Filed under: Computers, eBay, Google, YouTube, E-Mail Addiction

Way back in the day (a whole four years ago) the Internet was primarily a tool of communication — e-mail, message boards, instant messaging. Then somewhere along the way things began to change. Content became king.

A study conducted by Nielsen/NetRatings over the past four years has shown that almost half our Internet lives are now spent devouring content (like this blog). Since 2003, the percent of our online time that we spend watching videos, reading articles, or listening to music and podcasts has climbed from 34 percent to 47 percent. Meanwhile communications activities such as e-mail are on a steady decline, dropping to only 33 percent of our time (down from 46 in 2003).

The other activities that made up the majority of peoples time online were searching (five percent) and commerce (15 percent).

Is the Internet going the way of TV — that is, are we increasingly just sitting back and watching our computer monitors rather than using them to keep in touch with others? This survey seems to point in that direction. What do you think?

From Reuters

Related Links:

• Blackberries and Cell Phones Turning Americans into E-Mail Addicts
• 43% of E-Mail Users Sleep With Their Cell Phones
• New Finding: Teens Hate E-Mail

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Ted Leung is a Senior Engineer at OSAF, and blogs at Ted Leung On The Air

Mimi Yin is a UI Designer at OSAF

(Disclaimer: I work at OSAF on the Web UI for Chandler Server.) This talk centered on the open design process used by OSAF in developing both the Chandler Desktop client, and the Chandler Server Web UI, and how open design differs from open development.

Open design is participatory, but mediated — i.e., decisions are made within the context of community discussion and participation, but with a specific responsible party for decisions to avoid devolving into design-by-committee.

Specific topics included:

• The thought processes of developers versus designers — developers think in terms of features and specs, designers think more holistically.
• How to do design in a distributed, participatory environment — use of tools such as wiki and mailing list.
• How to judge the relative merits of design proposals based on specific goals, requirements — i.e, use cases.
• Defining the ‘target user.’
• How to build a community of contributors to the design process — what is the equivalent of a ‘commiter’ in the open design process?

The talk concluded by going over next steps for cultivating an open-design community — by making objectives clear, getting people to use the apps and provide feedback, and providing ways for people to experiment with new designs.

Slides are available online here.

This article provided by sitepoint.com.

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Filed under: Cell Phones, Green Tech, iPhone, E-Mail Addiction

If you’re not familiar with AT&T’s billing practices you might be a bit shocked to receive your first iPhone bill. Justine Ezarik was less-than amused when her 300-page bill was delivered in a box.

AT&T makes sure to take note of every single text message, every data transaction, and every phone call and print each on a separate line. That means that every time you hit that Safari web browser button, you’re adding a line to your bill. Every time to receive or send a TXT message, you’re add a line to your bill. It may not sound like much, but for those of us who live and die by our phone it adds up quickly. A 300-page bill is certainly uncommon, but 50-100 pages is fairly normal for heavy texters and mobile web users. Those of you with an AT&T account — especially iPhone users — may want to consider signing up for electronic billing to save a tree or two.

From Engadget and Tasty Blog Snack

Related links:

• Toddler Dials 911 From Cell Phone 287 Times
• Play Nintendo Games on iPhone
• DIY iPhone Battery Replacement (Proceed at Your Own Risk)

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Filed under: International markets, Earnings reports, Analyst reports, Forecasts, Rants and raves, Google (GOOG), Apple Inc (AAPL), Cisco Systems (CSCO), Time Warner (TWX), Home Depot (HD), China, Indices, Halliburton (HAL), Altria Group (MO), Goldman Sachs Group (GS), Duke Energy (DUK), Dow Chemical (DOW), Top Picks 2007, Valero Energy (VLO), PetroChina Co Ltd ADR (PTR), Huaneng Power Intl ADS (HNP), iPhone, Level 3 Communications (LVLT), Kraft Foods’A’ (KFT), Chasing Value, S and P 500, DJIA, Rite Aid Corp (RAD), Savient Pharmaceuticals (SVNT)

July started off so promising and ended in the dumps. After the DJIA triumphantly closed above 14,000 it beat a hasty retreat scared off by a tumbling housing market, continued worries about sub-prime loans, record highs in oil prices, continued turmoil in Iraq and perhaps a dose of summer vacationitus. In addition, market darlings Apple and Google exited the month with a few unanswered questions. Nothing could be more telling than people speculating about a Dow 15,000…16,000…17,000 the moment it passed the 14,000 mark. And silly guy that I am…thoughts of repeating my 29% 2006 return entered my mind when I reached a 24% IRR earlier. That no longer looks like a possibility although I’m still doing fine - so far.

The month of July started off about stock picking and finished about stock picking as James Cramer of TheStreet.com would support. However, among the good picks were plenty of bad ones and anything remotely associated with housing, and sub-prime loans paid a heavy price by month end. Google maintained its leadership but did take a dive after reporting earnings. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) set so many new highs that it is not news anymore, but then there was news, most of it bad enough to put doubt in investors minds, and the market traded down. Earnings reports still trickle in but nothing major unexpected affected the market. Mergers and acquisitions are showing some signs of slowing, but deals are getting done. This is my seventh follow-up report. For reference, check out my original Dec. 28, 2006 post on this topic.

Although the DJIA has been the market leader among the indices and may indicate that investors are giving large cap stocks their due, it has retreated lately. It also may indicate that the global economy is doing better as a whole than the national economy, creating opportunity for the multi-national corporations.

Summary of Results:

• Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) has made a strong move upward since my last report after starting up in January, being down for a while and back up. The last month has been more erratic but it did finish at $510.00, giving it a very respectable +10.26% gain though seven months of the year holding on to the top spot.
• My picks continued strong in the early part of the month then headed south managing a 5.41% gain through July. Adding the dividend portion of (2.89% x .58) of 1.68% brings the total return to +7.09%. Clearly dividends help and are making a noticeable difference when the returns are modest. Last month PetroChina Co. (NYSE: PTR) continued to hold up but Valero Energy (NYSE:VLO) which stayed my best over all pick did give back over 20% of it’s gain. My other Chinese stock Huaneng Power International ADS (NYSE: HNP)remained a big gainer and slightly contracting from a 29% gain to just over 24%.
• Jim Cramer’s average return on his nine picks was 5.63% after seven months dropping this month because of his optimism about the over all markets and weighting his portfolio accordingly. Adding the dividend portion (.66% x .58) of 0.38% brings Cramer’s gain to +6.01%. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) continued to shine with the release the iPhone on June 29. There does not seem to be much that Apple can do wrong this year. Given new product and software launches and the continuation of current products and programs there is every reason to believe 2007 should be another one for the record books.
• The Indices all gave something back in July, with the DJIA, NASDAQ and S&P shrinking they still pegged gains on average of +4.2.%. Adding its portion of the dividend yield (1.8% x .58) of 1.04% brings it up to a total gain of +5.31% which if matched in the second half of 2007 would be a decent but probably disappointing year. The over all market seems to be losing out this year to the stock pickers.

Note that portional dividends have been added to the results. This is one of the criteria I use in my stock picks and it is having an impact on the results thus far. Only three of Cramer’s picks pay dividends averaging about .66%; the Indices pay a higher average of 1.8%; my picks average still higher at about 2.89%; and Google does not pay a dividend. The flatter the market is this year the more the dividends will be a factor.

Google has not been the brightest star (or stock) this year wavering at times as more speculative stocks do, but it was the best bet last month and is this month as well. I still maintain that Value will beat Growth and ‘indexing over the long run. Google will be the wild card! Two of my picks continue to be mentioned as buyout candidates but the rhetoric has died down considerably; The Dow Chemical Co. (NYSE: DOW) and The Home Depot (NYSE: HD). Home Depot continues to receive the most negative discussion in business circles these days although now the sub-prime loan mess is stealing headline space on a daily basis.

The following are the closing prices as of December 28, 2006 and seven month returns for the seven stocks I recommended plus the addition of Spectra Energy Corp. (NYSE: SE) that was spun out of Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK). Among Cramer’s picks Kraft Foods (NYSE: KFT) which was spun out of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE: MO), is included in the calculations

1. The Dow Chemical Company: $40.02 is UP to 43.48 (+8.65%) 3.54% yield
2. Duke Energy: $33.02 (incl. of Spectra Energry (NYSE: SE)) is Down to 29.82 (-9.69%) 4.31 yield
3. The Home Depot Inc.: $39.73 is Down to $37.17 (-6.44%) 2.31% yield
4. Huaneng Power International ADS: $36 is UP to $44.78 (+24.39%) 3.62% yield
5. PetroChina ADR: $142.12 is Up to 147.26 (+3.6%) 4.5% yield
6. Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX) $22.00 is Down to $19.26 (-12.45%) 1.1% yield
7. Valero Energy: $51.61 is UP to $67.01 (+29.84%) 0.84% yield

The following index comparisons are also from December 28, 2006 :

• Dow Jones Industrial Average: 12,501.52 is Up to 13,211.99 (+5.68%)
• NASDAQ Composite Index: 2,425.57 is Up to 2,546.27 (+4.98%)
• Standard & Poors 500 Index ($INX): 1,424.73 is Up to 1,455.27 (+2.14%)

The Cramer Speculative Stocks for 2007:

1) Level 3 Communications (NASDAQ: LVLT) $5.66 is Down to $5.23 (-7.6%) No dividend
2) Rite Aid (NYSE: RAD) $5.49 is even to $5.51 (+.0036%) No dividend
3) Savient Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: SVNT) $12.01 is Down to $11.84. (-1.42%) No dividend

The Cramer Growth Picks are:
1) New York Stock Exchange Group (NYSE: NYX) $97.51 Down to $77.02 (-21.01%) No dividend
2) Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) $80.87 UP to $131.76 (+62.93%) No dividend
3) Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO) $27.42 Up to $28.91 (+5.43%) No dividend

The Cramer Value Picks are:
1) Altria Group (NYSE: MO) $86.23 UP to $66.47 +(Kraft at .692024 x $32.75 = 22.66) to $89.13 (+3.36%) 4.12% Yield
2) Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE: GS) $200.80 Down to $188.34 (-6.21%) .72% yield
3) Halliburton Co. (NYSE: HAL) $31.26 UP to $36.02 (+15.23%) .97% Yield

The New Powerhouse Google

Wall Street darling Google is being tracked since it is of broad interest to the investing public and internet users alike. Google closed December 28, 2006 at $462.56. After an early rise in January it slid and was trading in a range between $440 to $480 but May was a breakout month and continued strong into June, lifting the trading range considerably and closing the month at $522.70. In July Google hit another all time high of $558.58 however a 3 cent earnings miss followed (based on analysts expectations) knocking the wind our of it’s sails, sending it down about 10%. Since then it has found support at around $500 per share and ending the month at $510.00. for a solid YTD gain of (+10.26%). Google does not pay a dividend.

I will be reporting again during the week following the closing stock prices each month.

Disclosure: I own shares of DUK, HNP, PTR, SE, TWX, and VLO.

Those of you who are new to Bloggingstocks can check out my other stories and read Chasing Value or Serious Money to find more potential opportunities and verify my track record as well, including the stinkers.

Sheldon Liber is the CEO of a small private investment company and the vice president for design and research at an architecture & planning firm. Check out his other posts for BloggingStocks here.

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Filed under: Action & Adventure, Drama, Casting, Deals, Mystery & Suspense, DIY/Filmmaking, Newsstand

In case you haven’t noticed yet, Hollywood has become real interested in adapting comic books and graphic novels — and actors who wouldn’t normally take on this kind of material (um, Edward Burns?) are suddenly racing to acquire the next “hot” property. Personally, I’ve been waiting for Ice Cube to take off his diaper for awhile now; the man hasn’t starred in a film that kicked ass since xXx: State of the Union, and even that wasn’t very spectacular. Prior to that, he starred in the weird motorcycle flick Torque, but in all honesty I have to go all the way back to 1999 (and Three Kings) to find the last enjoyable film starring Ice Cube. Now, hopefully, that’s about to change. Variety reports that Cube’s shingle is circling a big-screen adaptation of the graphic novel 10, by Shannon Eric Denton and Keith Giffen. Gustin Nash and Jesse Cale have already adapted 10 for Dimension, and Cube would come onboard (most likely) as a producer and the film’s star.

I’m already jazzed about this project, because the story has tons and tons of potential. How’s this for a set up: Some guy receives a piece of junk mail informing him that he’s in a competition with nine other people, and the last person left alive wins. At first he thinks it’s bogus (my neurotic ass would be at the police precinct in 10 seconds), but when some dude with an ax shows up at his door, the game is officially on. I haven’t read the graphic novel, although part of me wants to pick that sucker up, like, today. Writer Gustin Nash was also the guy hired to adapt one of my favorite books of all time — Youth in Revolt. And if he can make that book work on the big screen (trust me, if you’ve read it, you’ll know that’s no small task), then I have very good feelings about 10. What about you?

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Madhur Bhandarkar had been out of news for quite some time now. But he made sure that he comes with a bang! After his Traffic Signal flopped badly at the Box Office, Bhandarkar was out of scene preparing for his next introspective film ‘Fashion Show’. As all of his films, Bhandarkar reveals the darker side of the Fashion world in this film. And guess who stars the movie. None other than the former Miss World and the most sought after heroine in Bollywood- Priyanka Chopra! And this time around Bhadarkar makes sure that his film crosses a big budget – a whopping Rs 20 Crore! Let us see what new, apart from gay designers and cut throat competitions, has to be revealed about the fashion world.

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I stumbled upon this very fun project, a toothbrush that can redirect water from a faucet to your lips for easy rinsing.

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Filed under: Vegetables, Television/Film, Food Oddities

Sunday night, a woman who lives in suburban Philadelphia was slicing eggplant for dinner when she discovered something a little unusual in a disc of the nightshade vegetable resting on her cutting board. The seeds inside the eggplant were arranged in a way that seemed to spell out the word “God.” She found the the seemingly divine message in the eggplant comforting and put the slice aside. The rest she fried up, which she and her husband ate for dinner.

My parents once thought that some yam drippings on their stove resembled the word God, but before a picture could be had, it was cleaned up. Messes never last long in my parents’ house, even those that might possibly be a message from the universe.

Have any of you ever had the experience of your food spelling words, religious or otherwise?

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Filed under: Video Games, TV

Video game polls and their results are rarely surprising or, indeed, all that interesting. They usually do things like rate Bowser vs. Dracula to see who’s the coolest villain (Bowser) or ask whether you’d rather marry Samus or Princess Peach (toooootally Samus). But, stats wizards NPD Group has run a surprisingly interesting series of polls that indicate gamers are largely clueless about the non-gaming capabilities of their shiny new consoles. This goes for both Sony and Microsoft fans.

According to the poll, 40% of PlayStation 3 (PS3) owners, for example, said they had no idea their systems could play high-definition Blu-ray movie discs, and fewer than half of those actually had played one. This is surprising, considering most gamers receive one or more high-definition disc titles when they buy their consoles. But there’s more: 50% of PS3 owners didn’t even know their consoles were optimized for HD televisions, compared with an even more staggering 70% of Xbox 360 owners.

So, to ensure that you don’t become part of the shamed majority of these polls, here’s a quick run-down of what these two can do out of the box:

PlayStation 3

• Can:
• Support HD resolutions up to 1080p
• Play Blu-ray movies
• Play SACDs
• Up-convert DVD movies
• Stream media from networked computers
• Play most PlayStation and PS2 games
• Cause brownouts in your neighborhood
• Can’t:
• Play most Windows Media files
• Download videos for rent
• Rumble controllers
• Knock out the fat

Xbox 360

• Can:
• Support HD resolutions up to 1080p
• Up-convert DVD movies
• Stream media from networked computers
• Download movies and TV shows for rent or purchase
• Keep your game room nice and warm
• Can’t:
• Play many non-Windows Media files
• Play many original Xbox games
• Make long-term commitments to HDD-based storage devices

From Slashdot and Evil Avatar

Related Links:

• ‘Halo 3′ Breaks Sales Records - Before it Goes on Sale
• Urinal Game Tests How Drunk You Are
• DIY Nintendo Controller for iPod

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Steve Souders is Chief Performance Yahoo at Yahoo.

Talk focused on optimizing performance of client-side code, which — surprisingly — makes up 80-90% or more of the user wait time.

Steve ran quickly through 13 basic rules for high-performance Web sites:

1. Make Fewer HTTP Requests
2. Use a Content Delivery Network
3. Add an Expires Header
4. Gzip Components
5. Put CSS at the Top
6. Move Scripts to the Bottom
7. Avoid CSS Expressions
8. Make JavaScript and CSS External
9. Reduce DNS Lookups
10. Minify JavaScript
11. Avoid Redirects
12. Remove Duplicate Scripts
13. Configure ETags

Articles on techniques for all these rules are available online at Exceptional Performance on the Yahoo Developer Network.

Steve also introduced the YSlow add-on for Firefox, that integrates with Firebug to analyze your pages according to the 13 rules and help you optimize your pages’ performance.

This article provided by sitepoint.com.

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