WTF MARKET?!?

So what do you do when you need some canvas printing done?  Do you go to the neighborhood store or shop, or do you check out some unknown online place?  I have always gone around the corner to some old Greek guy, who does a pretty great job but costs a fortune.  I’m starting to think that the best way to put photos onto a canvas is to go it online.

Canvas printing is definitely something that can be done on the cloud in 2010.  You can take a photo on your fancy digital camera, upload it to the cloud somewhere and order some square canvas prints online.  Seems like a pretty done deal.

Personally, though, I like a 3 panel canvas the best.  It just displays nicely when it’s finished.  It is a bit classier, in my opinion.

And that brings us now to the question of the day.  The million dollar question, if you will.  “What the F does this have to do with stocks?”  Relax, I’ll tell you.

This is a trend for the coming years (read: “long term investment”.)  Consumers are looking to do stuff like this for everything and there are companies popping up every day that help people get their lives on the cloud.  And what is a cloud?  Just another fancy word for server network.  Usually, provided by companies like Amazon (AMZM) and Akamai (AKAM) and connected with fiber optics provided by companies like Finisar (FNSR) on a system by Cisco (CSCO) running through ISP’s like AT&T (T).

Pick your winner out of the group.  Personally, I like Amazon because they are one of the most trusted online retailers and their AWS (Amazon Web Services) platform is enormously popular with web developers and system administrators alike.  I will have to pick them as the long term winner, but they are all a safe bet for a long hold.

How is after hour trading legal? Why not just keep it open 24/7 to make it fair for everyone. I swear it’s like the market is still open….

I’ve been looking at something I currently hold, Finisar (FNSR), to make a move after like 2 years. It’s fluctuated from -6% to -1% since close. At this rate my limit and stop orders may both be triggered by morning. I bet Schwab (SCHW) would love that. At least they lowered the trading cost.

Apple’s (AAPL) Snow Leopard was the talk of the town a few months ago. Good price point, nice updates, I can see why mac users were so happy. But I’m not too sure it converted many Microsoft (MSFT) Windows users over. I think they were waiting to see if Windows 7 was worth all of the hype, or better said, could make up for Vista’s flaws. And sorry to say to the Apple fan-boys out there, but it can.

The speed is great. I have it on a low powered Intel (INTC) Atom netbook and it boots up faster then every copy of Snow Leopard I have seen. The requirements are so low that the same copy can run on a NASA super computer, a netbook or your average desktop PC. The interface is finally on par with a mac, and best of all, you don’t have to move all of your over to a Mac (regardless of what the Mac commercials make it seem like, upgrading from XP to 7 was easy.)

It also costs a lot less. Yes, Snow Leopard IS CHEAPER THEN WINDOWS 7. But if you are converting from PC to Mac, you won’t be spending the $40 for the OS. You will be spending between $1,000 and $2,000 on an iMac, iBook, or something iExpensive. If you have a PC, you can buy Windows 7 for the $100-$300 price point depending on what you are looking for and that is that.

Its not that I hate Apple or Mac’s or anything of the sort, I just think Windows 7 is a killer on their campaign to bring over bitter Windows users.

Has anyone else noticed commuters using e-Readers almost as much as books, newspapers or magazines? Every month I swear I can count like 5 more people with Kindles. With every innovative product, we must ask ourselves: What does this mean for the market future?

In my eyes, if this sticks we can say goodbye to about 80-90% of print as we know it. These eReaders are getting better every release. Amazon’s (AMZN) Kindle is now big and easy to read. They are all wireless syncing, 3g capable and have use almost no battery when you are reading. Asus’s (TPE:2357) latest prototype is bi-fold like a real book and color. What will the next generations have? What do they have in development right now?

Besides books, there is a growing number of magazines and newspapers that are selling .pdf versions for digital-on-the-go use. Not these hip new, nobody’s heard of you, publications either. I’m talking seasoned veterans like the New York Times (NYT) and Wired amongst others. With an ailing printed media industry, this could be a savior in disguise.

But who benefits? First we have tech. Companies like Asus (and possibly other netbook makers) can pump these guys out at a low cost Then we have Semiconductors. More gadgets means more micro-sized hardware to make. Print media might be saved. That’s a plus even if they decline. How about advertising? With all print (and eventually e-print), there is advertising. Not just advertising, but strategic mass advertising. Mobile carriers like Verizon (VZ) and AT&T (T) will probably get a piece of the action if they all are on 3g. Retail should get a hit if more people are buying them. Even the cloud file distributors like Amazon and Akamai (AKAM) will get more business to distribute the content.

That sounds like the kind of boost our economy needs. A totally new piece of tech or engineering to catch on so multiple sectors grow. It may be too early to invest in the broader reaches of eReaders, but for long term it may be a grand-slam.

8:1.  That’s not some appropriate payout on the Cowboys winning a home game this year, its the Finisar (FNSR) reverse split.  They wanted to spark some investor interest.  Sweet, me too since I love their products and would like to see them flourish.  So now this goes up like 550% in value.  Awesome number to see, this is true.  But why is it getting slammed?

I’m guessing this is because it has, as of yet, sparked zero interest in potential investors.  The  volume is total .  I’m sure the people who didn’t sell off last minute expected a dip, but this bad?  Maybe they could have done something else to spark some interest…

Perhaps they could have advertised how their company pretty much supplies the internet.  Their customers are the companies that are the major internet hubs.  Their fiber optics are getting more advanced then hardware can handle.  I’m guessing a few months of targeted advertising could have done much more then this reverse split in the long run, but we’ll never know.  Hell, it worked for the pig farmers after the swine flu (I’m not calling it H1N1, thats stupid… the pigs won’t’ be offended.)