Coming Soon: The Multi-Billion Company With One Employee “Facebook Enters $16 Billion Deal for WhatsApp.” —The New York Times (2/19/2014). Just because there aren’t any more gold rushes — like the one set off by James Marshall’s discovery of gold at Sutter’s Mill in California in 1848 — doesn’t mean there aren’t any more rushes for...Read More
Home Thermostat as . . . Trojan Horse*(?!?) While 2x-3x the cost of a standard thermostat, the Nest thermostat promises to let homeowners quickly re-coup that investment through lower energy bills. In turn, it supposedly accomplishes that by incorporating a more intuitive, user-friendly display and interface (see photo below); smart software that learns the household’s schedule;...Read More
Google + Facebook + Twitter = “The Circle”: The Life of a Corporate “Thought Guinea Pig” (“Mind Slave?”) “What matters, counts, and what is counted, matters.” –old saying “Whatever is counted . . . can be bought and sold.” –21st century update Las Vegas just has designs on its customers’ wallets. Google wants people’s souls,...Read More
The Limits of QE (“Quantitative Easing”) I’ll tip my hat to the new constitution Take a bow for the new revolution Smile and grin at the change all around me Pick up my guitar and play Just like yesterday And I’ll get on my knees and pray We don’t get fooled again Don’t get fooled...Read More
Penny Stock? Hardly One of the, umm . . . downsides of sporting a 3-digit share price is that the gyrations are bigger, too (at least nominally). So, Google’s stock dropped $68 a share today immediately after disclosing that their latest quarterly earnings were disappointing. Make that, before they disclosed their quarterly earnings disappointment (their financial...Read More
Why People (OK, Me) Don’t Respect Today’s Politicians If you want instant analysis of Paul Ryan’s selection as Mitt Romney’s running mate . . . believe me, you’ve got lots of (other) blogs to turn to. I’ll limit myself to this parting shot: Unless Mitt Romney is elected and subsequently serves two full terms, the...Read More
