How to start an online social network from scratch

If you had to start an online social network from scratch, how would you do it

Mobile users with cheapie phones will switch to Android

Android’s adoption is all about upgrades and not about switching. I see this as a land grab right now. The operating systems that can grab as much share as possible while people are upgrading from cheapie phones to inexpensive Smartphones will win. Right now Android is leading the charge

The World’s Supply and Demand for Coal

Coal prices are surging ahead even as most other commodities pull back, spurred on by expectations that metallurgical and thermal coal production will again fail to meet rising global demand this year. The result? Record profits for major coal producers like Xstrata, a surge in acquisitions from coal-hungry India, Chinese electricity shortages, and a raging carbon tax debate in Australia amid record investments in that country’s coal-heavy mining sector

iCloud will be a hit for Apple

I see the Apple’s iCloud as a very compelling product. When iTunes Match goes live, I will pay the $25 to use it – and so will many others

Andreessen: The market hates tech but is starved for growth

Marc Andreessen believes companies like Google and Apple are undervalued because “the market doesn’t like tech.” In his view, the recent popularity of tech companies does not constitute a bubble. Instead, he sees a market that is starved for growth

Cashmore on Technology’s Paradigm Shift

Here’s an interesting conversation about social media and Internet and technology companies’ adjustment to it

Thoughts on LinkedIn

I was on Headline, BNN’s midday show on financial news, talking to presenter Paul Waldie and fellow guest Jacquie McNish this past Wednesday. The big news then was LinkedIn (LNKD). The first guest, Bill Buhr of Morningstar, spoke to the issues there and we followed shortly after

Steve Austin Revisited – Part I

It was a novel idea back in the mid-1970s, when The Six Million Dollar Man hit the airwaves. Austin, a man badly damaged in an accident, was reconstructed by substituting more efficient bionic implants for some of his human parts. Thirty-five years on, we don’t have a guy who can run at 60 mph or see in the dark, like Steve could. But bionic replacements are routine medical reality, not science fiction. And that $6 million price tag has dropped considerably

Microsoft: $8.4 Billion Down the Drain

Though, in the eyes of Microsoft executives, virtually any outcome might seem better than letting the company fall into the hands of Google, which still has no strong foothold in social or communication software – one of the few online areas where Microsoft still maintains a market share advantage. Unfortunately for shareholders, anything less than a stellar success might just look like billions more flushed down the drain in Microsoft’s thus far failed bids at online dominance. Even if the company can quadruple the size of Skype’s business, they will still be losing money online if nothing else changes and they will have only added a few percentage points to top line growth – neither of which is likely to move to stock price in any major way

Fukushima Daiichi Disaster Prompts Closure of Another Plant

As workers continue to battle with the crippled Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant, more impacts from the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl are starting to arise. The latest impact will hit car manufacturers, with plants in central Japan hit the hardest: power firm Chubu Electric has agreed to shut its Hamaoka Nuclear Plant until it can build better defenses against the kind of massive earthquake and tsunami that hit on March 11, and Hamaoka provides power to at least 15 auto plants

Earnings, Employment and Inflation

Recent data suggest we are at the point where energy prices are creating demand destruction. Economic growth has slowed to below 2.% in the US. Further, ISM data suggest that companies are at the breaking point in their ability to absorb costs. The lack of a large move upward in employment suggests that companies have relied on wage and labour cost suppression to maintain EPS targets. Unless, we see a reduction in energy prices, we will either see pressure on EPS growth or increased retail price inflation

The Gulf of Mexico – One Year Later

A year later, the waters are still murky, but a few things are starting to become clear.

For energy investors, the most important aspect of the disaster was the moratorium on deepwater drilling in the Gulf. That ban was lifted in late February, but new safety requirements have slowed restarts on the 33 rigs that were halted, and Washington has so far issued only a handful of new permits for Gulf oil exploration. So what impact does an almost year-long stoppage in drilling have on oil production?

On the environment, scientists agree that the chemicals were effective in dispersing the oil. But the most important questions still remain unanswered: what long-term effects will the dispersant chemicals and the dispersed oil have on the Gulf of Mexico ecosystem