Tag Archives: intu

Twitter Adds New Technology To Bring Images To Visually Impaired

Twitter ( TWTR ) said people using Apple ‘s ( AAPL ) iOS or  Alphabet ‘s ( GOOGL ) Google Android can now add descriptions to images in tweets, a benefit to the visually impaired. The update allowing descriptions — also known as alternative text — empowers “ everyone to ensure content shared on Twitter is accessible to the widest possible audience,” said Twitter engineer Todd Kloots in a blog post Tuesday. . “Photos have been at the center of some of the biggest moments on Twitter,” said Kloots. “ As a core part of the Twitter experience, it’s important that images shared on our platform are accessible to everyone, including those who are visually impaired.” People can use the feature  via the “compose image descriptions” option in the Twitter app’s accessibility setting. When an image is added to a tweet, the user can tap the “add description” button and insert a description of up to 420 characters to the image. Visually impaired people will have access to the description by using assistive technology, such as screen readers and braille displays, Twitter said. Smartphones have other accessibility features, including VoiceOver, the iPhone’s built-in gesture-based app that reads text on a touchscreen aloud, and Google Android’s TalkBack, through which visually impaired users can access anything on their phones. Voice Activation Usage Still Low Voice-activated services, including Apple’s Siri, Amazon.com ‘s ( AMZN ) Alexa, Alphabet’s Google Now, Microsoft ‘s ( MSFT ) Cortana and others, can assist all consumers, including the visually disabled, as people increasingly rely on mobile phones for shopping, communicating and information. But surveys have found those voice-activated services aren’t getting much use. Just 13% of U.S. mobile phone owners use a voice-controlled personal assistant on their device each day, according to a survey last June from 451 Research. The Americans with Disabilities Act requires websites and mobile applications to be accessible. Google announced its Google Impact Challenge: Disabilities last year with a $20 million grant for technology innovators in the nonprofit community who work on technology to make people with disabilities more independent. In addition to Twitter and Microsoft, Adobe Systems ( ADBE ), Dropbox, LinkedIn ( LNKD ), Yahoo ( YHOO ), Facebook ( FB ), Intuit ( INTU ) and others have jointly asked universities  to train computer students in accessibility software design and are requiring new hires to demonstrate some familiarity with it, according to the Mercury News. Besides facing competition from rivals such as Facebook, Twitter is struggling to expand its user base as its user growth has slowed. Twitter has launched programs to reel in “logged out” users who visit Twitter’s site but don’t have accounts of their own, making them less coveted by advertisers. Twitter stock was up 2% in afternoon trading in the stock market today , near 16. Image provided by Shutterstock .

Intuit Beats With Q3 Guidance But Doesn’t Raise Full-Year Outlook

No. 1 tax-preparation software maker  Intuit ( INTU ) — as it heads into its busy season — posted Q2 earnings and Q3 revenue guidance that beat Wall Street expectations, only to see its shares fall. One analyst says that the shares might be falling because the company didn’t raise its guidance for the year. At least two analysts raised their price targets on Intuit stock after the earnings release, and another was bullish on the tax season. Yet Intuit stock was down 5%, near 95, in afternoon trading on the  stock market today . In an interview after the earnings release late Thursday, Intuit CFO Neil Williams said that the company’s “momentum is really continuing into Q3.” Intuit said that sales for its fiscal Q2, which ended Jan. 31, rose 23% from the year-earlier quarter to $923 million. The company swung to a 25-cent per-share profit minus items from a 6-cent loss in the year-earlier quarter. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had expected $893 million and 19 cents. The company doesn’t give earnings guidance, but it expects Q3 sales of $2.2 billion to $2.26 billion — at the midpoint up only 4.4% from the year-earlier quarter but above the $2.2 billion analyst consensus. Wall Street expects EPS ex items to rise 10%, to $3.15 per share. For the fiscal year, Intuit sees revenue of $4.5 billion to $4.6 billion, up 8.5% at the midpoint. But the company didn’t raise its guidance for the year, RBC Capital Markets analyst Ross MacMillan told IBD, and there are questions about the company’s underlying growth potential. Another factor could be the strong earnings and guidance this week from software makers  Salesforce.com ( CRM ) and Palo Alto Networks ( PANW ). Intuit, MacMillan says, is regarded as a “defensive” stock play, but if other stocks are doing well, Intuit is less attractive. In a research note, MacMillan said that Intuit’s TurboTax sales stood out last quarter, rising 9%. He hiked his price target on Intuit stock — but only to 93 from 91. UBS analyst Brent Thill called the results the “best start to tax season in 13 years.” The fiscal Q3 tax season is always the company’s biggest quarter. “We’re in the third year of a multiyear journey and are beginning to see a sea change in how Americans prepare their taxes, driven by the massive innovation across the TurboTax experience combined with a breakthrough marketing campaign that makes our product the hero,” Sasan Goodarzi, executive vice president and general manager of Intuit’s Consumer Tax Group,  said in the earnings release. Part of Intuit’s plan to drive consumer tax growth is to leverage its do-it-yourself tax packages, CFO Williams told IBD. “Think about growing the DIY market as growing our total addressable market,” he said. Thill also says that Intuit is a good defensive play. Williams agrees, saying that the small businesses that comprise much of Intuit’s customer base often turn to its software packages when the economy heads south. Besides TurboTax, Intuit is known for its Quicken and QuickBooks small-business software. “Our products are needed most when small-business owners are maybe facing some headwinds economically.” Williams said. “We do well with economic uncertainty.” Wedbush analyst Gil Luria raised his price target on Intuit stock to 100 from 90. Intuit rival H&R Block ( HRB ), which makes the other major tax-preparation software product, is slated to report fiscal Q3 earnings on Thursday.

Amazon.com, T-Mobile Win Tech Ad Contest At Super Bowl 50

Tech companies advertising during Super Bowl 50 on CBS ( CBS ) on Sunday didn’t exactly set the Internet on fire with their commercials. None mustered the buzz of Heinz’s wiener dogs dressed like hot dogs or Mountain Dew’s creepy PuppyMonkeyBaby. Still, a number of tech company commercials were well received by the general public and critics alike. USA Today’s Ad Meter ranked Amazon.com ’s ( AMZN ) star-studded commercial as the top tech company commercial during the big game. Amazon’s first-ever Super Bowl ad featured actors Alec Baldwin and Jason Schwartzman, football great Dan Marino and hip-hop artist Missy Elliott. The e-commerce giant used the comic ad to promote its Echo smart-speaker with Alexa voice controls. The Amazon ad also was listed among the best commercials in post-game articles by the Verge, the Chicago Tribune, BGR and Sports Illustrated’s Extra Mustard blog. Also scoring well in the USA Today audience ranking were T-Mobile ( TMUS ) ads featuring rapper Drake and TV and radio personality Steve Harvey. In one commercial, Drake pokes fun at his hit song “Hotline Bling.” In the other, Harvey makes light of his recent Miss Universe pageant gaffe. T-Mobile had three of the top 10 most shared ads of Super Bowl 50, according to video ad tech company Unruly . (The third was an extended version of the Drake commercial.) Audience measurement company iSpot.tv said the T-Mobile ads earned the highest “digital share of voice” of any tech company ads during Super Bowl 50. The iSpot.tv measurement is based on online views and social media actions. The T-Mobile ads were listed among the big game’s best commercials by the Washington Post, Vox, ESPN, Bleacher Report, TVLine.com, BGR and Sports Illustrated. The top tech ad in terms of social media mentions was LG’s OLED TV commercial starring Liam Neeson, according to Infegy . Coming in second among tech companies was PayPal ’s ( PYPL ) first Super Bowl commercial. However, some critics ranked the LG commercial as among the worst of the night. Chicago Tribune writer Steve Johnson said the warmed-over “Tron” ripoff didn’t make any sense. “Here’s a case of wasting a perfectly good celebrity,” he said. “The TV maker has Liam Neeson speaking ominously to a young guy about ‘the future’ and ‘they want to stop it.’ There is a motorcycle chase, suggesting high stakes. But who, really, wants to ‘stop’ a better kind of TV?” Other tech companies that advertised during the Super Bowl included Apartments.com, Fitbit ( FIT ), Intuit ( INTU ), Squarespace and Wix.com ( WIX ). GoPro ( GPRO ) ran its latest commercial in regional markets, such as Chicago, Los Angeles and New York, during the game, according to Adweek . RELATED: Tech Firms Draft Neeson, Schwarzenegger For Super Bowl 50 Ads .