1. What records did pilots Troy Bradley of Albuquerque and Leonid Tiukhtyaev of Russia set?
2. Tens of thousands of Spaniards marched in Madrid in support of this left-leaning party that is campaigning on a platform to oppose austerity. What is the name of the party?
3. As many as 60,000 people in what country are seeing their debts written off as part of a push by the government to lift the economy?
4. Who tweeted, in response to an outbreak of measles in the U.S.: “The science is clear: The earth is round, the sky is blue, and #vaccineswork. Let’s protect all our kids. #GrandmothersKnowBest”
5. How is the maker of Monopoly celebrating the 80th anniversary of the game’s first appearance in France?
6. Who is Dieudonné and why did he go on trial starting Wednesday?
7. What country approved legislation that would use DNA from three people to produce an embryo, a process known as mitochondrial donation?
8. The sale of a painting for about $300 million reportedly set a record for the price of a single work of art. Who painted it?
Answers:
1) The records for distance and duration of balloon flight, by flying their helium balloon from Japan to the western coast of Mexico. The balloon landed after six days, 16 hours and 37 minutes at a distance of 6,646 miles (10,696 kilometers). That topped the previous marks of 137 hours, 5 minutes and 50 seconds; and 5,208 miles (8,382 kilometers); 2) Podemos; 3) Croatia; 4) Hillary Clinton; 5) By inserting real money into 80 sets that went on sale Monday; 6) A French comedian charged with condoning terrorism for a Facebook comment that appeared to back Amedy Coulibaly, who killed a policeman on Jan. 8 before holding up a kosher supermarket the following day, when he murdered four hostages; 7) The United Kingdom; 8) Paul Gauguin
Apple said last week that it earned $18 billion in the holiday quarter, up 38% from a year earlier, further cementing the computer maker’s place in the annals of business.
The Cupertino-based company earned more than nearly 90% of companies in the S&P 500 index each made in total profits since 2009, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Apple could distribute $556 to all 320 million Americans, commented ReCode, which called the results a “blowout.”
Writing in the Times, James Stewart observed that Apple earned “more than any company ever in a single quarter.”
Much of the profit came from sales of the iPhone, which accounted for 69% of Apple’s revenue. “Demand for iPhone was staggering,” Apple CEO Tim Cook told analysts. “This volume is hard to comprehend.”
Apple sold 74.5 million iPhones in the quarter at an average price of $687 apiece, or about $50 higher than a year earlier, according to the Journal. Much of that reflects the love consumers are showing the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. During the quarter, Apple sold 34,000 iPhones every hour of every day.
I’m citing these measures because for the past six months I’ve admired Apple’s creating a phone with a display whose size rivals smartphones from Samsung. As the Journal noted, “strong iPhone sales helped Apple claw back market share that it gave up to Samsung… in the past three years.”
Apple saw Samsung succeeding with bigger screens, so Apple made an iPhone with a bigger screen. I imagine that’s what MBA’s learn to do – to co-opt something that appears to be working for your rival – but the fact that Apple succeeded at it seems like a testament to the smarts, strategy and skill of Cook and his team.
What’s more interesting is the idea that Apple also is making room for the company’s watch, which is slated to ship in April. Quartz cites a tweet by Paul Kedrosky, a financial commentator, who notes that Apple’s introduction of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus has created a “portability deficit” that in turn will make room for sales of the watch.
Still, two experiences I’ve had recently point to a problem with the move to macro and the design of smartphones generally. Last weekend I sold my iPhone 6, which proved to be too large for both my hand and my pocket. The phone felt uncomfortable in my hand compared with my iPhone 5c And note, my hand is medium size; I wear a size large glove. Plus, the plastic shell that encases the 5c allows the device to absorb my dropping it, which happens to lots of us, judging by all the cracked iPhone displays you see people holding and the offers by Radio Shack and others to replace glass.
Of course, as Apple’s earnings show, people love the larger phones. Within 30 minutes of my posting my iPhone 6 for sale on Craigslist, at least 15 people contacted me with offers to buy it. Yet weirdly, or not so weirdly, I’m happier with my 5c.
The other anecdote occurred Wednesday aboard the 3 train, where a woman of about 30 sat next to me. She juggled on her person an array of things, including a pink leather handbag and a black bag that she balanced on her lap. In her left hand she held a travel coffee mug, one of those that’s a ceramic version of a paper coffee cup but with a rubber lid that fits snugly. Hers had pink lipstick prints affixed to it. (The print was the same shade as the handbag.)
In her right hand the woman held a white iPhone 5s tuned to Spotify. She might have listened had she been able to retrieve and disentangle a set of earbuds from her left coat pocket without spilling the coffee, which she balanced momentarily between her knees the best one can while wearing a wool coat that extends to the thigh. Twice the woman tried to unbraid the earbuds, dropping them once before giving up entirely and shoving them back into her pocket.
Of course, the subway and, I suspect, every mode of public transportation in America, brims with people tethered by earbuds to smartphones. When you think about it, having to hold a smartphone in your hand while unsnarling earbuds, which looked awesome in those Apple commercials 14 years ago, requires a resoluteness that now makes earbuds seem like something that’s time to jettison. In short, they’re a restraint.
That, I imagine, may be where the watch and other so-called wearables figure. The watch reportedly will work with bluetooth headphones, allowing you to bypass your iPhone completely. If true, Apple may be arranging the market to suit its strategy. Regardless, when it comes to portability, it may be time, as someone once said, to think different.
3. What did Tiger Woods debut at the Phoenix Open?
4. What is Syriza and why does it matter to the European Union?
5. Tuesday marked how many years since the Soviet Red Army liberated Auschwitz?
6. Apple sold an average of how many iPhones worldwide every hour of every day in the quarter that ended Dec. 31?
a) 18,000, b) 25,000, c) 34,000
7. What is the Manot cranium and what is its significance?
8. Who is Rita Jeptoo and what punishment did she receive?
Answers:
1) Edgar Lungu, who served as defense and justice minister until his election; 2) The 22-year-old became the first Colombian to be crowned Miss Universe; 3) The teeth he had repaired after being hit in the mouth by a camera while watching girlfriend Lindsey Vonn race in Italy; 4) A far-left party in Greece that won Sunday’s parliamentary elections on a platform to renegotiate a €270 billion bailout of the country by the EU; 5) 70; 6) c; 7) A 55,000-year-old fossil of a skull found in a cave in Israel. The fossil offers evidence that early humans migrated out of Africa and across Eurasia, possibly interbreeding en route with Neanderthals, according to a paper published Wednesday by an international team of researchers; 8) Three-time winner of the Boston Marathon and two-time winner of the Chicago Marathon who received a two-year ban from the sport for doping
Tuesday, 7:21 a.m. Eastern. Here in New York City, winter storm Juno, aka the Blizzard of 2015, is being declared a dud. Roughly four inches of snow outside my window, streets plowed.
Big snow was a no show. Can NYC have its mass transit and schools back now please, oh dear leaders?
1. Peter Mayhew was hospitalized with pneumonia. For what is Mayhew best known?
2. The richest one percent of the world’s population is expected to control how much of the world’s total wealth by next year, according to a study released by Oxfam?
a) More than 40%, b) More than 50%, c) More than 60%
3. What did Argentine prosecutor Alberto Nisman allege in the week before he was found dead?
4. What did Al Gore and Pharrell Williams announce Wednesday?
5. Shazam, the smartphone app, said that its latest round of funding values the company at how much?
a) $500 million, b) $1 billion, c) $2 billion
6. “The protocol would suggest that the leader of one country would contact the leader of another country when he’s traveling there,” White House press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters. To what was he referring?
7. Who ascended to the throne in Saudi Arabia following the death of King Abdullah?
8. Which of the following superpowers did President Obama say he would like to have?
a) The ability to fly, b) the ability to control the weather, c) the ability to speak any language
Answers:
1) Playing Chewbacca, the “Star Wars” character; 2) b; 3) That President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner and other top officials had conspired with Iran to conceal responsibility for the 1994 suicide bombing of a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires in return for Iran’s agreeing to supply oil to Argentina; 4) “Live Earth,” a series of concerts to demand action on climate change that will take place June 18 across seven continents; 5) b; 6) A visit to the U.S. next month by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the invitation of House Speaker John Boehner. Neither the speaker’s office nor the prime minister’s office informed the White House of the prime minister’s plans; 7) Crown Prince Salman; 8) a and c
2. A suicide bomber killed at least 19 people Saturday in the northeast Nigerian city of Maiduguri. How old is the bomber thought to have been?
3. Woody Allen will create his first-ever TV series for what company?
4. What group claimed responsibility for the attack that killed 12 at the offices of Charlie Hebdo?
5. Who resigned as Italy’s president?
6. Which of the following films will not vie for best picture at the 87th annual Academy Awards?
a) “The Imitation Game” b) “American Sniper” c) “Still Alice” d) “The Grand Budapest Hotel” e) “Selma” f) “Whiplash” g) “The Theory of Everything”
7. Target said it will close all its stores in what country?
8. Climbers Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson achieved what first?
Answers:
1) To return a booster rocket to Earth and land the rocket upright on a barge; 2) 10 years old; 3) Amazon; 4) Al-Qaida in Yemen; 5) Giorgio Napolitano; 6) “Still Alice;” 7) Canada; 8) An ascent of El Capitan’s Dawn Wall in a single expedition without ropes to pull them up
