laying out content much in the same way that visitors would see it themselves. While the switch-up drops some of the more advanced layout options, it should give a better hint as to what will happen after hitting the "create post" button -- not to mention make more sense in a world of full of fast-updating Instagrams and Paths. Not everyone will see the Tumblr update as of this writing, although it won't be long before everyone is all too literally on the same page.

when.eng("eng.perm.init")

Via: TechCrunch

Source: Tumblr

More Coverage: The Verge

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By: Dilusha On 9:22 AM

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Samsung Korea posts Galaxy S II Jelly Bean update details, but not the release date

Samsung Galaxy S II owners waiting for an update that adds features (instead of taking them away) may not have long to wait, now that support pages for the official Android 4.1 Jelly Bean update -- announced months ago -- have been found on the company's Korean website. Listing details for all three local carriers, the update will arrive via KIES and change the amount of available internal memory from 12GB to 11GB. Other than the usual list of Android 4.1 features, it will also preload the Google+ and some additional Play apps while adding Samsung features like Smart Stay. There's no word yet on exactly when the official update will arrive (or a schedule for rollout on US carrier editions), but once it's out in Korea it shouldn't take much for owners of the GT-I9100 international version to try it out as well.

when.eng("eng.perm.init")

Source: Samsung Korea, XDA-Developers

More Coverage: Sammobile

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By: Dilusha On 11:51 PM

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Gizmodo's 12 Worst Posts of 2012

When you publish about 35,000 stories over the course of a year, a few duds are bound to slip through. We admit it. Not every Gizmodo post was perfect this year.

We've collected a few of our more memorable failures to share with you once more. Re-read, and re-ridicule. And please, suggest any posts that you, as a reader, just found unforgettably awful. We know you won't let us down.

The rest of the internet knew this video of a man flying like a bird was fake. But Jesus defended it. Update after update. He just wanted to believe.

"I think this is a good post with a bad headline," Brian says. "It turned out, I was two weeks off. I still think I was RIGHT. But the headline was enough of an overreach to sink it."

"I just have no idea what I'm talking about in this post," Mario says. "I just wrote the words. I don't know what they mean."

"This was just wrong," Harry says. "It was pure negligence that led to the Bialetti's demise, and then I replaced it with literally the worst coffee maker I could have bought. In fairness, my new coffee-scorching DeLonghi cost $7. But Mat Honan's reaction was appropriate: 'Oh, Jesus, Harry...a DeLonghi?' Fortunately, it has since been replaced by a coffee maker that's even safe for idiots like me."

"So this was a screwup. Yes, I was aware of the security risks you're taking by using WEP security. But I did a shit job of explaining that to everyone else.

I mostly stand by the sentiment that having awful Wi-Fi on a gadget is probably worse, for most of us, than a papier-mache password, if you know the risks, and are secure with that. I didn't explain that fully enough, and then, worse, got defensive about it."

-Kyle Wagner

Michael Hession's confession: "I basically lambasted a company for putting an entirely new and unprecedented feature in their product. Stupid."

Not a bad piece of writing per se—in fact, the tips are all basically valid. But features editor Harry Sawyers nominates this post as one of the year's worst because simply reading it conjured indelible mental images of Sam doing unspeakable things to himself. "It was a really tough edit," Harry says.

Casey wrote a story on the internet talking about how shitty it is to try to write stories on the internet when the internet is acting up. He's a complicated man, Mr. Chan. The explanation: "It was right around the time I was leaving New York which made me a Kyle-Wagnerian grouch when shit wasnt working."

From Eric Limer: "Here's a TOTAL FUCKING DISASTER from me. *sigh*"

It is, at the very least, an impressive use of the strikethrough command.

"Not too proud of this post about a rifle with a flask in the butt," Andrew Liszewski says. "I jumped to the conclusion it was designed to hold alcohol, but according to commenters the flask would have been used for gunpowder. Duh..."

TMZ has drones? We all wanted it to be true. Sadly, it wasn't true. But before we found that out, Leslie had managed slip in a trademark Jason Bourne reference, along with a suggestion that the drones would be used to "catch celebs in action hopefully topless along the French Riviera."

Brent wrote this story in an extremely sleep-deprived state. Immersive reporting is admirable and all, but man, have you ever read something written by a half-dead hack the middle of the night? Gah.

There were, among the errors and typos, some truly inspired phrases, such as: "Old Man Sleep is throwing his 'mallets of tiredness' at you. Well, it's much harder to hit a moving target." That one, we decided to keep—just as long as Brent could paste a picture of Ed Asner's face onto Bowser's body from the original Super Mario Bros. In his worst post of the year, Brent delivered.

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By: Dilusha On 7:22 PM

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National Geographic Is Suspending Posts on Instagram Because of Instagram's New Icky Terms of Service

This story will display in ...Dec 18, 2012 7:20 PM  

Though Instagram has backpedaled a bit on whether or not it will sell your Instagram photos to advertisers, people are generally wary to trust a company backed by Facebook when it comes to privacy. National Geographic, a company who has a real reason to be sorta ticked off at all this since its pictures are actually good, has decided to suspend posts to Instagram.

In a post on Instagram (heh), National Geographic said:

@NatGeo is suspending new posts to Instagram. We are very concerned with the direction of the proposed new terms of service and if they remain as presented we may close our account.

Hopefully more big name Instagram accounts follow suit. Or maybe you'll close down your Instagram account in solidarity. Either way, as word spreads of Instagram's changes, the more unhappy the mob gets and the better chance for new good change (as opposed to the new bad change). That's the hope anyway.

Oh and thanks a lot Facebook for bungling Instagram. You ass. We should've known. [Instagram via @NickBilton]

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By: Dilusha On 12:11 AM

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Drunk Twitter and Facebook users to avoid trial over offensive posts

New guidelines will see less prosecutions

New CPS guidelines will seek to cut the number of people who face prosecution over offensive social networking posts.

The new mandate, set out by the UK's Director of Public Prosecutions Kier Starmer said only those whose Twitter and Facebook posts that go beyond offensive will be brought to trial.

The CPS still wants people who make threats of violence, send out and retweet malicious messages, or breach court orders to face prosecution.

However, under the new interim guidelines, drunk social networkers who post offensive comments, but apologise and delete the comments after sobering up are likely to avoid action.

The new guidelines, Mr Starmer said, aim to strike the right balance between free speech and ensuring posts stay within the law.

He said: "These interim guidelines are intended to strike the right balance between freedom of expression and the need to uphold the criminal law.

"The interim guidelines thus protect the individual from threats or targeted harassment while protecting the expression of unpopular or unfashionable opinion about serious or trivial matters, or banter or humour, even if distasteful to some and painful to those subjected to it."

The new guidelines follow a number of recent high profile cases, including the arrest of a Twitter troll who mocked Olympic diver Tom Daley over the death of his father.

There was also the row over the picture of a burning poppy posted on Facebook.

Via BBC

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By: Dilusha On 9:50 PM

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MediaPortal posts 2.0 alpha media hub and new remote apps, teases 1.3 beta with Titan

MediaPortal posts 2.0 alpha media hub and new remote apps, teases 1.3 beta with Titan data = {blogUrl: "www.engadget.com",v: 220};when = {jquery: lab.scriptBs("jquery"),plugins: lab.scriptBs("plugins"),eng: lab.scriptBs("eng")}; var s265prop9 = ('20389827' !== '') ? 'bsd:20389827' : ''; var modalMNo = '93319229'; when.eng("eng.omni.init", {pfxID:"weg",pageName:document.title,server:"",channel:"us.engadget",pageType:"",linkInternalFilters:"javascript:,engadget.com,joystiq.com,massively.com,tuaw.com,switched.com,techcrunch.com",prop1:"Engadget",prop2:"",prop9:s265prop9,prop12:document.location,prop17:"",prop18:"",prop19:"",prop20:"",mmxgo: true,disablepipath:true,mmxtitle:"us.engadget" + " : "}); adSendTerms('1')adSetMOAT('1');adSetAdURL('/_uac/adpagem.html');lab._script("http://o.aolcdn.com/os/ads/adhesion/js/adhads-min.js").wait(function(){var floatingAd = new AdhesiveAd("10000669",{hideOnSwipe:true});}); EngadgetMenuReviewsEventsPodcasts Engadget ShowBuyers GuidesFeaturesVideosGalleriesTopicsHD Mobile Alt Announcements Cameras Cellphones Desktops Displays Gaming GPS Handhelds Home Entertainment Household Internet Laptops Meta Misc Networking Peripherals Podcasts Robots Portable Audio/Video Science Software Storage Tablets Transportation Wearables Wireless Acer Amazon AMD Apple ASUS AT&T Canon Dell Facebook Google HP HTC Intel Lenovo LG Microsoft Nikon Nintendo Nokia NVIDIA RIM Samsung Sony Sprint T-Mobile Verizon About UsSubscribeLike Engadget@engadgettip uswhen.eng("eng.nav.init")when.eng("eng.tips.init") MediaPortal posts 2.0 alpha media hub and new remote apps, teases 1.3 beta with Titan HDByJon FingaspostedNov 28th, 2012 at 1:57 AM 0

Home theater PC owners only just recovering from their turkey or tofu comas will have some updating to do -- MediaPortal has been busy. The experimenters among us will most likely want to jump straight into the promised MediaPortal 2.0 Alpha Autumn, which carries new visual layouts and video backgrounds, a news plug-in and a party-friendly music player. New versions of remote tools like aMPdroid, MPExtended, WebMediaPortal and WifiRemote bring their own slew of upgrades, such as HTTP Live Streaming in MPExtended or a "what's new" interface in aMPdroid. We'll readily admit that our eye is most drawn to the yet-to-be-launched MediaPortal 1.3 beta's addition of the Titan skin you see up above: going beyond what we saw in October, the extra-polished look goes a long way towards accommodating newcomers and the style-conscious. We're still waiting on publicly accessible 1.3 beta code, but everything else is waiting for open-source media hubs at the included links.

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Via: Missing Remote

Source: MediaPortal (1), (2), (3)

Tags: alpha, beta, hdpostcross, hdpostmini, htpc, HttpLiveStreaming, mediaportal, minipost, open-source, opensource, remote

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