Zeynep Tufekci on COVID Mutations
Zeynep Tufekci has a great piece in the Atlantic about the COVID-19 mutation first documented in the United Kingdom. Like I her, I discounted the initial news because viruses mutate and there have been many “doomsaying headlines” in the last year related to virus mutation. To understand the difference between exponential and linear risks, consider […]
Quick Thoughts on Apple’s FY16 First Quarter Results
Apple released their FY 2016 first quarter results today. Here are the summary data and some updated charts derived from those data. Here are 10 take-aways: It was the biggest quarter ever for iPhone unit volume (74.779M). The trailing twelve months (TTM) for iPhone unit volume is slightly above 4Q2015 and also the highest it has ever been. […]
What I Expect from Apple’s Fiscal 2Q Earnings
Apple reports Fiscal second-quarter financial results after the close of the markets today and so brings the week-long exercise where pundits spend the first half of the week talking about what Apple will say followed by the second half of the week where the selfsame pundits talk about what Apple said. Here’s some food for […]
Government in My Life
With the recently past U.S. government shutdown I came to the quick and uncomfortable realization that the government is far to heavily integrated into my daily life. I was in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East for most of the U.S. Government shutdown and still felt the impact. While in Paris I used my one […]
Quick Thoughts on Ethiopia
Following successful CES Unveiled events in London, Paris, and Tel Aviv – I spent 3 days in Ethiopia. It was my first trip back to Africa since 1999 when I was in Egypt and it was really my first trip deeper into the heart of Africa’s Africa. A few quick thoughts from my three short […]
An Updated Look at the Financial Markets
The summer starts and ends with a holiday. With the latter holiday now behind us I thought I’d take a moment to provide an update on my views of the current state of the financial markets. On August 7th – I moved an additional 5 percent of my portfolio into cash – and am still […]
Is Crowdfunding the Future of Curation for Local Events and other Programming Decisions?
The Smithsonian launched their first major crowdfunding campaign to support it’s first-ever exhibition on the yogic art. Crowdfunding is in many ways simply a way of pre-selling an offering. You can gauge interest before bring a product or service to market. You can go direct to the consumer and avoid being handicapped by lack of distribution. Moving forward I […]
Best Buy’s European Exit: Thoughts on What Scales Well
Yesterday Best Buy announced they were exiting Europe through the sale of the 50 percent stake in their European joint venture to their partner in the JV – Carphone Warehouse. The deal totals roughly $775M – 573M in cash at closing, $124M in common stock of Carphone Warehouse with a 1-yr lockup period, $39M in […]
Competition to Find Most Gun Friendly State is Now Underway
I’m traveling to Hong Kong today and as a general practice when traveling I typically try to read through a few broadsheets. Before boarding I typically grab the Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, and a local paper for whatever city I’m in. Reading through the weekend edition of the Wall Street Journal I was amused […]
Expectations for Equity Markets in 2013
Equity markets continue to reach for new highs in 2013 – up over seven percent year-to-date and hitting new highs on Wednesday. As enter first quarter earnings seasons, it seems like an appropriate time to share my expectations for equity markets in 2013. Most of the following comes from the presentation I give in early March each […]
