Since I have done some travel lately, I have oppertunity to see people in the airport or airplane. It seems to me Blackberry is everywhere. I remember Blackberry was popular a few years ago (also from airport impression), not it's almost pervasive. There are lots of coverage on Blackberry recently such as: 1) Obama does not want to give up his Blackberry; 2) The Blackberry Storm, first touch screen blackberry launched by Verizon wireless, although sold about 500,000 units in its first month, received mixed review from consumers (the bugs). Of course, I noticed people checking on emails and looked like they are VIPs, which reminded me the default signiture line of Blackberry email: sent from my wireless device. Interestingly, iPhone copied this idea and has this "sent from my iphone" line.
But I see one problem in the Blackberry revolution. Last week my Blackberry browser stopped working. I did some online search and found that Blackberry has 4 browsers (source: crackberry). Isn't this insane?
One thing Yahoo Mail beats GMail
I have been using GMail for quite some time (since 2004), but I have not switched to GMail yet. GMail has some nice features such as group email threads, and integration with Google talk. But I found one more feature I liked about Yahoo Mail lately: the full header feature. It tells me all the information about sender, the path, etc. This feature alone helped me solve a mystery of return path (address) lately. So go Yahoo go !!!
Friday, January 30, 2009
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
CFA level I Dec exam result
This morning, 9:05 AM, CFA Institute web page is again hit hard: I mean all the people are trying to log in and see the results of CFA level I exam last Dec. After about I waited 25 minutes, just before I entering the customer meeting room, I am seeing passing rate: 35%. This is similar to the June passing rate (35%). After I entered the meeting room, entered the user name and password again, and here is the result.
Level 1: Pass
......
Cool. But the customer meeting started right away, so I have to withhold my feelings. Compared to the June results, I did better on "Financial Reporting & Analysis", but worse on "Ethical & Professional Standards".
Here are the details.
Here is the June 2008 results
Level 1: Pass
......
Cool. But the customer meeting started right away, so I have to withhold my feelings. Compared to the June results, I did better on "Financial Reporting & Analysis", but worse on "Ethical & Professional Standards".
Here are the details.
Here is the June 2008 results
Sunday, January 25, 2009
New Year and Hotel frequent guest programs
Happy New Year!!! The Chinese New Year of ox, or bull (or cow). If you missed making new years resolution on Jan 1, this is another time to make up.
Hotel Frequent Guest Program
Like Airline frequent flyer programs, there are hotel frequent guest programs. And I joined two lately: Hilton HHonors and Mirriott Rewards. There are some tangible benefits to those programs, such as getting the points for the hotel stay and redeem them sometime later. One thing I noticed interesting, at least something I was not aware of, is that hotels sometimes assign better rooms to its frequent guests.
I learned the lesson the hard way couple weeks ago. My co-worker and I checked in the same hotel, he got a room of his preference, while I got a room near the ice-box and vending machine. Luckily the machines did not make much noise. But later on I learned the reason is I am not enrolled in the frequent guest program. So what did I do? I signed up online on the second day, and I am getting all the points for my stay, and even got the credit for my last month's stay at the same chain hotel. This is one thing hotel programs are more lenient than airline programs: they give credit to previous stay (in last 31 days in this particular case), while airline programs don't give credit to previous flights (before enrollment).
Hopefully, as I travel more in my new job, I can get enough points in one program which allows me and my wife to go vacation somewhere.
Hotel Frequent Guest Program
Like Airline frequent flyer programs, there are hotel frequent guest programs. And I joined two lately: Hilton HHonors and Mirriott Rewards. There are some tangible benefits to those programs, such as getting the points for the hotel stay and redeem them sometime later. One thing I noticed interesting, at least something I was not aware of, is that hotels sometimes assign better rooms to its frequent guests.
I learned the lesson the hard way couple weeks ago. My co-worker and I checked in the same hotel, he got a room of his preference, while I got a room near the ice-box and vending machine. Luckily the machines did not make much noise. But later on I learned the reason is I am not enrolled in the frequent guest program. So what did I do? I signed up online on the second day, and I am getting all the points for my stay, and even got the credit for my last month's stay at the same chain hotel. This is one thing hotel programs are more lenient than airline programs: they give credit to previous stay (in last 31 days in this particular case), while airline programs don't give credit to previous flights (before enrollment).
Hopefully, as I travel more in my new job, I can get enough points in one program which allows me and my wife to go vacation somewhere.
Friday, January 23, 2009
Buffett on NBR (PBS)
Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A; BRK.B) has not done well lately. Nonetheless, Nightly Business Report (PBS) interviewed Buffett. The topic ranges from new administration, recession and investing. The interview is about 30 minutes long.
Interestingly Susie Gharib tried to ask particular investment advice, Buffett declined politely.
Interestingly Susie Gharib tried to ask particular investment advice, Buffett declined politely.
Banking crisis?
The following was written on Jan 20 2009 (the Obama Inauguration day, the day DOW dropped about 4%).
It seems the financial crisis has been more like a banking crisis these days, with the RBS virtually nationalized by the British goverment, and Citi and Bank of America increasingly can not stand on its own. The No. 1 and No. 2 US banks according to market cap, J.P.Morgan (NYSE: JPM) and Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC), are also under pressure today, both hovering around $20 and $15, respectively.
(Source: telegraph.co.uk)
Of course this all happens today as the new US president sworn into office. It appears to me the market does not like the stimulus package proposed by Obama team, or the uncertainty around it? Plus the controversy around his treasury secratery pick. All this bring uncertainty to the market, and we know the market does not like uncertainty.
What will we go from here? Will all the big US banks taken over by the federal goverment? It seems unlikely because this country lives or dies on the private business or entreprenuership. With goverment controlling large banks, it will be like (dare I say) China.
It seems the financial crisis has been more like a banking crisis these days, with the RBS virtually nationalized by the British goverment, and Citi and Bank of America increasingly can not stand on its own. The No. 1 and No. 2 US banks according to market cap, J.P.Morgan (NYSE: JPM) and Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC), are also under pressure today, both hovering around $20 and $15, respectively.
(Source: telegraph.co.uk)
Of course this all happens today as the new US president sworn into office. It appears to me the market does not like the stimulus package proposed by Obama team, or the uncertainty around it? Plus the controversy around his treasury secratery pick. All this bring uncertainty to the market, and we know the market does not like uncertainty.
What will we go from here? Will all the big US banks taken over by the federal goverment? It seems unlikely because this country lives or dies on the private business or entreprenuership. With goverment controlling large banks, it will be like (dare I say) China.
Friday, January 16, 2009
My thoughts on Bank of America (NYSE: BAC)
Bank of America is back in the news because they asked and got $20 billon from US govement, to back the loss from Merrill Lynch acquisition.
(Source: Yahoo Tech-ticker)
Personally I like Bank of America, ever since I became their customer serveral years ago. Two benefits of being BoA checking acct cosumer: 1) Their branch and ATMs are all over the country; 2) In addition to that, since I travel to China once a while, I like the fact I can withdrawl Chinese Yuan (RMB) from China Construciton Bank (CCB is BoA Chinese partner), without transaction fees. CCB is also a large bank in China and their ATMs can be found in many places.
Now to the investing of BoA (NYSE: BAC). Did I say investing? With the stock price of BoA approach to $7, it seems to me it's more and more like speculating. I remember someone (Jim Cramer?) once said any bank stock traded under $5 is speculative.
I agree with that statement. When BoA made the CountryWide acqusition, I was a little surprised. But when they announced the Merrill deal on Sept. 16 weekend (the weekend Lehman went bankrupt), I was puzzelled by its CEO's quick decision. At the time I suspect BoA got two things going:
1) They liked MER, the brokerage business;
2) They were either under pressure from Treasury (Paulson) to do the deal, or they got words from Treasury (about gurantee the loss from MER) to do the deal.
Now it is apparent point 2 is valid. Nothing wrong with Nationalization of banks, in fact the nation banks in China (e.g., CCB) did ok in this economy downturn. But I guess this is different in the US. The US economy lives or dies on the private business and entrepreneurship. Now some of the financia large institutions (Citi and BoA), the heart of this country economy, got largely nationalized.
(Yupoo: China Construction Bank in Shanghai)
(Source: Yahoo Tech-ticker)
Personally I like Bank of America, ever since I became their customer serveral years ago. Two benefits of being BoA checking acct cosumer: 1) Their branch and ATMs are all over the country; 2) In addition to that, since I travel to China once a while, I like the fact I can withdrawl Chinese Yuan (RMB) from China Construciton Bank (CCB is BoA Chinese partner), without transaction fees. CCB is also a large bank in China and their ATMs can be found in many places.
Now to the investing of BoA (NYSE: BAC). Did I say investing? With the stock price of BoA approach to $7, it seems to me it's more and more like speculating. I remember someone (Jim Cramer?) once said any bank stock traded under $5 is speculative.
I agree with that statement. When BoA made the CountryWide acqusition, I was a little surprised. But when they announced the Merrill deal on Sept. 16 weekend (the weekend Lehman went bankrupt), I was puzzelled by its CEO's quick decision. At the time I suspect BoA got two things going:
1) They liked MER, the brokerage business;
2) They were either under pressure from Treasury (Paulson) to do the deal, or they got words from Treasury (about gurantee the loss from MER) to do the deal.
Now it is apparent point 2 is valid. Nothing wrong with Nationalization of banks, in fact the nation banks in China (e.g., CCB) did ok in this economy downturn. But I guess this is different in the US. The US economy lives or dies on the private business and entrepreneurship. Now some of the financia large institutions (Citi and BoA), the heart of this country economy, got largely nationalized.
(Yupoo: China Construction Bank in Shanghai)
Monday, January 12, 2009
Back to coding
Good reading
I found John Bogle's 6 Lessons for investors (WSJ op-ed, Jan 8 ) to be good. A few years ago I read John's Little Book of Common Sense Investing, and was not impressed by it because at that time the market was very hot. Now it all makes sense to me. John is the founder of Vanguard group which is famous for its low cost and index fund.
Back to coding
New year also means doing something new, so I went to my first computer related user group meeting for many years (Lambda Lounge). Interestingly, the meeting location Appistry is just 5 minutes walk from my home.
BTW, I decided to take up the Objective C these days (in my own time).
In the news (week in review Jan 06 to Jan 11)
All mighty Wal-Mart finally missed street estimate, stock tanked; Apollo group (the parent co. of Univ. of Phoenix) stock went up nicely, on the other hand.
Palm Pre: Palm is pulling probally the last rabbit out of hat, to counter attack iPhone and Blackberry. Palm was a pioneer in PDA and smartphone (Treo), but lost in competition in recent years.
Citi's trouble is not over yet: on Thursday Citi allowed bankrupcy judge modify mortgage, quite significant news for housing martket.
Then on Friday the news broke that Citi was in talk with Morgan Stanely on merge its Smith Barney brokerage with the latter's Dean Witter. From the WSJ it appears to me the US gov is not willing to put money into Citi indefinitely, without seeing the light at the end of tunnel. So they want Citi to find its own fund source, and slim down if possible. Obviously Smith Barney is one of the best pieces remaining at Citi.
I found John Bogle's 6 Lessons for investors (WSJ op-ed, Jan 8 ) to be good. A few years ago I read John's Little Book of Common Sense Investing, and was not impressed by it because at that time the market was very hot. Now it all makes sense to me. John is the founder of Vanguard group which is famous for its low cost and index fund.
Back to coding
New year also means doing something new, so I went to my first computer related user group meeting for many years (Lambda Lounge). Interestingly, the meeting location Appistry is just 5 minutes walk from my home.
BTW, I decided to take up the Objective C these days (in my own time).
In the news (week in review Jan 06 to Jan 11)
All mighty Wal-Mart finally missed street estimate, stock tanked; Apollo group (the parent co. of Univ. of Phoenix) stock went up nicely, on the other hand.
Palm Pre: Palm is pulling probally the last rabbit out of hat, to counter attack iPhone and Blackberry. Palm was a pioneer in PDA and smartphone (Treo), but lost in competition in recent years.
Citi's trouble is not over yet: on Thursday Citi allowed bankrupcy judge modify mortgage, quite significant news for housing martket.
Then on Friday the news broke that Citi was in talk with Morgan Stanely on merge its Smith Barney brokerage with the latter's Dean Witter. From the WSJ it appears to me the US gov is not willing to put money into Citi indefinitely, without seeing the light at the end of tunnel. So they want Citi to find its own fund source, and slim down if possible. Obviously Smith Barney is one of the best pieces remaining at Citi.
Thursday, January 08, 2009
All Ponzi's disciples
Madoff story continues to occupy the news these days (e.g., this one from NYTimes). Yesterday, Satyam, the No. 4 Indian IT outsourcer, broke the news with giant accounting scandal (BBC news, wiki: Satyam).
But the story does not end here. In my mind, there are many other ponzi schemes in our lives, and sometimes people just ignore it for various reasons (don't want to face reality; irrational exuberance etc).
Big ones
Dot com technology bubble: new stock holder (trader) bail out previous stock holder (trader);
Housing bubble: new home owner (speculator) bought high from previous home owner (speculator).
Note in both cases the wall street played a central role, pumping hot IPOs in the dot com era, and pumping mortgage backed securities (MBS) all over the world in housing bubble. The only difference is second time the MBS (along with CDO and CDS) brought down the house (notably, Bear Stearn, Fannie and Freddie, Lehman Brothers, and AIG; Citi Group, Merrill Lynch, Goldman, Morgan Stanley etc. also got hurt).
Potential
Social security and Medicare: the new contributors (working people you and me) pay monthly for the elder people, there is a forecast that social security and medicare will run out of money by 2017/18 if the current payout and pay-in schedule keeps in the same.
Small ones: Focus Media?
This one is more subtle. Focus Media (Nasdaq: FMCN) was doing very well in last few years since its IPO, in terms of earning and stock price. Then it hit a wall last March when its wireless subsidiary "spam messages" story broke. And more recently Sina (Nasdaq: SINA) announced the acquisition of Focus Media core media assets. But how did FMCN do well since its IPO? Well, one way to do it is acquisitions, a lot of acquisitions. Another more subtle tactic in the acquistions, is FMCN sold ad. to distributors at high prices, then bought all those distributors at higher price? One may ask how can they fund this? Well, we know companies have mainly two ways to fund its expansion: equities (issuing stocks) and borrow from banks (debt). FMCN did secondary offering twice after its IPO (if my memory is correct), at pumped up share price. While its CEO and founder selling this holdings left and right, ordinary investors were left holding the bags. Sounds like a ponzi scheme?
Of course now the bag is left to the Sina shareholders. Of course the management of Sina must think there are other naive investors are willing to hold that bag as long as the management tells a compelling integrated media/ad. story.
But the story does not end here. In my mind, there are many other ponzi schemes in our lives, and sometimes people just ignore it for various reasons (don't want to face reality; irrational exuberance etc).
Big ones
Dot com technology bubble: new stock holder (trader) bail out previous stock holder (trader);
Housing bubble: new home owner (speculator) bought high from previous home owner (speculator).
Note in both cases the wall street played a central role, pumping hot IPOs in the dot com era, and pumping mortgage backed securities (MBS) all over the world in housing bubble. The only difference is second time the MBS (along with CDO and CDS) brought down the house (notably, Bear Stearn, Fannie and Freddie, Lehman Brothers, and AIG; Citi Group, Merrill Lynch, Goldman, Morgan Stanley etc. also got hurt).
Potential
Social security and Medicare: the new contributors (working people you and me) pay monthly for the elder people, there is a forecast that social security and medicare will run out of money by 2017/18 if the current payout and pay-in schedule keeps in the same.
Small ones: Focus Media?
This one is more subtle. Focus Media (Nasdaq: FMCN) was doing very well in last few years since its IPO, in terms of earning and stock price. Then it hit a wall last March when its wireless subsidiary "spam messages" story broke. And more recently Sina (Nasdaq: SINA) announced the acquisition of Focus Media core media assets. But how did FMCN do well since its IPO? Well, one way to do it is acquisitions, a lot of acquisitions. Another more subtle tactic in the acquistions, is FMCN sold ad. to distributors at high prices, then bought all those distributors at higher price? One may ask how can they fund this? Well, we know companies have mainly two ways to fund its expansion: equities (issuing stocks) and borrow from banks (debt). FMCN did secondary offering twice after its IPO (if my memory is correct), at pumped up share price. While its CEO and founder selling this holdings left and right, ordinary investors were left holding the bags. Sounds like a ponzi scheme?
Of course now the bag is left to the Sina shareholders. Of course the management of Sina must think there are other naive investors are willing to hold that bag as long as the management tells a compelling integrated media/ad. story.
Monday, January 05, 2009
Tough times ahead for China Mobile: I
Summary: the issue of 3G license (news here), the immature domestic standard being assigned to CHL, and no cool handset. All these combined with the slowdown of Chinese economy is creating headwind for China Mobile near term growth.
China Telecom (NYSE:CHA, the landline operator recently acquired CDMA business from China Unicom) is ramping up the new CDMA + WiFi strategy, the sky wing (tian yi) plan (English:labbrand; Chinese: Hu Langlang Sina blog); I also saw the sking wing 189 promotion when I was in China. Service wise, CHA is giving the customers both broadband internet and mobile service in one package. The price is quite competitive.
To be fair, China Mobile (NYSE:CHL) is not standing still, it's launching the 188 number with TDMA very soon. But I am seeing at least two problems: 1) Lack of WOW handset (e.g., iPhone) to attract Chinese consumers (Chinese: asun0104 blog); 2) The lag of TDMA compared to mature 3G standard WCDMA.
More importantly, the existing GSM business will slowdown quite a bit as the Chinese economy in the coastal areas cools, due to slowdown in exports. As many migrant workers go back home (factories shut), there are less need for them to talk/text to family back home. Similar thing can be said to business communications.
China Telecom (NYSE:CHA, the landline operator recently acquired CDMA business from China Unicom) is ramping up the new CDMA + WiFi strategy, the sky wing (tian yi) plan (English:labbrand; Chinese: Hu Langlang Sina blog); I also saw the sking wing 189 promotion when I was in China. Service wise, CHA is giving the customers both broadband internet and mobile service in one package. The price is quite competitive.
To be fair, China Mobile (NYSE:CHL) is not standing still, it's launching the 188 number with TDMA very soon. But I am seeing at least two problems: 1) Lack of WOW handset (e.g., iPhone) to attract Chinese consumers (Chinese: asun0104 blog); 2) The lag of TDMA compared to mature 3G standard WCDMA.
More importantly, the existing GSM business will slowdown quite a bit as the Chinese economy in the coastal areas cools, due to slowdown in exports. As many migrant workers go back home (factories shut), there are less need for them to talk/text to family back home. Similar thing can be said to business communications.
Sunday, January 04, 2009
New shoes and new mattress
I ordered this Asics GT-2130 from 6PM early this Monday ($46 including shipping). The regular costs $95. It arrived yesterday and got plenty of cushion. 6PM is doing a sale on many Asics shoes. (click men or women on the left to refine results).
Today we ordered this Simmons BeautyRest Harmony Firm mattress from MattressGiant this afternoon. Here is a review from ViewPoints. And some tips on selecting mattress.
I remember a few years ago an old lady (who sells mattress) told me good shoes and mattress are essential to one's health. New year provides another opportunity for us to refresh things. We can not only get things (we need/want) at bargain price, but also do we help the economy. Feel good while spending the money, right?
Today we ordered this Simmons BeautyRest Harmony Firm mattress from MattressGiant this afternoon. Here is a review from ViewPoints. And some tips on selecting mattress.
I remember a few years ago an old lady (who sells mattress) told me good shoes and mattress are essential to one's health. New year provides another opportunity for us to refresh things. We can not only get things (we need/want) at bargain price, but also do we help the economy. Feel good while spending the money, right?
Friday, January 02, 2009
New Year Resolution?
Summary of 2008
Aren't we glad 2008 is finanlly over? I am sure most people (who are not hiding under rocks) are. On a positive note, most of us survived from the crash (so far). But we do learn a lesson or two on economy and market: live within means, don't over extend yourself, and don't borrow heavily and bet...I think those simple rules will apply in year 2009 and going forward too.
On a personal note, I changed my job in 2008, right in the middle of financial crisis. While it's definitely a comforting thing to do, I thought it was time to move forward, and I will try to make it successful. Also, I took CFA level I (twice) in last year. Like the financial market turmoil, the CFA test did take some toll on me. While the outcome is still unkown, I think in a way I already achieved something: a systematic approach to look at equity and bond.
401k/IRA performance
Old 401k at Hewitt -36.30% (6/30/08 to 12/31/08, was managed by Vanguard before June 30);
Vanguard Rollover IRA -38.7%, that Rollover IRA was opened last Dec.;
New 401k not meaningful (started Nov. 15, duration too short).
New Year Resolution
It seems we all like to do those kinds of plannings, then things fall short during execution. I saw Amazon offered a top 10 New Year's Resolution list (link here, note this is a STLPlace referral link), quite innovative.
For me personally, I like to do less with TV and Internet, partially to be offset by radio. Besides NPR, I found couple Chinese online radio stations to be interesting. Such as this one (CRI pop) and that one (CRI easy FM). Also I plan to do more C/C++ programming, after almost 2 months break :-)
Last but not least, more exercise.
Aren't we glad 2008 is finanlly over? I am sure most people (who are not hiding under rocks) are. On a positive note, most of us survived from the crash (so far). But we do learn a lesson or two on economy and market: live within means, don't over extend yourself, and don't borrow heavily and bet...I think those simple rules will apply in year 2009 and going forward too.
On a personal note, I changed my job in 2008, right in the middle of financial crisis. While it's definitely a comforting thing to do, I thought it was time to move forward, and I will try to make it successful. Also, I took CFA level I (twice) in last year. Like the financial market turmoil, the CFA test did take some toll on me. While the outcome is still unkown, I think in a way I already achieved something: a systematic approach to look at equity and bond.
401k/IRA performance
Old 401k at Hewitt -36.30% (6/30/08 to 12/31/08, was managed by Vanguard before June 30);
Vanguard Rollover IRA -38.7%, that Rollover IRA was opened last Dec.;
New 401k not meaningful (started Nov. 15, duration too short).
New Year Resolution
It seems we all like to do those kinds of plannings, then things fall short during execution. I saw Amazon offered a top 10 New Year's Resolution list (link here, note this is a STLPlace referral link), quite innovative.
For me personally, I like to do less with TV and Internet, partially to be offset by radio. Besides NPR, I found couple Chinese online radio stations to be interesting. Such as this one (CRI pop) and that one (CRI easy FM). Also I plan to do more C/C++ programming, after almost 2 months break :-)
Last but not least, more exercise.
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