December 2007 Archives

I am currently experiencing difficulties with my Flickr account. I have a hunch that the outcome is not going to be good. In any event, I ask for your patience with my site while I work on solving my Flickr difficulties.

Update

I have lost all my pictures, comments, favorites, contacts, and friends on my Flickr account. You can read a more detailed explanation of what purportedly happened. I will comment more on this topic in a day or two. So please bear with me and my blog while I get reorganized.

To those who celebrate Christmas, I wish you a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy, Healthy, and Prosperous New Year! I further hope you are enjoy spend this time of year with your friends and family.

Switching topics slightly, I know that digital cameras are a popular item for Christmas. If you are looking excellent online resources to help you learn how to use your Canon or Nikon digital camera, particularly digital single lens reflex cameras—dslr— or Adobe Photoshop, I highly recommend two websites:

• ProPhoto Home; and
• Chromasia Photoshop Tutorials.

ProPhoto is an outstanding online community where photography enthusiasts and professionals discuss everything about photography. If you want to learn about your camera or about photography in general, you will find the ProPhoto members extremely helpful. Moreover, because this online forum is aimed at those who are serious about photography, the discussion is friendly and helpful. While the forum does have a large number of experienced photographers, there are also those like me who are still very much at the learning stage. What I really enjoy is the diversity of answers. Different photographers will provide different approaches to solving the same challenge. As a student, you can try several different approaches to see which best fits your style.

I have been following David J. Nightingale's Chromasia photoblog for quite some time. He recently decided to share his Photoshop knowledge with those of us who admire his photographs. So far, I have worked through Chromasia's tutorials on the following subjects:

1. Tonal range and the Curves tool;
2. Landscapes: creating dramatic skies;
3. Black and white: part one;
4. Toning colour images; and
5. Portraits: part one.

David produces one tutorial per month. His next tutorial, soon to be released, will be: An introduction to Lab Color mode.

David's tutorials are extraordinarily well done. His explanations are thorough and complete, and he provides sample files. Moreover, he has an online forum where he answers questions. Even though Photoshop can seem complex and daunting, David's well organized tutorials allow you to work you way through the material while gaining a strong comprehension of the material.

This past year, I have become more interested in Photography. I have read several books on photography and Photoshop. And I have begun practicing taking pictures. The most important thing I have learned this past year is how much I do not yet know. There is so much to learn. If you are just starting out, like I was, you need to understand how your camera functions. You need to learn about light and color. You need to understand how to use Photoshop effectively. If you are working with people, you need to learn how work effectively with them to get great pictures. And the list goes on. Asking others is a great method to shorten your learning. I have found that just a quick few words of advice often pointed me in the correct direction. That as a backdrop, I heartily recommend these two online resources to help you learn more about photography.

Calgary model Judith Aldama is featured in the photograph above, which is hosted at Flickr. If you click on the picture of Judith, you will be taken to where you can view a larger version and see even more pictures of her.

I just received my new book War and Peace from Amazon. I want something fictional to read over the holiday period. After briefly flipping through the book, I am a bit intimidated by its length. I read the introduction by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonksy, who both translated Leo Tolstoy's original Russian book into the English equivalent. I learned that Leo Tolstoy wrote his book between 1863 and 1868, starting when he was thirty-five. My understanding is that the book covers Russian life during the period of the Napoleonic wars of 1805 to 1812. My knowledge of history in general is weak, let alone this specific period. The book, however, does provide notes at the end to explain the various events that were taking place as well as the important people. Words and phrases are explained too.

Although I am looking forward reading Tolstoy's book, I am certain that it will take me several months to complete. The book looks reasonably complex with several different characters. Furthermore, the impression I have from reading the introduction is that this book does not follow the traditional novel format. So it will be an interesting journey.

On Amazon, there are 27 reviews with an overall average rating of 4.5. Given that almost all those who reviewed the book gave it the highest possible rating, I am certainly looking forward to reading it.

Calgary model Judith Aldama is featured in the photograph above, which is hosted at Flickr. If you click on the picture of Judith, you will be taken to where you can view a larger version and see even more pictures of her.

The New York Times has an interesting article Remaking The Journal (free registration required) that hints at possible changes to the The Wall Street Journal. As a subscriber to the Wall Street Journal, I was saddened when it got taken over News Corporation (NWS), because I fear it will suffer the same fate at CNN. When Ted Turner ran CNN, it was edgy and interesting. Along came AOL with its remaking of CNN and removing the edge. While it might have enjoyed a wider audience, it also became less informative and interesting to watch. I fear the same thing happening to the Wall Street Journal.

Mr. Murdoch has said that he wanted The Journal to step up its coverage of politics and national and international affairs, making it a more direct competitor to The New York Times. He has lobbied for more hard news and more succinct articles — a marked shift in tone for a newspaper whose signatures include long, often quirky news features that start on the front page.

There has even been talk of a front page with articles short enough to start and end there rather than continuing on inside pages, and of taking the words “Wall Street” out of the paper’s name to give it broader appeal, according to people who have been briefed on the matter. Both ideas were quickly dismissed, but the fact that they were raised even semiseriously shows how unconstrained by tradition the new owner is, these people said.

...

None of that should be surprising from Mr. Murdoch, who is known for being sure of what he wants to do with each of his many properties — often molding them to reflect his own views and wasting no time in doing it. His habit of detailed, personal control contrasts starkly with decades of hands-off ownership by the Bancroft family, which viewed almost any involvement as unethical meddling.

I, for one, often enjoy the front page, long quirky articles. I find those articles to be a refreshing break from the constant barrage of facts, figures, and strong opinions. Moving along to the free with advertising versus subscription based model, I favor the latter. I do not want to be constantly bombarded with advertisements that I need to move out of my way to read an article. I prefer a clean, uncluttered look. In my view, the online WSJ has a balanced approach now with advertising and content. One partial solution that I do like is Barry Ritholtz's solution of allowing the archives to flow freely. In essence, paid subscribers receive current content, while all are allowed to read older content supported by advertisements.

Given that I do not support some of the initiatives outlined in the New York Times article, does that mean I was content with the status quo? No, not at all. I recognize that the news media is a business. Thus, it must be profitable. The Dow Jones with its Wall Street Journal had been languishing for too long—in fact, that is the reason why the Bancroft family accepted Murdoch's offer. So change was inevitable, just a question of what and when. Myself, I would have preferred making the newspaper more informative and more insightful. I would have preferred to see more in depth articles. I am not sure how to translate those broad generic sweeping generalizations to something concrete. And perhaps that was the problem—those running the Wall Street Journal did not know how to make the appropriate changes either. So now we will have to sit and wait for Rupert Murdoch to make his changes.

Calgary model Judith Aldama is featured in the photograph above, which is hosted at Flickr. If you click on the picture of Judith, you will be taken to where you can view a larger version and see even more pictures of her.

As those who follow my blog know, one of my hobbies is photography. As such, I follow and have invested in Canon Inc. (CAJ). During this past year, Canon has introduced two new professional cameras: EOS-1D Mark III, which retails for $4,495.95 at B & H; and EOS-1Ds Mark III, which retails for $7,999.95 at B & H. B & H is short for B & H Photo – Video – ProAudio. The first camera was introduced during the Spring and the second camera was introduced this Fall and began shipping only a few days ago. The demand for both cameras outstrips the supply. That is, if you want one of these professional cameras, you have to go on a waiting list.

Of course, these professional cameras require lots of memory. Moreover, they require large and powerful computers and disk drives to process and save the large image files. While I do not invest in many computer related technology stocks, I believe that the demand for these products is still healthy. And, as a side note, for those interested in learning more about these professional cameras and photography in general, I highly recommend joining Pro Photo HOME, an online photography site dedicated to the professional and serious amateur. The participants are friendly, knowledgeable and helpful—there is very little of the traditional internet noise.

While I think that the consumer slowdown will negatively affect camera sales, Canon's projections, available on the investor relations section of its website, still show healthy growth for the fourth quarter of about 13% by sales and 20% by units. Please note, although I discussed two professional cameras, the overwhelming majority of Canon's camera sales by units are point and shoot cameras. Digital SLRs (single lens reflex) sales by unit volume are a small fraction of the overall sales; however, they are more expensive and thus constitute a significant portion of the revenue.

As shown by this Yahoo's five year chart of Canon's stock price, the company shows reasonably steady growth. It has five main groups of products: 1) Office Imaging; 2) Computer Peripherals; 3) Business Information; 4) Cameras; and 5) Optical and Other. I do not understand the optical portion well, though it is one of the smaller groups. Camera sales constitute about 26% of Canon's overall sales and operating profit. The company is not widely followed in North America with only two or three analysts providing earnings and revenue estimates on Yahoo's financial site.

I have included some key statistics from Yahoo as of 5 December 2007:

• Market Cap (intraday): 68.43B
• Enterprise Value (6-Dec-07): 59.93B
• Forward P/E (fye 31-Dec-08): 13.80
• PEG Ratio (5 yr expected): 1.43
• Enterprise Value/EBITDA: 6.232
• Profit Margin (ttm): 10.96%
• Operating Margin (ttm): 17.12%
• Return on Assets (ttm): 11.12%
• Return on Equity (ttm): 17.14%
• Revenue (ttm): 39.89B
• Gross Profit (ttm): 13.31B
• EBITDA (ttm): 9.62B
• Beta: 0.67
• Total Debt/Equity (mrg): 0.008
• Current Ratio (mrg): 2.092

As the figures show, the company is conservatively financed. Overall, my general impression is that the company is well managed and provides excellent products and services.

Disclosure: I am long Canon stock.