You get a feeling for what’s happening in technology when there is talk that Moore’s Law has reached its end and Apple, an erstwhile creative place, hasn’t introduced a really new product in eons — its last one being the Apple Watch!<\/p>\n
We do have AR (artificial reality), driverless cars (and occasional fatalities) and Pokemon Go.<\/p>\n
Am I nuts? Or simply having a 4:00 AM nightmare? For that’s when I’m writing this.<\/p>\n
Or is it simply that much of our present senior management no longer up to the job? Heck, there on BubbleVision (CNBC) have been a bunch of interviews with with senior managers who give lack of vision a whole new meaning.<\/p>\n
There was the banking fellow who argued that the big banks kept their branches because they were important for a maintaining a “relationship” with their customers. How quaint, I thought. No one at my local branch knows my name. I only visit it to get cash. I’d get cash out of the local ATM machine, but the air conditioning is better inside the bank. And they have inside free parking for my bicycle.<\/p>\n
There’s Walmart spending $3 billion on Jet.com (and its management) as a final desperation step before Amazon kills it, though Walmart’s shares are up. \u00a0Anyone really believe Walmart can become Amazon? Heck, I’ve never bought one thing from Walmart.com. Nor from Jet.com. And yet, I buy something from Amazon virtually every second day.<\/p>\n
There was the fellow on CNBC from J.C. Penney which has a new retailing strategy — closing down unprofitable stores and selling home appliances in the remaining ones.He seems to believe his own statistics — that his semi-poor customers visit his stores four times a year to buy uninspiring stuff they don’t need. Have you ever tried to shop at J.C. Penney?<\/p>\n
And then there’s the desperate fellow from Verizon who honestly believes that buying two relic Internet companies — AOL and Yahoo — will create the new magic he’s seeking for his business. Personally, I wish he’d fix his miserable cell phone service in Columbia County, just 100 miles north of New York City. It’s been awful for 30 years. I \u00a0complain regularly — once every ten years.<\/p>\n
My phone has stopped ringing. I used to see four or five shiny new things every week — opportunities to invest in new biotech drugs, in new inventions, in new startups. There’s still new stuff out there. But less of it. And the really good stuff is really few and far between. Or is that my jaundiced perception as an investor who’s lost too much money (and time) in recent years on shiny new things?<\/p>\n
I can see “boom” times for some industries — babies (everyone and their uncle seems to be having them), pet care stuff (more and more families are getting them), defense (look at how much Obama is selling the Saudis to destroy Yemen) and health care (everyone is living longer, even me).<\/p>\n
My son, Michael, and my wife, Susan, are in “disposal mode.” They want a cleaner, smaller, simpler life. That’s not entirely possible for Michael who now has two kids under three. He’s still buying diapers. But Susan is aggressively downsizing. We’re scheduled to see a smaller apartment next Monday. I now run my “business” life with a scanner, a laptop and several flash drives (for backup). I run my investment “business” wherever I am — on a plane, at a coffee shop, in bed, and soon that closet I’ll be confined to, in our new downsized life.<\/p>\n
Thank God for Fujitsu scanners. Scan the K1. Email it to my savvy accountant (who turned me onto Fujitsu scanners) and throw the original paper out.<\/p>\n
Paper is done. I don’t have to read my mail any longer. Everyone uses electronics — from banks to airlines, from Amazon to all those stores in Sweden and Denmark. I am amazed. I just spent a week in those two countries. And I never once touched their money. I didn’t go to an ATM machine to grab a Swedish Krona or a Danish Krone. As I was writing this piece, I actually had to Google the currency they have in Sweden or Denmark? I didn’t know. Wherever I went there, they took my Visa card. \u00a0Even for the smallest transaction costing under (what was probably) $1.<\/p>\n
I read the technology press religiously every day, desperately searching for shiny new things and shiny new companies. I read this morning’s New York Times<\/strong><\/a> that Japan’s exports are down:<\/p>\n TOKYO – Japan’s exports tumbled in July at the fastest pace since the global financial crisis with a resurgent yen and weakness in overseas economies weighing on overseas shipments – leaving the economy and the government more reliant on shaky domestic demand to drive growth.<\/p>\n The 14.0 percent annual decrease in exports in July matched the median estimate in a Reuters poll of economists and was the fastest decline since October 2009.<\/p>\n Japan’s exports have now fallen for 10 consecutive months, the longest losing streak since losses on U.S. subprime mortgages sparked a global financial crisis that almost destroyed the U.S. financial system.<\/p>\n Economists say there is a growing risk that weakness in exports will persist as global economic uncertainty shows little sign of receding, which could undermine Japanese policymakers’ efforts to re-energise the economy.<\/p>\n I can sort of understand why. I drive a 2002 Subaru. My wife drives a 2004 Mercedes. And I use a four-year old ThinkPad Lenovo laptop. The laptop is Chinese and the Subaru made mostly in Indiana — but you get the message. (I do own a newer Subaru out west.)<\/p>\n How does all this affect my “investing horizon”?<\/p>\n For one, it makes me acutely aware of fragility. Things blow up often and quickly. Wall Street is more desperate for hot new things. And far too quick to destroy stocks that disappoint. Look what happened to Hain Celestial. A wonderful company. A super CEO\/founder. And an erstwhile super stock. Then “accounting issues” and down she goes. It’s now a cockroach company. I had sold my HAIN stock recently at $56.90 . I figured it had risen too high, too fast. It closed last night at $37.79.<\/p>\n I have heavy investments in two companies changing the world — Amazon and Facebook. But I long since bailed on Apple, since it’s clearly lost its way. The cash it has is nice, but useless. I do like solar. I want to put it on my roof. But I suspect that if I do, my local electricity company will so jack up its rates to make my solar installation uneconomic — unless I go completely off the grid. Which I can’t until Tesla (or someone) makes a battery that will let me store oodles of\u00a0solar-made\u00a0energy for a shady day. I’m waiting.<\/p>\n I am heavily invested in real estate syndications — apartments for the middle class. Heck, the middle class got to live somewhere. They got to live somewhere \u00a0— even during the next crash (we’re overdue). There’s nothing sweeter than a monthly or quarterly rent check. Oops, I correct myself. There aren’t many checks these days. God bless ACH (direct deposit banking).<\/p>\n The stockmarket is valued aggressively, i.e. it’s high. It’s done really well since March of 2009. That’s seven and a half years. Longer than most booms.<\/p>\n I don’t imagine an early crash. But I can see all those index funds I own ebbing.<\/p>\n Sorry for the depressing thoughts. Maybe I should go back to sleep? It’s now 5:25 AM.<\/p>\n Oh, my aching back.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Son Michael has thrown his back. He visited a doctor, who told him to take ibuprofen three times a day and take it easy. I wrote Michael a “fatherly” email:<\/p>\n The back is the weakest part of the body. It’s meant to perform like a bridge, but isn’t supported like a bridge.<\/p>\n Back problems are caused by three things:<\/p>\n 1. Emotional stress.<\/p>\n 2. Physical stress.<\/p>\n 3, Lack of sleep.<\/p>\n The trigger is often not clear. It might be lifting something heavy — heaving your heavy bag into the overhead bin. And bingo your back goes. It might be putting too much strain on your back two days ago, like doing stupid in the gym.<\/p>\n To my brain, the best long-term cure (it worked for me) is:<\/p>\n A. Regular naps. Crawl under your desk for 20 minutes each day. Learn when you can sleep deepest for the shortest time. After lunch often works.<\/p>\n B. Learn not to put pressure on your back — like when lifting, getting into a car, pushing yourself too hard.<\/p>\n C. Don’t flare up. Don’t get angry. Maybe it’s not significant? Maybe your customer, boss, supplier is acting stupid? Change customers, bosses, suppliers. Stress is not worth it.<\/p>\n D. Don’t eat much. Too much food messes up the body’s weight distribution. Extra weight really puts pressure on the back.<\/p>\n E. Go easy on the gym. In the gym there are pressures on the body which you don’t get in normal life. The body is not prepared for the pressures in the gym. No matter what the trainer says. His “normal” life is the gym. Yours is the office.<\/p>\n F. Avoid doctors. They’re useless. Physio-terrorists, even worst. They want you back every day for eons. X-rays and MRIs are not useful. 99% of back problems cure themselves in six weeks — if you allow them and Don’t Do Stupid.<\/strong><\/p>\n Australian Good news.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n The Queensland Government has stopped a controversial project that uses “death-row dingoes” implanted with time-release poison capsules to kill feral goats on a Great Barrier Reef island.<\/p>\n Environment Minister Dr. Steven Miles said the “misconceived program” posed a threat to native wildlife. Dah!<\/p>\n Citibank is beyond irritating.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n They’re changing my Visa to a MasterCard. No reason given.<\/p>\n The sad part (for me) is that I have oodles of Auto Pay merchants linked to my Citibank Visa.<\/p>\n Good news: If you bitch, they’ll give you 10,000 miles on American Airlines. Nothing else.<\/p>\n The miles are better than a slap in the belly with a cold fish.<\/p>\n \u00a0Wonderful video. <\/strong><\/span>7 Hidden iPhone Camera Features That Every Photographer Should Use.<\/em><\/p>\n Favorite\u00a0tattoo.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n![\"AchingBack\"](\"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/AchingBack.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"IphonePhotos\"](\"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/IphonePhotos.jpg\")
\n<\/a><\/em>The right picture is the default iPhone photo. The left one is done\u00a0y adjusting the camera before you take the photo. For the video with useful tips, click here.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n
![\"Tatoo\"](\"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Tatoo.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"HarryNewton\"](\"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/HarryNewton.jpg\")
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