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The Stock Market, which has been punching me in the face since Jan 2008...

Computer Buying

When buying that shiny new computer, the first question to ask is not what brand, but what do you want to do? Travel light, create music/dvds, surf the web and manage your music collection, replace your desktop PC? Buy based on how well it supports your activities. If you are like 99% of the world, you just need it for web surfing so go cheap!

On brands, most computers have the same pass/fail rates since all of their components come from the same place (China) and likely the same factory. Go for cheap. Pay no more than $500 for a laptop or $350 for a desktop. Just don't. In 2-3 years you will either spill coffee on it, drop it (laptop), or just want something new. Treat your computer like a 3-year purchase.

Where to buy? Check out the dealnews.com streams for laptops/desktops to find the best deals on PCs, and then if you're of the turtleneck persuasion you can check out Macs refurbs at the Apple store.

My Movie Theater is dying...

Tickets are now $9.25 at my local AMC theaters here in south Houston. Unreal. Is this New York City? I could buy two dvd's for the price of a single ticket and just stay home. The theater is smelly, people are making noises, I can't pause it, it's out of focus half the time, and now it is $9.25. Alas, this must be Bush's fault.

Reading, but not reading

Inevitably, someone someday will ask you " Have you read book xyz?" and then tell you that you need to read this book because it "changed the game" or is "so far outside the box that it destroyed the box" or something like that. To that I say - it's time to read books via Wikipedia or WikiSummaries. The Wiki is our new Cliff Notes - short summaries of the themes and impact of books (new or old) that can be digested within minutes. Here are a couple I hear about often in my world:

Tipping Point and Blink
Freakanomics
World is Flat

Or for even more depth - check out the chapter summaries at WikiSummaries.org. Here's an example:
Good to Great

Too good of a deal?

Every now and again one of those deals comes by that spits in the face of retail sales. This is one of those deals.

New iBook (new to me...)

I had been putting off purchasing a Mac laptop due to the upscale pricing (basically, you get twice as much for half as much with PC laptops), but finally found my price point - $150. I bought an iBook 500mhz 128mb 10GB with Airport today on eBay. The failure rates for these bad boys are over 50% (motherboard) but I still jumped based on the price. It's a good opportunity to learn the Mac OS X (10.3 to be exact) for a small price.

I did a quick youtube search on the iBook, and found a great video of Steve Jobs introducing it in 2001 - his presentation style is the exact same as today. Another great hit is the iPod Nano introduction (listen to everyone oooohhh and ahhhhh when he takes it out of his pocket). And then of course, there is the recent MacBook Air intro...

Stuff Christians Like

I am a big fan of #17 - just because it melds the personal commentary "meth dealer, money laundering" with the stellar photo of LL Cool J telling us to keep our prayer requests on the DL...

iPhone 3G

You've heard me talk and talk and talk about the iPhone, and let me tell you that the new iPhone is going to take over the world. $199 + new software + ultra-fast = the best mobile device hands down. The new software is effectively a shot across RIM's bow (maker of BlackBerry) saying that Apple is going after the corporate world, and any developer that wants to help can join in for near zero or even free.

You know it is unstoppable when even the naysayers can only cite 2 issues, both of which could be solved with a 5 minute software update - 1) It's only on AT&T, 2) iTunes store is only available over WiFi, not cellular "3G" signal

You know that it is unstoppable when Apple has been in the cell phone business for less than one year, and the biggest and baddest cell phone makers (Samsung, HTC, Nokia) constantly tout their new phones as "iPhone Killers"....in market cap, that's like Lexus saying their newest model is a Kia killer...well done international conglomerates...

You know it is unstoppable when their model for adding features is now left in the hands of anyone, anywhere to meet any need- the possibilities are endless, endless possibilities...

All that being said, here is a reality check on the cost of ownership compared to other "similar" models.

DealNews

Last week Ty and I were discussing just how wonderful DealNews.com is. Naturally, it let's you know if there are any deals in the news. Which is great and all, but the best part is that it keeps a history of deals, so if you are about to make a purchase, you can do some real quick comparison shopping and get educated. I'm a big fan of the laptops....

Some of my favorite recent deals:

$799 - Panasonic 42" HDTV Plasma (best plasma on the market at any price, not just my opinion)

$399 - The $400, all you need laptop from Dell

And of course, the Amazon list

Learning Golf

Well, over the past year I have been learning how to golf. Giving up my putt-putt ways, I am now a complete sellout. Dress pants, shoes, shirts, gloves, you name it. Learning how to golf is like having your first baby - well maybe not in every way, specifically one way, no make that two ways, either way they are similar. When you tell someone you are learning to golf or that you are having your first child, they invariably have some great advice that you must use immediately. So after 12 months on people getting in my head about my golf swing, I finally took it back to the basics...on youtube. Here's the video that has given me some hope...



AND here's a video of how I used to be (a well done video I might add...)


AND if you ever feel that you'll never learn golf, and your swing is just too bad, there's always Charles Barkley:




Last week, Dan Patrick asked Charles, "Don't they make medicine for that type of thing?"...

It's droppin Monday

Rumor is the new iPhone drops Monday (you probably know this unless you've been stuck somewhere since January), and I am interested on three fronts:

1) Faster 3G data rate will give a true mobile broadband experience, and make taking a laptop on the road thing of the past...

2) Rumored $199 starting price (with contract) - AT&T is supposedly going to subsidize this version of the iPhone, since they are raking it in on the monthly fees...

3) Apple's stock price - Wallstreet was doom and gloom this past Friday (down 3%), but Apple keeps chugging right along - my hope is that the new iPhone release opens even more eyes to the potential dominance of this device - both for corporate and personal use - and pushes stock to $200+

Salvation for $40 a month

I haven't quite wrapped my brain around this one yet...hopefully I'll have an opinion soon...

Step 1 - Have an idea

Step 2 - Make it into a website

Step 3 - Profit...