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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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