Continue reading Google argues that it isn't really that big after all

Google argues that it isn't really that big after all originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 30 Jun 2009 16:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) is developing a pocket-sized electronic device to be used for connecting to the internet. The "gadget" would use Google's (NASDAQ: GOOG) Android software. Reportedly, the device will be slightly larger than Apple's (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPod touch, and Dell may start selling the device later this year. That said, the story's source noted that the plan could be delayed or scrapped entirely.

The importance of this potential device should not be lost, as it is one of the first experiments by a major PC maker in the world of mobile internet devices (MID). These devices are seen as bridges over the gap between smartphones and laptops.

Continue reading Dell developing a pocket Web pal?

Dell developing a pocket Web pal? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 30 Jun 2009 09:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Normally we think of revolutionary products created by start-ups or entrepreneurial minds just out of college, but the most talked about new projects of 2009 are being produced by some of the best known companies in the world.

Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN): With its massive online presence and a truly efficient business model, Amazon has become the largest online retailer in the world. It is now taking on a new business, web services, namely cloud computing (learn more HERE), called the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2). While hosting this infrastructure and presenting e-commerce with a reasonably affordable alternative with no up-front costs, Amazon has taken an early lead in this space, with some believing its cloud computing business will one day overtake retailing. "Amazon will be like a book store that sells cocaine out the back door. Books will be just a front to sell storage and cloud computing." says Larry Dignan, Editor in Chief of ZDNet and Editorial Director of ZDNet sister site TechRepublic.

Continue reading Five blue-chip stocks with revolutionary new products

Five blue-chip stocks with revolutionary new products originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 29 Jun 2009 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Yodle helps companies drum up new business by managing online advertising campaigns, such as through Google (NASDAQ: GOOG), Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO), and other ad networks.

And Yodle has continued to grow despite the recession. In fact, the company has attracted venture capital from top firms like Bessemer Venture Partners, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, and JAFCO Ventures.

How does Yodle do it? One reason is referrals. Actually, about a third of Yodle's revenues come from referrals. In all, the company pays $200 for each new customer.

Continue reading Entrepreneur's Journal: Gain new business ... with referrals

Entrepreneur's Journal: Gain new business ... with referrals originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 28 Jun 2009 17:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Palm (NADAQ: PALM) closed at $13.94. PALM is scheduled to report Q4 EPS after the market close. July option implied volatility is at 95 below a level of 112 from June 23. PALM August volatility is at 93; versus its six-month average of 94, according to Track Data, suggesting non-directional price movement into EPS.

Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) closed at $409.30. GOOG is expected to report Q2 EPS in mid July. It has been speculated GOOG may be close to launching Google Voice, a service that lets users link all of their phones to a single number. July option implied volatility is at 39, September and December is at 34; below its 26-week average of 44, according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing price movement.

Option Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com.

Options Update: Palm July volatility decreases to 95 into EPS and Pre outlook originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 25 Jun 2009 08:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading The bloodbath at MySpace continues

The bloodbath at MySpace continues originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 23 Jun 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Chasing Value: Microsoft, Microsoft and more Microsoft

Chasing Value: Microsoft, Microsoft and more Microsoft originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 22 Jun 2009 14:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Closing Bell: stocks mixed on overseas news, minimal domestic headlines (AAPL, BIDU, GOOG, ETFC, MSFT, RIMM)

Closing Bell: stocks mixed on overseas news, minimal domestic headlines (AAPL, BIDU, GOOG, ETFC, MSFT, RIMM) originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 19 Jun 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Cloud computing is a type of on-demand hosting services on the internet. Not only a necessity for mainstream e-commerce sites, it also increases efficiency, is scalable, and lowers expenses. The monetary savings may be misleading to consumers and businesses who do not fully understand the potential risks involved.

With a pay-as-you-go type structure, users are only charged for the amount of traffic, bandwidth, and memory used. Online businesses become more efficient by only utilizing the storage and space needed, while also being assured capacity for any usage increases. The buzz has been building for years, so cloud computing has attracted a diverse customer base, ranging from popular social networks such as Twitter and Facebook, to educational websites of Arizona State and Northwestern University.

Continue reading Cloud computing: Advantages and disadvantage

Cloud computing: Advantages and disadvantage originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 18 Jun 2009 15:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The father of the PDF document, Adobe Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: ADBE), is starting to push further into the web-based document creation business. That strategy puts it squarely in the cross-hairs of Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) and its excellent Google Docs product, as well as software giant Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT), which is set to release a major online component with Office 2010.

Adobe indicated that a fee-based version its new online initiatives would allow businesses to covert all kinds of documents to the de-facto PDF standard, as well as hold online meetings via Acrobat.com.

Continue reading Adobe looks squarely at Google, Microsoft with new web-based tools

Adobe looks squarely at Google, Microsoft with new web-based tools originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 18 Jun 2009 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Nokia (NYSE: NOK), the Finnish provider of mobile telephones and networking equipment, recently hit some rough seas. The company's sales and market share tanked, due mostly to recession woes. And in the first quarter of this year, Nokia posted its first ever pre-tax loss of 12 million euros.

Now, as the world's largest cellphone manufacturer tries to compete with Google (NASDAQ: GOOG), Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), Research In Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) and Samsung in the market for smart phones (see my article about this on DailyFinance, "Nokia's smartphone gets deadpan debut as carriers skip subsidies"), a number of analysts have downgraded its stock.

Continue reading Nokia: A bad news buy

Nokia: A bad news buy originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 18 Jun 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Microsoft's Bing has Google running scared? Yeah, right.

Microsoft's Bing has Google running scared? Yeah, right. originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 16 Jun 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

There's been some news on the Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) Kindle, the company's electronic substitute for real paper books. According to this source, everything is coming along fine for the product from a statistical point of view. An estimate of Kindle sales from Citigroup Global Markets puts the number of units sold last year at 500,000. By 2010, it's said that the Kindle may lead to $1.2 billion of derivative sales. I was surprised to learn that this sales number would possibly represent 4% of Amazon's top line.

Continue reading Does Kindle make Amazon a good investment idea?

Does Kindle make Amazon a good investment idea? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 12 Jun 2009 15:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Has your broker repeatedly sold you on the "safe" investment vehicle, the mutual fund? Investing in a wide variety of prominent companies, with solid, long-term track records, mutual funds have been an easy-to-understand and popular investment choice for decades.

Mutual funds are hugely diversified, holding large stakes in recognizable names such as Google (NASDAQ: GOOG), Citigroup (NYSE: C), Walmart (NYSE: WMT), Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX), General Electric (NYSE: GE), Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), and Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM).

Continue reading How do hedge funds differ from mutual funds?

How do hedge funds differ from mutual funds? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 12 Jun 2009 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Internet search titan Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) is apparently closing in on its goal to produce renewable energy at a price point cheaper than coal. In an interview with Reuters Tuesday, Google's green energy czar, Bill Weihl, said that the odds of success have improved during the past year, and predicted, "In three years, we could have multiple megawatts of plants out there."

After announcing in late 2007 its quest for "green" energy, the company's Google.org division began investing in solar thermal, geothermal, and wind technologies. The tech firm's keen interest in alternative energy sources was a contributing factor last year when President Obama named Google CEO Eric Schmidt as one of his advisers.

Continue reading Google nears green energy goals; CEO Schmidt slams Bing

Google nears green energy goals; CEO Schmidt slams Bing originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 10 Jun 2009 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Closing Bell: From caution to almost cheers (GOOG, AAPL, SLM, CSCO, MCD)

Closing Bell: From caution to almost cheers (GOOG, AAPL, SLM, CSCO, MCD) originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 08 Jun 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Rajeev Motwani, who died this week at 47, was one of the most versatile tech veterans in Silicon Valley. From New Delhi, he came to this country in the 1980s and certainly realized the American dream.

Motwani earned his Ph.D. in Computer Science from U.C. Berkeley, and from there he went over to Stanford. Interestingly enough, he taught Larry Page and Sergey Brin -- the co-founders of Google (NASDAQ: GOOG). In fact, they wrote a key paper that was the harbinger of PageRank.

Continue reading Google professor/investor dies

Google professor/investor dies originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 08 Jun 2009 12:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

"Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) remains the dominant search engine on the web," notes Paul Tracy. In his StreetAuthority Market Advisor, he views the stock as a solid buy for growth investors.

"In economic downturns, one of the first costs most companies cut is advertising. Not surprisingly, over the past year, most companies have slashed their advertising budgets in response to the severe economic downturn.

"But online ad spending has remained remarkably resilient. GOOG's system targets specific ads based on what users type into their search box, geographic location and other factors.

Continue reading Go for growth with Google (GOOG)

Go for growth with Google (GOOG) originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 08 Jun 2009 10:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Here are some highlights from this past week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:

• Aetna Inc. (NYSE: AET) lowered its 2009 earnings guidance, initially sending the share price lower.
• Ciena Corp. (NASDAQ: CIEN) reported a bigger-than-expected Q2 net loss as revenues sank.
• Collective Brands Inc. (NYSE: PSS) saw Q1 earnings and sales decline, but beat Wall Street estimates.
• Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) earnings prospects led Goldman Sachs analysts to increase its forecasts.
• Guess? Inc. (NYSE: GES) weak Q1 results topped estimates and it offered guidance that pleased investors.

Continue reading Earnings highlights: Google, KKR, Krispy Kreme, Williams-Sonoma, Guess? and more

Earnings highlights: Google, KKR, Krispy Kreme, Williams-Sonoma, Guess? and more originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 06 Jun 2009 12:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Acer to use Google's Android software on upcoming netbook PCs

Acer to use Google's Android software on upcoming netbook PCs originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 04 Jun 2009 09:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.