152 Discussion / Question Topics
Remove Filter  | It's cold up here in Bucks County, PA today - so cold that Al Gore's ego froze in the middle of a speech on global warming. Of course, the former vice-president blamed the deep freeze on - you guessed it - global warming. Thanks folks, I'm here all week. Don't … |
| | Even as U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson reassured us on Friday that the economy "would not go into recession" in 2008", some people, especially consumers, aren't buying it. This is exactly what I'm talking about when I vent over the power of perception and the media's glee in talking down …  |
| | It was supposed to be Christmas in May, with technology company executives harboring visions of wallet-waving consumers dancing in their heads. The reason? The proposed tax rebates coming from Washington that would put up to $1,500 in many Americans back pocket, and hopefully send them out to buy things like … |
| | It didn't take long for the Federal Reserve to act after this morning's announcement that last quarter's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) number - the key index in measuring the health of the U.S. economy -- was a lousy one. For the quarter, GDP clocked in at a meager 0.6% - … |
| | Let's all take a breather at the end of another topsy-turvy week on Wall Street, where things have calmed down as of mid-morning on Friday (the Dow Jones Industrial Average is off a mere four points at 11:30 AM EST, and is actually up for the week . . . … |
| | New Stimulus Package . . . Tips on Travel Costs News from Washington this morning says that congressional leaders and Bush administration officials have reached a deal on an economic stimulus package that would send checks to most taxpayers in an effort to keep the economy from falling into recession. … |
| | Keeping track of the economic news is getting nerve-racking - akin to watching a train wreck in slow motion. In the past 24 hours we've seen . . . - A Fortune magazine study showing that about 75% of Americans who think we're either already in a recession or are … |
| | Today's batch of economic news is mixed, and seemingly conflicted as ever. Hey, don't shoot me - I'm only the messenger. But for techies wondering how secure their jobs really are these days the news from the most recent Federal Reserve Beige Book report signaled economic growth for November and … |
| | If you've been following this blog, you know I'm no nay-sayer on the economy. A realist, yes, but I won't wave pom-poms for a recession like so many others in the media. That said, I don't think there's any doubt that 2008 will be short of a robust year for … |
| | Okay, I was downed by technology issues for a few days but I'm back up with a vengeance. And just in time, as the major technology companies begin to release their quarterly earnings statements. IBM was first up earlier this week, and easily surpassed analyst expectations. Wall Street attributed Big … |
| | Warner Brothers certainly has a lot of weight to throw around the consumer technology - and their latest move landed squarely on increasingly frustrated HD-DVD providers. In a move that signals a tectonic shift in the consumer video industry, Warner Bros. Entertainment announced last week that it will release its … |
| | The drum beat has already started for next week's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, where you won't be able to swing a dead rotary dial phone without hitting a slick sales type breathing the word "wireless" into your ear. Elena Malykhina, writing in Information Week this morning, advises show … |
| | Yesterday we looked at the 2008 technology spending market from the small business side. To be charitable, things look "iffy" for IT spending -- at least during the first six months of the year. Now it appears that, from the technology side of the market, 2008 could be a mixed … |
| | I'd like to dive into the technology stock sector for '08 this week, but let's first tee things up with the outlook from the folks who do most of the IT spending -- small business owners. According to the numbers from the Discover Small Business Watch, released this morning, small … |
| | If McDonalds can advertise, “Over 1 billion served” on each of its restaurants signs, then why can’t Comcast, Verizon, Sprint and the rest of the broadband world say the same thing? Well, technically, soon they can. That after a new report from Strategy Analytics that estimates over one billion broadband … |
| | From what I'm seeing out here in the trenches, economists just can't seem to agree on the health of the U.S. economy, in general, and the technology economy, in particular in 2008. Last week's consumer numbers seem to suggest that people are still willing to break out the checkbooks and … |
| | You've heard of Wi-Fi . . . but how about Wi-Fly? That's the moniker tech analysts are using to label new inflight internet access applications. That's right. Starting this month on select airlines, you can start checking email, watching the latest batch of YouTube videos, or catch the score of … |
| | On a trip to Newport Beach, Oregon, this past summer, I was introduced to a global positioning satellite device for the first time. It was a real eye-opener. All I had to do was type in the address I was heading toward, and the satellite took care of the rest. … |
| | IDC is out with its annual IT market forecast and, at first glance, 2008 won't be setting any box-office records, business-wise. According to the Boston-based consultancy, growth in global technology spending will slow next year, rocked by a potential U.S. economic downturn that could crimp spending on computer hardware. Overall, … |
| | Two new studies out today on the burgeoning automotive sensor marketplace. First up is BCC research (full disclosure, I have written for BCC Research, but not on automotive sensors). According to BCC’s latest technical market research report, Automotive Sensor Technologies: Global Market, the global market for automotive sensors is expected … |
| | Just checking out some of the stock prices of the big online retailers after Black Monday – the biggest online shopping day of the year. eBay was up 3.45% in Monday trading while Amazon was up 3.0% -- both prices indicative of the bullish sentiment investors are showing on online … |
| | Monday is upon us, and thoughts on Wall Street turn away from turkey and football to key companies issuing quarterly earnigns statements this week. It's a particularly crucial period for computer makers, video game companies, digital camera companies - in short - - any company with a potential gift to … |
| | Scary reading from the pages of Fortune magazine this week. In the business weekly's November 19 edition, an article entitled "The End of the Tech Stock Party" goes down like a tofu turkey on Thanksgiving night. Before I get into what Fortune has to say, it's pretty clear that technology … |
| | A quiet holiday week so far in the technology side of the stock market. Most of the action will take place in the retail sector, with both Best Buy and Comp USA opening on Thanksgiving night - - well ahead of Black Friday. Early holiday shoppers can expect to find … |
| | We've all heard of search engine optimization, or "SEO". That's the online search engine mechanism that allows online businesses to seed their web landing pages with key code words to entice visitors and shoppers. One big SEO term this week is "Black Friday" -- the day-after-Thanksgiving shopfest that launches the … |
| | Kind of a quiet day in the technology stocks world, which might be considered good news considering the drubbing the sector has taken this week. Sun Microsystems was in the news, signing off on a Solaris 10 distribution agreement with Dell to make the Solaris Operating System and Solaris support … |
| | I'm starting to think that technology stocks are at a breaking point. A few more sessions of significant losses and you have to wonder when tech stocks will be back in the black. You can't really blame the bad news on anything tech companies are doing -- unfortunately, it's the … |
| | Investors are in survival mode right now, just trying to hang on in a market that has given away much of this year's gains. Key culprits are the ongoing credit crisis, which has banks and lenders reeling under the weight of billion dollar losses (hello, Wachovia) and from a weak … |
| | Can you find a profit in a techno-slag heap? That’s the promise of an up-and-coming stock I found on Morningstar.com this week. I do some consulting work for a mutual fund firm and this technology company fits the bill – across the board. First some background. The company’s name is … |
| | For a long while, it was easy to pigeonhole cell phones in three categories: those that don’t work, those that break down, and those that get lost. Fortunately, technology has improved cell phone performance in the first two categories (although we’re still losing them -- and at $500 a pop … |
| | You guys know how big I am on video game makers as solid stock plays. But what about video game retailers? One of the big ones -- GameStop -- has seen its share price double to $58 during the past year. One of the big reasons why is the mushrooming … |
| | I haven't spent a lot of time -- okay, "any time" -- talking about the fast-growing biometrics market. Part of it was ignorance. I didn't know know much about it. But I'm all amped up on biometrics after reading a new white paper from BCC Research entitled "The Global Biometrics … |
| | It’s back. The dot.com bubble, that is. And with it comes a new wave of venture capitalists that are pouring money not just into Internet companies, but in life sciences companies, as well. And in increasingly larger numbers. An October article in The New York Times says it all. “Internet … |
| | I've been focusing on consumer electronics a great deal in the past few months; partly because that's where so much of the action is and partly because American consumers have ignored the economic naysayers and have continued to shop and buy cell phones, PDA's, HD televisions, and satellite radios, among … |
| | Okay, Halloween is only two weeks away, so what better time to introduce five "weird" internet & media content stocks that might be more treat than trick. The list is culled from the financial web site Barrellomoney.com. The site does warn that a few of the 'weird' selections might be … |
| | I've been the first one to say in recent months that I've fallen hard for my new Blackberry . . . or "Crackberry" as I've taken to calling it. What's not to love? You can do just about anything on a smart phone that you can on a laptop, save … |
| | Has there been a technology "leap" in the semiconductor market? Some people think so. But should investors go along for the ride? Earlier this year, George Scalise, the president of the Semiconductor Industry Association, was issuing talking points to the press over the relative health of the semiconductor sector. Much … |
| | We've been talking about "upside" in the technology stock sector all week. Hand held devices and memory cards were the sectors at the top of that list, and should stay that way. Another side to the upside discussion is who, exactly, will be buying these products? After all, a lot … |
| | I had to shake my head when I read about the latest GDP numbers today. The news is good, maybe even great for the economy – a 3.8% upward spike in gross domestic product for the second quarter (the numbers were revised from the original GDP estimates, and were light …  |
| | 90% of the game on Wall Street is picking stocks that will rise before they actually do. It's not easy. If everyone could do that, then everyone would be doing that. But stock-picking is not easy. It's akin to shooting an arrow at a moving target that you can't even … |
| | The Wall Street Journal has an interesting article out this morning touting a new defensiveness among investors -- and what they plan on doing to protect their portfolios against a possible recession. "With the housing downturn, credit crunch, gloomy employment data and a parade of maudlin financial forecasts have been … |
| | I wrote in an earlier blog about the time I met and interviewed Bill Gates, the brains behind Microsoft. I cornered Gates outside a back door at the Omni in Atlanta in 1991, where he had just delivered a speech at Comdex. Leaning on a bike stand, Gates riffed for … |
| | Last week I went and did something I swore I’d never do – save 15% or more on my car insurance with Geico.com. Yep, I know all about the annoying lizard and the perpetually ticked off cavemen. I went ahead and did it anyway. The trigger point was a letter … |
| | Cell phone agreements have long been the bane of many subscriber's lives. Cloudy language, hidden fees, legalese traps, and contract terms that lean heavily in the favor of cell phone companies. Anyone who's been roped into a lousy cell phone contract can relate. It turns out that Congress relates, too. … |
| | Labor Day weekend is a busy one for travelers. Families out shopping for back to school supplies, sun-worshipers heading back from the beach, and scores of backyard barbecues and college football games to attend, all make for some serious gas-guzzling out on the nation's highways. With gasoline hovering at $3 … |
| | Last week I wrote that I am a big Apple fan, and I am. I think its products are better than other technology companies and that's especially true of Microsoft. Anyone who's ever spent hours trying to debug a Windows-based PC or closing out pop-ups ad that appear with all … |
| | Maybe the guy on those Biz Hubs commercials is right. Those nefarious multi-function business machines just might be out to get us. That's the position taken by a North Carolina compuer science professor who says those all-in-one multifunction business machines – the ones that print/ fax/ scan/ and copy -- … |
| | The Internet is dynamic, gradually shifting form from year to year. This year's model? Apparently it's all about more consumption -- and less chatting online. Exhibit "A" comes from the Center for Media Research, which reports this week that Internet users are communicating less and consuming more content than they … |
| | Allow me one last word on the credit crisis of last week. I hope by now I've demonstrated that credit and debt aren't the sole domain of green eye-shaded numbers crunchers on Wall Street. As the green-eye shaded numbers cruncher in your own company's finance department can tell you, bad … |
| | Okay, you have to admit, I called that one. In our last blog, I pointed out that a tight money supply could prevent companies, especially smaller ones, from getting money to grow their businesses, make new hires, do more research -- that sort of thing. I said that if companies … |
The End.