Watch this. Then you’ll know.
Apple stock is falling
Here’s the last month compared to the Dow and The S&P 500.
Apple has done miserably. It’s the bottom blue line.
Sales in China are dropping. Three analysts have a “sell” on it.
Apple doesn’t turn me on any more:
+ I bought the new series 10 Apple Watch and sent it back. It had no blood oxygen monitor. Patent problems. My older series 9 Apple Watch has the blood oxygen monitor and works fine.
+ I bought the new hearing aid AirPods and sent them back. Their life as hearing aids is too short. You need to wear hearing aids for far longer than a podcast or a phone call. Hearing aids are for a full day. I still love my $200 EarCentrics, which are currently on sale for a bargain $169. Click here.
+ I just bought the iPhone 16 Pro. I have kept it. But I can’t find any benefits with it. I can find a lot of stuff to hate. It’s too easy to turn off the ringer. I can’t figure Apple Intelligence. Maybe it works. Maybe it doesn’t. Nobody knows.
Here are two Apple Intelligence screens I found on my new iPhone 16 Pro.
This morning, I got a note: “Apple has paused AI-powered notification summaries for news apps in the iOS 18 beta, following complaints and reports of inaccuracies.”
If you’re stupid enough to upgrade to the iPhone 16, make sure you have the latest IOS on your old phone. I wasted six hours before, in desperation, I called Apple Support and they told me to upgrade to the new IOS. As though I should have known!
The new iPhone 16, which I had in my hot little hand, came with no instructions for moving from my old iPhone to my new iPhone 16. Wasted six hours. Thank you Apple.
I’m told the new iPhone 16 Pro has a better camera, and maybe a longer battery life. I was perfectly happy with my old iPhone 13 Pro Max. I bought the new phone thinking new was better.
I was wrong!
With Apple, new isn’t better. In fact, it can be worse — viz, the new Apple Watch.
There is one — and only one reason to buy an Apple Watch — if you fall, it will ring your children and 911. Get the Series 9. It’s cheaper. Get it for your grandparents and your parents. Anyone between 60 and death.
I’m trimming some of my Apple stock, though it’s up today.
Why?
Nobody knows.
I almost got hit by a clever gift card scam
The voice mail’s transcript read:
“Hi, this is Comcast Xfinity. This is your final notice regarding your 50% discount offer on your monthly bill which expires today to prevent your rate from increasing. Call back now on the number on your caller ID.”
This is total BS nonsense. But I fell for it and called them.
To get the 50% monthly discount I had to go to Target (the department store) and buy $800 of Target gift cards and call those gift card numbers into a “special” phone number.
The scam was well done.
There were gaping holes in the story. For one, he didn’t know my Xfinity account number or how much I was paying a month, etc. etc.
He was persuasive. he said Target was running a promotion with Xfinity, an Internet provider.
Scams are getting better and better.
There are the “unpaid” bills from PayPal, Norton, Best Buy and zillions of others. They flow into my email inbox every day.
I’m guessing the scams work. Otherwise, why keep doing them?
How to solve Palestine — give them Greenland
Turn the volume on the button is in the bottom right.
This is Instagram video is priceless. Click here
I’m looking at BDCs to invest in
Business Development Companies lend money to businesses. Why they exist when we have banks, nobody knows.
But there’s a helluva lot of them. I mean a helluva lot. (I didn’t know how many. Nobody knows.).
I now own three: ARCC (yield 8.35%), GBDC (11.6%) and BIZD (an etf with a yield of 10.7%). You can find more here.
I have no idea how safe these things are. I’m in research mode.
How to protect your home against fire
+ I now have now six fire extinguishers. When your linen closet catches on fire — as mine did — these things are useful.
+ I’ve cleared all the brush away from outside and around my house.
+ My friend bought a Honda generator, a thing called a trash pump and 200 feet of two inch hose. He’ll wet his house down long before the fire department gets there. He’ll use the water in his pool. Google “trash pump.” There are millions of them. Here’s one:
Click here.
+ This Spring I’m digging a big hole at the bottom of my hill in front of my house and buying water to fill it. We are in Columbia County, New York State. That’s a long way from California. Last summer was had a bush fire fewer than two miles from our house.
Some homes are insured for $x, which is much less than replacement.
Other homes are insured for replacement cost. It all depends on your insurance company. Check.
This is wonderfully tasteless.
Monday is Trump’s inauguration. My friends are freaking out.
Personally, I accept the reality that things will be different, and perhaps a little more business friendly.
Biden just limited Nvidia chip sales to Israel.
Israel?
Six planets will align on January 21, the day after the Inauguration.
You can read about it here. Or listen to Trump’s Inauguration speech in which he will take credit.
Got to get back to hitting backhands down the line.
See you soon — Harry Newton
