link of the day - The Hottest Place to Hook Up
weird facts - According to salary information collected by new startup Glassdoor, Apple pays its engineers significantly less than competing companies in Silicon Valley. Apple engineers make $89,000 a year, whereas Google engineers can buy four more Segways a year (pre-tax) with their $112,573 paycheck. Microsoft and Yahoo are closer to Google: both companies pay their engineers $105,000 a year. See TechCrunch’s review of Glassdoor for the data.
I wondered how much of a difference this salary disparity made to Apple’s bottom line, so I took a look at its annual 10-K filings from 2003 to 2007. Each of these reports includes, buried among its 170 pages, Apple’s net income and how much it spent on R&D. For simplicity I assumed that the R&D budget was entirely spent on salaries; this isn’t far off the mark in a hi-tech company like Apple.
If Apple were to pay its engineers the same salaries as Google then its R&D budget would increase by 26%. This amount (26% of the R&D budget) is how much Apple saves each year by paying below-market salaries. I calculated what Apple’s net income would have been if it had paid its engineers the same as Google, and these are the results:
Explanation:
* All dollar values are in millions.
* # Employees - from Apple’s 10-K.
* R&D Budget - from Apple’s 10-K.
* Adjusted R&D Budget - had Apple paid its engineers at the same level as Google, this would have been its R&D Budget.
* Net Income - from Apple’s 10-K.
* Adjusted Net Income - had Apple paid its engineers at the same level as Google, this would have been its Net Income.
* Increase in Net Income - the magnitude by which Apple’s net income was higher that year compared to what it would have been had it paid salaries at the same level as Google.
The Adjusted Net Income is a good estimate, but it’s not completely accurate. For example, the increase in Apple’s R&D Budget would have meant that its expenses are higher, so it would have paid less taxes. But the overall trend is clear.
Here’s the Increase in Net Income in chart form:
In 2003 and 2004, the effect of underpaying its engineers made a huge difference to Apple’s bottom line. In 2003, these savings turned around Apple’s year: from a loss to a small profit. In 2004, they doubled the profit. However, once Apple’s earnings began to skyrocket in 2005, the effect of the R&D savings became much smaller: just 6% of the net income in 2007, for example.
Paying low salaries to its engineers was a lifesaver for Apple during its difficult times. But now that Apple is immensely profitable there’s no more excuse for this practice. In the TechCrunch article mentioned previously, the site’s owner Michael Arrington says: “Apple software engineers make only about $89,000, on average, but they get to create some of the most loved products on Earth.” I’m sure this warms their hearts. But an extra $20,000 a year would make their hearts downright toasty, and their spouses’ as well.
[Via - Hurvitz.Org]
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Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Is Apple Paying Their Engineers Too Little? - weird facts
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Judge reduces trust fund for Leona Helmsley's dog - weird facts
link of the day - The Hottest Place to Hook Up
weird facts - Leona Helmsley's dog isn't quite as well-heeled as she used to be. Manhattan Surrogate Judge Renee Roth has reduced the trust fund for the little dog, named Trouble, from $12 million to $2 million.
The remaining $10 million now goes to Helmsley's charitable foundation.
The 9-year-old Maltese lives in Florida with the general manager of the Helmsley Sandcastle Hotel. Helmsley died last August.
The court decision, made April 30, became public Monday.
[Via - SeattlePI]
Monday, June 16, 2008
Tradition of Russian Cosmonauts - Peeing on a Rocket | Weird Facts
weird facts
The morning of April 4, 2000. Sergei Zaletin and Alexander Kaleri pays tribute to tradition, irrigation wheel of the bus. Astronauts make a stopover on the way to rocket, that is at the final stage before the flight. There do not allow any foreign person. Snapshot - a consequence of the adventurism of the cosmodrome worker and the only documented existence of the urethra tradition.
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Suicide calls jump amid foreclosures and economic woes - weird facts
Link of the day - Who else wants a pain pills online?
weird facts - A local hot line has seen a dramatic spike in suicide calls from people in Palm Beach County who are facing foreclosure and can't pay their bills, according to numbers released today.
Since the start of the year, 256 people in the county told operators at the 211 hot line that they were thinking about suicide. Of those, 44 told operators that their main reason was that they had lost a job, were facing foreclosure, couldn't afford to pay their bills or were homeless.
During the same period in 2007, from Jan. 1 to June 10, the hot line received 137 suicide calls from people in Palm Beach County. Only 15 of those gave economic reasons.
The callers' problems seem markedly different than in the past, said Susan Buza, executive director of 211 Palm Beach/Treasure Coast. Many callers, she said, have tried to find work for months.
One man said he had gotten hurt at work, then was fired. Another told the operators that he and his children were about to be evicted because he couldn't find anyone to hire him.
"They are not seeing any opportunity to get a job. And they are not seeing that this is going to turn around for them in a week or two," Buza said. "They have been out looking for jobs so they are really desperate and feeling that their backs are up against the wall."
Operators at the hot line, which has taken calls for help in Palm Beach County since 1971, "have never seen anything like this," Buza said.
The hot line also serves Martin, St. Lucie, Indian River and Okeechobee counties but has not yet tabulated those suicide numbers.
Buza said she began adding up the numbers after operators noticed a rise in calls from people who could lose their homes.
"When we started looking at it, we were really shocked," she said.
Though the job market is extremely difficult, 211 keeps a directory of local services. Operators can refer people to food pantries, churches, job training, credit counseling, programs that help people keep their homes and government assistance like food stamps.
For help, simply dial 211 from anywhere in the five-county area.
[Via - PalmBeachPost.Com]
Friday, June 13, 2008
Sudoku-playing jurors make judge stop drug trial | Weird Facts
Link of the day - typing games for free.
weird facts - SYDNEY, Australia -- A judge aborted a drug conspiracy trial Tuesday after some jurors were found to have been playing the puzzle game Sudoku while evidence was being given.
Sydney District Court Judge Peter Zahra ended the trial Tuesday for two men facing a possible life sentence for drug conspiracy charges. The trial had been running for 66 days and had cost taxpayers an estimated 1 million Australian dollars (US$950,000).
The judge was alerted after it was observed the jurors were writing vertically, rather than horizontally. It had been assumed they were taking notes.
"Yes, it helps me keep my mind busy paying more attention," the jury foreman told the judge Tuesday. "Some of the evidence is rather drawn out and I find it difficult to maintain my attention the whole time, and that doesn't distract me too much from proceedings."
Jurors in the trial are anonymous and no action can be taken against them for the puzzle playing.
The foreman admitted to the judge four to five jurors were playing puzzle games for up to half the time the trial had been going.
"Jurors are sort of the judges of the facts and it's very disappointing they weren't giving our clients a fair trial," said Robyn Hakelis, a lawyer for one of the defendants.
A new trial is expected to begin in a few weeks.
[Via - SeattlePI.Com]
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Fart Gene Isolated. Now, That's A Breakthough! | Weird Facts
Link of the day - Free $500 Southwest Airlines Gift Card
weird facts - Kiwi geneticists have made a breakthrough in the plan to cut methane emissions from livestock.
"Our agricultural research organisation just last week was able to map the genome. . . that causes methane in ruminant animals and we believe we can vaccinate against (that)," Phil Goff told a conference in Paris.
Scientists in New Zealand are working on other ways to reduce emissions from agriculture, such as changing the way fertilisers are used on pasture land, he said.
Goff was talking about New Zealand's approach to emissions trading systems, one of the main instruments being introduced by developed countries to counter global warming.
New Zealand plans to include methane and nitrous oxide as well as carbon dioxide in its emissions trading scheme which is due to be launched in July.
[Via - Stuff]
