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Liquidmetal produced only one type of iron back in the day—the cavity-back iron. Consequently, it was geared toward amateurs—pros love blades because they allow them to control the shape of the ball flight much better. This marketing mistake on Liquidmetal’s part, and the fact that these irons were uber expensive to purchase, was the downfall of the irons. The better amateurs won’t buy what a pro isn’t playing, and the average amateur won’t spend the money. Its demise was inevitable! I hit my Liquidmetal irons about a club and a half longer than my Nike forged combo blades. And these irons helped me to win my match during a base intramural golf championship on Beale Air Force Base. I will be hitting the Nikes Pro Combo forged irons in the morning because I can shape shots better.
As far as the woods go, a number of professional golfers, including Paul Azinger, were using the Liquidmetal driver on tour. I specifically recall during the Mercedes Open in Hawaii one year (It’s the first tournament at the beginning of each golf season, and only those pros who won a match the previous season are invited to play), Paul Azinger was playing a Liquidmetal driver, and wearing a Liquidmetal ball cap. I distinctly recall the commentator say, “Paul Azinger is hitting the ball substantially as long as Tiger.” That got my attention! Unfortunately, the Royal and Ancient began enforcing the COR (coefficient of restitution) limit of 80 percent on drivers shortly thereafter. And because the face of Liquidmetal drivers returned energy to the golf ball well in excess of the R&A’s limit, the drivers were then deemed illegal. Plus, it was reported that the face plates of a number of Liquidmetal drivers detached from the head shell. I never experienced that issue with any of my five Liquidmetal drivers, but my younger brother cracked the faces of two Liquidmetal drivers. Doesn’t appear they were ready for market. I will be using my Professor Johnson 9-degree Liquidmetal driver on a course tomorrow morning (I liked the original driver better). Because it’s not tournament play, who cares?
Liquidmetal needs to produce a set of pro-level performance blades if it hopes to succeed in the golf retail market. Coupled with that, irons for advanced amateurs. Without these two markets, Liquidmetal will again fail. But in addition to the material composition of the head, there are a number of other factors that come into play, i.e., the structural design of the head and the shaft that gets matched to the head.
As far as the driver is concerned, Liquidmetal needs to develop an internal governor that prevents the driver head from exceeding the COR limit—that shouldn’t be too difficult. But the second factor would be forgiveness. For example, many drivers currently on the market launch a well-struck golf ball a very long way; however, miss the sweet spot and the distance can drop off dramatically. Develop a driver head that delivers exceptional distance AND doesn’t penalize so much on off-center shots and the pros will eat it up—that is a winning combination that eludes most other drivers on the market. Same goes for the irons.
Anyway, that’s my little schpiel. Hope they do well, so we can do well. GLTA!
A few on this board might recall a red letter trading day for our stock back in mid-2013. On July 17, 2013, LQMT traded over 91M shares. It opened at $0.066 and closed at $0.202. I believe this share price increase came on the heals of a published patent indicating the capability of manufacturing sheets of Liquidmetal. A lot of savvy investors made a ton of money that day, while many lost a ton the next day. The following day LQMT traded over 116M shares, only to watch the share price dwindle to $0.1199–still twice the previous day’s opening...followed by a few days of recovery into the $0.18s, still well above $0.066.
All that to say, we’ve seen this stock do incredible things, both incredibly positive and incredibly negative, right on the heels of each—discouraging most of the time. While signing on another contract manufacturer is indeed great news, it’s only news. With no announced contracts, the manipulators will continue to manipulate the stock. Like everyone has been saying for years, a solid contract will launch this stock, as we’ve witnessed hints of in the past. But with this last round of news, my gut tells me (besides needing to eat more vegetables) that the beginning of substantial contracts is finally right around the corner.
I spoke to an Apple sales rep last week in Nashville (had to replace my 2017 iPad Pro due to a faulty display), and he told me that he expects Apple to release 5G iPhones in 2019. Take that for what it’s worth (and it might not be worth anything), but I will not be replacing my iPhone 7 Plus until Apple incorporates 5G technology (why buy a technology product when the technology is close to being replaced by something much better?), hopefully with a Liquidmetal shell (refer to the recent pics posted of Lugee displaying BMG phone frames/shells).
We’re supposed to be entering profitability land by end of year, so we’re nearly there—end of year, that is. For years now we’ve been chanting from the sidelines (or would that be from the parking lot?) that our big break is right around the corner, only to watch the corner being moved farther and farther away each time. However, when I hear that now, I marry that excitement with how many ducks are lined up that weren’t before.
When the power upgrade is fully in place, what I am then most interested in are how soon and how many additional machines will be ordered, installed, calibrated, test runs, and put into full production runs. At that point, Lugee’s International network will appear to be fully realized, and Liquidmetal will be positioned to receive its share. GLTA!!
Thank you for your service! While you and I didn’t sacrifice enough to be remembered on Memorial Day (thank God!), I do know that the enormous sacrifice inflicted on your own health is far beyond what most service men and women experience today. Grateful for patriots such as yourself.
Loving Tennessee! Hoping for snow! Long and Strong!!
Too funny! I had just finished replying to handsomehank about the golf clubs, but I hadn’t seen your post yet. Hope you are well, friend!
I followed golf closely during Liquidmetal’s golf hey day, and I do not recall Davis Love playing them. Liquidmetal did, however, endorse Paul Azinger and an LPGA pro one year. I recall Azinger crushing his drives at the Mercedes Tournament of Champions in Hawaii (which is the opening tournament of each new golf year) that year. I also vividly recall the announcer in disbelief, because, as he said of Azinger, that he was driving the ball “substantially as long as Tiger!” <quote/end quote> It was great press! However, the PGA and Royal and Ancient decided to investigate more closely and crack down on clubs that exceeded COR (coefficient of restitution). And Liquidmetal FAR exceeded COR...end of story!
I do not recall if Azinger had any issues with the club. However, my own brother, Jack, did. He bought two drivers (upon my hearty recommendation), and the face inserts on both of them came loose and popped off. He said the alloy inserts did not crack, but came loose from the titanium shell. A simple design flaw. I, on the other hand, have owned about six drivers and have never had the first issue with any of them. Why six? Well, I golfed with pretty decent golfers at the time (as I used to have a single-digit handicap). And after they watched me hitting the ball very long...scary long sometimes (I always replaced the stock shaft with a regular-flex Grafalloy shaft). Some of them asked if they could hit it, only to watch their drives propel well past the drives with their own clubs. They would then offer me a lot of money, and even whole sets of irons AND money for that very driver. Why not just buy one themselves? Because golfers are superstitious—when they find it, they buy it right then. So, I would just buy another one and put my own shaft on it again—I’m not nearly as superstitious. My irons hit about a club and a half longer than my Nike Pro Forged blades...I’ll take that any day. I currently own the Professor Johnson model 9-degree driver with firm-flex Liquidmetal shaft (haven’t replaced it yet), 15-degree 3-wood, 3 through PW, FA-1 and FA-2 putters...all housed within the leather Liquidmetal golf bag...yeah, I’m still a fanatic!
Watts and I attended a shareholders meeting back in ‘11 or ‘12 (don’t remember...Watts?), and I gave Steipp and Otis positive feedback on the clubs, based on my personal experience. They had just shared that the golf clubs might be put on hold for the foreseeable future; however, they seemed VERY interested in possibly pursuing another venture into clubs after my feedback.
The issue now is that if Liquidmetal has to retard the performance of the driver face to comply with COR, the advantage is pretty much gone too.
So that’s my Liquidmetal golf story! Still use them...no issues! However, my single-digit handicap days are probably long gone. I’m enjoying my Air Force retirement now, writing and recording music with my trumpet (right Watts?)...golf, on the other hand, is a bit out of my retirement budget. Writing music is free, now that I have purchased all the equipment I need.
Holding long and strong—it’s gonna be either feast or famine with me and my 111k+ shares.
I picked up a few extra shares over the past few days: a couple of days ago at $0.263 (only to watch it continue to fall—rats!), and today at $0.1935. Didn’t throw a lot of money at it, just enough to smile at the transactions...I’m supposed to be letting it ride...by pinky promise. But she said okay!
A few years back, perhaps 5 or so?, LQMT traded over 90mm shares in one day (could have even been 110mm...memory fading...but could be easily researched), ending the day up over 200 percent. Seems like that had to do with a patent issued for generating sheets of Liquidmetal.
I drive a 2004 Honda Accord Coupe with 6-sp manual transmission and navigation system (though I don’t use it since I have Apple Maps and Google Maps on my iPhone 7 Plus)...it has 178k miles on it. I also have a 2000 2-DR Chevrolet Blazer ZR2 4WD with Bose sound system and wide track stance...it has about 168k miles on it. Both vehicles run flawlessly right now, though the ZR2 does leak a bit of oil, as is not uncommon for Chevy trucks at this age. I use a boot tray under it in the garage filled with Kitty Litter to catch and contain any oil leaks.
I am considering a Toyota Prius as a replacement for the Honda, and a Toyota Tacoma to replace the ZR2. However, if we actually hit pay dirt with Liquidmetal, get relisted, etc., I may go for a fully loaded Toyota Camry or an Avalon. Who knows? Either of these would be great traveling vehicles.
I love your frequent comments about getting out and being part of life instead of wasting away at the computer 24/7 wondering how Liquidmetal is doing. My wife and I set up the tent in the back yard and spent the night in it last night. We also had the hammock set up and a couple of yard chairs...enjoyed the night looking at the stars in the clear sky.
Hey Keith, nice to hear from you again, and to be at this point in our investment where “in the midst” appears to be ready to become a “mist.” So many positive company moves and other promising tidbits of information over the past year have made me excited again at, not just the possibility, but, the probability that our patience is about to pay-off in spades. I’m not a card player, so if that’s not a good analogy, replace it with a more suitable one...he he he
I won’t be at the OH this time around, but hope to have no reason to miss the next one. My wife and I left CA in July 2016 and closed on our brand new home in Clarksville, TN, the end of the following Sept. The realtor advised us not to use a VA loan, claiming that the VA is so picky and demanding that we can’t close within 45 days. Well, with a credit score of 830 and $50k down, we closed in less than 30 days...and with a 3.25% APR. Our goal is to let this investment pay off the house and replace both vehicles, with the other half continuing to grow. What’s not to love? Not sure why I shared all that, but God has been very gracious to us...bright future too!
I agree with the poster who suggested that any news of substance would need to be reported to ALL investors either before the OH or after, not during. Otherwise, it could be construed as insider information. My hope is that a PR is issued tomorrow...doesn’t matter when. But early would be nice! After trading hours is probably more likely.
GLTALs!!!
My friend, Watts! I still get a huge chuckle from the creative humor in your posts. Greetings from Tennessee!! Hope you and yours are well.
OC-COM (NSDQ)
I was just looking at the E*TRADE app on my phone for Liquidmetal, and it lists it as "Liquidmetal Technologies Inc OC-COM (NSDQ)". Google didn't turn up anything for me. What does that suffix mean? Thanks!
Diane Ponzio (Martin Guitar rep) said a few notable things regarding the "show special" guitar:
Even though Ponzio mentioned the Figured English Walnut, ornate carving and inlay, and "gorgeous, gorgeous tuners" on what she referred to as a "Martin Carthy"-quality guitar, she said, "And you know what's really interesting about this, <name>, the bridge pins, they're from a company called 'Liquidmetal.'" To me, that says A LOT about what Martin Guitar thinks of Liquidmetal, especially considering the enhanced, and desirable, acoustic properties of that very expensive guitar.
After an attendee said, "You could put these on any guitar," Ponzio replied, "You could, if you could get Liquidmetal to make them for you." The implication is that Martin might not have an exclusive license. And it would be to our benefit as shareholders if they didn't. Every non-classical acoustic guitar uses bridge pins.
It is interesting to note that Liquidmetal "has entered into a development agreement with C.F. Martin & Co. ® (Martin Guitar) to design a guitar component to be made of Liquidmetal amorphous alloys and manufactured utilizing the Liquidmetal injection molding machine." However, the bridge pins are not developmental; they are working end products being touted at the National Association of Music Marketers. This obviously means that Liquidmetal has been working with Martin Guitar for some time, without fanfare, and without our knowledge. It is possible, therefore, that the "developmental agreement" refers to some other component, such as tuners. Perhaps the bridge pins were the test...and Liquidmetal passed the test.
“These (Liquidmetal bridge pins) give you 40 more dBs, so we might be seeing these bridge pins in other <inaudible> (assume she said/implied other Martin models).
Where I think Liquidmetal could really shine, however, is in the machine head tuners. These are subjected to constant pressure caused by the tension in the strings, and are being turned all the time. Metal on metal wear.
My wife plays a "Little Martin" guitar, so we are very interested from this standpoint too. I would LOVE to replace the bridge pins with the Liquidmetal variety.
Yes, still here. Welcome back, Watts!
What I'm not happy about is that Steipp told me on the phone that he would try to do much better to keep the shareholders informed. I haven't really seen the improvement.
And, no, I'm not happy with the salaries. However, at the same time I don't believe Steipp's intent was/is to run the company into the ground due to unwarranted salaries. Giving him benefit of the doubt, one would have to assume that a lot of progress must be happening behind closed doors. So much so that he felt emboldened to request such a salary. I'm not too happy about the fact that we are still standing outside of those closed doors. Throw us a bone, right?
If this stock intends to break out, and I believe it will, then while we're all raking in our new shekels, Steipp's salary request will be a soon-forgotten hiccup. We won't care.
Hope is for people/companies who haven't been there before, and who have no tangible way of measuring their chance of success. They "hope" something good happens. But that's not ENGEL. While technically it can be described as hope, I do not believe ENGEL is hanging its hat on hope. They calculated the market opportunities and their own investment--and they moved forward with it.
Calculated risk based on knowledge.
I disagree with part of what you stated. ENGEL was already a very successful company before and without Liquidmetal. I personally do not see ENGEL as putting its reputation on the line with Liquidmetal technology. Nor do I see ENGEL relying on hope to make them a lot of money with the new machines. ENGEL doesn't seem to rely on hope. But, rather, knowing the market intimately, systematically advancing the technology, and determining the right time to introduce it to the world. And it seems like we're now beginning to see the wrapping paper coming off the package--at the right time!
My real concern is that Liquidmetal management might do something (else) stupid and mess the whole shebang up. Hopefully, Hauck (as well as ENGEL and Materion) has enough influence with the board that he can prevent them from doing something (else) stupid.
Addendum: I saw that OTW posted a similar reply after I hit the "Post Message" button. I agree with OTW. Calculated risk and hope aren't quite the same, especially when it comes to adequate preparation.
I have never understood the claim that Visser is purposely dumping shares of LQMT stock in order to sabotage the stock and drive the share price down, with a kind of "sour grapes" kind of intent. Why would he cut off his nose to spite his face? Doesn't make sense to me. If, however, he was trying to drive the share price down so that he could purchase more, then perhaps. But that doesn't seem to be the case here. I'm not street smart on such things as this, but it still doesn't seem to pass the common sense test.
Just one correction:
Steipp himself told me face to face that Apple insisted that Kang be ousted and Steipp be put in place as CEO of Liquidmetal before their association could move forward. And it happened.
True! Apple could be holding A LOT of strings when it comes to Liquidmetal and company announcements, not counting those required by the SEC. If true, and this is still an "if," then one would have to ask why? Perhaps to keep the share price down? But why? Well, IF Apple intends to buy out Liquidmetal at some point in the future, keeping the share price down would only benefit Apple. Apple is not in the market for the success of Liquidmetal, Inc., but for its own success--period. Some have countered that Apple has no reason to buy out Liquidmetal, since Apple already owns the IP for Consumer Electronics. Under Jobs, perhaps. But under different management, such as we see today, don't expect Apple to fall in line with the Jobs' vision forever. If Apple branches out beyond Consumer Electronics, and there are indications that this may in fact be the case, then it would be in Apple's best interest to keep LQMT share price low, through manipulative, hurtful, and unfair non-disclosure agreements, until such time as Apple decides to buy the company--perhaps for pennies on the dollar. Just thinking out loud on this, but it will be very interesting to see how this all plays out.
RANCHO SANTA MARGARITA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sep. 8, 2015-- Liquidmetal® Technologies, Inc. has completed the installation of its second injection molding machine recently delivered by its certified partner, Engel. The fully automated, state-of-the-art machine will enhance the existing Manufacturing Center of Excellence operations, reflecting Liquidmetal Technologies' commitment to manufacturing and advancing the capabilities of its technology.
Paul Hauck, Vice President of World-Wide Sales and Marketing, said: "The installation of the additional machine comes at a time when market interest in the technology has reached significant levels. The additional capacity will allow the Company to serve new customer applications and will reduce supply risk by providing additional redundancy in capacity."
And to think I cashed in my GTAT chips for an 80% profit in one day. Bought in on a Monday, when the share price was $1.00/share. The CEO was swearing up and down that GTAT's bankruptcy was only for restructuring purposes, and would soon be back in business making sapphire screens for Apple. I discovered the next day, however, that the CEO had been cashing in his GTAT chips to the tune of over $10 million dollars. Time to take my profit and run, as this ship was about to finish sinking. Only wish I had invested more than $500.
I got the 8K announcement through an email update from Liquidmetal. I would've typed more, but I'm in Sears waiting for a part for my truck to come in. Plus, I'm on my iPhone, and I figured that if I shared this, everyone would know where to find it.
SALAS IS OUT!!!
The $3 difference is easily made up with a timely trade. No question about it. Having to wait 3 days for the transfer to complete before being allowed to make a trade would likely cost WAY more than a meager $3. Seize the opportunity while it's hot!
No worries...I couldn't make the pieces fit with your explanation...understand now. I am fortunate that eTrade doesn't care whether the transfer is to purchase shares for a penny stock or a listed stock. In fact, when you execute the transfer, the purpose is merely to add to your brokerage account. And with $9.99 trades, it's a nice place to be. I used to trade within USAA's brokerage account system, and it KILLED me in commissions. Here's an example: I bought 20,000 LQMT shares (14,300@$0.167 on 4-3-12 and 5,700@$0.150 on 4-12-12) through USAA and paid $161.83 in commission alone. At that point I queried a friend who is knowledgable about investing, and he recommended eTrade. Have not looked back since.
Your broker's transfer policy is NOT the same as eTrade.
For example, if I execute a transfer right now, as soon as I press, "Execute Transfer," I have immediate access to that money for purposes of investing. I don't have to wait until the money actually arrives before I can invest it. And it costs nothing to do this.
So your broker is actually not the same as my broker. Correct?
Your reply was confusing.
How could eTrade's transfer policy be the same as that of your firm, but it (assuming you mean the money is available for investment) won't be in the account until Wednesday? If your firm has the same policy as eTrade, then the money can be in your account, and available to invest, as soon as you select "Execute Transfer."
Please clarify...perhaps I missed something. Thanks!
eTrade allows you to execute a bank transfer to your brokerage account for free. Immediately after you execute said transfer, which takes about 3 days for the money to be deposited into your brokerage account, you have immediate access to that money in your brokerage account for investing only. eTrade apparently fronts the money, at no charge to you, knowing that your money is incoming.
Just a thought my friend. With many smart phones these days such as is the case with my iPhone 6 Plus, you can simply dictate your thoughts and the phone will type it out. It's not perfect, but it's gotten much better over the years as the error rate has gotten much lower. I do it all the time because it works, and because I intend to send something rather long. In fact, I dictated this entire reply on my MacBook Pro, and didn't use the keyboard to type any letters, or make any corrections.
Sorry, my wife (who is a jeweler) intends on making a set of earrings and necklace with them.
I would LOVE to have the knife. However, home repairs have been absorbing our money. Contractors just spent a full 7 days up on our tile roof replacing tar paper and OSB wood. They also replaced rotted wood around the house, including all of the wood siding from the chimney (and this was their second visit to our home for repairs in other areas). All due to faulty original construction. That's where our money has been going of late. But glad to have that part behind us.
I'm banking on my current share pot of Liquidmetal, at some point, making these costly repairs a distant memory.
Bought all I intend to buy...riding it out from here.
My wife and I have been pouring money into our home to make it inspection ready for, hopefully, a spring-time (fall of '16 at worst) move back east...Lexington, KY, or Huntsville, AL, area.
I own the entire set of Liquidmetal golf clubs, golf bag, two tennis racquets, and three SIM tray eject tools. But I'm not a knife owner.
Full4God________BE 0.2732, including all trade fees.
To me, the issue isn't prototype versus production, but the fact that none of us saw this coming. We have all been crying out, and rightfully so, for any information on developments. And to date, they have been few and far between. And then this. BAM! So it appears that negotiations have been/are happening behind closed doors. However long it took, and by whatever means, to get SAGA re-interested in Liquidmetal, it was a welcome move. But it remains to be seen what's next. If this is an indication of what's to come, then bring it on.
Looking through the jeweler's loop at the male Lightning connector for an iPhone 5, the connector is riddled with straight-line scratches. The Lightning cable for the 6 Plus is still relatively new, and I haven't used it nearly as much. While no scratches are prominent, I can make out a couple of ever-so-slight scratches on it. However, I will say that it looks much more refined in every way when compared to the cable for the 5 phone.
Not trying to rain on anybody's parade, but I used a jeweler's loop (my wife was a jeweler before having to quit due to health issues) just now on my iPhone 6 Plus to magnify the view of the two screws and the lightning port itself. Both of these easily show milling marks, not what I would expect to see with Liquidmetal components. I will try later today to get some photos of both, and will post them if I do, but no promises.
Zoomed in for Clarity
For those who cannot zoom in on this pic, hope this helps. Perhaps this is picky of me, but it would have made a better impact if the parts had been lined up so as to provide for a more uniform appearance. After all, uniformity of parts is hailed by the company, and the photo should have been consistent with that ideal.
I wish iHub would allow us to "thumbs up" posts.
Good laugh during my first cup of the morning...thanks!
Just thought it was odd that Liquidmetal themselves listed their own stock symbol in their Weekly Summary Alert as "LQMT.PK." Probably doesn't mean anything, as I've witnessed tons of grammatical and typographical boo boos over the years from this company. Just wanted to make sure I wasn't reading it wrong and that I didn't miss something.
LQMT.OB changed to LQMT.PK?
I noticed on Liquidmetal's Weekly Summary Alert today that the company listed their stock symbol as "LQMT.PK." I thought LQMT had been listed with an ".OB" suffix, one step above ".PK." Right? And should this matter? Appreciate any clarification...thanks!