Pandora's Key Differentiating Factor

Added on by C. Maoxian.

Over 1,000,000 uniquely analyzed songs...

We believe that a key differentiating factor between the Pandora service and other music content providers is our ability to predict music that our listeners will enjoy. Our personalized playlist generating system, based on the Music Genome Project and our proprietary algorithms, is designed to enable us to predict listener music preferences and select music content tailored to our listeners' individual music tastes. We have invested, and will continue to invest, significant resources in refining these technologies; however, we cannot assure you that these investments will yield an attractive return or that the refinements will be effective. The effectiveness of our personalized playlist generating system depends in part on our ability to gather and effectively analyze large amounts of listener data and listener feedback and we have no assurance that we will continue to be successful in enticing listeners to give a thumbs-up or thumbs-down to enough songs for our database to effectively predict and select new and existing songs. In addition, our ability to offer listeners songs that they have not previously heard and impart a sense of discovery depends on our ability to acquire and appropriately categorize additional tracks that will appeal to our listeners' diverse and changing tastes. While we have more than 1,000,000 songs in our catalog, we must continuously identify and analyze additional tracks that our listeners will enjoy and we may not effectively do so.
The Music Genome Project is the foundation of our personalized playlist generating system and has been built by our music analysts to select songs tailored to an individual's music tastes. The Music Genome Project database was developed one song at a time, by evaluating and cataloging each song's particular attributes. Our music catalog currently consists of over 1,000,000 uniquely analyzed songs from over 100,000 artists, spanning over 500 genres and sub-genres ranging from classical, jazz, rock, pop and hip hop to post punk, Celtic and flamenco. Our musical catalog includes both well-known and little-known music and incorporates listener suggestions and independent submissions. Music is assessed on the basis of value to our catalog and we do not accept money or any form of consideration from artists or their representatives for inclusion in the Music Genome Project.
Once we select music to become part of our catalog, our music analysts genotype it by examining up to 450 attributes including objectively observable metrics such as tone and tempo, as well as subjective characteristics, such as lyrics, vocal texture and emotional intensity. We employ rigorous hiring and training standards for selecting our music analysts, who typically have four-year degrees in music theory, composition or performance, and we provide them with intensive training in the Music Genome Project's precise methodology.

International Comparison of Living Space Per Capita

Added on by C. Maoxian.

Nice chart from Nomura ... hard to be bearish on property in China looking at the big picture.

What's the deal with Russia? No one has upgraded from those squalid Soviet-era apartments, or what? My favorite movie of 2012 was 'Elena,' which features a suburban Moscow apartment block, beautifully placed next to a giant cooling tower. Those subtle Russian movies fill me with a dark joy.

How Much Lost Trading OXY?

Added on by C. Maoxian.

OXY was Monday's trading idea.  Assuming you got long that dummy spot in the morning, where was your initial stop? Could you have gone to breakeven by the end of the day?  When price rapidly reversed on Tuesday morning, how much of a hit did you take?