Harry Newton's In Search of The Perfect Investment
Newton's In Search Of The Perfect Investment. Technology Investor.
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8:30 AM Tuesday, September 20, 2005:
Nice and short this morning:
Today we await the Fed: I suspect it will
be rate hike eleven. Another quarter of one percent. I believe that will herald
the beginning of the end of real estate mania. Cramer believes real estate money
will flow to stockmarkets and make a boom there. I'm dubious.
The
new tech boom is definitely here:
I visited a big computer/electronics store yesterday. Only one Apple
nano in stock -- a 2 gig white model. The big sellers are the 4 gig models --
black and white. They sell out the moment they arrive. Big LCD, plasma and DLP
TVs and monitors are flying off the shelves. Good for Texas Instruments
which makes DLP. Broadband is exploding. That should help Conexant, languishing
at $1.63 -- a Cramer pick. Ditto for new camera-equipped cellphones and Blackberries.
Yesterday I bought
three Viewsonic VX924 Silver/Black 19" LCD monitors. These are new
monitors with improved specs. The model they replaced -- the VP912B -- was about
$100 more expensive. To buy the $409 VX924, click
here. I also bought a Moview triple LCD monitor stand on which
to mount my three new monitors:

For more on this neat $255.60 gadget, click
here.
Ask
and ye shall receive. By
simply asking for a price reduction, I figure you have an 80%+ chance
of getting something off. I've saved something -- as much as 10% -- off recent
items I've bought. And this was after searching for the lowest cost supplier.
In short, even the lowest cost supplier will cut his prices or his shipping
charges for your business.
TV-B-Gone, the gadget of choice: Put
this $12.99 universal-TV-turnoff-remote on your key chain. Aim it at offending
TVs -- like those in gyms, airports, coffee shops, restaurants -- and bingo,
it turns them off.
To buy this socially irresponsible gadget,
click
here.
Commodities
are a useful asset class: I'm mulling an investment
in commodities fund. I spent lunch yesterday listening to persuasive presentation.
Points:
+ Commodities rise or fall differently to the stockmarket and to bonds. Hence,
they make a good balancing item in a portfolio.
+ You don't have to be Einstein to guess what might happen to commodity prices
in coming years as China and India develop. Figure one cup of coffee per Indian
and per Chinese per day.... you get the message.
More
about my commodities fund tomorrow.
HBO's Rome: I'm addicted to the HBO Rome mini-series.
My wife, Susan, says it's trash and I have no taste. She's right on both counts.
But I still enjoy watching it.
How love poetry is created:
The National Poetry Contest had come down to the final two contestants,
a Yale graduate and a redneck from Texas. They were given a word, then they
were allowed two minutes to study the word and come up with a poem that contained
the word. The word that they were given was "Timbuktu" and it had
to end their poem.
First to recite
his poem was the Yale graduate. He stepped to the microphone and said:
Slowly across the desert sand
Trekked a lonely caravan;
Men on camels, two by two
Destination Timbuktu.
The crowd went
crazy! No way could the redneck top that, they thought. The redneck calmly made
his way to the microphone and recited:
Me and Tim a huntin' went.
Met three women in a pop up tent.
They was three, and we was two,
So I bucked one, and Timbuktu.
The redneck won
hands down!!!!
Recent
column highlights:
+ Blackstone private equity funds. Click
here.
+ Manhattan Pharmaceuticals: Click
here.
+ NovaDel Biosciences appeals. Click
here.
+ Hana Biosciences appeals. Click
here.
+ All turned on by biotech. Click
here.
+ Steve Jobs Commencement Address. The text is available:
Click here. The full audio is available. Click
here.
+ The March of the Penguins, an exquisite movie. Click
here.
+ When to sell your stocks. Click
here.

Harry Newton
This column is about my personal search for the perfect
investment. I don't give investment advice. For that you have to be registered
with regulatory authorities, which I am not. I am a reporter and an investor.
I make my daily column -- Monday through Friday -- freely available for three
reasons: Writing is good for sorting things out in my brain. Second, the column
is research for a book I'm writing called "In Search of the Perfect
Investment." Third, I encourage my readers to send me their ideas,
concerns and experiences. That way we can all learn together. My email address
is . You can't
click on my email address. You have to re-type it . This protects me from software
scanning the Internet for email addresses to spam. I have no role in choosing
the Google ads. Thus I cannot endorse any, though some look mighty interesting.
If you click on a link, Google may send me money. That money will help pay Claire's
law school tuition. Read more about Google AdSense, click
here and here.
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