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A GoPro, chargers, mounting stands, waterproof containers… I tuned out the rest, to be honest. |
Just like I tuned out GoPro's IPO, and will continue to ignore the stock for the foreseeable future. |
Make Sure You Miss "IPO Froth" |
Look, I know that GoPro Inc. stock (Nasdaq: GPRO) roared out of the gate on its IPO and climbed from $24 to a 103% gain of $48.80 in just a few days. |
It could just as easily have gone the other way – and, in fact, did exactly that, hovering at around $38.80 yesterday. |
GoPro's got big problems ahead of it – just like every camera company before it – and that means the company isn't worth what many think it is. |
I know. I know. The GoPro cognoscenti are screaming that the company's products are the best at capturing people doing all sorts of wacky, wild, daring, and imaginative things. You'll get no disagreement from me. |
But there is no compelling evidence that GoPro can provide a lasting alternative to the greatest threat to the company's relevance – smartphones. |
And that's the crux of the issue. The company offers a feature – albeit a really cool one. |
There's no reason whatsoever to believe that its competitors won't catch up… that Apple and others won't come out with products that match or exceed GoPro's capabilities or be easier to use. |
I can already buy, for example, top of the line waterproof, HD and Wi-Fi enabled cameras from iON and JVC, both of which have better form factors and don't feel like I have a door in the wind on top of my motorcycle helmet. |
Then there's wearable sport technology like the Recon Jet and the Telepathy One on the horizon. Both are considered to be competitors to Google Glass but will easily cross over. |
To be fair, I have no doubt that GoPro's management is aware of this problem. And with the $600 million they raised from their IPO, they'll have the resources to tackle the problems I've just outlined. |
But, I don't find that especially reassuring as an investor when looking at GoPro stock. |
DMX has partnered with Kingdom Reign Entertainment to executive produce a new docu-series for television about his tumultuous life and career. |
According to Variety, DMX’s show, tentatively called In the Dog House, will bring viewers into his life following his stint in rehab as he works on his new album and tries to repair his relationship with his 15 children and their mothers. The former Ruff Ryders rapper also has a looming tax evasion case that could put ... |
“I’m just excited to get back out there and show my fans that I’m still a force to be reckoned with in hip hop, and invite them into my vast world of spirituality and growth,” said DMX. |
In the Dog House will be taken to market later this month. |
In the other DMX news, the veteran rapper has teamed up with Timberland and Engineered Garments to create a collaborative boot. More details to come, but for now, check out the video below. |
Luke is currently opening for Beyoncé on the second U.S. leg of “The Mrs. Carter Show World Tour,” and stars in the holiday musical Black Nativity. His debut album is due next year via N.A.R.S. Records/Island Def Jam. |
Americas|Mexican Call for Conquest Apology Ruffles Feathers in Spain. And Mexico. |
MADRID — Mexico’s president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, surely knew that he was wading into fraught territory when he wrote to King Felipe VI of Spain and Pope Francis with a request rooted in history. |
As the 500th anniversary of the 1521 Spanish conquest of the Aztecs nears, Mr. López Obrador proposed that the two men ask forgiveness for the abuses inflicted on the indigenous peoples of Mexico. |
What he may not have expected was the blowback his proposal received — on both sides of the Atlantic. |
On the Spanish right, the response was even chillier. |
The history of modern Mexico goes back to 1519, when the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés disembarked on the Gulf Coast and began his march toward the great Aztec capital, Tenochtitlán. It fell two years later. |
The indigenous peoples did not fall prey only to the brutality and subjugation of the conquerors. They were also decimated by European diseases, particularly smallpox. |
Mr. López Obrador wrote the letters, he said on Monday, in the spirit of reconciliation ahead of the commemoration of the conquest and the 200th anniversary of the year Mexico achieved independence from Spain. |
But what caught the attention of his many critics in Mexico was his call for an apology. |
“The Spaniards who stayed in Spain bear no responsibility for what happened here 500 years ago,” wrote one columnist, Sergio Sarmiento. |
Some noted that Cortés conquered the Aztecs in alliance with other indigenous communities, raising a question about whether Spain was the only one at fault. |
Mr. López Obrador was accused of trying to create a distraction to divert attention from Mexico’s problems, including brutal gang violence and a slowing economy. |
One reporter asked the president why he was not demanding that France and the United States, which also invaded Mexico, apologize as well. And if Spain should apologize, critics said, should Mexico not apologize as well for its treatment of indigenous groups since independence? |
Mr. López Obrador said he planned to do that. |
In Spain, Mr. Borrell made a similar argument. |
Could Spain ask France to apologize for crimes committed during the Napoleonic wars, he asked, when the French invaded the Iberian Peninsula? Could France itself ask for an apology from Italy for the way the Romans conquered the Gauls under Julius Caesar? |
Still, the precedent for historical reckoning is growing, and one moment in particular stands out. In 2015, Pope Francis addressed an audience of farmers, trash pickers and indigenous people in Bolivia and asked for forgiveness. |
And last November, Canada’s prime minister, Justin Trudeau, apologized on behalf of his nation for the abuse of indigenous people there. Mr. Trudeau also apologized for Canada’s decision not to allow Jews who were fleeing Nazism to disembark from a ship in 1939. |
Last September, President Emmanuel Macron of France apologized for the widespread usage of torture by the French army in Algeria, and in particular for the killing of an antiwar intellectual, Maurice Audin, in 1957. |
All these apologies notwithstanding, Mr. López Obrador’s demand touched a raw nerve in Spain, perhaps because it comes at a time of renewed nationalism and a secessionist challenge in Catalonia. |
Some right-wing Spanish politicians warned the Socialist government against going soft on Mexico’s left-wing president. |
A politician from the Popular Party, Rafael Hernando, went a step farther. “We Spaniards went there and ended the power of tribes that assassinated their neighbors with cruelty and fury,” he said on Twitter. |
Spain’s far-left and third-largest party, Podemos, sided with Mexico’s president and promised to offer restoration to victims of colonialism if elected. Mr. López Obrador is “very right to demand that the king ask for forgiveness for the abuses of the conquest,” Ione Belarra, a Podemos politician, said on Twitter. |
Whatever Mr. López Obrador’s political intent, his call exposed the contradictions of Mexico’s identity. |
While Mexico officially celebrates the idea of mestizaje — a new race formed from the union of the European colonizers and the indigenous peoples they conquered — modern Mexico has done little to right the wrongs inherited by the brutal history of conquest. To this day, Mexico’s upper classes are predominantly white an... |
Mr. López Obrador has paid tribute to indigenous cultures. His many critics may argue that his devotion to them is a stunt, but he is the first modern Mexican president who has worked directly with people in indigenous communities. |
Despite the blowback that followed his demand for an apology, Mr. López Obrador has defended his letter as necessary. And he said there was no risk of hurting relations with Spain. Indeed, Mr. López Obrador has a strong connection to that country. |
In January, Mr. Sánchez, the Spanish prime minister, was the first foreign leader to visit Mexico after Mr. López Obrador took office. Among his gestures of friendship was a gift to the new Mexican president: the birth certificate of one José Obrador, born in 1893 in the Spanish region of Cantabria. |
In 1917, the Spaniard did what generations of Spaniards had done before him. He went to seek his fortune in Mexico. A century later that immigrant’s grandson, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, was elected president. |
Mexico’s New President Promised a Revolution. Has It Begun? |
When it comes to high-yielding stocks such as Main Street Capital Corporation (NYSE: MAIN), the upside is seemingly easy to measure. The company is required to pay out 90% of its income to avoid taxes, similar to a real estate investment trust. Thus, the most obvious and largest source of return will be the dividends p... |
I think it's generally prudent to expend more effort thinking about the downside than the upside. If you can avoid the downside, the upside takes care of itself in the form of big dividend yields. We can get a sense of whether Main Street's price tag of 1.6 times book value -- the highest in its industry -- o... |
Its dividend policy is pretty evident in the following chart. Note that net investment income has roughly matched its dividends to shareholders in any given quarter, represented by the green bars. The blue bars represent Main Street Capital's coverage of its regular dividends from net investment income excluding d... |
Secondly, it tells us that Main Street Capital doesn't have much room for error. With Main Street Capital's net investment income almost perfectly matching its regular dividends to its shareholders, even small increases or decreases in net investment income matter. |
Main Street Capital's dividend income should roughly rise and fall with the economy. When the many companies in which Main Street Capital owns an equity stake do well, they can pay bigger dividends back to Main Street. In a recessionary environment, one would expect dividend income to shrink. |
I'll admit there is no perfect way to assess the stability of Main Street Capital's dividend income. There are a number of factors that affect its portfolio company's ability to pay dividends back to Main Street, with profitability, seasonality, and the reinvestment opportunities of its portfolio compani... |
There are some mitigating factors to the lack of diversification in its income. MSC Adviser is an asset manager of permanent assets, so its fee revenue and earnings should be relatively stable. Similarly, CMS Minerals' dividends to Main Street are from preferred stock, which should be a little more stable than div... |
Putting it all together, Main Street Capital's ability to pay its own shareholders increasingly relies on its portfolio companies to pay it dividends at the same time it has little room for error in covering its dividends to shareholders with net investment income. |
But if that isn't compelling to you, and you are absolutely certain of Main Street Capital's ability to continue to pay a consistent dividend to shareholders, consider also the risk that the market throws a curveball. If shares were to fall to the current valuation of its closest peer, or 1.4 times book value... |
In my view, the risk to the company's earnings power from its increasing reliance on dividend income, and the market risk that shares take a dive completely unrelated to its fundamentals, favor keeping your cash on the sidelines. Though cash may yield very little, it doesn't carry the risk of losing years&apo... |
how about we teleport you outta the match? |
I mean, can I not though? |
Maybe your luck will be better next time. At least you can walk away knowing that you slayed that game, and we all know who the true All-Star is. |
Prince Philip still hasn’t decided, and Harry and Meghan might miss part of the affair as well. |
Prince Philip photographed arriving to the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on May 19, 2018. |
Princess Eugenie’s wedding—which takes place this Friday—may not have the sort of drama preceding it that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s did, as when Meghan’s father suffered a heart attack and ultimately opted not to attend. But there is still a perhaps surprising amount of family intrigue related to the nuptials in... |
And Harry and Meghan might be missing part of the festivities as well. While they will almost definitely be in attendance on Friday, it is possible, the Daily Mail notes, that they will miss the Saturday night party component, as they will have to leave either on Saturday night or on Sunday to begin their massive Pacif... |
Some individuals who definitely will be there: the wedding party. The Palace announced Wednesday that Eugenie asked sister Princess Beatrice to be her maid of honor (groom Jack Brooksbank asked brother Thomas to be his best man). Their bridesmaids will be Princess Charlotte, Savannah and Isla Phillips, Mia Tindall, Mau... |
Our business came out a love of crafting. Denise has run a successful scrapbooking club for more than 20 years in Alaska and in New Castle. Elyse specializes in painting and jewelry making. |
We have one of the largest collections of specialty craft supplies on the Western Slope including scrapbooking, paper crafting and jewelry-making supplies. Our gift selection includes apparel, housewares, locally-made foods, accessories, jewelry, art and gifts for every occasion. Our addition is a fairy garden section. |
Be creative! We started offering classes just to get people in the shop, and now it is our biggest focus. |
Focusing on what our customers want to see and learn. |
Getting to know the wonderful people in our community. Many of our customers we now consider friends. There is nothing better than having someone come to take a class and say “I’m not artistic,” then watching the joy on their face as they find their inner artist. |
Winnie Harlow is having a massive year, walking in the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show and attending her first Met Gala. And, she's had a really good person by her side -- Wiz Khalifa! Hear what Winnie had to say about Wiz. |
in Washington, D.C., the state of Missouri leads the nation in Black homicide victimization, which means Black people are more likely to be murdered there than in any other state. |
The study, Black Homicide Victimization in the United States: An Analysis of 2009 Homicide Data, is based on 2009 data — the most recent data available from the FBI — and ranks the 50 states by the number of Black murder victims per 100,000 population. |
In Missouri, there were 239 Black homicide victims, resulting in a homicide rate of 34.72. In comparison, the homicide rate for African-Americans overall in the United States was 17.90 per 100,000; the overall national average was 4.76 per 100,000, and only 2.92 for whites, nationally. |
In other words, Missouri's Black murder rate was about twice the national average for African-Americans, seven times the overall national rate, and almost 12 times the rate for whites nationally. |
In cases where the cause of death could be determined, firearms, usually handguns, were used in 82 percent of the homicides nationwide; 72 percent of Black victims were killed by someone they knew, most often during arguments. |
"While Missouri has the highest state rate of Black homicide victimization, homicides are devastating Black teens and adults across the nation," said Josh Sugarmann, VPC executive director and co-author of the study. |
For more on the findings visit here. |
Looks like data center energy intelligence company SynapSense is feeling some love from GE. The company is getting $5 million from GE Energy Financial Services, along with Emerald Technology Ventures, Sequoia Capital, Robert Bosch Venture Capital, American River Ventures, Nth Power and DFJ Frontier. |
The money is earmarked for research and development AND market expansion activities related to the SynapSense Data Center Monitoring, Adaptive Control and Energy Management technology. GE actually has been using the SynapSense technology in its own data centers (including GE Corporate and NBC Universal) since 2008. The... |
In this Nov. 6, 2018, file photo, Georgia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams addresses supporters during an election night watch party in Atlanta. |
A political organization backed by Democrat Stacey Abrams filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday challenging the way Georgia's elections are run, making good on a promise Abrams made as she ended her bid to become the state's governor. |
The lawsuit was filed in Atlanta by Fair Fight Action against interim Secretary of State Robyn Crittenden and state election board members. It asks a judge to correct problems with the state's elections system. |
In a fiery speech ending her campaign Nov. 16, Abrams announced that a lawsuit would be filed against Georgia "for the gross mismanagement of this election and to protect future elections from unconstitutional actions." |
As secretary of state, Abrams' opponent, Republican Gov.-elect Brian Kemp, was the top elections official until he declared himself the winner and resigned two days after the election. On the campaign trail, Abrams repeatedly called Kemp "an architect of suppression." |
Flanked by Democratic state lawmakers at the Georgia Capitol earlier this month, Abrams' campaign manager who's now CEO of Fair Fight Action, Lauren Groh-Wargo, said the campaign believed Kemp "mismanaged this election to sway it in his favor." |
Abrams didn't end her bid to be the first black female state governor in U.S. history until 10 days after the election, insisting efforts to suppress turnout had left thousands of ballots uncounted that otherwise could erode Kemp's lead and force a runoff election. |
Abrams said the election was marred by systemic voter suppression. She rattled off a list of concerns, pointing to absentee ballots thrown out by what she called "the handwriting police;" a shortage of paper ballots to back up broken voting machines; and Georgia's so-called "exact match" voter registration rules that r... |
Joining Fair Fight as a plaintiff in the lawsuit is Care in Action Georgia, the state chapter of a national nonprofit dedicated to fighting for the rights of domestic workers. |
BOONE, Iowa — A lot of popular Republican names will be in Iowa Saturday for Joni Ernst’s first ever “Roast and Ride” event. |
It starts with the “Ride to Honor Veterans and Patriots” beginning at 11 a.m. at Big Barn Harley-Davidson, 81 NW 49th Place, Des Moines. |
The pork roast will be held at the Central Iowa Expo Grounds in Boone, kicking off at 11:30. The program will begin at 1 p.m. |
Ben Carson, Carly Fiorina, Senator Lindsey Graham, Mike Huckabee, Rick Perry, Senator Marco Rubio and Governor Scott Walker are all expected to speak at the event. |
Harvardwood, the Harvard University-sanctioned nonprofit, has announced the winners of its 2014 Writers Competition. This year’s honorees are Nicholas Paleologos, The Race for Television (feature screenplay); Anna Fishko, Baghdad (one-hour TV pilot); Kathleen Chen and William Brian Polk, Year Of The Tiger (half-hour TV... |
In its previous three years, writers selected by the program went on to score agency representation at CAA, ICM, Circle of Confusion, Management 360 and Echo Lake. Previous feature category winner Capture, is in post production with Circle of Confusion producing. Three pilots have been sold, including Helix to SyFy and... |
Graham and Chris talk all things Miles Bridges, following the allegations of improper benefits, and preview the Big Ten tourney. |
Graham Couch and Chris Solari are ramping up for the Big Ten tournament in the Big Apple. But before that, Graham and Chris address the latest in the Yahoo! Sports/ESPN reporting of Miles Bridges' mother receiving improper benefits and how that's affecting the Spartans (or not at all), before then moving on to previewi... |
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