Wednesday, January 11, 2006
Dear Folks, Sorry I Haven't Blogged Lately
Gosh things have been incredibly busy here. I've been trying to get used to the weekly publication schedule of the free weekly e-mail, the paid weekly subscription podcast and presentation (which finally has a name: The PrintForecast.com Contrarian View), and the weekly WhatTheyThink.com column. It's all coming back to me now... I remember how to do this...
Below are a variety of articles that have caught my attention.
Hachette Filipacchi Media creates a new digital position in its organization. Article has great comments about how non-print formats are changing the publishing business.
http://adage.com/news.cms?newsId=47404
Gee, why were November print sales so awful? This article may have some insights. Note the change in media allocation that seemed to occur earlier in the Fall.
http://www.adage.com/news.cms?newsId=47341
BtoBOnline recently had a survey of marketing execs about their plans for 2006
Article http://www.btobonline.com/article.cms?articleId=26366
Data http://www.btobonline.com/page.cms?pageId=127
China's printing industry. Some interesting data on capex in here. Beware, data geeks: most printing data for China includes everything imaginable where a chemical ends up on a substrate, such as textiles, specialty promo items, as well as packaging.
http://en.ce.cn/Business/Macro-economic/200512/16/t20051216_5544978.shtml
2006: The Year E-Mail Marketing Comes to Age, or at least that's what this article claims
www.clickz.com/experts/em_mkt/em_mkt/article.php/3575726
Two Barrons articles, but you must be a subscriber to see....
Economist Gene Epstein talks about how writers and talking heads got the year's economic stories wrong
http://online.barrons.com/article/SB113659287321240362.html?mod=9_0031_b_this_weeks_magazine_columns
And a review of the recent Las Vegas Consumer Electronics Show
http://online.barrons.com/article/SB113659897691640493.html?mod=9_0031_b_this_weeks_magazine_main
Michael Kinsley of Slate writes in the Washington Post about the death of newspapers
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/06/AR2006010601495.html?referrer=emailarticle
I've never believed that "convergence" describes what's really going on with technology and gadgets at all. Two things passed my desk that show how silly the convergence argument can get.
Great Dutch lampoon of cellphone convergence. So what if you can't understand the language... the video is just hilarious.
http://av.rtl.nl/web/components/shows/jensen/2005
/week45/vrijdag_vr28okt05_telsell_sumsing.avi.MiMedia_WM_364K_V9_av.wmv
But as proof that something else is going on than convergence, and also proof of original sin and man's fall from the grace of God, this product serves no useful purpose other than horror and dismay. The wrath of the almighty will make us pay for this one.
http://www.hammacher.com/publish/72500.asp
European business statistics are available here: http://epp.eurostat.cec.eu.int/portal/page?_pageid=1090,30070682,1090_31583003&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL
Famed investor Mario Gabelli's Global Multimedia Trust closed-end fund (symbol GGT) has long been in my retirement portfolio. The recent edition of their quarterly report (starting on page 2) had some very interesting commentary. (You may want to buy the fund. I've been selling my shares gradually to deploy for other opportunities, so that probably means that it will double or triple in value soon now that I'm lightening up).
http://www.gabelli.com/Gab_pdf/q_com/-112.pdf
Sony's e-book reader, Libre, will finally be aggressively market. From folks who have seen it I have heard that it is just stunning.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/1/hi/technology/4586800.stm
Profile of a Canadian printer that I found interesting
http://www.businessedge.ca/article.cfm/newsID/11613.cfm
Story about PC connectivity, and how that market seems endless
http://news.com.com/Working+at+the+PC+isnt+so+lonely+anymore/2100-1046_3-6014307.html?tag=sas.email
Speaking of that, Walt Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal had a great article about how individual users are way ahead of corporate users when it comes to PC technologies. It's the loss of control that scares IT managers, that somewhere there's a rogue employee actually using technology to be productive. Believe it or not, I have bumped into companies that are still using Windows98 and Office97! The article is mainly about how the big PC makers cater to big business, and only a few niche players like Alienware, and, of course, Apple, cater to real people. The article is downloadable for subscribers. If you can't get it, send me a note and I can forward it.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB113581239233633359.html?mod=Personal+Technology
Below are a variety of articles that have caught my attention.
Hachette Filipacchi Media creates a new digital position in its organization. Article has great comments about how non-print formats are changing the publishing business.
http://adage.com/news.cms?newsId=47404
Gee, why were November print sales so awful? This article may have some insights. Note the change in media allocation that seemed to occur earlier in the Fall.
http://www.adage.com/news.cms?newsId=47341
BtoBOnline recently had a survey of marketing execs about their plans for 2006
Article http://www.btobonline.com/article.cms?articleId=26366
Data http://www.btobonline.com/page.cms?pageId=127
China's printing industry. Some interesting data on capex in here. Beware, data geeks: most printing data for China includes everything imaginable where a chemical ends up on a substrate, such as textiles, specialty promo items, as well as packaging.
http://en.ce.cn/Business/Macro-economic/200512/16/t20051216_5544978.shtml
2006: The Year E-Mail Marketing Comes to Age, or at least that's what this article claims
www.clickz.com/experts/em_mkt/em_mkt/article.php/3575726
Two Barrons articles, but you must be a subscriber to see....
Economist Gene Epstein talks about how writers and talking heads got the year's economic stories wrong
http://online.barrons.com/article/SB113659287321240362.html?mod=9_0031_b_this_weeks_magazine_columns
And a review of the recent Las Vegas Consumer Electronics Show
http://online.barrons.com/article/SB113659897691640493.html?mod=9_0031_b_this_weeks_magazine_main
Michael Kinsley of Slate writes in the Washington Post about the death of newspapers
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/06/AR2006010601495.html?referrer=emailarticle
I've never believed that "convergence" describes what's really going on with technology and gadgets at all. Two things passed my desk that show how silly the convergence argument can get.
Great Dutch lampoon of cellphone convergence. So what if you can't understand the language... the video is just hilarious.
http://av.rtl.nl/web/components/shows/jensen/2005
/week45/vrijdag_vr28okt05_telsell_sumsing.avi.MiMedia_WM_364K_V9_av.wmv
But as proof that something else is going on than convergence, and also proof of original sin and man's fall from the grace of God, this product serves no useful purpose other than horror and dismay. The wrath of the almighty will make us pay for this one.
http://www.hammacher.com/publish/72500.asp
European business statistics are available here: http://epp.eurostat.cec.eu.int/portal/page?_pageid=1090,30070682,1090_31583003&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL
Famed investor Mario Gabelli's Global Multimedia Trust closed-end fund (symbol GGT) has long been in my retirement portfolio. The recent edition of their quarterly report (starting on page 2) had some very interesting commentary. (You may want to buy the fund. I've been selling my shares gradually to deploy for other opportunities, so that probably means that it will double or triple in value soon now that I'm lightening up).
http://www.gabelli.com/Gab_pdf/q_com/-112.pdf
Sony's e-book reader, Libre, will finally be aggressively market. From folks who have seen it I have heard that it is just stunning.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/1/hi/technology/4586800.stm
Profile of a Canadian printer that I found interesting
http://www.businessedge.ca/article.cfm/newsID/11613.cfm
Story about PC connectivity, and how that market seems endless
http://news.com.com/Working+at+the+PC+isnt+so+lonely+anymore/2100-1046_3-6014307.html?tag=sas.email
Speaking of that, Walt Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal had a great article about how individual users are way ahead of corporate users when it comes to PC technologies. It's the loss of control that scares IT managers, that somewhere there's a rogue employee actually using technology to be productive. Believe it or not, I have bumped into companies that are still using Windows98 and Office97! The article is mainly about how the big PC makers cater to big business, and only a few niche players like Alienware, and, of course, Apple, cater to real people. The article is downloadable for subscribers. If you can't get it, send me a note and I can forward it.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB113581239233633359.html?mod=Personal+Technology
