canadagood

Google Alert: Twitter's Shot Across the Search Bow

While I seem to be the only person complaining; for some unknown reason Twitter search is now only returning results from the previous seven days.
As recently as a month ago they were indexing the previous 2 weeks, while earlier in the year one could search through every tweet ever posted.
I suspect that they have reached some Biz Stone's law of doubling storage requirement limit. When Twitter processes billions of messages per hour their search engine can handle the recent past but they have now apparently reached some sort of indexing capacity limit.
If they make $100 million income that is great. But what if they have to spend it all on new data centers and network capacity?

Sarah Palin's Stock Portfolio

The EWA, EWK, EWP combination looks like they are trying for a portfolio of anything but BRIC / Emerging Markets / Asia. EWP looks like a good choice in last year!
The rest looks like good choices in a volatile market. Todd worked for BP so those shares probably came with the job.
Someone should come out with a Palin ETF... or perhaps an Ultra-Short version?

Microsoft Copping to $10 Million Seinfeld Mistake?

I too don't see the point but presume that further ads will provide one. Actually I though that both were quite funny especially the one with Bill trying to fit into the average American home.

Why Google Rules the Online Ad Market, and How That Could Change

This article reminds me of all those Alpha skimmers who have to add a comment to the postings even though they only read every second paragraph. Also makes me consider the attention span of all the comment makers here who have nothing to say with the subject of the articles but only want to comment on the perceived lack of intelligence and knowledge of the writer. Someone the comment makers here -- who have been studying the subject of article about 6 nano-seconds are always just SO much smarter than the article writers who stayed up all weekend writing their articles.
(In other words thanks for a different look at the news biz).

ArcelorMittal: Profit from the World's Largest Steel Maker

How can anyone trust someone like Gordon Pape who spent a decade flogging reverse mortgages to elderly Canadians. I see that Pat Boone is becoming the American version of Gordon Pape. Would you think of asking Pat Boone for unbiased intelligent financial advice?

As it says at www.canretire.com/arti...
Garth Turner, former federal revenue minister, said a reverse mortgage "is an ideal strategy if you hate your children."

The Long Case for Canadian Oil Sands Trust

How can anyone trust Gordon Pape who spent a decade flogging reverse mortgages to elderly Canadians. I see that Pat Boone is becoming the Gordon Pape of Reverse Mortgages in the USA. Would you ask Pat Boone for unbiased intelligent financial advice?

As it says at www.canretire.com/arti...
Garth Turner, former federal revenue minister, said a reverse mortgage "is an ideal strategy if you hate your children."

Online Sales: Poking Holes in the Long Tail Theory

Long Tail is a great concept but I must agree that people make selections like lemmings and that long tail looks quite short sometimes.
I am one of those rare people who spend vacation time browsing used book stores. I have noticed that there are far fewer of them than before, and the ones that have survived concentrate on popular novels. In other words, in the average used book store there might be a handful of dusty travel and history books waiting for me to discover but there are a vast quantity more of popular romance novels and fantasy fiction.
We live in a disposable society and if you are not an aficionado of whats in the top ten -- or perhaps top 100 -- hits then you are generally out of luck.

Will This Summer Be Six Flags' Last Ride?

Apparently you were not aware of the recent accidents when you wrote this piece. The settlement on this one should be another hit to their feel-good family image.
www.usatoday.com/news/...

Apple's Leap from Mediocre to Marvelous

I like this article.
I am a computer geek and I think that Apple computers are way oversold. I know that they are good and easy to use but they are not perfect and they are way expensive. I make a spreadsheet and check all the numbers before making a major buying decision; BUT Apple's computer marketing IS NOT aimed at me. Most people buy htese things based on emotion. (Apple really does make their darn products look sexy).

I suspect that investment web sites such as Alpha attract a high number of fact and figure and chart people like me; but most investors make decisions by poking a finger at a list of funds provided by their IRA. Or perhaps they make a decision according to which company's CEO was being praised in Time or Newsweek last week. We can't ignore these folks buying on emotion simply because we might be a bunch of number geeks. Those other investors are not wrong just different.

PS: I really loved that DELL guy a few years ago. He was way cool and too bad that he jumped the shark or whatever happened to him.

Canadian Crude Pushing South

Interesting and useful article as seen from here in Edmonton within sight of the biggest Alberta refineries.
People here sometimes forget how difficult it can be to get all that crude to the places where it is needed. My only complaint is that you make it seem easier than it is to build pipelines out to the West coast of British Columbia (BC) Canada. It is roughly the same distance from Edmonton to Vancouver (south coast of BC), Kitimat / Prince Rupert (north coast) or South Dakota. But it is much, much easier to plan, build and get approval for pipelines across the flat open prairies than it is to do the same through the very narrow mountain valleys between Alberta and the coast.
PS: Most readers would probably have found it interesting to have Kitimat and Prince Rupert placed on your map.

Global Inflation Rates

A lot of this depends on the health of your currency. If your country's currency gains in value -- as it did here in Canada last year -- then it makes everything imported cheaper to buy. Of course if your dollar is dropping like a stone -- such as in the USA -- then things get a lot more expensive to buy.

The Great Oil Deception: Part Two

Just wanted to point out that it takes a lot of refined gasoline, jet fuel and diesel at current prices to "find oil". All those exploration companies are paying taxed refinery prices for the fuel that is running helicopters, powering oil rigs and heating arctic work camps. Presumably that is a big bump to their current operating costs.

Not Enough Progress on Google Patent Search

Google Beta? Hell even GMAIL is still officially a Beta version and it has been going for more than 4 years!