Welcome to the end of the week and another edition of Happy Hour! Just sit back, relax, and enjoy your end of the week roundup of all things interesting in the land of money.
Fall of The PC?
The Death of the PC has reached dramatic proportions. It’s not that the PC is dead, the tablets (and too a lesser degree smartphones) are what the average consumer wanted all along. It just took awhile to shrink the parts.
Years ago, I’m talking around 1996, the PC was an overpriced, overpowered word processor for most people. Parents could bring work home, kids could write reports, play a few games, but that was it.
It wasn’t until the internet became too accessible that the PC became an internet browser that did a lot other things too. Only the average consumer didn’t care. In reality they only wanted a device to get them online and read their email.
In essence they bought a swiss army knife for the plastic toothpick. That’s it.
Instead of dialing it down, companies like Dell and HP offered low-end PCs to cater to those needs. Only low-end was still more product than necessary.
The industry has always been at the mercy of the parts inside. Products are limited by memory and chip technology. Eventually, costs drop low enough, chips get small enough and powerful enough to offer a solution. And we’re seeing the effects of that.
The consumers are finally getting their email and internet device. This shouldn’t be a surprise. Technology takes time to advance. When it does, it opens up new opportunities that need to be developed further. So we wait, again, until tech provides that ability. If your foresight is good enough, big money can be made getting in ahead of the next cycle.
Emotional Index
CNN Money is trying to measure investor emotion. The Fear & Greed Index is built around seven indicators: price strength, momentum, price breadth, junk bond demand, put and call volumes, safety demand, and volatility. It currently shows extreme greed. That said, I have no idea if it’s accurate or even useful. I just thought it was interesting.
Last Call
- On the Dangers of Fighting the Last Investment War – a great reminder that you should plan ahead with your investments. And avoidance is a strategy.
- Mr. Market versus Mr. Buffett – I’ve never seen a stock broken down this way, but it offers insight on how a long-term value investor looks at a stock.
- 10 Business Lessons from the Beatles – I’m a Beatles fan and it’s a great read.