Day: November 27, 2007

Categories
Fun

Free gift certificates for restaurants

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Last Updated on November 28, 2007 by stlplace

Since the economy is so bad, I am going to give away some gift certificates for restaurants.com. Just do my part to boost the US economy 🙂

Seriously, I am going to give away up to Four $25 gift certificates (valid in the US only), to the loyal supporters and friendly commentators of this wonderful stlplace. Note “this blog looks nice” etc. does not count. Tell me what you really think: you will likely to receive the certificate that way. Also note I do not decide this solely on the number of comments (you left). Or if you would like to give some practical advice regarding this blog, I will appreciate it very much too. You can find my email address at the right side bar under author.

This runs from now until Christmas Dec. 25. All the friends are encouraged to participate, but not family members. Note this is mostly for fun and my token of appreciation, as you can buy a $25 certificate for under $5 from eBay. Also some restrictions from restaurants apply.

For participating restautants in your area, click here.

Categories
Stocks

Longtop: update

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Last Updated on December 6, 2007 by stlplace

longtop logo

(Updated) I used the revenue number from company report and calculated the growth rate, using google spreadsheet. Revenue, in thousand of $, the following columns may not align right, click the G speadsheet above if you like.

FY ending
3/31/2007 3/31/2008 growth rate 3/31/2009 growth rate
Q1 9238 11530 24.81% ?
Q2 11204 20200 80.29% ?
Q3 11581 15500 33.84% ?
Q4 7750 10770 38.97% ?
Total 39773 58000 45.83% 80000 37.93%

Couple things:
1) Seasonality: the past quarter (ending Sept. 30) is the strongest. The company did say summer and fall are typical strong quarters. Note the seasonality is quite different from typical US software company, where Q4 (quarter ending Dec 31) is ususally the strongest.

2) Healthy growth overall. The recent boom can be attributed to the boom of Chinese banking industry. The question is can the company can sustain this 40% growth rate?

Continue reading “Longtop: update”
Categories
Stocks

Eye exam and add-on services

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Last Updated on November 27, 2007 by stlplace

zeavision pic

I went to do my annual eye exam today. I noticed they offer an add-on service named QuantifEye(R), which is a macular degeneration test cost $20 (not covered by insurance). Curious about the test, and because I worked a lot before computers (thought that would make my eyes aging faster than my parents), I did the computer test. The good thing is I got a good result (score 62) which is exceptional good. Interestingly, the test is developed by a St. Louis based company called ZeaVision.

I remember a short while ago, when I visited dentist, they offer a $60 (again not covered by insurance) oral cancer test. Both things made me to think that doctors (at small clinics) increasingly offer those small tests. One thing for sure this is a boom for the test developers (companies). And clinics, the distributors of test developers, can also make some money.

Think that relation smilar to the relation between ETS, Education Test Service, which develops SAT, ACT, TOEFL etc., and Prometric, the administrator of those tests…