Soda Popinski

7/11/08

I am now always on the lookout for interesting “green” companies or devices, and I found one which struck my eye for reasons other than its energy efficiency.  Popular Science has an article about an energy efficient universal power adapter that was invented by an engineer that lost his cell phone charger.  His creation will communicate with the wall socket it is plugged in to deliver the right voltage to any number of electronic devices.  Additionally, a solar panel can be used to power the unit.

The energy savings from a power adapter that gives specifically the right amount of power to each device that is plugged into it is great, and this could force companies to stop making their own chargers so unique.  What really drew me to this article was that such a high-tech device has some pretty old electronics hooked up to it.  I don’t even think the cell phone has a color screen.

-Amit

akooner@brilliont.com

 7/10/08

 “Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.”

-Thomas Edison

Apparently the above cartoon is some attempt at GE for Gary Larson-type humor. 

After spending yesterday going through my quarter life crisis, I am back to cracking away on my various projects here at Brilliont.  An article I found today that struck me was one where GE is planning on selling its appliance business.  Also, NBC Universal is mentioned as a possible sale as well.  GE’s CEO Jeffrey Immelt has already been in hot water with former CEO Jack Welch because of GE’s lagging stock price. 

Clearly Mr. Immelt feels a lot of pressure to keep the stock price growing (not to mention following in the footsteps of Jack Welch).  Additionally, GE is especially interesting to me for another reason.  In our studies here on organic growth and M&A growth, GE is in the top tier in terms of M&A deals.  They are accurately labeled as “the jet-engines-to-loans conglomerate” in the New York Times article, so their corporate portfolio is pretty diversified. 

The most disheartening aspect of this article is that GE’s lighting business is part of the appliances division, which was started by Thomas Edison.  When a company is tied to its shareholders, oftentimes difficult decisions need to be made for the good of the stock price.

-Amit

akooner@brilliont.com

7/8/08

Windows Vista always was a bit of a headache but today it was a nightmare for me.  And I’m not the only one who feels this way.  (And if you can’t access that because you don’t have an account on Facebook.com, please get with it.)  But after a long day waiting in lines at Circuit City in Union Square here in New York City dealing with Firedog, I was shocked at the stark difference between Best Buy and Circuit City (I visited Best Buy later in the day and made note of the differences).  Not only is Circuit City’s stock price getting hammered by Best Buy’s in the markets, but the store layout and customer service are more customer-friendly at Best Buy.

I found a really exciting biotechnology company today called Ablynx, and since I was pre-med in college and work in labs for many summers, the technology they are working on really is especially exciting for me.  As you probably know, antibodies are produced by the immune system to identify objects like bacteria and viruses in the body.  The Belgian company Ablynx has found a way to make antibody-sized proteins called “Nanobodies” that can be used to fight diseases.

Finally, today I read a story about two of the owners of the Pittsburgh Steelers trying to buy out the shares of the rest of the family in order to control a higher percentage of the team.  What I found most interesting was that in 1933, Art Rooney Sr. bought the Pittsburgh Steelers for $2500 that he made at the racetrack, and according to the article the team is worth anywhere between $800M and $1.2B.  Even in today’s money, $2500 in 1933 is about $40,000 now, which is an awesome return on investment.

-Amit

akooner@brilliont.com

7/03/08

Well I’m back to trying to find innovative products and companies, and I think I found a pretty interesting one.  In this month’s Popular Science, the “PopSci” Pick of the Month is the Brooks Sports Trance 8 sneaker.  However, I was not able to find the shoe after a quick search of the website (www.brooksrunning.com/).  To quote from Popular Science:

“A used Trance sneaker takes up less space in a landfill.  Its sturdy foam midsole biodegrades 50 times as fast as others, because its molecules are shaped to let the bacteria in dumps decompose them more easily.  From Brook’s shoes alone, this could eliminate nearly 30 million pounds of waste by 2028.  Brooks is also sharing the recipe for use in other products.”

The biggest problem with such a product is that with only one option, and there is a good chance its performance may not be as good as other high performance sneakers.  If there is a choice between a “green” shoe and a high performance shoe, I am certain most people would choose the latter.  I think this is a great product and a great innovation, but if I used these shoes, I would really hope that I didn’t pick up whatever bacteria is in landfills on them.

-Amit

akooner@brilliont.com

7/01/08

I wish I had the time to blog about some of the interesting companies I have run across but unfortunately I have had no time to work on this project since I am pretty deep into another project at Brilliont.  However I ran across an article on Bloomberg about the difference in philosophies that European Central Bank (ECB) and the U.S.’s Federal Reserve are taking towards possible spiraling inflation.   While the Fed will probably keep its benchmark rate at 2%, the ECB is raising its key rate from 4% to 4.25%.  Now I have become jaded by the Federal Reserve since I actually understand its creation and purpose since coming to business school, but the thing that really got to me was the title of the article:

“ECB Is Martian, Fed Venusian, Says Deutsche Bank”

Now I love Martians, or the idea of there being Martians, but from the confusing quote:

“Men are from Mars,

Women are from Venus”

I am lead to believe that Deutsche Bank feels that the Fed is taking a women’s point of view on inflation.  I think I’d like more proof.

In other distressing news, my Dallas Cowboys and their new stadium has hit a bit of a snag.  Apparently $164.2M of bonds is going to be refinanced since these variable-rate bonds have interest rates as high as 9% in the past few weeks, and the city of Arlington, TX is trying to refinance the loans at a 5% fixed rate.  This is what we get for getting Pacman Jones.

-Amit

akooner@brilliont.com