With $297 million in sales in the fourth quarter alone, Red Hat became the first open-source company in history to post over $1 billion in revenue for a single fiscal year on Wednesday. Unlike rival developers like Canonical, which releases its “Ubuntu” Linux distribution for free, Red Hat uses an annual subscription model for distribution of its creations. That model allows for more accurate revenue projections, giving the company the ability to project that they’d hit $1 billion in revenues way back in June of last year. (Photo by Jared Smith) source
» Although that number has dropped from 2011 — by 7% according to the Department of Education — an increasing number of parents are taking out loans for their childrens’ pre-college education. Your Tuition Solution, a market leader, reports that loan requests are up 10% from 2011, with their average loan size up to $14,000. Roughly 20% of the new demand for loans comes from families making $150,000 or more, according to the National Association of Independent Schools. Loans repayment periods can range from 2-7 years, carry interest rates anywhere from 4-20%, and in some cases don’t have to be paid until the student graduates college. Of course, that route leaves parents paying for grades K-12 and college simultaneously.
News Corp is facing a new round of allegations, claiming the company promoted piracy, in the country where CEO Rupert Murdoch was born. According to the Australian Financial Times, a publication owned by News Corp-rival Fairfax, a four year investigation unearthed promotion of high-tech pirating of Austar and Optus broadcasts. When reached for comment, a spokeswoman for Australian Communications Minister Stephen Conroy said, “these are serious allegations, and any allegations of criminal activity should be referred to the Australian Federal Police for investigation.” (Photo by World Economic Forum) source
The Obama administration faced skeptical questioning from a US Supreme Court dominated by conservatives on Tuesday during a tense two-hour showdown over a sweeping healthcare law that has divided Americans.
Today’s graphic takes you inside the hearings giving you all the details on who is involved and the layout of the hearing.
LIVE BLOG: SCOTUS hearing on Affordable Health Care Act
LATEST: High stakes for Obama with healthcare on the line
Great graphic. Do you guys think the law will get overturned in its current form?
A New York-based tech start-up hopes to bridge the technological divide by giving roughly 5 billion people an opportunity to join the online community. “Think of all the spare WiFi not being used all around you and the people who might want to use it. The digital divide is within 100 yards of where you live. That’s a problem,” said CEO Adam Black during a start-up presentation in March. The company hopes to begin offering its peer-to-peer network rental platform in April. source
AOL has fired 40 employees in charge of AOL Instant Messenger’s development. Only basic maintenance and customer service staff will remain. AOL reassures that they “are not killing instant messenger.”But skeptics say the layoffs are the beginning of the end for AIM. If the service that gave life to LOL and BRB fades away, will anybody miss it?
Ironically, the team behind the most recent iteration of AIM was about to shut down its prior app, Brizzly.
They didn’t say anything about cash or jewelry, but the SEC did side with three AT&T investors — including the Beastie Boys’ Michael “Mike D” Diamond — who believed that shareholders should have a vote in the company’s net neutrality policy, because it has become part of the national debate. AT&T argued that the vote would “directly interfere with its network management practices”, but ultimately the SEC ruled that wireless providers must now allow for shareholder votes on net neutrality proposals. Should such proposals pass, providers would be required to “operate a neutral network with neutral routing along the company’s wireless infrastructure.” source
» What a record to break! One year removed from bankruptcy, American automaker General Motors posted record-setting earnings for the 2011 fiscal year. In recent weeks/months many investors worried that GM’s overseas operations would drag down the company’s year-end totals. GM lost a total of $747 million in European markets, with $562 million of the losses occurring in the fourth quarter alone. In South America, where the company reported $818 million in earnings for 2010, GM reported a net loss of $122 million. However, not only did the company defy global expectations, GM managed to break its former $6.7 billion earnings record, set in 1996.
![producermatthew:
Cute poster found at the end of the Facebook IPO filing. [source]
A change of pace from dry, boring IPO documents.](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lyqj9v86ck1qz5ew6o1_500.jpg)
Cute poster found at the end of the Facebook IPO filing. [source]
A change of pace from dry, boring IPO documents.
It’s official. Facebook has friended the SEC.
I’m moving back to New York in a few days. Unlike past...
OMG. I got so...
In this week’s Newsweek, a little...
Tumblr this morning. [h/t anne]
#@#$%!.tumblr.com
Here’s a hidden feature that shipped in...
Watch: PCB gets a visual shout out on GMA’s Yahoo/Tumblr...
According to data from Nielsen, 40% of mobile users over 18 in the United States now carry a smartphone. Android carries a 40% share of those smartphone owners, follwed by Apple at 28% and RIM falling to 19%. Windows Mobile users still far exceed Windows Phone 7 users at a 7:1 ratio.
Under the fold is perhaps the more interesting bit: Amongst those who plan on getting a smartphone in the future, more intend to purchase Android phones than iPhones.
Just about says it all. (The New Yorker)
Classic and timely all at once. Striking for the exact opposite reasons this particular cover drew our fancy two days ago.
![producermatthew:
Oil prices nosedive following the national debt crisis and the economic instability in Europe. [Bloomberg TV]
This is one of those days that just makes you want to forget that money ever existed.](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lpf4jwtWWL1qz5ew6o1_500.jpg)
Oil prices nosedive following the national debt crisis and the economic instability in Europe. [Bloomberg TV]
This is one of those days that just makes you want to forget that money ever existed.
You’ve probably heard about those fake Apple stores in China. I bet Steve Jobs’s lawyers have, too.
(Photo via Reuters)
That’s kinda awesome. They’re not just faking the gear anymore but the experience. We want to see the bootleg Chinese version of the Steve Jobs press conference.
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