Whitney Tilson’s “Blogging/Writing” Diet Not So Restrictive That He Can’t Indulge In The Occasional 1,200-Word Product Review

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June 22, 2012: “To ensure that I can focus intensely on in-depth company and industry analysis, I will adopt a much lower public profile and let my investment returns speak for themselves. Specifically, I will dramatically reduce my television appearances, interviews with the media, blogging/writing, and public speaking, both in the investment and philanthropic realms. I also plan to write letters to you quarterly rather than monthly (our bookkeeper will, course, continue to send you monthly statements).”

July 23, 2012:

From: Whitney Tilson
Date: Mon, Jul 23, 2012 at 5:43 PM
Subject: My favorite gadgets: laptop, phone, cameras, printers

I’m a total gadget fiend, usually upgrading my laptop, phone, pocket camera, and digital SLR camera to the latest models at least once a year. In the past month, I’ve upgraded all four to newly released models and am so blown away that I wanted to share my experience (plus two printer recommendations).

In order of amazingness:

1) My new laptop: the PC world FINALLY has slim, light, high-res-screen, quick-boot laptops (called ultrabooks) to rival the Macbook Air. I just bought the best of the lot, the ASUS Zenbook Prime UX31A. It’s light as a feather, boots in a few seconds, and has an AMAZINGLY high-res 13.3” screen (I don’t miss the 17” screen on my old laptop one bit). Here’s a good review of it: www.pcworld.com/article/255921/handson_asus_zenbook_prime_ux31a.html

It’s only $1,080 on Amazon (more if you want a faster chip or 256GB of flash memory; I find 128GB is fine for a secondary travel computer): www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00863L2PK/tilsoncapitalpar

2) My new smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy S III, which just became available on Verizon. A couple of years ago, I added an iPhone to my Blackberry because I couldn’t give up the keyboard and found it impossible to type on the iPhone, but I didn’t like schlepping around two devices so when Verizon came out with Android phones with 30% bigger screens (plus 4G, which is MUCH faster), I junked both the Blackberry (good riddance! I had to use one in Europe last week and HATED every minute of it; until you switch, you have no idea of how awful Blackberries are) and the iPhone for the HTC Thunderbolt. No regrets, but the Thunderbolt is thick and bulky, the screen is nowhere near as good as the new iPhones, and the battery lasted maybe 1/3 of a day, so I always had to carry a spare.

Thus, it was with great joy that I switched last week to the Samsung, which fixes all three of these problems: it’s super slim and light (while maintaining the large screen), the resolution appears to me to be just as good as the iPhone’s retina display, and the battery lasts most of a day with normal usage (still not great, but much better).

In my opinion, this phone is much superior to the iPhone, but if you like your iPhone I wouldn’t switch until we see what the new iPhone 5 looks like. It’s rumored to be out this fall and have a bigger screen. If it’s also 4G on Verizon AND can work overseas (none of the current Verizon Android 4G phones can), then I might switch back to the iPhone. I also wouldn’t switch away from the iPhone unless you’re reasonably technologically savvy – the ecosystem isn’t quite as seamless (for example, it was quite a pain to transfer my music, esp my playlists, from iTunes on my computer to my new phone).

3) I have three kids and take zillions of photos, so I’ve become an amateur digital photo junkie. I find that I need two cameras (given that I hate the crummy photos that camera phones take): a super-small pocket one to take with me everywhere (for 90%+ of photos) and a big digital SLR camera for special occasions when small cameras just don’t cut it (weddings, bar mitzvahs, action sports, etc.).

Among pocket cameras, I’ve been a very happy user for at least two years of the Canon PowerShot S90, then S95, and most recently the S100, but the new Sony DSC RX-100 blows every other pocket camera out of the water (if you’re willing to pay an extra $300). It’s maybe 5-10% bigger than the S100, but still fits easily in a pocket – and the results BLEW my mind. I thought I was using a full-size SLR: no shutter lag, amazing many-frames-per-second action shots, brilliant pictures in low light without a flash, etc. Below is the review by the NYT’s David Pogue, who concludes:

This is an ideal second camera for professionals. And it’s a great primary camera for any amateur who wants to take professional-looking photos without having to carry a camera bag.

Of course, $650 is crazy expensive. You can buy a full-blown S.L.R. for that much.

But every time you transfer a batch of its pictures to your computer, you’ll understand why you spent that money. You’ll click through them, astonished at how often it’s successful in stopping time, capturing the emotion of a scene, enshrining a memory or an expression you never want to forget. You’ll appreciate that the RX100 has single-handedly smashed the rule that said, “You need a big camera for pro-quality photos.”

And if you care at all about your photography, you’ll thank Sony for giving the camera industry a good hard shove into the future.

The quality of the camera is reflected in its price, however: the cheapest I could find it on the internet is $605 here: www.provantage.com/sony-dscrx100-b~7SNYG07U.htm. If that’s too expensive for you, go with the Canon S100 for $335 here: http://bestpricephoto.com/h/product_info.php/canon-powershot-s100-digital-camera-p-20660

4) I also recently upgraded my digital SLR from the Nikon D5100 to the D7000, which is the highest end amateur camera in the Nikon line. The D5100 was buggy so I was pleased to be rid of it. The key with both of these cameras is to get the Nikkor 18-200mm lens – it’s 11x with digital image stabilization built in. It’s the only lens you need, so just buy the camera body plus this lens. The best price I found for the D7000 is $889 at: http://bestpricephoto.com/h/product_info.php/nikon-d7000-162-mp-digital-slr-camera-body-p-19926. The best price on the lens is $847 at: www.buydig.com/shop/product.aspx?sku=NK18200G2

PS—I use and recommend the free Google photo software, Picasa (www.picasa.com), for cropping, editing, getting rid of red-eye, emailing photos (with the photos embedded, not attached), etc.

Last but not least, printers:

1) If you want to print photos, I highly recommend a specialized photo printer rather than using an all-in-one inkjet – the quality difference is HUGE. I haven’t upgraded mine in a while, but if I were to buy one, I’d just buy the latest model of my current one (the 4500), the Canon iP4920, which is a mere $80 (they get you on the paper and ink – don’t try generics): www.buydig.com/shop/product.aspx?sku=CNIP4920

2) Complementing my photo printer in my home office is my color laser, the Brother MFC-9560CDW Multifunction Printer for $590 at: www.nextwarehouse.com/item/?999165. It’s a great scanner, copier, fax machine, and prints fast in color and B&W IN DUPLEX (two-sided), which is a must-have for me.

Comments (91)

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    Posted by el guesto | July 23, 2012 at 6:35 PM

    tl; dr

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    Posted by guest | July 23, 2012 at 6:36 PM

    TS;KYS

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    Posted by guest | July 23, 2012 at 6:36 PM

    who extensively photographs the bar mitzvahs of children other than their own?

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    Posted by guest | July 23, 2012 at 6:37 PM

    paid photographers.

  5. 5
    Posted by guest | July 23, 2012 at 7:59 PM

    1. write gadget reviews
    2. put amazon referral tag on every link
    3. PROFIT!

  6. 6
    Posted by Strong Sell | July 23, 2012 at 9:41 PM

    honestly i thought i was being punk'd when i got this email. it was literally days ago that he basically conceded that he was spending too much time dicking around – then he sends out an email that appears to be written by a stoner who just spent the afternoon at radioshack.

    -guy who updates all of his devices less than 1 time per year

  7. 7
    Posted by the big long | July 23, 2012 at 9:48 PM

    1) Spot-on article by Joe Nocera about Wall Street!
    2) Spot-on article by Krugman about Europe!
    3) Berkshire is CHEAP – its worth at least 3x what its trading at
    4) I am hosting a charity event – [Ackman / Einhorn] will be there!
    5) The Value Investing Congress is proud to announce [who gives a shit]

    -Every Tilson email

  8. 8
    Posted by The Dude | July 23, 2012 at 11:52 PM

    Fuckin' Quintana …

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    Posted by Guest | July 24, 2012 at 2:33 AM

    Wait, "color laser, the brother MF printer"?

    He may need to examine his motives.

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    Posted by Marlboro Prangdune | July 24, 2012 at 7:00 AM

    It doesn’t help that he picked the wrong product in every category, what a dick.

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    Posted by Guest_of_Honor | July 24, 2012 at 7:37 AM

    Can anyone explain why Tilson became as famous of a talking head as he did? He manages…poorly… like $300M. For the amount of exposure he gets you would think he was running like $15B with a 20% annual return.

  12. 12
    Posted by VonSloneker | July 24, 2012 at 9:24 AM

    "Weddings, Bar Mitzvahs & Sports"? So Matt is creating a feature to allow N'08 to contribute his Tucker-Maxian vignettes? Sounds like N'08 got Levine laid on his vacay…

    - Suspicious Gentile

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    This should be an audio book read by Bane.

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    Posted by Dim Whit | July 24, 2012 at 10:06 AM

    You guys don't understand what it means to be a value investor. First, I buy a camera. Then, I e-mail everyone I know about how amazingly cheap the camera is. Then, other people go out and buy the camera, and that makes my camera worth more! At least that's what the analyst at Best Buy Capital told me…

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    this reads like a chapter in American Psycho

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    He should do a reality show

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