With 3D Printing, the Future Is Now.
Although it has been around for nearly 30 years, 3D printing is just now
coming into its own. This past week the industry was represented in New
York City at the Inside 3D Printing Conference and Expo. 3D designers
and enthusiasts at the conference were able to find everything from a
hobbyist’s printer for under $500 to a massive commercial machine with a
price tag of well over half a million dollars. And the possibilities in this space appear to be infinite.
In a presentation at the
conference, Scott McGowan, VP of marketing at Solid Concepts Inc.,
outlined several uses for 3D printing that the casual consumer may not
have known existed. For just a few examples, Solid Concepts has created
prototypes that will decrease the noise from airplane engines; printed a
model that helped the crew of the international space station test a
way to refuel satellites in mid-orbit; and fabricated fuel tanks for
planes that can fit inside a wing or in other tight spaces.
Could 3D printing save your life?
Andy Christensen is the president of Medical Modeling Inc. The
company's focus is on creating three-dimensional X-rays, which can then
be used to make replacement body parts, including, for one, a “physical
replica of someone’s hip.” In addition to often working better for the
patient, creating a personalized replacement saves a lot of time and
money in the surgical process.
There’s a whole other side of medical 3D printing as well: printing
internal organs. This arm of the industry takes cultured cells and aims
to create human tissue for organs such as livers and lungs. The days of
saving a patient with a failing liver using their own cells aren’t here
just yet but Keith Murphy, CEO of bioprinting firm Organovo, says
someday this may be commonplace.
In the meantime, his firm is working on producing cells to help drug
companies test and develop new medications. For instance, Organovo can
produce a one-millimeter-thick layer of liver cells and then test new
drugs for liver failure before they are ever introduced to a living
human. In addition, the company can produce diseases in cells that allow
doctors to develop new drugs without having to find a patient afflicted
with the disease. Murphy hopes the technology his firm is developing
can eventually be put into the hands of some of the world's leading
medical researchers.
3D printing and the consumer
While many of the companies gathered at this week's expo were geared
more toward corporate, industrial or medical clients, there were still
some eye-catching exhibits for the average Joe.
Most notable among
these is Mcor. While other companies are perfecting the use of plastic
and metal materials, the Mcor Iris printer uses the same printer paper
you use at home or the office. With a price tag closing in on
$50,000,the giant machine won’t be in too many American homes in the
near future. But thanks to a deal with office supply giant Staples (SPLS), consumers will be able to see what it can do.
Conor MacCormack is the co-founder and CEO of Mcor. He hopes that,
within the next year, shoppers will be able to upload a 3D image and,
for about $30, get a fully detailed 3D rendering ready for pick-up at
their local Staples store. It’s this model that MacCormack thinks will
lead 3D printing to the average consumer. “I think the bigger market is
gonna be for people getting low-cost prints,” he says, as opposed to
owning an actual 3D printer.
MacCormack admits
using paper has its limits. While other companies are branching out and
printing metals and polymers that can withstand heat and pressure to be
used in cars and heavy machinery, Mcor is happy to take a different
route. "The plastic [used in other 3Dprinters] per volume is more
expensive than gold,” MacCormack notes. “So that prevents the ‘what if
scenario,’ prevents the designers from printing four or five designs
overnight.”
He adds that, right now, 3D printing won’t replace
traditional manufacturing. Injection molding, for instance, can produce
thousands of products a day; MacCormack says 3D printing just isn’t
close to matching that output yet. The limits of the technology have
therefore dictated the company’s focus.
Source:-http://finance.yahoo.com/news/with-3d-printing--the-future-is-now-213431879.html;_ylt=Avvo5L0sMhqvfw5uTIue6C2iuYdG;_ylu=X3oDMTNya2lkYjYxBG1pdANGUCBUb3AgU3RvcnkgTGVmdARwa2cDOTJhM2VhMjAtMWI4MC0zNGEyLThhNTQtZjEyZmY1NDgzMjMxBHBvcwMxBHNlYwN0b3Bfc3RvcnkEdmVyAzU1NjdjODUzLWFlZDgtMTFlMi1hZGZiLWJkZTk0NTY4YjVlYQ--;_ylg=X3oDMTFkcW51ZGliBGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRwc3RhaWQDBHBzdGNhdANob21lBHB0A3BtaA--;_ylv=3
Apple's iPhone disappointment fans doubt on growth
Apple Inc missed Wall Street's revenue forecast for the third straight quarter after iPhone sales came in below expectations, fanning fears that its dominance of consumer electronics is slipping.
Shares of the world's largest tech company fell 10 percent to $463 in after-hours trade, wiping out some $50 billion of its market value - nearly equivalent to that of Hewlett-Packard and Dell combined.
On Wednesday, Apple said it shipped a record 47.8 million iPhones in the December quarter, up 29 percent from a year earlier. But that lagged the 50 million that analysts on average had projected.
Expectations heading into the results had been subdued by news of possible production cutbacks by some component suppliers in Asia, triggering fears that demand for the iPhone, which accounts for half of Apple's revenue, and the iPad could be slowing.
But some investors clung to hopes for a repeat of years of historical outperformance, analysts said.
"It's going to call into question Apple's dominance in the space. It's still one of the strong players, the others being Samsung and Google. It's still a two-horse race, but Android continues to grow rapidly," said Sterne Agee analyst Shaw Wu.
"If you step back a bit, it's clear they shipped a lot of phones. But the problem is the high expectations that investors have. Apple's conservative guidance highlights the concerns over production cuts coming out of Asia recently."
Apple is forecasting revenue of $41 billion to $43 billion in the current, second fiscal quarter, lagging the average Wall Street forecast of more than $45 billion.
Fiscal first-quarter revenue rose 18 percent to $54.5 billion, below the average analyst estimate of $54.73 billion, though earnings per share of $13.81 beat the Street forecast of $13.47, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Apple also undershot revenue targets in the previous two quarters, and these results will prompt more questions on what Apple has in its product pipeline, and what it can do to attract new sales and maintain its growth trajectory, analysts said.
Net income of $13.07 billion was virtually flat with $13.06 billion a year earlier on higher manufacturing costs. The year-ago quarter also had an extra week compared to this year.
Gross margins consequently slid to 38.6 percent, from 44.7 percent previously.
"You can't just keep rolling out iPhones and iPads and think that everybody needs a new one," said Jeffrey Gundlach, who runs DoubleLine Capital LP, the $53 billion bond firm. "The mini? What is that all about? It is a slightly smaller iPad — so what? So that is our new definition of innovation?"
"There are plenty of competitors like Samsung and other legitimate competitors like them," added Gundlach, one of the highest-profile Apple bears. He maintains a $425 price target.
Taking into account the drop in shares in Wednesday's after-hours trading, Apple's stock is now down 34 percent from its September record high and the company has lost about $227 billion in market value.
Shares of several of Apple's suppliers crumbled. Chip suppliers Skyworks and Cirrus Logic both fell more than 6 percent. Qualcomm Inc slipped 1.8 percent.
CHINA IS NEXT BIG GROWTH DRIVER
Intense competition from Samsung's cheaper phones - powered by Google's Android software - and signs that the premium smartphone market may be close to saturation in developed markets have also caused a lot of investor anxiety.
Meanwhile, sales of the iPad came in at 22.9 million in the fiscal first quarter, roughly in line with forecasts.
On the brighter side, Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer told Reuters that iPhone sales more than doubled in greater China - a region that Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook has vowed to focus on as its next big growth driver.
The company will begin detailing results from that country going forward. Revenue from the region totaled $7.3 billion, up 60 percent from the year-ago December quarter.
"These results were OK, but they definitely raised a few questions," said Shannon Cross, analyst with Cross Research. "Gross margin trajectory looks fine so that's a positive and cash continues to grow. But I think investors are going to want to know what Apple plans to do with growing cash balance."
"And other questions are going to be around innovation and where the next products are coming from and what does Tim Cook see in the next 12 to 18 months."
ADDRESSING PRODUCTION RUMORS
In an unusual move for Apple, which typically does not respond to speculation, Cook addressed the production cutback rumors at length on the conference call and questioned the accuracy of rumors about its plans.
Media reports earlier this month said the company is slashing orders for iPhone 5 and iPad screens and other components from its Asian suppliers.
"Even if a particular data point were factual, it would be impossible to accurately interpret the data point as to what it meant for our overall business, because the supply chain is very complex," he said, adding that Apple has multiple sources for components.
"Yields might vary. Supplier performance can vary. The beginning inventory positions can vary. There's just an inordinately long list of things that would make any single data point not a great proxy for what's going on," he said.
Apple's initial iPhone and iPad mini sales were hurt by supply constraints, but Cook expects supply to balance demand for the iPad mini this quarter. He also acknowledged that iPad was cannibalizing its high-margin Macintosh computers, but said it was a huge opportunity for the company.
"On iPad in particular, we have the mother of all opportunities here, because the Windows market is much, much larger than the Mac market is," he said. "And I think it is clear that it's already cannibalizing some."
In another departure from tradition, Apple intends to tweak the way it both reports results and publishes forecasts.
Apart from breaking out results from China, the company also will no longer provide a single revenue or gross margin outlook. From Wednesday, it began providing the range it expects to hit, rather than the often-ludicrously conservative estimates that Apple was once notorious for.
The new policy took many by surprise.
"Before people could always ignore the guidance," said Dan Niles, Chief Investment Officer of AlphaOne Capital Partners, LLC. "Apple is telling investors that they need to pay attention to the guidance and you can't ignore it, which is basically what we all did in the past."
Google's fourth-quarter results shine after ad rate decline slows
Revenue from Google Inc's core Internet business outpaced many analysts' expectations during the crucial holiday quarter and advertising rates fell less than in previous periods, pushing its shares up roughly 5 percent.
The world's largest Internet search company introduced new product listings during the fourth quarter - typically its strongest - and also benefited from business growth in international markets, analysts said.
Excluding traffic-acquisition costs, the business generated net revenue of $9.83 billion, up from $8.13 billion a year earlier, Google reported on Tuesday. That surpassed a $9.6 billion average forecast from six analysts polled by Reuters.
"Business looked really strong, especially from a profitability perspective. They really grew their margins in the core business," said Sameet Sinha, an analyst with B. Riley Caris. "Most of that strength seems to be coming from international markets which grew revenues quite substantially: up 23 percent year over year, versus the 15 percent growth in the third quarter."
Average cost-per-click, a critical metric that denotes the price advertisers pay Google, declined 6 percent from a year ago, the fifth consecutive quarter of decline but an improvement over the third quarter's 15 percent slide.
Google executives told analysts on a conference call that policy changes related to the quality and quantity of ads appearing on certain of its Web properties had helped shore-up click prices while lowering the overall growth rate of paid clicks in the holiday quarter.
"Click prices are still declining, but it's better than expected," said BGC Partners analyst Colin Gillis.
The decline in Google's click prices is partly a result of consumers' shift to smartphones, where Google's ad rates are lower than those on Google's standard website.
Google cited growing demand for its spectrum of online advertising services, including mobile ads, display ads, video ads and its newly-launched product listings, though the company did not provide specific financial results for the individual businesses.
"More small enterprises increasing their spending collectively on Google's various products," continues to drive Google's growth, said Pivotal Research Group Analyst Brian Wieser.
Source:- http://finance.yahoo.com/news/googles-fourth-quarter-results-shine-012729571.html
BOJ easing spurs volatile yen, Nikkei trading; Asian shares up
The yen and Japanese equities were volatile on Tuesday after the Bank of Japan took bold easing measures, while other Asian stock markets posted modest gains.
The BOJ on Tuesday doubled its inflation target to 2 percent and adopted an open-ended commitment to buy assets, surprising markets that had expected another incremental increase in its 101 trillion yen asset-buying and lending program.
"It was more or less within market expectations and was not disappointing. But it also didn't top expectations because there was speculation that the BOJ would do all it can, including removing the 0.1 percent floor on short term interest rates," said Hiroshi Maeba, head of FX trading Japan at UBS in Tokyo.
"Initial market reaction shows there are still players who want to short the yen, and the BOJ's decision today clears the way for further dollar/yen buying. I think the dollar may hit 95 yen by March," he said, adding that for now, the dollar/yen was likely to trade in ranges.
Japan's benchmark Nikkei average (.N225) surged as much as 0.8 percent before trimming all gains to fall 0.6 percent. Tokyo shares have been rising in tandem with the yen's slide against major currencies on expectations for bolder BOJ steps. The Nikkei tumbled 1.5 percent on Monday after investors booked profits from the index's 2.9 percent rally on Friday. (.T)
The dollar rose as high as 90.18 yen, but was last trading down 0.5 percent at 89.18 yen. It touched a fresh 2-1/2-year high of 90.25 on Monday. The euro rose to 120.18, but recently down 0.5 percent at 118.94 yen. The euro hit its peak since May 2011 of 120.73 on Friday.
There has been a perception in markets that even if investors rooting for much bolder BOJ steps cut their yen short positions in disappointment over the ultimate outcome, the yen's rebound was likely to be limited relative to its 13 percent decline against the dollar and a 20 percent drop versus the euro over the past two months. Such views were fed by expectations the BOJ will continue to aggressively ease monetary policy to drive Japan out of years of deflation and support the economy.
The MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan <.MIAPJ0000PUS> was up 0.2 percent. The index was pulled down on Monday after briefly touching 17-1/2-month highs as Malaysian stocks suffered their biggest drop in 16 months on election risks.
POSITIVE FACTORS EMERGE
Overall market sentiment was likely to remain supported by signs of a compromise to avert a U.S. fiscal crisis and hopes for a recovery in global growth following last week's positive data from the world's top two economies, the United States and China.
European shares rose on Monday near two-year highs, with investors betting on an improving economy in Europe. Wall Street was closed for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
Republican leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives have scheduled a vote on Wednesday on a nearly four-month extension of U.S. borrowing capacity, aimed at avoiding a fight over the looming federal debt ceiling and shifting their negotiating leverage for spending cuts to other fiscal deadlines.
London copper climbed 0.7 percent to $8,115 a ton on growing confidence in the strength of China's economic recovery ahead of an early gauge of manufacturing activity this week, while BOJ easing has also stoked investor appetite for risk.
U.S. crude futures steadied around $95.59 a barrel while Brent futures edged up 0.3 percent to $112. (O/R)
Gold was up 0.2 percent to $1,692.60 an ounce on a fresh round of easing from the BOJ. (GOL/)
Community Colleges: Higher Ed, Lower Cost
Giovanny Martinez didn't enroll in a community college because he was worried about paying for his education. After four years in the Marine Corps, he had the GI Bill to cover his costs.
Instead, he did it because he needed a new kind of training -- on how to be a student again. The time that the 25-year-old native of Colombia spent in uniform meant he'd gotten out of the habit of studying and test-taking, and that's why he's now at Brookhaven College in Farmers Branch, Texas.
"I came here because it's been probably more than five years since I stepped in a classroom, since high school," says Martinez, who's eying a career in physical therapy. "So [community] college, for me, I thought it was a step into education. So it will get me into a process, will get me used to a university."
Like Martinez, millions of Americans are choosing community college -- and for nearly as many reasons. In addition to being cheaper and shorter than traditional four-year universities, community colleges offer degrees in vocations with a more practical bent, including automotive technology, business administration, computer information systems and nursing.
Community college enrollment makes up a sizable chunk of higher education in the U.S. The American Association of Community Colleges represents 1,132 community colleges, and students at these schools were 44% of the entire U.S. population of undergraduates in 2009. These colleges have been around for decades, but as millions of workers remain unemployed, many available jobs go unfilled and the cost of a post-high school education balloons, they're being viewed in new ways.
Martinez, for example, is among the almost 13,000 credit-seeking and 8,000 continuing education students at Brookhaven, whose campus is located just northwest of Dallas. The college, founded in 1978, is one of seven members of the Dallas County Community College District (DCCCD). As is the case with community colleges across the country, Brookhaven offers classes for first- and second-year students that can go toward an associate degree or a transfer to a bachelor's program. Along with general college courses, it has a host of technical and professional programs for students who want to learn a skill and get to work quickly.
"You have the students who come in absolutely focused," says Dr. Thom Chesney, Brookhaven's president. "They sit down with an adviser. They know what they want to do. They talk to a faculty member, then they fine-tune that" to create their own path.
