Second part here [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=br8mOmH9frE&rel=1]
Nov 17
Being somewhat involved in the financial markets myself I find this video brilliant and particularly realistic. Especially the joke about emotions-induced volatility.
This is particularly true for who like me trades in Chinese equities which have been made even more volatile but the strong belief everyone involved in the market holds that China is a bloated time bomb about to explode.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJ_qK4g6ntM&rel=1&border=0]
Oct 02
Cartman: I am the mightiest dwarf in all of Azeroth!
Kyle: Wow! Look at all these people playing right now.
Cartman: Yeah, it’s bullcrap! I bet half of these people are Koreans.
– South Park, “Make Love, Not Warcraft”
Cartman was wrong, they’re Chinese!
CDC Games, a division of CDC Corp (CHINA), is definitely worth looking at, at least I would if I had loose cash at the moment. Its games division is running strong, and it will keep growing hopefully bringing some stability to the company’s falling profit margins.
CDC’s games division has a mind-boggling number of users, 100 million, in China alone. Furthermore CDC has recently acquired Optics (Q3):
In addition to the more than 40 million registered users CDC brought on board via its Optics acquisition, it also seems to have gained greater legal expertise in combating piracy.
Optics has three major titles running in China right now: SHAIYA, MIR III, and EVE Online. The acquisition also provides CDC Games with five new titles in the pipeline, due for launch in the “near future.”
Look for some serious growth in the coming months because CDC Games looks set to reach other monsters in the Chinese online gaming market like Shanda Interactive (SNDA) and The9 (NCTY).
Take it easy,
Stefano
Sep 07
From my rationale on Covestor:
After the incredible tumble CSUN took at the end of August amidst the defection of some of the high ranking management (CFO), and the investigation opened by the The Law Offices of Eric J. O’Bell, L.L.C.to determine whether the company had violated federal securities laws in connection with its May 2007 public stock offering I felt, oddly enough, that it was a great time to start building my position in this stock.
Not only the entire world is going nuts over green energy but China in particular has to do something about its increasing pollution levels in anticipation of the Olympic Games it will host in Beijing (2008).
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hJdSYDAgzpPRQI75g9xugIbuJAOQSo far so good…
Jul 05
Microsoft said nobody will ever spend 500$ for a mobile phone. Nokia praised it and in the meanwhile started releasing similar phones. Motorola, while shitting bricks, welcomed the iPhone as a market booster. The iPhone is, in the mobile phones market, what Facebook is for the internet social networking.
Now that I’ve talked about the iPhone and Facebook and hopefully driven a few more visitors to this blog with the hottest terms on the net I can move on to the main subject, which is somehow related to the iPhone. Research in Motion has been strangely quiet during the squabble prior to the iPhone launch.
If you ask me, that was the right thing to do. iPhoning is just not its business, RIM’s business is pushing your corporate emails to a stupidly over-sized phone. There’s no point in fighting with Apple over who’s got the best/coolest phone, it’s a lost battle and they know it.
I doubt the iPhone is going to eat off RIM’s plate anyway, they’re two completely different devices, and people love Blackberries, I’ve got one (the Pearl), and I’m incredibly happy with it, Fred Wilson keeps declaring his undying love for the Blackberry on his blog. RIM will stick to its corporate clientele and I believe it’s going to be a rather safe place given all the doubts and security issues people have raised over the use of Apple’s product in a corporate environment.
RIM has finally reached China after years of haggling with the government. The Register and Yahoo news report this morning:
The Chinese Ministry of Information Industry has given permission for BlackBerry to start selling its addictive email devices in China.
And things seem to be looking bright for them.
Research In Motion (RIM), BlackBerry’s parent company, has already received 5,000 pre-orders for the device, according to Canada’s Globe and Mail. Many pre-orders came from multinationals with Chinese offices. The paper said RIM is also considering manufacturing the devices in China.
This stock has touched what I thought was an all time high just a few days ago, but this is gamechanging news. Now that it has access to one of the biggest (and fastest growing) markets on the planet I think it’ll reach for new skies. Furthermore with a pricetag of 2xx dollars I see/hope to see a split in the near future, which always helps.
I wanted this to be a post about RIM and the Blackberry, seems I can’t stop talking about the iPhone, no matter what you say to me today my answer is going to be either “Yes, but what does that have to do with the iPhone?” or “No, but what does that have to do with the Facebook?”
P.S. My Covestor widget is still empty because the transaction just came through and performance data will start appearing tomorrow!
Jun 21
German Optelcom-NKF is my latest investment, and for change, I finally made the right decision at the right time.
Things started looking good in 2005 when Optelcom-NKF started acting on its best laid plan, acquired NKF, decision which I’ll explain quoting Edmund Ludwig (Optelcom’s CEO):
“One of the primary reasons for the acquisition of NKF in early 2005 was to bring together state-of-the-art video over IP solutions to a comprehensive fiber product line,”
After the acquisition Optelcom-NKF received a nice injection of cash thanks to the acquisition of Avaya by two private investment firms which made shares of most telecommunication equipment companies raise slightly.
On the 6th of June Optelcom-NKF finally rolled out its new technology, an encryption algorithm for VOIP communication. The C-44 delivers DVD-quality video performance at both high and low bit rates with Optelecom-NKF’s MPEG-4 compression algorithm.
I’ll get out of the position pretty soon since my return is made and I’m not big on long term investments. Here’s the widget from my Covestor holding.
Jun 20
From my rationale on Covestor…
After all I’ve said about Linux desktops being a profitable business for DELL here’s what they come out with: (Quote from a post on Ubuntu forum)
“I had a surreal experience with Dell today.
My boss asked me to order a new computer for our small, non-profit business. Wanting to support Dell in their decision to sell computers with Ubuntu installed, I decided to order one.
First, I talked to a small business representative, who informed me that I could not order one of the Ubuntu-based computers through the small business department. I had to go through the “home and home office” department.
I called the Home office department. I asked the representative if I could buy one of the ubuntu computers for my company. She said (and I quote), “these Dell computers are designed for personal use only, as long as you use it for personal use, you can purchase one.”
So I lied and said I would….Next, I tried to buy it on our business credit card. They would have none of that. She told me that I had to buy it through a personal card. Now, as a non-proft, our business does not pay sales tax (10% in Tennessee). Had I bought it with my own card, I would have had to pay tax (~$90), which my company would not have reimbursed me for. So…..no Dell today.
I really wanted to support Dell and I am just blown away that they would REFUSE MY MONEY because I was buying it to use for a business. What company goes around telling its customers how they can use their products? What business model does that fall under?
More importantly, are they really supporting Ubuntu and Linux? They didn’t seem too supportive to me.”
Dell already had all sort of problems with its customer support and sales department which they seemed to be on their way to fix. Lets hope they have a good answer for this and take swift action because this article has already been slashdotted which means half the planet knows about it.
