Be receptive, good information is where you find it.  2nd, you can find the costliness of data doesn't always reflect its' worth.  A lot of the best material you'll get is free.  Your first sources of investment information are 2 : Manhattan Stock Exchange member firms and the firms in which you are interested.  Your broker will supply correct, current material, free for the asking.  The increase in the quantity of new financiers has launched many firms on broad-scale tutorial programs.  A lot of them have weekly market letters, monthly or quarterly surveys, analyses of individual stocks or industries.

( a tabulation shows that some 296 member firms now issue about 30,700 market letters, 15,500 pieces of sales literature, and 1,800 special reports a pile of paper some 38 feet high and weighing around 975 pounds ) the once a week letter is customarily the work of a senior researcher whose job is to move around and tap pro opinion about current market trends, or to conduct field inquiries of new developments in firms or industries.  It is conversational, newsy, and always not especially exhaustive.  The monthly and quarterly surveys are far more thoroughgoing, but the editorial and production time involved in putting them together makes them something less than recent.  These sometimes compare performances, indicate trends, and carry ratings or viewpoints of various groups of stocks.  You can get on the contact list for those things extraordinarily simply. 

Also join selective web message services to offer you up to the minute information.  On request, your broker will also send you fact sheets on individual firms you could be intrigued by.  On request, too, you'll get rather more intricate studies of firms or industries, the range counting sometimes on the flexibility of your brokerage firm's research dep..  These are often more sufficient than your broker can offer, yearly reports contain balance sheets, consolidated money statements, and takings records going back 10 or maybe twenty years, as well as general factual info on the corporation's's activities. 

It has to be recalled that firms are naturally biased in favor of their own business interests, and are inclined to put their best foot forward.  This doesn't mean that their info can't be trusted, but simply a yearly report, for instance, which is management's accounting of its stewardship to speculators, will put the company in the best light.  It's possible that there'll be an overenthusiastic view of its performance or prospects.  Secondary sources coming simply to hand, are standard papers some six hundred of which now print daily stock tables and general circulation mags dealing with business and finance. 

These have the advantage of non-involvement with the money community as such, and most probably a broader perspective on the news. 

On the other hand, they may lack some of the data swiftly found in more specialised economic publications.  If you're trading on the foreign-exchange download some foreign exchange software to help foretell future changes in cost.

Other resources to check out:

Trend Forex System

Trend Forex System Info

Windows Phone 7 Series Could Be On An LG Phone As Soon As September

We all know Windows Phone 7 is due at the end of the year, but according to the Chinese version of Engadget, LG is preparing for a launch date as early as September, as late as November. It's still a wide gap, but certainly a lot more hopeful than “early 2011.” [Engadget Chinese via Engadget]

Send an email to Kat Hannaford, the author of this post, at khannaford@gizmodo.com.

When Microsoft unveiled its plans for Windows Phone 7 Series last month, one part of Microsoft’s long-rumored mobile strategy was revealed. However, the second part, Project Pink — a rumored Windows Mobile/Zune mash-up with a heavy emphasis on social networking — wasn’t mentioned at all.

Today Gizmodo is reporting that they have confirmation that Project Pink not only exists, but that it is coming to Verizon.

Gizmodo received some third-party marketing materials that discuss the roll-out plans for Project Pink and while the site didn’t publish those materials (to keep the anonymity of its source), it has confirmed that the photos are the same renderings as the Project Pink leaks it published back in September.

So that basically means that this new phone will look feature a few different shapes and feature the same sliding-keyboard design that the Palm Pre, Motorola Droid and T-Mobile Sidekick sport.

Details concerning specific specifications, price and release date information wasn’t included, but Gizmodo says that the materials indicate that a release appears to be taking place soon.

How Does This Relate to Windows Phone 7?

From what Gizmodo can tell (and certainly from what the timing indicates), these new Microsoft phones will not be running Windows Phone 7 Series, as the interfaces are very different. And given the statement from Microsoft that even newly released Windows Mobile 6.5 phones won’t be able to upgrade to Windows Phone 7, it sounds like this phone will operate on an entirely different platform.

Because of the big focus on social networking in the marketing materials, it seems like the phone probably has some sort of platform — whether the apps will be compatible with other Windows Phone Classic apps or if it is an entirely different platform — we just don’t know.

A Stopgap Release or Something New?

By announcing Windows Phone 7 Series last month and by confirming that only future devices will work with the software, Microsoft has put itself in a difficult position. On the one hand, they need to announce the new platform so that people know what is coming and so developers can be courted to start working on software. On the other hand, knowing about the future products (and that current Windows Mobile 6.5 devices won’t be upgradeable) really makes it hard to attract new customers in the next six months or so.

This is what is known as the Osborne effect and it can be very difficult for a company to overcome. When Apple famously announced its transition to Intel processors at WWDC 2005, the announcement caught many off-guard, in part because of the fear of an Osborne effect. That ended up not happening and sales of PowerPC Macs remained consistent until the Intel Macs introduction in January 2006, but more often than not, this strategy inevitably means a slow in demand for the current product.

Project Pink might just be a stopgap release — something to sell until Windows Phone 7 launches — but it could also be indicative of a completely different platform.

It appears that these new phones are not fully-fledged smartphones in the AndroidAndroid/iPhone/Palm/Windows Mobile motif — but instead it’s more of a “feature” phone like what Samsung, LG and Nokia offer. That is, you can get a certain selection of apps and go online and message on TwitterTwitter and FacebookFacebook, but the phone itself lacks the more sophisticated mobile OS.

If that is indeed the case, this might be an opportunity for Microsoft to attack the lower-end of the mobile market (a market that has in many ways been obliterated by smartphones), while also selling something “new” until the flagship product launches this September.

Whether or not this strategy will work will depend on pricing, phone features and how this device is targeted.

What Do You Think?

What do you think of Microsoft’s apparent dual-phone platforms strategy? Do you have any interest in a lower-cost social network-centric mobile phone?

Let us know!

(Photo from Gizmodo)