Monday, September 7, 2009

9/7/09 Disney Afraid to Talk To NYTimes re: $1 DVD Rentals Threatens Disney

The following is not intended as advertising by a broker-dealer and is not a research report.

Post #94 The following is brought to you by Intellivest Securities Research, Inc. The following is not intended as advertising by a broker-dealer and is not a research report. Towards the end of this Blog is an update of the Dow 30's most recent SEC filings.

A read of Monday's 9/7/09 print editions of: New York Times, Atl Journal Const, 9/21/09 Forbes and 9/14/09 Business Week yielded the following stories about Dow Jones Industrial Average 30 component companies and the Dow with stories about the Dow aggregated first and then items about Dow Jones Industrial Average 30 companies presented alphabetically, followed by symbol and Friday's closing price and related data:

AT&T T $25.51 +0.36 1.43% 14,893,880 NYSE: Verizon VZ $30.57 +0.33 1.09% 6,921,380
NYSE: NYT pB1 "Like Apple, TV Explores Must-Have Applications" by Saul Hansell says the cable and staellite TV businesses are trying to compete with iPhones by developing technology that will let their set top boxes run more complex applications. Viewer are wanting the ability to interact with tvs. Verizon now allow users to tap out message on the number pad to allow tweets on tv. AT&t's VP Jeffrey G. Weber is worred that opening the TV to applications like email might encourage domestic disputes asking what happens when the wife wants to read her mom's email on the tv while her husband is watching tv.

NYT pA1 "Gadget Makers Can Find a Thief, but Don't Ask" says Amazon won't gvie out information about stolen Kindles without a search warrant. AT&T says when they learn about a lost or stolen iPhone, they don't disable the phone, just stop charges from accruing to that account.

BW p17 "Mobiel App Makers Hear Washington Calling says as smartphone apps proliferate, the FCC has hinted at increased regulation of the $32 bil mobile data services market in which app makers offer everything from games and video to free or cheap Web calling services. Current issue is whether wireless carriers limit developers' access to consumers. FCC has asked app creators such as Google, Skype, and Vonage, not just wireless carriers like AT&T, Verizon Wireless, and Spring Nextel to submit comments abou the state of innovation and competition in the mobile market.

BW p32 "The Best Places To Launch a Career" by Lindsey Gerdes and photos by Ed Alcock says new grads love Cisco because they get to choose which department they'll join and which manager they'll work for and lists the following Dow companies in the top 50 of favorite employers at US colleges: JPMorgan at 9 up from 10 last year, IBM at 10 down from 9, Disney up to 14 from 27, GE up to 16 from 18, Microsoft down to 18 from 13, Verizon unchanged at 22nd place, Boeing to 30 from 25 (they have the very good retention), Travelers 32 from 43, Merck way up to 37 from 77, AT&T unchanged at 38, Johnson & Johnson wasn't on the list last year but is at 41 in '09, and finally Cisco is at 43 from 31.

BW p42 "Where Headhunters Fear to Tread" by Dean Foust says executive recruiters are in agreement that Coke is not a good place to recruit talent from because it is too easy for young managers to rise without having to develop the entrepreneurial skills necessary to compete in other arenas but there are not many Coke alumnus who successfully run a major company elsewhere. Other companies that recruiters avoid are AT&T, GE, IBM, Intel and Hewlett-Packard even though.

AA $12.19 +0.18 1.5% 16,391,164 NYSE: No mentions found.

AXP $32.81 +0.35 1.08% 6,004,884 NYSE: BW p66 "Turning on the Corprate Tap" has a list of Standard & Poor's 100 companies that had double digit hikes in capital spending in 2Q, which could bode well for their suppliers, 4 of the 9 companies were Dow companies as follows with the amount of capital expenditures in millions followed by year over year change: HPQ 1,091/73%; Merck 365/25%; WMT 3,137/19% and Amex 246/18%.

Bank of Am BAC $17.06 +0.22 1.31% 165,395,460 NYSE: NYT pB2 "Lehman's Pain Wounded Giants" says that with the collapse of Lehman Brothers 12 months ago the prime brolerage business has been reshaped with the new major players being JPMorgan and BNP Paribas which bought BofAm's prime brokerage unit in '08. But BofAm which bought Merrill Lynch, is now getting back into prime brokerage.

Boeing BA $49.12 +0.66 1.36% 5,305,162 NYSE: BW p32 "The Best Places To Launch a Career" by Lindsey Gerdes and photos by Ed Alcock lists the following Dow companies in the top 50 of favorite employers at US colleges: JPMorgan at 9 up from 10 last year, IBM at 10 down from 9, Disney up to 14 from 27, GE up to 16 from 18, Microsoft down to 18 from 13, Verizon unchanged at 22nd place, Boeing to 30 from 25 (they have the very good retention), Travelers 32 from 43, Merck way up to 37 from 77, AT&T unchanged at 38, Johnson & Johnson wasn't on the list last year but is at 41 in '09, and finally Cisco is at 43 from 31.

Caterpillar CAT $46.12 +1.08 2.4% 6,732,549 NYSE: Forbes p106 "Embrace the Bull" by Laszlo Birinyi Jr. says Caterpillar was a good stock to buy because its earnings have been good and notes that 3M's stock has gained 50% in a matter of weeks. He says that while crude oil has doubled in price this year, the Energy Select SPDR index is up only 9% becasue the 2 biggest components are laggards ExxonMobil and Chevron. He says he doesn't like ExxonMobil, McDonald's or Verizon and he likes IBM which is up 35% since March.

Chevron CVX $68.92 +0.59 0.86% 5,250,766 NYSE: BW p5 mentions CVX's release of a video alleging the Ecuadoran judge presiding over the $27 bil was biased. (Although not reported in BW, as reported in this Blog, the judge, later in the week, recused himself.)

Forbes p106 "Embrace the Bull" by Laszlo Birinyi Jr. says that while crude oil has doubled in price this year, the Energy Select SPDR index is up only 9% becasue the 2 biggest components are laggards ExxonMobil and Chevron. He says he doesn't like ExxonMobil, McDonald's or Verizon and he likes IBM which is up 35% since March.

Cisco CSCO $21.84 +0.35 1.63% 28,628,814 NASDAQ-GS: NYT pB4 "Server Makers Hit Rough Patch" says server sales fell in 2Q by 30% compared to same period last year down to $9.8 bil. All the major server makers have suffered at the hands of the bad economy including IBM, Hewlett-Packard and Dell. Cisco systems has tried to crack the server market during the downturn, pitching a system packed with networking equipment and virtualization software. HPQ and IBM say their size and stability will play well with customers hunting for peace of mind.

BW p32 "The Best Places To Launch a Career" by Lindsey Gerdes and photos by Ed Alcock lists the following Dow companies in the top 50 of favorite employers at US colleges: JPMorgan at 9 up from 10 last year, IBM at 10 down from 9, Disney up to 14 from 27, GE up to 16 from 18, Microsoft down to 18 from 13, Verizon unchanged at 22nd place, Boeing to 30 from 25 (they have the very good retention), Travelers 32 from 43, Merck way up to 37 from 77, AT&T unchanged at 38, Johnson & Johnson wasn't on the list last year but is at 41 in '09, and finally Cisco is at 43 from 31.

Forbes p26 Green Tendrils - Corporate acquisitions may finally spark some cash out activity in Silicon Valley" by Rebecca Buckman wonders why Cisco which has done 133 deals in 25 years has bought Tidal Software which makes scheduling and monitoring programs for large servers for $105 million and $590 million for Pure Digital, make of Flip camcorders. She says it is a sign that Silicon Valley's big bruisers are branching out. She says Cisco, IBM, Microsoft, HP and Oracle together have $100 billion in cash and pay meager dividends so they are bound to spend on M&A quoting Feter Falvey of Revolution Partners, a Morgan Keegan Unit.

Coke KO $49.97 +0.39 0.79% 6,799,428 NYSE: BW p42 "Where Headhunters Fear to Tread" by Dean Foust says executive recruiters are in agreement that Coke is not a good place to recruit talent from because it is too easy for young managers to rise without having to develop the entrepreneurial skills necessary to compete in other arenas but there are not many Coke alumnus who successfully run a major company elsewhere. Other companies that recruiters avoid are AT&T, GE, IBM, Intel and Hewlett-Packard even though.

Disney DIS $25.94 +0.50 1.97% 10,573,813 NYSE: NYT pB1 "The $1 Redbox Alarm - Studios see a Threat in srpead of DVD Vending Machines" by Brooks Barnes says that Mitch Lowe's Redbox, a fast growing company in Illinois that rents movies for $1 a day via kiosks, has Hollywood's blood boiling. Three major studios are refusing to sell DVDs to Redbox until at least 28 days after they arrive in stores. Redbox is suing them on antitrust grounds. Dis permits third-party distributors to sell to Redbox but has so far shunned a direct relationship. The three studios and Disney refused to comment for the NY Times article. [My Comment: Imagine that - Disney that makes its money communicating through ESPN and other media refuses to comment to the New York Times. Gee, I wonder why they are afraid to comment.] Redbox and its vending rivals now have 19% of the rental market compared with 36% for rent by mail services (Netflix) and 45% for traditional stores. Redbox was formerly owned by Mcdonald's and is now part of Coinstar. Walmart is a Redbox partner and has had only a 1% decline sales after Redbox machines have been installed at their entrances. If you lose the video your credit card gets charged $25 which is about the price a new DVD sells for.

BW p4 reports that Dis is buying Marvel for $4 bil in cash and stock. Also at p26 "Time Warner: Heat from Spider-Man - Disney's acquisition of Marvel Entertainment could put pressure on CEO Bewkes to make a deal" by Tom Lowry and Ronald Grover says the suprise Disney/Marvel deal will put renewed pressure on other media companies to strike their own deals and that no outfit is a more obvious buyer than Time Warner with a photo of Time Warner's CEO Jeffrey Bewkes accompanying the story that has him looking like he is eating a jawbreaker. Also at p65 the deal is discussed saying the deal has ramificatins for smaller Hollywood playes such as DreamWorks Animation SKG and will draw investor attention for animation studios.

BW p32 "The Best Places To Launch a Career" by Lindsey Gerdes and photos by Ed Alcock lists the following Dow companies in the top 50 of favorite employers at US colleges: JPMorgan at 9 up from 10 last year, IBM at 10 down from 9, Disney up to 14 from 27, GE up to 16 from 18, Microsoft down to 18 from 13, Verizon unchanged at 22nd place, Boeing to 30 from 25 (they have the very good retention), Travelers 32 from 43, Merck way up to 37 from 77, AT&T unchanged at 38, Johnson & Johnson wasn't on the list last year but is at 41 in '09, and finally Cisco is at 43 from 31.

DuPont DD $31.72 +0.09 0.28% 4,809,070 NYSE: No mentions found.

ExxonMobil XOM $69.15 +0.89 1.3% 13,082,085 NYSE: BW p46 "BP Keeps Rolling The Dice - A vast new strke in the Gulf of Mexico is the latest sign of success in a high-risk, high-reward strategy" by Stanley Reed, Photos by Robert Seale says BP may have hit one of the biggest oil finds of the year if not the decade in the seabed of the western Gulf of Mexico that it is even better than the Kaskida field also in the Gulf of Mexico with an estimated 4 bil to 6 bil barrels of oil in place. Story mentions BP's star gulf property, a massive oil and gas field about 140 miles southeast of New Orleans called Thunder Horse that is raking in cash for BP and its minority partner in the project, ExxonMobil.

Forbes p106 "Embrace the Bull" by Laszlo Birinyi Jr. says that while crude oil has doubled in price this year, the Energy Select SPDR index is up only 9% becasue the 2 biggest components are laggards ExxonMobil and Chevron. He says he doesn't like ExxonMobil, McDonald's or Verizon and he likes IBM which is up 35% since March.

GE $13.87 +0.42 3.12% 71,394,309 NYSE: BW p32 "The Best Places To Launch a Career" by Lindsey Gerdes and photos by Ed Alcock lists the following Dow companies in the top 50 of favorite employers at US colleges: JPMorgan at 9 up from 10 last year, IBM at 10 down from 9, Disney up to 14 from 27, GE up to 16 from 18, Microsoft down to 18 from 13, Verizon unchanged at 22nd place, Boeing to 30 from 25 (they have the very good retention), Travelers 32 from 43, Merck way up to 37 from 77, AT&T unchanged at 38, Johnson & Johnson wasn't on the list last year but is at 41 in '09, and finally Cisco is at 43 from 31.

BW p42 "Where Headhunters Fear to Tread" by Dean Foust says executive recruiters are in agreement that Coke is not a good place to recruit talent from because it is too easy for young managers to rise without having to develop the entrepreneurial skills necessary to compete in other arenas but there are not many Coke alumnus who successfully run a major company elsewhere. Other companies that recruiters avoid are AT&T, GE, IBM, Intel and Hewlett-Packard even though.

Hewlett Packard HPQ $45.1 +0.65 1.46% 7,977,178 NYSE: NYT pB4 "Server makers Hit Rough Patch" says server sales fell in 2Q by 30% compared to same period last year down to $9.8 bil.All the major server makers have suffered at the hands of the bad economy including IBM, Hewlett-Packard and Dell. Cisco systems has tried to crack the server market during the downturn, pitching a system packed with networking equipment and virtualization software. HPQ and IBM say their size and stability will play well with customers hunting for peace of mind.

BW p42 "Where Headhunters Fear to Tread" by Dean Foust says executive recruiters are in agreement that Coke is not a good place to recruit talent from because it is too easy for young managers to rise without having to develop the entrepreneurial skills necessary to compete in other arenas but there are not many Coke alumnus who successfully run a major company elsewhere. Other companies that recruiters avoid are AT&T, GE, IBM, Intel and Hewlett-Packard even though.

BW p66 "Turning on the Corprate Tap" has a list of Standard & Poor's 100 companies that had double digit hikes in capital spending in 2Q, which could bode well for their suppliers, 4 of the 9 companies were Dow companies as followsng with the amount of capital expenditures in millions followed by year over year change: HPQ 1,091/73%; Merck 365/25%; WMT 3,137/19% and Amex 246/18%.

Forbes p26 Green Tendrils - Corporate acquisitions may finally spark some cash out activity in Silicon Valley" by Rebecca Buckman wonders why Cisco which has done 133 deals in 25 years has bought Tidal Software which makes scheduling and monitoring programs for large servers for $105 million and $590 million for Pure Digital, make of Flip camcorders. She says it is a sign that Silicon Valley's big bruisers are branching out. She says Cisco, IBM, Microsoft, HP and Oracle together have $100 billion in cash and pay meager dividends so they are bound to spend on M&A quoting Feter Falvey of Revolution Partners, a Morgan Keegan Unit.

Home Depot HD $27.01 +0.11 0.41% 7,045,807 NYSE: BW p42 "Where Headhunters Fear to Tread" by Dean Foust says executive recruiters are in agreement that Coke is not a good place to recruit talent from because it is too easy for young managers to rise without having to develop the entrepreneurial skills necessary to compete in other arenas but there are not many Coke alumnus who successfully run a major company elsewhere. Other companies that recruiters avoid are AT&T, GE, IBM, Intel and Hewlett-Packard even though. The story says that some Coke alumni have gone on to successful stints at places like Home Depot and Clorox.

Intel INTC $19.64 +0.22 1.13% 46,728,643 NASDAQ-GS: NYT pB4 "Intel and Qualcomm Eye Each Other's Terrain" by Brooke Crothers says that cellphones are becoming more like computers and vice versa. Intel makes computer insides and Qualcomm makes smart phones' insides so now the 2 will start competing. Qualcomm is counting on its new Snapdragon chip that can power the new small notebook computers. This chip was developed by former IBM staffers.

BW p42 "Where Headhunters Fear to Tread" by Dean Foust says executive recruiters are in agreement that Coke is not a good place to recruit talent from because it is too easy for young managers to rise without having to develop the entrepreneurial skills necessary to compete in other arenas but there are not many Coke alumnus who successfully run a major company elsewhere. Other companies that recruiters avoid are AT&T, GE, IBM, Intel and Hewlett-Packard even though.

IBM $117.4 +1.07 0.92% 2,973,766 NYSE: NYT pB4 "Server makers Hit Rough Patch" says server sales fell in 2Q by 30% compared to same period last year down to $9.8 bil. All the major server makers have suffered at the hands of the bad economy including IBM, Hewlett-Packard and Dell. Cisco systems has tried to crack the server market during the downturn, pitching a system packed with networking equipment and virtualization software. HPQ and IBM say their size and stability will play well with customers hunting for peace of mind.

Forbes p106 "Embrace the Bull" by Laszlo Birinyi Jr. says Caterpillar was a good stock to buy because its earnings have been good and notes that 3M's stock has gained 50% in a matter of weeks. He says that while crude oil has doubled in price this year, the Energy Select SPDR index is up only 9% becasue the 2 biggest components are laggards ExxonMobil and Chevron. He says he doesn't like ExxonMobil or McDonald's or Verizon and he likes IBM which is up 35% since March.

NYT pB4 "Intel and Qualcomm Eye Each Other's Terrain" by Brooke Crothers says that cellphones are becoming more like computers and vice versa. Intel makes computer insides and Qualcomm makes smart phones insides so now the 2 will start competing. Qualcomm is counting on its new Snapdragon chip that can ower the new small notebook computers. This chip was developed by former IBM staffers.

BW p32 "The Best Places To Launch a Career" by Lindsey Gerdes and photos by Ed Alcock lists the following Dow companies in the top 50 of favorite employers at US colleges: JPMorgan at 9 up from 10 last year, IBM at 10 down from 9, Disney up to 14 from 27, GE up to 16 from 18, Microsoft down to 18 from 13, Verizon unchanged at 22nd place, Boeing to 30 from 25 (they have the very good retention), Travelers 32 from 43, Merck way up to 37 from 77, AT&T unchanged at 38, Johnson & Johnson wasn't on the list last year but is at 41 in '09, and finally Cisco is at 43 from 31.

BW p42 "Where Headhunters Fear to Tread" by Dean Foust says executive recruiters are in agreement that Coke is not a good place to recruit talent from because it is too easy for young managers to rise without having to develop the entrepreneurial skills necessary to compete in other arenas but there are not many Coke alumnus who successfully run a major company elsewhere. Other companies that recruiters avoid are AT&T, GE, IBM, Intel and Hewlett-Packard even though.

Forbes p26 Green Tendrils - Corporate acquisitions may finally spark some cash out activity in Silicon Valley" by Rebecca Buckman wonders why Cisco which has done 133 deals in 25 years has bought Tidal Software which makes scheduling and monitoring programs for large servers for $105 million and $590 million for Pure Digital, make of Flip camcorders. She says it is a sign that Silicon Valley's big bruisers are branching out. She says Cisco, IBM, Microsoft, HP and Oracle togethe have $100 billion in cash and pay meager dividends so they are boudn to spend on M&A quoting Feter Falvey of Revolution Partners, a Morgan Keegan Unit.

JPMorgan Chase JPM $42.28 +0.17 0.4% 19,749,251 NYSE: NYT pB2 "Lehman's Pain Wounded Giants" says that with the collapse of Lehman Brothers 12 months ago the prime brokerage business has been reshaped with the new major players being JPMorgan and BNP Paribas which bought BofAm's prime brokerage unit in '08. But BofAm which bought Merrill Lynch, is now getting back into prime brokerage.

BW p32 "The Best Places To Launch a Career" by Lindsey Gerdes and photos by Ed Alcock lists the following Dow companies in the top 50 of favorite employers at US colleges: JPMorgan at 9 up from 10 last year, IBM at 10 down from 9, Disney up to 14 from 27, GE up to 16 from 18, Microsoft down to 18 from 13, Verizon unchanged at 22nd place, Boeing to 30 from 25 (they have the very good retention), Travelers 32 from 43, Merck way up to 37 from 77, AT&T unchanged at 38, Johnson & Johnson wasn't on the list last year but is at 41 in '09, and finally Cisco is at 43 from 31.

Johnson & Johnson JNJ $60.3 +0.61 1.02% 6,013,767 NYSE: BW p32 "The Best Places To Launch a Career" by Lindsey Gerdes and photos by Ed Alcock lists the following Dow companies in the top 50 of favorite employers at US colleges: JPMorgan at 9 up from 10 last year, IBM at 10 down from 9, Disney up to 14 from 27, GE up to 16 from 18, Microsoft down to 18 from 13, Verizon unchanged at 22nd place, Boeing to 30 from 25 (they have the very good retention), Travelers 32 from 43, Merck way up to 37 from 77, AT&T unchanged at 38, Johnson & Johnson wasn't on the list last year but is at 41 in '09, and finally Cisco is at 43 from 31.

Kraft KFT $28.12 +0.13 0.46% 3,621,918 NYSE: No mentions found.

McDonald's MCD $56.07 +0.50 0.9% 4,487,875 NYSE: NYT pB1 "The $1 Redbox Alarm - studios see a Threat in srpead of DVD Vending Machines" by Brooks Barnes says that Mitch Lowe's Redbox, a fast growing company in Illinois that rents movies for $1 a day via kiosks, has Hollywood's blood boiling. Three major studios are refusing to sell DVDs to Redbox until at least 28 days after they arrive ins tores. Redbox is suing them on antitrust grounds. Dis permits third-party distributors to sell to Redbox but has so far shunned a direct relationship. The three studios and Disney refused to comment for the NYTimes article. [My Comment: Imagine that - Disney that makes its money communicating through ESPN and other mediaa refuses to comment to the New York Times.] Redbox and its vending rivals now have 19% of the rental market compared with 36% for rent by mail services (Netflix) and 45% for traditinal stores. Redbox was formerly owned by Mcdonald's and is now part of Coinstar. Walmart is a Redbox partner and has had only a 1% decline sales after Redbox machines ahve been installed at their entrances. If you lose the video your credit card gets charged $25 which is about the price a new DVD sells for.

Forbes p106 "Embrace the Bull" by Laszlo Birinyi Jr. says Caterpillar was a good stock to buy because its earnings have been good and notes that 3M's stock has gained 50% in a matter of weeks. He says that while crude oil has doubled in price this year, the Energy Select SPDR index is up only 9% becasue the 2 biggest components are laggards ExxonMobil and Chevron. He says he doesn't like ExxonMobil or McDonald's or Verizon and he likes IBM which is up 35% since March.

Merck MRK $30.67 +0.43 1.42% 11,201,962 NYSE: BW p32 "The Best Places To Launch a Career" by Lindsey Gerdes and photos by Ed Alcock lists the following Dow companies in the top 50 of favorite employers at US colleges: JPMorgan at 9 up from 10 last year, IBM at 10 down from 9, Disney up to 14 from 27, GE up to 16 from 18, Microsoft down to 18 from 13, Verizon unchanged at 22nd place, Boeing to 30 from 25 (they have the very good retention), Travelers 32 from 43, Merck way up to 37 from 77, AT&T unchanged at 38, Johnson & Johnson wasn't on the list last year but is at 41 in '09, and finally Cisco is at 43 from 31.

BW p66 "Turning on the Corprate Tap" has a list of Standard & Poor's 100 companes that had double digit hikes in capital spending in 2Q, which could bode well for their suppliers 4 of the 9 companies were Dow companies as follows with the amount of capital expenditures in millions followed by year over year change: HPQ 1,091/73%; Merck 365/25%; WMT 3,137/19% and Amex 246/18%.

Microsoft MSFT $24.62 +0.51 2.12% 44,540,083 NASDAQ-GS: BW p20 "Will Windows 7 Reboot PC Sales? - Why the boost to the tech busienss from Microsoft's new operating system may disappoint the bulls" by Peter Burrows says for the first time in years, the PC market is starting to draw serious attention from Wall Street with Dell surging and Intel lifting confidence by an optimistic outllok. Hopes are building among investors that the industry will see a revival in growth as MSFT unveils its new oeprating system, Windows 7, on Oct. 22 to replace its troubled Windows Vista. BW p71 has another story on Windows 7 "Win 7: It's Hard to Get There From Here - Without a new computer running Vista, upgrading to Windows 7 will be a pain" by Shephen H. Wildstrom who says that people who bought PCs in the past 3 years who should be prime candidates for an upgrade are going to be frustrated when Windows 7 hits the market on Oct. 22.

BW p32 "The Best Places To Launch a Career" by Lindsey Gerdes and photos by Ed Alcock lists the following Dow companies in the top 50 of favorite employers at US colleges: JPMorgan at 9 up from 10 last year, IBM at 10 down from 9, Disney up to 14 from 27, GE up to 16 from 18, Microsoft down to 18 from 13, Verizon unchanged at 22nd place, Boeing to 30 from 25 (they have the very good retention), Travelers 32 from 43, Merck way up to 37 from 77, AT&T unchanged at 38, Johnson & Johnson wasn't on the list last year but is at 41 in '09, and finally Cisco is at 43 from 31.

BW p51 "Innovation Technology" profiles Gordn Bell, a senior researcher at Mircrosft, who has been building an electronic scrapbook of his everyday life. Its called Lifelogging.

Forbes p26 Green Tendrils - Corporate acquisitions may finally spark some cash out activity in Silicon Valley" by Rebecca Buckman wonders why Cisco which has done 133 deals in 25 years has bought Tidal Software which makes scheduling and monitoring programs for large servers for $105 million and $590 million for Pure Digital, maker of Flip camcorders. She says it is a sign that Silicon Valley's big bruisers are branching out. She says Cisco, IBM, Microsoft, HP and Oracle togethe have $100 billion in cash and pay meager dividends so they are bound to spend on M&A quoting Feter Falvey of Revolution Partners, a Morgan Keegan Unit.

Pfizer PFE $16.39 +0.31 1.93% 26,390,467 NYSE: No mentions found.

Procter & Gamble PG $52.86 -0.01 0.02% 6,860,355 NYSE: Story at BW p18 says PG is starting to make more capital expenditures.

MMM $71.25 +0.23 0.32% 2,113,237 NYSE: Forbes p106 "Embrace the Bull" by Laszlo Birinyi Jr. says Caterpillar was a good stock to buy because its earnings have been good and notes that 3M's stock has gained 50% in a matter of weeks. He says that while crude oil has doubled in price this year, the Energy Select SPDR index is up only 9% becasue the 2 biggest components are laggards ExxonMobil and Chevron. He says he doesn't like ExxonMobil, McDonald's or Verizon and he likes IBM which is up 35% since March.

Travelers TRV $50.07 +0.15 0.3% 2,728,790 NYSE: BW p32 "The Best Places To Launch a Career" by Lindsey Gerdes and photos by Ed Alcock lists the following Dow companies in the top 50 of favorite employers at US colleges: JPMorgan at 9 up from 10 last year, IBM at 10 down from 9, Disney up to 14 from 27, GE up to 16 from 18, Microsoft down to 18 from 13, Verizon unchanged at 22nd place, Boeing to 30 from 25 (they have the very good retention), Travelers 32 from 43, Merck way up to 37 from 77, AT&T unchanged at 38, Johnson & Johnson wasn't on the list last year but is at 41 in '09, and finally Cisco is at 43 from 31.

United Technologies UTX $60.48 +0.83 1.39% 3,230,257 NYSE: No mentions found.

Verizon VZ $30.57 +0.33 1.09% 6,921,380 NYSE: NYT pB1 "Like Apple, TV Explores Must-Have Applications" by Saul Hansell says the cable and staellite TV businesses are trying to compete with iPhones by developing technology that will let their set top boxes run more complex applications. Viewer are wanting the ability to interact with tvs. Verizon now allow users to tap out message on the number pad to allow tweets on tv. AT&t's VP Jeffrey G. Weber is worred that opening the TV to applications like email might encourage domestic disputes asking what happens when the wife wants to read her mom's email on the tv while her husband is watching tv.

BW p17 "Mobiel App makers Hear Washington Calling says as smartphone apps proliferate, the FCC has hinted at increased regulation of the $32 bil mobile data services market in which app makers offer everything from games and video to free or cheap Web calling services. Current issue is whether wireless carriers limit developers' access to consumers. FCC has asked app creators such as Google, Skype, and Vonage, not just wireless carriers like AT&T, Verizon Wireless, and Spring Nextel to submit comments abou the state of innovation and competition in the mobile market.

BW p32 "The Best Places To Launch a Career" by Lindsey Gerdes and photos by Ed Alcock lists the following Dow companies in the top 50 of favorite employers at US colleges: JPMorgan at 9 up from 10 last year, IBM at 10 down from 9, Disney up to 14 from 27, GE up to 16 from 18, Microsoft down to 18 from 13, Verizon unchanged at 22nd place, Boeing to 30 from 25 (they have the very good retention), Travelers 32 from 43, Merck way up to 37 from 77, AT&T unchanged at 38, Johnson & Johnson wasn't on the list last year but is at 41 in '09, and finally Cisco is at 43 from 31.

Forbes p106 "Embrace the Bull" by Laszlo Birinyi Jr. says Caterpillar was a good stock to buy because its earnings have been good and notes that 3M's stock has gained 50% in a matter of weeks. He says that while crude oil has doubled in price this year, the Energy Select SPDR index is up only 9% becasue the 2 biggest components are laggards ExxonMobil and Chevron. He says he doesn't like ExxonMobil or McDonald's or Verizon and he likes IBM which is up 35% since March.

WalMart WMT $51.64 -0.10 0.19% 12,819,484 NYSE: NYT pB1 "The $1 Redbox Alarm - studios see a Threat in srpead of DVD Vending Machines" by Brooks Barnes says that Mitch Lowe's Redbox, a fast growing company in Illinois that rents movies for $1 a day via kiosks, has Hollywood's blood boiling. Three major studios are refusing to sell dVDs to Redbox until at least 28 days after they arrive in stores. Redbox is suing them on antitrust grounds. Dis permits third-party distributors to sell to Redbox but has so far shunned a direct relationship. The three studios and Disney refused to comment for the NYTimes article. [My Comment: Imagine that - Disney that makes its money communicating through ESPN and other mediaa refuses to comment to the New York Times.] redbox and its vending rivals now have 19% of the rental market compared with 36% for rent by mail services (Netflix) and 45% for traditinal stores. Redbox was formerly owned by Mcdonald's and is now part of Coinstar. Walmart is a Redbox partner and has had only a 1% decline sales after Redbox machines ahve been installed at their entrances. If you lose the video your credit card gets charged $25 which is about the price a new DVD sells for.

BW p13 "A Learner macy's Tries Catering to Local Tastes" by Matthew Boyle says Macy's CEO Terry Lundgren has restructured Macy"s over the past year to make it more centralized and at the same time more locally focused. Boyle says Macy's isn't the first retailer to go local with its merchandize - WalMart, Best Buy and Tesco have tried it.

BW p66 "Turning on the Corprate Tap" has a list of Standard & Poor's 100 companes that had double digit hikes in capital spending in 2Q, which could bode well for their suppliers 4 of the 9 companies were Dow companies as follows with the amount of capital expenditures in millions followed by year over year change: HPQ 1,091/73%; Merck 365/25%; WMT 3,137/19% and Amex 246/18%.