A division of Time Warner, Inc. (NYSE: TWX), AOL also noted that it will add new content and features in the coming months designed for the Taiwanese audience. Content included right now is Entertainment and Finance, plus a technology channel featuring Engadget in Chinese. It also has a search feature in Chinese, which is powered by Google (NASDAQ: GOOG), like the content search elsewhere. It is using Truveo.com for video search.
AOL is developing content partnerships with regional pubs, including United Daily News (udn.com) and Phoenix New Media. AOL is using its worldwide distribution pact in place with Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) to deliver a co-branded local language portal and search site for HP users in Taiwan.
Taiwan is not the last country in the pipeline. AOL has launched 18 country-specific portals and plans to have a total of 30 countries by the end of 2008. The H-P bundling software is one of the key metrics it will be using.
After recommending yesterday that our leaders should stimulate the economy by investing in infrastructure rather than mad money stimulus, and after discussing this with some business associates, I have a few more thoughts I'd like to share.
We have been hearing that 70% of our economy has been supported by the American consumer. Congress and the President have agreed on -- or colluded, depending on who you speak with -- a bi-partisan economic stimulus package. When, and if, the check arrives in the mail, there might be short-term glee among the populous. But if it is used just to stimulate more consumption, then it will only serve to postpone the pain by some time -- perhaps a month or two.
If I get anything back, I will be using it to reduce debt or invest in equity and nothing else. I hope my fellow citizens are able to understand that reducing debt or investing in equity has some value, while consuming, that is, rushing out to buy a flat-screen television or a new PlayStation, is a complete waste of a one-time opportunity.
Bloomberg ran an interesting article this morning. The article contained an interview with Jens Nordvig, a senior currency strategist in New York at Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS). Nordvig said the top currency trade for 2008 will be to sell the U.S. dollar against a basket of Asian currencies, including the currencies of Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan.
In the article, Nordvig cites two reasons why this trade should work next year:
Asian central banks should allow faster currency appreciation to offset inflation in their home countries
It is becoming costlier for the central banks to enter foreign exchange market
The Malaysian, Singaporean and Taiwanese currencies will each gain about 5% to 10% against the dollar in the next year, according to Nordvig.
Zack Miller is the Managing Editor of IsraelNewsletter.com and a former equity analyst for a leading multinational hedge fund.
QLogic was cut to Neutral from Outperform and removed from JP Morgan's Focus List due to the lack of catalysts to drive shares higher.
Caris cut shares to Average from Above Average and Pacific
Crest downgraded QLogic to Sector Perform from Outperform as the company's profits decline.
Citigtroup downgraded CNet Networks (NASDAQ: CNET) to Hold from Buy as they no longer expect material revenue growth acceleration and operating leverage in 2H07; First Albany cut shares to Neutral from Buy.
HSBC downgraded shares of Taiwan Semiconductor (NYSE: TSM) to Neutral from Overweight to reflect worse than expected pricing pressures.
Matrix downgraded shares of Darden Restaurants (NYSE: DRI) to Hold from Buy on increasing competition and rising costs.
Piper cut Anadys Pharma (NASDAQ: ANDS) to Underperform from Outperform following the company's announcement that it has discontinued development of ANA975...
MOST NOTEWORTHY: Advantest (ATE), RightNow Technologies (RNOW), Mattson Technology (MTSN), Akamai Technologies (AKAM) and P.F. Chang's (PFCB) were today's noteworthy downgrades:
Matrix downgraded Advantest (NYSE: ATE) to Strong Sell from Hold; the firm doesn't expect Advantest's profits to improve in the near-term after chip makers indicated they plan to cut capital spending.
RightNow Technologies (NASDAQ: RNOW) was cut to Sector Perform from Outperform at Pacific Crest to reflect the company's poor execution.
Mattson Technology (NASDAQ: MTSN) was downgraded to Sell from Buy at American Technology; The firm said Q2 results were strong but bookings and gross margin outlook were weaker due to memory spending weakness.
Credit Suisse downgraded P.F. Chang's (NASDAQ: PFCB) to Market Weight from Overweight at Thomas Wiesel to reflect below plan new store performance for the third consecutive year at Pei Wei...
Our pals at Engadget are fueling speculation that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) is planning to release a new iPhone as early as this fall. This second generation iPhone will be smaller and cheaper, selling for as little as $249. (A mock-up of the phone from Engadget is at right.)
At this point, the story is just a rumor, but the source of the rumor is interesting. Apparently the story is coming from Taiwan, where many of the parts for the iPhone are made. As Engadget says:
According to DigiTimes, Taiwan's Chinese-language Commercial Times says that Taiwan's Wintek has gained the touch-screen panel orders for the second-gen iPhone. The report claims that Wintek has already begun test production in small volumes with Apple intent on selling their newest model of the iPhone in September for somewhere between $249 and $299.
If this is true, it would certainly make sense. Apple introduced the iPod in the fall of 2001, and soon followed up with smaller and cheaper versions of the wildly popular device. You can now choose from the fifth-generation iPod, which plays video, the smaller Nano, and the even smaller Shuffle. (If I remember correctly, there was a Mini available at one point too.) Each model is regularly upgraded, with increased memory and sometimes lower prices. And the array of iPods appeals to just about any consumer; you can spend $399 for an 80 gigabyte audio iPod or $79 for a 1 gig Shuffle. As a result, just about everyone can afford an iPod -- and Apple sales reflect this broad appeal. So it should come as no surprise that the company is using the same approach with the iPhone.
Periodically we hear mention of "Bullet Trains" being developed between large metropolitan areas. Last week I posted Serious Money: Freight Railroads - BNI, CSX, UNP & more and the first comment I received was about Bullet Trains. Not exactly on topic, but a hot topic nevertheless. That article was about investment ideas. Now to explore bigger ideas!
Bullet Trains are an ultra fast, ultra sleek, ultra modern way to get quickly and efficiently between major cities. Although utilized to great success in such countries as Japan and France, bullet trains apparently are too futuristic for the likes of the United States. They are always a part of some future plan, but always passed on as too expensive.
In California we have discussed high speed trains from Los Angeles to San Francisco, and from Los Angeles to Palmdale -- this one in hopes of moving some Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) traffic to the high desert. There is very high demand at LAX but the airport is congested, complicated, and hemmed in. A speedy, reliable transportation option between San Francisco and Los Angeles would be welcome by millions of residents.
High speed trains are under discussion or being planned for Australia, China, India, South Korea, Taiwan, and many other places. The Japanese and French, not surprisingly, are leading the way. The New York Times reported: French Train breaks rail speed record achieving speeds of 357 miles per hour. The report concludes that high speed trains have not caught on in the U.S. as they have in Europe, "where TGV travel is generally considered faster transportation than air travel for distances that the TGV can cover in less than three hours."
An obvious observation for anyone who's done any traveling. But sentiment tends to become official when the New York Times states it in print.
From what I have been able to find out The Florida Overland Express (FOX) is probably the furthest along, but, while the train will move fast - the development moves very slow. According to the website, Florida Governor Jeb Bush canceled this project in 1999. Once again the United States lags behind the rest of the developed (and developing) world when it comes to sensible solutions to environmental and social issues. So what else is new?
Sheldon Liber is the CEO of a small private investment company and the vice president for de.sign and research at an architecture & planning firm. Check out his other posts for BloggingStocks here.
Each year Steven Halpern, editor of TheStockAdvisors.com, surveys the leading financial newsletter advisors asking for their favorite stocks for the coming year. This article is part of his 24th annual Top Picks Report.
Taiwan-based Chunghwa Telecom Co. (NYSE: CHT) is the favorite conservative idea for 2007 from Yiannis Mostrous, editor of The Silk Road Investor, and author of the recently published book of the same name.
The global advisor notes, "Taiwan remains a political market in the sense that until the unification issue is resolved, there will always be a 'lid' on Taiwan's economic growth. But once the political issues are addressed, Taiwan's market will decisively move higher.
"Although this adds an element of risk to investing in Taiwan, the Taiwanese market could perform well this year as it is one of the cheapest in Asia (eight years of underperformance), is disliked by all, and offers a 3.7% dividend yield. (Dividends are taxed in Taiwan, and U.S. stockholders can use the net amount of the withholding tax as a credit.)
Taiwan PC makers report new delays in the RTM (release to manufacturing) version of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)'s Vista, which they were supposed to get this week. Manufacturers are now being told it will be at least mid-November before that release. The reason: more bugs were found that could paralyze an upgrade to a Vista-capable Windows XP OS, according to a story in today's DigiTimes Systems.
The RTM build 5824 was scheduled for release this week, after the number of bugs found in the Windows Vista Release Candidate 2 (RC2) version dropped from 1,450 to around 500, according to sources quoted in the DigiTimes story, but additional bugs that could paralyze an upgraded Vista-capable Windows XP OS halted those plans. The new build is now RTM build 5840 and Microsoft promised to continue to test the new version until its release in November.
Even though Microsoft alerted PC makers to the delay, it assured them that it still planned to launch the business-use and home-use Vista OS by November 2006 and January 2007, respectively.
Now in addition to fears that Vista may block your security programs from being fully functional, you may find that an upgrade locks up your Vista-capable Windows XP OS. You may not want to jump to upgrade until you're sure all these kinks have been worked out.
After recommending yesterday that our leaders should stimulate the economy by investing in infrastructure rather than 
Our pals at Engadget are fueling speculation that 
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Is Berkshire Hathaway better than S&P Index?
Closing Bell: Torch Passing on a Friday Rally
