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dilleet: It is all so ridiculous to waste your money
I think we each get to decide what is a waste of money for us. I am pretty much a value shopper, but was fine with paying the education price for an Airport Express, but then that is just one difference between us :), I dont' spend much time dinking around with cell phone features cause they don't matter much to me in my life. If I made my living in the field you do, maybe that would become important to me.
I liked the fact that there was an aiport network set-up assistant file and that it just worked. Could I have gotten on cheaper? Yep. Would it have AirTunes to stream the tunesys out to the deck? I dunno. Would it have wireless USB printer sharing? Again, I dunno.
Matters not to me. I bought it :)
I'm thinking it would be cool
to buy AAPL in the mid 50's :)
I am, as of Friday, back down to core AAPL position. Maybe I'm trying to be too cute by half with it in terms of timing. My take on it is that the second half of the year has the potential to be stellar for AAPL.
Wonder how Apple's investment arm is doing?
Added PEIX on the private placement drop, and MA last week. Other than that staying with a high level of cash and waiting.
OT: Lake Chapala
Don't think they built a dam, just think they had good rains. Lirios plants are choking the Lake some now. Was your property near the Carretera or closer to the lake? We stayed on Independencia just west of Morelos.
Ate at Pampas Tango one night - appetizer, two salads, split 750 grams of filet mignon, had, between the two of us, 3 glasses of wine, a beer and a cup of Gran Centenario Añejo for $34 US plus tip.
I like that.
So what, I bought the Airport Express because
I am a mindless and idiotic devotee of everything Steve Jobs, so just leave me alone. Besides, I don't like the looks of that Chambers fellow *grin*
You guys are funny, but it does tend to get old. Come up with some new schtick please.
Thanks Sexton. Site was done with iWeb
One of Apples iLife apps. Easy as pie, that one :).
Cayman is nice - did a stop off on a cruise there, but I grew up in Latin America decades ago and Mexico resonates with me.
Take care and good luck.
Not sure yet, but pretty sure it won't be Ajijic.
Ajijic has some nice features, but some downsides also. We really liked Guanajuato - nice old university - having an Impressionist exhibit there this summer - Monet, Chagall, Van Gogh, and others. More cultural opportunities there with the annual Cervantes festival and other theater and music.
I suspect we will move somewhere in central Mexico, rent and explore the country for a year or two before buying
(BTW: Roni -- except for the 26th you haven't posted much here - mostly on AAPL; seeing as FP thinks we are all weird, I had to see what would get you to post. Cheers mate!)
Well, I dumped a bunch of PMs a couple of weeks ago - have nibbled back in some. Bought some Pacific Ethanol on the drop after announcing a private placement. Bought some Mastercard (MA). About 50% cash, waiting for YABO (yet another buying opportunity). I'm having a good year, but down quite a bit from the high for the year - still up 31% YTD though, so can't bitch too much.
I think the second half of the year will be good, but that remains speculation at this point. The only worry I have about AAPL in the second half is the more general concern about consumer spending. I will be picking up a MacBook before the end of July, unless some quality problems show up that cause me to wait.
Traveled to Mexico again - some photos and stuff at http://web.mac.com/roni_smith/
Life is pretty good. Expecting to move to Mexico in early 2009, contingent on a couple of little things. Oh the photos from this trip are in the Ajijic, Arizona, San Miguel and Guanajuato links
Best wishes Blake.
Ron
Shameless pumper...moi?
Of the products yes. Of the stock, it is one that money can be made with, but......one must be careful. I have been down to my core holding pretty much since January. Getting close to time to start rebuilding the position with trading shares again for the next run to January. Speaking of running, I assume you have seen the iPod - Nike tie-in. I think they should call it the iJog :)
Trying another thing with iWeb
My mother and a good friend do not have broadband access and have mentioned the long. I published the site to a folder. Open the index.html file in any browser and voila - the whole site is there. It loses some functions, but everything works. Some of the title text looks a bit funky in Firefox, but it will be perfectly good to burn to a CD and send via snail mail to folks.
Cool :).
iWeb 1.1.1, a brief report
Did a Publish to .Mac Got an error message, but it did publish a couple of photos I had added to one page, but had not successfully published depsite multiple attempts. Comment links did not appear on blog pages.
Then I did a Publish all to .Mac Comment links appeared, but previous comments made by vistors to the site disappeared. No error messages this time.
iWeb 1.1.1 available this morning. Hopefully it really does fix the publishing problems brought on by iWeb 1.1 :).
I'll know within an hour or so if it does for me.
Puplava
I listen to him every Saturday morning.
Take Control of running windows on an intel Mac
http://www.takecontrolbooks.com/windows-on-mac.html?14@287.qaA9bjKwi6A@
What clip?? I have referred to no clip and don't have a clue what clip you are referring.
I was referring to an article in the Chronicle of Higher Education a couple of weeks ago - a more in-depth treatment of the problems in Alaska. Might go to your nearest college / university library and give it a read.
Same old, same old.
I agree. The same old, same old preference for short-term business gains over long-term investments in public infrastructure, most notably the intellectual and human capital infrastructure of the nation. It hurts us as a nation.
The modern version started back in the Reagan administration when his Dept of Ed folks argued that education was a good that had primarily private benefits, making the case to reduce public investment in education, particularly at the postsecondary level. The current gang that can't think straight continues the tradition.
Apple iTunes fuels broadband value-add explosion
Consumer broadband value-added services revenues rocketed by 74 per cent during 2005 fuelled by unprecedented demand for digital music, VoIP and online gaming.
A report from research firm Point Topic found that revenues were running at an annual rate of $6.9bn at the start of 2005. This had increased to $11.9bn 12 months later.
In value terms, the top five contributions were identified as security, IP telephony, online gaming, home networks and music downloads.
While security and home networks are support tools that enable the use of broadband, the analyst firm observed that VoIP, gaming and music are all services that need broadband to work effectively.
In percentage terms, music downloads saw the strongest revenue growth during 2005 with an increase of 237 per cent.
Point Topic noted that the continuing popularity of digital music players and services, particularly Apple's iPod and iTunes, have helped fuel this growth.
Together with a cost per song of just under $1, iTunes has helped to make music downloads the most successful online content service to date.
The number of people using music services has increased during the year, prompting the revenue increase. But Point Topic has lowered its estimate of average revenue per user.
This is to take into account the fact that the 'per song' charging model of iTunes became increasingly important during 2005, while the subscription model of charging declined relatively.
Music average revenue per user is based on an estimated average of three tracks per user per month.
http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2156812/itunes-fuels-broadband-value
The lack of net neutrality will be a disaster
For distance learning at every grade level. Already is in Alaska where the promise of broadband for learning is being compromised by preferential treatment given to corporate customers who are able to pay for preferential treatment by network owners. Public education is unable to afford preferential treatment for its data packets, and is often screwed due to that.
Then you often have the same corporate folks who argue against net neutrality also insisting that we starve public goods and services through all types of anti-tax initiatives.
Talk about your short-sighted, short-term private gain at the expense of long-term public good investment thinking.
Dvorak actually may have an idea
Apple could sign up with NutriSystem and encourage people to turn their bod into an iBod with the help of an iPod.
Private messages
I have received some, but cannot reply to them because I am not a paying member. Those that are about my .Mac site - there are email me links on the blog and you may contact me that way.
iPod-Nike, fitness-health, MacBook
The iPod Nike thing is positive - just how much remains to be seen. It will create some iPod sales, but I think a pretty good proportion of the target population already own iPods, the unanswered question is how many. It does extend the iPod ecosystem and mindshare a lot.
While the Nike thing is neat, a key for Apple this quarter is going to be MacBook sales. Will be nice when we start getting some information on demand and supply.
Here is a thought about extending the iPod ecosystem - there is an explosion of Type II diabetes in the US - starting at a much earlier age than we were aware of earlier. iPod software that accesses a database of nutritional information for most common foods - with the key and highlighted data being serving size, grams of carbohydrates per serving, and glycemic index rating for each food in the database - all explained is easy to understand language. Those factors, plus physical exertion, are the key factors for controlling blood glucose levels for millions of Type II diabetics.
Do it with a voice activated database - allowing one to ask questions of the database by talking to the iPod. It could become as useful as blood glucose monitors.
In which case, those who stepped up and bought in A/H, or who snag shares in the pre-market prior to the announcement (if there is one), will be rewarded.
Not to mention those with core positions
Installed the Airport Express this evening - the wireless internet part of it. Network is fine, worked well with both Macs and with work Dell laptop.
Just need an all clear on the MacBooks to add that cute little box to the small bushel of Apples we seem to be accumulating.
MacBook impressions
I messed around with one for about 10 minutes, then again on the way out after buying an Airport Express doohicky.
Keys were fine and I'd get used to them. Typing standing up at a table is not my usual manner of computing, though.
Glossy screen. Pretty darned reflective. I moved between the MacBook and the MacBookPro. In the store setting, I liked the MacBook Pro's screen better - but not $1000 better.
The bottom of the three MacBook's I picked were hot - particularly on the left upper bottom. I could hold my hand there without pain, but it was uncomfortable. I dont' have much laptop experience so I am unsure what the normal temp is.
Speed - seemed pretty snappy, but I did not do much with it. It will be faster than any Mac I have used since OS X came out, so I wasn't doing much checking on that.
Hope any major issues are resolved by mid-July - I'd kind of like to take one with me on a trip then.
I liked the black MacBook better, and so did Kathy.
Ron
This is my first post from a macbook
I'm not fighting anything. I explained how I view things. I think the intel iMac numbers will improve over time. I don't think the die is cast after one quarter. I think that will happen because more people will buy them than did in the first quarter after they were introduced. Speed bumps, refreshes, or minor upgrades (slightly faster CPU, slightly larger hard drive, slightly more RAM) don't register in my world as a new introduction with its own response pattern. Maybe they should. Maybe you have data that indicates they should.
I fail to see how that is fighting anything. I fail to see how past response is absolutely, 100% predictive of future response in these matters.
If anything short of accepting your view of things is defined as fighting it, then maybe I am fighting it, though those are not the terms I would choose. I am Thinking Different, you know, like a good Mac user *grin*
Since this is not one of my pay sites, I only have four posts left for the day, so I will not respond as much for the rest of the day.
iWeb, yes, lango did write a response to a post of mine with a detailed description of a way to get where I wanted to be. I did not attempt it at the time. I am aware there is an easier way to get to that point now, but the time when I do it is somewhere off in the future.
As to response to product introductions, I am not considering each update, refresh, speed bump, or slight upgrade to be a new deal with its own, unique or not response. I'll leave that for others. The MacBook was just introduced. Until a major change is made in form factor, or other huge changes are made, I will treat it like one product - more along the 3-4 year time frame in Lango's post. Could be considered wrong of me to do so *shrug*, so be it.
While there are relationships between variables in human behavior in the marketplace, neat cause and effect relationships are rare. I would not try to establish those, unless one is talking about probabilistic, multi-predictor variable models; in which case purists would insist it is not cause and effect, which implies more of a quasi-experimental design and view of things.
Thanks coreguy - yes it is more than a little bland, it is a lot bland :). I have three more days of travel to get through that part of it. Part of doing it like that right now is to get some of the stuff down before it is forgotten. That is mostly on purpose for now. Thanks for your comments, I did take it in the best way.
Next trip I am going to take a voice recorder for immediate impressions and maybe even a podcast or two.
I am thinking of doing site number 2 with iWeb for a different kind of writing.
Another Quarter?
Hell, I want another year! Since when you go into the relatively quick gratification camp?
Lango
To be fair, the first set of data is in -- we know what the new Intel iMacs and Mac Minis produced. And there's just no denying it, the Intel switch didn't produce bupkis in the way of increase there.
The early numbers indicate :). One could suggest that it is too early to tell. I would certainly agree with that suggestion. Time will tell. My main interest is in using the computers and profiting from investments and trades in AAPL. So far those interests have been satisfied.
As to your thesis that Apple needs to fundamentally change the way it does business to fully realize its potential in the marketplace. I have no comment on that. I guess I am neutral on it :). Apple is performing satisfactorily in regard to my interests in the company. I am not a corporate change agent.
I understand that you were responding to my 10% benchmark - did you see how fast I backed away from it? :).
Here is an example of what I mean by the increasing value of .Mac and iLife.
I held onto to .Mac for years and used it primarily for the email account. Sure, I downloaed Virex and Backup, but those were minimally useful. The combination of iWeb and .Mac are wonderful, allowing folks to easily put stuff out there, like this
http://web.mac.com/roni_smith/
Lango
I am not the person who said:
From my observations, the market for McBooks is identical to the market for iBooks - existing Apple users ready for a hardware upgrade. The rest of the computing world doesn't give a flying f'k.
I am the guy who disagreed with that statement.
I'll move back to the level of those statements, without using any numbers.
I think a lot of new to Mac buyers will be buying MacBooks. I think the rest of the computing world gives a flying f'k - but, as usual with the real world, it cannot be explained by a single factor - such as the introduction on one new computer. Other factors that may enter in the equation could be the halo effect, the ability to boot into Windows, the upcoming ability to run Windows and OS X at the same time, the malware issue coming to the forefront via advertising, the increasing value to be found in .Mac and iLife, and other factors that you or someone else may want to identify are all in play.
On point? In a discussion of the relative
demand for iBooks in the past and MacBooks in the future? I don't see it being even peripherally related. You made a statement about the relative demand for the two computers from your observations. That is the statement I responded to. I am not going to be drawn into a discussion on an unrelated point. You may refuse to address your statement directly if you choose to, but at least be up front about that rather than trying a misdirection play.
Non-sequiter response, WLD.
I, for example, would have never bought another single chip G4 powered machine in any configuration. I liked my 17" iMac, but it was slow. I never would have bought an iBook, though I sure did think about it.
I will buy a MacBook - as soon as the wrinkles are worked out - unless I talk myself into a MacBook Pro when that time comes.
Your statement was about the MacBook - the stuff you backed into in your response is not relevant to the discussion of the statement you made comparing eventual MacBook demand with iBook demand. The accuracy of your statement will be determined by sales figures over the next few quarters. I think, over the next year, the MacBook will outsell the iBook over the previous year by more tha 10%.
Our markers are down, waiting for data is.......time consuming.
WLD
From my observations, the market for McBooks is identical to the market for iBooks - existing Apple users ready for a hardware upgrade. The rest of the computing world doesn't give a flying f'k.
That's right - there will be zero impact from the wee boxes being a lot faster and more powerful, wider screen for most of them, and able to boot into Windows along with OS X.
Zero change in demand, in spite of the additional attention / positive comments from media which, before the switch to Intel chips couldn't give a flying f'k, but now seem ready to hop into bed with it for at least a short-term fling.
WLD, this, IMO, marks a low point for you. Most of the time you seem a lot smarter than this, and less willing to make statements for which there is no supporting data yet.
Fox??
KCMW,
I am a simple guy. Price cuts good.
I am not thrilled with the ad campaign either, but it is notches above the switcher campaign, IMO. I have wanted Apple to do the virus angle for some time. I like the fact that they are taking on Windows, more or less.
I am also bullish on the MacBook and am hoping it has a good back to school season and a good holiday season. The current quarter is still a question mark. Question marks sometime provide buying opps, sometimes they can really hurt portfolio performance. Be careful out there.
So, did anyone catch that post about a larger than insignificant price cut Intel announced? Or was that just a bad media thingie?