Filed under: Analyst reports, Google (GOOG), Apple Inc (AAPL), Research in Motion (RIMM), Options, Technical Analysis

CNBC’s Jim Cramer has noticed that when the market has a tough day, mutual fund managers still like to buy certain momentum stocks like Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG), Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), and Research in Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM). They do this to keep these stocks’ prices up which will reflect positive performance for their fund. Cramer thinks these stocks will not go down because the buyers will not quit. He suggests buying calls deep in the money, but we like selling puts instead. This way, your profits are locked in if the stock rises, stays flat, or even drops a little. If you are inclined to agree, then it could be a good time to get into a bullish hedged trade on GOOG.

After hitting a one-year low of $437.00 in March, the stock hit a one-year high of $747.24 in November. GOOG opened this morning at $692.73 and so far has hit a low of $687.50 and a high of $693.00. As of 10:45, GOOG is trading at $691.74, up $7.58 (1.1%). The chart for GOOG looks bullish but deteriorating, while S&P gives the stock a neutral 3 STARS (out of 5) hold rating.

If you agree with Cramer, then for a bullish hedged play on this stock, I would consider a December bull-put credit spread below the $610 range. A bull-put credit spread is an options position that combines the purchase and sale of put options to hedge risk in case the stock doesn’t do what you think but still leverage nice returns. For this particular trade, we will make a 4.2% return in less than 3 weeks as long as GOOG is above $610 at December expiration. Google would have to fall by more than 11% before we would start to lose money.

GOOG hasn’t been below $610 since early October and has shown support around $680 recently. This trade could be risky if the momentum comes out of this stock, but even if that happens, there should still be some support around the $625 level.

Brent Archer is an options analyst and writer at Investors Observer. DISCLOSURE: Mr. Archer owns and/or controls diversified portfolios of long and short stock and option positions that may include holdings in companies he writes about. At publication time, Brent neither owns nor controls positions in GOOG, AAPL or RIMM.

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Filed under: Computers

If you had to pick a single notable word that stands out in your mind from 2007, what would be it? It’s okay, take your time. This probably isn’t the sort of question you ponder on a daily basis — or perhaps ever. But, among dictionary-types, it’s a (mildly) prestigious honor to be nominated word of this year, and this year that honor has been granted to a string of four characters that many would not even consider a word in the first place.

That thing is ‘w00t,’ spelled w-zero-zero-t and pronounced “whoot.” It’s an exclamation of joy that originated in the various realms of offline role-playing games like Dungeons and Dragons, where it originally meant “Wow, loot!” It has since gained use in online RPGs (role-playing games) like ‘World of Warcraft,’ and from there has gone on to conquer the world — at least according to Merriam-Webster, which handled the nomination. The zeros were added in to make it cooler for the kiddies who like numbers that look like letters.

Other, perhaps more stuffy, literary types believe that the nomination is just as bogus as the word itself, but last year’s Colbert-inspired word of the year, “truthiness,” isn’t exactly grammatically correct either. Whether it’s a real word or not we don’t care, but we can’t help but appreciate the amazing rise of a little word that grew from basement D&D play all the way up to common parlance.

The other tech-related term on Merriam-Webster “word of the year” list is “Facebook,” as a verb.

What do you think? Are these kinds of made-up words worthy of word-of-the-year lists by such venerable English-language institutions such as Merriam-Webster?

From wbsctv.com and AOL News

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‘Sex And The City’ star Sarah Jessica Parker has instigated a scornful attack on low-rise denim trousers claiming they are just too provocative.

The four times Golden Globe Award winning actress has admitted that she will never be seen in crotch-skimming jeans.

“(I won’t wear) super low-rise jeans. There is not going to be any inappropriate midriff showing regardless of age,” Contactmusic quoted her, as saying.

She also insisted that wearing the attire is quite uncomfortable for her.

“It’s provocative in a way that I just don’t feel comfortable with,” she added.

The 42-year-old actress will be reprising her role as the fashion savvy Carrie Bradshaw in the forthcoming ‘Sex And The City’ movie.

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Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Gaming

We’ve already seen an oscilloscope turned into a clock, but that hack has nothing on this latest one courtesy of Flickr user Moose2000, who took the old school piece of gear and rigged it to run (what else?) MAME. Even better, Moose chose to use the original Vector-iffic Star Wars arcade game to show it off, which no doubt suits the screen better than something like Street Fighter II. Sadly, there’s no instructions for putting together your own rig (assuming you have a spare oscilloscope lying around, that is), but you can check out this one in action in the video after the break.

[Via Gadget Lab]

Continue reading Oscilloscope turned into Star Wars-playing MAME machine

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

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Filed under: Videos and Screenshots

Namco Bandai is bringing its JRPG, Eternal Sonata to the PS3 next year. Originally an Xbox 360 exclusive, the PS3 version adds a number of enhancements to the experience, with new characters and a fleshed out storyline. (Those that played the 360 original knows that the story needed to be slightly more developed.) Hopefully, by releasing on the PS3, Eternal Sonata will actually … y’know, get played by an audience that actually appreciates this genre.

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Seven months into wedlock, Aishwarya recommends everybody to get married.
“It’s very difficult to articulate, put it down in just a few sentences because it’s obviously a very, very wonderful and joyous phase and I strongly recommend it,” she said when asked about her feelings of being a married woman.
“Well, it’s a beautiful chapter in my […]

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Filed under: Action, Fandom, Movie Marketing, Remakes and Sequels, Images, Posters

A brand new poster for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull has arrived online (click on the image for a larger version), and for the first time we catch a glimpse of a poster that definitely brings us back to the look and feel of the first three films. There’s Indy (Harrison Ford) in his classic outfit with fedora hat and whip in hand, standing in front of a burning skull that looks pretty damn evil. Underneath you get the film’s title in classic Indy font, as well as the release date: May 22. A little older, wiser, this time around Indiana Jones is on the hunt for a mysterious crystal skull, which, when in ones possession, creates great powers. He’ll be reuniting with his old Raiders flame, Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen), as well as getting to know his son, as played by Shia LaBeouf. Ray Winstone and Jim Broadbent will show up playing a fellow archaeologist and fellow professor, respectively, while Cate Blanchett is said to be playing an evil Russian. Additionally, John Hurt will be playing the long-lost (and thought-to-be-dead) Abner Ravenwood. So, does this poster pump you up … or not so much?

[via IndianaJones.com]

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Filed under: Cellphones

NTT DoCoMo is launching a new mobile phone / bracelet combo aimed at helping youngsters stay safe on the mean streets of Japan. The two-part system combines the FOMA F801i phone, which adds safety features like a 100-decibel alarm, high intensity flashing LEDs, and the ability to automatically notify family in the event of an emergency, and a bracelet remote control which communicates with the device. The phone can be set to provide its location to registered parties, and will turn itself on if it has been switched off. Coupled with the phone is the “amulet style” bracelet, which can be used to locate a misplaced phone, lock the handset, or send a message to another phone (if the device and bracelet are out of range for over five minutes). We suspect that for worried and / or nosey parents, this is a dream come true.

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

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Filed under: Cellphones

There appears to be some speculation floating around that Dell is about to cannonball itself into the mobile pool, big time. According to whispered rumors from dark hallways (AKA Forbes), the company is putting together a smartphone / multimedia device which might be rearing its head sometime early in 2008. The device — being developed with the help of Taiwanese company Quanta — will sport video and audio playback, as well as internet functionality. The rumors are strengthened by the company’s addition of former Motorola cell phone executive vice president Ron Garriques, and with the dropping of its PDA and DAP products, there’s certainly a gaping void left open for a new device. Of course, it also doesn’t hurt that Dell’s recent acquisition of Zing and trademarking of the “Zingspot” moniker suggests the company is getting into content distribution — perfect for a shiny new convergence device. Only time will tell if the PC powerhouse can get into the very-crowded smartphone game, too.

[Via InformationWeek]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

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Filed under: Cellphones, Misc. Gadgets

In the slow crawl of news leading up to our annual CES blowout, we bring you this, the Nokia Eco Sensor concept device. The device consists of two parts: a wearable mobile phone (duh, it’s Nokia) with giant display and a remote sensing unit which keeps tabs on your health and external environment. Nokia research envisions that the sensor unit would be worn on a wrist or neck strap made of solar cells. It would then communicate back to your phone via near field communications (NFC) or RFID. What you monitor (i.e., the sensors you get) will be customizable based on user preference. You know, like the burn from your jetpack and rate of your daily food replication. Thanks for the look into the future Nokia, now get back to your S60 development please, time’s a’wastin’.

[Via Unwired View]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

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