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Politics : Formerly About Applied Materials -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jacob Snyder who wrote (65899)	9/13/2002 1:37:49 PM
From: Wildstar	Respond to of 70976

If we see a P/S of 1, that will be the absolute mother of buying opportunities. IMO, we are very close to an intermediate term bottom - the type we have every 9 months to a year or so. But the bias is downward in a bear market, and just as irrationally exuberant they were on the upside, investors will be irrationally pessimistic on the downside. So 1996 valuations are not out of the question.

To: Jacob Snyder who wrote (65899)	9/13/2002 1:48:20 PM
From: BWAC	Respond to of 70976

<Price/sales currently: 13 stock price/(5.03B sales in 2002/0.854B shares) = 2.2> Uh no. Not 2.2 P/S $20 Billion market cap/$5 Billion sales = 4X Of course you can probably knock 1X off of the 4X for the $5 Billion cash on hand.

To: Jacob Snyder who wrote (65899)	9/13/2002 3:09:58 PM
From: Sam Citron	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 70976

OT Consumer Electronics Report on GPS and iPods With PC sales stuck in the doldrums and showing now immediate sign of rebound, I thought I would do some original research and try out two hot CE products to see whether they showed much promise of improving my quality of life and assess their "killer app" chip-eating potential. GPS: eTrex Legend Too bad I was never a Boy Scout or had a chance to take geography in school. Now that I live in N California within a couple of hours drive of Tahoe, Yosemite, and one of the most beautiful coastlines on the planet, I can see how it might be very useful to have certain rudamentary navigation skills. If I had the time for some serious hiking and the time to brush up on my cartographic and navigation skills, I can see how a GPS would be totally worth it, however I returned my GPS unit after noting the following: They're confusing. An REI salesperson at the GPS counter, who I expected to be quite knowledgable on the subject, told me confidently that none of the units let you download maps onto the handheld units beyond the included rudamentary basemap. Elsewhere I had read and heard that this was quite possible. I did some experimentation and failed in my attempt to download a topo map, but succeeded in downloading a street map. However I found the street map incomplete and expensive and a disappointment compared to the lovely color unit that my friend got with his Lexis SUV. When I took it on my bike a few miles outside of town on come rural county roads, I suddenly found myself off the map. Reading the finer print on the $100 additional software package I had bought for it, I discovered it had complete maps of "residential" areas and highways, but not the little roads out in the sticks. I'll go back to paper maps for this. Other issues: poor battery life, heavy and bulky, poor monochrome display quality, no removable memory options for the popular eTrex units. Steeper than expected learning curve to get the most out of the unit. Apple iPod for Windows This actually surpassed my expectations. It's not perfect, but it certainly extended the range and pleasure of my music listening capabilities. Knowing the 95-5 rule that the top 5 percent of accounts are likely to generate 95% of revenues is equally valid when applied to my music collection, I immediately decided to go with the cheapest of the three models -- $299 for 5 GB, vs. $399 for 10 GB or $499 for 20 GB. The 5 GB model is said to be capable of storing 1,000 songs. That's more than enough for me. What I hadn't realized before buying was that the 5 GB model does not include the case & beltclip or the handy control knob (volume, forward, pause, etc) dongle for the headphones that would be handy for listening to my favorite sounds while biking (which I know can be dangerous). The sound quality is astonishing. I can actually understand all the words now to many of the songs that I had prevously merely liked for their melodies. (No help though for my Gypsy King faves) The download is exceptionally fast with the firewire connection from my Sony laptop computer. No more than a second or two per song. OTOH, I am not enamoured of the included Musicmatch software, and am still wondering whether and how long it will take before others like Real Networks and Mr. Softie support the iPod. For one thing, Musicmatch rips (from CD to computer .wav files) seem to be quite a bit slower than those with Real and certain other media software I have used in the past. Another couple of negatives are the weight of the unit -- it feels like it is close to a pound which seems excessive for a solid state device -- and the fact that the software doesn't allow me to read text files other than contact information: names, addresses, and telephone numbers. But on the whole, this is a great device. I am planning to upgrade mine for the next version up, more for the included goodies than for the additional memory. CONCLUSIONS Loved the iPod. Was frustrated by the GPS, but will probably return to the category in another couple of years when the kids are out of their diapers and I have more time to hit the trails. I'm sure that neither of these products has the chip consuming potential of the PC, but everything helps. Sam (who naturally uses a "computer" on his recumbent bike) O _ \ _/\,%) ()--()