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GD1= Great Depression methinks. Ergo GD2 is what is said to be slouching down the road toward us.
Globex busted all ES trades below 995 because of some spike. The ES is looking very strange with tails all over. Last week it was the Dow, so is next week the NQ?
Edit-" Globex complaince(sic) department has stated that all executed trades in the ES Sept futures contract at the executed price of 995.75 and below during the time beginning 14:08 have been ruled as erroneous and have been busted. " IB Customer Service.
Phone definitions courtesy Walter Mossberg's column today
Deciphering Cellphone Geek-Speak
From 1xEV-DO to 1xRTT,
Shoppers Face Baffling Jargon
Shopping for a cellphone, or for a wireless PDA, often requires navigating through a bewildering set of jargon terms and acronyms.
This week, we present a glossary of cellphone technology that should help you become a more informed shopper and phone user.
First, let's take the 30,000-foot view.
Digital vs. Analog: Decades ago, when wireless telephony began, every country used so-called analog technologies in their wireless networks. The U.S. version of this analog system was called AMPS, for Advanced Mobile Phone Service. More recently, these analog networks have been superseded in urban areas by digital technologies, but analog is still important in rural areas.
Digital cellphones tend to have better sound and longer battery life than analog models, and digital networks can much more easily handle data, like e-mail, text messages and Web sites. Some digital phones can use analog as a fallback for voice calls when digital reception is poor or absent.
2G vs. 3G: The wireless phone industry labels various technologies with "G" ratings -- as in "generation." These have technically complex criteria, but to the average consumer they mainly reflect how fast a network, and the phones that use it, can receive and send data, like e-mail and Web pages.
Most digital phones today are 2G and receive data very slowly. A few carriers, outside the U.S., have achieved speeds considered 3G, which is the holy grail for the industry, and is the equivalent of broadband computer networks. The newest technologies available to most consumers are considered "2.5G," because they are faster than 2G phones, but much slower than 3G phones.
Now, let's discuss the various competing digital technologies used by cellular carriers and phone makers. These technological acronyms aren't usually printed on the actual phones or phone bills, but because each carrier normally uses only one type of technology, if you know your carrier's name, you should be able to easily determine which technology you're using.
GSM: Global System for Mobile Communications. This is the standard digital technology for wireless phones in Europe and much of the rest of the world -- but not in the U.S., which lacks a single standard. GSM is gaining ground in the U.S., though it is broadcast on a different frequency than the system used in Europe.
GSM is offered domestically by T-Mobile, and by Cingular and AT&T Wireless, which are converting their networks to GSM. GSM phones have a distinctive feature: a small, removable plastic card, called a SIM card, that stores a user's account information, including the phone number and speed-dial entries, on an embedded chip. You can buy a new GSM phone and simply pop your old SIM card into the new phone and it will be activated on your account.
GPRS: General Packet Radio Service. This is a faster version of GSM, which speeds up data reception and transmission for things like e-mail and Web browsing. It operates at about the speed of a slow home dial-up modem, usually 30 or 40 kilobits per second. In wireless phone lingo, it is considered a "2.5G" technology, which will eventually be replaced by much faster "3G" data technologies.
CDMA: Code-Division Multiple Access. This digital technology is the main competitor to GSM, and is used mostly in the U.S. and South Korea. CDMA is the most popular cellphone technology in the U.S., and is primarily offered domestically by Sprint PCS and Verizon Wireless. CDMA phones don't use the portable SIM cards found in GSM phones.
Many cellphone makers produce nearly identical models of handsets for the U.S. market that differ only in whether their innards contain radios that work on CDMA or GSM. But, even if two such phones look identical, they aren't interchangeable. A CDMA phone can't be used on a GSM network, and a GSM phone can't be used on a CDMA network.
1xRTT: This is the faster version of CDMA, just as GPRS is the faster version of GSM. Because the name is a mouthful, Sprint calls it "PCS Vision" and Verizon calls it "Express Network." It is faster than GPRS, and operates at speeds typically between 40 kilobits per second and 70 kilobits per second -- about the speed of a fast home dial-up modem, or a bit faster. Like GPRS, 1xRTT is a "2.5G" technology that will be replaced by faster "3G" systems, though Sprint, relying on a technicality, deems it to be "3G."
1xEV-DO: An evolution of the 1x technology that boosts data rates into true 3G territory, equal to a very fast home DSL or cable modem. Verizon plans an experimental deployment of EV-DO this year in two cities, San Diego and Washington. But no carrier has announced plans to make it commercially available nationwide.
TDMA: Time-Division Multiple Access. Once one of the three major wireless digital phone technologies in the U.S., TDMA is being phased out by major carriers, including its former main proponent, AT&T Wireless. If you have a TDMA phone, it may be useless in a few years.
Finally, a few terms related to digital cellphones.
World Phone: This is a GSM or GPRS phone that is capable of operating on the GSM/GPRS frequencies used in both Europe and the U.S. -- as opposed to standard phones designed for one continent or the other. To use such a phone, you also have to purchase a calling plan that covers international use.
WAP: Wireless Application Protocol. This was an early effort to bring the Internet and e-mail to cellphones. It was slow and clumsy and has largely been a failure.
SMS: Short Message Service. Wildly popular in Europe and Japan, but only now gaining traction in the U.S., this is the ability to tap out short text messages on a cellphone and send the messages to other phones, or to an e-mail address. These messages are usually limited to 160 characters, and must be entered on phone keypads, which are lousy text-entry mechanisms. So they tend to be packed with abbreviations that have become a new jargon among SMS addicts.
MMS: Multimedia Messaging Service. This is a new version of SMS designed to handle photos, video and audio clips in addition to text. So far, in the U.S., it has been poorly and inconsistently implemented, making the exchange of multimedia complicated and unreliable.
Bluetooth: This is a short-range wireless networking technology that's designed to replace cables linking high-tech devices. It's used to connect headsets to cellphones wirelessly, and to link cellphones to laptops.
There are scores of other techno terms used in the cellphone business, but these basic definitions should take you a long way. For more of this stuff, see the glossary offered by the excellent Web site, Phone Scoop, at www.phonescoop.com/glossary.
--With reporting by Katherine Boehret
Ummmm, errrr and timestamped.
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=1166510
Hey Schloss- almost everything except the Red Sox lack of a closer strikes Lee as funny. Cheers.
Consumer Confidence at 10 eom
It is a daytraders heaven! Volatility and volume. Gotta love it.
Juice, there are lots of Rods, you got your Arod in Texas, Irod is now in Florida, take your pick. And the Rocket rang the opening bell at the NYSE, I think the post was deleted because it was off topic, not unlike this one. LOL
07:07 ET Cymer guides Q2 revs below consensus (CYMI) 32.64: Company lowers Q2 revenue guidance to $58-61 mln (approx 12% lower than previously guided revs of $67.6 mln) vs Reuters Research consensus of $67.3 mln due to ongoing slowness in semiconductor industry. According to CYMI CEO, "As a result of this revenue shortfall, we now expect gross margin to be in a range of 13 percent to 17 percent for the second quarter, in contrast to 17 percent to 22 percent in our April guidance."
Japan seems to be indicating that the power of the printing press is limited.
http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/StoryFT/FullStory&c=StoryFT&cid=105...
This?
17:08 ET Texas Instruments guides Q2 EPS lower, cites weaker revs (TXN) 20.39 +0.17: -- Update -- Company now sees Q2 EPS of $0.06, "plus or minus a few cents," vs Reuters Research consensus of $0.08, based on lower revenue and higher charges related to restructuring of certain manufacturing facilities. Co now expects total sequential rev growth of about 5% compared to originally forecasted 7%, with estimated sequential growth in its semiconductor segment of 2 percent vs previously anticipated 4%.
Chris Rock
Very patient trade. Nice
Your remarks were there the first time I looked. FWIW
Very useful, thanks.
LOL Live Zeev Bears . That is funny.
Not slowed to a crawl but ... a lag and then a fairly fast page
If a TIMBER(TM) happens on another thread does the market hear it? LOL
Zeev- EXPE probably on the back of this.
16:21 ET SABRE Hldgs guides Q1 lower (TSG) 16.03 -0.22: Co. says that ex-items, it expects to announce Q1 EPS "of approximately $0.36, which is below the low end of the previous guidance range" -- Multex consensus estimate is for earnings of $0.40 per share; co. also expects that first quarter revenue on a GAAP basis will be approximately $544 mln.
LOL Pink Protection Team. Great one !
Ha, that is funny!!
10:01 ET Hewlett-Packard falls 4% on accounting mistake (HPQ) 14.94 -0.63: Merrill Lynch says that their review of HPQ's 10-Q indicates that the co overstated cash flow from operations by $144 mln in its Feb 25 earnings release; while firm believes this was an honest mistake and found no indication of earnings manipulation, they say the timing of this mistake is bad given investor jitters over segment accounting changes disclosed in the previous release
mlsoft: Concur, and since I am still nowhere near as nimble as Zeev I do not currently play EXPE. If I get courageous at some point I will dip my toe in that water. I do however love the volatility and I thought the Icarus imagery was apt. Cheers
Barron's this week takes a look at EXPE, here is a taste.
"The Icarus of the Internet
IS EXPEDIA FLYING too close to the sun? If you pine for the frothy days of the boom, check out the online travel service that was launched by Microsoft but now is controlled by Barry Diller's USA Interactive. It will transport you back to less sober times. Expedia shares soared 17% in February and are trading at around 70, up 85% from their 52-week low of 37.70 on Oct. 10. Expedia is trading at 30 times projected earnings for 2003. To steal a phrase from the late, great Fred Rogers of children's television fame, can you say "bubble," boys and girls?"
11:14 ET Treasury Sec Snow says strong dollar policy is unchanged
10:49 ET Rambus follow-up (RMBS) 13.00 -2.43: Bloomberg.com reports that an FTC official has ruled that co is entitled to an administrative trial challenging U.S. antitrust claims over the company's patents. Weakness in the stock appears due to judge's decision to limit the defenses that Rambus can offer because of its failure to keep documents about its attendance at industry standard-setting meetings. The FTC contends that Rambus destroyed the documents to hide its efforts to obtain patents on what became the industry chip standard. The judge denied a request by FTC staff lawyers to skip the trial and move directly to the punishment phase of the case.
Hmmm, I think 2 NT is the way to go, he may be holding the diamonds and you can have game.
09:14 ET Gapping Down : Homebuilders weaker after LEN posts disappointing orders: LEN -2.9%, RYL -1.2%, KBH -1%, BZH -1%..
09:04 ET Egyptian news agency reports Iraq to destroy missiles: Bloomberg : Egyptian state news agency Mena reporting that Iraq will announce later today that it will destroy its Al-Samoud-2 missiles. There tends to be a positive knee-jerk reaction to this kind of news as its seen as helping to avert war, though it could also be seen as undermining the international support for a war that will move forward either way.
OT- I have been out for 4 days but may be snowed in again by tomorrow morning. Ran out of coffee the first time, it will not happen again!!
Absolutely mandolin
Not much, you?
CYMI
12:03 ET Cymer rumor 31.72 -1.43: We are hearing that today's weakness in CYMI can be attributed in part to a rumor that IBM is having some difficulty transitioning to next-generation 0.09 micron technology from 0.13 (CYMI sells the lasers that go into this equipment); in addition, we are also hearing a rumor that CYMI is seeing cancellations and pushouts that may require them to cut their forecast for 2003, although we can't confirm this.
That is a feature, only thing is there is a license fee with each new window. <g>
CCMP
08:57 ET Cabot Micro may not win TSM deal (CCMP) 45.64: We are hearing that boutique firm BlueFin Research says it appears that TSM has selected JSR Micro for both their Cu Step 1 and Step 2 slurry process for their next-generation 90nm designs, which should begin to ramp in 2H03; according to firm, TSM's current incumbent for the 130nm design is CCMP.
Rest of the upgrades by Merrill. Cribbed from 2Mars on SI
Impact Call--Merrill Lynch upgrades the following Semiconductor names to BUY from Neutral: AGR.A, ISIL, MRVL, MXIM, SMTC, TSM, XLNX. Firm believes that valuation is reasonable, if not highly attractive, while low inventory levels and low capital spending will tend to increase the industry's sensitivity to any improvement in demand. Firm also upgrading several stocks to Neutral from Sell: AMCC, ADI, BRCM, CNXT, INTC, PMCS, VTSS
INTC upgraded to neutral by MER
Rumor- 08:54 ET S&P futures vs fair value: +6.4. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: +13.0. Futures indications move to their best levels of the morning following reports that Iraq has asked Iran to allow Saddam Hussein to flee via Iran to political exile in Russia... As such, the indices remain poised for a solidly higher open.
OT Shuttle Landing gear not lowered.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/2760003.stm
16:23 ET InVision beats by $0.16; guides Q1 above consensus (INVN) 23.25 -2.65: Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $2.40 per share, $0.16 better than the Multex consensus. Revs rose 858.3% year/year to $220.4 mln vs the $210.1 mln consensus. For Q1, co sees EPS of at least $1.55 and revs of at least $160 mln (consensus $1.23 and $107.6 mln). Continues to see full yr revs of approx $400 mln.