How did Lenovo become
the world’s biggest computer company? Bleeding red ink in 2008 and choking
on the IBM’s PC business, Lenovo leapfrogged thanks to (1) cutting 1/10 of
workforce, (2) protecting 2 huge profit centers—corporate PC sales and China
market—while attacking new markets with new products, (3) going premium with a
vast distribution network and a stellar in-house manufacturing team. [Note:
Thinkpad X1 Carbon is stellar indeed]…Source: http://www.economist.com/news/business/21569398-how-did-lenovo-become-worlds-biggest-computer-company-guard-shack-global-giant
13 battery startups
to watch in 2013: 3 noteworthy ones: Ambri founded by MIT professor and
with Bill Gates as investor—with molten salt sandwiched between 2 layers of
liquid metal, 1.5 years from commercialization. Alveo Energy—a batter out of
water, Prussian blue dye, iron, and copper; and Preito Battery—lithium ion
battery that charges in 5 min and lasts 5x longer than standard. [Note: what’s
the energy cost of making one?]…Source: http://gigaom.com/2013/01/14/13-battery-startups-to-watch-in-2013/
How important is
manufacturing to emerging markets? Answer: quite important as their shares
move up, but for many it is already shrinking as shares of GDP thanks to (1)
expansion of service and (2) spill-over of more sophisticated manufacturing. Source: http://blogs.ft.com/beyond-brics/2013/01/14/chart-of-the-week-how-important-is-manufacturing-to-emerging-markets/#axzz2I0eIztVp
TIPS is riskfree as
long as the government doesn’t change the index: The price of an asset
calculated based on an index set by the government. Do you smell anything wrong
with that? As Ben Lord at M&G puts it:
“To eradicate the wedge altogether would be tantamount to an
event of default, especially if this is specifically to eradicate the
structural difference between the two indices! We bought these securities on
the basis that we would be paid RPI, which we know changes in terms of items
and weightings on an annual basis, but according to changes in spending habits
rather than Government policy. That’s fine! But the index is based on an
arithmetic mean and always has been, and so will (almost always!) be higher than
an index calculated according to a geometrically calculated mean. To change
this, willingly and knowingly, with the purpose of reducing future outgoings of
index-linked borrowing cashflows feels very similar to the altering of the War
Loan’s coupon from 5% to 3.5% in 1932, or to the Greek PSI exercise of coercive
write-downs, neither of which, arguably, were ‘defaults’.”
How can we see less
crime with less punishment? Via dynamic concentration: instead of letting
punishment occur by chance, the enforcer goes after the crime committer in
specific order which, by guaranteeing punishment on the frontal few and
deterring them, in turns deter the latter and consequently all potential
suspects. [Note: Clever, what if crime committers collude?]…Source: http://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2013/01/how-can-we-have-less-crime-with-less-punishment-when-brute-force-fails/
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