“Mobile chipmaker Qualcomm has a track record of pushing new capabilities into its chips faster than its competitors in a bid to carve out a bigger chunk of the market. Last year, for instance, its LTE Snapdragon processor helped it to take a 48 per cent revenue share in H1 (Strategy Analytics‘ figure), helping to drive more LTE handsets into the market which in turn accelerated the rate of 4G adoption.

The company made an interesting acquisition last November, buying some of the assets of an Israeli company called EPOS which makes digital ultrasound technology. Ultrasound may seem an odd technology to push into consumer electronics but Qualcomm clearly sees it as another differentiator for its chips, thanks to its potential to offer some novel additions to the user interface space — both for stylus-based inputs and even touch-less interfaces like gestures.

Discussing Qualcomm’s interest in ultrasound at the Mobile World Congress tradeshow in Barcelona, Raj Talluri, SVP of Product Management, explained that to put the technology to work in mobile devices an ultrasound transmitter could be located in a stylus, with microphones sited on the mobile device that can then detect the position of the pen.

Samsung has already included a capacitive stylus with its Galaxy Note phablet but Talluri said an ultrasound-based stylus would extend the capabilities — allowing a stylus to be used off-screen, say on the table top next to where your phone is resting, and still have its input detected.

“It’s is better [than a capacitive stylus] in some key different ways which we’re working on getting to market – for example you could write here [on the table next to the phone] and it will still detect where it is. So let’s say you have a [paper] notepad… and you have a phone [nearby on the table] and you can start writing on your notepad it will actually also be transcribed into text on the phone because what happens is the ultrasound can be used to calibrate any reasonable distance,” he told TechCrunch.,,,”

Full article

SOURCE

NYSE

NASDAQ

AMEX

“NEW YORK (Reuters) – JPMorgan Chase & Co said on Tuesday that it plans to cut 17,000 jobs by the end of 2014, representing about 6.6 percent of the company’s overall workforce, as the bank sheds staff that helped it deal with bad home loans.

The bank is optimistic that it can generate record income this year and is planning to add 4,000employees in commercial and investment banking and credit cards to help it win business, bank executives said at an investor conference.

That hiring will be more than offset by job cuts in areas like mortgage servicing and retail banking, where the bank is positioning for a recovering housing market and new forms of branch banking. The net impact of the additions and cuts will be 17,000 fewer employees on the bank’s payrolls.

The job cuts reflect the pressure that banks are under, even as the U.S. housing market and overall economy show signs of recovery. Many banks are looking to automate more of their businesses to make their staff more productive and improve profits.

For example, at JPMorgan’s branches, where it plans to cut about 6,000 tellers and other employees, the bank hopes customers will use automated teller machines for every day transactions and that remaining staff can focus on higher-margin activities like selling wealth management services….”

Full article

“Twitter has announced that Twitter for Firefox OS will be available in the Firefox Marketplace when devices powered by Mozilla’s new operating system start to ship.

According to the company, Twitter for Firefox OS will be similar to its other mobile apps, with the same Home, Connect, Discover, and Me tabs, as well as search and compose Tweet icons. One feature that is unique to the Firefox OS Twitter app is Web Activities, which will let users tweet photos directly out of any app that also supports Web activity, including Firefox OS’ built-in photos app….”

Full article

“Apple was issued a couple of interesting new patents today (spotted by AppleInsider), including one that could make an iPhone aware of changes in a user’s situation, and alter phone settings accordingly. That would make for a mobile phone that might be able to automatically switch to silent mode when in a movie theatre, for instance, or which could wake from sleep upon being pulled out of a pocket.

The patent was originally designed to apply to iPod devices way back in the days of the click wheel controller, but it has been amended to account for wireless mobile devices like the iPhone. The whole point of the invention is to limit GUI requirements for certain functions, and to instead use a device’s sensors, combined with a “situational awareness module” to trigger changes to things like audio settings, music playback and more.

It’s a tech that sounds like it could easily go wrong; you obviously wouldn’t want your iPhone screen locking when a set of conditions are met that, while similar to another situation, actually isn’t the same one. But you can also see the advantages: Already, Siri can be set to activate when you bring the iPhone to your head. Imagine if other functions, like composing an email, could be auto-triggered via similar functions, like gripping the phone with two hands horizontally as if to begin typing. And an auto-lock function when you slide your phone into a pocket would actually add a lot of convenience in the aggregate, even if it seems like a small thing at first.

Another patent issued to Apple today by the USPTO describes a way for iPhones to share their location data with secondary, external devices, or vice versa. The system could be used in tandem with a standalone GPS module to help your Wi-Fi-only iPod touch become a fully functional navigation device when you get into a car, for instance. But the more interesting potential behind this patent lies in how it might be applied to an iWatch….”

Full article

“A federal judge on Monday ordered formerGoldman Sachs Group director Rajat Gupta to reimburse $6.22 million to the bank to help cover its legal expenses related to his criminal insider trading case.

Goldman had sought to recover $6.91 million from Gupta, and U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff said the bank had proved it was entitled to 90 percent of what it requested.

Gupta is appealing his June 15, 2012 conviction and two-year prison term for leaking boardroom secrets to Raj Rajaratnam, the hedge-fund manager at the center of a multi-year U.S. government crackdown on insider trading.

Goldman had sought to recover the fees it had paid its law firm Sullivan & Cromwell in connection with the case and related matters, citing the federal Mandatory Victims Restitution Act, which requires restitution in some fraud cases.

Gupta had opposed making restitution but Rakoff, who presided over his criminal trial, said nearly all of what Goldman sought was a “necessary, direct, and foreseeable result of the investigation and prosecution of Gupta’s offense of conviction and thus well within the statute’s coverage.”

Rakoff said Goldman could also recover legal costs linked to a related U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission civil case against Gupta, and to the criminal case against Rajaratnam.

But Goldman did not deserve all it sought, the judge said…..”

Full article

“JPMorgan Chase became the latest Wall Street firm to scale back in an uncertain economy, announcing plans Tuesday to save $1 billion through various costs cuts and about 4,000 job reductions.

The bank, struggling to emerge from the shadow of a trading scandal known as the “London Whale” affair that dealt the firm ts biggest ever trading loss, also issued a stark warning about the rising costs of regulation.

A frequent critic of efforts to increase oversight on Wall Street, JPMorgan said that new red tape could cost up to 10 percent of market revenues. However, the financial services giant cautioned that the effects of the Volker Rule won’t be seen for at least two to three years. JPMorgan also said it plans to add 200 more branches by 2014.

The bank stated it would reduce headcount in its mortgage banking unit by between 13,000 to 15,000 by the end of 2014. Most of these employees are considered contractual and hourly workers, and not full-time, the bank said.

“The biggest challenges we face are from regulatory issues,” said Marianne Lake, JPMorgan’s CFO, speaking at CNBC’s Global CFO Council. She added that the planned cuts would be driven by savings in its mortgage unit, during a period when the U.S. housing sector has shown fairly steady improvement from the post- 2008 meltdown.

JPMorgan’s cost-saving efforts come at a time when its key rivals are also moving to adjust to a volatile global economy. Goldman Sachs is reportedly preparing a round of job cuts; meanwhile, beleaguered financial behemothCitigroupannounced its own massive restructuring plans last year…..”

Full article

SOURCE

NYSE 

NASDAQ

AMEX

“(Reuters) – Goldman Sachs Group Inc will begin its annual job cutting process as early as this week, sources familiar with the matter said on Monday, with its equities-trading business bracing for bigger cuts than fixed-income trading.

The bank usually culls out the weakest 5 percent of its employees around now. But the cuts will likely be deeper in some businesses, particularly equities trading, where volumes and earnings are weak. The number of shares traded on major U.S. exchanges so far this year is down 7.2 percent.

Fixed-income trading at Goldman, which took big hits last year but has had better volumes this year, will likely see cuts of less than 5 percent, the sources said.

In totality, cuts across the company will be roughly in line with Goldman’s typical 5 percent culling and are not part of a bigger cost-cutting plan, one source said.

“As market activity has picked up in certain areas, we remain focused on prudently managing expenses and allocating resources to ensure we are best able to meet our clients’ needs and generate good returns for our shareholders,” said Goldman spokesman David Wells, who declined to comment on layoffs.

The cuts underscore how even as Wall Street shows some signs of recovering, banks are looking to thin their ranks to boost profitability.

Morgan Stanley, Bank of America Corp, Citigroup Inc, and UBS AG, have been cutting staff for the past few years, after revenue has been under pressure in multiple businesses. Regulations, meanwhile, are increasing banks’ costs….”

Full article

“Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc Chief Executive Officer Stephen Hester is being pressed by the U.K. government to sell more assets and bolster capital as the Treasury tries to recoup some of its 45.5 billion-pound ($68.9 billion) investment in the bailed-out lender.

RBS (RBS) will this week announce plans to sell a stake in Citizens Financial Group Inc. and shrink assets at its investment-bank by as much as 30 billion pounds, said a person with knowledge of the plans, who asked not to be identified because the matter is private. As recently as August, Hester said he didn’t intend to sell the U.S. consumer and commercial lender it acquired in 1988.

“RBS is clearly under pressure from the government to shrink and make the bank much simpler,” said Ian Gordon, an analyst at Investec Plc (INVP) in London, who values Citizens at about 8 billion pounds and has a sell rating on the stock. “Regulators seem to be saying that RBS needs to raise capital.”

Hester, 52, has cut assets by more than 800 billion pounds, eliminated 36,000 jobs and scaled back RBS’s securities unit since he took over from Fred Goodwin in 2008. The shares are still little more than half the price the government paid for its 81 percent stake when it rescued RBS during the financial crisis, the biggest bank bailout ever.

Post Loss…”

Full article

“Five years after their record- setting leveraged buyout of Energy Future Holdings Corp., KKR & Co. and TPG Capital are moving closer to a possible new milestone: the biggest bankruptcy of a private equity-backed company since the failure of Chrysler Group LLC.

Texas Competitive Electric Holdings, the utility’s wholesale power unit, faces an October 2014 deadline on the maturity of a portion of its loans. Informal restructuring talks already have taken place, according to two people with knowledge of the matter. Senior lenders — including Franklin Resources Inc., Apollo Global Management LLC, Oaktree Capital Group LLC and GSO Capital Partners — probably would seek to seize the unit if there is a bankruptcy, said one creditor, who asked not to be identified because the process is private.

The buyout of Energy Future, the Dallas-based company formerly known as TXU Corp., in 2007 for $48 billion marked the peak of a private-equity boom that went bust a year later with the onset of the financial crisis. A bankruptcy would wipe out much of the $8.3 billion investment made by buyers including KKR, TPG and Goldman Sachs Capital Partners in what was the biggest LBO in history. It would be the highest-profile private equity-backed company to go under since Chrysler was bailed out by the U.S. government in 2009….”

Full article

* Sturm Ruger, Smith & Wesson to report quarterly results

* Gun sales strong as buyers rush to beat gun-control proposals

* Some investors cool after Newtown shootings

By Arpita Mukherjee and Siddharth Cavale

“Feb 25 (Reuters) – U.S. gun makers are aiming for record quarterly sales as first-time buyers, including a growing number of women and pensioners, rush to buy weapons before anticipated gun-control laws come into force.

President Barack Obama’s proposals to curb gun violence in the United States, including enhanced background checks and a ban on military-style assault weapons, have increased political and investor scrutiny on gun companies accustomed to growth.

But Smith & Wesson Corp and Sturm Ruger Inc , which will report quarterly results within the next two weeks, brushed off negative sentiment after the Newtown, Connecticut school shootings on Dec. 14. Shares recovered and sales never stopped.

“The firearms industry is certainly seeing explosive sales growth in the last several months,” Wedbush Securities analyst Rommel Dionisio told Reuters.

Background checks for firearm sales, mandatory for all purchases made at U.S. gun stores, rose nearly 50 percent year-on-year in December, data from the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System showed.

This was the highest monthly percentage rise ever reported for a measurement commonly used to gauge the firearm industry’s performance. It eclipsed the 30.8 percent rise of November 2012….”

Full article

“Cars sales should surge again in February, as the annual rate reaches closer to the record levels of 2005 and 2006. Nothing — not even higher gas prices — can block the relentless demand for new cars. That is, of course, if the economy cooperates, which it may not.

According to research firm Edmunds, car sales this month should be so good that they can be used to estimate total 2013 U.S. sales at 15.5 million. The technical name for the calculation is the Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate (SAAR).

The firm released this comment when it announced its forecast:

“Car sales are persevering despite economic factors on people’s minds like rising gas prices and the implementation of the payroll tax,” says Edmunds.com Senior Analyst Jessica Caldwell. “Pent-up demand and widespread access to credit are keeping up car sales momentum.” …”

Read more

“Another big implosion is taking place in the world of biotech and biohealth. Affymax Inc. (NASDAQ: AFFY) and Takeda Pharmaceutical announced over the weekend that they are going to voluntarily recall all lots of the Omontys injection to the user level as a result of new postmarketing reports regarding serious hypersensitivity reactions.

The reaction cited was anaphylaxis, which can be life-threatening or fatal. The companies have worked actively with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which has indicated its agreement with this decision. The companies also have issued a letter to health care professionals indicating that no new or existing patients should receive Omontys.

Affymax said that fatal reactions have been reported in approximately 0.02% of patients following the first dose of intravenous administration. These serious hypersensitivity reactions occurred within 30 minutes after such administration of Omontys. The companies said that there have been no reports of such reactions following subsequent dosing, or in patients who have completed their dialysis session….”
Read more

“BEIJING KFC launched a campaign Monday to rebuild its battered brand in China, promising tighter quality control after a scandal over misuse of drugs by its poultry suppliers.

The company, a unit of Yum Brands Inc. (YUM), promised to test meat for banned drugs, strengthen oversight of farmers and encourage them to improve their technology. It said more than 1,000 small producers used by its 25 poultry suppliers have been eliminated from its network.

KFC, which is China’s biggest fast-food chain with more than 4,000 outlets, was hit hard when state television reported in December that some suppliers violated rules on the use of drugs to fatten chickens. The company estimates January sales plunged 37 percent.

“Starting now, we will stress strict management and the principle of zero tolerance in food safety,” Sam Sun, the chairman of Yum Restaurants China, said at a news conference. “We will immediately drop any supplier that lacks the determination or the ability to manage breeding well.”

The complaint against KFC was less serious than other product scandals in China over the past decade in which infants, hospital patients and others have been killed by phony or adulterated milk powder, drugs and other goods. But KFC’s high profile attracted attention, and its status as a foreign company with less political influence meant Chinese media could publicize its troubles more freely.

Yum, based in Louisville, Kentucky, said it expects sales in China to tumble by up to 25 percent in the current quarter. The company also owns Pizza Hut and Taco Bell.

Chen Hao, a stock market analyst who was having lunch at an outlet of the Japanese chain Yoshinoya in Shanghai, said Monday the KFC scandal soured him on the whole fast food industry….”

Full article

NYSE

NASDAQ

AMEX

“HONG KONG—New York-based Pfizer Inc., PFE -0.11% the world’s largest drug company, plans to forge more alliances in China as pharmaceutical companies combat shrinking margins in one of the world’s fastest-growing health-care markets.

“We’re open for collaboration,” said Wu Xiaobing, Pfizer’s country manager for China, noting that he is looking for partnerships in the research, manufacturing and marketing of drugs. “If we were alone, it would take such a long time to make our drugs accessible to patients.”

Foreign drug makers are increasingly turning to local partners to expand their access in China, among Asia’s most promising pharmaceutical markets. They are also facing a big wave of patent expirations globally.

Pfizer already has a joint venture in the world’s second-largest economy with Zhejiang Hisun Pharmaceuticals to develop generic drugs, which dominate China’s pharmaceutical sales. Pfizer also has a minority investment in Shanghai Pharmaceuticals Holding Co., 601607.SH -1.03% one of China’s largest drug distributors, and its animal health division has a JV with China’s Jilin Guoyuan Animal Health Co. for animal vaccines.

Meanwhile, Merck & Co MRK +1.09% ., the world’s second-largest drug company, recently formed a joint venture with China’s Simcere Pharmaceutical GroupSCR +0.63% to develop and sell drugs.

“You can expect to see more momentum going forward,” said Jin Wang, a Shanghai-based partner at McKinsey & Co. “Both multinationals and locals are excited by the growth potential in this market, and they are all facing limitations in terms of their portfolio and capabilities, so they’re teaming up.”

As local companies become fiercer competitors, joining with them is also appealing because of their in-depth knowledge of the China market, according to Mr. Wu….”

Full article

“NEW YORK (Reuters) – General Motors Co has chosen AT&T Inc to provide high-speed wireless service for its 2015 car models, dropping its long-term provider Verizon Wireless.

OnStar – best known for connecting drivers to live operators who provide directions or summon emergency help after an accident – will start using AT&T in its 2015 models, which go on sale in mid-2014.

The companies will discuss their partnership on Monday at the Mobile World Congress show in Barcelona.

GM is hoping to boost car sales and OnStar subscriptions by expanding its offering to include advanced applications such as video streaming for passengers for most of its Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac models.

It is also looking into possibilities such as wirelessly sending customers alerts about possible engine problems or sending data or even video from a car to the owner’s mobile device to show what’s going on next to the vehicle in case of any problems, according to Phil Abram, a GM executive director.

For their part both AT&T and Verizon Wireless, a venture of Verizon Communications and Vodafone Group Plc , have been ramping up efforts to expand their services beyond cellphones as they seek to continue growing in a market in which most people already have smartphones.

GM said that Verizon Wireless, which has been the company’s wireless provider since 1996, would still support OnStar services for all existing GM vehicles and any new models that come out before the 2015 models are launched….”

Full article

“Chevron Corp. (CVX), the second-largest U.S. energy company, agreed to pay as much as $349 million to join Beach Energy Ltd. (BPT) in an Australian natural gas exploration campaign in its first shale investment in the country.

Chevron will acquire as much as 60 percent of a permit in South Australia and 36 percent of a block in Queensland, Adelaide-based Beach said today in a statement. The blocks cover about 810,000 acres in the Cooper Basin, the outback region that straddles the border of the two states, San Ramon, California- based Chevron said in a separate statement.

The agreement follows shale investments by ConocoPhillips (COP), Statoil ASA, BG Group Plc and Hess Corp. in a nation estimated by the U.S. Energy Information Administration to have the world’s sixth-biggest potential reserves. Wilson HTM Investment Group says the accord is the biggest shale gas deal in Australia, which the government estimates may hold almost 400 trillion cubic feet of resources.

“The fact you’ve got a knowledgeable party coming in says they think there’s something there,” said John Young, a Melbourne-based analyst at Wilson HTM Investment Group. “The resource in the Cooper is being progressively de-risked and we’ll over time see a commercial development from this.”

Beach rose 5.8 percent to A$1.37 at the close in Sydney, the most in more than five months. The company had the fifth- biggest gain on Australia’s key index, which climbed 0.8 percent….”

Full article

NYSE

NASDAQ

AMEX