Author: Joe Wilcox

Photo by Joe Wilcox
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There’s Something You Should Know About the ONA Bolton Street Backpack

It’s beautiful but bigger than it looks. I ordered and returned the Bolton Street this week, fulfilled by Amazon from one of its retailer partners. Words cannot express how much I wanted to keep the backpack. The craftsmanship is fine art, attention to detail is finer still, and quality of materials is outstanding. But the thang doesn’t fit my digital lifestyle or my back. Depth is the problem.

My story starts on July 9, 2015, when I walked out of Best Buy with a ridiculously fantastic deal: Fujifilm X-T1 kit body and 18-55mm lens, discounted $250, bundled with the XF55-200mmF3.5-4.8 R LM OIS for another $100. The second lens alone retails for $699. My previous digicam, the Fuji X100T, is so compact that I didn’t use backpack or other carryall. But interchangeable lens camera changes everything, so I started looking for an appropriate backpack. 

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Society by Joe Wilcox
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I Am Cusper

Sometimes you just want to claim credit where it’s due. While searching for one thing I came across another related to a word coined by me about two decades ago. I hadn’t realized that the term slowly makes its way into the vernacular, with others credited for the origins. How rude!

I turned 56 nearly a fortnight ago, which makes me a 59er—as in born in 1959. Problem: I never really embraced the values or attitudes of Baby Boomers, even though by the time-span fixture established by social scientists, I belong with that generational group. Much more of my behavior and thinking aligns with Generation Xers. I sought for a word to describe myself—being born on the cusp between generations. I called myself a Cusper, starting in the mid-1990s. In January 2001, I registered the cusper and cuspers dot com, net, and org domains. 

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Photo by Joe Wilcox
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Flickr a Day 204: ‘Planking’

Some fads are short-lived, while others you wish hadn’t been even that long. There is my reaction to planking four years ago. I was oblivious to the thing until someone commented on a pic of our cat Kuma posted to my social network. For fun, and no other reason, we begin three days of selections searched using the “P” word.

First up, from Patricia van Casteren, is the appropriately self-titled “Planking”, which she shot on June 21, 2011, using the Sony Alpha DSLR-A550. Vitals: f/6.3, ISO 200, 1/500 sec, 210mm. “Even the polar bears are totally hooked on planking these days”, she says, providing reference to a Wikipedia article for folks who don’t know what the hell the thing—also known as the “Lying Down Game”. I am surprised to see the origins go back more than three decades, given the sudden surge in popularity four years ago. 

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Apple by Joe Wilcox
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Tim Cook Talks a Lot but Doesn’t Say Much About Apple Watch Sales

Today’s question: Is Apple’s CEO hiding weak smartwatch sales or does he demonstrate transcending leadership by positioning for greater platform success—taking the long view? The answer lies perhaps in his comments made during yesterday’s fiscal Q3 2015 earnings conference call.

In data released today, Strategy Analytics puts Apple Watch shipments at 4 million for the April quarter. Yesterday, Canalys gave estimate that is 200,000 units higher. Apple doesn’t share the real numbers that it surely has, although in chief exec Tim Cook’s remarks that follow, there are hints—but little more. Something he says later in the call is quite provocative; genius and contrary-logistics-thinking. Either he’s hiding or abiding. 

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Apple by Joe Wilcox
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Apple Fiscal Q3 2015

After the closing bell today, Apple announced results for fiscal third quarter, which largely is congruent with calendar Q2 (End date, April 27). Broadly: $49.6 billion in sales, $10.7 billion net income, and $1.85 earnings per share. Year over year, revenue rose 33 percent and EPS by 45 percent. Apple guidance before the big reveal: Between $46 billion and $48 billion revenue. Wall Street consensus was $49.31 billion sales and $1.81 EPS. The Street’s estimates ranged from $46.9 billion to $53.64 billion.

Gross margin reached 39.7 percent compared to 39.4 percent annually and 40.8 percent sequentially. Company guidance: 38.5 percent to 39.5 percent. Once again, international sales accounted for most of the quarter’s sales: 64 percent, which is up from 59 percent the previous year but down from 69 percent three months earlier. 

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