Is a recession good or bad for Apple



Apple is scheduled to release an earnings report today, and the general feeling tends to be that they will have a good quarter. In the wake of the financial crisis, their stocks are down considerably at the moment, the inference in this is that the growth potential of Apple is lower. As with most things stock market though, emotion has a lot to do with this. As of Monday close Apple was sitting at just under $100 per share which is less than half it’s $203 peak. At this new level Apples price per earnings ratio is still almost 20 (which is moderately high).

Realistically Apples share price probably had little to do with real growth prospects for Apple. Apple is known for having a premium price point in the market though, and will this hamper its potential to maintain its market? I am not sure that it will. The last downturn was due to the Internet bubble and saw larger than normal numbers of IT workers out of work. Before this downturn though, the IT sector was actually in a pretty good state and even in the entrepreneurial areas there is very little bloat. There is very little chance that there are going to be many IT professionals out of work. As this demographic is a large part of the Apple purchasers it may not hit Apple to hard.

I am also seeing some anecdotal evidence from my friends in the IT industry is that Apple is starting to make its way into corporate environments in a limited way. While large corporates are not adding Apple into their SOE, with the iPhone and good looking laptops that can run corporate Windows images, the executive jewelry market is running hot with Apple now. Regardless of how tight belts get in companies, the VP’s will still get the laptops they want.

In the end there is a good chance that Apple, and many other IT companies won’t feel much from this downturn


GNC-2008-10-21 #418 Lots of Podcast Stuff



Lot’s of Podcast Stuff to share at the beginning of the show. Huge Thank You to all of the Podcast Award reviewers from the show. I would not have been able to do it without all of you!

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Show Notes:
5 Secrets about DirectTV
40 Gmail Hints
Yahoo to let 3000 Go!
Saturn by Cassini
More Doom and Gloom
Astronauts DIY Concrete on Moon
Gut Bacteria and Weight Control
Inspiration at 10:04PM?
More UFO Files Released
Second Power Peak
Comcast Cranks up the Speed!
Bloglines Band-Aid plus For Sale
ScreenToaster
Glitch with Hubble
MPAA calls out EFF
Apple and Psystar go Mediation Route
Mars Sky Crane
France President Bank Cyber Attack
Case why ISP do not need to be Copyright Cops
More Gmail Outages
The Sun (Not to be Missed)

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Podfade



Update Written by Contributing Editor

Why do so many podcasts just end after a while or experience “podfade”? Obviously it takes time to do podcasting so since time is scarce in our culture you can only do so much in the 168 hours you have each week. I imagine the reason people start a podcast is they want to make money, they have always wanted to be in “talk radio”, or they are truly passionate about the subject they are discussing. Making money at podcasting is not easy or immediate so that ends the dreams of most. It can be done but you better hold that day job …… for a while. Secondly people just don’t realize how much time it takes to do a regular podcast. They think you can just fire up the microphone, start jabbering, and hit upload. They don’t think about show prep and getting their facts straight so they don’t come off like a moron. They also find it hard to have a quiet time to do a show when the family is not going to be heard in the background. They try to keep it up but fall behind on doing their show, eventually giving up.

I speak from experience as I did one for a while but podfade hit & it was over. I did it on a subject I really love, sports, but was still unable to keep it going. Part of that is from my not being organized enough at the time but I am turning that around currently. I am trying to work out a “zero based time budget”(Dan Miller idea) to keep me focused on important stuff. That led to always feeling the pressure to do a show because I wanted it to be on schedule. Like Todd says, if you are not uploading a show on time on a regular schedule your listeners will leave. I have started podcasting again but on a different subject in hopes of creating an extra income connected to my small business which I am passionate about and enjoy. Another thing I am doing is creating the show early to have in the can to upload on the scheduled day. I am not waiting to do the recording on the night I need to upload since things can come up with the family that needs my attention. I like this way better plus it is a show that does not have up to the second industry news so recording a day early is fine. I think this show will have a long life but I know I have to make it a priority or podfade will attack me again!


Managing My MicroBloggers



I am on Twitter. I am on Pownce. Plurk, FriendFeed, Jaiku, identi.ca and a whole host more. I usually go through Ping.fm to post to them. Friendfeed likes to pick up the other feeds and repost.

The problem is if I Ping.fm “I’m writing a GNC article”, FriendFeed will post it 4-5 times. That makes me a FriendFeed Spammer. I don’t want that, for I want people to know who I am and what I do.

I quickly made some adjustments. First, I went to FriendFeed and pulled the queries from almost all but Twitter. Twitter is my focal point so it makes the most sense. I also left up Plurk because I wanted replies to be seen.

I then went to Ping.fm and turned off the FriendFeed post. I figure if it gets the post from Twitter, why should you get it from FriendFeed, too?

The end result is FriendFeed is only posting “I’m writing a GNC article” once. I did email FriendFeed a while back to suggest a way to merge the exact same mblogs – it would then show the places it came from but it would only be one post.

While no action came from that, I have a feeling they will eventually have to address the issue. The more people start cross Micro-Blog, the more we’ll see Friendfeed turn into a mess. At least I’m trying to keep my little part clean…


How Print Newspapers Can Survive



If newspapers are going to beat the odds and continue to exist they must keep evolving. Some have learned their lesson as evidenced by even small town papers having decent websites. They cannot stand still though as the internet is not static. If they try to keep their online edition of the paper the same for years they will keep losing their backsides. They need to keep up with the online space by melding into it. The success of prominent bloggers is partially due to old media, without which bloggers don’t have much to talk about. That will change as well because old media & new media will take parts of each other’s qualities in order to profit. Some online sites have their own insiders to get news tips so they don’t need to read mainstream newspapers or watch the talking heads on TV to get their information.

Podcasts, blogs, & online video are essential to newspapers surviving. If smaller papers don’t have the people or ability to do video or podcasts they better hire the people who can provide help. If not they are still just something to read. If you haven’t noticed there are a ton of people who simply hate reading, which is terrible, but nonetheless, a fact. Many folks would rather just watch a video or listen to a podcast with the same info as what they would have to read. Our small town paper is moving in the right direction but still has no video or podcasts. They have added rss feeds & the ability to comment on some articles which should have been done a long time ago. All they needed to do was hire the right person to point them in the right direction. But when you get set in your ways it is hard to turn around the ship. Another local news website is using more media formats and even had video available from the local presidential rallies in town. I don’t think they even have a print edition as they tend to have a relationship with the local radio station and may even be owned by the same company. It will be interesting to see which one flourishes especially with the slowdown in the economy.


The Future of Buckypaper



I may have reported on this before several months back, I’m not sure, but there have been some new advances in the potential manufacturing process for buckypaper.

Silly name for a product, but it has great potential for the future of planes, automobiles, and possibly even home construction. Buckypaper is 10 times lighter, but as much as 500 times stronger than steel. It is a composite product, but unlike other composites, it can conduct electricity like copper or silicon and disperses heat like steel or brass. It’s potential is unlimited, but only if the manufacture of it can be developed so that it is cost-effective and less time-intensive.

Buckypaper looks like ordinary carbon paper, but is actually created from tube-shaped carbon molecules 50,000 times thinner than a human hair. Because of its construction and conductivity, it can be used to lighten automobiles and airplanes, replace some functional components of computers and televisions, and even be used in the development of lower-cost solar options.

Researchers at Florida’s Rice University are working on revolutionary manufacturing techniques that may make the production of buckypaper much more cost-effective, as well as being less time-intensive. This new research is a major breakthrough on a project that has been taking shape over the last 15 years.

And if the name sounds funny, those that are science geeks like me will know right away that Buckminster Fuller had something to do with this. The discovery of “buckyballs” [buckminsterfullerene], soccer-ball-shaped molecules produced during an experiment with carbon, led to the development of buckypaper. Ah, the visionary and futurist Buckminster Fuller. He lives on!