WOMEN are in the work force to stay, not only to help support their families, but also to achieve personal satisfaction, according to a national survey released yesterday.

But at the same time, the survey showed that working mothers bear particular burdens and pressures that have an impact on the ability of these women to build their careers and to carry out their family duties to their satisfaction.

''Findings throughout this study show the conflicts facing women as wives, mothers and wage-earners,'' said Louis Harris, president of Louis Harris & Associates, which conducted the $300,000 study for General Mills.

Mr. Harris cited as one example of this conflict the finding that 63 percent of the working mothers surveyed said they did not have enough time for themselves. On the other hand, he said, two out of three adult family members surveyed - both men and women -said they did have enough time for themselves, as did one out of two working women without children.

The survey, called ''Families at Work: Strengths and Strains,'' is the fourth study of American families sponsored by General Mills since 1975. Its findings were made public at what was billed as a ''teleconference'' at WNET-TV, 356 West 58th Street, in which a satellite hook-up allowed reporters from 18 United States cities to ask questions about the findings.

Mr. Harris said the survey was conducted by telephone last November and December and that the respondents included 1,503 adult family members, 235 teen-agers in those families, 104 business executives, 56 labor leaders, 49 so-called family traditionalists, whose names were provided by conservative groups, and 52 feminists whose names were JP SUB FAMILY-C6 provided by women's rights organizations. According to the survey, a majority of family members interviewed (52 per cent) said they believed the trend toward both parents working outside the home has had negative effects on families.

''The reason most often cited for this is that 'children need stronger parental guidance, supervision and discipline' than can be given when both parents work,'' Mr. Harris said.

Most respondents who described themselves as feminists and a majority of the working women, however, said they felt that both parents working had had positive or no effects at all on families. Among the positive effects mentioned were fulfillment of working women, added financial security, improved family communications and independence for children.

All groups surveyed agreed with the statement that ''when both parents work, children have to become more self-reliant and independent.''

More than five out of 10 women living in families are now employed outside the home, the study found, while three out of 10 are fulltime homemakers. Most of the women working outside the home are married, and most have children under the age of 18 at home.

Most women (58 percent to 28 percent) said they would prefer to continue working even in the absence of economic necessity. But in what Mr. Harris called ''a somewhat more surprising finding,'' most women said they would choose part-time employment if they had enough money to live as comfortably as they and their families would like. Women now working, in the absence of necessity, said they would prefer part-time (41 percent) over full-time (17 percent) employment. An even greater number of women who currently hold executive, managerial or professional jobs opted for part-time work by 51 percent over full-time jobs (19 percent).

''Interesting part-time work opportunities might relieve the tension between work and family responsibilities that many working women are clearly experiencing,'' Mr. Harris said.

He added that a recognition of a trade-off between career and family was shown by the 64 percent of family members and 72 percent of working mothers who agreed with the statement: ''People who expect to get ahead in their careers or jobs have to expect to spend less time with their families.''

In the survey, traditional assumptions regarding the responsibilities of breadwinners and the care of home and children were rejected by family traditionalists, feminists, labor leaders and working men and women alike. All groups said they believed the following:

- Rearing children should be the responsibility of both parents.

- Financial decisions should be shared by both parents.

- Decisions about housework and family activities should be shared. When asked about homemaking as a full-time job, a 46-to-41 percent plurality of the respondents said they were convinced that it has more disadvantages than advantages compared with other jobs. Women who are currently homemakers disagreed, by a 2-to-1 majority.

Teen-age children of the adult family members interviewed had strong feelings about work and the family. A majority said they felt that when both parents work, children under 12, and especially preschool children, suffer. Seven out of 10 teen-agers, however, said they felt that parents working during their children's teen-age years had either positive or no effects on teen-agers.

According to the survey, family members resist efforts to prescribe a single solution to the conflicting demands of work and family responsibilities. However, the survey found what Mr. Harris called ''a clear call for mutual consideration'' - the workplace should consider ways to accommodate family needs, just as families consider ways to meet the terms laid down by the workplace.

Mr. Harris said during the question-and-answer session, ''I'd like to say this to business: You're going to be in the bulls-eye for the next three or four years to meet these conditions.''

He said that among the most talked-about policies is part-time work with full benefits, which 42 percent of family members, 49 percent of working women and 66 percent of women planning to work felt would help them and their families a great deal.

In another workplace issue, a majority (53 percent) of working mothers and 42 percent of family members said they thought that employees should be able to resume work at the same pay and seniority after a personal leave of absence.

H. Brewster Atwater Jr., president and chief executive officer of General Mills, was asked by a reporter what his company, the sponsor of the survey, was doing to ease employees' conflicts between work and family duties.

''We are wrestling right now with what to do when the spouse of a married employee gets a job offer in another city,'' he said. ''This is going to be happening more often in the face of the fact that 50 percent of the business school graduates of the future will be women.''

He added that the largest single change in General Mills over the last 10 years was the increase in part-time work. ''If you work more than three days a week,'' he said, ''you qualify for full-time health benefits.''


Golden, Colo. - For its first three years, the Solar Energy Research Institute carried a blazing sun atop its stationary. A couple of months ago, to cut printing costs, the Department of Energy ordered the sun changed to a dull gray. It was an omen.

There were other, more important signs. All hiring and subcontracting at the institute was frozen for months while a team from Washington, without one member with technical credentials, conducted a leisurely review of its programs to make sure they conformed to the Reagan philosophy.

The institute was forbidden to finance unsolicited proposals, thus effectively limiting its subcontracts to those companies large enough to prepare long responses to formal requests for proposals. Lone inventors and small entrepreneurs were frozen out.

Desperately needed laboratory construction was delayed.In 1976, Colorado offered the Federal Government 300 acres of land on the outskirts of Denver to house the institute. The Department of Energy has not yet accepted this gift, much less begun construction. Eventually, key researchers began to give up hope and leave. Those who remain work in jerry-rigged, one-story labs in a neighborhood office complex or commute to nearby industrial labs, machine shops and a prison.

The greatest frustration, however, was with department's near inability to entertain new ideas. This year, the saving grace would have been a million-dollar Director's Fund earmarked for creative ventures. Par for the course, this fund of seed money has now been brought under the vice-like grip of departmental control and is being halved.

Desk-bound officials in Washington now demand to review everything, but refuse to decide anything. For a laboratory director, it is like communicating with a black hole. Endless streams of decision memos flow into headquarters; nothing comes out. The result in the field is chaos and paralysis.

Finally, for me, it all came to an end. On the morning of the summer solstice, June 23, with the sun as high above the horizon as it ever gets, I was asked for my resignation as the institute's director. Some friends see great symbolism in the timing. Each day now, the sun falls lower; so does Federal support for solar energy.

The institute's budget is being cut in half and its staff reduced by a third, and these blows are only pieces of a larger national pattern. Secretary of Energy James B. Edwards proposed to cut the Federal budget for renewable energy sources from the 1981 fiscal year's $576 million to $193 million for 1982 - a reduction of 67 percent. Another 50 percent cut is rumored to be in the works for the 1983 fiscal year.

The official explanation is that these cuts are merely part of the general effort to trim domestic Federal spending. However, the Edwards energy budget was shaped by blind bias. Even as the country's most promising energy options are being gutted, a herd of technological losers will be getting fat at the public trough.

The increases proposed for the nuclear budget alone represent twice as many dollars as will remain in the budgets for all renewable energy sources. Moreover, President Reagan, who before his election condemned Jimmy Carter's Synthetic Fuels Corporation, has now endorsed it and its $88 billion price tag.

Energy Secretary Edwards opposes continuing the enormously successful and cost-effective solar homebuilders' program because ''it is a demonstration project, and this Administration is not going to distort the marketplace with demonstration projects.'' Yet the Administration is willing to underwrite two oil-shale demonstration projects, each costing 5,000 times as much as the solar project. And the Administration is lobbying Congress hard to let it spend 15,000 times as much on a nuclear demonstration plant, the Clinch River Breeder Reactor.

This approach to budget cutting is poor policy and worse politics. It is poor policy because it is channeling billions in directions that a free market would not send them. A detailed study by the solar institute was suppressed for months by the Department of Energy but was finally made public through the actions of Rep. Richard L. Ottinger, Democrat of New York, and has been commercially published as ''A New Prosperity.'' It demonstrates convincingly that the country's best energy hopes lie with precisely those technologies being attacked by Secretary Edwards.

In a truly free market, investments in conservation and solar alternatives would soon dominate all other energy investments. I would raise no complaint if the budgets for conservation and solar systems were being slashed as part of a comprehensive program to get the Federal Government out of the energy marketplace. But such a program would require the abolition of the $88 billion Synthetic Fuels Corporation. It would require an end to the myriad huge tax benefits still given to the century-old oil industry. If the oil industry cannot thrive today without subsidies, who can? Such a program would require the cancellation of Government involvement in the Clinch

River breeder and the removal of the Federal liability ceiling for nuclear accidents. If the emerging Edwards energy program is bad policy; it may prove to be catastrophic politics. Secretary Edwards maintains that ''a vote for President Reagan was a vote for a nuclear future.'' Yet a Gallup poll taken at exactly the time of the November election found that of seven possible energy choices, solar alternatives ranked number one among adult Americans. Conservation, whose Federal budget Mr. Edwards plans to ''trim'' by more than 75 percent, ranked second. Nuclear power ran dead last.

Few voters, staunch conservatives included, believed that a vote for Ronald Reagan was a vote against solar energy. But unless prosolar Americans, the solid majority, put their senators and representatives on the line over the next few weeks, insisting that solar energy not be discriminated against, this fall will see the Federal solar program quitely eclipsed. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Denis Hayes former director of the Solar Energy Research Institute is working on a book about energy investments.


Things were jumping at the State Theater Friday night, and the cause of the happy commotion was very obviously Mel Tomlinson, who made an electrifying debut with the New York City Ballet.

By the time Mr. Tomlinson had finished his pas de deux in George Balanchine's ''Agon'' with the equally sensational Heather Watts, the entire house was totally caught up in the excitement. If this performance by Mr. Tomlinson is an indication of things to come, he is certainly not going to go unnoticed in the City Ballet.

He is, in fact, hardly a stranger. He comes direct from the Dance Theater of Harlem, where he has been a leading dancer for most of his career, except for a few seasons with Alvin Ailey's American Dance Theater and earlier with Agnes de Mille's Hertitage Dance Theater and the North Carolina School of the Arts.

If Mr. Tomlinson just splashed so naturally into a Balanchine masterwork at the City Ballet, it is undoubtedly because the Dance Theater of Harlem's directors, Arthur Mitchell and Karel Shook, trained him in a Balanchine repertory. It seems hardly an accident that he was cast now in the very part Mr. Mitchell himself originated so memorably at the City Ballet.

In short, Mr. Tomlinson was terrific. Whatever he injected into the rehearsals obviously had its overall effect throughout the performance, This season's first ''Agon'' was one of the most dynamic and electric in years.

For starters, there was Jean-Pierre Frohlich's breathtakingly sophisticated performance in the first pas de trois. It is easy to type him as a demi-caractere dancer. Yet he can come up with a startling nobility. And in this ballet in which both Mr. Balanchine and the composer, Stravinsky, build a concentrated superstructure upon Renaissance court dances, it takes someone like Mr. Frohlich to show us the courtly base. Every wide sweep of the leg had its individual emphasis and phrasing, every staccato jump was part of a wider continuum.

It was a pleasure also to see Mr. Frohlich's accomplices now nicely under control, with Victoria Hall and Susan Freedman dancing with wit rather than overstatement. Maria Calegari, who will be even better when she gives complete shape to the movement, led the other pas de trois with Kipling Houston and Tracy Bennett. All were excellent, and the initial tone of the performance was evident in the defiant way in which each member of the cast threw an arm across the chest in the first section.

It was left for the pas de deux to live up to its piece de resistance reputation and it did - from the first second, when Miss Watts hooked a long leg with whiplash force around Mr. Tomlinson's neck. Mr. Tomlinson has danced the pas de deux with the Dance Theater of Harlem, but Miss Watts took it on only last June. On the other hand, Mr. Tomlinson was lucky to have so technically secure a dancer as his partner for his company debut. Will anyone forget her arabesque held unusually long on toe with hand held out to a partner who streches himself out like a cat on the sun on his back and revels in the time he takes to do it? Here were two star performers taking risks at every moment.

The evening opened with the ''Tempo di Valse, a collage of waltzes from last June's Tchaikovsky Festival. The jewel in the diadem remains Mr. Balanchine's exquisite recension of the ''Sleeping Beauty'' Garland Dance. The other entries have lost some luster through casting. Darci Kistler looks adorable leading the ''Waltz of the Flowers'' but is totally miscast, striking poses and ignoring the music. John Taras's ''Eugene Onegin'' waltz has lost its charm because its student dancers are either gone or graduated into the company, where they and older members look unnecessarily snooty. Mr. Houston, on the other hand, is a gallant new partner for Allegra Kent, meeting her on her own Bacchic ground in Mr. Taras's ''Trio in A Minor.'' Kyra Nichols and Daniel Duell repeated their roles in Jacques d'Amboise's ''Valse-Scherzo,'' and Hugo Fiorato conducted.


WASHINGTON— The seemingly endless debate over the Federal budget is forcing Congress and the nation to confront a profound question - whether direct Government expenditures or indirect tax subsidies are the better way to achieve a social policy objective.

In recent years, officials have realized that the Government gives away billions of dollars in ''tax expenditures'' with far less public scrutiny than is focused upon direct outlays through the Congressional appropriations process. For any type of outlay, there is often a permanent provision of the tax code - a deduction, credit, exclusion or exemption - designed to achieve a similar purpose. The Senate Budget Committee recently catalogued 104 such provisions, estimating that together they will account for a loss of $253.5 billion in Federal revenue this year (not counting the effects of interactions among the provisions) - or roughly one-third of the $729 billion being spent in direct budget outlays.

Joseph A. Pechman, director of economic studies at the Brookings Institution, calls most tax expenditures ''inefficient.'' He says that ''we could achieve the same objectives better by way of direct outlays, and save money besides.'' But even such harsh critics of tax expenditures, or tax subsidies, as they are often called, agree that some purposes are best achieved through the tax code. Mr. Pechman approves of the investment tax credit, enacted in 1962 to stimulate economic growth. A tax expenditure program is often simpler to administer than direct spending because the tax subsidy does not require an extensive new bureaucracy.

To list an item as a tax expenditure implies no judgment on its merits. The Government will lose approximately $23 billion this year by permitting taxpayers to take deductions for mortgage interest, but defenders of the deduction say it serves a worthy purpose, stimulating residential construction and home ownership. The Government loses about $10.6 billion from the deduction for charitable contributions. But as President Reagan said in discussing proposals for a flat-rate income tax, that deduction could not be eliminated without doing harm to educational, artistic and ''humanitarian'' institutions.

For many reasons, Congress often finds it easier to subsidize a program through the tax code than through direct expenditures. A chief virtue of President Reagan's proposal for ''urban enterprise zones,'' in his eyes, is that it requires no appropriations. To an Administration that wants to minimize Government's role and stimulate the ''supply side'' of the economy, such tax incentives are preferable to direct outlays. But the Treasury estimates that the tax relief granted to businesses that set up shop in designated innercity areas could cost the Government $3.6 billion over the next five years. And the non-refundable credit would be virtually worthless to a small, struggling company that has no tax liability. Indirect Corporate Subsidies

President Reagan said that he could not condone direct payments to bail out companies like Braniff that had fallen on hard times. But the Administration has staunchly supported an indirect form of corporate subsidy through the tax code - tax leasing, which permits companies to buy and sell tax benefits through paper transactions that involve the leasing of equipment. Leasing was intended to assist ailing, capital-intensive basic industries such as steel and autos. But it has also enabled some profitable companies to slash their tax liabilities.

The controversy over tax leasing illustrates one of the most important factors affecting the choice between tax subsidies and direct outlays. It is usually more difficult to enact a direct outlay because proponents must win approval from at least two committees - the authorization and appropriation panels - in each house of Congress. The functions, in effect, are consolidated in one panel for tax legislation, which goes through the Finance Committee in the Senate and the Ways and Means Committee of the House. Astute beneficiaries often prefer to receive help through the tax code because tax benefits seem to have more permanence than direct outlays, which are subject to the perils of the budget process yearly.

Tax expenditures and direct outlays tend to assist different classes of people. A person must first pay taxes before he can benefit from a tax writeoff. The tax code is not a good vehicle to help people so poor that they pay little or nothing in taxes. As the Senate Budget Committee said: ''Tax expenditure benefits often are distributed more heavily to higher income individuals than the benefits derived from related spending programs.'' One reason is that the value of tax deductions and exemptions increases in proportion to a person's marginal tax rate - the rate on the last increment of income. Thus, an itemized deduction is worth twice as much to a married couple with income of $90,000 as to a couple earning $23,000; the marginal tax rate for the latter is 25 percent, while the more affluent couple is in the ''50 percent bracket.''

Some conservatives object to the concept of tax expenditures because, they say, it starts with the fallacious premise that Government owns all resources and is entitled to the money it does not collect in revenue. Treasury Under Secretary Norman B. Ture said that, in practice, he had ''no use'' for the tax-expenditure concept, because it requires defining ''a normal, neutral tax system'' and there is no consensus on that. Meanwhile, Senators Nancy Landon Kassebaum, Republican of Kansas, and Gary Hart, Democrat of Colorado, and Representative David E. Bonior, Democrat of Michigan, have introduced bills to help limit tax expenditures. The need for such control is likely to increase in a time of fiscal austerity, when people are looking for creative new ways to circumvent the limits on direct Federal spending.

Illustrations: table of estimated lost Federal revenues in fiscal 1982 graph of estimated lost Federal revenues in fiscal 1982


Those in search of a model post-Modernist artist need look no further than Robert Cumming. His work oversteps the traditional boundaries between visual media, relies on verbal as well as visual cues, refers to theater in its use of illusionism and serves to undermine our faith in the veracity of representation. These are precisely the qualities advanced by today's theoretical critics as criteria for post-Modernist art - art, that is, which actively seeks to throw off our Modernist inheritance. The photographs, drawings, sculptures, books and permutations thereof that Cumming produces, although refined in appearance, are not really the locus of his art; they are more like artifactual evidence of it.

The work for which Cumming is best known began in the 1970's, when he adopted the camera as his primary working tool (even though he insisted at the time on being identified as a sculptor, not a photographer). Many of his archly humorous and prop-laden black-andwhite photographs of that decade were used, together with his often hilarious narratives, in a series of books Cumming created, starting with ''Picture Fictions'' in 1971. The photograph ''Mosquito Field'' (1974) is typical of his ingenuity and wit: it is an 8-by-10-inch contact print of what seems to be an evenly dispersed array of insects, which close inspection reveals to be artificial. In fact, Cumming designed and manufactured the ''mosquitoes'' (in his role as sculptor), arranged and photographed them (as photographer) and later reproduced the image in his 1975 book ''A Discourse on Domestic Disorder'' (as illustrator/author/publisher). Obviously his is an art that does not lend itself to categorization.

More recently Cumming's work has been changing direction, as an extensive exhibition at Castelli Graphics (4 East 77th Street, through June 12) attests. Consisting of equal parts photographs, drawings and cut-paper silhouettes, the show displays Cumming's abiding taste for technological improbabilities and his delightfully obsessive urge to fantasize. But rather than construct improbable objects for the camera's benefit, as he did for 10 years, Cumming of late seems content to draw them; his photographs (now in color) are focused almost entirely on objets trouves, which seem to come with their absurdities built in.

Cumming has long sketched his ideas for photographs and sculptures, but the drawings on exhibit signal a new commitment to craft and polish. Done either with charcoal on white paper or with white conte crayon on black paper, they are rendered with an illustrator's facility, and include within their borders titles that have been meticulously hand-lettered in various serif type styles. Despite their coloration they resemble nothing so much as blueprints of a mad architect's isometric drawings. In one, a funnel eats mysterious hieroglyphic-like symbols and, in the drawing beneath it, squirts them out as straight black lines; in another, matchsticks have acquired joints that make them look like penknives. The silhouettes are just as madcap: inside the profile of a woman's head one finds a seesaw with a bullet on one end and a beehive on the other.

The color photographs capture the same sense of mystery and disarray in the physical world without resorting to the imagination. Cumming merely points his camera like a finger, centering on the object of his attention and imbuing it with an iconic presence. He shows us a tree with a black line painted around its trunk, a Japanese tricycle complete with dashboard, a newspaper on which snow has fallen and other curious ephemera. Many of the objects he depicts are broken - road signs, a birdhouse, a watchband; entropy seems to be ruling the universe in these photographs, so much so that the world of the imagination displayed in the drawings seems much more felicitious.

Unlike most photographers who seek to present themselves as artists, Cumming does not endeavor to be formally innovative in these pictures. His interest, certainly, is with the objects they describe; to the extent that he adopts a style it is a transparent one, one that pretends to invisibility. Occasionally, though, he takes pains to remind his viewers that they are looking at a picture, not at the thing itself, as when he includes an out-of-focus cat in a foreground corner of the tricycle picture. This device seems similar to that used in his earlier staged photographs, in which, for example, he would include his light sources within the frame, much like a magician revealing a sleight of hand. What unites all of Cumming's work, it seems, is this purposeful blurring of the distinction between what is illusory and what is real. As a result, in any confrontation with his pictures we are likely to get the feeling that we have lost our bearings.

This condition of conflation is characteristic of the current art we call post-Modernist (and of the so-called post-structuralist thought that dominates contemporary criticism); however, it also is characteristic of other kinds of art. Cumming's work is directly related to the Conceptual and narrative art modes of the 70's, of course; more significantly, it seems related to the Surrealism of the 20's and 30's. Cumming's commitment to displacing the familiar, his emphasis on the disjunction between the appearance of an object and its function, the distortions of scale, time and situation he introduces and, lately, his affection for the found object all are evocative of Surrealist esthetics. It is possible while perusing Cumming's pictures to think of Rene Magritte's painting of a train steaming out of a fireplace, or of Salvador Dali's melting watch. Susan Sontag has called photography ''the only art natively Surreal,'' but the Surrealism in Cumming's photography is doubled by the artist's interventions.

I do not mean to suggest by this comparison that Cumming attempts to recapitulate Surrealism in the way that architects are recapitulating Neo-Classicism, painters Expressionism and fashion designers the style of every decade of this century. Photographers who have tried to imitate Surrealist painting effects are generally a dour lot, their pictures infected with an all too-high seriousness, whereas Cumming is a cosmic comedian. If anything, he satirizes Surrealism (especially in the drawings and in the staged photographs) by including the evidence of his hand within his conceits, thereby diffusing their potential for making us shiver.

What I do mean to suggest is that for all the post-Modernist attributes Cumming's work possesses, it does not necessarily represent the radical art-historial rupture that post-Modernist critics seem to require. This in turn suggests that there is something problematic about the perception of post-Modernism as anti-Modernist. After all, the Surrealists, too, believed that they were making a clean break with the art historical past.

Illustrations: photo of 'The General Idea of Sound' photo of 'Figure in a Rowboat'


FORTUNE (Koh Ngai, Thailand) — There was mild disappointment here and there, but most analysts reacted calmly to a holiday quarter report that carved more than $50 billion off Apple’s AAPL market cap in after-hours trading.

A sampling of the notes to clients posted Wednesday evening:

Katy Huberty, Morgan Stanley: March Q Another Tough Comp; Catalysts Hit in F2H13. C4Q revenue beat guidance and our forecast but met consensus of $54.5B. The $8B revenue increase Y/Y is impressive, especially with Mac and iPad Mini supply limiting revenues but the stock likely needs to get past the tough gross margin and iPhone channel inventory comps in March to get back on a positive earnings and stock performance trajectory. At 60% of revenue, iPhone and iPad maintain double-digit growth momentum, with units up 35% and 62% respectively after adjusting for the 14th week a year ago and channel inventory changes. iPhone growth will slow some in March given the faster carrier roll-out in December but iPad and Mac growth should accelerate as supply improves. Reiterate $630 price target.

MORE: 29 stunning Apple surprises nobody saw coming

Amit Daryanani, RBC Capital: Bent Not Broken. AAPL reported modest upside to Dec-qtr expectations and guided March-qtr below street expectations. There was enough in the print for both bulls and bears. As the bulls will point to 1) Strong ramp of iPhones and iPads 2) 260bps upside to gross-margins, 3)Conservative March-qtr guide and 4)Multiple upcoming catalyst(new products, capital allocation, potential china mobile). The bears will focus on 1) cannibalization will hurt revenues and margins, 2) Change in commentary around guide, 3) Lack of new innovative products. We view the results as a sign that AAPL is executing well as they shift to a more normal growth company. We see levers for further gross-margin tailwinds driven by easing transitory costs, supply chain leverage, OPEX controls and new products. Lowers price target to $630 from $725.

Peter Misek, Jefferies: First thoughts. GM, and EPS exceeded consensus but fell short of our estimates. In particular iPhone shipments of 47.8M (JEF 53M, St 48.3M) were disappointing. Typically conservative revenue and GM guidance was better than many feared for, though implied EPS may be a bit light.

Gene Munster, Piper Jaffray: Quick Take On Apple’s December Quarter Earnings. While iPhone numbers were mildly disappointing, our initial look at Apple’s December quarter results does not sway our long term confidence in the iOS ecosystem. The December iPhone number, which we believe is the most important number for the company, came in at 47.8 million compared to the 50 million buy side bogey we talked about in our previous note. For March, the company guided to $41-43 billion in revenue compared to our expectation for a $41 billion guide. Net-net, while we believe the iPhone number may appear disappointing, the slightly better guide implies that investors may not need to continue to worry about noise regarding continued iPhone build decreases for March. Reiterate $875 price target.

Gokul Hariharan, JP Morgan: Guidance lackluster; prefer iPad over iPhone plays and EMS over high margin components in supply-chain. We believe the iPhone supply chain is likely to remain challenged through 1Q13, given the sharp qoq unit growth for iPhone 5. Strength in iPad mini should mean that the iPad supply chain should fare better in the next two quarters. With clearer indicators of Apple moving towards mainstream products (already in iPads and potentially in iPhones), we believe that it is also consolidating the supply chain towards EMS players, which increases the profit pool that EMS vendors can address, while cutting costs for Apple.

Ben Reitzes, Barclays: Apple Delivers Relatively in line Results, Macs take away the upside – Outlook Mixed. Apple reported fiscal 1Q13 EPS (December quarter) of $13.81, which was above our estimate of $13.38, above consensus of $13.48 and above Apple’s original guidance of $11.75. The beat vs. our expectations was largely due to lower-than-expected operating expenses and modestly higher revenue than expected. Revenue of $54.5 billion beat our estimates by about $500 million due to slight upside on iPhones and iPads vs. our expectations. However, many investors likely desired a few more millions of upside in iPhones. It was downside in Macs that was the real surprise – contributing to a $1.3 billion shortfall, likely due in part to iMac shortages. We believe some of this Mac revenue is pushed into the March quarter and would like to see better execution in this segment. Reiterate $740 price target.

Brian White, Topeka: Apple Delivers its Signature Conservative Outlook. For 2QFY13, Apple expects revenue of $41 billion to $43 billion (Street is at $45.38 billion) and inline with our $41.9 million projection. Our estimates and price target are currently under review. As we indicated in early January, we expect the next iPhone to launch in June (or possibly in May) and we believe an iPad refresh (i.e., iPad 5 and next generation iPad mini) is planned for March. Given this shorter launch cycle for the iPhone and iPad, we recently adjusted the seasonality in our model and particularly for the March quarter, which jibes with the outlook that Apple provided this evening. Reiterate Street-high $1,111 price target.

ISI’s Brian Marshall: Low-Priced iPhone is Paramount to Financial Re-acceleration. Despite the … penetration statistics for AAPL and the horrific technicals in the stock, we believe the AAPL story isn’t over quite yet. In our view, AAPL should bring to market a lower-price iPhone (perhaps wholesale price of ~$300 with GM of ~40% vs. the current iPhone family at ~$600 and ~50% GM) targeted at the international markets in 2H13. If this action were to occur (we think ~70% chance), it would likely drive significant international iPhone adoption (from quarterly penetration rate of ~4% in Dec-12 to more in-line with AAPL’s domestic quarterly postpaid penetration rate of ~8% in Dec-12). We believe the end result would be price elasticity kicking-in and driving a new phase of revenue/earnings re-acceleration and AAPL shares would likely get their “mojo” back. Lowers price target to $600 from $710.

Trip Chowdhry, Global Equities Research: Quick Take. 1) Apple beats its guidance. 2) The Apple Stock has been down from its near time high of about $700 to now about $500, and in our view the Apple stock at $500 was reflecting a miss to its guidance, which has not happened. 3) The only explanation of the stock being down in the After hours market is the dividend curse. Most of the technology stocks that have paid dividends have underperformed the market. Reiterate $650 price target.

See also: Apple burned by analysts’ overheated expectations

Summary: The analysts weren't as freaked out as the traders seemed to be


From left: Keke Palmer, Skyler Samuels, Jamie Lee Curtis, Emma Roberts and Lea Michele of Scream Queens

By Aurelie Corinthios and Scott Huver

07/13/2015 AT 01:05 PM EDT

In case you were wondering,

is a "dreamy" costar – at least if you ask the actresses of

The 56-year-old actress was a generous den mother to the sorority sisters on the set of

set to premiere this fall on Fox.

press room on Sunday. "She brought us gifts, all these little parasols, and she brought me some books."

and Billie Lourd, the series follows the ladies of Kappa Kappa Tao and their sorority mom (Curtis).

"She gave us green juices during the day, like, 'Drink this,' " said Breslin, 19. "She's always giving us little gifts and writing us little notes in our trailer. She's just like, the coolest human."

"She's the main structure that just keeps everything together," said Michele, 28. "She's like our protector, and I really love that."

"I want to be next to her more," added Roberts, 24. "We're so needy!"

As for Curtis, whom Lourd called a "goddess," she's been more than happy to take the girls under her wing – and has plenty of her own praise for the younger actresses.

"Believe me, I'm going to nest with my little birds," said Curtis. "They're just, you know, giving it back to you every second. It's really extraordinary. And I think it just is a testament to the professionalism that young people actually do have that we take for granted."

premieres Sept. 22 on Fox.

Summary: "She's like our protector, and I really love that," Lea Michele says of her on-screen den mother


Bill Cosby and his attorney Monique Pressley (inset)

07/21/2015 AT 08:30 PM EDT

to a woman he was in a consensual sexual relationship with in the 1970s does not mean he gave other women the drugs "without their knowledge or consent" or "engaged in any non-consensual sex," his attorneys say in a new court filing.

were a highly popular recreational drug in the 1970s, labeled in slang as "disco biscuits" and known for their capacity to increase sexual arousal," wrote Patrick O'Connor, one of Cosby's attorneys, in the motion filed Tuesday.

"There are countless tales of celebrities, music stars, and wealthy socialites in the 1970s willingly using Quaaludes for recreational purposes and during consensual sex," he wrote.

"Yet upon the unsealing of those excerpts, the media immediately pounced, inaccurately labeling the released testimony as defendant's "confession" of "drugging" women and assaulting them," he wrote.

"Reading the media accounts, one would conclude the defendant has admitted to rape," he wrote. "And yet defendant admitted to nothing more than being one of the many people who introduced Quaaludes into their consensual sex life in the 1970s."

O'Connor's motion was in response to excerpts from the deposition that were unsealed July 6 at the request of the

and one filed July 8 by attorney Dolores Troiani, who represents former Temple employee

, with whom Cosby settled a lawsuit in 2006.

There was a confidentiality agreement with that settlement but Troiani asked the judge to release Cosby's deposition transcripts and Constand and Troiania from those confidentiality provisions which "defendant has chosen to ignore," she wrote.

"But for Cosby's repeated violations of the confidentiality agreement and attempt to sway public opinion in his favor this motion would not have been necessary," she wrote.

"The release of these documents will assist other women who have been victimized and bring awareness to the fact that sexual assault is not just committed with a gun or knife but is also committed by mentors who engage in exploitative behaviors," she wrote.

O'Connor argues against unsealing the deposition, which was

via the court reporting service the attorneys used, and/or allowing it to be distributed to more members of the media.

"The timing of plaintiff's July 8, 2015 motion reflects an attempt on her part to ride on the coattails of the barrage of inaccurate and negative media attention that followed this court's July 6, 2015 release of excerpts from the defendant's deposition," O'Connor wrote.

"Plaintiff should be denied further relief and instead should be sanctioned," he wrote. "The court should preserve what little benefit to defendant remains from the settlement agreement."

Summary: Cosby "admitted to nothing more than being one of the many people who introduced Quaaludes into their consensual sex life in the 1970s," Cosby's attorney argued in a motion filed Tuesday


Closed sales of existing homes in June, based on contracts signed in April and May, rose 3.6 percent on a monthly basis, even as the median national home price rose to its highest level on record. That median price indicates sales are more active on the higher end of the market. Sales of the lowest priced homes actually fell. Yun had warned then that higher home prices could weaken sales in the second half of this year.

Mortgage rates did move slightly higher in June, weakening purchasing power especially for rate-sensitive, first-time home buyers. Mortgage applications to purchase a home have barely moved in July, up just 0.4 percent from four weeks ago.

Read MoreWeekly mortgage applications edge up 0.8% despite drop in rates

Regionally, in the Northeast, pending home sales were just 0.4 percent higher month-to-month. In the Midwest and South, they fell 3 percent from May. In the West, they rose just 0.5 percent.

The Realtors are predicting the national median home price in 2015 will increase 6.5 percent from 2014 to $221,900, which would match the record high set in 2006. They predict sales for the year to increase 6.6 percent to 5.27 million, about 25 percent below the last peak set in 2005.

Summary: Higher prices are beginning to take their toll on U.S. home buyers. Signed contracts to buy existing homes fell unexpectedly in June.


Sunday MBA provides ideas on running better businesses and succeeding in the modern workplace, this week from MIT Sloan Management Review and Gregory Unruh, the Arison Group Endowed Professor at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va.

The scandal at FIFA, soccer’s international governing body and organizer of the World Cup, is a teaching moment for managers who want to root out corruption. News coverage has focused on the personalities of implicated individuals, but such a focus on personal morality muddles executives’ understanding of what corruption is.

Many managers can’t clearly define corruption. And if you can’t define something, you certainly can’t manage it when you encounter it. While many definitions focus on dishonest abuse of power or moral depravity, I prefer the precision of the engineer’s definition:

Any organized, interdependent system in which part of the system is not performing duties as originally intended to, or performing them in an improper way, to the detriment of the system’s original purpose.

The focus here is on a “system” in which a component is failing. So a bridge, for example, is an interdependent system of engineered beams and trusses that, when whole and complete, will sustain your car as you drive across the river. But if part of the bridge is corrupt — say a beam has rusted through — then part of the system can’t work as designed, and the bridge might collapse.

A business can be seen as an organized, interdependent system. Identifying corruption in such social systems is straightforward: When the parts work as designed, all stakeholders can get the maximum performance — and thus maximum social benefit — from them.

The “parts,” however, are not mechanical; they are human decision makers that have certain decision-making rights and duties. When decision makers exercise their duties responsibly, the system works as designed and society benefits. When they don’t, they undermine the performance of the system and the achievement of its social goals.

The engineer’s perspective on corruption gives insight into the role of corporate social responsibility. Social systems are actually composed of systems within other systems. Take that bridge again. It is part of a much larger network of tunnels, highways, and toll roads that constitute a transportation system. When the system is whole, it ensures that people and products efficiently get to where they need to be.

But when part of the system is corrupted, it lowers the performance of the whole and society suffers. Think of Bridgegate back in 2013, when in an act of political payback, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s staff closed two of the three eastbound lanes heading into New York on the George Washington Bridge. In this way, the corruption in one subsystem, the George Washington Bridge, spread to undermine the function of other social systems.

From this perspective then, we can understand corporate social responsibility and sustainability as ways of ensuring that corporate systems do not corrupt the larger social and environmental systems in which they are embedded.

FIFA also provides an example of this type of corruption. Brazil, which hosted last year’s World Cup, has high-strung soccer fans and high passions have led to stadium bloodshed, which in turn led Brazil to outlaw the sale of alcohol at soccer matches in an effort to reduce violence and enhance public safety.

But for FIFA and its sponsors — one of which is Budweiser — the ban was unacceptable. Brazilian politicians rolled over and lifted the ban. FIFA’s actions, in effect, corrupted the Brazilian political system in a way that served the interests of FIFA and its sponsors, but endangered the welfare of the Brazil’s citizens and sports fans.

FIFA’s demands and Brazilian politicians’ response were not illegal. But the pressures put on Brazilian lawmakers were an example of how business corruption is socially corrupting: FIFA’s demands reduced the ability of the Brazilian government to protect its citizens and impaired the social performance of the country’s institutions.

This is why corporate social responsibility and sustainability are vital perspectives for executives and global businesses. They force managers to consider the larger, systemic implications of how they pursue parochial, short-term goals. That does not guarantee they will act in the interests of the larger systems, but it does at least give them the mindset to do so.

Summary: Many managers can’t clearly define corruption. And if you can’t define something, you can’t manage it when you encounter it.


CVS Health Corp. is scheduled to release its second-quarter earnings Tuesday morning.

Techies, developers, designers, and entrepreneurs are gathering for TechBreakfast’s monthly breakfast. The event includes networking and showcases. Tuesday, 8 to 9:30 a.m., Microsoft NERD Center, Horace Mann Room, 1 Memorial Drive, Cambridge. Free.

The attorney general’s office and the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce are hosting an information session on the earned sick time law, which went into effect July 1. The two-hour discussion will cover employers’ and employees’ rights and responsibilities. Tuesday, 2 to 4 p.m., Boston Public Library, Salon Room, 700 Boylston St., Boston. Free.

The Rotary Club of Downtown Boston, a professional networking group, is hosting Grill23 master sommelier Brahm Callahan for a discussion about wine. Tuesday, 6 to 7:30 p.m., Brandy Pete’s, 267 Franklin St., Boston. $10 to $20.

The Cambridge Center for Adult Education is hosting a workshop on the basics of Excel. Attendees need to bringa laptop with Excel 2007 or newer installed. Wednesday, 12:30 to 4:30 p.m., Cambridge Center for Adult Education, 42 Brattle St., Cambridge. $70.

Summary: Earnings release, Code and network, and more notable events and things to know.


John Zimmer, Lyft's co-founder and president, told CNBC in September that the company would be adding 100 cities in the U.S. in 2015.

At the time, Zimmer said that Lyft was booking 2 million rides per month, and that gross revenue in September was up 40 percent month over month.

Read MoreLyft Seeking New Mega-Funding to Battle Uber

The company is reportedly in talks with investors to raise another large round of funding, according to a New York Times report. According to the article, the amount could reach into the hundreds of the millions and could include Alibaba Group, which is a former investor in the company.

Zimmer declined to comment to the Times, but did say that there's a lot of interest being garnered about the company's business. He also said that the number of requested rides and Lyft's total revenue was five times higher in 2014 than in 2013, however, he did not disclose exact figures, according to the report.

Summary: The company is also looking to push into new markets to compete with its bigger competitor Uber.


I have a little bit of experience in the burger-investing space. During my years of working on Wall Street at various hedge funds, I invested $1 million in Fatburger and owned the rights to the chain for the state of New Jersey. It started off as a west coast casual-dining franchise that claims the biggest, juiciest hamburgers anyone has ever seen along with an old school jukebox-type feel to the place that gives it some atmosphere. The concept is great and the food is delicious. The investment didn't quite work out: My first mistake was overvaluing the company from the beginning. Then, along with everyone else in the financial collapse, we got hit with rising food cost fuel costs and rent. It wasn't sustainable with a lagging economy. And we ultimately picked a couple of bad locations that set us back.

Read MoreCramer on SHAK: Good burgers, bad money?

Shake Shack is getting a lot of hype now but here are four reasons why I think it's not a "buy" right now:

Valuation. Shake Shack has demonstrated remarkable growth thus far, but its decreasing margins and current stock price do not support owning shares at these levels.

Growth. At these prices, the stock is already assuming multiple years of growth already priced in. If you are buying the stock today, you are buying it for 2020 year earnings when the multiple compresses. I can find better places for my money.

Read MoreAlready time to short the Shack?

Competition. People are making the comparison to Chipotle, the fast-casual fresh Mexican food chain, but that's looking at it all wrong. Sure, they are in the same sector but what they offer is completely different. When you crave that kind of food, your options are limited to Taco Bell or an old-fashioned sit-down dinner with menus and wait staff. It's the only game in town. They also benefit from demand for a more health-conscious society. SHAK is part of a highly crowded burger-and-fries universe.

Cool factor. I'm always hesitant when a company goes public and there's a certain cool factor to owning the stock. In my opinion, most of the buyers have not done their homework. Analyst and investors have been trying to put a valuation on COOL forever, but have yet to do it successfully. We have no idea if this is the Facebook or MySpace of burgers yet. Because they key to analyzing cool is longevity. When you figure out that formula give me a call—we should talk.

This is not to say that Shake Shack will never be a buy. I actually think the chain will do quite well. But there are hurdles to climb and growing pains to come over the next few years, especially if investors are expecting the type of growth that the current stock price indicates. Not every location is going to be a winner—there will be some losers along the way. (Trust me on this.) The cost of food will have a direct effect to margins. Even fuel will play a role into realizing profits. This isn't as easy as flipping burgers.

Read MoreHow to spend a $1 million bonus

SHAK is a sell. Maybe I'll be wrong, but I'm okay missing this trade. But I'll be first in line to order a cheeseburger next time I'm in Tribeca.

Summary: Shake Shack is getting a lot of hype but Turney Duff, who knows a thing or two about eating and investing in burgers, says this stock is a "sell."


Matthew Rojansky, director of the Kennan Institute at the Wilson Center, told CNBC that Ukraine can salvage its economy by enforcing a flat tax rate and enacting criminal penalties for concealing real assets and income.

"Oligarchs never own anything on paper," he said.

Read MoreUkraine President: This 'terrorism' needs to stop

Jaresko addressed corruption on the conference call as well, saying that efforts to fight it are critical to the state's legitimacy. She said that an anti-corruption bureau has been created and fully funded in the 2015 budget.

She hoped her private business background (she co-founded and served as CEO and managing partner of Horizon Capital) would help her battle the country's corruption and a recession that has been ongoing since 2012.

Rojansky added that Ukraine needs "big ($50 billion over a year or two) credit from the West to restart private lending."

Ian Brzezinski, senior fellow at the Atlantic Council and principal at the Brzezinski Group, said it will take a lot more than the IMF and West can provide to improve Ukraine's financial reality.

"Even with billions of dollars of assistance, it will be difficult for Ukraine to leverage the potential of these loans grants while enduring an invasion and the political subterfuge and economic pressure imposed upon it by Russia," Brzezinski told CNBC.

"At best this assistance will be a tourniquet that will help Ukraine survive this onslaught."

Summary: Reforms to raise tax revenue and cut out corruption in Ukraine could deter investment when the country desperately needs it.


Pebble, the Palo Alto-based startup that makes nifty smartwatches, is the latest wearable-maker to announce a new product with a giant elephant in the room.

This morning the company introduced Pebble Time, a brand-new smartwatch that features a color display, unlike its two Pebble predecessors, which had black and white E-ink displays.

Read more from Re/code: Re/code on TV: An Apple car and Code/Media cocktails Samsung acquires payments startup to compete with Apple Pay ABC's 'Modern Family' shot an entire episode using only Apple's iPhone and iPad

The Pebble Time's interchangeable rubber band gives it a more casual feel. But the display is covered in durable Gorilla Glass, with a stainless steel bezel. It's also 20 percent thinner than the previous model and slightly curved to fit the wrist more comfortably. It also has a microphone for dictating short text responses.

Despite its always-on color display, Pebble says battery life should be about seven days on a charge.

Read MoreTop 10 wearable tech gadgets to watch in 2015

With this new software and hardware combo, Pebble believes it has found a solution to what you might call app overload on a tiny smartwatch screen. It's called the "timeline."

Rather than force the wearer to go back to the watch home screen each time she wants to open a new app (Pebble supports over 6,500 apps), they'll appear on a scrolling timeline. This includes past apps, ones that are relevant now and apps that might be useful in the near future. They're cued up through three physical buttons on the right side of the watch face.

Read MoreApple wants to hire a music journalist

For example, a "past" notification might show last night's game score from the ESPN app, while "now" would include an update from a weather, traffic or stock app; and "future" information might include an alert from the Fandango app for a movie you're seeing that evening.

And finally, the charging port on the underside of the Pebble Time will double as an accessories port — so something like a heart-rate sensor or a small GPS device could attach to the watch. These accessories don't exist yet, but Pebble thinks hardware companies will make them.

Read More Apple's record close brings market cap to $775B

The Pebble Time goes on sale this morning and is expected to ship in May. It costs $159 or $199 — depending on when you buy it.

Interestingly, Pebble is going back to its Kickstarter roots for the Pebble Time. Rather sell the Time on its own website or through one of its 15,000 retail partners, the company is first launching a 31-day Kickstarter campaign, to "tell the story" of the new watch and appeal to hardcore Pebble fans.

Summary: Pebble, the Palo Alto-based startup that makes smartwatches, is the latest wearable-maker to announce a new product with a giant elephant in the room. Re/code reports.


(Adds comments from analyst, conference call; updates shares)

March 3 (Reuters) - Bank of Nova Scotia posted a lower-than-expected quarterly profit on Tuesday, hurt by an increase in credit-loss provisions and higher expenses, sending its shares down about 1.6 percent.

The results at Scotiabank, Canada's No. 3 lender, round out a mixed quarter for the country's big banks, with Royal Bank of Canada and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce topping profit expectations, Bank of Montreal falling short, and Toronto-Dominion Bank basically in line.

The group's results were the focus of much market attention as investors tried to gauge the impact of the oil-price slump and a sluggish economy on performance.

Scotiabank's provisions for credit losses jumped 30 percent to C$463 million ($369.8 million) in its first quarter, ended Jan. 31, and noninterest expenses rose about 3 percent.

Loans outstanding to corporate clients in the oil-and-gas sector were C$15.4 billion, up 20 percent from the fourth quarter, despite low oil prices.

"It's a bit worrisome," Edward Jones analyst James Shanahan said. "If that meant that they are making large, incremental bets on the oil-and-gas sector, that makes me a little bit nervous."

Chief Risk Officer Stephen Hart said the bank's "oil-and-gas exposure is manageable".

"Any stress losses would leave the bank within our risk tolerances for both capital and loan loss provisions and would not affect our ongoing strategies," he said on a conference call.

Scotiabank recorded sharp growth in loans and deposits at its closely watched international banking division. The numbers come four months after the bank, considered Canada's most international, announced significant restructuring at the unit.

"Our geographic footprint and business mix allows us to generate sustainable earnings growth, notwithstanding somewhat challenging conditions in various industries," Chief Executive Brian Porter said on the call.

Scotiabank's Canadian banking division benefited from higher net interest margins, and profits at its wealth management division were robust.

Net income rose to C$1.73 billion, or C$1.35 per share, from C$1.71 billion, or C$1.32 per share, a year earlier.

On an adjusted basis, it earned C$1.36 per share, short of analysts' average estimate of C$1.38, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Total revenue rose nearly 4 percent to C$5.86 billion.

Scotiabank increased its share buyback target to 16 million from 12 million. The buyback program will end May 29.

It also raised its quarterly dividend to 68 Canadian cents per share from 66 Canadian cents. ($1=$1.25 Canadian)

(Additional reporting by Sneha Banerjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila and Peter Galloway)

Summary: March 3- Bank of Nova Scotia posted a lower-than-expected quarterly profit on Tuesday, hurt by an increase in credit-loss provisions and higher expenses, sending its shares down about 1.6 percent. The results at Scotiabank, Canada's No. 3 lender, round out a mixed quarter for the country's big banks, with Royal Bank of Canada and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce...


A mid-range sedan, for example, costs north of 100,000 Singapore dollars ($73,000).

Owning a supercar is another story. A Maserati GranTurismo Sport sells for around 600,000 Singapore dollars ($437,000). In the U.S., the same car costs under $200,000.

Uber's free trial for its supercar service earlier this month was met by an encouraging response, a spokesperson from Uber told CNBC.

"Response was overwhelming and demand was sky high. Anytime the car freed up and went back online it was booked right away for the next trip. We were really encouraged by the interest levels," she said.

This is the first time Uber is offering the option to request for a supercar for an extended period. The company says it will use the trial run to monitor demand levels before ascertaining a long-term plan for the offering.

Summary: Uber's getting fast and furious in Singapore, souping up its fleet with Lamborghinis and Maseratis as part of its new "supercar" offering.


Education Images | UIG | Getty Images

Stanford University Graduate School of Business at Knight Management Center

Don't look to the Ivy League for America's best business program, according to a new report.

Stanford University beat out Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania to take the top spot in U.S. News and World Report's 2016 business school rankings. The three schools had previously tied for the best full-time MBA program.

Here are U.S. News and World Report's top business schools:

1. Stanford University 2. Harvard University3. University of Pennsylvania4. University of Chicago5. Massachusetts Institute of Technology6. Northwestern University7. University of California—Berkeley8. Columbia University9. Dartmouth College10. University of Virginia

In other categories, Penn was rated the best nursing school, while Harvard took the top spot among medical research programs.

Read MoreWhich colleges have the best return on investment?

Yale University was ranked the best law school.

Read U.S. News and World Report's full graduate school rankings here.

Summary: Stanford topped new rankings for American MBA programs, breaking a tie with Harvard and Penn.


This, we’re afraid, isn’t it. What you’re in fact looking at is the Bugatti Vision Gran Turismo. It’s a (stunning) virtual creation you’ll be able to download and drive on the iconic PlayStation racing simulator. You know the formula by now: everyone from Aston Martin to BMW and VW plus many more have had a crack at concocting the wackiest concept car possible, safe in the knowledge that it’ll only be driven via a vibrating controller on someone’s telly.

This Bugatti is different, though. They’re going to build it. Really.

Okay, sort of. Bugatti will show off a full-size, one-off Vision GT model at the Frankfurt Motor Show later this month, but it’s not going to be dolling out test drives. This is still a flight of styling fantasy. Looks cool though, no?

The official bumpf claims the Bugatti styling team were inspired by the brand’s rich tapestry of historical designs, like the two-time Le Mans-winning Type 57 ‘Tank’. That inspiration seems to have got so far as the two-tone paint job, because from where we’re sitting, this is a Veyron on steroids. GT3 racing car flavour ones.

Eagle-eyed readers will have scrolled agog through the gallery above and spotted a very recognisable track map front’n’centre in the Vision GT’s 22nd Century interior. Yup, that’s the Circuit de la Sarthe. Le Mans. Forgive us for getting a tad excited, but what with the racey carbon seat and F1-style steering wheel already in place, is it too much to hope to see a Bugatti GT3 racer dicing with the new Ford GT at the Le Mans 24 Hours in June 2016?

Sadly, it almost certainly is. The Bugatti Vision GT is just a styling exercise – a canvas for Bugatti’s designers to go a little crazy, and perhaps throw us a few clues to how the difficult second album that is the Veyron MkII might look.

The stats are sure to be mighty, the top speed aircraft-spec. But is Bugatti’s next road car actually going to be, well, a looker? On this evidence, we might be in for more than just a new physics lesson. What do you reckon?

A version of this story appeared on TopGear.com.

Summary: Created for the popular PlayStation videogame, this racy concept is more than flight of fancy: It's a glimpse of the Veyron's successor.


The roller-coaster ride for stocks continued this week as the S&P 500 and Dow both ended their worst month since May 2012. And according to one technician, the volatility could continue through the end of the year.

"We're categorizing this as a bull market correction rather than the start of a bear market cycle," Ari Wald said Monday on CNBC's "Trading Nation." All major U.S. indexes fell more than 6 percent in the month of August, with most of the selling happening in the last 10 trading sessions. Wald defined these types of downturns as "sharp and brief," but "still require time to stabilize."

In order to get a clearer understanding of when stocks might regain footing, Wald, head of technical analysis at Oppenheimer & Co., drew comparisons to past pullbacks. "We compare the current setback with [similar] nonrecessionary, secular bull corrections in 1962, 1966, 1984, 1987, 1988 and 2011," he said. "In these examples, the S&P 500 needed between two to six months between breakdown and breakout."

Read MoreStocks close lower, post worst month in 3 years despite oil turnaround

Of the most recent correction four years ago, Wald said, "There was this waterfall-like decline that was very similar to what we saw last week and it took about two months to stabilize." For Wald, a chopping process will need to occur in the next several months in order for the existing bull market to resume.

In the meantime, Wald called current price action a "trader's paradise," meaning investors should be "eyeing mean-reverting opportunities, like selling the current oversold bounce in the S&P 500."

Boris Schlossberg of BK Asset Management took a more optimistic approach to the current environment, calling last week's selloff a "snooze you lose" kind of dip. "I really think the lows are behind us," he said Monday. "I think the economy itself is fundamentally much stronger than the dip in the market."

Schlossberg added that as economic indicators continue to show positive expansion, fears of a recession should recede and the market will resume upside.

Summary: As stocks continue their roller-coaster ride, one technician says the volatile swings could continue over the next several months.


This story is developing. Please check back for further updates.

Travelers Cos. announced on Tuesday that Alan D. Schnitzer will succeed Jay S. Fishman as CEO effective Dec. 1 of this year. Schnitzer has also been appointed to the company's board of directors.

Fishman will take the role of executive chairman following the move.

Schnitzer, 49, last served as CEO of Travelers' Business and International Insurance, the company's largest business segment. Before that, he headed the Financial, Professional and International Insurance segment. He joined the company in April 2007.

Read More What does sudden CFO exit mean for BofA?

"Alan is well prepared to build on our strong record, and the board and I agree that it is the right time to appoint a new leader," Fishman said in a release. "While the physical symptoms of my neuromuscular condition continue to progress, I am committed to actively engage as our executive chairman and am pleased to continue supporting Alan and the rest of our outstanding senior team."

Shares of the company were unchanged in extended-hours trading.

The Travelers Cos. sells property casualty insurance for auto, home and business. It currently employs about 30,000 workers.

Summary: Travelers Companies announced on Tuesday that Alan D. Schnitzer will succeed Jay S. Fishman as CEO effective Dec. 1 of this year.


As the use of big data, cloud computing and virtualization grows, so is the allocation of budgets to data centers among corporates.

Almost half of the respondents in a 2014 Digital Realty survey of data center trends in the Asia-Pacific published in May said they expect their budgets to increase by 5-10 percent over the next 12 months.

"The increase in data center budgets is directly related to the growth in data that organizations are generating as well as the adoption of the analysis of big data and that's really shifted the way companies are looking at data centers," said William Stein, the interim CEO and CFO of Digital Realty, a global provider of data center and co-location solutions.

Read MoreWhy the cloud needs to clean up its act

"They see data centers as strategic business assets. Data centers now are much more than depositories of data than they were in the past," he added. "Companies are using them to combine data, analyze it and exchange it with their clients and partners and it's a trend that we see accelerating with the migration to the cloud."

According to Cisco, global data center IP (Internet protocol) traffic will nearly triple between 2012 and 2017. It forecasts that overall, data center IP traffic will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 25 percent from 2012 to 2017.

Research firm Gartner says that the use of cloud computing is growing and that growth will increase to become the bulk of new IT spending.

Read MoreWhite House calls for limits on web data

"Data is nothing unless you refine it. I speak with tons of clients, and every CIO I talk to will tell you that data is going to be the basis of their competitive advantage," IBM's CEO, Virginia Rometty told CNBC last month. "It's not the data alone but the analytics around it."

Summary: As the use of big data, cloud computing and virtualization grows, so is the allocation of budgets to data centers.


"Our analysis indicates traditional retailers' supply chain costs are roughly three times lower than [online] pure plays when leveraging store fulfillment capabilities," Cowen & Co. analyst Oliver Chen wrote in a note to investors Thursday. ( Tweet this )

Read MoreThese retailers pay the highest rents

In contrast to physical retailers, who can utilize their expansive store networks as points of distribution, online-only companies have to rely on a smaller system of warehouses that tend to be located outside of high-population areas, where the land is cheaper. Even the leader in online commerce, Amazon, has fulfillment centers only in roughly a dozen states.

On top of this advantage, Chen said traditional retailers can ship multiple items at a time to stores, as opposed to one-off packages that go directly to consumers. They also offers shoppers the option to pick up items in store, which removes incremental shipping costs. And again because of their store footrprints, bricks-and-mortar retailers have more opportunities to ship next-day packages on the ground, which is on average three to four times cheaper than by air.

Read MoreMalls outperforming the shopping center industry

"Beyond the profitability advantage, the convenience of buy-online, pickup in store should continue to gain traction with consumers, driven by mobile providing stores an advantage in years to come," Chen wrote.

Online-only retailers sill have their own advantages, of course. They aren't saddled with the expenses associated with running a physical store, including rent and higher labor costs, for example.

Summary: Traditional stores are beginning to capitalize on their robust physical footprints, and are gaining on online-only retailers.


In classrooms around the world, the blackboard has already has its day and been replaced by the whiteboard. But this piece of teaching equipment may soon be on its way out as well – along with paper, pencils and textbooks.

At the Lih Jen International Private Elementary and Middle School in Taipei, staff believe they have seen the future of education, and there's not a stick of chalk in sight. Working in conjunction with tech and computer giant HP, the school's classrooms are designed to be a flexible and interactive learning space, with a giant high-resolution touch-sensitive display wall as its centerpiece.

(Read more: The world's best cities for young people)

"The classroom of the future is a place where kids get to interact with technology on a daily basis," Michael Smith, a teacher, told CNBC's Innovation Cities. "They learn through technology," he added.

Each student in Smith's class has their own touch screen computer, which allows them to interact with their teacher. Audio, video and text are combined to create a learning experience that stimulates students and gets them interested in learning.

So when giving a geography lesson, for example, a teacher can stand in front of their class and use a huge interactive touchscreen to scan Google Earth and highlight features such as mountains, canyons and savannahs in vivid detail.

(Read more:Real-life Robocop? Machines rise to the challenge)

A teacher can also monitor the online content their students are accessing from their desk, creating a safe learning environment.

The 'classroom of the future' is not cheap, however. HP's VantagePoint, the 132 inch, touch sensitive centerpiece of the class, has a suggested retail price of $125,000, while the HP TouchSmart PCs used in the class retail for over $500 each.

However, the classroom of the future has raised concerns that this is a case of tech for tech's sake, using expensive equipment when a pencil and paper would do just as well, and for considerably less.

Smith disagrees, pointing to the enthusiasm his students are displaying for this kind of learning. "They love it, they love it a lot more than a regular classroom environment," he said.

In 2012, a poll of U.K. teachers conducted by the Times Educational Supplement website found that 55 per cent of respondents regularly worked over 56 hours per week, with 78 per cent stating that they regularly worked on Sundays too.

(Read more: Want to win cash for taking your meds? Here's how…)

Smith, however, is finding his workload lighter and more efficient. "It's a lot easier to get through the content," he said. "Getting files and grading work takes a lot less time than it would if it were paper-based. If I find out that there's anything in particular that the kids are not understanding, I can focus on the parts that need to be focused on."

While this kind of technology seems to be revolutionizing the way students in Taipei are learning, could it realistically be rolled out across the world? Educational budgets across the developed world are coming under increasing strain, while in sub Saharan Africa over 56 million people aged 15 to 24 have not even finished primary school, according to UNESCO.

"We really wanted to focus first on introducing touch as a new sensorial experience that modifies their learning paradigm," Luca di Fiore, Senior R&D Manager at HP, told CNBC. "In three to four years, the price point will be a third of what it initially was, and at that point it will be a lot more feasible to consider this on a larger scale."

Summary: Innovations in education are transforming the way our children learn. What will classrooms of the future look like?


The company delivered 10,045 vehicles in the quarter, slightly higher than an estimate of 10,030 the company announced last month. Tesla expects to deliver about 55,000 cars this year, with deliveries for the Model X slated to start in the third quarter.

"There are huge advance orders for the X and we see a steady climb in demand for the S," Tesla CEO Elon Musk said in the company's conference call after results Wednesday.

Tesla said it took a $22 million hit from revaluation of foreign currency holdings due to a stronger U.S. dollar. The company expects the dollar will affect Model S transaction prices in the second quarter, and it announced a 5 percent price hike in most European markets in the third quarter and later.

Tesla is preparing for volume production of its recently launched line of home and business solar-powered storage batteries in the third quarter. Production will "accelerate significantly" by the first quarter of 2016, Tesla said in a release.

Read MoreTesla launches batteries for homes, business and utilities

Tesla has received about 38,000 PowerWall battery reservations, Musk said in the call Wednesday. He called reaction to the product "crazy."

The batteries will cost $3,000 to $3,500 for installers.

Summary: Tesla's car deliveries were in line with its estimates and the company set an optimistic outlook for its upcoming battery line.


It turns out the SEC apparently does not check whether filers are accurate.

"Under the federal securities law, filers are responsible for the truthfulness of their fillings, and they are subject to enforcement actions when they are false or misleading," the SEC said in a statement.

Read More The Avon Hoax and what it means

H. David Kotz, former inspector general of the SEC, called it "pretty astonishing," noting that many people assume the SEC is not simply just passing on information.

"It's of great concern that potentially somebody could use a government database in order to perpetrate fraud and manipulate the securities market," he said in an interview with "Closing Bell."

However, the SEC is a bureaucracy, said Kotz, who is now managing director at Berkeley Research Group.

"The problem is if the SEC starts spending the time to validate this information, then you're going to have months of delays before the information is put on the public site. So then you won't have disclosure to investors," he said.

That said, he thinks something should be done.

While the FBI will look into the criminal aspect, the SEC "needs to look inward and make sure that they have a process in place that works much better than this," Kotz said.

Read MoreFake Avon takeover bid is 'a cautionary tale'

—CNBC's Eamon Javers contributed to this report.

Summary: Former SEC Inspector General David Kotz sthinks the SEC should do something to protect against future Avon-like hoaxes.


In 2004, they incorporated Double Brook Farm with just a few animals. Among friends and neighbors, there was enormous demand for the meat from their first cow. So they bought a herd of cattle, and started selling 'shares' of their local, grass-fed beef. They subsequently added sheep, pigs, chickens and turkeys to the farm.

In 2013 they opened Brick Farm Market, where they sell their own produce and meat, as well as other locally-produced goods. By then, both had left their jobs to work on the farm full-time.

Read MoreA kernel of an idea becomes a second career

Later this summer, they will open Brick Farm Tavern, a farm-to-table restaurant located adjacent to the farm. For visitors to their farm, market or restaurant, the objective is the same, says Jon: "Rather than have somebody tell you how it was raised or where it was raised, you could see how it was raised."

Summary: Robin and Jon McConaughy quit their corporate jobs to open a farm in Hopewell, NJ.


12/11/2015 AT 09:00 PM EST

may not know where that laughing face emoji came from but he at least understands what iMessage is.

The actor is learning to text at the age of 73.

on Thursday and dished about her husband's new skill.

"He is [good]," Flockhart, 51, said, "He is currently in Australia. We talk all the time. He's learning to text."

After a demonstration from Flockhart on Ford's texting skills, it's safe to say he's far from fast, but she's optimistic, telling Kimmel, "But he's learning! He's getting better."

One part of texting he still hasn't picked up? The use of emojis.

The famed producer still doesn't understand where the "pictures" come from. When asked if Ford uses them, Flockart told Kimmel, "No. He says, 'Where'd you get that picture from?' It's really bad."

Aside from learning to text, Ford has been gearing up for the upcoming release of the next

installment, set to debut on Dec. 18.

Though he's starring as Han Solo in the upcoming film, Ford recently revealed that he will not be a part of the standalone film The Walt Disney Company has set for release in May 2018,

While Ford has years of experience playing Han Solo, he said he has no suggestions for who should play the role.

"I don't think it's about being like me, it's about us being like Han Solo," he said. "So I'm sure whoever is responsible for that film, and I'm not, will think through the issues and problems of doing such a thing â¦ Let's make them responsible for those questions you might think to ask me because I'm not involved."

When Ford says he won't be involved, he apparently means not even in the slightest. According to the report, he won't even be offering tips on how to play the character to whoever is cast for the role.

"No, I'm not going to do that," Ford said.

Summary: Ford's wife Calista Flockhart dishes on how he's doing with texting


India’s perennially tumultuous Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) found itself embroiled in controversy yet again this week, expelling four members including two co-founders late Monday night.

The populist anticorruption party said in a statement that founding members Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav had been ejected for “gross indiscipline and antiparty activities,” the BBC reported. Two other senior politicians, Anand Kumar and Ajit Jha, were also banned.

The AAP, created on the back of a path-breaking national movement against graft in government, has swung between dramatic highs and unfortunate lows ever since its inception. Its leader Arvind Kejriwal resigned as New Delhi’s chief minister in February 2014 after just 49 days at the helm, staging a bizarre sit-in in the process, but roared back into power a year later after a near-whitewash of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party.

The internal discord that culminated in Bhushan and Yadav’s expulsion began soon after the February elections; both leaders were systematically removed from various decisionmaking bodies over the past few months after speaking out against Kejriwal’s reported authoritarian tendencies.

“All dreams of a movement have been shattered by a small coterie and a dictator,” Bhushan, a lawyer by profession, told news channel NDTV. He added that he didn’t feel a sense of personal loss, but expressed deep regret.

“How would you feel if someone drags you and throws you out of your own house?” Yadav asked reporters.

Summary: The anticorruption party has been experiencing internal discord.


02/01/2016 AT 04:50 PM EST

Former professional wrestler Bret "Hitman" Hart is battling prostate cancer.

The WWE Hall of Famer revealed his diagnosis on Monday in a heartfelt

addressed to his friends, family and fans.

"I've had a great lifelong dance and I'm a survivor of many hard battles," he wrote. "I now face my toughest battle. With hesitation and fear, I openly declare myself in my fight against prostate cancer. In the next few days, I will undergo surgery with the hope of defeating this nemesis once and for all."

While Hart knows he has a long, hard road ahead of him, he is promising his friends and followers that he has no plans to give up in his fight against the disease.

"I make a solemn vow to all of those that once believed in me, the dead and the living, that I will wage my fearsome fight against cancer with one shield and one sword carrying my determination and my fury for life, emboldened by all the love that's kept me going this long already," he wrote.

"Love is my weapon and I've got much of it around me all the time, for which I'm truly blessed and eternally grateful," he continued. "My children, grandchildren and my loving wife Steph have been and will constantly be at my side. I refuse to lose, I will never give in or give up, and I will win this battle or die trying."

Hart hopes that by opening up about his diagnosis, he can inspire other people who are facing prostate cancer to not give up hope.

"I hope [â¦] to be a leader in awareness and to set the example for men everywhere who find themselves in my very same shoes, that prostate cancer can be beaten," he said.

It is with great remorse that I feel compelled to speak truthfully to my friends, family and my millions of fans around...

Hart retired from professional wrestling after a 23-year career when he sustained a severe concussion resulting from being kicked in the head during a fight. He also suffered a stroke in 2002.

Summary: "I now face my toughest battle," Bret Hart wrote in a Facebook post


In the latest sign inflation is tapping the brakes on the recovery, gas-price increases have practically wiped out Americans’ winnings from last year’s tax holiday.

So says Goldman Sachs. The firm cut its first-quarter U.S. growth projection Friday for the second time this month, warning that the price of gasoline – up to $3.83 a gallon on average at the latest reading – could undermine consumer spending and slow an already laboring economy.

“A key reason for concern is the sharp rise in gasoline prices so far in 2011 — nearly 70 cents per gallon — which is siphoning off household income at a run rate equivalent to $100 billion per year,” writes economist Andrew Tilton.

That means Americans who thought they would pocket $110 billion this year in aggregate thanks to the payroll tax holiday are now down to $10 billion – which amounts to about $33 for each man, woman and child. It is not easy to feed a consumer spending rebound on that sort of budget.

That said, Goldman continues to expect the U.S.economy to expand smartly for the rest of 2011, thanks to accelerating hiring and modest wage growth.

But it acknoweldges that risks to that forecast are growing, and slashed its first-quarter gross domestic product growth expectation to 1.75%. That’s down from 2.5% two weeks ago and 3.5% as recently as last month.

“A reacceleration in spending growth is possible, but will require a fortuitous combination of circumstances—a modest further pickup in the labor market, gasoline price relief, and a benign asset price environment that encourages consumers to gradually reduce saving,” writes Tilton.

For now, that combination is exactly what Goldman is betting on. The firm said not once, not twice but three times last week that it expects commodity prices to come down in coming months, which could ease the pressure on gas prices. They are up 31% at wholesale this year (see chart, right).

At the same time, Goldman has been urging clients to wait for the commodity correction, all the better to buy back into commodity futures at lower prices, on the assumption tight supply and steadily rising demand (especially in the developing world) will keep prices marching higher in the long run.

So the U.S. economy may indeed climb the wall of worry in 2011 if gas prices fall back and the labor market recovery gains steam. But don’t think for a second that $4 gasoline, and its complications, is just a passing fancy. We will be fretting over that problem for years to come.

Follow me on Twitter @ColinCBarr.

Summary: In the latest sign inflation is tapping the brakes on the recovery, gas-price increases have practically wiped out Americans' winnings from last year’s tax holiday. So says Goldman Sachs. The firm cut its first-quarter U.S. growth projection Friday for the second time this month, warning that the price of gasoline – up to $3.83 a gallon…


If each age produces films reflecting their times, then “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice,” which opens Friday, should serve as a grim warning for America.

In an early scene, Clark Kent (Henry Cavill), in full Daily Planet reporter mode, asks Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck), “What’s your position on the bat vigilante in Gotham?” Ah, there’s that liberal media, pushing its anti-vigilante agenda. “Civil liberties have been trampled in your city. He thinks he lives above the law.”

Wayne’s retort? Kent’s newspaper is “hypocritical.” Whenever Superman “saves a cat out a of tree,” he says, The Daily Planet writes “a puff-piece editorial ... about an alien who could burn the whole place down.” Swap “alien” for “Muslim” or “Mexican,” or “vigilante” for “Donald Trump,” and suddenly a movie about two men in tights smashing each other — wham! bam! pow! — seems more connected to our nation’s political pulse than ever before.

Two of our most enduring and beloved superheroes haven’t bonded much since their Saturday morning cartoon days as “Super Friends.” Now comes “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice,” their first-ever big-screen matchup. Except that, for this outing, in the hands of director Zach Snyder (“Man of Steel,” “300,” “Watchmen”), the Dark Knight and the Last Son of Krypton haven’t joined forces. Rather, they’re at each other’s throats. Hailing from broken-down Gotham (New Jersey to the Metropolis-inspired Manhattan), Batman worries about an unchecked, unearthly savior with divine superpowers. Superman’s equally concerned with the rule of law and justice. The two sling accusations and throw punches like a gridlocked nation in an election-year slugfest. Hence, “The greatest gladiator match in the history of the world,” according to an arch-villain familiar to Superman lovers, Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg). “God versus man. Day versus night!”

Cavill is back again after his super-outing in “Man of Steel” (2013), as is Amy Adams as Lois Lane and Laurence Fishburne as editor Perry White. Affleck-as-Batman comes only four years after Christian Bale retired his mask after starring in “The Dark Knight Rises,’’ the final installment in Christopher Nolan’s well-regarded Dark Knight trilogy. Other fresh faces are Jeremy Irons, who succeeds Michael Caine as Bruce Wayne’s butler and guardian, Alfred Pennyworth, and Gal Gadot (the “Fast and Furious” films), who plays Wonder Woman/Diana Prince.

Which Man of Steel and Caped Crusader makes you fly? Which has the most killer costume?

If the superhero film says something about a generation’s tastes and societal worries, look no further than the Superman and Batman franchises for windows into the American psyche.

The 1940s gave us sincere, do-gooding matinee serials that battled government agents, zombies, the Japanese, and the Spider Lady.

Remember the first Superman feature film, “Superman and the Mole Men” (1951), featuring George Reeves, also the lead of the 1950s “Adventures of Superman” TV show? Me neither.

More memorable was the campy, Adam West-headed “Batman” movie (1966), based on the zany TV show that reflected the trippy, authority-flouting times.

In the quartet of ’70s and ’80s Superman films — “Superman” (1978), “Superman II” (1980), “Superman III” (1983), “Superman IV: The Quest for Peace” (1987) — Christopher Reeve donned his big S suit to take on Reagan Era menaces such as supercomputers and nuclear Armageddon.

Later, the Tim Burton- and Joel Schumacher-directed Caped Crusader quartet — “Batman” (1989), “Batman Returns” (1992), “Batman Forever” (1995), “Batman & Robin” (1997) — starred a trio of more world-weary Bruce Waynes. Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer, and George Clooney each played the titular role with quirky, comic book-y panache as colorful as the 1990s themselves.

Then, in a post-9/11 era marked by depression and doomsaying, Nolan’s trilogy of “Batman Begins” (2005), “The Dark Knight” (2008), “The Dark Knight Rises” (2012) produced a brooding Bale who donned an even darker cowl and cape, and seemed nearly as tortured as the Joker himself.

More pressing, “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” raises this question: Can Affleck muster the role’s requisite gravitas? In “Man of Steel,” we’ve already seen Cavill bring the right mix of anguish and resolve to his Kal-El/Clark Kent. (Curiously, in “Hollywoodland,” 2006, Affleck portrayed TV Superman Reeves.) For Affleck-as-Batman, there’s more at stake. Can he redeem his disastrous turn in 2003 as the superhero Daredevil? Behind his Batman mask, his voice seems tinged with the requisite, digitally enhanced resonance and angst.

But a lot more is riding on “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” than whether Affleck has pumped enough iron to take on Cavill. For Warner Brothers, this double-barreled power move hopes to give the DC Comics brand the same lifeblood, and revenue streams, as Disney’s Marvel Studios franchise. Welcome to the DC “shared universe” sandbox, where Batman and Superman can hang with other Justice League members, akin to the Avengers, X-Men, and Guardians of the Galaxy, and try to beat Marvel in the superhero wars. Characters such as Wonder Woman, Aquaman (Jason Momoa), The Flash (Ezra Miller) and Cyborg (Ray Fisher) all make an appearance in Snyder’s superhero reboot. They’ll also be the subject of a two part “Justice League” series, also directed by Snyder; part one hits theaters in 2017.

In these times, the fantasy of a superhero standing in for us to fight our battles feels more powerful than ever. Especially when the battlefield for our wars of terror, and wars of culture, are no longer black and white. In “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice,” even the way they dress seems to mirror the national mood. Cavill’s Superman’s costume isn’t vivid or bright, it’s deep, blood-red and faded blue. As for Affleck’s Batman, he’s decked out in shades of gray.

Watch the trailer for the film:

Summary: Batman and Superman meet on the big screen for the first time.


The explanation in a post on 9to5Mac is pretty technical, but it confirms rumors that have been afloat for a while. Even with this discovery, Apple's not likely to add Siri-like voice control to the current generation of Apple TV, since it lacks a microphone input, says 9to5Mac.

Apple didn't respond to an email request for comment.

Summary: Lines of code found in Apple's iOS7 SDK suggests that Apple is working on building its voice-activated application Siri into Apple TV—at some point.