(Re/Code.net) Self-Flying Lily Camera Has Booked $34 Million in Pre-Sales in Las

--> GoPro Killer...if you think GoPro is not already dead...-75% in 2015...-30% YTD


Self-Flying Lily Camera Has Booked $34 Million in Pre-Sales in Last Eight Months

Drones are big at CES this year, even though they are much more important as business-to-business devices than they ever will be as a consumer item. But drones are popular — more than 180,000 people have registered them with the FAA — and one thing people really like to do with them is take pictures and film videos.

Lily Camera pitches itself as the autonomously steered flying camera for those photography-minded people. The greatly hyped robotics company was founded in a UC Berkeley robotics lab back in 2013, and eight months ago it publicly launched and began taking preorders. In an interview with Re/code, Lily CEO Antoine Balaresque said the company has now booked $34 million in sales since that launch.

The camera itself is an HD-capable waterproof quadrocopter that follows the user, who carries a tracking tool, wherever he or she goes; basically it’s a responsive, airborne GoPro. To launch it, you simply toss the camera into the air like a Frisbee. When you want it to land, you extend your arm outward. It can capture video in slow motion and record audio through the tracking tool (which looks kind of like a small TV remote, with fewer buttons).

If this sounds like an ambitious and expensive piece of equipment, that’s because it is. Its current preorder price is $799, and it will cost $999 when it’s actually released. When Lily announced its $15 million Series A funding round last month, led by Spark Capital, the company also said it was pushing back the camera’s ship date from February to this summer.

Balaresque says the product’s real selling point is how simple it is to use, compared with the complex controls required to master most current aerial cameras.

“We hate the word drone; we just want an easy-to-use autonomous camera,” he said. “For us, tech accessibility is not a downgrade.”

Tens of millions of dollars in pre-sales suggests that people buy that message and are willing to take the risk of forking over almost $1,000 on a device they’ve never tested.

Steve Aoki, one of the world’s most successful DJs and a self-described “gadget obsessive,” is one of those people. In fact, he’s a strategic investor in Lily who discovered the company the way most other people did — via a viral launch video from May that shows off Lily’s full capabilities through snowboarding and other action sports. You can watch that video embedded below.

In an interview with Re/code, Aoki said that the launch trailer blew him away and that he invested in Lily partly because he thinks it would be useful for performers like him.

“I use drones. I spent serious coin on a drone in Ibiza, and it was temperamental — it actually crashed into a cliff,” Aoki said. “With something like that, you need it to be more compact and versatile, which is what I’m about as an artist.”

(CNBC) Saudi Arabia plans new sovereign wealth fund

Saudi Arabia plans new sovereign wealth fund

* Low oil prices have forced drawdown of assets
* Saudi Arabia wants to boost returns on them
* Some money could be transferred from central bank
* Global investment banks asked for ideas
* New fund might behave like private equity fund

NEW YORK/DUBAI, Jan 14 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia plans to create a new sovereign fund to manage part of its oil wealth and diversify its investments, and has asked investment banks and consultancies to submit proposals for the project, according to people familiar with the matter.
Plunging oil prices have strained Saudi Arabia's finances. The kingdom's state budget deficit is at a record high and net foreign assets dived more than $100 billion in 15 months.
The new fund could change the way tens of billions of dollars are invested and affect some of the world's leading asset managers, particularly in the United States, where the bulk of Saudi Arabia's foreign assets are managed.
"Keeping the foreign reserves at a good level is necessary to maintain a solid financial position and support the riyal," said one of the sources.
Another source said the Saudi government sent out a "request for proposal" to banks and consultants late last year, seeking ideas on how to structure a new fund.
The sources asked not to be identified because the plans are confidential. They said the Saudi government did not tell them the size of the planned new fund.
One source said the fund would focus on investing in businesses outside the energy industry, such industrials, chemicals, maritime and transportation. The sources stressed that no final decisions had been made, and a range of options were being studied.
The sources said managers of the planned fund may be able to invest directly in companies rather than channelling investments through foreign asset managers. This could maximize returns.
The second source said he understood the new fund would ideally be up and running within 12 to 24 months, with an office in New York.
A spokesman for the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) could not be reached for comment. SAMA, which currently manages the vast bulk of petrodollars earned by Saudi Arabia, has traditionally been secretive about its management of the money.
DEALING WITH CHEAP OIL
SAMA's net foreign assets totalled $628 billion in November, down from a record high of $737 billion in August 2014, when the government started drawing down assets to pay its bills as falling oil prices saddled it with a huge budget deficit.
The assets, some of which are handled by global fund firms, are mainly securities such as U.S. Treasury bonds and deposits with banks abroad. Equities are believed to account for only a small fraction of securities holdings, perhaps 20 percent. The bulk of assets are believed to be denominated in U.S. dollars.
The conservative, low-risk instruments SAMA favours have been criticised for yielding modest returns, especially with global interest rates as low as they are now. In 2014, Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal urged the government to create a new fund to earn higher returns.
At the time, Finance Minister Ibrahim Alassaf insisted there was no need for a new fund. But policy-making authority has shifted since King Salman took the throne in January last year and created a powerful Council of Economic and Development Affairs chaired by his son, Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
With the advice of Western consulting firms, Prince Mohammed is pushing a range of reforms for an era of cheap oil. Steps include spending cuts, higher taxation and privatisation. The plan for a new sovereign fund is part of this drive.
In drafting its reforms, Saudi Arabia has examined the policies of other rich oil exporting Gulf countries. Part of the new Saudi fund would operate much like a private equity investor, buying major stakes in foreign companies as the sovereign funds of Qatar and Abu Dhabi do, but it would also use other forms of investment, the sources said.

>>> US Close Dow+1.41% S&P+1.67% Nasdaq+1.97% Russell+1.53% VIX 23.96 (-5%)

Closing Market Summary: Indices Rally

The stock market ended its Thursday affair near its best level of the day thanks to daylong rallying. The last half hour saw a bit of selling pressure, but the S&P 500 settled within x points of its high. Today's rally occurred alongside a rebound in crude oil, while dovish remarks from St. Louis's Fed President James Bullard provided extra ammunition. The tech-heavy Nasdaq (+2.0%) lead the S&P 500 (+1.7%) and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (+1.4%).

Before the opening bell, JPMorgan Chase (JPM 58.20, +0.86) reported above-consensus Q4 earnings of $1.32 per share while revenue rose 0.6% year-over-year to $22.89 billion. During the company's conference call, JPMorgan addressed its first loan loss reserve build in six years, which was driven by downgrades, specifically in the company's oil and gas portfolio. The company went on to state that oil companies have been surprisingly resilient and that they expect to see a normal cycle increase as the economy looks "pretty good."

Elsewhere, St. Louis Fed President James Bullard stated that the "very substantial" decline in energy pricing has implications for monetary policy, but Mr. Bullard still believes that four rate hikes this year "sounds about right." Interestingly, stocks surged immediately following the comments, all but ignoring his unchanged outlook for the fed funds rate path. For its part, crude oil also built on its gain, ending its pit session higher by 2.6% at $31.22/bbl.

The strength in crude helped the energy sector (+4.5%) end in the lead while health care (+2.7%), technology (+2.0%), telecom services (+1.8%), and materials (+1.4%) followed.

In the energy space, Dow components Chevron (CVX 85.47, +4.14) and Exxon Mobil (XOM 79.12, +3.47) took advantage of the advance in oil, leading the index, with respective gains of 5.1% and 4.6%. Elsewhere in the energy space, pipeline companies Kinder Morgan (KMI 13.98 +1.03) and Williams Companies (WMB 18.29, +4.68) showed relative strength, climbing 8.0% and 34.4%, respectively. The pair had a strong showing despite a 5.7% decline in natural gas to $2.14/MMbtu.

Switching to the consumer discretionary space (+0.7%), the sector was anchored by large-cap components Home Depot (HD 119.62, -1.78) and Lowe's (LOW 69.91, +0.01) which underperformed with performances of -1.5% and unchanged, respectively. The cyclical sector was also hurt by continued weakness in Nike (NKE 58.51, -0.27) and Netflix (NFLX 107.06, +0.50).

Despite JPMorgan's above-consensus earnings, the financial sector (+1.0%) finished its day near the bottom of the board ahead of tomorrow morning's reports from Citigroup (C 45.38, +0.19), PNC (PNC 86.87, +0.97), and Wells Fargo (WFC 50.64, +0.91).

Looking at the top-weighted technology space, the high-beta chipmakers kept pace with the broader sector, evidenced by the 2.1% gain in the PHLX Semiconductor Index. Index component, Intel (INTC 32.74, +0.83) gained 2.6% ahead of the company's earnings release set for this evening.

Treasuries surrendered their slim overnight gains amid the rally in equities, leaving the 10-yr note unchanged with its yield at 2.09%. 

True to recent form, trading volume was heavy with more than 1.2 billion shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.

Today's economic data included weekly Initial/Continuing Claims and December import/export prices:

  • The Initial Claims report showed that claims increased to 284,000 from last week's unrevised rate of 277,000 (consensus 275,000)
    • This was above the consensus but within the 250,000-300,000 range that has held since July 2014.
    • The Department of Labor said there were no special factors influencing the latest initial claims reading, which pushed the four-week moving average up by 3,000 to 278,750.
  • Continuing claims for the week ending January 2 were 2.263 million, an increase of 33,000 from the previous week's revised level of 2.234 million (from 2.230 million).
    • The four-week moving average for continuing claims increased by 5,250 to 2.224 million.
  • Import prices excluding oil fell 0.4% in December after declining 0.2% in November
  • Export prices excluding agriculture decreased 1.0% in December after falling 0.6% in November

Tomorrow, December CPI (consensus +0.1%), December Retail Sales (consensus +0.1%) and January Empire Manufacturing Index (consensus -3.5) will be reported at 8:30 ET. The December Industrial Production report (consensus 77.5%) will cross the wires at 9:15 ET while November Business Inventories (consensus +0.0%) and the preliminary reading of the Michigan Sentiment Index for January (consensus 92.6) will both be released at 10:00 ET.

  • Russell 2000 -9.7% YTD
  • Nasdaq -7.8% YTD
  • Dow Jones -6.0% YTD
  • S&P 500 -6.0% YTD

(TechCrunch) The GoProblem

The GoProblem

Action cameras are like tablets. Lots of people want ONE. But very few need to constantly update to the latest model.

I suspect this is why GoPro’s sales are slowing, it’s reduced sales forecasts, and it had to lay off 7% of its employees this week. It’s hitting market saturation. Many of the people likely to buy a GoPro already have one and don’t need another.

Their first one is probably already gathering dust for 11 months a year. Face it. We’re not all extreme sports champions. We go skiing or surfing or biking occasionally. We want something to capture those experiences. Any GoPro will do.

Our friends will be impressed and we’ll get to relive the memories even if the photos and videos aren’t shot at cutting edge resolution. Even if the battery ran low and we couldn’t choose from the entire day’s activity. Even if it was a little bulkier in our pocket.

An action camera does what none of our other devices do. But upgrading to this year’s version doesn’t do much more. It’s not your phone, that you use all day every day and that every one sees. It’s not a status object.

It’s not your laptop, where slightly better specs can make your life or work less annoying. It’s not a fundamental tool. An older, used GoPro or a cheap knockoff is fine.

An action camera is like a tablet. It’s nice to sometimes read or watch movies or play games on at tablet. But my years old iPad is fine. When I bought it, I bought the newest one. But since then I’ve never even considered buying another. This, combined with growing phone screens has led to tablet sales to plateau, and I believe the same is happening with action cameras.

Sure, there are adrenaline junkies and adventure photographers who will want the best action cam they can get. And GoPro’s own drones and virtual reality rigs could unlock new functionality that spur sales.

But GoPro’s stock is down 15% today and around 77% over the past year. To thrive, the company will need to do something truly innovative. Otherwise there’s little reason for people to buy the newest GoPro. The one they already threw in a drawer is good enough.

>>>Intel beats by $0.11, reports revs in-line; guides Q1 revs in-line; updates F

--> -3.7% After Hours
Intel beats by $0.11, reports revs in-line; guides Q1 revs in-line; updates FY16 guidance to include Altera

* Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.74 per share, $0.11 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.63; revenues rose 1.3% year/year to $14.91 bln vs the $14.8 bln Capital IQ Consensus.
- Client Computing Group revenue of $32.2 billion, down 8 percent from 2014. • Data Center Group revenue of $16.0 billion, up 11 percent from 2014. • Internet of Things Group revenue of $2.3 billion, up 7 percent from 2014.
- Gross margin 64.3% vs. 62% guidance
* Co issues in-line guidance for Q1, sees Q1 revs of $13.6-14.6 bln vs. $13.89 bln Capital IQ Consensus; gross margin 62% (+/- 2%).
* Co raises FY16 revs to mid to high single digits from mid single digit growth (consensus +5.6%) after completing ALtera acquisition; sees non-GAAP gross margin 63% (+/- 2%) from 62% before Altera; lowers cap-ex to $9-10 bln from $9.5-10.5 bln.