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43 days ago
I recently installed Windows 7 64-bit on my laptop, and found myself unable to install a driver for the Canon Pixma iP4200, which I have shared from my 32-bit version of Windows 7. Normally you can do this by installing multiple drivers on the host machine by pointing Windows at the .inf file for the other version of Windows you want to use. Well, Canon drivers don’t come with an .inf file. So I contacted them, and these are the instructions, which are really easy and should work with any printer. They’re unintuitive, so I thought I’d post them. Install the driver on your client computer as if it were local. In Devices and Printers, right click the printer and click on “Printer Properties” (not “Properties”). On the Ports tab, add a new local port with the path to the printer. (\\Server name\Printer name). That’s it. Any friends in Windows want to make that more automated?
75 days ago
Nearly eleven months ago I wrote about how ridiculously underpriced Apple's shares were, and told a bunch of people about my analysis. Everyone just worried about either the recession, after all Apple sells discretionary products, or about Steve Jobs' health. Well less than a year later those shares have now doubled with Apple crossing $180 today. A few months ago I re-analyzed Apple, and again found that using the most conservative fundamental analysis, that Apple shares were a steal under $180, and that's if you didn't think the company was an industry darling, and had only moderate growth ahead of it. I'm not great at setting a target sell price, but I can tell when something's underpriced, and I still think Apple has room to run. I have a hunch that the stock will continue to rise until around July of 2010 when Apple finishes recognizing iPhone revenue from Q4 08, and thus GAAP earnings will certainly be at an all-time high. So my hope is for $250 by next summer, ...
111 days ago
The Gorilla Game: An Investor’s Guide to Picking Winners in High Technology – by Geoffrey Moore I just finished the 2-3 hour abridged cassette tape book, The Gorilla Game. The premise of the book is that there is an easily identifiable pattern that technology industries follow that can make you a lot of money if you invest following the rules outlined in the book. The rules are remarkably simple and low maintenance. But the amazing thing to me, is that it’s a book about technology, written 10 years ago, that still seems relevant. It’s not a strategy I plan to follow, but it’s still interesting. I don’t particularly recommend the book, but it’s short. I can lend you my tapes. Principles: The technology industry is characterized by discontinuous innovation – new business segments periodically appear that are not evolutions of a prior technology, and are often started by new companies. When a new business segment is forming, the stock market frequently ...
115 days ago
Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces that Shape our Decisions – by Dan Ariely I finished listening to the audio CD of this book and really enjoyed it. I wouldn’t say I particularly learning anything useful, but it was interesting to hear all the studies that prove just how irrational people are. Dan cites study after study that prove: 1. We make decisions by comparing outcomes, rather than weighing factors correctly. For example, if people are offered 2 similar items, and 1 different item, but 1 of the similar items is clearly better, people will choose the better of the 2 similar items. Apparently it’s because they can effectively prove they’re not getting the worst of the 3. This is why selling a new item for a much higher price can actually improve sales of other items, that now look like great deals. 2. People choose free things irrationally. When something is offered for free, we often choose it, even when paying for something better would be a more rational ...
127 days ago
More Than You Know: Finding Financial Wisdom in Unconventional Places by Michael Mauboussin I finished reading More Than You Know this week on a relaxing vacation in Denver. The core premise of the book is to teach us about things that are loosely related to investing, but generally no investing strategy. It is divided into 4 sections: 1. Investment Philosophy, 2. Psychology of Investing, 3. Innovation and Competitive Strategy, and 4. Science and Complexity Theory. I’ll list some notes preceded by the chapter number they’re from. The chapters are quite independent. 1. Robert Rubin’s Harvard graduation speech: There is no certainty. Decisions are a matter of weighing probabilities. Judge your decisions on process , not only results. 3. Separate probability and magnitude. Too many people focus on probability. Keep good focus. 5. Risk : unknown outcome; known distribution. (roulette). Uncertainty : unknown outcome; unknown distribution. 9. Six ...
