LOCUS DEMENTIA

This morning on the television I saw AMEX ticker symbol CSN climb 800%, from $0.08 to $1.09. Wow, I though, that is a stock to investigate. What the heck is going on there? The last time I saw that jump, it was 2002 and I was buying SONUS Networks. CSN is the symbol for City Networks, Inc. This is a Taiwanese based company that provides wireless access infrastructure and resells network hardware. They don't manufacture anything,and claim this in their company profile: "The Company also created the Hotspot solution and the Next Generation Loops (NGL) solution, both of which help companies extend their business to the carrier's solution to meet people's communication inquires." (From E*Trade) Their website , shows the last news update in December of 2004. So this is a company that hasn't done anything in the last 2 years except exist. (Update: The stock is now at $0.24 with a 118% gain. Someone is getting smart). So why did its stock go up so high? The news...

A good friend of mine pointed out a flaw in my Zune analysis. The price of Zune music is not $0.79 in US dollars, but rather 79 ZUNE cents. A good analysis of this came from Apple Matters , which pegs the price at about $0.985, or a haypenny less than that of iTunes. I stand corrected. The price of music is the same, whether Zune or iTunes. This friend also pointed out that you can share your iTunes music across your LAN by streaming music from iTunes outward. This music is DRM'd just as it is in Zune, thus allowing you to legally listen to other's music. I've not seen anything like that in Zune. Lindon Dollars, Zune Dollars, iTunes Credits, what's the deal with new currency? At least iTunes got it right when it made the exchange rate 1 iTunes Credit for $1 US Dollar. I don't like the Zune Dollar idea, but I do like my Zune. If the Zune had better volume control, I would love it more. As it is, though, audio level 1 is still too high for my sensitive hearing. ...

On November 15th, Microsoft released its new Zune media player to the US market. Not so surprisingly, my kid asked me "What's a Zune" when I told her that I had bought one. Microsoft hasn't really tried to market this device that much, probably hoping to capture more of the viral market. With iPod out there, it will be hard to convince people to switch to a new media device that costs $249. If there was a "trade in" deal, though... I love my Zune. The handprint of the Zune is more inline with the size of my hands. The iPod gets lost in my oven mits, and I can feel the hard drive in it humming along. The Zune, though, is quiet. I tried to hear the drive in it, but couldn't. I even tried to make it skip by banging it on the table lots of times while it was playing, and still no skip. My iPod is a skipping champion and often times just blanks out in confusion. The screen is crisp and attractive. My kid loved it when she saw it. Plus, when I told her that s...