The Stalwart

The Tragedy Of the Wealthy In The Age Of The Weak Dollar

I have to say, I feel zero sympathy for the New Yorkers mentioned in this article. Their plight: They can't keep up with their Euro friends, who come to visit, and can spend at will with their high-value currency.

NEGIN FARSAD, a filmmaker and comedian who lives in the East Village, recalled a time not long ago when European friends would visit New York to see her, and not, she said, to use her apartment as a “temporary locker for their shopping bags.”

First, get new friends.

Added: It just gets worse and worse for these people:

“It’s Psych 101 — jealousy,” said Randi Ungar, 30, an online advertising sales manager who lives on the Upper West Side. “I’m jealous that I can’t go to Italy and buy 12 Prada bags, but they can come here and buy 18 of them.”

Steven Schoenfeld, a 45-year-old investment manager who lives near Lincoln Center, said that he welcomes the influx of visitors, in theory, as a boost to the local economy, but “sometimes you feel like it’s going to become a situation where they stop and take picture: ‘Look at that endangered species — a native New Yorker, with a briefcase, going to work.’ ”

Weekend Project: Potato Password

Given all the interest in all things iPhone, Apple and iPhone Apps, I thought this would be a fun project for the weekend. A good friend is over at the house, hoping to cobble together a free game for the iPhone. Mainly it's to see how the process of developing an app and getting it into the app store actually works. Anyway, you can check out our site PotatoPassword.com, or follow the going on on Twitter @thestalwart and @potatopassword.

From Mineral Mining To The iPhone App Store

I've always felt you could tell a lot about what's hot and peakish by the type of stuff that seedy penny stock firms announce. Just thought I'd pass along this press release which arrived in my inbox, as an example of what I mean:

Almadoro Minerals Corp.  announces the acquisition of       Intellectual Property pertaining to mobile phone application development       from Michael Stemple, a veteran of the mobile content industry. This       acquisition includes TapSlide’s (Mr. Stemple’s       current venture) membership in the Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) Developer       Connection for the iPhone platform. The Developer Connection will enable       the Company to develop applications for use on Apple’s       iPhone, and the new iPhone 3G, released on July 11, 2008. Almadoro       Minerals Corp. intends to change its name to TapSlide, Inc. to reflect       its new line of business and also obtain a new trading symbol.

Oh and there's more:

      As part of the acquisition, the Company has acquired access (through       TapSlide) to the Google Android developer program, the Symbian developer       network, Nokia Developer program, Motorola developer network, Sony       Ericsson Developer program, and the AT&T Developer program.

Basically, assuming the release is true, the company got some dude that's registered in some mobile developer platforms. But then again, the truth isn't the point. The point is to include your name in a press release along with ticker symbols and names of several other blue chippers.

The AP Gets Creative With Headlines

Who knew they got so whacky:

Elevators lift United Technologies' 2Q results

Chili Mac The Next To Fall?

IndyMac collapsed on Friday. And now Freddie Mac is barely bouncing after the government's bailout moves. Clearly, investor pessimism knows no bounds, and nobody in this space is safe. I hate to say it, but it's clear that Chili Mac is the next to take it on the chin. Disclosure: short chili mac; waaay too carb-laden for this market.

$1000 Nails

Would you pay $1000 for Lenny "Nails" Dykstra to offer you his picks on deep in the money calls?

A Shout Out To The Green Mountain Boys

Always good to see some interesting dealflow out of Vermont, the state where I attended high school. The other day, Burlington-based beer producer Magic Hat announced the acquisition of Pyramid I was shocked to discover that Seattle-based Pyramid is actually publicly traded (NASD: PMID). At some point, I'll need to go through their filings and do a writeup on the economics of  a (relatively small) brewery. Also notice that Magic Hat has both a trippy name and a trippy logo, which is exactly what you need to appeal to all the Vermont-based Phish-heads.

The other deal is a cool one. Brattleboro-based(!) Putney Pasta raised $2.35 million in VC money. Very cool. Basically, they make gourmet, fresh pasta: tortellini, ravioli... stuff like that. As I see it, a VC investment in a company Putney Pasta is a longshot bet on getting in early on the next Ben & Jerry's. Realistically it probably won't happen on quite the same scale. But Vermont does seem to be a bit of a hotbed for premium, fast-growth food companies. There's just something about a food product coming from Vermont. It just feels right. It's why a lot of small cheese producers don't operate out of neighboring New Hampshire, even though they've got the more business-friendly tax code.

The 'Wart Vs. Mahalo

Isn't the alt-search engine Mahalo supposed to be some kind of professional SEO play? Like, isn't that the site's entire point? Anyway, how are they supposed to beat Google if they can't be The 'Wart on something like this:

New Wal-Mart Logo To Piss Off The Longhorns?

This is going to go over great at my alma matter, University of Texas at Austin. Evidently, Wal-Mart is getting set to announce a new logo that will rely heavily on the color burnt orange.  I'm not sure how I feel yet.

Dippin' Dots: Are They Really The Ice Cream Of The Future?

I'm a big fan of those Food Network shows where they show how various foods are made. This afternoon, they had a segment on Dippin' Dots, those round, novelty ice cream balls. They're pretty foul looking, and I've never tried them, but still, they seem to have found a market niche, so good for them. A couple things about them though:

1) They're really the first mass-market molecular gastronomy food item, aren't they? Well, maybe mass market is a bit generous, but they're more popular than anything Wiley Dufresne has ever made, like deep-fried mayonnaise. Oh, and they're definitely molecular gastronomy because they use  liquid nitrogen. 'Nuff said.

2) The eponymous company behind Dippin' Dots says they're the ice cream of the future, but that's looking pretty unlikely. Maybe it's cause they're too proprietary about it. They try to keep some of the process secret, and I suspect that even if another company reverse engineered the Dippin' Dot, they'd probably sue. They need to open source it to have any hope for the future. Rather than seeing themselves as a Dippin' Dot vendor, they need to be a platform+services play, enabling others to build off the Dippin' Dot. Like Sun and Java. Until they open it up, it's bound to be a niche cold sweet offering, without much of a future.