Rick Newman has published an interesting article about the wrongful assumptions professionals made for 2008 which never become right in USNews.com site.
For the US and globally for the most part economic conditions worsen as year 2008 progressed. But importantly 2008 will be remembered for the year that turned things around, the year that US saw how powerless and weak their economy is. Hard hit recession in 2008 and its effects on oil prices, housing real state prices, investment banking industry, increase in jobless rate will always provide hands on real time experiences for anyone to learn finance and economics. It was great learning experience how things changed caused by other.
But the great drop in DJI will be the unforgettable remark for year 2008 for US. I wish it was only US that was effected by this, but thanks to or due to the globalization, dependence of other nations on US consumer base mercilessly brought their economies down with it.
Nevertheless, 2008 will be a great educational experience for nations to open their eyes to unavoidable economic destructions.
Below are the main points Newman looked at for the year 2008.
Real estate values always rise over time.
The mighty consumer will keep spending.
A buyer will always emerge.
Banks will be careful with their money.
Don't worry, the smartest guys in the world are working on the problem.
Technology is the solution.
The feds will fix things.
There's plenty of liquidity.
Things will bounce back.
It can't happen to us.
Full article; http://www.usnews.com/blogs/flowchart/2008/12/15/the-10-worst-assumptions-of-2008.html
The 10 Worst Assumptions of 2008; by Rick Newman
Financial news catch up; Buyers Pick Up the Pace As Indexes Hold Gains
Volume picked up briskly as indexes held near the top of the session's trading ranges.
Oil prices pared losses, rising above $39 a barrel. Semiconductor and consumer electronics-related stocks continued to lead the Nasdaq, which showed a 1.7% gain.
The NYSE composite and the Dow each held 1.4% advances. The S&P 500 rode 1.5% higher, with Jones Apparel (JNY), Rohm & Haas (ROH) and Harman International (HAR) topping its upside.
More than 90% of the industry groups tracked by IBD moved higher, led by the paint and allied building product makers and auto and truck tire maker groups.
Volume picked up from mixed trading earlier in the session, rising 17% on the Nasdaq and 4% on the NYSE.
Full article; http://www.investors.com/editorial/IBDArticles.asp?artsec=1&artnum=4&issue=20081230
Photographics; nature
Apologies for low activity here in December. Nonetheless, hope everyone is enjoying their holiday season. Down here is my attempt at creating a new directional photographics picture series. Photographers eye immerse with the digital graphic designers touch; such creation is defined by ashPresentom as a Photographic. This definition can also be defined as energy creating, striking, and unbelievable photograph of a photographer, which then greatly defined and masterfully touched by a graphic designer to fabricate the piece of photographics!
Note: photographics are copyright by ashPresentom.
Photoshop Actions: sephia blur
This photoshop action will convert your images into a sephia blur image with outter shadow as shown below. This action can also be run with shortcut key F12.
Down load link:
http://www.esnips.com/web/ashPresentom
How to install:
Save the .atn file in the following directory.
C:\Program Files\Adobe Photoshop CS3\Presets\Actions
Or,
open actions pane in Photoshop> click actions menu, and select load new action and find where you saved the file.
FinAnalysis: OCF operating Cash flow
OCF stands for operating cash flow, simply meaning cash flow provided by operating activities of a firm.
Definitions from other sites:
Wikipedia:
"Operating cash flow = Cash generated from operations less taxation and interest paid, investment income received and less dividends paid gives rise to operating cash flows per International Financial Reporting Standards"
Investopedia:
"The cash generated from the operations of a company, generally defined as revenues less all operating expenses, but calculated through a series of adjustments to net income.
It's arguably a better measure of a business's profits than earnings because a company can show positive net earnings (on the income statement) and still not be able to pay its debts. It's cash flow that pays the bills!"
Equation:
OCF = EBIT - taxes + depreciation
Why interest not deducted in here?
Interest is considered financing expenses, and most of the time it is already included when calculating WACC.
ashPresentom half-year anniversary
Oh behalf of aP, it has been a pleasure sharing the knowledge and wisdom with the viewership of aP. The growth has been very encouraging to continue to grow this blog with more and more educational and entertaining material. Thank you all of you for visiting aP blog, hopefully you did take some wisdom out from this blog. 
To celebrate this half-year anniversary we have updated the aP logo with a more organic and eye-catching logo. Enjoy! and dont forget to leave your feedback.
Election as it happened
This year (2008) as the US presidential election happened, there were several websites reporting the results in dashboard format real time. Among several are CBSnews and MSNBC, I found to be showing a very detailed and informative dashboard real-time.
But as I was observing the awaited election results, the election started with Mccain gaining the lead with first results went out, but I wondered how Obama will increase his votes and the gap as the time goes...Thats when the graph cames into place.
Below you find is how total votes for each candidates changes against time or as we moved into the election results. After 12:45a I stopped recording data and the last was the final results.
The graph below shows the percentage difference against time. Percentage difference was calculated as (Obama votes - Mccain votes/Total votes distributed among Obama and Mccain)*100. Once again I stopped recording after 12:45.
These graphs thoroughly shows how election went on against time. Enjoy!
Excel Template: WACC Calculator
In this post I am going go over WACC calculation and share with you a spreadsheet template I created to calculate WACC for a firm with given information.
WACC in other words, weighted average cost of capital. Or cost of capital in terms of weighted average calculation. Companies use debt or issue preferred stocks as a mean of generating capital for operations. WACC take into account the portions of these debt and equity financing and calculate the interest rate the company have to pay for every dollar it uses for financing activities.
This is also the rate company use as required rate of return in project management, capital budgeting, project evaluation, NPV calculations etc.
Investopedia.com says: "A calculation of a firm's cost of capital in which each category of capital is proportionately weighted. All capital sources - common stock, preferred stock, bonds and any other long-term debt - are included in a WACC calculation"
Here is a screen shot of the WACC calculator I designed.
You can download this spreadsheet free of charge and use it to calculate your required rate of return. (WACC calculator is copy right material of ashPresentom)
ashPresentom typography
Artistically organized typography is a type of graphic that I enjoy designing and looking at. Text tool in Photoshop can be used artistically to design extremely elegant banners and posters with the technique called typography.
This is a typographic design of categories I have discussed so far at ashPresentom.
What you see in this graphic is different sizes or font of the same face or type aligned in a gathered format. Font has also been rotated to 90degrees or -90 or 270 degrees to bring the text to a pack.
Enjoy!
Dont forget to change your clock
Tomorrow Sunday the November 2nd. Dont forget to change your clock.
At 2a.m. on local time you will be moving your clock back one hour to 1 a.m. Unless you live in Hawaii or Arizona. Fall daylight saving adjustment will cause you to have one hour extra sleep. So thats a good news for us right? to sleep an hour extra on the weenend and not have any effect on other things. Or simply sleep one more extra hour and get up and still see its the usual time you get up...
Any how, an interesting article I found this morning when I was reading Yahoo News.
Swidish researches have found out that time change done on monday morning in other words causing people to sleep extra hour on monday morning, when the week first start and people have to get up early and go to work; this has a high correlation with heart attacks. So doing the time change on sunday would be healthier for your heart.
I would think what the heck... how could a one hour of sleep cause me to have heart attack. Well the amount of sleep you get have a huge impact on how our body works. The immune system, the blood pressure, heart rate, and how we feel. So these things are effected by the amount of sleep we get. So it is done on sunday now to have a lesser effect on people's hearts.
That is your insight for the day... be sure to leave a comment in here.
Source: news.yahoo.com
Computer Arts 3D text Tutorial
Full Tutorial: http://mos.futurenet.com/pdf/computerarts/ART152_tut_4.pdf
Financial Crisis USA 0.3 Crude Oil & OPEC
The biggest decline in Crude oil prices from its height we saw in July.
So why did the oil price start falling like this after it was peaking to record high?
With the bad economy consumer spending started going down. With that demand for gas in developed countries start decline for the first time. With the bad demand, the expected decline in prices is what we are seeing now.
This week OPEC CEO Chakib Khalil had discussions about reducing the crude oil production to stop the fall of prices. With a low demand cut in quantity will help stop falling crude oil prices. But the question is, "is it going to help the global economy which is in the thin ice of a recession"
If as a result of this reduction of production of Oil, prices start going up, it will not necessarily help to boost the bed rock of economy; consumer spending.
If you have any comments about whats happening today with the crude oil prices and how it will effect your life, dont forget to leave a note here.
Financial Crisis USA; 0.2 Gold Price Collapses
Date: Oct 22, 2008
More and more interesting things starting to happen as we see US economy stumbling. Latest of all from businessweek is the plunged Gold price per ounce.
In this post I am going to relate the effect of market condition to my close venture, FAARO Jewelry.
The news was Gold price went down to $735/oz 13 month low (Businessweek.)Caused by stronger dollar created with high demand for dollar and the fear of global recession. As global recession fears have create huge fear in investors mind to cause another big loss for DOW Jones Index average.
Lets talk about the effect of this to our venture, FAARO Jewelry. Direct effect we experienced at FAARO inc. is where we use gold at first, which is FAARO manufacturing facility in Sri Lanka. Although this facility is located in Sri Lanka changes in Gold price at NY stock exchange are very well reflected in SL gold market. But FAARO buy gold at whole sale price from trusted suppliers, who would take several days to reflect this change in gold prices in their actual gold wholesale price. If we assume the wholeseller also reduce the Gold price to reflect the drop to $735/oz., at FAARO facility we can purchase Gold at lower cost with these conditions. With FAARO's FIFO inventory valuation method these changes will be very well reflect in Cost of Goods sold.
From managerial standpoint of FAARO, the drop in Gold cost will give us as option to cut back on our production cost of Jewelry (Gold jewelry, in particular.) With metal cost representing 43% of the cost of goods sold, this drop will make a big difference.
Overall, change in gold prices are not only helping FAARO jewelry buy gold at lower cost but it also create an opportunity for FAARO with the option of reducing production costs and cutting back on prices to better suit for slow economy.
I would really like to hear your comments about the today's topic; Gold and its implication to FAARO Jewelry. Please dont forget to leave your thoughts.
Financial Crisis USA part 1
So it would be shame to not mention anything about the financial crisis going on in the USA at the moment. As I have been following closely to the rollercoaster rides of the DOW Jones index, I have found some great sources of intellect.
So where did all this begin? the US war with Iraq?
Will this become a great depression like in 1930s? No, but the future generation will definitely call this "Great repudiation"
The root cause of this crisis lies on the foreign debt that US holds. There is a $3trillion debt hold by US over past few years. These were borrowed from countries like China, Germany, Japan, and Saudi Arabia. And US financial institutes used this borrowed money for mortgage loans. As we have been hearing all the time from SEC chairman Henry Paulson, and Ben Bernke, the loans offered to people who didnt have sources to pay them back are causing much of this lag in the money for financial institutions in US.
Any how, the $700 billion dollar plan to buy back troubled (above mentioned) institutions who got them selves screwed over by giving mortgages and lending money to people who didnt have a way of paying back, has increased the burden that US tax payer had. Which was about $30k per person.
Much of the plan to buy back stakes of US banks with that money, as we saw caused the highest gain in DOW. But declining again...
It might still not be the time to invest in the market to bag up the gains when DOW shoot up.
FinAnalysis: ROA and ROE
ROA: return on assets
ROA = Net Income/ Tot. Assets
Definitions:
1. An indicator of how profitable a company is relative to its total assets. -Investopedia.com
2. what the company can do with what it's got - wikipedia
Analyze formula:
this ratio you can find netincome per unit of total assets. Which means how much income have we generated for every unit of assets we consumed in the business or every unit of assets the business has.
Implication:
We can use this ratio to find if company/firm is efficiently using its assets to generate income.
Higher the ROA - better, more income from assets, and company using assets very efficiently to generate their income.
ROE : Return On Equity (basic form)
ROE = Net income/ Total Equity
Definition:
1. A measure of a corporation's profitability that reveals how much profit a company generates with the money shareholders have invested. -investopedia.com
Analyze ratio:
This ratio divide netincome per unit of equity.
Just like ROA this ratio tells how much income a firm generate per unit of stockholders equity money they have invested in the company. So from a stockholders perspective higher ROE mean the company is generating lot of income from their money. Which is a good thing for investor as it can generate higher return and possible divident for them.
As for the firm, higher ROE mean they are pleasing shareholders and they are using that equity money efficiently to generate income.
Graphic Designing: Simple Business card
Simple 45degree theme business card. This design is designed with more composure and freed up lot of white space for easy viewing the information from the business card.
It is a vertical design which is becoming popular in new ways people use business card to differentiate themselves.
If you are a graphic designer, the way your personal B-card look gives a good impression in differentiating you. As graphic designers usually prepare a portfolio of designs when applying for jobs, it is also a positive thing to give away your personal business card.
Photoshop resources: Floralization
Floral Brushes:
I want to share some great PS floral brushes that you can download for free, and that can be used very effectively to enhance your design.
http://www.brusheezy.com/brush/download/341-Floral-Swirl
- floral swirls 2
Floral Frame brushes:
- 
Click here to download floral frames
- 
Click here to download floral frames 2
- 
Click here to download floral frames 3
Look forward to a tutorial on how to use floral frames to create stunning designs.
Credit for PS brushes: coolwing.deviantart
FinAnalysis: EBIT
EBIT - earnings before interest and tax
Meaning: amount of money left in a firm after paying operating and admin expenses, but before paying interest and income tax. Basically this is how much money firm is left with to pay their debt.
- EBIT = Operating Revenue – Operating Expenses + Non-operating Income
Definitions:
1. (EBIT) is a measure of a firm's profitability that excludes interest and income tax expenses - Bodie, Z., Kane, A. and Marcus, A. J. Essentials of Investments, McGraw Hill Irwin, 2004, p. 452.
2. operating and nonoperating profit before the deduction of interest and income taxes. - thefreedictionary.com
3. An indicator of a company's profitability, calculated as revenue minus expenses, excluding tax and interest. EBIT is also referred to as "operating earnings", "operating profit" and "operating income" - investopedia.com
EBIT/Interest
Implication:
- measure of long-term solvency, times interest earned ratio.
- How well a company have its interest covered.
eg. if company X's EBIT is $20,000 and interest expense is $10,000 the ratio is 2. Meaning they are capable of paying interest for their debt.
- with a volatile company like movie industry, ratio of 2 may not be adequate.
"Long-term Solvency" - firms long-run ability to meet obligations, or financial leverage.
FinAnalysis: Preface for Ratios
Preface of the financial ratio posts.
As financial ratios are very important in my career path, I do lot of research on each individual ratios. Source these ratios using text books to online websites.
For each ratios I try to encapsulate as much analytical decisions or trends we can use from those ratios to interpret the ratios in balance sheet and income statement.
This research will help me refer back to my finding in later times and hope this will help you with analyzing your financial reports.
Summary of the Ratios Covered so far.
1. Gross Margin
2. EBIT (Earnings before interest and tax)
3. FinAnalysis: ROA and ROE
Financial Analysis: Gross Margin
Gross Profit Margin = Gross Profit (Revenue - COGS)/ Sales
Profit margin is the ratio used in financial analysis to measure the gross profit per sales. Gross profit as in COGS deducted from the Sales revenue.
Higher the Gross Margin the more efficient the firm/company in turning its raw material into income. If its a retail firm, the higher number tell how fast they turn the inventory into income.
Check out for more financial ratios and their interpretation in financial statements.
PS tutor: Orange skin Porche
Read full tutorial here on how to design it from scratch using photoshop: http://alfoart.com/gold_car_1.html
MS Excel: formulas that make your work easier
# To return a latest value of a column. (the column can not have empty cells between 1st value and last value)
=INDEX(H8:H14,COUNT(H8:H14))
in this formula, the range H8 to H14 we will get the latest value or the bottom most value in the correspondent cell that hold this formula.
Explanation:
count formula here counts the number of cells that has values.
using index formula, we find the index value within the given range, in this case H8:H14, and we want the index value of the 5th cell that is from top to down (the last cell with the values), which is the value given from Count formula.
Gas price has its effect on indivituals: financial perspective
Fair enough gas prices are going up day by day even though we saw a slight decrease of the price in past week or so. But gas prices has shown an exponential growth overall, rather average price graph over past 8 years.
I have been keeping track of grocery expenses in a spread sheet. In the past few months I was able to identify this increase in gas price clearly showing off in my spread sheet. Over past three months, April, May, & June; the groceries price per day per item value showed a clear integrated increase in my analysis of the expenses.
Even though you went to the grocery store and didnt identify much of a increase in food prices or even good prices, overall it has gone up. As you may know gas price increase causing good/food item prices to go up as in forms of transportation of goods, storage, etc.
There is a heavy need for alternative fuel source that we can rely on just like gas with less pollution and cost efficient.
Read more about environmental effects of gasoline prices and depletion of resources at http://apenvirom.blogspot.com/
Economy: A bigger-than-expected drop in existing home sales and Ford's worst earnings report ever weighed on the market
Having passed a House vote, the housing bill -- revised with provisions for more explicit government guarantees of the mortgage agency portfolios -- is now headed for a Senate vote, which could come as early as Thursday.
Bill Gross, managing director of bond house Pimco, weighed in on the housing bill currently before Congress, calling the legislation that is designed to lower the cost of mortgage credit "the best way to begin the long journey back to normalcy" in the housing market.
New York Fed President Timothy Geithner, speaking before the House Financial Services Committee, warned that strong financial supervision will be needed to reduce the moral hazard of recent Fed and government backstops such as the Bear Stearns bailout and expanded capabilities of the Treasury and Fed to support the government-sponsored agencies.
Oil prices rebounded from their lows despite ongoing concerns about demand destruction as government data showed higher refined product supplies on Wednesday. August WTI crude oil futures settled $1.05 cents higher at $125.49 a barrel on Thursday.
Source: David Bogoslaw
Full Article: http://www.businessweek.com/investor/content/jul2008
Photoshop enpowerment: presentom
Newest experiment with Photoshop and Illustrator vector floral designs and its use effectively to generate eye catching graphic content. Such floral content could also be found as brush format, if you are interested in creating this type of a graphic with the minimum of effort.
This post contain copy right material, prohibited from reproducing or using without presentom's permission. This Graphic is exclusively a property of ashPresentom.
Chicago Skyline : fire sky
(© ashPresentom All Rights Reserved. You may not reproduce or use this graphic for any other purposes without the permission from ashPresentom.)
This is the original graphic used to generate the above fire sky of chicago. 
Photoshop: how to design a Fireball
In this video I explain how to design a stunning looking fireball using Adobe Photoshop CS3.
Photoshop Enpowerment: fountain to fireball cannon
Turning a dull scene of the Fountain to a highly charged Fireball Cannon... do you think it was possible? It seems so when you look at it for a while... but here it is how I did it...
Business USA: The Housing Abyss
The housing crisis is entering a new and frightening stage. On June 24, Standard & Poor's announced that the S&P/Case-Shiller 20-City Home Price Index had fallen more than 15% in April from a year earlier. Adjusted for inflation, the decline is the biggest since 1940-42, according to data collected by Yale University economist Robert Shiller.
The risk for the financial system and the economy is that the price drop, already horrifying, will start feeding on itself. When home values fall low enough, hard-pressed homeowners become less able or less willing to keep paying their mortgages. That forces lenders to repossess homes and then dump them back on the market at fire-sale prices, which depresses prices further and leads to even more foreclosures.
That process has already started in parts of Arizona, California, Florida, and Nevada. The drop in those markets "is being fueled with jet fuel," says James L. Smith, executive vice-president for portfolio services at Fiserv (FISY), a Brookfield (Wis.) company. His unit works with borrowers to restructure delinquent mortgage loans. Smith worries that instead of settling at a reasonable price level, "we're going to blow past [it] without even looking back."
Efforts by the private sector and government to stop the slide before it gets out of control haven't done the job. Poorly designed mortgage securities rife with conflicts of interest, as well as legal disputes over priority between creditors, are forcing many homes into foreclosure needlessly, accelerating the market decline.
Sure, Congress is expected soon to pass a huge legislative package aimed at preventing needless foreclosures and stimulating first-time home purchases. But many analysts and advocates are already warning that more dramatic measures will ultimately be required. "The depth of pain is not being registered in D.C.," says Mike Shea, executive director of nonprofit advocacy group ACORN Housing in Chicago.
That's not everyone's assessment, of course. Some economists and politicians say that policymakers need to focus on keeping inflation under control in the face of soaring food and fuel prices. They say that the effects of the housing bust will be modest and that low prices will attract new buyers. "We're seeing people go into the market that weren't there before," says Alfred A. DelliBovi, president of the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York. The Federal Reserve, which has already cut the federal funds rate to 2% without managing to save the housing market, hinted on June 25 that no further rate cuts are in store, warning that inflation risks have risen while the risk of slower growth has "diminished somewhat."
by Peter Coy and Mara Der Hovanesian
Full Story: http://www.businessweek.com/print/magazine/content/08_27/b4091032364818.htm
environmental Blog: enV
aP has launched a specially dedicated blog to lift today's environmental issues and answers to those problems. Problems from carbon density, pollution, arctic melt down, increase in gas prices, depleting resources and answers and solutions from energy efficiency, and consumption of resources and deeply discussed and analyzed over the specially dedicated blog space. Please be sure to check aP's enV blog and leave your voice our enV's arguments and solutions.
enV blog: http://apenvirom.blogspot.com/
Sapphire : FAARO Jewelry
FAARO sapphires
FAARO is a brand of jewelry which specializes in sapphire jewelry. Our sapphires come in a multitude of colors including white, pink, green, yellow, and blue. All our beautiful stones come from well-known gem producing countries such as Thailand and Cambodia as well as Sri Lanka, where most of our blue sapphires are formed.
The history of our main Sapphire producer, Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka has been known by many different names throughout time because of its abundance of gems and the shape of the wonderful island is a gem. Marco Polo once stated in 1292, “I want you to understand that the island of Ceylon is, for its size, the finest island in the world and from its streams comes sapphires…”. “Serendib” is another name given by Persian traders, who came to this country to trade gems. “Ranthna deepa” meaning land of gems, is well known for producing the world’s richest and biggest sapphires for thousand years. The blue sapphires found in Sri Lanka are known as “Ceylon sapphires”. Not to forget the “Star of India”, a 563.35 carat sapphire mined in Sri Lanka, is the world’s largest star sapphire exhibited in New York National Museum at the moment.
Sapphires
Sapphires comes in different colors such as violet, dark gray, orange, yellow, pink, green and black which are also known as “fancy sapphires.” These “fancy sapphires” are less expensive than other sapphires but are equally as beautiful. Blue sapphires, found primarily in Sri Lanka and other gem producing countries, have a unique velvety luster which makes them very expensive. Most of the sapphires found in Sri Lanka are of a lighter shade of blue and are usually more than 100 carats. White sapphires, which are colorless stones, are also found primarily in Sri Lanka. These fine white sapphires are extremely rare as a result of their unique hues or shades of pink, purple or blue.
Rareness of sapphires
As a result of sapphires unique colors and shades, they tend to be very expensive and hard to find. Most of the time these stone’s prices increase several times by the time they arrive in North America and Europe. Diamonds today are used in almost all of the jewelry sold, especially in the United States. This production and usage of diamonds prove that diamonds are not rare. Diamonds are so expensive mainly because of inflated profit margins. Unlike diamonds, sapphires come in different shades and colors which make them extremely rare and unique.
Natural Crystal Sapphires
These hexagonal crystal structured sapphires, scientifically called “corundum,” are designed by FAARO for elegance and beauty with a unique taste of nature. Our natural crystal sapphires come from Sri Lanka. These sapphires are in their original form, but cut and polished to a unique shape. Each crystal is unique for their shape and shades of colors, just like sapphires. These natural crystals carry a myth, that they possess various healing powers of the earth making them very popular among the natives of Sri Lanka.
International Business: Global Communication
In this IB series post I am planning to talk about importance and effectiveness of communication in global business and cross border business.
Communication in any organization take a huge role. It is the cogs that connect things together and get things moving. Without proper communication things will fall apart. There is nothing as enough communication, communication can never be enough. In a business setting you need to get as much information as you can to successfully complete tasks.
Going to global communication create new barriers that don't show up in local organizational level. Language difference is the first tackle. Most of the time someone that speaks that language effectively can be used to solve this issue easily.
In the previous posts I discussed important issues in global business. If it is difficult or costly for you to have someone physically present in the foreign business location it is hard to communicate. But with the internet and increasingly developing new ways of communication through internet make this easier task.
Instant messenger services are a great way to communicate with foreign location and keep them upto date. Programs like Skype make voice over internet extremely effective and low cost.
Keeping information synchronized with foreign location and local parent or the branch is another difficult problem that FAARO experienced. With the help of synchronizing data program like Microsoft Groove, things were easier to keep track of and up date and share information and data.
With the development of communication techniques over internet, global communication for a business have become much easier.
Unit Converter 1.3
Downloadable exe file | size: 1.56MB converter-ashPresentom.exe
Uploaded here is the final version of the Unit Converter, in Flash swf format. You can also download exe file and run it as a program for easy use. Exe file does not require you to have the flash player installed in your computer to run this program/movie.
I also plan to add volume into this program in its future versions. Your comments and thoughts will be greatly appreciated.
Presentom Unit Converter (Flash Program)
At the moment i am working on designing a flash movie program that can convert units easily. Main measurements include length, Weight, and temperature.
This flash movie program will be presented at Presentom as exe file to be downloaded and use it. Program hold Presentom Copyrights.
Dont forget to check back the Unit Converter
International Business: The Road to Global Readiness
How can Mexico compete globally? — Adolfo Navarro, Monterrey, Mexico
Your question says "Mexico," but put any developing nation, from Turkey to Brazil, in its place, and our answer is the same. First, we'd state what you may already know: that countries whose businesses are trying to gain a foothold abroad need an educated workforce, affordable sources of energy, and supportive trade policies. But right out of the gate, we'd add another factor that is, in our view, equally important. The businesses that will compete most effectively in a fierce global economy will be those that have benefited from intense competition at home.
Think of it this way: No speed skater or pole-vaulter heads to the Olympics before years of intense competition with the hotshots in his own backyard. The same goes for companies heading into the business "world games." First, they need to train and prove themselves against hometown rivals.
Make sense? Sure. But it still doesn't happen enough. Your own country is a good example. Its economy became "free" in 1994 when the government essentially stopped allowing (some would say anointing) companies to control entire industrial sectors. But 14 years later, conglomerates still dominate, meaning too few entrepreneurial ventures have been able to emerge and deliver the critical lessons about agility and innovation that only they can. Yes, there are exceptions: Cemex (CX), the cement producer, and Grupo Bimbo, the food manufacturer, among others, are companies that grew at home and now thrive in foreign markets. But Mexico remains a country with too little local competition, which puts those "unconditioned" companies back on their heels as they enter the global ring.
By contrast, both Japan and South Korea sent their companies into the world economy swinging. In the 1970s, Japan's government encouraged its zaibatsu to reform and compete locally before setting their sites on foreign foes. Then they landed resounding blows, most notably against U.S. electronics, automotive, and steel interests. A decade later, Korea unleashed its chaebol with similar results, as companies like Daewoo and Samsung entered the global markets with productivity levels that quickly made them formidable rivals. Although China still has a largely state-controlled economy, its entrepreneurs have long been irrepressible. When GE (GE) bought a light bulb factory in Shanghai in the '90s, for instance, Siemens (SI) and Philips (PHG) were the main concern. But within a year or two, scores of Chinese startups acquired bulb-making equipment from Eastern Europe, and a slugfest ensued. No wonder so many Chinese companies enter the global market loaded for bear. They've been practicing.
So what is Mexico to do? If we're right about local competition being a prerequisite for global success, the government obviously needs to encourage it, or at least allow it. That seems to be what's now going on in India. Its economy began liberalization efforts in the '90s, but since 2000 they seem to be accelerating. New technologies have helped. One young company with an exciting business model—Airtel—has been able to compete fiercely in the cellular phone market with mainstays Tata (TTM) and Reliance Communications. For all three companies, the innovations sparked by competition have driven growth and profitability, and provided the ability and confidence to expand overseas.
The power of local competition is not, incidentally, just relevant to developing nations. If only! In the U.S., established semiconductor and biotechnology companies are constantly pushed to new heights by feisty upstarts. This happens in mature businesses, too. Case in point is business news channel CNBC (GE). It had no real rival for years, until Rupert Murdoch, a tough competitor, announced that he would launch the Fox Business Network (NWS). Almost overnight, CNBC looked like a new place, with reenergized anchors, bolder programming, and a revamped Web site. Fox won't stop coming at CNBC, of course, but both organizations will be better for the fight.
Look, no normal person seeks competition. It makes everything harder. But it also creates excellence and verve—in a word, edge. And you don't want to leave home without that.
Article by: Jack and Suzy Welch
International Business: Global organization
An organization that will have its branches located in different parts of the world and challenges faces in implementation is what I am going to discuss in this post. To further explain the matter, I will be referring to my global Venture - FAARO Jewelry.
Global expansion of an organization is a tough task. Expanding into a foreign territory without trustable support is another challenge. Strategy formulation and implementation for new global venture is another topic that will need lot more time to go deep into, rather an interesting topic. But today I will focus only basic implementation of business in foreign territory.
When you are planning to expand into global business you need to keep in mind the amount of capital requirements, which can be rather tedious and unexpectedly expensive than predicted. I am not talking about acquiring a foreign business but starting a new branch in a different country. So Capital requirement is key issue here.
Having a trustable party that to continue operations over in the foreign country is an invaluable advantage. If you could pay several visits per month to check on the status and operations of the new business, lack of a trustable party could be not extremely important. But if you can not physically be present at the foreign location it is very important to have a trustable and honest party. For example, at FAARO when we start our jewelry manufacturing facility in SriLanka to extract the low cost Gems and jewelry making talent in SriLanka, my mom taking control over the operations of the facility helped greatly as I could not be physically be there. In my next post I will talk about communication barriers in international business.
Another important thing to plan ahead is government's rules and regulations of the foreign country. Starting a business while abide by to their government regulations is important to maintain the business long time and to avoid unnecessary problems.
Culture and traditions of the new foreign location is another area which most organizations fail to focus on before they implement. When Volkswagen started their Shanghai Branch they were having numerous problems with German and Chinese cultural differences.
Expanding an organization to spread out globally require great deal of planning and due diligence on issues like, requirement of capital, trustable party's presence, Governmental regulations, and culture of the foreign location.
My Photoshop work - After edit
Here is one of my Photo I edited using Adobe Photoshop. Here I used several color and level balancing and used several Brush effects in overlay setting. Be sure to leave some comments on what you think.
Jewelry of the Week: 3
Its time for Presentom's Jewelry of the week. Like I mentioned before I will be posting these pieces from time to time. These will be my favorite and highly demanded items for that period of time. So here is the Jewelry for this week..
About this piece of Jewelry: Its a Sterling Silver pendant, coded with lasting Rhodium layer. The connected hearts hold a Genuine White Sapphire stone. Its a good gift! This piece was included in FAARO 2008 Valentine collection.
For more information: Click Here
What to look for when you buy jewelry
Most of the times when people buy jewelry, they are not concerned about some of the important fact. Thus several months later, they may not be able to wear that jewelry again or for some other reason it will become useless. In this article you will learn several key points and components of jewelry to keep in mind when you deciding what jewelry to buy for, either through an online web sites or from a store down town.
What occasions are you going to wear this jewelry for? Selecting the right jewelry for right occasions is very important. It could be for a date or a party or simply to wear everyday to work or at home. The event is a significant fact to keep in mind. A beautiful jewelry set would look much better on an expensive dress than cheap jewelry. This connect to the next point, do you plan to wear it during day time or in the evening? Glittering jewelry such as Pink heart pendant by FAARO jewelry ( ) is an ideal piece to wear at night, either with a colorful dress or a black dress which would enhanced the beauty of the jewelry. The sterling silver in this pendant along with the colorful gemstones would make you look beautiful with them at night.
Another important point to keep in mind is the length of the necklace. How long do you want your necklace to be? “Choker” is a 14 inch chain which “Matinee” is 23 inch long chain that hangs down further. More detailed information about chain selection can be found in FAAROzine informative newsletter series. (To receive these newsletter go to www.faaro.com)
Another points is how frequent will you wear this? Frequency of the use is important based on several featured of the jewelry you are planning to buy. Thickness of the chain is important if you are going to wear it daily. That means the chain should not be fragile as to bare the pressure and other forces that might apply on it.
Clasp is also another important component of the jewelry to look for before you buy. A clasp that is easy to put on and take off will make your life easy when having to wear jewelry.
Important components like these can help you better understand the jewelry that you will wear and to select the jewelry that will best fit your daily needs and to make you look beautiful. To receive more important information like these through FAAROzine please visit faaro.com.
Paintings
Painting Detail: Snowy scene near a creek.
Medium: Acrylic Paint
Actual Size: 16" x 20"
Painted Date: 12/11/2007
Wallpapers
Here are couple of Wallpaper designs I made long time back for my Favorite Super Sports cars. Yet these two are still in my favorite sportscars...
Info: McLaren F1 Wallpaper Download 1024 x 768px
Info: Pagani Zonda Wallpaper
Download 1024 x 768 px
Jewelry designs
Jewelry designing at FAARO;
Designing a piece of jewelry take lot of work and time put into in to bring a stunning end product. Appearance, Beauty and Elegance all start from the designing of the jewelry piece. As an award winning talented painter, I draw the new design on paper starting the process. (I will look forward to post some of my art work in this blog in the future, so look forward to that)
Once something come across as stunning and amazing design from the paper, I digitalizes the design using sophisticated software like Rhino 3D and Photoshop. (In my previous posts I talked about designing Jewelry using Photoshop.)
Attributing correct and relevant dimensions to the design is also a key component. You dont want a stunning piece of Jewelry to be too bulky or too tiny. It needs to be precisely sized to bring out the beauty in it.
Finally the Jewelry will be made into a dazzling solid piece from the designs and precise dimensions using advance scaling measurements at FAARO Jewelry Manufacturing Facility. (aka Channel Kay)
Jewelry of the Week: 2
This is an elegant 14k White Gold Metal with an astonishing Red Ruby and 6 Pink Sapphire stones. All gems are genuine, if you have followed this blog you know the quality of Gem stones at FAARO.
This gem stone goes well for a dinner party on your black dress or a white dress to bring out the beauty and elegance in you and make you show up with classic Piece of Jewelry.
Please visit the below link and check out more information about this Item.
More information: Click Here
How to design a Jewelry BluePrint in Photoshop
In this Post I am going to talk about designing a blue print for a jewelry prototyp design using Adobe Photoshop.
Skill Level: Advance
Step 1:
Create a new layer and using brush tool draw a basic shape of the design like this. Dont worry about getting it correct. We need a basic structure. Make sure brush size is 2px or less and 100% Opacity
Step 2:
Now reduce the opacity of the layer containing the basic sketch to around 30%. Using "Pen tool" (P) draw an out line along the lines from your sketch. Make sure you select "Path" from top tool bar after you select Pen tool.
Step 3:
You could use "Add anchor tool" under Pen toll menu to shape up the the outline made using the pen tool, so the outline will align with the below sketch you drew earlier.
Step 4:
Now create a new layer. And go to Window>Path and select the layer. Then Choose brush tool (brush size 2px, round brush with fading) and click "Stroke path with Brush" in Path window pane. This will draw a brush line along the outline you just drew using the Pen tool. Now you should be able to see a clear line on the outline of the jewelry design. Just like this draw the outline for the entire design.
Step 5:
Creating Shading and coloring the finished outline.
Make sure you create a new layer to do coloring. So that outline layer will be ontop of the color layer. The new layer selected, using brush tool with desired color paint around the areas like shown in the picture. After that use eraser tool to erasethe colors that went outside the Area and also to reduce Opacity of the coloring. You will require realistic drawing skills to select the right shade of color to paint over the area to give it a 3D dynamic look.
Once everything is done it should look like a professional Blue print of a Prototype design which can be sent to manufacturers....
FAARO Jewelry of the week
Tripple heart Pendant with Genuine Sri Lankan White Sapphire and Garnet.
More information of this piece of jewelry can be found at;
http://store.faaro.com/servlet/Detail?no=47
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