2.21.2014

"Suntory" time at the Fed



The 2008 FOMC Laugh Track: Gallows Humor at the Federal Reserve

Excerpt:

“I liken the fed funds rate to a good single malt whiskey—it takes time to have its ameliorative or stimulative effect.” [Laughter]
Comment: Image ... Bill Murray in Lost in Translation

2.15.2014

IPhone 5s: The amazing power in one's pocket



An iPhone 5s would have cost more than $3.5 million in 1991

Excerpt:

The iPhone 5s is so advanced, compared to what was available in 1991, that it would actually cost more than $3.5-million to buy something resembling it 23 years ago. This was calculated by an analyst over at Tech Police Daily, where the cost was put down to the following factors. Flash storage in 1991 cost $45,000 per gigabyte. When you consider a 32GB iPhone 5s, the total cost is $1.44 million. Processors cost about $30 per MIPS (millions of instructions per second) in 1991. The A7 chip can execute 20,500 million instructions per second, so the total cost for a similar processor in 1991 would be $620,000.
Comment: Having sold mainframe and midrange computers (1973-78), I found this incredible. See DEC 10 article

2.07.2014

The GOOG (Google) stock split



We Interrupt This Program to Tell You About Google's Stock Split

Excerpt:

Google's plan will create a new class of "C'' share that has no voting power. As reported, the share of C stock will be distributed for each share of voting Class A stock owned as of March 27. To begin with the value of the current stock will be divided equally between the two types of shares. Both classes of stock will then trade separately with different ticker symbols. Class C shares will still use the company's existing "GOOG" ticker symbol, while Class A stock will use the symbol "GOOGL." 
When? "The split is scheduled to occur April 2."