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  • 08:49:16 am on September 28, 2008 | 0 | # |
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    Based on the average U.S. pay rate, it takes less than two hours of work to pay for 12 basic food items — tomatoes, eggs, sugar, bacon, milk, ground beef, oranges, coffee, lettuce, beans, bread, and onions.

    That figure is nearly as low as it’s ever been.

    Consumption may finally be taking a breather, as it should, but discretionary items like computers, DVD players, cellphones, digital cameras and color TVs have become far more affordable. And that even includes those families considered “poor.”

    http://www.moneyandmarkets.com/Issues.aspx?NewsletterEntryId=2335

     

  • 07:21:18 am on July 23, 2008 | 0 | # |

    What Are Covered Bonds?

    Covered bonds are securities issued by a bank and backed by a dedicated group of loans known as a “cover pool”. There are two different types of covered bonds: those backed by high-quality mortgage loans and those backed by public sector loans. If the issuing bank becomes insolvent, the assets in the cover pool are separated from the issuer’s other assets solely for the benefit of the covered bondholders. Asset eligibility for the cover pool and the process in the event of an issuer insolvency are determined by laws specific to each country.

    –PIMCO

     

  • 07:13:14 am on July 23, 2008 | 0 | # |
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    TiVo, Amazon Let Customers
    Buy Products by Remote Control

    By JOSEE ROSE
    July 22, 2008 2:04 p.m.

    TiVo Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. reached an agreement to allow consumers to purchase products from Amazon through their television sets using their TiVo remote control.

    The products are available through Amazon.com on any broadcast or cable network, as well as any interactive advertising feature.

    The new program, dubbed “Product Purchase,” also lets customers search for and buy products associated with shows, movies, actors, and directors. Purchases will be secured with a PIN associated with the user’s Amazon.com account.

    TiVo will launch the new service to consumers by merchandising products related to several high-profile programs, including The Oprah Winfrey Show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, The Colbert Report, and Burn Notice. Broadband-connected Series2, Series3 and TiVo HD DVRs will be able to take advantage of the new feature.

    Evan Young, TiVo’s broadband-services director, said the deal will allow its viewers “to purchase products related to their favorite TV shows or that they’ve seen in TV ads without leaving their couch.” The move highlights the ever-growing importance of product placement in television shows and commercial choices. For example, fans of shows aimed at tweens try to emulate the fashion seen on TV, looking in local stores for exact replicas of outfits.

    – WallStreet Journal

     

  • 08:33:11 pm on July 20, 2008 | 0 | # |
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    I was just curious to know the real performanace benefit of multi cores in Intel Processors. Here goes, Quad processors can deliver much superior performance if the software can really utilize the multicores. Not all software stress the cores today, even games uses only the two cores. Though Quad processors show performance gain, you may not see any big performance gains unless software catch up with quad core. Sure, you can settle with some xtreame dual core processor now, get quad one later. However, you can get Quad processor now by throwing some extra bucks!

    “Games have barely adapted to dual-core processors, needless to say quad-core does very little for a performance boost in this respect. The Q6600 performed much the same as the X6800 and E6700. “  — TechSpot

    “Exporting a high-quality moviefrom QuickTime took just 7:21 minutes when using the Q6600, making it just 4% faster than the X6800. ” — TechSpot

    Intel Q6600 Quad Processor

     

  • 08:11:56 pm on July 7, 2008 | 0 | # |
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    This is what you get paid for. Volatility. Stomach-churning drops. Watching your paper wealth evaporate. Stock market profits aren’t free. Garbage collectors (at least, in nonunion towns) know they have to turn up in the morning and pick up people’s trash in order to get paid. Piano teachers know they have to teach piano to pay the rent. Shop keepers have to tend to a shop. Only investors in the stock market expect to be like the lilies of the field. They toil not, neither do they spin. Could Wall Street just send us the checks every month please? The reality is that investors have to earn their money, through brains and nerves. The brains can mean doing smart things – like buying Apple when it started to turn around. More often, they simply are doing dumb things, like buying Pets.com. The nerves mean not panicking or getting swayed by fear, at the bottom, or greed, at the top.
    –    The Wall Street Journal Online

     
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