David Emery on Inside Chateaux Beynac - 'We’ve stayed in a couple of the Spanish Parador restored castles, including Alarcon and Zafra. https://paradores.es/en There can be some compromises, particularly with respect to access and room size, but they’re a lot of fun. The Spanish paradors also have very good restaurants. Most of the restored castles I’ve been to have had rough stone walls. But I suspect in their heyday, those walls were plastered and brightly colored. (Same thing applies to medieval churches & cathedrals, which were much brighter than they are now.) Oh, and on a topic more relevant: “New Apple CEO John Ternus may want to watch his back, because Meta Platforms is making a play to upend the smartphone giant’s ecosystem, analysts say. ” The analyst in question, Laura Martin of Needham. But the article also quoted Wamsi Mohan’s claims about how agents will rule. So PED didn’t have to warn us away from those particular pieces of (to use a medieval term) ‘fumet’ (fumet 2 | fyo͞oːˈmet, fyo͞oˈmā, ˌfyo͞omət | (usually fumets) noun archaic the excrement of a deer. origin late Middle English: from an Anglo-Norman French variant of Old French fumees ‘droppings’.)'
on Inside Chateaux Beynac - 'In other news, Apple closed at $330.32/share, down 0.81% after falling to $325.81 earlier in the morning. Volume looks to be about 35 M trades, which is about average for the last couole of weeks.'
on The miracles of Rocamadour - 'A fan note to Joseph and an idea–It’s the long term that matters, and your comments offer the best stats to cut through the short-term noise. Implied in your selection is the best strategy for investing: buy and hold over a very long time. I love this site for the curation of news plus PED’s takes (and everyone’s comments!). To balance those immediate takes, it would be great to have on the masthead our equivalent of the NYT’s “All the News That’s Fit to Print.” But ours would be: Apple 10-year ROI: 1,078%. S&P500 10-year ROI______ (whatever it is) Or possibly a longer term–20 years? The point is to have an implicit invitation to keep our eyes on the long term.'
on The miracles of Rocamadour - '“India’s PC market is set for a 22% decline in 2H26 as early buying and rising component costs weigh on demand, according to the latest research from Omdia. Purchases brought forward into the first half of the year to avoid higher prices are expected to weaken demand in the second half. In 2Q26, India’s PC market grew 14% year-on-year (YoY) to 4.1 million units, with notebook shipments up 13% to 3.0 million units and desktop shipments up 15% to 954,000 units. Separately, tablet shipments rose 11% to 1.3 million units. PC growth partly reflected advanced purchases by vendors and channel partners seeking to secure inventory before expected price increases later in the year…” “ In the consumer market, online and retail promotions helped sustain purchases despite rising prices, while Apple’s notebook shipments almost doubled as its new Apple MacBook range, including the Neo, gained traction. AI-capable notebooks increased their share from 28% to 44%, showing a shift in shipments toward newer configurations. For the full year, Omdia expects India’s PC market to reach 15.4 million units in 2026, down 2.6% from 2025. Consumer shipments are expected to decline 6%, while commercial shipments are forecast to fall 5%. Education shipments are still expected to grow 63% to 918,000 units, although growth should slow in H2 2026 as the current government-led procurement cycle winds down. “Higher component costs will weigh most heavily on entry-level PCs, where budget-conscious consumers in India are particularly sensitive to price increases,” added Aithal. “Premium and gaming PCs should have more room to absorb higher costs, while enterprise buyers are likely to push ahead with necessary fleet refreshes. Meanwhile, smaller businesses are likely to be more caution and may delay upgrades or opt for models with lower specifications.” “Vendors are also adjusting configurations to maintain key price points and limit the cost increases passed on to buyers. The impact will also differ by platform, with Apple MacBook shipments expected to see a relatively smaller decline, supported by the platform’s premium positioning, tight hardware and software integration, and strong existing user base.“ “ India’s tablet market is undergoing a shift toward higher-value devices. In 2Q26, consumer shipments grew 12%, supported by demand for premium and newer devices, while commercial shipments grew 11%, led by strong SMB purchases. Enterprise demand was more stable. Apple’s shipments grew 35% and Lenovo’s shipments nearly doubled, with both vendors gaining market share.” https://omdia.tech.informa.com/pr/2026/sep/indias-pc-market-growth-set-to-reverse-with-22percent-decline-forecast-in-2h26'
on Chateâu de la Treyne - 'Looks like India is finally getting ApplePay. All the details have been worked out.As reported by AppleInsider: https://appleinsider DOT com/articles/26/09/30/india-finally-gets-apple-pay-after-more-than-nine-years-of-negotiations?utm_source=rss “India is home to a dynamic and digitally savvy population that continues to embrace a cashless future while expecting the highest standards of security and privacy,” said Jennifer Bailey, Apple’s vice president of Apple Pay and Apple Wallet in a statement, “and we’re so excited to bring Apple Pay to users in India today.” This is a positive I believe'
on Chateâu de la Treyne - 'I love supply chain FUD stories! Let’s me pickup some more AAPL on a discount.'
on Chateâu de la Treyne - 'Gurman piece out this morning re an Oct 12 launch of new smart home products. Free “gift” link below: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-09-30/apple-is-finally-ready-to-enter-its-next-big-category-the-smart-home?accessToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb3VyY2UiOiJTdWJzY3JpYmVyR2lmdGVkQXJ0aWNsZSIsImlhdCI6MTc5MDc2Nzc1NiwiZXhwIjoxNzkxMzcyNTU2LCJhcnRpY2xlSWQiOiJUTTM0SDRUOTZPU0cwMCIsImJjb25uZWN0SWQiOiI3NjA5RUVBQjMyNzE0MUNEODlGRjc0MUFDMzJCMDBENSJ9.x7zH-rimMOTWAek_Fx3bvzvNvXKK3R3gW9_eHbEu-Ms'
on Château de Mercuès - 'Any ideas about yesterday’s sell off? Lawsuit “loss” (temporary) or profit taking don’t feel like the reason, but maybe. Also: I’m waiting for the home products. With all the possible variations and multiples (cameras, input devices sensors, controllers etc. it seems like a lot of potential profit. 🙂'
on Chateâu de la Treyne - 'Its is highly speculative. In today’s Fast Money podcast Gene Munster mentions Apple’s AI efforts and Siri at about the 15 minute mark and at about the 25 minute mark the panel debunks the risk to Apple from Meta’s Muse. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/cnbcs-fast-money/id215529509?i=1000792271402'
on Chateâu de la Treyne - 'Here is a non-paywall account of the article: Unsurprisingly, Meta’s new Muse AI agent blatantly ignores users permissions'
