Google Play! Investing in Digital Distribution
I was surprised to see the new Google Play feature at the top of the Google home page this week. I hadn’t heard about a release date. But I knew it would happen eventually, just not this quickly. So why all the fuss? Well, it’s definitely a new place to shop for all things digital, but it may offer an interesting investment opportunity.
Google Play is the new competitor on the block in the digital distribution service offering music, movies, books and apps. With its introduction, Android App Market, Google Music and Google eBook store will be merged into a one stop shop for all things digital.
You can store it all on the cloud, making it easier to use across multiple devices. That means you can reach anything and everything from your desktop, laptop, smart phone and tablet.
Digital Shopping
Buying things online is nothing new. But the transformation to digital is still new. The four big players in the space are Amazon, Apple through iTunes, Netflix and now Google. What sets Google Play apart?. Read more…
Best Stocks For A Cashless Society
The push to a cashless society has been slowly ongoing since the first credit card was introduced decades ago. It wasn’t until recently that technology has caught up with the possibility. Whether the move towards reality continues will be more about acceptance and security than anything else. With computers becoming smaller, faster and the world continuing on its wireless path, it’s almost inevitable.
We already have little to no need for ATMs, and I’ve only used a bank teller once in the past three years. We have direct deposit and can scan or take a picture of a check with our phones to make deposits too. Debit cards are accepted everywhere and we can transfer money and pay bills with the touch of a button.
With the potential of mobile to deliver the missing link, we can see paper money heading the way of the dodo. Read more…
The Idiot Proof Portfolio
Investing can be complicated and sometimes you just want to simplify your investing in a way that still gets you a good return while protecting you at the same time. The Idiot Proof Portfolio is a simple low-cost, low maintenance, easy to understand approach to investing. What you eventually decide to do is up to you, but sometimes keeping things simple is the best route for long-term investing.
The fact is most people don’t need a complicated investment strategy. They either don’t have the capital, the know how, or time to make it worth while and they never will. Yet we continue to take on unnecessary investments because someone, somewhere stated that is how it’s done. The arguments usually contain terms like diversification, risk aversion, and cost control all things you’ll get with the Idiot Proof Portfolio.
What the Idiot Proof Portfolio provides is an easier way to understand, manage and invest your money. It’s not sexy or exciting. But it leads to low costs, simplified taxes, less paperwork, easier rebalancing, and just spending less time hassling over your investments. It won’t break any records but it will protect you in down markets and reward you in up markets, as long as you stick to it. Most importantly you’ll know why.
The Idiot Proof Portfolio
The portfolio has a goal of easy maintenance, low-cost, risk control and diversification. Read more…
Long Term Profits From Cyber Attacks
It seems that hacking data networks has become the new fad recently. With companies like Google, Sony, Nintendo, Lockheed Martin and most recently Citibank, it appears that, with the exception of Lockheed Martin, the attackers are going after customer data. All this coming at a time when the internet is experiencing an evolution to a wireless, mobile (or cloud) network.
It’s a potential one step forward, two steps back moment and companies will need to start spending on their security in order to keep customer confidence up. Especially when most people, myself included, don’t really understand the how, where and why these cyber attacks are possible.
The Corporate Perspective
Big business has been turning to the “cloud” to do business and maintain their data. If you haven’t heard of the “cloud” yet, it’s a broad term covering the evolution of the internet that allows corporations to store data, applications, programs, etc., on a virtual server. It allows both big and small businesses to have the use of all the new technology, without the cost of buying the new hardware.
Corporate spending will continue to be the bulk of the revenues for security companies. The more businesses that turn to the “cloud”, the more security that is required to protect those companies. With the latest cyber attacks hitting some major corporations, the spending will only increase to protect brand names, and keep them out of the headlines. Combine that with the fact that the “cloud” is still at the early stages of it’s life cycle, the technology to secure the “cloud” will continue to evolve. Read more…
