Comments for Martin Varsavsky | English

Comment on IRS and CRESY by Mark

Mark — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 10:35:23 +0000

I see two sides to the market in Argentina. Earlier this decade the devaluation crises could easily be anticipated based on the wild party that was going on, where a European would feel poor while visiting BsAs, and without a real economic engine to grow the wealth of the country. The earlier Kirchner years were good for Argentina because the country needs a strong (and little bit dictatorial) leader. But the self-crowned family outstayed their welcome, and at the same time inflation has started to ravage the economy to the point where it is not longer good value to buy products (quality for clothes etc. is poor) while visiting. (Note: restaurants remain amazing value.) Since more than a year I have been expecting another crisis to hit Argentina. The one thing keeping the country afloat was the commodity and agriculture boom. However that leg has abruptly been kicked away. What is different this time, is that commodity resources and farmland are a real value which will not disappear, it is just a question of when demand will return. Therefore this crisis opens a good opportunity to invest in these sectors on the cheap (CRESY), but I would stay clear of the commercial sector (IRS). Disclosure I have a very small stake in CRESY (with a big percentage loss), waiting for a drop under $4.5 to add more.

Best Regards,
Mark (a Brit with an Argentine wife, living in Barcelona)

Comment on Advice on how to improve Yahoo search by [fr] Dans la peau du patron. Episode#2 - Yahoo

[fr] Dans la peau du patron. Episode#2 - Yahoo — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 07:58:02 +0000

[...] remplaçant à Jerry Yang. Si vous étiez le patron que décideriez vous de faire et de changer. Martin Varvasky avait de bonnes suggestions. Les deux meilleures commentaires seront mis en évidence sur ce billet [...]

Comment on Have You Had Problems Installing La Fonera? by michael

michael — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 19:17:54 +0000

UK users get a raw deal. no % of earnings and our bandwidth can be used by any BT user as BT is reselling our internet. and we do not get unlimited usage from BT

Comment on IRS and CRESY by Manuel

Manuel — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 15:53:33 +0000

Martin,

I hear from Argentinean friends and family that the real state prices in Argentina are due for a fall. I don’t know if down to 20% of current levels (I hope not!), but maybe the potential value loss is what the stock market is discounting on the share price of IRS and CRESY.

Do you have the same feeling or indication of an inminent real state crash in Argentina? Where do you think the prices could go in the near or distant future?

Thanks,

Manuel

Comment on Where is the future that we were promised? by Mads Buchter

Mads Buchter — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 15:41:24 +0000

I simply don’t agree with this view of the world as intellectually arrested. New knowledge and new technologies are crashing in on us at a completely unprecedented level. As I see it, there are many levels of knowledge: There are things you know, things you think you know, things you know you don’t know and things you don’t know you don’t know. The problem here is that many of the advances generated in our time are so specialized that for most people, they fall into this last category. Never-the-less they are constantly changing the world we live in, as the original breakthroughs in technology or understanding did not. No one was cured by the discovery of DNA. People are cured every day with the knowledge we are still accumulating.
Yes I have a basic understanding of Big Bang Theory but can I truly claim, that I understand what’s going on at Cern? And that it is really nothing compared to Einstein’s partially faulty ideas. I don’t think so.
Cars are still cars, like the were 30 years ago - only faster, safer and cheaper. And there are a hell of a lot more of them. They don’t light your cigarette anymore, but they do tell you exactly, where you are, show you where to go, tell you when you’ll be there and if your passenger forgot his seatbelt.
A tank is still at tank like it were 30 years ago. It just gives you night vision, can turn invisible, turns away grenades with reactive armour, aims itself and doesn’t miss at 2 miles.
Of course a one ounce MP3-player doesn’t do anything, that a one pound walkman couldn’t and maybe it even does it worse. But the same thing could be said about grammophone players and symphony orchestras.
Mybe humanoid robots aren’t all that common. And while were bitching about that on the internet, the unhumanoid ones are doing most of the work.
The furture has a nasty habit of sneaking up on you. If you don’t pay attention you won’t notice that it’s right there in your living room in the form of a movie with enough CGI to knock the socks off Cecil B. DeMille.

Comment on Where is the future that we were promised? by K Satyanarayan

K Satyanarayan — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 04:16:39 +0000

How about changes in the world of finance, for better or worse?

Would someone from an earlier generation have known of microfinance a la Grameen Bank, or have believed that it would be possible for the ultra poor to raise loans that they can pay back and for the lenders to the poor to do so humanely yet profitably?

While this may not qualify as change in a positive sense, would someone from an earlier generation have known of or been able to understand, let alone justify as viable, products like a CDO, a CDS, or even just a NINA loan?

Comment on Where is the future that we were promised? by balachandar

balachandar — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 03:44:49 +0000

yeah. i still feel the same. i am not innovating. i still see the things which i study are even studied by my nephews.

i agree with. you know, in india, we just landed on moon which was done few decades back from US, russia, japan. we are still way ahead in this race.

Comment on Nokia’s acquisition of Symbian is a great win for open-source by The New Generation of Touch UIs at chromewalker

The New Generation of Touch UIs at chromewalker — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 22:46:15 +0000

[...] Nokia’s acquisition of Symbian is a great win for open-source [...]

Comment on Where is the future that we were promised? by Martin Varsavsky

Martin Varsavsky — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 18:24:17 +0000

Whatever

Comment on “Some Rights Reserved”: Larry Lessig at Monaco Media Forum by lkratz

lkratz — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 16:23:46 +0000

Each time, Larry’s presentation gets better.

Though there were not that many people in this room :/