Month: November 2023
The Life and Legacy of Berkshire Hathaway’s Charlie Munger
Charlie Munger, the man who helped Warren Buffett build Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK.A) (NYSE:BRK.B) into one of the largest companies in the world,
The post The Life and Legacy of Berkshire Hathaway’s Charlie Munger appeared first on ReadWrite.
Charlie Munger, the man who helped Warren Buffett build Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK.A) (NYSE:BRK.B) into one of the largest companies in the world, died on Tuesday in California at the age of 99. He would have turned 100 on Jan. 1.
“Berkshire Hathaway could not have been built to its present status without Charlie’s inspiration, wisdom and participation,” Buffett said in a statement.
Munger grew up in Omaha, Nebraska, and actually worked at a grocery store owned by Buffett’s grandfather as a kid. However, the two legendary investors did not meet until 1959 at a dinner when Munger was back in Omaha to attend to matters related to his recently deceased father.
Prior to that, he had attended the University of Michigan, served in the Army Air Corps, and graduated from Harvard Law School. In 1962, he moved to California and founded a law firm, Munger, Tolles, and Olson, and spun off an investment firm, Wheeler, Munger and Co.
In an article he wrote for Columbia Business School Magazine in 1984 called “The Superinvestors of Graham-and-Doddsville,” Buffett highlighted Munger’s track record running the portfolio at Wheeler, Munger.
“I ran into him in about 1960 and told him that law was fine as a hobby, but you can do better,” Buffett wrote of Munger. “His portfolio was concentrated in very few securities, and therefore, his record was much more volatile, but it was based on the same discount-from-value approach. He was willing to accept greater peaks and valleys of performance, and he happens to be a fellow whose whole psyche goes toward concentration.”
As Buffett pointed out in the piece, Munger’s portfolio had an average annual return of 19.8% from 1962 to 1975, compared to the Dow Jones Industrial Average’s gain of about 3% per year.
Sometime around 1976, Munger joined Buffett at Berkshire Hathaway, and in 1978, he became a vice chair, a position he held until he died. Incidentally, Berkshire Hathaway’s portfolio has posted an average annual return of 19.8% per year from 1965 through 2022, compared to the S&P 500’s 9.9% annual return over that same period.
The wit and wisdom of Charlie Munger in Buffett’s own words
When talking about Berkshire Hathaway and their strategy, Buffett typically says “Charlie and I,” which shows just how close a partnership these two men had. In the 2022 annual shareholders’ letter, which came out this past February, Buffett did it multiple times. Among the many references, Buffett wrote, “Charlie and I are not stock-pickers; we are business-pickers.”
In fact, Buffett credits Munger with refocusing his investing strategy early on in their partnership, as he told CNBC in 2016.
“He weaned me away from the idea of buying very so-so companies at very cheap prices, knowing that there was some small profit in it, and looking for some really wonderful businesses that we could buy in fair prices,” Buffett told CNBC.
In the last letter to shareholders released in February, it was fitting that Buffett offered a tribute to Munger in a section called, “Nothing Beats Having a Great Partner.” You can find it on Berkshire Hathaway’s website, but it seems appropriate to recount here today.
“Charlie and I think pretty much alike, but what it takes me a page to explain, he sums up in a sentence,” Buffett wrote. “His version, moreover, is always more clearly reasoned and also more artfully — some might add bluntly — stated. Here are a few of his thoughts, many lifted from a very recent podcast:
The world is full of foolish gamblers, and they will not do as well as the patient investor.
If you don’t see the world the way it is, it’s like judging something through a distorted lens.
All I want to know is where I’m going to die, so I’ll never go there. And a related thought: Early on, write your desired obituary — and then behave accordingly.
If you don’t care whether you are rational or not, you won’t work on it. Then you will stay irrational and get lousy results.
Patience can be learned. Having a long attention span and the ability to concentrate on one thing for a long time is a huge advantage.
You can learn a lot from dead people. Read of the deceased you admire and detest.
Don’t bail away in a sinking boat if you can swim to one that is seaworthy.
A great company keeps working after you are not; a mediocre company won’t do that.
Warren and I don’t focus on the froth of the market. We seek out good long-term investments and stubbornly hold them for a long time.
Ben Graham said, ‘Day to day, the stock market is a voting machine; in the long term, it’s a weighing machine.’ If you keep making something more valuable, then some wise person is going to notice it and start buying.
There is no such thing as a 100% sure thing when investing. Thus, the use of leverage is dangerous. A string of wonderful numbers times zero will always equal zero. Don’t count on getting rich twice.
You don’t, however, need to own a lot of things in order to get rich.
You have to keep learning if you want to become a great investor. When the world changes, you must change.
Warren and I hated railroad stocks for decades, but the world changed, and finally the country had four huge railroads of vital importance to the American economy. We were slow to recognize the change, but better late than never.
Finally, I will add two short sentences by Charlie that have been his decision-clinchers for decades: ‘Warren, think more about it. You’re smart, and I’m right.’
And so it goes. I never have a phone call with Charlie without learning something, and while he makes me think, he also makes me laugh.”
Buffett concluded the segment by writing: “I will add to Charlie’s list a rule of my own: Find a very smart high-grade partner — preferably slightly older than you — and then listen very carefully to what he says.”
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Featured Image Credit: From Twitter; Thank you!
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‘The Exorcist: Believer’ Streaming on Peacock: Release Date and Time – CNET
Here’s how you can watch the chilling sequel from anywhere.
Here’s how you can watch the chilling sequel from anywhere.
Nolah Mattresses Review 2023: A Bed for Everyone – CNET
Find the right Nolah mattress for you. Our team of sleep experts have tested and reviewed all the models in the Nolah lineup, and here is what they found.
Find the right Nolah mattress for you. Our team of sleep experts have tested and reviewed all the models in the Nolah lineup, and here is what they found.
Best Internet Providers in Joplin, Missouri – CNET
Although you won’t find any fiber providers or multi-gigabit speeds in the area, this southwest Missouri town offers many internet options.
Although you won’t find any fiber providers or multi-gigabit speeds in the area, this southwest Missouri town offers many internet options.
ownCloud Vulnerability With Maximum 10 Severity Score Comes Under ‘Mass’ Exploitation
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Security researchers are tracking what they say is the “mass exploitation” of a security vulnerability that makes it possible to take full control of servers running ownCloud, a widely used open source file-sharing server app. The vulnerability, which carries the maximum severity rating of 10, makes it possible to obtain passwords and cryptographic keys allowing administrative control of a vulnerable server by sending a simple Web request to a static URL, ownCloud officials warned last week. Within four days of the November 21 disclosure, researchers at security firm Greynoise said, they began observing “mass exploitation” in their honeypot servers, which masqueraded as vulnerable ownCloud servers to track attempts to exploit the vulnerability. The number of IP addresses sending the web requests has slowly risen since then. At the time this post went live on Ars, it had reached 13.
CVE-2023-49103 resides in versions 0.2.0 and 0.3.0 of graphapi, an app that runs in some ownCloud deployments, depending on the way they’re configured. A third-party code library used by the app provides a URL that, when accessed, reveals configuration details from the PHP-based environment. In last week’s disclosure, ownCloud officials said that in containerized configurations — such as those using the Docker virtualization tool — the URL can reveal data used to log in to the vulnerable server. The officials went on to warn that simply disabling the app in such cases wasn’t sufficient to lock down a vulnerable server. […]
To fix the ownCloud vulnerability under exploitation, ownCloud advised users to: “Delete the file owncloud/apps/graphapi/vendor/microsoft/microsoft-graph/tests/GetPhpInfo.php. Additionally, we disabled the phpinfo function in our docker-containers. We will apply various hardenings in future core releases to mitigate similar vulnerabilities.
We also advise to change the following secrets:
– ownCloud admin password
– Mail server credentials
– Database credentials
– Object-Store/S3 access-key”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Security researchers are tracking what they say is the “mass exploitation” of a security vulnerability that makes it possible to take full control of servers running ownCloud, a widely used open source file-sharing server app. The vulnerability, which carries the maximum severity rating of 10, makes it possible to obtain passwords and cryptographic keys allowing administrative control of a vulnerable server by sending a simple Web request to a static URL, ownCloud officials warned last week. Within four days of the November 21 disclosure, researchers at security firm Greynoise said, they began observing “mass exploitation” in their honeypot servers, which masqueraded as vulnerable ownCloud servers to track attempts to exploit the vulnerability. The number of IP addresses sending the web requests has slowly risen since then. At the time this post went live on Ars, it had reached 13.
CVE-2023-49103 resides in versions 0.2.0 and 0.3.0 of graphapi, an app that runs in some ownCloud deployments, depending on the way they’re configured. A third-party code library used by the app provides a URL that, when accessed, reveals configuration details from the PHP-based environment. In last week’s disclosure, ownCloud officials said that in containerized configurations — such as those using the Docker virtualization tool — the URL can reveal data used to log in to the vulnerable server. The officials went on to warn that simply disabling the app in such cases wasn’t sufficient to lock down a vulnerable server. […]
To fix the ownCloud vulnerability under exploitation, ownCloud advised users to: “Delete the file owncloud/apps/graphapi/vendor/microsoft/microsoft-graph/tests/GetPhpInfo.php. Additionally, we disabled the phpinfo function in our docker-containers. We will apply various hardenings in future core releases to mitigate similar vulnerabilities.
We also advise to change the following secrets:
– ownCloud admin password
– Mail server credentials
– Database credentials
– Object-Store/S3 access-key”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Apple patches two security vulnerabilities on iPhone, iPad and Mac
Apple pushed updates to iOS, iPadOS and macOS software today to patch two zero-day security vulnerabilities. The company suggested the bugs had been actively deployed in the wild. “Apple is aware of a report that this issue may have been exploited against versions of iOS before iOS 16.7.1,” the company wrote about both flaws in its security reports. Software updates plugging the holes are now available for the iPhone, iPad and Mac.
Researcher Clément Lecigne of Google’s Threat Analysis Group (TAG) is credited with discovering and reporting both exploits. As Bleeping Computer notes, the team at Google TAG often finds and exposes zero-day bugs against high-risk individuals, like politicians, journalists and dissidents. Apple didn’t reveal specifics about the nature of any attacks using the flaws.
The two security flaws affected WebKit, Apple’s open-source browser framework powering Safari. In Apple’s description of the first bug, it said, “Processing web content may disclose sensitive information.” In the second, it wrote, “Processing web content may lead to arbitrary code execution.”
The security patches cover the “iPhone XS and later, iPad Pro 12.9-inch 2nd generation and later, iPad Pro 10.5-inch, iPad Pro 11-inch 1st generation and later, iPad Air 3rd generation and later, iPad 6th generation and later, and iPad mini 5th generation and later.”
The odds your devices were affected by either of these are extremely minimal, so there’s no need to panic — but, to be safe, it would be wise to update your Apple gear now. You can update your iPhone or iPad immediately by heading to Settings > General > Software Update and tapping the prompt to initiate it. On Mac, go to System Settings > General > Software Update and do the same. Apple’s fixes arrived today in iOS 17.1.2, iPadOS 17.1.2 and macOS Sonoma 14.1.2. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apple-patches-two-security-vulnerabilities-on-iphone-ipad-and-mac-215854473.html?src=rss
Apple pushed updates to iOS, iPadOS and macOS software today to patch two zero-day security vulnerabilities. The company suggested the bugs had been actively deployed in the wild. “Apple is aware of a report that this issue may have been exploited against versions of iOS before iOS 16.7.1,” the company wrote about both flaws in its security reports. Software updates plugging the holes are now available for the iPhone, iPad and Mac.
Researcher Clément Lecigne of Google’s Threat Analysis Group (TAG) is credited with discovering and reporting both exploits. As Bleeping Computer notes, the team at Google TAG often finds and exposes zero-day bugs against high-risk individuals, like politicians, journalists and dissidents. Apple didn’t reveal specifics about the nature of any attacks using the flaws.
The two security flaws affected WebKit, Apple’s open-source browser framework powering Safari. In Apple’s description of the first bug, it said, “Processing web content may disclose sensitive information.” In the second, it wrote, “Processing web content may lead to arbitrary code execution.”
The security patches cover the “iPhone XS and later, iPad Pro 12.9-inch 2nd generation and later, iPad Pro 10.5-inch, iPad Pro 11-inch 1st generation and later, iPad Air 3rd generation and later, iPad 6th generation and later, and iPad mini 5th generation and later.”
The odds your devices were affected by either of these are extremely minimal, so there’s no need to panic — but, to be safe, it would be wise to update your Apple gear now. You can update your iPhone or iPad immediately by heading to Settings > General > Software Update and tapping the prompt to initiate it. On Mac, go to System Settings > General > Software Update and do the same. Apple’s fixes arrived today in iOS 17.1.2, iPadOS 17.1.2 and macOS Sonoma 14.1.2.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apple-patches-two-security-vulnerabilities-on-iphone-ipad-and-mac-215854473.html?src=rss
The Tesla Cybertruck finally goes on sale, starting at $60,990
Tesla handed over the first 10 trucks to customers, with more deliveries in 2024.
Enlarge / It will probably be a while before you see these on the road, but some Tesla stores now have display Cybertrucks. (credit: Jonathan Gitlin)
On Thursday afternoon, Tesla delivered the first 10 production Cybertrucks to customers at an event livestreamed on X, Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s social media network. A demo video featured shots of the Cybertruck negotiating barren wildernesses, including one that was meant to look like Mars. Musk, who has mostly made headlines in recent weeks for endorsing virulent antisemtitic theories on his social media platform, took to the stage almost half an hour late, initially delivering his presentation from the back of a truck with his face hidden in shadow.
Musk claimed the Cybertruck is better than any other truck but also more of a sports car than any other sports car, made of a “special Tesla designed steel alloy” that he claimed will never rust and which cannot be stamped but which can also be produced in volume.
Mindful of the window-breaking debacle during the truck’s debut in 2019, Tesla designer Franz von Holzhausen came on stage to throw baseballs at its windows. Unlike last time (when they used metal balls) the allegedly bulletproof glass did not shatter. Musk made a point of the fact that in a crash with another vehicle, the Cybertruck—which weighs 6,603–6,843 lbs (2,995–3,104 kg)—will destroy the other vehicle.
Advertisers Say They Do Not Plan to Return to X After Musk’s Comments
Elon Musk, the owner of X, criticized advertisers with expletives on Wednesday at The New York Times’s DealBook Summit.
Elon Musk, the owner of X, criticized advertisers with expletives on Wednesday at The New York Times’s DealBook Summit.
Tesla Cybertruck will usher in a new ‘Powershare’ bidirectional charging feature
Image: Tesla
Tesla announced a new “Powershare” vehicle-to-load charging capability, only available on the new Cybertruck.
The feature will allow Cybertruck owners to power their camping equipment, power tools, or even their entire home during a blackout, just by using their electric truck as a mobile generator. The truck also features a 240-volt outlet in the rear bed that can be used to charge other EVs. An image on Tesla’s website shows the Cybertruck charging a Model Y.
The Cybertruck can put out as much as 11.5kW, which is more than the Ford F-150 Lightning’s 9.6kW of onboard power or the GMC Sierra Denali EV’s 10.2kW.
Tesla has been talking about manufacturing vehicles with bidirectional charging capabilities for several years now, first teasing the feature at its Battery Day event in 2020. Since then, many of its competitors have adopted the feature for their EVs, including Ford, GM, Hyundai, Kia, and others.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk seemed to pour cold water on the idea earlier this year, complaining that most people wouldn’t want bidirectional charging because all their lights would go out when they unplugged their car.
Tesla has been talking about manufacturing vehicles with bidirectional charging capabilities for several years now
Bidirectional charging works exactly like it sounds: with unidirectional (one-way) EV chargers, electricity flows from the electric grid into the electric vehicle; with bidirectional (two-way) EV chargers, electricity can flow both ways.
The idea is to use bidirectional charging equipment to push and pull energy from electric vehicles at any given time. In essence, it treats high-capacity lithium-ion batteries not only as tools to power EVs but also as backup storage cells to charge other electric devices, an entire home, or even to send power to the electrical grid for possible energy savings.
Tesla is also offering ways to control bidirectional charging through the company’s mobile app. Customers can monitor the charging process, adjust preferences, and review energy usage and other data in real time.
Customers who want to take advantage of the Powershare feature in their homes will need a Tesla Powerwall (of course) and a Wall Connector for the most seamless connection.
Related:
Image: Tesla
Tesla announced a new “Powershare” vehicle-to-load charging capability, only available on the new Cybertruck.
The feature will allow Cybertruck owners to power their camping equipment, power tools, or even their entire home during a blackout, just by using their electric truck as a mobile generator. The truck also features a 240-volt outlet in the rear bed that can be used to charge other EVs. An image on Tesla’s website shows the Cybertruck charging a Model Y.
The Cybertruck can put out as much as 11.5kW, which is more than the Ford F-150 Lightning’s 9.6kW of onboard power or the GMC Sierra Denali EV’s 10.2kW.
Tesla has been talking about manufacturing vehicles with bidirectional charging capabilities for several years now, first teasing the feature at its Battery Day event in 2020. Since then, many of its competitors have adopted the feature for their EVs, including Ford, GM, Hyundai, Kia, and others.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk seemed to pour cold water on the idea earlier this year, complaining that most people wouldn’t want bidirectional charging because all their lights would go out when they unplugged their car.
Bidirectional charging works exactly like it sounds: with unidirectional (one-way) EV chargers, electricity flows from the electric grid into the electric vehicle; with bidirectional (two-way) EV chargers, electricity can flow both ways.
The idea is to use bidirectional charging equipment to push and pull energy from electric vehicles at any given time. In essence, it treats high-capacity lithium-ion batteries not only as tools to power EVs but also as backup storage cells to charge other electric devices, an entire home, or even to send power to the electrical grid for possible energy savings.
Tesla is also offering ways to control bidirectional charging through the company’s mobile app. Customers can monitor the charging process, adjust preferences, and review energy usage and other data in real time.
Customers who want to take advantage of the Powershare feature in their homes will need a Tesla Powerwall (of course) and a Wall Connector for the most seamless connection.
Related:
The PlayStation Portal at least makes stick drift easier to repair
Photo by Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge
With stick drift plaguing so many controllers these days, it’s nice to see Sony making faulty thumbsticks a bit easier to repair on the PlayStation Portal. In a teardown video posted by iFixit, the team finds that only a little tinkering is required to access and remove the joysticks.
The iFixit team first removes the device’s plastic frame and pries off its backing. It then takes off the panel containing the Portal’s D-pad and button controls, allowing iFixit to disassemble the thumbsticks in about three steps using just a screwdriver. The only downside is that if you need to replace the Portal’s rumble packs, you’ll need to take out your soldering iron because they’re attached to the motherboard.
But still, that’s already more repairable than other first-party controllers out there, including Sony’s own DualSense controllers. As pointed out by iFixit, the thumbsticks on the DualSense controller are soldered to the device’s motherboard, making them far harder to replace. The thumbstick repair process also looks less involved than what’s required for the Nintendo Switch Joy-Con and the Steam Deck.
Sony just released the PlayStation Portal a couple of weeks ago, which serves as a $199.99 solution to streaming PS5 games on a handheld. Even though the Portal appears to be just an elongated version of the DualSense with a screen stuck in the middle, it’s nice that Sony didn’t carry over some of the controller’s harder-to-repair internals.
Photo by Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge
With stick drift plaguing so many controllers these days, it’s nice to see Sony making faulty thumbsticks a bit easier to repair on the PlayStation Portal. In a teardown video posted by iFixit, the team finds that only a little tinkering is required to access and remove the joysticks.
The iFixit team first removes the device’s plastic frame and pries off its backing. It then takes off the panel containing the Portal’s D-pad and button controls, allowing iFixit to disassemble the thumbsticks in about three steps using just a screwdriver. The only downside is that if you need to replace the Portal’s rumble packs, you’ll need to take out your soldering iron because they’re attached to the motherboard.
But still, that’s already more repairable than other first-party controllers out there, including Sony’s own DualSense controllers. As pointed out by iFixit, the thumbsticks on the DualSense controller are soldered to the device’s motherboard, making them far harder to replace. The thumbstick repair process also looks less involved than what’s required for the Nintendo Switch Joy-Con and the Steam Deck.
Sony just released the PlayStation Portal a couple of weeks ago, which serves as a $199.99 solution to streaming PS5 games on a handheld. Even though the Portal appears to be just an elongated version of the DualSense with a screen stuck in the middle, it’s nice that Sony didn’t carry over some of the controller’s harder-to-repair internals.