Twitter Updates for 2010-09-01

  • $APOL off a short term sell to neutral…buy small for deadcat bounce with tight stp ($41.60) #
  • liking $C down here. low risk entry with 3.50 stop. #
  • In Doghouse? just saw @stocktwits blocking me? $$ guess my ideas have been crap LOL @howardlindzon #
  • Icahn boosts tender for $LGF to $7.50 #
  • School back in parts of CT today. #
  • Kids back to school and they got same bus driver! A good sign for them. #
  • Just downloaded my Patriots 2010 app for the# #iPhone getting ready for football. ? #
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Firm’s S&P technical Note 8/31 $$

As seen in the attached chart the S&P 500 is still locked in a downward sloping channel and below resistance in the 1,065 area.  Even though sentiment as measured in the AAII Survey is fairly bearish (only 20% bulls at present) we still have to respect the trend which remains down.   Only a move back above aforementioned resistance in the 1,065 area (when coupled with the backdrop of building bearishness) would make us more comfortable that a tradable upside rally was real.

Near term support lies in the 1,040 area.  If that is violated then the next downside target would be the June lows near 1,010.

Posted in Markets | 1 Comment

With 4Square & Facebook Place- Is Loopt dead?

Ok Foursquare recently hit a big milestone, three million registered users. Then Facebook started their “places” on Iphone and they have access to many million of users. Needless to say the “checking in” fad is here to stay. Google is also jumping in as the 500 lbs gorilla !!! 

The big winners will be, marketing and advertisers. The losers, besides of course privacy, may include Loopt. Now Loopt was early on to this check in with your friends and had a good product. Then they tried to make it better, but made a supermarket of products. If you want rewards (I guess like badges on 4SQ) you download Loopt Star. If you want to chat with your friends you need Loopt Mix on your phone. And of course a whole different product for Ipad (http://about.loopt.com/) .

This is messy and they lost most people to the all in one place. An upgrade should be in the original app, people are not going to grab 5 or 6 things when one will work (read Facebook). I got Loopt because a friend had it and I think I used it once. I just re-downloaded it last night when I was thinking about the future of Loopt, even my friend who used it all the time in the past has not updated since May. She loved the way Loopt worked and used it to post to Facebook a lot. Now ZERO.

I may not be the “target” audience for Loopt,4Sq, etc but I am a little bit of a gadget geek and love to try things. I am however in New York City, the hub of people of all ages trying different things. And although most people are terrified of the privacy issues, truth is you can just shut them off anytime or “check in off the grid”, people in NYC are used to cameras and etc – we know people see our every move–again check in off the grid.

I have been asking anyone,  even that under 30 group, if anyone uses Loopt. The answers were all simular-NO

Sorry, but unless something crazy happens, like Google buying Loopt I thing Loopt is going the way of Geocity.

Posted in Lifestyle | 1 Comment

Twitter Updates for 2010-08-31

  • Need Monday bagel fix. (@ Green Cafe) http://4sq.com/4DU2m1 #
  • $GENZ – Genzyme affirms rejection of Sanofi's offer, says not the right time to sell the company #
  • Just reading again in WSJ that coffee futures are at a 13 yr high. Get ready for fall winter increases in your local brew or beans at the mk #
  • The Evils Of … Cartoons? http://bit.ly/cvfDxm via @AddToAny #
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Tuesday Market Preview $$

Strange day today with the all day drift and closing under the important 1051 area on the S&P. I honestly think today, and this week is crap – low volume and stupid moves in both directions expected.

Next support level on the S&P is really 1040 area (small at 1046). This should be tested tomorrow, but since it is an odd week with vacation and new MTA Metro North schedules on everyone’s mind we may rally!

Things on tap for tues:
9am Case Shiller index looking for 3.1%
9:45am Chicago PMI, looking for 57.5
10am Consumer Confidence (the only AM number that matters) looking for 50.7-51
2pm the FOMC Minutes- expect some market movements then right back to 1:59 trading area.

Posted in Fed, Markets | Leave a comment

Monday, so another IPAD challenge $AAPL

It’s Monday, so time for another set of “great” new tablets better than Apple’s IPAD. All I have to say is, please….. First of all with out AAPL and their push of the IPAD nobody who give two hoots about Dell or HP or Samsung’s new product-hell, even Blackberry is trying to throw a tablet together to get out ASAP.

Apple has changed the playing field, and I as sure Dell, et al are pissed that the IPAD is the beginning of the end of laptops-actually I have no idea why anyone would ever buy a laptop now-that market is dead, just somepeople will be late to realize  it.

All this competition actually helps Apple and their products, for when they come out early next year with the IPAD 2.0 it will once again raise the bar and make everyone work harder to compete. –quick areticle I saw below on Samsung’s Galaxy Pad–you be the judge.

Samsung Galaxy Pad Tablet to Challenge Apple`s iPad

By: Nathan Eddy

While Apple may be enjoying brisk sales of its touch screen iPad tablet, with more than 3 million of the devices sold since the launch earlier this year, Samsung is gearing up to debut a rival of its own, in a form factor that sits neatly between the iPad and Apple’s popular iPhone smartphone. Images and information leaked onto the Web and released via Samsung’s corporate Web site, details about the device have begun to emerge, including Google’s Android operating system and features including 3G and WiFi, a 16:10 screen ratio, a SDHC memory expandability, and a DMB tuner for TV viewing and something the iPad lacks—a front-facing camera for video calling.

The latest Internet rumor suggests the tablet will be available to CDMA carriers and will debut sometime in early September, though Samsung has yet to officially confirm a specific date. Adding to the Tab rumors is a report from technology blog OLED-Display.net, which claims to have found listings for official Samsung Tab accessories, including a leather bag, charging station, keyboard, USB cable adapter and earphones.

Apple’s iPad, in comparison, is 0.5 inches thin and weighs 1.5 pounds, sports a 9.7-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit glossy widescreen multi-touch display and delivers up to 10 hours of battery life. The iPad starts at $499; Samsung has not yet released a price for the Galaxy Tab, but is expected to do so at a press conference on Sept. 2 at the IFA Expo in Berlin. True to form, Apple has scheduled a press conference the day before, where the company is expected to unveil versions of its revamped iPod Nano digital music player.

While the current hype is focused on Samsung, some reports suggest the iPad will still dominate the tablet market into 2012. An August reportfrom IT research firm iSuppli predicted that while the iPad would face competition from HP, Lenovo, RIM, Google and others, the tablet won’t face a “viable competitor” until 2011. The firm said Apple’s complete integration of hardware, software, operating system and applications is a major piece of what makes the device a standout.

“Companies are quickly developing products that match or exceed some of the surface hardware specifications of the Apple iPad. But it’s still unlikely that any of the competitors will be able to equal the overall performance experience of the iPad,” said iSuppli director of monitor research Rhoda Alexander. “If recent history is any lesson, it will take some time for these companies to get their products to market, longer for them to offer necessary software support and infrastructure, and an even lengthier period to begin to rival the overall user experience Apple is able to deliver.”

A July reportfrom a Barclays Capital analyst said Apple would sell about 20 million iPads in 2011, negatively affecting lower-cost notebooks as well as the netbook market. Other analysts have also suggested growth for the tablet PC market, with research firm IDC estimating that worldwide media tablet shipments would total 46 million units in 2014. “IDC expects consumer demand for media tablets to be strongly driven by the number and variety of compatible third-party apps for content and devices,” analyst Susan Kevorkian wrote in a May statement.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Mobile-and-Wireless/Samsung-Galaxy-Pad-Tablet-to-Challenge-Apples-iPad-564075/

Posted in Lifestyle, Stock Name, Stocks | 1 Comment