Monday, November 10, 2008

Dancing with the Veterans

A Holiday for Some

  • It's late. The day before Veterans Day.  My broker's splash page says something about "beware of funky hours" for mutual funds and such. 
  • Some close early.  Some don't trade.  Some go march in the Veterans Day Parade.
  • And beware of folks on the West Coast sleeping in!
  • Some contrarians think we've seen the bottom.  Maybe.  But it sure doesn't feel like it.  Feels bad in the pit of my stomach.  Which is a contrarian sign, too.
  • I saw lots of bottoms at Hooter's last week.
  • Dancing with the Stars closing in on semi-finals.  Where does the time go, Carrie Ann Inaba?
  • Nice words from Basil on Veterans Day.
  • I wonder how the companies that provide charting software and data feeds are doing in this market?
  • From Kevin Stecyk, will the government save $GM?  Kevin writes a good blog, and this is very thought provoking.
  • I think Obama, Reid and Pelosi will try.  Those are union jobs in battleground states, and they'll throw money in that direction to make sure those jobs are there in 2010 and 2012.  But long term, if those companies can't compete with other auto companies, then it's good money after bad.  The business model will fail because too much money is going out to wages, benefits, and pensions compared to the competition.

The Mobile Minute

  • So it's less than three days until I switch from my ATT 8525 smartphone to an iPhone.  I did the 2-yr contract, but in 18-months they let you trade in and sign a new 2-yr contract.
  • I was eyeing some other WinMo phones.  The Xperia X1 is coming soon, but has a price tag of $800.  Guffaw.  It looks nice.  But not that nice.  The HTC Touch Pro is out now, and runs around the price of an iPhone. 
  • The iPhone is just so easy, breazy, covergirl.  Easy and affordable apps.  Lots of free ones.  Nice screen.  I think the iPhone is taking over the mobile world very quickly and will be the standard.
  • The big drawbacks are the $AAPL monopoly/dictatorship on applications, no cut-and-paste, no bluetooth keyboard, no stereo bluetooth, no MMS.  Some of these things may be resolved down the road.  Some won't.  One can probably upgrade in 18-months if one wants to.