#108: New iPhone 4S and the Stock Market Reversal

#91: iPhone Stock Picking Apps; Sell in May

The Slide Continues

• The market continues to sell off this week. Kind of refreshing, in a way.  I think we need to reset before we can move higher.  I'm not expecting anything ominous, since I feel that the economy is recovering and we will see slow to moderate growth going forward. 
• Of course, I didn't see anything ominous in 2007, either.  Just being honest.  
• I mentioned yesterday that I had tried to upgrade my iPhone RSS Player to listen to podcasts.  It's still not working but seems as if it will be resolved very soon.  In the meantime, I've been using Mediafly.  Try it.  It's free.  I'm not sure if I like it more than RSS Player, but it has some other features that may keep it on my iPhone.
• NBA has started, and I'm in 2 fantasy basketball leagues.  Geez, can't help myself.  One is a total stats league, another is weekly head-to-head.  Should be interesting.
• Speaking of, the NBA has an app for the iPhone where you can listen to the audio streams of the games.  Similar to what MLB did with baseball.  Cool.  Just $9.99.
• Kind of interesting to watch the Health Care debate in Congress.  I have no idea what will come out, but many moderates have said that they won't support it.  Different polls say different things, but I haven't talked or emailed with anyone who likes the idea of a government public option. I know those folks are out there, but sometimes I wonder if the "excitement" about a public option is just a few people making a lot of noise.

Thursday Randomosity, and AudioBoo!

• The market continues to rally, despite how we’re being told that it shouldn’t continue moving up with out a pause.  Yes, the Nasdaq looks a little tired, but could be regrouping.  I agree that we need a pullback, but not sure how severe that would be or how quickly folks would get back in.  The economy is improving, so the rally should take us higher at some point.  Yes, as always, never in a straight line.  Trying to time the wiggles is pretty difficult in a bull trend.  I prefer to ride it out.  I may shift allocations here and there, but that’s about it. 
• For now.  Subject to change, as always.
• Les Paul pic today.  You understand.
• Blockbuster hit afterhours today.  Who goes to Blockbuster anymore?  It’s all about Netflix and Redbox now.
• I downloaded the free iPhone app AudioBoo to record up to 5 minutes of chatter, then upload to a website.  Added a widget in the sidebar to listen.  If you want to do this and have questions, comment or email me and I’ll give you a cheat sheet.  Now the first recording didn’t go well, as I was on a headset outside.  Maybe it was the wind or other background noise that fried the recording.   The gist of the 3 minute talk was that Sell in May hasn’t worked out too well this year! Will try straight to the iPhone mic, indoors, next time!
• Cool AudioBoo stuff…  You can subscribe to your favorite feeds in iTunes.  Your favorite feeds also has an RSS feed, so you can subscribe in an iPhone app like RSS Player, too.  Even better!
• Michael Vick signs with the Philadelphia Eagles.  So, keep in mind that if you draft Eagles’ wide receivers for fantasy football and Donovan McNabb gets hurt, your receivers are worthless!

Fake Fruit Afternoon

• There was nothing in the $AAPL keynote today that would make me want to rush out and immediately upgrade my current 3G iPhone to the new 3GS iPhone. Yes, it's faster and has a better camera. You can take 30fps movies. Some voice features. Sales start June 19th.
• Pricing for new customers is $199 for the 16G model and $299 for 32G. So if you are in the middle of a contract, you have to wait. At least until initial sales slow down, LOL.
• Better for Apple and ATT is the $99 price for the existing (er, "old") 3G iPhone. That'll bring new customers in.
• The upgrades to the operating system are very nice for existing iPhones.
• Market seemed to turn around in the last hour and close basically flat.
• Crunchberries aren't a real fruit.
• Will natural gas be the next rally? Natural gas has been very volatile. I can see energy demand going up as the economy improves. Oil has already rallied considerably and is around $68. But natural gas has been lagging due to lots of supply.

Rally Monday!

• Nice rally on Wall Street! Volume looks a little light at first glance, though. The past week we have seen rallies on light volume and sell-offs on heavier volume. That usually doesn't turn out to the bulls' advantage over the long term.  Financials had a great day, and the market does need those to keep moving up.
• Craigslist CEO asks for apology.  Hey, how many folks are tearing out their rose gardens as I type because they no longer need to barter with the Craigslist "rose" currency?
• ATT may offer data plans cheaper, but will it cost you more?  Think about it, as they make a lot of money with overage charges on text messages, why not get the same thing going with data usage?
• Sex and the City's Cynthia Nixon to marry girlfriend (neither pictured). No wonder Miranda and Steve couldn't make it work.
• Critical concession talks between General Motors Corp. and the United Auto Workers are being overshadowed by a public spat about the automaker's plans to import vehicles from other countries while it closes 16 U.S. factories.  Again, the union doesn't seem to understand that those union contracts are what led GM here. 
• I saw Star Trek over the weekend.  Great flick. 
• Folks are upset that SlingPlayer mobile for the iPhone only works over wi-fi, as ATT doesn't want to see heavier data drains on their network.  HELLO.  You can download the Orb app and stream content from your PC to your iPhone over 3G.  That includes TV hooked up to your PC, videos on your PC, music on your PC, and any content available on your PC. 

Picture is of Annie Wersching, who plays agent Renee Walker on 24.

Same Data, Different Result

• Sure, the market fell today. But it's the same market that was going up with the bad news earlier. It's not like the underlying data has changed much.
• Despite that, weak retail sales and home foreclosures get the blame today.  Volume seems to be picking up, so it'll be interesting to see how long IBD keeps their "market is in a confirmed uptrend" comment in the Big Picture.
• IBD is out at 5pm EDT, right?  Minutes away...  Drum roll...
• I've been writing about the seasonality stuff recently.
• Natural Gas (UNG) pulled back. Interesting entry over at Adam Warner's on UNG that anyone who plays it may want to read.
• Green Shoots Withering from WSJ blog.
• SlingPlayer Mobile comes out for the iPhone, but is limited to wi-fi only.  No 3G network.  So if you're in your house, you might as well just go into the family room and watch the TV.  Just saying.  And at a hotspot, you only have 2 hours a day.  You can use a mobile version on a Windows mobile phone all you want with ATT.  But not the iPhone.  Read about it.
• Of course, you can cut out the middleman and just get the Orb app for the iPhone and stream your TV and PC content over ATT's 3G all you want.  Till the cows (the size of schnauzers) come home.  I don't know why anyone would pay for Slingbox + SlingPlayer mobile.  But that's just me.

Saturday Night Randomosity

• In six weeks, the SP500 has advanced 28.5%.  Biggest six week advance since 1938.  If history is any indicator, Germany will soon invade Poland.  Stay tuned, and cancel those vacation plans for France.
• My thoughts are that this next week would be the logical point for the markets to take a break.  It's the week after options expiration and the week before the end of month 401(k) contributions.  Coincidentally, we could get an interesting sell signal if the MACD crosses down triggering the seasonal exit point for the folks who follow Sy Harding.
• Go Lakers!
• Ice is expanding in much of Antarctica, contrary to the widespread public belief that global warming is melting the continental ice cap.  You don't hear much of this in the media, as the government tries to push through expensive climate change legislation (to raise lots of money).
• The Israeli military is preparing itself to launch a massive aerial assault on Iran's nuclear facilities within days of being given the go-ahead by its new government, the Times of London reported.  Since we're hearing about it, is it just saber rattling and posturing?
• President Obama says he is going to cut wasteful programs.  Anyone taking bets on this?  Anyone keeping track?  I wish him luck, but call me very skeptical.  He has to get this by Harry and Nancy, and do you see them cutting programs?  Everyday we hear of new programs, so net-net I can't imagine there being fewer programs in the years ahead.
• A Florida woman stabbed her boyfriend in the chest with a steak knife over Pop Tarts, police said.  Many people take their pop tarts seriously.  I did a Twitter search for Pop Tarts, and look at all the chatter going on:



• A southwest Ohio teacher has resigned after acknowledging she accompanied four female students to a male strip club, a school spokesman said. Oh yes it's ladies night, and I'm feeling right.  Oh yes it's ladies night, oh what a night (oh, what a night).
• Dodgers continued on their win streak, besting Colorado yet again.  Loving the iPhone app MLB.com.
• Rumor is that Hulu is making an app for the iPhone.  That's NBC.  Now you will be able to watch Samantha Who whenever you want.  Er...

Baseball Opening Day with an iPhone

• The iPhone MLB app is fantastic. I listened to parts of 4 games today, and most of the Dodgers-Padres game. Not bad for $9.99 for all season.
• I grew up listening to Vin Scully call the Dodgers games. He still sounds great. And there's something about listening to a game on the radio (er, iPhone) compared to TV. I feel lazy watching a 3 hour game on TV. But on the radio there's more multi-tasking involved. Scully does a great job painting a picture.
• Listened to quite a bit of the Mets-Reds and Yankees-Orioles, too. Funny thing was CC Sabathia, the $161 million man, get rocked by the Orioles. They were hitting him. He was walking batters. It was ugly. On the otherhand, the Mets Santana pitched a gem against the Reds.
• Oh, the market? Again, the late day surge has to be considered a bullish sign.

Wednesday Randomosity

• Nice day in the market, as the economic data comes in better than expected. The SP500 is also defending the 50dma nicely.  Nothing wrong with the rally, yet!
• Is Geithner counting TARP dollars correctly?  GAO and the Treasury have different numbers.  Nice.
• The Republicans propose to simplify the tax code.  The GOP plan would offer a dramatically simplified tax code in which couples would have the option of a 10 percent rate on the first $100,000 of income, with a 25 percent rate thereafter, with the first $25,000 of income exempt from taxation. Single could get a $12,500 exemption and a 10 percent rate on income up to $50,000.
• New iPhone app from Major League Baseball (MLB at Bat 2009) that includes streaming audio from games.  $9.99.   Not bad, huh?
• Also, search for the DirecTV iPhone app.  Yes, you can program your DVR from your iPhone!
• Sales tax went up a penny in CA today.  Yippee.  I think car registration went up, as did the income tax rate.

Everybody Says Bear Market Rally

• Everyone knows today was a countertrend rally.  Just a bear market rally. Everyone knows we're going to revisit these lows.  Everyone knows we're going lower.  And everyone has been so right about this market, we should pay attention to them.  Right?
• From CNBC to news websites and blogs, the consensus is that today was just another bear market rally.  Maybe a one-day wonder.  Maybe something more significant that last weeks or months, that retraces up to 50% of the bear market, then only to crash and revisit the previous lows and perhaps make new lows.  That's the mood out there.  Nobody believes that this could be "it."  Who can blame them?  The market has done this before.  Teased the bulls enough to create a false sense of hope, only to crash shortly thereafter.
• Havne't seen IBD, yet.  My guess?  Day one of an attempted rally, and waiting for a follow through day on day 4 through 10.  Right???
• Setting a bottom, or a bear market rally?  Here a list of the 15 biggest one-day percentage moves on the Nasdaq.  Note that most of them come in a bear market.
• Do you want to play guitar on your iPhone?  Check out iShred.   Oh, check out their Youtube videos.  Very cool.  As a matter of fact, embedded one!
• The subject of talk shows today is President Obama's education reform, or taking on the school unions.  Merit pay for teachers?  I can't think it would actually happen.  Michelle Malkin wonders if Obama is sincere and wonders if it's a bunch of hype.  She put up some links following the news today, oh boy.  My thoughts?  Definitely need merit pay and competition in schools.  Although, I don't think we need to spend much more on schools than we are now. Obama said it best himself today, that maybe parents need to tell kids to turn off the TV and video games.
• Dancing with the Stars?  Uh... I was looking forward to Jewel, who is out with the injury.  YIKES.  I don't have a favorite yet.  Although the Bachelor reject girl, Melissa Rycroft, was working for me.  And that dress?  Hoo.  Indeed. 
• I missed 24 because of DVR contention, so I had to pick one show to watch live.  Had to be Dancing with the Stars so I could multitask in-between the boring stuff, and learn how to play "Picture Book" (The Kinks) on the iPhone.  LOL.

Demoralization Nation (and SNL does Tim Geithner!)

• SNL skit this weekend made fun of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. Well done!  (SNL = Saturday Night Live, for those new to the planet).
• From WSJ, Markets end another session demoralized, as investors were once again unable to generate sufficient enthusiasm to warrant further buying after stocks bounced in the early going.  ... “Valuation is extremely attractive for stocks, but is being ignored with the massive pessimism and uncertainty in the markets,” notes Bill Stone.
• You can flip through the WSJ blog and find link-worthy columns all over the place.  (Feeling Numb!)  The pessimism is thick, and it's expected day after day.  There is no hope that tomorrow will be anything different than what we saw today.
• But... it is time to start thinking about your March Madness brackets.  There is that.
• And there are folks making the most with guitar apps for their iPhone.  Check out the result of that video search of youtube.  Amazing.
• Enjoying the Kindle iPhone application more than the Stanza one.  I think because it's so darn easy.

Thank God It's Freida Randomosity

• I bought my first ebook on $AMZN for the $AAPL iPhone Kindle application. You buy it from Amazon's website, and when you run the iPhone Kindle app, the book shows up via Amazon's Whispernet.  The reader seems to work just like other readers I've tried.  The cool thing is not having to transfer the ebook to the iPhone.  It's just there when you turn it on.  Plus, Amazon's book library is pretty extensive.  Also seems like Amazon pricing is better than the other ebook vendors I've used. 
• It's a winner.  Like Freida Pinto.  And thank goodness it is Friday.  It's been a long week.
• The market is tanking as I contemplate what to have for lunch.  Maybe rice and beans.  No, that may be coming later for all of us.  When the futures were up this morning, I could almost sense the false optimism on CNBC.  As if even though the futures were up, just give it time.  The sellers were still hitting their snooze buttons.  Once they got up, the selling commenced.
• Looks like the Nasdaq is catching up after a few months of outperforming.  I think I need air quotes around "outperforming."  Right?
• The Japanese Tokyo stock price index (TOPIX) is at a 25-year low.  Nice.
• $GM at lowest price in 75 years.  Nice.
• The job market is nearing 1982 levels.  The government’s broadest measure of unemployment and underemploymentwas 14.8 percent in February. That includes some of the people who havestopped looking for work because they don’t believe they can find jobs.It also includes part-time workers who want to be working full time.  Nice.
• The anatomy of a natural gas spike.  Interesting.
• Why Wal-mart is surging.

Wednesday (Rally) Randomosity!

• Kindle e-book reader for $AAPL iPhone. Great news!  Amazon said that it has made a free Kindle application available through the App Store operated by Apple Inc. ... Users can download the application free of charge and use it to read electronic versions of books over their Apple devices.   I've been using Stanza and downloading books elsewhere, but this really opens up the library. Tanx, AMZN.
• Stocks rise for the first time in 5 days.  Don't give me that look! Truly, they did!  Stocks broke a five-day losing streak Wednesday as hope spread that China and the U.S. are taking convincing action to restart their economies.  Prices for key commodities such as oil and metals also soared, lifting shares of industrial companies like Alcoa Inc. and Caterpillar Inc.
• "Convincing."  LOL.  And watch the oil prices.  Everyone knows the US isn't doing anything about ending our reliance on foreign sources of oil.  And we know how that strategy has worked out time and time again.  Not well.
• Greg Mankiw takes on Paul Krugman. 
• It's Wednesday, Muck.  Don't forget to take out the trash tonight!

Sunday Night Randomosity

• Sunday night. The calm before this week's market storm. 
• Oh, and we have a Fed Meeting next week, too.  "The two-day FOMC meeting that concludes on Wednesday should be relatively uneventful," said Richard Moody, chief economist at Mission Residential, in Austin Texas.
• Cafe Hayek with a great link in Government Does Not Know Better.  Quick excerpt within an excerpt:  The truth is: It is not government's function to create jobs. Putting people to work is easy, as demonstrated by Franklin D. Roosevelt's Depression-era Works Progress Administration (WPA), more accurately known as "WPA: We Piddle Around." The bigger challenge is to create wealth.
• Did the musicians Milli-Vanilli it at the inauguration?  Well, Obama inherited lip-synching from the Bush administration, right?
• Is there an iPhone app for Texas Longhorns fans?  Of course.  Go Longhorns.  As the section titles indicate, Go Longhorns brings together the latest news from multiple sources, schedule, and roster information for a number of the most popular UT sports teams. At the moment the sports covered are: football, mens and womens basketball, and baseball.  There you go.
• When oil prices dipped, who out there thought that oil prices would stay low for very long?  Big rise last week.  OPEC has cut production and the world's economies won't be in a slump forever.  In addition, won't borrowing another trillion bucks in stimulus weaken the dollar and send the price of oil (and commodities) back up?  Just thinking out loud here.
• I thought about moving to Austin, Texas.  At one time back in the day.  Didn't do it, though.  Maybe then I'd have wanted that app.
• Oh, another iPhone app?  You can let your friends know that you scored with Booty Gong.  Simply press the “Ring the Gong!” button and select whether to ring your own Gong or to notify a friend. Choose your friend’s mobile number and a text message will be sent to them notifying them of your experience. 

Bailout Saturday Randomosity

Everyone wants a bailout

• Banks. “With 20/20 hindsight,” the bank-capital injections have achieved their objectives and the decisions on TARP will “prove to be the right ones,” the Treasury secretary said.
• Automakers. With auto sales continuing to plummet, analysts expect the automakers to ask for more once the new Congress and Obama administration take over in January. And the finance arms of the Big Three are expected to seek bailout money set aside for banks and other financial institutions as well.
• Home builders.  Builders want a package of subsidies that would bring mortgage rates to just under 3 percent for the first half of this year. They also favor a tax credit of up to $22,000 for home purchases.
• Porn.  Larry Flynt says, "With all this economic misery and people losing all that money, sex is the farthest thing from their mind. It's time for Congress to rejuvenate the sexual appetite of America."

Gimme more

• Obama says his stimulus plan will save over 4 million jobs.  "The jobs we create will be in businesses large and small across a wide range of industries," Obama said on his weekly radio and Internet address. "And they'll be the kind of jobs that don't just put people to work in the short term, but position our economy to lead the world in the long-term."
• If you're an office worker looking for a job, I hope you know how to put up guard rail, lay asphalt, and build windmills.  "These made-in-America jobs building solar panels and wind turbines, developing fuel-efficient cars and new energy technologies pay well, and they can't be outsourced," Obama said.

Randomosity

• I thought maybe as a side gig, I'd build some iPhone applications.  You can make thousands with applications that make fart noises these days.  In what’s got to be the most incredible moneymaking story this year, developer InfoMedia (Joel Comm) created an iPhone app called iFart Mobile that has made them nearly $10,000 a day ($9,198 in one day alone).
• I thought I'd go more high brow, and work on the vomit sounds.  Somebody beat me to that.
• Did you catch President Bush at the dedication of the new USS George H.W. Bush aircraft carrier? 
• NFL Playoffs time, baby.

Thursday Randomosity

• Very busy at work. One of those "eating lunch at the desk" and "working into the evenings" kind of weeks.
• A quick check of the markets shows that it's just plain ugly out there today.  Yahoo Finance gives the credit to GE, as it had its credit outlook lowered late in the session. The announcement induced selling pressure.
• And oil down:  Though OPEC announced yesterday production cuts intended to bolster prices by realigning supply with demand, oil prices have gone on the slide this week. January crude fell as much as 10.2% to take out a multiyear low of $35.98 per barrel before settling at $36.74 per barrel
• Everything on my board is red, except for treasuries.  Looks like the Fed is creating another bubble there, eh?
• Bush mulling "managed bankruptcy" in automakers.  Compared to a "disorderly bankruptcy."  What the hell does that mean?
• iPhone app... Pull my finger.  Guess what that one does?  Also try looking up "fart" in the app store.  Yeah, those made it in the app store.
• More worry over Steve Jobs' health.  I don't own $AAPL.  Not because of that, but because of declining financials.  But the Jobs' rumors don't help.

 

Sunday Night Randomosity

• Maybe the US markets will have a nice monday. Looking at the calendar, it is options expiration week.   It is also December.  I believe there is also a cup and handle on most of the indexes.  Making the handle now, and a big volume move up would definitely have the IBD folks rushing in.  I think.  Those folks like follow through days, and they love cup and handles.  Come on, Monday!
• I think a strong day tomorrow would set us on our next leg higher of whatever this is.  New bull market.  Countertrend rally.  Whatever.   And that's my technical analysis opinion of the day.  Worth it's weight in pixels!
• I know. Lots of negative press out there.  I have a solution.  Don't read the press. 
• Sometimes I wonder how Playboy's The Girls Next Door organizes the TV show.  In tonight's "brand new" show, Kendra Wilkinson organized a softball game with Playmates.  When was this filmed? 
• Free books for your iPhone.  Some best sellers...
• Oh, looking for cut and paste or at least copy and past on the iPhone?  Try Pastebud.  It's not a program.  It's a couple of javascript bookmarks you add to your favorites, and then sync the iPhone.  Allows you to copy from the iPhone's Safari browser and paste in either email or somewhere else in Safari.  Works fine.  A bit clumsy, but since iPhone won't support this natively, it's all we have.
• I was blasted out of the Fantasy Football playoffs today.  While I would have rather won, it's a relief it's over.  My sundays are back.  No more scouting injury wires or looking at player matchups.  It's over. 
• Asian stocks up on hope of a US bailout of automakers. 
• Scandal-plagued Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich will not resign Monday.  It'll be interesting to see how this plays out as the investigations go on.  I get the feeling this guy would say anything to try to save himself.
• This is what a really bad recession looks like.  
• I think the head cold is done.  Mostly.  Not coughing much today.
• Uh-oh, gas prices on the rise.  Just as the US is forgetting about any notion of expanding domestic production or at least being able to tap into that if needed.  Enjoy the under $2 gasoline while it lasts.  It will go back up, and we're not willing to do anything about it except let it become a crisis again.
• Dumb us.  We need nuclear power for electricity.  Don't forget.  Fossil fuels and coal are nasty and dirty.  And oil is imported from countries who use the money we send them to to naughty things.
• Red Hawk Casino opening up in the Sacramento area this Wednesday  Just outside of Shingle Springs.  Will I be there?  What do you think!?
• Major accomplishment this weekend?  Powering through season four of The Office and the first ten episodes of season five.  I am now up to date and the DVR is set to record all new shows.  Phew.  It was hard work, but I did it!

TGIF Randomosity

• $AAPL iPhone shows 327% market share gain in third quarter. The iPhone has about 16% of the smartphone market share.
• So, the Chevy Volt will go 40 miles on a charge?  That's if you remember to plug it in every night.  I have a hard enough time remembering to plug in my iPhone and often wake up to a low battery.  Imagine that with a Chevy Volt!  And it's not like you can plug your car in to its cigarette lighter.  After the charge wears off, the Volt will get about 50 mpg.
• Plus, it's a Chevy.  Wouldn't you feel better buying this kind of technology from Toyota?  Or just get a gas-burning Honda Civic for $16,000?
• Sad news.   That rumored 4.5% interest rate for mortgages would only be for new home purchases.  No refinancing your existing mortgage.  I guess you could buy a new home down the street, maybe even the same model, and let the bank foreclose on your current home.  Just thinking outside the box.
• Oil under $42 a barrel?  Wowzers.  Declining world demand, they say.  But the freeway was sure crowded last night.  Took me a long time to get to Hooters.  Missed most of the first quarter!
• $GM cutting another 2000 workers.  It doesn't matter if they go bankrupt or restructure under a government giveaway package, there will be job losses.  Automakers just can't lose a billion a month and keep on truckin' along.
• If we're in a period of deflation, the next to go down are salaries, right?

Summer Glau Randomosity

• The market roared back late in today's trading session, capturing back about 40% of yesterday's trouncing. Have to love Yahoo's word salad today:  Stocks were in positive ground after General Electric gave a better-than-feared business update and then surged to session highs in the final minutes of trade after General Motors outlined its plan for government aid.
• "Better-than-feared."  If that doesn't describe market psychology at this point, nothing does.  It's a climate of fear.
• And GM's plan?  "You give us money; we build cars."  GM wants loans and plans to repay them starting in 2011.  Huh?  Using what business model?  The business model that burns $1B a month in cash?  How does that work?
• Meanwhile, have to love Summer Glau in Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles.  Summer's one-liners are great.  To explain her strength?  "I've been working out."
• Auto sales plunge to 26-year low.  Remember a few years ago when companies had 0% interest rates and were stealing sales from future years?  Just thinking out loud.
• Oil at 3.5 year low!  Woo!  Gee, that was just $147 a barrel a few months ago... 
• Orange Punch notices By now it’s widely known that President-elect Barack Obama scoffed at Hillary Clinton’s foreign relations credentials before he found them so fetching that he fetched her to be his own secretary of state.  Kind of funny in retrospect. 
• iPhone fever is contagious here at the Fun Factory.  I have one. A coworker bought one soon after. And now, two other coworkers went and bought one for themselves and their wives. 
• Speaking of, downloaded the free (until Friday) Easy Wi-Fi for ATT App that makes getting on the ATT wi-fi hotspots easier than the standard way.  I find myself near ATT hotspots frequently, so this should save some keystrokes.