StockTwits TV: Interview with Tadas from Abnormal Returns

Yesterday I sat down and chatted with Tadas Viskanta of Abnormal Returns.  We talked about the new site, his background, the curation and aggregation tools he uses, Twitter, and more.  Last November, he wrote this great piece about ‘Creating Order out of Aggregation ‘. I love this quote:

Aggregators, investment or otherwise, are not the cause of the downfall of traditional news gatherers like newspapers. They are simply a sign that people are hungry for information and analysis presented in an efficient manner. For better or worse, that instinct to seek out order in an increasingly complex world is here to stay.

The Absurdity Trend…

I saw a commercial on TV tonight from some assanine real estate association talking about the extended first time buyer home credit. They were urging me to ‘call my real estate agent’. Those commericals do not come at the bottom. I may just bring on a few interns switching out of real estate careers to call remaining agents all day and ask about Zillow.com.

American Express $axp forced me out the door after 20 plus years, but is spending hundreds of millions on new ad campaigns and social media initiatives to replace me. That is just absurd. They are not going away but they are f@#ked. I may just open an account again, hire a team in India and just have them call American Express all day to ask questions about my account.

Reality shows are about to get funny as the absurdity trend gains momentum.

The ‘Now’ Web Comes to Abnormal Returns and StockTwits

First off, Tadas, the founder of Abnormal Returns, will be live with me at 5 pst on Stocktwits.TV to talk about his passion for this news project.

Passing news link is still the main shizzle when it comes to Stocktwits, Twitter and blogging.  When I stumbled upon Techmeme in 2005, it became an instant favorite and still is today.  Gabe Rivera has grown and evolved the site in  amazing ways adding curation to the aggregation.  He just has a great eye and style.

I have always been unhappy with how the Financial sector has dealt with aggregation.  It’s narrow and big media focused.  I discovered Abnormal Returns in 2006 and was also hooked.  Tadas had a simple Google Blogger site.  Tadas knew how to put together a themed linkfest.  The only problem was I wanted more.  Now, with URL shrinking, and a big Stocktwits community sharing links in real-time from all over the financial web, we are launching our version of a Financial/Market Meme.

Mike at Tech Crunch is covering the story with the following post. Here is what we are launching:

Highlights

· Abnormal Returns is now fully integrated into StockTwits.

· New real-time component brings the ‘Now’ web to Abnormal Returns.

· Classic Abnormal Returns remains in effect.

We are happy to announce that Abnormal Returns is a fully integrated part of Stocktwits.  We have acquired the website and Tadas Viskanta is joining Stocktwits.  Tadas will continue to run the site full-time as its editor-in-chief while contributing his insights as we grow Stocktwits.

The ‘Now’ web is all about links, and the financial community is all about fresh ideas. Stocktwits streams can move pretty quickly especially in fast markets.  Therefore, some level of aggregation is a welcome tool for many users.  While aggregation tools continue to evolve, curation remains a crucial component.

Blending the two is where art and science meet.

The new look Abnormal Returns will continue to bring it’s daily “wide-ranging, forecast-free investment blog” while adding a real-time component.  Abnormal Returns Now will provide readers with a real-time take on finance and investment news.  This aggregation will harness both the power of the StockTwits community and editorial insight to bring a stream of intelligent investment links to its readers.

This launch is the next step in an entire revamp of the StockTwits platform coming in the next two weeks.  Design clues like the cleaner navigation bar and integrated Abnormal Return headlines tie together the growing network of real-time sites that power StockTwits.

How to add an Abnormal Returns Now Stream in StockTwits Desktop

A great way of consuming the new Abnormal Returns Now is in the StockTwits Desktop application.  To do this , first copy the Abnormal Returns Now RSS Feed URL.  Then open up your StockTwits Desktop and select the Add Streams button in the upper-lefthand corner.  Select RSS Feed and paste the Abnormal Returns Now RSS URL into the box that pops up and click Load.  If you’ve done it successfully, a stream like on the left should pop up in your desktop.

About Abnormal Returns

Abnormal Returns brings the best of the finance web to its readers. Over time, it has been widely praised and has become an integral member of the investment blogosphere. Abnormal Returns is now a fully integrated member of the StockTwits network of real-time sites. In its current incarnation, Abnormal Returns has two components.

First, Abnormal Returns Classic, “A wide-ranging, forecast-free investment blog” is the version of the site that has been online since its inception in 2005. The site’s daily linkfest is relied upon by readers around the world for its consistent look at the best of the investment blogosphere.

The second component, Abnormal Returns Now is a real-time version of the site that is harnessing the power of the StockTwits community to source unique and highly relevant investment links for its readers. The site seeks to artfully blend the use of automated aggregation tools and editorial insight to curate in real-time the rapidly changing financial web.

Tadas Viskanta is the founder and Editor-in-chief of Abnormal Returns. Tadas is a private investor with over 20 years of experience in the financial markets. He is the co-author of over a dozen investment-related papers that have appeared in publications like the Financial Analysts Journal, Journal of Portfolio Management among others. Tadas holds a MBA from the University of Chicago and a BA from Indiana University. He lives with his family in the heartland of America.

Apple Tablet Overdose… $AAPL

I finally am thinking that the future is priced into Apple $aapl…the stock.

With the Apple Tablet, the world and it’s bloggers are ALL truly watching in real-time . That’s pretty crowded.

Throughout the stratosphereic run of Apple, few have truly believed. With the Apple stores, nobody believed. iTunes was mocked. The iPod was old technology. The Powerbooks too expensive. There was options backdating scandals and liver cancer.

NOW there are Tablet revenue predictiuons for 2020.

Nobody has seen the product, but the Tablet:

1. Is already the FUTURE of literature .

2. Will own Gaming .

3. Killed the Kindle . I thought the Kindle had killed the Kindle when the Kindle was launched?

4. Was passed down from God. In fact, I think it would be cool if Steve Jobs had Ben-Hur playing before he takes the stage and throws the first Tablet into the crowd after breaking it on his knee.

I own Apple, but not with the size or passion that will make or break my year.

That said, I am so in on the Tablet.

The Mindless Behind The Meltdown…

We are all collectively to blame for the market meltdown of 2007-2009.

The Wall Street Journal has figured out NOT that the quants were behind the meltdown in this lovely STORY ‘The Minds Behind The Meltdown’.

There was no MIND(S) behind the meltdown, WE were MINDLESS.

You were not entitled to have a home, or forced to buy a home with money you could not afford.

Barney Frank is a dangerous idiot, but you could have shorted Fannie Mae at $40, $30, $20, $10, $5 and $2 and printed money. No quant was necessary.

The quants did not blow up the market, they just had no exits when everyone rushed out the same time. Liquidity. More sellers than buyers.

Mindlessly plowing your retirement money into stocks because you have 40 years until retirement does not guarantee you a certain rate of return. That Mutual Fund you own has been phoning in your proxy votes for two decades. You were supposed to fire those mindless twits in 2000.

Mindlessly spending on your Capital One and American Express cards is not a right, it’s a priviledge. You vote and fix the problem by cutting up your cards. I did. You will survive.

In the immortal, out of context, words from ‘The Fly ‘ (sent from his space rocket):

I know the banksters are evil and they should all be rounded up and sent to Nike prison factories in Vietnam. However, remember this asshole, without banks doing their dirty deeds, America would be a 2nd rate nation (oh, shit, irony!).

The continued financial story in January 2010 is the lack of responsibility and mindless behavior of equity shareholders who can vote with their feet and wallets.

Disrupting Wall Street

It’s fun and my life’s work to think about disrupting Wall Street.

Sarah Lacy started the meme again a little while back and it is apparent she has never bought or sold a stock and maybe never been to a bank .  NIce lady though.

Today, Chris Dixon does a great job of explaining where the angles of attack should be if you want to get in on the destruction . You can’t beat Wall Street. If you want to, your plan is flawed. Recreating it, may even be dumber. I am all for it, but I won’t invest. If you do it for a while, you just get asked into the club and you become part of the machine or circus act (Jim Cramer).

With great information you have an edge and there is no need to even beat Wall Street. Keeping your costs low by trading less are also very important.

Two great ways meshed together that are my favorite these days (part of our efforts at Stocktwits ) are simply using the power of the ‘Real’Time’ web. The New York Times calls it ‘Controlled Serendipity’ . Our community calls it MONEY.

Stick with Chris on how to beat/disrupt Wall Street and pick one of the areas and just do it best.

Wall Street and our politicians are beating it themselves, so think tactical, not nuclear because the landscape has never been better.

Overheard on StockTwits: Oversold and Uncertain

With the markets continuing to fall and Government intervention into the financials, we had a bit of a chatty morning on StockTwits.  (Read the rest of this entry)

What’s Hot: Clean Energy Fuels CLNE

If natural gas is the shizzle, surely a natural gas retail chain should do well.

I’m intrigued with Clean Energy Fuels $CLNE.

What seems too high and risky to the majority generally goes higher and what seems low and cheap generally goes lower. – William O’Neil