The Use of Online Annotated Bibliographies

The technology era has brought about many new resources for searching on the internet. The vast amount of information on the web can easily be found with the proper resources. We have all learned to use libraries, but the ease, functionality, and vast amount of knowledge that the internet provides is quickly making libraries obsolete. In the past couple of years, if not even months, new sites have become available that allow people to store the information that they read online and file the information easily. These sites allow for users to view their collection of websites virtually anywhere around the world. The site such as Diigo allows a researcher to write on the website document and save these sticky notes for later use. So, in comparison to library research, this site allows a visitor to mark up a web page and aid their reading, later providing key points they may need, which was once a major advantage for print sources. The use of this site is easy and is continuing to be developed for more sophisticated uses. The internet and online annotation programs make it much simpler for users to search a vast array of documents and academically read through them. In addition, traditional library techniques are losing their advantages since there has been much success in transcribing text to online sites, so the academic knowledge that once was only prominent in real world libraries can now be found at the click of a button from a person's personal computer. Needlessly to say, the value of books is still relevant, but in a decade or so the tools and information available to everyone wirelessly will supersede the functions of traditional library researching. Lastly, the tools that are surfacing across the internet are only valuable to the users that know they exist. So, I strongly recommend that anybody who uses the internet regularly to visit such sites as Diigo, Zotero, and del.icio.us.

The World of Diigo – A Place for Social Bookmarking

The internet has a created a much more vast array of knowledge available for all people at the touch of their fingertips. Though there is so much information out on the web, how can anyone expect to find the valuable sources and interesting websites that are available throughout all the clutter? Well, one helpful tool that has recently been created is known as Diigo. It is an online website that holds a user's bookmarked websites available for everyone to see. So, if a visitor searches the site for a certain topic and finds another user with similar interests as their own, the visitor is able to see all the sites the other person has bookmarked allowing the visitor to visit these websites, which most likely have already been filtered through all the clutter. In my experiences with Diigo, I have found a couple users that have similar investing interests and there is one user I would like to share with everyone reading this blog. The user's name is Ashishgup and the user is interested in investing, wealth, books, writing, and several other topics that pertain to my own research.

Ashisgup's bookmarks are tag with many different subject listings, but I am going to focus on his investing tag due to the content of my blog. If anyone would like to visit this user's bookmarks, they may visit the link here. This user has fifteen bookmarked sites under his investing tag, in order of appearance; "This Stock Is Cheap -- Or Is It?" [Fool.com] February 13, 2007, "The Sleepwalking Millionaire" [Fool.com] February, "Why the stock market is volatile", "Do and don'ts for stock market investments", http://www.completeinvestor.com, "The Personal Finance Weblog: Investing", "The Indian Investor's Blog: Sticky: Shenoy's Investment Fundas", "The Simple Dollar » Jim Cramer's Real Money: Building A Ten Stock Portfolio", "The Simple Dollar » Jim Cramer's Real Money: Advice to Beginning Investors", "The Simple Dollar » Jim Cramer's Real Money: General Trading Advice", "The Simple Dollar » Jim Cramer's Real Money: Overview", "The Indian Investor's Blog: Are you saving or investing?", "Equitymaster.com: Numbers jungle unfurled", "Make Your Fortune in the Market" [Fool.com] February 08, 2007, and "Stock Market India". These are a mix of sites that can be beneficial to a variety of people. Some of these sites may not help a visitor, but I am sure there is one that holds some valuable information for each and every investor.

Of these fifteen sites, the three I like the best are "This Stock Is Cheap – Or is it?", "The Simple Dollar » Jim Cramer's Real Money: Building A Ten Stock Portfolio", and "The Simple Dollar » Jim Cramer's Real Money: General Trading Advice." I enjoyed a couple of his other bookmarked sites, but felt these three would benefit anyone who has just a little bit of time to read a couple of articles. The Simple Dollar site is a very interesting site that has summarized 52 financial sources in 52 weeks. Ashisgup mainly focuses on Jim Cramer's book, but there are other fine articles that an investor may want to look at. The other article appears on The Motley Fool, which is a site that reviews many different areas, but has a surprising amount of informative financial articles that many investors already read and any new investor should look at. In addition, several of Ashisgup's bookmarked sites seem to cover the international markets, primarily India and China, which I am not too familiar with, but do give some insight maybe too much speculation into those markets.

The Motley Fool article "This Stock Is Cheap – Or is it?" is written by Tim Hanson and Brian Richards. The article examines some small cap and low price stocks and shares some investing tips that many normal investors normally do not realize. They showcase several low price stocks namely Microsoft and Oracle who were both price around $.55 (adjusted for splits and dividends) in 1990 and are now trading north of $60, both with gains of 5,441% and 2,718%, respectively. Though, these stocks traded very low and are now high, Hanson and Richards point out a very good investor tips.

1. Lower-priced stocks do not go up any faster than higher-priced stocks.
   
2. Lower-priced stocks are not necessarily cheaper than higher-priced stocks.
   
3. Lower-priced stocks are not necessarily smaller than higher-priced stocks.
   

These tips are elementary, but people are often afraid of investing in high priced stocks. Furthermore, Hanson and Richard express the need for investors to invest in companies that have cheap valuations compared to their cash flow, managers that own significant shares of the company, and a growing operation in a successful industry. So, if the price is $1 or $100 it should not matter because if the company is growing and is valued low in its industry then the price will soar no matter what price an investor buys in at. Therefore, the myth that high priced stocks will not go higher is truly a myth and that there are many key factors that need to be looked at besides the price of the stock.

The article on The Simple Dollar entitled "Jim Cramer's Real Money: Advice to Beginning Investors" is written by Trent. The article is a summary of a section of Jim Cramer's book Real Money. Trent summarizes ten investment tips in Cramer's book that every investor should use when building researching and maintaining their stock portfolio. The ten investment advices are 1) do your homework, 2) be willing to speculate, 3) be conservative with your retirement, 4) diversify, 5) don't blindly follow analysts, 6) never trade at market value – use limit orders instead, 7) every company and industry has a key metric, 8) when comparing stock prices within the same sector, ignore actual price and compare the price to earnings ratio, 9) use earnings growth as a second comparison between two stocks in the same sector, and 10) You only need $2,500 to start.

In summary, these tips underline the importance of understanding and evaluating an investor's portfolio and help the beginning investor. A beginning investor should always do at least an hour of homework each week on each stock they own to relate themselves to the industry and know the recent news. Any person can and should start investing if they have $2500 and invest in a variety of industries. The investments should be in strong companies, but all people should invest a small portion of their portfolio into speculative stocks. An investor should purchase on limit orders, so they can control the purchase price. Furthermore, investors want to research these companies and not just follow analyst's opinions. In researching the market, compare like companies P/E ratio and not their trading price and look into their earnings growth to make a valid judgment. Lastly, depending on your age investors can be more risky, but always be conservative for retirement by investing in mutual funds and bonds.

The article on The Simple Dollar entitled "Jim Cramer's Real Money: Building a Ten Stock Portfolio" is written by Trent. The article is list of the ten industries Cramer would build a portfolio around written in his book Real Money. Jim Cramer is well known for his declaration of having a diversified portfolio. Cramer suggests an investor starts with a company in their own neighborhood, an oil stock, a brand name blue chip that sells at a 2.5% yield or greater, a financial institution, and something very risky. This diversifies an investor's portfolio, so a bubble within any industry would not destroy all your earnings. The company within your neighbor is usually a company where you know people work at and really know the business well. An oil company is suggested because oil companies are usually strong and always in demand. The reason for a blue-chip is Cramer feels that a company with a healthy yield will not fall out and normal have good returns. A financial is important because banking services are always increasing and have good cash flow. The last stock to finish off an investors starting portfolio is a risky stock that is speculative because this is where a tremendous amount of gains can be made and if speculation does not pay off it would not devastate an investor's portfolio.

In addition, the article further suggests five stocks that can be considered when expanding a portfolio. Jim Cramer advises a soft goods secular growth stock, a cyclical stock, a technology company, a regional retailer that is expanding nationally, and a "hope for the future" nontech stock, like a biotech company. The secular growth stock is a large company that has stable product sells and won't fall off the map, but is currently in a down time and is more than likely going to rebound. A cyclical stock is a company that has phases throughout economic changes, such as a construction stock is declining due to the failing housing market, but will increase dramatically when the housing market fortifies. The technology stock is pretty simple, just research and evaluate a technology company and buy into it. The retailer is straight forward, just look for an expanding franchise, research the company and purchase the stock if the company sounds solid. Lastly, look into a company that may have promise in the future. Many biotech companies are good starts because biotechs are always in clinical and developmental stages and when the product releases the stock jumps incredible and can provide substantial returns for years.

Housing: A Battle for Equity Properties

Many analysts and economic experts have speculated on the disastrous ending that could occur to the housing market, after several years of record setting prices and sales. I am here to endorse the housing market, primarily commercial developments and office space investments. The strength of the market can be seen in the recent bidding war for Equity Office Properties, between Vornado Realty Trust (VNO) and Blackstone. In the recent article "The Price is REIT" on The Wall Street Journal Online, discusses the eventual outcome between these two companies. The two companies put in several offers that include various amounts of cash; the ultimate winner was Blackstone paying an enormous $22.9 billion for one of the largest Real Estate Investment Trusts (REIT). The housing market is obviously not losing too much steam, if a company is willing to pay such a premium to acquire commercial property. Furthermore, David Gaffen discusses the impact for both of these companies, though the price of the shares of the stock reflects the investor's opinions. Over the course of the bidding war,the Vornado stock price was around $120 a share sometimes falling into the upper $110s. Many investors and analysts felt that in order for Vornado to win the war they would have to pay about $59.50 a share, while Blackstone offered $55.50. Once Vornado never made a final bid and rescinded its intent to purchase the company - the stock rose roughly 5%. Obviously, many investors felt it was a great decision to not purchase Equity Office Properties, largely due to the fact that VNO would assume a huge amount of debt. In addition, Gaffen mentions that "the valuation looks toppy by almost any measure — an impression that Vornado's withdrawal further reinforces." So, some analysts felt that Equity Office Properties is being overvalued and VNO acknowledge this by withdrawing its bid. Lastly, the housing market has been strong and though has declined in its yearly increase still is a very safe investment since real estate prices are always climbing and office space is always in demand.

Garcia, Alex. "Sears Holdings: A Baby Berkshire in the Making?" SeekingAlpha.com 2 Jan. 2007 12 Feb 2007

The recent speculation and analysis of Sears Holdings (SHLD) has opened a lot of reviews and estimations from several analysts regarding the potential this company is generating. The article by Jim Cramer "Cramer's mad Money Recap: A Yardstick for Sears" is only the beginning of an onslaught of reviews about this company. The article that sheds more light onto this once declining retailer is submitted by Alex Garcia on SeekingAlpha.com. The article is entitled "Sears Holdings: A Baby Berkshire in the Making?" that discusses the company and shows it true functions of business. Garcia is making a huge comparison when bringing Sears into a category with Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A), which is almost in a category of its own. Garcia comments that Sears Holdings is a combination between Kmart Holding Corp. and Sears Roebuck that merged and since has changed its strategy to make up for its decline in retail sales. Alex Garcia continues to support Sears through the article due to the CEO of Sears, Edward Lampert. He profiles Lampert and his investment background by stating "At age 25, Edward Lampert started his own hedge fund, ESL Investments. Using an investment style similar to Warren Buffett's, ESL Investments has averaged returns of 29% per year. ESL Investments became Kmart's major shareholder when it built up a huge position at a time the company was going through bankruptcy and shares were depressed." So, Lampert is really an investor much to the same degree that Warren Buffet was when he created Berkshire Hathaway. Therefore, Garcia feels that this company is a strong long term investment as long as Edward Lampert continues to invest the cash flow of Sears into good investments and "improves the operation of the core business."

The Street.com Staff. "Cramer's 'Mad Money' Recap: A Yardstick for Sears" thestreet.com 8 Feb. 2007. 12 Feb. 2007.

Recently, the focus on my blog has been gaming and leisure stocks, primarily, those concentrated in Macau. Now, I am going to discuss the housing "bubble" and other key stocks that have been entering the market. On Friday, Fortress Investment Group became the first publicly traded hedge fund. In Jim Cramer's article, "Cramer's 'Mad Money' Recap: A Yardstick for Sears" he discusses this important event in the market along with a stock that could become a great investment. Furthermore, the importance of hedge fund activity has been seen through the rapid saturation of hedge fund companies opening in the past couple of years along with the huge amounts of profits many funds have managed to make. Though, in Jim Cramer's article, he believes that Sears Holdings (SHLD) will actually be the beneficiary from Fortress going public. Since, Fortress is now public investors are now able to have a benchmark value for what the investment industry can create in profits. In addition, Cramer believes Sears Holdings is more of an investment company than a retailer, since they own Kmart and Sears, but recent acquisitions have created soaring earnings through investment activity. So, the benchmark that Fortress creates allows Sears Holdings to be properly valued and Cramer feels it could create a huge impact on the price of a share of Sears Holdings stock. In closing, Jim Cramer recommends buying this bullish stock since it is currently $180.81 and his prediction estimates Sears to be worth $327 in the near future.

Las Vegas Sands Fourth Quarter Earnings: Really that Great?

In response to the news articles surrounding Las Vegas Sands' Fourth Quarter Earnings Report, I would like a chance to discuss the speculation and conversations that have occurred - resulting in a decent fall in stock value over the past couple of days. The article "Investors Leave Las Vegas Sands" on BusinessWeek.com discusses the earnings report and has made some interesting speculation surrounding the company. The article mainly describes the outlook for gaming in Macau, but suggests that many stockholders sold their shares because of not a significant increase in Macau gaming revenues. LVS earnings report stated that the company had a year over year increase of 3.3% in Macau and 72.9% in Las Vegas. This is showing that the potential that many were expecting did not show up. Many people might have been expecting a much higher increase in Macau such as 10-20% maybe more. Many people are speculating that the Las Vegas earnings is a fluke and 72.9% is really high and will not happen again, so all in all the earnings really did not look good, despite the record operating income levels. Though, the earnings may not have looked good once analysts start poking around, remember that the stock has risen from speculation and Las Vegas Sands still has many more resorts here under development. These resorts could provide a substantial boost to the tourism in Macau along with the many dollars left on the gaming tables. Lastly the first quarter earnings report should look much better for LVS, since it is reporting the strongest time of year in Macau with the Chinese New Year and other Asian activities.

The Effectiveness of Communication - Online Media and Their Distractios

The display of information in a print or visual source needs to be organized in an effective way to communicate to the audience. Today’s print and media articles are often times written nicely, but the layout on the page along with advertisements distracts the viewer and usually takes away from the content the writer was trying to communicate. So in my post, on this wonderful Tuesday afternoon, would like explore a couple of my resource links and comment on their perspective choices in regard to layout and overall effective visual communication. Some sites are able to provide a simple and straightforward layout that is easy for a viewer to understand while other sites have distractions everywhere, which can cause the viewers eyes and mind to wander off into other parts of the page. In addition, people are having less and less time to read the material and by giving the audience distractions will largely take away from a writer’s conversation.

The discussion of online media and displayed information is very complex. Though, I am by no means, an expert on the delivery of content within a print or visual source, I still am able to compare sites and explore their positives and negatives of their media. Furthermore, the first site I would like to discuss is Yahoo Finance, which is a great finance site for all investors for several reasons. Yahoo Finance is well laid out with a good color scheme. The colors are simple and do not vary throughout the page, so your eyes can guide you through the several frames of content on the welcoming page. The site does have a decent size advertisement, which I would prefer not to see, but it does not flicker or play sounds like many of the advertisements on finance pages. In addition, most of the Finance sites have advertisements and so more than one a page, though I applaud Google’s finance page for not having any advertisements. Furthermore, Google Finance is very simple and just bluntly gives the information an investor is seeking. The frames on Google are all equal and the layout is the blandest, but works extraordinary well. Back to Yahoo Finance, they display more information on their welcoming page then Google, which causes some distraction, but it is just suppose to be a quick overview. Therefore, we should look at the variety of stock market charts these sites have and compare the visual elements that each of the following sites offer – CBS MarketWatch, Google Finance, and Yahoo Finance.

These three sites offer the same information in surprisingly different ways. Currently, Google Finance has the most detail oriented charts that are interactive with the user. Google’s charts allow the audience to use their cursor and pinpoint a specific spot on the stock chart giving the audience the date, price, volume and any news that came out on this day. CBS and Yahoo have detailed charts, but they are not interactive like Google’s, which is why I feel the media is delivered better by Google. Though, Yahoo does have an interactive chart under works in Beta testing that should bring the relevant stock information to the forefront better.

Lastly, I would like to consider another sight that is different than these informational/news sites. The site is Mad Money Recap and is a very useful site that is laid out in a bizarre way, which I feel demonstrates the distractions that are quite prevalent across multiple media formats, specifically the web. The site has many advertisements which distract the visitor, has multiple fonts colors and some are hard to read, and has a very interesting assortment of colors used for the lay out. Despite the fact that there are a bunch of distractions on the site, I find the archive easy to manage and the information is clearly displayed.