tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-96644822024-03-08T07:46:04.321-06:00ImpressionsWhatever belongs to you today, belonged to someone else yesterday and it will belong to some one else tomorrow.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9664482.post-56355919571838196392007-06-09T00:55:00.000-05:002007-06-11T14:16:33.781-05:00India's Sterlite offers ADSSterlite Industries India Limited, a leading producer of copper in India is planning to raise about $2 billion by selling American Depository Shares (ADS) to fund expansions. The ADS will trade in NYSE under the symbol <a href="http://finance.google.com/finance?q=SLT">SLT</a>. Sterlite is a subsidiary of Vedanta Resources Plc, a group with interests in metals and mining with annual sales of $1.9 billion. The main metals involved in Vedanta's operations are aluminium, copper, zinc and lead in India, Australia and Zambia.<br /><br />Vedanta currently holds 79.25% of Sterlite. According to the <a href="http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Sterlite_launches_ADS_offering_applies_for_NYSE_listing/articleshow/2099263.cms">Economic Times of India</a>, the offering will be for 125 million shares with an option to offer 18.75 million shares based on demand. The price would be determined by the share price of Sterlite's Bombay Stock Exchange, India listed share price. It would not be more than five per cent or less than 10 per cent of its India price. The sale represents about 18.3% of Sterlite. Currently, Vedanta holds about 78% of Sterlite and after the sale will own 62.8%. According to the SEC filings, the sale will be managed by Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch and Nomura Holdings.<br /><br />Sterlite is a leading producer of non-ferrous metals in India. Sterlite has a strong presence in the Indian copper market and is also present in the aluminium and zinc sectors. Sterlite's involved in manufacturing and marketing cast copper rods, copper cathodes, aluminium cold rolled products and conductors. Sterlite has more than 40% share of the India's copper market. It is one of the two leading domestic copper producers in India. Sterlite's copper operations include a smelter, refinery, phosphoric acid plant and copper rod plant at Tuticorin in Tamil Nadu, India; a refinery and copper rod plant at Silvassa in Dadar & Nagar Haveli, India and a copper mine in Australia. Last month, Sterlite beat rivals including Arcelor Mittal (<a href="http://finance.google.com/finance?q=SLT">MT</a>) and India's Aditya Birla Group to buy 71 percent stake in India's biggest iron ore exporter Sesa Goa for $1.7 billion.<br /><br />(This article was published as "<a href="http://india.seekingalpha.com/article/37864">Sterlite Industries India Offering American Depository Shares</a>" on <a href="http://seekingalpha.com/">SeekingAlpha</a> on June 11, 2007 and as "<a href="http://www.gurufocus.com/news.php?id=6647">Sterlite Industries (India) to offer ADS</a>" on <a href="http://www.gurufocus.com/">GuruFocus</a> on June 10, 2007.)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9664482.post-76823399750280873502006-09-30T03:26:00.000-05:002006-09-30T03:28:37.764-05:00Starbucks to Brew in India<p>Starbucks Corp. (<a title="More news and analysis for SBUX" mce_href="/by/symbol/sbux" href="http://finance.google.com/finance?q=SBUX">SBUX</a>) plans to debut its stores in India by mid-2007 through a joint venture with an Indian partner, RPG Enterprises. Though the negotiations are still going on, unconfirmed reports say that Starbucks will have a 51% stake in the joint venture while RPG will have the remaining 49% stake. RPG will also be the new venture's master franchisee. RPG is one of India's largest conglomerates with significant interests in power, retail, entertainment and technology among others. RPG has beaten other large Indian groups like Reliance Industries and Bharti Enterprises to convince Starbucks. With retail operations in major cities in India, RPG will be able to provide Starbucks with local cultural, economic, operating and franchising expertise, and may also lend its retail network. </p><p>New Delhi and Mumbai, the national and financial capitals will see the first stores by mid-2007. Starbucks will also be looking to add 100 stores every year for the next five years. Even though this strategy looks aggressive, it makes sense. Though India is traditionally a tea drinking nation there is a lot of coffee consumption and other malt-based drinks. Coffee culture in India has been getting bigger in India. Reports indicate that customers at existing retail coffee shops are students and professionals between 18 and 35 years old. Big coffee retail players in India like Barista (with Tata and an Italian partner), Costa Coffee (based in UK), Cafe Coffee Day (funded by Sequoia) and Barnie's (based in US) have aggressive expansion plans and are adding new drinks apart from Coffee. These players are also using a variety of different approaches to attract new mass and premium clientele. So Starbucks faces very fierce competitors in India.</p><p>This is where RPG's assets and expertise will be helpful to Starbuck's India strategy. With RPG's strength in entertainment and other upscale retail space, it can hope to direct some consumers to the new Stabucks' stores. They will also have to customize its drinks for the Indian market. Pricing will also be a factor to consider as Starbucks cannot translate its US prices in India. Starbucks experience with its Chinese operations will offer some ideas in this regard. With a burgeoning middle-class in India, Starbucks needs to attract only a small percentage of them along with students and professionals with high disposable incomes to easily entrench itself in the Indian market. </p><p>Though Starbucks does not have a first mover advantage, it is entering an already tried, tested and proven market along with a local player with strong retail expertise giving Starbucks an advantage along with its strong brand. This move will provide strong long-term growth opportunities for Starbucks.<br /></p><p>(This article was published as "<a href="http://india.seekingalpha.com/article/17784">Starbucks' India Strategy Looks Promising</a>" on <a href="http://seekingalpha.com/">SeekingAlpha</a> on October 2, 2006.)<br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9664482.post-40337881077443863902006-09-29T17:52:00.000-05:002006-09-29T17:53:34.037-05:00Same Price. But will Zune's Features win against iPod's Experience?<p>American Technology Research Analyst, Shaw Wu has commented that Zune, the new media player from Microsoft (<a mce_href="/by/symbol/msft" href="http://finance.google.com/finance?q=MSFT">MSFT</a>) will hurt Microsoft and it's partners more than it will hurt Apple (<a mce_href="/by/symbol/aapl" href="http://finance.google.com/finance?q=AAPL">AAPL</a>) or it's iPod. Though the price tag for Zune, $249.99 is similar to a comparable iPod's price, Wu thinks that it will be difficult to convert iPod users to Zune. Wu also estimates that Microsoft will lose $50 for every Zune it sells. Wu's sources indicate that Microsoft did not expect Apple to lower prices of its iPods. This move had surprised Microsoft and had forced it to reduce pricing to match Apple's. Wu also commented on the superior supply chain and operating efficiency of Apple which is highly invisible. This probably has given Apple the edge over the new Zune threat by allowing Apple to lower the iPod prices. In this price range, Apple still makes profits while Microsoft loses money.</p><p>While many people cite Microsoft's success with Xbox, it is a completely different game than media players. Media players have small form factors and a lot of content to navigate. I repeat NAVIGATE. This is the key to iPod's success. The click wheel makes combing through a vast library of media easy. Whereas in Zune, one has to scroll through the library individually, making it difficult to move around. Zune's user interface, based on Windows will not provide a good experience. In the initial comparisons, Zune seems to have a lesser battery life than iPod, which is again a let down. The wireless or WiFi feature that allows networking and sharing is a novel concept. But you should enough Zune users around you to share with. Connecting to a wireless network and allowing other people to communicate with your device is a cumbersome process, a drain on the battery and not to mention issues associated with hacking or viruses. While you are waiting at a traffic signal or traveling in a train, you dont want anyone to hack into your player and erase all your music. Security is a key feature that not many people are talking about and we probably will wait for more information to be revealed. Zune has a bigger screen than the iPod. Well is this really an advantage or a disadvantage? If you want to watch videos it is good but if you just want to listen to music, then you probably will not need this big a screen. So the overall user experience of Zune may not stand up to iPod's user experience. There is also the question of how Zune's Marketplace with stack up with the iTunes Store. There is one area where Microsoft has the edge, gaming. If Microsoft is capable of somehow incorporating games into Zune and allowing a network of users to play games, it has a chance to get into a territory that Apple is weak in. This is understandable with Zune's screen size and wireless capability. But the current design of Zune is not game-friendly. </p><p>There are many products which have been successful in the past because of their user experience even though they had lesser features than their competitors. Zune with more features is simply not enough to challenge the iPod. It needs to be seen how long Microsoft can lose money, churn out new 'Zunes' and market its features and brand to gain an edge over Apple. </p><p>Wu also estimates that, Apple has 18-22% gross margin and 8-11% operating margin. So Microsoft will not only have to overcome Apple's prolific innovations and designs but has to atleast match Apple's operating efficiency to kill the iPod.</p><p>On a sidenote, another effect of Microsoft's foray into the media player business is antagonizing some of its partners. Since Microsoft has the upper hand on its partners now, it is not an issue. But Microsoft may feel the heat later on when it may need their help. </p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9664482.post-9290105849143185722006-09-20T13:21:00.000-05:002006-09-20T13:23:29.451-05:00Disney sells 125,000 movies through iTunesYesterday, Walt Disney Co. (<a href="http://finance.google.com/finance?q=DIS">DIS</a>) CEO Robert Iger told a Goldman Sachs (<a href="http://finance.google.com/finance?q=GS">GS) </a>investor conference, Communacopia that the company has sold 125,000 movies through Apple (<a href="http://finance.google.com/finance?q=AAPL">AAPL</a>) iTunes store, generating a revenue of $1 million. Considering that with just 75 movies and in a single week, this is a smashing result. Iger also expects iTunes movie downloads to generate revenues of $50 million in the first year. This is a significant number and is worth noting as other Hollywood studios may find this kind of revenue hard to resist. Iger also expects to increase the number of digital content offerings as licensing issues are sorted out.<br /><br />Amazon (<a href="http://finance.google.com/finance?q=AMZN">AMZN</a>) has not revealed how its service, Unbox has fared. Compared with Unbox, Movielink and other services, Apple may have the best digital distribution network of all. So we can expect relations between movie studios and Apple to warm up and start discussions. It is not clear how revenue is shared between Apple and Disney now. But from past behavior, Apple may not lose too much money on bandwidth costs, which is a major cost in digital distribution.<br /><br />All this is happening without Apples's iTV or any clear solution to transfer content from a computer to TV. If iTV provides a simple and effective solution to this problem and convince consumers to use it, then Apple will get more leverage over other movie studios.<br /><br />Iger made another comment about overhauling Disney.com and relaunching it. Although he did not elaborate on this idea, Disney may be creating various channels of entertainment, in the style of YouTube in a move to use Disney.com to deliver digital content or redirect visitors to iTunes.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9664482.post-70859455287147640922006-09-19T11:00:00.000-05:002006-09-19T13:29:25.141-05:00Internet Bellweathers TankGoogle (<a href="http://finance.google.com/finance?q=GOOG">GOOG</a>) is down $17.49 or 4.22% to $397.20, Yahoo (<a href="http://finance.google.com/finance?q=YHOO">YHOO</a>) is down $3.60 or 12.41% to $25.40, Amazon (<a href="http://finance.google.com/finance?q=AMZN">AMZN</a>) is down $0.87 or 2.71% to $31.21, eBay (<a href="http://finance.google.com/finance?q=EBAY">EBAY</a>) is down $1.18 or 4.4% to $25.66, CNET (<a href="http://finance.google.com/finance?q=CNET">CNET</a>) is down $0.74 or 7.66% to $8.92 and IAC Interactive (<a href="http://finance.google.com/finance?q=IACI">IACI</a>) is down $0.53 or 1.86% to $27.89.<br />Yahoo's CFO, Susan Decker has warned of lower sales for Q3, because of weakness in the Auto and Financial sector ads. IACI Chairman, Barry Diller had mentioned that IACI is seeing weakness in Financial sector. This may not be isolated to these two companies but a reflection of the entire sector. Although both the executives did not quantify how bad the slowdown is, expectations are worse and there is a big sell-off. This is probably a knee-jerk reaction and I expect the stocks to move up cautiously this week.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9664482.post-1158655153539525052006-09-19T03:34:00.000-05:002006-09-19T03:41:01.600-05:00Zune priced at $284?<p>Walmart (<a href="http://finance.google.com/finance?q=WMT">WMT</a>) may have inadvertently revealed the price of Microsoft (<a href="http://finance.google.com/finance?q=MSFT">MSFT</a>) Zune player. According to Walmart.com, Zune is priced at $284. Gadget blog, <a href="http://www.engadget.com/">Engadget </a>has <a href="http://www.engadget.com/2006/09/18/wal-mart-leaks-zune-price-284/">pictures of a cached Google page</a>, showing Zune's price. Walmart.com has removed the pricing from the main page. Unless Walmart.com pulls down those details, you can still <a href="http://www.walmart.com/catalog/compare.gsp?cat=164001&selected_items=4528986%7C5223245">follow this link</a> to see a comparison of a 30 GB iPod and the Zune player which will show the price. The title of the Zune player says "Zune 30 GB MP3 / Video Player", although features of Zune are not listed for comparison. As far as digital formats are concerned, Walmart.com says that Zune will be capable of automatically importing 'most' music from iTunes and Windows Media Player. If you bring your own content, it has to be in the following formats - Music: WMA, MP3, AAC; Photos: JPEG; Videos: WMV, MPEG-4, H.264.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9664482.post-1158654620225809102006-09-16T03:28:00.000-05:002006-10-24T21:33:22.454-05:00Drilling Deeper into Nabors<p class="MsoNormal" style="">Nabors Industries Ltd. (<a href="http://finance.google.com/finance?q=NBR">NBR</a>), registered in Bermuda and headquartered in <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">Barbados</st1:place></st1:country-region> is the largest land and platform oil, gas and geothermal drilling contractor in the world, with a 20-24% market share. As of March 2006, Nabors operates in US, Canada, Middle East, Australia, South America and Africa by owning or operating a fleet of 3 barge rigs, 19 jack-ups, 28 marine vessels, 43 platforms, 588 land drilling rigs and 781 land workover rigs. Nabors is the largest rig owner and operator in the <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">US</st1:place></st1:country-region>. Nabors has operations in a lot of international markets and is very diversified geographically, thereby diluting the impact of geopolitical events. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">A large portion, a little more than 90% of Nabors revenue comes from contract drilling services, while the remainder comes from other services like oil field management, engineering, transportation and logistics services.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p>For the past five years, Nabors shares have appreciated 150% while Exxon Mobil (<a href="http://finance.google.com/finance?q=XOM">XOM</a>) shares have appreciated 50%. Since NBR listed in February 1991, NBR has appreciated 650% while XOM appreciated 400%. Nabors is included in the S&P 500. In August, Nabors announced plans to repurchase $500 Million worth of common shares. Nabors shares, on September 15, closed at 30.06, near a 52-week low, providing a good buying opportunity. With a TTM P/E of 11 and a forward P/E of 7, Nabors shares are very attractive. Taking TTM values and comparing it to its peers, Nabors P/E is lower, P/S is lower, EPS is higher, sales growth is higher and ROI is lower. In 2004, revenue was $2.39 Billion and in 2005 revenue was $3.55 Billion. Analysts average estimates of revenue for 2006 and 2007 are $4.88 Billion and $5.95 Billion respectively. Nabors balance sheet shows strong cash flow, revenue and growth, indicating financial strength. Nabors has a strong management capable of taking the company through ups and downs.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">In the first quarter of 2006, day rates for American land drilling rose by $1,475 per day to $18,695 and cash margins rose by almost $1,000 a day to about $9,600. This was a record high. In the second quarter of 2006, day rates rose by $1,491 per day to $20,186 and cash margins rose by $1,257 per day to $10,858. This was again a record high. Most of the existing contracts were negotiated in the year 2005. Some of the contracts expire before the end of 2006. And in 2007 many more are expiring. When the contracts are renegotiated, there is a high probability that Nabors can demand longer contracts and higher day rates which can boost its revenues without a significant increase in costs and also decrease earnings volatility. Over the long term, demand for contract drilling is expected to increase in the <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">US</st1:place></st1:country-region> as well as in international regions. With rig supply limited, day rates for drilling are expected to increase, especially in international regions where Nabors will have more pricing power.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Demand for oil and gas is increasing all over the world. Drilling so far has mainly been to create relatively shallow wells. In the case of natural gas, reserves below 15,000 feet of the earth’s surface largely remain untapped. Future exploration will concentrate on drilling wells below 15,000 feet. To maintain the current natural gas production of 18.5 Tcf (Trillion Cubic Feet), more than 15,000 wells must be drilled, which is a conservative estimate. Just in the <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">US</st1:place></st1:country-region>, proven conventional gas resources are estimated at 192 Tcf. Of these resources, only 1% of them are deep wells. As of June 2006, US Department of Energy (DoE) estimates that, US onshore and offshore deep reservoirs hold 169-187 Tcf of gas resources. DoE also estimates that for ultra-deep wells, drilling the last 10% of the well alone will cost 50% of total cost of the creating the well. As deeper and more complex wells are drilled, total expenditure on rigs will also increase. All this creates an advantage for Nabors.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p>Oil and gas exploration is not going to slow down any time soon, especially natural gas. Companies are trying to figure out future energy supplies and are spending a lot of capital towards these goals. As reserves are getting below normal levels, drillers have to drill deeper holes. Nabors, offering contract drilling services, can easily capitalize on this demand. It is not very easy to change drilling contractors and if Nabors has enough pricing power, which it has, Nabors can command higher rates.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Oil and gas prices have come down from their recent peaks. But they still are high. If the prices keep going down, it will pull down the entire oil and gas sector down, resulting in reduction in contract drilling day rates. But if they remain high for the next couple of years, Nabors tends to benefit from it, providing a strong upside. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p>The bottomline is that exposure to international markets, new contracts and a bullish natural gas sector provide a huge growth opportunity for Nabors. If this trend continues, Nabors stock will not stay in this price range for long. Whereas, high drilling costs may lead producers to reduce capital expenditures on new drilling hurting Nabors’ growth rate which may cause the stock to remain stagnant.</p><p class="MsoNormal">(This article was published as "<a href="http://energy.seekingalpha.com/article/17063">Nabors Should Capitalize On Strong Natural Gas Demand</a>" in <a href="http://www.seekingalpha.com/">SeekingAlpha</a> on September 19, 2006 and as "<a href="http://www.gurufocus.com/news.php?id=2785">Drilling Deeper into Nabors (NBR)</a>" in <a href="http://www.gurufocus.com/">GuruFocus</a> on September 20, 2006.)<br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9664482.post-77124665539500457082006-09-08T21:23:00.000-05:002006-10-24T21:31:01.136-05:00Technology Sector Gains Momentum at the Cost of OilIn the past one month, the oil sector has slowly eased while the technology sector has gained traction. <p>When you compare the two indices for August and September, the Morgan Stanley High Technology Index (MSH) and the AMEX Oil Index (XOI), one can clearly see that Oil's loss was Technology's gain.</p><p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger2/6114/1179/1600/MSH.0.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger2/6114/1179/400/MSH.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger2/6114/1179/1600/XOI.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger2/6114/1179/400/XOI.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br />This may be the sign of things to come in the next few months. Stock market statistics show that the performance of the oil stocks are tied to the price of oil. As the price of oil begins to fall, oil stocks are getting more risky. <p>The positive news about the technology bellweathers has propelled the technology stocks in recent weeks. In the next 3-6 months, technology stocks can be expected to deliver a strong performance. </p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9664482.post-1158654382379430962006-09-05T03:22:00.000-05:002006-10-24T21:31:46.328-05:00Reddy's is Ready for Aggressive Growth<p style="font-family: verdana;">Pharmaceutical stocks are getting a lot of traction in recent weeks and Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Limited (<a href="http://finance.google.com/finance?q=RDY" target="\" title="\"More">RDY</a>) seems to have joined the race. Reddy's (<a href="http://finance.google.com/finance?q=RDY" target="\" title="\"More">RDY</a>) turnaround has been remarkable. In the past 12 weeks, Reddy's has beaten S&P 500 by about 10%. </p> <p style="font-family: verdana;">Merck & Co, Inc (<a href="http://finance.google.com/finance?q=MRK" target="\" title="\"More">MRK</a>) has recently authorized Reddy's to produce versions on Proscar and Zocar. FDA has also approved Merck's (<a href="http://finance.google.com/finance?q=MRK" target="\" title="\"More">MRK</a>) Propecia to be manufactured by Reddy's. Along with Allegra, Reddy's has four major generics coming out soon with very good sales potential. With more generics in its pipeline waiting for FDA approval, Reddy's is strongly set for growth. </p> <p style="font-family: verdana;" class="MsoNormal">Reddy's is a fairly geographically diverse company with operations in developed economies like US and <st1:country-region st="on">Germany</st1:country-region> and well as in developing economies like <st1:country-region st="on">India</st1:country-region> and <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">Mexico</st1:place></st1:country-region>. Reddy's recent acquisitions in <st1:country-region st="on">Germany</st1:country-region> (Betapharm) and <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">Mexico</st1:place></st1:country-region> (Roche's API) will also increase Reddy's revenue growth and profitability. Trading at below $32 now, with a forward P/E of 20.82, Reddy's stock can easily move above $37 in the next 6 months.<br /><o:p></o:p><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:verdana;">(This article was published as "<span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span><a href="http://india.seekingalpha.com/article/16360">Reddy's is Ready for Aggressive Growth</a>" in <a href="http://www.seekingalpha.com/">SeekingAlpha</a> on September 05, 2006.)<br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9664482.post-1158654491285035072006-09-01T03:27:00.000-05:002006-10-24T21:32:22.762-05:00Intel growing its wings<p style="font-family: courier new;">Intel (<a href="http://finance.google.com/finance?q=INTC" target="\" title="\"\\"\\\\"\\\\\\\\"\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"More\\\\\\\\"\\\\"\\"\"">INTC</a>) is widely expected to announce on September 5, 2006 (Tuesday) that it will be laying off about 10,000 workers, almost 10% of its workforce. The results of a three-month analysis of its entire operations with the aim of cutting $1 billion in costs are expected by the end of Q3. If this reduction in workforce happens, the total reduction in recent months will be 13,000, that comes close to Wall Street expectations of 16,000. This might just be the right news to kickstart growth in the INTC stock price, which closed at $19.57 yesterday. </p> <p style="font-family: courier new;">Are the dog days for <a href="http://finance.google.com/finance?q=INTC" target="\" title="\"\\"\\\\"\\\\\\\\"\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"More\\\\\\\\"\\\\"\\"\"">INTC</a> over? If you are looking at semiconductor/chip stocks, I think this is the right opportunity to get in to <a href="http://finance.google.com/finance?q=INTC" target="\" title="\"\\"\\\\"\\\\\\\\"\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"More\\\\\\\\"\\\\"\\"\"">INTC</a>.</p> <p style="font-family: courier new;">For starters, with this recent news, Wall Street analysts will not be as skeptical as they were. Intel's high inventory levels are starting to decline as it competes with Advanced Micro Devices (<a href="http://finance.google.com/finance?q=AMD" target="\" title="\"\\"\\\\"\\\\\\\\"\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"More\\\\\\\\"\\\\"\\"\"">AMD</a>) by reducing prices. Intel has a new lineup of 64-bit processors to be coming into the market soon. Independent chip reviewers have conceded that new Intel chips handsomely beat rival <a href="http://finance.google.com/finance?q=AMD" target="\" title="\"\\"\\\\"\\\\\\\\"\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"More\\\\\\\\"\\\\"\\"\"">AMD</a> chips in many benchmarks. With the memory intensive Microsoft (<a href="http://finance.google.com/finance?q=MSFT" target="\" title="\"\\"\\\\"\\\\\\\\"\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"More\\\\\\\\"\\\\"\\"\"">MSFT</a>) Windows Vista being expected within the next four months, <a href="http://finance.google.com/finance?q=INTC" target="\" title="\"\\"\\\\"\\\\\\\\"\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"More\\\\\\\\"\\\\"\\"\"">INTC</a> can expect an increase in demand for its new products. The recent positive indicators in its WiMAX strategy to provide affordable wireless broadband access are also worth noting. </p> <p style="font-family: courier new;">With a long corporate history, lower debt compared to its competitors, a strong brand name recognized all over the world, new superior products, a lean-and-mean <a href="http://finance.google.com/finance?q=INTC" target="\" title="\"\\"\\\\"\\\\\\\\"\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"More\\\\\\\\"\\\\"\\"\"">INTC</a> stock is all set to be loved by Wall Street. I will be waiting and watching how high the stock will fly in the next 3-6 months.</p><span style="font-family:courier new;"> (This article was written on September 01, 2006 and I am still bullish on Intel.)<br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9664482.post-1146849023497468282006-05-05T12:09:00.000-05:002006-05-05T12:10:32.546-05:00IDEO Method Cards<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Selected IDEO Methods<br /><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0); font-weight: bold;">LEARN</span><br /><br /></div>Competitive Product Survey<br />HOW: Collect, compare and conduct evaluations of the product's competition<br />WHY: This is a useful way to establish functional requirements, performances standards, and other benchmarks<br /><br />Error Analysis<br />HOW: List all the things that can go wrong when using a product and determine the various possible causes<br />WHY: This is a good way to understand how design features mitigate or contribute to inevitable human errors and other failures.<br /><br />Long Range Forecasts<br />HOW: Write up prose scenarios that describe how social and/or technological trends might influence people's behavior and the use of a product, service or environment.<br />WHY: Predicting changes in behavior, industry, or technology can help clients to understand the implications of design decisions.<br /><br />Secondary Research<br />HOW: Review published articles, papers, and other pertinent documents to develop an informed point of view on the design issues.<br />WHY: This is a useful way to ground observations and to develop a point of view on the state of the art.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 102, 0);">LOOK</span><br /></div><br />Behavioral Mapping<br />HOW: Track the positions and movements of people within a space over time.<br />WHY: Recording the pathways and traffic patterns of occupants of a space helps to define zones of different spatial behaviors.<br /><br />Fly on the Wall<br />HOW: Observe and record behavior within its context, without interfering with people's activities.<br />WHY: It is useful to see what people actually do within real contexts and time frames, rather than accept what they say they did after the fact.<br /><br />Guided Tours<br />HOW: Based on observations of real people, develop character profiles to represent archetypes and the details of their behavior or lifestyles.<br />WHY: This is a useful way to bring a typical customer to life and to communicate the value of different concepts to various target groups.<br /><br />Social Network Mapping<br />HOW: Notice different kinds of social relationships within a user group and map the network of their interactions.<br />WHY: This is a useful way to understand interpersonal and professional relationship structures within workgroups.<br />A Day in the Life<br />HOW: Catalog the activities and contexts that users experience throughout an entire day.<br />WHY: This is a useful way to ground reveal unanticipated issues inherent in the routines and circumstances people experience daily.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0); font-weight: bold;">ASK</span><br /></div><br />Card Sort<br />HOW: On separate cards, name possible features, functions, or design attributes. Ask people to organize the cards spatially, in ways that make sense to them.<br />WHY: This helps to expose people's mental models of a device or system. Their organization reveals expectations and priorities about the intended functions.<br /><br />Cognitive Maps<br />HOW: Ask participants to map an existing or virtual space and show how they navigate it.<br />WHY: This is a useful way to discover the significant element, pathways, and other spatial behavior associated with a real or virtual environment.<br /><br />Conceptual Landscape<br />HOW: Diagram, sketch or map the aspects of abstract social and behavioral constructs or phenomena.<br />WHY: This is a helpful way to understand people's mental models of the issues related to the design problem.<br /><br />Draw the Experience<br />HOW: Ask participants to visualize an experience through drawings and diagrams.<br />WHY: This can be a good way to debunk assumptions and reveal how people conceive of and order their experiences or activities.<br /><br />Extreme User Interviews<br />HOW: Identify individuals who are extremely familiar or completely unfamiliar with the product and ask them to evaluate their experience using it.<br />WHY: These individuals are often able to highlight key issues of the design problem and provide insights for design improvements.<br /><br />Five Why's<br />HOW: Ask "Why?" questions in response to 5 consecutive answers.<br />WHY: This exercise forces people to examine and express the underlying reasons for their behavior and attitudes.<br /><br />Narration<br />HOW: As they perform a process or execute a specific task, ask participants to describe aloud what they are thinking.<br />WHY: This is a useful way to reach users' motivations, concerns, perceptions, and reasoning.<br /><br />Surveys & Questionnaires<br />HOW: Ask a series of targeted questions in order to ascertain particular characteristics and perceptions of users.<br />WHY: This is a quick way to elicit answers from a large number of people.<br /><br />Word Concept Association<br />HOW: Ask people to associate descriptive words with different design concepts or features in order to show how they perceive and value the issues.<br />WHY: Clustering users' perceptions helps to evaluate and prioritize design features and concepts.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 102, 0);">TRY</span><br /></div><br />Paper Prototyping<br />HOW: Rapidly sketch, layout, and evaluate interaction design concepts for basic usability.<br />WHY: This is a good way to quickly organize, articulate, and visualize interaction design concepts.<br /><br />Scenarios<br />HOW: Illustrate a character-rich story line describing the context of use for a product or service.<br />WHY: This process helps to communicate and test the essence of a design idea within its probable context of use. It is especially useful for the evaluation of service concepts.<br /><br />Scenario Testing<br />HOW: Show users a series of cards depicting possible future scenarios and invite them to share their reactions.<br />WHY: Useful for compiling a feature set within a possible context of use as well as communicating the value of a concept to clients.<br /><br />Try It Yourself<br />HOW: Use the product or prototype you are designing.<br />WHY: Trying the product being designed prompts the team to appreciate the experience the actual users might have.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9664482.post-1104399970766833962004-12-30T03:44:00.000-06:002004-12-30T03:46:10.766-06:00Battery technologies<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Batteries are a nuisance in most of the gadgets we use – like PDA, Mobiles, Laptops, etc. Connect wires between oppositely charged terminals. This initiates an electrochemical reaction and electrons will be moving from negative to positive. If there is a device in between, it will be powered. This is the working principle of the battery since Alessandro Volta showed it to the world sometime during 1800s. Most of the alkaline batteries are of no use to these gadgets since the power generated from them is too low. So the Li-ion rechargeable batteries with a superior energy density are being used. Even this is not enough. One alternative is to find a method to ‘quick’ recharge the batteries. There are a number of other strategies that researchers are focusing on – like decreasing the battery size and increasing the number of batteries for efficient supply of energy only when needed and also tweaking with component materials that could provide a better energy density. </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Apart from the research community the industry is not doing much to address this issue. If all the batteries that come in most of the gadgets are Li-ion, why do they have different standards, sizes, shapes? Duracell tried to standardize the laptop battery market. But the manufacturers found that it is easier to make more money with different battery types. </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">So what is the alternative? It would take atleast five years to bring out new batteries out in the market. Some people suggest fuel cells. Portable fuel cells. The problem is they are costly since they use costlier metals like platinum. So till they come up with these, pack up your backup batteries.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9664482.post-7780275640023505622004-10-18T10:40:00.000-05:002006-09-24T12:17:28.748-05:00Bluetooth & RFID - Notes<div align="justify">Bluetooth is an open-source standard for connecting devices without wires via short-wave radio frequencies. Bluetooth is a short-wave standard, with most development concentrated on connecting devices within a radius of 10 meters, or roughly 30 feet – in tech terms, a PAN, or personal area network. </div><div align="justify"><br />The most "hotly contested" Bluetooth segment is the semiconductor market which last year began moving into second-generation solutions with developers also ramping up for volume production. The result was "fiercer competitive forces driving strong performance," a trend that will continue to spur consolidation. Frost & Sullivan projects that consolidation will lead to the emergence of " no more than 10 key players" in the sector. Also driving the Bluetooth success story: advances in single-chip RF technology, a solution that is geared toward the cellular phone market. </div><div align="justify"><br />Among the applications garnering increased Bluetooth attention: "human interface" devices, such as keyboard, mouse, games controllers, and desktop peripherals, including printers and digital cameras. </div><div align="justify"><br />"All are perceived as potential high volume areas for market development," according to the report, which adds that "improvements in the robustness of chipsets to conditions such as heat and light is allowing further investigation in automotive and industrial environments." </div><div align="justify"><br />A thriving environment of supporting products and services has emerged around the main semiconductor market, with design services, protocol software vendors and intellectual property developers all making major contributions to the growth of the market. </div><div align="justify"><br />Radio frequency identification (RFID) is a method of remotely storing and retrieving data using devices called RFID tags. An RFID tag is a small object, such as an adhesive sticker, that can be attached to or incorporated into a product. RFID tags contain antennae to enable them to receive and respond to radio-frequency queries from an RFID transceiver<br /><br />RFID tags can be either active or passive. Passive RFID tags do not have their own power supply: the minute <a title="Electrical current" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrical_current">electrical current</a> induced in the antenna by the incoming radio-frequency scan provides enough power for the tag to send a response. Due to power and cost concerns, the response of a passive RFID tag is necessarily brief, typically just an ID number (<a title="GUID" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GUID">GUID</a>). Lack of its own power supply makes the device quite small: commercially available products exist that can be embedded under the skin. As of <a title="2004" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004">2004</a>, the smallest such devices commercially available measured 0.4 <a title="Millimetre" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millimetre">mm</a> × 0.4 mm, and thinner than a sheet of paper; such devices are practically invisible. Passive tags have practical read ranges that vary from about 10 mm up to about 5 <a title="Metre" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metre">metres</a>. </div><div align="justify"><br />Active RFID tags, on the other hand, must have a power source, and may have longer ranges and larger memories than passive tags, as well as the ability to store additional information sent by the transceiver. At present, the smallest active tags are about the size of a coin. Many active tags have practical ranges of tens of metres, and a battery life of up to several years. </div><div align="justify"><br />As passive tags are much cheaper to manufacture, the vast majority of RFID tags in existence are of the passive variety. As of 2004 tags cost from $0.25. The aim is to produce tags for less than $0.05 to make widespread RFID tagging commercially viable. </div><div align="justify"><br />There are four different kinds of tags commonly in use, their differences based on the level of their radio frequency: Low frequency tags (between 125 to 134 kilohertz), High frequency tags (13.56 megahertz), UHF tags (868 to 956 megahertz), and Microwave tags (2.45 gigahertz).<br />See also for some Transponder devices which deliver a similar function, and contactless chipcards. </div><div align="justify"><br />High-frequency RFID tags are used in library book or bookstore tracking, pallet tracking, building access control, airline baggage tracking, and apparel item tracking. High-frequency tags are widely used in identification badges, replacing earlier magnetic stripe cards. These badges need only be held within a certain distance of the reader to authenticate the holder. </div><div align="justify"><br />RFID tags are often envisioned as a replacement for UPC or EAN bar-codes, having a number of important advantages over the older bar-code technology. RFID codes are long enough that every RFID tag may have a unique code, while UPC codes are limited to a single code for all instances of a particular product. The uniqueness of RFID tags means that a product may be individually tracked as it moves from location to location, finally ending up in the consumer's hands. This may help companies to combat theft and other forms of product loss. It has also been proposed to use RFID for point-of-sale store checkout to replace the cashier with an automatic system, with the option of erasing all RFID tags at checkout and paying by credit card or inserting money into a payment machine. This has to a limited extent already been implemented at some stores</div><div align="justify">(<a href="http://www.ncr.com/repository/articles/pdf/sa_selfcheckout_integratedsolutions.pdf">http://www.ncr.com/repository/articles/pdf/sa_selfcheckout_integratedsolutions.pdf</a>).<br /><br /></div><div align="justify"> </div><div align="justify">An organization called EPCglobal is working on a proposed international standard for the use of RFID and the Electronic Product Code (EPC) in the identification of any item in the supply chain for companies in any industry, anywhere in the world. The organization's board of governors includes representatives from EAN International, Uniform Code Council, The Gillette Company, Procter & Gamble, Wal-Mart, Hewlett-Packard, Johnson & Johnson, and Auto-ID Labs. </div><div align="justify"><br />In July 2004, the Food and Drug Administration issued a ruling that essentially begins a final review process that will determine whether hospitals can use RFID systems to identify patients and/or permit relevant hospital staff to access medical records. </div><p>Many somewhat far-fetched uses, such as allowing a refrigerator to track the expiration dates of the food it contains, have also been proposed, but few have moved beyond the prototype stage.<br />The use of RFID technology has engendered considerable controversy and even product boycotts. The four main privacy concerns regarding RFID are: </p><ol><li>The purchaser of an item will not necessarily be aware of the presence of the tag or be able to remove it; </li><li>The tag can be read at a distance without the knowledge of the individual;</li><li>If a tagged item is paid for by credit card or in conjunction with use of a loyalty card, then it would be possible to tie the unique ID of that item to the identity of the purchaser; and</li><li>Tags create, or are proposed to create, globally unique serial numbers for all products, even though this creates privacy problems and is completely unnecessary for most applications. </li></ol>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9664482.post-17171321401512215462004-09-26T15:07:00.000-05:002006-09-24T12:18:45.752-05:00Mobile Interfaces - Notes<div style="text-align: justify;">People are not crazy about new technologies for mobility, but they appreciate real benefits in products. Developers & designers are presently at a time where this understanding is frequesntly blurred by a haze of enthusiasm cast up by emerging new technology. However, it is vital that user needs and requirements meet the technologies at some point in the product development cycle. By time and again, it has proven that the intersection of user needs and the industry interests increasingly takes place only after product launch. With the unpredictable mobile communication culture, new solutions are utilized in ways that never even occured to their designers, who would feel a lot better if user behaviour is taken into accout before the launch.<br /><br />Mobile gadgets like phones and PDAs are carried around with users wherever they go. Sometimes, they are the primary personal communication link to other people and to services. The most obvious engineering solution to ensure portability and mobility is compact size that allows more freedom. The negative impact in decreasing the size is it influenzed the size of physical user interface elements. The total surface aread of the terminal limits the number and size of buttons. The same applies to the screen. Given the limits of human vision, the amount of data that can be presented on the screen at a given time is very limited.<br /><br />Desktops have web interfaces with numerous options labeled as texts, most of them long enough to resemble natural language, or by icons, thumbnail images, or all of them well-designed and organized into visual structures that link relevant topics to support the users's search strategies. The difference in designing UIs for desktop environments cersus ohone is about quantity; where desktops can accomodate more. However, the difference in quantity turns into a difference in quality. Small interfaces are essentially different from big ones.<br /><br />Parallel representation, in which plenty of options are displayed simultaneously on a sizeable screen, turns into sequential representation on a small screen, where options are browsed one by one though only a few can be seen at a time. But in a desktop UI, the features are not heavily prioritized. The user will customize his UI and develop personal styles of use. Mobile gadgets are consumer goods and users are not expected to configure them, though they can short-cut some of the functions that they frequently use. The developers are responsible for making the products more user-friendly. </div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0