Year: 2006

Categories
Fun

More about RedHat

Reading Time: < 1 minute

Last Updated on November 2, 2006 by stlplace

Thought this is funny. The RedHat webmaster must be busy. After Oracle announced the RedHat linux support, now Microsoft joined the party – it announced the partnership with RedHat’s rival, Novell’s SUSE linux. So this is what I saw from RedHat’s web page:

“First they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they fight you. Then you win.”

 — Mohandas Gandhi

For those not from IT industry, “they” refers to Microsoft. Microsoft did all these “ignore” and “laugh” thing. Now “they” are at “fight” stage.  

Categories
China Stocks

Basics for Investment

Reading Time: < 1 minute

Last Updated on November 2, 2006 by stlplace

I happened to see this “Investment 101” from forun web site, a very small (boutique) research firm. Wish I had read it before jump into market 3 years ago. Oh well, I know even if I read it, I would forget it and make the same mistakes. A lot times we have to learn the lesson the hard way.

It’s an interesting story to find this research firm. So I was listening to the conference call of Ninetowns, the stock I bought at its IPO and bought it again today. An analyst from forun called in and talked in English with a heavy Chinese accent. Sometimes when he got stuck, he used Mandarin with strong Hunan accent . The CEO of Ninetowns can not speak English. So they talked in Mandarin. Another SVP of Ninetowns did the translation. There are only two analysts called in for the questions. The other guy Dick Wei from JP Morgan, is also ethnic Chinese. Note JP Morgan was the underwriter of its IPO in Dec 2004.   

Categories
Stocks

Trade of the Day

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Last Updated on November 2, 2006 by stlplace

I sold the remaing Symantec (SYMC) stocks today and I bought an old stock for me: the Ninetown Digital (NINE, recently changed name to Ninetown Internet). Here are my reasoning.

Symantec moved up quite a bit in past serveral months. It reported good earning in Q2, but missed a penny in Q3 due to some weakness in Europe. I think it’s a solid company and may do well in Q4. Note enterprise software companies usually do more sales in Q4 because of end-of-year spending (so is the Wall Street expectation, so don’t expect a big pop). Another reason is Symantec is just too big for me to understand, its main business is from enterprise (storage, security, compliance etc), not just the Norton Anti Virus or Internet Security for individual customers. By the same token, as the world No. 5 software company (by market capital, behind Microsoft, Oracle, SAP and Adobe), its stock just does not move too much compared to smaller software companies. I think it’s good for mutual funds or people who just want to get average return without doing much homework.

Continue reading “Trade of the Day”
Categories
Fun

Programmer’s humor

Reading Time: < 1 minute

Last Updated on November 2, 2006 by stlplace

This is a good one. I got this from a programmer friend. Open a new document from Microsoft Word, type in the following:

=rand(100,2)

then hit “enter” or “return”. What did you got?

There are many similar interesting hacks in the software we use daily. I think it’s just a way for programmer to express themselves during their daily boring work 🙂

Categories
Software development

Dumb C++ Mistakes

Reading Time: < 1 minute

Last Updated on May 28, 2009 by stlplace

It seems like I don’t have anything to do with C++ because I have not touched C++ much in this blog. I am a software engineer by trade; programming and debugging is a large part of what I do during the day. I was a little frustrated last two days by a memory problem shown only on UNIX. The program ran fine on Windows, except one or two instances slightly weird results which I tend to ignore. But I could not pass the UNIX test and obviously something is wrong. By looking at the trace back I can tell it’s a memory problem. Memory problem is kind of problem everyone hates. Because it’s usually hard to find the root cause. Dev Partner made the process a little easier because it will show all potential memory overrun and leaks. To my surprise, I made a mistake like the following (very basic C++ mistakes):

char *temp_str = new char[length]; 

for(int ii = 0; ii < length*2; ii++){     // do something with temp_str[ii] } It is a typical memory overrun problem because I only allocate "length" number of char, but I was trying to use "length*2" number of char. It's like use twice the credit limit? But I am still very puzzlled that my program ran on Windows (without Dev Parter) before the fix. No wonder we see "Windows crash" from time to time :-) Seriously, in software development we want the problems being uncovered the earlier, the better. Because we don't want our customer run our program and crash.

Categories
Stocks

Words of Wisdom

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Last Updated on November 1, 2006 by stlplace

Words from Warren Buffett’s interview, mostly regarding his opinion on the markets, the full article is here.

…Common stocks are part of a business. Markets are there to serve you, not to instruct you. You can often find a couple of companies that are out of line. Find one; get rich. Most people think that what the stock does from day to day contains information, but it doesn’t. It isn’t just something that wiggles around. The stock market is the best game in the world. You can take advantage of people who have no morals. High prices inside of a year will typically be 100% of the low price. Businesses don’t change in value that much. That is simply crazy. There are extreme degrees of fluctuation, and Mr. Market will call out the prices. Wait until he is nutty in one direction or the other. Put in a margin of safety. Don’t find a bridge that says no more than 10,000 pounds when you have a 9800 pound vehicle. It isn’t a function of IQ, but receptivity of the mind.

When investing you don’t have to invest in all 10,000 companies available, you just have to find the one that is out of line. Mr. Market is your servant. Mr. Market is your partner and wants to sell the business to you everyday. Some days he is very optimistic and wants a high price, others he is pessimistic and will sell at a low price. You have to use this to your advantage. The market is the greatest game in the world. There is nothing else that can, at times, get this far out of line with reality. For example, land usually only fluctuates within a 15% band. Negotiated transactions are less volatile. Some get this; others don’t. Just keep your wits about you and you can make a lot of money in the market… 

BTW, words from Fortune cookie today, “A new hat will brighten your day give you an updated look”.

Categories
Business China

Mindray Medical International

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Last Updated on August 1, 2007 by stlplace

OK, enough about the Home Inns (HMIN) and New Oriental (EDU), both of which are well known consumer brands based in Shanghai and Beijing respectively. On Sept 26, a not so well known medical device company based in Shenzhen (by Hongkong), did IPO on NYSE and it was well received by the investors. The company is Mindray Medical International, ticker symbol MR. It’s not the first Chinese medical device maker listed in the US. China Medical (CMED) came to NASDAQ about a year and half ago. But this MR is much bigger.  I looked at its F-1 form, and it seems like a solid company.

mindray logo picture 

Some key numbers:

Continue reading “Mindray Medical International”
Categories
China Stocks

China Net Companies Q3 06 Earning Calendar

Reading Time: < 1 minute

Last Updated on November 1, 2006 by stlplace

It seems all these China stock bloggers are taking vacations 🙂

Click on the date it will bring you to the “events” page of the stock; you can add the event to your “Yahoo Calendar” if you like.

Baidu: Nov 1 (Oct 31 evening US time)

Ctrip: Nov 8

Netease: Nov 6

Sina: Nov 2

Sohu (done): Oct 26

China Medical: Nov 13

Mindray Medical: Nov 16

Home Inns: ???

Categories
Career China

Engineers Needed

Reading Time: < 1 minute

Last Updated on October 31, 2006 by stlplace

Saw this from haiguinet, I thought it’s a good one. The original article is here.

=================================================

深圳美企诚聘

找人真难,急煞老总!!!深圳美企诚聘品质工程师, 制造工程师,ERP / JD Edward 实施顾问
各位大侠有好人选可以推荐给我们吗?
我们公司不差,条件不低.可几个engineering level 的职位找了一年了,不知为何就是找不到人.
看来,制造业已经不是一将难求了,好兵帅克都难找啊!难道所有的人都跟着安校长去做了投行?

全球最大的消毒类一次性医疗仪器和耗材的供应商，现诚邀有潜质之精英加盟本公司：

1、Quality Engineer（品质工程师）
理工科本科以上学历；3年以上医疗器械行业, 或电子,五金, 注塑行业QA工作经验，了解医疗器械行业质量体系标准ISO13485及其它相关法规者优先考虑；良好的团队合作精神与沟通协调能力；英文读写良好，电脑操作熟练。
2、Manufacturing Engineer（制造工程师）
理工科本科以上学历；有三年以上注塑、五金方面的工作经验；曾从事过工装夹具的设计，会熟练使用Auto CAD；有医疗器械行业工作经验，熟悉医疗器械行业者优先考虑；良好的团队合作精神与沟通协调能力；英文良好，电脑操作熟练
3、ERP / JD Edward Implementation Consultant (ERP / JD Edward 实施顾问)
两年以上JDE Enterprise one系统实施经验，熟悉JDE ERP系统设计及数据库，能独立设计实施方案并带领实施完成，英语熟练，能用英语与美国同事沟通，有在JDE公司工作背景者优先考虑。财务、制造模块实施顾问要求有良好的财务、制造流程知识及工作经验
==========================================

It appears to me good engineers (mechanical, electrical, etc.) are badly needed in China these days. Besides designing and manufacturing, procurement is also a big one. I heard a guy took a procurement job in Shanghai and went back recently.

Categories
Saint Louis Travel

Cheap air ticket to Shanghai

Reading Time: < 1 minute

Last Updated on August 27, 2008 by stlplace

AA is doing a promotion of flight from US to Shanghai (PVG). A ticket from St. Louis to Shanghai is just $688 (before tax); the full ticket will be about $850 including tax. There are some restriction such as (from AA.com):

  • Reservations are required. Tickets must be purchased at least 7 days prior to departure or within 3 days of making reservations, whichever comes first, but no later than 11:59 p.m. November 2, 2006 (CST).
  • Fares are valid for outbound travel through February 10, 2007. Return travel must be completed by March 27, 2007.

    • But I think it’s still a good deal. This offer is good for most Midwest and Eastern US cities (transfer at Chicago).

    I remember when I took the China Eastern from Shanghai to St. Louis, the one-way ticket was about $700. Note at that time gas price was about 80 cents per gallon. Now with gas price at $2.00 (after the recent pull back), the air ticket to China is going at the other direction. No wonder the airline companies are not making money. One reason is the competition. Nine years ago there is no direct flight from Chicago to Shanghai. Now we have two daily flights. Anyway as a consumer I won’t complain. I just can not understand the airline stocks went up so much lately. I guess they are still making money 🙂