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Quick iPhone Review Roundup and Commentary
2007-06-29 02:39:00
I know that there are tons of iPhone reviews out there, but the two best are probably still from David Pogue of NY Times and Walt Mossberg of Wall Street Journal. David Pogue’s iPhone review... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]
More About: Commentary , Iphone , Review , Roundup , Quick

Guitar Center Buyout: Bain Drops $1.9 Billion
2007-06-29 01:05:00
Bain just bought up Guitar Center for $1.9 billion (although WSJ says that Guitar Center valued the acquisition at $2.1 billion). With 210 stores, that averages out to $10 million/store. If the... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]
More About: Bill , Drop , Billion

The End of Palm
2007-05-31 02:38:00
It is safe to say that Palm has begun the rapid stage of its decline today. Instead of streamlining the form factor of the Treo years ago, upgrading the OS, or creating innovative applications, Palm... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Under the Radar
2007-05-25 20:25:00
With the various buyouts announced in the steel industry over the past year, one would assume that consolidation will continue. Valuations of some members in the industry are relatively low and cash... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]
More About: Radar , Under

Adventures with Linux: Doom for Microsoft, Part 1
2007-05-17 04:34:00
With all the hype surrounding Dell’s choice of Ubuntu Linux as a pre-installed alternative to Windows, I decided to give Ubuntu a try. After five days of installing Ubuntu, XP, and Vista on a... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]
More About: Microsoft , Part , Adventures , Doom

Apple Updates the MacBook
2007-05-16 08:03:00
Apple has announced across the board upgrades on the MacBook line, giving the low-end MacBook a 2.0 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor and the higher level white and black MacBook a 2.16 GHz Intel Core... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]
More About: Apple , Updates , Macbook

The New RAZR2: Will Motorola Relive It’s Glory and Edge Out the iPhone?
2007-05-16 07:50:00
Apple’s iPhone is certainly the biggest buzz phone, but it’s also going to be a big phone. Motorola might keep its thunder for many consumers due to lucrative signing deals with many... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]
More About: Iphone , Edge , Elive , Glory

The 50 Most Innovative Companies and What They Mean to Your Portfolio
2007-05-07 11:58:00
BusinessWeek’s report on the “50 Most Innovative Companies ” was released recently and for the third straight year in a row, the report is headed by Apple Computer (AAPL) — showing that thinking differently pays off in the end. Also, Google retains its comfy spot at number 2. Rounding off the top 10 are: 1. Apple Computer 2. Google 3. Toyota ...
More About: News , Business , Commentary

THIS IS VENEZUELA!
2007-05-04 02:05:00
I think I’ve seen this movie before. “This is madness,” said a Venezuela n banker, who asked not to be further identified for fear of reprisals against his company. Chavez is threatening to nationalize even more industries throughout Venezuela. Though this has never been a good idea for any country that has ever existed, I believe we can ...
More About: Oil

Sprint/Nextel: Dropped Balls, Dropped Calls, but Not Short on Promise
2007-04-30 15:11:00
As a lifelong Sprint (NYSE: S) subscriber, I’ve always felt like I was on the short end of the stick. Their customer service is far from acceptable, signal comes and goes and coverage is limited to rooftops and buildings with paper walls. However, the light at the end of the tunnel could be bright. Due ...
More About: Commentary , Apple , Motorola , Blackberry , Stock Picks

Apple charges ahead
2007-04-26 00:18:00
Apple reports quarterly profits jumping 88%. For anyone who has ever walked into a gym, a college campus, or a shopping mall, this is no surprise. Shares of Apple are now upwards of 100 dollars. For those value hawks in the audience, you may be wondering how to profit off of Apple’s product line without ...
More About: Apple , Stock Picks , Head , Ahead , Char

Boeing?s Flying High
2007-04-25 19:11:00
There’s no turbulence in sight for Boeing as it continues to capitalize on problems at rival Airbus.  With earnings of $877 million or $1.13 a share, up 27 percent for the quarter, Boeing beat street expectations and gave Airbus another slap in the face. Not only did Virgin just announce orders of up to 43 Dreamliners ...
More About: Flying , Aviation , Lying , High

Dell raises bar for PC manufacturers
2007-04-25 04:52:00
Dell announced that it will offer solid state hard drives in its Latitude D420 ultra-mobile and D620 ATG semi-rugged models. What we are witnessing is an effective raising of the bar for all PC manufacturers. Solid state drives are bigger and more reliable versions of the flash memory one can find in a digital camera ...
More About: Manufacturers , Stock Picks , Dell , Manu , Manufacturer

International Gaming Technology: Get In At The Bottom
2007-04-24 14:53:00
Looking at Intern ational Gaming Technology ’s chart you’d wonder why I think IGT is at the bottom - this stock has had a nice run over the last 2 years and has pulled back slightly from recent highs of $48 but is certainly not dirt cheap.  The key to this story is to look at the gaming industry’s ...
More About: Ming

Update On OVTI: Catchin’ a Bid
2007-04-23 21:42:00
Quick update on the previous post (last week) regarding OVTI.  OVTI has caught a bid today and is trading sharply higher on relatively strong volume up 4.63% (for the day) at the time of this posting and up 8.1% since we recommended it last Wednesday.  I realized that I argued it was undervalued last week but did not give a target price which would be a “fair” valuation for OVTI.  If you buy into my “operations” + “liquidation” = market value argument then I think you’ll find awarding a IOV/CFO multiple (see post last week) of 8 to this stock is conservative but still leads to a valuation of ~ $18.50 which I think is a good target to think about when following this stock (although I could see it going well through this target if operations show signs of acceleration).  It’s not crystal clear why the stock is trading higher today but I would speculate that somebody has information which leads them to believe this stock is a takeou...
More About: Update , Catch

The drug effect: Merck’s high may be short lived
2007-04-23 12:28:00
Merck has seen some tumultuous times over the past year but even though it finally looks like it may be out of the doghouse with Friday’s dropping of a Vioxx litigation, recent buzz about the upgrade in Merck from SELL to NEUTRAL and in Merrill Lynch’s case from SELL to BUY, should all be taken lightly. “Merck & Co. (MRK) said late Friday a Texas court overseeing the Texas Vioxx litigations has rejected a plaintiff’s claim that she was not properly informed of the drug’s alleged risks. According to the company, the claim, which came in the case Ledbetter v. Merck, was rejected by the court because the Vioxx label contained a Food and Drug Administration-approved warning label.” The truth is there are still over 10,000 lawsuits in the pipeline and this ruling may be isolated. Even Merck’s strong performance this past week with Q1 earnings up 12% and net income up $0.09 a share to $1.7 billion from $1.52 billion in Q1 last year, will onl...
More About: Live , Effect , High , Short

Fast Processing: AMD is a Sell and Intel is Doing Well
2007-04-23 02:46:00
Sunnyvale, California chipmaker, Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD) isn’t looking too mighty against industry goliath, Intel (INTC) these days. Especially after a reported $611 million loss on revenues totaling $1.23 billion. The loss includes charges related to the ATI acquisition in the amount of $113 million, but is mainly a result of the increasing competition with Intel in the microprocessor market. The company said that its Q1 margins were 31%, down from 40% in Q4 2006 and down from 59% in Q1 2006. “The decrease from the prior quarter was largely due to significantly lower microprocessor unit shipments, lower microprocessor average selling prices (ASPs), and the inclusion of the former ATI operations, which generally have lower-margin products, for the entire quarter, AMD said. So what exactly does this mean for AMD? Well, it means that if you’re unlucky enough to own some, you should probably heed the analyst “sell” ratings. AMD is also perhaps p...
More About: Sing , Sell , Fast , Proc

Microsoft gets further away from reality every day
2007-04-22 04:11:00
It seems that every bit of news from Microsoft makes me more glad that I didn’t make the mistake of buying the company based on its cash holdings and past returns on equity. Recently, Microsoft declared that the Iphone would fail because of Apple ’s ban on third party applications. “However, it’s a closed device that you ...
More About: Motorola , Reality , Blackberry

RIMM and AAPL plan world conquest.
2007-04-21 22:37:00
Engadget Mobile is reporting that RIM plans to release the Blackberry 8830 with ITunes support and support for MicroSD cards. What we are seeing is Apple taking a swing at the enterprise customer who doesn’t want to carry around an extra phone or mp3 player. This will win on the convenience factor alone. Plenty of ...
More About: World , Quest , Plan

Golf: The Greatest Tool to Success
2007-04-20 18:24:00
“Women - or men, for that matter - who are not golfing are choosing to neglect one of the most powerful business and career-development tools there is,” declares Hilary Bruggen. Golf is no longer just a game old men play to kill off the long summer days. It has become a business requirement almost to ...
More About: Success , Tool , Test , The G

Listen to the Employees Before You Buy Up The Employer: Better Means Bigger
2007-04-20 14:11:00
The “Best Big Companies to Work For” list is comprised of those that are cross-listed in the Fortune 1000 list and the Best 100 Companies to Work For, a tally that rings up 37 coinciding companies. Of the 37, a majority 23 of them are in the Fortune 500, topped by Valero Energy which has a ...
More About: News , Apple , Microsoft , Employees , Stock Picks

Wicksoft releases Blackberry desktop app
2007-04-20 08:19:00
I carried a Cingular 8125 that let me save all my documents to the phone. I could even edit them. Though MS Word on a two inch screen is a bit clunky, you can’t get over the convenience factor. Being able to carry and quickly edit my docs has been the one thing I ...
More About: Desktop , Blackberry , Black , Berry , Release

UAW to DaimlerChrysler: Hit the Brakes on Any Deals, LaSorda is On Track
2007-04-19 14:27:00
Tom LaSorda may not be sleeping much these days (Forbes is reporting 20 hour workdays), but he’s probably still sleeping well. Chrysler ’s posted operating losses of $1.5 billion pale in comparison to when compared to Ford ’s nearly $13 billion loss last year and GM’s loss of $12 billion over the previous two fiscal years. But ...
More About: News , Commentary , Daimler

raise your hand if you have a camera phone?
2007-04-19 05:10:00
for the investor who is serious about making significant returns on their investment capital, it is difficult to lose by copying the 20th century?s greatest investor - Warren Buffet. His investment philosophy is very simple - buy a dollar for fifty cents, sell for a dollar. Repeat. But in order to do this succesfully, means learning how to determine the value of a prospective investment
More About: Technology , Phone , Camera , Your , Have

The King Is Dead . . . Long Live the King
2007-04-18 19:11:00
A few months back Fortune wrote an insightful two page profile on Blackstone founder and CEO Steve Schwarzman. On Wall Street Blackstone is best known for creating the investment bank, BlackRock, purchasing Madame Tussaud’s Inc., and the $39 billion buyout of Equity Office Properties. Blackstone is leaving enormous footprints all over the world of ...
More About: The King , Live , Dead , King , Long

Blackberry outage affecting opening?
2007-04-18 15:26:00
RIM is down 2 percent in pre-market trading. Could this be a result of the massive outage that knocked out blackberries across the Western Hemisphere late yesterday? It’s certainly possible. RIM’s reputation for reliability has been thoroughly compromised over the last 24 hours. Does this mean we can write RIM off as soon as the ...
More About: Blackberry , Black , Berry , Opening , Outage

Massive Blackberry system failure
2007-04-18 04:28:00
There are scattered reports that some users are able to receive mail, but all other internet applications are down.
More About: System , Blackberry , Black , Berry , Failure

Pentagon Perks Could be Wolfowitz?s Latest Worry
2007-04-18 04:25:00
More Fire for the Tinder: The pressure on Paul Wolfowitz to resign as president of the World Bank intensified last night amid allegations the Pentagon had interfered in his girlfriend’s career at the bank as long ago as 2003. A private US contractor was reported yesterday to have alleged that the Pentagon ordered him to hire Shaha ...
More About: Worry , Test

Yahoo! . . . for Google
2007-04-18 02:58:00
Help me to understand this. In order to compete with Googl e ’s advertising dominance, Yahoo has decided to link their fortunes to the print publishing industry, an industry that has seen declining profits since the advent of the Internet. Yes, I know that Yahoo is going to impact the online operations of these companies, but sinking ...
More About: Yahoo!

ConocoPhillips Brings Back The Yeoman Farmer
2007-04-18 02:37:00
ConocoPhillips and Tyson Foods recently announced a deal to produce diesel gasoline from animal fat. The companies said that the diesel, which will be shipped and distributed through existing pipelines from ConocoPhillips refineries, would burn cleaner than conventional diesel. Much of the feedstock for the fuel will come from several Tyson rendering plants. Next to producing petroleum ...
More About: Conocophillips , Conoco , Lips , Back , Ring