Apple’s Continued Growth

 

Today Apple announced results of the recently completed quarter. And the results were impressive including quarterly profit increase of 31%, revenue increase of 22%, and earnings per share increase to $1.96 from $1.42. Gross margin, a measure of profitability, was 39.9% which was above its estimated range of 38.5% to 39.5%. Sales in Greater China almost doubled to $12.5 billion compared to same quarter in prior year.

The iPhone continues to be Apple’s biggest seller. The 48.04 million units sold was far ahead of the 39.27 million sold during same quarter in the prior year. However, this number was slightly lower than the 48.72 million units estimated by analysts. Overall, despite its high price, iPhone continues to sell quite well in a market that now has more low cost smartphones.

Source: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/apple-earnings-lifted-by-iphone-sales-in-china-2015-10-27-164853221?link=MW_home_latest_news

Alex Green

Could Uber Be Successful at Package Delivery?

 

Could Uber apply the crowd sourcing model that they have successfully applied to the people taxiing business and be as successful in the field of package delivery? While they continue to move forward with the plans, there are significant barriers to overcome according to those in the package delivery business.

Operating a large, efficient and reliable package delivery model requires huge scale with large overhead. Optimizing logistics required to do this well are much different than the more random nature of the taxi business.

So for now, FedEx and UPS do not appear to be very concerned about Uber.

Source: http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2015/07/12/why-fedex-isnt-scared-of-uber.aspx

Paul McCartney – Out There – Concert in Philadelphia

For one of my presents for graduating from Penn State, I had the pleasure of attending the Paul McCartney ‘Out There’ concert when it stopped in Philadelphia, June 21, 2015, at the Wells Fargo Center. It is not often that you get the chance to attend a concert of someone who is unquestionably one of the greatest, most popular, legends of rock and roll. And although now 73 years old (unbelievable as it may seem), Paul still puts on an awesome concert - three hours non-stop. To be sure, Paul no longer hits the high notes as he once did. But his voice still is good, his band is flawless, and the selection of music from the Beatles and Wings reminded you why he has been so popular for so many years.

Before the concert, I asked myself, why does he still go on tour? Would think he doesn’t need the money. Well the moment he stepped on the stage I got my answer. The love and adoration from the concert-goers was apparent. It’s hard to imagine how good that must feel as a performer. But it is not hard to imagine that it never gets old. And I guess it is also true – you can never have too much money.

A great time was had by all. Paul and team have put on a few professional concerts over the years and this one certainly reflected state of the art sound, video, lighting, and even pyrotechnics. My only complaint – Paul, please take a few minutes to more formally introduce the members of the band. They were great, and make you sound great. So how about a few more props for them.

Setlist:

• Eight Days A Week
• Save Us
• Another Girl
• Listen To What The Man Said
• Temporary Secretary
• Let Me Roll It
• Paperback Writer
• My Valentine
• Nineteen Hundred And Eighty Five
• The Long And Winding Road
• Maybe I'm Amazed
• I've Just Seen A Face
• We Can Work It Out
• Another Day
• Hope For The Future
• And I Love Her
• Blackbird
• Here Today
• New
• Queenie Eye
• Lady Madonna
• All Together Now
• Lovely Rita
• Eleanor Rigby
• Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!
• Something
• Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
• Band on the Run
• Back in the U.S.S.R.
• Let It Be
• Live And Let Die
• Hey Jude

Encore:

• Yesterday
• Hi, Hi, Hi
• Can't Buy Me Love

Second Encore:

• Helter Skelter
• Golden Slumbers / Carry That Weight / The End

Setlist source: http://www.paulmccartney.com/live/wells-fargo-center-philadelphia

LeBron James, The Greatest

Author’s Note from Alex Green – I am not an expert in basketball, the National Basketball Association, or sports writing. I’m just a recent college graduate from Penn State. I didn’t major in anything remotely related to athletics. My degree from the College of Information Sciences and Technology qualifies me to do a lot of things but none of them sports-related. I have been a big fan of Penn State football (now there’s a surprise) so am admittedly not very familiar with what’s been going on in the world of professional basketball for the last few years.

But with school now behind me, I have been catching some of the NHL and NBA finals. And this caught my eye the other day. In case you missed it, and were not sure whether or not LeBron James was the greatest basketball player in the world, he clarified it for you by stating, quite simply, that he is the greatest player in the world. This was in response to a recent question about whether or not the injuries that the Cleveland Cavaliers are currently suffering from have changed LeBron’s thinking in the finals. Well thanks for setting the record straight King James!

See for yourself:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/15/lebron-james-best-player-in-the-world_n_7584914.html?ir=Sports

What I found most interesting about this was not that LeBron said this. We have all seen his amazing skill, heard of his unsurpassed work ethic, and seen his many successes. And we know he has never been shy about proclaiming how good he is. What I found most interesting is the non-reaction he has received after saying this….non-reaction from the press, basketball fans, and other players. It’s almost as if people have said yea, not only is he the greatest, but he also has great self-awareness and an uncanny knack for speaking the truth!

From what I have seen, I would have to agree with LeBron. He is the greatest in the world at basketball. But I guess that doesn’t mean people have to like him. And it’s no wonder that many do not. The world has certainly come far from the days of the humble athlete, shy around cameras and the press, who always speaks only of his team.

Nikola Tesla - Part 2

Tesla then resigned from Edison’s company after he was refused a raise to $25 a week and he went on to form his own company, Tesla Electric-Light and Manufacturing. However, his company didn’t work out and Tesla became jobless and eventually worked in New York as a common laborer. This was Tesla’s lowest part in his life. In this time though, he developed his alternating current induction motor and demonstrated it to the American Institute of Electrical Engineers. George Westinghouse, an American entrepreneur, got in contact with Tesla and bought all of his AC patents for a million dollars plus royalty of $1/hp produced. Tesla then began developing the principles for the Tesla coil and worked for Westinghouse for a year. After working for Westinghouse, Tesla went back to his New York laboratory to work on and investigate X-rays.

In 1891, Tesla became a naturalized US citizen at 35 years old. He then established two laboratories both in New York and used them to experiment. In those laboratories he provided evidence for the potential of wireless transmission. Tesla then went on to serve as Vice President of AIEE from 1892-94. At his time there, he investigated high frequency alternating currents, generated an alternating current of 1 million volts using the Tesla coil, designed tuned circuits, invented a machine for inducing sleep, and invented cordless discharge lamps. He also transmitted electro-magnetic energy without wires, which was the first radio transmitter, and he started microwave technology when he showed the heating effect on high frequency current. In 1893 Tesla used his AC power to illuminate the world’s fair and also showcased many of his inventions there. Tesla’s contribution to AC power really became prevalent when, in 1896, the world’s first large scale power plant producing AC power was set up at Niagara Falls. This also showed its superiority over Edison’s DC power. This kicked off the “war on currents” between Edison’s DC current vs. Tesla’s AC current.

In 1894, Columbia and Yale Universities gave Tesla honorary doctoral degrees. He was also given the Elliot Cresson Medal by the Franklin Institute and, in 1934; Philadelphia gave him the John Scott Medal for his polyphase power system. Tesla also became an honorary member of the National Electric Light Association and a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.  As you can see, Tesla’s influence was greatly shown in his amount of medals and awards that were given to him.

End of Part 2.

 

Who was Nikola Tesla - Part 1

Nikola Tesla was born on July 10, 1856 in a small town in The Austria–Hungary border province of modern day Republic of Croatia. A priest and an illiterate mother raised him, however, he claimed to have gotten his inventiveness from his mother. He also had an older brother and three sisters but when his talented brother died at the age of 12, Tesla found himself under extreme pressure to perform as well as his older brother. At that point, Tesla gained the inner strength to become the ingenious inventor that he eventually became. 

Tesla went to school in Karlovac, Croatia at the Austrian Polytechnic in Graz, where he studied electrical engineering and alternating current. After going studying at the Austrian Polytechnic, Tesla’s father convinced him to study at a branch of the University of Prague. Unfortunately, after only one term there, Tesla’s father died and he dropped out of the University of Prague. 

In 1881, Tesla moved to Budapest Hungary where he worked for a telegraph company (The American Telephone Company). He quickly became the chief electrician at the company and later he became the engineer for the country’s first telephone system! At his time with the company, he even invented what could have been the first loudspeaker! A year later Tesla moved to Paris and worked as an engineer for the Continental Edison Company where he designed improvements to the electric equipment. Also, in his time at the Continental Edison Company, he developed various devices that used rotating magnetic fields.

One of the administrators of the CEC noticed Tesla’s outstanding ability and urged him to move to America. The administrator recommended Tesla to the great Thomas Edison and, in 1884, Tesla moved to the US and began working for Edison. Edison offered Tesla $50,000 if he could completely redesign the company’s direct current generators. Unfortunately, Edison never gave Tesla the money calling the $50,000 deal “American Humor”.

End of Part 1.

 

The motivation, goal, and philosophical significance of a critique of pure reason

Kant’s critique of pure reason set out to achieve many goals and have a considerable influence on philosophy.  The overall main motivation for the critique was to uncover the true capacity of pure human reason, find the limits of our understanding, and determine the cause of our concepts, all without using empirical knowledge.  Kant realized that humans naturally ask about the existence of an absolute being, the fundamental boundaries of reality, and other questions that exceed possible human experience.  Since we cannot possibly know these answers based on experience, we can only answer them based on pure reason.  Therefore, Kant was interested in investigating possible answers to these “big questions” based on pure reason alone.  Personally, I feel a deep connection between my thoughts and Kant’s philosophy.  Many times I ask myself, just as Kant asked himself, can these questions even possibly be answered or can we actually truly know anything about them? These are some of the most important questions that revolve around the critique.  I personally ask, why are people so certain about the existence of a Supreme Being or supreme world if there has only been constant debate, very limited proof, and no agreement as to an answer?  The main question of Kant’s transcendental philosophy that has also caused a considerable amount of debate was, how are a priori synthetic judgments possible?  How can we innately know something based on experience?  In conclusion, Kant supposed that mathematics is actually the core of a priori synthetic judgments thus general metaphysics can have scientific standing.  Also, Kant acknowledged that human cognition is aimed at answering the unconditioned, but that we cannot possibly know the unconditioned based on experience.  Therefore, he realized that we are subject to unavoidable illusions and unable to reach knowledge of the unconditioned.  The human mind can only distinguish conditioned things.  We can never know “things in themselves” but only conditioned appearances.