Uncategorized

There are some games you shouldn't play if the odds are stacked against you.

Here are some clever ways to to get an edge.

 

 

 

 

And here are a few more you can use with your friends.

 

 

 

For more, go to the Quirkology page.

This week, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said goodbye to his company’s employees.

Here is a video of his farewell speech at Microsoft's 2013 Company Meeting.

 

 

Here is a link to the Verge's article covering this event.

 

The Ballmer Era Ends. What To Make Of It?

 

While he will stay on until a new CEO has been selected, we can now assess his legacy at Microsoft based on the 13 years during which he was at the helm of the company.

 

 

According to Forbes, when Ballmer took over the company from Bill Gates on January 1, 2000, Microsoft shares had already begun falling from its record high reached on December 23, 1999 … and as of this week’s close of market, Microsoft shares had dropped 55% since Ballmer took over.

Without any other historical references, this may look like an utter disaster – but consider the timing of the transition and subsequent events. When Ballmer took over, the company was riding the dotcom bubble and had achieved this valuation with $6.11 billion in quarterly revenue and a net income of $2.44 billion. This gave them $0.44 in diluted earnings per share.

By the end of Ballmer’s first year at the helm, the dotcom crash had wiped out the technology sector, driving Microsoft’s share price to $21.688 by the end of 2000, a low it would not break until its ill-fated effort to purchase Yahoo in March 2009.

The company survived the 2008 financial crisis relatively well, buoyed by strong revenue and a diversified set of products that allowed it to generate cash in an era when credit became very tight.

On an annualized basis, Microsoft saw its yearly profits grow from roughly $25 billion to around $70 billion, or an average of 16.4% in annualized growth, a record that beats the performance of well known CEOs like Jack Welch at GE (11.2%), Lou Gerstner at IBM (2%) but eclipsed by Steve Jobs’ record of 33x growth (from $786 million to $25.922 billion) during his tenure as CEO.

Are you not thinking what I'm not thinking?

Here are some of the posts that caught my eye. Hope you find something interesting.

 

Lighter Links:

• Want
  to Know What Really Makes You Happy? Try Tracking It. (Harvard Business
  Review)
• Sports
  & Technology: How Tech Data Is Revolutionizing the NFL Player Training.
  (SI)
• Mosquitoes
  Love Some People More and Science Wants to Know Why. (TDB)
• Can
  This Patch Make You Invisible To Mosquitoes? (FastCompany)
• Parallels
  Launches Access, an App That Lets You Control PC or Mac Apps iPad-Style.
  (TechCrunch)

 

Trading Links:

• This
  Week Was Friday the 13^th.  Bad-Luck
  Numbers that Scare Off Customers. (HBR)
• Financial
  Fitness: A Behind The Scenes Look At IPO Boot Camp. (Buzzfeed)
• Are
  Investment Bankers and Traders Facing Near-Extinction? (Meredith Whitney)
• High-Frequency
  Trading To Face Increased Oversight. (HuffingtonPost)
• Goldman
  Sachs: Creative Destruction. The 8 Extraordinary Technologies Forcing
  Businesses To Adapt Or Die (BusinessInsider)

This week, Prince William, the grandson of Queen Elizabeth II, had a son. That means the new baby is third in line to the British throne; but it could be decades before his reign starts.

According to the Economist, Prince Charles, 64 and first in line, will soon become the longest king-in-waiting.

Since the first William (the Conqueror), the average age of accession has been 3, which coincidentally is Prince William's current age).

 

Who says the Government doesn't listen to what its citizens have to say?

 

 

Here are some of the posts that caught my eye. Hope you find something interesting.

 

Lighter Links:

• Bill
  Gates Lists Three Things He's Learned From Warren Buffett. (Linkedin)
• NSA
  Snooping Was Only the Beginning.  Meet
  the Spy Chief Leading Us Into CyberWar. (Wired)
• 6
  Hostage Negotiation Techniques That Will Get You What You Want.
  (Bakadesuyo)
• Don’t
  Take Your Vitamins. Too Much of Good Thing is Bad. (NYTimes)
• FAA
  to Relax Rules for Gadgets in Flight. (Wall Street Journal)

 

Trading Links:

• Is
  Time Your Last Remaining Edge on Wall Street? (Fool)
• Risk
  Aversion Puts Hedge Funds Behind S&P 500. (The Big Picture)
• On-the-Job
  Nap Leads to $293M Banking Error. (TIME)
• Census
  Benchmark for White Americans – More Deaths than Births. (NYTimes)
• Microsoft
  Says It Disrupted A Global Cybercrime Ring Responsible For $500 Million Theft.
  (BusinessInsider)

Is this the way you will get food delivered in the near future?

 

 

 

The video was shot in the U.K.  Here in the U.S, there are FAA restrictions preventing this from being a near-term reality.  But so are practical realities like figuring out how to ring the doorbell …

Pretty cool, whether it is a PR stunt or a real initiative.

For more, see this video and website.

Here are some of the posts that caught my eye. Hope you find something interesting.

 

Lighter Links:

• As
  One: The Astonishing Power of Swarms. (Wired)
• Edible
  Insects. Bugs will soon be a more important part of what we eat. (Wall
  Street Journal)
• The
  Gut-Wrenching Science Behind the World’s Hottest Peppers. (Smithsonian)
• RNA-Laced
  Bandages Could Treat The Worst Wounds On The Genetic Level. (Io9)
• The
  Power of Process: What Young Mozart Teaches Us About the Secret of Cultivating
  Genius. (Brainpickings)

 

Trading Links:

• Choosing
  the Next Head of the Federal Reserve. (EconoMix)
• Why
  Central Bankers Rule The World. (Forbes)
• Eurozone
  Jobless Rate Reaches Record 12.1 percent. (E-Threats)
• Can
  Google Search Terms Predict Market Movements? (Quantopian)
• The
  Biggest Price-Fixing Scandal Ever. There's no price the big banks can't fix
  – Matt Taibi (RollingStone)

At least summer travel will be easier …

 

Here are some of the posts that caught my eye. Hope you find something interesting.

Lighter Links:

• Transform
  Rest of Your Year by Turning Goals into Questions. (Harvard Business Review)
• 11
  Productivity Hacks from Super-Productive People. (FastCompany)
• Do
  Colors Look The Same For All of Us? (Gizmodo)
• Why
  We Love Beautiful Things. (NYTimes)
• Greatest
  Empires in History. (BusinessInsider)

 

Trading Links:

• The
  Future of the U.S. Economy. TED joins the debate. (TED)
• How
  High-Speed Traders Have Winning Advantage. (TheAge)
• Best
  Full-Service Investment Firms Ranked by Investors: J.D. Power—2013.
  (AdvisorOne)
• New
  $100 Bill to Go Into Circulation in October. (WSJ)
• Jack
  Lew Working Hard to Keep This Off Our Dollar Bills – Treasury secretary's
  signature showing signs of improvement. (Newser)

Not sure it is dancing … but it's fun watching.

 

 

You've got to respect the talent and practice that made this possible.

What are you committed to being this good at doing?

The Bulls were out in force last week at the Market Technician's Association Conference in New York.

Sure they questioned what caused the rally (or who was propping-up price); but the message was clear … you have to trade the market, as it is, rather than your opinion or fears.

Maria Bartiromo moderated a panel, which included Ralph Acampora, that reiterated the bullish theme.

 

  
As you might guess, it was easy to see that the room of mostly middle-aged men was excited to spend some time with her.

While that wasn't surprising, there was a lot of talk about much higher time frames than I am used to looking at for trading guidance.

In addition, I feel compelled to admit that I'm somewhat skeptical about how long Wall Street stays bullish.  But, we'll see …

Related articles

Study of the Week: Is Low Volume Predicting a Market Crash?

Bulls Move To The Endangered List

Altaira's Ralph Acampora is bullish on stocks' outlook