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Ready to laugh. People that make productivity apps (for business) on BLACKBERRY phones make more on average. Smaller market place and people will pay for an app that serves a business use case. There, I said it. In general, I have not done app development because it is a huge waste of my time. I have 15 years of software development. A lot of co-workers make apps and I have no idea why. 1) They don't make money. 2) It takes time. 3) What you learn does not really translate into what you already make a lot of money doing. I made an extra $15K on the side doing a stock screener for a popular website some of you may know. That's how you make money on the side. Anyway ... want to make an app? 1) Find an unserved or underserved market. Preferably in a market that is business, not consumer. 2) write software 3) profit. Most people do this: 1) Clash of clans makes a ton of money 2) If I make a clone that is better I'll make that much money 3) fail or never even start I've had a few ideas that fall in the unserved or underserved scenario and never bothered to follow up. I'd make Android apps and skip iOS altogether even though there are frameworks that are code once => release on multiple devices.

Actually, metallurgy has caught up. You don't need to idle diesels anymore for a reason.

I considered a used Prius when I bought new. Why? 1) new Prius: $26K 2) 2 year old Prius w/ 40K miles: $20.5K Assuming 20% of the life on the car was gone, I was saving 20%. Here's the deal. A car is a pure cost assuming you drive it into the ground. So you can get a 3 year old car and drive it for 7 years and into the ground. Or get a new cars and do the same thing for 10 years. Also, you have a good job (presumably) so why base your life on not having anything new ever. By that logic, you should only by used Miatas. If you are buying a used BMW, Lexus .... whatever .... why do you think it is saving? Why not just get a lesser car that is new that has newer features and probably better fuel economy. I could go on and on and on. Bottom line. Set a budget and stick to it. Get what you need and if you can afford some wants, go for it. My F-150 is due up next in about 2 years. I will be spending up to $30K on a new vehicle. I don't care if I get a used BMW or a new truck or whatever. As long as I spend under $30K ... I am content. I have my requirements and I'll go from there. Right now it looks like a full cab Chevy Colorado. Then I can cart the family around. My kids are older so in and out they go much easier. And I can take mountain bikes wherever I need to. And I have a truck when needed. And I spend less than anF-150 and I get better fuel economy than a larger truck. It's pure WIN.

Oil prices are tied to the US dollar. Unless the US dollar is expected to weaken for some reason, oil prices won't be going up. And all these US producers (XCO, SD, whatever) will probably be in rough shape. People tend to think of money as some magical thing. Money is an intermediary for bartering. bartering: exchange (goods or services) for other goods or services without using money.

Agree but much of that quality is just HDR. You can enable it in the latest BB10 software too. But even HDR doesn't save any BBRY camera quality issues. The hardware is lesser. I don't mind that it is lesser than some android phones. It has to be. But when they can not match Apple, that is a problem.

I have a Z10 from release. My wife has a Z30. She loves her phone. I like mine but want an upgrade. I first learned about BB10 due to Fairfax. I saw the investment in BBRY. I researched BBRY. I could not fathom why the stock was beaten up. I invested and bought a phone because I saw what BB10 was going to be. I left an Android phone. And I don't miss it. BB10 really shows how first gen the iOS and Android experience are. BB10 is a second gen phone OS. 10.2.x did Android emulation well but 10.3.x is on a whole new level. I live in Connecticut and I don't know anyone else with a BB10 phone. I want a Passport .. really badly. But I don't think it will work in an armband (as I am a runner) and this is a use case for me. I am blown away that older people that don't play games bother with Apple and Android when BB10 would suit their needs much better. As for advertising, they are not interested in the consumer market. They are righting the Enterprise business before they consider going after the consumer hardware segment. And to be frank, if they right the ship in enterprise and decide that hardware is not profitable, they will probably be a software only company. They already said that they are bringing the hub to Android and iOS. So, that might be symbolic of their plans. I think they will still make hardware because they fill a niche. But I don't know if it is forever. To address what someone else said .... I will clarify. If you install 10.3.x you will get the Amazon app store. I am not sure if this is geography or carrier related though. You can also sideload Snap. Some familiarity with computers is needed to do that though. But not much. I wouldn't have my in-laws try it on their own. If you are a nerd, you can get Google services working (maps, etc) but that requires that you modify binary files with a 3rd party app. Many do it, but I don't care to. If I could get a passport in my hands I would consider it as an upgrade .... so PM me if you can help out ;-)

I was mostly curious if I was wasting time before I spend any more time on the topic. I might do a more thorough investigation now. So, thank you everyone for the thoughts.

I wasn't sure of what the response would be(negative or positive). But I did not expect no replies.

Google kept metrics on brian teasers. They stopped using them because they found no correlation to workplace performance and solving stupid riddles that have nothing to do with your career.

This keeps running through my head. 1) Oil to some extent is trading in US dollars. 2) The US dollar is strong 3) The price of oil is down greatly So, this makes me wonder how much of the drop in oil prices is tied to the strength in the US dollar. If the US dollar remains strong, how can oil prices go back up if oil prices are tied to the USD? I attached a USD vs Brent Crude chart for 5 years.

So, is this just another story of a PoS on Wall Street that played by "the rules" and made a bunch of money but has no idea of the moral dilemma he is involved in?

Scary item 1: Population from 4 to 8 billion in 20 years. Sorry, we are all F'ed. Want a long term thesis? Buy rentals in good neighborhoods in multiple cities. And thanks! Good find.

So, is this old news or a reporter than just realized this? http://www.eweek.com/news/lockheed-martin-claims-sustainable-fusion-is-within-its-grasp.html

Ya, Prem buying into BBRY made me look and I was shocked that the stock tanked like it did. What I was reading and what I saw in the share price were not the same. I think at one point, they had no debt, and trading at something like 0.99x cash on hand. It was totally irrational. But my original turn around thesis failed miserably. I saw BB10 pre-release and saw what it is. A true second generation smartphone UI where iOS and Android are still on gen 1 and show no signs of evolving. But no comeback to the consumer smartphone segment as a dominant player. But now with Chen on board and the diversity within BBRY, this really looks like a no risk investment going forward. Anyway ... I digress. This is a Sandridge thread. There is a BBRY thread in the investment thread. I will say this though. I wish I started writing a book 3 years ago about BBRY. It would be a thesis on a failure or one of the greatest comebacks ever. The conclusion to the book is still being drawn.

Look at what Watsa did with BBRY regarding convertible debt. He could do the same with SD. BBRY - off topic but it was brought up.... Also, I've been following BBRY and invested in BBRY for a very long time. My costs basis is in the $9-$10 range but I messed up with some options so it's really more like $13 or so per share. Don't ask about options, it's a sore wound. Made a shitload and got greedy and lost it all. Anyway, I can not stress enough that BBRY is not just phones. They are a lot more than that and IoT has the potential to totally transform BBRY over the next 5 years. If I say Nanthealth, people here probably don't know what I mean. Then you can read about it and find that BBRY owns an unknown percentage of that company. And then you can read about what they do and how. Oh Chen just recently made a statement that hsows that he is moving BBRY into a business model where they are pushing responsibility down the chain as far as possible. No more dictatorship like there was pre-Chen. For example .... This means that if one business unit is responsible for BB10 and another can make a business case to Chen that an Android phone is something BBRY should release, the BB10 team has no say in the decision making process. Chen is really turning into the next Steve Jobs. This guy is definitely looking forward. 5 years forward. Like someone else said, he's not playing the puck, he's playing where the puck is going.

Berkshire exited XOM. Not sure if I read it in this thread.

If Buffett doesn't qualify as genius to you, who does in the field of business/finance? Genius is way to strong of a descriptor for anyone in business/finance. He isn't exactly curing cancer or getting noble prices for mathematics. Those people are geniouses and they have to think in new ways to do what they do. Buffett is just using the knowledge built by others. I'd be willing to use descriptors like disciplined and knowledgeable. But not genius.

Pickens made some comments on oil. I think most of the article is important: http://www.gurufocus.com/news/317644/t-boone-pickens-predicts-oil-rebound-buys-12-energy-stocks The key take away: I personally think call options are a good strategy right now.

I went to the Shake Shack near the Museum of Natural History in NYC (it's across the street on one of the block corners that is farthest central park). Simply put: Best burger I have ever had. I did the double bacon cheese. I forget what they call it. Better than Burger King, Red Robbin, Fudruckers, 5 guys, every local place I ever went to, McDonalds, everything. I want another one. When talking PE ratios, please adjust for cash relative to debt. They just went public so after their initial shenanigans, they will probably have alot of cash. I have yet to look closer at the balance sheets. But 10 new locations per year to start is pretty damned slow expansion. I hope it is due to them needing to iron on the hopefully national sized store model. I still might invest but it is going to take time.

Nico, Thanks! UPDATE: Local BAM! didn't have it so I just ordered via Amazon.

Which Pettis book are we talking about? Looks to be 4 in total: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=la_B001ITW1FY_rf_p_n_feature_browse-b_0?fst=as%3Aoff&rh=n%3A283155%2Cp_82%3AB001ITW1FY%2Cp_n_feature_browse-bin%3A2656022011&bbn=283155&ie=UTF8&qid=1424286067&rnid=618072011 I might grab them all. Which are we discussing in this thread? Any recommended order if I get them all (start with the one in this thread?)? I havn't dug into the numbers in this thread yet. I will at some point though. How much coul Fairfax make if deflation takes hold (3% per annum or one quick 15% slam or etc etc etc)?

Mr. Market does not like your jokes apparently. Yes it has this brutal way of telling me that i am a fool. :) But aside from that i still don`t know if nobody watches rental DVDs anymore is now true or not. People that say that tend to live in bubbles. I'm sure that there are areas of hte country where people can't afford broadband and Netflix and whatnot. They probably do DVD rentals.

Cardboard, Good points. It really points to the fact that where oil goes is anyone's guess. Probably not down at these levels though.

AS long as some countries need to produce well over $55 ($80) to make money, I'd think that we'll be back to about $100 in 2 years. If not, OPEC will have to step production up to make for hte supply gap that will be created over time. I don't see these levels lasting a year. I'd be shocked if we were not north of $80 in 2 years. The only thing I don't understand this: 1) Oil on the world markets are traded in US dollars 2) The US dollar is very strong right now. and: 3) I don't see the US dollar getting weaker. But if this is true, wouldn't some of the oil price decline be tied to a strong US dollar? If it is strong, oil should cost less. Worth reading ... it is quick: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petrocurrency#Currencies_used_to_trade_oil

No time to rad this but thought I should ink it: http://snbchf.com/global-macro/shale-oil-oil-sands/