An emerging industry worth looking into: People in countries with developing economies and emerging markets rely heavily on prepaid internet service to access the World Wide Web. Internet cafes arising faster than one can blink an eye. In Indonesia, only 1% of the population actually pays for home internet service (compare this to the U.S.), and a predominantly youthful population relies on pay-as-you-go internet in order to browse the web, go on Facebook, etc. This appears to be an industry with much growth potential, as there are still many areas in the world without access to Internet.
Tag Archives: google
NFLX- Feeling the pressure of competition?
Today news was released that Facebook is entering the streaming video business. The company’s first release will be “The Dark Knight” which can be purchased for $3, for 48 hour rental. This news sent NFLX stock on a downward spiral, closing down 5.96%. Could Facebook really be the reason that NFLX closed down this much with a market that closed 1% higher?
Is this the start of the downward spiral for NFLX?
Since making a high of $247.44 on 2/14/2011, the love for the stock has been deflated, and has since retraced 21%. Announcements of Amazon and now Facebook entering this business has applied pressure to NFLX. NFLX who has no real competition, now faces entry from two competitors who may pose a serious threat to revenues. Both Amazon and Facebook have the technological infrastructure and capital to pose a serious threat. Even though neither company has launched their campaign, the stock has taking a serious pounding. Investors more than likely fear one of two things: first, that once these companies launch their service they will lose a significant amount of subscribers, and second, that Amazon and Facebook are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to competition. It will be only a matter of time before the “big 3″ enter: Apple, Google, and Microsoft. How could they not? In an industry where these companies are constantly fighting for the top spot, taking on a new venture such as this can only help their bottom line. The question remains: Will NFLX will be looking in the rear view mirror at one of the companies nipping at their heels for market share or remain the innovators?
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Collective Intelligence
HedgeFundLive.com - Collective intelligence is the collaboration of two or more people who work together, to achieve a goal. Napoleon Hill has written about this in his book “Think and Grow Rich.” Although Hill does not call it collective intelligence, his chapter “The Mastermind” is all about collective intelligence. He spent over 20 years researching before publishing the book. He interviewed the most successful people of the time, including Andrew Carnegie, Thomas Edison, and Henry Ford to name a few. He concluded, there are fifteen laws that these men agreed upon to help them attain their success. “Mastermind” was one of them. When Hill asked Andrew Carnegie, “How did you attain your wealth?” his response was, “Well if you want to know how I got my money, I will refer you to these men here on my staff; they got it for me. We have here in this business a mastermind. It is not my mind, and it is not the mind of any other man on my staff, but the sum total of all these minds that I have gathered around me that constitute a master mind in the steel business.“
When there is a definite purpose that the people within a mastermind are striving for, they intensify their chance of success. The reason behind this is that the group puts the goal in front of all else. Collective intelligence is only effective when ego’s are set aside. No team can reach it’s full potential when ego’s are involved. In sports, the teams that win it all always have the best chemistry. This is simply because they are focused on winning a championship and all individual stats are put aside.
Growth of an individual company relies on the power of collective intelligence. The recent success of Facebook is not only due to the efforts of Mark Zuckerberg. His idea, and the collective intelligence of the first members of the company have grown Facebook’s valuation to some where in the range of $50 billion. This would not have happened if his staff did not buy into his vision.
The best modern day example of collective intelligence is Google. Their culture is conducive to the concept. Their cafeteria is set up in a way,
Turning one man's vison into a reality...
where you are seated with other staff members from different teams and are having open conversations. A few things you might find in their corporate office to keep employees motivated are massage chairs, packed break rooms with a variety of snacks, a gym, pool table and volleyball court. On the corporate culture link to Google they say, “As we continue to grow, we are always looking for those who share a commitment to creating search perfection and having a great time doing it.’ This statement is the most important reason to the success of collective intelligence- that all are committed to the vision- in Google’s case it is search perfection.
At Hedge Fund Live, collective intelligence shows up in the positioning of the trading desk. Trading desks at most firms, are set up in a way where here is little communication between traders it is more of an individualistic setting. Our desks are set up so that we are able to have open visual communication with each other. Throughout the day, you can hear our traders providing input on what they are seeing in the market and offering their individual strategies. It allows traders the opportunity to institute a strategy with not just his/her ideas, but form a perspective of several traders with different backgrounds.
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Google Plans to take on small projects compared to large
HedgeFundLIVE.com — With Google failure to launch Group On this past year they have learned there strengths and weaknesses. Instead of trying to launch massive projects that may not have as much as success as they wish to, they are beginning to launch small scale projects with technology and innovation that can generate revenue. Coming off a record 48 acquisitions last year, Google is “going to continue to be aggressive,” said David Lawee, Google’s vice president of corporate development, in an interview. Thus, this shows Google will need more capital to take on such projects and may even issue stock splits. With the reputation of Google and their past success they’re stocks are likely to yield great returns in the near future.
Google vs FaceBook does not exist.
Does anyone every wonder about the future of Google? Whenever I think of Google I think about the technological powerhouse it is and how it is the most dominant force on the internet. Things have changed drastically over the past two years. The dominance of Google has declined due to FaceBook’s increase in users. The popularity of FaceBook is seen as the largest threat of Google but I strongly disagree. Google is a search engine which is fundamentally different than a social network like facebook. Another strong point of Google which people seem to overlook is the fact that Google owns YouTube. YouTube alone generates more viewers and users than FaceBook. Let me be clear, I’m not stating that buying FaceBook stock is bad idea (when they do their IPO ) but rather Google will also gain from Facebook’s increase because Google as a search engine has become a more integrated aspect of the web experience for many users, and as more people use FaceBook there will also be more people using Google. There are just my thoughts, whats your view on this?
6 Reactions to Qaddaffi and Current Libyan events
As our office sat and listened to Gadaffi’s live speech on the CNN LIVE channel today, it was pointed out that stations such as Bloomberg and CNBC (who are usually very current with Breaking News) were not reporting on it. Why?
It seems as if technology, entertainment and pop-culture take some precedence over non-US events relating directly or indirectly to the stock market, nowadays. And with no help from media and news stations, which are responsible for driving a lot of American thoughts, people - especially young adults- may not realize the importance of World Events such as this until it is too late.
Below are my 6 interpretations of the average American’s reaction to the recent Quadaffi/Libyan events:
- Uhhh…Ka-Daf-fi?…Didn’t he shut down access to Facebook and Twitter in Egypt? I thought he’s already agreed to step down from office in September?
- I want to follow the news, but wish I knew the proper spelling of Gaddaffi’s name to type into Goggle search on my iPad. Is it Khaddafy, Qadaffi, or Gadhafi….?? How important can he really be if reporters don’t spell his name right? By the way, do you think he knows when the iPad 2 is coming out?
- My favorite basketball player, Carmelo Anthony, just got signed by the Knicks, for God’s sake! Why should I care about some damn foreign Tyrant!
- Justin Beiber’s new haircut and pop-culture is far more important than world events. Did you hear about how he surprised his girlfriend by filling her entire apartment with fresh flowers? It wasn’t even done as an apology for something he’d done wrong or a gift for Valentine’s day! Isn’t he sweet! Where’s my remote? I think I DVR’ed the Grammy’s.
- You want MY thoughts on the Italian Stock Exchange closing today and Rising Oil Prices?!?!..Who cares?..I’m NOT Italian! I’m not going to Italy any time soon! AND I drive a HYBRID…that’ll show all you suckers!
- As though we don’t have enough going on in this country, now we have to focus on more negative news in outside countries?!?!…Where’s Justin Beiber when you need him?
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Facebook (and I guess Google) Should Finish What They Started in the Middle East
Shimon Peres, Israel’s current President, is for all intents and purposes, to me, a Gever; a term that can be loosely defined as the Modern Hebrew language equivalent of Dude. The man has seen some stuff. He joined the Haganah alongside other founding fathers of the Israeli state and played an integral role in securing arms for Israel’s independence war in 1948. Throughout his political career he has served as Transportation Minister, Defense Minister, Foreign Minister, and Prime Minister. On the first of a 4-day visit to Spain, Peres spoke to Spanish Parliament. In his speech he addressed the unrest in Egypt and Libya that continues to spread across the Middle East region. He mentioned that he sees these uprisings as “opportunities for peace”, and said that “we believe the biggest guarantee of peace is having democratic neighbors…”.
What I found most interesting was Peres’s message to large technology companies. He alluded to the fact that these companies, e.g. Facebook, Google, Microsoft, have hefty coffers full of cash ready to be deployed. Peres noted that “these companies have the means and they can help…aid is currently directed mainly at sick people in poorer countries, [but] it’s better to cure the state and let it treat its own ills.” In the realistic department these comments probably come in at about a 4 on a scale of 1 to 10, but in the idealistic department they’re more like a 9. Imagine if for-profit companies actually spent their hard-earned money on foreign aid the way leading governments of the world do. Back when Google IPO’d they made a big hullabaloo about their “Do No Evil” motto – they wanted to ensure that everyone got a fair chance to participate in their stock offering and presumably a fair chance in life as well. The Founders of Facebook probably feel similarly. I’m not sure what their motto is, but it’s probably something that evokes thoughts of democracy. So do these technology giants have a responsibility to the people who use their services? If Facebook enables a dictator’s demise, should they participate in the process of establishing a fair successor? These are big questions, but I do like where Shimon Peres was going. Every once in a while the world needs to be reminded that there is a fairly successful Middle Eastern democracy situated in the middle of all this turmoil; it’s called Israel.
READ: Market Watch from Hedge Fund Live Tuesday 2/22/2011-The Internet Is Mightier Than The Sword
“The Internet is not just a funnel to the world’s database, but it the driving force behind the next evolution of mankind.” -Jeremy Frommer:
BLOG WRITTEN BY JEREMY FROMMER 2-21-11:
I am blown away by the power of the Internet. I do not believe I ever quite understood it until this weekend. I have been glued to Google’s real-time twitter and news feeds of events unfolding on the ground in Libya. There are no reporters, not a single news station
has been able to deliver reliable information. The Internet is not just a funnel to the world’s database, but it the driving force behind the next evolution of mankind. It is a weapon, one that we have never seen wielded with such precision as we have these past few weeks. “The pen is mightier than the sword” is a metonymic adage coined by English author Edward Bulwer-Lytton in 1839 for his play Richelieu; Or the Conspiracy.
“True, This! —
Beneath the rule of men entirely great,
The pen is mightier than the sword. Behold
The arch-enchanters wand! — Itself a nothing! —
But-taking sorcery from the master-hand
To paralyze the Cæsars, and to strike
The loud earth breathless! — Take away the sword
— States can be saved without it!
But it is the Internet that has fulfilled this prophecy. The pen has become a metaphor for the power of communication.
The sword empowered one man over another. The pen empowered single men over the masses. The Internet has empowered us all. No voice unheard. This is evolution. Blood is being spilled this weekend in the name of evolution as much as revolution. Revolution will bring temporary change. New leaders will come and go. But the idea of change, the method by which change occurs has now evolved forever. The sword has proven worthless as dictatorships fall despite there overwhelming military power. They cannot turn to their generals who look to their own children’s eyes and wonder about the future. They turn off the one last hope of their people, the Internet. But to the people, the Internet is no longer a privilege. It is a human right. I breathe, I eat, I twitter. Knowledge is synonymous with Google. To socialize is to Face book, and to communicate is to email. Our language is evolving, our very nature has changed forever. CNBC with a lack of real coverage in Libya has started reporting on tweets. I just heard them post their viewers on a tweet asking about Apache helicopters circling protesters.
So what does this mean for the financial markets? Clearly in the long run, this evolutionary period will be remembered as one of the most important periods of the century. In the same way the decades after World War 2 reshaped the human condition. But we are in a vacuum of information. The Internet is the Nuclear weapon of our generation. We do not truly know how it will affect the world in the short term. What impact the rapid change will bring. I do not mean to compare the two on an actionable level. Clearly a nuclear blast is not the same thing as an Internet blast. But rather let us analyze it from an existential standpoint. The mere existence of the nuclear bomb, though never used, has altered the powers structure of the world. Harry Truman said, “The atom bomb was no “great decision.” It was merely another powerful weapon in the arsenal of righteousness. The Internet’s power, as a catalyst for change has barely been discovered. Obama may owe his presidential seat to the force of the Internet. The Egyptians owe their freedom to it. When the Israelites escaped the tyranny of the pharaoh in Egypt they required a miracle from G-d. Then again, no one has ever been able to tell me exactly who created the Internet. It turned out not to be Al Gore. Though he probably wouldn’t mind the comparison. Perhaps the mere existence of a phenomenon that can topple governments in weeks is a miracle. Perhaps it is more powerful than a nuclear bomb. And perhaps it will take a long time to digest what impact this newfound power will have on the world, let alone the financial markets.
Short term, I believe the stock market will retrace some of its aggressive gains of the last month. Perhaps the S&P will even retest the 1300 level to determine the commitment of the buyers in the most recent Bull Run as the world has so rapidly changed around them, without even the slightest of pullbacks. Oil, as I predicted just keeps going higher, and why not? The Middle East is in turmoil. There is a very real probability that it spreads to Saudi Arabia. The effects of regime change in other oil producing Arab countries, on all commodity prices let alone oil, would be unprecedented. Gold would sky rocket, as the possibility that political revolt could spread to Latin America or even china, would rattle world currency markets. The Bull who plays down these possibilities argues that these other countries have the wealth to control the political challenges. They can pay for peace. Mubarak alone had 70 billion tucked away. Imagine what the rest of his regime has hidden throughout the complex web of interconnected global banks. Could he have paid for peace too? The Bull Run, for the S&P that began in Jan of 09 is over for now. It will take real clarity and an understanding of the future impact on countries yet affected, before the market can resume its unfettered run. Global corporations can no longer asses the value of the deals they cut with dictators, tyrants and princes. Eventually the Libyan crisis will end. Many will die. Questions of how a new Libya and Egypt fit into the geopolitical landscape will pail by comparison to the debates over the future of Iran and China. Worse will be the affect on the world political scene, of the M.A.S.S., the Minimizing of America’s Superpower Status. The silence from the U.S. administration can no longer be tolerated. Israel stands more alone today in the Middle East, than perhaps at any other time in its history. If the West does not take an active role in the geopolitical changes, there is a chance that all the gains we have made in the war on terror could be lost.
While we have just finished corporate earrings’ season and economic numbers while not powerful indicators have shown a steady
recovery. It is the kind of recovery that can be thrown rapidly off course by sky rocketing oil prices. I have been raising a red flag on inflation for some time. The event overseas will accelerate this process. We stand on the verge of government shutdowns and municipality insolvencies. Pouring more leveraged money into this market is foolhardy. There is only one logical trade for Tuesday. Take risk off the table, and short the market if you have free hands. I am reasonably short. While I am looking for a pull back, I will use any bounce in the market as an opportunity to further short the market. I believe we are at a significantly overbought level, ignorant of the realities that have been swirling around us.
Market Watch from Hedge Fund Live Tuesday 2/22/2011-The Internet Is Mightier Than The Sword
I am blown away by the power of the Internet. I do not believe I ever quite understood it until this weekend. I have been
glued to Google’s real-time twitter and news feeds of events unfolding on the ground in Libya. There are no reporters, not a single news station has been able to deliver reliable information. The Internet is not just a funnel to the world’s database, but it the driving force behind the next evolution of mankind. It is a weapon, one that we have never seen wielded with such precision as we have these past few weeks. “The pen is mightier than the sword” is a metonymic adage coined by English author Edward Bulwer-Lytton in 1839 for his play Richelieu; Or the Conspiracy.
“True, This! —
Beneath the rule of men entirely great,
The pen is mightier than the sword. Behold
The arch-enchanters wand! — Itself a nothing! —
But-taking sorcery from the master-hand
To paralyze the Cæsars, and to strike
The loud earth breathless! — Take away the sword
— States can be saved without it!
But it is the Internet that has fulfilled this prophecy. The pen has become a metaphor for the power of communication.
The sword empowered one man over another. The pen empowered single men over the masses. The Internet has empowered us all. No voice unheard. This is evolution. Blood is being spilled this weekend in the name of evolution as much as revolution. Revolution will bring temporary change. New leaders will come and go. But the idea of change, the method by which change occurs has now evolved forever. The sword has proven worthless as dictatorships fall despite there overwhelming military power. They cannot turn to their generals who look to their own children’s eyes and wonder about the future. They turn off the one last hope of their people, the Internet. But to the people, the Internet is no longer a privilege. It is a human right. I breathe, I eat, I twitter. Knowledge is synonymous with Google. To socialize is to Face book, and to communicate is to email. Our language is evolving, our very nature has changed forever. CNBC with a lack of real coverage in Libya has started reporting on tweets. I just heard them post their viewers on a tweet asking about Apache helicopters circling protestors.
So what does this mean for the financial markets? Clearly in the long run, this evolutionary period will be remembered as one of the most important periods of the century. In the same way the decades after World War 2 reshaped the human condition. But we are in a vacuum of information. The Internet is the Nuclear weapon of our generation. We do not truly know how it will affect the world in the short term. What impact the rapid change will bring. I do not mean to compare the two on an actionable level. Clearly a nuclear blast is not the same thing as an Internet blast. But rather let us analyze it from an existential standpoint. The mere existence of the nuclear bomb, though never used, has altered the powers structure of the world. Harry Truman said, “The atom bomb was no “great decision.” It was merely another powerful weapon in the arsenal of righteousness. The Internet’s power, as a catalyst for change has barely been discovered. Obama may owe his presidential seat to the force of the Internet. The Egyptians owe their freedom to it. When the Israelites escaped the tyranny of the pharaoh in Egypt they required a miracle from G-d. Then again, no one has ever been able to tell me exactly who created the Internet. It turned out not to be Al Gore. Though he probably wouldn’t mind the comparison. Perhaps the mere existence of a phenomenon that can topple governments in weeks is a miracle. Perhaps it is more powerful than a nuclear bomb. And perhaps it will take a long time to digest what impact this newfound power will have on the world, let alone the financial markets.
Short term, I believe the stock market will retrace some of its aggressive gains of the last month. Perhaps the S&P will even retest the 1300 level to determine the commitment of the buyers in the most recent Bull Run as the world has so rapidly changed around them, without even the slightest of pullbacks. Oil, as I predicted just keeps going higher, and why not? The Middle East is in turmoil. There is a very real probability that it spreads to Saudi Arabia. The effects of regime change in other oil producing Arab countries, on all commodity prices let alone oil, would be unprecedented. Gold would sky rocket, as the possibility that political revolt could spread to Latin America or even china, would rattle world currency markets. The Bull who plays down these possibilities argues that these other countries have the wealth to control the political challenges. They can pay for peace. Mubarak alone had 70 billion tucked away. Imagine what the rest of his regime has hidden throughout the complex web of interconnected global banks. Could he have paid for peace too? The Bull Run, for the S&P that began in Jan of 09 is over for now. It will take real clarity and an understanding of the future impact on countries yet affected, before the market can resume its unfettered run. Global corporations can no longer asses the value of the deals they cut with dictators, tyrants and princes. Eventually the Libyan crisis will end. Many will die. Questions of how a new Libya and Egypt fit into the geopolitical landscape will pail by comparison to the debates over the future of Iran and China. Worse will be the affect on the world political scene, of the M.A.S.S., the Minimizing of America’s Superpower Status. The silence from the U.S. administration can no longer be tolerated. Israel stands more alone today in the Middle East, than perhaps at any other time in its history. If the West does not take an active role in the geopolitical changes, there is a chance that all the gains we have made in the war on terror could be lost.
While we have just finished corporate earrings’ season and economic numbers while not powerful indicators have shown
a steady recovery. It is the kind of recovery that can be thrown rapidly off course by sky rocketing oil prices. I have been raising a red flag on inflation for some time. The event overseas will accelerate this process. We stand on the verge of government shutdowns and municipality insolvencies. Pouring more leveraged money into this market is foolhardy. There is only one logical trade for Tuesday. Take risk off the table, and short the market if you have free hands. I am reasonably short. While I am looking for a pull back, I will use any bounce in the market as an opportunity to further short the market. I believe we are at a significantly overbought level, ignorant of the realities that have been swirling around us.
Cable TV Providers and “Them”
The growing availability of online video subscription has bolstered the market for set-top boxes (STBs). The question that begs to be answered though is, should the cable companies be worried yet? Are these STBs a good replacement for cable? There are multiple issues with STBs like Roku. The first is live content. Traditional programming is still largely available online only after it has aired on regular TV. The other major hurdle for connected devices is their usability. TV viewing has essentially been a passive experience. The only action is flipping the channels on the remote. STBs require higher user interaction and the users have to make conscious choices on what to watch.
In spite of these shortcomings connected devices are becoming a reality and cable companies should be worried. Interestingly, the solution for live content on connected devices is actually being offered up by the cable companies themselves. Cable companies are now ramping up their offerings to connected devices providers. Comcast tested it first version of XFinity TV app for iPad. This App acts a remote control and has the ability to show On Demand content on iPad. Verizon is also testing apps for iPads and other tablets. This type of convergence is needed by the cable companies to slow down the wave of cable-cutting, the consumers are riding.
The offerings like Google TV, Boxee are not meant to replace cable. They work in tandem with the cable/Dish. The TV masquerades as a computer powered by Google TV (with powerful apps such as YouTube, Netflix, and Pandora etc.). Apple TV is an STB that works with any Apple device in gathering content from the internet and streaming it to the TV. It is meant to enhance the enjoyment of other iOS products. According to Steve Jobs, Apple TV is a “hobby”.
Technology-wise most of the STBs require internet connection and come with built-in Ethernet adapters. Many have Wi-Fi adapters as well. They have built-in video cards for streaming as well. The top component manufacturers in this arena are Cisco, Motorola, Technicolor, and Samsung. Interestingly they are also the providers for cable/IPTV STBs.
Cisco recently launched Videoscape, supposedly a rival for Google TV. Cisco is also building digital TV components it hopes to sell to service providers who want to rival Google TV. Manufacturers like Logitech provide Google TV, whereas Sony is offering Internet TV powered with Google TV. The Sony Internet TV seems like an ultimate solution to the merge of internet and TV. The combination of these 2 giants might drive smaller players like Boxee, Roku out of business. Google TV has strategic partnerships with Sony, Intel and Logitech. The concept of Google TV is good but the cost makes it prohibitive. Although Android is free, the cost of the components from Intel drive up the cost. The TV market is very competitive and Google TV will raise the prices making it an unattractive option to consumers. Until consumers are willing to pay extra dollars for an Integrated TV, Google TV may face some difficulties. The solution then is to build STBs that work with Google TV on any display and that’s what Panasonic, Samsung and Motorola are up to. Motorola is the components manufacturer for cable/IPTV STBs and connected devices and probably won’t lose as much in this battle.
All in all, there definitely seems to be a downward trend in cable subscribers and cord cutting is a factor. There are other factors to this like the weak economy and high unemployment. SNL Kagan, an online research and analysis firm for the media and communications industry, suggests that the STBs and video streaming subscribers are relatively new in the market. But once the economy rebounds, subscribers who have gotten used to life without pay TV will probably have even more options to turn to, depressing any rebound in the number of cable subs. If cable giants like Comcast, Time Warner cable, Cablevision, Cox and Mediacom are not worried already, they should be now.
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