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Post by lovemyipad on Aug 30, 2013 17:32:19 GMT -8
Hey! You're allowed to open the bar without me!
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Post by rickag on Aug 30, 2013 17:36:38 GMT -8
Seems like everyone left early for the 3 day weekend.
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Mav
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Post by Mav on Aug 30, 2013 18:08:52 GMT -8
Like it or not iPad, the board doesn't really run without you.
Also, long weekend
Also, AAPL isn't doing much of anything
Then again, long weekend, so if no one's really bothering with AAPL, works just fine
So maybe it's better that way. We all get to recharge a bit, and I doubt the markets will be all that sleepy soon after Labor Day.
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Post by sponge on Aug 30, 2013 18:52:14 GMT -8
Well after dumping shares and some calls for decent profits all week, I went all back in with Jan550 calls. Was able to buy a few extra calls with the profits and a nice discount of $12.60 from the high last week of $20.25.
Shot a personal best of 75 on a short local course. Now slowly sipping a martini after a glass of red wine to celebrate.
Back to the bunker.
I think the Syria situation will resolve itself faster then we think and the market agrees.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 30, 2013 22:49:07 GMT -8
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Post by qualitywte on Aug 31, 2013 5:26:24 GMT -8
Good to see Sponge back!
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Mav
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Post by Mav on Aug 31, 2013 7:57:16 GMT -8
I wouldn't go THAT far burgess, but since you convinced me it was worth a listen , wasn't too shabby for the most part. They did both make good points about Microsoft at several, uh, points. I get Horace's "disruption branding" but I sometimes wonder if he takes it too far. As for Ben, he's worrying too prematurely about Apple. Lots of older companies that "have not been afraid" for years still do fine. No one disputes that most companies don't come close to "living forever". 50+ years even is probably more exception than rule by quite a bit. I have a "let the smartest/strongest company thrive, profitable existence isn't handed to any company" philosophy. But some are exceptional and built to last a long while at least. Apple sticking around another 50-75 years? Quite possible it becomes an IBM-longevity company. Personally I'd be fine with Apple getting to 200. It'd be good enough for me most likely. ;D As for "Where's the fear? Where's the hunger?" EVERY MAJOR APPLE EXEC still knows it so there's that. "Lean years" Apple hires can be hired from 1995-early 2000s - we're not talking geezers here. Apple has plenty of people to perpetuate the culture and drive home the need to stay driven. Apple's facing huge pressure in the new world of mobile and TVs and wearables and other great things yet for Apple to address haven't been made. Macs still have minority market share. Apple still gets absurd amounts of disrespect in the media. There's still a bit of motivation for fresh-faced, haven't-suffered people out there. Not to mention, said "pampered" types can still make decent businesses. Zuckerberg. The Google guys. Some dude named Bill Gates. Arguably three very different forms of intrinsic motivation, all worked (of course, the jury's now very much out on that third one).
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Post by Deleted on Aug 31, 2013 10:42:06 GMT -8
I thought it interesting to learn that Ballmer was the architect of Windows success, implementing a strategy that leveraged the limitations of Windows as an Enterprise quality product.
Essentially Windows replaced smart terminals (about the same cost), but enabled distributed computing through the Office Suite. Users no longer needed full access to the Company's mainframes, or to know command line computing.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 31, 2013 16:22:04 GMT -8
I wouldn't go THAT far burgess, but since you convinced me it was worth a listen , wasn't too shabby for the most part. They did both make good points about Microsoft at several, uh, points. I get Horace's "disruption branding" but I sometimes wonder if he takes it too far. As for Ben, he's worrying too prematurely about Apple. Lots of older companies that "have not been afraid" for years still do fine. No one disputes that most companies don't come close to "living forever". 50+ years even is probably more exception than rule by quite a bit. I have a "let the smartest/strongest company thrive, profitable existence isn't handed to any company" philosophy. But some are exceptional and built to last a long while at least. Apple sticking around another 50-75 years? Quite possible it becomes an IBM-longevity company. Personally I'd be fine with Apple getting to 200. It'd be good enough for me most likely. ;D As for "Where's the fear? Where's the hunger?" EVERY MAJOR APPLE EXEC still knows it so there's that. "Lean years" Apple hires can be hired from 1995-early 2000s - we're not talking geezers here. Apple has plenty of people to perpetuate the culture and drive home the need to stay driven. Apple's facing huge pressure in the new world of mobile and TVs and wearables and other great things yet for Apple to address haven't been made. Macs still have minority market share. Apple still gets absurd amounts of disrespect in the media. There's still a bit of motivation for fresh-faced, haven't-suffered people out there. Not to mention, said "pampered" types can still make decent businesses. Zuckerberg. The Google guys. Some dude named Bill Gates. Arguably three very different forms of intrinsic motivation, all worked (of course, the jury's now very much out on that third one). I've been reading Stratechery.com for a few months now, and discovering on the podcast that Ben worked at Apples very secretive internal university for staff explains a lot. It sounds like he can't really elaborate in what goes on there (NDA I'm guessing) but I wouldn't be surprised if most of the broader themed essays on his site are very similar to apples internal curriculum. Hearing Horace (and his experience from his time with Nokia, and Clayton Christensen) and Ben (with his experience working for Apple & Microsoft) was fantastic. Was good to hear them with opposing viewpoints occasionally as well. I agree with your notion that Horace views everything through the context of disruption theory, and while that means he is probably at the forefront of extending that theory (his most recent post regarding "the innovators curse" is an example), I agree it might mean he downplays other trends & possibilities a bit. Bens writing seems more like what I expect to be the norm within Apple, combining and applying multiple theories.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 31, 2013 16:32:59 GMT -8
I thought it interesting to learn that Ballmer was the architect of Windows success, implementing a strategy that leveraged the limitations of Windows as an Enterprise quality product. Essentially Windows replaced smart terminals (about the same cost), but enabled distributed computing through the Office Suite. Users no longer needed full access to the Company's mainframes, or to know command line computing. It seems Balmer was the perfect champion for windows, but obviously the better he was at pushing/protecting windows the worse he was at fostering any new technology that would disrupt windows. You would almost have to be schizophrenic to achieve both. Perhaps the biggest mistake Microsoft made was not knowing what business it was in: it thought it was in the windows business, instead of being in the customer solutions business. Apple by contrast knows exactly what business it's in, and would be prepared to let any & all of its current products wither if it came across a new & better solution to customers needs. The trick is to manage the transition between products without killing yourself in the process.
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JDSoCal
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Post by JDSoCal on Aug 31, 2013 21:48:56 GMT -8
I think Horace is a brilliant guy, but IMO, he misses the mark on MSFT entirely. First off, MSFT weren't innovators. They owe most of their success to a sweetheart deal with IBM and clones to get their product bundled on every PC. I mean, Jesus, Gates lied about even having an OS and had to go buy DOS from some outside developer. And then Gates stole the Mac's GUI look and feel and slapped in on top of DOS on that dreadful early Windows. Where was the innovation again? The only thing innovative about Microsoft was Gates' licensing, and his ability to bluff and steal his way into a monopoly in the enterprise. So maybe they should call it The Bluffer's and Stealer's Dilemma. Windows isn't some great product people love. They tolerated it, because they had to at work. And the enterprise bought Wintel because it was a cheap, homogenous commodity, that all their little worker bees could use, whether they liked it or not. Every single one is the same, so they could be interchangeable. Like worker bees are. But consumer electronics is an entirely different ballgame. They are bought by individuals who want fun, cool, life-enhancing experiences. They are not bought by cost-conscious, "the floggings will continue until morale improves" overlords looking for some cheap, plain, soul-crushing beige box that works just good enough to crank out the TPS reports. Second, the pro-Windows & Office bias of Gates and Ballmer, their short-term profit is all that matters emphasis, plus the disastrous stack ranking management culture, killed any incentive for innovation. As Gruber points out here and here, MSFT could have launched into consumer electronics and not have killed Windows (if anything, a successful mobile strategy would have prolonged Windows & Office). And they tried. They were just incompetent boobs. The Vanity Fair article really lays it out. Can you imagine if some manager came to Gates - who poo-pooed the e-reader because it wasn't Windowsy & profitable enough - and tried to sell him an iTunes store project that would really never make a whole lot of money? And what was the first thing Gates said about the iPod? "Does it work with Windows?" And even when Ballmer saw the iPhone, he was too blind to really see it. We know that a company can change with success, and that CEO's matter, because we have a great example of it. Apple Computer - you know, the real innovators of the PC revolution? - proved that a company can, repeatedly, shift its business model, if it isn't afraid to cannibalize its cash cows before someone else does, and isn't sentimental or complacent about what made it successful, and doesn't - dare I say it - look at profits first, customer experience second? In fact, such a company might even be willing to change its name.
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Mav
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Post by Mav on Aug 31, 2013 22:20:53 GMT -8
Brilliant post, JD.
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Post by PikesPique on Sept 1, 2013 5:37:54 GMT -8
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Post by bud777 on Sept 1, 2013 6:49:08 GMT -8
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Mav
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Post by Mav on Sept 1, 2013 8:46:55 GMT -8
burgess, just so we're clear, Thompson's definitely got tech experience - I mean, he works for Wordpress/Automattic which is a pretty nice blogging platform IMHO, he was at MS a couple years, etc. His Apple tenure was a bit short - he interned for Apple University for three months. Which gives him a fair deal of insight sure, esp. since Apple U is something few know about, it'll probably be more Apple work experience than I'll ever have, but it was three months.
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Post by sponge on Sept 1, 2013 9:16:18 GMT -8
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Mav
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Post by Mav on Sept 1, 2013 10:23:07 GMT -8
"Apple must do/buy X now"?
I'm sure Esri's already on Apple's radar.
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Post by rob_london on Sept 1, 2013 10:36:42 GMT -8
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Mav
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Post by Mav on Sept 1, 2013 10:47:10 GMT -8
LOLOL @ sketch on the VentureBeat article. That HAS to be a troll.
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Post by Red Shirted Ensign on Sept 1, 2013 10:47:23 GMT -8
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Mav
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Post by Mav on Sept 1, 2013 10:49:16 GMT -8
The Rumor Blurrycam is inexcusable in this day and age. Honestly...
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Post by Red Shirted Ensign on Sept 1, 2013 10:50:37 GMT -8
Looks like the ankle bracelet I had to wear after a minor altercation in a Klingon bar. Ugly!
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JDSoCal
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Post by JDSoCal on Sept 1, 2013 11:36:31 GMT -8
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Post by Lstream on Sept 1, 2013 11:45:29 GMT -8
LOLOL @ sketch on the VentureBeat article. That HAS to be a troll. Agreed. Not even Samsung can be as clueless and devoid of design sense as this article would suggest.
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Post by aaplcrazie on Sept 1, 2013 16:07:04 GMT -8
The Rumor Blurrycam is inexcusable in this day and age. Honestly... Ha Mav You said it! Amazing how the Blurry THIS IS IT! Pics always start to appear rite before an iFruit Event. Almost as if the blurry low tech is meant to convey some urgency or stealth as if there was not enough time to take a well lit composed picture due to the urgency of eminent discovery....
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Post by elmar on Sept 2, 2013 3:33:31 GMT -8
In German trading Apple is 1.5% up and currently a little over 374€ which is about $494.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 2, 2013 3:37:01 GMT -8
www.polygon.com/features/2013/8/28/4460616/voxatron-lexaloffleVolumetric displays? Anyone else think they have mass market potential? Something apple would explore? I remember reading about a couple of guys at my uni in the late 90s who had a decent working model they were developing for air traffic control use, they were acquihired by a American defence contractor and 15 years later I have no idea where they ended up with the tech. I'm thinking something like google glass running a very accurate AR app would replicate essentially the same experience as a volumetric display - but I would still love to see a good one eventuate at consumer level.
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Post by appledoc on Sept 2, 2013 4:09:06 GMT -8
In German trading Apple is 1.5% up and currently a little over 374€ which is about $494. Futures up sharply. We're in the zone for the rebound to start. Hoping it comes this week. Haven't heard a MacBook rumor in awhile. My 4.5 year old MBP needs to be refreshed.
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Post by rob_london on Sept 2, 2013 8:59:03 GMT -8
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Mav
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Post by Mav on Sept 2, 2013 10:52:30 GMT -8
Digitimes playing telephone with reports of reports, but interesting even if half-true.
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